001Good evening and welcome to our December 11th Middletown School District Board Meeting. Buenas noches y bienvenidos a nuestra reunión del día 11 de diciembre de la Junta Escolar del Distrito de Middletown. I now call the meeting to order. This agenda was prepared in advance of tonight's meeting. The final agenda for tonight's meeting is subject to change at the time of the meeting. Any changes will be noted at the time they are made and again after the meeting on the public board minutes which are available on the district's website. Doing the Pledge of Allegiance tonight and our mission are going to be Mr. Estrada. The Pledge of Allegiance. Okay, can you guys do the interpretation? We would like to remind everyone that translation and interpretation services are available during this meeting. If you need assistance, please
002let us know and we will be happy to accommodate you. Nos gustaría recordar la reunión. A todos que los servicios de traducción e interpretación están disponibles durante esta reunión. Si necesita asistencia, por favor, informenos y con justo lo ayudaremos. Mr. Estrada. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. A moment of silence. Thank you so much. If you could remain standing for a few moments of silence. And for the people who are new to the meeting, we do these to honor those individuals who have gone before us, who have served the district or served in the greater community. The first moment of silence this evening is for Pat Darcy. Pat Darcy taught
00343 years in a Middletown school. She taught elementary school. She served in schools that are, some that are no longer here, Memorial School, Mulberry Street, and then ended her career at Maple Hill. Students loved her. I got a call from one of her former students, John Thompson. He said, well, Mrs. Darcy was strict, but she was an excellent teacher. Continuing on with talking about Pat. She not only served the district, but she served in the community, too. Great deal. A very prominent person in the Lady of Mark Carmel Church, serving in a number of capacities. She also served in the Children Enrichment Committee of Middletown. She was a member of that, the Irish American Society. Golden Age Seniors, she was the officer in the Golden Age Seniors, and the past secretary of Orange County Right
004to Life, and on the board of directors of Birthright. Her life was actually devoted to service. She also liked to travel in her retirement, traveled many places throughout the world, and she definitely will be missed. I served on a number of committees with Pat, always there, always made the meetings, always contributed, never a clock watcher, an excellent individual. The next moment of silence this evening is for the mother-in-law of Victor Rackey, Maria Espinoza. Maria Espinoza, I didn't know her. She's a great woman. I didn't know Maria, but I do know Victor. Maria apparently was a person of great faith. She raised three children. She also enjoyed such things as botany, always could be found in the garden with various plants. In addition to that, she was an excellent cook. She took care of her family.
005She also enjoyed the usual items such as going on trips. Just as I read the material that Victor sent me, just a wonderful, dedicated human being. And the final moment of silence this evening, not a member of the district, is for Sarah Berkley. Sarah Berkley was the young 20-year-old Marine Reservist who was so violently murdered just doing her job. So please remember these individuals in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you. For the mission of the Elard City School District, we strive to provide fiscally sound educational opportunities in a safe environment that continuously supports our diverse student population. We will enable all students to graduate, to reach their full potential, and to become lifelong learners, and to be competitive, productive members of society. Thank you. Thank you. Roll call. Mrs. Monchurie. Dr. DeJesus. Mr. Estrada. Here.
006Mr. Moore. Here. Mr. Perino. Here. Mr. Rett. Here. Ms. Romero. Here. Ms. Tobiasen. Here. Mr. Freddie Williams. Here. Mr. Pastor Williams. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve the agenda as presented? So moved. Second. Any discussions? Motion to amend the agenda. Okay. And why is that, Mr. Perino? Okay. Thank you. After the action items, I believe, should be added to number M, and it is as follows. Board employee 04182, personal work, and personal development. The board is adjourned. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The hearing ends. prescribed statements received and will personally be rescinded as of December 15th, 2 0 2 5 at 12 a.m. Thank you. I'm going to call point of order. Under Robert's Rules of Order, section 38 and 39, a motion that is the same
007or significantly similar to one previously decided by the Board, may not be renewed. This item was already considered and failed. Therefore, I as a Board President, roll the motion out of order. motion out of order and the board will proceed with the agenda. Excuse me, may I say something? Sure. That is really substantially different as the date is different. So that makes this motion not the same as the last motion. I second the motion. Okay, I as board president rule that this motion should be amended out of order and the motion will not be recognized and the board will proceed with the agenda as presented. I need a motion. Please note our objections. Okay. This is a vote on amending the agenda. Is that correct, President Romero? Excuse me, did you say you wanted to
008vote or you wanted to note? It depends on what the board president, the board president is. Because Denise, he said he wanted to note, he wanted you to note. Yeah, if she was going to make a unilateral decision as a board president, then I just wanted the objection noted. But if she's changed her mind. I've changed my mind and we can move to voting. Thank you, Mr. Estrada. Vote to amend the agenda. Please state yay or nay. Mr. Estrada? Yes. Mr. Moore? No. Mr. Perino? Yes. Mr. Rett? No. Ms. Romero? No. Ms. Tobiasen? Yes. Mr. Freddie Williams? No. We're good. Motion fails, board through. Okay, motion fails. The decision of the board president is sustained. The motion remains out of order and we will proceed with the agenda. Can I, point of information? You just
009stated, can you state exactly what the board president said? Yes. Can you state exactly what the board president said? Yes. Can you state exactly what the board president said? Yes. As far as the motion is concerned. Because she has said that the motion of the board president is sustained. A matter of fact. Correct, that's what you just said. Can you fix it for me? Sure. The motion fails. The motion to amend the agenda? Correct. Not the board presidents. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Estrada. For the minutes, it needs to be clarified correctly. Well, I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. May I have a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes? So moved. Second. What do you need? Approve the current agenda. Can I have a motion to approve the current agenda
010as is? So moved. Second. May I have a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes? Sorry, all in favor? Roll call, please. Mr. Roll call to approve the agenda as presented. Okay. Mr. Estrada? No. Mr. Moore? Yes. Mr. Perino? No. Mr. Rett? Yes. Ms. Romero? Yes. Ms. Tobiasen? No. Mr. Freddie Williams? Yes. The motion passes to approve the agenda. Just a point of information. Is five required? Yes. Or no? I just need a majority. Majority of those present or you need a majority of the board, which would be five? Of those present. I was sure about that. That's 50%. I'm going to defer to our district clerk, but I think just for a future meeting that needs to be clarified. That motion passes. Thank you. Motion passes. Thank you, Crystal. May I have a motion
011to approve the regular meeting minutes of November 3rd, 2025 as presented? So moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. May I have a motion to approve the special meeting minutes of November 7th, 2025 as presented? So moved. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. May I have a motion to approve the action items only workshop minutes November 20th, 2022. Move to agenda item Б. 20th, 2025 as presented. So moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Yeah. May I have a motion to approve the special meeting minutes of December 4th, 2025 as presented? So moved. Second. I have a second. Second. Thank you. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed other than Rose? Okay. Thank you. We're going to move on to the
