001good evening with ladies and gentlemen we would like to get the board meeting started [Music] [Applause] yeah that's another way to go I I didn't I I didn't I never knew that I know the finger things you know okay okay thank you for coming welcome to the mon Township Board of Education please ride for the salute to the flag it's right there I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all roll call Mr Gorski Mr Braverman here Mr Chella here Mr kleene here Mrs kapano here Mr ly here Mrs Leonard here Mr Masters here Mr tesler here Mrs Fon here Mr calman here Mr board president you have a form thank you I
002number four in accordance with the provisions of the New Jersey open public meetings law the Monro Township Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place there are posted April 8th 2011 one at all schools two home News Tribune three cranbery press four filed with the clerk of the ad municipality student board members report they're both absent this evening no students next we have the presentation by the director of pupil Personnel Services maretta thank you good evening I'd like to welcome our students and you need a mic she's got okay ready okay it's good right lights yeah they probably will okay okay okay all right good evening again I'd like to welcome our students parents staff and administration tonight we will be presenting showcase for
003Student Success the Showcase will highlight some of our programs that integrate our special education students with their general education peers and community and so we're going to begin with our um PowerPoint and our students okay um um hi good night um good evening everybody my name is anarina pan John um and I have a poem um the name is um the blue rose it's about a little girl named Jenny um and here it is um Jenny is a little girl a lovely little girl she has brown eyes and dark brown hair but surely all people don't have to be alike think alike Act alike or look alike Jenny Jenny is like a blue rose a blue rose have you ever seen a blue rose every Gardener love to raised a blue rose it is rare
004and beautiful Jenny is different too and so in a way she is like a blue rose J world is different and known to us in some ways we think she may be in a world in which we might not feel completely at home to go there might in a way to be like going to go on another planet maybe Jenny sees things with different eyes maybe also she hear A Different Drummer maybe she um also hears things we never hear in a way it is it is if Jenny is standing behind a screen a screen we cannot see perhaps she listens to music we cannot hear so Jenny listen so so Jenny might hear sounds we never here Jenny is like a blue rose delicately and lovely and and because there are so many blue
005roses we don't know much about them we only know that they have to be tended and carefully and loved more thank you [Applause] sure hello uh our mil Lake and Academy Learning Center buddy program was started 5 years ago and it has formed a learning bond between the two schools the intentions of the program were to Foster an understanding of social interactions with and friendships between children with autism and their typically developing peers within Monroe Township community the program that began 5 years ago has resulted in an annual reciprocal learning experience we visit them once or twice a year we get a huge education in autism they come to visit us twice a year and we get to participate in different academic and non-academic activities and our class has already shared their knowledge of autism
006with all of the second and third grade students in the milake school and they would like to share it with you right now do you know anyone with autism we we have some friends who have autism and we would like to tell you about them they are different from us in some ways but they are the same as us in many ways too we would like to share the book we wrote about our our experience with our new friends from the academy Learning Center our friends written by Mrs Fleming's class dedicated to our friends at the Academy Learning Center our friends with autism would you like to learn about our friends with autism autism is a disability it is something you are born with you cannot catch autism it is not contagious autism can make
007it difficult to speak it can also make it difficult to share and learn new things communicating some of our friends communicate differently different from us dbor spoke very well and asked personal questions other friends only said a few words at a time Julie repeated herself many times and she kept saying hi guys and say goodbye to our friends some of our friends did not speak at all they used machines to communicate Justin push buttons on his machine and it spoke for him Jason liked to sing rap [Music] songs some of our friends communicated by making noises we had trouble understanding what they wanted we had to be very patient it must have been frustrating for them not to be understood please be patient when friends have trouble communicating with you our friends played differently some
008of them had trouble sharing we tried to help them learn how to share but sometimes we needed their teachers help with this dbor was an excellent rock wall climber we were very impressed by this Mason was amazing at the monkey bars he climbed to the top without holding on and then enjoyed sliding down the pool Jason didn't want to play anything he just wanted to walk around Daniel didn't seem to know what to do we took him by the hand and ran with him he really liked this we can we could see by his smile Nikki loved it when we pushed her around in her wheelchair she was smiling and making happy noises Julie loved the parachute she kept that asking for it we didn't really want to play with the parachute but we did
009want Julie to be happy we all played a parachute with her and had a fun time being with our friends being a good friend our friends really enjoyed playing with us Everyone likes to have fun with friends please be a good friend and try to help others have a good time e eating we noticed some different things about the way our friends eat some of them needed help from their teachers Daniel's teacher put his food in his mouth we were not sure if he was unable or unwilling to feed himself then he needed a lot of reminders from his teacher to keep eating Nikki's hands were usually at her chest so her teacher had to feed her too some of our friends were very picky eaters Daniel would only eat soft foods like SpaghettiOs Vinnie
