March 18, 2025 Board of Education Meeting

001e e e I'm going to Miss picala Miss Kennedy I'm here miss Benedictus yes Mr Henry here Mr mjeri Mr Mesmer here miss here the New Jersey open public meeting law was inative to ensure the right of the public to advance notice of and to attend meetings public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act Brick Township Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be posted on the administration office Bolton board the official District website and channel BV btv2 and sent to the press the brick times St Ledger and Municipal Clerk's Office motion Ali second Fran whereas The Brick Township Board of Education has performed pursuant to applicable New Jersey statutes and where as the board is charged with

002the 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 and proper conduct equipment and maintenance of the public schools and the public school property of the Brick Township School District and where sec conservative public Med act permits the exclusion of the public from a meeting of the board in certain circumstances and whereas the board has determined that circumstances exist for such an executive session whereas the board has found the action described below to be necessary and proper now therefore be resolved by the board on March 18th 2025 that the public shall be excluded from the discussion of an action on the executive session here and set forth the session will be approximately 15 minutes and the general nature

003of the subject matter be discussed is harassment intimidation and bullying reports it is anticipated this time that the stated subject matter will be made public if and when it is deemed to be in the public interest to do so and the need conf excuse me and the need for confidentiality is no longer required by the board Miss Kennedy yes Miss Sten adictas yes Mr Henry yes Mr Mesmer yes Miss e e e [Music] okay e e miss m Miss Iran R we forgot a step we need to have a motion to get out of executive session I need a motion to return to the meeting motion FR second Aly Mary Miss Kennedy yes Miss D Benedictus yes Mr Henry yes Mr mjeri yes Mr Mesmer yes misson yes thank you now you're welcome Miss MC

004thank you Mrs a Ron this evening we have um several student Representatives who will be presenting we're going to start with Kristen mcwade the president of the student government Association for Brick Memorial High School Kristen thank you good evening again I'm Kristen mcwade today I'll start with the Vets report congratulations to pton ban who is the eighth grade dialog representative for VMS congratulations to the VMS students who participated in youth art month and have their work displayed at the track Art Gallery in Tom's River for the month of March on March 17th the brick and morial high school student government Association visited their friends in our VMS autism program the big the big Mustangs guided their friends through several activities that worked towards the enhancement of communication skills occupational therapy skills Physical Therapy skills and

005various IEP goals their favorite activity of the was making a leprechaun mask and modeling it congratulations to Mrs Foley Miss Ash and Mr sidin and their students for a job well done at the district art show thank you to our vmms PCA for hosting the sixth and seventh grade glow dances the students had a great time dancing the night away inter mural bowling has started and the students are having a great time each week spring sports are starting and we are looking forward to a great season BMS attendance March Madness competition started 317 groups will be competing against each other to have the best School attendance during the NCAA tournament some upcoming events please join us at the Harlem Wizards basketball game tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at brick memorial and the student government is

006hosting a a movie night on March 20th lastly students participated in the Ocean County women's art contest the theme is women that move Society forward winners will be announced by the end of March now on to the bmhs monthly report we are proud to announce that on February 26th our afj RTC Cadet passed our annual unit assessment highlights of our assessment were the overall school and District support for the program professionalism of our instructor Master Sergeant Mr Glenn futral and the maturity displayed by our Cadet leadership team tonight I'm all dressed up because uh my Cadet staff and I will be presenting the mission briefing given to Mr um Garcia that highlighted the important stuff of rgc like our unit goals and our Cadet achievements we had a fantastic night at brick memorial on February

00727th when we hosted two major events our class of 2025 hosted our student annual BM Boutique which was actually featured on the front page of last week Ocean Star we had over 200 dresses in formal wear donated and raised almost $2,000 in dress sales for individual prices of less than $10 each we were also able to donate plenty of dresses after the night was over it was a great night seeing our community come together also that night our class of 2026 hosted our first talent show in over 5 years we saw 12 tremendous acts of students and staff sing dance and even solve Rubik's Cubes the highlight of the night was our winning act of The Minnow performing Living on a Prayer and our teacher band the sh educator is performing Enter Sandman on March

0083rd we saw our mock trial team take home the mayor's trophy when we were able to defeat our sister School of Brick Township at the municipal courthouse this has been an amazing year for our mock trial team who not only won our County championships but then went to win our regional championships to become one of just six schools left in the state competition unfortunately we ran into defeat last week but it doesn't take away from all the successes we had this year we are so proud of our adviser Mrs cord Leon and all of our mock trial team we had a great representation at this year's District Art Festival all of our Visual and Performing Arts were on display at Brick Township High School and helped to add a wonderful night for our district we're

009always proud of this event and all of our students and teachers last week our Juniors were tested for the New Jersey proficiency assessments thanks to our academic coaches Mrs Pierce and Mrs moner for meeting with all of our 11th grade students to help the prep and teach some tips and strategies for the test we feel like our Mustangs were ready to go and had a successful testing experience also thank you to everyone who participated in this year's District bowling tournament everyone's participation and efforts helped to raise over $1,000 for bowling scholarships and Unified sports we are proud of our Mustang teachers Dr Fitz Dr Fitzgerald Mr so and Mr yell for taking home this year's Trophy last week our honors course performed a powerful student run production Harmony for Humanity this was a project performance

010on behalf of the state New Jersey design Quest program our selections area Focus was on mental health and climate change and included songs from the Tony award winning musical Next To Normal and narratives from our AP environmental science program and Mr shy it was great to have Mrs Miss mcamera Mr Henry and mayor crate on our hand to hear our sophomore stem students Capstone project proposals last week our students are working hard to create positive promotion for our community and us using their efforts in great ways congratulations to Mustang staff Judy harzer and Sue Penrod for being recognized as Brick Heroes at last week student advisory ceremonies it was great to hear Dr Ferell speak and to see our teachers be honored for all that they do for our students and school Community yesterday we

011celebrated St Patrick's Day in style thanks to Chef LeBron and his culinary arts program our brick memorial teachers and staff are welcomed to an Irish Feast of corn beef cabbage shepherd's pie and all of the fixings it was a great time had by all and we are grateful for the time we are able to spend together during our lunch periods tomorrow along with the Lan Mill PTA we are excited to host our second annual Harlem Wizards night the fun starts at 6 p.m. with meet and greets and the game tips off at 700 p.m. at brookmore high school we hope to see you there finally today kicked off our inclusion and acceptance Spirit Week in which we come together as a school Community to demonstrate our inclusive culture at brick memorial our week is capped

012off with Friday's recognition of world world Down syndrome day with crazy sock day now on to our BM bmhs sports report brick memorial boys track and field The Brick memoral Mustangs boys track team enters the 2024 season with a strong core of talent and high expectations returning sexual Champion Ricky dylan in Sprints and Jackson Ellis in shotput will once again lead the way bringing experience with a winning mentality to the squad upper classman leaders Nazir W Whitaker and Malachi Saville provide steady leadership on and off the track helping to guide a young but promising roster newcomers Jason Lara and Trey Tage are set to make an immediate impact in the javelin adding depth to the field events underclassman Sean fer is another name to watch as he continues to develop into a key contributor for

013the Mustangs although young this group has shown plenty of potential and is determined to make a statement this spring starting with a South me on April 9th the future is bright for Brick Moro boys track and 2024 could be the year they turn heads across the shore conference girls track and field the brick memorial girls track team is of and running beginning their season on March 10th Junior Tory Hedley senior Cali Thompson and sophomore Samar Robinson will be leading the charge for our sprinters this season they have a strong group of returners who lead the way for a talented Freshman Class impressive newcomer sprinters include slone Kelly kayin Doyle Ellie Randolph Clark Patterson and Morgan Bland although they are young we expect them to make an immediate impact on our sprinters Collective success our distance

014Squad is led by seniors Katie Rogers and McKenna Ellis theyve been leading an impressive freshman group all year and will guide as we enter the championship season our young talented team expects to be in the mix when we head to the a South championships next month with a strong leadership from our seniors and a young group of talented upper classmen we expect our lady SS to be competitive at the county Shore and state championship levels now baseball the brick moral baseball team was placed in the ultra competitive a South Division the top Ocean County division because of competitive realignment the team returns with many players from a 2024 team that finished 17 and N overall returning senior starters include Jimmy pop Jackson figarella Brandon aluchi and Luke Douglas returning Junior starters include Tyler gushan Brody

015Moore Dan glensky Joe mcglinn and James Martin sophomore Zack pernick also returns as a team's Ace boys lacrosse the boys lacrosse team returns 21 players from a squad that reached a short conference coaches Cup Final last season leading the way for the team will be the seniors Austin Edwards AJ ER trout Frank Taylor Matt Hillen and Eden Crawford junior standouts Nick carea Jack deia and Shane triler will also play key roles with a strong core of returning Talent this team looks to build on last year's success and make an even deeper run this season and Tennis the boys tennis team is gearing up for an exciting 2025 spring season with a strong lineup featuring standof players like Shu Patel Dan Lynn and Michel LMO the team is ready to make an an impact on the

