001This is a meeting for September 2025. Our first meeting for the 2025-2026 school year. I call this meeting to order. Mr. Smith, please read the open public meeting statement. On Thursday, January 9, 2025, notice of this meeting was emailed to the press in the Mainland Journal. Notice was also delivered that day to the A. Carver Township Clerk and Postal and Bulletin Board in Township Hall. Roll call, please. Mr. Byers? Present. Mrs. Gilbert-Floyd? Here. Mr. Ireland? Mr. Price? Mr. Price here. Mr. Seppi? Here. Mrs. Sullivan? Here. Mrs. Sloggy? Here. Ms. Hyman? Here. And Mr. Delabarco? Here. Mr. Ireland's on duty in Cyprus, that's why he could not be with us this evening. Would you all please stand for the flag salute, and at the same time remain silent for a moment of silence. remain standing for
002a moment of silence for Mrs. Patricia Pat Taylor, who was a bus driver in our district for 30 years, who passed away recently. Thank you. Ready? Salute. 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. Thank you. May I have a motion, please, to approve the minutes 4.1 through 4.3? So made. Second, Byers. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Byers? Yes. Mrs. Gilbert-Foy? Yes. Mr. Price? Yes. Mr. Sepe? Yes. Mrs. Sullivan? Mrs. Sloggy? Yes. Ms. Hyman? Yes. And Mr. Delbar? Yes. And Dr. Gruccio for your superintendent's report. Hey, here we go. We're back to school. I don't know how, but we are. And lots going on. September's already halfway done. Why is that
003on there like that? I don't know. Okay. Here we go. All right. All right, just to share what's been going on in preparation for the opening of school right in this room. We had our August administrators meeting and we had a little fun, but we learned a whole lot about what's going on and what we need to do. We rolled out our goals and our theme was baseball, or is baseball, it is team this year. Mrs. Hyman's up there on the left. She threw out the first pitch at our second day meeting. So it was all fun. Okay, staff opening day. It was in early September, and we welcomed the staff back in two sessions. Administration participated in the festivities as well. And the staff went through three days of professional development to prepare for
004the school year. So our game plan for this year involves these items. Teamwork, number one, building relationships, literacy, communication, behavior in our schools, data, and MTSS. As you know, our mission statement. And what I did was I broke down each part of the mission statement to the faculty and shared with them it's important that this year we embrace the teamwork that we're focusing on student learning, on collaboration and results. And they'll do that in their professional meetings. Looking at engage. We're looking to engage in those relationships. Literacy for all, by all this year is a systematic investment that we are looking into the data deeply. We're going to be reporting out data and we're looking to make change because our students need to read. Socialization and communication, our behavior expectations, I'll talk about that. Universal
005screenings and MTSS. Regarding behavior, Wings of Achievement in Character is new this year and that will go along with our SOAR program to improve the behaviors in our schools. To improve communication, Parent Square, everybody's familiar with that, everybody's familiar with that. It's a work in progress. We've decided to roll it out September 1. So far it's going well and there's more to come with that. In terms of educate, it's important that we educate our students, but the importance of literacy to all across the district, from the cafeteria to the bus, physical education class to English class, literacy is speaking, writing, and reading, and it's important. As well as data, our school spirit, cultural awareness, safety awareness, bike safety, and the respectful behavior. Rolled out no cell phones. We have a no cell phone policy. We've
006always had a policy. The policy... It stated in that policy it was teacher directed, the use of cell phones. That didn't go over real well because the cell phones were causing a distraction to students and interfering with student progress. Our test scores aren't good. We want our test scores to improve our students haven't been have not been focused and we have behavioral issues due to the phones I recommend this book to parents as I spoke at freshman orientation I shared it with the board. I shared it with faculty and staff It's anxious generation talks about the great rewiring of childhood It's causing an epidemic of mental illness. And we are seeing mental illness and anxiety in our schools. The research is telling us that the social media distraction to kids. Their phones are vibrating. They're
007getting alerts from text. They have all these apps going on. They're not fully present. They're somewhere else. What I have highlighted here, students experience an average of 192 alerts a day. That's crazy. Between their friends texting them, their parents texting them, or whoever it is, between texts and apps, and the teacher's trying to teach, and the student should be learning. Cell phones cause addiction. It affects socialization, sleep. It affects relationships. It causes depression, anxiety, irritability because of the interruptions. It's like dopamine. It's like being addicted to a drug. Why am I standing here doing this again when the board's saying they heard this, when there's teachers in the room saying I heard this? Because this is on TV, and if I can reach more parents for them to understand. the dangers of cell phones. I'm
008going to keep saying it. We're going to have PSA announcements that are going out to parents through the ParentSquare tool, and we will continue to educate folks to how dangerous the cell phones are for students. I just had my nose in another. research report the other day, which is just reinforcing the same thing, particularly with the young girls, with who are affected most, for the desire to belong, the sensitivity to the visual comparisons that are going on, all related to their self-image. There's the peer pressure going on, and this is where the depression and anxiety is created. And not to mention that girls are stalked and lured through social media. and their cell phones. Boys, AI, that's the world. Video games, addiction, they can get porn anytime. No effort needed to form relationships. And it's
009a lonely world when they're addicted to their phones. So 95% of teens have a phone according to the research. All students are in a discovery mode particularly between the ages of 9 and 15. They're very sensitive years for cultural learning and what they see and what's been put in front of their, what is being put in front of their face with the algorithms that pop up, how do parents know what's being put in front of them? How does someone know, how does anyone know if that's legit information that's been selected for them? All right, so it's very dangerous. This is the latest study that just came out the other day that I read. This was on USA Today, where mental long-term effects from cell phones, they cause aggression, increase in suicide, hallucinations, detachment from reality,
