001No worries. Okay. All right. Good evening, everybody. I'd like to call to order for the reorganization meeting of the Board of Education, May 20th, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. in the administration building, 56 Conover Road, Colts Neck, New Jersey. 70 Conover Road. That's okay. All right. Can I get a roll call, Ms. Marasco? Yes, you may. Mrs. Cameron Here. Mrs. Horwitz Here. Uh participating remotely, Mr. Enrico Here. Mr. Rigney here. Mr. Skille Here. Mr. Scarpa Mrs. Volpe Here. Mr. Walsh >> Here. Mr. Whitburg >> Here. You have a quorum. Great, thank you. Uh pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act, Chapter 231, this meeting has been duly advertised in the Asbury Park Press and a schedule of meetings dated January 23rd, 2026, notice of which has been filed with the Deputy Clerk for Colts Neck Township
002and the requirements of posting of notices have been met. At this time, if we could rise for the flag salute and national anthem. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> It's all right. All right. Mr. Scarpa is joining us. If you could take note on his attendance. Hi. Okay. All right. Let's get started. I'd like to get a motion. We have a bunch of reorganization items here. It's quite lengthy. I'm going to make a comment on one of those items. But I'd like to get a motion um to approve all of the reorganization uh reorganizational items. Motion. Second. Okay, great. I want to make a comment. I was recently notified
003of our legal counsel, Weiner and Weiner. We've been dealing with them for quite some time now. Exceptional group of attorneys that have been representing the school board along with the district in general involving, you know, obviously several different issues. And they are breaking away. Our Our attorneys Maggie Miller, um, and Mark are breaking away from the Wiener Law Group and they are moving, um, uh, with I can't even say the name. >> Scherinsky and Hollandback. Scherinsky and Hollandback, um, and they're out of Red Bank and Little Falls, New Jersey. So, I, uh, made the recommendation, um, their performance has been excellent, um, and their their rate is you know, competitive rate, um, and I recommended it to the full board that we move with them, um, and I believe um, to those who I spoke
004to we're all on the same page with agreeing that we do want to keep, um, both those attorneys, uh, as they move forward with their new, uh, positions at that law firm. Um, is everybody okay with that? Yes. Any comments? The, um, well, I I agree with the stick with Maggie and other attorney for the complex litigation suits we have right now. Mhm. And not going to discuss them obviously because that's executive privilege, but has their discussion been Have you had a discussion with the rates? Are they similar? Okay, um, well, I'm happy to report, um, they were going to raise it with the Wiener and Wiener, but, uh, after my discussion with her today, um, we are keeping the rate at 165, uh, an hour, 165. So, I was very, very pleased that she
005was willing, um, her and Mark were willing to accommodate that rate for another year, and then, uh, like I said, we'll revisit that, uh, again next June or whenever the topic comes up. Um, but like I said, I just want to extend a thank you to them for all they have done for the school board, um, uh, all the situations that we've gone through this year, um, you know, we wound up staying out of legal, uh, issues, um, and uh you know, with parents' bill of rights, they did a fantastic job to make sure that we did not um get involved in any type of lawsuits, yet still protect our parental rights on this board. So, I'm very pleased uh with that. Um so, if there's no other questions, I know we have quite lengthy
006a bunch of appointments here. If anybody has any questions, I do want to make a comment. These here positions, we've been dealing with these companies within the past 2 years as I went over with Dr. Garbe this afternoon. Just because we are voting on this does not mean we can't go out for RFPs in the future. So, if anybody has a recommendation that they want to do that, um I'm sure the board uh will certainly take that into consideration. Uh but, at this time, we're going to move forward with all of these appointments, and then maybe revisit anything for the new year so that it could be incorporated in next year's agenda. Uh does anybody have any questions on any of these appointments? Um I do. Well, a little bit about all these all the
007a few of these different numbers. Um >> Yeah. So, I also want to reiterate um what you just said, how the hourly rate is very commendable for the new law firm. Yes. >> Um in number four, it just says this contract shall not exceed $200,000. Mhm. Um which that authorization to me seems a little bit on the high side. So, I was just wondering if in the next superintendent's state, if you can share with the board, you know, what the district actually paid its attorneys maybe over the last 5 years. Um and I'm assuming it's high just in case it's it's on that higher I'm hoping it's on that higher side. It really Oh, yeah, please. >> Yeah, absolutely. It was a a cap that really the author of this motion of this resolution put
008forth just to put a formality, a cap on it. It's not to say it doesn't necessarily mean that that's our budget. Our budget is much lower, actually, for the annual legal fees. That's That's exactly what I was hoping to hear. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. It's It's It's just a formality. Right. But I can do that later. That's perfect. >> Okay. Okay. Um and then for number six, sorry, I had a few. I'd like to move in early to look at over this. Wait, no, oh wait, that's not under here, that's somewhere else, sorry. Um Oh, here. Sorry. For number 20, um this is just sort of an encouragement for staff to take advantage of this amazing opportunity. Um it could be your key to early retirement. And for young teachers, definitely talk to your
009mentor teachers about about these opportunities provided. Uh and that's the the tax-sheltered annuity. It's number 20. Okay, that's all. All right. Thank you for uh those comments. Anybody else want to add uh to any of these items? Uh just one question with regards to the audit, is that maintaining our current relationship with the audit? It's the same. Okay. All right. And I assume the same for number number 11, the treasurer of the school minds, that's the same thing. Okay, final uh calls on questions or comments. Oh, please, sorry. Oh, yep, one more. Yep, go ahead. Um number 28, where it says anticipated contracts, this is just for my own understanding. Um I noticed we have the Wiener Law Group there, so I thought we that might be a a typo. Um under 28? Yeah, uh
010chapter Yep, anticipated contracts. Yeah, we could certainly Uh why am I not seeing that? Oh, the grid? I circle that. >> Oh, on the grid, yeah. Okay, yeah, yeah. Okay, so we're going to strike uh that wiener group on the group on the bottom. Okay. Okay, and then I just didn't understand um for my own for my own understanding at for curriculum. So, I see like BrainPop, IXL we have contracts with. And I didn't understand what like then we use the Savvas math program, but we don't have a contract with them. So, I didn't understand like the difference between a contract I guess versus who we use for our curriculum. Yeah, I mean I mean the the intent of this is to merely comply with the law under chapter 47 where you have to state
011whether you intend whether a district intends to renew, award, or even allow a contract to expire. So, these are our major contracts that you know, are either of a repetitive nature or we may not extend a a renewal to, but we have to state it. So, it's a formality to have it on here? >> under chapter 47. >> Okay. And for our curriculum >> annual resolution that comes every reorg. Okay. And for our curriculum, we can change curriculum, you know, if we decided to for whatever reason, and the materials that go with that are not necessarily included in that in the contract piece of it. Does that make sense? A little bit. Yeah, I just have a having trouble I guess. I think of some of these things like IXL and BrainPop as part of
012the curriculum. >> Yeah. So, I wasn't really under- I wasn't understanding the difference between I and that's like a gray area I guess. It overlaps. Yeah. So, when you think of curriculum and you think of the resources, right? So, if you think of like curriculum is what we write and how we implement it. Curriculum isn't the resource. Curriculum is something that you we do. We implement and we we we we purchase resources to support the curriculum. So, therefore like your BrainPop is like a supplemental. We contract with that company to provide a a supplemental service to our instructional program. Okay. That does. Yeah, that helps a lot. I just Yeah, that was just more personal. I wasn't truly understanding the difference. So. Uh I just want to recognize Mr. Regnetta. He's here. If we could
013document his attendance. Uh okay. Any other comments on those uh appointments? Okay. Uh we have a motion. If I could just get a roll call items 1 through 28. Yes, 1 through 28 of the reorg items. Uh Mrs. Cameron. Yes. Mrs. Horwitz. Yes. Mr. Rico. Yes. Uh Mr. Regnetta. Yes. Mr. Scales. Uh yes to all. I have to recuse from number four. Thank you. Mr. Scarpa. Yes to all. I have to recuse uh recuse from number 20. Okay. Thank you. Mrs. Volpe. Yes. Mr. Walsh. Yes. Mr. Whitford. Yes. Okay. The motion carried. Okay, great. I'm moving on to the approval of minutes. Uh we have uh about five of them there. If anybody has any questions or comments on those minutes at the time. I did have a comment about the minutes. The minutes are
014a critical part of our the outpost of our communication strategies uh with the board and and the community. So, if you really want factual information, look no further. Start at the minutes. Start there and then and then propose any questions. I'm speaking directly to the general public. Propose any questions from that point on because chances are you already reviewed it and discussed the question that you might have. Just go to those minutes. And if you need more clarification, by all means, certainly reach out to us. But, start at the minutes because they are largely factual and he's spent a lot of time capturing the spirit of these these these meetings. So, by all means, go to those minutes. Great. Thanks for pointing that out. Anybody else uh I know Mrs. Camera, you uh had to
015recuse from uh No, I just looked it up. It was um in April. It was April 15th. >> All right. So, we're good on this, then. Right. >> Um all right. If there's no other questions, I'll take a motion to approve the minutes. Motion. Second. I I >> Mr. Scales. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Uh roll call, please. Um Yes. And I do I do want to say if we can maybe try to be um keep up a little bit more because this is all the way back in March. Um that would just be a suggestion if we can maybe do it more regularly so that way we we we are a slightly more up-to-date. I would appreciate that personally. But yes. I'm going to reverse and and now call your name, Mrs. Camera. >> Yes.
