001Mr Price is here Mr sappy here Mr Sullivan here Mrs savagi here okay flights flu ID and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice Mr lagi would you like me to read the um read the open meeting statement yes that would be good idea thank you on Wednesday January 12 2022 notice of this meeting was emailed to the press and the current of Egg Harbor Township notice was also delivered that day to the Egg Harbor Township Clerk and posted on the bulletin board in the township hall [Music] and welcome welcome you all to our August 16th meeting and we're going to have need a motion for the minutes 4.1 to 4.4 motion sepi second Ireland any discussion roll call sorry sorry about that Miss fungiorno yes
002Miss Gilbert Floyd yes that's Hyman yes Mr Ireland yes Mr Price yes Mr sepi yes Mr Sullivan yes Mrs yes [Music] I'm ready I'm ready ready to go the last board meeting summer can't believe it in a couple weeks our schools will be opening and very very exciting time of the year but it's also very stressful getting the buildings ready getting the new information all set and really what's important is our administrators meetings tomorrow Thursday Monday Tuesday Wednesday getting everybody on board and prepared to open the building so exciting time but here we are that was a quick summer and um we're gonna go and see what's going on what's been happening not a whole lot but I'm always proud to share and it's always revolves around our student learning goals for student achievement as
003I mentioned briefly we're doing a lot of work with scheduling our teachers our students our bus passes are being prepared and hopefully we'll get out in the next week or so freshman transition student transitions to their new schools with help with their guidance counselors and principals Aspire program and towns program in action along with the aviation camps and com Academy a camp professional development for our teachers and administrators Ms Moss has led professional development throughout the district for interventionists reading Specialists the kindergarten transition planning and administration link it data collection analysis which he's very excited about we had a meeting today and we can't wait to share the results by using that tool and Equity training tomorrow the administrators will have trauma-informed training with Mr McKnight and then next week on Equity training so lots
004of training lots of learning that's what we're in the education business so Calamity culture our second learning goal security assessments and drills have been discussed and planned senior Ambassador training occurred at the high school preparing for opening days our custodians facilities Department system assistant principles retreat was held last week Mr Santilli facilitated that administrators are meeting again will be held tomorrow and we had meetings today with Transportation Food Services custodian custodians facilities and security so where lots of communication going on again so everybody's on the same page we open this large district and open the doors to almost 7 400 students Community Partners we have successful National Night Out that was fun with the school district present I apologize I was on vacation but I got text and saw Facebook posts good ones about a
005National Night Out a community event which brings everyone together for a great purpose we have a partnership with Atlanta carers and you'll learn more about the mental health specialists that we'll be bringing into the school district Kelly Services had a job fair here in the district they were also present at the National Night Out and our Ed foundation in computer Community Partnership has been working over the last month and preparing for a meeting it'll be upcoming September 1st or 2nd to prepare the final um uh you know preparations for the hashtag EHT pride festival which will be on September 24th so groups activities clubs Sports vendors anyone who's interested in participating just let us know make sure you get a table but not interested interested in the table please come out and join us that
006day it's always a fun day so Egg Harbor Township covid-19 update each month I give an update um and you know thankfully things have been dying down and changing for the good if you will but the latest executive order from Governor Murphy is there's no more mandatory testing for the unvaccinated and that has stopped here in the district usually on Wednesdays we have testing with the Rover Labs here and that's been canceled for tomorrow so just so everyone knows the quarantine for positive cases does not have to occur in master optional just traveling I will say everything is optional you sit on an airplane and you know they state that it's optional if you want to wear a mask but in the most part is to respect those that do respect those that don't okay
007so that's the motto we're going with um and that's the latest and greatest from from the governor um on covet 19. here's some noteworthy dates that I always share at this time of the year and again this presentation will be on our website so you'll get to go back to it professional orientation will be uh the 29th of August and a little different this year it'll be at night so some of our board members have some freshman students that will be attending the high school and it's going to be a combined presentation to the parents and to the students so there's either good there's also going to be a convocation that night which is something different you see that more at the college level so I'm very excited to see that piece placed into the
008freshman orientation program uh 30th and 31st will be new staff orientation that'll be where we can have that here it'll be at the high school because it's so large how many employees 103 new employees so we are we are growing we are also very fortunate that we are filling positions with teachers and we have a whole lot more to go um however when you see some of these news reports from other uh States uh Texas last night said you know gone to a four day work week There's a shortage of of teachers throughout the United States so EHT is the place to be and we we welcome all in any um to to apply and uh you know to become employees so September 5th we're closed for Labor Day first day school for uh students
009will be on on the 6th and September 24th is that EA pride festival so we bring our teachers back first on the first and the second for professional development and then the students will start after Labor Day in Egg Harbor Township every school district's different right back to school nights again this will be shared tomorrow with the administrators it'll be shared out in their new in their letters to parents and staff but you're seeing it first and these are the back to school night dates and times for our schools okay again EHT pride festival I encourage you and invite you to join us it's always a great night so put it on your calendar um or a great day and put it on your calendar and I look forward to seeing you there um that
