Monroe Township Board of Education 03.17.14 Regular Meeting

001good evening the meeting of the monreo Township Board of Education will come to order and as you can see we have a new flag up here so we will say the Pledge of Allegiance to this flag this one Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all put the flag right here yeah hey Amy may we have a roll call Mr Gorski miss anelis here Mr armeno here Mr Braverman here Mr Chella here Mr calman here Mrs colano here Mr nothstein here Mr Po Mr proso yes Mr zareski here Madame board president you have airum present this evening thank you in accordance with the provisions of the New Jersey open public meetings law the Monro toship

002board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted March 7th 2014 one at all schools two home News Tribune three cranberry press and four filed with the clerk of the municipality at this time we will have our reports from from their student board member good evening everyone so we have a lot of good news tonight the monre Township High School Deca chapter has recently returned from the state competition and had its most successful year in school history 16 students qualified for the international Career Development conference in Atlanta Georgia and are excited to compete this may this number is double of last year's students that qualified two students were elected into State office positions and the mon tanip High School Deca advisor Miss Debbie

003stepensky received recognition as an honorary life member of New Jersey Deca Mr Monroe recently took place at the high school six senior guys volunteered to participate as contestants in a male beauty pageant the winner received the title of Mr Monroe and he also received a free promid for himself and his plus one and the night was just a great way to show school spirit and support of fellow classmates the mths National Honor Society is holding a book drive for the next two weeks used and new books are accepted of all reading levels and all collected materials are being donated to Goodwill the spring Sports season has officially begun and we would like to congratulate all winter athletes on their accomplishments and wish all spring athletes the best of luck Applegarth Elementary School hosted its second

004annual jump rope for the heart on February 11th raising a total of $99,000 which is more than double of last year's total and all money will benefit the American Heart Association oak tree school also participated in Jump Rope for the heart and they raised over $122,000 and are honored to to also present this money to the American Heart Association and Oak Tree placed fourth in the county for fundraising in this event Applegarth Barkley Brook and Oak Tree schools All Began their participation in the middle sex County spring food drive today all students and staff are encouraged to donate oak tree School raised 1,000 $947 through their pennies for patients fundraisers all profits are being donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society also at Oak Tree read Across America was celebrated the week of March 3rd

005through March 7th with bulletin boards decorated in tribute to Dr Seuss guest readers included Ruckers athletes that read in each classroom and a week long of spirit week and fun activi took place a reading train involving all staff and students filled the hall Halls on March 7th the annual PTA variety show will take place on Friday March 21st come out and witness The Talented students of our district and lastly many of you received this flyer tonight but to call your attention to it the monor township Education Foundation is presenting a manre Township School staff versus Township police basketball game fundraiser for Mikey Nicholls the game is Tuesday April 22nd at 700 p.m. in the high school the donation and entrance fee is only $5 and it includes a night of food Raffles the game and

006fun all in support effort of Mikey on his road to recovery so I encourage everyone to please come out for the night and show your support and contact info and website information can be found at the bottom of the page thank you thank you for that very comprehensive report tonight at this time we will go to number six on the agenda the presentation and Adoption of the prelim preliminary 2014 2015 school budget and I will turn the meeting over to Dr Hamilton and Mr Gorski for their presentation uh good evening uh we will do our presentation by way of PowerPoint just make sure you catches l number 25 well firstly but when in the process of presenting our budget presenta preliminary budget presentation this evening we certainly want to thank our board members for all

007their support time and effort that went into developing this budget and a special thanks to our finance committee which is chaired by Mr proso co-chaired by Lou Kaufman and members include amen Tellis Kathy kapano of course Tom norstein and Al alternate member Mr Marvin Braverman so special thank you to these folks for their time and effort as well that went into develop in this budget everything that we put into the budget is centered around two basic principles one is our vision statement which is Monroe Township Board of Education commits itself to all children by preparing them to reach their full potential and to function in the global Society through a preeminent education and this has been our mission our vision statement for almost five years now and our mission statement follows the Monroe Public Schools

008in collaboration with the members of the community shall ensure that all children receive an Exemplar education by well- trained committed staff in a safe and orderly environment our board goals for this year which again have been pivotal in helping us develop this budget um the board adopted these three goals this year well this this school year uh in August and those goals are to adopt a strategic plan and implement the goals articulated in the plan throughout the course of this school year review and evaluate and assess current programs and structures specific specifically by identifying and developing a schedule for review for the coming year which is the Year we're in the focus will be on extra and curricular programs and activities and to develop a budget philosophy parameters and the framework for the development of

009the budget that we are presenting to you this evening the executive summary for for this budget in the following slides ultimately this budget has specific parameters in a framework which have been developed in con Junction with the board's philosophy directive and this was a result of work over the summer where the board gave the Administration very specific parameters um that they wanted to include in the budget and the budget has been developed around those parameters which essentially becomes our board philosophy our budget philosophy it is it has been professionally constructed to afford every student an opportunity for exemplary education by well-trained staff getting back to our mission statement it offers diverse course offerings extra and co-curricular activities and it tends it lends to leads to encourage students to develop a sense of identity and purpose

010the district is committed to ensure that its staff is proposed to increase the Strategic plan including guidance and an additional child study Team part of why we want to do this is because we are seeing more and more of our youngsters coming to school with very special needs and there are a Cadre of youngsters who need supports outside of the special education Arena so we want to provide specialized staff who can provide those services in that in that regard we're also looking very carefully at how to address our facilities and transportation needs this proposal has an additional roof replacement as well as four new buses and five new Vans we believe that our proposed budget continues to become more effective and efficient as evidenced by the successful County budget review process which is very arduous

011so even after go we're going to talk about that later on but even after we go through our budget review process here in the district we then have to go to the state or the county office which is a a representative of the State Department of Education and we have a very comprehensive review where we have to re- justify if you will everything that goes into that budget and talk about our plans for reducing adequacy Etc finally it all comes together in great sensitivity to the taxpayers while our state aid numbers remain unsatisfactory our combination of efficient spending application of bond Surplus against the tax levy we're very pred to present tonight a budget that will show a tax decrease on to the local taxpayer this is significant given the number of students that are

012continuing to enroll in our district the number of State mandates that are continue to that we continue to have to budget for in addition to those some of those facilities needs that we have had to make a part of our regular operating budget um we are presenting a budget tonight that represents a tax decrease and Mike could give you more information about that when he when we get to the dollar and cents but ultimately almost four years ago we talked about how we would align ourselves by use of the bond money and the anticipation that ratables would begin to reverse themselves to create what is what we call the ideal storm if you will so we're at a point where we're able to present a budget with a tax decrease so this is the budget

013overview it represents the district priorities quality Educational Services long range vision for our our facilities um fiscal responsibility a steady increase in our enrollment and even when we get to the slide that speaks to uh pupil uh projections for student enrollment we have a a little arbitrary number that's that's put in there that's derived by the anticipated number of students we we look forward to having as a result of new construction going on in our district Capital Improvement project projects and of course our continued need for professional development now there are some significant C limitations again this the student enrollment presents a challenge for us in developing a budget uh creating a budget that has an unknown almost number of students that we need to plan for the impact on this Budget on the community

014in terms of what Transportation looks like the delivery of services and develop and making sure we're developing a budget that looks at the needs of all of our students those who at the low end of the Continuum who have the support of uh an IEP or a 504 those who are at the other end of the Continuum those those High Flyers who need enrichment o opportunities as well as those many many students the vast majority that are right there in the middle who kind of stay off the radar and we have a responsibility to make sure we're serving those youngsters as well and looking certainly at the quality of services in District history so these are our project enrollments now we are looking at an increase roughly of 128 students this is very modest um

015this is making having a contingency plan for construction that will impact Brookside Applegarth and of course Oak Tree schools and we are seeing a shift in some of our numbers you'll see the high school and middle school impacted more significantly than than the other Elementary School students but we are anticipating ating that we will have approximately uh 20 almost 2,300 6,300 students in our school district next year so now this is what goes into our budget creation timeline the process which we actually started early this year um because we were anticipating that we would have some significant challenges um so we start in August looking at working with the board to come up with the budget philosophy and then we look at some historical enrollment patterns of course this is complicated this year because we

016have some construction going on in our community and we don't really know while we know how many units will be going up we don't know how many youngsters those units will produce so we're kind of operating blindly here but making some educated guess in terms of what our enrollment will be and and we've been pretty good with with being able to be close to on target with that and after we established the enrollment patterns we have to look very closely at what our staffing needs are obviously the more students you have the more staff you need and as we expand our programs and or redu Services we have to think about the impact that that has on our staff the oee process which is orating effective effort is again a process that we utilize to

017make certain that every budget item relates to our overall goals and our mission statement so if there is a recommendation that comes from one of our principls or director or department heads our responsibility as Central Administration is to go back and make sure that that particular expenditure is related somewhere to what we have deemed to be our priority or what's important to our district and that's what oee helps us to do then our principles directors and department heads go through budget defense rounds um I think with one exception every budget had at least two revisions and there were some revisions that were made even after the budget defense rounds uh but that process began this year as early as November then we anticipate the governor's budget address and although he doesn't give numbers during that

018address he kind of alludes to what we can anticipate in terms of what those State eight numbers will look like he'll generally start talking about um I'm going to increase dollars to public education and that lets us know what will at least be kept whole from the preceding year um of course there are times that there's been significant reductions and we've had to address um address those concerns accordingly following the governor's address the following day we get the allocation of state A that tells us what the state is they strategically reduce that number around four o' so you can't call them and ask them what's going on and then there's the adoption this which is where we are this evening of our tenative budget and then finally the public hearing after the public hearing the

019budget gets sent to the state and it is approved approved at that point good evening everyone I want to give you a quick overview of um some major programs that are in this budget basically addressing curriculum instruction and assessment basically what we want our kids to know understand and be able to do and then how do we um provide the services and the resources to do that so amongst um a vast variety of different resources that we have in the district this budget includes the implementation of the Common Core Curriculum State Standards which is in its year four of implementation and has been a vertical process that is um that we've endeavored with our teachers and we're starting to learn really the the ins and outs of um meeting the needs of all those standards

020preparation for the park assessments which is right in line to measure our knowledge and our understanding of the of the ccss our athletic and co-curricular program programs our after school programs our anti-bullying and H Hib harassment intimidation and bullying supports for all of our students our AP courses our professional development to teach those courses and our testing processes in the district our Arts at the middle school and the high school our AVID program for our grades 7 to 12 students our basic skills instruction program our non- teing evaluation tool and professional development so this year was year one in uh implementation for the teacher and principal tool next year we are also looking at nurses um guidance and other groups that did not umbrella under that um first wave of teacher reform and evaluation um

021within the state and and at the federal level our high scope preschool curriculum and resources our continuation of literacy uh throughout the district our continuation of our mathematics program and our developmental reading assessments that is um the dras are commonly refer to where your where our children are reading how they're progressing so we could understand that and then meet them where they are um academically uh additionally we have other formative assessments which inform our instruction our school garden uh program at the high school our senior option program our students Awards student counil teen pep our safety training for all of our staff our transition programs to the to the high school from the Middle School our Wilson pre reading program our decoding program our curriculum writing process our talented and gifted curriculum writing process our

022adult education process in addition our elll program extended year summer program our iPad lease this is year three of that lease program The High School Academy programs the integrated preschool programs our assist of technology for our special needs students our parent training and Partnerships our preschool screening our testing again our process and our professional development and our response to intervention program which we're starting to see a real nice um um response to our interventions additionally we want to maintain our current and uh science and social studies programs maintain our Arts programs support other existing laptops and Technologies in the district with the onset of the park assessments coming down and our new world language program which we're going to implement um this year as well and I know there are others there is a multitude

023of other programs but we wanted to give you a flavor for the academic concepts of this budget Mike thanks good evening I'd like to begin talking about some key facts on Monroe's state aid again there's two types of state aid the first and larger of the two types is the equalization Aid Equalization Aid is monies that are designed to help a district support its adequacy budget it's distributed by property wealth and income levels uh Monroe unfortunately again was awarded zero dollars in this category because the state considers us to be an affluent District in terms of property ratables and also High income levels which come off the aggregate New Jersey 1040 filings there's a Code a four-digit code on your New Jersey 1040 they compile all that information and they they assess that we're doing

024well here uh from an income standpoint now I don't know about you Dr Hamilton and I have been talking and arguing with the state about this for a while you drive through Monroe you don't get the essence here in Beverly Hills um for South Brunswick who is a similar District to us to receive $17 million a year where we get a little over three um there's not a gradual distribution of this Aid and somehow we fall off the cliff each year and get zero the second type is categorical Aid this is a type of state aid that's awarded on the number of students who qualify for each individual Aid category Monro Monroe qualifies for a few special education Transportation Aid we have the most efficient Transportation um office in the state and uh that this

