001Check. Check. One, two. One, two. call this meeting to order. Uh for those who wish to provide public comment remotely, a Google form was posted on the district website at 6:30 p.m. Those remote comments will be addressed in the second public comment section. This meeting, which is hereby called to order at 6:31 p.m., is in compliance with the notice requirements of the law. Public notice was posted in the office of the board of education and communicated to the municipal clerk and the daily record on January 12th, 2026. Can you please stand and join me in the flag salute? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Miss Panales, can you please
002read our mission statement? >> Good evening. Working together as a community, our mission is to welcome all and provide opportunities for our students in a safe and accepting learning environment to become creative, empathetic, resilient, and who choose to make an impact. >> Thank you. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Mr. Mort, Miss Phillips >> here, >> Miss Penelis >> here, >> Miss Skates >> here, >> Dr. Center, >> Miss Shower >> here, >> Miss Son >> here, >> Mr. Miller >> here. >> Okay, we have some presentations. Mr. >> Yes. At this time, I'd like to bring up the first presentation uh which is for our audit. Thank you and good evening. I'm here tonight to talk to you very briefly about the June 30th, 2025 school district audit. I'm happy to report to you that
003for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, we issued unqualified opinion on the financial statements of the district for for the year ended. I'm also happy to report in the management report there was one finding. I don't know if you those that were on the board last year when I [clears throat] did this a year ago, there were five findings. Those findings were all cleared up. There were no repeat findings. And the one finding in and of itself was a duplicate payment to a state agency that has been recouped uh clerical error, human error, what have you. Um other than that, we had nothing to report to you relative to the to the audit. Everything went very very well. The business office uh did a great job. 2425 was Attilla's first really full year, full
004audit year being the business administrator here. And again, he took care of the findings from the year before. It was this one finding in 2425. Some very quick highlights. Uh for the year ended, you were able to increase your capital reserve by about $2.5 million. You were also able to increase your maintenance reserve by half a million dollars. So, those are just all things that give you, the board, the district flexibility to be able to take care of things as they come up during the school year. Plan on doing other things during the budget process. Um, and I'm happy to report that uh you were in very good fiscal shape. And then I will leave you with uh anybody have any questions? Were there any recommendations um to improve some of our practices? >> Yeah,
005there were what we call um management recommendations, suggestions that are in the AMR as well. I think there was half a dozen uh things that could be I guess tightened up a little bit in the food service fund. There's money due from students that has gone uncollected for a number of years. You need to either try to collect it or pass a resolution to write it off. Um some stale outdated checks. There's an issue with old taxes from the Burrow of Victory. I know that's ongoing litigation uh for years. uh 1099s be a little bit more thorough. Uh couple things in the payroll agency account that need to be cleared up and professional service contracts need to follow uh eight title 18A the statute. But again, no no specific things that rose to the level
006of a finding just things that we noticed during the course of the audit that we put in here. We advised the board, the business office that you should take a look at and try to clean up a little bit. But again, none of these things are are material. As you well know, this is a financial audit and a compliance audit. So that from the compliance perspective, if you find an error, whether it's a dollar or a thousand dollars, it gets reported because there's no materiality when it comes to compliance. Um there are no again one finding a duplicate payment that's been rectified. Um I would characterize this as a very very good audit. >> Thank you. I appreciate your thoroughess with everything. Does anyone have any questions? >> I don't have any questions, Mr. Miller,
007but I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for that and thank you for your hard work. And I did also want to mention as part of that audit, we did um present to the state on time this year uh which was not done in the past couple of years our annual comprehensive financial report to the state which is due I think it's at due at the end of December >> uh December 4th >> correct and um last year I think it was done later in the year the following year or if that was not last year it was the year before. So, thank you for that this year to to get it in on time. That bodess well on us with the state. Thank you. >> I also want to thank you for
008your leadership because I know you've had to deal with a lot of issues for a couple of years to get straightened out. So, please also thank your staff for for all their hard work and and getting us to this point to have such a great report. >> Actually, I would like to thank my staff here. So, >> teamwork. >> Yep. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Have a great night. too. >> And for our second presentation, our governor educator of the year, Miss Gibbs. Do we have an extender? Just kidding. >> Need one. >> Wow. Okay, let me put this back. All right. Wonderful. So wonderful to see you all here tonight. Um yesterday, as you know, our schools were closed for teaching and learning for a day of remembrance and a
009day of service in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as you may know in honor of Dr. King. Yesterday is a day that we also recognize as a day of service and volunteerism. And I'd like to begin by thanking each one of our board members here this evening for their dedication of volunteering their time and service to Dober public schools. Your commitment to the education and well-being of our students and staff are commendable. Thank you for all that you've done and continue to do. And in because this uh January is board recognition month, you'll find a Dober public schools bag with some treats for you. So, thank you. And some um from our elementary students, some signs thanking you for your service uh now and always. So, thank you for that. >> It's my
010distinct pleasure to begin tonight's celebration of our exceptional educators and our exceptional educational services professionals. Uh that's a mouthful. when I read my little uh speech later tonight specifically, I'm gonna um capture all of you in in under the title and umbrella of educator. So when I considered when I sat down to consider what I could possibly say about all of you and how wonderful you are, I I really kind of went to where the day was yesterday and I considered some of the words of Dr. King that I truly believe capture the essence of how so many of our educators, the ones we honor here tonight and the ones that may not have earned the honor but um still act in this manner and really capture what our distinguished guests do on a daily
