001Is your dad Yeah, it should be. Should be. Okay, okay guys, we're we're live. We're going to get started here this evening. I'd like to call to order for the meeting of the Board of Education April 29th, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. in the board room of the administration building at 70 Conover Road, Colts Neck, New Jersey. If we can get a roll call, Mr. Morasco. Yes, Mrs. Cameron. Here. >> [clears throat] >> Mrs. Horowitz. Here. Mr. Rico. I'm present. Mr. Rignana. Here. Mr. Scales. Here. Mr. Scarpa. Present. Mrs. Volpe. Here. Mr. Walsh. Here. Mr. Wickberg. Here. You do have a quorum. Great, thank you. 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
002which has been filed with the deputy clerk for Colts Neck Township, and the requirements of posting of notices have been met. Just give Mr. Rico a minute to find a seat. Look 10, Jason. Got to go 10 in GTL, Kevin. GTL. All right. Okay, at this time we are going to respectfully stand 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. >> Okay. All right. Good evening everybody. Um we're going to get started. Uh we do have a few communications on here uh that uh was carried over from uh a while ago. So, if everybody wants to take note of those, uh they were all uh
003responded to by myself or a board member uh that I appointed to. Okay. Um moving right into my president's report. I'm just going to um go off the cuff today. Um we are closing out uh the month of April uh in recognition of autism awareness. Uh you know, uh some of us are sporting our beautiful autism shirts tonight. And I you know, I just wanted to let all the children in our district, um, you know, who do have autism, we're all special in our own in our own way and uh, we're just so proud to have them in our school population. I can't I can't stress that enough. Everybody on this board is so proud uh, to acknowledge them and uh, you know, for them to be a part of our school community. Uh, so
004thank you uh, for all who observed Autism Awareness Month. Um, that's the first thing. Secondly, um, Mr. Alan Ryan, who happens to be here today and I'll probably ask you to speak more on this if you don't mind. Um, he had contacted me uh, about an organization that I wanted to speak about called Sunflower for Soldiers. And as everybody's aware, this board uh, is our our mission is to always uh, instill the values of our military and the sacrifices that uh, they gave, you know, their lives and just, you know, every >> [applause] >> Thank you. Um, I I could say everybody on this board is very patriotic and we just appreciate everything that our military does for us in our community. So, he reached out to me with this organization called Sunflower for Soldiers.
005Uh, a lady named Megan B. Solomon, who's the president. Um, basically it's a program called Growing Patriotism Through Education. So, I am waiting um, to hear back. I wanted to find out more about the program. Um, from what I was told, they do fantastic tours um, of a Vietnam memorial right here in Holmdel. Um, you know, where, you know, vets, you know, I guess I'll have you speak to this more cuz you you actually went on the tour, I believe you said it and it was fantastic. So, you know, if you don't mind, if you want to get up and speak to explain to a little bit Well, okay, great. So, I'm bringing this up because I like to continue with our mission to always prioritize um, our military and any programs that we can
006make available to our kids. So, I'm hoping the board if you know, I could work with Mrs. Camera on this to see if we can maybe incorporate this somehow with Dr. Garabedian's help to see maybe if we can do like a class trip over there. I know we do some class trips to you know, some fun places. You know, my daughter went to like the rock climbing wall and stuff like that which is all excellent, too. But maybe in the coming maybe next year. I know it's standard of the year everything is booked already, but maybe next year Mrs. Camera we could look into this incorporate it into our you know, curriculum somehow and make it happen where we could have our kids go and be a part of such a fantastic memorial. So, I'm
007hoping the board supports this initiative and I thank Mr. Ryan for bringing it forward to our attention. So, thank you very much. At this time I don't have anything else for my president's report. So, we're going to move right into the board liaison reports. I know some of you don't really have much. It's been a quiet week or so, but Mrs. Harwood if you want to start with the parent information form, that would be great. Um So, we just had our meeting. Uh It was recent. I think it was in the last 2 weeks. Last week. It was last week. Dr. Garabedian provided an overview of planning for 2026-2027 school year including the tentative budget with no tax with no tax increase enrollment projections as well as potential impacts from new housing. Discussions also covered
008transportation needs, facilities planning and maintaining program quality as enrollment grows. Parents did raise some interest in strengthening I can't speak today. Executive functioning support during the transition to middle school which the district is looking into, as well as the possibility of middle school after care programs. Our last meeting for the 25-26 school year will be May 18th, and we will have a representative from Pomptonian, our food service company, here to provide a year in review and give some highlights. That's it. Are we getting samples? Hopefully, just not egg salad. Anything else I'm good with. Okay. All right. I'm looking forward to that. I'm definitely looking forward to that. Anything else? No, we can go into PTO if that works. >> Okay, I have quite a few things. The PTO walk and talk is this Friday
009at 9:30 at town hall. The second grade carnival is May 29th from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. in the primary school cafeteria. The Crest school store is June 16th through the 17th during school hours. The fifth grade moving up party is June 23rd. The eighth grade dance is June 12th from 6:30 to 10:30 at the fire house. Next week is teacher appreciation week, May 4th through the 8th. Eighth grade yard signs and photos are due by Friday. Please make sure that you're sending photos of just your child. The eighth grade graduation ads are submissions are due May 18th. Lastly, Brookdale camp fund raiser fundraiser for the PTO. Essentially, Brookdale will donate funds for each student who registers. And that's it. Great, a lot of fun stuff. End of year fun stuff. Great. Thank you, Mrs. Horowitz.
