001We are going to call the meeting to order. This meeting is being held in compliance with the sunshine law having being advertised in the press of Atlantic City and not notices posted at the township clerk's office, Maize Landing Post Office, MSBA post office, Atlantic County Library as well as all the schools of the district. This meeting is being recorded. Please stand for the flag salute. We are now going to pause for a moment of silence for private reflection. Listed in the agenda are the official election results. The new candidates elected to the three-year term are Ashley Anne Dirks, Mona McQueen, Cheryl Serino, and the one-year unexpired term Nancy Bar. We will now have MOHA do the oath of If everyone can come up to the front. Okay, please raise your right hand and If we
002don't have the microphone, we're not recording it. So, there we go. Okay. Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I state your name. do solemnly swearnly >> that I will support the Constitution >> I will support >> of the United States >> and the Constitution >> of the State of New Jersey. and that I will bear true faith >> And that I will bear true faith >> and allegiance to the same. >> and and allegiance to the same >> and to the governments established >> in the United States >> and this state >> under the authority of the people. >> So help me God. >> I state your name. I, Nancy, >> do solemnly swear >> that I possess the qualifications >> prescribed by law >> for the office >> of a member
003of board of education >> and I'm not disqualified as a voter >> and I am not disqualified as a voter >> pursuant to statute >> nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime >> due to conviction of a crime >> or offense >> listed in statute. >> And that I will faithfully >> impartially >> and justly >> perform all the duties >> of that office >> according to the best of my ability. >> So help me God. >> Congratulations. You are all now Hamilton Township Board of Education members. Come have a seat. I will now take roll call. Miss Anchor >> here. >> Mrs. Bar >> here. >> Mrs. Bachelor >> here. >> Dr. Serino >> here. >> Mrs. Dirks >> here. >> Mrs. Jackson >> here. >> Dr. La >> here. >> Miss McQueen
004>> here. >> And Mr. Rogers >> here. am now going to open the floor for nominations of the office of board president. >> I nominate Nancy Bar. >> Second. >> Do we have any other nominations on the floor? Can I have motion to uh or we'll take a vote on that nomination of Nancy Bar is present. Miss Anchor, >> yes. >> Mrs. Bar, >> yes. >> Mrs. Bachelor, >> yes. >> Dr. Serena, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dirks, >> yes. >> Mrs. Jackson, >> yes. >> Dr. La, >> yes. >> Mrs. McQueen, >> yes. >> And Mr. Rogers, >> yes. Congratulations, Nancy. >> Thank you, everyone. >> I will now turn the meeting over to Mrs. Bar as the board president. >> Thank you. >> At this time, we will open the floor to nominations for
005the office of board vice president. >> I nominate Dr. Serino. Um, I would like to nominate Mrs. Ankor. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. So because we have two people, if both people are if both people are interested, what we would do is we would vote for the first person nominated. If they receive the majority of votes, that person would be the vice president. If they do not receive the majority of votes, we vote on the second person nominated. And if that person received the majority of votes, they would be vice president. Can I um I' I'd like to also um step back from the nominees. >> So then the nom the vote is going to be for Mrs. Anchora and Mrs. the first vote to accept the nomination. >> Oh yes. >>
006Mrs. Bar. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bachelor. >> Yes. >> Dr. Serena. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dirk. >> Yes. Mrs. Jackson, >> yes. >> Dr. La, >> yes. >> Mrs. McQueen, >> yes. >> And Mr. Rogers, >> no. >> Congratulations, Miss Sanker. >> Thank you. >> Okay. At this time, I would like to motion to approve the board of education meeting calendar for 2026. Can I have a second? Second. Second by Miss Bachelor. Roll call. >> Mrs. Ankra. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bar. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bachelor. >> Yes. >> Dr. Serino. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dirks. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Jackson. >> Yes. >> Dr. La. >> Yes. >> Mrs. McQueen. >> Yes. >> And Mr. R. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Okay. At this time, I would also like to motion to approve the
007New Jersey school board member code of ethics, which each person has a copy of this evening. I have a second. >> Second by Miss Bachelor. Comments or questions? Roll call. >> Mrs. Ant. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bachelor. >> Yes. >> Dr. Serino. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dirk. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Jackson. >> Yes. >> Dr. Lock. Yes, >> Miss McQueen. >> Yes. >> Mr. Rogers. >> Yes. >> And Mrs. Bar? >> Yes. >> Thank you. Okay. At this time, can I please have a motion to convene into executive session? >> So moved. >> Motion by Mr. Rogers. Second. Second by Miss Jackson. All in favor? >> I opposed. Resolved that pursuant to sections seven and eight of the open public meetings act the public shall be excluded from that portion of the meeting involving discussion
