001Good evening everyone. We're going to open the meeting now. Um, in accordance with the provisions. Nope. >> Give that one to I have an extra. Give that one to her. Uh, in accordance with the provisions of the OPIP public meetings act amended in 2006, the Asbury Park Board of Education has provided adequate notice of this meeting by sending a notice of the time, date, location, and to the extent no known the agenda of this meeting to the Asbury Park Press and the Coaster on January 7, 2026 via email. Copies of this notice have also been placed at the administrative building, bulletin board, district schools, Asbury Park Municipal Building, Asbury Park Police Department, and filed with the city clerk on January 7, 2026. The mission statement of the Asbury Park School District is that we will
002provide all students with a comprehensive and progressive education where everyone possesses the skills and character to succeed in a diverse and evolving global society. Uh, roll call, please. Miss Brown. Miss Lassman >> here. >> Mr. Laka >> here. >> Dr. Matsud. >> Miss Morris >> here. >> Miss Ramos >> here. Miss Ricks. Miss Lassinski. Miss Acriman >> here. Consistent with the board's decision in January of 2026, um seek a motion to go into executives caucus. Uh whereas the open public meetings acts allows for the exclusion from discussion at the public portion of a meeting of certain matters as outlined below. And whereas the board of education wishes to discuss such matters made and will make such discussion public when a proper conclusion has been reached. As such, uh do we have a motion to go
003into executive session? >> I'll second Miss Gman. >> Yes. >> Mr. Laka. Dr. Makuit. Miss Mars, Miss Ramos, Miss Ricks, Miss Osenski, Miss Acriman. Thank you. All right, the motion is passed. The board will be in executive session for approximately 1 hour. Um during that time we will discuss confidential matters per statute on court orders, collective bargaining, litigation or contract matters related to attorney client privilege issues. No formal action will be taken while we are in executive session and the meeting will resume upon conclusion. Thank you. Good evening. We're going to get the meeting started now. >> Can I have a motion to return from executive session? >> Second. >> Miss Lassman. Miss Gman. Yes, Mr. Laka. >> Dr. Mut, Miss Mars, >> Miss Ramos, >> Miss Rex, >> Miss Lassinski, Miss Acriman. >> Yeah.
004Mr. G, Mr. Derbino, if you'd like to do the presentations. Thank you. Okay, at this time we're going to have each building principal come up and introduce our staff and students of the month. We're going to start with Dr. Medina for the high school. All right. Good evening everyone. >> Yes. Uh we are Good evening. My name is Dr. Per Medina. Hello everyone. Uh we have actually co- student of the month uh this month. Our first student uh who is a wonderful student in the dream program maintains excellent academic achievement and is also heavily invested in our film program. Jayla Mosa Rojas who I don't think I saw yet but we will certainly present this to her tomorrow. Jayla is a wonderful student at Asbury Park High School and we are as with all the
005students tonight very lucky to have her all right I'm very proud to introduce the next student who is uh as people say ray of sunshine super enthusiastic ready to get involved in the school and is a true pleasure to be around. Our co- student of the month is Persa Dorisan. She is here with her mom. Mom, you can come up. Mom, you can come up. Momsa is a wonderful asset to the high school community. She always has a smile on her face, a warm spirit, and I just had this conversation a little while ago. Anytime I'm having a down day, my trick is to make sure I interact a little more heavily with the students. And Pasha is certainly one who brightens my day. So, congratulations, young lady. All right. student is a student who
006uh multi-athlete excellent academically um a true true joy and pleasure to be around as uh it is with most of our students. This young man um was pro I think one of the first students to formally introduce himself to me. He is um someone I think who is going to go very far in life both athletically and professionally. Our student athlete though is Israel Diaz. You guys can come up. Mom, dad, sis, come up. >> This young man right here. Big guy, too. Big guy. Try not to stand too close, but He uh he is he's truly a leader in the Asbury Park community. And although we are a small district, we are truly powerful. And this young man represents the power of Asbury Park. All right. So, our our staff of the month is
007not here, but I do want to say a few words on behalf of him. He is um he's an excellent professional. Um someone who truly cares about what he does for students and what he does for his colleagues. um he has reached out to me on personal levels when he know when he knew excuse me I was going through a few things. Our staff of the month who is extremely deserving of this recognition is Mr. Flavian. He will he will receive this award. I did call him um tonight to share with him what I wanted to say tonight. But again the the certainly we do this for the students. We do this for the community, but staff like Mr. Felix Flavian is a reminder of the quality teacher we have here in the district. And
008with teachers like him, we certainly are going to succeed. So, congratulations. >> Thank you, Dr. Medina. At this time, we're going to call Mr. Kenya Marker for the middle MLK middle school. Good evening. I stand before you. Well, my name is Kenya Mccur. I am the principal of our here in app and recognition will be student uh Ricarded as student month due to academic excellence and personal growth. Past month he has consistently demonstrated a strong work ethic. He submits his assignments on time and he goes above and beyond the expectations of the classroom. What truly sets apart is his resilience. He uh complex problems with a can do attitude and uses feedback to continually refine his skill set. His dedication to education is evident each the effort and he focuses well in classroom asset to
009and he is always willing to support their academic growth as a part of our staff and to celebrate him as student of the month. We'll make sure he gets it tomorrow. Our next person is here and before I say his name, what his coach re uh wrote, "It has been a pleasure to coach and teach Jeremiah over the last two years. He has been an intricral part of the team success. He is a part of the cross country team as well as the wrestling team with a attitude to help rebuild our MS uh middle school sports here at the middle school. He is very disciplined. He has a great work ethic. He's exceptional, welldeveloped in his skill set, and most importantly, he is a great team player. This year, he was captain of the boys