010Okay, moving to Mrs. Camera with the Colts Neck Township school newsletter. Thank you. No new information. Just reminding residents, as I do every meeting, who do not receive the newsletter via email, that you can go to the school website, Colts Neck Township schools. We have a link to subscribe under the Board of Ed tab. You go to newsletters. I'm encouraging all residents to subscribe. And at this point we have um approximately 21 residents outside our school families who have signed up. Okay, that's all. Okay, great. All right, moving uh to the Colts Neck Township uh arts, sports, and extracurriculars, Mr. Regnetta and Mr. Rickberg. Thank you. Um Sunday, June 14th will be a flag football tournament. So, uh any family and child who's uh interested, uh it will be from 12 8:00 p.m. 8:00 a.m.
011to 12:00 p.m. for the third graders to the fifth grade division. And 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. for the higher fifth graders to the eighth grade divisions. Uh the games will be seven on seven. Uh eight to 10 players per team. There will be a awards, specific awards and trophies uh for winners and MVPs. Um it'd be $125 per player. And I go to TeamSnap uh to register. TeamSnap uh app to register, of course. Or go to Colts Neck Sports Foundation for more information. Um on Thursday, May 14th, uh the Sports Foundation, in conjunction with the Colts Neck PBA, will be It will be hosted by the Colts Neck PBA. It will be a barbecue, cigars, and community night. Uh it'll be take place at The Barn at Laird. Uh and it'll have premium cigars,
012smoked barbecue, and an open bar. Of course, it's It'll be 21 and up. It's $175 per person, and you can um buy tickets on eventbrite.com. And of course, go to sportsfoundation.com for more information. Thank you. Anything uh Mr. Rickberg to add? Yes. There we go. All right. Uh the Sports Foundation is um inviting everyone to the father-daughter dance uh be held Saturday, June 6th at 4:00 to 8:00 at the Trump National Golf Course. Um there will be experienced uh uh stations including hair tinsel, jewels, and glitter tattoos, as well as bracelet making and uh father-daughter photo. There will also be uh sponsorship opportunities uh available uh to So, if uh people could sponsor or donate towards a cotton candy bar or a Shirley Temple bar, a slider bar, or a ice cream sundae bar. That's
013it. Great. I'm I'm hoping all our young ladies of our district have a fantastic evening with their dads. It's such a special time for them, so I wish them a great night. Um I want to add uh under the uh sports and extracurriculars, uh I want to have Dr. Garabed send out a formal invitation to the leadership of um the Sports Foundation. As promised, we're going to do our last uh meeting. Um Mr. Brickberg, Mr. Agnello, I hope you're able to participate. If you want to maybe tonight by tomorrow, give me uh some dates that you can definitely make it so we could get that invitation out hopefully by tomorrow if we can do it. I don't want to wait too too late in the year because we have graduations and I'm sure the Sports
014Foundation guys are busy as well. So, uh if you could get back to me tomorrow with the date a few dates that will work, we'll send that an invitation. This way we can button up the school year and see what we need to prepare for uh next year and any any requests they may have. Okay. >> Sure, absolutely. Looking forward to it. What's that? Absolutely looking forward to it. Thank you. >> Yeah, okay, perfect. What's that? >> Thank you. Okay. Uh all right, so we are going to move right into uh the Coltsneck Township Committee. I'm not sure if you had anything. Nothing to report. Nothing to report. Okay. Mrs. Camera, I'm sure you have something because uh there's a big event coming up with the 250 in town, so if you want to start
015off with that. Yes, thank you again. Um, so I'll start with the reminder that I do constantly. Um, to our Colts Neck families, our Colts Neck High School families, that the calendar contest is on. Um, Dr. Garabay had produced a beautiful flyer. It's on our Colts Neck Township Schools website under USA 250. Um, the 12th grade winner will receive $200 and have um, will be producing the cover. Winners from grades K to 11 will receive $100 and the checks will be donated by the Colts Neck Historical Society. Um, and I was hoping that maybe in the month of May, uh, with Memorial Day coming on, maybe um, Dr. Garabay, our art teachers and our our teachers can maybe have some time so the students can start working on it in class cuz I know it's
016difficult for the calendar contest. Sure. That Yeah, you could comment on that, please. >> [laughter] >> It's being promoted throughout the district as like an out outside activity, not necessarily They're all working on their art projects and the art show things that are happening. But that being said, I some submissions are coming in. Oh, good. So they are collecting them. So they're coming in. So it's open, you know, the doors are open here. So we've had parents dropping them off. So a great time would be drop off in the morning. We're here up till after. So um, we are accepting them at the whole the building is open. So we are getting some submissions. Yep. >> Thank you. Okay. Um, we still have our Board of Education video contest under the same tab. So again,
017I encourage families to go on and get your kids involved. Um, we do have our patriotic themed field day coming up this year and we are still working on our our flags. How are we doing our 1776 flags, Dr. Garabay? Sorry. The poles are in. We're waiting on the actual flags themselves. Yay! We're getting so close. This is so exciting. Okay. Um, also I just want to remind our families there are so many activities coming up. Please use our website, the the Mammoth Count Mammoth, New Jersey 250th website, the Mammoth County Library. There are so many programs even like there's just one example I was just looking at here. Um Sunday May May 10th, Friends of Mammoth Battlefield. So, please take advantage of all these free activities. Um The next Township event, this is big,
