001good evening the meeting of the Monroe Township Board of Education will come to order please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance 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 may we please have a roll call Mr Gorski Mrs K Pano here Mr tesler here miss anelis Mr Braverman here Mr Chella here Mr calman here Mr Masters here Mr Po here Mr proso is present he just left for a moment Mr zareski here Madame board president you have a quarum thank you in accordance with the provisions of the New Jersey open public meetings law the momena board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time
002and place thereof posted June 12th 2013 one at all schools two home News Tribune three cranberry press and four filed with with the clerk of the municipality at this time we will go to a presentation of the Monro Education Foundation grants and I will ask Mr Todd Edelman who is the president of the Monro Education Foundation to please come to the microphone and present your grants number five that is that we are up to number we're there already beautiful um out of uh out of close to a dozen grants this year uh we awarded five grants uh for specific uh reasons which I'll I'll put with the uh with our grants that we have here with our certificates um the other grants we got a lot this year for iPads uh people requesting iPads so
003as a foundation we decided to do two iPads per school and we're in a process of buying uh 32 gig iPads two for each school and the teachers can share them and and start a program with with the iPads technology seems to be the uh the new way that we're going here so I have the certificates um the first one will go to Lisa M McHugh is Lisa here [Music] [Applause] I'm sorry I was in the middle of getting these organized when you uh think uh second one goes to Karen berinsky uh for out of this world discoveries from Mil Lake Elementary School is Karen [Applause] here okay um is it Ken breski and Brook ker right Brooker yes Brooker I I think there maybe a whole group of those yep these are for M
004Lake Schools astronomy night we and astronomer we bring an astronomer to our school to teach the children using the indoor planetarium thank you thank you thank you very [Applause] much uh the next one goes to Kristen Miller for un uncovering the mysteries of our [Applause] galaxy uh next one goes to uh Dennis Quinn from Mil Lake Elementary School for out of this world discoveries I think that was part of the the other one we have a lot of those um Lissa Miller from middle school TV studio set that's me [Laughter] thank you thank you so much y uh Patricia Van Gordon the connections Cafe Kristen granny thank you thank you uh Sarah Richards uh Penguins on Parade from Barkley Brook and Ashley py except I think there's a few of us it was a great
005y there you go we're going to send you some pictures of the penguins live visit awesome thank you thank you um the rest of the certificates are for the for the iPads that we're going to give out and we also have a check from the foundation for G thanks that's that's the aggregate amount for all the grants yep $4,700 minus the one uh one last thing i' I'd like to say we um Todd could you just uh speak into the microphone facing us because we can't hear you sorry uh one thing I just wanted to to mention I think everyone here knows what the foundation does and and how we provide these grants to teachers uh and the way we do that is through fundraisers there's two fundraisers that we are coming up with this
006year uh the first one's going to be right now tentatively on October 10th at the makeawish castle over on primeville road and it's going to be a taste of Monroe uh we're going to pull all of our local restaurants in uh if anyone's ever been to a taste before and uh we're going to get information out on that very soon the second one we're going to have uh I actually had lunch with Rich um Salvadore yesterday and he runs a dance company up in New Brunswick and they're doing a nutcracker uh play that we're planning on doing here at the at the high school and that's going to be sometime in December so just wanted to let everyone know if you guys can please support us and we're always looking to recruit uh recruit members
007for the foundation and help us out so thank you very much and we just want to thank you and rest of your members of the Monro Education Foundation for your support of the schools and our students it's much appreciated thank [Applause] you the uh next on the agenda number six is a recognition of retirees and tonight is always a an exciting night and a kind of a Bittersweet night um to recognize them because it's an opportunity for us to honor all of these retiring employees who have retired during the past year and each of them have had the unique opportunity to make a difference in the lives of countless number of students during their time in Monroe and we just want to let them know how much we appreciate what they've done and wish them
008continued happiness and success in their um future so at this time Dr Hamilton do you want to I'll read uh one of the plaques uh we call them up so we won't have to read every single one of them um it reads resolution whereas the Board of Education of the township of Monroe County of middle SEC state of New Jersey has been apprised of the retirement be it Revol resolved by the Board of Education Township of Monroe County of middlex in the state of New Jersey that the said Board of Education wishes to acknowledge its appreciation for services rendered to the students and citizens of Monroe Township whereas it is desired to express recognition for the many years of faith service now therefore be it resolved by the Board of Education of the township of
009Monroe that it does hereby express its warm appreciation and heartfelt thanks for the dedicated and faithful service in the performance of these duties and of the Integrity with which these duties have been carried out and regrets the loss of such a respected employee be it resolved that a copy of this resolution be spread upon the minutes of the Board of Education and that a copy be given to the recognized employee passed unanimously by the township of Monroe Board of Education ated regular meeting of June 19 2013 signed Kathy kapano board president and ATT test by Mr Michael Gorski board secretary do you want to give yes okay we go our first retiree for this evening Maria Leed better custodian Monroe Township High [Applause] School Joyce Sweeney confidential secretary to the business administrator board secretary mro
010Township Board of Education [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Pamela O'Neal guidance counselor mil Lake [Applause] School Diane Shadel they a great teacher Woodland [Applause] School Susan critz did I pronounce that right family teacher family consumer science mon Ro High School congratulations on your retirement Teddy Mikki assistant principal oak tree [Applause] school it's about 20 and Ronnie Grossman teacher of basic skills mil Lake School this is to recognize our student board representative and a CER a certificate of appreciation to aner Patel and sincere appreciation for your dedicated service to the students and schools of Monroe Township while serving as a student board member of the Monroe Township Board of Education from 2011 to 2013 s signed by by board president Kathy kapano and Mr Michael Gorski andir congratulations it's okay um aner has been our student board member
