December 8, 2022 - Board of Education Meeting

001Mr. Blandina? Here. Ms. Gagliardi? Ms. Kennedy? Here. Ms. Piccola? Here. Ms. Siebert? Here. Ms. Wolrab? Here. Mr. Edwards? The New Jersey Open Publics Meeting Law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend meetings of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Bricktown Tribunal Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be posted on the Administration Office Bullion Board, the official district website, and channel BTV20 and sent to the Municipal Clerk's Office, the Asbury Park Press, Bricktown, Star Ledger, and Municipal Clerk's Office. I need a motion and a second to go into executive session. I'll make that motion. Second, Victoria. Mr. Edwards. Whereas the Brick Township Board of

002Education has been formed pursuant to applicable New Jersey statutes, and whereas the board is charged with the responsibility of performing all acts and doing all things consistent with the law and rules of the State Board of Education necessary for the lawful and proper conduct of the equipment and maintenance of the public schools and public school property of the Brick Township School District. And whereas section 7 of the Open Public Meeting Act permits the exclusion of public from the meeting of the board in certain circumstances. And whereas the board has determined that circumstances exist for such an executive session. And whereas the board has found the action described below to be necessary and proper. Now therefore be resolved by the board on December 8, 2022 that the public shall be excluded from the discussion of and

003action on the executive sessions here and set forth. The session will be approximately 15 minutes, and the general nature of the subject matter to be discussed is harassment, intimidation, and bullying reports. It is anticipated at this time that the above stated subject matter will be made public if and when it is deemed to be in the public interest to do so, and the need for confidentiality no longer required by the board. Mary? Ms. Hafner? Yes. Mr. Blandina? Yes. Ms. Kennedy? Yes. Ms. McCullough? Yes. Ms. Siebert? Yes. Ms. Woolrub? Yes. We'll be back. Okay, we're gonna call the meeting to order again Mary. Oh, I'm sorry. I need a motion in a section to return I'll make that motion Mike second Allie now Mary Yes Yes Yes Yes, I'm gonna ask everybody to please stand for

004the flag salute and the presentation of colors from the brick schools Air Force junior ROTC cadets republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you Often it may appear to members of our audience that the Board of Education act with very little comment and in many cases a unanimous vote Please understand that before a matter is placed on the agenda at a public meeting the administration has thoroughly reviewed the matter with the superintendent of schools Disgusted and appropriate Boe committees committees and only then if the superintendent is satisfied that the matter is ready to be presented To the full Board of Education is it placed on the agenda for action at a public meeting? Board of Education members are given advance notice to review the agenda

005and through the chair ask questions or voice concerns in rare instances when a net when necessary Matters are presented to the Board of Education for discussion at the same meeting that final action may be taken Miss McNamara student representatives Thank You mrs. Walrub this evening. We have Andrew Kelly from Brick Township High School Thank you. Good evening. I'm Andrew Kelly, your representative from Brick Township High School. BTHS has made it to the second marking period with much academic success and many memory-filled events. Tonight, I will let you know what has been happening inside the walls of Brick Township High School with both peers and our amazing teachers. Looking back into November, the junior and senior class held the annual Powder Puff game on November 16th. Both classes had a great time playing the game and

006cheering each other on with their respective class. In the end, the seniors took home the victory. On November 19th, the classes of 2024 and 2025, along with their advisors and other volunteers, held a gift auction to help raise money for their own classes. It was a great success and many attended. Faculty Feud was the night to remember that was held on November 22nd. Over 30 teachers participated in the event, which was ran by the National Honor Society. Lots of laughs, competition, and a fun-filled night. Lots of students and parents attended. Dr. Cajun and his administrative team took home the victory. On November 23rd, BTHS hosted the Alumni Networking Day. Alumni came back from BTHS that afternoon to discuss different subjects such as going to college far away, playing a sport in college, and transferring colleges.

007It was a very informative session that allowed our current students to see a sneak peek into the college lifestyle. The Surf Club and Interact Club held a food drive for this Thanksgiving and now are holding a toy drive that will run through December 16th. Our Tap Dragon talent show took place on December 1st. There were many talented acts that included musicians, singers, dancers, and more. Our mock trial team ran this event and it was a very big success for all involved. This week, students in acting classes from Brick Township High School visited our elementary schools to perform a short version of A Christmas Carol for fourth and fifth grade students. It was a great way to spread some holiday cheer throughout our district. Tomorrow, students from BTHS and the Future Educators of America Club will

008be visiting Warren H. Wolfe Preschool to read the story The Polar Express. Students, we're very much looking forward to this as it's always a fun-filled day for our youngest students in Brick Township. This Saturday, December 10th, is the 56th Annual Winter Craft Fair hosted by the Marching Dragons. There are over 75 homemade crafters attending, a bake sale, 50-50, and basket raffles. Be sure to stop by. It will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The band recently held a very successful open house for the indoor drumline and color guard. If you missed this opportunity and are looking for more information, please reach out to Mr. Negri or Ms. Finfasen with any questions. The winter holiday concert will take place on Monday, December 12th at 6.30. The concert will feature performers from our choir, jazz

009band, and our concert band. On Tuesday, December 13th at 5 p.m., the National Honor Society will hold its induction ceremony. Many new students will be inducted into this prestigious organization. With a look at our athletic programs at BTHS, the Boys and Girls Bowling Season opened on Tuesday, December 6th. Boys and Girls Swimming opened up today, December 8th. This Friday night ice hockey will open their home season at the Ice Palace. Coinciding with opening night, the team will hold their annual teddy bear toss and Toys for Tots fundraiser. Anyone attending this game is urged to bring a teddy bear for free entry to the event with this donation. After the first goal, all spectators will be asked to throw their teddy bear onto the ice. On Thursday, December 15th, Boys and Girls Basketball, as well as

010wrestling, will open up their seasons. Finally, you may have seen on our social media today, BTHS announced their Governor's Educator of the Year this morning. It was great to see well-deserving staff members be recognized. Dr. Cajun made an announcement over the loudspeaker first thing this morning to recognize Ms. Faith Stapp as Educational Service Professional of the Year and Mr. Charles Pesmino as Teacher of the Year. The students and staff were extremely excited to celebrate both these faculty members. Be sure to stay connected with all BTHS events and inside information by accessing our school website, SGA Instagram at BTHSSGA, and our school Twitter at BTHSDragons. You can always see our happenings monthly through Dr. Cajun's Dragon Review. Thank you again for this opportunity, and I will see you all next month. Hashtag Go Dragons. Thank you,

011Andrew. Next up is Ava Scanlon from Brick Memorial High School. Ava? We hope that everybody had a safe and happy Thanksgiving. First, we want to thank Guidance for our successful Alumni Networking Day, November 23rd. 45 returning Brooklyn Memorial graduates attended. Student government and NHS teamed up together to collect food for Seeds of Service in the spirit of Thanksgiving and have donated over 22 boxes. Our Key Club had their annual Turkey Pie Night, Monday, November 21st. 60 people attended. The Pals Club hosted their annual Harvest Dance on November 18th. Dinner and dessert were served. Volunteers included NHS, SGA, Key Club, Pals, and the cheerleaders. Thank you to the teachers who chaperoned, and this was the first time since COVID we were able to have this, and we look forward to the spring dance. Monday, November 21st,

012the Mustang players performed Dear Jack, Dear Louise. a World War II love story, and they raised over $2,000 for disabled American veterans. Key Club hosted their annual gingerbread social yesterday. It was open to all faculty members and students who wanted to make a gingerbread house. And of course, there was a visit from Santa. The Brick Memorial Mustang players are preparing to perform Sister Act Junior, which will be held December 9th and 10th at 7 p.m. and the 9th at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. We look forward to this great production. Wednesday, December 14th, the Brick Memorial Band and Chorus will have their annual winter concerts. The band is under direction of Mr. Penrod, and the chorus is under direction of... Mr. Bettis. We look forward to this holiday show.