018will be Wednesday, May 6th. It's the barn tour. Tickets are still being sold. Uh $50 per person. It's sponsored by the Colts Neck Business Association. There'll be two charter buses with bathrooms. It's running from 10:00 to 2:00 p.m. with about half an hour at each spot. Um Stillwell, Synergy, Stone Hedge, and Fox Breeze. And there's a QR code. It's also available on the CMBA website. And um again, I encourage residents who have the time, please take the tour. I can only imagine. I would love to take it myself. Um Last May 25th is the Memorial Day parade. It's again hosted by Recreation and Parks. It's in a continuous previous traditions like the bike decoration contest. The Colts Neck ROTC will be there. The marching band. And what's new is the 1776 flags along the parade
019route. There's also now a 1-mile fun run. Uh which a with a 250th theme. And again, just if um families don't know, we do have our eighth grade trip for next year um that the board is very excited uh with of obviously Dr. Rigby um about sending our eighth graders to Washington, D.C. So. >> [applause] >> Very proud. Very proud to have that back. >> Just so sad we couldn't we I have an eighth grader. Yeah, I know. Yeah, I'm just so sad we couldn't get it for this year, but um really looking forward to starting this as a new tradition going forward. Okay, and uh that's everything for May. So, thank you. Great. Uh thank you, Mrs. Camera. Okay, going right into senior citizens. I'm not sure Mr. Walsh you have anything? >> much.
020Next meeting's May 6th at the Colts Neck Inn at 11:00. The Tim Alfano, the planning zoning officer, will be there to talk about applications for affordable housing. So, let's hope they get affordable housing units that are available at the Levana. Uh, good opportunity for our seniors to stay in town. Uh, May 2nd the Lions Club is having a Kentucky Derby tasting. I've never been to it. I'm going to it. Looking forward to it. It's 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Bucks Mill Park. Uh, seniors have a trip coming up on June 16th, "Let the Good Times Roll" at the Shore Club in Spring Lake. It's Roy Roy Orbison, Carole King, and Billy Joel. And I think you covered all other events, right? Mhm. That's it. Okay. Uh, I just want to recognize Mr. Scarpa. He's
021joining us virtually. I'm not sure if he has uh, anything for the Naval Weapons Station early liaison. Uh, yes. Hi Ange. If if you don't mind, can you make a presentation or a little bit of an update for the Purple Heart uh, ceremony that happened uh, two weeks ago this Tuesday. Can you just give an update on that piece? Yes. I I thought I had covered it at the last meeting. I'm not sure, but I will definitely repeat myself uh, for that. Yes, I attended the Purple Heart breakfast. We um, uh, people start I'm sorry. Purple Heart Sorry about that. Um, Dr. Garabedian sent us both an invitation and uh, it was very well attended and I just want to thank the um, the NGE I'm sorry. The Colts Neck Township Education Association for putting
022it together. Uh, the kids had a great time. It was just a beautiful event just honoring our uh, military families and especially our children. It was fantastic, Brian. I'm sorry you were unable to be there. Um, but it was very very good and we're we always want to continue uh you know, supporting that initiative. Thank you for covering that. I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Yeah. No worries. Um okay. Um the state and county school boards, I really don't have anything. Uh it's pretty much the same stuff I said uh last uh meeting. I do want to say that I do have some of the uh school board magazines. If anybody needs those, you could pick them up at my desk this evening. All right. We are going to move right into Dr. Garb Superintendent's
023report. Thank you. Um there's a lot going on, but it's hard to put it in a report. It's a very busy time of year, as we know. There's something every every night, whether it's through uh our recreation or sports foundation or even at the schools. For example, tomorrow night from 6:00 to 7:00 is our um Concord Elementary School Science Expo. Our fifth grade scientists will be on display. It is a packed night, and it is a super fun night. So, if you if you're around in the area, um I encourage you to to attend. Our kids work really, really hard, um as do the teachers in supporting them. Uh I just want to like kindergarten registration is open. Uh the information is on our website for next year, um and the earlier, the better, because
024that helps us. We know that sometimes um we get a more of an influx over the summer, but why wait till summer? Get it over with now, and help help us help you. So, make sure you get the information. It's on the website, and then as a reminder, uh children have to be 5 years of age before October 1st for uh to register for kindergarten. Um Okay. So, just as a reminder, our New Jersey Student Learning Assessment or NJSLAA Spring 2020 2026, excuse me, testing uh season is almost upon us. It testing begins on Monday, May 11th. Um a letter went out last week from Dr. Reynolds with the schedule and everything that was on it. And Mrs. Camera spoke about it at the CAL meeting, so it's it's uh in swing. Uh the one
025thing we just want to emphasize, and I know the board talked a lot about it this year as well, is regarding participation. And while we respect everyone's choice, the results of for for NJSLS are a are a very public uh display of student performance. And that's a very often compared using comparisons of trends and different things. Really, the way we look at it, although it is very public and stuff, it's our it's an assessment of how we are implementing our curriculum and how well it is aligned to the New Jersey learning standards. So, the teachers always eager to see how students are performing in relation to our own self-paced assessments, our internal assessments, and the reflection. Um the results provide schools with valuable insight into students' progress and help educators refine instruction when needed to