010loved cheese one friend would not eat the marshmallows in his Lucky Charms he picked them out and gave them away Jeremy didn't want his lunch he wanted his teacher's lunch Adam wouldn't eat his CH cheese sandwich because it wasn't warm our friend Sarah smelled her food before she ate it we tried to set a good example for them by showing good lunchtime [Music] Behavior being friends even though our friends are different from us in many ways we had a great time with them we discovered that we also have a lot in common with them we are all kids who like to play we all have feelings and want to be treated with kindness we all want to have friends so if you meet someone who might be different from you please treat them with kind
011kindness and respect treat them like a friend treat them the way you would like to be treated invite them to play with you be patient and play something that they enjoy just because they may be different doesn't mean that they can't be a great friend [Applause] y good evening this group of students is from the Barkley Brook Elementary School um all these students participated in our Pal's program this year pal stands for peers assisting and learning social skills um the groups consisted of three self-contained classes and three regular Ed classes they got together and participated in various activities together and some of our pals are going to share with you a couple of their favorite activities and maybe a little bit about what they learned about their pal my name is hi my name is
012a is Ashley this is my pal Alissa was Rober hello my name is Alysa I like being a part of pal because I get to be a friend to someone my name is my friend is O Ashley I learn how to help Ashley take turns when we play together Miss Chase lets us do different activities but Ashley and I like playing Beauty power the best I try to have asley talk to me so I ask her lots of questions and now we like we talk a lot we eat lunch together sometimes also she is a great pal hello my name is christe My Pal doesn't really talk we practice greetings weaving and saying hello and goodbye to each other she uses pictures or pecs but we still have fun playing together sometimes I have to
013show her how to do something like putting pegs on a board so I have I take my hand over hers and we do it together I say my turn and then your turn then she starts to do it by herself I think she likes me I like her we W weave hello in the holes I like being a part of pal this year my name my name is Michaela and I am in Miss Anderson's class I'm in the palace group with Miss Pepe class Colin and Taylor go with me every Friday before lunch we go to miss Pepe's class we play games and show how to be a good good friend I have fun with the pals in Miss Pepe's class my name is Sean My Pal my Pal's name is Ry from Miss Mrs
014s's class my favorite activity that we did in Pals was when we made the Snowman and cut out pictures of our favorite foods I learned that righ and I both like watermelon okay great thank you [Applause] okay hello we are here to present to you the ambassador's program from both Woodland and Oak Tre Elementary School hi everybody how are you doing tonight my name is Sam we are members of the oak tree fifth and sixth grade social ambassadors with teachers including Miss sadik Mrs cologne and occasionally Mrs Fernandez personally I would like to tell a short story first when I heard I was going to be in Social ambassadors I was not happy then when I went the first day I had so much fun I said to miss sadique can I come tomorrow she
015said we only have it a couple days a week I was sad I really enjoy social ambassadors the atmosphere is really nice all the other members share some of the same interests I've made a lot of friends and we all wish we had it every day if I didn't have social ambassadors I don't think I would have had a lot of friends I wouldn't have known that other people had shared the same interest as me if it wasn't for social ambassadors when we are not in Social ambassadors we are still friendly to each other and always say hi in the hallways sometimes we remind each other about social ambassadors I would definitely recommend social ambassadors to others it is great I love it we all learn good social skills and get candy in the end
016thank you for [Applause] coming hello my name is Alexander Kim and I am in the sixth grade I take part in Social ambassadors and ever since I have learned exactly what the name says about our social skills in Social ambassadors I have met people that I think I wouldn't normally be interested in but after we sat down talked and played activities we all discovered that we shared interests social ambassadors help me take my new skills that I've learned and apply them to the people around me when I see another person from social ambassadors I would no longer walk past them but I'd stop and say hi also I always accept anybody no matter what social Ambassador has also show me to be a better role model for the younger children as sixth graders the younger
017children look up to us so we have to act our part and that exactly what shows social ambassadors has helped show me how to do I would definitely recommend social ambassadors to anybody social ambassadors teaches skills that you could use whether you're young or old and that I believe that children all ages and all groups can use it thank you good evening and thank you for coming my name is Atif Jamal and I'm part of the fifth and sixth grade social ambassadors group at Oak Tre Elementary School social ambassadors is all about creating good social skills and making new friends we then carry out the social skills we make to our friends that don't have the chance to be in Social ambassadors we get closer every week by playing games sometimes we oppose each other
018and sometimes we play on teams the friends I make in Social ambassadors sometimes know my other friends outside social ambassadors and then we can play in large groups during outdoor recess and we have a lot of fun we learn many new things from playing games and interesting facts that your friends may know for example I learned that the game show Survivor is actually a remake of the original version I learned this from a game called card Pictionary all in all social ambassadors was a great experience this year and I I wish I could continue it until next year at the middle school [Applause] my camera maybe face okay Mrs Man U I'm Mrs manuso and Mrs McLoud and I we always interchange our names we've been together for so long anyway we uh started the
019G Brookside Garden buddy program this year in which uh collaboratively we work with two uh self-contained classes in our in our school and uh our third grade class is participating in this wonderful program so here are the students the garden budy program at Brookside school was developed to help us build a bridge that will allow us to develop relationships which otherwise may not have been easily formed our Brookside Garden buddy program is a great great way to make a new friend as we work side by side and learn about gardening together being Garden buddies helps us to learn to be better communicators through speaking making better eye contact and by listening through this Pro through this program we learn to better understand and appreciate each other's differences we all have unique quality that make us