010cross country team. He is a leader on and off the court. He stands as a positive influence for his teammates and his classmates. I have watched him work hard, encourage others, as well as strive on and off the field. Jeremiah is talented. He is a talented young man with incredible athletic ability, a great drive for his excellence and skills, unmatched sportsmanship, character, and always puts effort in everything he does for I can imagine another person to receive the honor of athlete of the month. And I want to add this in. Not only is he Jeremiah a spectacular athlete, he was one of the highest scorers on the NJSLA last year. I had to let him know that when he first walked in the building and I just want to share one more thing before he
011comes up with his his mom. I met his mom when I first took over the job as middle school. And she told me she was taking him out of the charter school to put him at the middle school to give us a chance. And I at this time I want to publicly thank Miss Pitman for allowing me to to be Jeremiah's principal because I truly mean this from the bottom of my heart. He is one of the most exceptional young men I ever met and he has a handshake and usually you can't find young people with a good handshake. He has a handshake and it looks you in the eye and just makes you believe everything you need to believe about his spirit. So, at this time, let's honor Jeremiah for student athlete of the
012year. Come on, Mom. Come on up. Look at that. There we go. See that? Love it. Love it. >> Thanks. Thank you. >> My last presentation for the middle school is our teacher of the month. I was once again when I started we didn't as you know we don't have vice principles. We don't have deans in the district or at least at the middle school. So I started with a collection of just leaders, people that have uh CS in the building, whether they're principal, supervisors, and I was surrounded with a or blessed with a a group of people or a group of adults with those. And this person that came to the middle school in the middle of last year, hit the ground running, helped me build my climate, helped me build culture, also helped
013myself has helped me as a principal make relationships to my staff that I did not know. Well, Mr. Grao not only teaches social study, he is a phenomenal social studies teacher. He also works with our bilingual uh students as well, supporting the bilingual classroom. He is also a leader in terms of our lunchroom. He keeps our lunchroom. We have three lunches at the middle school. He's there at each and every lunchroom. He creates a comment in the culture within the lunchroom. He runs our uh helps to uh book our after school program in terms of our um our uh after school detention as well as our lunch detention. He is uh uh team throughout the building. But more importantly, he helps me do the things I need to keep the building afloat. So, at this
014time, I would like to bring up Mr. Graco, a big contributor to my leadership team at the River School. So much Mr. Graco. At this time, we're going to call up Dr. Schulz for the third Marshall Elementary School. >> Good evening everyone. I am Dr. Dr. Lauren Schultz, the proud principal of Than Marshall Elementary School. And I at every board meeting, if you've been paying attention this year, TMES is on the map to success. MAP standing for motivated, accountable, and prepared. And I am so excited that this month's student of the month was actually a principal's pick, first time in Thugen Marshall history, for her outstanding dedication and achievements in honoring our MAP mentality. This is also the first time I will be reading off a piece of paper for our student of the month
015because there's that much positive data to share. So, our student of the month is a third grade student who has a 97% attendance rate this school year for absences. for benchmark data. Today at Than Marshall, we had our annual winter benchmark awards program and she was honored with the highest ELA link form B score in the school. She stayed in the exceeding scoring range from Lincoln ELA form A to form B going from 85% to 88%. She scored 100% proficiency on four areas tested on the ELA link assessment and her link growth profile has her at a 45 point gain for link form B. We're not done for math from form A to form B. She moved from a bubble student on form A to a meeting grade level expectation student, moving from 43% proficiency
016to 73% proficiency. She scored 100% proficiency on three of the tested math areas on link form B and her link growth profile has her at a 30 point increase for form B. And of course, we cannot forget about I Ready for ELA. This student scored in the 92nd percentile and is on meeting grade level expectations. Her Lexile score, this is a mic drop, is a 935, which puts our third grader at the end of fifth grade, beginning sixth grade reading levels. She has an annual typical growth on Lincoln ELA on excuse me I Ready ELA of 17 and a 94% progress track for math. She's in the 84th percentile on her winter diagnostic for I Ready and she had a 26 annual typical growth and a 77% progress. This student also for all the first
017marking period and second marking period received meeting and exceeding grade level expectations on her report card which is standardsbased. And now I could say to speak to her character, she is kind. She is warm. She is truly a model student. I've had the privilege of knowing her since she was in preschool. Her family is wonderful with students in the district. So now I will introduce our fantastic student of the month, Miss Ivy Morales. Once again come to the mic joined by mom, dad, brother and sister. Please come up. >> We're so proud of her. >> Yep. Right here. Right here, baby. Thank you. And Ivy is also joined by her rockstar third grade teacher, Mrs. Nicholson. Give Mrs. Nicholson a round of applause. >> Okay, now here, now the tears come. Now the tears come
018for my staff of the month. I know. >> Here we go. Here we go. He's already giving me the eyes and shaking the head. Okay, now for our staff of the month. This staff member receives a a large vote this month by Thood Marshall staff. He is well known throughout the district. I can truly say that I do not know a day of working in a building in Asbury Park School District without being blessed to work with him. We have been in every building together at the same time. As his former principal years ago and this year, he had perfect attendance every month for several school years. He is known throughout the community and every building and is always greeted by smiles and hugs by those who know him. I've never heard a negative word
019about him. Anyone that meets him describes him as kind, funny, light-hearted, dedicated, truly someone who cares about the students and shows up every day with that mentality. He is the heart and soul. Don't do it. He is the heart and soul of Thood Marshall Elementary School. He was the heart and soul of Bradley last year when we were here. And he was the heart and soul of Thood in the years before when we were there. And he will be, I still have not accepted, he knows this, that he is retiring this year. But he will be a huge loss to the district. Will one of my absolute favorite people, our rockstar security officer, Keith Turppin, please come out. And >> thank you for >> Yeah. Now, now to represent Brown Elementary, we got uh Mr.