013SGA is having their virtual baking competition. It is open to anybody who would like to submit their creations. There will be baking baskets awarded as prizes for first, second, and third place, and this is going on until December 18th. We have our holiday spirit week coming up, which will be the 19th through the 23rd. It will include Pajama Day, Winter Wonderland, White Out, Ugly Sweater Day, Holiday Day, and All Out Holiday Day. We have our Ugly Sweater Party coming up December 21st, hosted by Student Government. It will include members of service organizations such as NHS, Key Club, Student Government, and PALS. We will get together with pizza and celebrate the holidays. The halls of Brick Memorial are getting festive and spirited for the holidays with our door decorating competition. Trophies will be awarded for first,

014second, and third place. For our sports report, our winter seasons are now fully underway with our bowling team already earning their first wins of the season earlier this week. Our girls are returning most of our team from our unprecedented undefeated season and state championship team last year. We hope to defend that title and continue our winning ways. Our co-op hockey team opens up tomorrow night at the Ice Palace and will be hosting our awesome fundraiser, Teddy Bear Toss, in which we collect for toys for tots. The game starts at 545. Our swim, wrestling, basketball, and indoor track teams are all ready to start competing next week. As we continue to move into December and push toward the end of the year, our girls' and boys' basketball programs will be competing in one of the best

015holiday tournaments in the state in the WOBM Christmas Classic. Our wrestlers will compete in a few weeks in two different high-level tournaments. We are headed... We are heading to the nationally renowned Beast of the East tournament hosted at the Carpenter Center at the University of Delaware. We also will be competing in the College of New Jersey Pride tournament held at Middletown South. Finally, over the holiday break, our track team will be competing in the Bill Bruno Invitational. This is a state invitational meet dedicated to our late, great... athletic director and major track advocate Bill Bruno. We would also like to mention and acknowledge the passing of our first athletic director, Mr. George Rao. The legacy and idols that both of these men have left on our programs continue to hold strong in our Mustang student

016athletes of today. As always, please stay current with all of our news and updates on our brickschools.org website. Subscribe to our Mustang Weekly newsletter and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at bmstangsports. And remember, all of our home basketball, bowling, and wrestling events are live-streamed on our BMHS Mustang's YouTube channel. Happy holidays to all, and we wish you all a happy and healthy new year. Thank you, Ava. Next up, we have Cadet Rafael Gonzalez. This thing on? Okay. Good evening, distinguished members of the board. My name is Cadet Captain Rafael Gonzalez-Tres. I'm the Chief of Staff for NJ822 AFJ ROTC. I am happy to address you this evening with the Air Force Junior ROTC Minute. Here are our recent events. On November 19th, we went to the Brick VFW post to assist in decorating their

017hall and canteen. On the 21st, NJA 22 participated in the Brick Memorial Drama Club performance of Dear Jack, Dear Luis. Cadets opened the show by presenting the colors and singing the national anthem. Over the month of November, we were fundraising to put wreaths on veterans' graves for the holiday. We were able to sponsor 54 wreaths. As part of this project, we go to Brigadier General William C. Doyle Memorial Cemetery on December 17th. Yesterday, December 7th, we went to the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. to tour the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society Museum. We learned about the tragic event of the Hindenburg Disaster and the history of Lakehurst Naval Air Station from World War I to the present day. Tomorrow, we will be assisting the VFW in their annual Christmas gift wrapping. As always, we thank you for your

018support of our program. Have a great night and have a happy and healthy holidays. You know, I was able to see Dear Jack, Dear Louise at Brick Memorial. Very interesting, the playwright that wrote that wrote that about how his parents met through World War II and never met in person. They just had correspondence through letters and then ended up getting married, but they would not give the rights to anybody across the country but Brick Memorial for one night only, the night it showed. A really cool story, and I encourage it. I think it's going to be in a couple of cities this coming summer. I think Philadelphia and Chicago are going to have it, but it's called Dear Jack, Dear Louise. Very interesting. But all of our cadets were there as well as we recognized

019all the veterans in our community that evening as well. We have the headliner. yes thank you mrs. Walroth and thank you dr. Farrell we are pleased to welcome from brick township high school the brick township high school World Cups can we get you to come in start up again if everybody could take their seats I need a motion in a second for approval of minutes I'll make that motion Michael any board comments Seeing none Mary yes Yes Yes Yes, I'm gonna speak after the superintendent so dr. Farrell I start off with some recognition. I do want to recognize and thank Mrs. Gagliardi who couldn't be here this evening. She had a family commitment. And Mrs. Happner for volunteering their time to serve as Board of Education members for Brick Schools. Their commitment, dedication, professionalism, and

020service to the students of our district is much appreciated. Mrs. Hafner served as a board member for six years and Mrs. Gagliardi also served as a board member six years and vice president for four years. I try to use some of these comment sections each month to kind of talk to not only staff and students but community members, parents, and even administration. Sometimes I joke with Dr. Anderson and Ms. McNamara that I have my Jerry Maguire moment maybe over the weekend or when I can't sleep and kind of write down some thoughts and do some research and kind of try to wax poetically. But I thought this was something that was important to close out the year and discuss. But there's overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one is

021to treat others with respect, kindness, and generosity. That's from Nathaniel Brandon. Our schools continue to focus on welcoming our students back in a safe and inclusive learning environments dedicated to the social, emotional, and academic growth of each student's unique talents through a student-centered, teacher-led approach. This focus and approach is critical as local, state, and national data continues to confirm And unfortunately, social, emotional, mental health, and discipline issues continue to be on the rise, as I stated almost a year ago at a board meeting. There are daily encounters with unique disciplinary issues born out of the lack of consistent in-person socialization occurring during the pandemic. Many issues that have traditionally surfaced in the early middle school years, we're now seeing migrate to lower grades. This mirrors state and national trends. Therefore, our strategies need to center

022on these adaptive challenges that our young people are currently facing. Brick Schools is committed to meeting the health and well-being challenges our learners and educators are currently facing daily. A recent national report highlighted the fact that students need to feel safe and heard and valued in order to learn. Research has shown that rigorous instruction coupled with effective student-teacher relationships to meet students where they are and grow them so we can get back on track. However, this is a challenging imperative as we continue to experience the difficulties associated with staff shortages, etc. During the past few years, our students have been exposed to an overabundance of uncertainty, negativity, and strife. Some even have experienced personal tragedy and may have lost someone they relied on to guide them during difficult times. This has impacted our students' ability

023to express their needs and act appropriately. Therefore, it's imperative that our staff, parents, and community actively work together to assist our students as they journey through this tough transitional time. As adults, we need to pay close attention to these issues and recognize the signs. What's necessary, both inside schools and out, is for us to realize the impact we have on children. We can all model what children need. The children always are watching us and emulating our actions. Young people attempt to make sense out of their current realities and rely on their own youthful experiences, both good and bad, and insights to cope. Presently, students are struggling mightily to cope with their world post-pandemic. They look to us adults and watch us very closely and watch our actions. They see senseless acts and hear virulent language

024via social media. They watch adults engage in self-serving, degrading behavior and conduct themselves in inappropriate ways. Bottom line is that our young people model their behavior after the adults they interact with regularly. They emulate what they see and hear and deem it as appropriate behavior in this now very confusing world. We must never lose sight of the fact that children are always watching us. Each and every moment, we owe it to our young people to do our best to practice self-discipline and decorum in our disagreeing discourse. I believe that you can disagree, but without being disagreeable. This means being slow to anger and judge and never resorting to violence and vitriol speech. It means being honest and kind, humble and empathetic. It means building trusting relationships with each other through shared experiences, even with differences.

025It means being courageous and accountable in tough times. We can all practice this and model behavior we wish to see in children by positive communication with those we interact with regularly, staff members, professionals, and on a broader scale, our own local community networks. As we move out of this pandemic and continue to focus positively on a future where education addresses the whole child, let's model high expectations. but with an understanding of differences, while being mindful that impressionable eyes are focused on us all at all times. We have shown that we could do this, and I know we will do this moving forward. All eyes are on our children this month as we celebrate a lot of school and community celebrations for the holidays. Our classrooms are alive with the holiday spirit and the promise of

026a new year. A warm smile is the universal language of kindness, said W.A. Ward. During this season of giving, we are grateful for all the warm smiles the many events throughout our schools have generated via the wonderful performances by our elementary, middle school, and high school students during their plays, concerts, and recognition ceremonies. We're also appreciative of the extraordinary events which our PTA, PTOs have provided for our students, staff, and parents to come together and celebrate the season. And finally, we are humbled by the many giving opportunities that our co-curriculars, counselors, and school-wide efforts have participated in to bring a brighter holiday season to the less fortunate throughout our community. Brick is truly a caring and giving community and I wish everybody joy and happiness over this happy this holiday season So happy holidays to

027all of our students staff parents and community We do have a quick little president as I mentioned Okay, well I they're gonna pull us I decided to try something a little fun tonight for my last comments of the year. That's why I'm glad I went first. Hopefully you find it as much fun as I want you to. And I apologize in advance because I am not a singer, but I'm going to attempt this. Basically, what I've done and... I did a little parody to the 12 days of Christmas and I called it in the 12th month at Brick Schools the district gave to us. All right. In the 12th month at Brick Schools the district gave to us 12 schools of buzzing with the implementation of the district-wide energy management system. 11 bus drivers and