012spotlight of excellence. Mr. Perino. I'd like to call the family and the administration of the high school family, Moises Harklin, up to the microphone and a member of the Elks, of course. Before we get to our student of the month, as I've said many times, the Elks are the most important organization of our state. They are the most important organization of our state. They are the most important organization of our state. They are the most important Elks does a lot of community service. And we have a program that is going to be presented by Anne-Marie Minnerly right now. She's going to speak on a nice community program for the children of Middletown. Thank you. As John said, my name is Anne-Marie Minnerly. I am the esteemed lecturing knight of Middletown Elks Lodge 1097. And we
013have recently received a grant from our National Foundation for a children's community Christmas party. It's taking place on Saturday the 20th from 1 to 3. Santa will be there. Elroy the Elk will be there. We will be serving lunch. And the children will receive gifts and treats and play games and just generally celebrate the season. The information, I'm told, has been put on the district website. And RSVPs are required because I especially need to know the ages of the children. I don't want to present a 5-year-old with a toy designed for a 10-year-old. We're asking children 10 years and under for the party. And our cutoff to RSVP is going to be Wednesday. Wednesday. The 7th. 17th. And if you know any families that would benefit from this program, please encourage them to give us
014a call and come and attend. Thank you. Thank you. And I'm going to ask Kevin Witte. He's always very good about this, to put your circulars on the video boards. Okay. Now for our student of the month, I'd like to introduce an administrator of the high school, Mr. Whitaker. Do you have a question? Do you want to introduce our student? Yes. Good evening, President Romero, members of the board, Acting Superintendent Misadoma, District Administration. It is my honor for the month of December to award the Elk Student of the Month Award to Moises Holguin. A little bit about Moises. I could probably be here for an hour. He is dedicated, determined, a student of strong character. He's first, his marking period, one GPA was a 99.53. There's more. There is more. He's very modest. He attends
015BOCES for computer programming in which his GPA was 100%. So he's continuing to do great things. He had perfect attendance. Was it 101? I mean, wasn't there like a few, like 95? No, I think it was 100. You're crushing it. I double checked. He's doing great. He had perfect attendance. He had perfect attendance in marking period one. And he is just the epitome of what a MIDI scholar is and a legacy maker is. So, again, I could say so much more. But Moises, we're so proud of you. You were doing so great. He is currently a junior in the cohort of 2023. So he will graduate next June in 2027. And I think he's still thinking about his future. But he's very, very interested in computer programming. And so I don't know if he wants
016to say anything. Because he is very modest. But, again, we are very proud of you, Moises. Again, mom and dad, you've raised a great young man here. And so, Moises, would you like to say a few words? Go ahead. Yeah. Moises. Go ahead. Moises said. He said to me, what if I say the wrong thing? Well, Moises, I'm always saying the wrong thing around here. So you go right ahead. This school has been good so far. Thank you. Congratulations, Moises. Congratulations. Felicidades a la familia. We at the Elks are so honored to present this certificate to you for student of the month. We love to see young people working hard, excelling, and going on to become great members of our community. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
017you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Nice job. And thanks for being here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Let's see here. The time's here. What have we got here? Okay. Come on up here. All right. As I mentioned before, Kyle is one of my former students, so he was a good student. I'll say that in front of the public. Yeah, okay. But, you know, I go over the cadets are
018usually here for the pancake breakfast, but really they do so much more in the community. I'm just going to read a couple of things. November 2nd, presented colors at the soccer game championship. November 3rd, they honored the veterans by placing flags at the Orange County Cemetery. On November 6th, competed in the academic athletic inspection. Drew at Washingtonville on November 8th. Continuing. The month included veterans meet at CART. Veterans at the Elks. And also yesterday, it was at Presidential. We also did something at Manhattan. So they volunteered at the Veterans Appreciation Dinner, Middletown Fire Department, as well as Color Guard for soccer tournaments. On, on, and on. Last year, they did 4,000 hours of community service. So you come on up here and call the guys up. All right. Good evening, and thank you. Board of
019member, Board of Education members, acting superintendent, Adoma, and everybody here tonight. The kids really do a great job, and I was looking up numbers earlier. Since April 1st of this year, which is the start of our reporting year, we've done over 2,172 hours of community service. Just for this school year, it's 1,679. So the cadets love... They love the pancake breakfast and love volunteering at it. And I'm going to call you guys all up. So come up and get your certificates. First up, Alana Smith. Angel Hernandez. Angelique Keano. Not here. Anayla Hargrove. Annie Mejia. Anthony Mencia. Aislinn Alvarez. Benjamin Gonzalez. Camille Chapelle. Thanks, Camille, for being here. Diana Sanchez. DeAndre Olive. Destiny Harriot. Emelson Areola Rivas. Guadalupe De La Rosa Cuenca. Isabella Kerr. Ayanna Robertson. Jacob Shargani. Jazara Sanchez. Janiyah Destime. Jarius Fontanez. Jordi Sukilanda
020Zamora. Joseph Zuniga. Juan Gonzalez. Crisset Vivaldo. Lance Valdes. Brandon Williams. Melanie Plaseca. Melania Vazquez. Omari Sewell. Reyna Torres. Robert Mikulski. Sophia Orth. Tallulah Hardy. Tydane Brown. Xavier Hall. Zamir Hurley. Zoe Lalla. Alan Nevada. Brittany Condado. Camila Rodriguez. Dakira Shand. Estefany Barba. Francesca Carano. Madison Frank. Kayla Stucco. Najae Gordon. Natalie Acevedo. Nelly Hernandez Luna. Vanessa Rodas. Malik Webster. Camilo Benavidez. And Andrew Brito. Nice job, Chief Slingerland. And thank you, by the way, you see on our personnel agenda tonight, we are approving an additional instructor, Lieutenant Commander. And he'll be with us starting when? Monday. Monday. Okay. Good. Mr. Perino, the floor is still yours for the recognition for retirement. Okay. I'll just do that right from here. Mariana Morales, a custodian. She's a senior. She's a senior. She's a custodian. Is retiring after 43 years of
021service with the district. 43 years of service. He could not be here tonight. I worked with him for a number of years. Kept the buildings spotless, always on time. And additionally, raised a nice family. Most of the children have gone and graduated from college. So we're going to give this to Mr. Bartlett. And would you like to say anything? No. No. No. No. Anything else of Mariano, Bill? I would just like to say it's a pleasure to have people of his caliber in the department. We're very blessed. We have a great group of people. And the dedication it shows that amount of years is quite remarkable. So, you know, I think it's well deserved. And thank you for taking the time to recognize him. Next we have Camille for our superintendent updates. Good evening. So
022each year our schools have been responsible for creating an action plan and goals. And we're going to be working on that. And we're going to be working on that. And we're going to be working on that. And we're going to be working on that. So tonight we have our elementary administration team here So tonight we have our elementary administration team here to talk about their legacy plan. In each legacy plan we focus on five areas. Attendance, academics, engagement responsiveness and development. So they have a special video that will provide some updates. But before they The video I like for them to come up and introduce themselves. And then we will start the video which has some special guest narrating. Good evening. I'm Suzanne Driske I am the principal of Maple Hill Elementary School. Good evening.
023I am Regina Trout. I am one of the assistant principals at Maple Hill Elementary. Good evening. My name is Brooke Filippini. I am the other assistant principal at Maple Hill Elementary. Good evening. I'm Deanne Lester. I am principal of Presidential Park Elementary School. Good evening. I am Tameka Harris, one of the assistant principals at Presidential Park. Good evening. I'm Delilah Quijones, one of the assistant principals at Presidential Park. Good evening. I'm Matthew Kelly, the other assistant principal at Presidential Park. Good evening. Kathy Jensen, principal of William Carter Elementary School. I'm Wendy D. George. I'm the only assistant principal at Carter. Good evening. I'm Ivelisse Sanchez. I never know how to introduce myself these days, but I am the assistant principal, E&L case manager for the bilingual, E&L and World Language Department. Hi, I'm Liz Bowler.