020Nunes. We'll introduce the stu student in close. Uh my name is uh Mr. Nunees. I'm the K through2 STEM supervisor stepping in for uh Miss Delor uh for today's announcements. Uh, first person I'm going to bring up uh or announce is going to be our K through2 special education teacher who took a lot of patience, creativity, heart, and incredible amount of dedication to her job. This year, every day in her class has been a learning moment and a creative one. Miss Pagan and her co-teer, Miss N, creates a classroom where every child feels safe, valued, and capable. They celebrate small victories, turn challenges into growth, and remind their students and all of us the process, the progress looks different for everyone, and that's okay. Thank you for your compassion, your tireless work, and the love
021you pour into your students. Thank you for our staff member of the month, Miss Pagan. This next person uh I was introduced to um standing in a hallway while he was playing a guitar in the middle of some random class period. I had then came into this cafeteria and seen him singing on benches, stools, getting these kids excited. and it's a real pleasure to have this honor to uh be able to celebrate him uh for our staff member of the month. I'm sorry. Uh he's celebrating with Phil's our school of joy, our K through2 music teacher, uh Mr. uh Mr. Cap Trap, >> sorry, Mr. Trap. In his classroom, learning comes alive through songs, rhythm, movement, and lots of smiles. They help our youngest students find their voices, build confidence, and discover the magic of
022music. Whether it's clapping a steady beat, singing proudly, or performing for others, I'll feel like a star. Bringing energy and creativity to the school. Stop. Thank you so much. Yeah. a student. >> Not a student. >> Normally, I would say that she wears a certain number in our programs, but she's number one in our hearts. So, I'm saving this person last because she brings so much excitement and joy. Her smile is fantastic to see. Uh, and I don't want to get too far off script, so let me stay back on that. Uh, today we here are celebrating someone very special. This student has shown us what it means to be kind, respectful, and ready to learn every single day. This first grader is not only just about reading and math. She's about helping her friends,
023trying her best, listening carefully, and never giving up. And this student does all those things with a big smile. So we are proud to honor with all of her hard work, positive attitude and great choices that she makes every day and a wonderful example for her classmates. So keep shining and keep bringing and being you every day. Nyla. and thank you again for our staff. Congratulations. All right. Next, um, we'll have a the review of the 2025 annual comprehensive financial report by our the district's auditor. Thank you very much for having me here tonight. Uh, congratulations to all the honores. It's amazing. Uh I love one of my favorite things about coming to do board presentations is normally that presentations go on first and it's awesome to see uh the celebrations of the kids and
024the teachers. So um thank you very much. Uh my name is Jerry Conny. I'm a partner at the firm of home and friend Allison. Um we were engaged by the district to do the audit for the school district for the year ended June 30th 2025. Um we're here a little later than normally. We prefer to be really for two reasons. One was delays again from the state releasing pension information that had to be incorporated into the audit report. The additional delay this year was the um office of management and budget from the federal government. Uh we were waiting for them to release a what's it called? Their compliance supplement. So uh testing that we need to do over federal grants and things. We couldn't finish any of that testing until they released that. Uh they
025released that later than normal. So it wasn't until I think December when they finally released that we were able to finish up the rest of our our audit testing. um usually refer people if you're looking for a good spot to look in the audit report to get a good synopsis of the uh actual financials and the numbers. Uh page one is the letter of transmitt and page 17 is your uh management's discussion analysis takes a lot of the numbers uh and gives a little bit more of a background to it and a little bit more of an explanation of what transpired during the year. Um they are unudited documents but we do perform limited procedures just making sure that the numbers agree to the financial statements themselves. Um, we do have an unmodified opinion on
026the financial statements. It's the best that we can give. It says there's no modifications necessary to bring the the financial statements into compliance with generally accepted accounting principles. Um, we do have an emphasis of matter that's highlighted in the audit report. There was a new uh government accounting standards pronouncement that had to be implemented by the district this year. Um, didn't impact just the district. It impacts all governmental entities. Uh, essentially it's a new way of calculating compensated absences. Um, so nothing that the district did wrong. It's a new pronouncement that went into effect. Um, one of the areas that I just wanted to point out tonight is fund balance. Obviously, the district is starting to get put together the fiscal year 27 budget. Uh, it's very important that you know what funds you have
027available to you. Um, from 24 through 25, the fund balance in your general fund decreased about $8.3 million. Uh, left the district with about $8.7 million at year end. Um, of that 8.7, there was money set aside into about $1.8 million in your various reserves. Uh those were your capital maintenance, emergency, and unemployment. There was another about $2.76 million that the district utilized in your fiscal year 276 budget. Um so that was already spoken for there. There were about $331,000 of incumbrances. Uh those were goods that were ordered before year end, but they hadn't yet been received. Um and then you had unassigned fund balance of about $1.167 million. Uh that's the maximum that the district can have. uh the state statutory calculation is about 2% of what your expenditures are. Let the district with
