001It's okay. >> Good evening everyone. Thank you for being here tonight. Um we did open our meeting um in executive session to discuss some board business. So we have already done the flag salute um opening a roll call. So we will be starting with uh public forum for agenda items. Okay. Uh, seeing no uh public forum discussions, we will move on to agenda item I, the consent agenda with three items. I'll ask for a motion to open. >> Thank you, Miss Sola and a second. >> Second. >> Thank you, M. Item 1 through3. >> See no discussion. Please hold for >> one. Yes. One. Yes, >> Miss P. >> Yes, >> Mr. Rivera. >> Yes, >> Miss >> Yes, >> Mr. Sh. >> Yes, >> Motion pass. >> Thank you. >> Um, agenda item J,
002the committee reports um there's no motion there, but I will just say um committee appointments um well, feedback from all the members um for committees was received. Um we did a lot of work on um lining up our committees um with present the present needs of the district at our last meeting. Um and then um all the committee feedback and requests from all the board members were received. Um that email went out to the board with the committee appointments on I think it was Thursday of last week. Um I haven't received any feedback other than smiles and thumbs up. So that's awesome. Thank you all for your uh feedback and your volunteers. And um I think after we committ will be made uh live on the website so everybody can see what our committees look
003like for 2026. Um I guess if there's any questions from the board. Okay, seeing none, we move on to agenda item K with uh three items. So for motion open >> and second miss. Thank you. Was there anything um Dr. Alphabella that needed to be mentioned before we vote or should we vote and then hand you the floor? >> Okay, >> go for it. >> Okay. Um uh seeing no discussion. >> I just want to say that I'm I'm happy to see that we have a growing um golf team and within the need for an additional coach. Um, again, those are some of those sport those sporting event the sports that don't always get the recognition because they're smaller in number, but I'm glad to see the grown. >> It's uh 15 girls, >> I
004heard, >> which is we're adding >> essentially a full female golf. So, that's good. Seeing no further discussion, M please. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Miss Nson, >> yes. >> Miss Cat, >> yes. >> Ma, >> yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. Motion pass. >> Thank you. Okay, Dr. Oh, thank you. Um, good evening everybody. Uh, just a reminder, February is Black History Month and as a district, we will be honoring and celebrating this month in a number of ways across district schools. Additionally, this week is school counselor week here in New Jersey. So, we we would like to thank all of our counselors for all that they do here in Morttown. Um, on behalf of the school community, I would like to thank our custodial grounds and our transportation departments for
005their heroic efforts to move the snow and ice which we received in the recent storm to allow us to open the doors for students on Tuesday. I would also like to give a a a shout out to uh the township and the city in Fieldsboro for all of the work that they did in coordination with us to get the city and the township main roads, side roads up and running. so that we were all able to open on Tuesday. I do sincerely appreciate that collaboration. Um we had our first superintendent meeting week here at the high school recently. Uh I look forward to two more. One on February 11th at MIS and one on February 25th at the middle school. Additionally, the district had its first ever CPAG meeting which was strongly attended by both
006staff and community members. Uh it was a great night. The next CPAG meeting will be on 226 here at the high school. Please come out. Uh bear with me. I think it's important to note that it's that time of the year where all districts, including ours, are beginning to build school budgets for the 2627 school year. I want to begin by acknowledging that any and all conversations around or about a school budget and its implications for students at times can create concern and uncertainty. I also understand how personal and emotional these discussions can be. At this point in the process, it is important that everyone has a few key facts to frame your understanding. The state of New Jersey has not yet released any school aid figures. By law, the governor in New Jersey is
007required to deliver a budget address in late February, specifically the last Tuesday of the month by statute. And with a new governor, an extension may be requested. I believe that extension has been requested. In the past years, when a new governor has been elected, that extension from the state assembly and senate has been a two-week extension. If that request is made, which I believe it has been, and if it is granted, which I believe it will be, we don't anticipate the governor's budget address to come prior to March 10th. School state aid information is statutoily required to be released to school districts within 48 hours of that address. Until those figures are received, which we anticipate to be on or about March 12th, no district, including ours, has any confirmed funding information. And it no
008district, including ours, can make any final budgetary decisions. I want to be clear that any specific claims that may circulate prior to that time are not based on verified information and are not based on information that would be coming from me as the superintendent or the board of education. Once state aid is released, this district will develop a tenative budget. We will present it to the board of education in a p in at a public meeting where all commu community members will be invited to offer their opinion and given an opportunity to ask questions. In addition to that, we plan to hold multiple public budget workshop sessions for the public in multiple locations which will be designed to explain the budget that we build in detail, answer questions, and hear community feedback before we make
009any final decisions. In the meantime, I encourage the community to come directly to us, the board of education, with any questions or concerns. These conversations are welcome at board meetings, at any upcoming superintendent meet and greet, and at our future budget workshops. This is where you can get accurate and complete information. Between now and then, I simply ask the community to be cautious about anything they hear speculatively or speculatory comments. While emotions are understandable, relying on and sharing unverified information will only increase anxiety and it does not reflect the actual work happening on behalf of the students in developing the 2627 budget. You have my commitment that you will hear directly from us as information becomes available and as our decision-making process comes to clarity. We value our partnerships with you and we will continue