020special we like we look forward seeing to see seeing and saying hello to our garden buddies in the hallways at Brookside as well as in the community our friendships started off like little seeds and now they are growing and flourishing as we care and tend to each other's needs our friendship will be deeply rooted we learned that helping others is fun and that when we help others we receive help in return helping others feels good inside the garden buddy program allows us to put what we learn into action as we teach others we look forward to gardening with our garden buddies every Friday it makes learning fun if you noticed on their uh slides here they have grown quite quite a bit of vegetables for us and and you'll see they have tomatoes and all
021other things maybe Maria I don't know if you can bring that back that's their Garden outside of Brookside and it's really grown and and they get quite a bit of vegetables that they they utilize also okay hi how are you hi everybody um I'm Miss Granny I am the self-contained teacher over at Applegarth um unfortunately my boys couldn't be here with me tonight but I want to introduce to some to you some very important people who I work with one is Mr John deine who has helped us with our work program Miss Judy firestein who has helped us with our socialization Miss Rosa Pon my classroom par thank God for her and Miss Sandy machula on my other par all right so I'm going to introduce to you a very special young lady named Monique
022who is going to talk about working with my students hi my name is Moni Smith I am an eighth grade student at Applegarth Middle School my L class and I held Miss grain's autism class with their various crafts and activities I personally look forward to helping them every Friday and it has inspired me to be a special education teacher when I grew up and as you can see from our PowerPoint our boys do a lot of jobs around the school um they recycle for apple G we work in the library stamping books shredding papers um we sort out the teachers mail for them the boys get paid and they are allowed to purchase things from our school store every week they have to learn how to manage their money um other things we do is
023we do a cooking lesson where they develop um recipes using pictures and then they follow that recipe to make an item of the week thank you thank you all right than [Applause] good evening my name is Chris Russo I'm 18 years old and I'm a senior at Monro Township high school I'll be graduating this June My Story begins when I was 2 years old my parents became concerned about my language development lack of eye contact inability to sustain attention and highend sensitivity to many things I received early intervention and by the time I was 5 years old I was diagnosed with learning disabilities ranging from PDD to Asperger syndrome to communication impairment most children at the age of five are very talkative and sociable however I was different I was unable to speak until I
024was 5 years old I had trouble communicating to my parents or anyone else I only spoke by using short phrases or one worded answers I didn't like to be touched and became extremely anxious when surrounded by large crowds or groups of people also when I started going to school I would get very nervous over little details or mishaps that occurred to assist my needs I was put in self-contained classes until the fourth grade and after I resource classes or classes that had second teacher to assist me once I reach high school my performance in both academics and sports improved drastically tests revealed Val surpressing 80% of the student population in language and math this was deemed a very rare case because only a very small portion of individuals can improve their score so fast and
025at such a high rate I no longer needed resource classes and a second teacher in the classroom for math and language I started reaching through tougher academic classes such as AP biology I am one of a small group of students with an IEP to take an AP class however the thing that improved the most was my communication with other people and my relationship toward a particular person the majority of my life I had trouble socializing with others and I couldn't keep steady friendships with people however this changed after I decided to participate in high school sports and weightlifting I became more confident myself in my abilities my interest in science especially in the field of genetics and biology also progressed I became interested in genetic research that is being done to improve everyday life in
026all areas from medical to agricultural I'm a member of the National Honor Society I'm also been awarded the Rebecca s McDonald award which will all receive at MSX County College on May 4th this award is given to students that have overcome obstacles and have shown motivation to achieve in all areas such as self- advocacy and postsecondary planning I the first person from monal Township High School to receive this award I've been told that I'm a success story The the most important message I message I can give to children with special needs is that with a lot of hard work support a family and school you can accomplish anything that you desire never give up and always learn from your mistakes don't get distracted by the small stuff focus on your goals this fall I'll be
027attending rers univiversity in the school of environmental and biological sciences it's majoring in genetics thank you to all the great teachers Specialists and sports stff that helped me all these years a special thank you to my parents and sister for always supporting me in everything I do thank you [Applause] minutes good evening everybody um I just need a minute to compose myself I'm I'm sorry my name's Kirsten rasy I'm a parent School District um I have three children in the school district I have a senior I have a sophomore and I have a sixth grader and I got to tell you the reason why watching everything tonight is amazing um Chris Chris Russo back there he's not even listening he did a phenomenal job um I could say this because Chris was up here but
