001Okay. Um, okay. Good evening everybody. I don't know if they can hear me. Uh, I'd like to call to order the board of education meeting uh for March 19th, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. at the Connor Road Primary School at 56 Conover Road, Coltsneck Township, New Jersey. If I could have a roll call. Call Mr. Morasco. Yes, you may. Uh, Mrs. Cameron, present. Mrs. Horowitz, present. Mr. Or here. Mrs. Ramirez here. Mr. Rignetta here. Mr. Scales here. Mr. Scarpa here. Mrs. Vulpi here. Mr. Walsh. Uh, he will be here in about an hour. Thank you. He's running late from the city. You have a quorum. All right. Great. Thank you. Um, okay. Pursuant to the Open Public Meeting Act, chapter 231, this meeting has been duly advertised in the Asbury Park Press and is scheduled of
002meetings dating January 16th, 2025 and March 4th, 2025, notice of which has been filed with the deputy clerk for Colts Township and the requirements of posting of notices have been met. Um, Mr. Scales, would you like to um read the mission statement at the top of your packet? The mission learners maxim. Great. Thank you, Mr. Scales. Um, if I can uh invite everybody for the flag salute, please rise. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay. I'd like to get a motion uh to approve uh the minutes for the uh February 5th and 19th um board of education meetings. If I could get a motion. Okay. Can I get a roll call?
003Oh, any um comments or discussion on those minutes? Okay. If I can get a roll call. Yes. Approval of the minutes. Mrs. Cameron? Yes. Mrs. Harowitz? Yes. Mr. Ro? Yes. Mrs. Ramirez? Thank you, Mrs. Ramirez. Mr. Reignetta, yes. Mr. Scales, yes. Mr. Scarpa, yes. Mrs. Vulpi, yes. Thank you. The motion passed. Okay, great. We are going to u move on uh to our highlights for this evening. um our presentation uh of our student representatives, our uh new student and re returning uh student liaison are here tonight to make their introduction. So I'm going to hand it over to Dr. Garbe uh so we could proceed with that. Thank you everyone. Um last year in January Last year, last year uh when the board of education reorganized, there was a focus on uh student voice and
004wanting participation to hear from our students, which which is the core mission of all that we do. And so that being said, out of after much discussion and kind of going back and forth, the uh program, the student representative to the board of education program was born. It's actually something that has been in place for a couple years uh at the high school level of instruction, but it and it's part of a requirement for high schools uh 9 through 12, but we thought to ourselves that we could take this initiative and move forward uh in developing one for our middle school students as well. So, that being said, we're going to introduce this evening our new student, our 2025 student representative to the board who actually are invited to carry on through the whole calendar
005year as opposed to the school year. So if they're not leaving us as some of our eighth graders are doing, the others will be invited to carry on when they return to us in September as we've done in the past. So each person is each representative is going to be invited to come up, introduce themselves, uh say hello, and then uh share a little bit about why they wanted to be a part of the student representative program. So our first student is our sixth grader uh student representative to the board, Miss Alexandra Edwards. [Applause] says, "Hello." Oh, hello. My name is Alexandra Edwards. I am a sixth grader and I'm so grateful to have this opportunity to represent our school in this meeting. I wanted to be on the board of education because I can
006stand as a voice for my fellow peers and bring new ideas to the board. Thank you. Welcome, Alexander. Our next student representatives are is a seventh grader, Kira [Applause] Harlon. Hello, I'm Kira Harland and I'm honored to be a part of the Colts Board of Education. I have been a part of this district since preK. I was in the first class of three year olds offered by the district. Colts neck schools will always be the most friendly, prepared, and safe environment ever. I wanted to be a part of the board of education because I would like to assist in maintaining a wonderful school experiences for the kids that will be entered next year and the years to follow. I hope to assist in making the schools the best place they can be by sharing students
007perspectives. Thank you for selecting me to be one of the representatives of the board of education. Have a great night. Great job. One of our representatives, Sophia Boucher, couldn't be here this evening due to illness, but I know that she sent a special message to our board of education president, Mrs. Vulpi, who's going to read it on her behalf. Mrs. Vulpi. Yes. Thank you, Dr. Garbe. Okay, she sent this in earlier. Um, she said, "Hello, my name is Sophia Boucher. I am in seventh grade. I'm interested in becoming a student representative because I feel that it is a perfect way to make a difference and make the school system better. In my school experience, I believe the best part is how welcome welcoming everybody is. If I were to change something about my school experience,
008it would be having more selections at lunch to support everyone's dietary needs, vegetarian, lactoseree foods, etc. I am looking forward to meeting everyone in person next time. So, thank you Sophia. Thank you, Sophia. Bouche, too. Excuse me. I Okay, our next seventh grader is a returning student representative to the board from last year, one of our originals, Miss Emanuel [Applause] Diner. Hello, my name is Emanuel Diner. I'm in seventh grade and I wanted to be a member of the board because I wanted to make a change for our schools and I wanted to stand out and make a difference. I would also like to change the peace garden. The peace garden at Cedar Drive is really just been standing there. Sometimes clubs will go out to use it, but it's really just left unused most
009of the school year. So, I started making a I I had an idea to make a um to make like a gazebo or a pergola in the peace garden. So, we've tra we have started with like permits and contractors and we're very close to finishing and we hope we hope to finish by Cedar Drive 60th anniversary which is this April. I would also like to add that Cedar Drive spring musical Matilda would take place on Friday at 7:00 p.m. and on Saturday at 2. The casting crew is are very excited to perform. We're led by by our amazing directors, Mrs. Sullivan, Mr. Brown, Mrs. Hubard, and Mrs. Lendono, who are amazing in what they do. That's all that I have for you tonight. Have an amazing night. Thank you, Emanuel. Another seventh grader who is
010a returning member of our student representatives to the board program is Miss Jillian D. Salvatore. Good evening. I'm very pleased to be here tonight to share my thoughts with such esteemed leaders. First, I would like to congratulate the new board and the elected president, Miss Vulpi, along with vice president, Miss Cameron. My name is Jillian Dal Salvatore. I am in seventh grade and I am a returning member of the student liaison program. I have been in the district since preK3. I'm incredibly proud to be part of the Colts Neck School community where I have made wonderful friends and created many lasting memories. I am especially grateful for teachers like Mr. Teresi who have taught me valuable lessons in both the classroom and in life. One of my favorite aspects of being part of Cedar Drive
011is the opportunity to participate in sports. Over the past two years at Cedar, I have been involved in soccer, basketball, and track. I have thoroughly enjoyed competing in games and meets, but even more importantly, I cherish the relationships I have built through sports. I've made some of my best friends on the basketball team and have developed long connections with my coaches for which I would always be grateful for. If I could help change or improve one thing about Cedar Drive or throughout all three schools, it would be to raise awareness about mental health. I believe that mental um that the mental health crisis affecting school-aged children in the United States is often overlooked. Statistics show that 20% of adolescents experienced a mental health disorder with even more cases going undiagnosed. This year, I aim to
012promote mental health awareness throughout our school by collaborating with the staff and students to identify ways we can implement inactives that raise awareness and make positive contributions. Mental health issues can have a devastating impact on a teen's life and in some cases they can lead to tragic outcomes. I am passionate about working with all of you to improve awareness and understanding of this important issue, ultimately leading to a positive impact on our student body. Thank you, Jillian. Our next new student representative to the board is Darren Heel, eighth [Applause] grader. Hi, my name is Darren Heel. I'm in eighth grade and I am and I wanted to be a part of the student representative board of education because I wanted to make a positive impact on schools and also wanted to say and also wanted
013to try something new. My favorite thing about the Colts experience is the opportunity to be a part of multiple sports teams. I am very proud player of the Cedar Drive soccer, softball and basketball team and I am so grateful for all the memories I have made and the lessons I have learned from working with my teammates. If I can change anything about Cedar Drive experience, it would have to be the cafeteria food. I feel that the cafeteria food is that is served could be improved. Thank you. Thank you, Darren. Our next eighth grader is Mr. RJ Ronco. [Applause] Good evening, Cold Snake board members, administrators, and Cold Snake community members. My name is R.J. Ronco, and I'm an eighth grader at Cedar Drive Middle School. This is my first year as a student representative, and
