001Mary, >> Miss McCala >> here. >> Miss Kennedy >> here. >> Misty Benedictus >> here. >> Mr. Henry >> here. >> Mr. Maljeri, >> Mr. Mesmer >> here, >> Miss Ayaneron. Chim, >> the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend meetings of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Bricktown Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be posted on the administration office buling board, the official district website and channel BV BTV20 and sent to the Asbury Park Press, Brick Time Star Ledger and Municipal Clerk's Office. Uh, >> I need a motion and a second to enter executive session. >>
002Motion for >> second. John >> Mary vote. >> Uh, resolution first. >> Whereas the Brook Township Board of Education has performed pursuant to applicable New Jersey statutes. And whereas the board is charged with the responsibility of performing all acts and doing all things consistent with the law and the rules of the state board of education necessary for the lawful proper conduct, equipment and maintenance of the public schools or public school property of the Rick Township School District. And where is section seven of the open public meeting act permits the exclusion of the public from a meeting of the board in certain circumstances. And whereas the board has determined that the circumstances exist for just an executive session. Whereas the board has found the action described below to be necessary and proper now therefore be resolved
003by the board on November 20th, 2025 that the public shall be excluded from the discussion of an action on the executive session set forth. The session will be approximately 15 minutes and the general nature of the subject matter will be discussed is harassment, intimidation and bullying reports. Is anticipated at this time that the above stated subject matter will be made public if and when it is deemed to be in the public interest to do so and need for confidentiality is no longer required by the board. Miss Pala, >> yes. >> Miss Kennedy, >> yes. >> Miss Denedictus, >> yes. >> Mr. Henry, >> yes. >> Mr. Mesmer, >> yes. Uh, hold on. I'll come grab You have All right, we're back to uh public session. >> Like to do a salute to the flag and
004a moment of silence. If everybody could please rise. All right, Dr. Frell, the student representatives. >> Good evening. I'm Michaela Gorhan, your 2025 2026 BMHS student government president. In light of the VMs last few months, I will be keeping this brief. Over the past month, our school community has been incredibly active, engaged in united, showcasing the very best of what it means to be a Mustang. We successfully administered state testing thanks to the professionalism and the teamwork of our staff and especially the work of Mr. Mr. McNight, Miss Riley, and Miss Leone. We celebrate student leadership and pride in beginning back our Miss Miss and Mr. Memorial pageant, which saw several seniors compete and show off their talent, intellect, and even their stunning formal wear. Congratulations to Dylan Terry and Shane McDonald for winning the
005crowns and earning a free senior ball bid. We honored incredible academic achievement with our World Language Honor Society induction. Thanks to Mr. Philippone and Miss Pawa for her attending and seeing 20 new members introduced into our French, Italian, Spanish honor societies. Our second goound for class meetings allowed Mr. Saluca and administration to reconnect with students, reinforce expectations, and strengthen our sense of school pride. This was also an important meeting with seniors to begin the conversation of 2026 graduation and covered information necessary to order caps and gowns. And most recently, our staff and students rallied together in a powerful show of support during our Mustang Pinkout, standing beside beloved teacher, Miss Kate Belle, in support of her upcoming battle with breast cancer. Next week, we are looking for spirit week to bring energy, excitement, and more
006unforgettable moments throughout the building. where alumni of networking day that is coming on Wednesday will see over 50 alumni come back to share their post-secary experiences with our students. It is a great day that offers meaningful opportunities to learn from former Mustangs who have gone on to do great things. Finally, it's been tremendous fall sports season. Our teams represented us with pride, dedication, competitive spirit both on and off the field. Congratulations to our co-op gymnastics team consisting of Dragons and Mustangs for winning the A South and finishing seven overall in the state. Congratulations to our girls soccer team who went on an amazing run and ultimately lost to Heart Breaker just three minutes away from earning the spot in the semi-final round of the state tournament. Congratulations to our boys soccer team for winning the
007B South championship and making it all the way to the semi-final round of the state tournament. Congratulations to our girls volleyball team for making it all the way to the state championship finals before losing a tough match to eventual overall champion and state power. And finally, congratulations to our Mustang football team who completed an impressive run through in the Central Jersey Group 4 state tournament and won our third state sectional championship in school history. We are one of only three short conference teams to win the championship. And we will travel to state powerhouse Winslow High School this Saturday and overall state semi-final for a chance to compete for the first time in school and district history for an overall state championship. Individually, we had an incredible 17 team members make eight either the first or
008second all division team in the toughest division in the conference and had the offensive player of the year Jason Laara and the defensive player of the year Trey Tomage. And surely it's been a wonderful month full of connection, celebration, and Mustang pride. And we're grateful to everyone who made each event a success. Now on to the the vets. Students in the VMS autism program visit the Field of Dreams on September 30th with their friends from Brick Memorial Lake Rivera and Brick Township High School. The Brick Memorial High School Pals Club will visit their friends in the autism program on October 28th for some Halloween fun. The PALS have put together incredible activities that work together the enhancement of IEP goals and content areas as well as the PT and OT. The annual VMS Veterans Day