011for the past two years and while she's been a member of monre tanip high school she's been part of the National Honor Society the Spanish Honor Society the Multicultural club and the honor role and uh she has volunteered her time at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital and has tutored at the Monroe Township Public Library she plans to attend Rutter's University in the honors program in the fall majoring in Premed and biological science so that's very lofty goals on behalf of the board I'd just like to wish you congratulations and continued success in your future and we hope that you come back and visit us thank you thank you so much thank [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] you got this year okay at this time we will go to number eight on the agenda the student presentation for dare
012to dream excuse me you forgot the board members reports student board memb reports that comes after oh okay sorry come on my bad I thought it oh there isn't yes I'm sorry to move this we'll move it back is that good is that good yep okay on May 23rd um for the eighth time I was granted the permission to take students to the DAR to dream student Leadership Conference held at middle sex County College it is a conference for students run by students students that have demonstrated exemplary student leadership and self- advocacy skills and this year our keynote speaker I present to you tonight was Joseph is is Joseph rasy he spoke beautifully there and he wants to share his words with you here [Applause] thank you for that introduction Miss Freedman my name is
013Jo vasi and I'm a senior right now in this high school I have a diagnosis of asger syndrome it affects my educational performance in areas of thinking reading and written language I'm eligible for special education under the criteria under the under the criteria for autistic and a specific learning disability in the area of read and comprehension I went to project h m Rose starting at 3 years old when I started the program I maybe was able to say 20 words at a time but by the time I made it the kindergarten I was able to speak it with a full vocabulary communication and nonverbal skills that natural to most people I had to learn them I had to learn facial expressions showing emotions so I had to be Tau with happy sad mad confused upset
014every emotion what it looked like for me idioms in English were really confusing for me I always took everything very literal for example the expression don't cut yourself short I thought him me cut yourself at your knees and sell the other hat have sounds silly but I really didn't but I really didn't understand them I no longer take things so literally when I was younger I had difficulty changing my routine if my routine changed sometimes I would get angry and misbehave it took about 6 years of behavior therapy and guidance for my parents before I learned to cope with change I learned to advocate for myself at an early age I chose to play baseball 9 years old and it's a couple years after I decided to play football at age 12 this is this
015was a decision I made on my own even though I made this decision on my own I was I was still depending of my mom to speak to my coaches for me if I was going to be late for practice or anything I remember I remember always I really read that part through the encouragement my mom gave me I learned to I learned to speak up for myself now at high school my self advocacy skills have gotten so good that a lot of times my mom doesn't even know what happened such as when a student of the month in January the day of the dream The Good News Bulletin because yeah Mom I wasn't going to tell you about that you're you're like at the M streaming I actually emailed you emailed you before I
016forgot I didn't am I P meetings instead of having the teachers speak about how how I'm doing I speak of been explain my STS in each class and where I can use help from freshman year to now I can say that my confidence level has kept increasing and in school I had to work really hard I moved from a self Cain class to Resource class classes to mainstream classes in high school this took a lot of time hard a lot of time hard work and dedication to all subjects in school as a senior four out of my six classes are in the main stream I have also been able to to reduce the amount of accommodations in my IOP and I have learned to capitalize on my strengths by knowing how I learn best in
017advocating on a regular basis as a young child I faced many social issues that were difficult say and cuz it's come on when I started preschool I was the most antisocial kid there and I really just kept my mouth shut the whole time and and now now when I'm at home I can't even shut up anymore they wish for me to shut up and in which when I met new people I would often hide behind my parents or hide somewhere in my house cuz yeah I was shy which one of my best friends who I've known since preschool who actually a senior right now at this high school he he really helped me by introducing me to his other friends and involving me in recreational activities now in my high school I've been a member
018in the football team all four years since even asked the coaches back there they know which I've been on the track team through for three years and like I said you guys Mr de that point when once I yeah but ski the whole iPad thing I'm a visual ler one of the things that helps me in school is being able to use an iPad to do my school work the iPad has so many different colors that catch my eye and the visual primes actually help me to focus better I have always used flash cords to study in mind mapping prior to writing a paper the visuals help me to focus and accomplish the tasks I need to complete for school cuz it's come on if I'm reading a textbook I might as well what have
019fall asleep in in my in my world history class in freshman year and have have fig Mr bigest Dro textbooks on top of me trying to wake me up yeah I know once I started High School one of my goals was to be able to go to college After High School graduation this year I applied to three School schools I'm very interested in forensic science and would like to be an investigator I'm proud to say that next year I'm going to be attending Long Island University post I'll will be a part of the program for academic success it is a college program that gives many support services for students that have learning disabilities I'm looking forward to taking advantage of all the support I need to achieve all of my goals I already told you
020that I played on the high school football team for four years but but what this year was a quote that my mom found and put it in the pamphlet for the high school football team stuff and which was said by V leard who is probably one of the most decorated Green Bay Packers coaches since he made the Super Bowl happen he said football is like life it requires perseverance self-denial hard work sa sacrifice and dedication and respect of authority I feel I have persevered in football academics and will continue to do so in all aspects of of my life everyone needs goals and dreams to achieve never give up on your dreams tell to become reality thank you and thank you for what a great success story and not only is he you a wonderful