014I'm excited to share my ideas. Um, I joined the student representatives so I could share my ideas and hope to make the school a better place. Um, I'm a member of the Cedar Drive baseball team and the basketball team. And I think that opportunities are um there's plenty opportunities within sports at Cedar Drive and that makes Cedar Drive a great place to um really express your interests. Um, one thing that I think that Cedar Drive can improve on is the student IDs. I believe that we could use our student IDs to track and make sure that every student doesn't wander off and say they're going to the bathroom, but really they go get water and they go to other classes and they go to Miss Cooper's. So, I believe that if we can fix that
015and have everybody get to their destination and back to class, we could have a better learning environment and a better place to learn. Thank you. Good job. One of our returning uh student representatives to the board is eighth grader Christopher [Applause] Sniglia. Good evening, Board of Education members, administrators, parents, and guests. My name is Christopher Senelia, and I'm an eighth grader at Cedar Drive Middle School. This is my second year as a student representative for the board of education. As a student rep, I'm excited to share what I love about my school experience and what could make it even better. One of the things I enjoy is having the chance to speak up for my classmates and help improve our school environment. Last year, I brought the idea to the board of education meeting and
016was able to work with Dr. to improve the boys locker room with the installation of benches. Dr. me and the board's support of my idea showed me that the student voices matter. I was proud to see my idea become a reality and to make a positive change for students and friends. While I love my school experience, one improvement that can be made is having more interactive learning opportunities. For example, this past week in Mr. Zerwinsky's history class, we learned about the Roman Republic by recreating a government setup in class and role-playing with each other. In these past couple of days, I've looked forward to class. It's been an exciting way of learning and a good way to remember history information. More experiences like this would make us all excited about our classes. I hope in
017my second year as a student rep that I can continue to share my ideas and come up with changes that can make a difference. Thank you for your time and support. [Music] Thank you, Christopher. And our our final uh returning eighth grader for our student representatives to the board is Mr. Tyler Cersen. Uh hello everyone. My name is Tyler Serszen. I am in eighth grade and I decided to come back to the board uh cuz it was very fun like last year when I did it and uh it's good to make changes for the future generations of students who come to our school. Um, I like Cedar Drive because uh it's good environment for to learn and uh the teachers teachers are very engaging. They listen to you. They uh help you when you need
018help. Uh one thing I'd like to improve though is the football field because it's kind of showing its age and it could could show some love. And yeah, that's it. Thank you. So this process, we're so excited and it's it is about improvements and so on. And thank you for your willingness and your ability to volunteer, willingness to volunteer, to be spokespeople and to work collaboratively with the adults in the room who care for you and want, you know, to help support you in um your goals and education as well. So let's have a round of applause and warm welcome for our student representatives to the board. Okay. All right. We're going to move now uh onto our recognition program. So, our first student uh to be recognized um this evening is a young man
019named Diego Tantillo. So, if you would join me, please Diego. [Music] [Applause] So Diego is one of our superstar eighth graders at Cedar Drive Middle School. And I don't want to steal too much because I know Mrs. Vulpi is going to talk about it probably in her president's report, but Diego was selected uh to represent Cedar Drive Middle School and the Colts Township Schools at last last week's Mammoth County New Jersey School Boards Association's annual 8th grade dialogue. So, we've invited Diego here tonight to not just celebrate and really congratulate him on recognizing and and representing the district so well, but also to share a little bit about his experience. I just want to thank everyone for acknowledging me today. And I also want to thank my uh my principal and my staff for uh
020picking me to represent Ted Drive last week. And the experience was actually quite fun meeting new people and getting to experience to experience new things. Everyone was so nice and I just I can't wait to do more with the program. Great. I think one of the things and again student voice and we're so grateful that you participated because it's eighth graders from all across Mount Mammoth County, the districts, the schools actually. It's not even just the district. It's from schools who participate who give reflective conversations and really give us some good ideas on how to move forward as you're pursuing going into high school. So, on behalf of the Colts Township Board of Education and your whole district who is just so incredibly proud of you, um we have a little thing in this district
021that we do with staff called the Golden Horseshoe Award. And so tonight, Diego, you are receiving a Golden Horseshoe Award in recognition of outstanding representation of Cedar Drive Middle School and the Colts community while serving as a student panelist at the Mammoth County, New Jersey School Boards Association's 2025 8th grade dialogue on March 11th, 2025. Congratulations. Good job. Okay, at this time I'm going to ask uh the principal of Cedar Drive Middle School, Dr. Colin Rigby to join me, who is going to continue our night of celebration and recognition of our students. Um he's going to mention a little bit about why we are here tonight and a little bit about uh our celebration of our students this evening. Good evening uh to Dr. Garbe, Mr. Morasco, and all the board of education members. Thank
022you so much for the opportunity to be here to celebrate some of our outstanding bright shining stars at Cedar Drive. Uh who you're about to see on stage or being recognized is a group of individuals who shine in the classroom. They're bright. They engage in collaborative discourse. They bring insight to the classroom. We have some staff members here that would say they contribute, I think, to to just a flow of academic acquisition and u debate that makes it fun and challenging. And tonight we're we want to celebrate all of their efforts. Um the details of high honor roll is pretty impressive. Everyone here has received a 93 or better in all of their coursework. Okay, so that's an A or an A+ in all of their coursework and that signifies an high honor role at
023Cedar Drive. So on behalf of certainly our entire staff at Cedar Drive, we congratulate you for this significant accomplishment and we'd like to recognize you. So this evening, if you bear with us, and it's a a good use of our time to celebrate each grade level, students in each grade level. First, we're going to recognize students marking period 1, sixth, 7th, and eighth grade. We'll do all of sixth grade, marking period 1, marking period 2, and then students in sixth grade who earned it in both first and second marking period. And then we'll repeat the same for seventh and eighth grade. Okay? All right. I don't know. Okay. So, why don't we hold applause until we get each of the grade levels up here and then we can um do an applause for everybody. That
024sound good? So, high honor roll in first market period in sixth grade. Matthew Siniglia. I got to go fast. Charles Fixster, he's not here. Amir Hassan, Francesca Lorocco's here. Uh, Michaela Stattle's here. And Gabriella Stefen. Come on, Gab. I saw Gab. Congratulations. So, round of applause for our first marking period. Second marking period, high honor roll at Cedar Drive. Skyler Graves, Alex Malooki, Nicholas Palazolo, and Reagan Royal. [Applause] Now we would like to recognize students in sixth grade that received high honor roll for markings period one and two. Queen Carleta, Zachary Dunn, Alexandra Edwards, [Music] Isa Helms, Alexander Horheimer, McKenzie Huang, Irene Lee, Gianna Nicholson, Janna, Elizabeth Rumsby. Good job. and Charlie Sabatino. [Applause] Hang on. I have two more. Yeah. Uh Sanchi Sandi. Okay. Come on. And and Giovana Sedinary. [Applause] Okay, just because
025it's going to get a little crowded with seventh and eighth grade, maybe uh families, if you want to take a quick picture, you certainly can come up and snap a picture and then we'll do seventh grade. So good. How about one last round of applause for our sixth grade high honor roll. Well done to all of you. Okay, moving on to seventh grade. Okay. So, high honor role in marking period 1, Michaela Loraca, John Ceino, and Cooper Wilcox. Stand up. [Applause] Cooper's mom is right there. We have Mrs. Wilcox and Mr. Savino stepping in. We appreciate it. [Applause] High honor roll in seventh grade marking period to Pare Ban. Austin Klene Paula Paula Cos. Yep. Jolie Magro, Aubriana Owens, Sophia Peshi, Shane Reyes, Giovana Walsh, you can give that [Applause] Now I'm going to give
026you two. Okay. Seventh grade high honor roll in both marking periods one and two. We would like to recognize Jack Baron Parthania Escander. Make sure I have it right there. Caitlyn Friend Addison Linham Add's coming Alexander Morino Alex is here. Belle Resnik, Daniel Shapiro, Michael Shapiro, Avery Tan, Reagan Yale, McKenzie, Ziro, okay, how about a big round of applause for our seventh grade high honor roll. At this time, we could take some pictures. You can come on up. [Applause] Okay, how about one last round of applause for our seventh grade high honor roll students. Yes, come back. So this is first. Okay. Our eighth grade high honor roll in marking period one. El Aggressa Dylan Bishop Salana Colmer Jack GA Helms Liliana Nicholson Hunter Palantonio Hunter's here Sam Pra petricella That's Hunter. Yeah. Cameron Pinguelo.
