001Good evening everyone. Welcome to the A Harbor Township Board of Education regular meeting for June 2025. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Mr. Smith, please. On Thursday, January 9th, 2025, notice of this meeting was emailed to the press and the mainland Journal. Notice was also delivered that day today Harbor Township Clerk and posted on a bulletin board in township hall. Roll call, please. Mr. Buyers, present. Mrs. Gilbert Floyd, Mr. Ireland, yes. Mr. Price, yes. Mr. Sepy, here. Mrs. Sullivan, Mrs. Sloggy, here. Miss Hyman here. And Mr. Delbar here. Would everyone please stand for our flag salute? Ready. Salute. I pledge aliance 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. May I have a
002motion please for the board for the minutes? So made second. Ireland. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Buyers, yes. Mr. Ireland, yes. Mr. Price, yes. Mr. Sepy, yes. Mrs. Sagi, yes. Miss Hyman, yes. And Mr. Delbark. Uh, at this time, we have our superintendent report. Dr. Gio. Okay, by Lily hooks me up. See if our sound's right. Test that one. All good. All right, we're ready to go. Here we are. June 2025, the last board meeting of the school year. I absolutely cannot believe it, but here we are. That school year just went by like a blink of an eye. And um we have a lot tonight. We have um some some folks to celebrate and um others to honor. So, we're going to get through this as quickly as possible, but the superintendent's report
003informs the board of education where we are with our district learning goals each month. And under student achievement for the month between May and June, we celebrated moving up ceremonies. Our middle schools had their junior national honor society ceremonies. Cape Halantic League um named an academic student athletic team this year. And our very own Osa Hunig, don't be shy. She's right here. Uh she's a senior at the high school. She was she was named to that team. and uh the jud judge Higgby offered a scholarship of $5,000 to our Marcus. Our GT students uh participated in the grace great mousetrap racer challenge senior Olympics uh will take place at the high school and the green flag award from the department of education for econo schools program goes to our Christa Delaney science teacher at the
004high school. So, we're very proud of that. Seals of biiteracy. Very proud in this school district to be able to offer this opportunity to 98 students this year awarded the seals of biiteracy. Um, they are uh bilingual in their and and proficient I should say in another language. Sometimes they're native language, other times not. Um, but there's 12 different um languages and there are students who receive two seals of biiteracy. So, um we're very very proud to celebrate um the different languages that our students have uh accomplished and they will celebrate that and note that during graduation. And I just have to share this uh this is um uh fifth grade class uh Theresa Naan's class at Miller School. I was invited to attend. She does um lessons which you know I highlighted to the
005parents there real world activity lessons with her students where these five girls were able to pick the name of their their business of their their restaurant and so the cocoa pastry and there were five or six of these that she had with other students in her classroom. I was just able to make this one and they picked the menu. They have a menu. They serve it to to the folks that came in. um they served, they took orders and then the students in the classroom had to figure they got $40 to spend and they were able to purchase the the different foods and they had to um figure out the tax and the tip and the whole bit. So, mathematics, reading, socialization skills all came in into play and uh it was a great day.
006I had the best time and uh kudos to the teacher um and I thank her for making it real for these kids. Climate and culture. So I want another uh district learning goal. We had our flag day activities, many many field trips and field days over the last month. Barbecues and celebrations and pep rally students of the week and our annual prom which there was over 900 students that attended the prom down at Harris. Uh was a great time, no incidents, all well behaved and a good time by all. That's what we like, right Miss Krugna? Yes. Department of Education uh also uh um celebrates excellence. Sorry. A county academic recognition was held um about a couple weeks ago and students from Fernwood and Alder, the top three academic students from the middle schools along
007with five top academic students from the high school um participated in that recognition at uh where were we? C view country club. Going along with that, the um governor's teacher of the year and the SP of the year was also held the same place the week before and Dr. Charlton facilitated that uh those activities and our teachers and SPS from the school district and met with the um county superintendent that's her on the left there and uh were awarded uh their awards. So it was a great day and we're very proud of who represented a Harper Township climate and culture. Our Junth activities occurred today, poems and speeches and games and celebrations. And we have um pictures here to share of the great time uh that the students had um beating the the weather and
008climate and culture, our multicultural day um was celebrated uh last week, was Jack. Yes. Yeah. So, thank you for the sending those pictures. Our community partners, each and every month, we have a shout out to those who uh donate to the district or help us uh provide a little extra for our kids. And here are our partners this month. Uh thank you to all particularly um overall NJA for supporting those pride grants throughout the year to help uh give a little extra whether it was food or celebrations for for our kids. So thank you. Coming up is our Eagle Fest in 2025 September 27th. Uh it's always a great day to be out there. So we incre encourage you to come check it out. But also if you're a vendor, you have a food truck
009or you have a table or a craft that you'd like to share, sign up. Mr. West is leading the charge on that. And uh we we want what you say everyone to be in in attendance, right? Thank you. All right, time to celebrate. So, we're going to begin with first our board of education student reps. Now, as you know, OSA and Marcus has been with us for a whole year. Um they report out on activities that go on in the school district. Um and it's a great experience for them to see how uh the board of education works. Um listens to the public, see here's how the administration um functions. So, it was a hopefully a great experience uh for these uh young high school students, but this is their last board meeting. So, Mr.