016Sorry. Thank you. Mrs. Horowitz. Yes. Mr. Aurico. Yes. Mr. Rugnada. Yes. Mr. Scales. Yes. Mr. Scarpa. Yes. Mrs. Volpe. Uh yes. Mr. Walsh. Yes. Mr. Whitbeck. Yes. Motion carried. And and just as a reminder too for the board, the draft minutes are posted within about 48 hours and that's just the approval of the motions and what not. The details come to follow. So, but thank you. Yes, noted about the timing. Um okay. All right. Um I don't have any communications. Uh I'm going to go right into my uh president's report, which will be very brief. Um I know last night was the art show. Um I just wanted to to thank um Cedar Drive, um the art teacher, the principal, the vice principal. Um unfortunately, I could not make it. I had a prior commitment.
017Um and I was so upset. I told my daughter, "I'm so sorry that I missed your art show." And she said, "Mom, I didn't put any art in it this year." >> [laughter] >> But I I do feel bad I missed it. They do a fantastic job. All of our students do such a fantastic job in our art programs here. And I just want to thank all um the art teachers uh in our district um for all the time they put in um to our kids um you know, with the art. So, thank you very, very much. Uh and I really don't have anything else to report. All right, we are going to move right into our board liaison reports. Uh Mrs. Horwitz, uh would you like to start with the uh the PIF? Yeah,
018of course. Um so, we just had our last meeting for the year on Monday. Um I just want to thank everybody for their continued involvement um and their support. Um at our recent meeting, we had the pleasure of having Pomptonian Food Services present. Um you know, they're they've been great and um they went through their services and their meal selections um for the food for our students that they do each and every day. Um we also had several productive discussions regarding plans and ideas for next year. Um you know, this year we had so many thoughtful suggestions and conversations, many of which led to um a lot of improvements across the school. So, I just want to thank everybody who participated and shared ideas along the way. And uh I look forward to seeing everybody
019again in September. Great. I'll just add a comment. The samples that they brought were delicious. So, I just want to uh echo those sentiments. Uh that whole group at Pomptonian um at Pomptonian uh are excellent. We do appreciate their service to our students. Uh so, thank you. Um you want to roll right into the PTO, Mrs. Horwitz? Yeah, just uh a couple reminders. So, the second grade carnival is May 29th uh in the primary school cafeteria. That's from 6:30 to 8:00. The eighth grade baby photo submissions are due by the 31st. The final PTO meeting and volunteer brunch will be June 3rd at 11:00 a.m. in the admin building. The eighth grade dance is June 12th from 6:30 to 10:30 at the firehouse. The elementary school store will be June 16th and 17th during school
020hours in the elementary school. As mentioned, the eighth grade ice cream social is June 18th at 1:00 p.m. in the theater drive cafeteria. And lastly, the fifth grade moving up party is June 23rd at the elementary school. And that's it. Okay, great. I just want to um thank the PTO for doing all the work they're doing an enormous amount of work to send our eighth graders off with that. To send our eighth graders off to high school between the dance, the social, like everything that they're involved in, the video montage, everything that it's an enormous amount of work that they give to our kids and it's all volunteer. So, this board wants to thank our PTO for always prioritizing our children in cold snacks. So, thank you very much for that. Okay. Yep. I also
021don't want to steal their thunder, but we are going to recognize that our June 17th Board of Education meeting will be recognizing the outgoing executive board. They have a big announcement that I'm not going to share, but I'll give a teaser about their legacy grant every 2 years. They bestow a very very generous legacy grant to the district that's distributed evenly by the school evenly through the schools. And it's extremely impressive and it is the highest we've ever had. So, that's a little teaser for you for that legacy grant that's coming their way. The principals are already working behind the scenes. With the PTO to establish that. So, they'll be excited. That'll be a very exciting announcement when it comes forward. Yeah, so exciting. Thank you for that. Okay, moving right into the Colts Neck
022Township newsletter, Mrs. Camera. >> Thank you. Um so once again, I'm reminding residents who do not receive the newsletter via email that you can go to the school website, Colts Neck Township schools, and we have a link to subscribe via our own Board of Education tab {slash} newsletters. And I am always encouraging our residents to subscribe. Um I already started working on the next edition, which will be published after the last day of school. And that's all. Great. Uh thank you, Mrs. Camera. Uh Colts Neck Township arts, sports, extracurricular activities. Uh I just want to congratulate all the kids who uh played lacrosse this year. Uh I know that third, fourth graders, their season ended yesterday and they ended on a win and they had a really good season. Uh so I just want to
023congratulate them, especially the kids who played for the first year. Um and they should be proud of themselves and their all their hard work. Um the Sports Foundation put out their save the date for the annual golf outing, which will be October 5th, 2026, Monday, October 5th, 2026. Monday, October 5th, 2026. Um I don't think the sign the sign up is out yet, Rick. Rich, the sign up sign up is not out yet. Just the save the date is out. And uh do you know if they're still um signing up you could still sign up for the dot father-daughter dance or is that closed now? Okay. All right, that's pretty much it for me. All right. Anything from uh you, Mr. Brick Breaker? Uh real quick, the uh the lost and found file for donations
024is getting pretty pretty full. If you have If you're looking If you lost anything, please text Colleen 732-533- uh 4314. Excellent. Yeah. Yeah, thank you. Okay. Um, I do want uh Are you finished? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. Got it. Um, okay. I had Dr. Garabed reach out to the Sports Foundation leadership um to wrap up this year. I wanted to get it done before the end of the year, and I just confirmed with her that June 9th, Tuesday, will be our meeting at 6:00 p.m. Um, I'm assuming you guys can make that. If you can't, I I'll I will be there if one of you can, that will be fine. Um, I just want to make sure that we go over their needs for next year um and prioritize uh
025their relationship with us um since they do so much for our kids. I want to make a comment here. Um, my my daughter, along with a bunch of different kids um for the basketball season, this is so great, and I'm I'm so proud that my daughter signed up for this. It's just such a fantastic initiative to teach our kids the values of working a job at a young age, especially um in the eighth graders, they cannot get work um at regular businesses. So, my daughter, along with a bunch of eighth graders, uh signed up to work for the Colts Neck Township Sports Foundation um to to coach and work the scoreboards and all that. So, my my daughter got her first check along with dozens of other children. Um, >> Sorry. it's it's it's What?