026strengthen learning. Teachers and school leaders use this information to see how students grow from year to year and to ensure all students have access to strong grade level instruction. Additionally, student participation rates in NJSLS, we are assuming like in years past because it is a different format for the test, um play a crucial role in our school and district standing within the New Jersey school performance reports. The NJDOE requires schools to achieve a minimum participation rate of 95% for all student groups. If a school falls below this threshold, it can negatively impact our overall performance rating, regardless of student achievement levels, which may affect public perception and valuable funding opportunities for our district. So, have the students come and show off their stuff. That's what we like to say uh every year. >> [snorts] >>
027So, um that uh is it. I just want to also reiterate, um we talked about April and the board was kind enough to uh um do a board resolution for both uh April as month of the military child and April as um autism acceptance month. And if you don't mind, I just like to speak to the to the latter. April is recognized nationally as autism acceptance month. It's a time to celebrate neurodiversity, promote understanding, and reaffirm our commitment to creating inclusive learning environments where all students are valued, supported, and and empowered to thrive. In our schools, we are very proud to recognize and support students with autism and many strengths, perspectives, and contributions they bring to our classrooms and community. Autism Acceptance Month is not only an opportunity to raise awareness awareness, but also to
028reflect on our shared responsibility to ensure that every student is provided meaningful access to learning, connection, and belonging. I want to extend my sincere appreciation to the dedicated teachers, support staff, related services providers, board certified uh behavior analysts, or BCBAs as they're known, therapists, and all the professionals who work directly with students and families each and every day. Your expertise, compassion, and unwavering commitment make a profound difference in the lives of these children and their families. You help ensure that individualized supports are not only implemented with fidelity, but delivered with care, respect, and high expectations for student growth. Equally important is the partnership we share with our families. Together, we build strong collaborative teams that center each other that center around each student's needs, celebrate their progress, and continually seek to strengthen opportunities for independence,
029communication, and success. As a school district, we remain committed to fostering inclusive practices, strengthening understanding across our school community, and ensuring that every student is seen, heard, and supported. Thank you all to who contribute to this important work each and every day. And that concludes my superintendent's report. Okay, thank you so much. Okay, moving right on, we have a few um Let me just see here where we are. We have a few information items here uh to take notice of. We have uh three of them. Uh and then we're going to move right into the comments from the public. If anybody would like to make some comments, you can do so at this time. She left her phone here. I wanted Yeah, okay. Yeah. All right, Mr. Ryan. Alan Ryan, 24 Ann Street. Um I
030just want to commend you guys and I want you guys to know that uh I appreciate all the effort that you do in this town and what you're doing for these kids and what you've stood up for. It takes guts and uh that's one thing that this board has, it's guts and I applaud each and every one of you. Uh as far as the uh autism awareness, I went down the uh special needs highway with my son and my son started here, right here in Conover Road. And he has done very well for himself. He thrives. He's uh contributing member uh to society and he is um just He's He's doing well, thank God. >> Uh thank you very much. I really appreciate that, Kevin. Um second of all, um third of all now, whatever
031this um sunflowers for the uh soldiers. It's great. I got to meet this uh Megan Solomon at the Colts Neck Business Association luncheon. And she was sitting there with a 97-year-old World War II veteran >> [snorts] >> from Manalapan. His name was Vito. I didn't get the last name and there was another vet there that she knew and he sat there and I remember going to him and I'm saying, "Do you want anything to drink?" And he said, "Yeah, red wine." I said, "Red wine, I love it. That's great." She goes and she coordinates for schools and she'll gladly talk to Dr. to you and Angelique, Dr. Garabe. They do tours over to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I went there with the seniors group. It's very, very good tour and they give you a lot
032of information and these are the actual guys that served in Vietnam. These are vets that served in Vietnam. And these kids will get a good first-hand lesson and I think that's important as you guys all well know because you guys have done a fantastic job with having these kids go and see uh you know, see these things. The Holocaust Museum, the 9/11. I mean, just really a good good thing. So, I highly recommend that she's very nice lady. I don't know if you could do it this year, you know, next year. And then on the trip, the eighth grade trip, I think that's great and if you can get parents to go and chaperone, I would strongly say go and chaperone and whatever because you're going to have a lot of fun. You're going to
033learn a lot about your kid and you're going to have fun with the the kids and learn a lot because they're quite something and that's all good and that's all to you parents and to the other parents out there and everything and you guys as parents, you've done like really great stuff. So, congratulations and all the best on everything. Mr. Ryan, I just want to say I'm going to reach out once I see Mrs. Camera's availability is and Dr. Garabedian's. I'd like to set up a meeting with Mrs. Solomon. Maybe we can do it right here in your office or invite her here to >> Sure, you can give me the contact information Yeah, I have it all. I'll forward it and I'll just learn more about it Right, whatever you want, whatever you need.