024And? Tiffany Hall. We're the pre-K through fifth grade humanities instructional leaders. Always got to come down when I get up. Tracy Sorrentino, principal of the Maple Hill Annex at Truman Moon. Good evening. I'm Barb Recchio. I'm the STEM elementary instructional leader. So as I said, we have a- Hiding in the background. We have a video to watch, I believe, correct? Yes. And just want to recognize we have our- Student Board of Ed reps. They're going to be doing narration. So we have Eden and Nipur, so you'll hear the voices throughout the video. All right. We're halfway through another year of the legacy plan at Middletown City Schools. In just a few months, programs like CKLA, STEM Scopes, and Leader in Me have been reshaping the way our children engage in the classroom. Every day, they
025take another step towards a future of possibilities. And before we know it, they'll be walking across a stage and into the world. And before we know it, they'll be walking across a stage and into the world. And before we know it, they'll be walking across a stage and into the world. As a next generation of leaders. The second principle of Leader in Me is to begin with the end in mind. We believe every child is capable of being the hand that shapes that world. All the qualities of greatness are there, but they don't develop on their own. We want to help find the leader within all of our legacy makers. And here's a look at how we're doing so far. We started with Leadership Kickoff Events. A Leader in Me centered assembly. Where concepts like
026teamwork and discipline were approached with games and ideas. Where concepts like teamwork and discipline were approached with games and ideas. Where concepts like teamwork and discipline were approached with games and ideas. Where concepts like teamwork and discipline were approached with games and performances. This got the ball rolling on a year filled with active classrooms and innovative lessons. Multiple programs have been implemented, but the values of Leader in Me are always present in each one. And it's already showing results. Like with our morning announcements, which are led by our scholars every morning. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. Last year, kids grew curious and wanted to participate. We have students actually applying for positions to do it. We have students actually applying for positions to do it. And everybody has a role, and now they
027take over the announcements. So it's really excelled the energy in the school. STEM Scopes is one of our newer initiatives that's pushing the presence of science, technology, engineering, and math in elementary classrooms. CKLA has entered its first full year implementation, enhancing literacy lessons by pairing readings with unique activities. While our scholars are learning to read and write, they also learn about other subjects, their classmates and themselves. While our scholars are learning to read and write, they also learn about other subjects, their classmates and themselves. These lessons will usually conclude with a culminating event where scholars show everything they've learned. For many of these events, families were welcomed into the classroom to participate and see what their child has been learning. So in science we've been learning all about animal adaptations and so all of these
028stations have to do with the different senses and how animals use them in the wild. We have all the families here which is awesome and they're just having a really great time. We came in to write a book with our kids. They're writing a memory book. She loves writing and she loves writing about herself so she enjoyed it. This is our first of many I hope. We love coming in and experiencing the program. Our district is committed to fostering bilingualism and biliteracy. Within our one-way and two-way dual language programs, we implement Caminos to strengthen our Spanish language arts instruction. This program develops deep content knowledge and foundational skills by providing a diverse and inclusive experience. By providing students with opportunities to read, write, and converse in Spanish. Caminos is an authentic Spanish language arts curriculum
029specifically designed to promote Spanish literacy development. Of course, everything you've seen here is just a small fraction of the programs, events, and lessons we've been working on. But it doesn't stop at the classroom doors. What happens in the hallways and playgrounds, during school and after school, with friends or with family, these moments are just as important. Our scholars are already excelling in academics, but this is where we learn the skills that help us as a community. This is when our children learn about making good choices and being safe, as they did at our fire safety assemblies. They also learned about making healthy decisions at our Kids Heart Challenge Rally and during Red Ribbon Week. This is our Kids Heart Challenge Rally. It's so important to learn physical health and wellness. We teach them how to
030plan with the end in mind, how to stay physically healthy. During Red Ribbon Week, we teach children how to say no to drugs. We encourage our children to talk to their families and to their friends about saying no to drugs and just pretty much being healthy. During our recognition ceremonies, our scholars were celebrated for achievements in attendance and acts of kindness. In November, Day Rock came to Maple Hill Annex and gave our scholars the opportunity to be creative and creative. Thank you. We started off with a variety of instruments. It's a wonderful experience for them to try different instruments that they may not normally get to try. This is an opportunity for them to be exposed to something new and maybe awaken a new talent that they may not have realized they have. In that
031same month, scholars from around the district participated in balloon parades. These events are just a few of the many opportunities for scholars to simply enjoy their school experience. yourself through the arts or just having fun with friends can bring out the best in you. And sometimes just as important as a test or project is ending a day spending time with our family. When we say once a Middie always a Middie we mean it. Whether you're in elementary, middle, or high school, college, or career we're proud to say we got to play a part in bringing out the qualities that make you who you are. We believe in all of our scholars and all of the amazing things they can do in this world. There's a leader within everyone and finding them begins here. I just
032also want to just recognize the communications team without them that video wouldn't be possible so they're not here all here tonight but I want to thank them for that video. That was amazing. Does anyone have any thoughts or anything you'd want to share? Thank you for everything that you do you're all amazing thank you. To our board reps that was great thank you. May I have a motion to approve administrative approval of personnel memorandum 13A number one as presented. I have a second. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. May I have a motion to approve instructional personnel memorandum 13B numbers 1 through 16 as presented. So moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. May I have a motion to approve non-instructional personnel memorandum 13C numbers one through eight as
033presented. So moved. May I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. May I have a motion to approve financial memorandum 14D numbers one through five as presented. So moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. May I have a second? Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. May I have a second? Discussion? I think Mr. Perino and Mr. Moore right first and second. Any discussion? Yes. And I premise this by saying that I'm in full favor of the contract however is there a reason why we're approving the SRO contract for the 26-27 school year which outlines expenditures for the 26-27 school year when we have not been presented a budget for that year nor have the taxpayers approved the budget for
034that year. Dr. Connell can you please share more information? Absolutely so we want to actually lock in our rates with them so we can actually use that to have a more informed budget when we present it. So the budget will actually not be so much of a proposal but it will have to be more realistic as to what our expenses are going to be. And the majority of everything has remained constant. The rate has only changed by like two dollars. Yeah but my questioning is that this requires a contract to be signed right? Yes. So why are we signing it before our budget is approved? So we because so normally what we would do is to make sure that we actually lock in our rates with the police department. So in terms of that was
035the rate they proposed. So we want to be locked in before we actually go into our budget season. So is there an anticipation that if we did not sign it until the budget was approved that the prices would increase? That would potentially. We don't know if it would change going forward. We're actually pursuing our next contract with the other police department as well. Yeah. Just to make sure that we have that. Have we had the conversation with the city about whether that would happen if we don't sign now? I know. I haven't had a conversation. And not wait until the budget is actually approved by the taxpayers. We haven't. We haven't done that yet. Maybe it's the board's desire. We can we can do that. Have that conversation. Yeah. I mean if they're willing to
036hold the rate until May I would feel more comfortable on having an approved budget before we you know we you know we've had conversations at this table about the difficulty of our budget moving forward in the next few years. So I'd like to have a little bit of an outline of that before now. If what you mentioned is the anticipation. Yeah. I don't have a problem. And I don't have a problem with the contract at all. Yeah. The contract. I just want it from a taxpayer perspective and a budget perspective make sure we have our ducks in order in the correct. So the fact that it only changed by two dollars which is way below inflation. Yeah. And it's within the margin of what the state allow us. So it's almost it would be quivering
037over two dollars. Yeah. And in terms of if we actually applied a real inflation to it it would have far exceeded that rate. Yeah. So I think that's a good thing. Yeah. So because they gave us such a good deal way below inflationary increases it seems reasonable to just have a locked in. But it's we can always wait to close on it. Yeah. I mean if we can just wait until we get an answer to that question that's just my recommendation. I'm only one person here at the table. How does everyone else feel. We can table it to the next meeting table. Mr. Perino. Yes. Rose. Yeah. Mrs. Tobias and would you like to table. I was concerned was that on our agenda it says approval of the school resource officers agreement 25 26 and
038I thought I detected a 26 27 is my hearing. Yes. Okay. So it's still I want of 26 of next July. Yes. Thank you. That was it was funny. Yeah. Different story because then the voters have already voted on the budget. Right. Twenty five twenty six but not the 26 27. Do you wish to table it for now. That's fine with me. Okay. Mr. Red. Yeah. Okay. We can say that. Can you read it. Please. This is for the approval of financial memorandum number one two four and I'm sorry one three four and five and we will table number two. And I apologize for not bringing it earlier but like Mr. Tobias said I thought we were giving something for that was not before next year. And then the only other question I have are
039we just have one other question as part of the discussion is the the tax certiorari agreement that the town of Waukill did on all of our behalf I guess in regards to the gallery at Crystal Run. I see that the rebate to the Galleria is one point eight million dollars. Is that the school share or the share of everybody involved in the taxing. So yeah it's actually our share. So the one point. OK so one point eight is our share does not include whatever they're getting from the town. No. So the town has already signed the agreement town and Goshen they're waiting on us. But it wasn't just their negotiation. We actually had our attorneys at the negotiating table as well. And then we had I think recently we approved an increase to the reserve.