028an excess surplus of about $1.69 million. Uh so what that means is that money will have to be is required to be utilized in your fiscal year 27 budget to help balance the budget. All right. Uh in addition to our testing on the financial statements and the regulatory testing that the state asks us to do, um we also have an additional layer of testing on both your federal and your state grants. Uh it's referred to as a single audit. Uh for your federal grants this year, we selected the child nutrition cluster and on the state grants we selected the preschool education aid and the um SDA emergent uh and capital needs grant. Um in all of our testing, we did have two findings uh for recommendation and corrective action. Um, one of which was, uh,
029the counts of the application for state school aid. Um, there were some differences there between what the application had and what the enroll uh, numbers reflected. Uh, and then the other one is a common one uh, that we've been seeing a lot since since COVID. Um, the school food service fund had excess uh, net cash resources. Um, so coming up with a plan to to spend that money down in the food service fund. Again, it's one we've been seeing a lot in school districts uh ever since co um with with all the extra money that the Department of Agriculture was putting into schools. So, um with that, uh before I turn it over for any questions, I just want to thank Miss Brown uh tremendously for her and her office and and uh staff. Uh
030if nobody's ever had to go through an audit, it's a lot. Uh uh in addition to your day-to-day responsibilities, being asked by myself or my team constantly of of for additional documents or why do you do things or or you know, a lot of things. So, uh it's it's a lot. My wife is an accountant, so I get to hear what a disruption us auditors are. Uh so, thank you very much for everything. It's truly appreciated. But, um with that, I'm happy to answer any questions if anybody has any. Any questions? >> The copy's coming out. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. I think that's it. Thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you. All right. Next, we have public participation. Uh, in accordance with board policy 0167, the Asbury Park Board
031of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and other matters of importance and provides members of the public with the opportunity to express themselves on school matters of community interest. The public comment portion of the meeting is not a question and answer session and all public comments shall be directed to the board president as as presiding officer of the meeting. Members of the public who wish to make public comments must be recognized by the presiding officer and provide his or her name, municipality of residence and group affiliation if applicable. All public comments shall be directed to the presiding officer and are limited to 3 minutes in duration. Members of the public who do not follow the foregoing rules and/or interfere with the orderly operation of the board meeting may be removed from
032the meeting. The public uh discussion portion of the meeting is now open. >> Good evening. My name is Kevin Strickland. I live in Asbury Park at 11:09 Second Avenue. And I don't know if you noticed, but there are kids here today that play soccer. Can we give them a round of applause? So, if you drove by the Bley School, you would have seen them out shoveling the snow so they could play soccer in their shorts. I did advise them put long pants on, you're going to get sick. So, I just want to take a minute here. Um, we've been on a time, three years actually, and uh if if there was a sock at Aspbury Park School District and they did and particularly with the girls and the girls lost every game and they didn't
033score any goals. So that started my interest in trying to help the soccer program in Asbury Park. More recently, there was a big meeting where there was a big deficit and I went to that meeting and there was a lot of people lined up that said, "What can I do to help?" And so I took that to heart. So, I applied for and received approval from the US Soccer Association of the foundation to actually build a soccer pitch on Asbury Park school property. So, right now, we're waiting, I guess, for the contracts to be approved and for us to move forward. So, my request is is that you acknowledge that and move forward with that program. And by the way, the value of that, if you Google it, $150,000 Okay. So, do any of the
034kids want to have anything to say how important this is maybe to you rather than just me? Right. Here we go. Here's my guy. Here's a guy. >> This is the team leader. >> All right. Is this important to you? >> Yeah, very much. It's very important to us. >> Why is that? >> Um, you know, it gets us like like something to do, you know, instead of like you know how Asby Park is very bad stuff. It gives us something else to do instead of doing like drugs party and stuff like that. Makes us, you know, opportunity to go out and play and get better as well. >> All right. Great. Thank you so much. All right. Hey, real work, sir. My name is Jeff Bson 104 Fifth A. I'm also the phys teacher
035in Asbury Park. My supervisor told me not to say anything. They told me not to get involved. But I got to say something. Some of these boys, they might not have the confidence to come up here and speak in front of you, but you got about 20 young men who are willing to sit here for an hour and 25 minutes and and just to be heard. So, >> good evening. My name is Tracy Barone from Tom's River and I teach self-contained LLD class for grade three and five at Thood Marshall Elementary School. I would like to begin by thanking President Aurman, the board, Mr. Edwin Ruiz, director of curriculum, and Miss Kimmy Taylor, supervisor of ELA, for bringing the foundations literacy program to our district. Your support has provided our students with access to a
036structured research-based program that is truly making a difference in their reading development. I would like to share a highlight of growth I've seen in my classroom since the implementation of foundations. At the start of the year, I administered baseline phonics inventory assessments. While learners could identify all letters of the alphabet, many struggled to produce the corresponding sound to match each letter, which is one of the most critical foundational skills for becoming a successful reader. Since implementing foundations with consistency and fidelity, the growth has been remarkable. Through the program's clear structure and daily routines, my learners have learned letter sound correspondences in isolation and are now applying them in meaningful ways. For example, my learners are tapping out individual sounds in CBC words, identifying beginning, middle, and ending sounds, blending those sounds together to produce and