010to move forward in a thoughtful, transparent way, always putting students at the center of our work. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Are there any questions from the board regarding the superintendent's report? >> No, I just want to say thank you for making it so clear to everybody because that always is a concern. Yeah, we'll uh we'll also put uh we'll put some information out communitywide that is consistent with what was presented tonight so that everybody has that along with obviously ways to reach out to us if they have questions. But thank you. Thank you very much. Um seeing no further discussion, we move on to agenda item L, curriculum with one motion. I will ask for a motion to open. >> Thank you, Mr. L. Thank you for the second. Any discussions or questions
011on curriculum? >> I just wanted to add one correction to that. Um where it says 47 uh 4,700 in legal costs. That should say 4,700 in individual counseling services. So, thank you for that. in individual counseling >> services. And just so the board knows what the what this is, this is a student placed in a residential placement out of state. We settle with the uh the family for the uh insurance and them to privately pick up the residential cost while we pick up the educational costs which is the typical settlement in those circumstances. >> Thank you for that. Seeing Any further questions or comments? Okay, seeing any questions, please pull the board. >> Miss Glad, >> yes. >> Miss Nson, >> yes. Miss, >> yes. Mr. River, >> yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Thank
012you. >> Next, we are on agenda item N, personnel with 13 items. We ask for a motion to open discussion. >> So move. >> Thank you, M. Second. >> Thank you, Miss Latz. questions and discussions on M1 through 13. >> I was going to say just as always a thank you to our volunteers. Um it's always like I said last time, it's always nice when you see students coming back also to volunteer. Um so a big thank you um for coming back and supporting your school. >> And I would also like to just share um congratulations I guess to for retirement. I hope she enjoys it. And to Miss Debbie from CVS, we all loved her, so I know she's miss she'll enjoy her as well. questions. >> Miss Glass, >> yes. >> Miss Nson,
013>> yes. Miss, >> yes. >> M Rivera, >> yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Thank you. We're now moving on to agenda item N. And um item number two in N. Um we've received advice at the beginning of the meeting that we need to table that um while further due diligence is done. So um I will first ask for a motion to table item two. So move >> you miss second. >> And Miss Pap, thank you for the second. Any discussion or questions about the table number two? >> Okay, Miss Henry, please pull the board. >> Miss Glass, >> yes. >> Miss Nox, >> yes. Yes, >> Mr. Bear. >> Yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Pass. >> Thank you. >> Okay. I will now ask for a motion and second for N1 and 3
014through six. >> So move. >> Thank you, Miss Glass. >> I have a question. >> We're opening a second to to discuss. Yep. >> No problem. >> I think Miss that was the second. Okay. Now questions or discussion on one or three through six. >> So my question is forgendum items N4 um for the civic bell is that going to be a case by case basis or annual or you check your residency annually or case by case? So, Civic Bell is a uh third party vendor that we are going to enter in uh into contract with that will give us essentially it is prop proprietary software that's been developed to allow us to do residency verifications or preliminary res residency verifications where all we need is a cell an active cell phone number and we
015can through this proprietary software we can verify residency within the boundaries of the school district. So this can be used in a multitude of ways. It can be used for individual residency checks. It can be used for bulk residency checks. For example, we could download a CVS file out of our school right now and upload it into this system and in an hour and 20 minutes have an initial verification check on every student in the district. Uh additionally, uh we can use it at the point of entry which would be at registration for all new registrants where they would have to their cell phone number into Civic Bell and then we will receive notification from them that their residency has been verified. So there's multiple ways that this can be used. Um and there's multiple
016ways where it may be used, but this would just be an initial step to determine residency and then to determine whether or not uh a further investigation would be necessary in accordance with administrative code. >> My question is for Um, is this going to be if we get this grant um like an ADA playground or >> I will let Mr. >> I just want to know particularly which playground because there are certainly other schools there. Yes, there are other schools anymore. So, um for when we did not use that, we did get um dock for the preschool playground there, there is a playground there, but it's not a formal playground. So, that will be um part of it. And then the major playground over there, there was some talk about moving to the back because
017safety because it's so close to the road. So, putting that all in one Like I guess >> right between Yes. >> is small. this one. >> Okay. >> Well, the local um recreation, the one that for the city is a much bigger project >> and that would um with the grant you have to do it within a certain period and for that the road by the time we actually get to Um, I guess I think 2 million, but they estimated that proposal. I'm not sure if that would be something that we'll be able to have in the next year um with the grant if they'll hold off because they I have to pay for it up front and then they reimburse us. >> I assumed it was >> but just uh you know, Miss Henry