025Aid type was designed to encourage districts to be more efficient and then be rewarded with Aid um but due to our over adequacy status um this is phased out and we only get a fraction of what this award should be and the rest is deferred over a fiveyear period once again our state aid is 3.26% of our total revenues to support the school budget it's one of the lowest in the state aid per pupil ratios in the county um I encourage everybody to look at our website to find out what we're doing about it in District we drafted our own legislation to get additional state aid it's called s237 and I'm pleased to say that According to Jim hooker who's the chief of staff for Senator Greenstein Senator Greenstein did reintroduce the bill as a

026priority in the new assembly which began the same day the old one expired January 14th also assemblyman Wayne D'Angelo and Dan Benson Senator greenstein's legislative district mates here on the 14th introduced their assembly version the same day the new Senate version of the bill is s272 and the assembly version is A500 these bills are still very much alive and we're going to continue to to put the pressure on to get some success out of this very labor intensive Endeavor the next slide takes us to sources of revenue and I encourage everybody to turn to handout a where I'll I'll briefly go over the line item categories the first this schedule represents everything that makes up the revenues in this District where we get our money from the first category is fund balance and in layman's

027terms this is just money that was left over from two budgets ago where we didn't spend everything that we were budgeted and you're or you could have recognized additional Revenue sources over what you had budgeted and and the aggregate is carried over two years later which is now 1415 the general fund Debt Service I'm sorry the general fund Aid increased 865,000 compared to the prior year the prior years was reduced because we rehabbed appleg Guard School within the budget and we continue to do projects like roof Replacements all within the budget cap living with our own resources instead of going out for much more expensive Bond financing The Debt Service fund generated 155,50 4 $1 of surplus which is a result of our refunding of all the open bond series for the high school generally

028The Debt Service fund does not generate much Surplus at all but fortunately um this year it did as per the board's philosophy directive we are transferring $2.5 million from Bond Surplus to offset what otherwise would be raised Through The Debt Service Levy that's Revenue source for this uh budget separately you'll see local taxes taxes are raised in two different funds the general fund which everybody's more familiar with provides for teacher salaries benefits and so on and The Debt Service fund which you voted on previously in other referendums and that's the required uh payments for principal and interest the general fund amount is within the cap and in fact the board did not spend till the full cap where $230,000 approximately under where we could have budgeted to and other Revenue consists of various categories including

029most notably tuition from Jamesburg and Jamesburg tuition rate for the high school is calculated by the doe software and every year since we opened the school that tuition rate has been decreasing because costs are pretty much fixed within the cap while our enrollment is increasing the current tuition rate is 14,2 91 and the total number of students estimated which corresponds to James Berg's Assa application for state school aid is 267 that forms the base tuition number on top then you'll notice transportation fees um we we share joint shes with Jamesburg and we provide transportation services on our buses for a fee of 238 655 then you'll see a line for prior year tuition adjustment this reflects a settlement between the two districts between budgeted and actual costs and budgeted and actual ad each year when

030we put together the budget we don't know our actual tuition costs nor do we know how many students are actually going to come from Jamesburg that's all calculated at the conclusion of the year and then we settle up and um with the interest allocation included in this calculation Jamesburg o Monroe 333,000 is to be included in the 1415 budget the prior year which is the 134 school year that we're in now the obligation is 615,000 so if these Revenue sources are not recognized by the conclusion of the 1415 budget the tuition from Jamesburg to Monroe in a reage will be approaching a million dollars this is to be determined through litigation um a result the next category is state aid and again this is what's supposed to fund a public education as we've heard before

031um at 3.26% of revenues uh this really is doing an inep job in that category the state has provided some new categories and we're receiving actually about $170,000 net additional Aid compared to last year some of it is for Park ready Readiness uh Dr Gorman spoke about that before and uh unfortunately it's Park is another mandated program from the state that probably we're spending five times the amount of state aid that we're receiving and a lot of districts are struggling even to be able to afford it at all and finally federal government Aid less than 1% and that's what makes up the total revenues the next page which is handout B shows state aid history here in Monroe you don't see any Equalization Aid category because we haven't received any since uh probably 15 years

032or so but this shows categorical Aid categories and what's Troublesome about this chart is if you take your aid from 200920 in total and you compare it to 2014 2015 total 1415 is 60% of the aid award that we received in 910 even though we have an additional 800 students that's like budgeting for an additional school's worth of students and getting 60% of the aid you received back then the next chart shows a little detail on our miscellaneous Revenue category um Basque agreement we have a use of building um uh lease with Basque where they pay us $100,000 a year and we collect about $25,000 of other fees from different users solar credits the appleg school has solar panels that helps generate some of the electricity in the school and when we have Surplus we

033sell them back unfortunately the federal government is not not subsidizing these solar credits so the amount we get back now is a fraction of what it was a few years ago adult education revenues Transportation joint ches our transportation director aggressively solicits all the other districts in the neighborhoods and ask them if they have any routes running through our Township or if we can share and and save money on those and we do quite a few preschool integrated program tuition uh interest income admission from Sports OA fees recycling rebates miscellaneous grants that's the total miscellaneous pie chart where does the money go this is a great visual aid in determining that instruction special ed related services for um IEP students 51.3% but it's actually greater than that because if you allocate the benefits chart uh pi

034to the left which is directly related to the lot of the instruction uh we spend you know a line share of the budget on on uh instruction Athletics co-curricular 1.4% Debt Service 9.26% Administration 2.83 capital projects grants transportation and other you could also argue the transportation is directly related to students and instruction but there there you go that's where the money goes the next chart shows the reduction and over adequacy spending that the district has been achieving over the last few years in 1112 we were $ 13.7 million over adequacy now briefly what is adequacy adequacy is a hypothetical model that a think tank of individuals came up with for the state that tries to determine what an average school should cost how many average special ed students are in each school and comes up

035with a rate per pupil then they multiply that rate per pupil by a projected enrollment Trend that the state calculates and then they come up with your adequacy budget they compare that to your local fair share which is what the state expects you to be able to raise due to your property wealth and income levels and that difference is your over adequacy 18.6 we were over in 1112 that dropped to 7.9 in 1213 that dropped to 6.9 and 12 and 1314 and it would have continued to drop probably below six um $6 million had it not been for a crafty maneuver by the state this year which which I picked up on when I noticed that the number actually grew to $10 million so I determined that last year's adequacy budget which again is m

036a rate based upon the projected number of students you have in your District was frozen and carried over to 1415 so we're not getting any credit for the 200 new students that we're receiving here hence where more over adequacy according to the state's calculation than last year and uh more precariously I said before your over adequacy status reduces your categorical state aid so by freezing our adequacy budget to last year comparing it to this year's local fair share it reduces our state aid and presents very poorly to the public um an illustration that does not reflect the spending curtailment that we've had here in the district multiplied by the number of new students Dr Hamilton and I address this with the county they're bringing it up with the state they said uh no other districts

037have identified this before you're the first one so we'll see if anything becomes of that administrative costs this is another popular a popular topic that everybody likes to compare I'm not going to talk about this too much because the chart says it all administrative spending is flat it's only been increased because of legal expenses related to the Jamesburg lawsuit and also heavy special Education cases while the light purple chart continues to increase we're not spending anywhere near what we could in administrative categories that's for sure the next chart is mandates and student enrollment impact these are new programs Mo many of which correspond with the board's philosophy this year and I'll outline them quickly out of District tuition is projected to increase 4985 private schools are raising the tuition rates we have no control over

038that um maretta and our special education department has done a wonderful job to try to meet students needs here in District and bring kids back as opposed to sending them out in a much more expensive environment while still providing a better or equal service increase in Charter School tuition Monroe now has five students attending Charter Schools charter schools are viewed equal to public schools by the state and when students elect to go there um um revenues follow the student and we're now paying over $50,000 a year to uh Charter Schools aggregate salary increases the board had um in the philosophy development come up with a 2% salary for salaries now that's not to say it won't be offset by Future labor agreements that are still being disclosed we'll talk more about that later net employee

039health benefit increases um last year health insurance was projected to go up 3.6 million that's more than we can grow our entire budget last year we have a new broker we've gone back to Horizon and uh we switched the type of insurance that we have from a uh direct claims method to a prospective method which the insurance risk lies more with the carrier plus we went back and we stood on our head and said we're going to leave and not pay another nickel and we're going to go with some competitive carriers if you don't reduce this and uh only threatening to leave did Horizon reduce our rates by another $750,000 I only say that to impress upon you the great deal of negotiating and haggling that goes into the reduction of those health insurance rates

040plus staff is contributing more than ever now in tier four um towards health insurance pers pension contribution the state continues to push pension obligations on the local districts not only with dcrp but with people in Pur public employer retirement system Dr Hamilton mentioned uh the budget is a new guidance counselor at the middle school and a new child study team we believe that these areas of fortification of Staff directly leads to safeguarding students better than metal detectors or anything else a lot of the instances you've seen in the news lately have been children who could have been identified through these um procedures and that could have avoided a lot of the trouble that ensued teaching staff sections we're increasing some sections and adding some new staff for only it's absolutely essential we're out fitting two

041new classrooms at the middle school new textbook adoption that's been cut down dramatically from when it was first proposed trailer lease extension uh partial roof replacement at the Monro Township middle school that's the instructional Wing that's about 20 something years Beyond its warranteed life and um carpet vat removal at Barkley Brook four new buses and five new Vans that's an expenditure but it's actually going to be a savings because it allows us to use our existing staff without hiring new staff and bring routes back from the middle sex Regional ed Service Commission new maintenance vehicle we have a salt spreading truck that you could stick your head through in the back because it's so badly rusted it doesn't support the salt spreader anymore and a new scoreboard and sound system and new computers and related

042equipment Appropriations detail that is chart C and what I want you to notice from chart c as an accountant when you prepare financial statements one of the most useful techniques is to put a percentage on on the numbers because it's much more useful to read and if you look at the far right column no matter what page you're on no matter what category you're going to see decreases this budget has been Rak through from the initial principal defense rounds um through the very difficult cap where Dr Hamilton and I when we put together the lean budgets to begin with were're $2.4 million over cap and we had to really go back and eliminate programs and services including some existing salaries that are and positions that are in the district um the district engages in many

043shared services um uh shared service with the township for the Telecom TV studio joint shares as as I mentioned before with Transportation we're in a purchasing Consortium that saved over 3/4 of a million dollars as opposed to buying under under bid and um we have an interlocal agreement where Nancy mitac our fine food service director shares lunches with the middle sex Regional ed Service Commission Academy Learning Center also in here you'll notice salaries teacher salaries throughout budgeted at 2% and I want to remind you that last year's Mt e a contract had a zero increase effect on the budget because of concessions mainly in health um additionally many in fact all of the members in that group are bringing back Less in terms of a net check than they were four years ago because of

044mandatory contributions for health insurance because of mandatory increases in pension and very lean salary increases and finally let's talk about the tax rate what influences the tax rate well number one state aid it's a state's obligation to fund a free and appropriate education so in most districts state aid is the biggest Revenue Source um but again here 3% fund balance applied we talked about that before by not spending to your full budget um the intent is to carry it over to 2 years later so you don't have to raise taxes as much you use it instead ratables let's take a few minutes and talk about rables because this is an important topic this year the township last year had value value valuated uh ratables at 54% of market value so if you had a house

045that's market value was about 300,000 your assessed value that you paid taxes on was about 150 there's pressure from the county and the state that's put on municipalities after it gets that low to re-evaluate the properties and that's what mayor poochi and the township did this year to go through every property in town and revaluate to 100% um the average residential unit will pay less because of a shift and redistribution of wealth assessment within the community that's per the township and there was also an intentional shift from residential to commercial properties so that again helps the homeowners with this reevaluation according to the township the average residential taxes last year were $722 the average residential taxes this year are $6,900 so they're down um a little bit about $15 and finally how does that affect

046us here in Monroe this chart says it all for the last few four years um through the direction of the board president and the Board of Education and our superintendent and myself we have constructed budgets with an urgency to bring down taxes we have applied Bond Surplus through an installment basis as Dr Hamilton mentioned before and these are the average tax increases for the last three years $316 $145 $42 and this year for the first time in 17 years we have a tax decrease and we're very proud of that and it's it's um welcome relief for the community I'm sure now individual results will vary and it's important for everybody to understand that if you're a homeowner in the community and you've lived here for 20 years it's fair to say you may have been

047under assessed for that long period of time and now you're you're re-evaluation is going to take you to 100% market value you're going to feel an increase but on average the average taxpayer is going to have a reduction in school taxes of $114 and that's at a home assessed at a little over $300,000 and I just wanted to thank um of course the Board of Education and Dr Hamilton mayor poochi Mitchell lias Wayne Hamilton and George Lang from the township because this rable situation this year required all of our collaboration and they were very generous with their time thanks thank you Mike um and I like to take this opportunity to thank all of the staff members particularly the administrators uh and of course Mike Gorski for his incredible work with pulling all of this

048together this process started again back in October in included nights and weekends and Mike and I getting together uh when school was not in session and away at this budget and we are presenting a budget that I think is probably one of the best that we've presented in a long time and again it is through the hardwork and dedication of all of our principles our supervisors our administrative body and of course our ever so competent business administrator so thank you [Applause] I'm going to open it up to the board and then I'll open it up to the public first of all I I just want to apologize to Dr Gorman for leaving your name off the presentation so you should have been there and I I believe Mr Gorski will have a resolution to read

