001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> I'd like to call this meeting to order. The mission of the Freehold Township School District is to honor and support every learner every day on the journey to become curious and engaged members of a diverse global community. I noticed listing the time, date, and place of this meeting was posted on the public bulletin board of all Freehold Township schools, on the entrance door to the administrative offices of the Board of Education, on the district website, at the office of the Freehold Township Clerk, and published in the Asbury Park Press on January 11th, 2026. Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for
002all. Can I get a roll call, Mr. Debita? >> Mrs. Bran. Dr. Casey. Mr. Conforti. Here. Mrs. Crosby. Here. Mr. Gargiulo. Here. Mrs. Lambert. Here. Mrs. Wheeler. Here. Mrs. O'Sullivan. Present. Mr. Amoroso. Here. Thank you. Okay, can I get a motion for the approval of the March 24th regular meeting minutes? So moved. Have a second? Second. All those in favor say I. Any opposed? Mrs. Lambert abstains. And can I get a motion for the approval of the March 20 March 24th executive session minutes? So moved. Second? Thank you. All those in favor say I. Any opposed? One abstention. Okay, thank you. Uh communications. Our only communication for this evening is enrollment. Uh February of 2026 we had 3,360 students. March of 2026 we had 3,356. Compared that to March 25 we had 3,422. And that
003is all for tonight. Okay. Um president's remarks. Not a lot on my end to report other than that the graduation dates and times have come out. It's going to be uh June 18th for those of you that want to mark your calendar. We're going to do Izenhour at 3:00 p.m. And we're going to do Barcolo at 5:30 p.m. Again, that's on June 18th for all board members here to mark your calendars and anyone in the public. Um those are going to be our dates. With that I'm going to move on to the administrative report. Thank you. Uh on a similar note uh by the end of the month we will put out a a Doc uh with all of the moving up ceremonies, the fifth grade moving up ceremonies at our elementary schools, and our
004two eighth grade graduation times for board members to indicate which you'll be attending. You'll have plenty of time to fill that in in the month of May and first half of June so our administrators know. But we'll have that out soon so that you can sign up for those events so we know who's coming. Today I sent a message to the Donovan staff and the Donovan families that for the 2026-2027 school year we'll be adjusting the school times. This is some feedback that we've received on a regular basis since school school times changed several years ago. We went to three and a half tiers. We're removing the Donovan tier so we'll go back to three tiers. It shifts 15 minutes earlier. So Donovan currently opens at 9:00 with school starting at 9:10. It'll be on
005the same tier now as Katina and Erickson opening at 8:45 with school starting at 8:55. Dismissal previously or currently is at 3:45. They'll dismiss at 3:30. Each year we have less and less buses that are required to service Donovan which allows us to do that at this point. And that is something from the staff and the community alike that we've been getting a lot of requests for annually since that change has been made especially with the dismissal time. So next year three schools will be on that pure tier three. And hopefully that'll make the lives of our staff and students and families those that school easier. Um Since our last board meeting we had 10 reports of harassment, intimidation, and bullying. Out of those 10, seven were founded and three were unfounded. That's all I
006have. Okay. Just my phone. I'm just going to pull my statement. Procedural question. Sure. We are now sending announcements in the like PTO newsletters of this, right? We need to add that here or do we not? It's not an official. That's the official, but Bobkins speak. That's the official that we're required to notify. The PTO newsletters are arm of your committee, actually, the action plan to get more involvement into board meetings. There was a big thing >> No. Good question, but no. We did that as the floated around about, I want to say three or four years ago, where we were like, are people really grabbing a newspaper? The law was antiquated by picking up a physical newspaper, and then they changed it. Remember? Like, you could do like an online version of a published
007paper. But this is We're doing the best we can with this, but The the way the law works now, and it just changed in March. So, we're, you know, 45 days in. Is that twice a month now, we send these tiny little blurbs to the Asbury Park Press that says, "The Freehold Township Board of Education has all their public announcements on this link." And then we So, it costs us a few dollars to do it that way. But then we post everything online. So, if you go to the front page of the website now, and if you look at any districts right now, it's one of the first things it says, "Postings are Yeah." And so, you can go there. Honestly, in 2026 >> and you click on that tab, and everything's there. >> Yeah,
008when it says on the I got you. When you put on the district website, right off, that should get most people. I mean, I think it was a win-win for everyone. We pay less despite having to run these two tiny ads every month. It was like the budget ad that we have to run. Normally, it was like five or six hundred dollars. Now >> Used to be the Star-Ledger and the Asbury Park Press, wasn't Yeah, it it used to be two. So. >> newspapers. Yeah. All right. >> Print is dead. Yes, it is, unfortunately. Unfortunately. >> print. I love print, too. Hey, look, our agenda's still printed. I don't know how much longer that's going to last. It was supposed to go away five years ago. You got to get rid of us dinosaurs. All