028aides wanted. 10 years before Dr. Farrell retires. Nine months of budget meetings. Eight HVAC projects beginning. Six boiler replacements. No, wait a minute. Make that. Oh, I'm sorry. I went too far. Oh, he skipped over seven. Sorry. Oh, he has. It must be in order. Oh, seven high school championships. One. Six boiler replacements. Make that seven. And it's five minutes for public comment. 4.8 in S2 funding cuts, three board members leaving, two unified high school sports programs ongoing, and a BA channeling is in her MoMA. Thank you all so much. I'm glad you enjoyed that. I wish you all happy holidays and a happy new year. Mrs. Granger, can we have you start off with special education committee reports? The special ed committee met on December 5th. the participants were myself dr farrell and mrs

029walrap we discussed board agenda items we have a lot of staff that we are getting board approved tonight we are finally starting to see the end in our open positions my list is getting nice and small less than a half a page so i'm super excited about that I want to recognize our special superheroes. So this month, Katie, Gunthery, and Sherry Ryan were nominated for our special superheroes. I will be going around taking pictures of them this week, well, tomorrow and next week with capes and masks to honor them for doing a spectacular job and their dedication to our students. we are very happy that our parent academy last week we had meet the director and unified sports and this week we had tools of the mind for our psd classes so we are ongoing

030adding events to our parent academy so please check out the website the special services page for updates that's it thank you thank you dr anderson cni thank you mrs walrab So the CNI committee met on December 1st at 345 in attendance for Ms. Gagliardi, the chairperson, Mrs. Kennedy, Ms. Bacala, Dr. Farrell, and myself. I first reviewed the items on the CNI agenda. Under travel and training, there's one workshop. Field trips, we have three field trips. and one that I'd like to highlight, Brick Memorial High School, some of our course members will be performing at Lincoln Center. Several of our students will be offered the opportunity to perform in New York City at the brand new David Geffen Hall in Lincoln Center with world-renowned composer-conductor Michael John Trotta. The performance will be on Sunday, March 26th,

031and students will act as a ringer choir, I don't know what that means, as part of a much larger chorus with singers from all over the country at no cost for our students to participate. And our chorus director, Mr. Betty, has arranged for this special opportunity, so we're really thrilled. We also have a field trip to the Novens J Planetarium for Elaine's Mills third grade and to Washington's Crossing for Osborneville's grade five. We have some student teaching placements. We're happy to host some students from Rowan University. At Brick High School, we have a student placed in our theater arts program. At Midstreams, we have a school psychology intern. We also have several grants on the agenda tonight. At Brick High School, we have a grant request for art supplies. And at Brick Memorial, we have

032a request for a whiteboard. We also have great news that we received the Mark Schonwetter Holocaust Education Grant. This grant will enable us to bring Holocaust speakers to our eighth grade and high school students. and we are just celebrating success i'm proud to announce that two of our elementary educators who were recognized as governor's educators of the year last year joanne bettencourt and ashley ernest were recognized as 2022 new jersey exemplary educators by the department of ed both both of these educators will will be notified and will receive additional recognition at the future board meeting we plan to speaking of the governor's educator of the year each school will be announcing their teachers and educational services professionals for the 22-23 school year tomorrow afternoon dr. Farrell will be sending out a tweet honoring our teachers

033and educational services professionals And more recognition, congratulations to Brick Memorial High School Principal Mr. Brice and Brick High School Principal Dr. Cajun and their respective teams for being recognized for their leadership of PBSIS. The Holmdel District team will be visiting our high schools to learn about our implementation. We also, I provided an overview of the multi-tiered system of support. Multi-tiered system of support is a systemic prevention-focused framework for addressing students' academic and behavioral needs through the integration of continuous improvement of services and systems. The district INRS team conducted a program evaluation, and based on the needs assessment, we incorporated... Tier 1 strategies to promote proactive behavior strategies through responsive classroom and PBSIS. The district also provided professional development to increase student engagement. And to support Tier 2 interventions, the district added a BCBA, which is

034a board-certified behavioral consultant, to help school-based INRS teams develop behavior plans for students. The district also strengthened our INRS process by adding intervention coordinator positions. I provided an overview of the high school MTSS process. Intervention coordinators share meaningful data with teachers that are aligned to effective teaching strategies. The teachers provide support and enrichment within their lesson design, and INRS teams create plans with layers of support for students. Senior achievement plans are created to ensure students are on track for graduation. BSI services and extended day support have been added for students in ELA math and science at the high school level, and additional services have been added for our ELL students. Professional development has been provided by our academic coaches and interventionists to help teachers address our students' needs. I also provided an overview of the

035activities that were led by the elementary intervention coordinators across the district. Their role is to monitor and track student progress and help teachers respond to student data in the classroom. They attend grade-level PLCs and provide resources and interventions to support student growth. Intervention coordinators lead the INRS process and help design a plan to support students who need academic or behavioral assistance. They also plan family nights and design school-wide reading and math incentive programs, contests, and challenges. In terms of district assessment update, I provided an overview of NJGPA, which was field tested in 22 and will again be field tested in 23. The curriculum is being reviewed to ensure alignment to the new assessment. And NJSLA testing for full block will occur the week of December 12th. In terms of parent engagement, last night we had

036a sealed by literacy parent information session. Progress reports will be posted in Parent Portal on December 16th, and the BRIC bridge will be published along with the progress reports. Our next meeting will be on January 12th at 345. Thank you, Mrs. Walrab. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Ms. McNamara, Policy and Planning. Thank you, Mrs. Walrab. The Policy and Planning Committee met on December 5th at 445 p.m. Attending were Mrs. Hafner, Mrs. Siebert, Mrs. Kennedy, Dr. Farrell, and myself. We discussed the policy that are on the board this evening for second read, which is the bylaws for the Board of Education. We spoke briefly about the process that we've been going through to transition from school boards to Strauss-Esme and how each of the department leads and building administrators are... looking over each of the policies and

037regulations to provide the necessary information before the board gets an opportunity to review them for placement on the board agenda. We also discussed the uniform state memorandum of agreement between education and law enforcement officials, which is on the agenda for this evening. We have not set our meeting for January, but we'll do so shortly. Thank you. Thank You mr. McNamara mr. Edwards facilities and finance thank you facilities met on the 28th at 2 p.m. tenants was miss Walraben miss McCollough mr. Belinda dr. Farrell miss McNamara myself mr. Europe netta architects mr. Siegel Spiegel architects miss Garliotti of Spiegel architects and mr. Pecurio First item was the district-wide energy management system Mr. Riccio informed us that the CEO is working on all level 2 punch list items throughout the district Most of the items are related

038to programming equipment calibration Solar power purchase agreement. Mr. Pecorio informed the committee that the project is 100% complete and that the Ownership of the panels has been turned over to altus power LLC Or will plate boiler replacement and combining power at brickmore oral high school. Mr. Pecor inform the committee that the shutdown on November 8th to install CTS and transformer was completed without an issue The district also used this opportunity to conduct maintenance on the main 34.5 KV transformer and switch The new fire alarm panel and equipment expansion was tested on November 18th and received fire code approval The combined heat and power startup was successful on the 16th The ITVPN connection was established. ARCO boiler training was completed on November 9th, and the Aegis CHP training is scheduled for the week of December 5th.

039Next, Mr. Yor informed the committee that the SESI Mechanical continues to provide submittals and approvals for Donetta and Concord Engineering for the Brick Memorial High School penthouse C&D replacement of air handlers and replacement of the chiller. With the VEMMS boiler replacement air conditioning, Mr. Yor informed the committee that thermal piping continues to provide smittles and approvals to that and Concord. He informed the committee that the switchgear manufacturer warns us that they could need an additional 12 months or more for the equipment, which could potentially impact the project being completed by the end of the summer of 2023. He informed the committee that the contractors are working up a change order credit related to elimination of chain link fencing on the ground level condensing units. and I informed the committee that the control proposals related to

040the projects that have been submitted through the Co-op sorry that have been received and we will need to do a capital reserve Withdrawal to fund the proposal with Jersey State controls, which is on this evening's agenda Lake River Middle School air conditioning I won't repeat everything. I just read to you, but it was all the same as the prior school well as Emma Havens air conditioning and veterans moral elementary school the only difference being there is that those schools are with preferred mechanical and finally drum point elementary school mr. you're informed us that the cessi mechanical is sorry the cessi engineering is continuing to submit their contracts and submittals Lake River Mill School boiler plant, Emma Haven's Young boiler plant, and Midstream's boiler plant. Ms. Gagliardi informed the committee that the project walk-down was completed

041on November 21st and punch lists were issued on November 28th. Closeout documents are currently being provided by Preferred Mechanical. Lanesville Elementary School air conditioning. Ms. Gagliardi informed the committee that the duct work for the rooftop units in the all-purpose room have been installed. she informed the committee that the work will be paused until the summer of 2023 when the electrical switch gear arrives lanesville elementary school boiler replacements ms galliardy informed the committee that the project walk downs were completed on november 21st and punch lists were issued on the 28th closeout documents are currently being provided by preferred mechanical veterans memorial middle school solar removal for warranty work mr precorio informed the committee that 95 of the solar has been reinstalled and the remaining will be done weather pending by december 5th It streams elementary school