016courts sh's precision and strategy Dan's Speed and Agility and Mike's powerful serves will be key as they push for victory thison season the team is eager to build on their past successes and continue their Quest For Excellence let's get ready for an unforgettable season ahead that's all I have for tonight thank you thank you Kristen next up we have Paula Kobi and Ramos she is the president of the student government Association for Brick tanip High School Paula thank you and good evening I am Paula Kobe and Ramos and I am excited to share this month's bths Dragon update with you you but first I will report the middle school report for our sports update we have baseball softball and track and field have begun their tryouts and practice the past few weeks they will begin

017begin their games and meets at the end of March from the Visual and Performing Arts Department amazing amazing participation and performance from our arts department and music embl last week the district Art Festival hosted by Miss aandi Mr Murdoch and Mrs Perina and their and their students Rock the Visual and Performing Arts department and several other St staff helping with play are very thankful for the parents and staff and administration for your support during arts in our school's month first thank you to all who celebrated with us at the district art festivals on March 6 what an amazing night to be able to hear all levels of musicans ship and see so many different types of art projects I think Mrs aandi students made donuts almost good enough to eat second our department is getting

018ready for the drama club production Jack and the bean stock March 28th and 29th at 6 p.m. if you think you already know the story you will be surprised tickets are on sale for cast and crew only right now but will be available for anyone to purchase in the beginning of March 24th there be they are being sold $5 per person C and crew should regularly check their Google classroom to stay up to date on rehearsals and information for from Mrs padina our interact Club has collected plenty of plastic eggs for Do's house we are just in need of small candies and other items to stuff them with the brick morning rotar interact spring food and toy drive is still going we need items our food bin is empty and we only have a few

019toys and games collected the club members and I would like to thank the PT the PTA for donating their extra Hostess items for the vag sale I would also like to thank them for their participation in donating plastic eggs and items to stuff them for a Do's house initiative in addition the club appreciates their support and sharing our activities on the Facebook page Laker Ledger anime and manga clubs the Laker Ledger newspaper Club has just finished its winter Edition which will be going on to parents shortly we are proud to report that that two of our students two of our student reporters have initiated awareness days for a school and will write about them in the upcoming spring edition in March Lakers are encouraged to wear orange on Thursday March 28th for multiple sclerosis Awareness

020Month likewise in April students and staff are encouraged to wear blue for Autism Awareness on February April 12th the next Manga and Anime Club and will meet this Monday after school in the library on March 21st first as usual the students will check out and discuss books complete an seal activity do crafts have snacks socialize me and make like-minded friends drama club is very excited for their final weeks of preparation for their play Sleeping Beauty is a children's theater adaptation for a well-known story and will be performed on March 22nd and 23rd in the NPR tickets are $5 each and will be sold to the public starting next week senior band and voices from the lake performed at the district Art Festival last week they are also preparing for a spring concert May 14th and

021planning to attend the pack music for a Day Festival at Great Adventure May 24th all band inquir students should be returning returning to their Festival fees and permission slips by March 28th students who already have great adventure passes are free students learned how Engineering Process Works they had a set of supplies they had to use to create a device to hold a marshmallow astronaut we increased the height for each trial to see how the high device could go without the as astronaut falling out the science club also celebrated St Patrick's Day creating a leprechaun sand this was a chemical reaction between vinegar and baking soda the elus yearbooks may be pre pre-ordered by April 17th the student photographers have been busy capturing the sports photos and some school events to be memorialized in this yearbooks

022now on to the bths report this past month Brick Township High School hosted the district Art Festival visual art from every school was on display throughout the building additionally a multi-grade band and chorus concert was performed at the festival bths also participated in the district corresponding spirit week which included mix it up Monday Tuesday Tunes Wacky Wednesday theater Thursday and Feelgood Friday March 7th was maintenance worker Appreciation Day in support of this day bths held a celebratory breakfast for the district M maintenance staff recognizing them for all the support they provide to BTS and our district bths administered the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment to all grade 11 students on March 11th 12th 13th and 14 14th as part of the graduation assessment requirements the senior class won Battle of the classes all four classes

023competed in in a variety of classic relays as well as new events such as the inflatable mattress relay and basketball musical chairs the air mattress re the air mattress log roll was everyone's favorite this year now on to her athletic Deport Elizabeth Aila plays eighth at the njsiaa state wrestling tournament in Atlantic City the chorus and band competed in the New York Big Apple Classic on St Patrick's Day scoring a gold level in all groups the event accumulated with our marching band marching in the New York St Patrick's Day Parade the girls bowling team won the South Jersey group two section two sectional championship the ice hockey and girls basketb girls basketball teams finished their successful Seasons with a loss in the state playoffs spring sports are now in full swing girls acros girls softball

024and boys B Boys Baseball had their first scrimmage today now onto our club reports this month's NHS member of the month is Santiago Valencia santi's enthusiasm and dedication to the NHS NH chapter is truly unmatched he's always eager to lend a helping hand he plays a key role in making our elementary school events a success whether assisting with activities engaging with her students or bringing up school spirit to life San's passion for service shines through he even goes the extra mile by dressing up as a mascot at every event bringing joy and excitement to everyone around him congratulations Santi Key Club recently held it elections for board positions members have also been assisting at Emma Havens and Warren Wolf with child care the club assisted the bths drama club with their indoor show the class

025of 2025 hosted a thrilling volleyball tournament fundraiser team Spike It Like It's Hot won the tournament the double good popcorn fundraiser was also a success this month for the class the brick brick mock trial mayor's cup match took place on Monday March 3rd congratulations to B MHS on their Victory it was a great event looking ahead into the future the bths drama club has been busy rehearsing this year's spring production High School Musical come out and see the show on Friday April 11th at 6:30 or Saturday April 12th at 1:30 or 6:30 NHS will be participating in the Polar Plunge to help fundraise for the Tiger Ola foundation and can't wait senior and Junior Prom bid packets are now available bid sales will take place in the month of April all packets must be completely

026filled out in order to purchase a bid go see your class advisor with any questions be sure to stay connected to bths events and inside information by accessing our school website SGA Instagram bths sgaa and our school Twitter at bths dragons you can always see our happenings through through month happenings monthly through Dr cajun's Dragon review thank you for this [Applause] opportunity thank you Paula at this time uh we would like to call to the mic um Colonel MC Wade major Thomas cucarola and major Tyler cucarola to give the uh briefing on on the evaluation that our brick schools Roc program just received please welcome them to the [Applause] mic just give Aiden a second to start your presentation thank you Aiden do we have another mic we can give the maiden is that mic

027is the mic on the podium live okay thank you you know just a little bit of technical difficulty we just keep going on the Fly it's all good is is that one not working okay great job just a little bit of teamwork we're good again I'm cadc Colonel Kristen mcwade I'm a senior in our brick afjrotc and tonight I'll be going over the briefing that we gave to Mr Garcia okay here is a overview of our unit structure um we are the Brick Mustangs and Dragons at the top we have the cadet Commander myself director of operations Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Rashad Dingle Personnel Cadet Captain Thomas karell Logistics Cadet Captain Tyler karell and our public affairs Cadet Cameron Mitchell this school year we have 51 Cadets assigned to two flights with the big biggest um

028with the biggest numbers being our first years with 31 First Years so here is an overview of our unit goals and measures um we had two Cadet impact goals the first one Cadets will maintain at least a 90% average on uniform inspections for the first semester 22 out of our 24 Cadets maintain that goal and Cadets will have at least an 80% average in afj RTC at the end of each quarter again 22 out of our 24 Cadets maintain that goal our school impact goals the first one 75% of kets will participate in any school act any after school activity this could be our ldrs Athletics and school clubs um 69% of cadets participate in after school activities number two complete four recruiting trips to the local middle schools NJ a22 addressed 294 middle schoolers

029at BMS and 3155 middle schoolers at lmrs lrms completing two of our four trips um during that time 80 middle schoolers from both schools expressed interest in joining architect core and lastly our community impact goals the first one at least 60% of cadets will participate in a community parade we had 100% of cadetes participation in our Tom's River veteran say parade in November with 24 out of 24 Cadets participating and lastly Cadets will participate in two community outreach events we did complete the school having our schoolwide American Red Cross blood drive and assisting at with the Norwegian foot March sponsored by The Joint Base for an overnight trip 100% of cadets participated in assisting the blood drive I'll pass it off to Cadet major Thomas karell for unit health and wellness hello I'm Cadet major