009right. Um, is there any other administrative report? Nothing? Okay, then we're going to go into public participation. Uh, this is the first opportunity for public participation. If anyone wishes to address the board, please write your name and address on the sign-in sheet and state, uh, your name for our records. Statements are limited to 3 minutes and should not be abusive, obscene, or defamatory in nature. Okay. I see nobody approaching the podium. We'll go right to personnel policy and communications. Ms. Crosby. Thank you. Good evening, everybody. Um, the personnel policy and communications committee did meet this evening. In attendance were myself, Ellen O'Sullivan, Michelle Lambert, uh, Mr. Dixon, and Dr. Wetpower. Uh, we discussed agenda items inclusive of nursing coverage, instructional coordinator job descriptions, uh, as well as our committee goals, as I did promise we
010would be discussing the first meeting of April. Um, so quick overview on that, um, one of the previous, uh, committee's goals was to implement new member onboarding, which we all discussed, uh, last summer in our, um, retreat. So, um, we did already beta that. Peter, I think you were our beta. Um, This guy. Um, He's twitching. Like, do I answer questions? Am I being tested? Um, so there were two sessions broken down, which was seemingly helpful because there was so much information. The first being, uh, really about board-related items, board membership, voting, um, all the good things, um, and the second being a meeting with administration to cover, uh, each of their roles, um, in the district. So, um, that is has been technically already started and will continue. Uh, we also talked about mentorship
011within the board on an ongoing basis, which has been informally done for years. I know Michelle has played a big role in that with a lot of us that are sitting here right now. And we talked about maybe making that more formalized moving forward. For professional development as the second goal for the committee, we are moving that primarily to summer to continue discussing because we have yet to really survey what the needs or wants of for the development are from the board. So, we'll be doing that in hopes to structure for next year. Thank you. Oh, I spoke just talk. I talked I spoke a lot, which I'm not used to. Apologies, I know. Here we go. All right. Three, retirement as listed. We want to congratulate and thank Julie Visser Cohen for her years
012with us. Four, resignation as listed. Five, new employment as listed. I want to congratulate our new staff members. I welcome them in. Six, salary adjustments as listed. Note that items two and three are prorated. Seven, offer of employment as listed. Eight, leaves of absence as listed. Nine, extend or change long-term assignment as listed. 10, temporary change of assignment salary adjustment as listed. 11, additional compensation as listed. 12, additional compensation driver training as listed. 13, unpaid days as listed. 14, ESY 2026 staff as listed. We have to flip to page 16. It is and end up on 17. 15, summer evaluations as listed. 16, summer band program as listed. 17, a form bullying investigation findings as listed. 18, student practical observation placement as listed. 19 certified substitutes as listed. 20 non-certified substitutes as listed. That is
013it. Excellent. Do we have a second? Second. Do we have any questions? Our policy committee. Right. Uh The curriculum committee did meet today. In attendance We got to take a vote? Yeah, vote. Vote. Vote. I thought you had a question. Just got rolling. All right. That's okay. Don't worry. We'll get you out of here. Um are there any other questions or Okay, I think we're good. So, uh let's get a roll call, please. >> Mrs. Brand? Did we get a second? We did. >> Okay. We did. Uh Mr. Argiulo? Oh, thank you. Uh Dr. Casey? Yes. Mr. Conforti? Yes. Mrs. Brosnan? Yes. Mr. Argiulo? Yes. Mr. Lambert? Yes. Mrs. Spiller? Yes. Mr. O'Sullivan? Yes. Mr. Amoroso? Yes. Motion carries. Okay, thank you. Now, we'll do the curriculum committee, Dr. Casey. Yes. As I rudely stated
014earlier, uh the committee meeting uh did meet. In attendance were myself, Mr. Conforti, Mrs. Spiller, and Mr. Montgomery. Uh we did discuss the and review the board goals uh action plan. There were four action plans um and two we have initiated and are ongoing on a monthly basis. Uh a third we decided is not relevant because it was based on the um the referendum. So, it's sort of in the past. Um and the third we added another one um which is to look at the Oh, where did it go? Uh explore alternative tools for improved uh school home communication. Um that we're going to start to to work on. So, basically there were three actionable ones. Two were well into, and then one new one. Great. Thank you. And as uh I will move to
015approve number three, home instruction, and number four, 2026 summer band program schedule as listed. Excellent. Um do we have a second on that motion? And do we have any questions for our curriculum team? No questions? All right. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Okay. Finance and facilities and transportation, Mr. Gargiulo. Hello. Uh finance, facilities, transportation committee did not meet tonight. Our group consists of myself, Renata Brand, Micah Morosa, and Bob DeVito. Who did the bills? I did. Okay. Thank you, Carmela, for doing the bills. Bills and claims, we had as follows. We had a total of $4,694,304.56. I'd like to move uh travel and related expenses as listed. Transfers as listed. Disposal as listed. Number six is MOESC non-public agreements as listed. Seven, New Jersey Farm to School Procurement Initiative, NJF2 SPI
016as listed. Adjust tuition contract for received students as listed. Sale checks as listed. And number 10 is 2026 summer band program as listed. Short and sweet tonight. Very good. I'm happy. I'm happy. Do we have a second on that? Second. Thank you. Do we have any questions for our finance and facilities team? Okay, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Okay, very good. We're going to move on to old business. Do we have any old business on the table? We got our committee um updates, which was great. I thank everyone for that. Um do we have any other old business to discuss? Okay, new business. I have a few items. Um there's a uh New Jersey School Board County meeting coming up on May 5th. And um Mrs. Lambert, you're going to be