011basis. And so I hope these words warm your heart on this very cold evening. So, thank you for braving the uh freeze to come out. During one of his many sermons, Dr. King shared these words. Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that. So tonight, we gather to honor our educators, the light that shows up, the light that stays, the light our children needs. And every day in our schools, our educators choose light. Every day, our educators choose love. Our educators are so often the light our children need. When learning feels hard because it is, they are the light. [clears throat] When confidence feels small, they are the light. When a child wonders, "Do I belong?" Our educators are the light in a
012smile at the classroom door. They are the light in a steady voice that says, "Try again. Try one more time." They are the light in firm, fair discipline because structure is care and clear is kind for my administrators in the audience. Clear is kind and expectations are belief. Our educators are so often the light our children need because they love what they do. They love their students. They love the work of shaping lives. Our educators show love and patience. They show love and persistence. They show love in holding children to do their best even on the hardest days. Our educators are the light that sees potential, the light that offers grace, the light that does not give up. And in a world that can feel uncertain, divided, heavy. Our educators do not add to the
013darkness. They push it back. They push it back with knowledge. They push it back with consistency. They push it back with love. So today we say I say thank you. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for standing firm. Thank you for being the light and the love. Because when you choose light, our children find hope, our communities grow stronger, and the future shines brighter. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being the light and being the love. Will you all join me and welcoming our distinguished guests with a big round of applause all here in the audience tonight. [applause] So, thank you. So, at this time, I'd like to welcome our building leaders. um they will have the honor of introducing their distinguished ed educators of the year as well of the
014as well as their educational services professionals of the year. So I'm going to invite all the administrators up at once if we have Miss Vargas Milligan um Mr. Edwards, Miss Stein, Mr. Gio, Mr. McCaulay, Miss Ross, and if our VPs are here, come on up as well. We would love to have you. The more the marrier. So, we're going to go in order of age group. Oh, you're doing Thank you for that. You're doing del. Okay. So, Dr. Sable's doing delk. Yes. No. Because I don't think Yes. Will you Can you do Doug? Okay. Here. I have cheat sheet. Okay. Yes, that's fine. Okay. So, we're going to start with uh Dover Early Learning Center. So, our Dover Early Learning Center one and two is combined because they're very small staff me um staffs at
015each. So, Dr. table if you would introduce. And then also few more directions. If you wouldn't mind staying up there because then we're going to do a large group photo. So, we'll just kind of stand off to the side and then your friends won't feel lonely having to stand up there all by themselves. Okay. Oh, you need the microphone. >> Thank you. Okay. So, for Delk 2, the Educator of the Year. Congratulations goes to Jennifer Djakamo. [applause] And our educational services professional of the year is Crystal Quaglio. [applause] Good evening board of board of education, parents, teachers, community. On behalf of Academy Street School, I would first like to recognize Mr. Brahm.com to come up for teacher of the year. [applause] And for our educational specialist, professional ESP teacher of the year, uh, recognition to
016Miss Kirable Buitt. >> [applause] >> Good evening everyone. I am the proud principal of ED alongside our vice principal Miss Garcia. And we are celebrating two wonderful women today that keep me on my toes every single day. So for teacher of the year, a round of applause for Ellis Ais, please. Congratulations. [applause] You move faster than that. She's in a step battle. Come on, girl. And our support professional of the year who does so, so much. Breakfast with Santa Connoisseur Carmela Fox. Congratulations. [applause] Okay. On behalf of Dr. Carlin, I would like to award our teacher of the year to Sharon Lyster. >> [applause] >> And our educational services professional of the year is Aelia Antiguel. Please come forward. Congratulations. [applause] Good evening everyone. Uh on behalf of Do Middle School's staff, students, and families,
017uh I'd like to call up our teacher of the year, Sarah Cukaruda. [applause] And for Dover Middle School, our educational services uh professional of the year is Ji Ravasco uh who could not be here uh but we certainly accept this uh on her behalf. Thank you. [applause] >> Good evening everyone. My name is Joanna Ross and I'm the proud principal of Dover High School. And uh to my right is one of our vice principles, Dr. Hicks. Um, I am pleased and honored to announce our teacher of the year. Her name is Miss Hannah Almo. Uh, she started and is the epitome of a great teacher because she started our dance program. So, um, not only do our students love her, our families adore her and we're honored to have her on our staff. So, if
018you could join me in [applause] And our educator specialist of the year is the one, the only, Mr. Kirby Hollandworth. Um, if you walk the halls of the high school, you will hear his name spoken by many of our students, but also all the time on the walk. He's wonderful to our students. He's wonderful to our staff and he could be counted on with amazing amazing percentage of commitment. Thank you so much. Join us in welcoming him. [applause] Okay, we're going to do a large picture with Dr. behind me and our board president. You You got it. Thank you. And perhaps we can sort of make a you come on over this way. >> Come on over this way. >> I'm good. Thank you. How are you? >> Thank you. >> Oh, look at how
019wonderful. Yes. Two lines is magnificent. Thank you. Those that cannot look me in the eye should really be standing in the front. Oh, wait. That would be all of you. Never mind. People who are not necessarily Okay, Tanya's taking the picture as is everyone else. So, let's smile. Congratulations. And how about a how about a big round of applause for everyone in the audience who came [applause] out tonight. I know we have a lot of great support from your colleagues. That's amazing to see. Thank you so much. Also, also we're going to be having cake. I just have to get back there and start cutting. So, Mr. Miller, I don't know if you want to make a motion to um have a a small break. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Good to see you, too.