028I just spoke to Chris mom 133 years ago when my son entered the preschool program Chris's mom and I used to sit on the wall in front of the Old Mill Lake when there was a wall there because that's where my daughter was in kindergarten and that's sort of a special education bus from Woodland would drop off Joey and she would tell me it's going to be all right and she was right and Chris I'm so proud of you cuz I remember you from way back when congratulations [Applause] what I just want to tell you briefly is about what it's like for parents transitioning through our program we are so blessed here on Monroe Township to have our program 13 years ago I took a child into the at that time it was called the
029preschool handicap program they told me he was multiply disabled because he needed speech therapy occupational therapy and physical therapy my sound like Chris had delay speech he had maybe 40 words when I put him on the bus that first day of school and I thought these people were nuts they told me I had to put a little kid 3 years old actually 37 months S A Child literally was onto a bus with no words and I did it it was the best thing I ever did in my life as parents we had to push our kids a little bit further but our teachers had to push our kids too when uh preschool program was in Woodland I had the most amazing teachers there one thing that they did they started to install confidence in my
030son they made him climb that first rung on the playground which he was not going to climb and I think he cried about it for a day or two later but now he climbs up high the other thing that they did is they gave him speech I never thought he would have speech all of a sudden I got a kid with no speech and they gave me back a kid that wouldn't stop talking um sometimes I'm like you know what can you please stop please stop but what happens is as we change grades our children transition our children transitions into a new school and we transition into new schools too for our parents though it's a little bit different because we get a new school we get new teachers we get new case managers as
031well and it's scary for us so when we transitioned into kindergarten we went from the preschool program to self-contained kindergarten program where Joey got pulled out for 10 minutes every day to go into a general education which was great I also learned a lot about IEPs individualized education programs plans one of those two P words and um found out from my very first case worker who's no longer with us something she told me had stayed with me I walked into an IP meeting and she said Mrs rasy you look very nervous you look very upset I said I am she's like why everything is fine we are all in this together we all have a common Jo goal and that's the best for Joe and that was the best thing anybody has ever told me
032and I took that with me for every single IEP meeting that I ever went through and I've gone through a lot in mil Lake we were in self-contained we were inclusion classes we got pulled out for classes then he had the opportunity to be in a second and third grade classroom together which was wonderful with one of the most wonderful teachers I also had my speech teachers who have been with me for years and some of those are here tonight some of the people who know Joe Joe still cannot say his ours that's just one of those things but we've gone we've gone further than that moving from Mil Lake I got to trans go again into Woodland School this time though there was no more self-contained we were in integrated classrooms which meant there
033was the special education population in with the General Ed another unbelievable experience over those next 3 years unbelievable teachers the principal there who since retired remember Joe from the preschool handicap program that says a lot about the people who work in our district who remember our children from 5 years old and on and there's people in this room tonight too who remember my Joe from that little from Woodland the first scary transition I went to Applegarth Applegarth was I don't know if it was scarier for him or for me I think it was for me got a new casew worker whole new balll of wax Joe went into resource rooms resource rooms for those of you who don't know are classes that are a little bit smaller and they're taught at a slower Pace but
034they're the same information that the general education students learn there in both seventh and eighth grade Joe's language art teachers brought out the best him in seventh grade they let him teach a class one day they were learning to storyboard and diagram Joe knew the story inside and out the teacher said to him would you like to teach the class and with her moderating Joe got up and Drew out that storyboard on the Blackboard and he taught the class and led the discussion I happened to go to Applegarth for something else that day and saw have a teacher and she let me know she showed me pictures that she took of of my son I went home and cried when Joe turned 13 nuts cried that day too because 10 years before I had put
035him into a school with no speech with meltdowns couldn't touch him all sorts of things and here at 13 I had a child who for some reason decided to play football and decided that he liked talking in front of people that wasn't from me that was from his teachers giving him that confidence eighth grade again his teacher did the same thing he brought an idea to class and taught a whole lesson class about his idea Applegarth was amazing from Applegarth we transition transition once again transition into the high school okay that was scarier than appleg for me I will tell you that Joe was very determined first thing he did is took himself out of speech he was not going to be in speech anymore and that all there was to it hence the reason
036why Joe cannot say is ours still because he just it's beyond him now what Joe did do is when he could choose electives he chose drama drama was perfect for Joe he did well in it he liked it he wanted to take drama too this year I kind of swayed him against it the other thing Joe said are going to do is I'm going to keep playing football and so I sent him to the varsity football team first freshman JV watching your son and Mrs Russo could attest for this dress for a varsity football game is probably one of the scariest things you ever SE in your life especially knowing where our sons have come from we have never been so blessed to be in a school district twice I've had the opportunity to move
037out of the school district out of state for better career paths I've chosen not to and the reason why is because of Monroe and because what they have done for my son Joe my son Joe now is a sophomore he's 16 he chose not to come with me but that's Joe that's normal he's running track talking about football worried about his electives and where he wants to go to college none of these things could have been possible without our school without our school system our teachers and all the confidence that they've given him I thank you all I thank all the kids who talked and have a good [Applause] night at least I didn't have to follow Chris um I just want to make a couple of statements thank you to everybody for participating this