026It's $60. Yes, it's it's $60 for this entire season. Um, it's not that much, but my my daughter was so proud to receive this in the mail, and she was so proud of her accomplishments, and uh just the fact that the Sports Foundation does these programs for our kids is absolutely amazing. It taught my daughter, along with all of her friends, how hard it is to work, show up on time, um you know, to love what you do, put your whole heart in it, and do something good. So, I want to thank the Sports Foundation uh for you know a continued partnership and all the fantastic things they do for our children. Um So that's it for the sports and extracurriculars. We're going to move right into the Colts Neck Township Committee, Mr. Walker. >>
027Sure, we were on tenants actually president myself and Brian the last committee meeting. The police department received re-accreditation which is really big. You know, we received the accreditation originally under Chief Santucci. Chief DeVito followed suit and it's a huge undertaking. It's a lot of work. It's best practices for our police department for first state and federal level. They look at every aspect of the police operations police department. Jail cells, cars, policies on use of force um you name it. um So intensive review, it's a long process and they were awarded accreditation that night. So happened to be National Police Week. May 10th to the 16th. Um mental health awareness month proclamation by the Township Committee. They The highlights of the meeting were their second reading on the bike ordinance the e-bike ordinance. Long story short,
028the e-bikes aren't allowed in the parks riding on the trails. Uh which was a big problem. Especially with the horse trails and people really don't want to walk on trails with e-bikes buzzing past them. A second reading of the cottage food operations was passed. So basically it's second reading they passed. The e-bike uh as you know has new enforcement regulations for riding. Registration insurance is required I believe at 14 riding e-bike helmet. So the police are going to do a little educational program. I know the schools have been We have had a educational series for the kids that maybe recommend doing that again. Um especially in the fall when when kids are coming back to school. And resolution that can they are purchasing the first reading for affordable control. Um which was, let me see,
02934 Federal K first reading. The town's going to buy it for affordable housing affordable housing control. Am I getting that right? Uh which will satisfy our one credit, two credits. Yeah, it depends. So, at least we're keeping it within the town to have that a new person that's qualified to be able to move that, so we don't lose that unit. Um That's what they had consent agenda different resolutions for accepting resignation from a township employee. They're hiring a new plumbing plumbing inspector. And they spent $5 million or dispersed $5 million to our township. Most of it for Board of Ed for us. Freehold Regional School District, county taxes. And the minutes I mean the minutes the you can go online to the website's pretty good, Colts Neck Township. I downloaded every expenditure. And it's really
030good for a resident in town just go over and see where where where your taxes are going for. Itemize everything. That's it. Great. Um I want to echo your comments. Congratulations from the Board of Education to our Colts Neck Township Police Department. We We also value their partnership with our Dare programs, our Lead programs, all the educational and promote safety programs that they come into our schools to provide to our students. So, we always appreciate all of our officers and their dedication to this town over the years. So, thank you for that. We are going to move into Mrs. Camera's Colts Neck 250th celebration. Okay, thank you again. Um, I believe my date might be wrong, but May 18th, Thomas Thomas Jefferson like right presented to the middle school. Okay. Um, so Thomas Jefferson presented
031to Cedar Drive Middle School sixth grade students. It was sponsored by the Colts Neck Historical Society. So that's just happened. Um, May 25th, this is very big, is the Colts Neck Memorial Day Parade. It's hosted by the Recreation and Parks Department and I'm going to just read off their website. Um, on Monday, May 25th, 2026, Colts Neck Township will commemorate Memorial Day. Do I have the wrong date? With its annual um, its annual parade um, at Memorial Park and picnic at Firehouse number two. Our community gathers to pay tribute to those military personnel who died while serving our country. The parade begins at 10:30 at One Veterans Way with a ceremony at Memorial Park and concludes at Firehouse number two. Um, so that's right from the website. If you want to be in the parade
032by 10:00 a.m. to line up, you can decorate between 9:00 and 9:30. Some new events that the Colts Neck 250th community um, committee included this year is Mott Artillery will um, fire a canyon at the start of the parade and ceremony. Um, there's a new one mile run fun run race before the parade. There will be the new line of 1776 flags along the parade route. So thank you to the uh, director of public works, Lou Vader. And we will continue with previous traditions like the bike decoration contest, the um, sports foundation will be there. They um, trail riders with their horses will be there, the Colts Neck ROTC and marching band. So everything that we previously had will be there and then we're building. Um the last thing I thought this is important. It's
033um on our website too, but it's the Colts Neck Library on Tuesday June 30th is presenting New Jersey History Alive, New Jersey's Revolutionary Neighbors. So I'll mention that one again as we get closer. The calendar contest has been extended to June 1st. Um once again our seniors will receive $200, K to 11 $100. Checks will be donated by the Colts Neck Historical Society. We have entries for all the grades, but we are lacking middle school. So we need our Cedar Drive Middle School students to step it up. Um everyone every other grade including the high school has participated. So um yes, that's so if you have a middle school student, please encourage them. Um we have two patriotic themed field days. Conover Road Primary School has a field day across America. Um June 9th and
034our elementary school has a stars and stripes and games theme. So the flyers that were made for these were shared in Dr. Garabedian's last update and they were they were beautiful. So thank you for the staff who created everything and and these you know these exciting games. And um our 1776 flags are in. Dr. Garabedian update when we will get to see them. Flag Day. Flag Day after Flag Day the week leading up to that because we were going to we were thinking about Memorial Day, but since it looks like there's going to be a monsoon, we would have to take them in and out. We don't have lights for them. So we want to make sure that we're Okay. honoring them properly. So that's why we're doing Okay. So Flag Day is the 13th
035of June. It's a Saturday. >> Okay. Great. So at least the eighth graders will get to see it before they graduate. Okay. Oh, I would I would hope so. Absolutely. Okay. >> Um, once again, the Board of Education has a USA 250th tab. It has links to our Township events, our Monmouth County, um, New Jersey website, the Monmouth County library, and the national website, as well. So, take advantage of all of this. And last, uh, reminder to join the Colts Neck, New Jersey 250th Facebook and Instagram page to see all the highlights. Okay. And that's all for the Colts Neck 250th. Uh, do you want to do the recreation >> Sure. I'll go right into recreation and parks. Um, so, the Memorial Day obviously overlapped with recreation and parks, so I'm not going to discuss
036that again. However, if you have recommendations, um, recreation and parks, please email Colby c m a r q u e s at coltsneck.org. Um, again, it's really important that young families have a voice in the process. Kevin just mentioned about, um, not having trails for the our e-bike students, so maybe you have some ideas of creating new trails or what we can do because we do have a lot of students that ride bikes. Um, maybe, you know, maybe parks and recreations needs to have bike racks. So, young families, it's your money. And you know, let him know what you would like in in our in our buildings and parks. Um, Oh, this is really good, too. So, to register recreation and activities has a ton of programs, pickleball memberships, tennis memberships, court reservations, recreation and
037programs, and anything you need, you have to go onto the community pass to register. Um, summer camp's coming up. Again, that's on the park, um, the community park website. They also sponsor different things, um, high school sports. Um, I I mentioned tennis and pickleball memberships, so it's a great website to go into. And last, they will also be sponsoring the Colts Neck Sounds of Summer Concert. Uh that doesn't start till June, but it's a wonderful event right outside of Town Hall on Thursday evenings. Oh, look at that. >> Stole my thunder. >> [laughter] >> Okay, and that's everything for Parks and Recreation. Uh okay, um thank you. Uh Colts Neck Township uh seniors, Mr. Walsh. Uh fellows were saying that concert series starts in June. It's on Thursday nights, 7:00 to 8:30. They have quite
038a few. Get out in some beautiful Town Hall. >> is that flyer? My senior citizen. Oh, it comes in the mail. And it's also posted on the Parks and Recreation website. Okay. It might be in the mail, old school. And they have the seniors have 224 members. That's a lot. They're very involved, you know, they watch what's going on in town and had a few actually come up and tell me I mean, they watched our board meetings. So, she's great. I encourage everybody to watch them in town. That's it. >> We've got to get that attendance for uh up for our plays next year. I'll go uh and invite them again. One of us should go and invite them to all our uh plays and uh choirs and so on. Put some little cookies out,