040Pardon me. For next year. I know because we currently have five point one five point eight million dollars in the interaction. So we will have a remainder of four million dollars. OK. After we've paid this. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. That's the kind of. May I have a motion to up. So we have a motion and a second all in favor. May I have a motion to approve special services memorandum twelve E numbers one through two as presented. Don't move. Second. Any discussion. All in favor. Any opposed. Motion passes. May I have a motion to approve change orders nine F numbers one through five as presented. Don't move on that. Second. Any discussion. Can you please further explain Mr. Bartlett. Certainly. So we have the five change orders tonight. The first one is to
041provide labor to remove the existing septic. Trap line. Extend the vent lines and to modify the pipes in two existing bathrooms as well as providing and installing an additional four inch copper line in the crawl space at twin towers. The next is another one for twin towers is a credit for labor and material deleted from the scope of work and an ad for labor and material to install interior window caulking slate window sills and additional exterior window trim. And the last three are related to the winter winter protection for twin towers and to provide the labor and material to enclose and maintain a temporary protections route to win winter in the new area. A the next is for the cost to provide the fuel and maintain heat within temporary enclosure. And the last is to
042dismantle in the spring and remove the winter protection assemblies for that new area. A thank you. You're welcome. All in favor. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. May I have a motion to approve the memorandum of agreement between the county of Orange and the Middletown City School District regarding school mapping services provided by critical response group as presented. So moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. May I have a motion to approve the resolution to authorize emergency replacement of the electrical service entrance at the Middletown High School as presented. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Any discussion? Just a question. Should we have a next name? Yeah. I just one of the questions I had was is this on a normal like how do we check these so they're not
043emergencies in the future I guess is my question. So this is something we've been doing for a long time. We've been doing this for a long time. We've been doing this for a long time. We've been doing this for a long time. This is something we've had on our five-year plan since I've been here and we're actually in the process. It was been designed. We approved this in the May vote to do this work and it's been designed. It's actually up to SED. But because of the night before Thanksgiving we lost power here and we had to wait till the next morning. We called contractors in. A portion of it was not replaceable. And so we're able to get it up and running. So we're living in borrowed time basically. So we had done our
044due diligence and gotten ahead of this but it made our weekskkО SED took its time. Yeah. Normal. And so we basically went from, you know, a status of yellow to a status of red. So this allows a couple of things. We don't have to wait for SED to return it. We can move forward beginning tomorrow. We could literally go out and release the purchase of the equipment. So this allows a couple of things. We don't have to wait for SED to return it. We can move forward beginning tomorrow. We could literally go out and release the purchase of the equipment. And so we've been doing this since the last week I think of which we're tending to the next five years actually. The equipment can take up to eight or 10 months to purchase. We
045do have a backup plan should we have any further failure to keep it going. But this stuff just is not off-the-shelf equipment, so it'll be built to our specs as needed. And we actually had all our ducks in a row. It just moved up in our priority status. Thank you. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion passes. May I have a motion to approve the acceptance of the minimum wage increase to $16.60 per hour effective January 1, 2026 as presented? I'll move. $16.60. $16. $16. Oh, sorry. My paper does say $16.60, but it's $16 per hour effective January 1, 2026. I moved it. And second? I have a second. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion passes. Motion to approve the amended Board of Education meeting schedule for 2025-2026 as presented. The December 18,
0462025 Board Workshop will be rescheduled for January 8, 2026. Can I have a motion? So moved. Second. Thank you. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. And I'm going to turn the mic to Mr. Rhett, who's going to speak about the policy committee. Yes, we have a policy up for approval. That approval to waive the first and second reading of policy recommended by Assistant Superintendent of Business and Operations, Dr. Norville Connell. Dr. Connell, if you can give us a moment. I know the title is Employee Compensated Absences Accounting Policy. If you could give us a little bit on that. Absolutely. Thank you. So the state has actually created an opportunity to have standardized the way we report our compensated absences as a liability. So everybody who works earned an amount of time
047off, sick leave, and so forth. That is a liability to the... To the district. Now, all districts have been reporting it at the end of the year in all different kinds of format. The state has now standardized that format under GASB 101. And that format, what you're asking us to do is to do a lifeful process. The way we're reporting it is that you will first use up the last days that you earn versus the ones that you... The earlier ones that you earn. And this level of consistency of reporting it will allow for standardization. We press on, we have already done a little bit of research with our policy, and we are hoping to use that to provide some validation across all public school districts within New York State. Thank you very much. Okay.
048So what we'd like to do is we'd like to... May I have a motion to approve, to discuss, and waive the second reading of the policy recommended by Assistant Superintendent and Business of Operations, Dr. Norval Connel as presented. So moved. Alright. So we're going to adopt policy employee compensated absences accounting policy. May I... Please move. Okay. Okay. May I have a second? Second on that. Any discussions? Could you tell us what policy number that is, so that if those of us that have our books? Mr. Connell, you want to? I don't have my documents with me, but I'll publish it with... So on both of those, then, Dr. Connell, would you provide us with just the policy number and both K and L? May I? Go ahead. As of now, there's no number assigned to
049it, as we are still working with NISBA to refurbish our policy manual, and once it's complete, that will be assigned a number. Okay. All right, so may I have a second? Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, motion passes. We're going to move along. No, we've got another piece to... I'm sorry. So be it resolved. In accordance with a review of the ECSDM's policy by Bond, Shelnick, and King, and upon the recommendation of the Board of Education's Policy Committee, the full board hereby adopts the following policy with the nominal revisions recommended by Assistant Superintendent of Business and Operations, Dr. Norville Connell, and reviewed by the Acting Superintendent of Schools. Policy. Once again, employee compensated absences, and all services are subject to the Board's accounting policy. May I have a motion? So moved. So
050moved. May I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, motion passes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Redd. We're going to move on to public participation. This is an opportunity to address the Board. The Board will designate a portion of its meeting agenda for public comment for a period of up to 40 minutes. Each speaker will be allowed to speak. will be allowed up to four minutes. The public is not permitted to discuss topics and or matters involving specific individuals. Speakers must sign in prior to speaking. Speakers are not permitted to cede their time to other speakers. Anyone who would like to come up, please write your name on the paper. My name is . Okay, great, thank you. My name is Katie Ray. Most of you probably already know
051me. I am an alderman for the third ward on the City Council for Middletown. I am also a mother of four lifelong Middies, one of whom is on her way back from her second year at University of South Carolina, which she got a full ride to, from, and left this school with with 80 college credits. So I would like to preface. Thank you. She's awesome. You guys were a big part of that. I will preface everything I'm saying this evening with the fact that I love this school district. I love, if you know me, you know that I do. I have said forever and ever, I would take the Pepsi Challenge with this school district again. I would not take the Pepsi Challenge with any other district, and frankly some universities, because I went on
052a lot of college visits, and they were lacking. But I'm here tonight because I have a few things to bring up that are of great concern to me. I've been kind of dealing with them for a little bit, with things that the way our district responds to certain things. And I just would like to speak on them. The first thing I'm going to speak on tonight will be the steel water bottles, Okay, this is a big one for me because this is based on an incident that occurred in Newburgh Which I'd like to state Newburgh and Middletown what they have in common is simply the fact that they are both cities in Orange County We are not Newburgh. We are nothing like Newburgh But when that incident happened in Newburgh the only school district that
053responded to their incident With a blanket rule like this one was Middletown neighboring districts like Valley Central and Cornwall and Minnesotan and Pine Bush and everyone else no one has changed their policy And so when I racked my brain for why would they be unconcerned about the seal water bottle? but we are and the only thing that I can draw up is that what we share with Newburgh our demographics and the message that you are sending to our kids in our district is that because of the sheer fact that these kids are Of a certain ethnic ethnic mix that they are definitely more likely to be violent with a water bottle so we should make sure they can't have them and that concerns me because you are telling these kids that they are inherently not
054good and What I'm seeing is that it's based on race and that concerns me especially as a mom of mixed-race children Very much. It's not a pretty message and we see a beautiful. I'm sorry about my time We see a beautiful message up here on the board from our president presidential park where I work and I love these kids These kids there's some of them here tonight were my kids at presidential and they're graduating and I'm looking at one on your board tonight Who I have known since preschool and I love these children I have been coming to this high school with my daughter who is in college since she was six swimming And I have never felt unsafe I have never had an issue on a basketball night My child didn't hold a stroller
055for me or watch out for my toddlers as I walk through these halls and what you're telling them Is that not who they are and it is who they are. They are wonderful kids Yeah, we have some issues but sending that message with that rule is absurd There's more data that plastic water bottle beverages are more dangerous for kids For us to worry about their health issues than there is any data that a steel water bottle somehow makes a child violent So that's one second one Mental health. I'm sorry if I go over time. I hope I'd get some professional courtesy as a council member to speak a little bit I'm not going to use up a ton of time. Just have a couple things Sorry The mental health we take a big stance here