008of legal matters attorney client privilege personnel and HIV. Be it further resolved that the discussion of such subject matter in executive session can be disclosed to the public when formal action is taken on such subject matter or at any other appropriate time. Be it further resolved, the board may take action on items discussed in executive session. Now therefore, be it resolved, the board will be in executive session for approximately 30 minutes. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Welcome to the January 7th, 2026 Hamilton Township Board of Education meeting. At this time, can I please have a motion to close executive session and convene to public session? Motion. Motion by Miss Anker. Second by Miss Dirks. All in favor? I oppose. >> Thank you. >> Okay. At this time, can I please have a motion to approve
009the minutes of our regular and executive session meeting of December 10th, 2025? >> Motion by Miss Bachelor. Second by Dr. Sino. Comments or questions? Roll call. >> Mrs. Mrs. Anker. >> Yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Dr. Serino. >> Mrs. Dirks. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Jackson. >> Yes. >> Dr. Lahawk. >> Abstain. >> M. McQueen. >> Yes. >> Mr. Rogers. >> Yes. >> And Mrs. >> Yes. Thank you. At this time, I will turn it over to Dr. Zto for our presentations. Thank you, President Bar. All right, at this time I'd like to turn over our uh turn the mic over to Mrs. Wilson, who is going to talk about our community love trip. >> Good evening. I'm Samantha Wilson. I'm the interim supervisor of pupil services in the district and I want to talk
010about our love tree a little bit tonight. Um I want to thank some members of the community as well as talk about how many students that we helped with the love tree. Our love tree serves students in the district that um are in need of receiving gifts for Christmas to bring the holiday spirit to their homes. We were able to help over 200 students this year in the district um as well as partnering with Hamilton Cares to bring uh gifts for the entire community. I'd like to call up um Amy Hassa and as well as Far Point Toys first so they can talk a little bit about the donations that they made to the district. So through partnering with Amy Hassa, we were able to serve other students in the district that we weren't able
011to reach with our love tree. And with a generous donation from Farpoint Toys, we were able to gift many amilies in the community gifts that they would not have normally received. So, please come up and talk a little bit about what you did. >> Uh good evening. Um it is so nice to see so many familiar faces and thank you so much for your time and allowing us to just highlight the program a little bit. Um so, Hamilton Township Cares initiative started back in 2020 um when we started realizing that there were needs in our community that weren't being met due to the pandemic. Um but what we found was as the p pandemic was waning that those needs did not wan. Um we began to find at that time that there were individuals that
012didn't have access to Christmases. And I don't mean a toy, I mean Christmases. Um, in the partnership with the Hamilton Township School District, we did our best to really kind of identify individuals in the community that either weren't telling the school district that they were in need, um, were recently in need and not identified or were younger and older than this school district's ages. Um, so together over the last several years, we've helped thousands of kids. Um, just this year alone with the addition of the ones that that were met with this district, we together met 607 kids Christmases. So, originally as we started doing this process, it was somebody would donate toys that were for a family. They would pull up, they would drop it off at the pantry, somebody would show up, pick
013it up and drop it off at the house in the cover of night because I believe that it is very important that we build up parents. Um, we like to be Santa's elves and support Santa. Um, so it is very important that we are not, you don't see anything about this on the internet other than a number. Um, because for us it is extremely important that we never say, "Oh, look what we did. It's look what mom and dad were able to provide because they're in a community that cares about them." Um, Dr. Zto loved that idea as well as Farpoint Toys um because we really felt as if that's what builds parents up the best. So, what we began to do is as the need became greater and people became really kind and collected
014toys all throughout the year, uh, we started creating these storefronts. What the storefront was was it started small. started at um Earth Angels um which was the old Bank of America building um and then it went to a storage unit um no comments Dr. Zto um a small storage unit for two years and after um we found that that was a little bit more challenging and somewhat unsafe. Um Dr. Zitto decided to take the opportunity to provide space here at the district. What that allowed is for two things. Number one, it allowed for us to expand the donations that we received and really lay them out in a way that was conducive for parents to come in and feel that they were entering a a a Christmas store to be able to pick out items.