010Delbar, can you come on down? We're going to um present black. You can come up, Marcus. Come on over. So, you know, they're involved in many activities. They're academically um very high achievers. Um very, very successful high school students. and yet they take the time to come spend uh Tuesday nights with us uh once a month. So we appreciate that. This is for you. You want to read that? Student representative to the board of education with greatest appreciation for dedicated service to the children and schools of Harper Township. I'm going to make some more comments at graduation about you two. So, I'm not going to hold it off to it too much tonight, but you two have been exceptional over the past year compared to some of not that the other ones weren't as great,
011but you did you added so much excitement to it, enthusiasm, the the presentations were detailed. You in included all our schools. It was really great to have you both on the board and and you know which one's going to Harvard. One of you are going to Harvard and the other one's going to Yale. Congratulations. [Applause] And guess what? I'm going to take it back. Hold it. Yeah, hold it because Marcus So, student representative to the board of education with greatest appreciation for dedicated service to the children and schools of a carpet township. And thank you so much to both of you. Thank you. Thank you. Uh we appreciate uh what your service um and in representing the students of A Harbor Township. Um I also want to highlight that in the yearbook I got my
012yearbook today and I opened up the book and for the senior superlatives I see that the two of them are most likely to be president. So they're they're off to to greatness. So thank you again uh for your service and best of luck to you in your future. So, how this is work is you can enjoy them for the rest of the meeting, but we're going to take them back because Mr. Dela Barker is going to present them to you on graduation night. All right. So, thank you. [Applause] Okay. So, out with the old, in with the new. are um new students. Are they here today? Just crew. No. Do you want to explain the process and name and present them to the board of education? Thank you. I know we put you on the
013spot. Hi. So, um the process is is that our our student board reps are part of our um our student council. So, one of the things that I really enjoy about the student board reps, especially my relationship with USA and Marcus, is that we are each other's liaison. So if they have an issue that they come to me if I see something I can go to them and I explain the same thing for even and um oh my goodness I'm having a harder thank you oh my goodness. Um and so for next year we we sat down and we talked about how important that relationship is between us. So I'd like to bring Ava up right now. So, this little nugget is going to be our board rep next year and she has um like
014we talked about, she has big shoes to fill. So, we are really excited for her and Carter to be here um and representing the school and representing the district for next year. So excited. Thank you. Hey, thank you very much. Okay, moving on to more recognition. Um Dr. Graham, I don't know if you would uh like to come up here as well. Chris, come on up. Um so as you know we've been trying for many many years to get a junior ROC program and it was very difficult and over the last couple years um a lot of hard work from you Dr. Charlton, Dr. Graham um principal and those involved um in the program to to be able to get uh the United States Air Force to um grant us a program and then to
015locate um adviserss for that program is a difficult task. It's a huge interviewing process. Um working with the Air Force, communicating back and forth, um having even people moving into the area to take over a program. So, we are thrilled um to be able to present this and to have the board know that we're we're in such a great place um that our instructors received the JR OTC outstanding instructors award. Um, and that's that that's earned because this achievement is due to our unit receiving full inspection a year ahead of schedule. All right. Um, as a two-year young program, our instructors have been able to hit milestones that have exceeded all others. Um, in our northeast reason region, they are ranked amongst units that have been running for 15 plus years. Um in addition to
016standard um their 30step drill team, our instructors are running robotics, aviation and radar um competition team. So they're going above and beyond. And this unit was recognized during the March 2025 unit inspection for perfecting the 20step drill, activating honor guard, showing excellence in community service and overall unit activities. So, talk about EHT pride, but I I felt it was very important tonight for the board and our community to know about the excellence that's here um in our school district. So, uh I'll turn it over to Dr. Graham. Um she'll speak a little bit and then we'll present the award. Um we just so proud of our unit. As Dr. Gushio said, two years young. Um we started out when they informed us we could finally get Air Force Jotc something we've been trying to do
017for a long time. Dr. Charlton um at the time as principal at the high school. We did many years of research and then it was here we were able to get uh Master Sergeant Valentine year one did it on his own. Um second year we brought in Major Del Rio and they've been able to bring our program up to this achievement where they're ranked among the Northeast Regional Outstanding Instructor in Outstanding Achievement Instructors award. So, we're really proud of them and we thank you guys for continuing to bring character and leadership to our students. We're only going to grow um our numbers continue to grow over the years as students become aware. So, we thank you again. So, Senior Master Sergeant Joseph Valentine uh been recognized for exemplary contributions and impact on the cadet school
018and the community. So, come on up, sir. [Applause] So, thank you for your service. And we'll present this to you. And Major Jamie Del Rio. Congratulations. Thank you. So quite impressive. Um I'm quite impressed having the uh the the Air Force uh program in our school. I'm all about aviation uh from preK to 12 just adds a special touch on it and the work that we're trying to do here curricular wise. So thank you again for your service. I hope you like us as much as we like you and appreciate you. Um so, uh continue the good work. Thank you. [Applause] Okay. And one more recognition here. Um each couple months we give a sorting staff award um in the areas of transportation, IT, food services, and facilities. And this month we highlight transportation uh
019Jamie an we had food services Jeffrey Martinez and facilities Rando Serpa. So today transportation Michelle are you here or Loris come on up and we'll present the award and a thank you uh for the work um that Jamie has done. Michelle will fill us in a little bit on how long um service has been here at EHD and we'll present with a with a shirt here. Where are you, Jamie? Okay, so I'll talk while she's walking. Uh Jaime's been here since 2005, believe it or not. She um started as a bus aid and about three years ago. We uh took her out of her comfort zone and we talked her into getting her CDL and becoming a driver and she has excelled. I couldn't be more proud. Wish I had many more like well thank
020you Jamie is tough job as you're back to 54 students every day navigating the roads of a carpet township. It's a tough job and we appreciate it. Thank you. There you go. Okay. Um the board of education has received a strategic plan. Uh it's a project that we've worked on since March. It's a community um project, right? We involved stakeholders, anyone who wanted to attend. So, quickly, I'll explain um the process. Um we began in March there where we we met with a group over 50 um parents, administrators um and interested folks, community folks um where we had an overview of what the process entails. We we we pushed out a survey. We over we looked at the survey results and then we came up with a consensus on themes. So it was about a
021twoour hour meeting. Uh folks worked real hard continuous throughout the two hours and came up of with themes. On April 30th uh we reviewed the themes as a group and we developed a vision. All right. And then on May 21st we came back in goals, objectives and timelines and action planning uh took place. So this is feedback from the community. Every school district needs a strategic plan. a strategic plan that really is the framework for the goals that we develop uh district learning goals that we develop and our budget can be develop will be developed um from from the strategic plan. But basically the board the board will approve it but it it's listening to the needs of the community and then overseeing how the school district the administrators implement uh the the um the
022wants of the community. We have a unique strategic plan because it's it's um wrapped around our student um our mission statement of embrace, engage, educate, but we also took the time during this three three meeting process to evaluate the strengths of the districts. And I wanted to share the strengths of the districts that the community highlighted were our teachers and staff, the diversity and culture here in our district and programs and opportunities for students. Right? So the these are the three that rose to the top. These are three we're we're very very proud of and should be as part of the A Carpet Township school community opportunities. We looked at the opportunities that we we give to our kids and student and staff support, communication, technology, AI in our facilities. Our facilities are are are
023quite impressive. We also talked about aspirations and results. So this is how we we came up with our plan. So, we dug deep um on what the stu what the um can I make this bigger anyway? No. We dug deep on um what what the community wanted. So, under goal one, which is embrace, where we're fostering relationships and and folks that work here know how important um the the the part of the mission statement of embrace is developing relationships and forming relationships with our students and our families is number one. So the goal statement is that all staff and families will be empowered to develop strong behavioral life and mental health skills to best support our students. Right? That's fair. That's broad. So we break it down into strategic priorities and we have three priorities