010that's about it we're gonna go to the visual part like I said it's a little short um but there's going to be lots happening once September starts those of you joined us for the first time the superintendent report includes a visual of all the things all that goes on in the school district since our last board meeting and we capture video and the land is dark and the Moon is the only light we'll see [Music] no I won't be afraid for I won't be afraid just alone as you stand by me so darling darling by me [Music] oh stand stand behind me stand by me if the sky that we look upon to Tumble and fall all the mountains should crumble to the Sea I won't cry no I won't a deal just along as
011you stand Stand By Me and darling find me hold them by me walk there now then by me Stand By Me [Music] dreams [Music] [Applause] and dance [Music] Stand By Me standby whenever you're in trouble understanding [Music] okay that's just a little preview of the great things that go on that's just the summer so just wait till September and it's just allow you that includes my superintendent's report and I turned the meeting back to you okay thank you okay now we have a public comment portion and while the board values and welcomes comments and opinions from the residents this meeting will now be open to the public for comment three minutes per person on agenda items only if your question pertains to litigation student or Personnel items please see the superintendent after the meeting as
012the board does not discuss these matters in public depending on the nature and complexity of your questions the board secretary may ask 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 public setting and made in a respectful manner if you wish to speak please come to the podium and state your name and your address anybody wish to speak okay come on up I'm pretty sure this was on the agenda for tonight oh I'm sorry my name is Jessica Martin and I'm the director of admissions at Atlantic Christian School and I'm here tonight um to represent the families that affected by the loss of bus transportation throughout the district so we have over 215 so
013far students from EHT so um as you know EHT EHT used to provide a bus in the past they have provided a bus and discontinued that this year so that has a great deal of effect on our school as a whole trying to reroute everything at Mrs Martin yes that is not on our agenda oh okay I'm sorry you could wait until the next public portion so we can succeed thank you thank you and we'll we'll hear what you have to say okay anybody else all right so we'll go to finance and operations and you have the report Mrs Sullivan our finance meeting took place August the 9th 6 p.m in attendance where Miss to meet Mrs Tamika Floyd Gilbert Mrs salagi Mr sepi Miss Anaya and Mrs germaina the transportation our update on Transportation
014the transportation department is experiencing a severe driver shortage um they have driver Aid and bus mechanic vacancies the department has been working diligently to cover as many routes as possible both in-house and through contracted routes unfortunately there will not be enough drivers available to transport the number of Resident students as they have before Food Service the free and reduced lunch applications have gone out to families it's very important that all families complete and return these applications as soon as possible lunches will no longer be free to everyone so this is especially important food service is currently working on filling their vacancies as they prepare to start the school year uh the facilities Department update the committee reviewed the status of opening and open and pending projects the committee was updated on the status of Bargain
015Town preschool and the facility and Technology needs the committee was updated on current vacancies there also uh what they we spoke about closing capital projects fund 30 Miss Anaya shared that the capital project funds will be closed out at the 21-22 year end and transfer to Debt Service fund fund 40 to offset the 2324 tax levy um Miss O'Neill also shared information on the business office transition from her to the acting business administrator and the incoming new business administrator action items discussed with the committee for eight six four tonight were the monthly action and information submission of Esther 2 and Esther 3 amendments the FY 22 lease purchase amendments to each of schedule of property number two and schedule with property number three with the Bank of America approved copier lease and contracts for Bargain
016Town preschool and end-of-year transfers the transfers will be large because of the year-end cleanup which we do every year and that concludes my report Mr Amanda do you have anything to add to that um yes just so so everyone knows the end of your transfers will be on the next board agenda we just with the time crunch position with uh Mr uh annihilating and me starting we just didn't get that done so it will be large but it will be on the next one just cleaning up all the year end um also um on Friday before board meetings the board members send questions out to the administration to address any of their questions related to board agenda items on I just want to share the questions and the answers that were that impacted the finance
017and operations um we requested we were asked questions about some purchase orders with uh tactical Public Safety related to um installing radios in our buses I was asked how many buses and Does it include parts and how was it flat rate by or by the hour installation we installed radios that were removed from four old buses into four new buses the actual po involved included parts that were needed to install the radios into the new buses and the labor was flat rate on those particular repairs um we were asked about the concerns with driver vacancies what are the plans to make sure the start of the school year is smooth arrive to school and home safely on time and they wanted to discuss this the situation which has been done transportation is confident that our