020[laughter] >> Congratulations. >> Hi. How are you? >> Good. Congratulations. Okay. And again, I really want to thank all the governor's educators of the year recipients and our educational services professionals of the year. It was so good to see all of you and you know something that you much deserved. So, thank you again. At this time, I would like to open the first public comment uh session. The board recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters. To ensure fair and orderly expression of such comment, each statement shall be held to a time period of three minutes. Public comments limited to items on this agenda shall be entertained for approximately 30 minutes upon the discretion of the presiding officer. Please
021understand the public comment portions of our agenda are not structured as question and answer sessions, but rather they are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board. The board may or may not respond to public comments. However, all comments are considered and will be investigated and addressed as appropriate. Please be courteous and mindful of the rights of others when providing comments. Comments may not be abusive, obscene, threatening, or irrelevant. Please understand that students and employees have specific legal and privacy protections. The board is not permitted to respond in public to comments about students or employees. Please be advised that you are commenting at your own risk. Any public comments that are directed at a particular individual or individuals could subject you to legal liability for defamation. Is there anyone from the public who
022wishes to come up forward and address the board? Good evening everybody. John Kaggleo, 24 Taylor Town Road, Montville. Tonight on behalf of the Dover Education Association, I would like to recognize and thank the members of the Dover Board of Education during Board of Ed appreciation month. The DEA truly appreciates the time and commitment you dedicate to serving on this board. Many of you balance full-time careers, family responsibilities, and involvement in the community. Yet, you continue to carve out time to volunteer in this role. That commitment does not go unnoticed, and we are grateful for all of you. Your work extends far beyond these monthly meetings. The time spent attending committee meetings, conferences, preparing questions in advance, and completing work at home demonstrate how seriously you take your responsibility to our district, our staff, and to
023our students. In this crazy world where AI has often replaced meaningful discussion and original thought, the DEA is super thankful that our meetings are conducted in a professional manner where members of the board can have in-person authentic dialogue that showcase your own original ideas and thoughts with the end goal to make this district the best it can be. While each of you may have a different reason for seeking a seat on this board, the shared goal has always been clear to support a district where students and staff can thrive. When we work together, we can accomplish great things. We are all on the same team, the union, the community, the do staff, the administration, our support staff, and our board of education. We are all united by our dedication to do students and the future
024vision of our schools. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your service and your continued commitment to Dover's schools. The Dover Education Association sincerely appreciates each and every one of you. Thank you so much. >> Thank you very much for those kind words. Really appreciate it. Is there anyone else from the public that would like to address the public? Seeing no one, I'm going to close this portion of the meeting. Uh, can I please have a motion to approve the December 16th regular and executive session and the January 5th reorganization session? >> So moved. >> We have a second. >> Second. >> Any discussion, questions? Can we please have a roll call? Sure. >> Miss Phillips, >> yes. >> Miss Penellis, >> yes. >> Miss Skates, >> abstain from December. Agree for January. >>
025Dr. Ser, >> yes. >> Miss Shower, >> yes. >> Miss Son, >> yes. >> Mr. Miller, >> yes. [clears throat] >> Okay. Whole board communications. We we have a letter uh addressed to the board of education uh in recognition of board month uh board recognition month. Thank you for your support and guidance and helping our school. We truly love our kindergarten classes and appreciate all that you do for us the kindergarten team at Academy Street School, Mrs. Bailey, Mrs. Omali, Mrs. Pilo, and Mrs. Scala. So, thank you for that. Any other whole board com uh >> that's it. >> Okay, Miss Garcia. >> Good evening everyone and I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. I'm so sorry to have been u missed the previous meeting, but I'm very glad to be back and
026share what's been happening at the high school. To begin on a positive note, I am proud to share that unified sports is off to an incredible start this season. As a partner in the program, I have seen firsthand the joy it brings. Not only to the athletes, but to also the partners who support and practices practice games. This program led by the phenomenal and selfless Mr. Shu continues to build community, teamwork, and genuine connection among our students. Marking period 2 will officially end this Friday, January 23rd. With that in mind, the PBIS committee is hard at work preparing for our student achievement award ceremony. Students will be recognized for earning high honoral honor role as well as for achieving a catch a tiger award. We had a fantastic turnout for the first marking period ceremony
027and we're excited to celebrate with students, families, and guardians once again. So, please keep an eye out for invitations. Thanks to recent adjustments and end of the day duties, most teachers are now available three or more days a week after school from 2:15 to 2:40 p.m. for extra help. This added support gives students more opportunities to get assistance with homework, prepare for tests and quizzes, complete makeup work, or finish ongoing projects. In the spirit of support and community service, January has been designated the month of giving at Dober High School in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. One of our major events in this events is the upcoming blood drive taking place Monday, January 26th from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the auxiliary gym. The drive is being organized by the New
028York Blood Center, Mr. Cyrus, and members of the National Honor Society. While the event is not open to the public, we encourage community members to reach out to local organizations to help address the ongoing blood shortage. Continuing with the month of giving, students in the history of food course under the direction of Mr. Derritter are partnering with Miss Mora and the Interact Club to host a district-wide food drive. All donations will support Nourish New Jersey, our local dobbased organization serving families experiencing food insecurity and collection bins will be available at in every school from February 2nd through the 13th. In March, participating students will deliver the donations to Nourish New Jersey and assist with organizing and packaging items for distribution. Parents and guardians are encouraged to send in contributions with their students and we hope
029that this gives back to our own community. Finally, over the past two weeks, all do high school students have been attending grade level assemblies. Tiger Rap and PBIS collaborated to create interactive activities focused on resilience and finishing the school year strong. Our school counseling department also presented important information on attendance policies, graduation requirements, and post-secondary planning for juniors and seniors, whether they're considering college, vocational programs, the armed forces, or entering the workforce. And lastly, I also had the opportunity to attend a two-part assembly on human trafficking. In the first session, Mr. Renshaw, our school social worker along with our student assistance coordinator, educated students on the dangers of human trafficking and shared preventative safety strategies. The second session led by the coalition against human trafficking offered powerful real life stories from survival survivors helping students
030better understand and emphasize with the realities of this issue. Thank you again for your time and attention. Thank you, Miss Garcia. Um, really I love your report. It's so comprehensive and informative. So, thank you very much. Uh, anyone on the board have any questions for Miss Garcia? >> Well, thank you very much. And as you know, >> so much >> if you need to go because you have the homework, feel free. >> Thank you. >> Okay. The president's report will not be as comprehensive as informative as Miss Garcia's because we just reorganized and um Miss Phillips and I worked on the committee assignments which we will vote on later. Uh I also attended an educational services commission meeting which I'll be reporting on later. So we will move on to administrative reports. Uh Mr. Haimey.
