001A notice 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 published on in the Asbury Park Press on January 11th, 2025 and sent to the Star Ledger on January 8th, 2025. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> I aliance 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 all. >> Good evening everyone. Happy new year and welcome back. Um, tonight is our reorganization meeting for our board for 2026. Uh, a few things that I take care of and then uh
002the board will elect its officers is first I will read into the record the election results from 2025 for a board of ed. Um, two things I need from the board is one um, actually one thing in front of everyone is the code of ethics. That is something that once you nominate your officers and your president takes over the meeting, um this is something that will be read into the record tonight and I just need you all to sign it. I keep it on file um in the board office. So um at this time I will read the election results, the certified election results from our Mammoth County for the three-year terms for the board of ed Sullivan received 6,132 votes. Peter Confory received 5,577 votes. Ranata Bran received 5,380 votes. Jeffrey D. Williams received
0035,289 votes. Megan Davis received 5,032 votes. And Lauren Sabone uh Jordan received 4,425 votes and there were 155 writings. So congratulations. So what I'm going to do now is our three board members that have been elected. Um I'll go in alphabetical order. We'll start with Mrs. Brand. I'll come over to you. You'll recite after me. We'll swear you in. Then we'll go to Mr. Grim 40. And then or actually Ellen, do you want me to do for and then you want to sit down? What's what's best for you? >> Okay. You can stand. I'll come around. All right, repeat after me. I Rata Brand do solemnly swear >> I Rata Brand do solemnly swear >> that I support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> That
004I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same into the governments established in the United States. >> And that I will their true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States >> and this state under the authority of the people. So help me God >> in this state and under the authority of the people. So help me God. I Ronald Brand do solemnly swear >> I Ronald Brand do solemnly swear >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of board of education >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of board of education >> and
005that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability. So help me God. >> And that I will faithfully, impartially, and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability. So help me God. >> Furthermore, I affirm and declare that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS1914-1. >> I Furthermore, I affirm and declare that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS194-1. Nor am I disqualified due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in NJSA 18A12-1. >> Nor am I disqualified due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in NJSA 18A 12-1. >> Welcome back, Mrs. Brand. >> Thank you. I, Peter Confor, do solemnly swear >> I, Peter
006Confory, do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> That I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> And that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States. >> And that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States. and this state under the authority of the people. So help me God. >> And this state under the authority of the people, so help me God. >> I, Peter Confor, do solemnly swear. >> I, Peter Concord, do solemnly swear >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the
007office of member of the board of education. >> That I possess the qualifications prescribed by law the office of the member of the board of education. >> And I will faithfully and partially justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability. So help me God. and that I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability. So help me God. >> Furthermore, I affirm and declare that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS194-1. >> Furthermore, I affirm and declare that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS194-1. Nor am I disqualified due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in NJSA 18A12-1. >> Nor am I disqualified due to a conviction
008of a crime or offense listed in NJSA 18A 12-1. >> All right. I, Elanor O. Sullivan, do solemnly swear >> I, Elellanena O. Sullivan, do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> And I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governance established in the United States. and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States >> and this state under the authority of the people. So help me >> and this state under the authority of the people. So help me God. IA Sullivan do solemnly
009swear >> I Elena O Sullivan do solemnly swear >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of member of the board of education >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by the law for the office of of member of a board of education >> and that I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability. help me God >> and that I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my abilities. So help me God. >> Furthermore, I affirm and declare that I am not disqualified as a voter concerned to RS194-1. Furthermore, I affirm and declare that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS9 4-1. Am I