030Thomas karell I'm the Personnel officer for ng22 I'm a junior so in ROTC we like being physically fit we do a PFT which is the Presidential Fitness Test three uh 30 no 23 out of the 24 first semester completed it we had one gold star which is a 95% or higher a s uh two silver stars which is 85 to 95 and a bronze star which is 75 to 85% so uh n22 we do a lot of community service events our Cadet average is 15.95 per Cadet and the 11 uh April 11 2024 to the 10th of April is the nj2 overview not nj2 the afjc when they do the events reset so some Community Service events we do is 911 memorial stair climb and we also did The Seer 5 so here are some

031uh pictures of the community service events we had the N uh the 911 memorial stair climb we had the Memorial Day Parade the Norwegian foot March and re Across America this year and some of our CIA trips we planned for this year the Army National Guard Aviation facility we did on January 8th 2025 we are going to the 9911 Memorial Museum in April of 2025 we have the power of M Pines air show of the 16th of May and we have the Seager militia Museum tour and beach day coming June 2025 so here are some uh pictures of the CIA trips the Army National Guard tour the West Point we did last year and the career day we did last year as well and I'm going to pass on to the cadet major Tyler karella

032right so I'm Tyler karell I'm our Logistics officer and I'm going to go over our ldr activities these are our after school activities that ROTC have so we have three tiers of them we have our stem based tiers these are our Hands-On activities our science technology um activities we have our activity based tiers which are like drill team color guard anything we do with like our rifles or drove movements and our unit base which kind of impact the school or our unit as a whole right um yeah so we also have Cadets across campus so some Cadets participate in a of organizations outside of school most notably a lot of them participate in church youth groups this is around seven of our Cadets we have a lot of cadets that are participating in sports um

033a lot of them participate in track we have 10 Cadets in track got another five in basketball this is across all of our 51 Cadets uh for clubs a lot of them participate in Key Club we have around six Cadets or eight Cadets there uh a lot of them also participate in student government and peer leadership with two and three Cadets there as well and those are some pictures and then finally our Arts our Bandon Color Guard so some Cadets participate in the bands that are offered at both schools four Cadets there and another three at chorus four at drama and then one at the vocational schools and then I'll finish up with our cadetes in action this is an overview of what we do um not only for our unit but for the community

034um we have our a picture of our annual awards ceremony um where the the unit gets together to give our awards for the end of the year staff week um our senior staff gets together a week in the summer to plan out ROTC for the future cap flights we got an opportunity to go with the Civil Air Patrol flying um I went on that I flew a plane it was awesome um there's our end of the year military ball and our brick and Beyond and a recruiting trip that we just went to like we said in Veterans Memorial Middle School good evening ladies and gentlemen I'm Master Sergeant futural I'm the Aerospace science instructor for the RC program first of all I'm very proud of these Cadets so thank you so the reason big reason

035why we're here first of all I want to thank you for all the time that you've given us in the past where we gave you an update on a monthly basis we we took a pause from that mostly because we knew this inspection was coming wanted to kind of build up some of the anticipation perhaps anyway on the 26 of February the Air Force sent a representative to do an inspection on our program it's an annual requirement now and here are the results overall grade of an 83.3 so an academic mindset that's a b it's a solid grade room for improvement uh Air Force talk that's a that's a meet standards uh there are five graded areas uh Baseline I'll let you read the some of the details but Baseline basically covers all the uh

036the compliance requirements based on what the school owes the ROC program the safety and Welfare has to do with safety and Welfare of the cadets of course uh Cadets is things that they have to show the inspector uh the instructor of course he wants to make sure I can one be a teacher and also that I'm helping to manage the program correctly and then every year there's a couple of the air Air Force junor ROTC director's special interest items usually that those will change new items that the the director is interested in checking out in the field it may be added to the checklist the next year or it may go away U all in all sections 1 three and five can either be meet does not meet or not rated if it doesn't apply

037to our unit uh sections three and four also has the ability we can get a a little little Kudo on the getting exceed standards so we're g to I'm going to skip over all the meats and just hit the uh the best practices or exceed standards so our Cadets here uh one of the reasons we had them give you the presentation they just gave is that is a condensed version of the cadet Mission briefing that was given to the evaluator uh which they got high marks exceed standards on matter of fact I think what he said was I would take them anywhere to do a presentation so our Color Guard which you get to see several of our Cadets we we rotate the color guard uh with Board of Education football games that kind of

038thing but we have a dedicated team that practices nearly on a weekly basis uh they got to show off in front of the the inspector and again exceed standards they not only did all the required step steps that they they they were actually given a couple of options do a or b they did A and B and did it very well so good job on them uh for the instructor and this is not up there to toot my own horn so um exceeds for evidently I look good in my uniform professional image uh manag to deliver the curriculum relatively well and they also make sure that we're using the most up-to-date Air Force provided curriculum to the cadets uh the curriculum in action or field trips we got the the exceed standards on that I

039want to give the cadets a lot of credit on that as well my job on that is to submit the field RP requests to get the bus to make the reservations at wherever we're going they do everything else they do the signup sheets the where are we going for lunch uh help to collect money if we need to collect money and permission forms all of it they manage the program so I'm just there to be the adult supervision in the room the and then finally the professional relationship with the faculty and staff so everybody that our evaluator talked to from Mr saruca in in the front office of course the guidance office the custodians every staff member they ran into at the end of the day he said everybody spoke highly of both the instructor

040but also the cadets uh so again I want to give the entire faculty and the cadets credit it just happened that that particular item is under the instructor requirement there now it wasn't all good news we did have a couple of things that we have to work on uh namely something that I need the the board or the district's help with is the one thing that we had it does not meet standards on is we're required by by the memorandum of agreement between the district and the Air Force to have two instructors on staff we have me I am the one uh so as soon as we get a second instructor hired that goes away uh the and the other one uh something that I take personally to to work on is our Cadets did

041perform exceptionally well in a lot of areas but one thing that we do is a 30 command drill sequence that our seconde Cadets have to perform uh they they got through it I'll say that it was a little rough but they got through it uh we we're going to work on drill more marching so we we'll do better and our not only our second year but our first year Cadets by the end of the year are going to they're going to shine in the Memorial Day Parade coming up so uh and I just wanted to highlight it turns out ironically enough it's some of these very same people kette Thomas karella was received a top performer award from the evaluator uh because of his role as Personnel officer his job was to make sure all

042of our documentation these forums that are up there the DD Forum 2303 sent for him it's brand new this year it goes to all home with all the cadets they have to sign an initial a bunch of places the parents have to sign an initial a bunch of places and if he finds one thing wrong with it that's a discrepancy we had zero writeups on that so so Thomas made sure we got that done and then Cadet Tyler cerello as our Logistics officer made sure number one that all the cadets had uniforms and they were squared away for our Mass formation and number two he's also responsible to make sure that those replica weapons that you see at the color guard rifle Sabers that kind of thing that they're maintained clean properly marked and properly

043stored so that they don't get lost if nobody accidentally goes and does something they shouldn't be doing with it so that's on him so he got Kudos on that 100% and lastly but not least KC Colonel Christen McQuade was coined or received a round metallic object or a challenge coin that's a kind of a tradition in the military from the evaluator because of her one doing an exceptional job as the cadet Commander uh and also by the time we got to the point of the the uh unit formation he had already heard from multiple people that she is not only the cadet Commander but the president of the student government National Honor Society student athlete so she's the epitome of well-rounded person in the school so he uh he was impressed so that was an

044[Applause] additional that being said again thank you very much for your time and your patience and if anybody has any questions of course you can email me I I won't take up any more time with that thank you can we have one more round of applause for this outstanding [Applause] group so moving on with presentations um a couple of years ago we had a girl scout uh come to the board meeting and she was um looking to implement a project here in Brick Township where she gathered supplies for our school teachers to open up the school year and uh that was a very very successful uh operation that she put into place since then uh she has been recognized by the Girl Scouts of America with a gold presidential service award for 296 six and

045a half service hours please come forward Riley Sherwood to take a [Applause] picture this is great I remember e [Applause] look at it moving on with presentations at this time Mr Mosley for the antibullying HIV training presentation Mr Mosley is uh operating with a little bit of a deficit today but he's here and we're happy happy to have him e okay the intent uh physically or emotionally hurt someone what is the intent of the action and finally what is the distinguishing characteristic that's important that we understand there are disting distinguishing characteristics that involved in assessing HIV here they are racial comments sexual comments LGBT physical appearance fat ugly short now the location here is once again this is where we start to get into a gray area with the use of the internet there is

046so much that goes on on the internet now it can come into the school kid who goes home and at the end of the day finds a picture all over the Internet with comments how are they coming to school the next day feeling safe we have to be able to make sure all our students are safe and once again school events and on the our transportation buses this is where we are so far this year the key here is down at the bottom District totals I want us to note that last year at this point we had had 30 HIV this year 21 so we're showing some real progress and I think part of that is reflected in what I'm going to go over without training that we do do these are opportunities from the