021speaker but you have a great sense of humor and I think I'd like to hire you to come to each board member um board meeting we could use a sense of humor every once in a while um and I'm sure that it's just an example of all the great things that we do in our district and um we got to thank your your family and your teachers who have supported you all these years so good luck in your future um I was so excited about giving aner her her plaque that I forget to let her speak so um we'll have their student board members reports now and anara you can keep your name tag um the before I start I just want to say thank you for being so lenient and understanding this year you
022guys have set a great example for me to follow in college and I hope to take on more challenging roles like this in the future so thank you so much for this award it means a lot to [Applause] me and I'll be back next year so I'll see you all again and um this has been a really great experience for me too and I'm excited to um I mean as an area is done for me teach someone how to you know write down the events for the month I guess no I'm kidding but um our um our the events that have taken place in June are the fourth marking period ends June 14th and final exams exams began Tuesday and end on Friday makeup finals are June 21st and June 24th um graduation practice is
023on June 21st June 24th and June 25th and high school graduation is on June 24th at Sun National Bank May June 25th I'm sorry okay thank you thank you um at this time um about three months ago a motion was made by Mr Chella to move our committee reports to the beginning of the meeting instead of after the meeting is is almost over um we went through the process of doing that we had to go to the policy committee and have that policy revised and then it was approved by the board of education at the last board meeting um it is not written on the agenda today it's still in the same place but next month in July it will be where it should be now the new spot but I'm going to ask for
024a motion in a second to move it today to the um before the public for and we can get the committee reports done Mr chel is there a second second by Mr Masters all in favor opposed extensions okay then at this time we will go to our committee reports and is there anyone who has a committee report that needs to be done tonight go figure no Mr Masters we had a finance committee meeting June 17th um we had a uh recommendation to change the Food Service management company which we approved to a different food service management company uh with a guarantee of over9 $90,000 uh in a give back uh we open the bid results or we open the bid for the appointment of a lender uh right now we're looking at TD Finance they
025have a really favorable rate of 1.36% so that'll be very positive uh Improvement uh we talked about the bid openings for the roof replacement I'm screwing something up thank you we're recommending that we go with a company called AR architectural concept construction for $167,500 um minus a $6,000 um deduction because we're going to try to do the uh roof in uh September instead of July and August uh we had a Mecca update uh about enrollment we also discussed uh the loan payback schedule we decided we're going to wait until we have the final numbers in at the end of the year this year before we finalize anything we discussed um 50% a stepped portion all kinds of different things but we're going to hold off on that uh but it is in process and we
026also had is that this one do you want to start all over again yeah I want start Iva you want to recap all that for me sure from the beginning uh we I did it I told you every meeting uh we did have an update on the s237 uh we had a good turnout last week uh testimony between the uh to the budget and appropriation committee and it did pass thank you everybody that showed up thank you Administration uh now we're waiting for the next step currently there is no timeline uh we're waiting for a date of the hearing but we always need more support um it's an inch that we're moving we're moving an inch at a time but it is our inch and we it is making progress so that's a very positive
027thing uh that's pretty much it for finance Finance anyone else I have one more Mr Masters we had a um middle sex County Regional Educational Service Commission meeting on June 7th uh this one's easy it was basically a reorg meeting we re we did all the new housekeeping new schedules sworn in new officers uh there were some uh Cooperative bids approved uh for things like toilet paper and to paper towel stuff like that you can find it all online under their website it's a very lengthy agenda it's several hundred Pages um so you're always welcome to take a look at it but that's pretty much it anyone else need to speak okay so then we will move on to the public forum anyone from the public wishing to speak to the agenda please come to
028the microphone and state your name and address for the record than you good evening I'm Steven Ryback 23 Riviera Drive can I speak to letter uh V on page 30 B mm sure 30 page 30 the end fund loan to Mecca in May this board over the objections of uh many residents that evening and even Mr proso um voted to approve uh to continue the mecca program and to expand it uh into a um half day kindergarten program we learned that it was operating in the red there was no at that time there was no business plan it seems like many questions weren't answered and you didn't you know you didn't have you didn't I guess I have to say you didn't do your homework in developing this program fully to be able to answer
029all those questions um at the last meeting uh the issue came up at a public forum and we learned that there was also a $9,000 loan now I'm looking at uh now I'm looking at a $40,000 loan that's being proposed why are we playing with this program when obviously we're not really prepared uh financially uh to to have such such programs the people of this community as you are well aware cannot afford kinds of programs like this that we just haven't done our homework enough to put in we don't know if it's going to be successful or not it seems you said it seems like it's going to be running a profit well if it's running a profit why are we why are we considering another loan uh I think that you need to vote
030this program down and take a look at how you're spending our money thank you thank you good evening Tom notein 15 ethaniel Street um with regards to uh under business administrators report Vias and Victor um it looks like according to my Matt this is the fourth can correct me if I'm wrong Mr Gorski uh this is the fourth transfer for a total of $32,500 is that accurate 305,000 305,000 okay I knew my math was wrong that's why you're the business administrator um I'm just trying to wonder I was at the last two finance committee meetings and I didn't hear any mention of this $40,000 uh additional interf fund transfer um how did that come about and how does that get on the agenda without getting discussed at the finance committee Mr Gorski um the agenda
031item for the last finance committee meeting was to discuss the enrollment and have an enrollment update subsequent to that meeting we did another uh interim Financial update for the mecca program and determined that another transfer for $40,000 is needed to provide working capital to carry it through June 30th and that and that's you know it was uh recommended in the business administrators report it was sent to the board in advance it's not so much a deliberative item as we've discussed these other transfers before um and uh you know the money is needed for salaries and operational costs and that wouldn't be something that would be typically discussed at a finance committee I I think it was um excuse me brought up in the past when we were talking about other transfers that there was a
