At the Board of Education last evening on October 20, 2021, the Board and Dr. Nagy recognized all those who served in our districts for many years and who have announced their retirements and who are on the agenda tonight for approval. We wish them good health and happiness in their new endeavors and thank them for their service to our students and districts.

Starting next month, the Board will convene in public for the monthly meetings at a location to be determined and reflective of being socially distanced, masked and following CDC and BDOH protocols. 

Board Districts have partnered with the BCDOH to have staff and students have access to be Covid-19 tested at a local county facility.  A communication was sent to our parents and staff at no cost to them. 

Based on requests from parents that they felt as though our two districts were overcommunicating via letters each day of positive Covid-19 cases and contact tracing with approval of the County Executive Superintendent, both Districts created a graphic and dashboard on our district websites to capture the cases on each campus on a week by week basis. If there is need for close contact notification, our district contact tracer would notify the family or staff member as part of the contact tracing process. If individuals are not contacted, they are not considered a close contact.

Dr. English provided her annual presentation of the Districts’ overall results of our achievement over the past year at BCIT and overview of progress made at BCSSSD and related ongoing interventions.

The first reading of 3 new policies on the agenda this evening are being tabled for further revisions and will be voted upon next month.

The following are highlights for the past month of activities and accomplishments of students and staff on the various campuses:

• This month we recognized our principals and administrators who have valiantly worked together with our educators to do some of the impossible in a pandemic environment. We are grateful to them for their steadfast dedication and leadership. We also want to thank our therapists whose support of our students enables them to work at the very best levels. Also across our campuses this month, staff are engaging students in classroom activities such as the creation of inspirational posters, sharing respect quotes, celebrating Crazy Mask Day, Pledging to Stop Bullying, Peace Day, Empathy Day, Wear Blue Campaign, while participating in virtual programs and unity activities to promote staff and student unity and celebration of diversity such as wearing special apparel to bring awareness to diversity as well as an appreciation for the history of LGBT which is celebrated this month.
• The BCIT administration and guidance department has focused on student and staff wellness. Throughout the year, Laura Reigelsperger and her team will coordinate and facilitate various activities designed to support students & staff. Thank you for a great job.
• As of yesterday, a special collaborative project between BCIT and BCSSSD came to a conclusion.  The BCIT CTE programs joined together under the leadership of CTE diesel technology instructor Dan Hagaman to rebuild the BCSSSD parade float which is used throughout the year to support and transport our Special Services Band in parades and special events. This is the power of working together as a team to benefit other students and students helping students.  This float will be used for the local Halloween Parade at the end of the month and we will have a special ribbon cutting ceremony after the teacher’s convention.

• The Week of Respect was celebrated with a focus on tolerance, respect and awareness of the power of celebrating our differences and working together. Messages throughout the Red Ribbon Week which is at the end of the month, are designed to promote a Drug Free environment while other activities underscore the importance of being mindful to support efforts for anti-bullying, anti-school violence and anti-dating violence activities while spotlighting the importance of acts of kindness and just being nice to one another. A select number of activities among others such as Wear Red Day, Team Up Against Drugs, STOP, Mask UP, Pride Day and Post it Notes of kindness Day are planned this month.

• Discovery Night is scheduled for October 21st on both campuses of BCIT and will be in person and all attendees must be pre-registered. Families of prospective students are registered to see the value of a CTE education. To date, we have over 680 students pre-registered for the event. Safety procedures are in place. Dr. Nagy and district administrators will be in attendance on both campuses.

• The Staff Equity Champions turn-keyed professional development for their colleagues on the topic of Growth Mindset on October 13th and will facilitate professional development on the topic of Culturally Responsive Practices on October 22nd. The champions also participated in continuing training in preparation for future PD. 

• Student Equity Champions participated in team building activities with Cool Speak. The students are preparing for opportunities to lead student groups.

• BCIT is in the application process for the NJDOE Grant for Career & Technical Schools with an eye on building a new building for the Transportation, Logistics & distribution CTE and renovating various CTE facilities to comply with new industry standards.

• The BCIT Admissions Department is now officially accepting applications for the 2021-2022 school year. Applications can be submitted online on our website under the admissions tab. We have received 64 applications submitted and 50 in-progress. It’s a great start!
• BCIT has launched three new programs this year and is part of the exploratory process. We are excited to add Cyber Security, Warehouse Management as part of Transportation, Logistics and Distribution and Marine Mechanics.
• Our Business Partner PAC Dinner will be held on November 16^th and we will honor once again our Business Partner of the Year and Alumni.
• We look forward to hosting the Construction Technology and Apprenticeship Expo on the West campus from 9am-12noon on November 10^th 
• Our Adult Education Program is seeing great interest in the Federal Financial Aid process. This is exciting an bodes well for future opportunities for our adult students.