001good evening 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 a notice listing the time date and place of this meeting was posted on the public bulletin board of all free old 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 in the Asbury Park Press on January 6 2023 and sent to the news transcript on January 4th 2023 please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the part of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation
002under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all can I get a roll call Mr DaVita this is Brad Ley now Mr garciullo here Mrs O'Sullivan president Mrs stallman here miss benatoli Mr Williams Mr Amoroso here Mrs Lambert we have a quorum thank you can I get a motion to approve the minutes of the July 25th regular meeting a second second okay all those in favor signify by saying aye opposed an abstention and I have to abstain all right thank you thank you okay um vice president's remarks um welcome everyone we don't have a big crowd but um I hope everyone is having a great summer it's good to see everybody again that I haven't seen in a while we've been doing a lot of traveling um a lot of babies being born I'm a
003grandpa very excited so I've been to South Carolina twice in two weeks so I don't know it's going to get expensive I see that little one well let's go back again um but anyway it's good to see everyone and with that I'm going to move it over to Neil for his report I'm going to do your certification personally sure for your certification yeah one second the school business administrator slash board secretary certifies that as of June 30th 2023 no line item has been over expended in violation of njac 6A 23a-16.10 C3 and that sufficient funds are available to meet the district's Financial Obligations for the ranger of the fiscal year okay thank you good evening everybody today was our last day of the extended school year program I would like to thank um and express
004my gratitude to all of our staff who participated in the extended school year program um as the years go on and it's become more difficult to staff in the summer and I'm appreciative to all of those teachers teacher assistants bus drivers attendants custodians everybody who was willing to work with our students this summer we had our largest enrollment in the extended school year program that we've ever had um and a thank you to our esy administrator Sharon Timmons working closely with Lena winter and Chris cleffy to make sure that that program ran smoothly and today was our last day and it ran well so those staff members and those students who participated have a two-week reprieve before the first day of school um also we are still in the process um we added this meeting
005years ago because we wanted to be able to approve staff for whom we've interviewed and are recommending for the next school year um we are still having a difficult time as our surrounding districts um we've I've read for years of a teacher shortage in different places and thought how lucky it has not hit us or New Jersey well I think as I shared before it has hit us in New Jersey so it has become increasingly difficult um to find Qualified and when I say qualified I literally mean qualified certificated staff with the as New Jersey has added additional certifications they've almost certified people out of the ability to um to teach in specialty areas for example a special education middle school math teacher requires at least two certifications if not three they require teacher of
006math which is 7 12 and teacher of students with disabilities or elementary k6 elementary elementary with middle school math subject matter specialization 5 8 and teacher of students with disabilities the more certificates you add the more increasingly difficult it becomes it's also costly for those out there who might be qualified based on their transcripts New Jersey has a fee holiday right now for the year you can apply for certifications without cost but you also have to have the qualifications to apply for that certificate so even Elementary positions have become increasingly difficult to fill so we are experiencing that we are doing our best I would like to thank our building administrators specifically who have gone through rounds and rounds and rounds of interviews to find qualified candidates at this point without the reduction in the
007number of students graduating from teacher certificate or teacher prep programs it's a fight among school districts of who can pay more um and that's what we're seeing now we will have somebody and then they will go somewhere else for more money so um you see my emails requesting in advance and um I think I've explained to you but that is the full explanation of what we're experiencing and why you're seeing those requests um come in um in advance of meetings to determine if we can or cannot offer uh specific individuals contracts amongst the administrators to talk to the state about that issue we have we have um so the only thing that the only thing the state has done in reaction to our concerns is that they've removed temporarily or permanently the um I think
008it might be permanent the um the Pearson assessment um edtpa has been removed and that was even another barrier that was preventing um certification so edtpa was a portfolio assessment performance-based assessment that's been removed and that is what they did to do that they're also temporarily allowing teachers who have retired to return but we have no takers on that and if you have 30 credits it can become at least a substitute you don't have to be actively seeking additional credits so but but we have a Spanish opening perfect example there are no programs left yeah New Jersey so New Jersey that's a good point New Jersey is required New Jersey is required through the New Jersey student learning standards to have a program of uh language and there are no longer any Universities in the