032possibility that there could be another one before the end of the school year to get us through the end true but wouldn't that I mean wouldn't you want the finance committee to discuss that may I think it had been discussed a long a while ago at at the finance committee prior to two meetings prior to the business plan that was presented yes um with regards to that business plan that was presented two finance committee uh meetings ago um why has that not been made public I understand I asked a board member and they told me that it was deliberative at what point does it become non-deliberative and how can a plan uh actually be deliberative based on you know you're giving numbers uh hard numbers I don't understand why what is what are you deliberating
033on I guess that's to make a long question shorter um the plan will be made available the numbers are changing every day actually they changed as recently as today in fact um so our intent is at the close of this fiscal year June 30th to finalize the plan and operate with the what the budget will look like um what the revenue and expenditures will look like for the new year beginning August 1st and then that at that point the plan will be made public no longer deliberative okay thank you Madam um Mr Gorski also as Mr Masters pointed out before there are some deliberative items that are still being designed for the plan such as the very important loan payback schedule um that's going to be based on a percentage of profit um for certain
034periods of time for example if if we reach $50,000 worth of profit 50% of that will be applied to the loan for repayment uh so to provide enough working capital to continue but to address the loan in a formal fashion and make it into the business plan and because the mecca program had a a very late start last year we knew that this was going to be the year a transitional year a kind of um new business opening up we knew that that they would need help this year um because like I said they had a late start and getting people to um be part of Mecca but as of now we have enough people in both the Mecca and the um kindergarten enrichment program to support the numbers and as soon as um we
035start working in September coming back and knowing everything that's finalized we will be able as Mr Master said to look at a payback plan based on how much we're expecting to get and how much we feel that we can start giving back to the Board of Education anyone else from the public my name's Kirsten rasy um I live in Monroe Joey's my son and I just want to take this forum to thank everybody to thank especially a lot of these people that are here a lot of Joey's teachers are here his football coaches are here um the letters that he has gotten Joey is a product of the Monroe Township school system he went into Project Help when Project Help was at Woodland School when he was 3 years old I put a child on
036a bus that had 50 words of even that and cried and looked at Barbara Hirsch and thought she was out of her Everlasting mind she was my savior as well as all these other teachers are I don't know what I would have done without them I don't know what Joey has done without them our program has come so far and I'm so excited of all the improvements that I've seen and I can't wait to see what happens for these other kids but thank you for doing this for him thank [Applause] you sh Arm min9 ethaniel Street I would like to thank Joey and his mom for all the hard work they've done and um I'm glad that we do see successes in the Monroe Board of Education I know I come up and criticize a
037lot but when it works and I know there are wonderful teachers in this district and I'm very grateful for the hard work that they do to help uh Stu all students and and again thanks Joey for all his hard work um however let's go back to Mecca uh I also because sometimes things don't seem to work and we have to you know we have to really be open and honest about these things um as I've mentioned in the past it's not that I am opposed to the philosophy and and idea of Mecca but the way it's being presented and the way it has evolved in terms of how much information and transparency has been given to the public I think is a suspect um I have been attending uh all you know I know you
038guys do a great job and you're volunteer and I appreciate that but the the the citizens there's a lot of citizens in Monroe and the public that attends these meetings as well because we choose to be informed about what's going on we want to make the right decisions also um we are the shareholders and I think it's said here that the taxpayers are the shareholders sometimes we're not treated as though we are um I think $440,000 is a significant number I think it's something that should have been discussed openly at the finance meeting it pops up here um I don't know if Mr Gorski came up with that figure he was told to put it up like who is responsible who is responsible for that figure and having it put on the agenda Mr Gorski
039hi Michelle I was responsible for that number and putting it on the business administrator report and again it was a result of reviewing the operations for the program through May 31st and determining that there was a deficit because expenditures are exceeding current revenues therefore um it necessitated another transfer for working capital purposes okay well I um I don't understand why it's still in a deliberative state because we know about it it's a plan that's already been instituted it's a work it's a a work in progress so I don't know why these numbers aren't given a forthcoming um the the in the finance meeting and in some of the board meetings we've heard uh board members say it's it's profitable already we're going to start making money and then there's a change in gear I my
040objection to the way this is is is that at best it's an evasive practice that you're not giving the figures and at worst it's deception and again the public is asking for the facts you would get more support for programs if we weren't blindsided at meetings and when people ask for uh details they're giving like a like I said last month half truths we have a right we're taxpayers you're asking us to pay our taxes to put this through we want good or we want good systems we want kids like Joey to succeed but in order to do that you need to tell us about these things and it should be something that the public is aware of and the transparency is just not there thank you anyone else from the public Robert roach J
041team field Bard Monroe um I think $300,000 would have been much better spent on programs like Joey has instead of being thrown at a babysitting program um on I want to go to the business report on u z page 31 uh it's with the new food service program it says a there is a guaranteed Financial return a 95,000 plus for 2013 2014 what does that mean Mr Gorski as part of the RFP process request for proposal um a standard template was sent to potential biders as well as advertised pertaining to the number of meals served um the number of operation days school calendar and so on and the Mets culinary group guaranteed a bottomline net net income of 95,5 A2 after the 1314 school year is concluded that means that they guarantee a profit many