047district down conflict resolution character development mayor team Council Strauss Esme Ocean County Prosecutors are all involved in training not only our students but also our staff New Jersey Bar Association actually gives School climate assessments violence prevention anti-bullying training peer mediation we've tapped into that that Avenue as well our secondary is what we're going to see a lot of peer leadership where we actually have upper class bringing along our underclassmen meeting with them making sure they understand things and how things operate in their first year youth prevention Coalition health and wellness groups school-based initiatives our school basis is very involved in what we do they have little clubs that they host and students can get tied into those clubs once again the key is making our students feel safe and secure at the elementary level we

048use kelo's choices basic program because it's 23 lessons program is evidence-based once again evidence Bas is critical that we understand it's been tested it works and it does character education making sure our kids understand what good character is how are we supposed to operate in our climate today character character goes a long way understand I just talked to Brick Memorial's lacrosse team today Bo lacrosse and we reviewed character education what does respect mean how do you manifest that thank [Applause] you one last thing forms are available if anyone needs them thank you Mr Mosley thank you Mrs zono I'm going to need a first and a sec a motion and a second for the approval of minutes of February 2025 executive session and February 20th 2025 regular meeting motion second George vote Mary Miss Kennedy

049yes M Benedictus yes Mr Henry yes Mr Mel jury yes Mr Mesmer yes Miss yes Dr frell thank you misso March 1st marked the start of my sixth year as a superintendent of brick schools um I can't believe that I'm in my sixth year um and my 13th overall superintendent these past six years have been U very challenging to say the least but extremely rewarding together we fa the challenges of a global pandemic and the devast stting cuts and state aid this could not have been accomplished without an extremely supportive community of Educators parents and board members our student centered teacher-led and community connected vision and strategic plan will continue to drive our goals and strengthen our school district a lot of congratulatory notes uh for what has been happening over to the winter season

050and the last few months uh first congratulations to the brick memorial high school girls bowling team for an unpreceded sedent in fifth year in a row state championship and Olivia Salvatore was named New Jersey state bowler of the year um congratulations to Brick moal wrestling on winning their 19th sectional title and competing in the overall group three State title Harvey lington finished his career as a three-time state champion and a career record of 154 and three uh Sunny deao took fourth in the state and Ben zuba finished sixth in the state great job to our our brick memorial Grapplers congratulations also to Brick Township High School girls bowling they won the South Jersey group two sectional Championship so we're a little bit of a bowling uh town going on in Bricktown so congratulations to them

051and congratulations to Brick Township High School student athlete Liz Aila on placing eighth in the State uh in girls wrestling I know she placed last year as well so congratulations to them and congratulations to Brick Township High School boys and girls basketball teams for winning the short conference Mickey Hart sportsmanship award this award is presented to the Ocean County basketball program that demonstrated the best sportsmanship during the 2024 2025 season nice job by our girls basketball and boys basketball team brick ey lastly uh congratulations to our Brick Township High School athletic director Mr Jason Longo on achieving the national inter Scholastic athletic administrators administrators Association the niaaa certified athletic administrator distinction uh to achieve this recognition an ad is evaluated and it includes a rigorous and comprehensive written examination Mr Longo is one of an

052elite group of ads Nationwide to attain this level of professionalism so congrats to Mr Longo I missed our district Arts Festival this year but thank you to Fran Bristol and her TV class for creating a video that beautifully showcased our district Arts Festival a true Community celebration held on March 6th at Brick Township High School in honor of youth youth Arts months our K to 12 schools came together to display the richness of our Visual and Performing Arts programs the event attended by hundreds underscored the extraordinary musical talent and creativity of our students we express our sincere thanks to supervisor Miss Lane and our staff for their dedication and coordinating uh this remarkable event if you haven't gotten a chance please try to attend next year it's phenomenal uh and we're going to get that

053video up to the uh website shortly and the 2025 2026 tentative budget um it's just a tenative budget as we say every year and tonight we will be looking at approving that tenative 2526 budget for the 2526 operating budget we have a 0% increase in expenditures at this point we're still awaiting guidance from the state on Revenue options and projections I thought that would change this year it has not it's a kind of the same old Story the process is very fluid and unfortunately everchanging the 2526 budget adopted is scheduled for April 28th and the userfriendly budget should be posted to the district website shortly thereafter the state requires as I say every year a balanced budget the state sets an adequacy budget for a constitutionally required thorough and efficient t& education for all students

054in all districts brick schools is $28 million under adequacy according to the state and $48 million under the local fair share this is not even close to the state average and way below the average cost per pupil we're doing our best to minimize the impact on our students and our staff during these tough times I assure you that we look at all avenues that are in the best interest of our students and our staff and lastly in the Spirit of St Patrick's Day I want to say how lucky I am to work with this community uh we continue to work with our Board of Education to create a positive learning environment for all our students staff parents and community so in the Spirit of St Patty's Day let's celebrate the green of growth the gold

055of knowledge and the luck of learning together happy St Patrick's Day Dr Anderson thank you Miss Zan Ron the cni committee met on March 10th in attendance for Mrs de Benedictus her chairperson Mr Henry Mr maleri and myself uh first to preview the items under the cricet instruction section of the agenda which included training and travel field trips student teacher placement grants and clubs um next I went through an overview of the midyear assessment data focusing on our assessment tools student growth and instructional strategies I began with I ready math detailing its core components and personalized learning features designed to Foster problem-solving skills through the try discuss connect routine uh the program is used in grades ker 7 and it's highly interactive which is what the I and I ready stands for Mr Henry asked

056that question I didn't know it builds strong mathematical thinkers who can make connections between strategies and apply their thinking to new problems midyear diagnostic data for grades uh K to 8 was presented I provide an overview of the Lexia Core 5 midyear progress for K 5 Lexia is a computer-based program which is designed to develop students literacy skills by focusing on phonological awareness phonics fluency vocabulary and comprehension this personalized learning platform follows an Adaptive learning model adjusting to each students individual needs providing them with targeted instruction based on their strengths and weaknesses I presented another assessment tool the dynamic indicator of basic early literacy skills otherwise known as dibles it's used to measure literacy skills in grades K through five it's used to identify students who need need help with reading uh to monitor student

057progress to guide instruction and screen for dyslexia I provide a snapshot of Devil's midyear data for grades K to2 at the mid School level Achieve 3000 is a supplemental online literacy program that provides differentiated non-fiction reading and writing it focuses on key literacy skills and tracks students reading levels midyear data shows actual growth significantly exceeds the projected targets for grades 6 through 8 the final assess assessment I shared was linkit which is an assessment platform to help students track student performance to help teachers track student performance to differentiate instruction as set standards Al set student goals aligned to standards and track that progress this Benchmark assessment for ELA Math and Science provides teachers with a standards report to identify the weakest standards for remediation I highlighted the growth between the ELA beginning of the year

058and middle of the Year benchmark assessments I also explained how teachers engaged in professional learning communities on March 5th to use this data to develop targeted interventions using njsla aligned resources and a pacing schedule in preparation for the upcoming njsl Administration in May in terms of family engagement I highlighted some of the activities that had recently occurred read Across America week and the district Arts Festival I previewed upcoming events such as our brick High School transition Fair our transition Fair which will be at Brick High School on March 27th the lake Riviera Middle School drama production on March 28th and 29th um our osbornville school will have its fourth grade wax museum on April 3rd and the kindergarten kickoff will be on April 8th for drump Point Emma Havens and midstreams and April 10th for

059Lan's Mill osbornville and vetel and so if you know anybody who has a child who um will attend kindergarten in the fall please tell them to check our website those dates will be listed and will be sending out blackboards and reminders um our next meeting will be April 14th at 4:30 pm and so um I don't know if you noticed under my section um we also approve grants and clubs and Miss mm would like to share some good news that we had on this month's agenda thank you Dr Anderson so we had a h young person from Lake Riviera Middle School she Happ happens to be the president of the National Junior Honor Society real Norman uh she so Riel uh put in a grant to the National Association of Secondary School principles uh looking

060to start an intermural flag football club for the spring of 2425 and uh once she put in for that she did receive the grant for $1,000 so we would like to recognize Riel this evening the flag football intral flag football uh team at Lake Rivier Middle School will start this spring uh under the advisers of Shannon Bowman and Mary Beth Prince so Riel please come forward and I think I think Riel has some friends with her so why don't you guys move forward too to take a picture and Mr Campbell a [Music] it's just thank you Mrs AA Ron uh we the policy and planning committee met this month on uh March 14th uh in attendance were Mrs de Benedictus Mr maleri Mrs pakala and Dr Farrell and myself the policies on and regulations on