037read words, as well as even substituting letters to create new words. These are the essential building blocks of literacy. In January, I conducted a mid-year phonics inventory assessment to assess growth. The results were a direct reflection of the program's positive impact. Data collected showed an increase in letter sound correspondences show an improvement, mastery, and retention of 17 out of 21 consonant sounds and five out of five short vowel sounds. Compared to the beginning of the year's initial baseline phonics inventory assessment, which data results showed zero out of 21 consonant sounds and zero out of five short vowel sounds of retention prior to implementation of the program. The that is measurable data-driven growth in just a few months. Beyond the data, I see increased confidence. I see students who once hesitated now volunteering to tap and
038blend words. I see engagement, excitement, and pride. I see students learning while having fun. Foundation provides a predictable interactive structure that supports all learners, including struggling readers and multilingual learners and builds strong foundational skills that were carry that will carry them forward to be successful individuals. I thank you again for your continued commitment to our students and for investment in the program that truly makes an impact for our student learning population. I appreciate your time this evening. Thank you. Uh good evening. Sorry. Um good evening everyone. Um, I am speaking tonight on behalf of the Asbury Park Education Association. And for those of you who may not know me, my name is Meg Watkins. Um, I'm from the Brick Township, just to add that extra. Um, and I have proudly worked in the district since
039the year 2002 2003 school year. A long time. Many of you are aware that we are currently at an impass regarding our contract. And in December, our association voted affirmatively to ratify a mutually agreed upon fair contract with the understanding that it would then move forward for board approval. It is important to note that the association agreed to an settlement that is significantly lower than the county average. We made meaningful concessions. We agreed to changes in our health insurance policies that will generate substantial savings for the district. We tightened contract language to provide greater clarity and accountability. We accepted the win language but I need to ensure dedicated blocks of time to better support our students. And yet here we stand continuing to work without a contract. Why has there not been a vote? Here
040are some important facts that deserve recognition. Over the past two years, our district has achieved the highest attendance rates for both staff and students. That is no small accomplishment. We have seen student testing scores trending upward, something that should be celebrated. In my building, we did celebrate because growth matters. It is also important to acknowledge that the progress is not accidental. stability, consistency, professional training, and the implementation of new reading programs such as Wonders and Wilson are making a measurable difference in our students success. Our educators continue to show up every day committed, prepared, and focused on what is best for the children, even while working without the security of a finalized contract. We are asking for fairness. We are asking for action. We are asking for a vote. Thank you for your time and
041attention. Hello, my name is Felicia Simmons, SW Avenue, Asbury Park, president, executive director of WCC Historic Renovation Association, formerly known as the Westside Community Center. And I'm here for the town, right? I've been in odd places. I've been on the school board and I've been in the audience. I'm a parent and also I've also headed the contract um um committee when I first was a newbie on the board. They threw me to the wolves and what I've learned here is nobody can be all the way happy and nobody can all the way be sad. We're about to do and go through some really rough times and we have to sit down and put as a whole put something to pen and paper. It's not going to be everybody happy. I think um the for the
042president the current president spoke about a community meeting to kind of assess what needs to be done. There's going to be cuts. Our taxes are going to go up this year. Not because of the school board, but just the way our our city and our legislature have treated districts like Asbury Park, Neptune, and other towns. So, we're going to have to make some real hard decisions. We're going to have to set some really hard priorities on pen and paper that everybody can agree on and move to. So, there's going to be some people unhappy. There's going to be some people hurt. But I had a really great inservice here a few years ago. And it's about everybody can't have a thumb up and no everybody can't have a thumb down. It's about everybody maybe getting
043us and in the space in the middle we we have hard times, right? There's going to be some unhappiness. There's going to be some times where everybody ain't going to see eye to eye, but everybody come into the space in fairness knowing that our kids are first. We have to live, but we have to make sure that this district is around for ever, right? As a a class of n um it's a while ago graduate of Asbury Park High School is important and also I don't want to see tricks and and divide and conquer because nothing happens that way, right? they likes to have beefs and then clicks and other things. That's not productive to the district. It's about everybody working together because with the board, the staff, the um administration, the teachers, the students,
044the family, that's the only way we're going to pull this out to make a win, right? So, that's the only way we can do it, right? Go through the numbers, set priorities, what we want as a community, as a whole, so we can get through these times. and then maybe everybody come together that's in this meeting and go to our city hall and tell the developers we need our money back, right? Or go together and tell the um the um the county commissioners we need our money back and stop raising the taxes every year on a nonsensical um um ADP program, right? Or assess your property every year. This the school board is the bottom of this totem pole. They can only raise a levy. They can't make any hard decisions except for cuts in