049I can't get that's okay madam board president the first resolution is for the transference of $2.5 million of bond Surplus Against The Debt Service tax levy so I would like to read that get a vote and then we can go into um the the budget resolution resolution of the Board of Education of the township of Monroe in the county of middlex New Jersey designating the transfer of certain unexpended Bond proceeds to fund 40 Debt Service whereas on March 4th 2008 the Board of Education the Board of Education Township of Monroe in the county of middlex New Jersey issued $1,900,000 of school district bonds Series 2008 known as the 2008 bonds and whereas the 2008 Bonds were issued to finance a the additional cost necessary for the construction of a new Monroe Township High School as

050previously approved by the voters of the township of Monro in December 2003 B any necessary improvements upgrades apperture equipment furniture and site work and see certain incidental expenses collectively the 2008 project and whereas the proceeds of the 200 2008 Bonds were deposited in fund 36 to be used for the 2008 project and whereas the 2008 project has been completed and as of January 31st 2,825 $116 of the proceeds of the 2008 bonds remain unencumbered and non deposit in fund 36 the unincumbered 2008 proceeds and whereas the Board of Education hereby desires to designate the transfer to fund 40 Debt Service of a portion of the unencumbered 2008 proceeds from fund 36 in an amount equal to 2,500,000 now therefore be it resolved by the Board of Education as follows section one the board here by

051authorizes the board secretary to transfer a portion of the unencumbered 2008 proceeds from fund 36 in an amount equal to $2,500,000 to offset the tax levy for fiscal year 2014 2015 section two of this resolution shall take effect immediately there a motion can Mr Chella Mr Kaufman are there any comments or questions for Mr Gorski Mr ch lot of names in front of you get the pick if anybody gets mad at me I'm one of these other ones I just want to thank I just want to thank you the administration thank you Mike thank you Dr Hamilton Dr Gorman even though you weren't on the presentation just for everything that you've done here to make this budget successful yet you know we have to remember that over the last couple years we opened a high

052school we rehabilitated a middle school we've done a lot of things that caused the strain on the district and and we had to do it because of the the the growth the increase enrollment and the lack of state aid but I just want to thank you for realizing you know what the taxpayers are going through in Monroe and reacting to it positively and I think that we're on the right track we just need to keep fighting for our fair share of the state aid and and keeping the our elected officials feet to the fire but I think that we're doing the right thing here and I just want to thank you for your hard work and your efforts thank you thank you anyone else okay seeing no one we'll have a roll call Miss anelis

053yes Miss Armen yes Mr Braverman yes Mr Chella yes Mr zareski yes Mr calman yes Mr noin yes Mr proso yes Mr Po yes Mrs kapano Madame board president motion transferring Bond Surplus passes unanimously I will now read the resolution for the adoption of the 2014 2015 tenative budget it is recommended that the members of the Board of Education approve the following amounts and resolution for the 14 15 tenative budget be it resolved by the Monroe Township Board of Education that the 201415 tenative general fund budget be adopted in the amount of 101, 67351 15 and a general fund local tax levy in the amount of $ m859 549 and a tenative special Revenue Fund in the amount of $953,000 and a tenative Debt Service budget in the amount of 10,477 1116 and a tenative

054Debt Service local tax levy in the amount of $ 7,139 140 whereby the tenative 2014 2015 budget totals $3,141 154 and whereas the m rship board of education has been notified of state aid amounts and whereas such a a a such state aid amounts are for the 1415 categorical special education Aid is 2,485 2017 and for the 1415 categorical security Aid is 92,5 and for the 1415 categorical Transportation Aid is $496,500 and for the 1415 death service Aid is $682,500 other state aid categories consisting of Park Readiness Aid of $58,900 and per pupil Grant Aid of $58,900 and whereas Monro Township Board of Education has estimated a state aid amount pursuant to application and for the 2014 2015 the estimated extraordinary Aid amount is $214,400 and whereas the state's failure year to fully fund the

055school funding Reform Act of 2008 as well as other factors has provided insufficient financial support for programs and services contained in the base budget necessitating the application of $84,900 47 policy 3440 policy 4440 and njac 6A 23b 1.2 provides that the Board of Education shall establish in the annual school budget a maximum maximum expenditure amount that may be allotted for such travel and expense reimbursement for the 2014 2015 school year now therefore be it resolved that the mundro Township Board of Education hereby establishes the school district travel maximum for the 20145 school year at the tenant of sum of 158 1,422 and be it further resolved that the school business administrator shall track and record these costs to ensure the maximum amount is not exceeded now therefore let it be resolved that the superintendent of

056schools and the business administrator board secretary file the required documents with the executive County Superintendent mov second Mr tiella miss an Tellis are there any comments or questions from anybody members of the Board of Education Mr proso thank you Michael I was appointed chairman of the finance committee in January of this year since then I've worked with bus business administrator Michael Gorski and his assistant Laura Allen sampling and inspecting vouchers as part of my duty as chairman I believe that the 1415 budget is well constructed Michael did a fine job I will vote Yes on this budget knowing the hard work it took to get the budget cap as instructed by the previous board in August of 2013 before I make a vote I would like to express my opinion my focus is on student

057education as well as the taxpayers of Monroe I believe that my fiscally conservative nature will contribute to cons creating efficiency in future budgets so we can offer programs that have the most educational value I support this budget but going forward I will expect increased evaluation of all non-mandated items we need to ensure that our taxpayers and most importantly our children are best served I am confident that our teachers will continue to improve student achievement because in my opinion our teachers have the greatest impact on our children's learning I want to thank everybody involved with the budget and Michael again you did a great job it's team effort thanks anyone else from the board wish to speak Mr knin just a just a quick question um we had had gotten a uh a magazine from the

058school boards Association and they also list another category of Aid called adjustment Aid and that was supposed to uh get us back in line with the amount of Aid that we received in 2008 once they changed that uh the funding formula just kind of wondering what what where does that stand and why don't we ever see that yes okay in the 201021 school year Monroe was cut and left with $238,600 across the district's reduction in your state aid award from the prior year that's how this budget was constructed that year instead what was cut was 15% of your budget size and that led to a reduction of all but $238,000 of our state aid only one District had W up at less and that was cranberry that year adjustment Aid has been trying to help

059districts catch up by affording a percentage off that bottom dollar number where you're starting off with from 1011 and we've been slowly catching up but um as I mentioned before we're still receiving only 60% of what we did in 910 and adjustment Aid uh there is no um a word for us this year in adjustment Aid thank you uh I also would like to uh thank the uh Administration for their hard work in developing this budget um as the newest member of the board or one of the newest members of the board I can't take credit nor can I take blame depending on which side you are in this budget um obviously there was a board philosophy uh that was in place prior to my being elected um while I'm very very happy with this

060uh budget I too uh really think that this one for lack of a better word was relatively easy uh we had a $2.5 million uh Surplus that we were able to contribute to this and I know that going forward uh it's going to get a lot harder so uh I really hope hope that we can all sharpen our our crayons and our pencils so that we can really start to make an impact because even with this budget and with the tax reduction and the increase in the ratables this budget still went up considerably but I will be supporting this budget and I know that uh going forward we're just going to have to start really looking a lot closer at things and thank you for all your hard work Mr Gorski hi um I would

061like to also con uh congratul rulate everyone on the hard work that they have done on the budget um however I do have serious concerns going forward uh that we are still increasing spending uh some of the reductions and the uh job that Mr Gorski especially has done um negotiating with outside vendors and taking care of things um and trying to bring everything to uh as much reduction as possible we still have an increased spending and I understand that we have um a ser ious concern about continued enrollment um but the uh philosophy of going to cap automatically um again was done in a previous board and I also think that we have to be cognizant of the state as much as we will fight and I will fight also to get more State recognition

062and more State funds I do believe that we are strapped and we have been strapped with this situation for many many years and in some cas we can fight very hard to get more but we also have to come to terms with this it seems as a pattern that we have to uh be concerned with with the state so we have we have a lot of issues we will not have uh the kind of uh funds going into the next budget to reduce the levy and I also think the re-evaluation has a lot to do with where the budget is today but it really doesn't have to do with uh the district spending it's going to be very difficult so I do have concerns about this budget but I uh admire the tenacity of Mr

063Gorski and the finance committee and I think we still need to revisit a couple of other things thank you anyone else from the board Mr Po uh much of what I'm going to say has already been said but uh I'm saying it for additional emphasis uh I I actually think that uh we've done a not we but the uh Central Administration and particularly Mr Gorski and Dr they've done a miraculous job uh in in constructing this budget uh and I'd like to point out the fact that we actually have a reduction in the total amount of state and federal aid that we're receiving even though it's poultry we've got we we are we are dealing with a reduction in that for next year uh I I think it's amazing that our district can find the

064funds within the regular budget we can find the funds to maintain our buildings to put up a partial roof replacement at the middle school and to do Renovations within that Middle School to provide additional classrooms uh to me that's just absolutely amazing uh we have to replace some worn out buses and vans that are used for transporting students uh we're replacing some hazardous flooring in the Barkley Brook School all of this is being done within this budget that's being proposed uh we didn't go out for any referendum we're not getting extra Aid we're able to find the funds by making Cuts in other areas and something else to keep in mind is there are factors that are pushing for higher budgets uh we've got this increased cost in health benefits although Mr Gorski was very

065successful in negotiating lower rates still that's a that's a pressure that's always going to be pushing for a higher budget uh the state's now requiring that the local boards contribute more toward pension contributions for the employees in the PRS system uh Monroe unfortunately some people might say fortunately but monroee every year we're faced with more and more students uh and now with the new state test uh uh the new park test that's coming up we're required to have technology in place um so to me it's absolutely in my opinion and I've worked in education many many years I I think it's absolutely amazing that uh that this district is going to be able to do what this budget provides uh and still uh maintain that state cap which is what the board set back in

066the fall uh for this Administration to do so I I do commend everyone that is uh you know is proposing this budget uh I I just think you've done a a a superb job even though there may be others that disagree with that thank you anyone else also congratul I don't really think there's much more to be said um I think you've done a fantastic job um to bring in new items and still be at cap and have a tax reduction I think you've done a phenomenal job thank you anyone else before I open this up to the public for your um input on the budget um when when the state gives us 3.26% unfortunately the most the majority of the rest of that money has to come from the taxpayers and unfortunately 85% %

067of our money comes from the local taxpayers um in the past four years we have decreased our um tax revenue spending to the public greatly when we had a tax impact of 18.7 cents in 2011 2012 that was because of the opening of the new high school and the renovations of the Monroe Township middle school and we were still able to do that under that current budget um the gradual decreases in taxes is due to the excellent planning of the administration and the board of educations and the desire of the board to give back to the community the money from the high school referendum there are a lot of districts that would have spent all that money on the new high school and it was the board's desire in the past to give that money

068back as tax relief I would like to um commend and thank Dr Hamilton Mr Gorski Laura Allen and uh the business office for the excellent job in creating this budget it was not an easy thing to do this year and as you've heard from other board members we've added and kept a lot into this budget it's important to give credit not just to this board but to the boards in the past that go back four or five years that had the the the foresight to make the difficult choices that affected all the future budgets so I think this is a phenomenal budget and I'm very proud of of everyone and this also includes the principes in their schools for being diligent and coming up with um creating their school budgets in a very nice way

069so if there's no more comments from members of the board I'm going to open it up to the public for this will be a public forum just on the budget we will have um since we have so many people here today we will adhere to our minute limit you always do Mar Klein seven crunch or Michael Dr Hamilton excellent job your backs are against the wall and you're stuck you got to make do with what you have to make do with but something I said while I was on the board is that the prior two years we've taken $3 million from the bonds from the high school to reduce taxes this should be the last 2 and A2 million so and then you also also took the extra funds that were left from two budgets

070ago that all goes in for this year next year you don't have that um I also want to let the people know it's not only the state it's the state supreme court if you remember after Christy made the big cuts Mr skiera from the uh nework education Law Center filed another suit and brought it in front of the Supreme Court to roll back the cuts that were made to his school districts instead of the Supreme Court ruling that it all should go back they only ruled for the 31 or 32 Title One districts they got the roll back nobody else got it and we were at what 200 somewhat thousand um the money from the high school the extra Bond money we're going to have to increase the high school based on the population which

071we've discussed the middle school we were supposed to put 10 classrooms in where's the money going to come from I thought that the bond money would have gone towards that if we're allowed to do that as you remember when we spoke about last month I believe they call them Rod grants Michael is where the state and this is for the people are here where the state will give districts like ours grant money to uh repair infrastructure whether it be roofs new classrooms we get nothing and when they come out and they say that we are property wealth if they go property wealth per student then why don't they back out everybody over 65 that doesn't have any children and only use the properties that pertain to the children instead we're penalized because at this point