031>> Good evening everyone. Buenas noes. [clears throat] So uh first off I want to congratulate again our recipients for this evening for all their hard work recognized tonight uh with our students and our for our community. Again uh it's very much appreciated of how they go above and beyond when it comes to our community when it comes to our students. Uh also in recognition of board of BOE month I also want to thank the board of education for the support and un unification of us working together to make sure we continue to move over in the right direction. And in recognition of of MLK on Martin Luther King Jr., um I know that we had our day yesterday off, but one of the things that I wanted to share out with the community and I
032shared out yesterday during the message is his contributions to our American history, uh the you know, in regards to our American civil rights movements, uh protesting in a nonviolent uh and powerful way, uh working and fighting for equality and human rights. and his I have a dream speech right organized in the Montgomery bus uh boycott in march in the march in Washington forever changed and inspired us today and one of the things that I always encourage our community and I always encourage our staff teachers is um whether it's in a small scale or large scale we continue to contribute to our community continue to be a part of our community and that's always what I encourage everyone and challenge and I challenge everyone to continue to do that whether it's small or large uh with
033that uh we also uh coming uh next month, our Black History Month uh recognition in which I will be reporting at the next board meeting our activities and lessons that our schools or departments will be participating in. I want to take this opportunity and thank uh Miss Rodriguez who's actually here tonight and Miss Norma who had their own listening tour uh and took some time to connect and speak to teachers and staff um which is again something I've done now for the uh for two years and it's a great opportunity where we are able to share ideas have robust conversations and once again just gives us a chance to really have uh in-house conversation with our staff in the buildings and I always look forward to it and the fact that some of our leadership
034is taking advantage of those opportunities again thank you for thinking of that and and and knowing the importance of us connecting with our teachers and our staff. I have an update on the sixth grade annex building. So, the construction is on its way. I want to thank all of you uh for being patient, our community, our staff, our students uh because you know with construction, right? There's changes to the parking and there's changes that came up and I know that patience is needed and I want to make sure I acknowledge that and recognize that from everyone. I also want to thank Mr. to uh that during the observation realized that defense was preventing some of our students being able to uh get to our uh their younger siblings at North do in the afternoon. And
035uh the funny thing is or not funny but our kids and I look at as a positive not a negative being very resilient and not letting any obstacles stand in their way were making their way through that fence to get to their siblings on the other side. But we figured we had to find a safer way for them to do that. So, we created a path for our students to be able to pick up their siblings at at North D. Um, and [clears throat] tomorrow night, we're hosting our first parent night for our annex building here at 7 PM at Do High School. We'll be here in the same room, same location. And I would encourage all of our community members, all of our parents, especially parents who are going to have sixth grade students
036next year to join us tomorrow night as we're going to go over vital information about the building, the structure, um the uh sample schedule of what it's going to look like. Um as well as future events to continue on the promotion of six annex building. Um and it's going to be great. So once again, I want to encourage all of our families, committee members to please join us tomorrow night. Uh North do an amazing job with their wax museum. This is their second year in hosting the wax museum. Uh kudos to all the teachers working hard really preparing our students for the wax museum. But again, what a great outcome. And uh thank you to all those that were involved in making this day possible for our students to participate in the wax museum. Uh
037Dover High School, I had an opportunity to meet not only with our very own Sophia here, but also the SGA students as we were discussing uh the possibility of hosting a student forum. and we were discussing about an opportunity where I myself can sit down with some of our representatives at the high school level in hopes of really having getting more feedback of our students, right? What was their experience as a do students uh have an opportunity to clarify any questions or concerns they may or may not have. Uh and really to build this is going to be the first ever and we're looking forward to putting this together and hopefully being able to elevate and continue to promote uh once again those interactions with our students and and myself. Uh in sports again I've
038had an opportunity to join some of our sporting events recently and you know what I was able to take away from that is one our our our children demonstrated great sportsmanship at all times a fighting spirit and pride uh no matter what the score was or where they're winning or losing our kids fought through and through and and really is a pleasure seeing them and really enjoying those moment with some of our families and I look forward to more sporting events coming up and I want to encourage our community to come out and support our sporting events. It's a great opportunity to really see our kids and their talents out there and again to our staff to go out there and see them because our kids seeing us there means so much to them. Uh
039for prek I have some news to share for the prek. I know that our director uh Miss Milligan Vargas is working together with her coaching team. I'm planning preschool visit uh settings and visits to kindergarten teachers. One of the things that they're working on is creating more opportunities to articulate with our kindergarten teachers and invite them down to also see what's happening in the preschool building. inside of a classroom so that they can better prepare our preschoolers to come into kindergarten classes. And I'm excited to to see that work happening as making that connection because one of the biggest things we see is that when we are able to have the articulation uh from one grade to the next, it really helps support our students both academically and socially, emotionally. Uh our culture, climate, and
040connection committee meeting. Uh uh want to share out that we are putting together a survey uh that's going to be administered to our staff on our PDS February 9th. We're going to allocate some time for our teachers and staff to be able to fill out the survey and get some feedback. And once again, the survey is constructed by us uh based also based on the feedback that we were able to get from our teachers. Uh we were originally at the beginning of the year, we did put out a survey. Uh we came back, debriefed, took some feedback from the from the staff and now we're making some changes to it to continue to again get feedback from our teachers and staff and and continue to improve and make changes as we continue to progress throughout