038evening it was an unbelievable presentation um Monroe Township overall for many years has worked very hard for their special education programs and I for one will never sit here and apologize because we're above adequacy and because we can provide these programs to all our students uh I'll never do that it won't ever happen on my watch uh so uh just keep one thing in mind and I I hate to say this as a uh as a sales pitch but we want to try and keep all the programs here um so please there's something coming up that's pretty important in Monroe Township I won't say what because we all know what that is um please remember uh to to do the civic duty uh for lack of a better term um I did want to mention
039one thing is um Sam still here the um social Ambassador where's Sam Sam Sam you don't have to come up I could see you um I loved your comment about the candy because here's the thing a while back we had a board member who were name nameless used to pump Us full of candy at the end of the board meetings and I thought it was a great thing to make us keep coming back so I'm hoping that board member will reinstate that practice because I for one was a champion um if there's any other I'll open it to up to any other board members who'd like to say something Mr Klein I'm shocked oh it so works you know those of you who've been at other meetings have heard me speak and uh I hope
040we have somebody here from the media to cover this and put it in print so the governor sees what a good school system this is I know I speak for myself and everybody else on the board that we're fed up with being having to take um a back seat when it comes to financing because we're over adequacy you see something like this where we have our own students helping other students I mean what can be any better than that when you see this young man that started started we'll call it handicapped at the time look at them now I mean it's I'm I'm totally I'm totally totally speechless and it makes whatever time we put in whatever decisions we make it makes it worthwhile and as far as the parents the young lady who just
041spoke about her son Joey she says it's the teachers and it's every it's the parents too oh yeah with the parents backing the parents reinforcement that's what does it and that's a team effort and I'm just I'm floyed thank you Mr cherella I just I just want to thank you guys you guys are awesome the kids the parents the teachers I mean you you you just this is this is why we're here you know this is why I'm here and you know when you when you look at the way we're we we uh we receive our aid from the state we're penalized because we're above adequacy there are districts out there that um actually applaud when they when they Less in the amount of children that they have who have who have uh learning learning
042disabilities and things like that and and this is one reason all of you are one major reason why we can we we we have to maintain the path that we're on and we we need to keep doing what we're doing because these are these are some great stories and you're my hero buddy so thank you Mr Ron just want to say my I I've known Chris Russo since he's three years old I did not realize that was him he and my son Brian started preschool um early preschool intervention together and I can't tell you the pride to see him up here uh Brian and he separated Brian went through Jamesburg K to8 with a wonderful special ed program and child study team and transitioned into the high school and without the support of Miss Bara
043and maretta and miss fredman and miss seal and the entire staff and administration at the high school these kids the products that are coming out tonight and for the K to 12 from mon would just not be possible and I can tell you how heartwarming it is to see Chris come to the place he's come to so it was wonderful I agree with the other board members and over the 12 years that I've been on the board we've had a lot of programs that come before us and a lot of students and a lot of activities but I don't think there's ever been an activity that kept brought us speechless and to tears and I'm very proud to be a part of a board that supports the programs that we're doing in Monroe and um
044we need to continue to keep doing this job thank you Kathy Kathy uh I'm amazed and and I shouldn't be because I have walked in the parent shoes I have a disabled child myself and I've been in your shoes through the meetings through the tears through the transitions are awful I agree with you um and that's why I said at the last meeting when it was a budget meeting and somebody said our special ed costs are too high no they're not we're producing taxpaying citizens through our special education program we're not producing independent lifelong tax drainers and thank you staff anyone else from the board all right seeing no one uh we're going to change up the agenda a little bit uh to give some folks time to kind of filter out uh we're going
045to go into an executive session so item number 13 be resolved at the board of education at township of Monroe hereby goes into close session in accordance with Sunshine Law chapter 231 the public laws of new of new of of New Jersey njsa 10 col 4-6 through 10 4-21 to discuss the following subjects Personnel Employee number 00 1365 Personnel negotiations the discussion conducted in closed session can be disclosed to the public at such time as the matters have been resolved this motion Mr tesler Mr Chella all those in favor opposed discussion motion passes thank you thank you everybody for waiting uh we'd like to continue with the agenda item number seven is the public forum anyone wishing to speak before the board please come up and state your name and address for the record hi
046Michelle AR min9 Nathaniel Street um is the the closed session has that been resolved issue yes can you discuss that please then uh there will be a motion relative to that discussion um and then if the board wants to discussion after that motion then they well once the resolution is yes but once the closed session is done we can discuss it so this is my public for the my the opportunity to have it discussed now can it hasn't been um we could discuss it part of the uh part of the superintendent she's correct she's correct you can say what went on there you don't have to give names right once you've resolved the issue in close session correct uh one item discussed was a Personnel matter regarding an employee who is being um recommended for