042school districts are struggling with Enterprise programs um particularly the Food Service program so much so that the state has made it uh prohibitive to transfer money from the general fund into the uh cafeteria programs ours has always been profitable with this new proposal this will better serve students because this profit will help keep lunch prices down as well as ensure that the taxpayers will never as be asked for help to subsidize the cafeteria program so that profit then just goes back into the operation of the cafeteria program that's correct and it and it also has a big factor in determining lunch prices in the subsequent year uh can that that's in within the proprietary fund yes sir so and as is Mea in the proprietary fund can can there be loans the proprietary fund for
043the uh uh cafer program at the end of 2000 June 3rd 2012 had over $600,000 in unrestricted net Assets Now why couldn't that money have been loaned to Mecca since they're in the same funds versus taking money out of the general fund to fund Mecca it could have it it's more customary to have interfund loans provided by the general fund the Food Service fund has never loaned interfund transactions to other um other uh funds because that's not what it's designed for it's meant to have as close to a break even every year as possible to ensure that you're charging appropr at lunch prices and so on the the the retained earnings that you're referring to at the end is the accumulation of profits over the years and um that that's being um used in the
044future for additional serving lines and ovens and cash registers and and fixed asset purposes the board just approved a new delivery truck uh for the food service operation for about $60,000 because the 1991 model rusted out um that will come out of that6 $100,000 the uh program for 2000 ending 2012 had a $73,000 profit you so you got 600,000 sitting there and you and the general fend didn't have that type of money I mean I was it was it even considered to transfer the money from the uh within the uh uh the um what do you call that proprietary fund no for the reasons that I just mentioned that fund is not designed discussed doesn't have the magnitude of the general fund to provide loans and um that that could have jeopardized the uh operational
045capital of that fund to be loaning out money what was the uh the the unused Surplus in the general fund at the time the Surplus in the was it over 600,000 let me ask you that there's there there's two figures there's the um excess Surplus calculation which goes to subsequent Year's budget uh as required by law that was about 4.6 million if I recall correctly and as required by the state there's about 1.8 million held in reserve in the general fund as required by law if you dip below that you have to ask County permission thank you anyone else from the public wishing to speak Maran Lester 44 Avenue I I have five questions and excuse me if I did miss some information along the way uh page 27 what is item being transferred and
046it's listed as transfer number 11 page 28 what were the architectural fees of di group architecture for their services as listed on the agenda of partial re Roofing and site improvements at the Monro Township middle school and what is the rod grant funding that you are requesting in conjunction with this page 30 you don't State the budget amounts for the two idea budgets page 31 what is the rate exuse me Maran can you just give us one at a time or do I get all are you gonna answer all my questions yeah if if you just give us the number or the okay page 27d 27d is transfer number 11 right that's the 11th transfer of the school year transferring between um budgetary accounts is customary and normal um because when you prepare a school
047budget you can't be that specific and that exact with budgetary items and during the year when additional students come on our enrollment or prices change or items become Obsolete and you have to change your plan transfers are required to move money within funds um and it's normal and customary and Allowed by the county office the schedule is attached okay page 28f what were the architectural fees of di group architecture for their services uh as listed on the agenda there was partial re-roofing and site improvements at the Monroe Township middle school and what do you mean by or what are you requesting with the rod Grant okay item f is um um the state of New Jersey just put forth that they have money available to help schools with construction projects called Rod grants regular operating
048districts and through the efforts of Jerry tag um and and myself we were quick to jump into this pool of money and request a rod Grant which goes up to 40% of the expenditures that you are improving um and um get a reimbursement from the state in this instance for f as part of the 1314 school budget we're replacing the Monroe Township middle school performing arts center roof um for a total cost of about $500,000 including uh engineering fees and this Rod Grant if approved could uh reimburse us for up to 40% of the cost so that's why we wanted to get the application in right away and this is the authorization by the board in order to do so okay but what was the architectural fees By Di group because they're going to be
049submitting it it was about 40 to 60,000 included in that 500 number I gave you before okay page 30 p and Q you don't State the budget amounts for the two idea budgets there you don't give the dollar amount the idea budgets are grants from the state uh all the grants were attached for the board's review and uh I could go over all those amounts with you before unfortunately they're not as much as we would like um we're not eligible for that much in terms of grant funding as other districts are and that's because we don't have a lot of LEP or atrisk students for the most part but what's the dollar amount of the budget though for there's several different budgets there's ieda basic preschool there's uh nclb has several different grants within it
050I'd have to go over the um the list with you you just can't give me a general one for p and Q it would take too long to go through it pick it out I can get that information then at the next meeting okay I'll talk to you after the meeting and satisfi question okay page 31x what is the rate for the legal services uh for the board to be paid to the law firm willin golden and Spitzer you should just say the rate is the same as last year I don't know that rate and does that include any extraordinary litigation because the town we have constantly pay extraordinary litigation at for the township also I have to find the contract bear with me okay um the board will pay the firm wance Goldman Spitzer
051an annual retainer of 50 $4,000 for up to 30 hours of professional legal services each month the board will pay the firm an hourly rate of $175 for shareholders $165 for associates and Council and $95 for par legals for matters not covered by the retainer the board will also reimburse The Firm for costs such as computer research UPS overnight messenger longdistance telephone calls fact simile photocopy and the like and last one page 31 Y how many bids were submitted for the partial roof roof replacement at the middle school was Arch concept construction the lowest bid and what was the bid amount I know you said something mentioned something about you were using arch for something else before I think um there were total of one two three four five nine six seven eight total of
