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Actor Jamal Howard pitches Meta VR CTE pilot; board hears several vendor contracts including $51,200 TI training
Summary
Public commenter Jamal Howard proposed a Meta‑powered VR CTE and financial‑literacy program; administrators said assistant superintendents will follow up. Separately, the board reviewed vendor contracts including a $51,200 Texas Instruments contract for teacher training and supplemental calculators.
A visiting actor and community member, Jamal Howard, used the board’s public‑comment period to propose bringing a virtual‑reality career‑and‑technical‑education and financial‑literacy program to Elizabeth Public Schools through a partnership he described with Meta.
"I partnered with a company called Meta … we created a partnership and we found a way to teach kids financial literacy and also CTE programs," Howard said, and asked to meet with the superintendent and assistant superintendents to discuss piloting the program locally. The board asked assistant superintendent Finch Johnson to meet with Howard to explore next steps.
Separately during consent‑agenda and contract discussion, commissioners asked for details on multiple vendor agreements. On a Texas Instruments contract for graphing calculators and teacher training, the superintendent said the contract is for $51,200 and is intended to ensure teachers are trained and students have access to the required graphing calculators that are embedded in the curriculum and assessment preparation.
The superintendent also described the district’s ongoing relationship with the Children’s Literacy Initiative (a coaching model in K–5 classrooms since 2017), a multi‑year partnership with the Kimberly & Wilson Foundation for school‑based mental‑health programming (provided at no charge and targeted to selected schools), and a Visual Arts Center of New Jersey contract to support museum visits and arts integration.
Board members asked clarifying questions about which schools receive services, licensing for digital tools (Learning A–Z), and how vendors are selected; administrators described RFP processes, selection criteria and program alignment with curriculum goals. No formal votes were recorded on the vendor contracts at this meeting during the public presentation; most items were placed on the consent agenda for later approval.