024which we're going to enhance those social emotional uh life skills and development. Um social emotional skills are part of our student learning goals and have been for a very long time. Um they are very very important to many many school districts. They're very very important to teachers. we could help them understand student needs, especially when they're building relationships. Um, another priority is to strengthen the staff capacity through targeted training and professional development. We promise our staff that we're going to work hard to provide them training and development any initiatives that we have and we work hard to do that. Miss Moss, Mr. West, uh, work and feverishly. Um, that's part of their job to get those training targeted trainings in place. Um, another priority is to improve the transitions against grade levels and we started
025doing that. The teachers seem to like that, administrators like that from grade levels to buildings so that so that teachers from one building can share information to students for teachers of the other building. So there's articulation that goes through preK to 12. And then we break down even deeper initiatives. So we're going to expand programs. Um, we're going to continue to expand the MTSS support. We're going to train our staff. We're going to establish opportunities for vertical articulations. and we're going to help families understand about our services, supports, and educational technology. So that's that's that's embrace when we get to engage the goal statement there. Um enhance communication by implementing a unified platform that ensures timely, clear, and consistent messaging while continuing to foster a positive climate and culture throughout expanded engagement opportunities for the
026entire school community. I was blown away after the first meeting because communication kept coming up. I'm like, what do you mean we don't communicate? we have this tool and we have that tool and we have the internet and we have we have our website and we have you know things we push out from the district newsletter. They're like no no no that's not we mean that it's there's like a lot of it and we we have kids in three different levels of the school. We have elementary doing this and middle school doing that. We'd like to have one platform. Well, I assure you we've already met with vendors to make sure that we're pulling this all together to develop a consistent messaging across all schools and platforms. So we're already working on that. Um I'm
027a gamer man. you know, the last three strategic plans we've had, we've met them all. So, we're all ready to work working on this because I want to make sure that we meet this and meet the community needs. So, we're going to ensure the communication is accessible to all families. We're going to create opportunity to recognize and celebrate the culture of the school community and you see we've done that uh with the celebrations that we have. Um, and then to break down more of the initiatives, implement a unified platform, provide translations in in the languages that we have. We have some families that need to have the translation so they can understand us better. That's important. We recognize that. Ensure communication platform accommodates accessibility needs. This platform will promote opportunities for parents to engage better
028with our community. And the last initiative would be to cultivate procedures within schools and create a climate that promotes equity and welcomes all cultures of our school community and EHD pride would be realized throughout the engagement of community through our district initiatives. Moving on to educate which our final goal. Goal three which is progress growth and achievement. This is more of the focus on academics where we're going to enhance the student achievement by fostering digital citizenship. All right. You know that technology AI um the chat GPT it's all it's all out there and it's may not be used the way it should be. So a digital citizenship the knowledge of it um is very very important for our students and families. um expanding equitable access to modern technologies, making sure that our students have access
029to those uh Chromebooks or whatever is new uh tomorrow uh in technology that we're we're on top of the changes and we are being able to offer opportunities to our kids. modernizing facilities. So I I mentioned our facilities are beautiful. Our facilities, some of our facilities are are getting old and it's important that for the health, safety, welfare of our students and staff and to be able to learn our 21st century um curriculum and mandates, we need to make sure our facilities are updated and looking at the data-driven collaboration approaches to meet individual student needs to promote student achievement. So, we're always looking at ways to improve test scores uh to improve our student achievement. And you can see we have two very successful students here in in our um in in the room this
030evening, but there's others who have needs that have to be met. And we're going to cultivate cultivate the digital citizenship and technology, expand access to the modern technologies, modernize modernize our school facilities, use our data um to meet student needs. When we get into our initiatives, there's four here. Implement the PDK PK through 12 citizenship curriculum. Provide our students and families with the equitable access. equipped our classroom when needed and and in what in terms of technology. upgrade our physical infrastructures and uh we'll be talking about a referendum uh next month that will include facility upgrades and design inclusive supportive flexible learning environments um using that MTSS uh to generate student achievement data and the professional learning teams that our teachers can work and as groups of teachers to look at data and provide um
031more uh specialized instruction for our students and student achievement. So that is the um strategic plan. It's presented to the board tonight. Um we're looking for the board to approve that plan so it could be rolled out on July 1st. Um I will be sharing that plan once approved with the committee as promised so they could see that that the work that they have done it's been packaged in our um embrace engage educate. So I would like to thank everybody who was involved for everything that they have done uh working on that strategic plan. it gave us um insight on uh what needs have to be met over the next three years. Okay. So again, thank you for all that you do. Um we're going to move now into our retirement um celebration and I
032would like for the board to come on down to the floor. Um as we are getting ready um to say goodbye to some cherished our cherished folks this evening. Um, I'd just like to remind everyone in the room, including the retirees, that we do have a district newsletter um where we where you can find activities um and recognition from every school in the district. And I encourage you as you walk away uh on Tuesday, um you can look back, you can look us up, and you can keep uh a breast of all the things that are they're going on. But as the board assembles, I just want to say tonight um we celebrate a remarkable group of people. um our retirees and um you've spent your careers shaping young minds here in a Carpet Township
033School District, supporting our schools and surviving more staff meetings that you should be humanly possible, but you know, it's part of the job. And now you finally get to turn off your 5:30 a.m. alarm um for good. All right, you're free. You can do what you want. Sleep in, don't sleep, it's up to you. So, I want to thank you for your years of dedication, wisdom, and patience. uh especially the patients. Um you made a lasting impact on this district and we were looking at the plaques and we're like, "Oh, wow. Wow, wow, wow." Yeah, I know Mr. Devil Barker is getting chills. But your legacy will live on here with us and the students um your colleagues and the coffee cups that you've left behind. Um as you step into the next chapter of
034your life, may your days be filled with relaxation, travel, beach days, pickle ball, and absolutely zero lesson plans. So that you truly earned every minute and on behalf of the entire uh school district uh congratulations to you all. Thank you all for your service and enjoy um your welldeserved freedom. So thank you. [Applause] So, we have 39 retirees from July 1 to now. 20 of which you are here and we're honored to have you with us tonight. We do want to show you a quick video that shows you all 39 people because we should honor them in some short way. So, this is from Alan Vargas who's running the camera over here. Alan, thank you very much for putting this together for us. There it is. Egg Arbor Township School District, which is to congratulate
035our 24-25 retirees, Thomas Beck, [Music] Nancy Bickl, Portoy, Nancy Bilo, Denise Byron, Mary Anne Brennan, [Applause] Linda Bergima, Kathleen Collins, Jill Constantino, [Applause] Frank Krooppy, [Applause] Tracy Demena, [Music] Mauricio Escobar, [Applause] Michelle Fischer, [Applause] Patricia Fel, [Applause] Ellen Gregory Dixs, [Applause] Ronald Gooen, [Applause] Moren Hackin, [Applause] Alen Hartman, [Applause] Colleen Heg, [Music] [Applause] Howard Isacson, [Applause] Misty Cameman, [Applause] John Clark, [Music] Lisa Long, Kathleen Marasiano, [Applause] [Music] Jill Mlhen, [Applause] Karen Ninfa, Virginia Palro, [Music] Judith Pimpanelli, Caroline Prior, [Applause] Donna Remy, Katherine Sheridan, [Music] [Applause] Amy Spano, [Applause] Denise Stoffenberg, [Applause] Kevin Stewart, [Applause] Cheryl Sturk, Mahendra Thapa, [Applause] Cheryl Thompson, Carol Bunskyver, Rabinski Chi Ua [Music] Zinc. Congratulations to all of our retirees. And that wonderful narration was from student Dylan Guzman. And also we'd also like to thank all the plaques you see
036all the decorations and the pictures up here are the work of Dr. Guccio's assistant Sandy Farola and HR coordinator Victoria Bordonaro. All right, without further ado, as we call up each honore, Dr. Guchio is going to present you with a bouquet of flowers and Mr. Dela Barka is going to present you with a retirement plaque and a resolution from the board of education. So, we have 20 people coming up. I'd ask you to guess, but we have too too much things to get through. But 474 total years of service to the district, these 20 people. Uh, pretty amazing when you think about it. All right, Mr. Thomas Beck, 25 years of service. [Applause] This is a tough one for me because I've known Mr. Quebec since he entered our district. But yeah, I am going