027Maline Royal. Cameron Summer Torres. Melania [Applause] Jigan. I got nervous with the name. Marking period two high honor roll at Cedar Drive Middle School. Reese Adams, Jake Brooke. All right, come on out, Jake. and high honor role in markings period 1 and two. Kayla Burkner, Marsha, we say Lexi Candela. Maximus Kangalov Reagan [Applause] Quigley. Job Max. Autumn Reneck. Liam Tuig and Isabelle Tuminelli. That's Izzy. That's Liam. Good job is here. We'll just bring him over. Maybe Liam, maybe just slide down maybe. Yeah. Just so you can go right in the center and then come on up for your pictures. All right. Thank you. Thanks for having us. Smile. Okay, one last round of applause for our eighth grade high honoral students. Thank you. You may take your seats. Watch yourself. So, as they're taking their
028seats, Dr. Dr. Riby and I also want to share on behalf of all the staff here, you know, these students that are here tonight are not just indicative of leadership and effort and commitment in their studies. They're all around great students. They're peer leaders. They're athletes. They're uh in the play. They're in the course. They're all of those kinds of things. So, when we talk about the whole child and we talk about well-roundedness, it starts, you know, here in Coltneck. We try definitely to cultivate that and encourage it to keep going as you go through your studies and you leave us here at the K to8 Colneck Township schools. So before we conclude our recognition program, I want to just uh thank the board for taking this opportunity and encouraging us to continue to always
029recognize our students for all that they do. Um as I was thinking about how I was going to close tonight's recognition program, I I would be I wanted I tied it to something that has speaks to me. You may have heard there was a popular play that was turned into a movie this year. You may have heard of it, Wicked. Like, do you remember I don't know if you've heard of it before. Um, but along those same lines, one of my favorite lines in one of the songs that's sang uh is everyone deserves a chance to fly. And in Colts Neck, we embrace that concept. We embrace the concept and we do it in many ways. And we embrace the idea that every student has a chance to fly. And it's about us helping them
030to grow their wings, design their wings, and determine uh help them to reach all the heights and areas that they want to continue to excel and grow in. So on behalf of the Colts Township Board of Education, congratulations to all of our students. uh congratulations to your parents because in terms of supporting them and all that they do and keep shining and keep learning to fly as you go through your your journey with us. I think at this time um I'm going to turn it back to Mrs. Vulpi who is going to take I think a fivem minute recess. Right. Um actually what I'd like to do is I would like to do the uh president's report and then uh if everybody would like to be dismissed at that time they certainly don't have to
031stay for the entire meeting. So, uh um I'm going to move into that. Before I do so, I just want to take uh note of the two communications that are listed on the agenda and uh that will bring me right into my report. No. Um good evening everybody and thank you all so much for attending uh this evening's board of education meeting. Um it's been a busy two weeks for me here. Uh, and I'd like to share a few highlights uh, of those two weeks. Um, I had the honor of attending uh, the New Jersey School Board's Association's 8th grade dialogue uh, as Dr. Garbay um, went over. Uh, it was at Maple Place Middle School in Oceanport on March 11th and um, Mr. Diego Tantillo, who we uh just recognized, um an eighth grade
032student from our Cedar Drive Middle School, was chosen to represent the district, and he did an exceptional exceptional job participating and sharing his insights uh on our middle school. Over 200 people attended with approximately about 40 students from districts across Mammoth County. Each one represented their district with great great distinction. On behalf of this entire board of education, I'd like to thank Diego for his outstanding representation of Cedar Drive Middle School. So, thank you again very, very [Applause] [Music] [Applause] much. On Wednesday, March 12th, I attended our first meeting alongside Dr. Garay and Dr. Rigby to welcome our new and returning board of education liaison. I'm pleased to report that nine students applied and will serve on this board for 2025. It was a pleasure to meet them and hear about their motivations and ideas
033for improving our schools. Our nine sitting board members will soon connect with them via email to address any questions they may have and help them get acclimated to their new role. This marks the start of our second year with this liaison program and we're committed to improving it each year. Dr. Dr. Riby and Dr. Garbay have generously dedicated their time to expanding and refining the liaison program and I'd like to thank them for their continued support in helping our students share their ideas and concerns. I also want to thank their students for their dedication to making our district the best that it can be. So, thank you all very much for your participation. [Music] [Applause] In line with our mission to elevate our students, I'd also like to recognize the 95 students who have achieved
034high honor role status for either the first, second, or both marking periods. This is an incredible achievement and we are proud to honor their commitment to educational excellence. Okay, with that being said, I'd like to remind the community of some upcoming events. Our spring musical, Matilda, will be presented at Cedar Drive Middle School. Uh uh performance will be on Friday, March 21st and at 7 p.m. uh at 7 p.m. and Saturday, March 22nd at 2 p.m. The admission will be $5. Uh we've also invited uh our senior citizens through our uh senior liaison, Mr. Walsh, and we hope that they take this opportunity to come out and support our talented students. On April 11th, uh we will host the Purple Upday breakfast to honor our Colts neck military children. This event will start at 8:30
035a.m. at Cedar Drive Middle School and all military children and their families are invited to attend. Hosted by Coleneck Township Schools and it will be hosted also by the CNT. This event is an opportunity for us to show appreciation to the children and families of NE Naval Weapons Station Earl. We are grateful for your service and sacrifice and the CSN community is proud to have you part of our school district. Lastly, March is Women's History Month. On March 8th, we celebrated International Women's Day. In honor of the girls and women of Coleneck, our board of education passed a resolution on February 1 5th defending the integrity of women's athletics and ensuring fair competition. We remain steadfast in defending the rights of our daughters and I want to thank all the members who voted in support
036of this resolution. It is available for review on the Colts Township School District website. And that will conclude my president's report. Uh at this time, I'd like to thank all the participants who were honored tonight. And um you you know, you're you're a you're welcome to stay for the meeting if you want to. If if you don't, we're going to take a recess so everybody can make that decision. Thank you very much for attending. [Applause] [Music] Yeah, but I I didn't realize I should have marked it asterisk to stop. How you doing? Good to see you. Good to see you. at the rink. Oh yeah, there's like trials [Music] today a double A single [Music] A 48. So I think about 9 years old. Like I never played that whole life. When did he start?