018to to touch on board. So, Miss Henry and I met with uh the township planner who came over uh to inquire about our interest in uh having further discussions about a whole series of things that they are planning in the city with open space and and with uh you know with parks and some property that we have. And we let them know that we are certainly open to engaging in dialogue. But our major concern is how we can address the Clare Martin playground which they are interested in engaging in further dialogue with us to see if there's a way that we can come to a an agreement on a shared service on multiple things that fit with the future city plan. So we'll keep you up to date when the when the next meeting uh
019comes. We talked about bringing members of the city council on uh as well as bringing members of the board on after we had this initial salvo to see if our visions aligned and it seemed that they do. So we will keep you up to date on as those discussions move forward and bring you in if you would like but uh Clare Barton and the playground is not forgotten. >> It is I think if we get the grant, we'll figure out everything else, but getting the grant for 229,000 for the playground would be step one. >> Number five, can you address is this a new system? Is this a partial system or is it and what have we had in the past? Okay. So, it's a great question. So, um the reason it says partial system
020is the district currently uses frontline for absent management and for onboarding of staff. What we're adding is we are adding what they what Frontline would call professional growth. So currently the way in which observations and professional development plans are done here is on a um Excel spreadsheet and it is a very uh antiquated and it is a cumbersome uh process. Frontline will digitize that process. It will allow us to produce reports about staff evaluation and professional development. and it will also streamline the evaluation process and make it easier for everybody. So um it is not changing our evaluation process. We use the Danielson model of evaluation for our teachers and they simply digitize the process and it becomes a much simpler process for our administrators to use. It also becomes a much better process for
021us to actually pull anecdotal and real data about how our teachers are doing in the critical areas inside of all of those models. to see where are we really effective and where do we have areas of growth based on what we're doing. It allows for better better tracking of integrated reliability which is which is mandatory. So Frontline is a giant company that does a bunch of educational software. We already have them here for two of the three modules that they offer. We're just going to add the third module. And that was after discussions with the BRAA, with the BRAA, and with uh the district leadership to sort of unify the process. But we can't continue to do hundreds and hundreds of staff evaluations on an Excel spreadsheet. It just doesn't allow us to do what
022we need to do. >> And then the staff training, is that for the administrator, those that are going to be evaluating or is it a little bit of everybody? It's everybody. So, it's we we are going to between now and then uh between now and September is when all of the backend work will be done to build out all of our staff in the system, get all of their observations, evaluation modules set up. And then before September, we get six hours of training. We get to bring it up however we want. So, what we will do is we will provide two different uh or excuse me, three different virtual sessions for staff training. When I say virtual, it is a person from frontline presenting directly to our staff. They just don't have to go to
023one location. And then we will provide trainings for administrators on how to use it as well. So that is part of the expenditure is the training to do that. In addition, we will get ongoing training as needed from frontline. And then we get every year obviously if we wanted to change our model or add pieces or take pieces out, they would do that for us as well. Is it considered professional development training? >> It it could be considered professional development training in the initial phase. They also have some pieces that would allow us to essentially make recommendations for professional development at the same time that we are providing feedback in the observation. So we'll look at that as well. >> Y >> and again just a thank you um for the donation of all that
024equipment was just amazing. Yeah, thank you. It's just it's it's such a great gift to this the district and our students. So, you know, thank you very much for your work in that. >> You're very welcome >> and for getting us the information expedited to get on the agenda. Thank you, sir. >> Yeah, very appreciative of that. I'm going to piggy back right on that because that wasn't that making sure I knew uh the name, but it's it's awesome. It's super appreciated and we also thank you for the cooperation for making sure we we do it the right way and for all the work of the district and um um Dr. Oello and Miss Henry to make sure we do it the right way. So, thank you um for everyone involved. Um any further discussion
025um one through six. Okay, seeing none please. >> Miss Thank you. >> We do not have anything in agenda item O policy. So, uh we will now open the second public comments. Miss Meredith, you can please >> Miss Bas, I'm sorry about that. >> There should be a little button you might have to press. Please, please state your name, uh your address, um and then you can um adjust the board. Thank you. >> Okay, great. >> Uh my name is Meredith Busage. My address is 16 Charles Foster Drive, Bordontown, New Jersey. Good evening, members of the Bordontown Board of Education. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm reading a prepared statement on behalf of my husband and myself. We currently have one child, a first grader who attends Peter Mutual Elementary School. We are
026here this evening to bring to your attention that not all students in the Bordontown School District are being permitted to attend afterchool events hosted at certain Bordontown schools. Last year, as a family, we attended several events, including Breakfast with Santa, bingo night, and the special person's dance, among others. This year, however, our family has been unable to attend events such as the spectacular Breakfast with Santa, bingo night, and the upcoming Sweetheart Dance. While we understand that these events are not held at Peter Mitchell Elementary School, they were held at other schools within the district and fall under the one board town plan. As a result, our daughter has been left feeling excluded and quite frankly discriminated against simply because she's an only child and does not have a sibling attending the school hosting the event.