009state of New Jersey that require that um have a program to certify lead that leads to certification in any foreign language in the state of New Jersey to teach I don't think it attracted candidates so the last school was TCNJ and it was as of last year I have a question that's administrators and if they didn't have those extra certification you've had the basic phone like maybe years ago does that affect your teaching that much it depends you then what we have to do if we ever went there is to do a very a more in-depth interview to determine their content character their content qualifications so particularly in the middle school so if we were hiring for eighth grade math and the candidate had the old Elementary K-8 certificate which I hold we would push
010further in the interview to assess content knowledge to make sure that that candidate had the content knowledge to teach higher level math so that's what you can do me personally I wouldn't put myself of course of course so those people are like few and far between at this point they would be late in their career um those that have Elementary K-8 the old certification or teacher of the handicapped Neil can I ask also so um um and pardon my ignorance here so if you've gone to school and say you get your K-5 certification and you take the practice in K to five right um are you able like if you're like I'm pretty good at math can you take the math 2 or you need for specific work in math both so you have to
011take the Praxis there's a specific middle school practice for five eight content areas each one has its own and on top of that you have to have 12 credits um that are not pedagogy classes that are content classes at the college level so so there's potential that we have teachers who've gotten a degree that maybe have taken what is it three math classes you have to have the uh no uh the four four math classes um a class a class on adolescent psychology and yeah I think there's like yeah yeah and then I'm remembering a class on Adela and psychology for five eight and um the Praxis itself so an additional Praxis elementary k-6 teachers are required to take three actually all of them I think at this point require take three practice no that
012doesn't stop us Mary um reviewing transcripts at the table yeah when we're meeting with candidates and saying hey it looks like you were a math minor have you considered right so we do a lot of counseling into the more search you have the more doors are open right um and with languages right if somebody speaks Spanish so that's the challenge as well because you have to pass the oral proficiency assessment which is challenging it's rigorous so you have to be a uh I forget the level because there's one for a teacher of the language and there's one for bilingual and I can't remember which is which which requirement is which but you have to be you could go back to taking the assessment when you did that yeah you have to take it it's actually
013an oral uh assessment over the you yeah I've seen people take it it's challenging that has precluded up people from the getting their certification before not being able to pass that oral proficiency assessment and there's no like alternate mood there's alternate route preparation but not if you're not going to pay not going to take so all alternate route does is we can hire you now provisionally until you take your 12 credits like that doesn't that's what it does so when we hire teachers for teachers students with disabilities as alternate route or provision or um the alternate route or they are all we're doing is hiring them as their and we have to see proof that each year they're making progress towards their coursework so if you hire somebody alternate route say in middle school math
014because they have math like they graduated say with a math degree but no no no education then they have to go back and take the education classes while they're fortunate route yeah that's a little bit different it depends on it depends on the program and what they have certificate like teacher of math 712. Nails okay we have uh one um student with us this evening for recognition I wasn't able to be here last time and this is for the Barcelo Middle School of geography the second place and our Second Grade Center was buying it thank you congratulations I'm sorry Mrs uh Mrs Lambert would have been better looking yeah that my picture you're good yes all right excellent this is going to be the first opportunity for public participation this will be on agenda items
015only if anyone wishes to address the board please write your name address on the sign in sheet State the name for the record statements are limited to three minutes and should not be abusive obscene or defamatory in nature do we have anybody for public participation leaving is public participation all right seeing none will go into the personnel um this is O'Sullivan okay uh we did not meet as a committee this week we'll write to number three for the time uh retirements uh as stated I move resident number four resignations as stated I'd like to move number five new employment as stated number six leave of absence as stated number seven change of assignment and salary adjustment for 2023-24 as stated number eight change of assignment 2023-24 as stated number nine District Mentor as stated number
01610 student teacher practicum observation placements as stated number 11 additional compensation transfer of assignment and room as stated number 12 curriculum committee as stated number 13 esy staff as stated number 14 termination substitute employment as stated 15 certified certified substitutes as stated 16 non-certified substitutes as stated and that is all do we have any of our new employees here nobody if anybody's in uh TV Land welcome to the district do we have any um comments word comments roll call please give me a second oh a second okay okay roll call Mrs brand yes Mrs causalino Mr Gargiulo yeah Mrs O'Sullivan yes Mrs Bowman yes Mrs Anatoli yes uh Mr Amoroso yes motion carries thank you curriculum policy Mrs casalino I would like to move the following we did not meet tonight um number three course
017reimbursement as listed and number four the first reading of policy and regulations as listed there's quite a few of them um number five the abolishment of policies and regulations as listed and that is it any questions discussion can I get a second all those in favor say aye opposed excellent Finance facilities Transportation Mrs ventaton thank you uh the finance facilities and transportation committee did not meet this evening um I'd like to move item number two the secretary and Treasury secretary and treasurer's report as listed item number three bills and claims I'd like to thank Mr Amoroso for doing that um update my calendar now guys sorry in the amount of two uh total bills in the amount of two million 918 000 54.62 payroll in the amount of 689 886.31 cents per grand total of