052nine bids Arch concept was the lowest at 1675 mhm okay and the highest was $460,000 all right thank you anyone else from the public wish to speak okay seeing none we will close the public forum and go to the superintendent report Dr Hamilton yes um before I begin my report um we have another retiree present this evening that I'd like to acknowledge Mrs kapano if you join me at the microphone i' like to recognize this evening Mr John dine teacher of the handicap at Monroe Township Middle [Applause] School yes he he went home we I could tomorrow if you want thank you wear quick enough okay moving on to the superintendent report enrollment data comparing May and June is enclosed in your agenda along with the enrollment for outof district placement and those students who
053are currently on homebound instruction fire drills and safety drills are listed on the agenda as well and that takes us to our Personnel report um and before I get into the Personnel report I I just want to say that all resignations are are bittersweet because uh we Shar in the excitement of new beginnings for those who are making positive career advances but we are particularly sadden by the resignation of Pam Garcia and Joey Manzel and Teresa Taylor who are both resigning to to move on to other aspects of their career and I just want to thank them for their service to the district and we certainly wish them well um so Madame board president and members of the board of education is recommended by the superintendent that Personnel items a through JJ be approved by
054roll call vote Mr cherella second by Mr proso is there any comments or questions for Dr Hamilton okay seeing none we'll have a roll call thanks Mr Braverman yes accept the new position under double ey that's a no on the new position under double ey so noted Mr cherella yes Mr zareski yes Mr calman yes to all recuse on T is and Tom so noted Mr Masters yes Mr po uh yes uh except I would like to once again uh state that for all of the various clubs and extracurricular activities I'm looking forward to receiving a report on the level of involvement that we have there uh I realize that this is uh this particular item is just you know approving the people and the salaries but uh I think it would be important for
055the members of the board to uh at some point uh maybe before the end of the summer or early next year to know what the level of involvement of those various clubs are thank you Mr tesler yes Mrs kapano yes Mr proso oh sorry yes to everything and also I'd like to know about uh why we should be and little y I'm sorry as Doug said we should be looking at these clubs to to see what's working what's not and what's filled and what's where we could save some money down in the future but I vote yes thank you Madame board president Personnel items a through doublej passes okay board action items Madame board president members of the board of of education is recommended by the superintendent that board action items a through G be
056passed by roll call vote Mr Chella is there a second second second by Mr Tesla again any comments or questions for Dr Hamilton Mr Masters what is uh e the e- rate we were discussing I know in that one policy where I was subbed in um about looking at an alternate version of it or even just looking into it I was just curious what the status that was yes erate is a a program where on everybody's utility bill there's an additional tax and the aggregate amount of money's accumulated in this tax go to different applicants for reimbursements on technology P per purchases mainly um utilities like internet access and phone lines the district uh participates in eate U whereas an erate provider um goes out and um does all the paperwork associated with this Grant
057and I believe on an annual basis we receive back in rebates a net of about $100,000 for E rate anyone else okay seeing none we'll have a roll call Mr Braverman yes Mr Chella yes Mr zareski yes Mr calman Mr Masters yes Mr Po yes Mr tesler yes Mrs kapano yes Mr proso yes mam board president board action items a through G passes thank you and before I conclude my report i' just like to acknowledge all of our retirees this evening thank you for your years of service to our students in our community and to AER good luck to you you've done a excellent job serving on the board and that concludes the superintendent's report okay at this time we will go to the business administ business administrators report doc doctor I'll give you a
058doctorate if you'd like my mom will be sooud Madame board president and members of the Monro Township Board of Education it is recommended that board action items a through able a be approved by consent roll call someone second Mr Masters and Mr Chella are there comments or questions for Mr Gorski Mike under B just confirm that's $200 yes sir uh the bill list for the new high school bond series was only 200 $100 anyone else yes bo uh item doua it's the resolution for lease purchasing and I believe the members of the board were provided with a lot of uh documentation separately from the agenda and I noticed in that documentation that we were um we were ordering I believe or purchasing lease purchasing an additional 125 iPads for next year um I I don't
059know if anyone can uh elaborate on the need for the additional uh 125 iPads and I'm particularly uh concerned with uh how many iPads this year uh might have been damaged to the point that they have to be replaced um Madam chair sure um the answer to the ipid the entire Tech the entire lease purchase um consists of of the following items technology was 339,119 um buses 380,000 uh Vans 110,000 copy machines 94,00 telecommunication 28855 s fiber lines 35,100 and security upgrades 54,1 154 the iPads were previously presented to uh various committees and the board and they are not for um damage but they are solely for student growth they are to provide new iPads for the increasing numbers of students at the high school anyone else iella just I want to know what uh
060item n is the school physician and what the what the services of the school physician will be for yes um item n is for the school physician who provides a great deal of um student physicals for sports throughout the year the majority of them are in the beginning of the school year um but as students decide to join different sports during the year he's quite busy we have a great number of students who participate in athletic programs here requiring the service his fee has been the same or held the Same by the board for the last five years and um it's a monthly fee of 1,753 and his contract is being furnished to him uh at the conclusion of this uh recommended passage tonight and he's he also attends uh sports events as well okay
061thank you anyone else Mr presiosa item v the inter fund loan uh we're at $35,000 right now does that include the $40,000 that we prepared to vote on yes it does okay and that is to June 31st at the end of this school year June 3 we'll be looking to borrow more money right after June correct are we looking to borrow more money we will borrow more money in order to fund the program I will ask Mr gorson to answer that question um there's a good possibility that we may have to borrow more working capital for the months of July and August uh because we have fixed fixed expenses that continue um however the light at the end of the tunnel is that we have very good projected enrollment numbers for September and the need
