Bloomfield Board of Education meeting, September 8, 2020
1:26PM Sep 9, 2020
Speakers:
Keywords:
board
goals
district
board members
administration
virtual
heller
teachers
questions
meeting
walker
students
continue
terms
year
student achievement
people
berger
communication
charlene
Welcome back everyone. We have just returned from executive session so we are opening in public now. We are going to start with number three on your agenda if you are following along for those of you that are looking for it to be live stream here on wb ma TV channel 32 Comcast I believe and Rochelle 34, Comcast, channel 32 on iOS
when that being said, we're gonna move on to number four, the hearing of the public and I'm gonna turn the microphone over to miss
Whoa.
Okay, we receive three emails from individuals. The first one is email from Melissa divino. Her questions are one, our students are expected to log into Google meet for the whole day. Number two, what is the plan to make the learning model more focused on activities not occurring at the same time? Three, what flexibilities do teachers have to plan their classroom schedule? I'm going to continue on to read the other two emails as some of the questions are overlapping. The second one is email. I'm setting Nick monogram. What is the administration planning to offset the long screen time faced by younger pupils. Number two, what options? Does the administration the administration proposed to curtail prolong life video? The next question, our next set of questions are from Lumina world. Number one question, please address the district's attempts to balance synchronous and asynchronous learning to Is there a plan to limit screen time? Three? How long did teachers have to prep for virtual plan? For what does the administration propose to limit screen time for elementary pupils? Five, clarify the platform teachers are using. For example, Google classrooms, six how our special teachers participant heading in the virtual instruction.
Thank you. We'll turn it over to
this to answer.
Given the fact that the three emails that reached out to miss Whoa, are kind of overlapping, I'll just give a brief overview of the first three days and how we started. The virtual schedule that parents and students have received is a framework of how the day is structured. The first few days in a normal in person school setting are usually filled with these type of sync synchronous policies, procedures, icebreakers, and general housekeeping items. Virtual Learning is no different. With that said we are monitoring the situation closely and teachers will adjust if and when necessary. This is the first full day of virtual learning In a definite work in progress, as teachers get to know your children, adjustments will be made to fit the needs of your specific child. For example, moving forward, a lesson may be launched as a whole group, and then break off into subgroups that may or may not include screentime. We are well aware and are listening to the concerns of parents, I think, in the spring from March until June, through the survey structure, and through communication with parents and students, I think we adjusted rather successfully. And I am under the assumption that we will do the same. Our teachers have done an amazing job in preparing for the opening of virtual school. And I know they'll do an amazing job as things settle over the next couple days and people get used to this schedule again today being the first full day and making those adjustments. They would make in normal times of what a particular child might need, if they need small group instruction, one on one instruction or synchronous lessons that will address the needs of a whole class. I think that encompasses a lot of the concerns that were addressed in those emails.
Are that's a school nothing else? That's correct. Okay, so we're gonna move on to thank you, Mr. Barton, hurry, move on to number five. letter A, and that is a superintendents report, Mr. g.
Thank you President Fishman. Good evening, everyone. First, I'd like to share that we had an excellent opening of school last week, historic as public education enters into, into a world that we've never had to do before with Virtual Learning. We're excited about it. We understand the challenges. We're looking forward to it. Again, I think we're off to a great start. I like to thank our teachers and our staff. I like to thank our parents and our students. And I like to thank the board of education for their support of the administration and the entire district. So as bangles will certainly rise to the occasion. We know that you'll have questions, continue to email us. We'll respond, we'll try to answer them. We'll monitor and adjust what all good teachers do. And we'll have an effective school year as we take it day by day. With a little dab of patience here and there. We continue to make sure all of our facilities are at their best for when we do return into imperson instruction. pp updates. We continue to work with temperature detectors being installed in our schools. Wall Mount hand sanitizer dispensers electrostatic machines, ordering facemask for staff and students plexi glass barriers to protect our clerical workers and those in need touchless temperature thermometers and ventilation. We work closely with our architects in giving us guidance through this our finance and Facilities Committee. This has been a topic prior to COVID. But obviously COVID has certainly raised the concerns of many very valid, we hear you. We're following up and we want to make sure that when we do return to in person instruction, we have provided safe facilities for all of our employees, teachers and students. And with that, if the board has Any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them. But that does conclude my report.
Thank you, Mr. Jane. We're gonna move on to
my report as the president, first of all again, I just want to echo Thank you. As for Mr. G, our administration team, our teachers, basically everybody who works at the Bloomfield school district has been working diligently for the past few months, basically, since we ended in June to know what this opening would look like. Both in a hybrid version and the virtual version and now that we are 100% virtual, the time, effort and energy that people are putting in is tremendous, and I know that parents have some concerns. I will ask you for some patience as we move forward on day three. Just let the teachers like they said Get to know your kids in a virtual manner and be able to set The tone as to how their virtual classroom will run. And then once that happens, if we still have concerns and questions, I'm sure the administration, both in the building level and district level would be happy to continue to answer them to the best of their ability. I don't think if you look back on made March 13, to now and thought that the first week in September, we will be having this meeting in a virtual manner and having our kids be on the computer. It is an unprecedented time. Um, I know we keep saying that, but it absolutely is never in the history have we had to do this and hopefully, moving forward. We don't ever have to do this again. I know being a teacher of the past 21 years I know Dan can attest to this. The teachers out there in the virtual world would much rather be in their classrooms, helping your kids in person than doing this virtually and as soon as we can get our environments, both on the state and country level safe enough for them to return to the building. We will do so And this is also just a reminder to our board members that at the end of the meeting, we do have Charlene Pearson coming in to do our district and board goals. So bear with us as we go through this meeting. She had a conflict within our district. So she will join us later on. So I got a lot of questions. Mr. Berger, Mr. Heller,
thank you President efficient mass will be next meeting be in person.
So I think right now, the look for that. We're going to see what happens for October for the month of September, we're gonna keep status quo in terms of virtual, and then we're gonna see how we reevaluate for October and if we can come in for then we're going to try and do that. But we're going to take it one meeting at a time. I'm not going to promise anything at this moment. Mr. Heller, did you have something? No. Okay. Perfect. So we're going to close that. And we're going to move on to number six at the approval of the minutes. May I have a motion please? motion. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Anderson.
Any discussion about the minutes from the prior meeting?
misquote? Can I please have a roll call?
Mr. Anderson?
abstain.
Mr. Berger.
Yes. Mr.
Haney enjoy.
Mr. Heller? Yes. Mr. Moore's.
Yes.
Miss Rogers?
Yes, Miss Salinas? Yes. Vice President Walker.
Yes.
President Fishman?
Yes, we are moving on to number seven, the curriculum and instruction package. Mr. Berger, the floor is yours.
Thank you President Fishman, may I please just pass the football, which is going to happen in this Sunday. Thank god over to Joe Flores for the reports.
are you actually going to do it like this and just reach out and enter
in October
Okay, there we go.
The Committee met on Thursday, September 3. All members were president, including President Fishman We met at one o'clock we reviewed the summer curriculum writing virtual foods and nutrition, astronomy, CP geoscience, CP, natural hazards and disasters CP and oceanography. Mr. flare is reported to the committee that all scheduled curricula have now been submitted to the board for approval in anticipation of the 2021 school year. We discussed the virtual opening of schools in much more detail with the committee. We discussed and clarified that the virtual plan abides by the contract contract and all teachers still receive a contractual lunch and a lot of prep periods over the course of a week.
The committee also discussed at length that Then at the high school and agreed to move forward with options to keep the den program at BHS. And funded by any means necessary to be further discussed with the board. I think that's it. Mr. Berger. Did I miss anything?