015Um, it also allowed for us to bol bolster your love tree. So, if somebody is not chosen off your love tree or if two children of the same family are chosen from the love tree, but one receives more toys and the other does not, um, they're able to come into our storefront. um which I'm sure there are pictures of and they're able to choose items that the school is able to choose items that kind of make those orders equivalent. Um so we leave that that storefront open for the district's use. We continue to add to it throughout the season and then we schedule periods of time for parents to come and do their shops. Um, and on top of that, we work closely with community partners um that really work hard to make sure that
016those donations meet the needs of the community. Um, so I'd love to just give uh Penelopey and Justin a moment to talk about their involvement with the program. >> Um, I'm just really grateful that we found an outlet. Our community uh is so giving and the fact that we finally found a spot that we are able to conglomerate that and give it to is phenomenal. between Amy and and Dr. Zto helping us with that. Um, storage has always been an issue. So, the fact that we have a literal classroom that becomes a store for the parents is really great. Um, you want to add anything. >> Amy, you really just touched on all the the super important points. >> Obviously, what we do is we are local shop that sells your childhood for a living.
017You know, we we we bring toys to people who are collectors. people are collectors because of the great Christmases they had as children. We want to continue that so children now get the experiences the Christmases we all had and and look back upon. And the fact that um the the donations and the toys stay local to Hamilton Township where my wife grew up and went to the school here is very important to us. you know, we there's a lot of people who do this donation thing at Christmas time and it's a very giving time, which is terrific. Uh, but sometimes all those donations go out to other areas and obviously there's a need locally. So, the fact that these all stay local uh is super important to us. So, we appreciate that Hamilton Cares that
018we were able to partner with them and even help a little bit if we could. So, well, hopefully we can keep it going. >> Thank you so much. >> And due to all of their donations, we already have about seven totes filled still for next school year. So, we're ready to go for next year with a bolster of toys. So, we want to thank you so much. I have these certificates, too. We also wanted to talk a little bit about we had a wrap event here at the school and with help from uh Mr. Meldder and Mr. um Chin, we were able to uh partner with the National Honor Society at Oakress as well as the Junior Honor Society here at Davies. And we watched the students wrap presents, which was very interesting to watch.