061the agenda this evening are on for first read uh we discussed those and they are all revisions of current policies that we have in Place some of them were revised in accordance with the memorandum of agreement between education and law enforcement and the others were updated due to uh regulations and laws that impacted them so again these are on for a first read and an opportunity for everyone to take a look and then they'll be on for a second read in April our next meeting is scheduled for April 10th at 4:30 pm virtually thank you Mrs Zano Mr kler Mr Edwards thank you Mr IR I'll start with facilities the facilities committee met on March 13th at 4:30 attendance Miss Kennedy Mr Mesmer Dr Farrell myself Mr picoro Mr shaton from fvhd Architects Miss G

062Arty from spel Architects Mr seagull from spel Architects Miss Cashman from spel Architects and Mr yor from Neta architects first item of business was the lake Rivier Middle School air conditioning project Mr yor informed the committee that the final steal inspection report and closeout documents are pending uh there is a change order that remains there regarding the balancing it's still being reviewed and worked out with the contractor veterans moral Middle School boiler Replacements and air conditioning Mr you are reported that the electrical shutdown and air conditioning completion are still scheduled to start the last day of school and will extend through the summer there also is a same issue there with the change order on the balancing that's being worked out with the contractor Emma Haven Young Elementary School and Veterans Mo Elementary School Mr

063yor reported that both school projects are complete and operational and that's another two schools that we can remove from the agenda so that was exciting Lan M Elementary School air conditioning Miss G already reported that they've received the close out documents and they just waiting to confirm the equipment labeling and then that project will be able to be closed out midstreams air conditioning Miss Cashman reported that all the permits have been all the permits have been obtained the condenser pads for the AC units have been dug framed inspected and are currently being poured osbornville air conditioning Miss Cashman reported that the permits obtained an equipment ordered there's some mobilization but not much site work as of yet War H Wolf air conditioning Mr Euro reported that the bid opening was March 11th there was one

064bidder on the project and it's under budget by 196,000 that's on this evening's agenda for for approval Herbertsville air conditioning Mr y reported that there were two B in that project the ler was under budget by 35360 um and so that is also on this evening's agenda for approval osbornville kitchen Edition Miss Cashman reported that shorelands construction has begun some light demolition is working on relocating the temporary gas line the conduit for the solar uh en cam I'm sorry this conduit for the solar has been moved and the C canopy demolition has begun midstream's Elementary School kitchen Mr Euro reported that meeting was held recently there's some equipment and adjustments on the mechanical engineering drawings that are required that were at the guidance of the food service director Miss Richardson uh the asphalt cut entr

065trenching with the CM CMU and Foundation poor is scheduled to occur actually that day uh next meeting scheduled is that's I think it's April 13th i' accidentally typed March 13th so it's April 13th right April 13th tax April 15th is it yeah 15 you're right April 15th sorry March 13 was the day of the meeting uh next finance committee uh Mr that was also March 13th at 5 o'clock Mr Mesmer missan Mr Benedictus Dr farell and myself uh first item of business was the 2526 school school budget Dr frell informed the committee that the tenative budget will have a 0% increase in expenditures on the operations budget he noted that on the revenue side it will show 2% increase for tax levy and an increase of $871,000 in state aid he reminded the committee that

066tenative budget will change prior to the adoption of the final Budget on April 20th 2025 as we're still waiting for guidance from the state on the revenue side and we need expenditure data from the actuaries on the self-insured insurance plans such as workman's compensation and health benefits I reviewed the state8 calculations the committee highlighting that the district is being limited by 2.8 million in special education funding now that the state has used an actual enrollment in calculation rather than the 15.9% census that used for every District regardless of their actual enrollment in past years um Dr farell and myself discussed with the committee uh potential options going forward with the NJ dooe um because they've now created adjustment Aid the year after S2 got rid of all adjustment Aid and now brick is being affected

067negatively in the other direction m d Benedictus asked for information in regards to the district cost per pupil uh I indicated that it it's approximately 15,000 for prek to 5 16,000 for middle school 177,000 for high school 19,000 for lld 26,000 for BD 265 for autistic 22,000 for MD and 21,000 for pre disabled m d Benedictus also asked if there were any Elementary classes that were greater than 30 uh I noted that there were a few that were close but none currently over 30 misson uh asked for information regards to administrative costs and Dr farell myself noted that brick is the second lowest from the bottom in the State Community solar and building performance was the next item of agenda uh informed the committee that Mr Borio is still working with dco energy discussing the

068layout of carports and so there's no other news to share at this time New Jersey school Insurance Group safety Grant I informed the committee that New Jersey school Insurance Group has awarded the district a grant in amount of $1,479 I noted that the prior year grants have been used to support purchasing cameras on the school buses and the committee agreed that the fund should continue to be put towards purchasing those cameras advertising I informed the committee that press Communications and Atlantic healthc care have both purchased School Bus advertisements uh budget transfer request for technology I informed the committee that technology has made a request to move funds into equipment in the amount of 12577 74 and noted that the warranty on the two Dell servers in the data center have recently expired and Technology like

069to forego extending the warranty to purchase a new server which would be inevitable once the extension of the warranty would have expired um I informed them that the it it team feels that the third server allows for more redundancy balancing the 20 plus virtual servers the technology has the funds available because of efficiencies they have within their current budget by reducing pots lines and not or minimally needing certain Consulting Services the committee concurred that the transfer should be allowed Grant consultant I informed the committee that the Department of Community Fair has fairs has approved the district's request to utilize a competitive Contracting process for the procurement of Grant Consulting Services I noted that my office will begin preparing the request for proposal for said services and the date of the next meeting uh the committee

070discussed scheduling two meetings in the month of April one for General agenda items and one for the 2526 budget the committee established April 8th at 4:30 and April 15th at 5:00 as the next dates and times thank you this is the first public comment session on agenda items only this will be the first first opportunity for the public to comment and will be for agenda items only 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 comments shall be limited to five minutes board will not during the public portion of this meeting discuss matters involving employment appointment termination of employment negotiations terms and conditions of employ employment evaluation of performance or promotion or

071disciplining of any specific perspective or current employee and student anybody have any questions sir just state your name when you get up there good evening my name is Fred Rubenstein past three term president of the Bara Township Board of Education current Township administrator of plumstead Township in Ocean County but I come to you tonight commenting on the agenda item because I heard somebody mention the word Transportation the bulk of my career that started in March of 1973 has been in passenger Transportation specifically buses I've been there from diesels I've been there from L CNG and I am a militant opponent of electric buses and I'm here to tell you why so that hopefully you will not be sucked in under the guise of is that am I within your parameters if not I have a

072question on what item your was I heard the gentleman I don't know your office sir the gentleman now near the end you mentioned trans yes you mentioned transportation did you not so transportation is not docketed for Action not if it's the agend no I com I will I will yield until that time my my regrets thank you not a problem anyone anyone else Mr Finelli nope welcome thank you this is a Le turn not a podium I'll keep you minding we all get it right okay couple of quickies I don't have a lot on this on the agenda I committed to keeping you updated on my one of my favorite topics field trips seven more on the agenda tonight that brings the total number up to 163 is that all for the year yeah that

073all yeah that does not include things like the senior picnic that you're voting on on this agenda where all the seniors go to a beach party again I'll remind you I don't know what the right number of field trips is I do know that my gut feeling tells me until we get Scholastic achievement up to at least the state average you need to maximize school class time not field trips I don't know what the number is but there's a problem secondly uh there's two items four and six that are Grant items that you're you're voting on my question is do all Grant items have to be voted on by the school board and is it safe to assume that when you vote on them you read them and understand them yeah is there a reason

074why the school board has to vote on on grants anybody tell me is that all your no okay my last subject is you briefly touched on your tenative budget and if I read it and understand it correctly uh the total expenditures from the general fund is exactly what it was last year but what you I think you neglected to mention was that based on this tenative budget your anticipated revenues are down by $2.6 million I.E your taxes to be raised going up by $2.6 million you're shaking your head no I'm Shing yes okay well that that's it for that so for so the grants we always get our grants approved grants are always a good thing because we're getting money I don't know if there's a statute or guidance Mr Edwards that the board has

075to approve we have always put grants on the agendas for board approval and acceptance of Grants um because we do think it's a positive thing is there anything guidance wise where they need to be approved it's policy and it's also best practice policy and best practice for Grants to be on um the agenda tenative budget right now as we say every year means absolutely nothing we took the exact budget of what our expenditures are this year so 0% increase and right now as you know salary and benefits which is about 86% of our budgets going to probably go up 5% on average when you do benefits we don't know that Actuarial number we're also waiting for the end of this week from the State Department of Education there's a couple things that could come out