062for additional working Capital Loans should subside after August and we should see a reversal where these loans hopefully begin to get paid back uh the parents that signed up when are they responsible to pay the full amount of the tuition um in in September correct and uh I have a problem I'm on finance Committee Member and uh this was never discussed in finance and I feel that since it's a $40,000 loan and I think it should have been discussed at the finance meeting and I had no idea this was going to be another loan so statement I'm making oh okay never mind and as far as CH uh having a problem changing the agenda the agenda's changed all the time with committee meetings so I'm a little disappointed that this was not on the finan
063committee agenda that's all anyone else have a comment a question for Mr gski it's just a request Mr Masters it's a it's a request the MC Cooperative do we know off the top of your head how much we save by being a part of that because I know there's expenses to being a part of it you don't if you don't have the number now I'd love to maybe at the next Finance because it's something I'm curious about I'm I'm very familiar with the number as uh it was an update in the superintendent's action plan um according to um correspondents from the middle sex Regional at Service Commission purchasing Consortium Monroe Board of Education saved over $500,000 in Supply orders alone for the year and a half that we've been part of this program the aggregate
064bids that they solicit through the county are so large that there's economies of scale that districts can't recognize by going out to bid on their own in fact the uh figures through these bids are even lower than if you purchase them under State contract where the state does the bidding so the board's decision to to join this uh personing Consortium is paying great dividends said 500,000 right sir anyone else then we'll have a roll call Mr Braverman yes Mr Chella yes Mr zareski yes Mr calman yes Mr Masters yes Mr Po yes Mr tesler yes Mrs kapano yes Mr proso yes on everything but F that's a no on f as in Frank sir no as in F oh I'm sorry did you uh V I'm sorry V as in Victor so noted yes I
065thank you okay next on the agenda is the board president's report and for my board president's report I'm going to ask Mr Gorski to give you an update on s237 I think we've had um I think you've had an update since we met last Thursday thank you um we've talked previously about the success that we've had at the first level which is a hearing at the Senate budget and Appropriations Committee um there was a favorable vote on our legislation after testimony was provided by stakeholders to the importance of this legislation in in reducing taxes and specifically being sensitive to the senior population in town this legislation does not ask for additional money it does not pit District against District but it simply asked the state to fund its own funding model for districts with greater
066than one-third senior population age 65 years or older according to the last decennial census I had an opportunity to speak with Mr Jim hooker chief of staff for Senator Greenstein yesterday and according to Mr hooker there's increasing interest in this legislation by various Senators a senator Huffer hfle R from Ocean County called Senator Greenstein and asked if he could co-sponsor the bill and she welcomed him to do so and I understand he has signed on to the bill there are other Senators who are very interested in this legislation and the effect that it has on seniors and reducing taxes and the next step according to uh Mr hooker is that it will go to the full senate for a vote um an additional bill called a 3478 is in existence in the assembly currently as
067we've uh um presented to the board previously and that could be acted on at any time first at the assembly education committee if it passes the assembly education committee which according to Mr hooker there's a good expectation it will then it will go to the full vote of the assembly according to Mr hooker there's a very good chance that this could pass the Senate assembly I'm sorry the assembly education committee the Senate and the full assembly by the time that they adjourn for vacation that would leave it for the Governor's vote and there is no expiration date on that is that it thank you um it's very important for our community to get in touch with the senator our Senator and probably any other one you'd like to get in touch with um I I
068believe especially Senator Sweeney because he's the head of the Senate um I I believe that they heard from about 2,000 members of this community and with 45,000 um members in this people living in this community it would be to our advantage to get as many people as possible involved in this the more they hear from it the more they they will support it so if if you have um want to send petitions in if you need some information where to send it we have the information at the board office it's on the website as well it's on the website um we'd be glad to get it to you but but it it in the next two weeks um because I I believe they they close for the summer the 30th of June we we really
069all have to do as much as possible to get this get the support for this and um the other thing I just have to say for my board president's report is to wish everybody since this is the end of the 2012 13 school year a very happy healthy safe summer um we've already done committee reports so is there any other business by any member of the Board of Education Mr proso yes I would like to thank all the teachers that are retiring and uh I have a special thanks for Dr Taylor uh I told my son about your retirement or your resignation and he was very upset I want to thank you you followed my son all the way through and he's made Leaps and Bounds and we're going to miss you and to the
070most of the um special needs teachers out there thank you very much I know you get a great satisfaction at are helping our children and uh God bless you all thank you thank you [Music] Teresa anyone else Mr Chella yes I just wanted to uh I just want to thank aner for her service you're you're a wonderful young lady and I wish your luck I think uh I think you have a very bright future we're going to miss you but I just uh I hope you're going you're going to be you're going to become a doctor a medical doctor because we are a very unhealthy group I'm hoping that you'll be able to back but I just wanted to thank you for your service and let you know that you're going to be missed but
071I also wanted to thank the the public and the Board of Education um for attending everyone who attended the Senate hearing I thought that that was a great turnout and I really thought that it was it was nice to see the community come out in full force and it wasn't just uh teachers or it wasn't just parents it was it was a mix of senior citizens and young people and parents and and it was everyone it was the entire community and that's the kind of thing that we need to see because our battle um although it might seem like it's in here against each other our our real battle is is out there against the uh inequities and the funding formula and that's really where we need to be together as one in order to