009celebration was held on Wednesday, November 12th, and was a night to honor all the veterans in attendance. The packed house of guests enjoyed musical presentations by students from VMs and BMHS, special readings by many of our VMs students, and thank you to our guest speaker Nicole KV. The Brick Memorial High School Student Government Association ensured our friends and the VMS autism program had a globally good time. SGA representatives visited the Little Mustangs and guided them through various Thanksgiving themed activities that ants IEP goals OT and PT skills thinking, friendship, and inclusion. One activity was an interactive Thanksgiving plate in which students applied numbers cents while filling their plate with preferred Thanksgiving items such as yams and a pieces of pie. The Mustangs annual food drive is kicking off for the holiday season. A filler sent
010is being sent out and out to the families. We are asking for non-p perishables and gift cards for Aldi. All food and donations collected will directly benefit families within the BMs school community. Thank you to the VMS PTA for bringing the Kellogg's feeding reading pro book donation to VMS on November 5th. The students and staff had a wonderful time with Tony the Tiger and we are excited to add all these books to VMS. The work of all our students who submitted an entry to the PTA reflections are now displayed in the main office area for everyone to see. Congratulations to MMS PTA for being selected as New Jersey PTA exceptional local unit and for receiving the fall 2025 national PTA program grant for the PTA healthy minds initiative. Students have submitted their entries to the
011national PTA reflections contest. All entries are based on the year's theme I belong. School pictures are ready to order. Log into your account on my left touch and all families can log in to order a free digital smile safe card. For yearbooks are on sale and can be ordered through just your books. Ads are on sale as well and the deadline is January 31st. Onto our sports. Congratulations to all our fall athletes on a great season. Girls soccer went undefeated in our blue division champions. Boys soccer. The team worked hard to stay competitive during the rebuilding season. Areas Santiago and Luke Williams represented VMS at the Ocean County Middle School sports boys soccer game. Boys lacrosse went undefeated and won the blue division. The team finished fourth in Ocean County. Logan Zer won the Ocean
012County Championship and the run for Rose's championship. Logan finished the season undefeated. His twin horn brother his twin brother Brody finished second overall in all races this year. Girls lacrosse finished second in the blue division. The team finished fourth in Ocean County. Quincy Clawson finished sixth and Ryan Terrell 11th in the Ocean County Championship. Winter sports just started and teams are working hard to prepare and are looking forward to being competitive this season. Schoolwide writing. The schoolwide writing contest for the brick waiting for the winners to be announced. BMS artists have been very busy. Volunteered. They volunteered their time to face and campaign at Herby'sville preschool's fall festival. They are hardworking. They are hard at work participating in the annual fire prevention pro poster contest. This year's theme focuses on the danger of lithium ion
013batteries and safety surrounding charged devices. Mustang artwork created the first MP is on display for the month of November at the board of ed office. Seasonal watercolors and mixed media van go inspired projects are showcased for your viewing pleasure. Murals are underway by talented eighth graders throughout the hallways bringing more beauty to the building. parking period 1 incentives ended and all teams did a great job. The overall winner is team three. An extreme basketball event was held on October 30th for our student council fundraising winners. We look forward to welcoming parents this week for parent teacher conference. BMS wants to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Thank you. Good evening. I am Erica Bakornney, the president of the BTHS student government. I'm excited to share this month's BTHS Dragon Report with you. But first, I would
014like to begin with sharing the Lake Riviera Middle School report. This year, LRMS is excited to officially welcome Miss Mrs. Brittany Bucko as our new principal and Miss Jennifer Lane as our new vice principal. Alongside Mr. David Kuster. Our administrative team began the year with a focus on our core values with an updated version of the legend of the Laker and the unifying message of one school, one fire, all Lakers. The school year began with a focus on community and positive choices, starting with back to school night on September 15th. The fun-filled glow party sponsored by the PTA was held on October 3rd, offering a safe and positive social environment for the sixth graders. On September 26th, our students benefited from an inspiring presentation by renowned motivational speaker Rob Hala, sponsored by the Tiger Stavola
015Foundation. Rob delivered a high energy interactive message emphasizing the critical importance of healthy choices and steering clear of substance use, especially vaping. Our commitment to character education was the central focus of the week of respect held from o October 6th to 10th. Through classroom discussions and activities centered around kindness, empathy, and inclusivity, students celebrated differences and demonstrated a positive school community, evidenced by over 1,200 spirit Laker loots turned in. In the week of October 20th, our Lakers recognized school violence awareness week, successfully completing our first Code Green evacuation drill. We also had a special guest, Officer Jim Ayaneron, on Laker Live with a special special message. If you see something that doesn't feel right, say something. We call that be a hero, tell. This initiative underscores our ongoing dedication to school safety. The fall season
016also featured the fifth annual LRS fall fest sponsored by the student council. The social calendar in concluded with the thrilling Halloween dance sponsored by the interact club on October 28th and the record- setting Halloween costume contest on October 31st. LRMS demonstrated its leadership in education during the district proday on October 13th. Nine of our teachers led EDC camp sessions to share creative ideas and strategies with colleagues across the district. The school successfully com participated in red ribbon week during the week of October 27th where students pledged to lead drug-free lives and participated in activities including wear red day. In terms of community support, we ran a collective drive for gently used or new coats and boots for seeds of service with donations accepted through Friday, November 14th. The Laker fall sports season was highly successful.