037About a year and a half. Yeah. He picked it up [Music] early. Some kids are starting. So by the time you got in like 7 a.m. figure skating like sometimes we do it but it's just it's Congratulations. Congratulations. Yeah. Isn't that awesome? Yeah. He wants to recognize you guys. all the hard work. I know you guys didn't really get too much recognition. So, I know I know. So, hopefully we'll do it again after the next two marketing periods and you know. Yeah. So, hopefully Kevin will Kevin is going to make it just in time for the Yes. Yeah. The good part, the stuff that we argue about. Yeah. They had a um they had starting at 3 p.m. all times of the day. That's fine. We're going to go but you know we're not getting
038by early considered tier one. So that's where it gets weird. I know it's hard to stay and then we're wild two. We don't have 18. Okay. So, what I'll do is as soon as I'm out, I'll come scoop her up. I don't think you're going to be out of here within an hour, right? Okay. All right. All right. I'll see you later, guys. G behave differently. Yeah, that's true. Every time we like see Woodbridge on the thing, I'm like, "All right, we're going to have fun." That's right. Oh yeah, they're supposed to buy across the street. Thank you for notifying. [Music] Okay, have fun in the game. Okay. Yeah, we'll do something. We just need ice. But on 33, that's like the big but they even own the stream. No, that's their like their name.
039They were sitting on their seat. So, listen, if you want to come to the play on Friday, they have a school play. That's fine. But if you have nothing to do, we're going at seven. Just wait. All right. I know no one believes me. He's doing good. I could show you a picture, but I don't want to. It's not good. But I mean, it's it's tough. But I mean, I'm sure you feel amazing, right? And they'll have no problem. No. This is the best thing I've ever did. Well, today like I'm trying to order at the same time and people are posting about me and I'm like I'm not because I was trying to do so much stuff. I was trying to get ready for the meeting and I it's too much but it's good.
040So many people are on it that you don't even realize even think oh they're too thin. Everybody's on it. Oh yeah. So that's my next thing my neck I want to get my belly like would you say? Well do you know what um I started doing which city back in your face and I have to go top I used to go every month now I do nearly as much and I I mean there's other things that we're introducing which like the other thing that I started is latis because I like my longer I'm a sucker for anything I know I'm such a sucker I do all that but as of today I got a notification the pharmacy. Our main one, you'll be fine. We have other options. We're gonna do other stuff. It's like just
041for you. It's not let me let me know. No pressure that we're trying to go to. Yeah. I could give you my cell phone right now. That's what his skates are handouts. And in other Just text me. Let me know if you have any questions. He went this way. So it's this way. I have let me know. You can reach me at any time. Yeah, I know. We Yeah, we we've met. And now we're Instagram friends, too. I know. Only good things. Thank you. Have a good night. Shirt. I forgot they did it last year and I'm like what? Like wait what is this little? And someone's like the pitch like the not seems like it's now they're doing the uh Oh, okay. What do you need me to do? Yes, of course. I don't
042think it was funny that one this morning I told Brent that I was in the basement at at his school and he's like, "Can I go?" And I was like, "No, you could never go down there." He's he was like, "Did you take pictures?" I was like, "No, I didn't take pictures." He's like, "Next time." Can you bring me? I'm like, "Yeah, sure. Next time I'll take." He loved it. And then he's like very big into history. So I'm like, "You found all these books?" He's like, "Can you bring them home?" I'm like, "No, they stay in school. They'll fall apart." But he loved it. It was so funny. Yeah. When I said especially it was in the basement at night at his school when no one's here. That was that was a big deal.
043I know. He was like shocked. He was like, "I can't believe you were there." I was like, "Yeah, you know." Yeah. Oh, he he is great. The amount of detail and amount he knows, but I also think just for all of us, it's good to see, you know, it's one thing. Another thing when you're actually seeing it and and you know firsthand what needs to be you know what needs to be done well I I think it's really needed It's needed because you you know you wouldn't know like even you know the few times I'm in here I'm never looking at people like I don't I don't look at the gym. I don't think I've ever been in the gym. Yeah. Good to know that kind of stuff. I know. And then stop. There's a
044lot of things we need to do, you know, and not enough money to do it. Yes. time and money. That's no one has enough. Yeah. There are cookies in there. So, whatever. Not that was 99. So I called them and they were like that's fine. If he has no other symptoms, that's good. Yeah. But I'm like, you know what? For whatever reason, she test no chance of surgery. She Good. I got basically comes in and says, next and she said that's a month later. [Music] This was her This is this yours? No, mine's here. No, mine's here. And then like build up and then it's like so we're like all right they call me and they're like so I'm on roller coaster and now I'm like thankful. Yeah. She got out of trash. I have
045like nothing. I was just, you know, like he has no idea what's happening. He probably remember some of the things that because the lady was trying to take his picture and I'm like trying to hold him up like They were like in those are the requirements because I didn't speak English. But now so basically the next meeting so that's why I asked told me it was good touch on a couple more things I was heard it. Although my son is older. All right. Uh, let me see. There's really actually some stuff. Oh, yeah. It's on the camera. It's fast break and everything. Go really fast. I'm surprised that you I thought you wanted to try out. Oh, I got It's straightforward. We're going to have to get out of here. We're going to get out
046of here. I know. [Music] I'll actually be able to go home and eat dinner. Life 360 on them. I have findings. Okay. Get life 360. You can find me too. And then he was like, well, and then he was like, "How can I get in?" I'm like, "You can't." He's like, "Just tell me how to get in." I'm like, "You can't get in." And I I'm just sitting there like, "My kid will be the one." Oh, their names. When I said I touched on it, I just put that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Makes you feel better. Or gives you anxiety if it stops moving. One or the other. Yes. Oh, good. Oh, I'm going to touch on Does the mic need to be on I'm going to touch on it really quick. I have first clue.
047Where was it? Yeah. The motivation is we're live streaming tonight. Yeah, the mic is good. Yeah. Do I have to make a motion to Okay. Um Okay, guys. We're going to uh resume the meeting. Um I'd like to take a roll call uh to resume the meeting at this time. Mr. Mora. Sure. Mrs. Cameron here. Mrs. Harowitz here. Mr. Rico here. Mrs. Ramirez here. Mr. Reignetta here. Mr. Scales here. Mr. Scarpa here. Mrs. Vulpi here. Mr. Walsh not present. You have a quorum. Okay, great. Uh we're going to continue to move on uh to the board liaison reports. Um I'd like to introduce uh Mrs. Harwitz for the parent advisor advisory committee. Thank you. Um our next meeting is Tuesday, March 25th at 7 o'clock. Uh and Wednesday, March 26th at 10 a.m. Okay, great.