045places and that's not fair to put all the blame on them. There's other people holding millions of dollars from the community and we need together everybody in this room on both sides of the table go down there and say give us our money back. Thank y'all. Have a good night and work it out. Good. All right. Good evening everyone. Uh my name is Eley Victorin, speech therapist at Thood and I reside in Union, New Jersey. First, I'd like to congratulate all the new uh board members. Um I'm here today to talk to you. Um first of all, to thank you for investing in the Wilson Reading System. People who don't know, the Western Reading System is a researchbased peer-reviewed structured multi-ensory program that helps students decode, encode, and become fluent readers, which subsequently supports comprehension
046and more complex literary skills. Um, it's a program that has evidence of long-term academic success um, in underserved diverse populations and is tailored for diverse learners like our students. I have observed my struggling students develop phmic awareness, learn to read novice words, break words down, answer questions about vowels, diagraphs and suffixes, and also spell words and create sentences. When we invest in programs and curriculums that are evidence-based, peer-reviewed, supported by the Department of Education, and most importantly, normed on diverse students who look like ours, then we actually give our students a fighting chance at attainable and sustained academic success. So, kudos to our third marshall staff uh for a job well done. Um, I encourage the board to continue to support this program um and invest in continued training for uh for the uh with
047the necessary staff. All right, this next part um I've spoken in the past and have always advocated for the rights of our students and staff. With that being said, I'd also like to address something that has come to my attention and I'll speak for myself as I always have when I voice my concerns whether to this board admin administration, excuse me, or to my colleagues either on or off the clock. I do it with free will and without influence. No one can make me say anything or do anything that I do not fully and with full confidence want to say or do. I will not be intimidated or bullied and no one should be for that matter for what they say or what they have said and who they have said it about especially if
048it affects the students, their families or the staff of this district. This information, the information I provide is based on my experiences, my observations and conversations with students, families, and our faculty. Lastly, I want to say it seems like the students and the staff are always the collateral damage. >> So, times up. >> May I continue? Just I have two more sentences. Thank you. Um it seems like the students and staff are always the uh collateral damage or the afterthought of whatever infighting is happening within or between union deck team members, administration and the board. This infighting should not be a factor in the decision to move forward with with approving a ratified contract. Please let us move forward in good faith. Thank you and have a good evening. Um, by the way, there's a
049teacher that gave me, if you would allow me to share with the board, um, some testimonials from students who love the program and wanted to share with the board. Is this Can you guys hear me? Yes. Okay. Um, my name is um, Ken Vidau. I'm the only ESL teacher at the Thug Good Marshall. The last time I was splitting my case to keep the bilingual teacher at Thug Good, but some of you voted it down. And there's a difference between bilingual and ESL, but I'm not going to go there. But the only thing I'm going to say, education is not a competition between buildings. I'm going to repeat that again. Education is not a competition between buildings. When we start comparing and pinning schools against each other, then we divide the district. That's supposed to
050be for our students. Again, the key words is our students. I tested 40 students by myself with the access. I'm not complaining. I have to do what I have to do. I come to work, I don't even call out sick since September. Why? Because I love my kids. We don't have a reading specialist at third. Other buildings, they have more. But we don't complain. We fill the gap. We do what we have to do. Why? Because we have the best leader. And she's leading the building. We're all thriving. So let us be let us do what we have to do for the kids. We are losing kids every day. So don't make it a competition among us. Don't like you know go and say this one is doing better. This one is not. We're all
051supposed to support each other as colleagues. I've been called the mean girls. I don't do anything about it. I can be mean but I'm not this year. I'm not. I'm not. But you know, but don't do that because I'm not the mean girls. I do what I have to do. I go to work. I do my work. Do not make us compete against each other because we we're not suffering. The kids will be the one. So, let's do what we have to do for the kids. I'm not going to talk about my contract though, but okay. Thank you for listening to me. any other comments? All right, Susan Mahm, 1302 Bridge Street, Asbury Park. I just want to thank you folks for having that committee as a whole meeting a few weeks ago. I thought
052it was really informative. Um, if you could put on the website or publicize somewhere the dates that those meetings will continue to be. I know March 19th is a budget meeting, but there were also other budget meetings that I didn't write down. So, if you can publicize the dates so we can all come, that would be great. Thanks. All right. Any other comments? Okay. Well, thank you very much. That concludes public participation. I think next is the superintendent report. Mr. Dino. >> Yes. Thank you. So, I try to keep it brief. Couple things got I got I do have to elaborate on with some of the comments tonight so we understand where we're going. Uh first of all, staff attendance, let's go over that first. Staff attendance for the entire district is at 93%. Student
053attendance is at 94%. Again, above 92%. It's fantastic. Want to talk about the wrestling team? wrestling team this year advanced to the Central Jersey group one semi-finals for the first time in school history before falling to the eventual group one state champion champions Delv Val for Delaware Valley Regional High School. The team also set a new school record with 17 dual meet victories this season. Adding to the excitement, three freshman Russels each have surpassed 25 wins heading into the district competition this weekend at Wall High School. The bowling team also made history, reaching the South Jersey Group One semi-finals for the first time ever before losing to top seated Candon Catholic High School. The team showed tremendous improvement throughout the season, raising their team average from 700s to the impressive 1,021. I'm not sure what