041the year. Uh, and the next piece I want to share is I recently I've had um families, I've had staff reaching out uh and I want to make sure that I'm able to share out this evening that you know we are uh working diligently with our staff, our security team, our administrators and make sure there are proper protocols in place to maintain and keep our students safe within those school districts. And uh you know our counselors I want to reiterate and our school liaison are prepared with resources on any kind of information that our community may need. So please reach out to our schools or visit our website look at our liaison corner which has tons of resources for our families. Uh our counselors and leazison also are working um together with our therapeutic social
042workers at Tiger Rap in hopes of providing any supports that our families or students may need. So again, I just want to let our families know here in Dover that Do public schools is doing everything within the parameters to make sure that we keep our our children safe in our schools. And we've been doing some data work as well. And I want to actually open up my laptop because I want to share some positive information. Uh we just recently did some data work and collected information on, you know, what we've been doing thus far this year in regards to how our discipline and and our hips are going in district. And I have some really good information on to share with everyone that we are uh down uh with some of our with our hip
043cases uh being u related down by 28% for the school district and any non-related uh suspensions were down 17% at this time of the year which is great to celebrate. Good to see that our PBIS is working and is being supported by our teachers within the buildings. uh also uh to our administration leading the way as well with the PBIS but not only just PBIS but character education right our counseling services and all hands- on deck again I always reiterate it takes a village to raise a child and this is the work that we've been putting in and it's great to really see some things moving in a positive direction as we're working as a team I also want to share that we are working as a whole and I know that uh both the
044high school principal and uh east principal are working and using some of the data that they're collecting from walkthroughs and presenting it at their staff meeting and working together with their staff on really uh small group instructions, applying and understanding. And I want to continue to encourage our team to use that data again to support our teachers within the classroom and continue to support our students. It's vital that we not only collect the data but we also apply it. It's very important and the work is also being uh work done with Mr. [clears throat] Chewy and Mr. Rory are also working on collecting the data and one of the things that they're working on is because data can become very overwhelming they are working as a team to kind of centralize it so that our
045administration our leadership are able to see the data from one place and not have to search their own and use that data then within their SLTs in the schools use that data within the staff meetings use it in the PLC's and again we're we're pushing that and we're we're working together as a team to once again make sure that every decision we're making for the future is a well-informed decision based on the information that we are collecting. All right, and that is everything I have for this evening. Thank you. >> Uh I just want to thank you. I I just want to say something about the Bridge Academy parent presentation, which of course I got to see, so I know ahead of time, but I just want to thank you for um your proactive approach
046and really getting the community involved from the beginning. um from the future sixth graders coming up with the name of the school and then gaining community buyin along the way. I can't wait until we actually have the opening of that building because it's going to be such a wonderful time and the the success of the sixth graders will already have started before they even get into that building. So, I want to thank you again. Is there anyone from the board that has any questions for Mr. behind me. >> Okay, Mr. Sabahulo, you have to try to beat that with your business report. >> Good evening everyone. I'll be going over finance and facilities items. Items uh 1, four, and six, the financial reports for November and December 2025 are presented this evening for the board's
047review and approval. Item two, we would like to formally acknowledge and express our appreciation for donations received. Item seven, the district has received the revised proposal from mobiliz regarding the additional space for the warming kitchen as well as the upgrades to the privacy partitions for the dobridge academy. Item eight. In certain instances, invoices are received immediately following a board meeting which does not allow sufficient time to process payments before the next scheduled meeting. Approval of this resolution will allow the district to make the listed payments in a timely manner and maintain positive relationships with our vendors. Item 9, 10, 11, and 12. These items represent applications for various grant opportunities. Item 13, due to the addition of the door bridge academy building. This proposal seeks appro approval for professional services exclusive of any construction work
048just to conduct soil testing and determine the potential for expanding the high school parking lot. Uh item 15, following prior approval for disposal of district MacBooks and iPads, which they were approved last board meeting. Uh we have received the reverse bids as listed. Administration recommends awarding the sale to total technology in the amount of 185,000 900. Um item 16. Although the board previously approved a vendor for the high school projector replacement prior to executing the contract, our IT department identified an alternative vendor offering a lower price for both the projector and the screen replacement. So we would go with that upon approval. Item 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22. These items include three out of district terminations and two new placements. That con concludes my report. >> Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Sabahulu? >>
049Okay. Uh on to board of ed reports. Uh the educational services committee uh commission met last Wednesday. Um and I forwarded their new rates for this year so that um Mr. Sabahulu can do the budgeting for any of the services that they may be uh taking advantage of. Legislative report, Miss Gates, >> we don't have anything yet. >> No, I didn't think so, but just in case, I just uh and Mr. McCord is not here for the New Jersey school boards. Um I think they have a hybrid meeting upcoming from what I remember. Okay. Do I have a a motion for administrative approval of items one, >> two, three, four? Yeah. One through four. >> Second. >> Okay. Any uh questions? >> Dr. Ser, >> my microphone's not working again. feel like it could be
050a plan. Um I just have a quick question. Are staff members involved in the design of the district calendar? >> The answer is uh yes and the committee consists of teachers uh staff uh administrators as well as union representation as well. >> Thank you so much for including teachers and administrators in a very well thoughtout calendar for this year. Thank you. >> Any other questions? Can I please have a roll call? >> Miss Phillips? >> Yes. >> Miss Penellis? >> Yes. >> Miss Kates? >> Yes. >> Dr. Ser? >> Yes. >> Miss Shower? >> Yes. >> Miss Sness? >> Yes. >> Mr. Miller? >> Yes. >> Okay. Personnel. Miss Solon Solenus. Can you please uh >> take us through that? >> Good evening everyone. Um I would like to make a motion um on items