019Um and and then they were able to then set up the storefront at our school and thank you to the Davies admin for allowing us to use the space here at Davies and they kicked all the adults out and were able to make this storefront so that the community members could come in and shop at the store. So I did want to thank the Junior National Honor Society if you want to come up real fast. >> I do want to add something to that really quickly. So this was not a thing previously. the Girl Scouts were the ones that were helping to build the store when the store was in other places. But when Mr. Chin and I I said, I what about a rap program? And like I blinked and there were donations from
020Dollar Tree and Waw Wa and all the things like he just made it happen in an unbelievable way. Um but then it was telling the grown-ups in the room to trust the process and trust the kid. And so they walked in to donations from Far Points car show. They walked in from donations from the community, which was probably the equivalent of close to between 11 and,200 toys. Um, it was bags and bags and boxes and boxes of stuff. And they walked into a classroom with just a few desks and some tables and were told, "Make sense of this. Turn this into a Christmas masterpiece." And then I was the bouncer that made the grown-ups go away. Um, and within 45 minutes, years in a row. They needed no help from the adults other than to
021say, "Is this appropriate?" Um, which they were very good about and they turned it into some place that parents felt very good in. So, I cannot say thank you. Thank you for all your leadership skills that you showed and for helping set it up for you. is >> and thank you to amazing. We cannot have done this without this. I also quickly want to thank as well the counseling teams at every school for really bringing the love tree to all the schools in the district and for making sure that we're getting to all the students. Um, as well as the PTA who donated all the books. So, every student that received a gift also received a book. Thank you. >> All right, Mrs. Bryant, I know your uh your reading challenge winner is not here,
022but do you still have what the teachers wrote about the student? Okay. So, Carter Ross in M. Jordano's fourth grade classroom, he was this month's reading summer reading challenge winner. And it's the first time I haven't had my little friend show up and the first time that I decided to do a certificate. So anyway, it will be sent home with him in his book bag with his home room teacher. But Mr. Jordano said that Carter was hardworking, kind, and helpful to all of his classmates. So congratulations, Carter, even though you're not here. >> Mike, can we do the staff member of the month for the month of December, please? We're gonna go find the staff of the month, right? >> Let's go find the staff of the month. >> We have our special guest, Santa,
023Mrs. Claus. Sing it. >> So much present. >> Staff of the month. Staff of the month. Staff of the month. >> Right. Our staff of the month is >> Mrs. Langley. So everyone, we have a special day today. So we catch you guys out in the hallway with our special visitors who are going to be visiting today as well. But right now, we're going to celebrate Mrs. Langley and I'm going to read some of the beautiful things that were said about her from her, her friends that she works with, the adults in the building. They said Mrs. Langley always goes above and beyond to create an environment, a beautiful loving environment in her classroom. She's kind, patient, and has a lot of creativity which shines through in everything that she does. She um the staff
024say that they just really love Mrs. Langley and so we do too. And so we want to say congratulations. She is December staff of the month and I want to thank everybody for helping us. All right. Good morning everybody. We are here to recognize our crown of character winner. And our crown of character winner is this month is Mr. Toa. Mr. >> So we just want to read this real quick. Mr. Recognized for his patience, kindness, gents and his care. He is a stabilizing force in the classroom and a valuable asset to our school. >> Thank you very We do a staff to be standing here. They take on everything. It's an amazing experience. the first student anytime. Okay. So, our staff is Miss Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, now can I have Miss
025Wilson if you miss? Thank you. Mrs. Mrs. Wilson, if you don't mind coming up to do the SSDs presentation. >> Hello again, everyone. Um, so tonight I'm just going to be talking a little bit about the um student safety data support system and incident reports. Uh, I also have information here provided by Mr. Lavine and Mr. Kelner for different things that they do at at the schools. Um, so this is all the incident reports that um were put in from 2022 to 2023. I'm going to I put everything back for three years just to show you the different trends that have been uh that we're seeing in the district. So, as you can see as we go through the total incidences are going down quite a bit. So, we started in 2022 with 259 uh
0262023 to 24 199 and then last year uh 130. So every every trend is going down in our district for our incident totals, our violence, our vandalism, substances, weapons, HIPS confirmed, HIPS alleged, and restraints. This is so far for this school year um for our 202526 school year from September till now. I put everything into this graph for you to really show how the incidents are going down. The only thing that has been going up is our other incidences leading to removal, which after talking to the principles at the different schools uh over the week, we determined it was um other cumulative discipline and internal suspensions, which is where we're really seeing a lot of our restorative practices. So, when students are in our in school suspensions, they're being talked to by the counselors. they're