010poor sleep, cyberbullying, deterioration of family relationships, and distractions. So as a parent and educators, you know, Take this all in and help us help us stop What's going on? What's happening to our to our students partner with us limit the social media? Create a family plan or if they're going to use it make sure you monitor it Don't let them take it to their rooms with them supervise explore alternatives have discussions with your students and build deeper relationships with less screen time with your child. So that's my PSA for today. We are getting positive feedback. receive one negative phone call, positive feedback from teachers and from students, but they don't have that distraction that they're concentrating on their schoolwork. And that's important. And we will follow the data. And we look to see improvements educationally,
011particularly in student achievement, climate and culture, and those stakeholder partnerships. They are our goals this year. We also welcome new staff on the first day. We have some rookies here with us this evening, but we had new staff, some new staff orientation. We had a big congratulations to William Cordes, affectionately known as Cordes, a custodian at Fernwood. He's been with us 46 years. Still going strong. And I want to share with the board the wing themes for this year. If you have any grandchildren of children at preschool, it's all aboard the preschool train. Davenport is Soar With Your Imagination. Swift's Lay Ball is Soar Safari. And if you're walking through the schools, you can see the themes. They're all over. They're on the walls. The kids dress up. And we're having a good time with
012it. Miller is One Nation, One School, 250 Years, They Will Soar. Alder is I Am. Fernwood, Rise Above. And the high school is soaring to new heights. This is similar to the Jocelyn's Renaissance program that we've had in our schools for years. But we've taken the bull by the horns and decided to have a character ed program that's EHT grown. So students experienced a great opening day. Things went smooth. It's like we never left. It was a beautiful day. It was out riding buses. Students in the wing program and entrance into the schools are just amazing. Hats off to the administration, principals and assistant principals who were on their post, if you will, but welcoming kids, assisting kids, and as far as we know, everything went well. When I was riding the bus into the
013high school, I looked out, and there's a chief of police directing traffic. So it's all hands on deck. It was a community effort to get the kids. And hats off to the bus drivers because there was some detours, but we made it all work. So under student achievement, we're just getting rolling now. Teachers are building relationships with the kids when the kids are already busy at work. All right, and under climate and culture, a couple things that have been going on. Patriots Day, we have back-to-school nights the last couple weeks. September 11th, Honoring and Remembering. Honoring Hispanic Heritage Month. And Pete Lambert, our girls' soccer coach, received his 200th win. Stakeholder and Partnerships, I'm not going to read them all. Here they are. They treated our teachers to giveaways and consultation the first day of
014school. Our Eagle Fest is September 27th. Come out and join us. This is the way we look now. You'll see that on our website. And we're looking to knock it out of the park. We're right there with the Phillies. We welcome everybody back, wishing them a great year. Okay, so that is my report and I will share Alan's work, which is a visual. Okay, so hopefully you enjoyed that as much as I did. It brings a smile to my face to see that we're off to a great start. Kids are smiling, happy things are going on in schools and we're proud to serve your students. All right, so we're going to move on to a special recognition of a board member. So I'm going to turn the mic over to President Mr. Lou Della Barca.
015Thank you, Dr. Cuccio. It's my honor tonight to make a presentation to one of our board members, Mr. Michael Price. Mr. Price has achieved master board member certification, and that involves quite a few events over the years that he has worked on. He has been a certified board member, but it has been required that he earn a total of 40 cumulative board member academy credits, that he attend at least eight county meetings, that he attend at least two New Jersey School Board Association. delegate assemblies, that he attend two annual New Jersey School Board Association workshops, and he attend at least three statewide or regional professional development programs, right? You did all of that. And he may not have been judged to have violated the School Ethics Act. That has not happened. and he's passed an
016examination covering board responsibilities also. So he also had to take a test for this accomplishment. He received a nice, excellent letter. I'm the executive director of the New Jersey School Boards Association. I'm not going to read the whole letter, but he does say, the Master Board Member Award recognized professional development in areas critical to effective school board governance. We commend you for your commitment to your school district and for dedicating substantial time and effort to improve your skills and knowledge. So congratulations, Mike. We're very proud of you. And here is the beautiful plaque. You are among the elite group of school board members who have completed the requirements of the Board Member Academy program and are hereby awarded the designation of Master Board Member. Congratulations. Congratulations, Michael. Yes. Thank you. Congratulations. Can I just make
017a comment? Sure. I would just like to comment. I want to thank the board for all your support over the years in obtaining these and working towards obtaining these certifications. I think that it's important that we continue education and training because by participating and earning these awards and certifications, not only makes us a better board member, but it makes us better able to work with the students. address the community as a whole. So it's a great program all around. Go ahead. Other board members also have achieved this for certification over the years. So we do, all of us have tried, worked very hard to achieve that recognition. So I'm very proud of all of you. Congratulations, Mike. Okay. Thank you. Now it's going to be my honor to introduce our new student representatives from the
018high school. I greeted them earlier because I wanted them to know that I personally appreciate you being here, and I know all of the board members do also, and we certainly look forward to you bringing us all this great information about what's going on in the schools at each of our meetings. So welcome, Carter True and Eva Nye. And it's all yours now. It's your turn. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Eva Nye. And my name is Carter True, and we are very excited to be your student school board representatives for this school year. We would like to start off by talking about the high school's back-to-school night, which is tomorrow, which is tomorrow, September 19th. Here, parents and guardians of students will have the opportunity to meet with their child's teachers, coaches, and