042parking lot reconfiguration Mr. Pecorio informed the committee that the outstanding punch those slaves were completed and the scope of work has been met and the project is 100% complete Rick Memorial High School parking lot reconfiguration I informed the committee that suburban will be prepared for the district to go out to bid in December of 2022 with with bid review and recommendation the first week of January for inclusion for approval on the January agenda Also informed the committee that because of the delay of the original phase one parking lot project at brick memorial for the start of 22 the engineer is now recommending that potentially having phase one and phase two run concurrently in the summer of 23 could provide better pricing for the project the committee agreed to hold the bidding from january in order

043for suburban to be able to design both phase and one phase one and phase two together to be able to bid both together and be awarded at the april board meeting for summer of 2023 completion Approval of suburban for phase two is on this evening's agenda additional project considerations midstreams air conditioning and Osborneville elementary school air conditioning I Inform the committee that currently the funding options exist for the BPU We were informed that we can Submit project applications for up to five million dollars through the BPU program for our district and we are working on those applications We also were informed by the New Jersey Department of Education that we are receiving $205,000 in capital maintenance needs, which funding can also be utilized towards various projects. Herbitsville elementary school and Osborneville elementary school parking lot

044reconfigurations I Inform the committee that we have an on-site meeting scheduled for December 13th with CME to review the current traffic patterns and site constraints at the Osborneville elementary school We are also planning a meeting in the near future for the Herbitsville elementary school with the county engineering department and Township engineering department Lane's Mill elementary school playground mr. PCORI informed the committee that no new information on this project is available since the ground breaking on the project is not till the spring of 2023 fire alarm system repairs mr. PCORI on forming committee that the onboarding has been completed for the fire safety vendor a CT and the PO's have been issued for on-site which will the vendor will seize the opportunity to take an in-depth look at other requested facilities to provide accurate proposals and

045our next meeting is scheduled for January 10th at 2 p.m. We then moved into finance with Ms. Walrab, Mr. Blandino, Ms. McCollum, myself, and Dr. Farrell. First item was discussion on the bell schedule analysis for transportation, which we still have not received. At that point, had still not received the proposal. We have still since, and will be discussed at our next committee meeting. The MOESC routes for non-public schools was discussed. which we're continuing review however because of contract constraints we have to inform educational services commission of the jersey six months in advance that we're not that we may not be renewing on july 1st that's on this evening's agenda stabilization aid we inform the committee that there's been no new news however as a late breaking dr farrell did here today that we should hear

046within the week uh 2023-24 budget we inform the committee that Program managers are actively working on the 23 24 budgets. It's Mac the mayor miss Roberts. Mr. Clay sir are meeting with program managers to discuss staffing Our first round of budget meetings is scheduled for mid-january Solar partnership. I inform the committee that myself and mr. Montenegro are working on the details of land lease opportunities for solar partnership Promoter service I informed the committee that me mr. Montenegro working on the competitive contracting details for promoting services advertising within the district VB outstanding debt I informed the committee that myself mr. Montenegro or working on the collection status of that amount Do park and permit revenue Discuss with the committee that both high schools would like to use student parking permit revenue to help offset costs for

047student problems and the such Committee was all in favor of that. So that will be done that way moving forward cafeteria 2021-2022 financial results and formed the committee that the cafeteria for the 21-22 school year had a net earnings of in excess of two million dollars due to such a great year because of the free lunches that were being provided to students our utilization was higher than we've ever seen The cafeteria manager would like to use the surplus to try to do something with the Osborneville or lack thereof Osborneville elementary school cafeteria I Informed the committee that I would meet with both architects there to get ideas on what kind of capital needs would be required to do something with the Lack of cafeteria at Osborneville elementary school and the next meeting as well as

048January 10th Thank You mr. Edwards Mr. Klaesler. Do you have anything on HR that you'd like to add? I'll just take an opportunity again to express our desire for people that are looking for employment. to go to our website and look for some of our openings i will say this since the last meeting this week a lot of our positions closed so we will spend the next several weeks interviewing those candidates and hopefully getting them ready for the january placement the postings that are currently up there i'll make a little bit of a of a pitch for our special education department we are looking for an ldtc and an elementary special education teacher We also have a posting in our technology department for a systems analyst. So if you know somebody who's looking to join

049a team in the area of technology, it would be a good opportunity here for BRICS schools. And of course, there are all the substitute positions that are ongoing on our website. Teachers and teacher aid substitutes is with ESS.com. all of the other positions within our district are posted through brick schools as substitutes and if anybody wants to contact me if they're unsure I'll be glad to have myself or my staff would gladly assist anybody through that process Thank You mr. Kloeser thank you we have one more video that we didn't know awesome Just to introduce this video, we have a student at Veterans Memorial Middle School who continues to run the mile in honor of fallen heroes. Her name is Morgan. It's okay. And she runs with the principal of the building, Mrs. Triantaflis. So

050can we show? The child's name is Morgan Bland. I think that was cut off when I was saying it and the video started. So the student's name is Morgan Bland, and she runs with Mrs. Triantaflis on a regular basis to honor the fallen heroes, and this is just a short clip. Well, running a mile is usually for health and fitness reasons, but this mile run pays Jersey proud respects. It was two weeks ago we lost Saddlebrook Captain Basil Pizzuto of the Saddlebrook Fire Department. He died of a heart attack responding to an incident. Well, a seventh grader in brick paying tribute by running a mile in his honor. This is Morgan Bland. Morgan is part of the Running for Heroes campaign. That is a national effort to salute police and firemen who've died in the

051line of duty. This is the sixth New Jersey first responder that she is honored by running. Her flag is then donated to the family. Morgan's mile run is Jersey Proud. On a side note, I just wanted to add, Morgan is one of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven students throughout the country that run for this reason, for our fallen. heroes and she currently she just started doing that this this year and she's they are going to have her she was just contacted by the group and they're gonna be having her run even more and take more of a national presence on it so we're very proud of her and we thank her for her commitment to this and thank you so much miss McNamara for making sure we saw that This will be the

052first opportunity for public comment, and it will be for agenda items only. The board invites thoughts and reactions on agenda items. Each participant is asked to give his or her name prior to making a statement. All statements shall be directed to the presiding officer. The board will not, during the public portion of this meeting, discuss matters involving employment, appointment, termination of employment, negotiations, terms and conditions of employment, evaluation of the performance of. promotion or disciplining of any specific or perspective or current employee and or student. Is there anyone for public comment? Mr. Finnelli. Vic Finnelli. My goal tonight is a little different than it normally is. I want to get to Royal Farms and try the chickens. Okay. I know when I came past tonight I noticed it was I'm hoping it's gonna be a

053little better when we could plus that the gas price is like cheaper than everybody else but we can hope on the way home I'd pass that so I only have three or four quick things field trips a couple of comments and I'll talk about that at the end of the meeting and just a couple quick questions explaining what things are Number seven, what does an interventionist do? And don't tell me they intervene because I can figure that part out myself. Number 27, I asked this sometime in the past, but I'm asking it again. There's a person out for the whole rest of the year on leave. Do we guarantee their job? I mean, I guess if they're out until the end of June and then carries over until the beginning of September, that's like nine

054months. Do we guarantee a job for that or not? And number 31, just piqued my curiosity, a special project for the use of facilities. That's it. Thank you, Mr. Finnelli. Dr. Farrell, do you want to? Yeah, I'll let Dr. Anderson here, but our interventionists, you know, in education, a lot of different titles have changed over the years. Can I say basic skills teachers are now called interventionists. Do you want to add to that, either Dr. Anderson or Mrs. Granger? Yeah, no, certainly. So we use our interventionists. In my committee report, I mentioned that we have intervention coordinators. So those positions were added to monitor and track student progress. And so there's three tiers of intervention. So the first tier happens in the classroom with the teacher. And then students that need additional support. are receiving

055basic skills instruction so the interventionists coordinate that support. They provide levels of intervention support. They provide leadership for school-wide reading incentive programs, for contests. But basically they work with teachers to help them respond to student data and monitor their children's data in the classroom. And they also work with students and pull them out in... and provide small group instructions so they get an additional dose of intervention in either ELA or math. Okay. absences LOAs under the law guarantees you your position when you come back it doesn't mean they're all paid some are unpaid some are unpaid without benefits depending on number of sick days depending if it's federal leave state leave there's there's different criteria but yet the position is kind of open for them when they come back that's the reason for a leave

056so traditionally a maternity leave that position is there for that person if and when they want to come back when that leap is over number 31 special projects um that's actually contractual now from last spring so there are many times unfortunately with the shortages one thing hr didn't talk about and i asked him to kind of give him a plug but he's a little too modest bill and their hr is a small department we have 1500 employees i say this because from the from the 2021 school year to the 21-22 last year, there was a 465% increase in the hiring. Now, that's not new positions, obviously, right? We don't have those many new positions. Not even close. What it is is the turnover to retirements, retention, onboarding of candidates, and in a public organization, that

057process of onboarding new employees is a lot more arduous than a private. organization for a myriad of reasons compliance issues certification issues things like that so many times we have people out in a position whether it's a leave and we can't find either a substitute or a replacement a leave replacement where someone else and by contract has to pick up that task and that task could be a special project We've had special projects where maybe an area is being moved for custodians on weekends, and that's all per contract, and that's what 31 is. Someone picking up. What does that have to do with facilities? No, it doesn't. You asked special projects. Special project for use of facilities, number 31. I thought you were talking about 31 in the employment, actually. No, no, no, no, no.