018students will be transported safely and will arrive on time the acit route will be challenging but we will make it work we are continuing to look into additional forms of advertising for bus drivers I noticed today the bus was back out at the corner of Swift drive to try to get some people in um there was questions on the Advantage Security unlock opening unlimited security and whether we could use the um security Grant we did use the school security Grant funds already for installation of security camera upgrades um the lock opening on limited security and security purchase was purchased through non-public aid for one of our non-public schools there's a question about the school roof mounted storage containers will they be bought or leased once the repairs to the roof are completed will these bins
019be removed they will be purchased storage units that are being added are unrelated to the roof repair the design intent for that is to have storage on the on the roof for filters and belts and all to do repairs to the rooftop units because access to that part of the building is very difficult so moving those things up and down on a regular basis makes it very difficult for the facility staff so this will make it a little easier for them to maintain the HVAC equipment um um there was a question about the cashier at Bargain Town schools and how we will handle Food Service there all preschool students eat lunch in their classroom District and Statewide there will be a part-time cashier at Bargain Town preschool for accountability and to help with distribution we
020have dual use of educational space and toilet room facilities we're asking for approval we do this annually it just requires County approval we are not adding anything that has not been previously approved it's just something that has to be done annually questions okay okay we're approving you're proving that I can submit it to them yes I think that's it for me for finance and operations unless there's any questions okay thank you any questions all right I need a motion for 8.2 motion Ireland second Sullivan any discussion okay roll call Mrs Bongiorno yes this is Gilbert Floyd yes Miss Simon yes Mr Ireland yes Mr Price yes Mr sepi yes Mrs Sullivan yes Mrs sawagi yes okay now we need a motion for 8.3 to 8.20 motion Sullivan second Ireland discussion okay roll call no foreign
021yes Mrs Gilbert Floyd yes Mrs Hyman yes Mr Ireland yes Mr Price yes Mr sepi yes Mr Sullivan yes Mrs yes okay curriculum Mr Price give our your report okay thank you madam president my mic was sticking there for a minute but I think I have it now so all right curriculum um on 8 9 22 at 7 pm we had a meeting uh the length of the meeting was one hour the board members attending Miss borgiano did I say it right this time okay uh sometimes I get that mixed up excuse me but I want to make sure I said it right uh Mr teleparka Mr sepi and of course myself Mr Price uh Lily Moss was administrator attending items discussed for professional development field trips and curricular curriculum for the 22-23 school year
022we discussed doing deeper curricular conversations around different content at each meeting we looked at social studies for elementary and showed the alignment with the new resources other agenda items were to approve the observation Rubik's the district professional development plan and policy 2622 for student assessment informational topics shared discussed were around student achievement data njap Grant submission and the sharing of resources from the committee members the committee also followed up on Miller classroom library books approved in the winter of 2022 and after teacher review three titles were removed from the classroom libraries George quiz queens and accidental love as these titles dealt with identity and sexuality and were not deemed age appropriate these books were never in circulation there and any future books will continue to be looked at and follow District process for approvals conclusions
023reached the committee would like to look closely at each content area and curriculum as well as see any and new resources for students student data and tracking of the student progress and growth will be will also be discussed at all committee meetings ongoing issues still under construction none at this time consideration I'm sorry not at this time recommendations um were discussed and uh discarded if appropriate um date and time and place at the next meeting will be September 13th seven o'clock P.M at the slave ball primary which is the Board of Education offices uh topics possible topics to be discussed health and physical education curriculum student data eighth grade ceremony Parents Club at the high school um so unless Miss ma says anything to add this will conclude my curriculum report thank you foreign in
024regards to uh the library books that were removed don't someone review all the books prior to them going into the library and what happened how did it make it there okay Miss Moss could you maybe comment on that and give us a little more information thank you so yes like I said they were not in the rooms yet we had ordered genre sets from Barnes and Nobles so they were classroom libraries that come in sets a lot of times they send like um to us we don't get the full list of titles and then once they come in we're able to see so they choose the books based on the different genres for the grade levels so we were able to review share with the curriculum committee and review the books normally when we get
025textbooks or just novels by their on their own but when we order those text sets from companies Sometimes They Come bundled already so I did follow up with the wrap to discuss how we can remedy that in the future to make sure but we did review all the lists before we got them so like I said it's not like these books were with the kids and they are marked as being um that age group but upon further review We felt like um as we filed the district process to have teachers look at it and discuss to to remove those for now did you have anything thank you um so I do have a few questions that came in not necessarily to deal with exactly what was on the curriculum report but just in my area
026so one of the things that we did discuss was the district professional development plan and inadvertently the draft that was put up didn't have the rationale put on it so we put that back up that had the goals so the questions it asked about under fostering a positive climate to promote diverse cultures to have um you know the cultural awareness in there and so as you know we have an ongoing partnership with peer through Rowan we did a lot of training last year we had our next follow-up for administration next week on the 22nd and 23rd so that is reflected in those goals and through that rationale the other question that came in was around the number of students at our Bargain Town School we have a Max Capacity of 180 students there we we