No, it's great flourish. Thank you so much joke. little housekeeping. Could you help me it's seven A through E. Man Mike emotion of seven, eight through eight, please. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Howard for the second any discussion curriculum instruction package. I have Mr. Walker that Mr. Mars.
Thank you. President Fishman. Thank you, Mr. Flores for the update. Thank you, Mr. Berger, for your leadership on the committee. two items, I hope that the committee can continue to focus on one. I know that we have an ongoing discussion about the potential of bringing on Dr. Latimer and continuing to have a conversation about inclusivity in districts. I know that there were some discussion in committee about cabling that just given the timing with everything. I'm hopeful that the administration and that the board together will be able to address that in future future meetings. Secondly, I do want to just highlight the ongoing concern in the community. I know we have C pac meeting tomorrow night. But in terms of special education, I know that we've gone through extraordinary lengths in terms of getting everybody set up for virtual learning and making sure that we have as much in place as possible. And Mr. Berger has a has a very strong point of view about the continued support for special needs students. And I'm hopeful that the committee can spend some time on that issue in their next committee meeting and provide an update back to the board about how we're doing with special ed. And if there's any additional support needed, given these extraordinary times. Thank you again for your leadership. I appreciate all the hard work. You guys are doing
that duly noted, Mr.
Mr. Mars.
Thank you. For the curriculum guides. Did you talk about the how long it would take, for example, the third grade to finish their curriculum online versus in class and what the difference may be? And how do you make up that time?
That's a very interesting question, Mr. Morris, and we're going to have to get back to you on that one. That one is that's the first time I heard that question and get back to you later on answer.
Absolutely. Mr. Berger, thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Berger. Can I have some legs to that real quick?
Just in conversation with district supervisors, in being able to provide accurate pacing guides that are a guide, they're exactly that it's it's not a formula. It has to be followed verbatim. It's a guide to see where we're going. That's more Were discussions leading Mr. Morris. So just so you're aware.
Sorry. Mr. Morris had a follow up. Go ahead.
No, I'm just glad we have the Sherpas on duty on the curriculum committee as our guys like.
Mr. Heller,
thank you President Fishman and thank you, Mr. Flores, for your response, I think a lot of this may may end up being we will see right we we've only offered this modality if you will, although it was not a synchronous modality in the springs. So this is this is new, new territory. The pacing guides will have to be a living document. But I think the more important point on the pacing guides is having their availability or something similar for mine. Send dad's caregivers, particularly at the elementary level, to be able to help the children be successful to be able to, to see to not try to follow what it is that your child is doing at the moment that he or she is doing it during the day. But grant, there may be something that says this is what should have been accomplished this week. And if your child is unable or now that does not have a firm grasp of ABC XYZ, then reach out to your teacher I think those supports for our families are really what will be critical to our successes in this new modality.
So is that on the guide Michael, where would where would parents find that?
Well, the pacing guides were never anything that mom or dad caregiver ever had. But since we are now we'll call it partial support. It's within the home in the educational setting. And I'll say mainly for the younger age learners, that that's, that's a new a new thing that that people are going to need some help with. And I think the administration is aware of this. I know that we've talked about it in the curriculum committee, and I look forward to seeing what what comes out as, as support documents that that can help the parents and caregivers. Make sure that the children the school age children, in our district are successful learners in this new modality.
The internal struggle we're having is we don't want any child or parent to feel inferior when they look at it, a pacing guide in its traditional sense, and feels like something's been missed, or the child is not up to par academically. So that's been our internal struggle. We do want to provide on the parental Resources section of our Virtual Learning Plan. guides have a sword. So parents have an overall feeling of where their child should be just internally, we're trying to figure out what's the best way to put that out publicly without having a child feel inferior to what's going on.
Thank you, Joe, for mentioning that.
Anyone else comments on the curriculum and instruction package?
Don't you want to say something?
Sorry? unmute.
Yeah, just chiming in that I'm in agreement with that in the sense that I think it is helpful for the pacing, but I'm very glad that Michael brought it up and that Joe responded as well. Because I think that's the biggest fear right now with the virtual is everyone going to be able to pick up you know, keep up somebody When gets confused is difficult to reach out to the teacher, you know, the whole setup. So I think it's probably comforting for the parents to hear that and keeping them informed of that about their, their input on the, on the pacing and so that no one does feel left out
or behind. And past having that open line of communication with the teacher and parent. If there's an issue or a problem or concern, your first line of defense would be to reach out to that teacher so that you can have that open dialogue. Can I please have a roll call please? Miss glow on seven eight or seven? Eight? Sure.
Mr. Anderson? Yeah.
Mr. Berger. Yes, Mr. Heller?
Yes,
Mr. Moore's. Yes, Miss Rogers.
Yes,
Miss Salinas.
Yeah. Vice President Walker.
Yes.
President Fishman?
Yes, we are now on to the finance and facility package. Mr. Walker, the virtual floor
is yours.
Thank you President Fishman. Let me just say first, I'm speaking on behalf of Committee Chair, Mr. Haney, who is unfortunately not with us tonight, due to a family emergency, I know that he would typically be with us and being providing leadership here. So just want to acknowledge his absence, and just highlight that please keep them in your thoughts as he's going through a personally tough time right now. So he's in finance committee met Thursday, September 3, at 11 o'clock. Myself Mr. Haney, Miss blow Mr. skaza. Mr. Benn call this Mr. Flores and Mr. Fishman were all in attendance. We started the meeting with an update on Our staff. We do have staff that are beginning to return back to work in buildings on September 14, and I'm happy to report that the buildings are prepared for them and as Mr. Gunn Caldas gave in his superintendents report, we're continuing to roll out measures, both in terms of enhanced cleaning and other peepee and protective measures for all staff. So that is exciting news. We also discussed the safety protocols in the various buildings and the various steps that are being taken by each of the different classes and employees and how they are working in each building. So that was a positive conversation. In regards to our facilities, we have ongoing toilet renovations happening at Fairview and accessing schools. Both projects are on schedule to be completed by September 11. And they are both in a position where we're very pleased with them. They're coming in on time and on budget. Excellent. We also have boiler replacement projects ongoing at Berkeley and oak view. Again, both projects are progressing on schedule. We are looking at boiler startups the end of September, which is right on time getting ready for the heating season, which is again, excellent, and received updates on all that. In addition, we've had an extended conversation about the ventilation options in our buildings. And we are looking at enhancements in all of our buildings both in terms of the filtration that's being installed, as well as looking at enhancements to fresh air intakes and other opportunities in each building. We are currently entertaining a proposal from our architects to do a more detailed review of all the HVC systems district wide and come back with ongoing recommendations, again, this is in light of changes in the requirements that have come through from the CDC, CDC from ASHRAE, and from other professional organizations. So that's all very positive. In regards to finance, we reviewed contractor payments, and service contracts or payments. Those are all normal part of your board packet. We discussed the den program and some of the options for funding the den program should that be required in the future. And I want to highlight what is probably the last thing on the meeting minutes, which I just want to pause on for a moment, which is the 2020 refunding bonds. I want to give special attention to this. Our business administrator Miss Whoa, revisited our bonds read approximately a year ago and due to her good work and the good work of the administration. She was able to identify And results in savings of $1.2 million for the District, which is a huge value for us. it equates $135,000 per year annually. And this is something that can't be ignored. This is a fantastic work by our administration. It just goes to show that they're continuing to take extra care in terms of our fiscal responsibility, looking for places where we can have, you know, additional savings for work that's been done a long time ago. So I really want to just take a moment and applaud Vicki and the administration as a whole for some really fantastic work here. It just goes to show that you know, the things that happen behind the scenes have real impact for us and for our kids, though, so thank you for that. With that,
like you I would
Yeah, let's get
the job guys.