072we're about 50% adults and all your new developments are going to be children it's all families so the state can stand on their head they are unfair which we've spoken about oh by the way before my time is up and I'll bring up more later in the home news last week there was an article from the Associated Press that there was a school district in another state and I somehow my girlfriend threw the papers out but I'm going to try to get it there was a school district in another state that filed suit against the depart the State Department of Education I finish two seconds because of the inequity and state funding as I've said time and time again we can no longer do what we're doing you cannot put all this the state cannot

073put all of the the uh the cost related to a successful school system on the taxpayers thank you well done good evening Karen castaldo mtea president for Cypress Point Lane Jackson Township New Jersey I'd like to on behalf of all of our members thank Mr Gorski Dr Hamilton and Dr Gorman and the team behind that put this budget together uh students are impacted staff isn't impacted um and it's the first tax decrease in 20 years uh I'm going to be short and sweet but you guys got an Innovative on this one thank you anyone else from the public good evening Steve Ryback 23 Riviera uh Drive I I know there are great challenges before us as many of us have said and I'm very well aware of um but for this time uh must take

074my hat off to the administration especially Mike Gorski for an outstanding job I know how difficult coming uh coming up with a budget like this is and uh you certainly deserve the praise you're hearing today thank you thank you good evening I Tesla 11 lhri like to pretty much use the word that Mr Po did amazing on the budget year after year after year we can uh we constantly bring down the tax rate do things in the budget not go out for referendum for construction and I think this year is a culmination of that and we'd like to see that continue but congratulations on a good job this year thank you you anyone else from the public uh yes Bob zagari 162 Tournament Drive U of course I'd like to recognize uh Dr Hamilton Mr

075Gorski and Mr proso as well as the rest of the board for your efforts with regard to the budget uh I would ask that if I if I could get a couple of numbers before the end of the meeting you don't have to you don't have to look right now for them but if you could give me the school tax rate for $100 of assessed valuation for 2014 that you're using as well as the um total amount of tax ratables for Monroe Township for 2014 I know that another number that you probably just got from okay what took you so long yes Mr Zari the school tax rate on a new equalized value of course is 13434 and the net equalized ratables is billion 985 million 47,800 6985 457 858 okay and were you um

076did you do any numbers on uh the of the 114 thou $14 in tax reduction how much of that is basically attributable to the increase in ratables and if you don't have it don't worry about it but that's that would be something else that uh I'd like to know eventually but um and that's it thank you very much good evening anyone else from the public then we will close the public forum for the budget and we will have a roll call Miss antelis yes Miss armeno I abstain so noted Mr Braverman yes Mr Chella yes Mr Mr zareski uh we'll come back Mr calman Mr noin yes Mr proso yes Mr Po yes Mr Cole panowich yes madame board president motion passes are we waiting for Mr Z unless if you want to wait for

077Mr zareski she F no it still passes pretty much I I could uh get in writing from him his his vote on this for the record but the motion still passes okay wait we need a bell on that door [Applause] Applause um members of the mon Township Board education we are voting on the adoption of the 1415 tenant of budget and one board member outstanding is Mr zareski your vote please yes and sorry for the delay I thought people would have more to say about the budget thank you sir okay we can move on with the agenda and at this time will'll number seven Mr Joe hoki the chairperson of the ad hoc committee has a recommendation to the Board of Education my name is Joe hoki 61 Hoffman Road I too would like to

078EO what has been said congratulations to the administration and to the board but I also like to tell you that after I read my recommendations there'll be some challenges ahead of the next few years the ad hoc committee I'm chairman of the ad hoc committee the ad hoc committee for district growth was formed to review pending and proposed growth in Monroe Township and its impact on student population and school facilities the committee met four times over the past two years and most recently on March the 4th to review the demographic study prepared for the board by whiteall Associates the unanimous consensus of the committee and we have about 30 members on the committee that a significant increase of approximately 1,000 student on the elementary level will occur within the next 5 years and that facilities

079expansion will be required to provide pertinent data that will help the drive board's decision on where and what to build the ad hoc committee for the district respectfully recommends to the Monro Township Board of Education as a first step that they authorize a redistricting study on the elementary level and continue with the Monroe Township school stop Gap measure which was referred to by somebody before that's the uh additional classroom in the Middle School creating additional classroom space through interior Renovations and finally plan for a possible referendum upon completion of the districting study the ad hoc committee for district goat will reconvene to further evaluate and provide inut to the board of educa input to the board of education to Aid in their planning and that's the uh recommendation so I hope the board uh will

080pass this uh recommendation and get the results back as soon as possible so the committee can meet again and continue with the deliberations anybody have any questions board members no thank you Mr hoki on there's an item on Mr gorski's ba report this evening that has to do with the redistricting survey uh thank you very much okay Mr cha yeah Mr hoki I just want to thank you for giving your time and and your service um not only on this but you know in the past you've been a great member of our community and thank you Kathy before you go get a motion accept the recommendation I'll make a motion to approve second miss sellis Mr nin any comments or questions I'm sorry what's the motion it is to accept the recommendation from the ad

081hoc committee is that uh correct me if I'm wrong uh that's a $110,000 I believe I saw that as a number for the cost for the uh the report for redistricting is that accurate that's a separate item on the ba report yes okay just want to make sure thank you okay anyone else Miss armenos um several of the board members did attend that ad hoc committee meeting and it was well uh well attended by members of the community which I am very appreciative of um and I hope members of the community continue to participate and come through after all we represent you and your ideas and concerns are very important and I also um made a comment at that committee meeting that I'll just briefly say that um participation be we are going to be

082again uh and I suppose well invite new students into our district in in the near future but we are just really dealing with the effect of building and planning so I urge everybody with their participation please also get informed on other levels in other levels of government to see how this impacts the Board of Education while we are happy to educate our children and and when they come we will educate them I think we need to be mindful and cognizant of the the cause and and how this comes about and I encourage everybody to participate and inform themselves on in that regard first thank you Mr not Stein Stein the um cost of the redistricting is $9,500 of the survey anyone else from the board just have a just a quick comment on who because

083I from what I understood all board members could not attend this because it was a committee meeting so I you know I don't know where we're at with looking into that and I know we've uh barred board members from attending committee meetings who are not on those committees but I think this is something that's important enough where board members should have been able to attend even if they couldn't take part in it because it's the you know it's the future of our district so I just want to make that comment thank you okay thanks M armeno we can on on that note um the open public meetings act requires certain um certain notifications and then a public comment if all if we have a quarum at the board so if we can get a an

084address that I agree with Mr chel that everyone wants to be informed so we may need to address that and or open the ad hoc committees as a public as a public meeting of the Board of Education we could do that but we we might we might want to get an opinion on that okay thank you Mr not in that vein that's exactly what the uh the township municipality's been doing with their budget rounds they basically it's announced uh open public meeting um anybody can attend and there actually is no public forum um so we may want to look look into that and see the legality of of doing something like that it's just a it's just a cost basically for the announcement so I think that's definitely a a good way to proceed because

085it is so important thank you okay thank you anyone else he seeing no we'll have a roll call Miss antelis Miss armenio yes Mr Braverman Mr Chella yes Mr zareski yes Mr calman yes Mr noin yes Mr proso yes Mr Po yes Mrs K Pano Madame board president motion to accept the recommendation from the ad hoc committee unanimously passes thank you okay at this time we will go to the public forum anyone from the public wishing to speak to the agenda please come to the microphone and state your name and address for the record again we will adhere to our 3 minute limit all cine 7 cruncho um pertaining to all the new communities that are going in to give you um a more accurate way of determining what is coming in how many of

086them are families and try to base the federal figure I believe is 1.7 children per family even if you go one per family if you if somebody on the board goes to the municipal building go down to zoning and planning speak to John rigs they usually have a print out that will show communities that are being built like Monro mana and Stratford and so on and the new ones that have been approved and there's a lot of them and they're all families uh I think that is what I had yes that's it thank you thank you under a minute my name is my name is Renee Balaban I'm short okay a 485 Skylark Drive and ladies and gentlemen I'm here to um add something uh regarding the problem at the last meeting with Anthony um

087I'm not sure if you are aware of the huge increase of anti-Semitism and racism in our country and around the world today it seems as though history is on the brink of repeating itself again I'm here today as a daughter of Holocaust Survivors who lost 95% of their family in concentration camps when growing up I never had the family that anybody here had um and enjoyed every day and during holidays my relatives were killed in a very inhumane way with their Ash is flying up a smoke stack it disturbs me greatly that Anthony doesn't know the difference between somebody raising their hand in the air to be heard and that of a Nazi salute which is sticking your hand at an angle and not straight up it's not funny nor is it okay to make

088in appropriate comments regarding Jews in the Holocaust Anthony I just want everyone want to know and Anthony as well even though I'm speaking directly to you that uh we pray to the same God and if we're stuck with a pin we all bleed the same way the only difference is that I like my fellow citizens and what happened the last time it make it seems uh not up to appear that Anthony likes Jews he gives the wrong impression to Young students that it's okay to ridicule Jewish students and it's not okay in memory of my mother's cousins who were all under 10 years of age who never had the chance to go to school play with friends in the playground or even have girlfriends I ask Anthony to resign from the board as a member

089of the Henry rickless Holocaust Memorial committee we are not going to tolerate this type of behavior thank you mam board president is this to the agenda yes it is I I didn't see it on the agenda I guess I must have missed it's um we had a revised agenda it came out from Dr Hamilton this morning it's a number it wasn't online or it wasn't in my packet okay no um he sent out a confidential and it's number K on the uh board action items how did everybody else know about it because it's not in the it's not is it the one that's in the back well there was a revised agenda put out there and on the website in the back and I on the website on it was on the website yes IA

090Tes Lev Drive uh this is reference to item K under board action which I got from the website this afternoon I just want to add a couple pieces of uh information that uh um you need to consider for when you vote on that item later on uh after the um last special board meeting I reviewed the uh video of the um uh February 10th board meeting uh during that video when I was walking up to the at this time um Mr proso gave me a Nazi salute three times on the video and says you don't go like that and it is on public record so it is on the meeting it's is on the video uh also in a recent case last year in Eve sham New Jersey uh a board member made some uh

091anti-semitic comments uh to another to General to all the board members out there and to the community that board member initially um was going through a similar process it was a little turmoil in the community but but uh that board member eventually did the right thing and honorable thing first she apologized which I'm kind of upset that there was no apology made at the last meeting and the second thing is that board member eventually resigned from her position on New Jersey school boards and the Board of Education and I wish the same would happen here thank you anyone else from the public Judith chairman 12 B TR drive I'm a holocaust Survivor and my father died in a concentration camp my mother did my brother and all my relatives and any comment that is made

092flippantly about the Holocaust is just very inappropriate and painful you thank you Deborah Schneider 8 Regal Court I have known for a number of years and for the record I am Jewish and I think he and I get along very very well um we've seen each other on social occasions so I know that uh the comment that he doesn't like Jews is incorrect we are all guilty or most of us have been at some point in time um to open our mouths and have the wrong words fall out there's an expression and I've used it open mouth insert foot and as soon as the words fall out we wish a thousand times over that we could have taken them back and I don't think Mr proso said this in a mean or vindictive manner um

093I think it was an unfortunate comment that was made and I'm sure that um in the essence that he is very apologetic and very sorry for it but as far as the comment that he doesn't like Jews I think that is totally inappropriate and 100% wrong anyone else from the public Nina wolf 10 Monterey Court I work very closely with the rickless Holocaust Memorial committee and have done so for the past 11 years I am Jewish I am not a second generation Survivor I am actually a third and fourth generation American the board of education is no doubt aware that one of the many programs that rickless supplies to the community or Holocaust speakers that come to the schools and speak to the students there is an essay contest every year and this year close

094to 300 sophomores listen to the survivors and wrote very heartfelt essays about what they would do if they met a holocaust denier what they might have done if they lived during that time why it is important to study about the Holocaust about genocide about hatred about bullying it all comes into the present day it is certainly possible for a mistake to be made in wording however I think that it is very important for the Board of Education to State openly that they are opposed 100% to any comments that might be taken to Heart by people who have lived through the Holocaust are aware of genocide anywhere in this country not in this country but around the world hatred and bigotry in this country there is no place for it you have anti-bullying programs in your

095schools you need to stand up for what you believe thank you anyone else Alan con 11 kencho Court I spoke at the last meeting in support of Anthony as a few of the other speakers I am Jewish and a member of the community I know Anthony I know Anthony is not anti-semitic he not racist he not we have some speakers here who spoke very well and the horrors of the Holocaust must be presented and known but to equate Anthony to being anti-semitic to not liking Jews to doing anything but maybe being a little inappropriate inadvertently I think that you are carrying this way too far and I hope that it can be done away with because you are making it something that it's not please don't do this to Anthony thank you is there anyone