018three million 607 940.93 I'd like to move item number four travel related expenses as listed item number five New Jersey school boards Association attendance as listed number six lease purchase financing as listed number seven transfers as listed number eight commission for the blind contract as listed number nine the out of District contract as listed number 10 the contract with core BTS is listed number 11 the renewal of the RFP for the best practice data research and professional development services 22-05 as listed number 12 disposals as listed number 13 disposal of surplus property gov deals as listed and that's all okay any questions discussion can I get a second okay okay all those in favor say aye aye opposed motion parents okay very good um I have no old business unless anybody has any old business
019anybody and I have nothing on new business I have a question what do you want Sodexo to start coffee and cookie service again we I vote Yes we didn't bring it people made comments a couple times but last year I guess it was kind of the first year back it's kind of the thing so it's up to you you guys say yes or no and I could have them start in September I think yeah especially when it gets colder yeah you want to do a little straw poll how many would like coffee rack here yeah we used to serve coffee and some cookies and bring cookies and stuff I like going back to the old way I'll do it I don't even drink coffee but I say yeah okay I've got three yeses on four
020Mary oh my God that's five we got five okay it's fine I'll let him know oh my God my whiteboard espresso pot to Aruba and then make everything oh they were paying attention officer so we're fingers crossed that will be all set in October to have our fifth but we have one we had one and similar to the Staffing issue that Neil shared went somewhere else so then um we're fortunate that there was a retiree who's interested so maybe we should be sending the cookies to his head we might want to penetrate crumble but I'll pick it up and deliver I can say gooders I don't think the fertile Township police will turn away food um so yeah so by October I believe he'll be in training at all of our schools so we'll have
021our fit yeah any other new business questions okay um vice president's remarks nothing other than um thank you to all the staff that stays over the summer and all your preparation work it's getting exciting it's now getting close actually I saw a bunch of cars in the parking lot today and I was like gee it looks like school's in such today yeah it was exciting I got worried I'm like gee should my kids be in school anyway uh thank you for all that and the next time we meet it's going to be very close are we going to be doing building tours um if you want to it's fine just got to pick a date um yeah so last week of August that's fine if anybody's interested in um we usually run a few tours
022of the buildings if any board members are interested we usually just walk a few buildings you know see how the prep is going um Bob usually sets that up and we can all sign up and volunteer I could volunteer to drive or we have one or two cars usually yeah with everyone's schedule yeah we can email something around have a date for your opening September 1st at 8 30. at barcalo oh I haven't replied all right this is going to be the second 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 anybody for public participation thank you I have
023a statement question two questions um Nationwide there's been a tremendous amount of discussion and controversy regarding the content and availability of books in our students libraries there are books that are supposed that are objectionable and I have an example of two particular authors that I'd like to know if these books are in our libraries um Lauren Michael Miracles has written several books the particular book I'm mentioning is l a r g a r and it's part of a three-part TTL series it's geared more toward the middle school students but that can go down as far as eight-year-olds and the second is the breakaways which is a book by Kathy G Johnson is there any way to find out if these books are in and available to our students we don't have access at this meeting
024to get that information you can email Mrs Montgomery I have the titles she'll respond in email okay thank you that's very good certainly and then then I have a question for the board is this school board willing uh to remove any of these challenged books if in fact they are found in our libraries the purpose of public participation isn't for polls it's to address the board and the board listen that's my question for you to contemplate are you guys are you going to be willing to remove any of these books it's something for you to discuss among yourselves at some point in time because you have that ability to do that thank you thank you the pen is out of it thank you hi my name is Carmela spieler I live in Freehold um so
025a couple of questions here I have I'd like to know where the board stands on policy 5756 there's much debate about it obviously you must know that schools just uh were being sued and they went to court today and the judge is going to pass judgment on that but I'd like to know if this district is going to side with and not siding with any maybe that's a bad word but are they going to support parents who were entrusted by God with their children are the is this district and is the members of it are you going to allow parents to have the god-given right that they were given to basically govern their own children and not a Township school or a state and so that's one of my questions and then I was wondering
026um if Miss casalino was able to read the book Lawn Boy since we were just mentioning books I know you said you were going to read it and make your own judgment on it did you in fact get to buy the book and read it that's well I thought I just want to clarify remember correctly the statement that you had made at that meeting was in reference it was an author and a book and there is there are two different books and the book and yes yes so that book Lawn Boy whether Mrs cuzzalino read or not she can choose to answer is not a book that we had in our library or it's not even appropriate for pre-k to eight so I just want to clarify from that meeting that that book it was