I wanted to show It's
not only myself is that it's a it's a teamwork.
So, it is teamwork, but but it also takes leadership Vicki and you you brought it to the table. So great work. Thank you. Um, with that I'd like to put forth agenda items eight through eight G.
Thank you, Mr. Walker a second. Please. Second.
Thank you, Mr. Anderson. discussion on the financing facility package.
Seeing none scuole Can I have a roll call please?
Mr. Anderson? Yes. Mr. Berger. Yes, Mr. Heller? Yes. Mr. Moore's.
Yes,
Miss Rogers. Yes. Miss Salinas? Yes. Twice president Walker
and enthusiastic with excitement. Yes. Thank you.
President Fishman?
Yes. We go Mr. wall. On to number nine if you're following along on your agenda personnel and management. Miss Rogers The floor is yours.
Yes, thank you. President Fishman.
The Personnel Committee met met on September 3 as well. included all members of the committee including Superintendent Clovis and vice president Ralph Walker. We discussed initially, our regular personnel actions, which includes the contract renewals and retirements. And district a totally responded to specific four questions regarding home instruction. There's some discussion on that, that that's going to look during COVID. We also discussed and covered questions regarding the configuration of the child's study teams and related services and how that was also going to
Look during virtual time period
and we discussed specific staff utilization and reframing of job duties and light once again of the Virtual Learning Plan sorry. We also talked about the compliance officers. Totally different how the Sims two claris responded to specific board questions pertaining to the compliance officers responsibilities. We were talking about environmental concerns as bestest pest management and enhanced protocols developed in the light, again of now the covid 19 situation. So, yeah, there were questions regarding how those compliance officers are covering their responsibilities there. Mr. Morris asked about the past ability of Coordinating Board level presentations by the officers as a follow up, and there was also specific questions regarding responsibilities of school and classroom practice. This is district strategic plan came up committee agreed to table this item. Mr. Flores discuss the plan to have this Strategic Plan Board subcommittee coordinate presentation process. We also discuss teaching staff member virtual leave requests. This is totally discussed. teaching staff member requests for virtual program of course for the for the school and answered specific questions pertaining to virtual leave requests and requests for emergency sick leave once again in light of COVID-19 We did speak at length, once again about the den program. coming with that. And just to give a little background for those who perhaps uninformed it's a school based service coordinated by family connections, offers full time staff and student support services for pupils ranging from recreational activities, homework help, LSAT prep, as well as guidance information regarding safe sex dating violence, LGBTQ peer support, and bereavement support. field trips are also coordinated through there and available to peoples who weren't perhaps suffering any crisis or a loss at home and it's staffed with licensed mental health clinicians Just to add that, so, Mr. Tolin Mr. can converse responded to questions regarding the den services, the configuration of the alternate education, program, liberty, as well as potential funding sources for the continuation of the den to continue at all cost miscellaneous items, especially when asked the board members their opinion regarding the format of this upcoming board meeting. And we also discussed Mr. Morris had questions about the full sports stipends and asked for clarification regarding the student clubs separate than the sports
and that was it. That being said,
I'd like to ask for that to find the letters myself here.
Nine a through 9098 through
902 To move those
resolutions, Thank you, Miss Rogers, can I have a second? Please? Second, thank you. Miss Salinas, any discussion on the personnel and management package? Mr. Heller, then Mr. Berger,
just a quick note that there's a couple typos under the student teacher field experience. The institutions that they're coming from are misspelled.
Fair enough. Thank you, sir. Mr. Berger,
thank you President Fishman, if I may just discuss for a moment the status of the den in the high school and my own personal experience with it, knowing that it's a hub for foster children that we have inside our community here. And I will advocate and continue to advocate for full funding of this program, even if, if the governor and the deal he pulled their funding. I would I've spoken to my colleagues here and the leadership on With the administration here, and I would like to ensure that assure the public that this is a very serious situation. And we would like to operate where the children, I'm sorry, where the students do not have any interruption in service. And I would just like to thank everyone for their support in this matter, but it should remain status quo. Thank you President Fishman.
Mr. Berger, I think that you have the entire support of the board behind you in agreeing with that statement. This was not a board decision. This came from the state level with state funding and now they're kind of leaving us scrambling to try and make sure that we can service our kids with this program, somehow, someway. So that's something that we duly noted and pleased to the public. No, that is not coming from a board decision or it won't feel decision. It was a state funded program that they are trying to pull the funding for Mr. Heller
Thank you President Fishman with with both what you and Mr. Berger have noted if members of the community Want to have an impact on the budget cycle? This is a very different year. There are no public hearings by both houses with regard to the budget as there have been in years past. So it's really incumbent upon all of us to write our representatives in the legislature, Assemblyman Caputo, Assemblywoman Tucker, and Senator Ron rice so that they can understand what this non funding situation would mean to our community and approximately 300 students service by the dent program at high school. If you need help figuring out what to say. You could certainly reach out to any of the board members, our new jersey school boards field representative Miss Peterson's on on the meeting right now with us. She probably has insights as to what is hopefully being pursued from staples. perspective, but it's a really important funding question and this year's unusual funding cycle.
Thank you Mr. Heller, Mr. Walker. And as I say hi to Mr. Walker. I'd like to welcome Charlene Peterson if you see her on the screen that is our field rep from New Jersey school boards, and she is on here coming on later on for us to do our district and board goals. Mr. Walker,
I just want to reiterate what Mr. Heller said. And also to just remind both the board and the public that this isn't the first cut that we've seen, we've already received cuts of more than $2.5 million dollars to our overall budget from the state. And potentially we'll see others so it's while while there is a specific focus on the den program right now, because it was a new surprise from our state government. I think it's important that we all recognize that the good work of the board and the administration to keep our house our fiscal house in order. Right now is is protecting us But this is going to be a long term issue that we're going to have to continue to talk about meeting after meeting month after month, year after year. So So again, please, to Mr. Heller's point, write those letters to the state. Let's let's just continue to highlight the need to Thunder schools appropriately. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Walker. misquote. And are you raising your hand? Yep.
Oh, sorry. I didn't say you just muted yourself. Come back to me. Okay. Go ahead.
Thanks, Gil. Just to comment that this is another example of the state kind of leaving districts in the lurch whether it's funding or its curriculum wise assessments there. They seem to be in and out whenever it pleases them. So it would be good for the board to learn from this also and try to become stronger and more independent. However we can. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moore's misquote. Can I please have a roll call on our personnel management package for those of you folks Wrong. That is number nine on your agenda.
Mr. Anderson? Yes. Mr. Berger? Yes. Mr. Heller?
Yes.
Mr. Morris?
Yes.
Miss Rogers.
Yes.
Miss Salinas? Yes. Vice President Walker. Yes. President Fishman?
Yes, we are number 10 policy regulations. We have 10 A, which is our second read policies may have a motion, please.
Motion.
Thank you, Miss Rogers a second. Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Discussion on second read policies.
Seeing none,
like I just wanted to ask you a question and maybe this is for Nick again to explain to the public. The disclosures that we're going to be under in case people test positive because I know that we're going to get emails I heard this what's happening there. So we can be very upfront about what the process is. And maybe Nick can explain and possibly put on our website what our procedure is. Rather than having people look try to look up this policy, I think it would be helpful. So Nick, sorry if you could just explain sort of what you explained in executive but
in the 123 approach, that will be great.