017The field hockey team achieved a major victory by winning their division championship. Boys cross country finished with an impressive 3-1 record and girls cross country finished 2-2. Together, they sent 16 runners to the middle school meet of champions. Our boys and girls soccer team showed tremendous effort, commitment, and growth. While the wins didn't always come our way, the players worked hard every day, improving their skills, supporting one another, and representing our school with pride and sportsmanship. Boys and girls basketball, wrestling, and cheerleading are currently underway. We are holding parent teacher conferences from November 18th through November 20th and invite the community to our band and choirs winter concert on Tuesday, December 9th at 6 p.m. in the multi-purpose room. We hope all of our families have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Now on to BTHS. Homecoming 2025
018was extremely successful with over 550 students attending. Congratulations to our king and queen, Declan Connelly and Khloe Campbell. We recognized Red Ribbon Week at BTHS with selected activities and classroom discussions. This week was highlighted with a grade 10 and grade 11 assembly led by motivational speaker Steven Hill who spoke about making healthy life choices towards living a drug-free life. Ear earlier this month, BTHS held a financial aid simplifying the process presentation open to all families where parents were guided through the process of completing the FASA application. Students are required to complete a FASA as one of their established graduation requirements. This event was well attended. The presentation has been posted on our website for our learning community's reference. Parents teacher conferences took place yesterday and are continuing today and tomorrow. Onto the club report. The
019Interact and Surf Club are working together to host a food and toy drive for the holiday season. The drama club performed their first play this weekend, a Midsummer Night's Dream. They put on a great show. The National Honor Society is hosting its induction ceremony on December 2nd to initiate the newly accepted members. Fall sports have come to a close. Congratulations to boys soccer, girls soccer, volleyball, and field hockey for qualifying and competing in the state tournament. The gymnastics team ended their season with an impressive impressive record of 10 and0. Congratulations to our marching band for their outstanding season. Here are some highlights from their undefeated season. Region 7 Central New Jersey Champions, New Jersey State Champions, and Atlantic Coast Champions with accolades for best music, best visual, and best percussion. Go Marching Dragons. Winter sports
020began on Monday. They're off to a great start. Coming up, BTHS will be hosting their annual alumni networking day on November 26th, providing students with an opportunity to hear from and connect with former students. Spirit week is next week, November 24th to to the 26th, followed by Thanksgiving break. That's all for today. Be sure to stay connected to BTHS events and inside information by accessing our school website, SJA Instagram at BTHsSGA, and our school Twitter at BTHS Dragons. You can always hear our happenings monthly through Dr. Cajun's Dragon Review. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. I do want to add um usually I have superintendent comments and I mentioned many of the things that our student representatives already speak about so I didn't want to be redundant but I do want to give
021kudos to Mrs. and topolis. That's Memorial Staff and Trudy um for running our annual Veterans Day program. It was last Wednesday, right last Wednesday. Uh and I was there as well as a lot of us up here at the Deis that attended. And you know, there's nothing better we do as a school district than to recognize and celebrate our local veterans. So to all the veterans out there, local, state, nationally, we thank you for your service and we thank Veterans Memorial Middle School for putting on an amazing program once again. Thank you. Thank you guys. Awesome job. >> All right. I need an approval of minutes for um the October 16th meeting. Can I have a motion and a second? >> Motion, Ally. Second. Who is the second? >> Fran. Okay. Uh, Mary with the
022vote. >> Miss Pala. >> Yes. >> Miss Kennedy. >> Yes. >> Miss Benedictus. >> Yes. >> Mr. Henry. >> Yes. >> Mr. Malieri. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mesmer. >> Yes. All right. Moving on to committee reports. Uh, Mr. Edwards, facilities and finance. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mesmer. Um, start with facilities. Facilities met on November 10th. Uh, present were uh, Miss Kennedy, Miss Ayanaron, Mr. Member, myself, Mr. Yor from Net Architects, Mr. Seagull from Speasel Architectural, Miss Scalliardi from Speasel, Mr. Williams from Speasel, Mr. Dubovich from FVHD, and Mr. Gapor from DMR Architects. Uh, first project to discuss was the Warren H. Wolf uh, early childhood development center. Mr. informed the committee that the rooftop units were installed Thursday and Friday while school was closed. Uh he noted that the heat is up and running
023and the only remaining work to be done is the condensing units for the air conditioning needing to be completed. Uh Herbertsville Elementary uh childhood development center, same thing. Thursday and Friday the rooftop units were installed uh and the heat is up and running. And again, the only thing needs to be done is the condensing units. Um Midstream's elementary school kitchen. Mr. Fure happily reported to the committee that the kitchen is 100% complete. So that was good news. That's one more project that we could take off our list. Uh OES kitchen edition. Mr. Williams reported that to the committee that the architectural team went through the area with the engineers to complete the punch list and gave it over to the contractor. I noted that the contractor has now completed all work that needs to be