096else from the public wishing to speak seeing no one we will close the public forum and go to the approval of the minutes for the public Board of Education meeting on January 15 15 2014 so move Mr Chella second second by miss analis any additions or Corrections seeing none all in favor I opposed extensions you are you are you abstaining from the from the 15th February 20th was a close session meeting just no I'm I this is the public Board of Education meeting of January 15th oh okay you were were you you were here yes okay the closed session meeting of January 15 2014 almost Mr Chella second second by miss anelis any additions or Corrections seeing none all in favor opposed extensions okay the approval of the minutes for the public Board of Education

097meeting February 10 2014 I still move it Miss Miss armino Mr Kaufman again any additions or Corrections seeing none all in favor I opposed abstentions Mr Po the closed session meeting of February 10th 2014 Mr Chella Miss anelis um let's all in favor too many tonight opposed abstentions Mr Po Mr proso the special public Board of Education meeting of February 20th 2014 move second Mr Chella miss analis any additions or corrections to the minutes seeing none all in favor I opposed abstentions Mr Po Mr proso and lastly the Clos session meeting February 20th 2014 Mr nin second Mr armeno all in favor opposed absens Mr zareski Mr proso Mr Po okay now we'll go to committee reports are there any committees that need to report this evening Mr Mr Kaufman sure um this evening we

098had a curriculum meeting there was one agenda item and one agenda I'm sorry I'm a little congested and not speaking well tonight one agenda item um uh we spoke a little bit this evening about uh re-evaluating our tag program here throughout the district uh this was our first meeting it was the only item we talked about for an hour and uh we are going to be continuing to move forward to look at uh both the uh the curriculum side of what it is that we're going to be looking uh to include in the tag program as well as the um entrance criteria to allow students to be part of the tag program so uh nothing real to report other than it was our first meeting and uh we will continue to look at the tag

099program and uh had some good recommendations some good round robin discussions this evening and we'll continue to keep you update as we move forward in time thank you anyone else have a committee report seeing none we'll go to the superintendent report Dr Hamilton yes thank you good evening all uh first before I begin my superintendent report I was going to share some information with you about Deca but our student rep already did that but I would like to take this opportunity to share with the board that bethanne ok class at Woodland School has been selected as the first place second place and honorable mention winners for the New Jersey State Bar Association 2014 law fair Mock Trial Competition each year a first and second place winners selected along with an honorable mention three of our

100four cases were picked as the trial top trials in the state this is a remarkable accom accomplishment for the first one class the first time that one class won all three top honors uh the students will be presenting their winning essays their winning cases on May 29th before judges attorneys and juries of their peers other Elementary School students and this will be at the home of the New Jersey bar Foundation uh at the New Jersey Law Center one Constitution Square and that's in New Brunswick each child will be assigned a role and the trials will be performed between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. in addition the children will be performing their trials at the Monroe Township municipal courthouse on June 13th for their peers families and special guests so congratulations to bethanne and her students

101also moving on to the superintendent report this evening I'd like to share with you the enrollment numbers at our schools um showing the comparison between January and February the close of January and February and also the comparison between last year February and this year February also including your reporter our out of District placements and our number of students who are on homebound instruction due to illness or some other condition that warrants homebound instruction our FR drills and lock Downs are listed in your agenda for each of our schools and that takes me to my Personnel report so Madame board president and members of the board it is recommended by the superintendent that Personnel items a through JJ be approved by roll call Vote with the exception of number three under HH and number 25 under

102double I those two offers are being rescinded sorry which ones yes number three under Double H and number 25 under double ey Mi Mr um cherel I believe you made a motion was there is there a second Mr bravman are there any comments or questions for Dr Hamilton seeing miss armeno yes um could you explain Club mud on CC Personnel items is is that where we are am I not I might not be yeah we're on Personnel right yes we're on personel no okay that's actually an art Club that's held at the middle school okay and programming Club is that a coding is that for coding yes so we do have a coding Club that's great okay um and the exceptions you said were these before the Personnel committee yet any of these are not

103put in front of the Personnel committee yet they were not and normally are not these are new appointment ments okay so they're so the Personnel committee doesn't have to um approve of these prior to this okay thank you anyone else seeing none we'll have a roll call Miss anelis yes and recuse myself on item e qes on double e so noted is our meno I think at this time I'm going to say yes except for CC and DD there's no until further um information than a pardon ma'am CC and and DD ddk so noted Mr Braverman yes Mr cherella yes Mr zareski yes Mr cman yes Mr noin Yes except for cc and uh Delta Delta that's a no no for uh Charlie Charlie Delta Delta please so no thank you Mr proso yes on

104everything but CC and Double D Mr P yes this K Pano yes m board president Personnel items a through WJ with the exception of three h and 25 II approv thank you moving on to board action items I will read this in two parts K will be read separately Madam board president and members of the Board of Education it is recommended by the superintendent that board action items a through J be approved by roll call vote Mr Chella Mr bman comments or questions Mr noin um with regard uh I I think I'm in the right place for the field trips is that we're approving yes sir okay um why do only some field trips include a course yet they're designated as District funded I noticed on the uh the attachments uh page just pay for

105busing just internal busing I can't hear okay so the um internal busing funding ones are strictly um just for uh when they don't list it that's that's the uh means that it's the transportation is what you're saying yeah or the kids pay for the trip totally by the well then it would say an S I saw that on D um okay and also another question with regards to the uh student suspensions um could maybe next time there be like a uh abbreviations table I'm not up on all the uh the abbreviations in that uh in that paperwor okay sure appr problem thank you in fact maybe it'll be a good idea for me to just get a copy of the Code of Conduct Handbook for you and that way you okay thanks anyone else seeing

106none we'll have a Boll call Miss anelis yes Miss armenio yes Mr Braverman Mr Chella yes Mr zareski yes Mr cman yes Mr noin yes Mr proso yes Mr py yes P pich Madam board president board action items a through J pest thank you moving on board action items letter K it is recommended by the Board of Education one to authorize and direct the president of the Board of Education to file as the complaintant a school ethics act complaint against board member Anthony proso pursuant to the school ethics acts njsa 18a col 12-21 and two authorize board counsel to represent the board president and the aformentioned matter the board president president the superintendent of schools the business administrator board secretary and board counsel hereby are authorized and directed to take all necessary and appropriate steps

107to implement this action of the board so moved Mr analis Mr Braverman comments or questions Miss anelis comment statute 18a colon 12-22 of the school ethics act read in our representative form of government it is essential that the conduct of members of local Boards of education and local school administrators hold the respect and confidence of the people these board members and administrators must avoid conduct which is in violation of their public trust or which creates a justifiable impression among the public that such trust is being violated I believe the ACT of Mr Anthony proso have clearly violated this statute at the February 10th meeting Mr proso approached Mr Ira tesler a member of the public and attempted to make some sort of in his words joke which included words such as Nazi German salute and

108being Jewish Mr tesler took offense at these comments and let board president Kathy kapano superintendent Dr Kenneth Hamilton and business administrator Mike orski know through an email that he was offended by Mr preo's remarks Mr proso was notified of Mr Tesla's email an apology for offending Mr tesler was asked for Mr proso instead of apologizing hired an attorney and refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing what if a parent had stood before this board telling us a staff member had said that to them them and they told the administration they were offended but no action was taken wouldn't this clearly be a case of violating the public trust the statute states it is essential that the conduct of members of local Boards of education and local administrators hold the respect and confidence of the people what if

109it had been student to student student to staff member and no administrative action was taken this board would be outraged but as the majority of us on this board know our Administration would never allow that to happen and neither should this board when it's one of its members we as a board are held to the standard stated in that statute therefore we as a board must take action tonight at the conclusion of this statement I will be voting yes to file ethics charges against Mr proso I want the public to know this is not something I do easily or take lightly this action will cost taxpayer dollars because Mr proso is a board of education member he has the right to have an attorney represent him paid for by the board of education but as

110Schoolboard members we are entrusted by the public to make the best decisions for educating the children of our community as well as decisions about millions of taxpayer dollars I'm making this motion because I don't believe the public this board and the administration could in any way trust the Judgment of a school board member who doesn't care that his joking comments are considered biased and offensive to the public anyone else Mr noin yes I just have a question um I have uh complaint in front of me um from the website of the uh School ethics and uh in order to file a complaint there needs to be the statement of facts which I believe we just had the date of occurrence is easy um but there's also needs to be an assertion that this is a

111violation of and I have the 10 rules that we signed to agree as as our code of ethics and just before we can vote on this I'd love to know which exactly of these 10 uh ethics code violations are we looking at I believe that our attorney gave us that advice at the last uh close session that we had in regard to the filing of Ethics charges right but which one are we going for she did not state specifically which of the 10 are we in violation or is Mr proso in violation of I I I I'm sorry can I just say something because I actually went on the website myself and uh found where a board of education member had gone into the public and made a comment and when I looked at the

112administrative law judge's finding his was the 18a 12-22 where the board member violated um the trust of the public well that could well be but in order to file a complaint you need to fill out this form and in this form I'll submit this as exhibit a um this form clearly states that I assert this to be a violation of and then there's the 10 Code of Ethics there could be more than one ethics violation that have been charged well I agree with that but let which which of the 10 well there I know there there's one that has to do with confidentiality so we're I didn't hear anything about confidentiality tonight we didn't hear anything about any specific ethics charge how could we vote on this resolution until we know what charge has to

113do with 18a um because the advice that was given by our attorney in closed session said that and and this came from our attorney the resolution came from the attorney well I don't doubt that um but the resolution is very vague how how do how could we even vote on anything we also um an Ethics charge um typically I would like to see before we do this since we really don't know what violation we're talking about maybe could we uh try to save some money and maybe get a uh an advisory opinion from the School Board Association we're already paying money for that that would be a no charge um I I estimate that this will probably be 10 to $20,000 in charges to our district at a time when we just said we're trying

114to cut cut payments where an advisor an advisory opinion would be no charge and then maybe if that uh comes to say that yeah there is definitely something here then maybe we could then proceed with with um you know going to the next step and say okay we have an advisory opinion here saying there is definitely a violation now let's uh let's go to the state and and file that complaint well I I don't want to go into the discussion that we had in closed session but our this this is the route that our attorney advised us to go I was in that closed session and this is I didn't this is the first time hearing of this I mean obviously uh I can't say anything but this was not what we had talk about

115in closed session we I mean I I believe this was part closed session if I remember correctly this was part of the conversation okay thank you Mr Mino um the conversation was on many items so if you want to say that was part of it there were additional items that were also discussed so this is one of the items that were discussed so this is the item that is on the agenda and and you can vote any way you wish to vote thank you any Mr cherella yeah I would just like to just mention that at the last meeting I voted to uh push this over into this meeting uh so that Mr proso could obtain legal counsel and then also maybe formulate an apology I don't I don't know if that's happened I've I've

116heard various things I've heard people come up and say he was very sorry I've heard people say that he he hasn't apologized so uh I have not heard of a public apology and that is why I voted last time to give him the time to do that and from what I see that has not happened and that changes my mind I think we need to uh send a message that even you know jokes of this kind will not be tolerated here and so I'm going to I'm going to vote for it anyone else Mr P well unfortunately I was away for the month of February and and or maybe fortunately I missed all this controversy but uh I did try to uh inform myself as best I could uh I watched videos of the uh

117board meetings uh multiple times in fact um I read whatever I could read in the newspaper which really wasn't too much uh I talked to a few people people but uh not very many people on the board um and I too as Mr noin had done uh and I and I have to add that uh I did this without any knowledge that he was going to bring this up but I also felt that any kind of uh ethics charge would have to fall on on this code of ethics that we all sign when we we do our pledge and uh I I was having difficulty uh trying to identify by exactly what code of the of which one of the ethics he had uh possibly violated based on the information I had so like Mr

118nosin um I I I basically I don't feel I can vote on this particular motion without having more knowledge than I presently have um clearly if and this is just now my personal opinion clearly if if Mr proso made a statement which appears that he did he made a statement after the public meeting to a member of our public um whether or not he intended to be uh malicious or offensive with that statement that I cannot judge uh but if the other person was offended uh then I would have expected that other person to in some way have indicated that to provide that opportunity uh I gather that that did not happen that night but it became known the following day from what I can ascertain uh I do believe uh as one of our

119uh public speakers said sometimes we say things and then we we immediately realize you know we shouldn't have said that uh and I've always followed the the my personal rule that if I discover that I have offended someone uh unintentionally then I will do my utmost to make an apology and to make amends uh so that we can move forward and uh live together uh peacefully or work together whatever the case may be uh but my great difficulty is in knowing which particular of of these code of ethics has been violated here uh I was not privy to to the close session meetings uh I did not get the minutes that that provided that kind of information so I I'm a bit of a quandry in terms of voting on this particular motion um so

120that's my comment thank you anyone else I ju I just want to reiterate again it's not specifically those if you go into the New Jersey um School uh Department of Education you will see rulings that site 18a 12-22 which again say board members must avoid conduct which is in violation of their public trust and that's what this gentleman at another school board was found guilty of it it had nothing to do with any of those 12 it was 18a this is part of the school ethics act Mr Kaufman um just for everyone's clarification um and you can all hear me right because again I'm kind of congested and I'm a little clogged up all I hear is my own voice and that's pretty sad um when we had the executive session we had attorney advice