0511 through 10 under personnel. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Test. test. >> All right, Dr. Ser, >> I have a question. Um, what is the intervention support club at Easttover? >> So, Easttover right now is working on collecting data from their I Ready and Amir and their hopes are to use that information in hopes of identifying students that are struggling academically and then provide a club after school to support those those uh areas where those areas where they need mastering and supported. Uh so, that's what the the club is for. >> That sounds great. Thank you. Anyone else? >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Phillips, >> yes. >> Miss Penellis, >> yes. >> Miss Skates, >> yes. >> Dr. Ser, >> yes. >> Miss Shower, >> yes. >>
052Miss Sness, >> yes. >> Mr. Miller, >> yes. Negotiations. Miss Solenus. >> Um, there's no report at this time under negotiation. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh, we don't have governance because they haven't met yet. And student achievement and curriculum. Dr. Ser, >> I make a motion that we approve items 1 through three under student achievement and curriculum. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Any questions? >> Just a comment, a thank you to all the staff members who have submitted field trip proposals and are working so hard to expose our students to such a variety of experiences. >> Any other comments? Will we please have a roll call? >> Miss Phillips? >> Yes. >> Miss Panes? >> Yes. Miss Kates, >> yes. >> Dr. Ser, >> yes. >> Miss Shower, >> yes. >>
053Miss Sonish, >> yes. >> Mr. Miller, >> yes. >> Okay. Community relations, we don't have a report yet. This will be meeting and we don't have a report for policy yet. And uh finance and facilities. Um >> Dr. Ser, can you move that? I make a motion that we approve items 1 through 22 under finance and facilities. >> Second. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion? Dr. Sainer. >> Um um I have a couple comments. I'd like to reiterate Mr. Sabaholu's thank you to uh Lori Connell and Peter Harris for their generous donations to our schools. Um thank you Mr. Sabaholu for facilitating the selling of our old MacBooks for almost $200,000. Um, my questions are, can you please explain why capital projects and special revenue are listed as negative
054on the December treasurer's report? >> Capital projects are found 30, those are routs. We still didn't get reimbursement. We want to complete uh the project totally and get the 100% reimbursement. and fund 20 most of the time is uh reimbursement based as other grants uh IDA title one uh ESA grants so they come with the reimbursement they usually go negative >> thank you for the reminder I always get nervous when I see that and I I know that um can you please explain the $41,000 in purchases in January from Cascade >> those are the data orders uh we use that uh portal to get the best pricing for the teachers allowance for the start of uh $200 per each teacher. >> Can I ask a follow-up question? Normally those purchases are made um so that
055teachers have those supplies ready at the beginning of the year. Why are we just now seeing those reflected in January? >> Uh some uh some of them uh comes back orders. Some sometimes we don't get the invoices. Some we need to get the receipt paper from the each buildings. It takes time. So when we get everything, we make the payments. >> That makes sense. Thank you. And then finally, can you please explain what's going on with the cafeteria report? In November, we had a negative $200,000 balance and in December, we took in almost $300,000 in receipts, leaving us with about a negative $500,000 balance. >> Uh we get the reimbursements late, so we got two reimbursements. That's help with the $200,000 negative balance. Right now, we're down to $5,000, which is I'm trying to find
056a happy medium to move some of the salaries back to general fund, but I don't want to move back everything. We still have time to the end of the year. I mean, we don't try we try not to accumulate that much money in there, so we try to use as much as use from the fun time. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Any other questions? >> I had a quick question, Mr. Miller, and I'm sorry I did not submit this. Um, I just remembered that I did not submit it, so I'm sorry about that. Um, and under federal funding, uh, we anticipated a little over $2 million between November and December, I believe, and we only received about a million dollars. And I'm just wondering, have we caught up yet with the delay in
057the federal funding, or is that it? Do we not anticipate receiving it? >> That was uh for the ESCA $1.2 $2 million and they open up the application. We did apply for it, but they still didn't approve all the way so we can start reimbursements. So, we couldn't I couldn't find any reimbursements yet. It needs to be fully approved. >> So, we will be receiving it or we >> Yeah, we will be receiving. Yeah. Uh but just they just need to approve the grant. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Phillips. Um I will recuse myself from um payments to vendor 1950. Yes to everything else. >> Miss Penelis. >> Yes. >> Miss skates. >> Yes. >> Dr. Center. >> I recuse myself from payments to employee
05890014855. Yes to the rest. >> Miss Shower. >> Yes. >> Miss Son. >> Yes. >> Mr. Miller. >> Yes. >> Okay. the upcoming uh board of education meetings February 17th, March 17th, and April 28th. Uh we did have a facility request which is going to be considered but it will be pushed to next month. Okay. Old business. Uh we have our schedule of meetings. I think we uh made some changes that we could so that we could accommodate folks to be able to attend the town meeting and the board of education meeting. Uh but there are a couple of uh meetings where we can't. So perhaps the town might adjust their meeting schedule. Do we have any questions? Um first, could I have a motion to approve the schedule? >> So moved. Second. Any questions
059on uh the uh meeting schedule for 2026 to 2027? >> Okay. Um can we have a roll call, please? >> Miss Phillips? >> Yes. >> Miss Penellis? >> Yes. >> Miss Skates? >> Yes. >> Dr. Center? >> Yes. >> Miss Shower? >> Yes. >> Miss Son? >> Yes. >> Mr. Miller? >> Yes. >> Okay. Under new business, uh, everyone has a copy of the committee appointments and the school assignments. Um, is there any discussion? Oh, I guess I should move it first. Uh, I do we have a motion to approve the uh committee appointments and school assignments. >> So moved. Second. >> Any discussion on the assignments? Everybody's good. All getting ready to go. um before we vote on it. Oh >> yeah, >> now that we do have our everyone um with a with
060a building, I'll definitely like to have more discussion about our parent forms that we want to do with the PTAs and therefore so we will I know that we have today scheduled, but I'll work with everyone to get everyone >> Oh, that would be great. >> Going that would be great. Um the before we vote on the other item I wanted to talk about within this is the um the setting up the meeting schedule and what um my thought was that we would meet on the first uh Tuesday of each month and the last Tuesday of each month and and split the meetings. Um I think the the last Tuesday of the month um or the the first Tuesday of the month I was thinking finance and facilities and curriculum together and the the last
061uh Tuesday of the month would be uh policy and >> governance >> and governance. Um the other meetings for community relations is ad hoc and we would have the committee decide because a lot of times they would be meeting virtually and and then also negotiation would be as as an onneed basis. Um so probably the first Tuesday would be curriculum first so that um the administrators could go home from that and then finance and facilities just like we did uh this past year and then we would have policy first and then governance. Uh anybody have any alternative suggestions? Everybody's good with that. >> And this would be starting in February. >> Starting in February. Yeah. >> Mr. Mr. Miller, can I suggest that curriculum start at 5:15 if the members are available to do so?