058Item 31 under HR. I'm sorry. Special project for use of facilities. Yeah, the use of facilities is the projects he's doing so we have someone that does their use of facilities reporting The skiff O's picking that up now. Okay person's not here. So that's that's District wise. Yes, that's district. That's something you require in your in your future planning or yeah Well, we always have so many are just our use of facilities this mac american add to it our use of facilities has a ton of people outside that use our facilities turf fields gyms cafeterias all that okay and we have a person that does that that puts it in and you know checks the insurance certificate all that okay that person is absent this is a special project it's not future planning it's no

059no no no no okay so i was talking about the right item Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got me confused. So the facilities is outside use of the facilities. Correct. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Any other public comment for agenda items only? Seeing none, I'll close that. Dr. Anderson, curriculum and instruction. Thank you, Ms. Walrab. The superintendent recommends that the board approve the following items, one through five. I need a motion and a second. I'll make the motion, Michael. I'll second, Nicole. Any board comments? Seeing none, Mary? Ms. Hafner? Yes. Mr. Blandino? Yes. Ms. Kennedy? Yes. Ms. McCullough? Yes. Ms. Woolrub? Yes. I'm sorry, Ms. Siebert? Yes. Sorry, Ms. Woolrub? Yes. Mr. Edwards, operations? Yes, Ms. Siebert. The superintendent recommends items 1 through 16. I need a motion and a second. Motion, Allie. Second, Michael. Any board

060comments? Go ahead, Allie. I'd like to acknowledge number 16 under operations and once again thank Pine Belt for the donations to pay off our late lunch balances. I'm fortunate enough to know that family personally and call them my friends, and their generosity is truly limitless within our community. So I just wanted to say thank you to Pine Belt. It's awesome. Yeah, they do that almost they do that every year so that is that is very generous of them Thank You Ali for getting that any other public comments Seeing none Mary miss Hafner. Yes. Mr. Blandino. Yes. Miss Kennedy Yes Yes I'm going to abstain for operations number one vendor ID 89 27 and yes to everything else mr. Kleistler Human Resources Thank You miss Walrath tonight the superintendent recommends items 1 through 22 and items

06124 through 32 for approval I need a motion and a second motion Daisy second Michael any board comments being none Mary yes mr. Blandino yes yes yes yes yes yes Ms. McNamara. Thank you, Mrs. Walrab. I believe we have a few of the folks that we just hired here in the audience this evening. If they could stand, Mr. Donnelly and Ms. Coughlin. Welcome to the team. Welcome and thank you. Ms. McNamara, policy and planning. Thank you, Mrs. Walrab. The superintendent recommends that the board approve the following items, one and two. I need a motion and a second. Motion, Nicole. Second, Allie. Any board comments? Excuse me. I'm sorry. Didn't we approve the memorandum of agreement already? Or was that something different, Mrs. Black? This is an updated one. Oh, updated. Okay. Excellent. Okay. Thank you.

062Any other questions or comments? Seeing none, Mary? Ms. Hafner? Yes. Mr. Blandino? Yes. Ms. Kennedy? Yes. Ms. Bacala? Yes. Ms. Siebert? Yes. Ms. Woolrib? Yes. This is the second opportunity for public comment. Each participant is asked to give his or her name prior to making a statement. All statements shall be directed to the presiding officer. Comments shall be limited to five minutes, and each speaker may only speak once. The board will not, during the public portion of this meeting, discuss matters involving employment, appointment, termination of employment, negotiations, terms and conditions of employment, evaluation of the performance of, promotion or disciplining of any specific or perspective or current employee and or student is do we have anybody for public comment Mr. Finnelli Come on. We got to get that chicken. Let's go hop up Don't make

063me eat my words Two things first at the last meeting I brought up Field trips and I get my point was look at it. I'm not I'm not trying to tell anybody How to run it but to look at it because it seems excessive and I understand that field trips are fun things All right, a couple of comments were made at the end of the meeting which made me go back and look Because that's what I do. So if you're gonna say something at a meeting You got to get a response at the next meeting if you don't know that by now, you should know it So one of the comments was about the ROTC Rolling up to one school Okay I was talking about the two high schools. One was 57 and the other

064was 30. I went back four months and the ROTC accounted for five field trips. So if you split the two of them half to each school, it changes nothing. There's still a disparity there. There was another comment about these are all educational things. Well, they're all fun things, but there's a couple there that I would have a problem saying they're educational, and I just looked at the big ones. On tonight's agenda, which there are very few field trips on there, and I hope that's the trend, you got 80 kids going to Washington Crossing Park. Hey, fun thing, but is it going to improve their scholastic achievement? I don't know. There might be a little bit of history lesson there, but I don't know about that one. And on the last one, there was... 300 kids

065going to a Christmas play. That's a stretch. And there was also 320 kids going on a fossil hunt in Middletown. A lot of fun, I give you that. But maybe these things should be done as a reward for something rather than just this is the way we've been doing things for years. And no response required. One other thing which just happened to be mentioned which I would like to have a little bit of discussion on. You might not know this, any of you, but the state has a new program. It's called Mandate of the Month. All right? And in the last three months, we've had a mandate for you have to teach about depression. That was the mandate. And then the next month, you have to map out all the schools. I don't know if

066you've done that or not, but that's all the emergency stuff. And then today I read in the paper that the Democrats want to make the free lunch permanent for everybody. So that's the only thing I want to talk about. And really, I want your feelings on whether you think that's a good thing or not. And by the way, there's no such thing as a free lunch. But I'm talking not as, I'm not up here saying I don't want to have to pay for it, which I don't, but that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking in your opinion, is that a good thing or not? Is that your question because I'll start with the mandates if you want me to yeah So the when the states come up with mandates many superintendents will consider them unfunded

067mandates right because we have to Implement something that may cost us, but we don't get any funding from the state Years ago that was changed out of unfunded mandates happened in the and we could prove it We would get some kind of fund for it the process of a mandate From the state it's still kind of vague, but I know mr Montenegro will tell you when the when it goes through the legislature first obviously voted on for example the mapping of the schools I believe that was voted on but the next step it goes to say to do we and they provide you with guidance So years ago, I remembered it was a huge mandate on Security was it but we had to have the light out in the front. I forgot remember that law

068but Remember that law it was it's Alyssa's law. So that came out It was almost a year to 18 months later where we actually got guidance like how we could implement to meet and comply with that law and whether it was vendors, whether it was money, whether it was resources, whether we can use from certain accounts. So many times just because you read something that might have been voted on the legislature, it doesn't impact us until we get the actual DOE guidance. Yeah, I think every superintendent will say to you there's a lot of mandates that come from the state level that may not understand local control or may not fit our district and may come in an untimely way that may cost us money and resources to implement and it's frustrating when you're running

069a district. some mandate help us if there's funding attached to it, especially if it's something we were doing and now we got a funding subsidy. Maybe we were ahead of the game on security or something and now they say everybody has to do it and they attach some funding to it. Free and reduced lunches, just so you know, comes from the federal level. I think it's Department of Agriculture actually, right, Jim, under the lunches? So all free and reduced lunches is a federal Department of Agriculture. It helps with our Title I funding. It designates where you're so— I'm not talking about the federal. I'm talking about—I read in the paper today that Democrats, in fact, Ruiz, she's pushing, and it looks like they want to prove everybody gets free lunch. No, my question would be

070on that legislator. If the state was to approve that, the funding right now comes from the federal level. So I don't know where they would attach the balance of the funding. Let's say— there's 35 percent considered free and reduced lunch say in brick schools um you know after you know during covid that was picked up all by the federal government now where would that other money come from um i believe the department of agriculture is the only um organization that oversees the state overseas let's forget about the funding personally do you think that's a good program to give free lunches to all of the kids yes For what reason? For a myriad of reasons. Many people don't apply for free and reduced lunches. It's tough right now, and we saw it during COVID, to get