034If you need anything from me, please reach out and whatever. I'll gladly do anything as far as you know, to get these kids the right information and to know what they're doing and uh know that they can appreciate what went on. It's more important and whatever that they know where we were and what they did and that's how we got here. When they start to erase history or anything like that, anything that should be erased What are you talking about? How can you erase history? What are you going to do with that? You should know. You know, if somebody did something whatever, let them know whatever, you know? If you want to go and do a statue, all right, this person did this, this person did that. Throw it all out in the on the
035table. That's the only way they're going to learn and then they know. And then they can make their own decision. Absolutely. >> And that's what it's really about. Because you want to have them totally independent. You don't want them there, "Oh, I can't do this." >> [laughter] >> You know. You don't want that. That's one thing I've learned on my adventure. No. You can't be slouching off. You have to go and you have to hit it right there and that's it. And you know, that's the best I can say on that, but I think it's important and I really appreciate again, I can't say enough about you guys on the board, how you have stood up to all the rigmarole and well, we're not going to go there whatever because we could you know, do
036a whole show for 5 hours and I'm not going to do that. Nobody wants to hear me talk for 5 hours, that's for sure. Well, I appreciate you always recognizing our steadfast commitment to um stand up for the rights of our kids and the values of this community and we will always continue to do so. >> Yes. I want to point out that you know, if you take a look at behind us, we have we're supporting these fantastic flags. And I like to thank buildings and grounds chair Kevin Walsh for that initiative. >> Nice. You know, yeah. Nice. Yeah. >> [snorts] >> Nice. >> Yes, out of from your direction, I want to thank the administration for ordering and you know, setting up these beautiful flags. >> That's beautiful. That's beautiful. That's really nice. So
037at every meeting these flags will be That's fantastic. That's fantastic, it really is. them. That should be recognized And if you guys want to at the firehouse for Memorial Day, you were talking about paintings? If anybody wants to display anything there, talk to me because they can put them up on the wall or they can bring um the the What do they call those things? The Did you put the the posters on and all that? >> Easels? Um yeah. What What were you thinking of? Like student art? Yeah, absolutely. Show the kids off, definitely. It's Is that something allowable? 250 years. You can put it in the princess and we can put it in the offering. They can come by They can come by on that Friday, put them up. Okay. I'll be around. I'm
038I'm going to I'm doing the hot dogs at my wife's doing the hot dogs, but I'm going to be there. Put them up, absolutely. >> together behind the scenes, see what we can get, and then you know, I'm sure we have your email, we could contact you and see who wants to volunteer. If you want to do it or whatever, please let me know if you can or whatever. I know it's kind of like short notice because it's already April 29th. You know, it's a month away, but I think it could happen if they want to do it. You know, time flies really fast. And if the kids want to do it and everything, I mean, you know, they they should, you know, go and, you know, get recognized. I mean, that's important. 250 years
039is big. Big stuff. You know, it really is big. I mean, I remember the 200th, you know, the up sail, and being from Brooklyn, right there. I was right there in the Narrows and all that. No, that old lady that lady there, boy, man, I'm getting cold there. It's just it's all good stuff. It's all good stuff. >> Good stuff. So, let me know on that. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much to everybody. Thank you so much. I do want to just add one thing. Um the sunflower for soldiers.org website, Dr. Garbely actually went on it. All the contact information is there, so you can start by looking at that and going forward, but I I was excited to look it up right away as you were speaking. >> Yeah, it's
040all good. It's all good stuff. She She is a nice lady and she really has her heart in the right place. And she really does recognize and this guy Vito, boy let me tell you something that was something that was just like I could have sat there all day just listening to this guy or whatever. He just He was so all there and just I mean the way he lived >> to watch your time. We've been >> I'm sorry. Okay. All right, you see? I told you I told you. All right, guys. Thank you. >> All right, thank you very much. Uh anybody else want to get up and say some comments? I'll give you the same amount of time. >> [laughter] >> I would just like to um add on what Mr. Ryan was
041saying. I would just like to add um and second your sentiment on knowing our history because if we don't know our history, don't learn our history, we're doomed to repeat it unfortunately. And then I'd also like to go back and talk about your son for a second. My family I've known your son for almost almost 20 years working with him years ago when I was in college at Delicious Orchards. And to see him bloom, to see him become what he's become, the gentleman that he's become, the hard worker that he is, and to see where he is in life now, that's testament to you and your wife, his family, Thank you. And this school district. So, thank you so much. Great. Thank you. Um all right, seeing there's no other comments, we're going to close