019advisors of any clubs that they've joined. The middle school and elementary schools have also hosted a back-to-school night this year, which was yesterday, Monday, September 15th. We are very proud to announce the expansion of our preschool to include Davenport Elementary School. Additionally, a new phone policy has been put in place. It is strictly no phones and that has been implemented throughout the entire school district. Because of this policy, students are much more engaged in their classes, their study halls, and more interactive during lunch. This policy will be implemented throughout the entire school year. Additionally, talent time starting September 5th has also been implemented. It is a new 30 minute zero period that has been put at the beginning of every single school day. It will last for 16 days, this testing period, this initial testing
020period. and after that it will continue to be implemented throughout the entire school year. During this time, teachers have been encouraged to build strong relationships with their students through various presentations. And we hope that Talent Time will promote better social and emotional learning between students, teachers, and their peers. All right, next on the list of events is the EHT Pride Festival, which will be September 27th. Our Pride Festival is another annual event that we are very excited to be having again this year. Here, EHT's high school clubs, sports, and also the band will be participating in this community event. Along with them will be a variety of small businesses, food trucks, and sports games. And we hope to see many members of our community here on this day. Next is Chunk or Treat, which will
021be on October 22nd. Chunk or Treat is also an annual event that we are very excited to be having again in the fall. Here, kids and teenagers alike can trick or treat in our neighborhood and our high school parking lot, and it's always a great fun. Next is the Hall of Fame for EHT High School Athletics. We will be having an induction on September 26th to celebrate EHT's past and current athletes and coaches. So join us as we recognize Holly Lesser, Mike Caeza, Stephen Cajusti, current wrestling coach Augustino, and the 1999 golf team. We would also like to give a big thank you to Mr. Delbarco, Mr. Sepe, and Mr. West for their time and commitment to being part of the Hall of Fame committee. At this time, we'd like to give a big congratulations
022to Coach Lambert of the girls' soccer team for his 200th win with the team. Homecoming, it is coming up. Our game date is on October 17th, and the actual dance itself will be on October 18th. Our student council is working very, very hard to organize and sell tickets for the homecoming dance. Tickets will go on sale starting September 29th. Be sure to keep an eye out. for that during the students' lunch periods. Clubs and sports have also begun this school year. Stay connected with any upcoming news and events through each activity's Google Classrooms, as well as any announcements made on Eagle News and the Parent Square. Speaking of clubs, our hiking club has also begun and has taken a trip up to Estill Manor today, as a matter of fact. And lastly, we would like
023to talk about the academics at our high school. Our students' studying and hard work has paid off. EHT has outpaced the national average for all AP scores for the 2024 to 2025 school year. And we are very proud of every single student and urge them to continue working hard and diligently. And we thank you for your time and attention. Thank you both. Ava and Carter, you did a great first job for us. Appreciate it. Looking forward to seeing you through the rest of the year now. Thank you. And have a great year yourselves also. At this time, it's time for the public comment for agenda items only. The board values and welcomes comments and opinions from residents. This meeting will now be open to public comments, three minutes per person, on agenda items only. If
024your questions pertain to litigation, student or personnel items, please see the superintendent after the meeting as the board does not discuss these matters in public. Depending on the nature and complexity of your questions, the board secretary may ask for your contact information so that someone can get back to you with a response. As a reminder, this is a public meeting and all comments should be appropriate for a public setting and made in a respectful manner. Please come up to the podium and state your full name and address. Don't all rush at the same time. Thank you very much. Thank you. Moving on with the agenda. We have our, next is our committee reports for finance and operations. Mr. Smith will update us, and then Mr. Price will give us committee report. There were a few
025questions that came in regarding budget transfers and items on the bills list, so those answers were sent out today. There was also a question on the slave oil primary addition. We did link the concept design, so we're still in the process of finalizing that. Once we submit that to the DOE and get approval, then we'll have a more detailed meeting to discuss the details of the plan. Mr. Price. Okay, thank you, Mr. De La Barca. I'll give the committee report. The committee met on 9-9-25 at 6 p.m. Length of the meeting was 55 minutes. Members attending, Mr. Byers, Mr. De La Barca, Mr. Price, and Ms. Sullivan was virtual. Ms. Moss and Mr. Smith were the administrators. Transportation Department. The committee discussed opening of the school year, updating the recruitment banner, principal, academy, charter school,
026busing. Food Services Department. Mr. Smith reviewed the opening meeting held by Mr. Patel and noted the student work program, that a student work program is in the works for the high school and alder to expose students to the food service industries. Facilities Department. The committee reviewed the status of the summer projects and the outside use of facilities which were linked to the agenda. So you can go on board docs or whatever and you can link to the agenda and see the facilities list. Referendum. Mr. Smith reviewed the design concept of the Slade Ball Primary Edition and noted the August board resolution was revised and will be on the agenda for approval. The committee discussed options for the relocation of Eagle Academy and will discuss it as a full board at the next meeting. Next steps,
027we are awaiting approval of projects from the NJDOA so that the project list can be reviewed with the committee and formalized for a March 2026 vote. Business Office, Ms. Moss reviewed the new ParentSquare platform and verified the committee members were registered. Mr. Smith reviewed one hand check for on the bills list approval. Several items on the agenda were reviewed for approval, including the monthly reports, various tuition and transportation contracts, professional service contracts, and asset disposals. The committee recommends moving forward with the action items discussed. Next date, time, place of the meeting, October 7th, 2025. 6 p.m. at the board office. And that concludes my report. Mr. President, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Price and Mr. Smith. This time I need a motion for Finance Item 8.2. Motion. Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Byers?