121and um the incident that happened at the I think it was the January meeting was just one of a couple of events um that Mr proso has um in effect done the past few months just make sure that you're not repeating anything that came out a closed session no I'm not so unfortunately the way I read this list here there there's a couple of things that we can um that may come close to um items that one can say would be the violations that we're talking about here and it was mentioned here in public um item number five I will refrain from inappropriate conduct at public meetings when making public statements I will refrain from disparaging my fellow board members or others on a personal social racial or religious basis that's one of them there's

122also an item in here and again it's unfortunate that a couple could fall into this it should you know it's a hard thing to do when a board member has to do this to another board member item number nine or number nine I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the school which if disclosed would needlessly in injure individuals or the school in all other matters I will provide accurate information and uh concert with my in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its schools so fortunately there could be a couple of items that actually would fall into the the category I think we could universally agree that this was a lack of judgment in all cases whether you know Mr proso or you don't know

123Mr proso one can say that this was a cataclysmic lack of judgment and I personally believe that um we maintain the sacred Trust of the community and as board members we have to operate at a slightly higher bar uh it is our it is our duty to make sure that we act and behave in an appropriate manner at all times not just when we're in a meeting at a public session in an offsite or representing uh the public at large and uh regardless this was a very lack a very poor lack of judgment and that's part of something that we have to do at this job we have to exercise extremely good judgment and extremely fair and conscientious uh decisions when we exercise our duties as board members and regardless whether you're for or against

124Mr proso I personally believe this was a a very very poor uh judgment call if you will thank you Mr nin just a correction um Mr calman is referring to item five of the code of ethics and it clearly states at the bottom that there's two items on this list that are not included in the school ethics act and are not legally required I just wanted to make that point because um obviously I would have seen that too if that was actually a real law that is just a suggestion um albe it a good one but um it is just a suggestion and it is not a legal requirement um I feel that this board could accomplish the same thing for a lot less money if we wanted to draw up a public uh reprimand

125because at the end of the day no matter what this board is hopeful for this is not going to arise to getting him off this board and overturning an election um typically if you do look at the school um site and you see the charges and the punishments it always ends up that typically they're going to be removed from the board if there's a fiduciary break in the trust with the public and that no one is talking that in this instance so at the end of the day um the pragmatic approach here would be to say let's put the $20,000 that we're going to spend on this let's put this towards the achievement of our students Mr Braverman mentioned I believe at the January 15th meeting that we need to be talking more about student

126achievement I don't see that happening here we can accomplish the same thing with maybe a mentoring program for Mr proso or um a board member helping him instead of trying to get him off the board because that is not going to happen this route that will happen with the elections Mr B um I think 18a supersedes the ethics um list that we all signed and 18a is the law had a student said this to another student we'd be having a hearing if an administrator or a teacher said it to anybody they'd be suspended with pay and have a hearing this is not unusual I think Mr proso made a bad comment I think he's got to be be challenged and that's what this motion is going to do and I don't think everything is put

127on I don't think everything is the lowest common denominator of money there's a higher ethic to than just money anyone else okay I I have a comment before we vote um first of all I think it's a very sad day when the the board of education has to deal with anything like this second when a member of the public or even a board member contacts me and asks for something it is my responsibility as the board president to act on it I don't believe anybody on this board is saying that Mr proso is not a good person I don't believe anybody's thinking that what he said he didn't say jokingly but what might be funny to one person is not funny to somebody else in my opinion the comments that were made were Thoughtless and

128inappropriate we've all said things as everybody has mentioned that we would like to take back as soon as we say it and I know I have I probably said it to board members myself but when you realize that you've done something wrong or you you said something that offended somebody the first thing you do is apologize to them and I probably made some apologies to some members of this board and maybe even some members of the public um if an apology had been made in this case right away we would not be here discussing this matter there have been members of the public that have asked the Board of Education to apologize to Mr tesler and his family and with all due respect for the tesler family I don't believe it's up to the board

129of education to make that apology to Mr Tesla as we were all unaware of the comments that were made at the time I believe it is up to the individual person who made the comments to apologize the board could make Mr proso apologize but there would if we had to resort to that there really isn't any point in the apology we need as a board to abide by our own rules and policies if we expect our staff and students to do so we are supposed to be role models for our children if a teacher had said this made this comment we would have had to do an affirmative action investigation if it was a student it would have been an HIV issue there is no denying that it was said Mr proso has admitted to

130it and it's also on videotape that this happened so um that is all I have to say on this subject and if there's no more discussion we will have a roll call as to the uh filing of Ethics charges by the board [Music] president miss antelis yes Miss armeno no Mr Braverman yes Mr cherella yes Mr zareski yes Mr calman yes Mr noin no Mr Po stay Mrs kapano yes madame board president motion passes thank you and that concludes the superintendent's report okay at this time we will go to the business administrator's report Madame board president and members of the Monro Township Board of Education it is recommended that board action items a through o be approved by consent roll call move second I'll get this to Mr Kaufman andella Luke calman first and Ken

131Chella second yes since they seem to be in twins tonight um any comments or questions for Mr Gorski I feel hey seeing none roll call Miss anelis yes Miss armeno um yes Mr Braverman yes Mr cherella yes Mr zareski yes Mr calman yes Mr noin yes Mr proso yes Mr P yes yes except I recuse myself on item O So noted Mrs Co cono yes madame board president board action items a through o passes that conclude my report thank you that was quick um board president's report I have a couple items today the first one is on February 28th I had an opportunity to participate in a reading Across America day at the invitation of the oak tree apple gorth PTA I had a wonderful time reading Dr Seuss books to fifth grade fifth grade

132class and when I finished reading I had the opportunity to attend a presentation by Mrs Hill fourth grade class and it was a presentation on great Americans where each child in the class chose a famous American and dressed up and gave a short presentation to their parents and whoever was having to be there the students portrayed people such as presidents astronauts Pocahontas Helen Keller Martin Luther King Clara Barton and many many others we as board members don't get the opportunity to get into the class and see what's going on and how our curriculum and our programs affect our students and it was a wonderful opportunity to do that and I would love to have the opportunity to visit classes and see our programs in action in the future um second this is for the board

133members if I believe that we've all gotten the revised committee lists I would hope um so I just want to kind of explain the the revision in the Committees the first is negotiations Mr Chella has requested that he no longer serve as the chair of the negotiations committee but continue to be a member of that uh Team I did discuss this with Mr poy as Mr Po is the new member on our team and the me and Mr Po and Mr Chella are the only three so after the discussion um I have decided that I am going to chair the committee and both um Ken and Doug will remain on the committee as members members of negotiations the second is personnel there was a question brought up as to whether the Jamesburg representative to the

134board was allowed to chair any committees after legal coner consult it was determined that the Jamesburg rep can be a member of any of the Committees except policy but he will not be a or he or the rep will not be able to chair any of committees therefore to make changes to that committee um with his knowledge I removed him as a chair he will stay as a member of personnel and I have asked Mr poy to take over that position but the members of that committee stay the same there's no new members of that committee the third one is policy since the Jamesburg representative cannot vote on any Monroe policies he is not able to be a member of the policy committee therefore the Quorum on the policy committee is no longer six it's

135five so I had to remove a person from the policy committee and I believe the policy committee will now consist of Mr Braverman as the chair miss antelis miss armino and myself I believe Mr presiosa will now serve as the alternate and the alternate has now been removed so I don't know if you have any questions it was a little complicated and I think we sent home two different versions of the um committee list so if everything's okay with that we'll go to Other Board of Education business is there any member of the board who would like to discuss anything Mr tiella thank I just want to uh touch on the fact that we had a planning board meeting just on the 27th of last month and just what we went over and what happened

136at the planning board meeting um we we voted on a request for a minor subdivision of two lots on old Ford Road JSM at Monroe LLC the the spots with Englishtown Road mounts Mills Road um presentation will be moved to the this 20 to 27th of this month from last month so it wasn't heard then it'll be heard on March 27th the other thing that we voted on uh was to amend chapter 108 of the master plan and what that does is it changes the R20 and R8 zones to stop nursing homes and hospitals from being uh built in R20 and R8 zones and that had to go to council for a first and second reading before those changes or take effect to the master plan but that was uh that was it that was

137it was a short agenda thank you it's nice to have a member of the board of education on the planning board thank you anyone else Miss anelis have a question I'm going to go back to ethics um and it's e on the ethics um code which says I will recognize the that Authority rests with the Board of Education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise the board could that um be interpreted as a board member going to a council meeting and saying that they're a board of education member well I'm not a lawyer okay but I we'd probably have to get a um legal opinion on that um I had sent Miss uh lordy a clip from a council meeting that I'd like to play if you'll indulge

138me here not sure just put up some volume I was oop sorry C I don't know people can hear this put the mic down a little more get feedback you should in the Pro I was appointed by the president of the Board of Education or asked to be on the um human relation actually it starts a little if we had followed our own rules and there was no building per putting children in the schools than the 29 houses would so's a well no it is us we have to take responsibility one one last I was I was fortunate enough to be elected on the board of education so I am speaking as a board member okay I have a problem with that I do not believe you are allowed to talk as a board member

139there and I consulted the attorney and she said the same thing so you are in violations of the ethics act M arminia may I respond okay I thank you for your attention to this detail um I have I go just so the public knows I attend uh Council meetings I attend many of the uh Township uh bo meetings zoning board planning board and I have been vocal for many years so I have a pattern of speaking up at that meeting I specifically spoke first of planning board issues correct and then I said on a next issue so I did not speak as a planning board member on those issues because I know not to do so but I it is not something that I just started or as a board member I didn't say it

140that way so we can split hairs and try to reinterpret what I said afterwards if you'll notice I stopped with the planning board uh questions and comment and then I said as a planning board member all I asked the mayor was I had not heard from him because he had not he had not approved D of an appointment that you made uh president uh K panowitz that um I was requested to get on the human Relations Committee that's all I said as a board member it directly impacted me and I wanted to know if I was going to be on the human Relations Committee that's the only reference to being a board member that I made I don't see that as a violation I did not however speak about the planning board or any other

141issues I hope that my election to this board does not censor me on issues that I have been concerned about for 15 years I have been an active and informed member of Monro Township citizenry I respect the process and I feel um that I could have been informed about this much sooner I can't believe we're going to our attorney to spend money again on this it seems like we want to split hairs on every little issue there was no way I ever made a comment on saying that I was a board member if it was misc conscrew that way because I didn't take a f minute recess and then come back and ask the mayor about the appointment to the human relations commit commission I don't think there is any harm to the board for

142me asking that question in public I hope being a member of an elected member that we are not so censored it doesn't seem very Democratic to me thank you yeah I would just like like the state that um we've been told for years from that microphone that and I've seen hair split and we've been told you know every time we seemingly moved in the wrong direction that we were violating some code or some rule or some law that we were uh doing all sorts of things that were illegal and violating ethics and things like that we have rules for a reason those rules have to be followed every board member has to be held to the same standard we can't pick and choose which rules we're going to follow and when we're going to follow

143them and before these this board decides to start creating new ethics laws and rules for other board members or prior board members we should really start looking at the rules that are already on the books and following those to the T thank you I just have one more comment and I would just like to say in 2007 Mrs kapano and I were charged uh with an Ethics violation because we went to a PTA meeting meeting and this was done by the parks Savers I believe you were a member of that group and we were charged ethically because we went to a PTA meeting and talked about this building being built uh we appeared before the Ethics Committee we were found not guilty because Mrs kapano is the board president and she represents the board that

144is who's supposed to talk I was only with her by invite so my question is is this a tit fortat issue and I'm afraid that uh I I would be very saddened if that were the case I think that if looking at the merits of the actual the difference in the issues I think there is no merit to the accusation and however every board member may feel free to you know fill up another uh ethics violation um report to explain what happened I was on vacation last week I like to go away once in a while and get away from things um while I was gone I received um one email probably one phone call um Miss antelis did send me an email and the tape of the meeting uh Dr Hamilton I believed had

145forwarded it to miss lordy for her opinion while I was away uh if I was remember correctly and I'm not going to say it for btim you had asked you had said that you were there as a member of the Board of Education and I remember uh council president asking you if you had the permission to do that and you said you believed you did and that that was the problem the problem is that on the one item council president exctly on the one on the on the one item you know which was just about a letter getting asking me to be on the human relations Comm I mean this is really I are we taking the public I look we can go forward with this if you think there's a violation I would be

146happy to have it addressed if you'd like but I I really think that we're taking the Public's time and we're not again doing the work of you know for students and the public but do as you wish no I I believe that there was a request from Dr Hamilton I think it's been misinterpreted and I I think this is some sort of I I refrain from from saying it no I just let me finish uh there was a request from Dr Hamilton Mr Gorski and myself to meet with you this afternoon so that we could discuss this because I didn't want this to come to this meeting and and you had said that you didn't feel like you needed to discuss anything I I believe that was your email that you were not going to