054that means in bowling, but in their quarterfinal victory over Shore, a new program record. Congratulations to both teams on landmark seasons and continued success. Now, there were some comments about what we are doing, but before we go, they're going to talk about where the state and the federal government is going with the science of reading. The science of reading. They had a meeting in Washington DC to discuss the new movement, the new research on how reading should be taught to elementary school school students and we are currently doing that in one of our buildings and reading scores are through the roof. I actually sent an email to you, Miss Arman, as you said. I'm not sure. I re I sent it to everybody cuz I figured you were inundated with emails, but uh it's it
055was a Senate hearing that you guys really should look at and look at what we're doing already. And not to mention the new commissioner of education is a proponent of what we are doing with our reading program at Bradley Elementary School, which is fantastic. Yes. >> And that that's the uh Wilson. >> No, you fly. you fly. Yeah. And so again, the the Department of Education will be moving towards that because they're actually using us as a model for that. I wanted to make that clear moving forward. Also, we never hear some good things and we have a letter from Dr. George, Dr. George Jackson. He's from the Department of Education. This is to the middle school. Dear Kenya, thank you again for the opportunity to visit Dr. MLK Junior Middle School today. It w
056it is always a pleasure to spend time on your campus. Today's visit was both inspiring and productive and I left feeling encouraged about the continued momentum of your work. I gained an even deeper understanding of how your structure and resources are being thoughtfully used to meet student needs and was and it was great to see how staff and stakeholders at every level pulled together to support the students. I'm impressed by the way your team works together to get the job done. It is great to see how SIA funds are being used to support both academic and social emotional needs. From the Steamp Park Lab to Teach Rock Lab to the high impact tutoring and extended day teaching and learning opportunities, these investments are visible and meaningful for the students. Your climate and culture continues to
057grow in ways that build teacher efficacy, lift up student voice, and keep everyone aligned around student centered goals for teaching and learning. It's also affirming to see that student outcomes are improving as you continue reaching your goals. The drop in chronic absenteeism and the strong student and staff attendant rates speak volumes about a school environment where people want to be and feel supported. That's a direct reflection of your leadership and your team's collective commitment. Your data outcomes are telling a promising story. I brag about you and your school wherever I go and I am proud of the progress you and your staff are making. You are making a difference. Your create creative approach to leveraging staff strengths and is clearly moving the school forward. Thank you as well for your feedback on the ASP curriculum
058tab today. It is greatly appreciated. I am grateful for our partnership and always look forward to my visits. Please extend my appreciation to your team. All the best. Dr. George E. Jackson, Continuous Improvement Specialist, Office of Comprehensive Support, Division of Educational Services, New Jersey Department of Education. I forwarded that email to you. Uh, I know you're busy, so I figured, but I I forwarded the email to the entire board. Please just don't respond back. >> Thank you. I think shortly thereafter you were Yes. >> I was advised not to send too many emails. So, I I appreciate you giving the update. I think this is a much better forum and that way everyone can hear. So, thank you for that, Mr. Jerino. All right, next is the state monitors report. >> Uh, yeah, thank you.
059A brief report. The board, as uh you may know, the um the governor's budget address got pushed back uh to March 10th, which means state aid numbers will be released um on two days after that on March 12th. um tenative budgets are due to the county by the 27th and we have a board meeting on the 26th. So we should hit that mark. But interestingly uh today the governor had a press conference to just make people aware of um the structural the state's budget um challenges um with some of their surplus running out. So they're they're going to be up against it as well. Um nothing specific but certainly something to keep our our eyes on as we roll into uh budget address and you know budget season we make our decisions. So uh that's
060where we stand on that. Uh that's all I have for tonight. >> Any questions for Mr. Boyce? I'm so sorry. Were there any questions for Mr. Dino as well? >> Yeah. Anything? >> N sorry about that. No, it's okay. All right. Thank you everyone. Thank you Mr. Boyce. I think we can move on to the uh the agenda. Um for beginning first with the acceptance of the minutes, uh we're going to table items 10 A and 10 C on page A2. Um those will be distributed at the beginning of our next meeting and we'll address those at our committee of the whole meeting on on March 19th. Do I have a motion to approve the remaining minutes? I'll uh I'll make a motion to I'll make a motion to approve uh A2 number 10B, the
061regular minutes of January 22nd. I'll second questions or discussion. All set. Any comments, questions, discussion? Okay. Hearing none. Mr. Brown, we do roll call, please. Miss Glassman. Sorry. Miss Grossman. Yes. Mr. Laka. Dr. Matsut. Miss Morris. Miss Ramos, Miss Ricks, Miss Lassinski, Miss A. Yes. Thank you. Next item on the agenda is uh the 2627 district calendar. Do we have a motion? I'll move it. last minute. >> Sorry. Questions, comments, discussion. >> Are there any changes? This is for next year. Mr. Brown hearing. None. Roll call, please. Miss Glassman. Miss Gman. Yes. Mr. Laka. Dr. Mafuit. Miss Morris, Miss Ramos, Miss Rigs, >> Miss Sensinski, >> Miss Acriman. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Next, we have the monthly HIV report. For the month of February, and I must add that um a lot of