037to know a lot of you. But Tom uh when Davenport school was the first school to have breakfast, he came to me and said, "Mr. Delarka, we're going to do breakfast." And I said, "Really?" And he he knew how to organize it. Let me read your plaque, Mr. Beck. With greatest appreciation for 25 years of dedicated service to the children and schools of a carpet township. Thank you, Tom, for everything you've done. Next is Nancy Bickl Portoi, retiring 26 years, teacher at the high school. I don't know what the high school programs are going to do without her choreography. Over how many years, Nancy? 26 years in the district. I'm not going to read every plaque, but you have 26 years. your first year. I was your principal, too. So was I. Yeah. I just
038want to say one thing. Thank you for giving all of us an opportunity to have a life well-lived. Retiring from Miller School with 22 years of service, teacher Denise Byron, 22 years of dedicated service. Congratulations retiring as a teacher from Miller School with 23 years experience. Maryanne Brennan [Applause] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Say when you know, you know. Congratulations. retiring as a teacher from Alder School with 25 years experience. Linda Berdimo [Applause] [Music] Thank you, Linda, for 25 great years. Thank you. You were my principal as a student teacher. retiring with 30 years of service from Swift Slayball Complex. Kathleen Collins Okay, we'll get those to Kathleen. Retiring as a teacher from Miller School with 25 years of service, Jill Constantino. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Thank you. Principal [Laughter] retiring from transportation with 22
039years service as a bus driver. Frank Krooppy Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations. I'll take with 24 years of service to the district. Our director of transportation, Michelle Fischer, [Applause] What the heck? I won't call you 4:00 in the morning. With 21 years of service to the district, high school teacher Ailen Hartman. [Applause] [Laughter] Thank you. Take care. Thanks. With 11 years of service from transportation, bus driver John Clark. Thank you. With 26 years of service, teacher from the high school, Karen Ninfa. Please. [Laughter] Thanks, G. Congratulations. with 25 years of service. Slayball Elementary nurse Virginia Palro. [Applause] Thank you. Now we go back. Congratulations. Take care. Congratulations from transportation with 21 years of service. Bus driver Donna Remy. Thank you. Thanks. Congratulations. A lot of bus drivers. I'm getting nervous. [Laughter] From Slayball Elementary with 28
040years of service to the district, teacher Katherine Sheridan. [Applause] You were my first I know. 28 years later [Applause] for 13 years of service. And I just have to say on a personal note, my seven years high school principal, he was the last person that said goodbye to me on the way out every day. Custodian Kevin Stewart. [Music] Thank you. Thank you much. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Kevin. Dr. Gio, this one's going to get you, too. From transportation, 37 years experience. Bus driver Cheryl Sturk. [Applause] Thank you. Yes, it is. That's what happens when you work hard every day. Yeah, that's my brother. Thank you. with 27 years of service from food services. Head cashier Cheryl Thompson.
041[Applause] Thank you so much. [Applause] with 19 years of service. Teacher from the high school, Carol Vans Skyver Ravinsky. Congratulations, Carol. Thanks. And last, but certainly not least, 24 years of service, also from food services, specifically in the high school, Una Zinc. You want me to just pass it over to you? Okay. Now, what what memories here? Oh, you told your kids. You're doing great. Thank you. Thank you. Great. That concludes that concludes the uh celebration for the retirees. Boy, as the board makes their way back to the deis, I just want to say congratulations one more time. Let's give a hand for their service. Now, I'm sure you're sitting there saying, "Oh my gosh, how time how quickly time passes." And it truly is amazing. But you got me thinking there. It looks like
042they're on the great uh new and great better things um relaxing things and um we again we'll be thinking of you but you can stay in touch with the district newsletter. All right, just real quick u an overview superintendent report and then we could um go on to celebrating together. [Music] So we talked all night about the rest of our lives. Where we're going to be when we turn 25. Keep thinking times never change. Keep on thinking things will always be the same. We won't be coming back. I know we're hanging out cuz we're on a different track. And if you need to say, you better slow down. These memories are playing like a film without sound. And I keep thinking of the night in you. I didn't know what you love, but it came
043too soon. And it was the end. You know, we got real blue. Stay at home. Talking so excited and we get so scared laughing at ourselves, thinking life's not fair. This is how it feels. As we go on, we remember all the times we had together. And as our lives change from whatever, we will still be friends forever. [Music] So if we get the big jobs and we make the big money when we look back now will still be funny when we still remember everything we learned in school. still be trying to break every single road. Little brain probably be the stop man that won't interfere. We pretend I keep keep thinking that it's not goodbye. Keep on thinking it's time to fly. And this is how it feels as we go on. We remember
044all the times we had together. And as our lives change from whatever, we will still be friends forever. [Music] And we just want to say thank you to all the EHT EA officers and all the administration in the back there for coming to celebrate with us tonight. Mr. Del Barker, would it would be okay if we pause the meeting for 5 minutes just in case anybody wants to take pictures up here. Uh awardees, please feel free to take your picture right off the deis there. That's for you. We also have boxes for your awards so they're protected. If you want to come over here, I'll get you your box as well. But wow, 474 years of service to the district. Give yourselves another hand. Thank you. So good to see you, too. My husband stay
045with me. California Riverside. Every time I call I've been out there. Yeah, it was fun. I had a great screwed up a lot. girl. Heat. Come student safety data system midyear report from Mr. West June 17th. Thank you, Dr. Guchio. Um, you can tell I really cleared out a room. I thought everybody was here to see me. Um, but this is 2024 2025. It's called SSDs, student safety data system. This is for reporting period one. Um it's a midyear report that goes from September of this year uh to December. So here at the top if you look there are incidents that our vice principles and ABS's have to report on. At the top you see violence, vandalism, substance uh offense, weapons offense, confirmed HIV. You see our total incidents and you see our restraint and
046seclusion data. Again this is from September to December. Uh at the left you see the schools and the numbers that coincide with the incidents. Uh from a district-wide standpoint, uh 47 incidents of violence, three vandalism, 19 with substance offenses, one weapons offense. We had five confirmed HIVs from September to December, 75 total incidents, um 74 restraints, seven secclusions, and uh 23 combinations where we had both a restraint and a seclusion. As far as our HIV cases, um, at the high school we had eight that were, uh, non-confirmed. Alder, 18. 18 were non-confirmed. At Fernman, we had 12. Uh, nine were non-confirmed and three were confirmed. At Miller, we had 11 uh, total with nine non-confirmed and two confirmed. Davenport, uh, total of one, it was non-confirmed. Swift Slayball, total of four, they were non-confirmed. and
047Bargain Town. That is the school of kindness where nothing happens. It is friendly rainbows and unicorns and everyone's uh doing back flips. Um so you see our district totals, you see that they're higher, but I have to be honest, people are reporting more. They're concerned more. Um our ABS's are trained. They re they receive training all year. We want people to tell us if they feel like they're not being treated fairly or correctly. And it's our job to stop the behaviors. So, um, those numbers are not alarming to me. It's people that are reporting, right? And if anything, our job is to educate the students and parents of the prongs of the law. At the end of the day, it's our job to get the behaviors to stop. As far as grade level analysis for
048the five confirmed HIV, they coincide from uh, grade four to grade eight. So the definition for HIV to be a confirmed HIV, the first three bullets need to happen. You need a gesture uh that takes place on school grounds or at a school function. And it can happen off of school grounds as well. It's got to be motivated by a perceived characteristic of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, expression, mental, physical, and sensor disability or any other distinguishing characteristic. and it has to substantially disrupt the educational process of the student or the orderly operation of the school and the rights of others. So those three things need to happen. As far as the bottom three bullets, one of those three things need to happen uh to uh to to make
049a case be a confirmed HIV. Um will the act have an effect of physically or emotionally harming the student or damaging his or her property? Is the act insulting or demeaning to the student or a group of students? and does it create a hostile environment? As far as HIV case followup, these are the things we expect our ABS's, our counselors, any type of intervention or supports that we have for the victim and aggressor. We will routinely check their academics, check report cards, check repro pro progress reports. We will check student attendance to make sure students are coming to school. Um, we will look to make sure remediation uh interventions are put in place. could be through a counselor, could be a mentor, INRS team, child study team, behavior specialist. Uh the follow-up piece is important
