I hope that this update finds each of you enjoying a wonderful summer recess. Summer allows us to spend some more time with family and friends, enjoying the sun, longer days, warmer weather, and cool summer evening breezes. It really is a special time of the year.

We have been extremely busy during the first part of the summer in the Butler School District. You will be able to catch up on many of the important aspects of all that has taken place to date, as well as what is yet to come, as you read through this newsletter. While it may be hard to believe, we are only a few short weeks away from welcoming the students back, and I know I speak for everyone when I say that we cannot wait!

We are excited to welcome our students back in September. As a reminder, the first day of school for students is Thursday, September 5th. Also, please remember, September 5th and 6th are early dismissal days - please plan accordingly.

Thank you for taking some time away from your summer to catch up on the exciting updates and news shared herein. I am looking forward to seeing everyone very soon.

Dr. J.

We have had a busy summer as we have worked on varied projects all related to the referendum that you, as a learning community, voted to approve. I wanted to thank you all once again for demonstrating support for and confidence in our district with your approval, as it will work to make our facilities better for all students and families.

During this summer, we have worked on the following projects, which are slated for completion by the start of the school year:

• We have worked to update the lockers in the high school and middle school. During the construction, we found items that dated back to the 1940's that had fallen behind the older lockers that were in the schools, particularly the high school. These new lockers will allow our students to have safe, secure spaces to keep their personal items during the course of the day. In addition, they have updated the appearance of both schools, working to make the educational environment more inviting for all.

• We have begun the construction of the new visitor vestibules at Aaron Decker Elementary School and Richard Butler Middle School. The construction of these vestibules adds an additional layer of security to these schools. Of note, the high school will also have a new visitor vestibule, which is part of the plan for the addition and will be completed at a later date. The vestibules at ADS and RBS will have our visitor management system in the lobby itself, and all visitors will be required to sign in through that system prior to entering the office area. By design, no visitor will gain entrance into the school itself - the vestibules will have visitors enter into the front office only. From there, if a visitor needs to travel through the school, they will be escorted. We are excited to have included this enhanced safety measure into our schools.

• We have worked on the new drop off lane at Aaron Decker Elementary School. The purpose of this was to increase the safety of drop-off and pick-up at that school. The prior design asked families to make a turn on a bad part of the road that included some blind spots - the new turn in allows for a clearer line of sight for cars. In addition, it will work to get cars off of the road, in the hopes of stopping some of the decisions that motorists have made in the past to pass cars that are waiting on the wrong side of the road, which increased the chance of an accident to occur. We are also pleased that an unintended affect was that it enhanced the appeal of the front of the Aaron Decker facility.

• The upgrades the the restrooms at BHS and RBS have also been in full swing. Through these upgrades, we have been able to accomplish a number of things, including, but not limited to: enhanced ADA compliance allowing better access to the facilities for all members of our learning community; enhanced safety through new lighting, new fixtures, and new epoxy floors; and, of course, the visual appeal has been greatly enhanced.

• The BHS Gym renovations have been coming along, and the gym looks tremendous. As we did with the turf project, we have worked to ensure that our pride in being Bulldogs and pride in the Blue and Gold were represented in every detail. We have redone the floor, fixing the "dead" spots in the older hardwood; the bleachers have been replaced addressing the safety concerns that existed with our prior bleachers, as well as making the facility ADA compliant for all members of our learning community; the backboards have been replaced and stantions have been fixed to enhance the safety and operations of those; and the new mats are being produced now for installation to enhance the safety of the area for our athletes as they compete.

In addition to the aforementioned projects, we have also begun work on the largest project within the referendum - the Butler High School Addition. Our intention with the addition was to connect the different buildings on the campus. Through this, we are able to secure the school, students no longer need to travel outside, doors are no longer opened throughout the day increasing the chance of people gaining access to the school, and a visitor vestibule will be constructed. Once completed, all entrance and exit from the building will be through the new front entrance, allowing a central, easily identifiable means of entrance for all members of the learning community. We will then also be able to add all of the school administrative offices near the entrance, as well as relocate the counselors. This, too, will cut down on visitors traveling in areas with students, increasing the safety of all involved. This summer, we have focused on the following aspects of the construction:

• We have started work on the new elevator in the lobby
• We have begun to restructure the media center, closing the existing windows to make the wall for the new hallways that will run adjacent to that area
• We have worked on the demolition of the old footings that will no longer be needed to make room for the new footings for the addition
• We have begun the process of adding a new exit for the auditorium which will be at the front of the facility, replacing the one that was at the rear of the building
• We have worked on the process to plan all of the electrical, technical infrastructure, gas lines, etc. in preparation for the new HVAC, continued heating through our newer boilers, etc.

The priority at this point is to work to get the footers in place for the construction of the frame of the new addition. Furthermore, we are working to restore all of the interior finishes that were left from the installation of new walls in areas that had windows/doors in order to make the school function as a successful educational environment despite the construction that will be going on outside of the current facility.

We have also worked to plan out student safety measures during the construction. The following is important to note as changes for the 2024-2025 school year:

• The senior parking lot will not be available this school year - senior student drivers will be asked to park in the spaces available at the rec center at Memorial Field during this school year. Once those spots have been filled, they will have the street parking that has been used in prior years
• Students will enter and exit the school either through the side doors on the science wing side of the main building, the door in the front of the main building, the door on the side of the Arts Building near the band room, and/or the door near the gymnasium. All other doors will not be used, nor will students have access. Please work to plan accordingly.
• We have constructed a temporary construction fence around the courtyard, as the courtyard will be a staging area for the construction. Students will leave the main building from the science wing doors if they need to travel to the Art Building. We have sectioned off a walkway in the parking lot for student passage, which will be through that walkway and in front of the Annex Building to the Arts Building. Students should not walk through the parking lot during the school day to get to the. Arts Building.
• The drive way in the back of the high school is now a ONE WAY passage - cars should enter on the Hasbrouck side of the high school and exit on the Belleview side. Arrows have been painted on the lot and signage has been put up. All visitors are expected to follow this traffic pattern for the increased safety of passage through that drive.