048this um is was that it? Yeah, that. Okay. Yeah. Hopefully um like we discussed last time, we're going to try to tighten it up and this way we can get to all nine agendum items this time around, right? Okay. At least five. Yeah. At least five. Okay. All right. Great. Thank you. Um if you want to continue with the Cold Neck Township PTO. Yeah. So, I attended their March meeting and had the chance to meet the board and uh it was really great to meet everybody. The gala is next week. The doors open at 6. Um, the readathon was a tremendous success, grossing over $34,000 with students reading 200,000 minutes. Um, Spiritware is open and orders are due by April 4th. Um, the PTO is doing a game drive for Cedar Drive. There's a specific
049list of games that are being requested by the student council. So, if you have any questions or need the sign up, you can get that on the PTO site. Um, the flower sale purchases have opened for the primary and elementary schools. You can pre you can only pre-order the flowers and that needs to be done by April 1st. Um, the eighth grade lawn signs are available for purchase. So, if you would like more information, you can check that out on their website or the newsletter emails. Um, lastly, uh, save the date for the eighth grade dance, which is Friday, June 13th. That's it. Great. Uh, thank you. U, moving on to the Colts Township uh, school newsletter. Mrs. Cameron, sure. May I Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. Uh, starting with our next edition, the Colts Neck
050Township Schools newsletter will include QR codes alongside our links. This update is designed to make it even easier for those reading the printed version to access important information online. And we look forward to sharing our latest edition with you around right before spring break and appreciate your continued support in staying informed to better schools. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Mrs. Cameron. Um, moving on to the uh Cold Township uh arts, sports, and extracurricular. Mr. Ragnetta. Uh, thank you. Uh, first I want to uh congratulate the uh Cole Snack boys high school team for winning a state championship. That's an incredible feat. Congratulations to them and they did it at my alma m Ruckers. So that's incredible. Really cool. Uh congratulations guys. Uh and um kudos to all your hard work. Um I also wanted to
051um say for the everyone who who's participating in the Matilda M musical uh good luck. I wish I could be there but I'm performing myself those days. Um, but I'll be there in spirit. So, good luck to you guys. Um, Tuesday, April 1st, uh, Connover World Elementary, uh, band concert at 6 PM will take place, followed by the Conover World Conover Elementary and Primary Choir concert at 7 p.m. Uh, I will be there in attendance for that as my son will be uh, performing with the band. Um, and I also wanted to let everyone know uh uh that uh the Colts neck uh wreck baseball is beginning April 5th along with the Colts Neck girls softball April 5th. So, good luck to everybody participating there, all the coaches and all the stu students of ours
052and all the players. Good luck to you guys. Hope you have a great season. And also this Saturday, if anybody wants to come out and uh catch me and um member Scarper, we'll be coaching uh uh flag football which starts this uh Sunday uh at uh Five Points Field. So also good luck to everybody who's um playing flag football, all the students and all the players and all the coaches. Thank you for your uh dedication and your volunteer. Thank you so much. Okay, great. Um we're just going to recognize uh Mr. Walsh coming in. Um we're going to give him a few minutes to settle down um so he could prepare his senior report. U we'll skip over it and we'll move to the Naval Weapons Station Earl, Mr. Scarpa and Mrs. Ramirez. You skipped
053the township. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh gosh, I'm sorry. I can't see. Um can we go back to the township committee? Uh Mrs. Camera and Miss uh Mr. Scarpa. Uh yes, I'll present for that. Um so uh uh we connected with Mayor Bus and she gave us an update and I'll read that update. Uh on last Wednesday they celebrated women in history month and they gave a proclamation and handed out flowers. Uh they also had the friends of library hosting book sale on April 26th and April 27th. They are collecting books until March 31st. And March 26 is their uh the township's budget introductory meeting. Uh so put that on your calendar. March 26 for the budget introduction meeting. Uh and the big news uh from the town from last week's meeting was the court held
054a hearing on March 7th and ruled that the township did comply with the court's conditions regarding round three obligations and granted a durational adjustment. Uh now they're working towards the round four plan and that will they will work in in um in uh unity with our affordable housing subcommittee which we have representation from this board. Uh that's all we can. Yes, sure. Um and just I just wanted to let the public know that the friends of the Colts Neck Library, it's a volunteer organization whose purpose is to aid and enhance the library's development and to sponsor social, cultural, and educational programs for the benefit and enjoyment of us, the township's residents. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Uh great. Mr. Mr. Walsh, are you ready or do you need a little bit more time? I'm ready. Okay.
055Sorry I'm late tonight. Uh, senior citizens, uh, I'm going to be having the privilege to see our kids. Fantastic play. They're going to be coming for the matinea, I believe, tomorrow afternoon at 2 o'clock. Am I right? Wrong. Yes. Yes. I'm sorry. And um, so I know that the the kids and the what do I call them? Teachers that are guiding the kids theater are uh working hard to have a great performance. Um so I'm looking forward to attending on the 21st. The newsletter has been well received by senior citizens that the board of education is putting out. It's fabulous, Phyllis. uh credit to your hard work and um really keeps them up to date on all our hard work as a board of education. And that's it. Uh great. Thank you. Um moving forward
056to uh Naval Weapons Station Earl, Mr. Scarpa and Mrs. Ramirez. Yes. This Friday we have a meeting with um our naval weapons station IDA and um we'll be the agenda will be forthcoming to the full board. We're just fine-tuning it right now and then after that meeting we'll be able to report out on uh what took place. That's all. Uh Brian, did you want to add anything? We connected. Oh, you connected. Okay, great. Thank you. Um, okay. Just to touch uh briefly on the state and county school boards. Uh, not to be redundant, but I um attended that uh 8th grade dialogue which was uh very very wellreceived by parents. Um, lastly, we have the um New Jersey school boards is doing the innovation and special educations award. The deadline is Friday, March 21st. Um,
057Dr. Gab Bay has informed me that she has already uh entered and she's or is ready to submit it for tomorrow. Um and this will basically highlight our exemplary exemplary programs and services for our students with special needs. Uh so that's all I have for the school boards. Um that brings us to the superintendence report. Yes, thank you. Um I just want to congratulate once again all the students that we recognized here. it truly I you know is a great honor and it it's the core mission right we want to see everyone succeed and and have celebrating students being successful is definitely something that is a highlight certainly for this district um we've already talked about Matilda it's definitely worth mentioning time and time and time again our adviserss as Mr. Wall said and our
058students are working so hard and I'm so excited and also welcoming our uh for our dress rehearsal to our senior as as well. The CDMS 60th birthday was also touched on. It's from 6:00 to 8 on Thursday, April 24th. Um and just to give everyone a little sneak peek about it, there is going to be a a studentled sort of time travel walk through the hallways celebrating and recognizing different things. I know the staff is working hard with Dr. Rigby and Mr. Mercure about putting a a great program and then from 7 to 8 there'll be a more formal program uh with singers band but also some highlights from uh former graduates who are also still residents and things like that. So it's a really really nice uh proclamation and township just celebration. So we
059hope everyone will be able to join us for that. Um there might even be a guest uh cameo by someone on the board right Mr. Puerto Rico. So, um uh so please if you have even if you're around and you you know it's just a great celebration of our schools in general. So please I encourage everyone to attend. The registration is online. Um the 2025 readathon. Wow. Just wow. Wow. Wow. To everyone who organized it was a part of it. Um you know the the money part of it is great. The fundraising is so appreciated. The fact that they collectively read over 25,000 minutes is unbelievable to me. So that is something worth celebrating. So thank you to everyone involved with that. And 2, it was 250, right? Or over 200,000. Oh, over 200,000. That's
060right. I left off a zero in my notes, so I apologize. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Um and just so uh we also had a lot of families, new families involved, uh that beat their past records, their participation, and everything. So it was great. Um, and kudos to all the winners and it's so g getting medals for the for the ones who are their top scorers, fundraisers, all those types of things. So, just a really really great uh event and thank you for putting that all together from our PTO. the excuse me coupled with that the PTO book drive was also a huge success uh during read across America week and students had a great opportunity um to select books that were brought in donated and just as a side note in encouraging and highlighting our
061partnership with Naval Weapons Station Earl any book that was uh not selected was then donated I know that Dr. Reynolds was with our uh naval weapons station earl Ida West Jones today at the base because any books that were not taken and selected by students were donated to the American Red Cross food bank at Naval Weapons Station Earl. So that was something we were also very happy to be presenting. Um we are also looking at April 7th doing something different. We're going to be having a parent academy that's going to focus on K to5 math and language arts. um it's going to be in the administration building at 10 o'clock in the morning. And you might say, well, that's not really a conducive time. So, based on feedback that we received from the parent advisory