050to make sure that those behaviors do not continue on um in a school setting. We check to see if the victim does see the nurse after um a particular case or incident. Uh we make sure our counselors do routine check-ins. We will also work handinhand with effective school solutions, a land of care healthy school specialist, our teen center, perform care outside of school, our our our student assistance counselors and our intervention referral service team. It takes a village to support our students that may that may have been through an HIV case. And we make sure again that this behavior does not continue in our school district. as far as schoolwide uh initiatives um sore we we soar with safety um safety, accountability, respect um as far as making sure that our students are are are
051acting properly in the hallway, in the cafeteria, um on the bus and that will be an initiative for us to make sure that students are behaving properly on the bus. I have it written down on my board. Um, you know, and and convocation, we make sure that SEAL components are being addressed, purpose prep, um, PBIS and NTSS as far as, uh, uh, positive behavior and multi-tered levels of interventions. We have our CARES program at the high school. We have gradewide assemblies, uh, professional development, small groups, and monthly theme. Our monthly theme is a celebrate and reflection. Um, and that has been a big initiative led by Dr. Bruchio that we have carried out and it gives us a theme for our our our staff to follow and routinely educate our students on on what those
052themes mean and how they should act. As far as activities and trainings, um, our ABSF school safety team meetings, they meet three to four times a year. They look for HIV trends, you know, are there inappropriate comments as they're pushing, as they're shoving, things of that nature. Uh, we make sure that all staff are trained um via public school works, uh, via Miss Amy Hal, Elco, um, talks to our vice principles and our ABS's. Um, we visit different departments, uh, Dr. Charlton and myself, uh, to to let everyone know that we're mandatory reporters, um, and if we see something, um, we have to say something. We hear something, we have to say something. and report it to administration. We give HIV presentations to students uh through our administrators and um and our ABS's. Our INRS
053mentoring programs follow up the students through the course of the year. Um character education with just Renaissance. We have a handful of buildings that recently received Silver Distinction Award. So, we're proud of that and the and our and our in our partnership with Justins and all the great things that we're doing from a Renaissance standpoint. Again, I said see something, hear something, say something immediately. We're mandatory reporters. And we also have our anti-blowing website that I ask parents to visit routinely so they have an idea of our programs. Um, and you can report HIV via our website as well. We have lessons uh on kindness and empathy through our SORE initiative. Um, and we also have schoolwide climate programs. Um, I still have my bracelet. I made this in August. the color has faded. Okay.
054But with that being said, I'm proud of it and every time I wake up, I see it and that tells me it is my job and our duty as a school district to protect our kids. So that's important to me and if it's important to me um and it's important to our superintendent, it should be important to everyone. All right? And that's the way I look at it. Um some other activity and trainings, we have a pacer website that are uh anti-bullying specialists give many HIV lessons. They show videos and activities for all our children. I talked about our bracelet initiative. We have spirit weeks and pep rallies. Um Alder I believe was the winner of Atlantic Care Healthy Specialist uh poster anti-bullying poster contest. Student from Alder. So we're proud of that. Our SOARE
055tickets for safety, ownership, accountability, and respect. The students earn them. They work hard to earn them. Um we have students of the month week of respect red ribbon week. Our therapy dogs Marty and Charlie. You will see them around our district all the time. Um, and I look forward to seeing them. They're just they come in to see our kids. It it reduces anxiety. The kids gravitate to the to the therapy dogs. It just puts everyone in a better place. Um, effective school solutions, our relationship with them and their tiered support for SEAL and character education lessons and peer mentor mentoring through our convocation and purpose prep programs. As far as HIV, we assess ourselves a school self uh selfassessment. Uh we grade ourselves on the eight prongs that you see uh on the board
056there. HIV programs, training on HIV policy and procedures, uh staff instruction and training programs, curriculum and instruction on HIV, HIV personnel, school level HIV on incident reporting, our investigative procedures, and our reporting in general. Uh this will be due in August. um where our vice principles uh along with our ABS's complete this self assessment on these eight prongs. They do we do submit the data to NJ DOE um as as our HIV grades. The maximum score that you can receive is 78. Um we routinely score in the 70s year in and year out. As far as 2023 and 2024, we scored 76 out of 78. Kudos to our ABS's, kudos to our staff in general, kudos to our vice principles and principles uh to make sure that we are doing everything possible um to address
057bullying when it comes to our school district. With that being said, I will give a full report to the board again uh in the fall. It will cover the full year of 2024 in 2025. And with that being said, uh, thank you, uh, for allowing me to present and if the board has any questions, I'll gladly answer them. Board members, any questions? Seeing none, thank you, Mr. West. Look forward to hearing from you in the fall. Thank you. At this time, we have our report from our student representatives. And please excuse me, but I'm going to practice somebody's name because I get I get to say it at graduation two times, so I I don't want to say it wrong. But first, Marcuso and Osar Unbibe. I get it right. Osa, it was a good
058try. We'll try. [Applause] We'll try again next week. Okay. All right. Good evening everyone. For the last time, last meeting. Okay. Starting off at Swift Slayball Complex. So during this p past month, students at Swift Slayball had a lot of fun. They um involved themselves in several outdoor activities such as their field day, which included a magician, a fun run running race fundraiser, and also an ice cream social for the third graders. And then now moving on to Davenport, Mrs. Cohen's second and third grade um students, they classes, they recently had a steam aerospace project. and Miss Con is the CTE teacher at that school. So essentially students created their own slideshow presentations around uh helicopters and aviations. Um the four main forces of flight that they focused on was lift, drag, weight and thrust
059and they included fun facts about helicopters and they had a fun little activity where they made like paper helicopters kind of origami with paper clips included inside. So it was a pretty cool and interactive experience for the students. Okay, moving on to Miller. So, several of the EHT officers had their final adopt a cop visits of the school year with the fourth graders at Miller. And this program basically fosters a positive relationship between students and the EHT police department by having officers visit several times throughout the school year to educate and to motivate the kids about making good choices and just like understanding police officer roles. And this June, uh, the K9 officer Burns with Odin and Sergeant McKenna from the SWAT team did demonstrations for the students while they visited. And then additionally at
060Miller, um, throughout the school year, select fourth grade and fifth grade students have been a part of the PAL's program. And what PAL stands for is peers assisting in learning social skills. So essentially these students, they participate in several activities throughout the year to develop their social and interaction skills with other students to kind of build those connections. So they've been doing this program for the past school year. And as a celebration of that, Miss Hec and Miss Falco, they hosted an ice cream party to kind of celebrate everything that they learned, the social skills they developed throughout the school year. Okay. And on to the middle schools. So, two awards celebrations took place to recognize older students this month. First was the People's Choice Awards, and they honored students who have made meaningful and
061positive differences to a staff member in some way, whether it was through hard work, leadership, enthusiasm, kindness, or other traits that embody the school. And additionally, the National Junior Honor Society ceremony honored students who have had a dedication to upholding leadership skills, service, scholarship, and a strong character. And then on to our other middle school, Fernwood. They recently held their Greek Olympics. It's an annual tradition that they do at this middle school. Essentially, throughout this day, it's kind of a fun field day, but it has its roots in ancient Greek traditions of the Greek Olympics. So classes they each are they make their own shirts and their own theme with something and this year students have their opening ceremonies in the auditorium and it's just a great time for students to kind of celebrate the
062end of the year and it's a great time for the classes to bond together and have that sportsmanship and just celebrate everything that they've accomplished this year. Okay, and moving on to the high school finally. So today Mr. Bell and students from his African-American studies classes and some guests including Marcus, I was also there. Um, we had our Juneenth celebration and we also had our annual cookout afterwards. So, we learned about Junth and how it commemorates June 19th of 1865 when enslaved African-Ameans in Texas learned that they were free, which was 2 years after the actual Emancipation Proclamation was issued. And students from um my AP class presented about the history of this holiday. Um, we talked about some underrecognized figures and events in black culture such as the four little girls and double D-Day.