027have 12 classrooms you can have 15 students in a classroom or planning on starting the school year at 167. we leave room for early intervention and special education students as they come into the district is that it I just had a question wait can wait a minute go ahead is it yes yes thank you Mrs okay we could do that in discussion Hyman um we need a motion for 9.2 to 9.5 motion sepi second Ireland okay discussion I was just wondering you said that um cultural awareness and sensitivity training is reflected in the professional development plan is that just the what you call the p e ER is that everything that's Incorporated in that as far as that training is concerned like you said it's in the the plan I didn't I didn't see it
028in the plan where is it shown in the plant so the the submission of the plan to start is just the beginning of the school year we continue to add to the plan throughout the school years we bring professional development in if you look under um 12.3 um you'll see in goal two at the top you'll see that there will be equity and diversity training for all staff throughout the year listed under the rationale sources of evidence for goal two and then peer Equity Group was added under the initial activities because that's part of our initial training to start the school year oh that was just added yeah that's what I said that the other one was the draft the rationales were left off of the original so in the email today all the rationales
029were were added in okay thank you you're welcome thank you I just want to commend the curriculum committee they've been really on top of everything and I really appreciate the time that has been spent reviewing the different curriculums I don't know if the public knows but there are thousands and thousands of books that come into the district so I really want to curriculum has worked very very hard and I appreciate it well miss moss and the curriculum committee okay roll call sorry Mrs benjorno yes Gilbert Floyd yes Miss Hyman yes Mr Ireland yes Mr Price yes Mr sepi yes Mrs Sullivan yes Mississippi yes okay personnel Dr Charlton public Mr President okay so we need a motion for 10.2 10.3 10.4 is eliminated so it would be one 10.5 to 10.8 Mr Price I'll make
030that motion second Ireland discussion okay [Music] Miss vanjorno yes this is Gilbert Floyd yes Miss Hyman yes Mr Ireland yes Mr Price yes Mr Sethi yes Mrs Sullivan yes Mrs salaki yes my favorite time of the meeting is to now announce and welcome Egg Harbor Township School District new employees for the first time as our employees as they sit here in public and please stand when your name is announced okay we'll begin with Mr Tyler Gardner who's moving from communication coordinator we know Tyler to teacher of communication and TV production at the high school Megan ponzio special education teacher at Davenport [Applause] Strauss pre -teacher the Swift slave law conference Emily Mara special education teacher at the high school Nicole moriello special education teacher at Davenport [Applause] Louise Noonan special education teacher at Miller School
031Victoria Orsini special education teacher to Miller School Danielle Sullivan special education teacher at the Swift slave hope complex Casey kiergan Behavior specialist at Davenport [Applause] Caitlin yacovelli preschool teacher Kelly Armstrong third grade teacher Davenport [Applause] Jordan Hein kindergarten teacher Davenport [Music] Andrea raske first grade teacher at Davenport June Lee Middle School digital Innovation specialist in technology integration teacher Fernwood marzina Hector cafeteria worker Davenport foreign welcome home cashier Fernwood he was a student when I was at the high school welcome Sherman coopera cashier Bargain Town preschool Barbara Jones cashier at the high school Su yappagallo cafeteria worker switchley Bowl complex Harry brewmaker security guard bartintown preschool Jennifer Reed preschool paraprofessional at the high school Whitney Hannah preschool parent professional switch label complex [Applause] here's some good news great news Jessica Harris from part-time to full-time preschool
032entire professional Bargain Town preschool onward Paula yuria part-time to full-time preschool professional switch label contacts tenia Serrano Hernandez part-time paraprofessionals full-time professional at The Bargain Town preschool Kathleen stately part-time the full Italian preschool paraprofessional at The Bargain Town preschool Catherine kalendorski part-time the full-time preschool power professional Miller School Dahlia actor ND program paraprofessional Miller School Jackson PSD power professional Swift slay ball complex ional ratio paraprofessional Swift slay ball complex tongue twisters here Elizabeth Elliott Roberts Talent staff for the school district and finally we still have more openings Emily Hall Talent staff for the school district welcome everyone and congratulations you're at a great place to to work and teach and educate students and uh you're part of their Egg Harbor Township School District family and we're excited that you're here we'll see you at uh
033new staff orientation at the end of the month and this concludes my introduction so if you'd like to stay and continue to view the meeting you're more than welcome but you may want to go out and celebrate your new appointment and that's the directive [Applause] okay Mr Ireland your turn the policy committee report even though we are the best committee everybody gets up and leaves so thank you for staying so like a president's log you said I am Patrick Ireland I'm going to give the policy committee report we we uh held our meeting Tuesday August 9th for one hour and one minute and board members attending it was myself Patrick Ireland Mrs salagi Mr sepi Mrs uh bonjorno and then miss Hyman was excused administrators that I attended was Mr Santilli and others was Mrs
034Amy halkelko subjects discussed by law zero one six three Quorum policy 2415.05 student surveys analysis evaluations examinations testings or treatment regulation 2460.30 additional compensatory special education and related services policy and regulation 2622 student assessment policy 42.50 hours and days of work policy 5511 dress and grooming students policy 5513 care of school property policy 5517 School District issued student identification cards policy 5722 student journalism policy 2432 student-sponsored Publications policy 9560 administration of school surveys policy 5514 student use of vehicles policy 3148 retirement recognition policy 4148 retirement recognition the conclusions that were reached during our policy meeting was bylaw0163 Quorum was reviewed by the committee with minor updates being proposed for approval to update outdated language and information related to the doctrine of necessity policy 2415.05 student surveys analysis evaluations examinations testing or treatment is a replacement