071people to fill out the forms. And many people would qualify that you would, I mean, many that maybe you may consider middle class would qualify for free and reduced lunches and for other support systems that we're just not getting the application for. And as a principal and as a teacher, you'd be surprised how many kids that are either embarrassed to do that or submit for it and that are not being fed appropriately or not eating correctly. So I think that would be one way. Now, if you looked what we did during COVID and how we did it, you know, the funding is not as much as you think. based on the way school lunches are operated and the USDA and what constitute the minimum of a school lunch, maybe a peanut butter and jelly sandwich

072or whatever it is. Don't talk about the funding. I've known a long time ago when I talked to you. I know that spring's coming for me. It always comes back. I know that's very hard for you to understand, but I'm just talking about the theory. Yes. Okay. You ever been on a cruise? No. You never have? Nope. I'm sure some people have. My wife is afraid of going on boats. All the food is laid out. What happens when you're on a cruise and all the food is there for free? You eat twice as much as you normally would and you waste three times as much because you took more than you could possibly eat. We don't give buffet-style lunches in the schools. It's one lunch, it's a minimum of this, it's kind of like you

073get one of these, one of these, one of these, and that's the price. And that's how the free and reduced lunch works now. So it's not like someone could just go up and get five trays of lunch. It would be limited. Well it's it's all lunches are they even the ones that you pay you get a certain thing on your tray so the students that get a free or reduced lunch get certain items on their tray for their meal that day Well talk about the funding I want to pig out on my chicken have a nice holiday Thank you Mr. Finnelli any other public comment yes ma'am I'm Mary Ann Palmisano. I'm Mary Ann Palmisano, and happy holidays. I wasn't here on 11-15 for the last meeting, but Stephanie, you shared a wonderful story about

074your son's breakthrough. Thank you. Each teacher's case and his case manager's opened doors to accomplish his dream. That's what school is all about. to encourage, to make the impossible happen, to set a solid foundation for each child and for their future, and nothing is impossible. Your son is blessed, and don't look at his natural abilities. What door God opens, no man can shut, and what door God closes, no man can open. In Isaiah 22, 22, each one of us, when we're born, has a calling on our life. Your son has a calling, and eventually he's going to blow your mind on what his ministry is. We don't come to criticize when we come, and we don't come to aggravate. We come to fight for the next generation. There was a pilot program called Common Core,

075federally funded in 2009. It was renamed every five years in 2014. It's called the Educational Laws and Standards. The LGBTQ education is now mandatory in New Jersey. Teachers are being taught how to incorporate it. New Jersey joins California, Colorado, and Illinois. The law requires schools to include and teach lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history, supplying textbooks to material on their contribution to society and the political, economic, and social scene. I'm going to ask questions and then I'm going to sit down so I can write your answers. Are you teaching this? And please be transparent. If 96% of the children are not having identity issues and are solid, why would we not push back on the law allowing transgender bathrooms? We all know what happened in Virginia. It came out a couple days ago that the

076child that was raped. and the father was at one of the board meetings. Well, it just was revealed that they suppressed everything. The superintendent was fired. The father was arrested, and that's where domestic terrorism came about. Governor Murphy on 4-13-22 delegated Angelica Allen McMullen to enforce each district that new age must be taught to each child between five and seven years of age. If not, a penalty of four points will be deducted from the district QSAC score. If 20 points are accumulated, this district would be put on probation. It also told each district in that that if the parents come after you or question you to put it on pause, and he used that word pause. If you're not teaching this, are you being penalized? Dr. Farrell. Thank you I'm gonna punt in a little

077bit to dr. Anderson. That's more in our wheelhouse, but many of the laws you mentioned that came about Mr. Montenegro now, I want to say 2017 2018 whether it's facilities and restrooms, which was early age or integrating LBTQ into historical context whether you're talking about a historical figure and you're talking about an identity of that historical figure that's been taught about we have integrated a lot of the requirement into our family life curriculum where there's an opt-out now when you talk about cusack where you would Lose 20 points and you get under an 80 you don't pass CUSAC It's really not as in-depth as that and there's not that many points doing what they do is they check to see that your curriculum States the state required curriculum standards in it They do not come

078in our classrooms in CUSAC to do that. However, we do show multiple lesson plans and things of that nature through that process in CUSAC that show we're implementing standards taught on the state level. I'm going to punt it to you now, Dr. Anderson, a little bit. Do you want to add to that, please? Yeah. I think it's a misnomer to say that there's an LGBT curriculum because really it's an inclusivity standard. It's ensuring that there's... that the contributions of people from the LGBT community are recognized as appropriate in the curriculum. One of the examples I can think of is how Alan Turing, during World War II, helped break the Enigma Code, and then he was later prosecuted for being homosexual and imprisoned and medically castrated, and then just... couple of years ago was recognized by

079the British government with a stamp for his contributions because it really helped us win World War two ultimately so it's it's about recognizing where appropriate in the curriculum what the contributions are for people who are from the LGBT community it's not necessarily lesson plans it's embedded where it makes sense and typically that is in in a political context or historical context. But Dr. Anderson, but that isn't the only curriculum that in this curriculum, this inclusive curriculum that you're talking about. You're talking about including any persons with disabilities. I mean, it's a broader thing than just race. It's about representation. Absolutely. Right. It's about representation for all of our students. Okay, but that would also be something, for the example that you gave, that would be a lesson in the high school. Sure. Correct? Because that's

080where we teach. Because that's where it was. So I think what she was kind of looking at is how do you decide what curriculum at what... these additions to the curriculum on an element, what are appropriate for an elementary school level versus a middle school versus a high school or a college level. So I have an awesome curriculum team, right? I've got supervisors in all of the areas. Recently, like as Dr. Farrell mentioned, things that are related to gender identity, we feel is best placed in a family life curriculum. Where people can opt out. Exactly. Right. But but that there's also a reek in part of that state same legislation is the requirement that we recognize that kids come from different and people come from different socioeconomic status that it's about class also so it's

081a it's a broader mandate that really says make sure your curriculum is representative of your community and we kind of feel that our curriculum is we we do program evaluations all the time we haven't had any We haven't implemented any new things per se except for things that come along like for instance the civics mandate. So the Laura Wooten requirement said that we needed to put two semesters back to back in the middle school. So we added that to the curriculum. We have Asian AAPI. curriculum that was embedded into the middle school and as far as the four four five four legislation we looked at our curriculum we felt that we were meeting the standards and that we had a pretty inclusive community that represented our inclusive curriculum that represented our community and at any

082point dr. Anderson regardless of the grade that a parent is seeing an assignment coming home that for whatever reason and it doesn't have to be anything specific but They didn't like the, they felt it was too violent or, you know, a research project or, you know, I'm just trying, it doesn't necessarily have to be specific to this, but the parent should contact the teacher because you do offer alternative readings or books or what have you as far as you'll work with the parent if there is a certain book that for whatever reason or. Yeah, I have to be honest with you. I was a principal for 25 years, and I really never had parents come to me about our curriculum. At both levels. I was an elementary principal. I was a middle school principal and

083I really I feel like art that the textbooks that we choose And the resources we choose we always involve. It's a very Inclusive process we involve our teachers our teachers get to pilot materials They look at resources and our teachers are really in touch with our community there You know, that's that's been my experience my supervisors They very rarely get calls from parents. I mean, I'm not saying it never happens, but we're always able to understand. Figure out a solution that everybody's comfortable with. Absolutely. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. I appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you. I hope that answered your question. Any other public comment before I move on? Seeing none, Daisy. All right, good evening. So this is it for me as a Brick Township Board of Education member. I'd like to say the past

084six years flew by. I mean, I'd like to say that, but let's be honest, I don't really think anyone would describe the past few years as flying by, but still good. As you know, I grew up in Brick and I graduated from Brick Memorial, and I wanted to raise my family in Brick so my children could attend the stellar schools in our district. And boy, did that turn out to be the right choice. It was great to see the way the district changed with the times from the day that I graduated until the time my kids began their school journey. When I was younger, I do feel like the focus in education was to send students to college and to concentrate on grades, scores, class rank, etc. And while those numbers and letters can be

085used to evaluate some students and some circumstances, it really isn't the way to evaluate all the students in every aspect of their school day and school career. In 2022, we need to focus on the whole child, and that goes way beyond reading, writing, and math. Every skill, whether it's academic, vocational, or social, is valuable. We can't put a grade on everything and sometimes what you value most is actually immeasurable. And just to let you know, there were times when my kids were struggling in school with a subject and the staff provided them with some extra help. Then there were times when my kids excelled in an area and they were given enrichment projects. The staff picked up when my son needed speech therapy and helped work on his stutter and his speech issues. And two