027a combination of lawn Voice by Gary Paulsen that's present at Book Fairs and there's a seven I only bring up the books only because um but I'm just saying it's it's not it's a separate book yeah okay I'm sorry after the meeting you could talk to Mary about the book but it has nothing to do with our district okay okay good I'm only boarded up because Miss Denise had brought it up and and it's um so how does the plan for the board where do they stand with policy 5756 we don't have a response to that yet we're going to wait for the judge to make okay so right now we will right now is the district in fact following the policy the way it's written where parents are not notified how is the district
028how does it read here right now we follow our policies which says you would not notify parents or you would notify parents right now the policy reads that we do not notify do not however our practice is that our counselors or whoever the child is speaking to works with the child to disclose to the parents together so while our policy is we do not our goal is to work with the children to tell their parents and when I did an informal poll of the number of kids um over the years in the past few years that that's applied to it was under five in the K-5 in the K-5 so I understand that it's national news there's opinions regarding whether we should or shouldn't which I don't discount anybody's opinion but I just want to
029share in practice here zero to five was the number of kids that have been that we haven't been in fact that's probably lower like zero to two at the elementary level that we would not have we were not able to successively successfully work with the child to tell their parents okay but any number above one or one in about well I think the parents have the right and I think this District would be failing our children and our families if not notifying them you notify them for everything they get into a fight something happens they scrape their knee that's your three minutes but thank you for your opinion thank you very much thank you hi um my name is Alice Marie I am from Colts Neck New Jersey and I have been interested in the
030policy 5756 and here to support some people in Freehold since I am local in the area I did get a chance to sit in on the court case today which was pretty amazing that I I got a chance to see that really what the court case on 5756 for Middletown Manalapan and Marlborough was about the time frame and will the judge allow the present policy that the boards have put in place to stand or that will they wait until it goes to the actual discrimination case at another time because that has to go through the courts and it takes time to set up the date and all that so as you know with 5756 the policy is not mandatory and the school boards are allowed to make up the policy to say if they want
031to implement certain parts of it and not so then the state threw it into kind of discrimination case and I I just want to stand here and say that you know I we love the trans kids I am you know I we love them but we feel that people need protection children need protection and it's a parent parents rights that at the age of um they even discussed in court a five-year-old deciding what gender they are and um you know for me personally I was a tomboy until I was a teenager maybe 13 or so and I even dressed like a boy I played you know with boys I climbed trees rode bikes frogs and fish and everything but there wasn't the narrative that they have today in the school system the reason why that's
032important and the important that we support our kids is because at that age you cannot get a tattoo you cannot drive a car you cannot drink you cannot you know smoke or any of these things and it's because people are children are kids they can't make a decision as an adult can make a decision and that's why we're in charge of them the problem is that the now narrative is leading to children I think it's 45 percent of the girls eventually go into transitioning and it's a smaller percent of the boys 28 or so that have the affirmation surgery and I took these from websites um that were very reputable like the CDC and other things like that but it's been proven through 11 studies including the Toronto 2020 one study that at the age
033of eight by the age of 18 any gendered dysphoria children return 887.7 percent to their bio to their natural birth gender so we're allowing children to make changes where these puberty blockers are causing sterilization they're the same ones that they give to pedophiles and they're not reversal they tell these kids this and the other side is saying there's higher incidence of suicide well I've seen the films I've watched testimonies of people detransitioning and the suicide is coming through the process and after the transitioning they're still considered transgender okay the frontal lobe is not developed at age 13 and they are making decisions and if the puberty blockers are stopping their bone development their emotional development and all about three minutes now we appreciate it to vote for parental rights thank you very much for helping
034the kids and protect the kids thank you another question everyone else done does anyone else want to speak first yeah oh yeah I don't think there's anybody else here but okay um I just had a question here on this policy on it says the superintendent recommends approval to abolish the following policies and regulation um Marshall Erickson Title One School parent and family engagement what is that Eric says title one is a federal program and schools are eligible by percent of low socioeconomics families enrolled in the school and Erickson went out of Eligibility so we abolished the policy because it's no longer a title I didn't thank you no problem thank you do we have any other takers okay seeing none can I get a motion to adjourn second all those in favor say aye thank
035you very much and a great night everyone see you in two weeks yeah um