076at the end of this week or the beginning of next week on Revenue which could change the revenue um I don't want to say stabilization Aid like the last time but apparently for those districts that are under adequacy and under their local fair share there's a pot of some money we're waiting to hear on that along with the guidance for the tax levy um otherwise the actual budget will be in similar years we're going to have to balance that budget with what we have and that's it do do you feel do you personally feel comfortable with going with the first number your your actual expenditure matching last year yeah and that's been done in the past here um according to Mr Edwards we've done that in years past because the state yeah listen I'm going

077to say it again I thought this year would change timeline wise absolutely didn't last year if you remember things changed in the Summer where we had two extra meetings um it was supposed to change and be earlier on some of the guidance nothing really changed um according to the state if if if you listen to Mr Edwards one of the things that happened this year they finally kind of looked at the funding formula in a different way on the special education side and they looked at it from a enrollment base at a census base which actually showed that we would get like $3 million more but what um the state did not tell us a few weeks ago when they said they were going to cap the decreases for the losers at 3% they didn't

078tell us that they were also capping winners at 6% which is our exact amount 6% so we received a shortfall uh once again uh doing that so you know this process I think Mr Benedictus said a great in our finance it's really a fluid process unfortunately because it shouldn't be this fluid and this ever changing as I have said in my comments but yeah thank you Dr Anderson thank you m Ayanna Ron under curriculum instruction the superintendent recommends that the board approved the following items one through six I'm going to need a motion and a second motion Ali second bran any board comments um I would like to just say congratulations to real she um with the flag football Grant thank you to miss Bowman and Miss Prince um for volunteering your time without our

079um teacher volunteers so many of our our clubs and things couldn't happen and for number six Mrs Decker um always goes above and beyond she um I'm lucky that she's got one of my kids and she's an excellent teacher and I'm excited to see a grant on here for her I have one too so um Riel for the um the flag football the amount of work that she put in is just amazing she did it upon herself she went and she filled out all the paperwork she had to line item everything she had to do a budget like this girl is amazing and um we need more kids like that so if anybody out there had has something that they're super passionate about and it's not in our schools well go get a grant and

080if you need help real will help you because she's an awesome kid trust me um but I am so amazingly proud of her and how she went above and beyond anyone else I will say the same as France said I know riela since she was a little girl she helps out with anything she can and she works hard at whatever she does okay I need a roll call please Miss Kennedy yes m d Benedictus yes Mr Henry yes Mr maleri yes Mr Mesmer yes Miss yes uh Mr Edwards yes superintendent recommends items 1 through 25 I need a motion in a second motion Brad second alley any any board comments me again sorry um I just want to say number 15 and 16 I love that our ptas are working so hard to support the

081schools with all the extras that they need um that can't be in our budget because of the cuts from S2 um I have worked having been a PTA president for a few years and I worked with the girls over at um Emma Haven and Lan's mail um they're killing it and thank you so much this this reading Nook is awesome and a book vending machine was on my wish list when I was at vmes so um very cool thanks girls thank you very much Miss Kennedy stole my comments no you're good okay I have to abstain on 21499 I I can I just say operations number five Mary is that good enough for you sure okay operations number five but we yeah we a little bit ahead you're a little ahead again I need a

082motion in a second please motion Fran second George we got the motion in a second we just need we need a vote vote I'm not listening to you anymore Miss Kennedy yes Miss Ste Benedictus yes Mr Henry yes Mr mjeri yes Mr Mesmer yes Miss I need to abstain on operations number five and abstain on operations number 13 and now I need a vote please did V we did the vote I'm done it's on the rest oh boy okay Mr kler thank you Miss sanone under Human Resources tonight the superintendent is recommending items 1 through 10 and 12 through 36 for approval I need a motion in a second please motion Fran second Al any board comments guess who um under number one Mr Campbell you shoes are humongous to Phil so thank you for

083your many many I don't know how many but many years of service I don't know how we're how we're filling your shoes but um thank you for everything and oh can I be before Miss Mack and I would like to say welcome to Dr can I just say Dr nandy okay Dr nandy because I would probably butcher the your last name I'm so sorry now you're stealing my thunder so that's all I wanted to say so thank you same no comments I have a v please Miss Kennedy yes Miss Ste Benedictus yes Mr Henry yes Mr melery yes Mr Mesmer yes Miss yes so first of all welcome I know we have a few new hires so welcome and congratulations and thank you but we do have a special hiry um I want to it's

084I'm delighted to welcome Dr Nanda itaru um as our new director of special services for Brick schools here uh Dr ataru brings a wealth of experience in special education a proven track record of leadership and service she's currently the director of special services is at the mammoth ocean Educational Services Commission for Mammoth and Ocean County uh she recently received her doctorate in educational leadership um so please join us and welcoming Dr nandy ataru we're confident in our leadership and thank you Mandy did you want to say a few words promise I won't take too long um so I thank you so much for it's not on this one yep the lights on can you hear me oh okay so um I took a few notes um so I just have uh I'm just feeling much

085gratitude right now um it's been a process getting here um but the support and the care that I've um witnessed from this team already is just um you know for me tells me I made the right decision uh so I wanted to thank the board Dr frell and the administrative team um you know for the opportunity to really serve the children The Faculty the staff at Brick Township um I'm extremely excited for the opportunity not only to work with um this great team but to really support and serve um the students here I'm committed um and you know I have staying power I remember that from when I did the interview that was one of the things that um came up as what they needed um and the two things were support and staying power

086and I promise that I will bring that to you so thank you for having me welcome nandy Miss so we we do have several new hires in the audience tonight can you please stand so we can welcome you to The Brick Township yes and I would be remiss um we have uh one very special individual retiring from The Brick Township Public Schools Mr Kevin Campbell has served the Brick Township Public Schools since 1981 this is his 44th year he began his career at Emma Haven's Young Elementary School where he served as an elementary school teacher for three years he then moved to Lake Riviera where he spent the next 41 years of service 20 years as a teacher at Lake Riviera Middle School 15 years as an assistant principal and I was fortunate enough to

087have him as a member of my team and then he has spent the last six years as the principal of Lake Rivier Middle School Kevin you will be missed we love you thank you for all you've done for the students the staff and the community of brick awesome I tried to get through that without crying coach I just couldn't I didn't know this was going to break out to a retirement party Mr camell did you want to say a few words I know I know you're never at and uh thank you all for your kind words Mr Kennedy uh it's hard for me to uh speak because uh as my wife used to say I I when we were watching a sad movie I'd be the first to cry you know and I she'd be

088looking at me um it's an honor because I know so many of you at the coach ker I coached football George was my student Mr Mesmer I used to be a railbird with his dad watching the play Little League farm league baseball um you know Miss Mrs Ayan Ron we had her daughter in school so I remember meline from from way back Miss de Benedictus and and again it's it's the beauty of the brick Community those relationships that you build um besides that you know I have uh my VP here uh Britney I'm just blessed and this was not an easy decision as uh many of you know uh my wife Kathleen passed and uh that kind of changed the family Dynamics I am not retiring because I'm done I still have gas in the

089tank but my role in my family I think has changed and I think I have to show that uh dedication to my family because it's family first we all know that and so that's why I'm retiring not because of anything that's gone on or that I don't love lir Middle School don't love the experiences that I've had and don't look forward to every day because I am truly blessed to have spent my career as a you know employee of Brick Township and again thank you all thank you for that recognition if I knew that was going to happen I wouldn't have come thank you Miss mcar policy and planning thank you Mrs aanon the superintendent recommends that the board approved the following items one I need a motion in a second motion bran second Mike

090any board comments Mary vote Miss Kennedy yes Miss T Benedictus yes Mr Henry yes Mr mjeri yes Mr Mesmer yes Miss yes second comment public comment section this is the second opportunity for public comment each participant is asked to give his or her name prior to making a statement all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer comments shall be limited to five minutes 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 performance of promotion or disciplining of any specific or prospective or current employee Ander student is anyone just don't forget to give your name again I'm sorry still Fred Ruben thing born to get town and your neighbor uh I've gone to several school districts because

091I've been in the bus industry it's my life's work uh over 50 years 30 years with the MTA in New York City I'm responsible for the bus lanes you all love so much and then 14 years with New Jersey Transit where I retired as chief of the central region that included the Port Authority Bus Terminal and if that doesn't get you better acquainted with good fine Scotch then nothing will nevertheless electronic buses electric buses I don't believe in them let me tell you why there is a myth to them that they are the Cure All for air pollution everything including vitamin deficiency and dandru and that is just a fairy tale the capital cost to them is two to three times more than standard Diesel and or gasoline powered vehicles Al be they 40f Footers