062these some of these incidents carried over for January, so we had to close them out in February. Uh there were eight um instances, five were founded, three were unfounded and counseling services were um given to those students and the code of conduct was followed. >> I'll move accept accept the HIV report. >> Questions, comments, discussion? Roll call, please. Miss Glassman, Miss Gman, >> yes. >> Mr. Laka, Dr. Maxuit, Miss Morris, Miss Ramos, Miss Ricks, Miss Linski, and Miss Sacramento. >> Yes. >> Thank you. All right. Um, next we have the agenda items on B1 through B3. Motion to approve consent agenda for B1 through B3. I'll move it. A second. comments, questions, discussion. I just like more information with regard to the the new position that we're doing as as of March at the middle
063school before voting on that one. 1 C on B1. >> That's IEP driven. When it's a one-on-one, it's >> Thank you. Um my other request for more information I I don't know if it can be done as kind of a uh publicly in in the personnel area but rescending the retirement I want to be uh managed mainly if there was a personal uh personal considerations went into do we have any more information why a retirement was processed we've planned on it now and it's so I I don't know if anything can be anything can go into with regard to that >> um so Mr. a lot of rockab while I can't comment on that individual employee I can tell you that from my experience over the years um when retirements are rescended uh it can
064be done for various reasons including you know when someone looks to see what their pension credit is uh etc and so they may resend for that purpose um I I I'm not speaking those specifically with regard to this individual just because I don't know the circumstances nor can we really discuss them in public at this time. >> But we can said that's been evaluated and now it's on the >> now it's on the list. >> I think you're asking have we addressed the fact that we were anticipating a vacancy now that vacancy has is no longer there. >> Um the vacancy was no is no longer we would have to fill that vacancy because of the the staff member. But also understand you cannot ask a staff member why they're retiring or why they're not
065retiring. So that answered the question. We you can't ask that. Um yeah there would have been a vacancy and we would had to fill it but now we don't have to fill it because the individual is coming back. >> Okay. So I think the question is so um this individual notified us they were retiring. Have we already filled their position or is it still >> No. Okay. No. No. >> Does that answer your question D? So there's it wasn't a situation where there they were retiring there was a vacancy. We filled the vacancy and now they're not retiring. We haven't filled. There's nothing. It's It's a net zero basically. It's all STEM. Correct. Does that answer your question? Sorry, I'm not trying to put words in your mouth. Okay. Any other comments, questions? All right.
066Roll call, please. One more. >> I think you're you're reaching your a lotment, though. To be very clear about that. But she'll kill me if I don't. I got to give a shout out to Miss Espazito for uh number nine and her and her colleague Miss Watkins for uh the efforts putting together that grant proposal. >> All right. Anything else? Roll call, please. Miss Lassman, Miss Gman, >> yes. >> Mr. Laka, Dr. Matsut, Miss Morris, Miss Ramos, Miss Ricks, Miss Linski, Miss A. Thank you. All right. Next we have consent agenda. The superintendent's recommendations pages C1 through C3. I'll move it. Comments, questions, discussion. I I just have a a question on uh number nine. The facilities uh it said on the application is a commitment fee. is did they pay the committ fee or
067Okay, so everything's all right. Thank you very much. Yeah, Miss Brown said yes. For number nine, there was a a commitment fee on the application and I asked Mrs. Brown if if they paid the commitment fee and she said yes, they did. Okay. I did as as uh chairperson of the as chairperson of the athletic committee, I did ask uh Mr. Jabino and I suggested that we use the same format that we use for literally and AYF. And so, um I told him I was going to bring it up and I was going to ask him to explain it to us. >> Yeah. So when P comes in here, we're already staffing the building. So it's we're not paying anybody to come in. We have someone who we have people that work here Tuesday through
068Saturday. So this building is covered Monday through Saturday. So there's no extra doesn't cost us anything. They're here already. If that explains it, >> I I guess my my question was um I get there's net zero expense, no no problem. Um, but I know the football and little league uh make a small donation uh for something. So, I'm sure if they can make a small donation, we could find something in the facility to use it for. But, um, the other thing is that's a super extended period of time uh, from now until November. I don't have dates off my head. And we're we are 100% sure that we're not going to need th those facilities any time between now and then. >> So whatever. So whenever someone puts in for use of facilities, they know
069that we come first. So we can just say you can't be here and they understand that. >> Is there a motion or Yeah. to approve. Is there a motion to change anything about that one? >> Sorry, I I got guess I got a little confused on the $1,000. Are we saying we're not we're just going to give it to them for nothing? >> Is that the >> That's how it is on the agenda right now. We're waving all 6,300 or 6,300 and they're giving us a $400 payment, right? >> Well, I'm not I I'm fine. I'm not going to split hairs. I'll I'll move it. You don't want to make any changes. We're going to wave the fee. Yeah. >> All right. Any other comments, discussion? >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Glassman, >> I'm
070so sorry, Mr. >> I have one other question on the agenda. Travel and professional development. Is that purely local the travel? Oh, I'm sorry. That's C3 number eight. Okay. I wanted to know if the travel was out of state or within the state. It looks like at the expo buildings and grounds that's in Atlantic City, right? >> These are the first they're Atlantic City. Atlantic City. >> That's the uh >> They're all local. Yeah, they're all local. >> Well, they're all in New Jersey pretty much. Yes. Miss Glasman, he can't hear you. I'm sorry. Yes as to all except no as to C1A as it relates to college achieve. Miss Gmith. Yes. >> Mr. Laraka. >> Yes. >> Dr. Matsut. Miss Mars. Miss Ramos. Miss Ricks, Miss Lenski, >> yes. >> Miss Sacramento, yes. Thank
071you. >> I'd like to make a motion to close this meeting at 8:10 p.m. All in favor to adjurnn. I It is said no. You know, >> it was good. >> Okay. opening back for me, I guess. >> I'll take the I'll take the >> Oh, no. Look. They know you and they