056in the district. We talk about how important our kids mental health is It's why we take the phones away from them and those are all understandable things, but I think we're missing one Because our kids especially if they're high achievers or they're involved in activities in sports have very long days every day I don't know how many times I've pulled my kids face off a Chromebook at 2 a.m Okay, and I'm sorry for this. We're gonna go for you an additional minute. Thank you. Um This is important because my kids are high achievers every year. They've been in school. They go home for these breaks, right? It's supposed to be a break get refreshed But you have 30 page packets of work from all your teachers They need to be done over spring break over
057Christmas break and my kids have been up Consistently for years all their high school careers in middle school up till midnight of their entire break Trying to get this work done and my question the district is if you mean it about mental health and that break matters Especially for kids who are doing all the work and keeping up to date They should be able to go home For Christmas and relax until they come back to school That's meaning what we say about kids mental health Because some of these kids are working themselves So hard is we want them to achieve we want them to do all these things We want you to sports we want you to excel and be scholar athletes and they're doing it But they're killing themselves and I'm watching them do
058it. I watch my own kids burn themselves out to do all the things and Yeah, they've been paid back for it. My daughter's being paid back for it. They're paying her to go to school But we have to look out for them in the ways that we can as a district I would hope that we would as a policy state That we're not doing that if you're up to date on your work. You don't go home at work for breaks. That's homeschool It's not a break last and final thing I don't really know if you guys work off Roberts rule of order But when you hand out an agenda unless you make an official motion to adjust that agenda you're obligated to follow these things and You guys just completely rewrote your meeting and you're
059disrespectful to people who come out? Here to speak on behalf of their kids in the council We do our public comment at the beginning so that people are we able to go home? This is just a way to weed out people who can't be here all night I think that's unfair and that's all I have I appreciate you. Thank you so much. Thank you Good evening. My name is Nicole Hewson. I'm a former trustee for this Board of Education. I am a national delegate for the Libertarian Party and I am the administrator from Orange County New York Community Bulletin Board which now has about 6,000 members and many of them are from this district and the Number of people in this district isn't that much lower than that. So people are listening I'm not trying
060to be negative. But while I was here on the board, I saw a lot of things that were Going south very quickly and I'm not here to embarrass anybody But you have to you're in a position that's elected so you have to stand up and take the heat from your couch and take the heat from your I'm a national delegate for my party I I didn't get anywhere here because you people the ones that are left We're too hard to work with and you silenced me and you censored the public and you censored me So I decided to go a different route. But Ms. Ray touched upon a few of the things that I wanted to say, because I brought my book of Robert's Rules of Order. Reading a script that someone else wrote for
061you, Madam President, is not acceptable. Read the book. Know what you're doing. Okay? That's an embarrassment. It's an embarrassment to our community. And that's not just her. It's Mr. Williams, the vice president. Who has been here as long as I had been, and longer, and still doesn't know how to properly make a motion. Okay? That's a problem. No matter where you stand on the issues that I think most of the people are here for, okay, I'm seeing a lot of things. You are approving spending, or you're trying to approve spending, when you don't even know what your budget's going to be. Our country is about to hit a Great Depression, and you want to spend money we don't have. As a taxpayer, I find that offensive. And I am grateful to the board members tonight,
062Ms. Tobiasen and Mr. Estrada, who is no longer sitting here. And where are the board members? Where's Mr. Williams? Where's Mr. Estrada? Where's the other Mr. Williams? Why are they all disappearing during the meeting? That's a problem, too. So why are you spending taxpayer money that you don't have, first of all? Okay? Why are you lowering the grade for passing? That was something in Reuters. That was something in recent months. Well, you guys were up for election that I pointed out on the bulletin board. That is disgusting. When we have graduates who can't count back change, and they can't read, okay, you shouldn't be lowering what passing grade is, okay? You have way too many administrators, too many cooks in the kitchen. It's wasting our tax dollars. It's taking away from the kids. I'm here
063because I care about the children. I'm a retired elementary and middle school teacher, and I'm just shaking my head. I'm not trying to be mean, but you guys need to do so much better. You all have your own credit card, okay? That was something I voted against when the four of you who are remaining, when I was on the board. You have your own credit cards for workshops. Yes, you did. You approved it. I see you nodding, but it's true. You guys did approve that for yourselves so that you can go on business trips and take workshops. What are you doing with our taxpayer dollars? Students saving. Students' safety. I just came back from, in September, the Hope Alive 845 meeting with Domingo Ramos, who I accepted an award in honor of our former board
064member who is since our late friend John Lawson. I dedicated the award to him. And the whole point of you guys, I hope you'll give me the same courtesy that you gave Ms. Ray, since I'm also a political candidate and delegate. But. Because I'm a political candidate. I'm a delegate. I'm a member of the board of directors. I really think anybody here has the right to speak no matter what your title is. The yonder pouches are actually harming police and law enforcement ability to get the kids information when they go missing. I know it's done under the guise of distractions. And believe me, I was a classroom teacher. I wouldn't love to have the kids on the phone. But adolescents are going to find a different distraction anyway. But that is to hide the violence
065that's going on. They don't want them videotaping the violence in the schools and the CRT that's going on. And I'm glad Ms. Ray brought up the point about the demographics because that is the result of the CRT that's still being taught in this district, also under the name of DEI curriculum. The lawsuits that you guys can't get along and you are costing us taxpayers a lot of money because I can see what's coming down the pipe. And I see what was going on with the administrative stuff. And I would never dare to speak about a personal or an individual. But when you have this many things that you Time is up, Ms. Houston. I'm going to finish because it's my constitutional right. And I'll be quick. But with regard to administrators. Yeah, your time is
066up. Thank you for being such a great advocate for your community. I want you to know that I do have the book. I do. I do. Thank you. Anyone else wants to come up? Thank you. Good evening. My name is Terry Randolph. And I'm a taxpayer and a business owner in the school district. Three weeks ago this evening, the board rejected by a popular vote with motion to not reinstate the superintendent. And I think that's commendable. Thank you. Tonight, I ask you to consider the next step. Terminate the superintendent's contract. Honor legal. The legal severance payout. And then this chapter. Just a few documented facts. And you all have a pamphlet that should should have been handed out to you previously. And again, this evening that I signed. In 2022, three administrators sued the superintendent
067and the district for racial discrimination and retaliation. A federal judge ruled against the district's request to dismiss the charges. And there was plenty of evidence to move the trial. We settled it at taxpayer. Taxpayers expense. But this does not exonerate the superintendent nor the district. On August 5th, 2025, a new EEOC charge was filed against the superintendent personally for violating the Americans with Disability Act, denying accommodations as recommended and breaching medical privacy. That charge is still active since March 2022, when this board bypassed a promised national security law. And it's still active. Since March 2022, when this board bypassed a promised national security law. And it's still active. Since March 2022, when this board bypassed a promised national security law. Since March 2022, when this board bypassed a promised national security law. And awarded the
068superintendent a multi-year contract. We have spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on settlements, legal fees, and administrative costs. That money belongs in classrooms, not courtrooms. The staff has gone silent, not knowing which way the board will go. I've heard from some, and they've shared their experience, but are unwilling to speak up. Some have retired early. and some have left to find new employment in other districts. It's not good to lose experienced, skilled, and talented people. Twenty-two years ago, the district ignored red flags with then-Superintendent Robert Siegler and paid dearly with ruined trust, lawsuits, and a decade of recovery. We do not need to repeat that history. You have already courageously said no to reinstatement twice, on the 20th of November and this evening. Saying yes to termination is now the responsible, fiscally prudent, and
069morally correct next step. I respectfully ask you to place the following motion on the agenda before the end of December. Terminate the superintendent's employment effective immediately with the contractually required severance. A severance payout and a one-time final resolution. Begin a genuine, transparent national search for a diverse and qualified leadership. Our children, our staff, and our taxpayers deserve leadership that unites us, not one that keeps costing us. You showed courage three weeks ago and again this evening. Please show the same courage tonight and commit to ending this chapter once and for all. The district has continued without the superintendent here, as it should, as we see in the Legacy meeting and the Legacy video that we watched tonight. It happens due to the administrator, the teachers, and the staff. That's what makes the Legacy happen, not
070just one person. Please do what's just. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, board members. Good evening, community. I am a parent here of a senior. My daughter has been in this district for over a decade. My son has been in this district since kindergarten. In all these years, I have been a very involved and active parent, attending meetings and speaking out when no one else would. Today, I'm here to say that since our superintendent has been on leave, the culture and the atmosphere of the high school has seen a tremendous change. The staff appear more relaxed, therefore the students share that same energy. To my knowledge, even the amount of negative incidents at the high school have decreased. I personally have witnessed the interactions of the student and staff on a different level. Now, a
071sense of respect and compassion. My senior has also expressed a now positive and less stressful environment. Moving forward, I hope the board will continue to consider this positive impact without the presence of the superintendent who is now out on leave, and I hope that it remains this way. The 1120 meeting was an action items and board workshop, an ordinary business meeting. Then a trustee made a motion to amend the agenda to vote for the reinstatement of the superintendent effective this year. The board is now in session. I'm going to turn it over to the board. The superintendent gave a motion and it's an the recommendation that the board should not change the agenda to make the first amendment as of December 1st. The return vote failed by four. The four board members reasons for advocating