027um doing different reflection sheets depending on age and we're really able to um reach the students that way so that we're not seeing more of these incidences. Some things that we're doing uh as district action steps is we're doing staff trainings. Uh we're doing ongoing training for students and staff focus on deescalation techniques uh proactive classroom management strategies, conflict resolution, and using our positive reinforcement strategies to improve behavior outcomes. We're using strategic PLA uh staff placement, making sure that staff are placed in high volume areas such as the lunchroom, such as the hallway during transitions to make sure that we're able to support behavior and reinforce expectations during those times. Um, and administrative and guidance teams are more visible during our non-instructional times. We're doing data monitoring, so making sure that we're having data driven
028support from our coordinators as well as our mentors and guidance counselors, making sure that we're really seeing what the trends are. so that we can better be proactive in our classrooms and in our grade levels. And we're having monthly data reviews um to talk about discipline data to find trends and implement mid-year adjustments as needed. We're also addressing disparities among the student discipline. We're getting a training which is all about restorative practices and we just met um with Dr. Dr. Malik Muhammad last month as a counseling team and we're going to continue doing that to do more restorative practices in schools in our different um grade levels as well. We're identifying more of the root causes. So we're collecting data to identify the anticedants of the behavior as well as training staff to do that
029so that they're able to better understand how um the root causes can really assist in shaping our effective interventions as well as our um discipline strategies. Again, our data monitoring is um and our decision- making sure that we're looking at all the data, finding disparities in suspension and other disciplinary actions and analyzing those patterns so that we can again make sure that we are addressing specific concerns and then revision of the code of conduct doing more teacher trif strategies and just making sure that we're in the classroom supporting the teachers. Um so some unique strategies from Hess are their PBIS supports. They have monthly meetings uh with a specialist from Ruckers to on de developmental disabilities. Additional counselor. So now at has there is a counselor per grade level. So we're really able to address
030all concerns that come up. They do all pro dad and I mom programs which bring the community in and talk about different um topics to help parents at home as well as support that school community bridge. uh teacher student mentorship programs, making sure that we're connecting students with a preferred and caring adult so they always have that one person that they can go to in the building who also can encourage, discuss, role role play and model more appropriate behavior um in the building. and administration is continuingly encouraging staff to complete praise referrals um always are the four schoolwide expectations which is respectful, responsible, safe and kind and administration celebrates the students that are you know really showing this um as far as giving out tickets and things like that. Um the unique strategies at Davies
031are Red Wings. Um students with straight A's, no discipline referrals, and with no more than three tardies are announced. Um and they win the Red Wings. Uh everyone is involved. So they're making sure to take student recommendations to build new clubs. Uh they have the gentleman dragons and the student of the month breakfast. They also do student support teams. They go above and beyond making sure that each month students are nominated by any adult in the building for going above and beyond um and making sure that they're rewarded for seeing that. They also do chat and chew which is twice a year students who represent a cross-section of school population in each grade and they do a lunch. U in technology they're doing more supports. So making sure that they um are you know being
032they're being put on the map for making sure that we have these things in place as well as the dragon network which definitely provides some good student um embedded things so that students are really involved in all of the things going on in the building. They also have this um there it shows the strong foundation from Hamilton Township and then the different levels and how they address things, the restorative practices that they put in as well as you know the traditional consequences and restoative practices being combined to make sure that we're really hitting all of those points. But so as you can see all of our um all of our points are really going down and we seem to be in a better place. We're just making sure that we're putting more of those practices
033into restoative practices, make sure that we are supporting our students and finding those trends so we can be better ahead of it. Does anyone have any questions? >> All right. Thank you for >> Mrs. Wilson. >> All right. At this time, can I please have my William Davies Middle School student council present? Past events for December. The winter choir and band concert was held December 11th. It was a wonderful night of holiday songs and cheer. The student council collected 16 large bags of winter coats which were distributed to three organizations to help keep families warm this winter in Atlantic City and Maze Landing areas. Davy's 10 days of December was a was a success. Each of the day each of the days featured a different holiday themed spirit day, giving our students and staff a