063We also talked about Afro Latino culture and the intersection with African culture and also Latino culture. And we also taught some of the students about key games a part of black culture such as double dutch and spades. And um after we had this presentation, the students and some of African-Amean staff, we engaged in some open dialogue which allowed us to discuss some more like sensitive or like controversial topics that we may not usually like have the opportunity to do so in like our typical classroom environments, which was a really good experience. And we ended our celebration with music and so much good food with the students and staff. And then building off of that, our high school, we also have a Latin American studies class as well. So throughout this past year, the students, we've
064been fundraising a lot to go to New York City for a field trip. So we spent countless lunch periods after school selling empanadas, cares leches, whatever food you can think of, Hispanic oriented. We did it and we sold it and our school just loved it. So with that money, we were able to um buy a bus and kind of take our trip to New York City. And when we were in New York City, we went to an Latin American art museum, El Muse de Bario. And at this um art museum, it was focused on there was there were new exhibits. So one of the exhibits was focused on Afrobrazilian culture and the spirituality oriented with that with the influences from Africa. So which is interesting as Osa mentioned earlier the intersection between black and Latino
065culture. So we were able to see that firsthand. Additionally, they had Puerto Rican abstract art and artifacts from indigenous cultures within Latin America. So, it was just a beautiful experience for our class to learn about these things, to work hard and fundraising and to go to New York City and see these exhibits. So, it was just a beautiful end point for us. And afterwards, we went to an authentic Mexican restaurant. It was very tiny, so that's how you know the food was absolutely amazing and truly authentic. So, it was great. Personally, I had tacos. Um, it was with pork and there was like pineapples inside. I had Brazilian cheese bread as well. was delicious. But that's just a few things happening at the high school. Yeah. Okay. And we just like going to say a
066little something before we wrap this up since this is our last um report. So, as this is our 10th and final meeting as the student board representatives for the 2025 to or 2024 to 2025 school year, I just wanted to sincerely thank the board of education and Miss Karuno for giving me this opportunity. It's been truly an honor to be able to be a part of this to give these reports and to obviously like practice like my public speaking speaking in front of all of you and also to just get a glimpse of what happens behind the scenes of the district that I've been a part of since I was young and growing up in this district. It's really cool to see what goes on behind the scenes to like keep our education system functioning.
067And I also want to thank the student body obviously for like trusting me to be one of the two uh voices representing us here today. And yeah, this has been a really special part of my senior year doing this with one of my best friends. So I'm truly grateful for it and thank you. And building off of what said and building off of what OSA said, once again, thank you to the board members. Thank you to Miss Karuno and thank you to just the student body population for entrusting us in a role such as this one. It's been so important to us throughout this year. We have grown so much and learned so much with public speaking, with being involved with local government and seeing that intersection with education, seeing all the reports and like
068the finances aspect of that and how that affects the larger community as a whole and just being a part of that process and also just advocating for people within our community and just being those voices and learning to understand what it's like to be like how you guys are. You're representing the community. We represent our school community as well. and having those building those relationships is just amazing opportunity to have and for me I think one day I want to go into higher education. So this was just an amazing opportunity to kind of see how it is and feel it out and to carry me throughout the rest of my future adventures. So thank you guys again and just thank you. Thank you. Now you can see what I meant earlier about how wonderful they
069both are. the the their presentation again, the detail, every building representative, uh how much they enjoyed making the presentation, both of you, we thoroughly enjoyed having you with us all year. Best of luck, best wishes to you in your future. We know you're going to go far, but don't forget us. Come back and see us. All right. Thank you again. Uh moving on now to the public comment for agenda items only. The board values and welcomes comments and opinions from residents. This meeting will now be open to public comments, three minutes per person on agenda items only. If your questions pertain to litigation, student or personnel items, please see the superintendent after the meeting as the board does not discuss these matters in public. Depending on the nature and complexity of your questions, the board
070secretary may ask your for your contact information so that someone can get back to you with a response. As a reminder, this is a public meeting and all comments should be appropriate for a public setting and made in a respectful manner. Please come up to the podium, state your full name and address. Anyone interested in making comments on the agenda items only. Oh, I'm so glad I read all that. Thank you very much. Uh, moving on then to finance and operations. Mr. Smith for updates and then Mr. Pricer's report. Uh yeah, we just sent out one update concerning one purchase order earlier today. All right. Thank you. Did you receive those? Sorry, but I was being updated by Dr. Guio. Mr. Price, please may we have your report. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Smith. I'll begin
071the committee report um on 25. Length of the meeting was 42 minutes. Mr. Buyers, Mr. Del Parka, Mr. Price, and Miss Sullivan was virtual. Administrators attending, Dr. Grushio and Mr. Smith, transportation department. Mr. Smith gave an update on the search process for the transportation director position and possible roll out of GPS services for the bus fleet to improve student and staff safety. Food services department, Mr. Beck and Mr. Patel have started their transition process. Additionally, the department is pleased to announce the breakfast and lunch prices will remain the same, unchanged for the 2526 school year. Facilities, Mr. Smith reported the department is getting updated quotes for the Davenport trash dumpsters and the lead and water testing letters are now on the district website. He also reviewed board agenda items for bond council and financial advisor
072services related to the upcoming referendum. Um, business office. Um, the business office has several items on the board agenda for approval, including QPA, SOP, and cooperative purchasing renewals, cancellation of outdated checks, reestablishment of petty cash funds, and a transfer of current year surplus to reserve accounts. Mr. Smith reviewed several items on the agenda for approval, including the monthly reports, uh various tuition and home instruction contracts, sick time payout, health benefit renewals, district memberships, professional service contracts, preschool provider contracts, and a shared services renewal with the township for the um class 3 police officers. um several awards of bids and competitive contracts, a solicitation for bids for generator services, and the submission of the 20 26 Perkins grant. The committee also reviewed upcoming use of facilities requests as we have here. So, board members, you can