I believe the combined effect of policies 1648 and 1649 help us navigate an expedite fashion. Our responsibilities not only in terms of virtual learning and ancillary services, but also our requirements with the Department of Health and state mandates in terms of contact tracing. We've implemented a chain of command here in central office, that we have followed, I believe, fairly successfully. different occasions that begins with the superintendent, superintendents call me a verification of employee information on systems 3000 telephone call from the superintendent and myself to the employee and acknowledgement that that employee will have his or her location classroom, or individuals teaching staff members of support staff members that individual was in contact with reported to the Department of Health. That communication goes fairly instantaneously to Mr. Fitzpatrick, we've been dealing with at the Department of Health. And once we supply all that uniquely identifiable information, we take the department's recommendation relative to the necessity for further interviews and contact tracing. They have expertise based on what we report and some of the things I presume without having the expertise they're looking at, is the length of time potentially infected. Employees met to the degree was their pee pee was their social distancing, and any other related concerns of how the employee was symptomatic. The thing that is difficult to divorce ourselves from is that we certainly have confidentiality provisions here, not only for teachers, but potential patients. And we do our best to get information to the Department of Health. And we do our best perhaps sometimes not so satisfying to communicate information to a school or to a program without revealing individual identities. That's a difficult task. But in the instances that we've been confronted with it, I think that we've modeled the requirements of 1649. And I'm hopeful that to the degree our staff members now virtual, the individuals who may come back to the buildings to commence their virtual instruction using classroom manipulatives or under the good guide To the degree they're symptomatic. They have been to a state subject quarantine or pending COVID-19 tests that they use proper judgment and stay home for the requisite period of time until those results have come back as to minimize the potential of repeating this process.
Thanks, Nick. I appreciate that.
Anything else on the policies?
Just for edification, Miss Fishman just because Mr. Morris was asking. We have implemented I did anticipate that Ben would have more copious questions. So I had the Department of Health's vaccine preventable disease program q&a, but he didn't ask me any questions. So I'm going to turn this over and pretend like I didn't need it. But there was a blank included in what was a second read and final policy relative to immunization. That type of graphical error has been updated and including in tonight's agenda, it updates some of the annual screening required It's both for medical and religious exemptions and just matches the code requirement that we're obligated to follow. So that's why it appears for the third time tonight as it was second read for the previous board meeting. Thank you.
Thank you for the clarification. Much appreciated. Miss glow. Can I present a roll call on the policies?
Mr. Anderson? Yes. Mr. Berger? Yes, Mr. Heller? Yes. Mr. Moore's. Yes, Miss Rogers. Yes, Miss Salinas? Yes. Vice President Walker. Yes. President Fishman?
Yes, we are on to number 11. The second hearing of the public Miss Well, this is technically non agenda items, but I'm not sure if you got any more emails.
Yes, I do have one one email.
It's Sorry, it's from
this email is from Josh, troll jack. The question is, well teachers have the flexibility to alter the extent of the school day. It is unrealistic to expect a kindergartener to stay in front of a computer for six hours. Flexible, flexible ability up to the up to and including half day kindergarten needs to be considered.
as I've stated before, we are monitoring the start of school and understanding the concern of screen time, especially for our primary students. So this is something that we continue to work on. I wanted to add in my statement before that building principals, district supervisors, this assistant principals have all been given access to these Google classrooms that are also monitored monitoring this on a daily even hourly basis. So this is something that's a continuing discussion with the administration and myself and obviously Superintendent Gonzalez.
Just want to add to that, for for folks also, and I've know I said this before, to be patient, where we've just started school two half days or completed our first full day. We want to hear from moms and dads how their students are doing. We understand that this is a brand new situation for all of our students we understand, especially for the young ones. The amount of time in front of a computer is something that we discussed at length during the summer. And certainly there's flexibility to monitor and adjust instruction, as needed as we move forward.
Just one other thing before you move on. Also, as we move forward, as we have done in March, April, May and June, the administration is going to put forward
a
survey questionnaire correct, Mr. Flores to make sure that we are getting everyone's input as we move forward.
Yes, we're looking to send out a survey in the near future, similar to what we did in the spring. And as I noted before, we took the survey results in the spring and as most of you know, adjusted our plan accordingly, and I think we ended pretty well. We plan on doing the same thing in the fall by taking input from parents after we've had a couple of weeks of instruction and seeing what worked. We'll be surveying our parents, our staff, and most importantly, our students. So we look forward to the feedback and obviously we'll adjust as necessary.
Thank you. That's it.
That's it. No more questions.
As always, if you do not have a question to miss, go for this virtual hearing of the public. The administrators, names and emails are on the website. I'm putting them on blast right now. Sorry, guys. Feel free to email them, they will email you back. Their inboxes are plentiful, and they do get to you. Give them a day or so to get back to you. Your again, your first line of defense with a question regarding your specific child concern would be with your teacher that you deal with on a daily basis. And you're building administrator before you come to the district administration. So you might get frustrated if you send it directly to the superintendent. And he puts you back down to the building base administration and teachers. Start there. See what you answered. You can get there if you don't like it or you need more specific information on the district rather than the school in your child's individual class. That's when you're coming to district administration. Mr. Walker, you have some And
just a reminder that I believe we still have the help the tech Help Desk up. And I know that a lot of the questions that have been coming up from parents are related to technical issues and I just wanted to take a second to again applaud the good work that they've done over the last few weeks but and just highlight to parents that the help desk is on the website as is Joe correct me if I'm wrong, I believe that the parent Academy is still up on the website as
well. It is on the homepage right. And the friend Jen Korea had posted that right up on the front. And Tom Atkinson and his crew. Thank you for making all this virtual happen because I know they've been putting in extra hours. They're the people behind the scenes that make all this tech stuff work. So when you turn it on, it goes so thank you to him and his department. He they are completely behind the scenes and doing a great job so that parent Academy is up there their help desk is open. But again, your first line of defense is going with the teacher and your building base administrator.
The pop up on our website leads you directly to either the tech help this tech help ticket and also our Virtual Learning Plan. The links are embedded right in that pop up as soon as you get on there again, to echo Mr. Walker said our tech department has done a fantastic job. Patience is the best word for the night and we'll get to you.
I see no more emails at misquotes inbox. I'm going to close the second hearing. I like and move on to business. The first one is delegate and ad hoc committees. Anybody have a report for that? I will tell you there's a legislative meeting this Saturday that I will be taking part of so I'll report back to you after that. The next one is 12 the new business old business and information items.
Mr. Berger, I think we have a C pac meeting tomorrow night. President Fishman yeah
I believe you are correct. The information is also on the district calendar where you can see all upcoming events virtual that are going to happen. Mr. Walker.
I was wondering if the administration could just give a quick update on what's happening with the HSA as I think there's been some some some HSA funds are starting to meet up. I don't know if that is across the board or not. And I know there's been some information out in the public that seems to be conflicting. So I don't know if Joe or Sal, if there's just kind of a quick broad, broad spectrum of where we stand with the HSA is right now.
We've been communicating with Mayra pescatori, who's the president of our home and school associations and we've been relaying information through my IRA to our home and schools. They're at this point, obviously, they're all virtual. They're a treasure to the school district. We noticed this difficult time for them because they're rallying the troops, especially at this time of the year and doing wonderful things for our students. So, again, we do ask patients, but if home and school presidents have concerns, reach out to my reach out to Joe, myself, we'll be more than happy to work through this entire new experience for all of us.
Mr. Walker,
thank you salad. And just one other follow up. I just, I don't think we've recognized them yet tonight, but I know the the work of the task force was really instrumental in getting us to where we are today, I just want to again reiterate that there's there's been ongoing work going on behind the scenes by the task force, which is a coalition of board members, administrators, members of the public people from DHS, as folks in the the mayor's office and so on and so forth in terms of doing good work here. So I just wanted to take a second to say thanks to everybody and again, remind us that that work is continue As we try and come back from where we've started
the Ralph, what's the schedule for the meetings of the taskforce? When do they meet? And what's next for the agenda on that?
Saturday? I don't know salad this specific date. Can you speak to that?