072fight that so I just wanted to thank thank everyone and and thank Dr Hamilton and um Mr Gorski and and the members of the public who uh who spoke and gave testimony there so thank you very much anyone else Mr Kaufman uh yeah this is more business related um and congratulations to all the retirees Theresa we're going to miss you you know and God bless happy end of the year um I did get a call from a colleague of mine uh who uh work or is part of another school board in another District that just went through a security audit um they hired an outside company to come in and basically take a look at all their facilities and just kind of look something over and because I'm an alternate I'm not on buildings and
073grounds I would ask that one thing that they found that you know you kind of want to scratch your head saying well I hope we don't have that here uh they came up with a finding that uh some of their exterior steel doors on some of their buildings had no ability to see outside either through a peole or through a camera and invariably when they did the security audit somebody knocked on the door they open the door um so might want to be a good idea to run through all of our buildings to see and make sure that at the very least we have PE Poes that somebody from the inside can see what's standing on the opposite side of the door uh that somebody doesn't doesn't inadvertently just go ahead and open it because
074somebody knocked uh so just to pass it along thank you anyone else okay then we will go to close session resolution be it resolved that the Board of Education of the township of Monro hereby moves to go into Clos session in accordance with Sunshine Law chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 njsa 10 4-6 through 10 4-21 to discuss the following subjects interview for math supervisor board to receive legal advice on Jamesburg matter superintendent evaluation students matter student matters harassment intimidation and bullying incidence 40 through 43 the discussion conducted in closed session can be disclosed to the public at such time as the matters have been resolved and do you have any idea how long this could take I'm going to say about an hour about an hour and I I there could be
075action taken after the closed session um is there a motion in a second so move second Mr Chella Mr tesler all in favor opposed abstain and at this time the board will move into close session I'm coming at this time the board will reconvene into public session and we will go to the public forum anyone from the public wishing to speak please come to the microphone and state your name and address for the record I'm going to do that res okay he Liz prer 29 Spruce Meadows Drive I'll be quick but I've been waiting I would like to speak about a comment made at last meeting regarding the security in our schools I drive both my children to and from school each day and as a result I have been in either Barkley Brook Brookside
076and or the Middle School twice a day for for the past 9 years I feel very comfortable with the security and the safety of my children over the years I have seen procedures change as the world has changed around us and further measures are currently being taken to ensure the highest level of security I know every security guard in these three schools and they are amazing at their jobs they know about every student they know the parents they know the siblings and in many cases the extended family members they are not only top professionals but they also but are also both role models and friends to our parents and children in particular the security guard of Brookside School Mrs Karen Chu is not only one of the best at her job she is also a
077highly beloved and respected member of our community I frankly don't understand that if indeed this individual was so concerned about the safety of our schools and children why he didn't simply ask to speak to either doct alage our principal or Mr Pepe our assistant principal either could have explained the security protocol of the school putting partial information out there only causes panic in the community and is not helpful yes if this gentleman had a gun our beloved Mrs Chu potentially could have had her life taken for our children yet this could also be the case at the local 7-Eleven the mall the movies or any other place the world can be a dangerous place although I personally do not think it is necessary it is not an option for our taxpayers to support the $100,000
078bill that marbo New Jersey is footing every 90 days for armed guards I do believe it is in the best interest of the children to move polling from the three schools that are affected and ask the administration and the board to explore that option okay and on a personal note as my son is graduating middle school tomorrow evening I would like to thank all the wonderful staff at the middle school it has been a fabulous two years for my son and our family as we all know this is a crazy age Mrs Chanley explained at orientation you either have a passion to teach middle school or you run away from it the passion of this staff shines through I particularly want to acknowledge the spectacular teachers of Team Vega the looping team that my son
079had for both years words cannot express my gratitude and lastly I want to thank my Barkley Brook family we've been together such a long time and seen some turbulent changes over the past years we are so thankful for our fabulous principal Mrs Aon Mahoney Barkley Brook definitely has its mojo back and I want to thank all of you guys because it has been a wonderful year and I know it is a community effort thank you thank you anybody else from the public wishing to speak okay Michelle armino 9 ethaniel Street sorry I did I forgot what is the have you had four um close session resolutions how many of them have been resolved um one okay so I take it that the interview we will have a resolution for the math supervisor this evening we
080have not had any resolution to the legal advice on Jamesburg matter no okay do we have any idea how long that's going to take do we have to wait for a written attorney it's ongoing it could take a long time okay superintendent's evaluation is ongoing also yes it is is this the third third Clos session regarding that yes that will go on as well I take it well that is a a um confidential document between the Board of Education and the superintendent okay but it's not resolved yet anyway it it it will be resolved this week after you sign it okay because if it's done then what do you have to then what will happen after a signature then it gets put for the board for Vote or is it already no it does not
081have to get put before the board for a vote so the matter is almost resolved yes okay all right thank you anyone else from the public seeing no one we will close public forum um and Dr Hamilton has a resolution yes um it is recommended by the superintendent that sug Gasco be appointed as the District prek 12 supervisor of mathematics at a salary of $6,595 including a longevity of $2,380 effective July 1113 through June 30th 2014 second Mr Cher Ella Mr Masters any comments or questions seeing none we'll have a roll call Mr cherella yes Mr zareski yes Mr calman yes Mr Master yes Mr Po yes Mr proso yes Mr Tes no Mrs Ken yes madame board president motion passes thank you is there any other business no ma'am okay then our next scheduled
082public Board of Education meeting will be Wednesday July 17th 2013 7:00 P p.m. at the high school motion to adjourn so move by Mr Kaufman and Mr Masters all in favor opposed meeting adjourned PE