028Yes. Mrs. Gilbert-Floyd? Yes. Mr. Price? Yes. Mr. Sepe? Yes. Mrs. Sullivan? Yes. Mrs. Sloggy? Yes. Ms. Hyman? Yes. Mr. Della Barker? Yes. May I have a motion, please, for finance items 8.3 through 8.19? Mr. Price, I'll make that motion. Byers, second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Byers? Yes. Mrs. Gilbert-Floyd? Yes. Mr. Price? Yes. Mr. Sepe? Yes. Mrs. Sullivan? Yes. Mrs. Szilagyi? Yes. Ms. Hyman? Yes. And Mr. Dallabarka? Yes. This time we have our curriculum committee report. Ms. Moss, any updates? And Mrs. Gilbert-Floyd is there for the committee report. Mrs. Gilbert-Floyd. Good evening, everyone. Thank you. So the curriculum committee met on September 9th, 2025 at 7 o'clock p.m. The length of the meeting was 40 minutes long. The board members that were in attendance were myself, Mrs. Salagi, and Mr. Della Barca. The administrator
029attending the meeting was Mrs. Lily Moss and Mr. Dan Smith. Subjects that were discussed were field trips. and professional development were shared with the committee. Two, the book list from BAM, this book's a million, am I correct? Okay, so I'm not sure I had it right. Donations were shared. The committee, we also looked at policy 2200, curriculum content. Four, the committee was updated that the district has been selected to participate in the... innovations in measuring student growth pilot through the New Jersey Department of Education and the change in the state assessment to be adaptive which requires a field test in the fall for all students I'm excited about that myself so also the committee was also updated on opening days and the year-long plan to keep the board and public updated on student achievement data
030and progress Mr. Smith also shared with the committee the choices for, some of the choices for possible relocation of Eagle Academy, which will be discussed as a full board, with the full board at the board meeting. Okay, and our next meeting will take place on October 7th, 2025 at Central Office, 7 o'clock p.m. And I just wanted to say that I'm... Super excited and about especially number four on the agenda about the assessment being adaptive for students. So I don't know if we already shared a little bit about that with the public just so they just can know what that means a little bit. I'm sorry. Yeah, go ahead, Ms. Moss. So, Ms. Elko actually went to the first training today to learn more about the assessment. We don't know the details yet, and once
031we do, we will certainly share that with parents, students, and the board. But we know that it is going to be an adaptive assessment so that we can find out where students are achieving. Monitor their growth the hope is that it's a more individualized plan that comes for students it aligns with what we and many other districts have been doing with our MTSS process where you use a universal screening process to look at where students are and Track that growth. So that's the hope that it aligns more with what the districts are doing I was up in Trenton today for the first meeting for the SGO pilot And it does feel like that the direction of the state is to have everything come together in a more cohesive way. And once we have more details,
032we will share it out. Thank you, Ms. Moss. Thank you, Mrs. Gilbert-Floyd and Ms. Moss. We're happy to hear that New Jersey's Education Department is going to come together and provide appropriate directions for us. At this time, I need a motion for the curriculum, item 9.2. Motion. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call, please. Mr. Byers? Yes. Mrs. Gilbert-Floyd? Yes. Mr. Price? Yes. Mr. Seppi? Yes. Mrs. Sullivan? Yes. Mrs. Sloggy? Yes. Mrs. Hyman? Yes. And Mr. Delabarco? Yes. At this time, our policy committee report, Mr. West, update and committee report. Sure thing. Thank you, Mr. Della Barca. I don't have any updates at this time, but the policy committee met on Tuesday, September 9th at 5 p.m. The length of the meeting was 58 minutes. Board members that attended, it was Mr. Ireland, Ms. Hyman,
033Mr. Sepe, and Mr. Della Barca. I was the attending administrator, and our attorney, Ms. Amy Halk-Elko, was a participant in our meeting as well. Subjects discussed was Policy 5770, Pupil Right of Privacy, Policy 9163, Spectator Code of Conduct for Interscholastic Events, Policy 5339.01, Student Sunscreen Protection, Policy 8441.1, Recreation Personnel First Aid Requirement. Parent Square was also discussed, as well as Eagle Academy. The conclusions that were reached were policy 5770, pupil right of privacy, was reviewed and discussed by the committee. The committee would like to continue to discuss policy 5770 during our next meeting in October. Policy 9163, Spectator Code of Conduct for Interscholastic Events, was reviewed and discussed by the committee. This is a new policy mandated by Strauss-Essme. The policy states the behavior expectations as well as consequences of spectators who do not follow
034proper behavior guidelines at an interscholastic event on school property. Policy 9163 is up for two readings and waiting board approval. Policy 5339.01, student sun protection, was reviewed and discussed by the committee. This is a new policy mandated by Strauss-Essmay. The policy supports the use of sunscreen and sun protective clothing for students while outdoors at school-sponsored functions. Policy 5339.01 is up for two readings and waiting board approval. Policy 8441.1, Recreation Personnel First Aid Requirement, was reviewed and discussed by the committee. The committee would like to abolish this policy. Policy 8441.1 is up for one reading and waiting board approval. Also, during our meeting, Ms. Small set up parent square accounts for all board members. And lastly, Mr. Smith spoke to the committee about future options regarding Eagle Academy. The next meeting will take place on Tuesday,
035October 7th at 5 p.m. and possible topics that we will discuss will be Policy 5770, Pupil Right of Privacy, Policy 9130, Public Complaints and Grievances, and Policy 2200, Curriculum Content. This concludes the report, Mr. Delbarca, and thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. West. I need a motion, please, for Policy Item 10.2 through 10.4. So made. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Byers? Yes. Mrs. Gilbert-Floyd? Yes. Mr. Price? Yes. Mr. Sepe? Yes. Mrs. Sullivan? Yes. Mrs. Salagi? Yes. Mrs. Hyman? Yes. Mr. Della-Barkman? Yes. At this time, our personnel committee report. Dr. Charlton, any updates? Just that on August 25th and 26th, as Dr. Gritcho mentioned, we had new staff orientation, 30 new employees, and we embraced, engaged, and educated them, and now they're out doing the same for their students. Thank you. Dr. Charlton,
036appreciate that. I need a motion, please, for personnel items 11.2 through 11.9. Motion. Any second? Mr. Price will second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Byers? Yes. Mrs. Gilbert-Floyd? Yes. Mr. Price? Yes. Mr. Sepe? Yes. Mrs. Sullivan? Yes. Mrs. Sloggy? Yes. Ms. Hyman? Yes. And Mr. Delabarca? Yes. At this time, Dr. Cuccio will have the honor of introducing our new hires. It is an honor, Mr. Delabarca, and I'd like to introduce to the Board of Education and to the EHT community new employees. Selena V. Area is a teacher at Swift Slayball Complex. Congratulations. Patricia Giordano, a teacher at Miller School. Jennifer Reed, paraprofessional, now a teacher at Bargain Town. Karen Feehan, media clerk at Fernwood. Delaney Scipio, cashier at Miller School. Congratulations and welcome to our team. The night is still early. If you'd like