010disqualified due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in NJSA 18A 12- am I disqualified due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in NJSA 18A 12-1 so it just swore in please sign that document and then pass back over to me and I will sign it and then we'll file it um in the board records. All right. So, the last of my duties is to um have the election for the board president for 2026. So, just as a reminder, the way the rules work is that um once I open up the floor, anyone can nominate >> Oh, I'm sorry. My bad. Where'd my roll call sheet go? It's here. >> Yep. Yeah. Sorry about that. They got stuck with everything else. >> Yeah. Mr. Amaroso >> here. >> Mrs. Brand
011>> present. >> Dr. Casey >> here. >> Mr. Conford >> here. >> Miss Crosby >> here. >> Mr. Gulo >> here. >> Mrs. Lambert >> here. >> Mrs. O. Sullivan >> present. >> Mrs. Spieler >> here. >> All right. Everyone's here. That's great. All right. Okay. So, the last thing is the nomination of the uh board president. So, once I open the floor, anyone can nominate anyone else. You can nominate yourself. No seconds required. Once there's no more nominations, um I will close the floor and then we'll do a roll call vote. Um you just need five votes to become the president. If we have multiple people uh nominated, the first person nominated will be the first person that we do a roll call vote on. So, any questions on the process? Right. So at
012this time I will open the floor for nominations for president for the board of ed. >> I nominate Michaela. >> Is are there any other nominations for president? >> Are there any other nominations? All right. I'm going to close the floor. We'll do the first roll call for Mr. Amaroso. Mr. Amaroso, >> yes. >> Mrs. Brand, >> yes. >> Dr. Casey. >> Mr. Confory, >> yes. >> Ms. Crosby, >> no. >> Mr. Gulo, >> yes. >> Mrs. Lambert, >> yes. >> Mrs. O. Sullivan, >> yes. >> Mrs. Feler, >> yes. >> Motion carries. So, we're done. Congratulations. Thank you. A little more. That's right. I think we should switch waters. >> We're g Just pull this out here. >> Thank you. Okay. Um, I would like to open the floor for nominations for vice president.
013>> Nominate, >> sorry, >> Helena O. Okay. Do we have any other nominations for vice president? Okay, seeing none, can I get a roll call? >> Mr. Amaroso? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Brand? >> Yes. >> Dr. Casey? >> Yes. >> Mr. Conford? >> Yes. >> M. Crosby, >> Mr. Rogulo? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lambert? >> Yes. >> Mrs. O. Sullivan? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Feler? >> Yes. >> Motion carries. Congratulations. >> Stay down there tonight. We're thankful to have Mrs. O Sullivan here in one piece. She's finally back from Italy. Had a little mishap in Italy, but very glad to see you here. Wish you a speedy recovery. I'm sure I'm sure you'll be uh fine. Get that arm moving again. You can start beating people up again. All right, with that, um, we have
014the board of education code of ethics. I don't know that I need to read this whole thing. It's not required that I read it. Um, so on your in your spare time, why don't you read through this? Uh, we repeat it every year. Do we need to move this or vote on this? We move. >> You could you could move one thing. You can move everything. It's completely up to you. >> Okay. Why don't we move the code of ethics first? Um or someone want to make a motion to move it. >> So moved. >> Okay. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Okay. Does someone want to move the meeting schedule? >> Okay. All those in favor of the 2026 meeting
015schedule, uh say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. This one, board reports and actions. Uh okay. The uh superintendent recommends all board members possess the qualifications required by law and shall be bound by the provisions of the school ethics act. The superintendent recommends approval of name stamps for the board of education president and the superintendent on all checks to vendors and all payroll checks and all agency accounts for 2026. The superintendent recommends approval of checks generated by the custodial system with pre-signed signatures of the board president, the superintendent and business administrator board secretary for 2026. The super superintendent recommends the appointment of Neil Neil Gargulio as the district representative to the Mammoth Ocean Educational Services Commission for 2026. The superintendent recommends the appointment of Michelle Lambert as a district representative to the Mammoth County
016School Board Association Legislative Committee for 2026. The superintendent recommends the appointment of Carmela Spieler as the district's delegate to the New Jersey School Board's Delegate Assembly for 2026. And finally, the superintendent recommends the appointment of Ranata Bran as the district's liaison to the Freehole Municipal Alliance to prevent substance abuse for 2026. Further, the superintendent recommends the appointment of Diane Bhower, assistant superintendent, as the district school safety specialist. Superintendent recommends the approval and the appointment of Mr. Dvita, business administrator as board secretary, as the safety and health designate, as the custodian of record, as the public agency compliance officer for 2026. The superintendent recommends approval of the appointment of Robert M. Dvita, business administrator, as board secretary for the year 2026. The superintendent recommends approval of the appointment of Allison Williams, assistant board secretary for the