062last year and in reflection our events, it's actually going to be live streamed um with a a capped audience of about 20 and then it's going to be posted and recorded as well. So, we're going to be utilizing some of that technology to be able to reach out and and do that. So, more information as well as a registration is going to be coming for that. Also, we are right around the corner from NJSLA 2025 testing season. Um, uh, very soon, Dr. Reynolds, our director of curriculum instruction, will be sending out our 2025 NJSLA testing letter, uh, with our testing dates, uh, ELA with and without going into too much detail, that'll be it's will start the week of May 6th and extend all the way through May 20th with very specific dates. It's not
063consistent all the way through, but that will be explained in the letter. Um then but one of the things that parents will see this year is again always completely respectful respectful and appreciative of uh parents prerogatives and rights regarding refusals. We are encouraging you know participation. It gives a bigger and broader snapshot of student performance and it also uh participation is reflected in our performance reports and helps us to meet our indicators that are identified by the state department of education. So that'll be something that's also identified. Can I interrupt you? Of course. Um does that mean like if we get more people to take it does that help with uh be achieving the blue ribbon status is this particular test one of them that helps us achieve uh close that gap it participation is
064is something that encompasses all the students who take it right so without going it it's a case of saying that the more students who take it the percentages are there so it could it potentially I don't want to say yes or no but it you know it's the testers and the results we So the more testers we have, the results and moves us forward in in that area. But it also is an indicator on the very public performance report that's issued every year. And there are certain targets that districts are supposed to meet each year regarding participation. And you know, we want to make sure we're meeting those targets. Do you think we should raise funds to get um crumble cookie to to encourage them to listen participate in these testing? I'm a crumble cookie
065is a steep order, but I not not for the shameless plug of commercial that we just did, but we certainly could always think of incentivizing ideas for our students to try to encourage kids, you know, ideas of what we can do to get them to participate. Sure. And I know there's great and good conversations that have been had about high stakes testings and all and all of that things going. So, we certainly encourage our parents prior to testing to have conversations with either Dr. Reynolds, the building principles, the teachers themselves who can also guide and practice. And it it's it helps us remember that NJSLA um is designed to be a self it's designed to be although it's used for many other things by the state department of education to be a reflection of how
066we implement the curriculum, how the curriculum is implemented. That's really what we're looking at. So having said that um it is also used for other things with uh regards to how the district is doing and um you know progress monitoring. So that stay tuned for all of that. Uh that'll be coming in the next few weeks. Um on the April 8th board of education meeting the much anticipated proposed amendment I will be making a proposed amendment or recommending a proposed amendment to the current 2425 school calendar. Um in this year's calendar there are three emergency days that are built in for snow which we have not used. So those three days are in excess of not only the teachers contract but also our contract. So um while there will be much discussion uh it will
067be likely and very tentative. So don't hold me to this. It will be very likely that we will look to end school on the 20th. Okay. and then poss but that gives us another day which we'll look uh sometime in May to possibly give back. It's usually um maybe possibly before a Memorial Day weekend. Oh, great. Um so yeah, so that is Yeah. So that is something um that we'll be looking to propose to have and change so we can communicate quickly with our our families. Okay. Okay. Um tonight's action items uh you will see that in tonight there's the memorandum of agreement between education and law enforcement officials. I know that Mr. scales touched upon that with regard to policy during our last cow meeting. Um, and this is something that we recognize. I
068I just want to stop for a moment here and recognize and appreciate this our long-standing agreement that clearly outlines the requirements for communication between the school district and our local law enforcement agency. Um, our our partnerships, we actually exceed what those minimum requirements are, but it is something that is on the agenda for tonight as an action item. Um underneath finance number six we have the adoption of the tenative budget for the 2525 26 school year. Um just to point out while we met briefly with the members assign uh assigned to finance uh before that the tenative budget being proposed tonight does have a 0% tax levy increase um which I know was important uh to the community as well as the members of the board and we work collaboratively to help achieve those goals.
069Finance number eight. I also just want to provide clarification regarding travel and related expenses, reimburseable expenses. Uh this resolution is an annual requirement per the fiscal accountability efficiency and budgeting procedures in chapter 23A of title 6A New Jersey administrative code specifically 6A23-7.3 which requires that annually in the pre-budget year each district BOE shall establish by resolution a maximum travel expenditure amount for the budget school year which the school district shall not exceed. The resolution shall also include the maximum amount established for the pre-budget year and the amount spent to date. So that's what a little bit of an explanation of that is. Also, I wanted to just uh share that on tonight's agenda, uh policy 8820, opening exercise, is up for adoption. Uh this policy, as Mr. Scales and the members of the board have
070discussed, is an addition of the Star Spangled Banner at the start of each school day. And we're going to be communicating communicating uh with families about that change and the addition and uh you know the rationale and and about about that. And then uh personnel 19 is just a um a sentiment of congratulations, thanks as we uh I recommend uh sadly the retirement of Miss Lee Faren who is a kindergarten instructional assistant. She is retiring from the district after seven years of service as a kindergarten assistant. So, we want to wish Miss Faren the best of happiness, health, and a lot of uh laughter as she goes into her retirement. So, congratulations. And that uh concludes my superintendent report. Great. Thank you very much. Okay, moving on. We're going to take a note of the
071uh two information items, one and two. And at this time, we're going to open the floor uh to comments from our residents on all subjects. If anybody like to come up, you're welcome to do so. Just state your name and address for the record. Okay. Uh closing um comments from intending constituents. We're moving on to action items. Okay. Uh, can I get a motion to move action items number uh one through three? Motion. Second. Anybody like to comment or have questions on those three items? Yes. Here. I I love everything on it. So, it's very positive. I was just curious about the the mass trip if um what like exactly what that is and I I love that idea. I I just love all these trips. I think these experiences for our students are amazing.
072I was just a little curious about that one trip. is one of the academic program uh competitions that our students have through our I believe it's run through the STEM lab uh with and uh so that's something that's that's there that we're doing and it's uh uh it's actually I think if it's this year with regards to the robotics competition but I'm not 100% sure with that but I think it's something related to that they may have changed the name and the location but I'll follow up with that thank you the exact details of it but one of the things that we started to do a couple years ago and as part of our strategic plan you know, a lot of there's been a long-standing like academic bowls and different things and getting students competing
073both in sports and academics is something that we certainly want to encourage and our teachers are always looking for opportunities to to be doing that. So, exciting. So, I was just curious about it. Thank you. Um, okay. Uh, can I get a motion uh to move those three items? I'm sure. Okay. You you have the motion? Yeah, I did it already. I'm sorry. I lost my train of thought. Okay. Uh, someone second it. Yes. Okay, great. Um, I'll take a roll call. Roll call on the three superintendent action items. Mrs. Camera, yes. Mrs. Harowitz, yes. Mr. Oro, yes. Mrs. Ramirez, yes. Mr. Reignetta, yes. Mr. Scales, yes. Mr. Scarpa, yes. Mrs. Vulpi, yes. And Mr. Walsh, yes. Thank you. The motion passed unanimously. Okay, moving on to buildings and grounds. I need a motion to
074move uh just the one item. Motion. Second. I'm sorry. It was I think it was Mrs. Ramirez. Mrs. Ramirez. Thank you. And Mrs. Harowitz. Okay. And a roll call when you're ready. On buildings and grounds item one. Mrs. Cameron. Yes. Mrs. Harowitz. Yes. Mr. Or yes. Mrs. Ramirez. Yes. Mr. Mr. Regetta, yes. Mr. Scales, yes. Mr. Scarpa, yes. Mrs. Vulpi, yes. Mr. Walsh, yes. Thank you. The motion passed. Okay. I need a motion to move um items under curriculum items uh one and two. Motion. Second. Uh any comments, questions on these? Okay, I'll take a roll call for curriculum and instruction items one through two. Mrs. Cameron, yes. Mrs. Harowitz, yes. Mr. Ro, yes. Mrs. Ramirez, yes. Mr. Retta, yes. Mr. Scales, yes. Mr. Scarpa, yes. Mrs. Vulpi, yes. Mr. Walsh, yes. Motion carried unanimously.