073click on the drive if you want to see them as well. Uh that's what we reviewed at the meeting and I'm looking forward to continuing reviewing them. Um the committee um also discussed and reviewed asset disposals and the construction coordinator position. Um conclusion the committee recommends moving forward on the action items discussed and the next time place date time and place of the next meeting is August 12th 2025 6 p.m. at the board office. And uh that concludes my report Mr. President. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Price. At this time, I have a motion for finance items 8.2. Motion. Second, please. Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Buyers, yes. Mr. Ireland, yes. Mr. Price, yes. Mr. Sepy, yes. Mrs. Sloggy, yes. Missyman, yes. And Mr. Delbark, yes. We have a motion, please, for items
0748.3 through 8.46. So made. There a second. Mr. Price. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Buyers. Yes. Mr. Ireland. Yes. But I have some nos and and some abstains. So yes to everything except for 8.3. And these are to purchase orders. And uh Mr. Smith, I'll give them to you in an email. 500327 50 uh4176 504 326 503889 and 504223 which I abstain and I'm no to 8.22. Thank you, Mr. Price. Mr. Price. Yes. Mr. Sepy. Yes. Mr. Slaggy. No to 8.22. And yes to the rest. Miss Hyman. Yes. And Mr. Delbark. Yes. M. Moving on to curriculum. Miss Moss first for any updates and then Mrs. Go. Are you reporting off tonight? Yes. Okay. Miss Moss, please. All right. So, uh, the curriculum committee met on June 10th at 700 p.m. It was the
075shortest meeting in curriculum committee history. Uh, it was 17 minutes long. Mrs. Gilbert Floyd joined us virtually, Miss Sali, Mr. Delbaraa, Dr. Bruchio, and myself. Uh, we reviewed field trips, professional development. Um and we were updated about grants that the district has received or is in the process of applying for uh including revolutionary schools, preschool inclusion, the focus ear literacy grant. The committee also reviewed the new EHGPD program, law enforcement against drugs and violence, its lead, it is replacing uh DARE, which is kind of sad to me, but it's okay. Uh we also talked about um the content areas that are going to be completing summer curriculum work and upcoming professional contracts, our continuation um with effective school solutions and then new programs that we're going to be um working with under that early literacy
076grant and as well as the plans for the district wellness team to continue off with the mental health and counseling. So, our next meeting, August 12th, will be at central office at 7 PM where we will be doing curriculum review and it will be longer than 17 minutes, I'm sure. I have a motion, please, for curriculum item 9. 9. Mr. Price, I'll make that motion. Buyer second. I'm sorry. Mr. Buyer second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Buyers. Yes. Mr. Ireland. Yes, Mr. Price. Yes, Mr. Sapp. Yes, Mrs. Sagi. Yes, Miss Hyman. Yes, and Mr. Delbark. Yes. At this time, we have our policy report. Mr. Westburn, any updates? And then Mr. Ireland? I don't I do not have any updates. Mr. Delarka. Mr. Ireland, please. Yes, sir. So, um, we had the policy committee
077report on Tuesday, June 10th at 5:00 PM. The meeting was 40 minutes long. Members that attended were myself, Miss Hyman, Mr. Delabara. Administrators that attended were Dr. Gushio, Mr. uh West, and Mr. Smith, and others was Miss Casey Gford. Gilford. Subjects that were discussed were policy 9340, cooperation with public library. Policy 9190, community organizations, policy 7436, drug and alcohol-free school district. Policy 7510, use of facilities. Policy 2520, instructional supplies regulation 2520, instructional supplies. Policy 86 firearms and weapons regulation 8467 firearms and weapons conclusions that were reached. Policy 9340 cooperation with public library was reviewed and discussed by the committee. The committee agreed to abolish policy 9340. Policy 9340 is up for one reading and waiting board approval. Policy 9190 community organization was reviewed and discussed by the committee. The committee agreed to revise and add
078public library language to the policy. Policy 9190 is up for one reading and waiting board approval. Policy n uh 7436 drug and alcohol-f free school district was reviewed and discussed by the committee. The committee agreed to eliminate a paragraph on the consumption of alcohol beverages on school property. Policy 7436 is up for one reading and waiting board approval. Policy 7510 use of facilities was reviewed and discussed by the committee. The committee discussed the community use of facilities by categories. The categor the committee also discussed recreational use of the proper use of documenting facility use in FMX. The committee agreed not to revise the policy at this time. Policy and regulation 2520 instructional supplies was re reviewed and discussed by the committee. Policy and regulation 2520 is a mandated revision from Shra's Esme and incorporates language
079to reflect best practices for the use utilization and of instructional supplies for the school district. Policy 2520 is up for one reading and waiting board approval. Regulation 2520 is a new regulation up for two readings and waiting board approval. I'm done after this. Policy and regulation 8467 firearms and weapons was reviewed and discussed by the committee. Policy and regulation 8467 is a mandated replacement from Strauss SMA incorporates administrative code language regarding student possession of firearms and weapons on school grounds. Policy and regulation 8467 is up for one reading and waiting board approval. Our next meeting is Tuesday, August 12th at 5:00 p.m. Possible topics to be discussed at the next meeting is policy 50 uh 5770 uh pupil um right of privacy, regulation 5600, student discipline and code of conduct, regulation 5611, removal of students
080for firearm offenses, regulation 5613, removal of students for assaults with weapons. and policy 5516 remotely activating communication devices and electronic devices. Mr. West, did I mess anything up? No. Nice job, Mr. Ireland. Thank you, Mr. Delbaro. That is it for the policy meeting. Thank you, Mr. Ireland. Uh, may we have a motion, please, for policy items 10.2 through 10.8. So, made a second. Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Buyers. Yes, Mr. Ireland. Yes, Mr. Price. Mr. Price. Yes, Mr. Sepy. Yes, Mrs. Sloggy. Yes, Miss Hyman. Yes. And Mr. Delbour? Yes. At this time, we have a new business. May I have a motion for new business items 11.1 through 11.3? So made. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, mo roll call, please. Mr. Buyers, yes. Mr. Ireland, yes to everything except
081for 11.3. That's a no. Mr. Price. Mr. Price, yes. Mr. Sepy, yes. Mrs. Sloggy, no to 11.3. Yes. To the rest. Miss Hyman. Yes. And Mr. Delarka? Yes, just want to make a brief comment. We just approved the agreement with the association for uh our negotiations. We had a great great long negotiation period. It was great in that we had an approval. We came with a together with a memorandum of agreement and we're very pleased with that. We just approved that and uh if there's any further items that we might want to discuss in the future, I'm sure the association can bring them up to us. But thank you. At this time, moving on to personnel. Uh, Dr. Charleston. I do not have any updates. Mr. President, may I have a motion, please, for personnel
082items 12.2 through 12.7. Motion Ireland. Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Buyers, yes. Mr. Ireland, yes. Mr. Price, yes. Mr. Sepy, yes. Mr. Sloggy, yes. Missyman, yes. Yes, Mr. Delar. Yes, Dr. Guio. All right. I know there's some folks that are here couldn't wait to get to this point in the meeting and uh I surely learned a lot. You folks certainly learned a lot about our school district tonight and I appreciate your perseverance. Um so I'd like to introduce uh to the public at Aar Township new employees for the very first time here. Um Jeanie Pinkinis is a fifth grade teacher at the Miller School. Congratulations, Aiden Reed, a math teacher at Ferwood Avenue Middle School. Uh, Jacqueline Singer, secretary, Eagle Academy. Donna Leonard, custodian of Swift Slayball Complex. our new head boys basketball