047suspension and the other was an update on the status of the negotiations with the Teachers Association which is currently at impass okay and then um at the at the resolution we'll know whether that employe is being suspended or not that is correct okay and could you explain Jay please on the superintendent's report uh it's page seven recommended that the board approve Avid we're not in the superintendent's report yet okay so this is a but it's not part of the closed session no I know we're I'm done with the closed session question can I speak to what's on the agenda well you can actually speak to it after we do the superintendent report at the second public forum where Jay is what she's talking okay go ahead okay my question is Jay can you explain Jay
048the Avid through Grant funds $74,000 yes that's professional development for the expansion um the avit program that is currently in the district so the 74,000 will be to teach teachers yes is that do we have to have matching funds for that Grant no okay and on the board action you're going there's a bill list for nearly $9 million is that a month is that going to be our new monthly cost Mike that's that's um under the business administrator's report yes and that's correct that is a monthly bill list total so we we're paying out about $9 million a month approximately for um operating costs um that is correct for that particular month that you're referring to it's March 2011 that is correct and is that ordinarily high or is is it going to be about
049that on a monthly basis um the grand total is $8.7 million right okay that is for the month of March um the district has has a $100 million budget so that is customary and normal if you have any questions about any particular um components of the bill list I'd be happy to address them okay and when you have the bill list is it can can the bill list be given for on a monthly basis for all the components or would I have to look at the whole budget in other words is it an itemized list on a monthly basis yes the bill list is presented each month it's approved by the finance committee before it comes to the board um there's sample audits performed by Mr Larry and um when he's satisfied and only then
050is it presented to the Board of Education okay thank you anyone else um Marvin Braverman talked me into coming here tonight it's Morley meldon I live in Green Brier at Whittingham across the way and I don't come here very often but uh Dr Hamilton knows how concerned and dedicated I am to education throughout the country not just here and at high levels where we're making some progress with the help of a lot of foreign uh leaders too but we've got to keep up this education thing and the reason I came here and talked to Sharon bigs today about the the whole situation with the money that that we're not getting and and it's uh it's it's more serious than I think people here realize because we're concerned with local things and state things but this
051is going to have National in implications too how would you like to a year from now turn on the evening news and hear a headline state supreme court orders Governor Christie must increase Aid to school rules how would you like to hear that uh US Constitution holds State responsible for Education um anyway it's it's a long story but the reason I'm here tonight is to tell you that we cannot negotiate with the kind of people that are in Trenton in the education department with this Governor there is only one way and that is to sue the governor and the state Department of Education and this should be a constitution suo because no way no way can the governor or anybody in that department of education justify the way they Dole out the different levels of
052money it's unbelievably inadequate and Incorrect and does not go by the Constitutional requirements so I am absolutely positive that if we with other groups that are fighting this thing in the state if if we pursue it that in court Governor Christie will finally meet his his danuma because there's no way he or that state department can defend it now I'm not a constitutional lawyer but I know enough about it so that a good constitutional lawyer could beat the pants off them and we may have to get throughout the state more what what is a proper amount to to be responsible for Education 30% 40% I don't know but the state has got to be behind education and this state isn't now a year ago we had a big discussion at my house a big group
053uh just last weekend have 10 and uh it was about uh saving money and the reason I I I found an old thing that I clipped from a USA Today article Thursday May 6 2010 just about a year ago now uh have to kind of wrap it up Sir Sor the reason yeah but this is very important because this is of national importance not just here number one on their Hit List New Jersey new governor Chris Chris Christie is trying to reduce the size in cost of state government if he succeeds and I believe the mood in that state is for a revolutionary reform New Jersey could be a model for the rest of the country including Washington now I don't want Governor Christie's attitude about education to penetrate the rest of this country but
054right now he is being revered all over the country and this kind of a lawsuit could really hit him and I'm telling you there are people out there that'll work with you and we can hit him hard I know it can be done thank you anyone else U Mr Klein wait hold on one second anyone else from the public Mr Klein I just want to make some comments about what this gentleman said first of all the problem that we have here was the Abbott decision and that's your New Jersey Supreme Court I want you to understand that there are people sitting on the Supreme Court that never sat on a bench before the job of the Supreme Court is to um interpret the Constitution not right laws they wrote the Mount Laurel decision and they
055wrote the Abbott decision as far as the funding that we get uh I did speak up at the town hall meeting in Woodbridge about a month ago Governor Christie was there and I brought up about us getting $24 per student and he does like everybody else is it's the Abbott decision and it's the formula now the formula was put into place by Governor Corine I want you to understand that so any money that's distributed to our state is distributed based on the formula that was written by this legislature and approved by the then Governor Ken and you'll find that out if you speak to anybody in our Municipal um Administration that was a mistake any money comes in from the federal government is distributed based on that formula we get nothing and if they tell