042um public comment. We're going to go right into our action items this evening. Um I need a motion to move action items one through three. Action. Motion, sorry. Exactly. Okay. I said we should do that now. She said action. Uh okay, any questions or comments on those? Got some field trips coming up. Yep. Uh okay, I'll take a roll call. Okay, on action items one through three, Mrs. Cameron. Yes. Mrs. Horowitz? >> Yes. Uh Rico? Yes. Mr. Rigney? Yes. Mr. Scales? >> Yes. Mr. Scarpa, who is now present in this meeting remotely. He joined us at >> Yes. 7:16 p.m. for the record. That is a yes. Thank you. Mrs. Volpe? Yes. Mr. Walsh? >> Yes. Mr. Whitbeck? Yes. Motion carried. Okay, under buildings and grounds, I need a motion to move items one through
043three. >> Motion. Second. Okay, I just want to make a comment on number three, the adoption of the 2026 Summer Bridge Program dates. Once again, this board is super excited and proud to be offering this program again free of charge to all of the parents in this town. And I want to thank Dr. Garabedian, Mr. Marasco, you know, for making sure that we were able to fit this in our budget. And that's it. I want to open it up to the board if anybody else wants to make some comments, additional comments on this program. I'd like to extend it next year if I could another week for the kids and the parents. It's very well received and it's great support for academics going to next year. Okay, we could maybe make a note. I know
044that's a little bit ways out, but I certainly would second that initiative. I It's such a great program. I think the parents would love it even more with the extension. Everybody feel good about that extending it another year? Another year, I'm sorry, another week. And another year as well, too. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Okay, great. Let's take a roll call on those three items. Yes, buildings and grounds one through three. Mrs. Cameron? Yes. Mrs. Horowitz? >> Yes. Mr. Rico? Yes. Mr. Rigney? Yes. Mr. Scales? >> Yes. Mr. Scarpa? Yes. Mrs. is Yes. Mr. Walsh? >> Yes. Mr. Whitford? Yes. Motion passed unanimously. Great. Um, moving to curriculum. Uh, if I could get a motion to move two items, one and two. Motion. Second. All right. Any questions or comments? Oh, I want to have make a
045comment. >> Yeah. Um, I just want to thank the this particular teacher, but in general, any teachers who um volunteer to take on a student teacher. It's a lot of additional work and uh time, but it obviously paves the way for our future. So, it's appreciated. Great. Thank you for recognizing that. Anybody else? All right. Roll call on those uh curriculum items. Sure. Mrs. Cameron? Yes. Mrs. Horowitz? Yes. Mr. Eureka? Yes. Mr. Regnetta? Yes. Mr. Scales? Yes. Mr. Scarpa? Yes. Mrs. Volpe? Yes. Mr. Walsh? >> Yes. Mr. Whitford? Yes. Thank you. Motion carried. Great. Thank you. Uh, and our last uh uh section on personnel, I need a motion to move items 1 through 16. 1 through 16. Motion. Second. All right. Uh, that's a little bit lengthy. Uh, anybody have any questions or comments
046on those particular uh personnel items? I do again. Um, again, I just want parents to take advantage of these wonderful activities. Um, we have a yoga club, Colts Captain. Something that I think is new is the fishing club. Um, that that one is that new? I thought so. Um, that'll be taking place at Bucks Mills. How wonderful. So, um again, please parents, take advantage of these opportunities we're providing. They're free for your children and it gets them off the screens and hopefully they'll make some new friends. So, I really encourage our families to get involved. Thank you for pointing out the Colts Camp. This is actually a new elementary school initiative. It's a leadership program that Mrs. Groninger and Mrs. Russo have put together, and students have been identified to participate, and they're very excited
047about this. It's about bringing up a type of leadership program that we're looking at the elementary school. So, it's a new program this year. Completely teacher-created and looked at, and we're really excited to see how it goes forward. So, they're starting in the spring in hopes of carrying it through into fifth grade, so that the fourth graders were identified to carry it into fifth grade for next year. Yeah. So, we're excited for that new program. [clears throat] >> Yeah, thank you for explaining that. Wonderful. Uh any other comments? Nothing? Uh okay, roll call on items 1 through 16. Yes, Mrs. Cameron. Yes. Mrs. Horowitz. Yes. Mr. Rico. Yes. Mr. Rigney. Yes. Mr. Scale. Yes. Mr. Scarpa. Yes. Mrs. Volpe. Yes. Mr. Walls. >> Yes. Mr. Whitbread. Yes. Thank you. >> Sorry, Vince, I'm sorry. Just
048in my in my vote for second, three to six, I have to recuse. Three to six. Three through six, recuse. Thank you, Mr. Rigney. And the motion did carry. Okay, moving right into our second comment section of the evening. Anybody from the public have anything else to add? Uh you can get up and do so now. We're all staring. >> [laughter] [laughter] >> All right, well we'll move the the overage that you had the overage that you had at the first comment, we'll move into the second comment, so you're not over anymore. Um okay, if there's no other uh comments from the public, we will close that. Wow, this is a pretty quick meeting tonight. Um, we're going to open it up to new business. Uh, I just want before I open it up to