Yeah, the The goal of the next taskforce meeting is is the goal of a lot of our meetings that are ongoing is to attempt to open up in person for November 2 and what needs to be done in every aspect. In order to do that we were looking to start school we'll be getting a definitive date. I imagine the next couple days out to the task force with enough enough advance notice so they could be present. And again, the goal of the that meeting and the meetings going forward will be to safely and effectively open in some type of in person instruction option for our families and students.
I just want to Add to that, as Ralph said, this group's been really important to us as a collective whole. But just as important as individuals, whether we're working with members of the homeschool Association, whether we're working with law enforcement, whether we're working with the mayor's office, whether we're working with the health office, whether we're working with board members, whether working with teachers and bargaining collective bargaining presidents, all who represent this, this group as a whole, they've been really instrumental because obviously they've been a voice from an amongst the people within a community to help us set the course and a direction that we're going in. They provide valuable feedback as we move forward. And they've been extremely understanding with all the changes that we've gone through since our our first meeting during the early summer to where we are now.
Thanks, Sal. With all due respect to the team here. From my perspective, the taskforce could do a bit of a better job in communicating with public and the rest of the board, what you're what you're up to. So I appreciate all the efforts and I hope that you guys improve going forward. Thank you.
Mr. Morris. those notes were made available at the last time that we met and they have been made every time we will meet in the future.
Thanks, President Fishman my point was more that there hasn't really been an agenda and they went out to more of a q&a type session rather than trying to tackle specific issues. It was kind of how's everybody feeling? And while we think that's important, it didn't feel from my perspective, as I read the notes that there was a lot going on, and I would like to see more of that going forward. So thank you,
then that's more of an agenda concern rather than not reporting out. Um, with that being said, Is there any more new business or business or information items Okay, so we are now on 212 C, we're going to turn the floor over for the general public. In terms of voting there, there's no more technically voting going on right now we're going over board goals and district goals with Miss shrining Peterson from New Jersey School Board Association. She is our field Rep. She is going to talk to us about the goals that we have earned last year. report out on those and then moving forward, how we want them to look for this year. Miss Pearson, welcome to our virtual meeting. Welcome to the bangle family.
Thank you very much. It is a pleasure to be here tonight and to see everyone tonight and I have to say that I do feel like I'm part of your family. So I appreciate the welcome and appreciate the opportunity to work with the board. I do have a PowerPoint that just has a few slides on it and it's more just to kind of guide the discussion. I feel kind of lost Without my big yellow pad briefing, I'm always coming in with to just
capture your thoughts. But tonight, we're just going to kind of talk through it. And so really wanted to start out. Thank you for starting this, you want to go to the next slide, please. Just wanted to start out and we're in some of it is for the benefit of the audience we have here tonight, as we talk about goals, making sure that we have a common understanding of what the goals are that we're going to be talking about tonight. Because, you know, districts have all kinds of different goals in terms. So just wanted to start out first looking at the like the broadest spectrum of goals. And that would be our strategic plan goals that in 2018, the board brought in various stakeholders from the community to talk about the school district talk about where you would like to see the district heading, and as a result of those conversations, so five year goals. We're set in place to help move the district forward. So it's important that we value that work, and that we use the work from the strategic plan then to help us move forward. So if these are, you know, goals that are going to last over a five year period, how do we make sure then that we use that work? How do we make sure that it's not something just sitting on a shelf? And the way that we do that is annually, the board sets goals, and we would use them the strategic plan goals to start that discussion. So the annual goals that the board sets are considered to be the district goals. So by district goals, we mean, what are those? And it's typically anywhere from three to five, what are those goals that we think are so important, that are needed to move the district forward, that we are going to hold the superintendent accountable by putting these goals in his evaluation. So that's been how we Take the strategic plan and use it to move the district forward is by having this, you know, be kind of the driver of those district goals. And then that's where the accountability comes in. So as a board, we are here tonight to kind of have that discussion with the administration about what about the what, what is it that we think are those important things that are needed to move the district forward? Then we recognize, like I said, then that in a way involves everyone in the district, we're helping with the weft, then the administration will develop action plans to tell us how they're going to accomplish the watch. And then these goals should be considered to be the foundation because considered to be like a stair step. And so like the goals here, then should be reflected in the building goals and the work of the administration, ultimately, and what's taking place in the classroom. So that the district is all moving forward together, all aligned Then the feedback then will come from the classroom, come back to the administration and come back to the board as to how we're doing. So we've kind of touched everyone in the district in some way, then separate from that, as a board, we're also recognize that the work that you do is important. And there's more and more evidence about the impact of the work of boards, and how you can have a positive impact on student achievement. So we also then want to take some time and think about you and your governance processes. How can we get better at our governance work? So we will talk about goals then to do that, with the main thing that separates the two is that board goals, all of the tasks to complete the goals have to be within the purview of the board have to be the board's work. So we'll talk about them What are those things to move the district forward? And then how can we as a board, improve our own process, ease and support that work? So having said that, gonna move forward now. So we'll advance the slide, please. Thank you. So this was last. So these are the strategic plan goals, like I said, they were developed in 2018. And one of the things that, you know, we'll see is that the goals are somewhat broad in nature they're intended to be, and then there is an actual plan behind these goals. That, you know, we'll talk about the accomplishment over a five year period. So one of the things so last year, what we decided as a group then was it was close enough to the development of the strategic plan to keep these just keep these strategic plan goals as the district goals, and we could take the action steps on the strategic plan and, and use whatever action steps were identified for last year, then to be what we would hold the superintendent accountable for the district goals. So now what we're finding is that you know, here we are now In a very different place than 2018 when we put this plan together, but as we look at the goals, I think you'll see that the goal statements themselves, probably still speak to even just in the little bit that I heard, you know, being on this meeting, still speaking to some of the priorities and things that you're discussing. But perhaps the action steps under the goals or how we're going to accomplish them might be different, or, you know, will be different this year than, than what was in the plan in 2018. So just wanted to have the board look at these goals as kind of the start of the discussion. And kind of, I guess, see if we are in agreement, that these goals do still capture the direction we want to go in. But perhaps then we need to have a conversation about what are some of the things that we would like to see happening under each one of these goals, to make sure that we capture where we are in, you know, in the 2020 20 2021 school year. So just want to take your eye and get some thoughts and feedback from the board.
cago
Mr. Walker had his hand up first and then you can go.
I just want to say i think that i think the goals generally
are in line with where we're at overall, the only comment I have is on the future ready financial facilities and technology resources. It'd be great for us to amend this to say something along the lines of create a safe, healthy and secure learning environment equipped to deliver curriculum and programs slash resources, that best equipment, equip all students to succeed. I think, you know, just recognizing the time that we're in in the situation that we're in highlighting the health issues that are out there, I think we should be. We should be upfront with that just just codified it. Okay.
Just have to sign up before I turn the floor over to myself. burger burgers question. Miss Pearson. Should I Are you taking notes for this? Or am I?
Okay, just making sure. Yeah.
Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Charlene. It's so good to see you. And may I say I would put this board of Education's record on student achievement and hold child up against any other district in the state. And you're looking at the goals from 2018. Last year, there was a lot of action on this board Charlene would have been completely impressed. But that was only the passionate but it was incremental. It was going, if it wasn't for this virus, you would just be spectacular. The achievements that we had, and that's what really hurts, you know, as a board member here is that last year, we didn't have a lot of even having a new board members. We had just nine people with experience and we achieved it. We did it and there's the proof that we pass cute that for the first time in 15 years and assigned to us Every school building, thank you very proud to be a part of that.