037to go out and celebrate, I advise you to do that now. Otherwise, hang on there. We have more to go. Congratulations, new folks. Good luck to you all. Under new business, Mr. Smith is going to make a presentation for us regarding Eagle Academy. All right, so we're going to quickly go over the options that we discussed at the committee meetings last week. So the first thing we wanted to do, Ms. Moss was going to touch on the makeup of the students that attend Eagle Academy. So as most of you are aware our students at Eagle Academy are students that have various challenges in the large school setting. Most of our students there have emotional regulation, anxiety, attendance, credits, and just different environmental factors that that the smaller setting works better for them, plus the hours
038and just the needed academic and behavioral support that is more available there than in the traditional setting. We just wanted to be clear that our students who have demonstrated patterns of extreme violent behaviors or inappropriate conduct are students that are placed out of district. So EGLE, is more of a therapeutic setting for our students. It's programs to set up for career and beyond high school and a place for our students to receive the different services that each individual student needs. All right, so we took the tour of Eagle earlier tonight, so the building's 110 years old. Not really conducive to running that program or really to education in general anymore. Three flights of stairs, one set of bathrooms, very small offices and classrooms, so it's just not the greatest situation for the students to be
039in. So we talked about four options at the committee meetings. Now it's five. We're just going to update the presentation real quick. So numbers one, two, three, and four we spoke about at the committee meetings. So one being the Fernwood renovation. And if you recall, we discussed this as part of possibly the referendum. We chose Fernwood because that was the only building that really had space that we can convert into Eagle Academy. So we looked at the industrial arts room. We're looking to renovate that. the attached computer lab and the old home economics room to make that Eagle Academy. We'd be part of the referendum. Actually, I'll get into the detail next. So here we go. We'd be part of the referendum. approximately $3 million to renovate the space. In this project is kind of
040a sister project, which is renovating the locker rooms at Fernwood. So we would take the boys' locker room. That would be converted to two locker rooms, one boys, one girls. The girls' locker room and a storage closet, which is rather large, would be converted to three classrooms, the industrial arts, digital media, and a computer lab. so so the three areas that are being used now in industrial arts would move to kind of the girls locker room space and then the industrial arts will be renovated for eagle academy so we would receive about 1.3 million in state aid for the project so the net cost the district would be about 1.7 million uh to do that project uh if you can if i'm hopefully it'll come up so we tried to link the the drawing the
041the concept that we have um And that kind of shows you where it is. So we're looking at this area here would be the Eagle Academy, where it would be seven classrooms, some office space, and a school store. The home economics and the classroom number two would kind of serve as like a cafeteria area. And then the students would utilize the auxiliary gym, the main gym, and the outdoor space for health and PE as needed. There would be one exit, you kind of see at the top of the screen where the curved hallway is. So that would be an exit into the main hallway of Fernwood. So that would be locked and closed. Obviously we can't chain it shut so the students can't open it, but it would be a closed door. The entrance down
042to the left. The vestibule would be the main in and out of that area. So the students would use that, the staff as well, all the support staff would use that door as the main entrance to Eagle Academy. All right, so the second option we talked about was a new building purchase and renovation. And we've talked in the past about utilizing commercial space in the community for Eagle Academy. Pros and cons to this, one of the pros is we can make it how we want it. It would be really fit out to really meet the needs of the program. The minimum space we would be looking for is 6,000 square feet. So the Fernwood project is about 5,500 square feet in total. So we would... make it a little bigger to have some indoor gross
043motor space as well. We would have to fund that through the general fund. We could use capital reserve funds, but it's something that would be a direct impact. 100% of the cost would be on the budget. So whether it's using capital reserve or using an allocation in next year's budget, it'd be 100% funded locally. So a night program. So we talked about a p.m. school, possibly housed at the high school. So it would run after hours after the high school school day ends. We would run the Eagle program in one of the wings there. Pros and cons, right? The pro, this is the quickest solution. It gets the... the program out of the existing building and into really nice classroom and instructional space. One of the cons is logistics. So there's a lot going on
044at the high school after hours, clubs, activities, athletics, school events, community events. So there is that logistical issue that could come into play with that. experience of other administrators some have had success some have not there's not a whole lot of districts that do a pm alternative school at this point but it is something that we considered and we kind of looked at going through our options the last option we looked at and we spoke about was outsourcing so a couple other large districts in our area do outsource their alternative school program you know with with that option We would be limited in the number of slots that we could send out of district. So once we hit our budget allocation, whether it be 32, 35 slots, whatever it is, we wouldn't be able to
045send any more students out. So that could cause a problem. uh throughout the school year uh once we're in that contract we're locked into that so it would really be hard to come back in district and pull that program back in once we outsource it so it's not really an option that we would really want to do but it is an option that's out there so we did talk to some potential partners uh contractors if you will that can run the program uh they are out there they have space it's just a matter of it's something that we'd want to do but again that was kind of our last option uh last resort So we added a fifth option for tonight's discussion. This is not something we spoke about last week. So at the high