024done in the areas have both passed the health inspection and final inspection with the township. Uh we began using the kitchen uh last Wednesday. It's uh I know Dr. Farrell shared some pictures out, right? Pretty good. >> I was trying to I was trying to get Dr. Frell's picture up at the register, but just didn't work out. >> You were there. >> Um next, we talked about the Midstream's air conditioning project. Mr. Williams informed the committee that the contractors are continuing to wrap up their work there. He indicated that the results are back from the metering and stated that the two days that had the most load were the ones that were reviewed to confirm that everything was running to make sure they have the correct results uh and in order to determine the electrical
025capacity for the building. Mr. Seagull indicated that a recent call with the electrical engineer to review the results was very positive. So uh fingers crossed on that project there. OES air conditioning Mr. Williams informed the committee that the contractor is very close to wrapping up and being completed. He know that Spasel will be doing their punch list next week. long-range facility plan. I informed the committee that no new guidance has been issued from the department of education. So the issue is still on a holding pattern and the date of the next meeting is December 8th. Uh we then moved into finance some of us anyway. Mr. Mesmer, Miss Aanaron, Miss Benedictus, and myself. Uh first item we discussed was state aid litigation. I informed the committee that myself and Dr. Farrell provided the attorneys with
026the requested documentation and support to be included in the litigation filing. We're still waiting to see that from the attorneys at this point. Um, so nothing's been received to date. And Mahaven's Young Elementary School laminator. I discussed with the committee that the uh school principal would like to transfer funds from supplies into the equipment account to buy a new laminator. The committee supported that transfer. 202627 budget. I informed the committee that the rough proje I informed the committee that rough projections for the upcoming budget and informed the committee of the timelines such as when we're doing the enrollment projections, the staffing reviews, the program manager budget meetings, etc. And advertising, I informed the committee of two new advertisings. We have New Jersey Army National Guard that's doing stadium banners at both Brick Memorial and Brick
027Township High School and Atlantic Medical Imaging who's also doing stadium field banners at Brick Memorial and Brick Township High School. And that's a two-year deal. Atlantic Middle Medical Imaging One. Again, the next meeting is December 8th. >> Thanks, Mr. Edwards. Uh, policy and planning. >> Thank you, Mr. Mesner. Uh, the policy and planning committee met on November 12th virtually, though I think it was more of a hybrid because I think I had Mr. Malerie and Miss Pala in my office when Mr. Philippo was across the way and M. Benedictus was uh online as well. Uh we reviewed the policies that are up for a second read tonight that are on the agenda and the other action item which is our statement of assurance for our safety and security. >> Thank you Dr. Frell. This will
028be the first session for public comment. Uh this will be the first opportunity for public comment and will be for agenda items only. The board invites thoughts and reactions on agenda items. Each participant is asked to give his or her name prior to making a statement. All statements shall be directed to the presiding officer. Comment shall be limited to five minutes. The board will not during the public portion of this meeting discuss matters involving employment, appointment, termination of employment, negotiations, terms and conditions of employment, evaluation of the performance of, promotion or disciplining of any specific or prospective or current employee and/or students. Does anybody have any public comment on agenda items? Seeing none. Okay. >> Okay. We move on to curriculum and instruction. I need a motion and a second. >> Dr. Anderson. >> Motion.
029George. >> Second. >> Sorry, I I jumped the gun. >> Hold on. >> Dr. Anderson, you're up. I'm usually really good at interrupting. Thank you, Mr. Mesmer. Under curriculum instruction, the superintendent recommends that the board approve the following items 1 through 10. >> Now, I need a motion in a second. >> Motion, George. >> Second, Fran. >> I didn't know if you were com. >> Any board comment. >> I just wanted to quickly thank the volunteer advisors for the um fashion club, Roots of the Dragon, and DND Club. I love that. Um, so thank you to our teachers for going above and beyond once again for our students. >> And I just want to comment on how many grant applications are in. I really appreciate the time that our teachers take and supervisors um out
030of their busy schedule to write these grant applications and it's just a win-win for our kids and I appreciate that. I have a comment as well and with the fashion club uh if I can make a recommendation to actually look at that as being more of a sustainable fashion because that's really big and it's up and coming and it also aligns to some of our school sustainability initiatives as well as the community sustainability initiatives especially now that we were actually recognized as a silver certified by sustainable Jersey for schools town which is a big deal. Woo. >> Great. Thank you. Uh, Mary with the vote. >> Miss Piccolo, >> yes. >> Miss Kennedy, >> yes. >> Miss Benedictus, >> yes. >> Mr. Henry, >> yes. >> Mr. Maljeri, >> yes. >> Mr. Mesner, >> yes.