That's wonderful. is
are you taking suggestions for what specific goals we might want to accomplish?
wherever we're taking, I guess, looking at these, you know, they're these are all part of this strategic plan. So things are going to be worked on and all of those all of these goals. So if there's things like the like, just the wording example that was, you know, recently provided, or if there are action steps under these goals, that's saying now, in this particular goal, this is something I think needs to be a focus for this year, that may not have been considered in 2018 on the TOEFL put together.
Thank you. Yes, one. I think it's the whole child student achievement. We we were on our way to developing more CTE programs. And that was a big one that got derailed by everything that happened last year. But given the education situation where we really need to work hard on getting more CD's practical education, I guess is what I'm looking at not not only to all things students so they can go to college or to offer career choices. And I think the CTE offered ways to do that. So I'd like to see something specific or maybe even despite the situation that we're in, if we can enhance or develop RCTs offer students more possibilities, that would be good.
Cream. Thank you. Can I just ask guys while somebody is talking because I'm here at my end, like the person who is talking so if you could just keep yourselves muted until it's your turn. That would be greatly appreciated because I'm probably annoying the people that are watching on TV to hear that feedback. I believe I'm Mr. Heller.
Thank you President Fishman. I certainly would like to echo what Mr. Morris and Mr. Walker have said, I believe that the future ready as a term was piggybacking on something that
certainly
has taken a bit of a hiatus even as New Jersey school boards is trying to, to maybe find what the next incarnation of future ready is. So I i think that that terminology needs to be revisited. The, the idea of CTE ease was part of a discussion that we had with regard to what should be the optimal structure for the administration. There were a couple pieces associated with that, and I certainly wouldn't want us to lose sight of those involved personnel. But it also involved a change in how the the administration and the board envision that data could help inform its decision making. And while I think we all subscribe to the idea that that was something that we wanted to pursue, the actual follow through on that has not necessarily occurred. And so I'd like to see data driven decision making be part of what what helps us understand student achievement provides evidence of student achievement allows us to pursue new areas of student achievement, whether it's portfolio based assessment or performance assessment or project based learning there any of us have a number of P acronyms that we can come up with it. Those are the kinds of things that we should be doing with regard to student achievement.
Sorry, I forgot to unmute Miss Rogers.
Yes, I just want to also dress I'm understaffed resources to attract and retain the best and brightest staff to reflect our diverse community. I'm excited to see what progress can be made. Now that the new contracts been signed, and hopefully being more competitive, we will be able to improve in that area. We won't have to perhaps some of the surrounding towns in Essex County versus what they offer their first year teachers cetera. Because I know that's been one of the struggles with trying to bring in the most points FIDE but yet to increase our level of diversity amongst the ranks of our teaching staff,
Mr. Heller
Thank you, Miss Rogers for for bringing that up. I agree. You know, one way that I think we could do this and it, it would be an easy item to lump under a district goal for the administration is for them to provide a profile of what our teaching staff is like, in the district. And I think as a board we have even talked about what does it mean to be an applicant in this district and how, how do you find out what Bloomfield is about what is the process that you go through when you're an applicant? I think Mr. to totally was gonna, that was like the one administration presentation One that qualified towards our certified board status that never actually made it to the docket probably because we have sufficient qualifying units to get us to that certification level. But I still think it's an important thing for us to consider under as evidence of our commitment and, and reaching. Reaching the goals that we've set out for diversity and inclusion within the teaching ranks.
Well, I think as we continue on our board training, Mr. Howe, how are we can get a look inside Mr. to totally up to come back with that one. Mr. Flores and Mr. g. You can inform him of that.
We'll do
one more, I guess, for the community, community and communication. I think it would be good if we has some plan to let board members know keep board members informed as to what's going on. Particularly if we don't have a meeting and in a week it's difficult for board members to know what's happening. And it's good because if something happens that the community lets us know about before the administration or board leadership, it's a little bit embarrassing. So it would be good to just maintain or improve upon our communication. And frankly, a platform could just be an email, maybe on a Friday or a weekly email saying what's going on or what the updates are and if you don't want to be tied down to an email, perhaps, phone tree work. Thank you.
Mr. Walker.
I just want to follow up on Mr. Moore. versus comment, because I think that there's, I think one of the challenges of being a publicly elected board member in today's environment is that we are barraged with Communications at a lot of different levels between individual communication between the nine of us communication with the administration, communication with committees, communication with the public munication with our own children's teachers and and other, you know, other folks in districts. And I think one area that I think that we struggle as a board is actually managing that communication effectively to to Ben's comment, but also also filtering it in a way that's productive. And I think one thing that would be helpful for us moving forward And surely and maybe there's some guidance that you could provide to us in this area is, is, is trying to establish some norms in terms of how when, where things should be communicated what a reasonable expectation is. And, you know, I know for myself and I know for many of us, or responsibilities can bleed well beyond the work day well beyond the work week, and are really at times heavy burdens appropriately, and at times, not necessarily appropriately heavy burden. So it would be helpful, I think, for all of us to maybe look for an opportunity right now to to consider how we reset our communication expectations. And look at that as a group rather than our own individual expectations.
Too bad maybe Kind of also leaned into a board goal. Yeah, that might be something that the board might want to work on as one of its goals. Agreed.
Okay, was there anything else with respect to the district goals or any other thoughts to be added to those?
Okay, I will
type all this up and get back to you with these changes. I'm still recognizing that for the most part, the goals you know, will remain as they are written except the one where we're adding the word about healthy and then I will, you know, make note of all of the kind of action items that we would like to see that you know, included in the action steps for this year for these goals.
And we're ready to move on to board goals. Then.
Yes, please. Okay, so we can go ahead and skip through this slide. And this was just a sample of kind of, like I said, if we determined the watch, this is a sample of what an action plan might look like then to show us the how. So once we have the goals established, then we should look said understand what steps who's going to be responsible, what resources are needed, what the timeline might look like? And then importantly, how would we as a board, how is the community you know, what are the indicators of success? How will we know what kind of progress we're making? And so then the next piece, like I said, are the board goals and again, the difference is that all the tasks to complete the goal must be within the board's purview. So as a board we look at things that are important to us like what we just discussed, we will look at last year's goals, but as a board we will also come pleated the board self evaluation in March. So I also went through it and you know, found some items that as a group, you know, were identified as things that you might want to give more focus or attention to for your consideration as well. So if we can move forward, then we'll look at what last year's goals were. So last year, the board set three goals for itself. And the first one when we talked about it a little bit was your training goal. And you looked at training not only you as individual board members, but also the importance of training together as a full board so that you have you know, the common understanding and you know, the board wanted to achieve certification and, you know, pleased and proud to say that the board did accomplish that goal. And we still have your plaque sitting on my desk and Trenton's so hopefully, they'll have the opportunity to present it to you at some point and it can hang probably and your board Office.
Sorry, did we do? I'm sorry, Charlene, how did we do on in terms of individual board member training was there? Can you report out how many units were accomplished by the board as a whole?
So I don't have yet I could get them. I don't have that for you tonight. I know that at least one member, you know, receive certified board Leader Award. But I was just going to mention the fact that, you know, as a group, I think that you have taken an interest or kind of avail yourself of the fact of a lot more online training. And so the opportunity for you as a group team, as individuals to be able to take more training and aboard has really stepped up and taken advantage of that opportunity. I see a lot of you signed up for a lot of the trainings, even working toward future certifications, knowing that you can be taking the trainings now to accomplish And then also the board has been active on a county level in terms of the individual board members as well. So I think as a group, you have pretty much, you know, kind of span the gamut of what can you do individually? What can you do as a board together? And how can you help work together with your fellow board members in the county to advance the work that you're doing?