This past July, the Butler School District once again hosted a successful summer enrichment program under the guidance of Mr. Hall and our tremendous staff. This summer, we offered enrichment camps for STEAM, Art, Games in the Gym, and Drama. The culmination of the three weeks was the production of Aladdin by the students in our Drama Enrichment Camp, which was just tremendous!

This program was started four years ago as a way to offer enrichment in both activities and academics in response to the pandemic. Over the years, we have continued to have success with the program; however, the grant money that has been used to help fund the program is no longer available. This year, we had to include a nominal fee to meet the financial obligations of the program. In order to maintain these programs in the future, we would need to charge students a full fee for participation. To help us with our planning, we ask that you please indicate below if you would be willing to pay approximately $50.00 for your child to attend our programs in the future. The fee would be used to compensate staff for their time over the summer - the school district would not profit from these programs, as we believe that they are beneficial to our children.

As a reminder, please see the school year calendar below. This has been posted on our website as well. Please also work to check the calendar on our website, as it includes a listing of the many great events that we have planned throughout the course of the school year.

Please use the following links for your child's schedule(s) for this school year.

PLEASE NOTE - the Butler School District will now operate with a two (2) hour delay schedule. In the past, delayed openings had been an hour and a half (1 1/2) - this change will allow for more time for students to make their way safely to school during inclement weather events.

Please see schedules below:

Please see schedules below:

Please see schedules below:

Each year, your child participates in a number of assessments that are either mandated by the New Jersey Department of Education or are administered by the District to assist us in determining individual student educational levels. Each of these assessments also assist us in developing instructional practices and interventions that meet the needs of our students based on the data collected. Furthermore, these assessments assist us in revising our curricula so as to be certain we are providing our students with the best possible programs. This letter serves as information regarding the assessments your child will participate in during the course of the 2024-2025 school year.

The Butler School District takes the responsibility that we have in making sure that we provide safe, efficient, welcoming learning environments for students, staff, and families very seriously. As such, each year, we work to find ways to increase the aspects inherent in the most productive and safe school environments possible.

This year, in addition to the facility enhancements mentioned above, we have taken the following steps as part of our ongoing promise to the community:

• We have added an additional RPO to our school security team. All members of our school safety team are retired police officers. As such, they are also concealed carry professionals who work to assist administration in the safe operations of our schools. These individuals also work as liaisons with Butler Police, who we continue to have a strong relationship with.
• As mentioned, we continue to have a strong partnership with Butler Police. Each year, we work to plan together to form our Emergency Operations Plans, we meet to discuss our Memorandum of Agreement, we plan security drills, and BPD assist with police presence at arrival and dismissal times.
• We will be upgrading our visitor management systems during the 2024-2025 school system.

In addition to this, we also work to partner with the Morris County Sheriff's department on varied initiatives. Two years ago, the Butler School District was one of the first schools to introduce Behavioral Threat Assessment Management (BTAM) teams in response to the directive introduced into law by Governor Murphy. We started a year prior to many other school districts, as we take our responsibility for safety as a priority. We have worked over the past two years to solidify our BTAM processes, team training, implementation, and follow-through. This year, each school will also work to have a BTAM team as part of their overall operations, complimenting the District level team.

As part of this, we have worked with the Morris County Sheriff's department to introduce RSVP3 as our anonymous reporting process. RSVP-3 is a multi-disciplinary approach to identifying, evaluating and responding to threats to schools, houses of worship and other institutions. RSVP-3 involves the participation of Morris County schools, superintendents, mental health experts, police and emergency services personnel, with the U.S. Secret Service and Office of Homeland Security among the agencies that provided their expertise. The Morris County Sheriff’s Office has created RSVP-3 in to take a proactive stance on the issue of violence in schools. According to Sigma Threat Management Associates acts of targeted violence are rarely impulsive and secret. In fact, in 75% of cases, other people have known about planned acts of school violence before they occurred. It has been said that actual school shooters have reported that they wished friends or bystanders had told someone of their violent plans and stopped them before they carried them out. It is important to note that there is no accurate “profile” of someone who has the potential to be violent, however, according to Sigma, most violent offenders concerned the people around them prior to the act. Research proves that many school violence offenders had suicidal tendencies and were often the targets of harassment, bullying, and physical violence prior to turning to violence. In today’s world it is everyone’s responsibility to recognize, respond, and report anyone or anything that threatens their safety or the safety of others. Through this, any member of the community can work under the premise of "See Something - Say Something." We have included a link on our website to access the RSVP3 reporting system. In addition, anyone can download the RSVP3 app to their phones. Please see below for more information regarding RSVP3.

Please note - there has been a change in the required paperwork for physicals for participation in extra-curricular activities. If you have a student who has not yet completed their physical for the year, please see the link below for the required paperwork to take to your physician.

During the 24-25 school year, our school nurses will be conducting the following exams on all of our students; Heights, Weights, Blood Pressure, Vision, Hearing and Scoliosis

If you wish to have your student opt out of any of these exams please email the school nurse by September 9th.