031>> Moving on to operations. Mr. Edwards. >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you. The superintendent evening recommends the board approves items 1 through 25. >> I need a motion and a second. Motion, George. >> Second, Ally. >> Any board comment on operations? >> Quickly, I just wanted to thank um Mr. Harrington for the benches for Emma Havens, the anonymous donor for the miscellaneous equipment for our special needs students, our anonymous donor for the VMMS food drive. Um, I'm super excited to see the um BMHS senior ball on the agenda. I cannot believe that I have a senior. Um, and I love love love the unified champion grants. Thank you guys so much. >> What she said and I also have a question. I looked at the preschool operational plan and projected enrollment. Why is there such
032a big disparity between the three-year-olds and the four-year-olds? >> That's a good question. I know. I happen to know the answer. >> Yeah, >> you do. >> I do. I do know the answer to that. Uh, so the preschool folks have given us guidance that we're to roll the three-year-olds up to four, right? So that's why that four-year-old number that represents the number of three-year-olds that we have and that any open slots be given to three-year-olds, not three and four year olds. That's guidance coming from preschool. >> Brilliant. I got that right. Right, Walter? >> Proud of me, huh? I listened. >> Okay. Any good. All right. Mary with the vote. >> Miss Pala, >> yes. >> Miss Kennedy, >> yes. >> Mr. Benedictus, >> yes. >> Mr. Henry, >> yes. >> Mr. Malerie, >>
033yes. >> Mr. Mesmer, >> yes. >> Yep. Uh, moving on. Human Resources. Mr. Edwards. >> Yes. Superintendent recommends items 1 through 28. >> I need a motion and a second. >> Motion George. >> Second, France. >> Any board comment for human resources. >> Welcome to all the new hires. >> Dr. Frell, we have a new hire in the audience. >> Oh, not yet. Okay. >> Mary with the vote. >> Miss Polla. >> Yes. Miss Kennedy. >> Yes. >> Miss Steven Addictus. >> Um, I need to abstain number two, the third item. >> Yes. To the rest. >> Mr. Henry. >> Yes. >> Mr. Maljeri. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mesmer. >> Yes. Now it's official. Welcome to all the new hires. I want to welcome and congratulate all our new staff members. Um, I do want
034to recognize our new uh elementary principal at Drum Point Elementary School, Dr. Christopher Aught. Uh, Dr. is an existing elementary principal uh with his doctorate and a community member of Brick Township. And I asked Dr. if he'd like to say a few words. Welcome. This will only take about 16 minutes, so we'll be quick. Uh, good evening, Dr. Frell, members of the board of education, and colleagues. I'm deeply honored to stand before you here this evening as the incoming principal of Drumoint Elementary School. Uh, Dr. Frell, I just want to say thank you to you and your team for this incredible opportunity to lead Drum Point. Your confidence in me means a great deal. I'm grateful for the support you've already shown as I prepare to step into this role. I've worked with Dr. Anderson
035at our Ocean County curriculum meetings, Dr. Atwaru through her time at Moesc. And I had the pleasure of getting my doctorate in the same cohort as Dr. Cajun. Go Peacocks. So, I know the bar here is high. When Dr. Kajun left Emma Havens and was named principal at Old Brick, I sent him a book by Warren Wolf about the history of Brick Township and Green Dragon football. I'm going to need that book now back now, Dave. So, whenever you get a chance to the board of education, thank you for placing your trust and faith in me to serve this school community. I don't I do not take this responsibility lightly. I look forward to getting to know the Drumoint community, listening to what matters most to them, and working collaborative collaboratively to create an environment
036where all students are valued, supported, and challenged. Thank you again for the opportunity. As a resident of Brick for the past 12 years, I know and respect the traditions and pride this town has, no matter what shade of green you wear. I wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving and a happy holiday season. I'm very excited to get started. Thank you. >> Okay, moving on to uh policy and planning. Dr. Anderson. >> Thank you, Mr. Mesmer. Under policy and planning, the superintendent recommends that the board approve the following items one and two. >> I need a motion and a second. >> Motion, Aliy Fran, >> go George. I'm not a big >> second George there. So, um, any board comment? >> None. Okay. Mary with the vote, please. >> Miss Pala, >> yes. >> Miss Kennedy, >>
037yes. >> Miss Benedictus, >> yes. >> Mr. Henry, >> yes. >> Mr. Meljeri, >> yes. >> Mr. Mr. Mesmer. >> Yes. >> Okay. This will be the second opportunity for public comment. Each participant is asked to give his or her name prior to making a statement. All statement shall be directed to the presiding officer. Comment shall be limited to five minutes. The board will not during the public portion of this meeting discuss matters involving employment, appointment, termination of employment, negotiations, terms and conditions of employment, evaluation of the performance of promotion or disciplining of any specific or p prospective or current employee andor students. Anybody have any public comment? be a lot shorter though said everything. Hello everybody. My name is Kristen Stirtz. It's been a week. I am tired, but we will get through this.