And also, I think, guys, we're one of the few boards that also has representation representation, both at the county and the state level, based on certain things. Yes. We're not only active in our own board here, but we're active in our county in our state as well. So kudos to everybody for doing their own individual part, and then coming together and getting us that certification as a board and now we're working toward the next one. Right, Charlie?
Oh, that was that was going to be my next question. So the the next level of certification a board can achieve The master board. So that requires an additional 10 hours of training together over a two year period with at least seven of the nine board members present. And while it doesn't seem like it would be that complicated to do that, with the the master board certification has been around now for about 15 years. And out of the 608 however many boards there are, there's only about under 14 boards that have achieved that certification. So it is considered, you know, kind of a prestigious way to help you know, solidify the work that you're doing as a group. So I was going to ask or hope that as a board that you would want to continue this training to work toward that certification.
Can we do a quick straw poll guys? Is everyone a thumbs up or a yes that we want to work toward this goal?
Can I make a comment before we strawpoll Yeah. I just I just want to highlight I appreciate the certifications. And I think it's important that we continue to train as a board. But I do want to highlight the continued commitment of the nine of us. And I just, I know for myself, I, the the number of hours involved in board work, certainly this year has been really significant. And I just, I gotta say, for myself, I don't know how sustainable that is long term. I think it's I think it's important for us to set expectations that are realistic. And I think in a moment in time when we're addressing trying to come back to school, put it putting the putting the priority of additional board training. I'm not saying we're putting it above the other work of the board, but I think it's I don't know that it's responsible for us to make that a major priority in this calendar year, maybe in a future calendar year after we get through COVID. And some other things I know for myself, I'm, I'm personally at almost at the limit of what I can give in terms of time. So just highlight that as as an individual.
I think that we can what we have done like we have done in this year, Ralph is to tack it on to an already board meeting, not try and make new board meetings unless absolutely necessary. And it's over, right, Surely it's over two years. So it's not trying to spend hours into the next calendar year. So over the next two years, if you average five a year, and that's basically kind of what we're already doing, in terms of having Charlene come in that that amount of times and with our strategic plan over the next couple of years, it's going to have to be updated. You're already having those in there. So it's not like you're scheduling new ones just to train. It's stuff that we're already doing. And like Michael said, and Nick being able to qualify us for one, that's something that we had on our agenda to learn about might be able to without putting people over the edge and trying to add more days away from your family, just by doing a simple training that's already attached to a board meeting over the next two years. It's not it won't be as daunting of a task as you think.
And tonight, I increase my
Dad, I'm sorry.
I just said that tonight even would count.
I appreciate that. And I and I'm just going to read a really reiterate for myself that I've heard that comment before. With all due respect, Gil of won't be such a big deal to be on the negotiating committee. It won't be such a big deal to move over to virtual learning. It won't be such a big deal to do some of these things. It's a lot of time and it's a lot of work and and it's not it's good work. So I'm I'm all for encouraging I just want to be realistic with all of our own individual expectations. That's finally
duly noted. I think we did have a thumbs up, though Charlene to, to work toward continuing our training and hopefully getting that next level of certification and becoming an elite board. one of only a handful in the state. So
sorry, I won't interrupt you. Good.
Question, Charlene. What is what would the expectation be if we were to get a Master's certificate certification on student achievement? What will be what would we be able to expect?
So this particular certification is just geared toward board training is so not a specific topic or a specific so as important you can identify topics that you would be interested in receiving training on. So if you wanted some of those 10 hours to be on student achievement, that would be your You were your choice to select those topics if the intent is more the focus on you as a group training together as a group and having shared learning experiences about things that are important to you as a board.
Okay, got it. Does the njsba have a list that you could pass around for what our options are?
Yes, we do. And you're also able to, you know, kind of customize it to your needs as well.
Okay, great. That sounds good. Thank you.
May I ask a question president Fishman Please answer?
A surely and Can I ask you when you brought up the number of of the double certified boards can ask, do you have any inclination on how many certified board leaders there are in the state and how many master board members there are
I do not know the number of That I can get them in, you know, send it to you. But I don't know off the top of my head. Now, I mean that the certified board leader is fairly new probably within the last five years or something. It was its certification that we added. I'm not that long ago. So I'm sure there's a high number of those, but I can get you these specific numbers. Thank you.
Okay, so we'll move on to the next golden that was talking about whoops, no, go back to the sorry, you can go back to the previous Thank you. So the other board goal was to continue, continue to practice fiscal responsibility and ensure communication of the budget to the district stakeholders. So I know as a group, you have talked about the fiscally responsible budget that you put together. I heard you mentioned tonight about some of the reductions that you have from the stage and also the some of the unfunded costs that you have had to work around to make sure that your students get the education that they deserve. So I didn't know if he wanted to continue a fiscal goal or if there was something different about this particular goal that you want to change, or
Mr. Walker,
I personally, I think this is a very strong goal, and we were able to be very successful at it last year, and I think we should continue.
Everyone else in agreement with that? Yes. Well, that's something to keep in mind. Also, when we start
working on budgets for upcoming years.
I would say one goal could be to have the public vote on the budget that would ultimately increase our communication with the public, but that might be a strong one. I don't know.
Okay, so then it's off. So the board also has Communication goal to enhance communication and engagement with the community. So you mentioned you know, the your website, some of the social media ways that the board is, you know, that the district has now communicating and some of the input in like the road back plan and the communications that have taken place with the community. And there was also an I think, on the next slide I mentioned, one of the things that also came out of the board self evaluation and you talked about a little bit tonight is perhaps looking at communication not only with the community, but there was mention of like board to board communication, board to administration, communication and board community communication. So as you look at your communication goal, considering that input, you might want to consider expanding it from just communication with the community and perhaps like I said, either board to board board from ministration adding those in there as well.
So If I got hurt
Can you please notate in quotations? No surprises. Thank you.
Mr. Berger, can you kindly just
not
interrupt when Mr. Hiller was asking first
if snow momella it
was fine I seated because all I did was Wait, but I didn't speak up.
I I really like
the the communication goal with the community. I think that some of our social media presence has really been successful, has been recognized that the one that I think we could almost stand to go back to, and I'm not, you know, I would leave it the modality to this specific method to the administration, but I do think that there, there was, there were two articles that were written by the day district in one of our town newspapers, it's the only town newspaper that still exists. One was written by the superintendent, one was written by the assistant superintendent at the time. And I, I heard a lot of great feedback about those articles. And I think that that's a way to reach other people in the community who have a vested interest in what's happening in our schools. But may me maybe they're just not as social media plugged in. I think that as a board, we could we could do the same kind of thing. We we have our our board meetings, President reports, how we all report out the good things that are happening across the state, the various organizations that we may be affiliated with, but maybe maybe if we
had,
I don't know, I'd call it a blog session. The section on the The district website or the newspaper article, I see Mr. Walker saying this is additional work. And I'm not quite sure who would do it. But it if it's something that that we would want to pursue, I'm sure we could figure out a way to equitably spread the work across all of us.
I'd like to just add something if I may.
Now, during the h&s homeschool meetings at Brookdale, I had a few parents that were volunteering their time to serve on some, I guess it'd be like a cross committee with some board members and community members. And it never really came to fruition. And, you know, once again, not sure how that how we were going to approach that were people going to rotate from the board and then as Mr. Walker shaking his head already, about, you know, having the time to come To that, or maybe still have something like that, but now that we're utilizing all the virtual stuff, maybe zoom with some board members and community members could also be something to consider.
Okay, is there any other comments or thoughts about these three goals from last year? Okay, so it sounds like I support them. You know, these are we're interested in continuing these. Is there anything that you don't see that's here that you also think needs to be a focus of the board goal, or do we think that we're good with just continuing these three goals but recognizing then some of the things we talked about as ways to accomplish these goals will be somewhat different than what's up here from you know what we did?