034fun and festive way to celebrate the holiday season together. On December 17th, select 8th grade students walked over to Oakrest for an opportunity to learn about the culinary and art programs offered in the high school. December 19th, we had our big schoolwide basketball showdown against Hamilton Middle School. Redwing students got the chance to cheer on our team in person, and the whole event was will be live streamed by our amazing Dragon News crew. Both the boys and girls team came out on top. Okay. And these are the upcoming events for January. Today, selected student council members went to the NJHSC winter convention at TCNJ and had lots of fun. It was a great experience for all of us to learn a new to learn new things about leadership and attend fun workshops. On January 9th,
035boys basketball will be going against Alder Middle School. On January 15th, the girls basketball team will be going against Fernwood Middle School. And lastly, our boys and girls wrestling team will have a match against RMT on January 21st. Six to seven students on the Dragon News team will be live streaming all these amazing sports events. Performing arts night auditions will be held sometime this month. Band members that were interested in joining All South Jersey band will be having their auditions on January 31st. Good luck to all the students trying out. >> Thank you guys. I just want to say thank you again for all your help and make sure the uh national for that. We appreciate their help. I also want to say Angelina, you are a terror on that basketball. Did a great job.
036So I I would be scared to play a couple couple rounds again. She said, "Great job." Um, couple of things real quick for my superintendent report. I just like to say I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome every back everyone back in January. Extend my sincere gratitude to our staff, students, and families for their energy, care, and commitment that they made December such a meaningful and memorable month across district. From fashion celebrations to community outreach, concerts, service projects, and moments of joy that remind us why we do this work, December reflected the heart of Hamilton Township. Thank you to our teachers, support staff, administrators, and community partners who went above and beyond to create experiences that lifted spirits and strengthened connections. Your dedication does not go unnoticed, and it sets a powerful tone as
037we turn the page to the new year. Some dates to remember. January 12th is our PTA meeting um in the board of education conference room. January 15th is closed for Martin Luther King Day. January 15th is also David Buster spirit night at the Lexington location. The 24th of January is PTA Kids Bingo at Davy's Cafeteria at 6 o'clock. Doors open at 6:00. Games begin at 6:30. Please bring a toy or candy under $5. February 9th is our uh PTA meeting with the uh in the board of education conference 7 o'clock the 16th school is closed for president's day and thank you this >> okay thank you Dr. O at this time we will open public comment on tonight's agenda items. There are two opportunities to address the members of the board. The board values and
038welcomes comments and opinions from residents as long as remarks are not personal or discourteous. The public comment portion of the meeting allows the board to listen to community members and to hear their opinions on school policy and operations. The first public portion is reserved for persons wishing to speak about agenda items only. The second opportunity following action items is when residents may address the board on any school related issue. Each speaker is asked to limit their comments to three minutes and you are not permitted to yield your time to another. The public comments portion of the meeting during both sessions will not exceed 30 minutes. Upon being recognized, persons wishing to speak should stand and identify themselves by name and address. Hello. Sorry. Uh, thank you for letting me speak tonight. When a bunch of
039us got together this morning to talk about tonight's agenda, I casually mentioned that I might I might say a few words. I had no idea that it would grow to this. I originally had a witty, esoteric metaphor of a story that I wanted to use. I switched it up when my wife, who because this meeting is being recorded is always right, told me that if I had a point to just say it. I will, but I have to share a part of that story with you right now. Just briefly, I'm going to allow Mr. Daringer to attest to this as he has known me since he was as tall as he is right now. Actually, when I was in middle school, the game of wall ball was sweeping schoolyards across the country. It was the
040Gen X. It was a the gaga pit of Gen X. Our wall area backed up to a hill. A hill that for some reason we were forbidden to sit on. We didn't know why. It just was. That was until one day when a ragtag bunch of yellow house 7th graders wanted to make our voices known. We went up and we sat on that hill for absolutely no reason at all. We were young. We were wild. And by God that day we were free. It the story gets better. But on a more salient note, sometimes you do need to use your voice. I just wanted to say that change is good and change is appropriate and change is necessary. But there is a time for change as well. Sometimes change really touches people. Right now, two