092or be they what we call cutaway buses the maintenance the wear items the brake shoes the tires the suspension all out quicker why because of the added rate the added weight rather because of the batteries New Jersey Transit we tried them we thought about them we laughed about them and we forgot about them because we couldn't get them from Atlantic City to New York without a six-hour recharge at the Port Authority where our bus operators got time and a half we couldn't Mount them we had to take away all the underfloor luggage space because of the size of the batteries uh and it was just a logistical nightmare we had for them they were then melted down for razor blades when you have traditional fuel systems be they diesel be they gasoline liquid natural gas

093compressed natural gas the availability is good you ever run out of battery power with an electric powered car and have the guy from the triaa come he'd have to have a hell of an extension cord to get you up and going again there are practical considerations they do not last as long they are the biggest negative factor in my opinion is that the batteries for the most part come from China not our friends not our friends at all you need to consider that your spare parts inventory if available will be much more costly as far as operator training goes that too requires specialized knowledge specialized trainers I heard somebody mention in Rel relation to school buses your on board monitoring system Sam Sara drivecam and others you would need that you would need more of

094it I have great experience with these buses this is why you are not seeing them in certain towns you can see them in Manhattan because whether you go from the cloysters down to South Ferry it's only a couple of miles but you're not going to see them in New Jersey where when you go from the port authority to Cape May it's a couple of hundred miles they sound good very attractive whether they're Pro Terror whether they are Bluebird whether they are lion there are many blends to them uh I did have school buses for a brief time I was a general manager for First Transit the first student division in West Palm Beach Florida if I had any sents I would have stayed there it's nice and warm but nevertheless we came back North I

095urge you I urge you I urge you sales brochures are very pretty they're designed to get a consumer to part with their money think about them look at them speak to other districts it's interesting that the majority of the the providers private providers Garden State transport over in my town of plumstead we're still running an old diesel fleet why because it works it works I'll just end with this it is not the better mouse trap and that is 50 plus years of experience speaking to you please Choose Wisely I know you will thank you for your time thank you anyone else have any comments yep come on right up state your name when you get up there please hi I'm Sarah Frank um my son is a student at The Brick schools I was just

096wondering and maybe this isn't the right form to find this is there any route to bring more parental involvement into the preschools I know right now we don't have room moms we're not invited to any of the events um I've gone to the every PTA event and I still really have no involvement with the school but particularly I'm a stay-at home Mom I'd been really excited to be super involved with the school district to get to help in any way that I could and I just really haven't gotten the opportunity at the preschools and I was just wondering if there's any route to bring that in so your question will be answered at the end we perfect thank you so much anyone else Mr Finelli you're probably wondering why I asked about grants before that's

097a trick question I'm still struggling with if the school board reads the grants understands the grants and votes to approve the grants then how is it that four of you after you got the grant decided not to take it so maybe somebody could tell me how that works that four of you said we don't want the money um secondly I asked about absence list meeting and the only answer I got was well we had a very bad flu season that might be my answer but I was hoping for more so have we looked at that yet um lastly just an observ ation I read an interesting article about a week ago about padulla law law group which remember I asked questions about that what this article said was that Millstone School dist mstone middle Middletown

098School District voted not to renew their contract which which got my interest why are we bringing on somebody if somebody else is not going to renew the contract then I read another article that said the next week they had a special meeting and now they approved them which looks kind of suspicious to me this article was included in the bigger article which talked about middl toown trying to terminate uh a tenure teacher that had excellent performance appraisals which as you know there's a whole process but they were trying to fire this person right up front and even the Asbury Park Press came out and said we saw their performance appraisals and they were excellent so again it piqu my interest oh by the way did I happen to mention that the teacher that they were

099trying to fire anybody know who it was H yes the mayor of Tom's River right people people who live around the water have a saying if you spend a lot of time on the water if it looks like fish and it smells like fish it's probably fish so I'll be watching and I hope you are because something is not right here last but not least oh but by the way I really felt good with all the presentations of the young people and what they're doing I mean that that's good stuff and I'm glad to see these kids doing all of these great things and nice way to start a meeting off probably even to end it uh I wasn't going to share you share this with you but I will today I did one of

100my all-time favorite things right I filled out a form and mailed it into the state of New Jersey anybody like to guess what it was come on you should know New Jersey has done something unique now I want to call well it's the senior freeze it's the anchor program and for some of you probably don't even know it it's called stay in New Jersey our governor is going to now pay us old people to stay here and not move now again this all depends on just like you the budget right we won't know about this until July 1 so we have something in common but the good news is no matter what you do you ain't getting any more of my money so what I don't have to pay you have to pay remember that

101say what all all of them oh then now I know why you like to spend money and I spending yours thank you happy St Patrick's Day belated than you anybody else like to come up okay Dr I know there was um two items uh where's the mom um so whatever school you have we always talk in our in our district we talk about a chain I used to call chain of command I've been told numerous times that's more of a military term so I'm call a chain of communication I would implore you to contact not only the teacher at uh your child school but the principal there uh they do a great job getting parental involvement in a myriad of ways whether it's when they have a class party or something that's the first really

102line now I know there are issues with prek when it comes to the lower uh the younger age children at schools and who could be there in security and things like that in fingerprinting but that to I recurs is the first step and then go from there then when you get um to that point you could come to central office and either Miss mamar and myself or our director of special services at overseas prek will help you out along those lines um and then I I I do want to get into the absences for you Mr Finelli so we can answer some of that now we've been doing a pretty good job at the second public comment session the last year about we let everybody talk whatever we can answer tonight we will whatever we

103can't we'll get back to you or we'll put you in touch but I want to remind you Mr Finelli with the senior freeze that your taxes can never go up so your taxes will stay the same with the senior freeze so I just remind you of that I think that's important as as I say C I just wanted to remind you of that end that's great so miss mcnamar will I know you asked that last month about the absences I have to are there so we we ended 2024 with a uh 19 half% chronic absente absenteeism rate currently in 2020 25 were at 19.02 year to date right that's year to date all right I need uh any board comments did he have questions to answer or anybody else did okay any board comments sure

104yes please thank you very much president I appreciate it oh well oh that's okay I'll use whatever I have but thank thank you Dr frell I appreciate that thank you um one of the benefits of corner property it's very flexible switching the microphones um I'm starting for my I'm trying and I'm in the process of trying to get my real estate license so Corner property very Prime term for me um thank you very much thank you all very much for coming um every single uh parent student uh resident of the town uh staff member uh congratulations uh to our new director of special services uh candidly special services uh I have a personal bias in favor of special services it's uh very personal near and dear to my heart I happen to be on the

105autism spectrum so anything in relation to special education uh and advancing the um uh education thorough and efficient is guaranteed by our Stan Constitution for children with special needs disabilities such as myself when uh I was a student in the school district uh in one fashion or another from um age three to age 18 uh is very impactful uh by the grace of God had it not been for that I probably would not be in the seat um and uh in that Spirit um and it didn't occur to me that this was going to take place this evening quite frankly uh to Mr Campbell thank you very much for all that you've done um in my life um in one fashion or another uh Mr Campbell also holds a very big spot in my heart

106which candidly uh that means a lot coming from me because I'm uh not particularly eept with regard to emotions uh another part of being on the autism spectrum tend tend to view everything in a rather black and white fashion if you don't like it well as Judge Judy would say that falls under the category of too bad it's so fitting that I happen to be in New Jersey we have the uh largest rate of people on the autism spectrum of any uh state in the country it's so fitting that the two ju depose with one another uh people on the autism and new jerseyans both known for a lack of social filters we just say whatever we're thinking if we can speak uh prime location once again going back to that term but in that

107spirit with regard to Mr Campbell um who's also a very free thinker and free speaker um very um emotional to say the least to realize that he is uh not going to be the in the administration at Lake Rivier anymore I met him actually at fifth grade orientation uh when I was in uh Drum Point Road School uh he was one of the first people I met and he could not have been more welcoming uh and gracious and inviting um and comical uh throughout my time in the Middle School uh he was uh so kind and gracious as to come even to my college graduation party um and I see him all the time throughout the town at the job um many different places um I happen to be a server at a restaurant uh

108rainbow D around about 70 and he comes in all the time I'll be there at 600 or 7 in the morning he's already in there because he wants to get something to eat before he goes to work uh so it works out wonderfully uh and we talk about different matters relating to school and education and things in the world so on and so forth uh and he's just been so wonderful and I hope to continue to be able to have some form of communication uh and connection with him uh as time goes on and uh I remember um I remember his wife very fondly as well Mrs Campbell who was a teacher to Fair professional when uh I was a student at Lake rier Middle School uh I'm very sad that she passed away I

109remember going to uh I have ch missed the service itself the memorial service and I ran up to Mr Campbell I saw him getting into his car I was trying to get home from work change go I wanted to say Express uh whatever I could to him and give him something I ran up to him from my car as I saw him leaving and then his children was screaming hi George from the across the parking lot uh and then I sort of spooked him as I was trying to get to him because he was already in the car uh but uh there was that and um I remember his uh wife very well very fondly uh she was also quite comical and um and I suppose to just suppose the comical with the realities is