So I hate to add a fourth goal, but This is the ribbon gets in the way and you can't see people's faces. Sorry if I cut you off Mr. Walker, but I think we have the strategic plan process in place. And we have a committee associated with that. There is likely to be activity associated with reopening relaunching remediating, when when schools come back in the session, I would I would really like to see a fourth committee, maybe even speaking to what a fourth goal maybe even speaking to what you had brought up earlier, Miss Peterson, about board member to board member communication, or the opportunity for board members to have substantive deliberative conversations. Call it a workshop meeting. Where, where you can do some forward thinking planning kinds of things, identify what the aspirations are for, for, for our district, but they wouldn't be regular board meetings where action would take place, it would just be a throwing out of ideas. There might be like a reading component that would inform the conversation. That so it's, I know it's something that that I that I've mentioned at different times and and I think it's something that we that we all think that we need to have more conversations as a board about where we are where we want to go in the long term. I just at 910 at night after a long first day of full virtual school. And a recovering from what was too short a weekend. I'm probably not as eloquent about this as I'd like to be.
What Mr. Hiller is basically saying is that he wants the opportunity for the board to function as a whole. And so it has to work into this area that we keep our for by committee, but sometimes have the opportunity to have discussions about things as a board as a whole. The problem with that air, the things that need to be discussed as a board in the hole aren't necessarily ripe for discussion in public just yet. So I don't know. We can do board members and four members and have it done that way but, or for changing, wanting to change from going from a board to a committee to more of a whole but I'm not so sure that that's something that we want to undertake at this moment in time. So if you have suggestions how we as a board can have conversations that may not be right for public, but don't necessarily fall under executive privilege. Or what should be said in like a work session kind of meeting if they wanted to have one every so often, but not a regularly standing meeting, Ralph, is she going to shake? You said no, because I would add another meeting. That kind of thought process it doesn't need to be answered right now, but just something for thought. And I believe Mr. Walker is going to kill me because I just suggested perhaps adding a meeting, but, um,
I go ahead and Ralph sorry.
Okay. I appreciate that everybody's willing to put the work in and and I don't want you to feel like I'm not so the I appreciate Mr. Heller's comment, and I think it's it's a reasonable one to consider. I think the one thing that I see missing in last year's board goals is really a timeliness issue related to equity. I think we would be remiss if we didn't take recognition of the moment that we're living in right now. With the things that have been happening with the Black Lives Matter move As well as the things that are happening with COVID and equity issues with people who are losing their jobs having significant changes in their economic status. You know, we we live in a district that is blessed with its diversity. And it's range of individuals across ethnicity, but also across socio economic class. And I think that as a board that creates some of the challenges that we have and create some of the challenges that we have in in district. So I personally would like to see some some focus on those issues of equity and and how we as a board can can work effectively to improve equity, open up conversations around equity within our district and build off of some of the work that's happening in the community with some of the you know, there been ongoing, some ongoing marches. There have been some ongoing discussions at a community level. We've had conversations about bringing in Dr. Lasseter, it's clearly bubbling up. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry. That's clearly bubbling up in a way that is organic, but i think i think it I think it deserves focus and deserves some level of, you know, pointedness from us as a group. I'm not sure how to articulate that as a goal specifically, but I just want to highlight it as a as an ongoing issue.
Okay, is the rest of the board in agreement that that should be a goal or a focus area for the board?
May I say something? Go
ahead. Mr. Berger, I think that this board's equity wins are epic last year, and When you when you go when you log on to the New Jersey school boards website, the first thing you see is the furtherance of student achievement. And that's where the equity winds are here. Charlene, we've gotten the grades up 10%. For our struggling subgroups, we are fantastic. We need to get the word out there we pass q sack. The only way you can do that is if underperforming students are doing better. When Of course there's many other equity issues that we could solve, but we're also the board that cut up the bus fees. We are right there. I feel that we are connected to equity. There are of course things that we could do, but we have been doing them as well.
So So Shane, maybe maybe I think that's a great point. And I'm glad you brought up the issue of the bus fees may be a way to address this would be for us in one of Michael's suggested working sessions have a have kind of a working session that is equity focused. And we have we have kind of a four quadrant review of the equity issues. From a curriculum standpoint, from a financial standpoint, you know, from a building standpoint, all those kinds of things because I think I think your points really well taken chain in terms of we are we are having these discussions and continuing to bring them back. But I think putting them all on the table in, in a workshop environment might be the way to figure out which things are going to be most effective and what we can really achieve as a group.
I think this is more for how we want to move forward in terms of putting certain things into our board agenda rather than a board goal as a whole. Um, that's one specific concern. That still falls under communication in terms of equity and things like that, but I'm not sure that I don't know how to say it. Sorry, guys, my brain is starting to get fried at 915 doing this for 12 hours. I'm more so as a board that we as a board needs to focus on how we want to handle the discussion of equity and not necessarily as a bowl, a board goal, um, but it falls under the umbrella of our communication as a whole.
Okay, I think the group seems in agreement, right? That that's an important concept, but rather than it being a separate goal, you will find a way to kind of highlight it in the work that you're doing.
Yes.
Hang in there guys. We're almost done.
My board members are fading fast and I'm not there to give them a little bit of candy or something to give A little sugar lift. So hang in there, guys, we're almost done.
So I think we are done right. I think that we have talked about what the board priorities need to be for this year. So I don't know that there's anything more that needs to be added. Right.
Okay. You're getting smiles. They like the sound of that.
Okay, let's go there. So let's move to the next slide, please. So these are just some of the things I think we've already talked about it. You had brought up in the board self evaluation, we talked about data monitoring, we talked about, again, my progress on the strategic plan. We talked about parental and community involvement. And we've talked about enhancing communication. So I think most of the things that came up in the board self evaluation just came up naturally in the discussion that we just had. So we'll move forward to the next slide please. We already talked about what the board goals will be. So just kind of as the next and final step. So you No, it is important. And once we have our like a setup type all this up, get back to you. So once it's in a format that the board would like that you should, you know, formally approve both the district and the board goals. So that it is clear to everyone what these goals are for this year. Like I said, the administration develops the action plans for the district goals as to how, as a board, you should identify some steps or things that you would like to carry out to further your goals. And then it's important, you know, as much as we say that the administration should have periodic progress report, reporting out on the status of the district goals. It's also important for you as a board to hold yourself accountable, and also report out on the progress of miracles that save some time in maybe a couple times a year in your meetings, to give a group update a public update as to how you know how you're doing on your goals and some of the things that you have Been accomplishing and working on. Um, so that was all that I had for this process list anyway.
I think that this is the most exciting of the slides because I think I quipped when it came to board goals, and doing the board's self self evaluation that we had not reported out on our progress towards district goals or board goals before we were actually filling out our own. So so we didn't have a global periodic update as to how we were doing in both of these before we were actually doing the self evaluation for the for the board goals. I think that this is great. September and October will be very, very heavy months. November will be a very, very heavy month as well. But maybe this is a really good one that we can Try to shoot for in December for both the administration and and the board to report out on these
at our December meeting
Okay, good. Is there anything else? And thank you. Yep, that's a very good suggestion. Anything else?
I think we're done right.
board members were smiling No, no offense you miss Peterson. ashamed to do so much. Hey for everyone we appreciate you once again stopping by and being part of our, our Bengal family. We got to be here so often. We're going to do a membership status here. And we will have the back again soon. To make sure that we continue our board training. board members wake up here we go. This is your favorite time of the board meeting is number 13 on your agenda.
It is called an Gentleman may have a motion please.
They'll fight over that one. pick your poison there. misko. And can I have a second? Second? Second. There's one that one favor.
Thank you everyone. Have a great night. We'll see you again.