086staff members in his elementary school saw something in him that his dad and I didn't see, his passion for singing and acting. Yes, the same kid who was super shy, quiet, speech issues, and would cry when he was nervous is now starring in musicals. I will credit my kids' teachers and the staff from their schools for helping to shape my kids into the pretty amazing young adults they have turned into. And this was all done without me asking for help. Our teachers are our eyes and ears during the day. They see more in our kids than we may ever know, and they do not take that responsibility lightly. Also, when my kids were younger, I volunteered in their elementary school and truly saw things from another perspective. I do wish every parent had the time

087so that they could volunteer in a school or on the Board of Ed for at least a day or two. I think you would be surprised by how much the staff, teachers, and admin do on a daily basis while at work and while at home. That's right. Nothing ends for Brick School staff when the last bell rings for the day. Please always keep that in the back of your heads. We have dedicated employees who truly want what is best for your child and there are 8,000 children in BRIC. I think there will always be misconceptions about being on the Board of Ed. I think my favorite one is that we don't deserve the high salary we all get paid. but you should really be aware by now we're all volunteers so our huge salary is

088zero so if you're jealous of that that's kind of crazy um and the other my other favorite one is that we hire our friends and family again board of education members only hire one person in this district and that is the superintendent We do not get involved in the day-to-day operations here at the district. We leave all that to the staff and the chain of command that is in place. Although in the past six years, we did hire quite a few superintendents. So we did hire a lot of people, but it was only for like the one position over and over again. But now we got Dr. Fowler and we're in good shape. And a few things that I'm proud of for work, we're working on several committees over the years and having the opportunity

089to work with and meet with different administrators and staff. Although my favorite committee was the policy and planning committee, I love to thoroughly read through documents. and ensuring that our district follows the guidance and laws. What can I say? I'm a geek at heart, so I love it. I will go through the policies with my red pen and make corrections when necessary, and hopefully my suggestions made a difference. And after working on the policies with our prior consulting firm school boards, our district is now transitioning to use a different consulting firm called Strauss S. May, and this is exactly where this district needs to be. This consulting company is the leading company for most of the school districts in the state and I can clearly see why. They will ensure our district is in compliance

090with all legal and statutory developments. Their wording is much easier to understand and the way they organize information will be better for all stakeholders. If we learned anything from the pandemic and global issues, policies are so important especially to our district. And as a matter of fact, I believe Ms. McNamara and the admin's policies during the pandemic and afterwards were so well written and executed, other districts actually copied ours and followed our lead. I don't even have words for that. That's just so incredible. So I just wanted to say, you know, that's happened over the past six years. I didn't really have anything to do with it, but I think it's pretty cool to reiterate. But what I enjoyed most was attending the shows, the ceremonies, the events, the activities, and the sports that I

091never understand, but I always go and clap when everybody else is clapping and get upset when everybody else is upset. I'll just follow along because everybody's just so excited. But I love seeing our BRICS students shine in whatever it is they are passionate about. So are we perfect? Yes, of course. No, I'm just kidding. Of course we're not. But we do all work hard to try to make the best decisions. And if a wrong decision happens, or if the world throws us a curveball like a pandemic, or we don't receive proper funding, we shift with it and course correct. We are all humans who are empathetic and want to do what is best for everyone. Even though I won't be on the board anymore. I'm not going anywhere. I'm still a parent and a community

092member I'm also a stakeholder in this community. I will always want what is right and what makes the most sense So in conclusion there were some amazing highs some frustrating and sad lows while being on the board But I wouldn't trade it for the world I'm glad that I decided to run for the board two times and that I was elected both times. I want to thank my family who has supported me for all these years and especially during the two election seasons because that's grueling. I don't suggest doing that, but it's a lot of work. I want to thank everyone who voted for me in the past and who ultimately believed in me. And I want to thank my fellow Board of Education members, both current and past members, and all of the BRICS

093staff and administrators. I believe that I have grown from my time on the board and that I am a better human for having volunteered to make our community stronger. Happy holidays and have a happy and healthy new year. Thank you. And we see where your son gets it from. Victoria. Hi, I'm Victoria Bacala, and I'm not Daisy Hafner. And I could not have done what she's done in the last six years, so I really want to tell you how much I'm going to miss you and how much it's going to make a difference to the board that you will be very dearly missed. I am reflecting on the year. I can't make the 12 months of brick, but I can say that I've been privileged and honored to chair a few committees and sit on

094a few committees. And one of the committees I sit on that Melita Gagliardi chairs is the Curriculum and Instruction Committee. And we have had some wonderful changes this past year, and there are several highlights I'd like to mention. Cajun, you're talking while I'm talking. Smooth, Dr. Cajun, smooth. Yeah, yeah. That was sweet. That red face is staying at all, Dr. Cajun. So I prepared a lot of comments, and I'm only going to make a few when it comes to curriculum instruction. And that is that I was, little side note, I was privileged to go to graduate school and receive my master's in special education and learning and teaching consulting as an adult. I wish I knew when my kids were growing up what I learned in graduate school and what I've been able to see

095blossom in this district. And this year was a particularly great year for CNI because we really did continue to provide research-based curriculum adoptions from iReady, Workshop Model, Open SciEd, and the DBQs. And our academic coaches who... You know, we all have a passion as board members, and mine is professional development, professional support, and special education. And our academic coaches have embedded professional development in our district for our teachers. I mean, who doesn't want more support? You know when you're in the kitchen and you're washing dishes and one of your kids comes in and says mom I'll try you go great and I think when you're in the classroom and It and a coach comes in and says you're doing a great job. Try this It's another great and that's great for our kids Of course,

096we had our wonderful Summer Spark program. We had a strengthening of our visual and performing arts this year. This was the third time the District Arts Festival highlighted Arts are Essential in Brick Schools. Our Summer Music Camp created Enthusiasm, which helps us return to pre-pandemic participation in all its programming. That is so important to go back to prior. pandemic level enthusiasm and participation for our students. We didn't really, as a board member, I have to believe we might have lost some, but we didn't lose the huge majority that benefit from the diverse programs we offer. In math, our teachers have embraced the student-centered teacher-led model in mathematics with try, discuss, connect. You know, talk and talk is over, and it's really, really important that our kids connect, and as Dr. Farrell said in the beginning,

097that they are, they have that connection and feel that positivity walking into a classroom and not, oh no, here I go again. That was my era. Anyway, so I'd just like to say as far as preparing students for the STEM fields, we're really doing a great job fostering a love of science for our kids. Our programs have expanded. Our new middle school Open Sci-Ed program really helps students be at the forefront of their own education. And when you involve the students, you really... Help them to learn and grow and I think that's a great accomplishment of this year's curriculum instruction Department goals I also chair the facilities committee whoo-hoo so As far as the facilities go, I just want to point out the implementation of our ASEP. This has been something that we've talked about

098for a long time. This is something that we had to fix other things in order to implement it. This is something that... is saving the district $8 million in, we're providing $8 million in capital projects at no tax impact for future energy savings. I would brag about the HVAC work that's going to be done in all our schools that desperately need HVAC work. I often say to my friends and family, What if you went to school and there was no air conditioning in your office? What if you went to school and the circulation system wasn't the best? So these priorities have been put in place by this board, by the facilities department, and I'm just very glad that this is all planned for our schools in 2023 in addition to the ECIP this year. I'm

099proud to serve on this board. And I thank you for listening to me once again. Thank you, Victoria. Mike. So I had to adjust myself because I'm a go-getter. Anybody who knows me knows I like to go get the project done and let it go. So I had to slow myself down to do some of the stuff and push some of the items that I want. But I'm happy to say, working with the superintendent, the individual directors and so forth, the departments and so forth, life hasn't been a challenge. Like I said, in the past, bathrooms, roofs were problems. Other items, facilities even outside the school skills and so forth, were not as well kept as they are right now on the guidance of administration. I was there. I've seen this over the years. I've

100seen more happen in, I'll say, the last 10 years that I'm aware of. And I asked a week ago, I wanted some of those items just to get a refreshed mind. I wanted to see if I was correct that things were happening. We've done so much for the rooms, the parking lots, the doors, the windows, to keep the place and save my money in reality. And I had a hand dribblers to make this year. We put new windows in my home at home. And you see the difference. The window doesn't feel like cold air is coming through anymore. That's the way Rick Townsend schools. So you're saving money and you're doing something, right, in the long run. And that's very important. It's very important for the students who live there. Most of their day for

10110 months of the year for the teachers that are there dealing with problems in the rooms and having to answer it to those children in those classes. So solving those things, it's not going to happen overnight. Every single thing will be one done. I wish it could, but I know now it can't. You have to watch where the funding comes in. Rick Tapper has done a lot in the last few years for the facilities because we were able to watch the finances. even with the state age cuts. So here we did this with a team effort, and soon we're going to have some new team members, and I welcome them to your practice, and I know they will. Madeline, I've known her for a long time, and I hope to get her to get in

102here and work with us to hopefully solve some more problems. Under the guidance of the superintendent and administration, I think we can accomplish so much keeping our tax rates stable and continuing to prove what I consider the best school district in the state of New Jersey. I've seen it for over 50 years. Now being on the board the last few years, I'm happy to say and see the things that are being done. Whether it's solar products, whether it's field improvements, whether it's new doors to keep the heat in the school instead of going out and wasting money. The finances are tough. We've got to watch what we can do. We're lucky we got some of that money from the federal government. Because sitting on finance, I was wondering at times, how could we do more?