017year 2026. Further, it is recommended that Robert Dvita, business administrator, be authorized to award contracts on behalf of the Freel Township Board of Education that are in the aggregate less than 15% of the bid threshold, currently $7,950, without soliciting competitive quotations, and to seek competitive quotations when applicable and practicable and award contracts on behalf of the Freelanche Board of Education when contracts in the aggregate exceed 15% of the bid threshold, but are less than the bid threshold. of $53,000. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. The superintendent recommends the approval of the Asbury Park Press as the official newspaper of the advertisement of legal notices and receipt of notices only as required by law for the Prealta Board of Education for the
018year 2026. Notices of meetings will be posted in the board of education administrative office in each school building on the district website and at the office of the freehold township clerk. Bylaws. I'll read through some of these and we just vote on them together. That's number two. Number three, bylaws, policies, and regulations. Superintendent recommends the approval of all bylaws, policies, and regulations previously in effect for the year 2026. claims auditor prepayment authority. The superintendent recommends approval that for the year 2026 the business administrator board secretary be designated as the board of education claims auditor with authority as provided by 18A col9-2 amended to direct prepayment of claims for debt service payroll fixed charges and other claim or demand which would be in the best interest of the board to pay promptly. Fees for copies of
019public documents. The superintendent recommends the approval that a photocopy fee of 5 cents per page for printed matter of legal size page or smaller and 7 cents per page for printed matter of legal size or larger for official board minutes and other public documents for the year 2026. Parliamentary procedures and yes this does come up. The superintendent recommends approval to adopt Robert's rules of order 11th edition as the parliamentary procedure manual to be used to conduct meetings and to appoint the board secretary and board attorney to act as parliamentarians for the year 2026. So I'll move all that in one chunk. Is that okay? >> Do we have a second on all of that? >> Second. >> Um all those in favor say I. >> Is anyone opposed? Okay. Excellent. Um, president's remarks. Um, gosh,
020welcome to 2026. Um, I can't believe that it's already 2026, but I am glad that we were able to get everyone here. And as I stated before, so happy that Elena could be here because it was a it was a real dicey thing that both of us actually were ill. I was out with pneumonia and she had fallen and we didn't know who was going to be here tonight, but somehow we all made it here. So, it's a blessing. Um, as far as 2026, I'll keep my remarks brief. Um, this year is going to be a year when we're going to start our referendum infrastructure projects. So, I wanted to just start the tone off right from the beginning of the year that the goal of this board of education is going to have to
021be making sure that we have absolutely no disruption to student learning during the time that we start to make these implementations to different buildings. So, um, however we can help you, Neil or Bob or Diane, any anything that you need from this board, we're there to support you. Um, we know that teams are going to be set up to make sure that everything's run smoothly, but we've been making so much progress with our learning. I mean, our goals 2024 and 2025, we've been seeing those student achievement numbers go up. We definitely don't want to mess with them. Uh I know how disruptive it can sometimes be when you're doing projects and the kids get all excited and they see, you know, buildings, sections of buildings that might be moved here and there. So, um that's
022going to be really a focus of the board to make sure everything stays on track and we're here to support uh administration to make sure that we can get all these uh safety concerns addressed that we've been waiting so many years for. So, with that, um I also um Ellen and I are nerds. We did the committees last December. So, I'm going to actually hand them out. She she had a little meeting with me in December and then um I actually um made copies of them. If anybody wants one after the meeting, I will give them to you. Um I will read them out. If anybody needs a hard copy, just give me a shout. This is not it. Excuse me. What did I do with it? I already pulled it out. Actually, I do
023have the copy. So, why don't I just send send them each way? That might be too many. But >> you have enough either way. >> How many do you have? One, two, three, four. Go. So, um, for the policy committee, um, Emily is going to be our new chair and, uh, Elellena and Michelle will be on that committee. For curriculum, um, Todd will be the chair. Um, and we will put Carmela and Peter on that committee. And for finance, uh, Neil will be the chair and I will be remain on that committee and, uh, Renado will join the committee. So those um after discussing it um with Elellena in detail, we looked at where people have been and where people need to go and what going on this particularly year. We usually come up with
024where we think everybody's best align just given what we see is going to be um you know the um you know the district's goals for that year. So we set it up like this. If anybody has any questions, give me a holler. With that, I don't think I left anything else out. Um we we will open it up to public participation if there is any. Um this is an 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 three minutes and should not be abusive, obscene, or defamatory in nature. Do we have any takers? Okay. Seeing none, then I will ask for a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion. All those in favor say I.
025I. >> Okay. Thank you folks.