035requiring two readings to update outdated language within the policy which is federal regulation 2460.30 additional compensatory special education and related Services is a new policy to address the provisions of the recently passed state law in response to the covid-19 pandemic related to compensatory special education and related services policy and regulation 2622 student assessment are Replacements that have been Rewritten and will require two readings that provide updates to recent changes related to student assessments policy 4250 hours and days of work which has been revised to include additional other staff section that includes adjustments to our security guard hourly rates and other Provisions policy 5511 addressed in grooming students is a replacement with minor updates being proposed to update outdated language and terminology policy 5513 care school property has been revised to update language to and include
036an updated legal citation which addresses the school's District's right to reimbursement for damage loss and destroyed or destroyed school property loaned to a student policy 5517 School District issued student identification cards is revised to update language to include the new law that requires student identification cards to print information for the New Jersey Suicide Prevention Hotline New Jersey helpline and the contact information for our crisis next text line policy 5722 student journalism is a new policy created to address new law regarding student journalism that requires school districts to adopt policy concerns students freedom of expression in accordance with the provisions of the new statutes with the implementate Implement yes of this policy is recommended to the that the policy 24 32 school-sponsored publication is abolished policy 9560 administration of school surveys is a new policy that
037has been Rewritten to reflect the enactment of a new state law that allows school districts to administer and voluntarily voluntary survey assessment analysts and or evaluations concern students Health only if prior written notification has been provided to the parents apologize for that possibly 2415.05 addresses the federal laws and policy 9560 addresses the state laws we're almost there policy 3148 retirement recognition teaching staff and policy 4148 retirement recognition support staff have been recommended for revision to provide further recognition on behalf of the Board of Education to EHT staff that are retiring from this District policy 5514 student use of vehicles was discussed it was a discussion item by the committee there are no recommended changes at this time Administration provided information as requested from other high school districts related to students use of vehicles in addition
038the township ordinance and signs in the neighboring Community have been posted while the building principle will be further communicating expectations to both parents and students our next meeting is this has the wrong date possible topics to discuss further is Strauss Esme policy alerts updates mandated policy and continuation continue presentation about dated bylaws with recommended minor updates and then also class rank at the request of board members I believe that concludes my report Mr Santelli can you is there anything else I messed up that you can help me out with no I think you covered it all thank you thank you and I I'm sorry that was so long The Madam president I'd just like to confirm that the next meeting for the Committees is September 13th 7 o'clock at slabo you are correct Mr price
039thank you okay we need a motion for 11.2 to 11.15 motion by dorno second Sullivan discussion I just wanted to say um thank you Mr Island for entertaining the class rank discussion again and I look forward to the data to be shared with the rest of the board to further discuss I I have a comment on policy but that does not pertain to Mr Ireland's report would now be the appropriate time for that we'll let you know okay so speaking to the uh the attention of the wonderful policy committee I just uh had a concern that came to mind recently over volunteerism in our in our district a lot of people that I've seen in the community and we have volunteer programs at hand I don't want to you know whack anything out of line
040for people who already do so much for us but I would like to look at policy coming forward that may address new volunteers from our community coming in working hand in hand uh with you know faculty and staff so if we could look at that more Partnerships uh coming forward I think further looking into volunteers I think it would be very beneficial for the educational experience of our students which I think is what this is all about so if we could address that I greatly appreciate it thank you well thank God you're on the policy committee that we can bring those because you're part of that as I agree with that we want to get back to having our parent and Community uh being friendly getting back to the friendship with them and the using
041of having the parties back in the classrooms or in the you know in the outside of the building but also having parents maybe come in and sign up and be a volunteer in the classroom and it'll assist the teachers that are there whether they or and also cafeteria we can bring parents in maybe to help wash down tables but we would like to see the parent in the community really get more involved again in our community in our school district as we have had in the past so I'm glad you brought up that up Mr sepi we need to be Community friendly again this foot um I definitely agree with having a sense of community amongst parents the community in the school district and as a parent and as someone who works in a school
042in an educational field I definitely think it's it's appropriate but I definitely think that it definitely has and I think that we are a um friendly District to our parents but I think also due to covid due to you know the climate of our world um violence and different things I think we've had to bring in the uh the guidelines and I'm all for that because I you know I have children in the district as well but I just think it definitely needs to be um a clear understanding for everyone that you know it's not trying to keep people out keep parents out but there's um some people do come with the heart the volunteer and they want to get involved and that's great um it just has to be guidelines have to be super