038Um, so I did have, uh, recently have the opportunity to attend the New Jersey PTA convention. Made a lot of great connections with some people, vendors, um, attended a bunch of great seminars. We did have a keynote speaker. I don't know if you've maybe seen him at other events, but Tony Katani, who is the winner of the 2025 NASSP National High School Principal of the Year. He gave a speech um at convention and his message really stuck with me. It's applied a lot in my life this week as a you know I can even apply it here in these meetings. One of the things he said to me that I won't forget is it's hard to celebrate your successes when you spend so much time defending your decisions. Uh that's really resonated especially this week
039with me. Sorry. Um so I I try to come up here and talk about all the good things whether they're big, whether they're little to kind of keep the positivity going. So, I'm going to have to skip past this because they really said a lot. So, we did have our book donation with Kelloggs. It was fantastic. I really thought the kids were going to think it was lame, but they screamed their heads off the entire time. I gave Dr. Frell a hard time about not coming because he's like, "Oh, I'm busy. I have an interview with for a drum point principal." So, glad you got hired. Thanks for missing it. But it was great that I got to meet Mr. Philippone. So, fantastic. Um, on the county side, we are doing fantastic in terms of
040growth. As of today, we have 12 of our 28 county PTAs have reached 100% growth or more. Six of them are right here in brick. And it is one of the things that national and state and drills into our heads is the more parents and caregivers who have involved the better off our students and children are to thrive. So, of those six, I'm not going to repeat myself, but going forward, drum point, Emma Havens, Lake Riviera, and the two that I always say are the hardest are preschool because it's a two-year turnover. So, congrats to Herbertsville. I brought her tonight. She's coming all the time. Whether she likes it or not, I'm manifesting it. And with the high schools, I know they have a lot of competition with clubs and sports and everything, but Brick
041Township High School almost doubled their membership. So, fantastic. I don't know how they did it. They won't return my calls, but yay. Um, now shifting on to our Founders Day celebration, which I only have to talk about two more times till it happens, but I'd like to thank everybody that's really come together with this so far, um, and help spread my messages. We do have our entertainment lined up. The Ocean County, this is a mouthful, sorry. The Ocean County Vocational Technical School Academy of Law and Public Safety Honor Guard will be presenting the colors and leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance as well as we'll have a special musical guest performance from our Brook Township High School jazz band. So, thank you to whoever passed those messages along and had them reach out to
042me. It means a lot. It's going to be a great event. Um, I'd also like to start collecting photos of all the exciting PTA events and givebacks and things that you're doing so we can recognize everybody for their hard work at the event. Ticket sales are still open. Um, and I also want to give a quick shout out. I've never met them. I haven't spoken to them, but every single one of the board members at Emma Havens bought their tickets already. So, I can't wait to celebrate um everybody as a whole. Uh, and then lastly here, we have been actively applying for national grants with the PTA. We applied for six of them. We've heard back from two. So, unfortunately, we did not get awarded the vape free futures challenge. It was awarded to seven
043PTAs across the country. They get $2,500 each, but maybe next time. But I'm I'm going to talk about it again because I'm excited about it. But we were selected as the grant recipient. So, we are going to get a $1,250 grant for our healthy lifestyles fair. And I'm so excited about it. It's in January. Um, actually, I I have two more things, but I didn't write them down. I'd like to make a request if we if there's money in the budget floating around somewhere, if we could purchase like 30 folding tables because I got a lot of events coming up and I really don't want to rent them. And every time I see the brick van pull up to the side and take the tables, I dread it cuz I know I'm never getting them
044back. So, if we could purchase tables, that'd be great. And I'd also like to make a motion. No offense. I know I told you about this, but can we put a fiveminute timer on George at the board comment at the end? I know you I know I'm kidding, but I'm also serious. >> All right. Congrat. Thank you. Those are great comments. Um, does anybody else have any public comment? >> Seeing none. >> Okay, moving on to board comment. George, the floor is yours. Hope so. Anyway, thank you. Thank you very much, President Mess. Thank you all very much to everyone for coming. As always, um teachers, employees, parents, residents, taxpayers alike. Uh we cannot do anything that we do uh make anything possible that is in this district possible without all of you. Your questions,
045your comments, your concerns, your support. um anything and everything coming from you, we thank you very much because you make all that we are able to do possible. Uh in that spirit, um in uh the realm of thanking, I'd like to thank all of the like uh Miss Pala and Miss Kennedy were saying uh and M Miss G. Benedictus uh all of our uh volunteers for uh different extracurricular activities, co-curricular activities. Actually, Dr. Frell's a big fan of saying co-curricular. I'm trying to get into that spirit because I never got that until recently, but it does make a lot of sense because it is true. and all of our teachers and employees who have partaken in grant writing. Uh given the fiscal reality that we've been facing over the last number of years for various
046reasons. Uh that is an invaluable service. We cannot thank you enough and we appreciate the effort that you've put in. Uh and we hope that your efforts pay off because you deserve it rightly. And uh congratulations to um all the new inductees to uh Mr. Sar Luca here actually for the Brick Memorial High School uh National Honor Society for um the World Language Students. I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it. I was at work the day before. I was um a few steps over there with Dr. Frell and Miss Pala for the Veterans Day celebration. Thank you very much to anyone and everyone who has served and will serve and is serving at the moment uh to make all that we do possible in one fashion or another in this country. And um actually
047in that spirit I'm very sorry for those who have lost their lives uh in service to this country uh whether that be now uh a day ago 10 years ago and actually in the realm of civilian I actually experienced something unfortunate uh this is actually going to affect all of Ocean County uh president of OC John Larson former president very for a very long time actually he was there when I was there and when my mother was there he passed away recently so please keep him in your family as well as m uh in in your prayers as well as Mr. Dasty of uh OCC board of trustees in many years. Uh I went to a wake for him about a month ago. Um and Dr. Larson will be having one on Friday. If any
048of you have any personal connection to OC would like to say hello. I'm sure the Larson family would appreciate that. And um given all the connections that we as uh anyone who's been a student or even a teacher uh or an employee who received an education at OC, that's very valuable. And um congratulations to um Dr. aunt for uh taking on the role at uh Drum Point Road Elementary School. That was actually my elementary school. Um so that's a very uh there's a very big soft spot in that regard. So anything and everything of which you could think that we could do for you, please let us know. Um and uh congratulations to um uh Michael Masterio on his election and uh Francis D. Benedictus on her re-election. Uh we look forward to working with
049all of you uh coming in the new year. Uh and uh to uh Mrs. Diana her own. Uh she's not here this evening, but she will certainly be missed. Uh I'm sure that we'll see her in one fashion or another. I've grown up with her being across the street from me because of her daughter who lives across the street from me for many years. She's a very active woman, so I'm sure this isn't the last of Rick has seen of her. But um in that spirit, um I'm going to say going back to uh losses, frankly, my grandmother in Peru is not doing very well. So I'm not going to be here at the next meeting. So for those of you who are thinking about for example, oh how long is he going to take?