103And we lucked out once in a while. We got some more money. Do we want air conditioning, ventilation, and heat in all the schools? Could we invest? Could we get? But you can't just go out and write a blank check and spend it. We've got to watch where the money's coming from. We've got to make sure it's there before we move to private. 2023 will be another tough year with finance based on the state aid. But I believe working the team effort here, the two new members that are going to be joining with us, under the guidance of the superintendent, we can get through this and do even more great things next year. I want to thank each of you who come to the meetings. Each month we have concerns. whether you want to spend

104more money or you want to spend less money. At least listen to what you want. You have to do a lot of work. Mr. Frenelli, I love you. Spend more money? I just saw him shudder. He was like, ugh. Your five minutes are up. Yeah, that's right. I'm proud of being a Bricktown graduate. I was proud going through the Bricktown schools. The high school was the best years of my life. I still use the motto, get ready to do my 40-year reunion. We're a little late. We're a half a year late than we should have been. But I still say 82 was the best year yet in Bricktown. But there's more improvements in the building now than there ever was. So I'm a brick boy. I want to thank you all for being here tonight.

105Happy holidays. Congratulations to the new hires. We hope you can do a great job there, and I know you will for the children of Rick Township and for the tax-based Rick Township. Happy holidays. Let's move into 2023. Thank you Michael you remind me I was I was feeling a little Melita coming out to you know with her excitement And I was feed as feeling it a little bit yeah Thanks, Mike Allie you have anything you'd like to add yes quickly. Sorry. I just want to thank Melita and Daisy for their years of service To the children of brick schools over the years. I've watched from the audience and your passion for our children and for all children is evidence in all you do. I wish you the best and look forward to hearing about all

106the new hobbies you have now. And if you could pick up some of my carpooling, that would be awesome. I want to thank the World Cup group for reminding me why I... am here, why we are here. That presentation had me in tears. I was so proud and not one of those children are mine. The pride I felt was immense. I cannot imagine being one of their parents. What I witnessed was True and utter kindness and amazingness. I saw one classmate calming another. Mr. Montenegro and I were commenting on that. I saw a teacher patiently nodding and making encouraging eye contact with students. I saw a principal with his hand on a child's shoulder. I don't think I've ever been prouder to be part of this brick community. It was awesome. It was completely awesome.

107I also am truly looking forward to working with Fran and Madeline joining the team next month after the election there was an article online that spoke about the voting majority here on the board going from 7-0 to 5-2 and this could not be further from the truth I know with my whole heart that this Board of Education will remain 7-0 7 for the children and 0 against That's why we're here. Not for me, not for you, not for red, not for blue, not for us, or not for them. We are here for the children of BRIC. To do what's right for all children, I can't wait to get started and continue working together for all of our kids. And lastly, I just want to take a moment, wish everyone, our administration, our Board of Education,

108our incredible staff, and all the BRIC families and stakeholders a very happy and safe holiday. I hope we take this time to regroup and re-energize and get ready for 2023. Thanks for having me. Nice thank you, Ali and I was you were channeling a little dr. Seuss. Yeah At school on Thursday nights, I like to call it Friday Eve I send out an email to the whole staff and it usually is a roses or red violets are blue So I do channel I do channel doctors. Yes Can she send those out here? I think that would be a nice TF for Fridays, right? Go ahead, Nicole. You're up. Well, it looks like I'm between you guys getting some fried chicken that we smell down the... Well, I'm trying! No. Seriously, though, guys, thank you for

109coming out. I know December's a hard month. I just came from meetings and dancing school and wearing costumes because it's my fun thing to do. So we do appreciate you guys coming out. Congrats to the new hires. We are so excited to have you and I cannot wait to see what you guys are gonna do. Daisy and Louina, no, you come to the reorg. I'm not prepared for yours today. I wasn't prepared for you and that's your moment and you just had yours so we'll deal with you in January. Congrats to the new board members. I am so excited to work with you guys. It's gonna be awesome so I hope you're ready because they don't give you any mercy. They just throw you right in so I hope you're ready. I just want to

110talk about something quickly. I just started a new job. So the CEO of the company likes to just, he wants everybody's feedback, which I love. He's like a... I'd say he's a junior Dr. Farrow if I had to say anything about anybody. Wait, does that mean he's younger? You're not replaceable. When you said junior, does that mean he's a lot younger than I am? No, he's a lot older than you are. We won't talk about your age today. But he looks younger, I'm hearing. He wants to know, his big thing is he wants to know everybody's why. You know, what is your why? What gets you out of bed in the morning? What drives you? You know, it's usually not your, he doesn't want to hear it's your job. He doesn't want to hear, you

111know, if you have family, you're working. You know, that's a typical answer. And my why is those children you saw tonight. My why is the cups. My children are part of that why. You know nobody asked to be you know part of the special education world like you you don't you're not just you know just raise your hand and jump into something like that you know you have your children and You see their faces and as much as I was behind them and watching them tonight I can't explain from a parent aspect, but also a board member aspect how you just want to cry and hug them and smile. They are extended family. My daughter is going to be on the radio this weekend doing a fundraiser for Michael's Feet, which is a nonprofit. But

112we're still friends with them. She's 11. We're still friends with the nurses, doctors, the teachers, and watching what we watched tonight, the encouragement, the support, everything. You don't understand what that means, but that is my why. It is finding... a way for how, not we can't do, but how. So I love being part of the Special Ed Committee and especially the Chair Special Ed Committee because I like to be part of that. I like to find the why, like what else can we do? Tonight was one of those reasons. But we've had so many more highlights this year that you guys definitely need to hear about. You know, we've expanded the pre-K program, the PSD and the autism programs. We've had our powers certified as behavioral clinicians. We've made a partnership with the Field of

113Dreams. If you haven't been there, please go. Seriously, I think my husband is the biggest child when we go there, and we've seen Dr. Farrell too when he's been there, but it's wonderful. And the events they do, they're so generous. They're having a Christmas party as they're closed now for all of the members. It does not cost anything. Just go sign your child up. You'll get a nice little login thing so you can get into the park and just go have fun. The kids love it, and they do everything for them. So we love working with them. We've expanded extended school year. My kids also entertain that and I love it. It's also quiet for a couple hours in the summer, so you actually get to do some work at home. Unified sports. I hope

114we can drag that down to the elementary level. You know, I love all of this stuff. We have the PALS Club. We've done a lot more with community-based learning. I've seen that we've done the trips a little bit more. You know, the kids are really getting back out into the community. I run into them in ShopRite all the time when I'm trying to get five things and Wyatt wants to have a conversation as I'm just trying to get those five things before that 9 a.m. meeting. But it's so nice to see them out. And we've also had the RISE program. And, you know, with the help of curriculum, you know, we've done a lot of professional development. We've done responsive classroom training, CPI, Read 180, Rethink training, best practices, tools of the mind. You know,

115the parent academies had some great topics. And we've also done some de-escalation training. But I am so proud of what we've done this year and the growth we've made in, like, the special ed world. And I cannot wait under Ms. Granger to see, like, what else we're going to do. All right, I'll stop. You guys want your chicken. But however you guys choose to celebrate the holidays, I hope it's wonderful and you get so much needed family time, rest, and happy new year. Thank you, Nicole. Okay, the calendar, December 23rd, it's early dismissal. December 24th is winter through January 2nd is winter break. School will be closed. January 5th is our reorganization meeting, 6 p.m. here. Madeline, are you paying attention? 6 p.m. here? Okay. Can I get a motion and a second for adjournment?

116I'll make that motion, Mike. Second, Allie. Mary? Ms. Hafner? Yes. Mr. Blandino? Yes. Ms. Kennedy? Yes. Ms. Pakala? Yes. Ms. Siebert? Yes. Ms. Woolrub? Yes. Thank you. Happy holidays. Happy New Year.