083coach at the high school, Joseph Kesler, [Applause] and our new transportation director, Laura Feinstein. Congratulations, everyone, and welcome to Egg Harbor Township School District. Um, you served us well tonight for two hours, so go on out and celebrate. We do have some business to finish, but enjoy the night. Here's your chance. Moving on, please. May we have a motion for old business item 13.1 through 13.3? Motion Ireland. Mr. Second that motion. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Buyers, yes. Mr. Ireland, yes. Mr. Price, yes. Mr. Sepy, yes. Mr. Sloggy, yes. Yes, Miss Hyman. Yes. And Mr. Delabar. Yes. I'm going to ask Mr. West to please bring the board up to date regarding the Hall of Fame committee. Thank you, Mr. Delabara. So, uh, at this time, a quick update. Uh, the the applications have
084gone through the nomination and screening process through the respective committees. The selection committee is in the process of setting up a meeting date and I will share that with Mr. Dal Barka and Mr. Sephi so they can be privy uh of that meeting. And basically that meeting will be to review the candidates profiles. Um the selected nominees then will be honored at a football game in a ceremony this upcoming fall. Um I would like to thank the board of education Dr. Gio for supporting this initiative and I'm looking forward to the progress of the Hall of Fame club in the up uh in the upcoming years. I'd like to thank the committee members for their hard work during this process. And I'd like to thank Mr. Kevin Rutled, our athletic director, and Miss Jackie Krugno,
085the high school principal, for overseeing this process as well. So, we're excited and we thank you again for supporting this initiative. I'm looking forward to seeing results and then in the fall, we'll be celebrating our new Hall of Fame members. That's exciting. Thank you, Mr. West. Uh on the under communications, we have the board calendar and the revision is our August meeting is the 22nd of August, board members and public. And uh I don't know if Mr. Ireland has anything regarding school boards. Of course I do. Okay. Go ahead, Mr. So June I'll make it super quick. June 30th we have our um executive officers meeting where we're going to go over some uh topics that would be discussed at future meetings. So if anybody here has any um items that they want covered or
086uh speakers or anything, please let us know and then we'll put it on the agenda. Um, and then also we're going to review our bylaws because it's been a couple years since we've done our bylaws on there. So that's all I have, Mr. Del Barker, and that's on the 30th and that's just the executive members. Just for everybody's information, Mr. Ireland is the president of the Atlantic County School Boards Association. So that's good. And we have a vice president here also in Mr. Ireland. So that's great. And a past president. All right. Uh, moving on. We have uh comments now from the public. Uh, comments from the board of education meeting. I'm not going to read that whole statement. If anyone's interested in coming up, please come up at this time for any comments regarding
087anything of your interest. Seeing no one running up at this time. Thank you very much. Uh we I'm sorry. Yes. Oh, is there someone? Oh, well, come on up, please. Here's your moment. Give us your name. I think you have to push a button out over there and then name and address. Okay. My name is Ariana Garcia TR and my address is 32 Eagle Drive. Good morning everyone or good evening everyone. Um so as he said earlier I'm hearing something and I'm seeing something. So I will be saying something. Um I wanted to take a moment to talk about someone who has not only transformed our orchestra but who has inspired each and every one of us. And that's Miss Sarah. Um, from the very first day she stepped into our rehearsal place, Miss Sarah
088didn't just bring sheet music and a baton. She brought energy, passion, and vision and an unwavering belief that we could become more. Under her guidance, we didn't just learn how to play notes and we learned how to create music. And that's a big difference. Um, there's a point to this, by the way. She has become a rare gift, the kind that doesn't come from a textbook or a degree. Though she has plenty of qualifications, what sets Miss apart is the way she brings out the best in all of us. She makes us want to stay longer, play better, and care more, and not be afraid to fail because she shows us what we're capable of, and we believe in ourselves. And let's be honest, it's really hard to teach high school kids. Like, it's very
089hard. But she is someone that came in this year and she absolutely dominated the music department and she created such a big impact. But unfortunately um due to the recent budget cuts she has been moved down to Miller and it's extremely unfortunate and I would definitely like to be speaking about that. If anyone deserves to be leading a high school level program it is Miss Sarah. If anyone is more qualified it is Miss Sarah and if you've ever heard us play within after just a few weeks you would know that wow like she really has made a giant impact on us. And um Mr. Woff will be replacing her. Her honors and CP orchestra will merge into one, which means people that are just starting out this year for orchestra and people that have been
090playing their whole life will be merging together as one. Um, it is safe to say that Mr. Wyoff's specialty is not in strings. He teaches indoor percussion, marching band, percussion class, symphonic band, and just going to interrupt you real quick. I know you're making you're making your statement. I'm the school attorney and I just wanted to let you know that anytime you're talking about a staff member, the board's not going to endorse anything you say about them. And when you give an opinion that's your own opin opinion about them and their qualifications, the board's not going to be able to endorse any statement you make and just you're responsible for any statement you make about a staff member. So, I just want to caution you about that. Yeah, I was just um like reaffirming that
091she that Mr. Woff does specialize in more of band rather than strings like Miss Sera does. Um, not to doubt any of his degrees cuz I'm sure he's very knowledgeable. Um, the orchestra with after all five of these events that he does um, take after the orchestra will not just be focused on. It will just be a side project instead of something that's supposed to be passionate. And it's it was genuinely Miss Sarah's dream to work in high school. And it's really a shame to see her go. And um I feel like genuinely there is no future for orchestra if it just becomes a side project. And so please let Miss Sarah live out her dreams genuinely. And if no one continues to stand for her, I will. That's it. Thank you. Anyone else have
092public comment? I thought you were coming up. If you would like to, you may. Seeing none, uh, the board need is going to need a motion to go to recess to executive session. So, may I have a motion? I'll make that motion. Is there a second? All in favor? All right. For personnel, yes, that's the reason we're going into executive session. No. Any opposed? Thank you very much, audience. Happy to have you with us. Next Tuesday night is graduation. So we look forward to that program. Mr. Del Parker, I just have a a comment. Are we going to be coming back here for any other additional comment? Cuz I just want to comment quickly. Just to adjourn. All right. I just want to say um tonight the school calendar for the 20 526 school year.
093Is that going to be on the agenda? The school calendar for the It was. It is. It's not the board calendar, but the one for the school year. It was just It's on there. Thank you. Just double check it. It's there. All right. And the other thing I wanted to say is don't forget about project graduation. Yes. On the evening of right after graduation. After graduation. Okay. Graduation. Byebye. Thank you again everyone. Thank you for being with us.