072for the return appear weak considering the EEOC charges have not been concluded and they don't have a definitive return plan. One trustee points to an internal investigation, which according to his distrustee cleared her of all wrongdoing. What was the scope of the investigation and who were interviewed to support this declaration? I'm having a difficult time believing his statement and I'm going to turn it over to the board. his statement and I think it is irresponsible to use internal information to support a vote for a return in a public session of a board meeting. The second trustee states that there was an agreement to quote reaching out close quotes an attempt was made close quotes we received the response to the aspect of it close quotes. The statement lacked any detail to make it a legitimate
073argument. First who did you reach out to? Did you reach out to any of the speakers in previous meetings who brought up concerns and issues the board may not have been aware of? Did you reach out to employees at large? By the time you were ready to vote for the return did you gather enough data to support that vote? What were the metrics used to decide the December 1st return date? The third trustee confirms that there was no agreement to a plan for the return. Without a plan in place and the board not in agreement with a return plan why is she voting yes for the hasty return? This doesn't make any logical sense to support an individual who is the subject of the EEOC investigation over the health over the health and well-being of
074the whole district. In my opinion this is a display of recklessness. Then the trustee who put out this vote came out swinging at his colleagues. He stated that the superintendent has been out for three months and the board has dragged its feet in coming to consensus on a return plan. He says that two weeks went by with no progress. The irony to this statement he was president for most of the three months the superintendent has been out and during that time there was no progress. He thinks the return date would pave the way to trust-building I'm not certain of that. Then to say that the school district community is being held hostage, inferring that we are immobilized by our absence is absurd. We are professionals. The children are smart, resilient and determined to take back
075the trust from socialokoob basic호 1993 sexual violence law smoore ɺTunko ɐʟ ɤ ˝xu´rv Our families are supportive. Just now, you have seen the accomplishments of some of our students. Finally, the community wants to make sure that our tax dollars are spent on the board's mission and not paying out lawsuits. Finally, how can the board actually reach any kind of consensus if three of the four were absent from the 1120 board workshop and the 12-4 board norms meeting? I'm thinking it appears digging their heels is much more important than actually the work we elect them to do. Those who have spoken out have expressed concern over the well-being of the school community, while the community members have expressed concerns about the district's potential fiscal exposure. We plead with the board to please do the right thing
076for all. As you have seen, we remain dedicated to seeing our children becoming accomplished citizens. Thank you. Thanks, Jill. Good evening. Lou Ingrassia. I'm going to change it up a little bit. MHS, Class 84. I'm here tonight. I wear a lot of hats in the community. I currently serve for the past two years as chairman of the board of Hudson Valley Honor Flight. So I'd like to do, first of all, I know we have some veterans in attendance tonight and some active military. And if they could just please be recognized, either raise your hand or please stand, be recognized. Thank you. Thank you for your service. I'm just here tonight to. I want to commend the board for their decision tonight to get Chief Slingerland some help. He's been working extremely hard. I've worked side
077by side with him for a number of years now, even before I was involved as the on the hierarchy of Honor Flight. But he truly goes 24 7 for this school district. He's got over 175 students now in his program. And the fact that Commander Becker is going to come on board and give him a hand, that's going to be an amazing thing. And I really just. Thank you. Came here tonight to support Chief Slingerland and to thank the board for making that move. It's going to be good. It's going to be good for our students. It's going to be good for our community. And I just really appreciate that you're doing that. The other thing I'd like to do tonight, take a, you know, take the liberty while I'm here also is that unlike
078my little buddy here, Moises, I definitely wasn't near 100 or 93 5 or any of that. But I am the my wife's an educator. Both of my kids are educators. And I'd like to just give a shout out to. To all the the administration, the educators that are here tonight for everything that you do for our community. Like I said, I was born and raised here. I still live in the same driveway. Fifty nine years later, both of my children, my wife, myself are all products in Middletown School District. So just a huge shout out to to everybody that's here tonight that that gives their heart and soul to our kids in this community. So thank you for what you do. Thank you. Thank you. Agreed. Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for everything you do.
079Sorry to hold up progress. On the agenda was deciding whether I was going to speak or not tonight. Tonight, I ask you, members of the board and members of central office that are sitting up here with the board to consider the pivotal moment before you. A moment that will shape the legacy of our district and what it leaves for the students, families and educators who rely on your leadership. Your mission calls for excellence. Equity and unwavering commitment to the well-being of our young people and legacies like that are not built in quiet moments. They are built in moments when courage, clarity and accountability are required. And our district is not without blemishes. I'm a ten year resident of Middletown, former employee of the district. My children go to this district and there have been challenges
080both public and private that I know of now as a community member and know intimately as a former employee of the district. I know from my experience that I have signaled time and time again that meaningful and permanent change is not optional. It is necessary. These moments are not just memories, they're reminders and opportunities to choose a different path forward. Back in 2022, when I came to this podium, against the advice of many in this room who were fearful for me to step to this podium, I shared that conflict is not inherently harmful. What is harmful is how we relate to others. respond to it, which shapes culture and outcomes. It is deeply unfortunate that even now, some of these patterns that once signaled the need for transformation, even back in 2020 and 2022, still
081continue to echo, and that cannot be ignored. And let me be clear, the removal of systemic and historic harm here in Middletown, if intended to be sincere, requires tackling at the root, or dare I say, at the very head of an organization. Change cannot be cosmetic. It must begin with honest evaluation of leadership practices in the culture that does, at the top, cultivate, protect, and allow. And for far too long, the unspoken criteria that held more weight than any resume or body of work or community support was simple. Be silent. Silence became currency. Silence became protection. And silence became the expectation that kept harm and keeps harm in place. And so I speak to you tonight, not as a community member with deep, not only as a community member with deep roots and earned accolades,
082but as someone who has invested in this county far beyond my former role, because what was meant to be the burying of me was actually the planting. It is no secret that I opened the first Black-owned bookstore in Orange County. Many of you who sit here today, I'm sure you know that I'm a big fan of the book, but many of you who sit here before me came to say these books to them. Bill Clinton came, many legislators came, I received the Key to the City, an NAACP award, all of these accolades from outside of the lines of Middletown, except for in the district where I was looking to do this same work. And I share that, again, not to tote from a place of ego, but that our family built a community hub with
083our own money because we believed in our families, our children, and the power of creating spaces we deserved but were not given. Throughout my time here I've spoken the truth even when it did not benefit me and cost me our job and our livelihood but only the silent those who could not or feared not spoke for themselves and above all I have put community over career and left the rest in God's hands because serving people has always mattered more to me than protecting a position. My presence tonight is not the voice of a bitter employee it is the voice of someone who remains deeply engaged deeply invested and deeply unwilling to relinquish that belief that our district can become what it claims a legacy maker. Silence especially in moments of conflict is never neutral it
084inevitably stands on the side of the issue itself and our children our educators and community deserve more than quiet complicity. I urge you to be more patient and be more patient with your children and your family. I urge you to meet this moment with the courage your positions require to not simply uphold the mission you have adopted but to embody it to become the kind of board whose decisions reflect a legacy of transparency safety accountability and unshakable commitment to the people you serve and so the choice before you is not merely procedural it is moral and the community is watching not for perfection but for leadership willing to do the hard things necessary to create lasting and not temporary change. I thank you for the additional minute I thank you for the time that you
085invest as elected officials representing this community and my ultimate hope is that you rise to meet this moment with the full measure of integrity it deserves unlike myself and some of my counterparts who formerly worked here. Thank you. Good evening. Can you write your name please? Oh I already did I was number four. Oh look at you. Well welcome. I'm Shirley Frank prior teacher of the Middletown School District and I am pleased to hear that you have voted against reinstating our superintendent if I had heard that right. The one thing that I am not happy about is that when somebody breaks the law when somebody goes against your district policies they can walk out of here with a severance packet. Teachers don't get that. If we have done something wrong you don't get a severance
086packet you get here's your slip. Glad to see you go. All right. I do not feel that if you have found this individual to have done what I have read that she should not have done. What you have done wrong is what you have done wrong. that she should not be given a benefit packet or a severance packet. What does that look like to other individuals? All right, so once again, I'm glad to hear that from what I've heard tonight. You have voted against reinstating her, but I feel she should not, if you have found it the way I've read it, she should not be given her benefits. She should not be given a packet to walk away. Thank you for your time. See, I cut it short. Sorry, I'm short. Hello, my name is
087Janelle Haug, and I have three students in this amazing school district. And I come here today to say thank you to you, Miss Adoma, for the last four months of peace. Calm. And allowing all of our administrators and our teachers to do their jobs. Do not micromanage. It's very calm in the high school, according to my daughter. Again, they're teenagers. They can be crazy. But all of the chaos that had been for so long is no longer. I urge you as the board to truly take some time to reflect on the last four months and then the last few years. I ask you to continue the peace. That's it. Thank you. We have time for one more person. Anyone else? Thank you. Thank you, everyone. We're going to move on to Board of Education updates.
