Daniel Hoffman, the student government president at Barnegat High School, described a student advisory committee plan to pilot a peer-to-peer mentorship program pairing roughly 75 juniors into mentor pairs responsible for cohorts of about 25 freshmen each. "Founding a peer to peer mentorship program is the best move forward," Hoffman said, explaining the model would embed mentors into freshmen homerooms to ease transition and identify students who need additional support.

Hoffman also outlined plans to re-purpose a high-school courtyard into a green space that could support hydroponics or farm-to-table programming tied to the school bistro, and noted other student initiatives including a blood drive with graduation-cord incentives and continued discussion of a finals opt-out policy.

Superintendent Dr. Latwits and instructional leaders led a data-harvest showcase with early-year assessment highlights: middle-school seventh-grade ELA has about 18% of students above grade level; ELA1 beginning proficiency rose from roughly 30% to 47% compared with the prior year; and Grade 4 ELA beginning-of-year measures showed approximately 70% proficiency on the district's beginning-of-year look. The superintendent encouraged board members to visit data-harvest tables and ask presenters for details.

Board members thanked the students and staff for the work. The district said more information on related events and parent opt-in/opt-out processes will be shared through normal communication channels.