056us that we are a wealthy community East Brunswick is wealthier than we are and they're getting $14 million a year so whatever whatever they try to use as an excuse there's no possible way as far as the formula goes I don't know we all don't know what formula they use that comes down to $24 a student for us it's pitiful sorry you can't speak I'm sorry uh Mr L I saw your hand a minute ago yes uh I think you're preaching to the choir so I think we should go forward anyone else on the board seeing no one moving on superintendent's report on the superintendent's report I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge a grand accomplishment for our assistant superintendent Mr Jeff Gorman who is now Dr Jeff Gorman whoa whoa whoa whoa congratulations
057Dr je Mrs Lin Barberry is now Dr Lin Barberry and one of our teachers who is I don't know if Brian is still here is Brian still here Brian lwis also completed his [Applause] Doctorate and we have more more in the pipeline so congratulations uh the enrollment report for the month of March uh is enclosed in your your report showing an additional students those youngsters who are currently in out of District placement is also enclosed for your review and our home instruction list which continues to grow is also available for your review our fire drills and lockdown drills are listed although the lockdown drills replace one of the fire drills some of our schools still elect to uh conduct to which is certainly um permissible moving on to Personnel items Personnel items a through V
058I believe and I will read w n yes Personnel items a through V it is recommended Mr board president members of the Board of Education by the superintendent that Personnel items a through V be approved by roll call vote motion Kathy C Matthew Leonard discussion question what is the correction on Q it was obviously passed once and now we're correcting it I'm just curious you're right that's right I remember that it was initially improved as a halfe stien and it's actually a full year it's a full curriculum reite oh Mr Clen I don't know whether I'm allowed to ask this question oh on the Personnel e to resend the contract is that something we can speak about to find out what the cause was or because it's Personnel we can't ask you cannot discuss that
059individual because she hasn't been rised that's it but you can ask for a corus to have it explained yeah it's all right anyone else you ever do this before roll call Mr gski Mr liry yes but uh I recuse myself on one item p p p in Papa tesler yes this Fon yes Leonard yes Mr Braverman yes Mr Chella yes Mrs kapano yes Mr Clin yes Masters yes Mr calman yes Mr board president motion passes I'd like to read into the record Personnel item letter W uh as a result of our Clos session just want to pull up the employee number if I may it is recommended by the superintendent that employee number 001 1365 be suspended without pay retroactive March 29th 2011 through May 18th 2011 so move M second Mr Klein discussion roll
060call Mr liry yes Mr tesler yes Mrs Fon yes Mrs Leonard yes Mr Braverman yes Mr Chella yes Mrs kapano yes Mr Klein yes Mr Masters Mr calman yes Mr board president item W passes and board action items it is recommended by the superintendant that board action items a through K be approved by roll call vote so move leard second discussion roll call Mr Larry I approve but uh uh on item G I am a member right now of the Educational Service Commission you please abstain yeah Mr tesler yes Mrs Ferron yes Mrs Leonard yes Mr Braverman yes Mr Chella yes Mrs kapano yes Mr Klein yes Mr Masters yes Mr calman yes Mr board president board action items passes that concludes the superintendent's report right business administrative report I'm sorry are we supposed to
061be um electing somebody to be the the next representative to the MCC not yeah was that tonight oh it's that that's number G after the I thought it always came after the well I don't know oh it shouldn't have been included within the you have to pull this out as a separate item do we have anybody that wish it Mr tesler I would like to nominate Mr ly I'd like to I got Motion in a second we go do a roll call any discussion I think he's the perfect candidate I suck in that roll call Mr Larry abstaining you vote for yourself Mr Tesla yes didn't vote for himself Mrs Fon yes Mrs Leonard yes Mr Braverman Mr Chella yes Mrs kapano yes Mr Klein yes Mr Masters yes Mr Calin yes Mr Court president
062motion pass congratulations Mr lirry you could have voted for yourself okay moving on business administrator report Mr board president and members of the Board of Education it is recommended that board action items a through R be approved by consent roll call so move Leonard second Mr Klein discussion roll call Mr Larry yes Mr tesler yes Mrs Fon yes Mrs Leonard yes Mr Braverman yes Mr Chella yes Mrs kapano Mr Klein yes Mr Masters yes Mr calman yes Mr board president motion passes great item number 10 on the agenda board president's report um I'm going to be brief um being the last board meeting uh before the uh election coming up at the end of the month as we saw tonight there's a lot of great things going on in the district that the Board of
063Education would like to continue to move forward as was clearly articulated uh this board of education as well as many other boards of Education uh are falling victim to uh issues that are not ours that we have inherited major problems and we must continue to move forward we need to keep the lights on and keep moving forward I'm hoping that the uh the township realizes that uh we should not put our children uh uh uh in front of this issue and make them the uh end result of any kind of drastic cuts that we need to do in budgets to make our budgets balance uh the board of education is absolutely and positively accountable to make sure that we deliver the best education we can it's the responsibility of the community to hopefully support us
064uh in that endeavor to move forward uh it's it said that we're put in a situation like this where we have to uh you know in effect you know look to try and place blame where it would be that the state's not supporting it uh or State's not supporting education that the federal government isn't pulling their way but at the end of the day uh local residents are responsible in addition this is something that they have control of their Destiny uh we will affect whatever changes that we need to do to move forward but I'm hoping that the community members realize that uh you know you anybody can go ahead and write letters and look to try and affect change at a very high level but this is a very simple test that you can