075Great. Thank you. Okay. Okay, I need a motion uh to move items under finance one through it looks like eight. Oh, is this okay? I thought that was crossed off. Okay, items one through eight. I'm sure um I don't know if anybody has any comments. This is a little lengthy, so um you could take your time. Okay, I was just hoping um Vince could just tell uh the public um so we we do transfer funds. That's number one. And if he could just explain why um that's important, I think that would just be helpful for not only myself but for residents as well. Oh, you mean with respect to the agenda item? Yes. Yes. The agenda item. This is part of the monthly financials that we are required to submit for board approval. part part
076of those documents are the board secretary's report, the treasur's report of school monies and the report of budgetary transfers. Right? So I guess my question is then more specific. Um why do we why don't we not have the correct funds where we need to transfer funds in in these different areas? Yeah, in general line item transfers happen for a myriad of reasons during the budgetary year. you can you can have a you know say authorize a purchase under one line item and you don't need that purchase anymore. So those funds are now available and may need to be transferred to pick up another um you know use in another budgetary line item. Right. So but this is specific to like this transfer like what what are you know no these are all the transfers for
077that month. Okay. In the attachment it's the month of January. Yes. No, no, I did open the attachments. I was just curious and I just thought again, you know, for the public understand why why we are, you know, why we're transferring funds. Yeah. I mean, I'd be happy to answer something specifically after the meeting with you. Okay. If you have a particular Okay. question on a transfer. All right. Thank you, Vince. Yeah, I can elaborate. Is is also a reason that we do that is so we don't have to raise taxes on a particular Can I elaborate? Yeah, that's Vinnie. I couldn't hear you. Um Vinnie, can you um say that again so we can hear her down here? Is is also a reason why we do that, Vince? Is there is because we so
078not to raise taxes on particular on particular budget item? I mean it it really it's not correlated at all to to taxes. It's within your your fiscal year your budget and managing those funds. Okay. So again, if for a myriad of reasons as as things change, budget transfers are are necessary and exist and they are governed under title 18A and you have certain restrictions on how on what you can budget and how much like transfer rather not budget that's okay. So to speak to Mrs. Cameron's question with regard to this specific transfer, right? So, if you're looking at the document that was there that you saw that there was a transfer um from purchase services into covering for substitutes for an autism class, right? So, we've had, you've seen on the board agenda, there have
079been some resignations of some instructional assistants that were assigned to that program. Those students, you know, have requirements related to their services and supports that are in those specific programs. That being said, in the absence of a a replacement, that becomes uh a contracted service because we still have to provide the service by law and in accordance with the IEP. So, that might be something whereas a substitute instructional assistant is paid at one rate, a contracted one might be another. And because of those circumstances that you have to because of those scenarios because of those circumstances, we don't we we're not actually permitted to go in the red of an account. So then when we anticipate we know that something's going to uh be charged to a certain account, we have to reappropriate or reallocate
080from another account to do so. So yes. No, no, that's fine. No, no, no, that's fine for myself and and you know the public to understand. Sure. And in uh to just further yeah to further elaborate on Mr. Ragnetta's question, once the budget is struck um and we approve the final budget in May or you know later on in the spring, we can't go back out to the taxpayers after the budget is struck to increase or go out for more tax levy unless they did it by way of referendum which is a whole another story in a sense in a separate question all of those things. But once we do this and once the budget is struck each line item so you can see some function codes and line items and all of the all
081of the things that you know you look at with regards to the whether it's the bills list or whether it's a transfer those things are set in the budget and those are all accounted for. So part of the operations under Mr. Morasco in the business office is to maintain positive accounts and transfers and accounting practices for all of those things. And so that's that's where that that's why when I was just wondering for myself and for the public as well if if if there was anything to do with um making sure there's no tax increase for the next budget for the next budget. Okay. I just have one question you guys are done. Go ahead. Mr. the um so the way I look at it right the taxes to be levied 24 million. So essentially
082that's what that's our our estimate right of where of the taxes that we need from the town in order for the budget to be balanced completely. Do we do we have any intention of going to the town to and asking where the influx of money would go? Because we're only asking for 24 million, but taxes in Colts neck obviously everyone got a 10 to 25% increase in their property taxes. So there's going to be an influx of revenue. Do we ever ask the town to show us if we're only asking for the same amount of money that we did in the previous year, do we ask them where the rest of that revenue is going to go? Sure. The answer to your question is yes, we do ask. And we knew we know that once
083they we reached out specifically to the town council to the mayor and we are going to be setting up a meeting in the near future to kind of discuss that of what that looks like potential revenue as with regard to the expansion. Yes. Great. Well, while I don't have specifics in front of me or available to me right now, we do want to be able to say that because based on ratables, based on this and that, there's so many things in flux, but it's like a general type of concept that we're trying to grasp as well. Thank you. And then that also conversations that we've been having with finance with regard to you know the number of students. So the number of students actually bring down alcohols per pupil you know but it does expand
084the needs and the cost. So we have to kind of strike that balance. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome. Yeah. Um okay. Does anybody have any uh follow-up questions or concerns before we do a roll call? Okay. Uh, Mr. Moraser, we're ready. Okay. On finance items 1 through eight. Uh, Mrs. Cameron, yes. Mrs. Horowitz, yes. Mr. Orico, yes. Mrs. Ramirez, yes. Mr. Reignetta, yes. Mr. Scales, yes. Mr. Scarpa, yes. Mrs. Vulpi, yes. And Mr. Walsh, yes. Thank you. The motion carried. Okay, great. Wait, I'm sorry. Forgive me, please. Just procedurally, I'm not sure who had the first and the second on that. Um, I forgot as well. I think you forgot to do it. I'm sorry. It was Jason. And who second it? Is there a formal second? No, I don't think any I don't think
085it got called for uh I don't think started with discussion. I'll second it. I second it now. I don't first and second and then we do we'll do a consent. I have a comment. That's fine. And all in favor? In favor? Yes. Yes. I oppose. No. Motion carried. Thank you. Procedure. Okay. I know. I forgot where we were. Sorry about that. Um Okay. Can I get a motion to move items under policy items one and two? Motion. Second. Okay. Um anybody like to comment on uh the adoption of the number two or any questions on the first read? Any comments? Nothing. Okay, we'll take a roll call. Okay. Policy items one through two. Mrs. Cameron, yes. Mrs. Harowitz, yes. Mr. Orico, yes. Mrs. Ramirez, yes. Mr. Retta, yes. Mr. Scales, yes. Mr. Scarpa, yes. Mrs.