050I have a minute and 30 seconds left. We won't have to worry about that about the next meeting. I'm going to be in Peru. But for anyone who would like, in the spirit of saying goodbye for the time being, please feel free to come up here. Avail yourself of any donuts. And um uh actually, Miss D. Benedictus, I have to thank you uh and Mr. Edwards because uh not that I have to, I want to, quite frankly. Uh I'm going to a delegate assembly uh in uh Princeton, West Windsor area uh to represent the interests of the Brick Township School District on Saturday. Uh I was in talks with both uh with you about that and I'd like to thank uh everyone who made a contribution in one fashion or another uh to benefit our
051district at the uh workshop for schoolboards association uh last month and I tried to make it to League of Municipalities this week. I was sick all week. So uh it it would have been better if you had the meeting on Tuesday. I wouldn't have been here so you wouldn't have had to hear all of this. But I only have 40 seconds to go and um I'm trying to think of what else I could say. I guess thank you to everyone, board members, uh, legal counsel, central administration. Thank you all for listening. And 30 seconds to go. I yield back the balance of my time. >> Thank you, George. >> Thanks, George. >> Thank you, >> John. >> Not bad, George. >> Oh, thank you. >> Thank you everyone for coming out tonight. As usual, I
052always try to thank everybody for spending your time to come out and listen to what's the excellent things that are going on here in brick schools. Congratulations to all the grant recipients and all the new hires. I wish you all the well, all the best. Um, and other than that, I'm going to keep it really short because George said quite a bit. >> You said need a timer. >> It's timing me. No need to time me. >> Uh, yeah. So, have a great Thanksgiving everyone and drive safe tonight home. >> Thanks, John. Brian, >> I'm gonna be quick. Um, welcome. Thank you guys for showing up and anybody out there listening online. Thank you guys. Um, welcome Dr. We're so so happy that you're here. Uh, you are going to love it here. Um, and
053congratulations to all of our sports. Oh my goodness, you guys are all killing it. I am so impressed. Um, and happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the rest of your day. Good. Um, I just want to thank everyone for coming out. I wanted to say congratulations to um all of our sports teams from Brick Township and Brick Memorial and our middle schools, you know, from from football and band to the boys and girls soccer teams to our gymnastics teams, field hockey, volleyball, um cross country, I think. Um we had such a winning season in Brick. So proud of all our athletes. Um our football team at Brick Memorial is still going. Big game on Saturday. Um it's it's really been impressive and the um school spirit and brick spirit is so incredible. I really enjoy being a
054part of it. Um I am looking forward to all the winter sports and the nonstress of attending drama productions because the sports tend to be so stressful. Um but I'm excited about that. Kristen, I adore you and your energy is fantastic. you are doing such an amazing job for brick PTAs as a whole. I know you're the VMMS president, but you you are making brick PTAs look so good and I understand putting your heart and soul into the PTA and I just want to thank you because it is all-encompassing and whatever went on that was not good that had you a little down, don't listen to it. Okay, move on from that because don't let it take you down. You are doing an amazing amazing amazing job. Um Dr. Uh, welcome to um the neighborhood.