041people I care deeply about who have been nothing but constant supports, colleagues, mentors, and friends are going to be affected by changes contained in this agenda. While my voice is not intended to alter these changes, I feel the need to speak on their behalf. Who knows, I might be changing careers after tonight. Both Mary Lynn and Dana have given their heart and soul to this district, devoting pretty much their entire professional careers to this place. They volunteer, they show up to events, they stay late, and try and jump in to help as much as possible. Marilyn has been the consmate mentor, a person who has supported me through the toughest times of my life. It's not easy to b It's not easy to bury a mother and a wife within five years, but that time
042was made infinitely easier because of Marilyn's support and compassion. I never worried about work one day. I can't explain just how much that meant to me. She's been an advocate and a true leader. Dana has devoted her life and career to special education. She loves our students and our families. She's willing to take direction from others in any situation she's helping. Not an easy task for an administrator. She cares about our staff and always seems to remember details shared in conversations. She stood by me when I've been down and she always checks up to make sure things are okay. They are great humans and this change affects who they are as professionals and as people. Change also affects the staff to our right. It affects our paras and our teachers. It affects how we deliver
043instruction and the curriculums with which our students learn. Change affects supplies and substitutes and events. Change affects our secretaries, related service providers, custodial and maintenance staff, and our food service workers. Change affects our well-being and it affects our morale. In the end, change is good and change is necessary. Change is a best practice, but change should also be done with all of those factors in mind. Thank you for letting me speak this evening and Sand Deis High School football rules. >> Thank you. Thank you. Seeing no other public comment on tonight's agenda items, I will open board member comments. First thing I want to say is happy new year to everyone and welcome back. Um hope you had a nice restful time off. Uh the second thing I'd like to bring up is the love
044tree. Uh before the holidays, um Angelina took us into the the room, the store, and it was utterly amazing. There was not a spot to put another toy, and it was done in a way that the parents would come in and actually feel like they were shopping. So, um I just I just can't say enough about how great it is that Dr. ZTO opened the doors and that um that this is happening because it's needed and I just want to thank everyone involved in it. Um great job by our student council, by our admins here at Davies, Dr. Zitto, and I just want to say thanks for your hard work. Any other board? I also wanted to say happy new year. Um, congratulations to our staff of the month. That's always one of my favorite
045parts. And um, congratulations to Dr. Sino, Miss Dirks, Miss McQueen. Um, and thank you for the support as the in the role of president and excited to work with Miss Anker as vice president. So, happy new year to everyone. I'm excited to be back. All right. Since we don't have official committee um chairpersons yet, I'm going to move the committee reports this evening. So, can I I'm going to make a motion to move section 10, the items in the personnel policy committee. Can I have a second? Second. Second by Miss Jackson. Any comments or questions on section 10 personnel policy? Okay. Roll call. >> Mrs. Anker. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bachelor. >> Yes. >> Dr. Serino. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dirks. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Jackson. >> Yes. >> Dr. Lock. >> Yes. >> Mrs.
046McQueen. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Rogers? >> Yes. >> And Mrs. Bar? >> Yes. >> For finance and operations, I would like to move all items listed under section 11. Oh, I'm sorry. >> I won't do that yet. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Okay. At this time, I would like to move the items in section 11 as listed, finance and operations. Second by Dr. Sino. Comments or questions on section 11? >> Mrs. Bar, we do have one addition. Sure. that. So, we do have one additional item um in that section, and I'll read that out loud as it's not on the printed copies. We do have a motion to authorize the business administrator to contract with an HVAC contractor to install the damaged uh HVAC units. The contract will be formally approved at the next
047board of education meeting upon receipt of the proposal. >> It's good for a second. >> I'd like to make that motion, please. Second. Okay, we're good. Comments or questions? >> Okay, roll call. >> Mrs. Anret, >> yes. >> Mrs. Bachelor, >> yes. >> Dr. Cino, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dirks, >> yes. >> Mrs. Jackson, >> yes. >> Dr. La, >> yes. >> Miss McQueen, >> yes. >> Mr. Rogers, >> yes. >> And Mrs. Yes. All right. Curriculum committee section 12. I would like to move the items listed. >> I have a second. Second. Second by Miss Bachelor. Comments or questions? >> Roll call. >> Anchor. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bachelor. >> Yes. >> Dr. Serena. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Burks. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Jackson. >> Yes. >> Dr. La. >> Yes. >> M. McQueen.