110Mr Campbell and I have certainly discussed a number of serious matters both in the Middle School uh and Beyond uh I appreciate the comments made uh particularly by uh Mr Rubenstein of uh Bara Township um in relation to transportation and so on and so forth and um in regard to uh electric buses given that we voted on that last month uh and a number of concerns uh and issues related to The Proposal that was presented to us that ultimately led to uh a majority not um necessarily actually no it wasn't in um it wasn't a unanimous vote but it was a majority uh that uh ultimately decided uh I would like to say candidly not necessarily never but just not in the moment for various reasons I'll give a personal anecdote I know people hate

111I think I feel I also hate I think I feel but I'm going to say it anyway because I think it adds to this um to the value of this topic uh I just got a new car recently uh and I did that by switching from an old car that my father thought was a good idea and I appreciated that considering that he was a mechanic uh for many years in my time growing up and this car that he got was uh his best friend's car and uh when his best friend got it was brand new was all the state-of-the-art technology so on and so forth and then I got it when I started college and uh it just all of the brand new items because it was a New Concept uh came to me

112and I got all of the worst effects of it everything that went wrong uh I appreciate it that I got it but anything that could go wrong at one frankly I went with something a little more traditional a little more tried and true because I was more weary I got something with a warranty a number of different issues uh relating to not only personal anecdote but for the benefit of the residents and taxpayers of the town and certainly the children uh who would be on these buses um going with something a little more um on the cautious side for the moment given the tumultuous times in which we've been living in the last few years um I apologize I I can't say that I have the feeling I'm definitely rambling I'm trying to figure out

113exactly how I can put together every single thing I have in mind uh thank you all very much for listening I'd like to thank uh the schools for allowing me to read it read across America week uh that was uh very nice um very enjoyable experience talking to very uh enthusiastic inquisitive children uh of various ages from Herbertsville preschool and Emma Haven Young Elementary School and I'd like to thank the teachers and the staff who were as welcoming as gracious as they were uh in those schools and is a great reflection of uh the children the parents the teachers and the residents of this community thank you all Mr Henry [Laughter] I'd like to say that's a tough act to follow but I will do my best so I want to thank everybody for coming

114out tonight and your comments are all and always welcome congratulations Mr Campbell for your retirement and the new hire the hire e so looking forward to uh seeing your careers grow so I um I did attend several events this last month uh I was at the Art Festival it was Innovative creative excellent I I just the entire school was filled with art and enthusiasm and there was a lot of people there so I was really happy to be there I also attended the harmony for Humanity production which was minimal help from the teachers and it really was nice to see and you will see that video out because they recorded I think it was like a 35 minute production uh I also had the opportunity and and the honor to uh go into the schools

115and see the stem Capstone projects and the academic Excellence for five teams that I saw over the two days that they had it it was just outstanding and they focused on waste management and Recycling and rainwater runoff and it was in collaboration with the municipality and see if the students can come up with u ideas to help and also lower costs and also have an impact on the environment um so I've been on on the board for two and a half months now and from what I've seen I know short period of time but from what I've seen from the teachers the administration my colleague my colleagues and board members has and and the parents and the community coming in here has been incredible I am proud to be on this board I am proud

116to be serving brick schools I look forward to the next three years serving on the board so again thank you all for coming out tonight and and thank you my colleagues for always and you know the students a whole lot better than I do but I will learn and that's why I'm trying to attend as many events and meet as many people as I possibly can but from what I've seen it has been incredible so thank you Mrs Kennedy um I'll try and be quick I just wanted to thank again all of the volunteer um advisers coaches and um people that help our kids get the things done that they're dreaming about um I just a quick bit to my friend that wants to be in the schools a little bit more PTA is always

117the way to go um reach out to your PTA I know in the when they're little it they it is a little harder to get into the buildings once you get into the elementary schools with the PTA that's what got me started um I was I attended PTA meetings before I knew it they handed me a notebook and I was the secretary and then I was the president for four years and now I'm here so so we'll see you in a few years back here um but it definitely is the the way to go I feel your your desire you want to be in the building and um it all it will happen um just touch base with your PTO PTA be an active PTA member and that's usually the easiest way to do it

118um I want to give a shout out to the administrators out there that are um this is a tough time of year for you guys when you're handed a number from Administration and you need to make all of the cogs and and wheels work within your building so my hats off to you for doing the best um with what you have for our kids um I I know it's it's tough but you've done a great job um my kids are at brick memorial I love when Mr sarca is in the office in the in the building um they are having such an amazing High School experience I really um hats off to you Mr saruca you've got a great building going on over there when I call um anyone I speak to from Mrs Reinhard

119and guidance who probably cannot wait for my freshman to graduate um to Natty at the front desk every and everyone in between Mrs gline they're they are all fantastic the teachers over there are amazing so um Kudos you got a good group over there and you're doing a good job so keep up the good work um that's it that's all I got today thank you Mrs de Benedictus I'm gonna be quick as well um so I got to go and um read to two classes so much fun um if your kids came home and said some crazy lady was reading grumpy monkey with all the voices that was me love it we got a few funny pictures um I love reading to the kids I love having fun because as I always say that is

120what keeps them there they have to be there but what keeps the kids there what makes them want to actually enter that building is usually the fun stuff like the field trips um and I also got to go to the district Arts Fest oh my gosh our kids are so crazy talented I am just in awe of of what these amazing kids can do I can barely draw a straight line and these kids are so talented um the rooc I remember not too long ago they were saying that enrollment was down and they were just itching for people and we were possibly going to have to cancel it and it was just so upsetting and now oh my goodness their scores are fantastic and they have 80 students that signed up I am so excited

121for them it is such an amazing opportunity for them and Welcome to our new hires we have one that's still here welcome you're going to love it here sorry to embarrass you and point you out but it's a really great Community um and on April 5th if you guys are born the amazing brick memorial color guard has their indoor home show go show them some love and have an amazing rest of your month guys thanks for showing up Mr Mesmer I'll be quick too um Mr Campbell congrats um that's really you say 41 years 44 years that is that's just incredible so I mean you're really one of the reasons why I ran you know to get on the board um because you're you're really a true role model for Bricktown so I hope all

122the teachers and the public can see that so congratulations um besides that I just want to shout out the Hib presentation on uh bullying and how the numbers actually went down year-over-year that's pretty critical um because we sit in the executive sessions and we hear about some of the things going on in the district and it's really great to see progress being made so I think that's a really critical metric that the district needs to keep really staying on top of and I think Mr Mosley is is the perfect man for the job to he's doing a great job even with one leg so um besides that uh girls bowling shout out I'm an ex bowler from brick memorial um and if you ever want to you know if you're competitive you kind I was

123shocked when I started Bowl bow uh my arm blew out during baseball so I couldn't pitch anymore H so the only thing I could do was roll a bowling ball so I joined the team and it was crazy I mean you go to events and people are screaming slamming their balls on the floor it it gets crazy but brick is known as one of the best in the state and that's been the case my entire life in the town so shout out to the bowling team and uh Happy St Patty's Day thanks thank you um to the mom I was also on the PTA for over eight years and um it is a place to start and it is a lot of fun you mean a lot of Mom I wanted to say something too

124yeah I have a child in preschool as well Herbertsville um and I know one of the things I get informed is through the emails uh from Mr H at the end of the week I know I personally read to the class they had multiple events where parents could go and read to the class um besides that I know there was a parade I'm just trying to think I agree with you that there definitely needs to be more um sure yeah my wife is too yeah it's tough because because of the laws what's that yeah yeah thank you but I agree and I'm glad you brought it up and I'm definitely gonna look into it more as well change yeah so okay Mr campel I also want to say thank you you know many many years

125I worked with you and we've had our times and then we've had wonderful times and I want you to know Angelina is doing beautiful at 27 years old um I also read at two different schools I read at osbornville school I had so much fun with Mr henko and then I went to Emma and I literally sat on the floor with some children who you would think didn't understand what I was reading but um they acted with me it was one of my most beautiful times ever then I went to the hero Awards and John Henry was Dr Farrell what an amazing event and the people who received Awards truly deserved them they are truly Brick's best and then I went to the um Art Festival oh my God the Art Festival from room after

126room after room was great the choirs were beautiful um it was an event to behold that together okay so now I'm going to read the calendar April 17th 2025 early dismissal April 18th 2025 through April 25th is spring break April 28th 2025 public hearing on budget and regular meeting I need a motion and a second to close motion for second George vote Mary Miss Kennedy yes Miss de Benedictus yes Mr Henry yes Mr mjeri yes Mr Mesmer yes missan yes this meeting is now adjourned s for