046school, we have our five new athletic fields. So field five, which is what's the one closest to the roadway. We're looking at possibly building a standalone building on that site. The cost for about a 6,000 square foot structure, which would be strictly just classroom space and office space, would be about $2.5 to $3 million and about a 15-month project lead time. So if we were to budget for this in the 26-27 budget, budget gets approved in early May for our public hearing. From that point on, about 15 months later, the space could open. uh another option is we could roll it into the referendum so we're we're kind of fine-tuning projects now uh some of our estimates we're finding are a little overstated some are understated so we could look at that list and maneuver
047some things around and possibly fit this into the referendum uh the problem is we wouldn't really get a whole lot of state aid for it so the cost is really going to be the cost on the general fund this is probably the best option right because I know moving students into Fernwood or any other district school and running a school within a school is not optimal there's some logistic concerns there's some space concerns you know once you do that you're capped at say 40 students you know we can never have more than 40 at Eagle if we do that we have a lot of growth in the township so in two years from now we may need that space for Fernwood students. And now we're relocating Eagle again to somewhere else and having capital outlay
048at that point as well. Buying a commercial building and retrofitting it, pros and cons to that. They could be pretty costly depending on the location and the building. Starting from scratch, be brand new, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, all that would be brand new. And that would be a huge benefit long-term for the district. And like I said, easy access to the facilities. So we have a lot of great things at the high school to offer that the Eagle Academy students could take part in after hours. So that's a huge benefit to the program. I know Dr. Zabelski is always trying to expand offerings for the program. I think a standalone building on the high school campus somewhere. kind of allows her some options to do those things. After the high school day ends, then Eagle would
049have access to some of those resources. All right, so here's just a summary of the five options. So tonight, you know, we're not asking the board to make a decision. We're not asking the board to vote on anything. We're just looking to see if there's any consensus so that we know which path to go down. So as you saw tonight when we toured Eagle, we're kind of out of time to decide what we're doing. So we really need to kind of move forward. You know, we started the Fernwood project and then... We kind of hit a standstill now, and we just don't want to waste any more time or resources going down the road that the board may not be in favor of. So, again, we're not asking for a decision. If there's some kind
050of feedback from the board, what direction you kind of want us to look in or what two options you want us to look in, we can dig a little more deeper, get more fine-tuned numbers for you, and present that to you at the October board meeting. Yep, go ahead. understands the difference in having a new standalone project and building in the foot mark of an already existing. Could you just explain that one more time so that they can understand the difference in the pricing? Yeah, so if we build within Fernwood, we're kind of pigeonholed to the outline of the space, number one. So it's not a perfect square rectangle. It's kind of odd shaped. standalone brand new we can design it we want to make a square a rectangle a circle whatever we want it
051to be that's what we will design it to be um you know with both projects where we would be in line to get state aid we would get more state aid to the fernwood project because the state does give a higher percentage to renovations and alterations versus new construction um but you know there's It comes down to, you know, you hate to say financial decision because kids are involved, but that's really what it is. You know, if we do one route, we get a little more state aid. We do another route, we're paying more money, but it's what we want. It's what we would design, and it would be brand new. Any other questions? Go ahead, please. It would be very minimal. So with new construction, because the state really wants you to kind of
052utilize what you already have. You know, take an old space and make it new or take an old building and renovate it if you already own it. So there would be minimal state aid, but not a lot. Mr. Byers had a question. So right now, how many students do we have in the program? We average about 45, so it goes up and down throughout the year. So then outsourcing, we would automatically immediately lose certain kids in the program? Correct. And for Fernwood, how many students is that renovation going to be able to cover? So it depends. So right now, renovating the locker rooms is just a one-for-one space-wise. If Eagle does not relocate to Fernwood, we still are going to renovate that space and create three to four additional classrooms. Oh, up to 50. So
053a maximum of 50. No. This is Gilbert Floyd. Go ahead. I was just going to say that, number one, we should have a little bit of credit with the... State aid or funding because there's many renovations That a corporate township has gone through at the high school alone when we added on the alder I know that doesn't count or anything, but I think that we we definitely utilize our spaces As much as we can with the different renovations that we had that we've had over the years But with that being said I just I do agree with what this is like I said that Building on our own campus to me makes the most sense. I think it's least disruptive for like the night program may be quick and that's expensive, but that would disrupt
054a lot of people's schedules in life. And I think that you can customize it and build it the way that. you know, the way that we wanted to look and feel. And it'll be age appropriate, too, because it'll be on the high school campus, not at a middle school. I just think it makes the most sense. I don't know how much that will increase taxes, but... Even if it's 50, 52 children or whether it's 60 kids, they're Acre Harbor Township students and we want to make sure that they feel included, make sure that they feel a part of the community just because they may need an alternative setting to learn. Do I sense that if we did the field, build our own construction in the field, if it was within our budget, it may not
055be much of a big tax increase depending on that situation? I know. I'm trying to get you to commit to that, Dan. No, I need you to commit to raise taxes. That's not going to happen for me. No, so, you know. Whether it's an increase to the tax labor or not depends on what direction we go in with the board. So if our current budget is $200 million, so if next year we add salary increases, benefit increases, and $3 million for Eagle and we're at $210 million, we've got to cut $10 million or raise $10 million. And you're early in the process, too. I understand that. Yeah. So we can make anything work. It depends on how much. Dr. Guccio is willing to cut out of the budget, but we can make more. Dr. Guccio.