049the board members, I just want to go over it briefly. Next meeting will be May 6th. Uh, and it's going to be a big meeting. We are going to do our financial um presentation, which I'm very, very excited about. Um, it will be at the primary school at 6:30. Uh, and uh we're also having our student liaisons come, which I'm so excited. Our new student liaisons will be coming, introducing themselves, going over their initiatives. And we will be uh doing some um you know, honoring of some fantastic achievements. So, I'm I'm just so thrilled about the whole uh the whole meeting. Um, we are going to hold off on the CAL presentation of that meeting. So, I just want the board members to know you do not have to prepare for anything. That meeting will
050be quite lengthy, so I'm going to push the CAL portion of that meeting to the following. Okay, if there's anything of urgent nature, we could bring it up in new business if everybody's okay with that. All right, sound good? So, this way we could put our eyes on all of our students and our fantastic budget presentation. Um, any comments on that? >> Yes, I do. Um, I just want to say that um there's a lots of misinformation going around on social media about our budget, how we passed our budget, how we are going to pass our budget, how we came to the budget, and how we attained the budget. And I just want to say anybody out there who has questions about it, please come to a meeting. Please ask your questions face-to-face with us,
051with the finance committee, with the President Volpe, Dr. Garabedian, Vince. We're right here to answer any questions that you have that you may not fully understand. Um, and also ask questions on on our website as well, too. You can always reach out to uh us on our website, especially the President, to ask any questions that you might have about our budget. Um and also people are saying, "Well, I can watch it the um watch our watch us on on YouTube." And yes, you can. It's great. I voted for that and several of us here voted for it, but you can't ask us questions on YouTube. So, please come out and ask us any questions that you have. We are an open book. Thank you. Great. Uh thank you for acknowledging that and yes, I uh
052I second those comments, Vinny, that people need to uh ask questions and hear it from the people who are working this job every single day as volunteers uh not from some rhetoric that's on social media. >> And it's what I had if when when you assume things, you take you undermine the hard work that Dr. Garbè, that Vince did, and that our finance committee and President Volpe did to make sure we attained a zero impact zero tax on our on our budget and make sure we we didn't lose anything going into next year, no programs or anything like that. So, I want to thank you guys again for your hard work. And people need to know and understand how hard it was to do that. And that our district is so special being able to
053do that 3 years in a row and that's a testament to who we have on the board and who we have in our administration. Thank you so much. >> district in the state of New Jersey. Absolutely. The 3 years zero tax increase, the only Yep. >> be proud of our district, our teachers, our business administrator, our superintendent. Uh the kids get the nothing but the best. It is financial stewardship, financial stewardship of our Jason Enrico and Ryan Scarpa, myself [clears throat] and Marie Regal, give them the spotlight. They're in charge. They did a phenomenal job. >> Yes. Great. Thank you all. Uh it really takes the whole entire board, I hate to say it, but we appreciate you guys um and we appreciate all nine of you who are going to vote in favor of
054it. Um okay, I'm going to open up new business to you guys. Um >> I have some things. Yeah. Okay. Um One for our families, just a reminder that the Friends of the Library used book sale takes place Saturday, May 2nd and Sunday, May 3rd. Uh great way to get some books for a very good price. Um I had a while ago mentioned a um an idea for digital signs in front of our schools and I was hoping that maybe Kevin uh with building and grounds could really look into it. Um, I really think it would be such a wonderful way to share important announcements, celebrate student student and staff birthdays, uh promote school events, highlight community achievements. Um, it could be a way to increase our revenue because we can um let different places,
055you know, use it for for advertising. So, if maybe I'll pass this idea to building and grounds and see if we can get some quotes and thank you. Okay. Uh you know, if the board if the board is like said idea. Um, the other thing is that last night I attended the Coltsneck Recreation and Parks open house and public input session at Bucks Mills. Um, it was a small group. It included a Mayor Viola, Councilwoman Buss, um members of the senior club, the trail riding club and the discussion focused on future projects such as the possibility of bike trails. Um, Mr. Walsh last time mentioned how the trails that we have now, there's an ordinance being passed where they want it for the horses. So, um maybe some bike trails, a skate park, um summer