039Doc, for them when they get there. Yeah, we can do that. >> do a little luncheon spread, you know. We we can we could certainly do that. Um okay, uh that's it. We're going to move uh to Mr. Scarpa with Naval Weapons Station, Earl. Sure, before I get into that, I I I do want to reiterate a special thanks and appreciation to the PTO for continuing to support the Legacy Grant. Now, that's really, really commendable, especially having consistent having our behavior over a long period of time, you know, in this space. Thinking forward, uh it's it should be further commended that this is on volunteer time. These folks really rise up and provide a nice opportunity for these the school these schools to really appreciate their efforts. So, a special thanks to the support the
040legacy grants. A shout-out to our facilities because this is directly related to Earl. Yeah, earlier this year we had planned to do a permanent theme all of the schools that they carry forward for all the years to come to recognize our students that are from Earl that had a footprint or a footprint or a uh horseshoe horseshoe print, you know, on our schools. And that's what it's all about. That created a sense of permanency. Uh the administration rose up and they provided that opportunity to all the schools and purchased these horseshoes and then they and all passing through um students from Earl can sign that and leave their mark on their school. So, they asked for it early in the year. It was they worked on it, they planned it out, and they delivered on
041it. So, no job well done to the facilities team for supporting that and the school for supporting this team and this program for Earl. And we do have an opportunity to do a showcase. >> Oh, wow, great. Uh Dr. Garvey, as a sample Oh, look how cute that is. And they can then sign that and then place it on the school that they were at. Oh, wow, look at that. So, that's courtesy of Mr. Capasso. Oh, thank Thank you, Mr. Capasso. And uh so, thank you for that. Thank Thank you to all those students that that do participate and serve a critical role in our schools. I'll be there. Another facility shout-out, more of a heads-up. A tree fell down outside of the school. So, facilities keeps working. Uh be mindful tomorrow. Uh it is
042blocking about half of the entrance to this school. >> Hopefully it will have been moved by then. I'm sure it will be. I'm sure Mr. Morera is on it right now. He's probably sawing it as we speak. And and then lastly, I got [laughter] to congratulate Gia and all the students who who rose up and sought employment. Yeah. Also with Sports Foundation, uh let them add many, many, many more zeros to that number. I hope so. They certainly will. But, you know, that's what it's all about. You start young, you you provide an opportunity for them to participate, and they embrace it. And so, congratulations to Gia and all the classmates that took it upon themselves to seek employment and give back and get compensated along the way. So, kudos to them. Yes, excellent. Um
043just so let you know, I don't know when you came with me uh to the school a couple of times, they painted a nice purple star um in Cedar Drive. I'm not sure if it's on all the campuses, but for our um Every school. Oh, it is on every school. Yeah, it's right in Did you see that when we went? Um whoever did that did a fantastic job. Um this way we could advertise our purple star status um and prioritizing our military always. So, I just wanted to add to that. Um okay, for the Dayton County School Boards, uh I have nothing. I'm sure there's some type of um um seminar or something online. If you want to just brief through that, I did not see anything before I got here. So, I'm not going
044to report out on anything particular. I'm going to pass it over to uh Dr. Garay for her Superintendent's uh report on our district goals. Okay, thank you. I have a couple other things before we get into that, and then I have a very abbreviated cuz obviously you receive information. I know. I I And with regard to one of the goals, you'll get more uh elaborate details in the update and folders linked to it, but this will be a summary of it. But, before I get into that, I just wanted to point out a couple things. Um on tonight's agenda, uh you'll see I originally had stated that my goal was to have our new policy manual on for tonight. We're going to look for that for June 3rd. I'm still making some final edits that
045I want to put forward to you. So, I just want to make sure that uh you understand that I didn't forget about that, but I did make a commitment for today, but I didn't uh it wasn't done in time. I also wanted to point out under finance tonight, there's the Board Secretary's Board's Treasurer's report. I wanted to really just thank um Mr. Morasco and our treasurer John Anthonitys. It has been no small task to be doing going back and looking back this through our new system. And in our update every week, we had talked about that we would be going back doing everything and re-approving things throughout the year. So, I just wanted to commend you that's labor of love and much appreciated for all of the time and effort that's gone into that. So,
046I appreciate that. Um you will see and and in in lieu of a lot of different changes and things that are going on. Under I also wanted to commend Mr. Walker for the art show. And then on June 2nd is our Conover Road Elementary School Conover Road Campus evening of the arts, which is a joint celebration of the two art shows. It is also Linda Weigel's last art show for the for the year end of the choirs will perform all of things that go on. So, it's a nice evening of the arts on the day before our next board meeting on June 2nd here on this campus. Not to be also celebrated but also to be celebrated I should say. June 11th is our Subs and Sounds program at Coltsneck High School. And if you
047have not had a chance to go to that, it is fantastic. It is the spring band concert. They have a lot of they bring in the fifth graders to play with the sixth graders as they're going to transition to the middle school and there are some performances by the Coltsneck band alumni who come back to treat the kids. It is a great night. So, if you have time and you're around Coltsneck High School June 11th. Yep. I wanted to also thank on the 12th we had our last parent academy for the year which was the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide. I want to thank the CNTEA and CN Coltsneck PTO for co-sponsoring that event. It was a phenomenal event. About 15 parents were in attendance and was great information. So, thank you to
048the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide and for you know prioritizing that that great work. June 15th through the 17th Jersey Freeze of Coltsneck is doing a promotional event for us, which is going to be a give back days. So, you'll see some promotions. We're hitting the ice cream hard this year between Nicholas and Jersey Freeze and I'm and I'm here for it. So, I just want >> [laughter] >> So, So, be on the lookout for those flyers through the PTO who are coordinating that and perhaps a guest scooper or two as well. I also wanted to point out that tomorrow is the Monmouth County Teacher of the Year luncheon at Brookdale. All of the teachers of the year in all buildings are going to be gathered at Brookdale. The Monmouth County Superintendents Association
049hosts a luncheon for them and program. I wanted just give a huge shout out to our Cedar Drive Advance Choir who was selected to perform the national anthem and another song and perform there tomorrow at Brookdale for them, which is also an honor be considering that Cedar Drive's Teacher of the Year is Christina Hubbard. So, in going through that, it will be a very nice we're looking forward to that very much tomorrow. I also wanted to point out personnel number one. Retirement of Deborah Steel. I just wanted to point out Mrs. Steel has been a pillar of positivity at Conover Road Primary School. She's actually been in the district for 26 years, but about 32 years in total in education in general. She's held a couple different positions, but I may or may not be
050speaking for her when I say that the inno- innovation lab teacher at primary school has been her favorite. She's created that program. She's worked closely with Mr. Capasso to develop and grow and really just allow kids to explore through the lens of STEM and innovation. So, you know, we'll we will miss her smile, her positivity, and everything that she's brought to the students here in Coltsneck each and every day. So, on behalf of the district, we wish her the best in her retirement and thank her for everything that she has done. Finally, last but not least, I just wanted to also give a shout out to Dr. Colin Rigby, um who was recently recognized by the Monmouth County Education Association as a friend of education and recognized and provided with a that award, which he
051was nominated for through the uh the Teachers Association. So, he was recognized in that way. So, um and that award um is uh the Friends of Education Award recognizes community members who support and advocate for public education in Monmouth County. So, congratulations to Dr. Rigby on that great honor in representing himself and our school district so well. And that concludes that part of my superintendent's report. So, that being said, you have a folder, a manila folder in front of you. And for the sake of the presentation, it doesn't make any sense for me to face the podium. It's more like for conversation. So, the first packet you have is something that says 2025-2026 district goals, okay? And as [clears throat] you know, we had five of them this year. And if you flip through, this