062>> Yes, 5:15. Yeah, that worked out almost >> and the finance could be a little different in February or March due to the budget timeline. So, it might be a little different for first two months. >> Okay. Yeah, we could always change it when we have to. Yeah, >> we would like to have it before the budget comes out. We would like to have the meeting. >> Okay. All right. Um, if there are no other no other discussion, can I have a roll call, please? >> Miss Phillips? >> Yes. >> Miss Penellis? >> Yes. >> Miss Kates? >> Yes. >> Dr. Center? >> Yes. >> Miss Shower? >> Yes. >> Mes? Yes. >> Mr. Miller? >> Yes. [clears throat] >> Is there anything else anyone under new business would like to discuss? >> Uh, Mr.
063Miller, I'll just mention that the uh Mars County School Boards Association Legislative Advocacy Committee did meet on January 7th. Uh we only had three members that met with us, so our discussion was very brief. Um we only met for about 10 minutes virtually. Um and we were just reaffirming our goals for the coming year of working to um bring to light issues with HIV funding and um scheduling for funding as our three main objectives and uh all of the members remain the same that that were on the committee. So >> Okay. Well, thank you. Anyone else? Okay. So, now we're going to move on to our second public portion of the meeting. The board recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves
064on school matters. To ensure fair and orderly expression of such comment, each statement shall be held to a time period of three minutes. Public comments not restricted to items on this agenda shall be entertained for approximately 30 minutes upon the discretion of the presiding officer. For those who wish to provide public comment remotely, a Google form was posted on the district website at 6:30 p.m. Remote comments will be read by a member of the board of education. The board of education will alternate between in-person and online comments. Please understand the public comment portions of our agenda are not scheduled as question and answer sessions, but rather they are offered as opportunities to share your thoughts to the board. The board may or may not respond to public comments. However, all comments are considered and will
065be investigated and addressed as appropriate. Please be courteous and mindful of the rights of others when providing comments. Comments may not be abusive, obscene, threatening, or irrelevant. Please understand that students and employees have specific legal and privacy protections. The board is not permitted to respond in public to comments about students or employees. Please be advised that you are commenting at your own risk. Any public comments that are directed at a particular individual or individuals could subject you to legal liability for defamation. Is there anyone from the public that would like to speak? Good evening. John Kaglio 24 Taylor Road. I'm speaking tonight in my role as association president to address comments made at the last board meeting regarding teacher attendance. In prior years, the association has requested private meetings with members of this board to
066discuss issues such as this. Unfortunately, those requests have consistently been rejected. While we would prefer to have these conversations in a more appropriate setting with a committee of the board, the threeminut public comment is the only option that has been made available to us. At the last meeting, it was stated that the challenge is not really professional development or edu staff. The challenge is really our absences. The association takes exception to that statement. After reviewing the attendance data for this school year and comparing it to last year, the DEA has concluded that the number of times that staff has called out has actually decreased this year in comparison to last year. Attendance is not worse than last year. Yet last year with more absences, the district did not experience these significant coverage issues. The data
067does not support the claim that staff absences are the cause. It was also stated last meeting that we have days with 70, 80, and even 130 absences. According to district records, there has not been a single day this whole school year with 80 or 130 teacher and power absences. There were only four days where absences reached about 70 and each of those days involved mandatory professional development that pulled staff from classrooms, elevating that number. The association is quite disturbed that responsibility for these coverage issues has been placed on our teaching staff. Our members are not abusing leave time. They are using days they have earned under their contract and by law. Labeling staff absences as the challenge unfairly shifts blame and ignores the fact that it is the district's responsibility to provide adequate coverage for
068their staff. There are districts twice the size of ours that are successfully able to meet substitute needs we are facing here in do. This makes it clear that the issue is not attendance but the current substitute service model particularly the exclusive contract with edgy staff. This issue deserves an honest and an honest and solutions-based discussion. Instead of spending time looking at attendance trends to target our staff, the focus should be on how the district can improve substitute coverage so schools can function properly. As my time concludes, I'm once again requesting a meeting between the association and a committee of this board so that the entire full picture can be discussed constructively. We are ready to work towards solutions and hopefully you are as well. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. Uh is are
069there any online comments? >> No. >> Mr. I want to thank um the DEA leadership for coming up tonight and sharing some of this information as I would like to clarify a few points. Um in December's meeting, the objective and the intent was to be transparent to hopes of clarifying uh information uh that was shared in the November board meeting where the information that was shared on the board meeting in November um in the folders that was given to the board of ed was only information particularly to one building. it wasn't a districtwidewide representation. And when a claim is made that it's a district-wide issue, then it is my responsibility to work with my team and try to identify where uh these issues may or may not be. And then going into December, the intent