086Vulpi, yes. Mr. Walsh, yes. The motion passed unanimously. Okay. Uh nothing under negotiations or uh transportation. Uh we're moving to personnel. I need a motion to move items one through 20. Looks like 20. Uh 1 through 20. Uh can I get a motion to move items 1 through 20 under personnel? Motion. Second. Okay. This is um this is quite lengthy. Uh if anybody wants to take a minute if there's any questions or comments or concerns, give you a minute. Yes, please. Okay. Uh recognizing Mr. Scarpa. Mr. question. I think you just needed the minute. Thank you. Okay. Any uh anybody need more time or have question or comment? I have a comment. Okay. Mrs. Mrs. Um, so when our student liaison were speaking, I was I was taking some notes and the majority of them
087were really talking about the experience of Cedar Drive and how important sports were to them. Um, a few mentioned um, you know, music as well. And so I really just want to thank all the teachers that volunteer their time to take on these coaching roles as well as um being part of all the extracurricular activities because the students appreciate it. We saw that tonight. That's what they really really talked the most about. So um thank you. Thank you for recognizing that uh Mrs. Cameron. Uh okay, if there's uh no other questions or comments. Yeah, just one more comment if you would. And thank you. I I too was taking notes about this and and you know it's quite evident that that they're very enthusiastic, you know, and being here tonight was special. So kudos to
088this board for hosting it as well. Uh but I hope that this becomes a a standing tradition for for the um for the town and and so especially the middle school so they can appreciate it on a go forward strategy. Um the perglas are going to be complete. Well, it sounds like they're going to be complete by April. uh are we given some thought to like maybe make a little plaque in recognition of the students that brought it forward? It sort of creates a trail so I look at that my name is on that and then someone will pick up on that and they establish that you know that trade wind effect you know to to put something permanent in place. Let's take a peek at that. uh uh I hear try something new a
089lot on from their from their uh conversations today and that's fantastic. Uh we're going to bring a lot of that into our newsletter in April. So again, thank you very much for this opportunity and several said what a privilege and an honor it is to be here. So and and and that's great. uh it's all about establishing the forum and the right level of communication with them. So tonight was a win for the middle school. It was a win for the board of ed. And so we're going to look to strategize and build off of this in our coming meetings. So just thank you for the participation and build up to this event. Uh great uh Mr. Scarper. Just to let you know in a back in August um I I actually um discussed with
090Dr. or Gabbay to see what we can do to elevate and recognize the hard work of the students. I felt by bringing this to the board, it would give them incentive. Um even though some people like, oh, it's just a board of education award. Um you know, I felt that it was necessary to highlight them and encourage them to keep, you know, achieving um the goals that they are. So um you know, if it's up to me and the board wants to continue and Dr. Garay and uh Dr. Dr. Friby are willing, I'd certainly like to continue honoring their high honor role in future uh meetings. So, if everybody's okay with that, um we could certainly do that and we could also add to our highlights like Mr. Tintella with Diego uh the student liaison
091achievements and if anybody wants to add any input, we certainly could revisit and uh uh make those additions. Okay. Oh, I'm sorry. Yep. Um, and I think, you know, just so the public's aware, because of this conversation you had when we, as a board discussed our new board goals and updated it on on the uh web page, we put recognize and celebrate diverse forms of achievement, including academic performance, interpersonal development, athletic and arts success, and contributions to the school community and culture. And so one of our goals was seen here tonight and again I'm you know it started with that conversation you had and it was brought to life. So thank you for starting that pro process and us as a board to you know reflecting that in our goals. Great. Oh just one more
092question one more point one more point is I heard it at least three times the food could improve. Now I I haven't eaten the food. Okay. So, so but I am uh we just transferred almost $70,000 to pay for the food. Okay. So, well, last year, just to just to give you some background, u Mr. Scarbor, last year, um I remember that I had volunteered um to do the tasting of the the food from maybe the RFPs, wherever you call it. And we actually never um unfortunately we never had the opportunity to interview or hire or taste sample anybody else because no one applied if I recall. So we're hoping this year maybe if we want to revisit that. Um oh it's five year. Oh I'm sorry. So we're going to have to gonna have
093to do a second term to taste. Okay. All right. All right. But just so you know, we we did try but no one no one came to our aid. So Well, thank you. Yeah. All right. To add to that point, you know, every few years we've uh surveyed our students. So based on the conversation and the work we'll Dr. Riby and I will continue to do with the student representatives who said something about that, we'll put something in place for them to be getting feedback. It's about the process for them for bringing something of their thought right to fruition and a concern of theirs and how they are part of thinking about a solution and getting to questions as opposed to the board or even the administrating. It's about facilitating the process of coming to
094a solution or a betterment or something. So I look forward to what they suggestions they have and those processes for it. Um, so one thing with food, um, only because my son Jaden, um, is in private school this year, and what they do is they invite local, um, restaurants to cater different days. I don't know if that's something we can do. maybe like once maybe maybe start with once a month like Orlando's caters to um our students and then we have different local restaurants in Colts snack that um you know we give them that opportunity. I don't know if that's breaking our contract but it's just an idea to get the students excited maybe about some really great food. Okay, keep that in mind. And what's not in the contract over here is Miss Harowitz
095has agreed to um serve every Friday meals for the for the uh township. So, thank you Miss Harowitz for that. Yeah. All right. If uh that's the end of comments, uh let's take a roll call on personnel items one through 20. Yes. Okay. Mrs. Cameron? Yes. Mrs. Horowitz? Yes. Mr. Erico? Yes. Mrs. M Ramirez. Yes. Mr. Ragnetta. Uh, recuse three and four. Yes to the rest. Thank you. Mr. Scales. Yes. Mr. Scarpa. Yes. Mrs. Vulpi. Yes. Mr. Walsh. Yes. Thank you. The motion did carry. Okay. We're going to move forward to our last uh comments from intending constituents. Um, constituents, if anybody would like to get up at this time and make a comment, you're welcome to do so. Okay, looks like there's none. Um, all right. We're going to close the second public comment
096of the evening. Um, at this time, I'd like to open the floor up uh to any new business, old business or new business. I've got one. This Okay. Recognizing uh Mr. scales the um number of students um in town that are homeschooled. Um have we looked in the past years of allowing the middle-aged homesooled students to be able to participate on our sports teams? Sorry, they actually are allowed by policy. I can send you that policy, but they are we had a conversation many years ago about that. Okay. So, yes, they are permitted. They are allowed. They are they are permitted. Great. Thank you. Right. Any after school activities? Yeah. Okay. That's it. Thank you. Anybody else uh have new business or like to add anything for the evening? Nobody. One last. We had a
097facility tour last night. Oh yes. It was a track of time. And thank you. Extend my thanks to Nick, Mr. Moretta, facility director, Dr. Gbe um new board members. We're um at an opportunity to see our schools behind the curtain and we recognize and really appreciate Mr. Moretta's work and keeping our facilities up up to uh up to where it should be. He works hard and the custodians work hard. How you doing? Um, so yeah, and we had an opportunity to meet somebody that worked is 85 years old and retiring in April. Still working hard. Oh, what what's his name? Our school. Yeah. Jean. Oh, wow. So, we are having the outside envelope through our ESA project come along and the roofs and solar and we're going to be down the road working on inside
098of the schools. Uh, great. Uh, thanks for recognizing that and to the board members who uh took that lengthy the very lengthy uh tour. So, thank you all. Um, if there's uh nothing else, anybody else? Uh, okay. I'd like to uh make a motion to adjourn. Second. All All in favor? I opposed. Meeting adjourned. Motion passed. Thank you.