052is a very high-level overview of it, okay? There were five uh that fell into different pillars. Pillar one was about the learner. Of course, that's going to be front and center each and every year. It was about student achievement and growth. And goal number three wrapped into technology. Pillar two is about the future, career and technical education. Pillar three was the environment, which is finance and facilities, always. And pillar four is about the community. So, the first thing when we're looking at at our goals, uh goal number one was uh about moving the district forward. There's always a student achievement goal. We want to do better, right? We want to push, we want our scores to go up, and so on and so forth. So, I highlighted in here just some of the things that
053we've done and evidence that we have that is showing that, okay? We are uh using redefining measurement, the Quantile Continuum, which is a developmental scale placing both the student's math achievement and the difficulty of mathematics skills on a single continuous continuum. And in terms of our growth as measured by MAP, 134.48% growth in redefining mathematics, in third grade 44.19 in math in third grade, and in fifth grade 23.29. So, we've had some pretty And that shows just some of the pieces, the highlighted examples. Um in terms of targeted intervention, going on to the other to the next page, what we did was we actually looked at 30 specialized impact lessons in enVision for grades grades K through 5 specifically for use with special in the special education uh stu- with classes, as well as with
054students, uh creating the least restrictive environment LRE by bridging learning gaps. Ecosystems, we talked had a lot of conversations in here. What did we add? We added some ST Math to targeted interventions 4 and 5 are multi-language multi-lingual learners K to 8, touch math in resource room, and then we continued our to move forward with our expansion of building thinking classrooms for philosophy and small group instruction, which we do feel. Another subgroup that we're looking at and monitoring are military students. We want to keep moving them forward in the little time they're here. We want to be identifying and moving the district forward with all of those things. Going on to the next piece was reading, cuz that's the the math side. The reading trajectory from phonics to comprehension. When we look at our foundational
055phonics below, when we look at our DIBELS, we're looking at growth, right? Your dynamic indicators of basic early literacy. This also serves as our dyslexia screener for the year for our students. In grade 1, we've seen from fall to winter 19% growth, 17 almost 18% growth, and 17% growth in grade 3. That's great. That's great progress for them. And then Lexile as measured in grades grades 2 and 3 as measured through MAP score, we saw 30 almost 32% and 18%. So, we're seeing some nice growth there as well in as we're progress monitoring. And as we talk about I know that Mrs. Camera invest a lot of time in talking, you know, in talking about the assessments, but these are the tools that we're using to say, "Okay, are we growing? Are we moving in
056the right direction?" Because that's what we want to see all the time. Um and keep in mind I I did add for you at the um another packet that you have is a little bit more breakdown of the data of like style growth for all the grade levels, Dibbles going back and forth fall and and and whatnot. Two big things we've done for in language arts for the past 2 years, implementation of an entirely new reading and writing program, being a reader, being a writer. We've done both of those things. Massive undertaking, professional development training, all of the things that go into it. One of the best pieces of feedback that we have in addition to our benchmarks is saying we have is is hearing from our teachers. So, I included in this overview a
057a quote from the first grade team, "We have seen tremendous growth in their grammar, spelling, sentence structure, and overall confidence as writers. It has been so exciting to their exciting to their writing worlds expand. We have even heard positive feedback from our science teacher noticing skills learning transferring across subjects." And that's in first grade. To be able to see that they're taking their writing skills and writing with that's that's great. And just as an aside, Collaborative Classroom, who is the creator of Being a Reader and Being a Writer, would like to feature Coles Neck Schools in their preview and brochures as the way to implement the program with fidelity and accuracy and growth. So, I think that that's Correct. Correct. So, we're very excited. And I want to give so much credit, you know, to
058Dr. Reynolds, our our our coaches and instructional teams and teachers who have put forth so much effort. This is the what we do. This is the purpose. This is the goal. This is what we do. And to have that is is exceptional. Another goal that we put in place this year is we want to work with technology. We know that that's a big conversation, and we know that a lot of what we do revolves around technology, um but we want to start looking at we're continuing the conversation of looking at screen time, okay? We are looking at active use use co-view co-play media free zones high quality vetted those are all of the things that we're looking at. Um, we also know that there's a personal internet connected device policy that needs to move forward
059and go with what we're doing for next year um, and that's another piece of what we're working on. We did a lot of work and provided it a lot of information as Mrs. Horowitz and Mrs. Volpe know and as we attached in uh, superintendent's updates regarding um, we surveyed our teachers and got their response for their uses of the of what they do during the day. What are you using technology for for about how much time we shared that out with the parent advisory. So that they could also provide questions back and forth. So we're looking at at those things and so that's another step forward as we're taking seriously and looking at at current data um, moving forward looking at AI. You know, at the K to 5 level I know that higher education
060high schools have a big space in that right now and we're going to bring it down in in here as well using it as a tool. We don't want students to using it as a something what is what do you spend a lot of time in but not your talent. So we want to teach kids how to they can use it to help with time as opposed to to circumventing talents and then we want to use it to develop talents. Uh, we also want to delve into the world deeper into digital citizenship, right? It's important how to be good cyber citizens with each other and be kind online on in social network platforms all of those kinds of things. Some things we've done are student device security inventories that was something we shared. Digital versus
061paper audit assessments which I know that we can't Mrs. Camera shared out during a curriculum report with all the different assessments um, and then K to 5 teacher survey on district implementation, okay? So our next goal and if do you have any questions on any of that so far cuz I'll get to the really good stuff in a minute. Okay. >> It was of good stuff. >> It is a really well it is really good stuff and it's it is very good, but there's a lot of detail behind it. The next thing we did with our with our finance facilities is obviously we highlight it and some of this much of this I didn't want to be completely repetitive with regard to what was presented in our budget presentation. You know, there's a lot of
062good things that are reiterated in here. We talk about the ESIP, right? We talk about that's it was a big huge funding source. Reducing energy facility improvements. But on top of that, we've had some success with some competitive grants. Mr. Scarp. in our last week update that we actually received that local recreation grant that we applied for for $68,700 that's going to offset costs for the floor at the primary school. We have we also received a continuation of our focus grant of our focus grant of a $3,400 for getting teachers trained in early literacy screening. We continue to use our SF funds, title one, title two, title three, and title four to supplement after school programs, resources, all the things that we do. And then of course we utilize impact aid. We've also spent a
063lot of time especially in the beginning of the year offsetting cut costs by revising our our facility use fees. That was a huge endeavor that we went on with members of the finance committee, buildings and grounds committee to say, you know, how can we be really looking at balancing community use of our facilities as well as keeping up with the market value and cost of inflations and the cost to run the the actual buildings themselves, okay? The final goal that we had for this year uh was about launching the Colts Neck Education Foundation. This one is huge and Mr. Scarp I appreciate all of the time that you've given to doing this with me. Um but I also want to give a huge shout out to uh Lieutenant Colonel uh Jim Scarp who is really
064a community uh leader in this space with me. And what we're looking to do is put uh a group together uh a 501 501c3 group uh that's going to be a partner of our school district. That will be a financial partner, put a plan together that provides educational opportunities for teachers, for the community, but also allows the community to become involved in supporting through a financial means, endowment, all of the the great things. There's many many towns that have great school districts that have great success with their Ed Foundations and I think Colts Neck would be a perfect place to revitalize that. So, stay tuned. That is all going to be fantastic stuff that we are doing this year and a lot of a lot of work is going into it on behalf of Mr.