017getting an award for 15 years of service. I was told I was getting one, too. Me, too. Yeah. I left me out cuz I'm making the announcement. But that's all right. Um so uh you can attend virtually or you can attend in person at Squires restaurant in Long Branch. Mrs. Lambert, are you going to be there? Yes. I should be there. I have a flight in the morning at and I will be there by 6:00 p.m. unless my flight has a problem. Okay. But I will I plan to be there. >> going cuz I figured you were going. I'm going by the skin of my teeth. Okay. I arranged my flight left to move my daughter out of Clemson that weekend. So I'm flying in May 5th at 8:00 a.m. So I should be here
018by like That should be fine. >> the first flight. They're all Some of them were in their 20s. Yep. And then, um I wanted to tell the board April 28th, we have an issue that came up that we need an executive session. We'd like to meet early at 6:15. Is that a problem for any of the board members or can we meet a little early on April 28th? You want to pull your calendars out? >> be 5 minutes We can do 5 minutes. You're good? >> 6:15. So, um I I just want to make sure we have a quorum. You're good? >> That's a regular meeting date? Yeah. Alana, are you good? Uh she's checking. Michelle, does that work for you? 1 2 3 I should be good, too. 4 5 Looks like we have
019five, so I think we're good for that if we want to advertise that. >> we want to I I will just repost it. We'll send it out to all the places that it says that you read, and then we'll post it on the website. >> Okay. So, we're just starting the regular meeting at 6:15? That's for executive Executive session, yeah. >> Executive session at 6:15. >> Yes. Okay. Okay, a few more upcoming things. Lots of new business. Um superintendent eval, um Neil's going to have all his input in by May 1st. So, I'm going to start um nagging all the board members to open up their evaluations after May 1st. It may be that he can't get both his goals achieved by then because there's some data that's missing. The district goals. District goals. So,
020if he's going to get it done anyway because we have a statutory deadline to make sure we get this approved. And then, if something isn't ready, Neil promises to give us an update over the summer. Yeah, the way I have to mark it in there just so it is memorialized is um um not There's three different categories. Basically, it'll it'll say in progress and I'll give an update on where we are. So, if it's um typically for the i-Ready one, I will not be ready. So, I'll give you an update on where we were in the winter, which isn't a great measure, but it'll give you something really. And then you'll get the true report when Becky gives her presentation to the entire board on all of our i-Ready data. Um so, as we go
021through each goal, um if I can report on it, I will report on it. If I can't, in progress, then I'll give you the best update that I can. Fair enough. Just because the goals have to align with the statutory deadline and then some of the data doesn't always line up. So, it's not a perfect evaluation, but it is what it is. Um and then of course we have our board self-eval that's going to come up and then we have to have a retreat. So, we don't have to set the date now, but we should start thinking of a date over the summer um when we all want to get together and what kind of a retreat. So, I do take ideas. If anybody wants to email me, "Hey, I got an idea. Why don't
022we do this or that?" Um we're in the planning stages. So, feel free to shoot me an email and let me know if there's anything that you think would be a good idea for a retreat. And also any topics that you would like discussed at the retreat. If there's a certain issue or topic, we'll start I I'll take notes and we'll just start listing them. Anything you want to talk about, we'll put on there. Is it in Hawaii this year or Vegas? However you like, as long as we have time. Usually, we try to get through most of the business and at the end we can try to have an open session. Um but we'll put something together. It's early, but I'm just mentioning it now. So, usually you get the more it sits, the
023more we start getting some issues that are, you know, relevant. Uh that's all I had. Do we have any other new business? No? Okay. Um I have no further remarks. We will move into the second opportunity for public participation. If anyone wishes to address the board, please write your name and address on the sign-in sheet, state your name for the record. Statements are limited to 3 minutes and should not be abusive, obscene, or defamatory in nature, and this would be on any topic. >> Okay. Um then we're going to have to move into an executive session. So, whereas pursuant to NJSA 10:4-12B, the Board of Education may exclude the public from that portion of a public meeting at which the Board discusses any of the matters described at NJSA 10:4-12B1-9. Now, therefore, be it resolved
024that in accordance with the provisions of the Open Public Meeting Act, the Board of Education shall conduct a closed session pursuant to the personnel and legal exceptions prescribed by NJSA 10:4-12 for the purpose of discussing the following matters: personnel, central office administrators contracts, superintendent's contract, pending or anticipated contract negotiations with our FTAA negotiations and our TWU negotiations. It is anticipated that the length of time of this executive session will be 60 minutes, God willing. And that action will not be taken in public after the executive session. Be it further resolved that said discussion may be disclosed to the public when reasons for discussing and acting upon it in closed session no longer exist. Um do we have a second on that? Second. All those in favor say I. I. Okay, thanks folks for coming out.