043clear like there's not you know you can't take pictures of people's children and you know just just a lot of things that people look at as people being mean and it's really nice because when your children are with us with any school just you who are responsible for them not just your child but all the children in the building so just with that into consideration when the you know that conversation comes up just to keep that in mind that it's not to keep people out but just to make sure that we protect and keep all the children safe when they're there it's a really really important so I think one of the things that should be in the policy would be background checks we don't we don't even have contact with the students and we
044all have background checks so anybody that's coming into our schools and and volunteering I think that they should I think the coaches do so I agree and like you say um cool yes we'll work on that okay um sorry um policy number 11.9 well 42.50 11.9 I'm I just want to uh ask that I know it's just a single reading but I ask that we um revisit this policy I'm not going to say table it tonight I think we should vote on it because there are some important things that need to be voted on but I would like to have further discussion about this policy and more clarification about just a certain section in this policy it'll be on there all right okay roll call yes Mrs Gilbert Boyd yes Miss Hyman I'm gonna abstain
045from 11.9 and yes to everything else Mr Ireland yes to all right Mr Price yes Mr sappy yes Mrs Solomon yes this is salahi yes okay new business and we need a motion for 12.1 through 12.6 motion Gilbert Floyd second Ireland discussion okay welcome Mrs Bongiorno yes Mrs Gilbert Floyd yes Miss Hyman yes Mr Ireland yes Mr Price yes Mr Sethi yes Mr Mrs Sullivan Upstate 12.6 and yes to the rest Mrs salagi yes okay old business 13.1 to 13.2 motion motion Sullivan second bonjour discussion vocal Mrs Bongiorno yes Mrs Gilbert Floyd yes Miss Hyman yes Mr Ireland yes Mr Price yes Mr Sethi yes Mrs Sullivan yes Mrs salagi yes okay changes need a motion for eight wait a minute 14.3 14.1 to 14.12 motion arm uh Mr Price second I mean Mr Price
046second discussion the question um did we make an adjustment under the um the Personnel to reflect on here or is everything going to get shifted up one or is everything accurate so that is a different item than what we discussed before we already discussed the one under the policy above or the Personnel section above these are different individuals that declined offers of employment okay I just wanted to double check that thank you uh were we um removing 14.8 no that's what I just I guess it's different like the same question I thought we were thinking along the same yeah thank you okay roll call this is buongiorno yes Mrs Gilbert Floyd yes Miss Hyman yes Mr Ireland yes Mr Price yes Mr sepi yes Mrs Sullivan yes Mrs swaggy yes okay um Mr Della Barca
047isn't here tonight Mr Ireland do you have anything to report from njsba hold on no okay all right now we're going to go to public comment and this is for anything that you'd like to discuss with the same rules that pertain to the last ones that I read okay please state your name and address my address too okay my name is Jessica Martin my address is 101 Florida Avenue Egg Harbor Township I'm here as a parent and as a representative of Atlantic Christian School just representing the parents who are concerned who were really affected by the loss of Transportation um over um with a decision not to bust the private school children in this Township most reason frankly half of them are thrilled to have the money the other half are trying to rearrange their
048lives and figure out how they're going to continue going to our school without having to leave their jobs in the middle of the day or go to work late every day to transport their kids and this doesn't happen to the rest of the district it's it's affecting us differently this year like I said half are great the ones that are really upset is are the ones that don't receive the aid in lieu of Transportation I am one of the directors who works with Aiden Liu Transportation um with all the districts that we have at our school which is about 10 to 15. so I understand but their concerns are the same the roads are not safe there's no sidewalks on Zion Road we're at within two miles of our school is Ocean Heights Road and
049we cannot have young children must you know even the older ones Crossing those roads if they're expected to walk or bike to school as which is represented by the statute that we were told so that's one concern and the other concern is they're not getting eight in lieu of Transportation but they also have extra expenses to either come up with gas on their own um Aftercare situations and work time lost for trying to figure out how to do that so I am just asking again I wanted to represent our families that are affected over 165 families are affected by this change so thank you very much for listening if you have any other guidance or um that would be helpful uh last comment is a lot of parents were disappointed with the communication from the
050Transportation Office it was not clear on what we were supposed to what these students were supposed to do and the reason that this decision was made was not properly done in the letter the letter says there's either not enough kids on your route or whatever it said nothing about the change of times of the school district and it said nothing about the bus driver's shortage it was I believe just a sample letter that gets given out which felt like they were misled and that doesn't represent everybody but it does represent some and I'm wanted to share that with all of you so thank you very much okay Ms Martin thank you for um representing your school Community um I I my door is always open while being away for a couple weeks um my door
051is always open to speak Administration Administration so um I welcome that conversation um but I also I think as you know as a school district we're going through some struggles right now as well us as well as a national nationally and there's a national bus drives drivers shortage we have one we are advertising well we've offered incentives and we're passing the word to community that we need bus drivers our first priority is to provide transportation to our current students and that being said we've always tried to be good neighbors with you and we work with our local and private schools to provide collaborative solutions for private transportation we're aware that some parents are disappointed um and I can relate to that and that the district is not providing providing the school busing to your school