147meet with us because you didn't have any questions about I have no problem that this is in public in fact I prefer that it's in public I just don't think we should take continue to take the public time for it so I I think the public should be aware of these this type of behavior that's going on I appreciate it but according to our attorney you committed an Ethics violation I I am not the the board has not asked to have any ethics charges against you filed and I'm not planning to do that but um if Mr and I if I would appreciate that that in writing and and the the invoice that goes along with that please the invoice to what to to having it in writing I mean if you're telling me that

148you've consulted with the attorney we you've already charged the board funds for that correct well not necessarily it could be on she gave you an opinion doesn't she charge for her opinion necessarily no okay if I I I can see you want to explain how the the attorney yes that it could come under the retainer that was the word I was come under the retainer or not depends how many cumulative hours have been uh consumed this month I don't know okay Mr yeah I just want to address the part about board members being stifled or censored from speaking out in public or going to meetings and speaking out that's not the case Mr Klein um at when he was a board member attended every meeting I would see him at everything and he would always

149preface everything that he said by saying I'm speaking as a Monroe citizen not as a board member and then he would give his his opinion or you know talk about whatever he's going to talk about and uh so there's no there's the board isn't censored the board just has to the board board members can't speak for the board if you're not the board president or if the board president hasn't delegated the vice president to speak for the board we vote for a president and a vice president for a reason and that's why we have those rules Mr Armenia I was speaking for myself regarding the letter that had my name on it to the counil and asking to be on the committee I thought it was a rather benign question prior to that I did

150not speak about as a board member if I didn't if I didn't specifically and accurately convey that position then I will know better in the future but I believe that I should be able to speak on issues as an I have a pattern of attending these meetings and speaking out I have never before said that I was I was speaking for anybody else other than myself in the past so I it's consistent with my behavior I asked specifically about one letter pertaining to me as a board member and I got an answer from the mayor I I don't understand how that's a violation but again you need to go through the process as a new board member as an older board member uh we learn all the time and sometimes it's the way you word

151things sometimes it's how you say things and this is just one of those we just wanted to let you know that there might be a better way of addressing that without saying that you are you are speaking as a board member or I don't I would have to go back and look at the tape because I don't recall the exact wording so what you're saying is I couldn't ask the the mayor who was very jovial about it and there was uh quite a nice exchange if you really look at it I did um about the appointment a specific specific one isue appointment to a commission that I have not been able to attend as a member so I was asking for clarification that's all but I thank every for everybody's attention Madam president uh I

152know uh Miss armenio has has said we shouldn't be wasting the Public's time but uh I had heard that there was some possible uh misconduct at at uh the town C council meeting uh by Miss armenio so I decided to watch Channel 28 and see for myself and I watched it and essentially what Miss armeno reported there uh I believe is accurate she did ask some questions to about the planning board and then following that she did make a statement that she was a member of the Board of Education and I don't recall the exact words but I know my impression from what she said was she was trying to get clarification as to when she could attend the meeting of the human relations commission and she said that she had possibly been appointed now

153I do recall seeing her name on a list of all the appointments that you make and she was listed as being appointed to the human relations commission so it made perfect sense to me that she would possibly appear and say uh when can I attend this meeting or why haven't I been contacted something of that nature uh I happen to have seen the president of the council over the weekend and I I said to him I said can you shed some light on what took place there uh regarding that and he said I think she was just a little confused that was what he told me and I says well what do you mean and he says the board cannot appoint someone to the human relations commission which I found interesting he says I said

154well then how do they get appointed and he says the mayor appoints them and he appoints them on the B bis of ethnicity that's exactly what he told me that they're appointed on the basis of ethnicity and I think that was even mentioned that particular night if I'm not mistaken so I'm simply sharing that information because I did watch the video I didn't see anything inappropriate in terms of of Miss armenio trying to uh be a spokesperson for the board I think she mentioned that she was on the board and she was trying to get clarification about this human relations commission clearly it seemed to me that there was some confusion from the remarks that I heard on that video that's why I then spoke to Mr and I haven't spoken to Mr armeno at

155all about this that's why I then I spoke to Mr tamboro when I saw him on Sunday and that's what he told me so for whatever it's worth I share that with the full board thank you okay Mr nottin I didn't see the tape but I was actually at the meeting and I did hear Miss armenio say I'm speaking as a board member and I thought it was quite appropriate that she was speaking as a board member because she was asking about board business basically a letter that you had sent to her appointing her as the Human Rights Commission to the human rights uh relations uh commission so um I she absolutely said it and I would have said the same thing because at that moment in time she was speaking as a board member

156requesting to know why she was not allowed to be on this commission even though she was appointed by our board president to me it's pretty straightforward and I seen that as not being a violation so maybe we do need to take this further because if there's members here that see it as a violation I don't obviously Miss armino doesn't um and if so we obviously need to get a ruling on it because if you're we did get a ruling on it our attorney said it was a VI get another ruling our attorney isn't always right why would we go to get another you guys are ready for chares let's get another ruling off over going to hear this how are we going to hear this you're talking over me um basically the bottom line is

157like you always say it's just an opinion so let's get again a free a free one from the school board we're not going anywhere with this I'm sorry we're not going any but we need to know for the future how else could M Miss armeno have addressed the council with a board issue because it really was a board issue she cannot say that she's speaking as a board member but she was but she cannot say that because it's like like saying I'm speaking for the board it's the same thing as a board member there are people who would believe that she is speaking for the board well she was she was speaking your voice because she had your letter appointing her well then the appropriate thing would be for her to ask Mrs Cola panowitz

158to ask the mayor why aren't you making the appointment instead of her or any of this other board going rogue and doing whatever we want and showing up wherever and saying I'm a board member that's not appropriate we have rules so she should have went to Mrs kapano and said I have not yet be been appointed can you please find out for me for years we had been asking for somebody on the planning board nobody here showed up at board at Council meetings saying hey I'm a board member how come you don't appoint me to the council to the planning board because we do it through the board president that's our policy and and I agree we had the letter so that's why we thought we had I guess she thought she had the power

159of the board president with that nobody does have that ability just like nobody can speak to the media except for the board president that's policy Michelle yes okay the intent of the question sorry was that in advance the there was a new meeting scheduled prior to another meeting with the township Council I thought they had would have have to approve me at the council meeting so I was asking why there might not be a resolution so uh I don't think it was a rogue issue and I um you know I I also think maybe we do need a ruling because I think in the future as a member of this community I may say that uh and disclose that while I am a board member because I think sometimes people should know that while they're

160a council member while they work for the for the Township um I think that impacts on people's positions and as a disclosure as a transparent disclosure that I am an elected official board member but I will not be speaking as such and I did not speak as such prior to my asking about the letter which again I think is a benign issue okay anyone else one last thing oh Mr Kaufman just just as in the side uh in the past I've gone to a couple of committee meetings uh uh for the township um when I've been when I was on the board for a while so I knew that people knew who I was and they kind of would infer certain things and use it don't use it it's up to you um when I

161got in front of the mic I made sure of two things I announced my name I disclosed the fact that I was an active member of the board of education but I was there representing myself and by no means anything that I say would be Affiliated or Associated to the Board of Education because to your point when when you do this gig for a while when you go to these other committees they want you on that because you're representing something some stuff that's going on here that you're bringing that footprint if you will like you're doing Ken to that particular committee but you have to make sure that you just do that disclosure of saying look I know you know who I am or maybe my head's too big for myself but I'm I am

162a board member of the educ Board of Education member but I'm here representing myself and speaking only for myself okay I just Mr cherella yeah I just want to mention the the the Committees so if we have District committees you're we you have the you have the right obviously to put any of us on those committees and and to list that when it comes to the township though that's a separate entity so we could make recommendations or we could ask or we could ask for for a liaison position but really the recommendation or the or the the person who really makes the decision is the mayor based upon what he thinks or who he thinks will fit in in those various committees because it's all part of his administration so I just want to get

163that straight because just some just because we recommend at the board level that someone's liaison doesn't automatically mean that they've been appointed to a Township uh board position okay well miss analis perhaps um we should utilize New Jersey school boards and maybe have a couple of sessions for our new members where they can ask the questions before they go ahead and maybe um do an action like this is it okay if I say this in in public um it doesn't hurt training never hurts so we'll consider to have board training on governance and have the opportunity to ask any questions that need to be asked any other board business Mr poy this is what happens when you miss a couple of board meetings as I mentioned earlier my wife and I were away during the

164month of February uh I did watch the videotape of the meeting on February the 10th and I wish to let the public as well as my fellow board members uh know that I take exception to the remarks that were made by a member of our public who spoke during the public session a vote had been taken in January when I was present regarding a recommendation by the superintendent to offer someone a permanent position in the school system and that the board had been discussing changes to its nepotism policy I expressed my opinion that the recommendation was premature I felt that that the decision to hire should have occurred once the board had decided whether to make changes to the policy or not during the public session on February the 10th the member of the public

165whose spouse had been recommended made a remark that those who had voted against the recommendation did not act in the best interest of the children of our school schools in that I deot in that I have devoted Over 40 Years of my adult life to teaching and being an administrator in a public school I found the speaker remark offensive in that I ran for this board and devote numerous hours each week to being in as informed as I can be on matters of concern to this board I find found this remark to be offensive additionally I have four grandchildren who attend the schools in Monroe and I I am very interested in the quality of their education I have lived in this community for 45 years and I care about the quality of our schools

166I always have simply because I felt that the vote should have been delayed is not cause for anyone to accuse me of not acting in the best interest of the children of our schools since I was not here I could not make that comment at the time and I wanted to make it tonight on a more positive note uh there's a couple of things that I uh that happened during my absence that I want to mention some of these were mentioned by our student rep uh Corey haer earlier this evening um some were not uh I'm very pleased to know that our district uh supervisors are making such a concerted effort to help our teachers prepare our students for the new park test which will be required in 2015 from what I read in the

167newspapers Park and the common core standards have created quite a controversy in some states and communities it is good to know that in our district we are accepting the mandated curricular changes and are doing our best to prepare our students now that the winter sports season has ended I want to thank all the students and their coaches who participated it requires a huge commitment of time and effort to Pro to participate in inter Scholastic Sports special Commendation to those teams who had winning seasons boys bowling girls basketball wrestling and cheerleading and a special shout out to our wrestlers and their coaches for their historic season it was great to hear that students in our Falcon Falcon Life program qualified for the state Special Olympics bowling tournament additionally congratulations to the students in the DECA program

168I understand that the that the Monroe Club had a significant number of students qualify for the state finals and that three of them qualified for the international competition which will be occurring in Atlanta and finally I want to commend our Central Administration and our building and ground staff for ma for managing the unusual number of snowstorms that occurred in February it was good to know that our students were not put in harms way and that none of our buildings suffered major damage thank you you're welcome anyone else M Tom uh just to make this quick I just want to say I was very fortunate enough to attend the uh Monro Township Middle School play on Friday night I believe we paid the orchestration tonight for that um there's a lot of talent out there uh

169it was very entertaining the students were great and I just want to uh thank the staff and all that all the people that were responsible for putting that show on they did a fantastic job and uh I highly recommend any other shows in the future it's a very cheap night out there is good as Broadway anyone else Mr zareski two weeks ago I attended along with Dr Gorman several guidance counselors to the middle sex County student achievement and we had two outstanding students from this District receive Awards in that aspect there was also two students from each High School in Middle sex County that has achieved High honors and high praises for their work not only in the schools but outside the schools and I want to take my time I unfortunately I forget their

170names right now if Dr Gorman can help me out with that and uh sorry to put you on a spot in sopia how's that yes first names that's good that's good and uh I want to congratulate them and every other student that received awards and achievements for that evening also attended the middle SE uh Somerset County School boards meeting last Wednesday and they had some people there speaking on special ed education and what's going on in the state regarding that and I would also like to add that this Wednesday Mercer County down in uing is holding a ethics course I guess for lack of words uh which is basically what we're going through here so it's never too late to attend the middle sex County Schoolboard meeting if the cut off is given and you

171don't get to sign up you can always show up there's always two or three seats for walk-ins to attend so thank you very much anyone else Mr proso I would like to thank the Monroe Education Foundation for sponsoring this program here for Mike Nichols uh I went to see this young man and I was blown away to see how the hardship that he has to go through in his family and I I didn't know what to do I I had to leave I I I just couldn't stay there but I recognized the father as somebody who's helped kids for a long time on the baseball committee for the in the uh Recreation Department for Monroe and I know him quite well I felt so bad for this boy I wanted to try to do something

172for the family I was talking to Mike lewitz uh councilman for Monroe and he had mentioned to me that he went out to dinner and he had mentioned to one of the managers this young man that needed some help and he told me to restaurant that it was and I decided to go there and it happened to be Red Lobster on Route nine and talking to them I have a possibility of holding a Mike Nichols day where they would contribute a certain amount of their checks for everybody that walked in there with a voucher that they were going to print out we're in the process of starting something from that restaurant I figured I might as well go to all of them I went to four or five other restaurants talking to the managers and