055Welcome to Brick. Uh, you have large shoes to fill from Mrs. Kerr. I worked with her at Vetszel and she is an amazing human and um really big shoes to fill, but you have an incredible team over there and a really great staff and I know they are going to um come around you and you are going to be perfectly fine over there. Um, Mr. Saruka, thanks for always killing it at Brick Memorial. I know you're uh I I love my brick memorial. I have two students over there. They are so happy. The teachers are awesome. I cannot speak to what happens inside the halls of BTHS. I'm sorry because I don't have students there, but Mr. Saruka, you're doing a great job. So, keep up the good work. That's all. Thank you. Oh, merry
056Christmas and uh No, happy Thanksgiving. That comes first. Happy Thanksgiving. Um and then Merry Christmas. Bye. I just want to shout out a couple of my um brick events. Uh the Veterans Day tribute as usual was great and I understand Mr. James Carr and Mr. Goranski were really really big um visionaries this year with the support of the faculty and the and the parents. That was great. The world language program was really fabulous. I got to meet all three advisors to the Spanish, French, and Italian honor societies. I really um enjoyed the moderators talking about how great it was for them to support our students on their pathway to global citizenship. I I think that's just so important. Um brick events. So, um, shout out to the BTHS band, Atlantic Coast Champions for the first
057time, BTH s Cheer squad 2025, best in the county, right? Um, LMES, the I Ready Math Challenge, big efforts by their teachers. The STEM openhouse is November 24th at 6 PM. Be there or be square or you could probably be both. Uh Kristen, thank you very much again. I want to say um a special thank you to the administrators here in Brick and um the district in large because I got the opportunity to spend another New Jersey School Board Association uh training workshop from October 20th to the 23rd. Um, I really appreciate that that this is a priority for for the administration. I um I had a couple favorite sessions. One was government 4, which is a school law update. Um we had um uh uh sustainably informed education students and teachers award ceremony that
058featured Gary Paxton, Ryan Denell, Dr. Cajun, Dr. Anderson, Tom, Matteline, Frank, Mike. I just want to say that um we do have this um bronze certificate at Bricktownship High School which coordinates very nicely with what the overall township um sustainability goals are. Um they also talked a lot about how sustainability gives so many financial benefits to our schools. The legislative panel was really interesting. There were a lot of conversations about uh accessibility to preschool, how critical that is in New Jersey, how special ed uh transportation funding should come from the state. Um uh extraordinary special aid should be increased HVAC and school security should be uh priorities in New Jersey. These are all things that legislators on both sides of the aisle talked about. And um uh there was an also an issue about school
059districts should get a share in municipal pilots because these pilot programs are burdening our schools. um tax credits for high impact tutoring. And um the Department of Education Commissioner came out and he talked a lot about how the dismantling of the federal department of education would affect funding in our local school districts here in New Jersey. um everything from food and health insecurity. There's all these issues that we as board members have to constantly keep in mind if we're going to keep our students moving forward. Um and then oh cell phone policies were discussed and and many things. Um, and then there was a great session called We Belong at the Table: Using Your Voice to Impact Policy and Legislation. It was directed to board of education members to talk about how lobbying is building
060support not just for our teachers and our students, but for our communities. And I'm going to let it go with that. Um, did I mention the STEM open houses? >> Yes. >> Okay. Very important. November 24th, 6 PM BTHS. Um, thank you again um, and for coming out and I appreciate everybody that's contributed to the good of the district this month. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Oh, wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait. I'm sorry. Dr. Rod, you were in the faculty of the Shaw School. My mother attended the Shaw School in 1932. Not that I'm well, she was old when she had me, but anyway. So, we have the Shaw and my brother also attended the Shaw School. So, there you go. You come a long way, baby. All right. Thanks, Victoria. I wanted
061to shout out real quick the Herbitsville PTA on the uh Turkey Trot that happened last weekend. Um I wasn't able to attend, but my son and wife were there and he has announced to me he is going to train for the Olympics in 2028 after running a couple laps around the track. So, it seemed like a great event. I saw the pictures. I think there was like 40 40 kids. It it looked awesome. And so thank you. That was a really good event. Um Kristen shout out. I mean every month the energy you bring to these meetings is uh you know we get sometimes I have people I ask you know watch the meetings come to the meetings. They're like oh they're so boring this and that. We're trying to spice them up a little
062bit and you really bring a tremendous amount of energy to this district. So I personally appreciate that and want to thank you for that. Um last thing I attended the uh schoolboard conference um similar to Victoria, the thing I wanted to focus on this year was AI, how it would impact our district. Uh so I did speak to a lot of different AI vendors. I learned about different platforms because in my opinion AI is going to be involved in everyone's life. It already is and it's just going to continue. Um, I learned that some of our teachers, I think over 300 of our teachers are using some of these tools, found that out. They did a quick search just to help with um, you know, building different documents and things like that. And it's it's
063pretty unbelievable what some of these tools can do. So, I think education is in a really good place. I know Dr. Anderson, you're steps ahead of me on this, but uh, there's some really good tools out there. our teachers are already utilizing them and I think uh overall our district district is in a really great place from an educational perspective in my mind. So uh just wanted to say congrats to Mustangs football was an exciting ride. Hopefully it continues and uh happy Thanksgiving to everyone. All right, looking at our calendar of events, uh, parent teacher conferences going on now. Early dismissal the 26th, 27th, and 28th, Thanksgiving recess, and our meeting in December the 18th is actually going to be here. Originally, it was going to be at Brick High School, but it's going to
064be here. Uh, we are going to have a musical performance, holiday musical performance from >> Yep. from the choir. So, definitely come out for that. And, uh, now I need a motion and a second for adjournment. Motion George >> Gowi >> second Victoria >> thanks thanks thanks for that Mary with the vote >> miss pala >> yes >> miss Kennedy >> yes >> miss Benedictus >> yes >> Mr. Henry >> yes >> Mr. Malerie >> yes >> Mr. Mesmer >> yes have a good night