052but as a district we are required to provide transportation or Aid in Loop payments for Trans expectation for certain students living in proximity to your private school this year without extra bus drivers when we are unable to staff our routes we have the buses do you have anyone that has a CDL or would like to drive a bus send them our way we can assist but we have and we will continue to continue to communicate with you as we hire bus drivers and bring on more rats but at this time um you know unfortunately we cannot provide you know the services transportation services to Elena Christian so again I thank you for presenting your disappointment with the board but again my door is always open my phone it works and uh please do not hesitate
053to give me a call I'm open to sitting down Administration Administration to have discussion as early as tomorrow um but um that's where we are now all right thank you so much is this a done deal no buses for ACS or are we still in the process of trying to get bus drivers so that could change is that a possibility that could change it could however we do have the acit situation where we have to make sure that we get those kids and we it spoke that we had five buses going out to acit one is contracted out we can't even contract the other four we're having difficulty Contracting the other four out and we're trying to do some Patchwork with our substitute drivers but I guess in the perfect world and we had the
054bus drivers come we have the buses to provide the transportation we just at this time they'll have the drivers and we look forward to getting we've had interviews yesterday for both drivers so the more we feel the more slots uh priority is our school district and then we would go with the with the non-publics I have a question Mr Price about how long have we been providing bus transportation for Atlantic Christian School it's been all along how many years has it been and my question is are things subject to change in the event that we do come up with more bus drivers and more we are going to consider trying to get this Dr Bruce yes the slots were filled because we do have interviews and as they're filled so so this may not be
055final then we may be able to work something we don't know at this point yeah they have a school they have a school to open right now and schedules we've been providing Transportation how many years as soon as long as they've been open um it's just a national crisis oh I know yeah so um yeah when as you know we had to change our time schedule to accommodate um we're gonna still hopefully we're gonna still try to uh always try we're gonna try okay thank you all right is there anybody else I'd like to speak to the board um you guys are I'm Chaz Wyckoff 30 Sugarberry Road uh you guys already answered my question I just wanted you to know that I'm one of the ACs parents as well and I'm on this uh
056board at ACS and so I share the concerns as uh Miss Martin um and so I just want to let you guys know she wasn't alone here today that's all but I appreciate I know it's not easy I appreciate you guys making the commitment to work things out and if if at all possible oh press them there we go all right good morning yeah there we go I didn't know that there was a button there and nobody told me that Chaz Wyckoff uh 30 Sugarberry Patrick all right stop um yeah you guys know what I was saying so I appreciate your time and and your your process into this and uh we're hoping that we can continue to work together so thank you guys I think as parents we can appreciate the inconvenience that this
057has caused for the parents I'm sure Transportation will do what they can but no promises necessarily I just want to let Mrs Martin of the people at ACS know that you do have Advocates on the board we have children there grandchildren there that are have been bussed so we all have the same concerns as our superintendent spoke we have to provide for our students first but it's not going to be a as of right now it's not a done deal I would really encourage if you know anybody that has a CDL send them our way like I'm just reiterating what Dr guccio said you know we will use them we have the buses we just needed a CDL license and a body so you do have Advocates on the school board anybody else oh thank
058you um I have good news our contract books are in I have bad news part of that bill is your responsibility so you'll be getting a bill from the association uh be ready it's Hefty there the cost of things has tripled since the last time we had to do a contract book I was quite upset but as I as we researched it it was not getting any cheaper any which way we went for the future I would like to suggest a partnership with maybe the students of the high school being able to print that that contract book up um it has been share with me that they might have that ability and I think that's a that would be a great uh way to cut the costs uh unfortunately we didn't have the time to
059do it uh this contract here I also want to thank the board for um settling the contract with the Education Association um it's always nice to have a settled contract before you end uh the school year uh I have several questions number one this district has gone through upheaval of changing the time for everyone all staff all children to solve this bus issue I know you don't have a crystal ball but I just want you to know that and also I have a question what happened to the to the road at slabaugh Swift complex That was supposed to alleviate the backup so my concern is going into September no changes have been made and we're all coming in at the same time also we were promised at the end of the year no late buses
060uh so it it upsets me a little bit to hear what we was said tonight because it just means to me there's definitely going to be late buses and we we don't have that road that was supposed to cut down on the backup of traffic I I have to be telling you that honestly since June I've driven by trying to see if there's any construction so when I went into the office yesterday I realized it is August 15th that was yesterday no road is going to get in before school starts so can you update us on where that is or is that a dead project the the latest and greatest is it's the update is it's going to be done it's not going to be done as quickly as we expected it to or wanted
061to um as as I think we all can relate um you know the paperwork and the approvals that have to go through and the relationships with the township and everything but they they've agreed to and I'm looking at Jim because she's she's dealing with this hot off the press so if you want to add if you know any information more specific than what you shared with me this morning go ahead um actually I do um Mr Santilli Mr Woodrow and I are going to meet with um Bob Watkins and someone else they don't remember the name from the city on Monday morning to discuss it because they're because it's their Street they have to do the bid for the widening portion but then the portion that would allow for additional entrance areas to the school