056Excuse me, Clive. Yeah, I will. I'm actually looking for donations from alumni or, you know. All right. Anyone, community members will take those as well. Mrs. Hyman has something. I like field number five. I like that option more so than Fernwood. However. I still think we need to look at everything so we can come to a decision and we have, you know, all the information that we need to make a good decision. I also would like to look to see where that field is, field five. But again, I like that number five option better than any of the other ones. Also. If you built that facility there, how many students would it be built? What's the number of students? So about 50. So we would basically take kind of the spacing and the sizing from
057the Fernwood project and just kind of plop that into a standalone building and add an additional space for like a gym room or health room. Okay. So am I correct in... that the goal is not to keep them there for like four years. The goal is to reenter them into the high school setting at some point. That's a question for Mr. West or Ms. Moss. That is correct. There are stipulations put in place where we do a routine check-in to see how the students are progressing, and the goal is to see if they are making adequate progress to be able to assimilate back into general. The general high school setting. And I understand. I understand that. Also, we can petition the state for some help, right, for this project. I mean, we can include it
058in the referendum and get some state aid for it. Right now, I'm not aware of any grants or anything that are out there. You know, there may be another round of broad grants, but those would be for facility improvements like HVAC. water piping, things like that. So there's no state grants where if you build a facility, you can get money for that? Not that I'm aware of. So we did take the last one that the state released was regarding preschool. So the five classrooms that we built at Davenport, half of that project was funded through a state grant. Okay. So can we apply for a grant or no? There's no grants? Not as of right now, no. We need to look at touring these areas. Am I right? Right, yes. So we could set up
059a tour. But I just want to clarify for the public in particular when we're talking these five fields, because we do have lights on fields and kids playing on fields. It is the field that's not being used closest to high school drive. It's a field that's not being used closest to high school drive. Okay. Mr. President, might I just make a comment? Go ahead, Mr. Price. Okay. So I think we can agree at this point when we have the five options. We can eliminate two. Obviously, I don't think we want to outsource. We're very happy with the program. We want to continue with the program, you know, in our schools. The other thing would be the off-property location. I don't think anybody really has an interest in off-property. So there you can take those two
060off the list. So that leaves us with Firmwood. The outsource option, which I don't, I have reservations on that. I prefer to keep it 100% in our district. That's my opinion. The other thing is with the field option at the high school, instead of a standalone building, have you thought maybe just adding another wing or you want to avoid the wing concept because that has the same layout as Firmwood would have? No, we would try to avoid that option and rather have a standalone building not attached to the high school. Okay. All right, thank you. Mrs. Sullivan, I think. Go ahead. Go ahead. We need to understand what we're going to do with the Eagle Kids for what, the next two years, if we're going to build or if we're going to renovate. You know,
061we need to know where they're going to, where are they going to go. Yeah, the earliest either option would open would be September of 27. So you're right. So right now the plan would be to have them be maintained at the current location until the new facility would be open, whether it's at Fernwood or a separate building. That's our plan right now. If there were a catastrophe, we would have to figure it out. But we don't have a plan to kind of relocate temporarily and then move. It's just one move. Any other questions or comments? Go ahead. Well, they can stay there for the next 15 months to two years. They've been there all this time, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And as you saw tonight, I mean, the staff. has done a really great job
062with the classrooms, the hallways. It's just the building is, as you saw, there's some issues with the building structurally that... It's clean. Yeah, very clean. It's really well kept. Spotless, but between the foundation, some of the walls, the bathrooms, there are just some issues that we need to have a plan to get out of that building. Can I just make one more comment in regards to the building? just so that we all hear it in public, the plans for the building are to turn it over to the township. The old Eagle Academy building. Is that pretty much the way we're leading on that? Well, we would fix that bridge when we get to it. We own the building, folks. We do, yeah. The township is interested in taking over the building. For us, once Eagle
063vacates, there's really no use to... So what I'm getting at is we own the building, so anything that we would do would just be in the form of maybe a quick claim deed, but it would be executed at our choosing, and that could be at any time. Yeah. Right. Okay. I think once we have a plan that's formalized and in motion, I think then we would talk with the township and figure out the next steps for the building. Got it. But I just wanted to make sure that everybody's mind was at ease, that we're not being pushed out. It's our building and it's our choice. And, you know, time as far as that goes. All right. Thank you. Mrs. Gilbert-Floyd. I'm not the financial expert. I'm just asking. So since we own the building, if
064the township wanted to buy the building from us, can the funds that we sell the building for? go towards future discussion the short answer is yes you know the other answer is I don't know if we want to do that but we can talk about that okay we put your mic on so we do outsource already right we have a few kids that are going to a different we we do we have some students who Who don't fit the mold that Ms. Moss spoke about that are at out-of-district placements. So what we need to do, oh, go ahead, Mrs. Gilbert-Floyd. And this is, I guess it's about this one, I'll try my last one. I just, I was thinking about just the students that do attend Eagle Academy. And just to make sure that, in
065defiance of Ms. Moss, because I think that there's this perception. I happen to know some students that go to attend there, and they're better off for it. I do know that. But I think there's this, that that's the, you know, yes. And just to maybe address it, because I think there's a stigma with any time you say alternative school and the students that go there and some things that they, some supports that they may need that. can be provided at Eagle Academy versus the large school setting. I just want to try to make sure that the public understands that because you say alternative school, people get automatically nervous about what type of reasons why a child is there. Is there violent acts of violence or is it more students that may need a lot more
066emotional support? Yeah. alternative placement is just that it's just we all learn differently you hear me talk about this all the time within our district of meeting our students where they are and being able to provide those supports what Eagle Academy provides is a different environment that allows our staff to have smaller ratios with students, to be able to create programs that support them in ways that is just different than a traditional high school. It certainly shouldn't be looked upon as any different. There are students and they just have needs to be taught in a different way and to learn differently. We're able to approach teaching and learning in a way that is more supportive, offering different opportunities. more hands-on learning more career guidance so it's a wonderful team of teachers dr zabelski's worked really