173they're getting in touch with the owners and we're trying to get together one day where we're having a Mike Nichols fundraising day in the restaurants and I would ask the PT and PTO and even the teachers that if they want to get involved I I would appreciate that because if they do have print out for vouchers I would like you to give them out if possible and I would also like to ask for a motion if the administration could see if they could make a Mike Nichols day in the school and possibly work something out with raising funds uh I I no there's plenty of people that need help but this was something that this boy was at a sporting event for the school and after seeing this boy I all we could do is

174try to help any any little bit would help the families hard pressed and I would like to make the motion if the administration would allow us to investigate to see how we could maybe coordinate with these restaurants that I'm working with make one particular day for a fundraiser we can designate a Mike Nichols day but before um the board introduces a resolution on fundraising I'd like to get some more particulars about what you have in mind so if you would like perhaps we could sit down and kind of draft draft a proposal together what it looked like just an outline um and then at the next meeting present that to the board okay well we have another meeting I went to these restaurants and I was a parent when I went I didn't represent the

175board everybody hear that okay and what I did was I uh worked something out with them with that if they do do the vouchers they wanted some kind of assurance from you that this is really happening and where we could deposit These funds so I would have to work with you and if you would want to set up a date and I would love to see if we could do some kind of uh Mike Nichols day Mr chro yeah on the on the liaison to the to the rec board and Joe Isola from what I understand is uh is I think he's running the foundation for for Mikey Nichols I think one of the issues that they were having was that they were trying to Corral all the various um entities that were popping up

176that were raising money or or doing fundraising for Mikey uh in order to get them funneled into that one group so that there aren't a bunch of different entities and then they can't control what where the money's going what's happening with the money or if there's anything going on I think it's what your your point is well placed and I think it's it's a good thing but I but I think that that's probably the way to go also is to go through is Sol yeah I think it's pray for Mikey 23 I I know there's a few website that's online um on Facebook I think um you would be amazed at the number of organizations and people who are doing fundraisers for this child and um the the family is just phenomenal phenomenal there's whenever

177you're ready if you want to put together and I have a list of restaurants that want to talk to you so okay sounds good here's a good idea but I'm going to tell you years ago um we had a young man who was a basketball player and he was seriously ill and he passed and we were asked to name the gym over at the uh middle school for him which was a great thing to do and we did it unfortunately what happened was other parents came to us and they were very hurt by it because their child had had an illness and they weren't recognized so you really have to be careful um because if you do for one you you're going to end up hurting somebody else so just think about it very carefully

178before you go ahead and and do a full day for him I think there's a lot of people out there doing many many fundraisers anyone else okay we'll go to close session resolution be it resolved that the Board of Education of the township of Monroe hereby moves to go into Clos session in accordance with the Sunshine Law chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 njsa 10 column 4-6 through 10 column 4-21 to discuss the following subjects we will not be discussing the Jamesburg rep nonparticipation and closed session as we have no legal councel tonight but we will just have Personnel matters for employee number 00306 and 00244 and harassment intimidation intimidation and bullying inance incidents 29 through 33 the discussion I added one oh 32 the discussion conducted in closed session can be discussed

179disclosed to the public at such time as the need for confidentiality no longer exists is there a motion Mr zesi is there a second miss armeno all in favor opposed extensions at this time the board will move into close session 30 minutes minutes oh about 30 minutes oh wow at this time the board will reconvene into public session and I believe Dr Hamilton has a couple of resolutions to read yes under board action item to be entered in the record is letter L it is recommended that the Board of Education approve the suspension with pay of employee number 00306 retroactive to the period from March 10th through March 13th and a return to work on March 14th the superintendent of schools and the business administrative board secretary hereby are authorized and directed to take all

180necessary steps to implement this action of the board moved Mr Kaufman Mr zareski comments or questions we will have a roll call Miss antelis yes Miss armenio yes Mr Braverman yes Mr cherella Mr Zares yes Mr Cal yes Mr noin yes Mr proso yes Mr py yes Mrs K Pano yes madame board president board action item L passes thank you board action item to be entered in the record is letter M it is recommended that the Board of Education approve the suspension with pay of employee number 02044 retroactive to March 14th 2014 motion no oh you're not I need to need to correct that it is recommended that the Board of Education approved the suspension with pay of employee number 02044 effective March 17 2014 pending further action of the board the superintendent of schools

181and the business administrative board secretary hereby authorized and directed to take all necessary steps to implement this action of the board who second Mr cman and miss armeno any comments or questions seeing none roll call Miss anelis yes Miss armeno yes Mr Braverman Mr cherella yes Mr zareski yes Mr calman yes Mr noin Mr proso yes Mr Po yes Mrs K Pano Madam board president board action item M passes thank you no further action okay then we will go to the public forum again anyone from the public wishing to speak please come to the microphone and give your name and address for the record and we will continue to adhere to or three minute limit Mark Klein seven cruna first of all we as residents do not get a report as to the student violations

182only you people do rightly so if you are getting the lists as long as what I got when I was on the board then the code of conduct that the school system has been using all this year all these years is not working because you'll notice a lot of violations repeatedly for the same students for the same thing okay so while I was on the board I took it upon myself to draw up stiffer penalties and penalties for other things that I made a suggestion to the board and it just died nothing ever happened so that's just to give you some feedback on that now I just want to get an understanding uh Madam president based on what was discussed tonight it seems that um if something is said by a board member after the

183meeting in other words it's got nothing to do with the meeting that it's an Ethics violation is that correct possibil okay possible if you remember I brought up something to you something that happened on the outside I was a resident and it was done by a board member and I was told because it happened on the outside I don't have a leg to stand on that this person can say whatever they want and I don't have a leg to stand on even though they're a board member you also remember that there were if I wanted to bring up ethics charges I was told it would take two years for it to be heard by the ethics board and I was told couldn't do anything so I don't understand what the policy is and then that

184listing of 10 code of condex that the board is supposed to follow and it was brought up by Miss anellus well one of the items that she read off was you are not to attack another board member in public well she broke the viol she violated The Code by attacking Miss anellus so I don't understand not anus uh Miss Amino I don't understand what you're allowed to do what you're not allowed to do I know I as a board member and even a passport member I am not allowed to bring up anything that happened in closed session so I can't say a word I don't do a thing but if somebody is going to quote ethics that person should live up to all the ethics that she throws in front of everybody else so please

185there's got to be an understanding here somewhere we all have to understand what's a violation and what's not I I'll respond to that I I got a specific request from a member of the public in regard to the situation with Mr proso with that I had to act on it I'm not talking about that oh okay I thought I thought that no no I'm not talking about that I'm talking about myself I'm talking about things that transpired the past few years that's all I'm bringing up I just don't understand what you allowed to do and what you're not allowed to do and what is an Ethics violation and what's not an Ethics violation it seems that it's one way that's the only reason why I brought it up I'm not mentioning names okay you know

186what I'm talking about and I thank you for your comi thank you Stephen Ryback 23 Riviera Drive in light of discussions that you know we've been listening to tonight I just like to uncore and compliment Mr zonasi Mr Chella as well for bringing up the work shs that you suggest many of the board members might attend I think after tonight it might be very appropriate for uh board members here to attend whether it be sensitivity training or whether it be um ethics code of ethics and how and how uh uh board members should respond uh what's appropriate as far as responses and when we're talking responses you know occasionally all of us say things that we don't mean or or or act in a manner that we know normally won't act in but when you're

187in a board situation like this it's very important to be aware of what you can and cannot do and Madame President with all due respect it's up to you to make sure that happens occasionally I hear uh or see comments made or actions that seem inappropriate and I don't see any retort from you toward that board member I think all of them have to know what you expect from your board of education and that uh you will not Bend from that and I would expect you to stop any kind of a comment or something that you deem inappropriate so that we don't get this blown out of proportion thank you thank you hi uh Bob zagari 162 Tournament Drive um at last month's Board of Education meeting um Dr Hamilton mentioned that he would be

188discussing with the Township Council uh my idea for sore connection fees for classrooms and I was wondering if you had an opportunity and I realized you've been a little busy um we have reached out to council and um to set that meeting up to have that conversation we're ALS we're also getting a little legal research so we find out what our position ought to be when we have that meeting so we have taken some initial steps okay thank you very much and i' just like to say uh as a person who sat through uh 20 years of Board of Education meetings as a uh board secretary uh I feel the pain of the staff members here and I hope that you'll be able to go to work tomorrow morning and somehow work effectively in the

189day-to-day operations of the school district thank you anyone else from the public Joe hoki 61 halfman Road uh it was very nice to see how the school budget brought the entire board together all in the same wavelength and uh 3 hours and 15 minutes later I'm not too sure if that will continue but anyway uh board members have to ATT attend New Jersey school boards Association workshops I attended a number of them and so have most of you sometimes we forget to ask the most simple questions as to what we can do what we can do as board members my suggestion is that either the uh board president the attorney or the superintendent sit down with new board members and just talk about how to act in the community not that they don't know how

190to act but there are a certain way of talking about certain things at public meetings especially and I think that would be a very good suggestion for all new members that come in that you Kathy or anybody else sit down with them and tell them look you certainly can go to public meetings but make sure you don't talk for the board you only talk for yourself and identify yourself as such and I think that would go a long way it's not fair for new board member to allow them to sink or swim and I'm sure there was no intent at all to hurt anybody or to speak for the board it just came out that way so my suggestion is that sit down with the people talk about things and any new members coming in

191please do the same thing educate them locally thank you uh the superintendent uh Mr gski and myself always sit down with new board members but maybe we have to add that piece to the yeah maybe you can uh come up with a set of standard questions that you repeat to new board members so that you don't have to reinvent a wheel every time but I think that would go a long way it's like old night I T 11 Elliot Drive um I just actually want to make a quick apology for I guess some of my statements in the board meeting and if I offended uh Mr Po uh maybe I was a little too harsh on those statements back on um I guess it was February 10th so um just apologizing for those statements and

192uh I'll think of a little more carefully in the future thank you also like to congratulate the Microsoft Microsoft it's getting a little late the Monroe Township High School cheerleader competition team they won a state championship the beginning of uh March I just didn't hear that mentioned in there and yes my daughter's on a team that's how I know but I just wanted to some good news I wanted to share shair that's the first time I think they wanton a state championship in like six or seven years thanks hi jod Desai to northwin court um it's my understanding that there's a committee that's Gathering um regarding the tag program um I was wondering if there's anything you can share with us on the progress of that and um if during that um discussion if there's

193any progress of moving the uh tag program into to uh the daily routine of students Dr cor thought you would be able didn't we made our initial um recommendations to the curriculum committee today um we had a lengthy discussion on it um without giving you any of those details if you want to come and shoot me an email or set up an appointment I'd be happy to talk with you about what we're what our vision is and how we Envision ourselves getting there without going into the details until the board um and the curriculum committee approves us and gives us um our Direction but I would be happy to go into detail and yes we are looking at different models an integrated approach to meet the needs of all of our kids okay thank you

194sure anyone else from the public Nelson Chen for Ashley Court uh I was going through the flyer the the other day and I came across this advertisement can anyone shed some light on this I I don't know what it is or what the purpose of it is it's clearly from the Monroe School System I don't can you could share or make an airplane [Laughter] security is that from the other no this is us this is our we did a a trifold brochure actually I didn't know it was in here um we did a trifold brochure which was just our opportunity to kind of highlight some of the things that have been accomplished over the last couple of years and um this only looks like a part of it actually was was was printed how much

195did that cost us did that cost oh oh was free advertising yes okay yeah we did and the only other thing I want to comment on is uh and I'm not weighing in on what Mr prosi said what he didn't say what he did how Mr Tesla felt about it but what I would like to say is that made and everyone spoke eloquently and I would just want to say that if the outcome of it and and and only you folks know because you've spoken to the attorney if the outcome of it is that he gets a slap on the wrist and he doesn't end up off the board then I think you're kind of chasing something that really shouldn't be chased in my opinion because he's been dragged through the money enough uh this

196would only just prolong that dragging through the mud and as you can see it's creating a lot of divisiveness in the board especially with you madam president you should be looking to unify the board and not looking to pick sides on it and it should be a a a unified front with the board but people are videotaping giving giving out videotapes and who said what and who meant what and old board members are coming up I really think that the board should really work together and you're spending a whole hell of a lot of time on what Miss armeno said what Mr presios said when really you're here for the kids thank you anyone else ler 44 Avenue I uh you seem concerned about the conduct on the board and violating the confidence of the

197public at the March 20 3 Board of Ed meeting there was a loud verbal brawl between Mr Klein and the superintendent Mr Hamilton which included Mr Hamilton saying quote bring it on this went viral on YouTube and humiliated our school district other than an apology from Mr Hamilton and the board giving him an optional 1.5% raise how was he held accountable for his actions thank you for your comments you're not going to answer the question I just did thank you anyone else seeing no one we'll close public forum our next scheduled Board of Education meeting Wednesday April 9th 2014 7 o'clock P.M at the Monro tanip High School motion to adjourn Mr Kaufman no he gave it to me Mr zareski Mr Kaufman all in favor opposed meeting adjourn that was a great picture