065Feeney and I just really truly appreciate everything that he is doing. What I also included in to you and again, do any of you have questions on the big picture presentation? What we have? Okay. So, what I wanted to share with you in that same report in that same folder, excuse me. There is a report, okay? And there is a presentation that summarizes that report, but that this report that I gave to you and I'm going to uh please indulge me for a minute is an academic performance trends in Colts Neck New Colts Neck New Jersey which is published by the Equal Opportunity Project called Trends in Academic Performance. It's published through Stanford University. And when the federal government did away with its Blue Ribbon School, many schools throughout the nation are looking for options
066in terms of saying, "How are we doing? What are we looking at here?" So, this report, which you have a copy of, examines the educational outcomes and academic trends within New Jersey's Colts Neck Township schools between 2009 and 2025 by analyzing standardized test data. The study reveals that students in this district consistently perform multiple grade levels above the national average in both math and reading. The research also highlights learning rates and growth trends noting that the district ranks in the highest percentiles for academic progress compared to other schools across the country. Beyond achievement scores, the document assesses socioeconomic factors and chronic absenteeism, providing a comparison against similar state districts. Ultimately, these findings offer a comprehensive overview of student success and school quality relative to various demographic and economic benchmarks. What can we highlight here? Coltsneck
067Township School District's learning rate is significantly higher than the national average. During the 2022-2025 school year, specifically, students in Coltsneck learned at an average rate of 1.24 grade levels per year, which exceeds the national learn average learning of 1.0. >> [snorts] >> This high rate of improvement places Coltsneck higher than 94% of school districts nationwide for average learning rates, ranking 516th out of 8,147 measured district. Additionally, the district's learning rates are showing a positive trend, increasing at a rate of 0.20 grade levels per year since 2022. Coltsneck Township schools post-COVID, where most districts are seeing a downward trajectory, which is also hitting the news nationally these days. Coltsneck Township schools versus other school districts in New Jersey with regard to learning rates. Coltsneck Township School District outperforms both the state average and its demographic peers
068in New Jersey when it comes to learning rates. During the 2022-2025 school years, students in Coltsneck had an average learning rate of 1.24 grade levels per year. This compares favorably to the New Jersey state average, which was 1.04 grade levels per year. Similarly, similar similar New Jersey districts with average 1.15 grade levels per year. Furthermore, Coltsneck is showing much stronger growth in its learning rates over time. The district's learning rate trend increased by 0.20 grade levels per year compared to an increase of 0.08 for similar districts and a state average of zero, meaning the overall state learning rate remained flat. So, in this report that's a national level that you can run in different things, I encourage you at your leisure to please read this report because I Superintendent, can you put that out in
069a letter to all our parents so they know how well the academic performance is in our district? I absolutely would be happy to. >> in a bullet point to to our letter to all our parents in the school community. >> I absolutely will. I will I think it's going to get buried out of meeting. I absolutely >> should really know how well the students are doing. You know, we there's always room for improvement and the growth, you know, even these two little measures and things like that that you're going for, you can continue to look and continue to see in these growth pieces, but when you step back and look at that big picture, you know, I'm the most competitive person, you know, that wants you to go forward, but when you take a a
070moment to step back and look at ourselves in comparison, there's always schools that are going to you know, do better and look at things like that, but I it's and those are good things to to chase after, right? To to want to aspire to be those things, but like I said, I'm pretty proud when you take a step back and take a a larger purview of what we're doing here. It's It brings a lot of pride to my heart. >> news to hear tonight. Again, I want the parents to know this in the community. I don't think they are aware of how well we're doing compared to other districts in I can also put something together, um, Mrs. Camera, if you'd like, in summary for the newsletter. Absolutely. To highlight something like that. That would
071go out as well. Of course. I would like to reiterate and Mrs. Walker's comment, a special thank you for the time, dedication putting in a very comprehensive report on trade winds that are out there because this is a fair assessment of the overall status of the school programs for the past year and for the years prior. So, you put you put it in this perspective and you showcase the facts. The facts don't lie. Uh, there's a good point here I want to want to highlight if I may. Um the blueprint for growth is four pillars: the learner, the future, the environment, and the community. 100% of our homes will all fall if there's no foundation. 100%. That's your foundation, your schools, right there. Okay? That's your foundation. And the fact that you're calling them out
072and you're speaking from a foundational footprint and designing a This is what we're building on and this is where we're projected to go forward is commendable. It should be highlighted. The learner, about the students, about our future keeping that in mind, about our environment and our financial structure and our facility always in place, and the community making sure that we stay in an active footprint with our community is very, very well designed. I especially like the digital citizenship next step net implementation. And I while we are encouraging our students, I would also say many adults in our community can also learn from digital citizenship as well. You might want to take a lesson from your own students. And if you are past the point having students in this, perhaps you ask the student what they're
073learning so you can go back and re-educate yourself on how to properly provide public discourse, but that's the way you're doing it. What you're doing here in the schools is the right way. I wish more adults followed that same path. I also like the fact that the post-pandemic headwind of chronic absenteeism, while we had a 12.7% other school districts in our district had 16.5. By my math, and I mean I I mean simple math, but this is a 35% differential with our board and the rest of our school district, that says something. So, the fact that you are keeping the students in school, encouraging them to participate, speaks for itself. Thank you for staying factual. If you wanted the real information and not the naysaying newsletters that are out there that spew tremendous amount of
074misinformation, come on down to the the um >> [snorts] >> these meetings, grab a copy of this, you might educate yourself, and then we'll go from there. Thank you both for having me today. You're welcome. Can we post this on on our website as well? >> Absolutely, I'd be happy to. I wanted to present it to the board first. And then I also the true measure obviously of the academic goal. Um this week last week was NJASLA testing as most of the state has been doing for a couple of you know for the weeks and will continue to do depending on the district. I want to commend again our curriculum team, our just our district coordinators, our testing coordinators, the schedule changes, and most importantly our students who showed up and did it and that
075we're looking really forward to getting the results back to see all of this in action to see um to see where this goes. So thank you to everyone's time and attention for all of this that goes into this. Um I just want to add on a few things. Um when you mentioned about AI Mhm. um my district uses something called School AI, so that might be something we want to look into. um Also you mentioned about digital citizenship. Um the sheriff's office has assemblies and every year my students have actually watched one on it's called bullying, cyber bullying, and the after effects. So if you go on um the sheriff's um the Monmouth County sheriff's office website and you go under community outreach and there's youth programs and that one is excellent cuz I've seen
076it multiple times. Um and then the last thing with the foundation I think that is is so fabulous. Um my district also has the MERS foundation. The amount of money we bring in so we can like look at their example, but we just had a big assembly with the foundation and um they do I I can't even tell you how many wonderful things I've applied through grants and I've been given grants through the foundation as a teacher. So um I think this is just so exciting and um you know, thank you for for doing this and um, to just maybe go into that website as well because it is it's just the information you can gather, you know, learning from other examples I think is always the best. So so those are just three three
077things to help continue our goals. And I did breeze over it very quickly but something that's in there that you'll see in the detail as well is expanding opportunities for career and technical education. We've started that journey and that goal was achieved. We looked at a feasibility of potentially adding resources and opportunities for kids through the lens of a woodshop at Cedar Drive in the very near future and the the fact of the matter is after going with site visits again thanking Dr. Rigby Mr. Capasso everyone who's involved Ted Hopkins our architect who has been with us and answering questions even just recently but looking to upgrade and provide a different lens through which kids are experiencing middle school. There's a lot of research on there about introducing students at the middle school level lower
078levels to career and technical education and pathways and all of those things and the answer is yes is it feasible here in Colts Neck the answer is yes yes it is and so we're going to continue to explore that as well. So that concludes my report so thank you. >> [applause] >> Now if I just want to say a couple comments this was a fantastic presentation for us I'm very very proud as the board is but I also want to acknowledge all the teachers here because we're talking about the finished product but we're not looking at how our kids are doing this they're not doing it on their own you know, our children are not doing it on their own there's teachers that are here showing up every single day to make this happen for
079us so I I I cannot leave this meeting without acknowledging all the hard work, not only the administration, um you know, the curriculum uh director and all, but the teachers that are showing up in the classroom, that are making these strides uh for our kids. These are fantastic results. Of course, I want even see better, but this is amazing. This is amazing. I can't tell you how happy I am for the kids of this district. So so happy. And uh the people that constantly want to attack this district, they should be ashamed of themselves, really. The proof is right here of how wonderful our district is, right here. Um so uh we're going to move right on into um our information items. Uh if you want to take a look, we have two right there.