048>> Yes. >> Mr. Rogers. >> Yes. >> And Mrs. Bar. Yes. Thank you. Okay. At this time, I would like to open old business. Any members of the board have any items that have been previously discussed that you would like to discuss this evening? Okay. Seeing none, are there any is there any new business that any board members would like to introduce this evening? Seeing none, we'll we will reopen public comment and receive comments from the public in accordance with the board's policy on participation at a board meeting. Hello. Um, Jennifer Sher, school teacher at House. Um, I've been asked to come up and read something, but I do have a question. Since you just voted on the Hback, when will it be fixed? I mean, you are helping my hot flashes, but I'm going
049to say, >> you know, when we'll get here. >> So, we're um we're planning on ordering the units tomorrow. We were told approximately four to six weeks. So, we're hopeful right after that they'll begin after school installing the units um with the units on the second floor being installed over our Easter break. >> All right. Thank you. All right. On December the 18th, an email was sent to all staff from payroll department stating anyone who participated in and earned a financial reward will notice it on your 12225 payub. The value of the reward is considered taxable income to the member. The financial reward referenced is incentive money that employees earned and received directly from Verizon via direct deposit into their personal bank accounts. This earned incentive money was subsequentially taxed on employees December 22nd paycheck.
050As a result, some employees experienced a net reduction of up to $150 in their take-home pay on their final paycheck prior to winter break. When staff inquired whether this taxation process was a past practice, payroll responded, "It has been done for years and every year there are so many questions. There was NJ when we were in state health benefits and now Horizon has a similar program BIT. The last bit on pay stubs was the last pay in December 2023. I never got a list for 2024. This response is contradictory as employees were told both that this practice has been done for years and that it was not done in 2024. On December 23rd, an email was subsequentially sent to payroll, the business administrator and human resources requesting guidance on how employees could access December 2023
051payubs from the previous payroll systems prior to the transition to school 5. Employees sought to independently verify whether this was indeed a past practice and to compare taxed amounts. The only response received was from payroll which stated, "I don't think we can access the old portal anymore. Neither the business administrator nor human resources responded or provided an explanation regarding how employees may access historical payubs from before January 2024. At this time, employees do not have a clear way to access their prior pay records for verification or tax purposes. This lack of access combined with an inconsistent explanation regarding incentive pay taxation has been understandably frustrating for those staff members. Thank you. >> Hi everybody. Happy New Year. Um I'm Susan Lazaric. I'm a community member and I'm also a member of the Hamilton sustainability team
052and I just want to let you know that sustainable Jersey for schools is doing a food service and cafeterias initiative. Um there's new opportunities for school districts to receive training peer support and up to $15,000 in funding to address cafeteria waste. Um there's a grant um it does the application is the end of the year but um and if there you know I just didn't know if you knew about it. interested in it. Certainly food waste and is a big deal. Um, and if it was something that you did decide to go forward, part of it is an audit, food audit, and I think the sustainability team would be interested in participating in that if we ever did move forward that I know we had did one with Davies in the past. So, just wanted
053to let you know about this. All right. Okay, seeing no other public comment, I will close public comment this evening. And can I please have a motion to adjurnn? Motion by Dr. Sero. >> Second by Miss Jackson. All in favor? >> I opposed. Thank you everyone. I have a gradient.