062the staging is something that has to be done by the district so we have to find a way to make the projects work together or to do theirs and then do ours but we need them to work they need we need to have it engineered so that it'll work the way we would we would want it to do so that's the plan right now is Monday we're going to meet make sure that Steve shares the schools goals um and Curtis has reached out to our Engineers to try to get the portion that the school will have to do um drawings made up so that we can make sure that we're all on the same page and we're moving in the right direction but I know the city is intent on moving forward with the widening
063portion we just want to make sure that it's going to work with with our portion of it okay thank you so there are a few layers we can think on the positive note now that the governor Has Lifted some of the mandates that you know parents will put kids on buses so you know we'll see and then you're going to say well you don't have enough bosses yeah I know I got problems every day so um I understand I understand but we're doing the best that we can um and you know we're going to adjust to the to the new time schedule as well but Mrs Watson I'm sure you got the color that you wanted in that book okay uh they're being delivered on Thursday morning I'm looking I was told it's hot pink
064okay it better be hot pink she got the colors you want all right um Mr Price I just have a question about Swift uh the parking lot we did make some improvements last year in the parking lot area isn't that right Dr carusio oh you're gonna maybe bring us up so we have we've had some improvement but I think there was like three phases to it at the time yeah so we were hoping the phases would have together but as we go through the discussions with all the entities people involved Swift Drive wide me is going to occur first which I believe is like the second phase to this grandiose project and then phase three would be a cut through um which would give make the line um the ability for the line to have
065more space if you will the line of cars so that's something that we will share with you there's discussion with the architect that has to occur okay thank you all of this talk about Transportation does bring up and I'm I just want to point out again to Mrs Martin that maybe um you're always backed up there I pick up children there that maybe we want to look or you would like to look at some way of routing yours parents all the way around the building and using that back where the buses usually come so temp hopefully temporarily you know you can alleviate something there otherwise I think probably the police department is going to have to be called in to manage traffic okay anybody else from the public okay Dr brucio yeah so I just
066want to uh make a comment on some things that occurred the last couple weeks when I was away but I'll begin um as a grandparent and nothing's uh more joyful um or better than returning from a 10-day vacation and great meeting your grandson running across the the floor and getting the greatest big bear hug because I was missed but something that's pretty darn good is uh when someone that you've LED and guided in um um supported through the through their years their field of Administration has filled their educational dream and met their aspirations by climbing an educational ladder to the very top to the seat of superintendent and while school districts have many many teachers and a few administrators there's only one superintendent and there's not many positions and the coach in me would always
067tell someone whether it's a player or a fellow administrator when an opportunity presents itself you got to go for it you got to take it it may never be there again you may never score the goal you may never win so with that said on August 8th the school district of Folsom approved Mr Kevin Frick as the chief School administrator for the Folsom school district and coincidentally the same night the Galloway School District appointed Mr Stephen Santilli to serve as their next superintendent so I sit here with great EHT Pride that our administrators are are going to be missed but are fulfilling their dreams and and that's what it's about being able to achieve being able to go from a to a plus so I congratulate them they will both be greatly missed but but
068I would never sit here and I told you wow miss you and I'm proud of you I can't be selfish um and I would never be I will never hold anyone back um so but I just want to let the community know how proud um the board should be and the community should be that um nine of our administrators including myself have become superintendents six of will serve in Atlantic County and we get to sit around the same table and share that Egg Harbor Township pride and the expectations that we have to make Atlanta County bigger and better nine superintendents 11 fellow or former administrators have become principals so there's almost 20 folks out there definitely um in South Jersey uh one's up in North Jersey now but um who um still keep in touch
069still share their Great Moments um still say you know they learned a lot from being here in Egg Harbor Township I'm very very proud of the school district that we all um sit in and serve so it's a proud movement for us all Mr Frick will be here until early October Mr Santilli still has work to do until the end of 2022 so with New Year to say until we will be in Galloway but with that said I just wanted to share that with with the community that we we are proud and good luck that's Lonely at the Top I didn't hear that okay anybody else okay oh wait a minute oh yes EHT is my it will always be my home um I just wanted to say that I was thinking about you know
070when you were talking about everything and everyone moving on I just think it's um like you said it speaks volumes to um Egg Harbor Township and the type of students that we produce and um I'm just really looking forward to a great school year for next year and I'm overly super excited myself because um my daughter will be starting at Egg Harbor Township High School as a freshman and I still can't believe it I remember taking her to the preschool program at the high school and now she's going to be a student at the high school and um just hoping that she has the same you know fond experiences that I had as a student and looking forward to um just looking forward to a great school year because this ESG nope I always said
071that no district is perfect we have work to do but we re we are we are at a heart of Atlanta County Egg Harbor Township is that so I'm excited about that okay sister irons yeah you had a motion oh yes motion to close second Sullivan all in favor