Interim superintendent reports 17 ITP incidents and outlines trainings and programs

Interim Superintendent Dr. Furnari presented the district's semiannual ITP report at the Nov. 21 Board of Education legislative meeting, covering Jan. 1–June 30, 2023 and explaining how the district categorizes "investigations," "trainings," and "programs" for state reporting.

Why it matters: The ITP submission is the district's regular mechanism for reporting alleged harassment, intimidation and bullying incidents and the district's prevention and response activities to the State Department of Education. The numbers help the board, families and state officials track trends and compliance.

Dr. Furnari said the district recorded 13 confirmed incidents and 4 unconfirmed incidents during the period for a total of 17 reports. He read school‑level counts into the record: three confirmed incidents at an elementary school (identified in the packet), eight confirmed incidents and two unconfirmed at the middle school (ten reports total), single confirmed incidents at Marshall Hill and Paradise Knoll, one non‑confirmed report at Maple Road, one non‑confirmed at UGL Elementary, and zero confirmed incidents reported at West Milford High School for the period. "So the data that I'm going to read to you this evening has to do with those 3 categories of investigation, training, and programming," he said.

Dr. Furnari also reported the district conducted 26 distinct training sessions during that timeframe and recorded 66 programs districtwide. He clarified that "training" refers to instruction or provisioning for staff, students, parents or community members and that a "program" is an organized event or system of activities meeting the State's definitions for reporting.

Board members asked clarifying questions about timelines and the timing of future reports; Dr. Furnari said the ITP report is submitted twice a year and that the next update will appear midyear. He emphasized the district is using training and programmatic work to support investigation follow‑ups and prevention efforts.

The board did not take formal action on the ITP numbers at this meeting; the report was presented for information and to satisfy required state reporting. The administration said the report will be posted to the district website and revisited at future board meetings.

Next steps: The board will receive the midyear ITP update in a subsequent meeting and the administration will post the submitted ITP report on the district website after Thanksgiving.