070again was to just clarify what we had found based on the data. Uh there was no pointing fingers of any kind at any particular group. And I hope that was and that was never the intent. I purposely said absences at 120 130 uh because it was true facts and it was those points that were collected and again the comment that I made was absences. I never uh identified a group in district that um you know regards to that. Now, I did mention 70 subs, right? Because if we have 65 70 uh teachers out, then that is a challenge for any district of any magnitude, regardless large or small, because we're not able to find 70, 60, 30 subs to to cover the classes. Um, as it was mentioned before, we were identifying uh some of
071the trends or some of the concerns that we had. We did identify that when we went we met with the administration back in October, we were able to support our administration in providing better uh coverages within the classroom. We gave some suggestions, some ideas and we saw in November that that started to improve. Um so again uh it was never an intention to blame anyone. It was never any intention to point fingers at anyone. And so I'm happy that this uh was brought to my attention tonight as again uh that was never the intention. It was more of clarifying it because of the information that was shared in November that was not a full picture but a fraction of the information that was collected. Uh you know myself and uh Miss Gibbs have been very
072transparent in sharing any information that's been asked and we shared it because again we had to be clear and our objective is always to find solutions to work as a team in hopes of moving in the right direction. Uh and again I look forward to our monthly meetings and working with the DEA and finding solution ideas but once again it wasn't I want to be clear that the intent was never to point fingers at anyone. The intent was to bring clarification of what the concerns are uh and again to look for the future how we could support and better move the district in the right direction. Thank you. >> Can I just ask a question? Um if there's a committee that's working um is there a committee on the DEA side that it's meeting with
073the committee of the the administrators like how is that working? >> So I I meet monthly with the union leadership and the building uh leadership meets monthly where they're building um representation. Um, I will say that um, in regards to the communication, the working, I think the work is being there. As far as my meetings with the monthly leadership, I think that we definitely could clear up a few more things and how making sure that uh if if there is a particular building that may have a potential issue with maybe a procedure, protocol, things of that nature uh to allow the administration to be able to work within that building with the building representation in hopes of finding a solution, right? And I think that'll be something that'll really be work and I think that
074would have helped specifically in the solution where we were talking about in November where one particular school was targeted and not the other schools because it wasn't a districtwide issue, but I think that could have been addressed had there been more of a communication within the building. >> Mr. Miller. >> Yeah. >> Um Mr. May I ask um are we continuing to analyze coverage data? Um, we're in the middle of a pretty horrible flu season, so I expect there to be absent. We we know student absences, staff ab right, at all levels. Um, are we continuing to analyze data to make sure that there are as, you know, as few problems as there can possibly be? >> Absolutely. I know that Miss Gibbs in constant communication with uh EDU staff. I know that as I
075had mentioned in December uh EDU staff has at a much faster rate uh covered our class our schools in in September and October compared to last year. Um working with edges staff allows us to use subs five days a week as opposed to four days with our permanent subs in house. Um and again, you know, I reported uh back, I believe in focus Friday video in October uh thanks to the culture of climate connection committee meeting where we had some really good discussions about attendance. We had some good discussions about uh what historically has happened and you know we then talked about what had happened with the previous organization swing that we worked with and you know to their surprise they didn't know some of this information which is why they asked me to share
076it during a uh focus Friday video and which I did right um and I've always reiterated to the team that you know I'm never here to say anybody can use they shouldn't use their absences shouldn't use their sick days Uh what I did ask is that if you know of one that's ahead in the future and you're able to put that in, great because that'll give us an opportunity to cover. Um but again, I you know that that's the the team working together to look at all that information and go from there. >> Mr. Miller, I'm sorry. Um could we possibly convene into a very brief second executive session? >> Um I don't know if that's an executive session. >> Which of the nine reasons are you asking for an executive session under >> contract?
077>> I don't I don't know that that is I think we just have to discuss it here. >> Okay. I mean, I I think the the one thing that I'd like to to see is that there's a lot of data and there seems to be two sides that are not agreeing and I think they just need to come together and go through all of it because we could just be talking past each other. Um because then it shouldn't have to happen in a public meeting. So, hopefully we can do that. >> Okay. Um then then I'll just say and I I will leave out the contract issue part of it and um I will just state that uh I believe we're starting a new year. Mr. Haime has now um he's taken a gigantic leap
078towards uh evaluating the situation and I there have we have heard complaints from both sides. We have heard issues from both sides and I would suggest that as a board we just ask moving forward receive the data that Mr. Haime has been providing and evaluate it and if necessary moving forward as part of negotiations discuss changes that need to be made. I think that would be the case with with anything when that time comes up, but I think at this point it's just a matter of um I know that you're very transparent in everything that you're doing. So I'm not sure what the disconnect is and so I think just think might be good to sit together in a room and just go through it with individuals from both sides just to uh get some
079clarity. >> Absolutely. have a moment too. >> Thank you. >> Any other comments from the public? >> Anything online? >> No. >> Okay. I'd like to close this portion of the meeting. Does anyone else have anything before we adjourn? Can I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor? Hi. >> Hi.