065do to affect change and continue things moving forward in Monroe Township directly so uh remember what you know the date is coming up and please exercise your right to vote um beyond that I'm just going to open it up to committee reports anyone wishing to report committees seeing no one other Board of Education business Mr tesler I'll be real brief I just want to um in lie of the student members not being here I just mentioned a few things uh two weeks ago uh got to attend bye-bye birdie presented by the Applegarth uh Middle School it was a great show I know Mr Klein uh was there I was there uh two of the nights and the kids did a great job and Mrs Kaufman and crew should be commended for their all their work
066and we'll also mention that the high school is being is putting on Thoroughly Modern Millie uh starts tomorrow and runs through Sunday great anyone else Mr Klein not so much for the amount of people that are here but for the people that are going to watch us on Channel 28 um there will be a planning board meeting the last no it's the fourth Thursday of the month abanian uh their uh application for conversion should be heard or continued to that Thursday it's important for our residents to get there and voice their opinion as I mentioned earlier they're going from an age restricted community of 328 homes to a family community of 328 homes which means if you take the average of 2.3 children per family and let's round it out to two you're talking between
0676 and 700 potential students I'm not saying it's going to happen right away but you're talking a whole new school the other thing is as they sell a lot of these families may already have two children and you see what the growth has been so it's important that we fight it even though according to the law we really don't have a leg to stand on but you have to voice your opinion the law was written for the developers and not for the residents they are not allowed to use in turning down an application they are the um planning board or zoning board whoever is to hear it is not allowed to turn it down based on the added School population which is idiocy the other thing I just want to make uh make clear and
068then I'll I'll shut up is the fact that what you see going on now is hav havan comes out and says that they cannot sell age restricted homes and therefore based on the a law that was written in 2009 by the state legislature they have a right to convert it to a family Community they did absolutely nothing for over two years if not longer to try to sell properties so in reality any Builder it's very easy for a zoning board to give approval for a PRC which is an age restricted community because it will have no impact on your school population so whoever moves into those developments all the tax money they paying property taxes are going to go 60% to the schools and the rest distributed elsewhere so of course if it's heard in
069front of the zoning board you're going to give them the okay but then they do absolutely nothing to sell it and then they come in front of the zoning board because you have to go back to the board that approved you and ask for a conversion they never tried to sell it they said that they can't sell age restricted homes my community and Regency is selling upwards of 70 a year what's the one down below on appleo South South Gate Stonebridge Stonebridge is still selling then on uh on I don't know if it's Prospect Plains or Cranberry uh Union Hill Road there's another one there sentex I think built that one or vice versa but anyway they're still selling so how can they come out and say that they're not and where the law should
070state that the zoning should revert back to what it was before you're not allowed to do it so they can use that of a way of getting approval do nothing for two years and then bring in families the residents must come in and speak up against it thank you's the date I tried to be short but I can't what's the date and time last Thursday the month it's the 4th Thursday of the month 28 at the Municipal Building 7 what time I don't know what the date is 2 oh time is 7 o'clock okay anyone else okay seeing no one item number 13 has been done item 14 public forum anyone wishing to speak before board please come up state your name and address for the record sh our min9 Nathaniel Street um there was
071a question on can you explain K it's recommended that the the summer Institute for academic diversity can you explain that and the 37 almost $38,000 that that cost Dr Gorman first I like the way that sounds um Michelle that's uh that is also a professional development um expenditures for teachers administrators at the University of Virginia it's a week-long um Institute on closing the achievement Gap it's very intensive Institute that has produced um great results for our district and I could show you the results of those District in uh student achievement so there's a direct link you think from the training to student achievement I if I could give you 130 pages that there is okay and so so that that accounts for the teachers that are going um I guess room and board at the
072University and travel expenses yes and so does the one before J the $74,000 yes okay so that's all for teachers expenses and where's that going to be held uh that is actually in San Diego this year and there's one closer but it's actually a savings of money because it's a it's a smaller Institute a day shorter in San Diego as opposed to going to Chicago or another Institute it's impossible to bring those services to us it doesn't exist in that capacity because of the way the um the Institute is presented uh as part of the certification process for the advancement of the individual determination for kids so after calculating a shorter um Retreat it is actually a savings to the district than going to a longer retreat at a closer location okay and how how
073many days is the San Diego one it's a three-day Institute and how many how does the teacher qualify to go there it's a voluntary process that's gone through extensive criteria in the Avid system and what does that mean uh I what I could do is I could show you all the criteria and the application process teachers have to submit applications to either become an avid elective teacher or an avid site team member okay and how many teachers are uh qualify for Jay uh is that is Jay the Avid pie Jay is the Avid right thego the Avid piece would be a combination from the middle school and the high school approximately a range from 14 to 16 inclusive of myself the district director the site team coordinators administrators and teachers okay so 14 people it
074dep from each site possibly 14 to 16 from each site so about 28 for the whole District okay and K uh the ones 14 14 total MH okay thank you anyone else I go no okay seeing no one the next uh scheduled public Board of Education meeting will be on Wednesday May 11th 2011 at 700 p.m at the high school for our fabulous annual organizational meeting do I have a motion to adjourn Mr Klein second second I'm going to give that to Mr Tesla all those in favor I opposed extensions Mo motion carries mayor