080Any questions on any of that? All right, we're going to uh open up the floor to comments from the public. Um I just want to make a comment about our comments from the public. Um I I just want to explain how the comments from the public work. By law, you are allowed to come in whether you live in this district or not. You could comment on any particular item on the agenda or something that's not. You have the right, your First Amendment right, to stand if in front of this podium and to say whatever you want. Most of the time, it's related to our schools. Sometimes, it's not. I took the liberty of adding a second public comment so we can encourage people to come out, like Brian always says, encourage them to come out
081and ask questions, get involved. And if they, you know, happen to miss something, a lot of times when I used to attend meetings, I wanted to speak, I'd come late, I'd miss the open public comment, and then I realized it was only a one-shot deal. We wanted to incorporate that second public comment so everybody had a chance, whether they came after work or whether they missed something and they came later in the meeting to come up and speak. And whoever comes to the meeting has the right to speak on any particular topic. So, people need to educate themselves whether or not it's related to the school. When they come, they have the right to have their 3 minutes of time. So, and this board will always allow that. So, I just want to make sure
082that we just keep misinformation out of our board meetings. Um with that, if anybody would like to come up at this time to make a comment on any particular agenda item or any particular uh question or comment, you could do so at this time. Okay. I don't think anybody is here. Uh Mrs. Jones is seems to be okay. Uh so, we will close uh public comment. And we are going to go right into uh Okay, we're affirming Okay. Um I need a motion to move items. Hold on a second. Let me just make sure. On the action items one through three, we're going to start our action item motion to move items one through three. Motion. Second. Okay, great. I mean uh you can remind me again. Yeah. Um okay, can I get a roll
083call? Any questions first? I'm sorry. No, seeing none, we'll just take a roll call. On action items one through three, Mrs. Cameron? Yes. Mrs. Horowitz? Yes. Mr. Rico? Yes. Mr. Rigney? Yes. Mr. Scales? Yes. Mr. Scarpa? Yes. Mrs. Boltin? Yes. Mr. Walsh? >> Yes. Mr. Whitcomb? Yes. Motion passed unanimously. Uh great, thank you. Nothing under buildings and grounds today. Um curriculum, I see we have one strikeout. So, we're going uh curricula items two through four. Uh can I get a motion? Motion. Second. Anybody have any questions on those particular items? Okay, seeing none, can I get a roll call? Yes. Mrs. Camera? Yes. Mrs. Horwitz? Yes. Mr. Rico? Yes. Mr. Regneta? Yes. Mr. Scales? Yes. Mr. Scarpa? Yes. Mr. Volpe? Yes. Mr. Walsh? Yes. Mr. Wickford? Yes. Thank you. The motion Uh okay, great. Uh
084under policy, I just need a motion to move Uh oh, I'm sorry. There's nothing under there. Uh under negotiations, I need a motion to move uh just >> Finance. Wait a minute, did I miss something? Hold on. Finance. Oh, I did. I'm sorry. Finance 1 through 9. I skipped right over the most important part. Motion to move items 1 through 9? Motion. Second. All right, roll call. Oh, I have a comment. Sure. Um so, number 7, 8, and 9 were put on today and um I understand >> put on yesterday. Yesterday. Um are they put on yesterday? >> Yes. Yeah. Okay. All right, then. I'll keep that comment to myself. Um in terms of item number 7, there's my other part of that. Um transfer of funds Wait, I'm sorry. Wait. Comes I know, you
085did what I did. I skipped right over the whole page. No, I had a comment. >> Maybe that was somewhere else. Okay, I'm going to I'm going to pause on my comment and just move on. I could Okay. I could always put it I remember what I wanted to say, I'll put it under new business. Not from here, but thank you. >> No worries. Um anybody else any questions or concerns? Uh okay, roll call on those finance items 1 through 9. Yes. Mrs. Camera? Yes. Mrs. Horwitz? Yes. Mr. Rico? Yes. Mr. Regnetta? Yes. Mr. Scales? Yes. Mr. Scarpa? Yes. Ms. Volpe? Yes. Mr. Walsh? Yes. Mr. Wickberg? Yes. Motion carried unanimously. Okay, great. Uh nothing under policy. Uh under negotiations, we have one item. If I could get a motion to move the one item.
086Motion. Second. Questions or comments? Uh just a comment and a special appreciation to the to the finance team uh for spending the extra time going through negotiation here that is listed. Uh there was a there was a spirited conversation amongst the parties, but that's what it's all about. And that and and we came to a very good conclusion to set up for the next 3 years. So, thanks again to the finance team and the and the administration for supporting it. Great. Thank you, Mr. Scarpa. Uh roll call. One negotiation item. Ms. Camera? Yes. Um yes. Oh, yes. Ms. Horowitz? Yes. Mr. Rico? Yes. Mr. Regnetta? Yes. Mr. Scales? Yes. Mr. Scarpa? Yes. Ms. Volpe? Yes. Mr. Walsh? >> Yes. Mr. Wickberg? Yes. Motion carried unanimously. Okay, uh great. Uh I need a motion to move
087one item under transportation. Motion. Second. Okay, questions or comments? All right, roll call for that one item. Transportation. Ms. Camera? Yes. Ms. Horowitz? Yes. Mr. Rico? Yes. Mr. Regnetta? Yes. Mr. Scales? Yes. Mr. Scarpa? >> Yes. Ms. Volpe? Yes. Mr. Walsh? Yes. Mr. Wickberg? Yes. Motion carried unanimously. Uh great. Thank you. I need a motion to move items 1 through 15 under personnel. Motion. Second. Uh I just want to make a comment here uh about Mrs. uh Steel's retirement. I'm not sure if she listens to these meetings or not, but um Mrs. Steel um I met her years ago uh when my daughter was in her class and um it was just a phenomenal experience to be in her innovation lab. I couldn't tell you how excited I was that we were allowed to participate.