088And we're going to start with our student board representative. My apologies. Our superintendent, Miss Adoma, has some information. All right. All right. Thank you. Just a couple of updates. Tonight, we concluded computer science education week with a virtual escape room. This week, we had a coding competition on Monday here at the high school. And we had a virtual chilling code on Tuesday night. Last night, we were supposed to have our sip and code event. But last night's weather, unfortunately, had to cancel for that. So I just want to thank the team for putting that together. It's a wonderful week to promote computer science education. Speaking of weather. It is the season for snow delays, cancellations, and two-hour delays. So just a reminder, all families that we are posting information for delays, cancellations, and releases on
089the district's website, Parent Square, Infinite Campus, Parent Portal, and the district's Facebook page. Please, if your information needs to be updated, please contact your child's school so you can get the information when we have those situations. Starting in the fall through winter, we have a number of religious observances. Next week, our elementary school scholars will participate in the summer. Next week, our elementary school scholars will participate in the summer. Next week, our elementary school scholars will participate in the summer. Next week, our elementary school scholars will participate in the holidays around the world assembly. So that's just to recognize all the different holidays that our community celebrates. That will be happening next week, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday in our elementary school buildings. The Office of Senator Skoufis is hosting a stuffed animal giveaway on Monday,
090December 15th, from 3.30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Thrall Library, while supplies last. Information is available on our district's Facebook page. And as a reminder, our last day of school before winter recess is Friday, December 9th. And as a reminder, our last day of school before winter recess is Friday, December 9th. And we'll resume classes in 2026 on Monday, January 5th. And just want to wish everyone a happy holiday. And we'll see you in 2026. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, now, our student board rep. Good evening – oh, I'm sorry. Good evening everyone! Me and Edan have recently distributed a survey to our high school peers. And we are pleased to report that we have had strong engagement thoughtful responses within that survey. The feedback provides a clear perspective of students'
091experiences and priorities within the high school. While the results are most reflective of high school level perspectives, they offer valuable insights as we continue to consider ways to support students across the high school. I would also like to inform and give a shout out to many ambassadors who took the time to create a Thanksgiving food drive. Ms. Acevedo is right there. I would also like to thank House 2, all the teachers, staff, students, and everyone in the community who took the time to donate food and as well just been able to support the Middletown community. We appreciate your effort and it never goes unnoticed, so thank you. We then had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Donahue and Ms. Sheedy in regards to our Middy Scholars concerns to essentially come up with a better information
092for the school. Thank you. I would like to thank the school for the support and more effective solution. Like overall, an attempt to mediate our scholars' concerns. Last time we spoke, it was the beginning of November, so it's been a little pause in between. We've had stuff like Thanksgiving. Prior to Thanksgiving break, my brother's keeper and my sister's keeper held a joint Thanksgiving gathering, promoting collaboration, friendship, celebration, gratitude, and possibly even tradition with further continuing the celebration. So we're going to have a little bit of a discussion. Sorry. This is a little surprise, but we would want to give a personal scholar spotlight on excellence to scholar, 11th grader Jaylin Harmon. She's a junior at MHS and she has been working with the Salvation Army to create an angel tree for children in need during
093the holidays. And a vast majority of those tags on the tree have been made for and have been accounted for. So you won't be able to see the And a vast majority of those tags on the tree have been made for and have been accounted for. So you won't be able to see the We want to again thank her for all the work. It was such a selfless and appreciated act, so we thank her again. Within the holiday season, it's very Christmassy and winter themed, so we've had a few movie nights throughout the community and those have been a pretty good success. But other than that, we're just further expanding our progress on creating a better environment within our school and within our students. So thank you. Thank you. That's awesome. We're going to move
094on to community engagement updates. Mr. Moore. Sweet. I have a couple of updates. I have a couple of photos too. So I can start from there and then I can move on to Monhagen Middle School, give you a little bit of updates. So this past week I had the opportunity to attend Our City, Our Future. Many scholars had the opportunity to question the current mayor with a tremendous amount of different topics. So this past week I had the opportunity to attend Our City, Our Future. Many scholars had the opportunity to question the current mayor with a tremendous amount of different topics. So this past week I had the opportunity to attend Our City, Our Future. Many scholars had the opportunity to question the current mayor with a tremendous amount of different topics. with a tremendous
095amount of different topics. It was pretty engaging, I must say. The questions were pretty focused on most of the services around the city and how the city can support, whether it was homeless situations, the services when it came to warming centers and opportunities there. Also had a chance with my fellow colleague here, Mr. Perino, we attended the sixth grade concert and it was pretty remarkable. Man, we have a lot of talented kids within our middle school and obviously in the entire school district, but to get a chance to come out to a concert and hear some live performances was definitely a joy during the time that I was there. Also, I just want to talk about Monhagen. So far to date, for the school year, we have about a 92% attendance rate at Monhagen. We
096were slightly different, but we are still doing good. We're not going down, but it's definitely increasing as well with the initiatives that they have in place. Kudos to our PTO as well for all that they do at Monhagen. And they're constantly looking to find creative ways to be able to attract parents into the buildings and also a part of some of the programs that they have there. Lastly, I want to give a huge shout out to the girls basketball team. Everyone knows that I'm a coach and I love girls basketball. So tomorrow they're up against Monroe. The JV will be at 5 p.m. And the varsity plays at 6.30 at Monroe High School. Definitely you have some time. Please make it over there as we have had a tremendous amount of support at the games
097thus far. So I want to continue to see them strive for another section championship. And they're definitely in the right direction. So please you have some time. Come out this, actually tomorrow, 5 p.m. for JV and 6.30 for varsity. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Moore. Mr. Perino. Thank you, President Romero. I don't want to lighten it up a little bit. I know we may disagree about certain things. Sometimes we agree to disagree, but I'm sure when I speak for the board, when I say we wish everyone a, whatever you're celebrating, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, a very nice holiday season. And I, I agree with Ms. Ray that it's nice to have some downtime over the holiday. I remember when I was in school, the holiday consisted of studying for exams that were coming up in January.
098Now they sort of changed that, which I think is good. So downtime is necessary. I want to talk a little bit about music and the time I have left. National service, I think, is a very important part of our life. National service, I think, is a very important part of our life. National service, I think, is a very important part of our life. We have a very select group. We have a very select group. We have a very select group. I believe in the United States, there's only 932 districts that have obtained this. We have obtained this now for 11 years, according to Amanda Mehta. And Amanda Mehta, she does a wonderful job with the, with the music department. Continuing on with that for a minute, we've had students who have been selected for the
099All-County Awards. A couple of our students, and again, this is a very select group, very difficult to obtain this. Junior high school, All-County band, Elijah Abdul-Rahman, the Jazz All-County choir, Jasalyn Hania. So this is good. I want to congratulate some of our instructors, too, who prepared these students. Amanda Helixson, Jen Wentworth, high school. And by the way, Jen had a very nice concert the other night, the choral concert. Fres Eidolon for their hard work, and believe me, it's hard work preparing students for these concerts. What people might not know in the community is that we have not only our major bands, we have students who are not in the community, but we have sort of small bands. Andrew Moore at Manhattan, that was a mariachi band, as you know. You mentioned that to me on
100the stage. And that's one of our bands. We also have the high school modern band. We have the jazz band, and they were playing at the high school concert the other night. Jeff Bauch. So we're doing a lot with music, as we are with other items. I just want to commend the mayor, Mayor DiStefano. I didn't see the program at Manhattan. I saw it at Twin Towers. And the mayor took, Amanda took a good chunk of his day to be at Manhattan and Twin. Also, the program, I observed this at Twin, the so-called Coffee with Cops. The police department, they sent representatives, and they played games with the students, and they answered students' questions. Our food service prepared some nice food for the group. So it was a very nice, I thought it was a
101very nice day. I don't have time. I'm going in to talk about, at length, the veterans' celebration at the various buildings, the honor of the veterans. So we'll do that. We'll do that next time. We have a couple of scenes here, but my time is almost up. That happens to be in Manhattan. That is also Manhattan. So we'll put that on the agenda for the next meeting. Thank you. Mr. Pratt, you can have my floor. I'm sorry. That's okay. You go ahead. You don't need Rose's time. You can have additional time, Mr. Pratt. All right. So let's go on with the veterans a minute. Do you have those shots? Yeah, that's Manhattan. And the, what happened was the, is veteran Adamo there? What happens is the honor society chair had the, invited the veterans there.