027Our daughter has been looking forward to the sweethearted sweetheart dance since attending last year with her father. She was so excited that she even received a party dress for the event this past holiday season. I'm at a loss as to how to explain to her that she could no longer attend, not because of her age or behavior, but simply because she does not have sibling at that school. Additionally, while we are not aware of the reasoning behind the change, it is very obvious that there are far fewer planned events at Peter Mutual School this year versus last year, including but not limited to the fun run and field day and is very disheartening to for a student that truly truly enjoys participating in these events. In conclusion, all the kindergarteners from last year at at
028Peter Mitchell and Clara Barton were included in all the events. Those kindergarteners are now first graders who have had all the activities they enjoyed last year stripped away from them this year unless they have an older sibling at the other schools. We believe in our hearts that this was an oversight with the one born in town plan and there was no intentional discrimination against most of the first graders who do not have older siblings. We hope that somehow this oversight can be rectified to include all first graders in the activities that they enjoyed so much last year. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you very much for that. Um there are First and foremost, I'm I'm very sorry to um to to hear that your child missed out. That's never something we want to
029hear about for any child. Um there are um dynamics at who organizes everything and how the events happen to where I'm not wouldn't be comfortable right now commenting more than that other than thank you for bringing it to our attention. Um and um the board wants to all of our kids in our district um have the ability to do everything we can. So um we will certainly um take your advice or take your feedback um and look into it. So >> thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Is there anyone else from the public wishing to speak? Okay. Um, seeing no additional comment, we will move on to agenda item P, the public suggestions for the 2026 2027 budget. Okay. Um, seeing no suggestions, again, obviously people here would have uh would have would
030have uh shared if they had, but just for anyone watching afterwards, again, I will reiterate what Dr. Alabello already said in his statement. There are plenty of ways to reach us. um whether it's at another board meeting, um this will be a standing agenda item until we get to our budget as well as the meet and greets. Um um we are as open um with information as we can be knowing what we know and dealing with the timelines that we're dealing with. So please um as Dr. Alello said, if there's uh if there's questions, please seek the source of that information. So thank you for that. Um and we will move on to agenda item Q boards. I'll open the floor. >> Okay. Um I just want to say thank you to you guys for
031coming out and sharing your feelings. We always love when our families come and show up to these meetings regardless of what the topic is, but that's why we're here. Um and Rusty again, thank you so much. We're so excited. I can't wait to All the kids talking about all that new equipment they get to use. >> I'll meet you there. >> Okay. Um, if there's no other board comment, I did want to just um congratulate Miss Pap on earning her certified board membership. So, that is amazing. Of course, I had it pulled up to to read through the list of what it takes to do that. It is not a small feat. It involves uh 20 20 credits from various NJSBA events. Um, attending at least four county meetings, which considering the county meetings, they
032only have maybe two or three a year. That's a commitment. Just that one. Uh, attending workshops. Miss Pep, I think you is it two or three workshops that you have under your belt? Three workshops. Um, attending a delegate assembly, attending statewide training um through the SBA. And the last one, which is you would have had this a lot sooner, I assume, except for one of the requirements, is completing a full three years of service without facing any ethics violations. And I think that's probably the only one that's been holding you up for probably about a year. So, um, congratulations on your, um, commitment to improving yourself so that you can help the district improve. Um, we are so very, very blessed to have you on this board and, um, just wanted to take a moment
033to honor you for that because that is an amazing feat. >> Clarification, it was just because of time, not because of an >> Right. Correct. Yes. Miss Pap is is as of January celebrating her third year anniversary on the board. >> Good clarification. >> Thank you for that clarification. That would be an important ethics so far. We're good. Come back. That's why >> I knew I earned that. >> Careful putting that one on there. Seeing no further discussion, I will ask for a motion to close. >> Thank you, Miss Glad and Miss Nasik. Thank you. All in favor? >> We are close. Thank you, everyone. Lift up.