056camp programming was discussed. The um summer concert series that I have some flyers for that I got from there. This is flyers for the summer camp that I also got some flyers for and the summer camp has so many uh wonderful trips uh going to Seven Presidents Park, going to IPlay America, a Blue Claws baseball game, um just so many wonderful opportunities. So, really what the the purpose of this meeting was trying to get input for the for park. So, I really encourage residents to email Colby. It's c um m a r q u e s at coltsneck.org. It's important that our especially our young families, um have a voice in this process because you're you're the future of these parks. So, um with that in mind, I actually had a new idea. I would
057like to um suggest that we have a liaison to Colts Neck Recreation just like we do to the Sports Foundation. And um there's just so many opportunities to collaborate. Um I mentioned another time about maybe bike trails and and lanes connecting our parks and our schools, um establishing bike racks at key locations, revisiting maybe lighting. I know um that's a big issue with the Sports Foundation at Five Points. Um especially now with Livonia, the the idea before was that, you know, it would be too too much brightness, but now we're going to have three-story buildings projecting so much light. So, maybe it's a, you know, an idea now that we can, you know, re-look at. So, um I would would I don't know if anybody would like to be the liaison, if that's a possibility,
058if the board likes that idea, so um just working together cuz >> we can continue the conversation, but if we if we do, how do you all feel about it? Have a liaison to the recreation? Yeah. Yeah, I think it would be great. This way we include them and, you know, >> Should not be with the Sports Foundation. Yeah, do you uh it's I don't know. Do you want to keep it separate or put it >> I think I think it's all tied in the same thing, right? What do you think, Richard? It's it's diff- I think it's different. It is different. I mean, I would also um like this is one of more things for communication, so we I could talk to Mr. Scarpa more about this, but um if we could make another
059tab just to have some of these ideas like with the with the Colts Neck camp system, you know, for for um families just to make it easier. They come to our school website and they're able to go to recreation and they're able to see, just like we have the 250th tab, if we can make like a Parks and Recreation tab as well, um where we can highlight some of these amazing events. Like, I learned last night that at Bucks Mills, if you're a girl scout or boy scout troop, you can use the part of Bucks Mills facility for free of charge. Colby does not charge. So, there's a lot of great information that we can also, you know, you know, give out to our families. And um You know, the building's to the when if
060you drive in, there's a building to the left. That that's that's used constantly by by the sports foundation, by different groups. So, All right. Well, if we're on board, why don't we Mr. Scales, can you write up something for what the liaison position would require, its duties? Is it okay? I'm sorry. I don't want to give you too much. But yeah, I'd like to continue. I think the board would definitely support that liaison, add it to our um to our liaison reports. Mrs. Camera, I think it's a great idea. If you want to lead, I'd point you. >> maybe with the foot Well, maybe the two of us or three of us. Just because that way if one of us can't make the meeting, so it's we could work together. So, okay. So, I'll Well,
061first get the the description of what it consists of, and then I will make the appointments once that's done and we we vote we have to vote to pass it and put it in our Yeah. And we do have on our we can I mean, it's very it looks pretty simple to do because under families, cuz we have a families tab, and it goes to Colts Neck Township >> already. So, we would just create if you wanted to a separate link that would say recreation, but the Township it the the recreation is linked in the departments under there, but if you wanted a separate one just for recreation. >> that would be easier just because the recreation is is a lot of the kid-friendly events. So, um And that's a I'll bring this. We don't
062have If you want, obviously, any of this information, but I'll give this to you, and then I'll bring this to the next meeting where we have a lot of families coming. Oh, great. Yeah, good idea. Um, okay, terrific. Is is all from public. >> sorry. Is that Oh, that was everything. Those were my three things. So, thank you for entertaining me. All right. Anybody have uh new business? New business, guys? No? Uh okay, seeing none. We are going to um I'm going to need a motion um to move into executive session. It will probably be about 10 minutes. No action will be taken. Uh I'm sorry. Uh I'm sorry. The uh for legal confidential legal matters, okay? So, if I could get a motion to move into that executive session. >> Motion. Okay. And the
063live stream will be ending shortly. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you to the public. Yep. Thank you, guys, for coming tonight. >> Thank you. Great. Thank you. >> God bless you all. Thank you. Thank you. I'm on the recreation and this is our chance. Okay. Great.