088Um she's one of the few teachers that are able to do that and welcome the parents and she was such a an inspiration how she um welcomed us, prioritized the parents in our in the kids' education, took the time um you know, and just patience with our kids in that class. It was just an amazing experience. Um and I'm just so so sad she is leaving. Uh this one hits home for me cuz I I had um a lot of great experiences with her. So, I wish her the best and appreciate all her years of service uh to our children in the Colts Neck Township School District. Um anybody else have comments or questions? Oh, Sarah. I'm sorry, Mrs. Horwitz. Yeah, I just wanted to double your sentiments. Um Miss Miss Steel's wonderful and you
089know, I've gotten to know her for the last few years with both my children in I Lab and um she will she'll definitely be missed and I wish her a very happy retirement and only great things for her. Great. Hi. Um I also want to wish Mrs. Steel a happy retirement. I um when my kids started in the district, she was the computer teacher and to see how she as an educator changed and grew, which is sometimes very challenging. Um she created a totally new program and um just thank you. Thank you for your time and service. Thank you for taking on all these new ideas and incorporating them and you will be missed. Anybody else? Yeah, I'd like to thank you again for her service here to this school district and the memory that
090I have is when my son first started here he was remote because of COVID and the most fun we had together doing his remote learning was the eye lab stuff that we did at home. So I want to thank you for that and making that interesting making that fun and and a difficult time. Thank you so much and enjoy your retirement. Anybody else? Yeah, a question about number six. The amendment to the chaperone from two to 320 is about a 60% differential. Is there is there a rationale for 60%? Yes, absolutely. The one is that because of they return on Friday and it's late. They don't get back till about 11:00 at night. So that's the additional time after the work day that they get for a chaperone rate. I got you. Yeah, so they're
091gone. Is that unique to this this Yes, that's not the normal would be consistent with the The normal would be the consistent with the 200 [clears throat] and then because of the timing of it it's the additional hours for the late night arrival back. >> the information. Thank you. Question number 14 resignation of payroll manager. Is that how is that going to impact our Vince's job here and the ability to keep up with stuff here? After today we are probably maybe maybe visit the job description and get it posted and hope to have everybody in as soon as possible. So that would mean we can maintain and and then Mr. Raskin and I will meet in the event that we don't find a successful candidate to try to put something in place to make sure
092because it is an essential position. Absolutely. Yeah. So we will we're going to get to work on that tomorrow after the board after we have that. So Okay. Yeah, I did see that. Okay. Thank you for asking. >> Yeah, thank you Ms. Walsh for bringing that up. Anybody else? Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Actually, I was going to say that, too, but since it I wasn't sure if we were allowed to say that, but yes, I was I was so pleased, too. Um and she was she was supposed to teach me how to swim, too, but I never made it to her class. So, I still do not know how to swim. All right, moving on. We're going to take a roll call. Um items 1 through 15. Um yes, Mr. Now. Mr. Camera. Um Yes.
093Mrs. Horowitz. Yes. Mr. Rico. Yes. Mr. Rickman. Um refuse two to five and yes to all the rest. Thank you. Mr. Skelly. Yes. Mr. Scarpa. Yes. Mr. Wolfe. Yes. Mr. Walsh. Yes. Mr. Whitford. Yes. Thank you. Motion to carry. Okay, uh great. Um we are going to open once again second public comment meeting. I know there's really nobody here, but I do want to offer it if you wanted to get up. If not, open and close. Open and close public comment. Uh we'll go right into new business. Uh anybody have new business or anything they wanted to comment? Just make one one comment. I think um we've had a very special special meetings last couple meetings, right? We saw that our district is one of the most financial healthy districts in not in necessarily New
094Jersey, but in the United States. And then we also saw today that we're in the top 6% of schools, right? So, not necessarily top in Monmouth County, not necessarily the top in New Jersey, but top in the nation, again. So, national recognition for our finances and for our curriculum. And we we get a lot of comments about us as a board and how political we are and all this stuff. And my comment is I want people to understand why. A car has a larger windshield than it does a rearview mirror for a reason, right? We are a windshield for our children and our families and our district. And we're constantly moving forward. And we play a tremendous amount of defense. And that's what I want people to understand. I don't want people to people to
095to have the negative comments about us because of the work we do. There's psychology behind it, right? So, if if if you do something positive and regardless of how something how positive something is and someone can still not admit or look at how positive that is, that's called effective polarization and confirmation bias. It's psychology. There's nothing you can do to get your mind outside of that, but what I would encourage people to do is always ask themselves a question when they hear something about our district of how political we are. Ask yourself why and then look at the results. And we're here to play defense for this district, to protect this district from everything that's going on in the United States and the state. So, wanted to thank again our teachers, our district, Dr. Garabey,
096Vince, everyone for their hard work. And the board as well, thank you. It's a privilege to be on this board and serve with all of you because we are setting an example for other districts around the nation. So, heartfelt thank you to everyone involved. Thank you. Thank you for those kind words. Uh We're creating a good legacy for our children, Ken. Yes, certainly are. And I'm going to add uh I want to borrow a comment from Bill Parcells many years ago. Defense wins championships. So, when you propose a solid defense and you propose a right level of optics and a go forward strategy, you will win championships. And that's exactly what this board and this administration supports, a long-term go forward strategy. If you'll be reminded a few years ago, there was a call of
097order of the administration to go back and take a closer look and see what we can do in-house to work on efficiencies. And this administration, under Dr. Garabedian's um uh leadership, uh rose up. They rose up. They They supported programs like the ESIP to see what we can do to not only invest in our future, to develop a certain technology by which our our our base can support, but also to help save um assets over a long period of time. Job well done has already proven to be a success with more to come. That same vein consist uh has permeated throughout. If you took the opportunity to go look at this deck that was presented, you'll see a strong forward positive look outlook that this administration and this these schools are focusing on. That said,
098our school facilities are aging. And we're at a crossroads where we want to continue to invest, the board continues to support a strong go forward approach. And we believe in Hope Springs Eternal and we want to continue to support that and teachers and administration. So, we ask that you learn, you participate, you encourage yourselves, and you think about what a stronger physically responsible program looks like and how it acts in our current market versus others that are out there that we clearly demonstrated a few weeks back that are struggling and are undergoing some severe cuts. So, keep that in mind as you proceed forward and we welcome the opportunity to participate in our dialogue, and there's more to come. We're excited about this leadership opportunity. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Scarpa, for those comments. Anybody
099want to add? Any other new business? Nothing? All right. Uh okay, great. We are going to uh close new business. We are going to I'm going to ask for a motion uh to move into executive session uh for the uh two items listed. Uh one is negotiations for the school business administrators uh upcoming contract, and uh individual privacy personnel superintendent's evaluation. Obviously, no action will be uh taken place. Um we will conclude with our live streaming, and this should take about um 30 minutes, I'm saying, roughly 30 minutes. Um if I can get a motion to move into executive session at this time. >> Motion. Benny? All right, great. Everybody in favor? Yeah. >> All in favor. Aye. Opposed. Great. Uh thank you, everybody, for attending virtually. Have a good night. Yes. Thank you, Mrs.
100Jones. What's that? Yeah.