067hard on that program like you said the facilities are look great um just to to make sure we're meeting those needs but yes there's there there is not that If that's the perception out there, we do not have, you know, it's not a violent place. We do not have students in there that are causing those types of behaviors. It is truly just a different setting for students who need a different approach to learning. Thank you. I think we're looking forward to some touring. And then at the next month's meeting, we can have further discussion. All right. Thank you both. We appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. I need a motion for new business item 12.2. Motion. Second. Any discussion? This was our board goals. Thank you. I don't want to take any credit, but I
068did do some effort on that. No further discussion. May I have a roll call, please? Mr. Byers? Yes. Mrs. Gilbert-Floyd? Yes. Mr. Price? Yes. Mr. Sepe? Yes. Mrs. Sullivan? Yes. Mrs. Szilagyi? Yes. Ms. Hyman? Yes. And Mr. Delbarco? Yes. Moving to guidelines for public comments now at the meeting. I'm not going to read that whole statement that I read earlier about public comments. Just be appropriate if you have any public comments. This is the time to come up to address the Board of Education. If anyone in the public would like to do that at this time. Seeing none. Wow. Any comments on the Board of Education members about any items? Yes, go ahead. So as I was looking over and I saw our student representatives, I was thinking back to this summer. Just in, I
069would say it was August, I received a message on Messenger, on Facebook. And I was like, wait a minute, who is this? So it was one of our student representatives from some years ago, Chinaza. Does everybody remember Janiza? So she said to me, I'm not going to read all the messages, but basically in a nutshell, she was like, Ms. Floyd, I'm having a party. And I was like, oh, okay. Y'all come. She was like, I graduated from law school. She went to Harvard, and then she graduated from Harvard Law School. And she said to me, She said, thank you for the influence that you had on my life. And I'm just like, you don't know, I'm saying this to board members and teachers, the impact that all of us have on the students in our
070community. First, I was saying to myself, did I have her at all? I was like, wait a minute, I don't think I had her. I said, she went to Fernwood. And she was just referencing the time that she spent here with the Board of Education. And it was just such an honor. For her to think of me because you don't think that people are really sometimes paying attention I just told mr. Lockham say nobody a lot of times we don't have people in the audience at our meetings But the impact that we have is the board in a community It goes a long way so our students are doing great things and it was just I just wanted to say that she she really did a amazing job representing a corporate township at Harvard and
071Actually, she was there. Of course. She was there was a party but she was at her party was also Mary, who was the other, they were student representatives together. And it was just really nice to see our students in Acrobat Township excel. And they never forget where they're from and they don't forget their, they talk so highly about their teachers. And when I got a chance to speak to them, the teachers, the high school and everything and their experience in Acrobat Township. So it was just nice to see that. So when you all graduate. I have to chime in with Mrs. Gilbert-Floyd because I just had that outstanding experience with former students. And if you don't mind me taking a minute to share it. Two students of ours in the township from 55 years ago
072when I taught them in fourth grade of my first year in the district at Swift School invited me to dinner last night. And they made my head feel so good and made me feel so proud of them because they gave us, they gave me credit for fourth grade, having them exceed as they went through their careers. They still are best friends. They both became pharmacists. They both were outstanding in their fields. One in Atlantic Care here who was outstanding in Atlantic City and running the entire, Sandy Garrett was her maiden name. You may know her. James Zella, Johnson's sister, those of you who know James Zella. Lisa Lifshin was the other student who also became a pharmacist. Sandy retired, but Lisa is still working, and she's a supervisor of pharmacies around the whole area. She
073travels, so she has a great position also. And they're so proud of the education they received here in the township. And just to think about fourth grade, 55 years ago, and I have not seen them in all those years, so it was great for them to contact me. We had a good time, and they discussed, as you said, other teachers that they had through high school and through eighth grade, and they remembered some of the names that I certainly have known over the years, and they discussed their friendships with all their, they had maintained friends from that class. So that was a very special, for me, very special class, and I mention this to Dr. Gruccio because I don't think it's very common that this happens. I was brand new here. I had taught for
074five years in Middletown Township in Monmouth County, sixth grade, when I came down here to teach. And I got the position at Swift School. The superintendent at the time was Mr. Sam Pleviak. I don't know if any of you remember that name. Mr. Pleviak's daughter was placed in my class. Now, figure this out, because I haven't figured it out yet. The top fourth grade students were in my class. I have no idea. And on top of that, he... My classroom was the portable that used to be out here by Swift, which was air-conditioned, carpeted, and had our own bathrooms. Can you imagine what the other teachers thought of me in the building? And brand new to the district. So that was an interesting experience. But that's enough of personal stuff, guys. And your wife was
075teaching at my school. Yes. And my wife was teaching at Ocean City for 40 years. and Barbara knew it in those days so it's quite small world stuff right everybody and it's uh Thank you for listening to us. I don't know if the public's going to appreciate all this, but thank you for listening to us. Any other comments from the board members? I stole all the time from you. He was my principal, too. Mr. Delabarco was my principal when I was in fifth and sixth grade, when it was at Davenport. Mr. Seppi, go ahead, Mr. Seppi. You were mine as well. Mr. Delabarco. Thank you. Mr. Price, can I chime in on this, too? Oh, Mr. Price also. Go ahead. Yes, yes. You were my, I think, lead teacher. back in the early days. I
076think you were the lead teacher. We were talking earlier about the outlying schools that we attended. This is not Lou Delabarca night, folks. So I just wanted to comment on that, too, since we're on the subject. Thank you. We toured Bargantown School earlier, folks. I was lead teacher at Bargantown School. And for me to go through that building tonight... It was kind of an interesting feeling. It's very well maintained because I was there in the 70s, and I thought Bennett was not doing very well. So they have really maintained a building beautifully over the years. So that's enough of that discussion. Any other comments from board members? May I have a motion to adjourn? Second. All in favor? Aye. All right, thank you. See you folks at the Hall of Fame on Friday, September 26th,
077Eagle Fest, September 27th at the high school, and our next meeting is October 7th and October 14th. Thank you.