102And the students asked very good questions. It was an after school, it was an after school program. There they are, the students. And it's always nice to have the vets in the buildings. Thank you. That happens to be Carter. And the Carter, we had the NGO to see down to Carter. Amanda Saltero coordinated that program. And if you notice the flags in the various buildings, that was good too. And it was just a good day. Yes, and I don't know if you have that yet. We were up at . And I, and all this, I want to, I want to congratulate Dan Higby. He provides the buses pro bono. In other words, no charge. Which means a lot, saves the district a lot of money. That happens to be the Elks. That was the Elks.
103So I just think that the NJOTC, the staff members are doing a, doing a fine job there. So I think I'm about done with Rosie. So, the NJOTC, I think Rosie loses time too. That's the high school. So, or the Elks, rather. So, Middletown Elks. So, that's Veterans Day at the Elks. Llewyn Gracia was the Master of Ceremonies, contributed there, contributed greatly to the program. And we're, we're done now. Thank you. Thank you. Rose, are you sure you don't want to go? No, I'm fine. Okay, feel better. Sorry, Mr. Red. I can break my neck here and look at this board. I want to continue to just share on some of the things that are going on in the schools as well as in the community. You know, as John Perino and Mr. Drew shared,
104this is one event here, Family Matters Night. We participated in this. This was in association with Salvation Army. We had Mr. Stevenson Monterey was a part of this, bringing this together. And it was a really great event. And there should be some pictures just showing. But just in between, we also had a college panel of schools, colleges, and universities that came out and gave a presentation. And this was a real good event as well, moving right along. Well, this was a part of the family. Family Matters Night. And we had games and activities and parents from the community. And there's the gang, different people that are affiliated with different organizations and different planning committees. Yes. Also, you know, we have one of our favorites, Mr. What's this guy's name? Mitchell Williams. I'm tired. Mitchell Williams.
105They had a great. I'm just supposed to have those. Presentation and exhibition here. A great exhibition and presentation over here at the academy. And again, you know, we have quite a few of our students that are actively involved in some of these activities. Moving right along. Yep. A couple pictures there. And one thing I was really proud about, Carter Elementary for men that are 30 and over. We had this. Evening program open for years. And this year it was about to close because the organization that had been sponsoring, sponsoring had to back out. And so but we was able to pull some people together. And that gentleman just saw that his name is Kenny and also the other gentleman, Corey White. They also worked with me to get this up and running again. We want
106to thank Kevin Gleason and also Mike, you know, the athletic director for helping us pull this together again. You know, bridging the gap between supporting our schools as well as the community. This is what we do. Thank you very much. This is when you say Mitch. I was just kidding. Mitch, you know I love you. Thank you. I don't have pictures tonight, but Twin Towers. Well, I have. Yeah, but not for Twin Towers. I don't have pictures tonight, but Twin Towers is, as always, doing their thing. They have continued to build. A strong culture of reading this year with more than 82% of scholars who are actively logging their reading through being stacked. The school's digital platform that tracks independent reading minutes and support school wide reading challenges to further encourage consistent reading. Twin Towers
107implement their first Fridays drop everything and read where the entire school pauses to read together each month. These efforts are having a clear. impact. Scholars have already logged over 155,000 minutes of reading. Twin Towers Middle School is excited to see such strong enthusiasm for reading and the positive effect it is having in the school community. Last week, they were excited to distribute over 450 marking period one honor roll t-shirts. That's another one. Yes. Scholars were all smiling. You could see them smiling as they received their shirts. And it's been wonderful to see so many of them proudly wearing them throughout the building this week their hard work and dedication continues to shine. Congratulations to all the honorable students and congratulations to all of the administrators and teachers there. Miss Brookens you're the best. Thank you.
108I also have a flyer that I want to. is in regards to a holiday dinner and is for the city of Middletown residents. It's food, music, holiday trivia, and resources. It's going to be on Thursday, December 18th. The first seating is at 4, second seating is at 5.30, and it is going to take place at the Salvation Army. Thank you. You're welcome. Student reps, anything else you'd like to discuss today? I think we're good. We're good? Okay. So I call for a motion. I just got one thing to say. I just want to let the, you know, I know it's kind of out of context, but I just want to let the public know that, you know, we do take a lot of pride and joy in what we do every single day, and it
109may not come off to many that we are not doing the right thing or doing things out of context, but we do take pride in this position that we've been elected in. And, yes, there is learning curve, and, yes, there's things for us to learn, but your patience and understanding for everyone, collectively from our veterans and to the new board members, that we are taking the time and the necessary steps to make sure that we understand every step of this position. And it takes a lot of dedication and time to be able to serve this role. So just please bear with us and understand that we are moving in the right direction. Thank you. And the board does not have individually a credit card? Correct. Yeah, and we do not have credit cards. That was,
110we don't have that. I've never heard of that. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you so much for that, Mr. Moore. Yeah, that was well said, Mr. Andrew Moore. Thank you. Ms. Our Superintendent Adoma has something to say, and then I'm going to say something in regards to what you said. Thank you for opening the floor for that. I just want to add with the holiday dinner, our districts will be helping bake the turkeys for that event. So we're baking 12 turkeys for the holiday dinner next week. Woo-hoo. Hey, all right. So I do want to say with what you said, Mr. Moore, thank you for that. No one in this seat is an expert on their second meeting. So I am grateful for everyone that does come, shows up every time for your
111support system. It's hard work, but we're here for the community and for the right reasons. And so we're trying to do as best as we can a day at a time. With that. Nope, we're not done, Rose. We have upcoming dates and reminders that Mr. Rett is going to be sharing with us. Why are you not playing? Oh, my gosh. O-M-G. O-M-G. Let's see. Okay. Upcoming dates and reminders. This is a long list, so, I mean. You got it. You got it. Let's start with 12-12, Middletown High School Band Coffee House, 6 to 8 p.m. at Middletown High School Library Media Center. 12-12-25, Monhagen Game Night, 6 to 8 p.m., Monhagen Middle School. 12-15. 12-16-25, Community Stuffed Animal Giveaway. That's 3-30 to 6 at Thrall Library. 12-16, we have Twin Towers Winter Concert. That's at
1126-30, Twin Towers Middle School. We have ECSDM Winter Job Fair. This is a good one. That's 12-17, ECSDM Winter Job Fair. That's 5-7 p.m. at Middletown High School. We also have 12-17-25, Maple Hill Band. That's 6-30, Monhagen Middle School. 12-18, Presidential Park Band and Concert. That's 6-30 p.m. at Middletown High School. Okay. And we have, don't forget, from 12-22 to 1-2-26, we have our winter recess. Okay. Okay. So. Moving right along. Middletown High School Concert, Orchestra Concert. It's 6-30 at Middletown High School. That's 1-6-26. 1-8-26 is our board workshop. 1-13-26, Carter Choir, Band and Orchestra Concert. That's 6-30 p.m. at Middletown High School. 1-14-26, 8th and 9th Grade Transition Night. That's 8th and 9th Grade Transition Night. 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. That's Middletown High School. And finally, 1-15-26, Presidential Park Orchestra Concert. That's 6-30
113p.m. at Middletown High School. Thank you, Mr. Ed. Everything coming up is a representation of all of the great work that we are, in fact, doing. Rose, may I have a motion to adjourn? Rose? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All in favor? Thank you, everyone. Great night. Good night.