001Okay. Calling this meeting uh to into session. In accordance with the open open public meetings NJSA 104-6 statute adequate notification of this meeting has been provided by advertising in the courier news and posting notice in the board of education administration building and district schools and filing notice with the burough clerk. I hereby call to order the regular public meeting Tuesday, May 20, 2025 in the Lincoln Middle School Cafetum, 400 Denellan Avenue at 7 03 p.m. This meeting is broadcast live. For details, check www.denellonschools.org. Uh, moving on to item number two on our agenda. Uh, and if you need copies, I believe they're on the table over there. Um, a roll call. So, Mr. Pepe, could you please call the role? Mr. Anderson is present. Mrs. Condit present. Ms. Ibback present. Dr. Gendrono present. Mrs. Howard
002present. Mr. Sonoi present. Miss Shy is not here. Mrs. Shep present. And Mr. Walker here. We have a quorum. Okay. Wonderful. Moving on to item number three on the agenda. The Denellan Board of Education will now adjourn into executive session to discuss items that fall within specific exceptions to the Open Public Meetings Act, CJSA 104-12. B. The confidential demands discussed by the board during this executive session include items related to individual privacy, collective bargaining agreements, pending or anticipated litigation, and personnel. Okay. Uh any discussion that does not need to remain uh confidential will be made public as soon as it is practical. Minutes of the executive session will not be disclosed until the need for confidentiality no longer exists. All individuals who may be discussed in executive session have been adequately notified. Action will take
003place after the conclusion of the executive session. We have a motion to go into executive session. Please move to go to exe. Second. All those in favor? I opposed. Okay, we will see you in about 25 minutes. Okay, we are back. Thank you for your patience. So, at this time, we are going to move to item number four on Oh, sorry. Thank you very much, Mr. Pepe. Uh, so looking for a motion to return to public. Move to return to public. Second. All those in favor? I I opposed. Okay. Now we move on to item number four. Uh the pledge of allegiance. So the flag is here. Please stand. 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
004liberty and justice for all. Will you all please remain standing for a moment of reflection and respect for our troops serving throughout the world, our troops who have served and our troops who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of our United States of America. Thank you. Moving on to item number five, approval of minutes. I'm looking for a motion uh to approve uh the minutes from the May 6th board meeting. Sorry. Second. Um all right, open for questions or comments on the minutes. Last call. Okay. Mr. Pepe, could you please call the role? Mr. Anderson, yes. Mrs. Condit, yes. Miss Ibeck, yes. Dr. Gano, yes. Mrs. Howard, yes. Mr. Sinoi, yes. Miss Shyf, yes. Mrs. Shep, yes. Mr. Walker, yes. Motion passes. Fantastic. Okay, moving on to item number six, recognitions. At this
005time, I will turn the floor over to Mr. Ross. Thank you, Dr. Gendrano. So, we're very excited to recognize our retirees from the 24-25 school year. Um, we have five retirees this year, three of whom are in the audience today. And so, I have the pleasure of bringing up Mr. Lynch from Denalon High School to talk about three of them actually. Mr. Lynch. Welcome everyone. It's my pleasure to introduce our retirees uh as we get up there in years. There's a little bit of jealousy that we get to acknowledge our retirees and as we get closer to that day. I will start with uh Mrs. Laura Murray because I know her bedtime is coming up soon. So Laura, if you could come on up. [Applause] Oops. Laura actually retired back in December and it was
006a huge loss for Denellan High School and the district. even though she's still around, she lives in town, uh, and still does a lot for the community, it was a loss for us. And one of the happier moments of the school year for me was we had Miss Piano and Mr. Suter gave a schoolwide concert, uh, one of those last days before winter break. And as the concert finished, uh, we called Mrs. Murray up to the front of the school in front of all of the students and they get to give her a standing ovation uh for her retirement. So, it was a really nice moment. I know she doesn't like the attention uh the last thing that she wants, but it was a really nice moment and we really uh owe a lot to
007her. The students owed a lot to her and a lot of them came up to talk to her. uh she was a paraprofessional for a lot of years at all three buildings and did so much for the students and it was really nice when a lot of those students came back and acknowledged the help and support that she gave them over the years. So, uh she still works with the booster club. Uh if you haven't ordered your lawn signs, make sure you do for your graduates from all three buildings because she's still working on that. Uh, but she is a pillar of the community, loves to travel, has has the the weddings for her children, and is still participating in pickle ball in town. So, our retiree very good. Not as good as one of
008our other retirees, I hear, but very, very good as well. So, guess what? Guess what we're gonna be doing all summer? Be partners. Yeah. So, uh, congratulations, Laura Murray. Good Laura. [Applause] Oh, thank you. All right, our our next retiree this year is Mr. Danny Hmel. Come on up, Danny. Thank you. Danny is a proud graduate of Denellan High School, class of 1988. Uh when he graduated, he won of won one of those senior superlatives. And Dan, you won most likely to succeed. And that is evident because he spent his career here teaching in Denellan. Uh he's had a great career. Anyone that knows him knows he gave his all as a physical education and health teacher. He's been our driver's ed teacher for many, many years. So all of the students in Denellan that
009are driving, all of the good came from Dan. and if they get in any accidents, it's the behind the wheel people that they must have had the problems with. Uh, but he he got to know the students as sixth graders and worked with them all through high school and he really has done a phenomenal job. He is the organization part of the health and fizzed department. Uh, he does the locks for the lockers every year. when it's picture time, he got all of the pictures uh forms organized for the students. He did all of those little things helping out Miss Del Rosario and the other teachers over the years that the rest of the department really is going to have to pick those things up the next few years as he retires. Uh, as I
010said, Danny lives in town, so he's going to be playing a lot of pickle ball, uh, jogging around town, exercising, staying fit. Uh, he has two daughters that he'll be able to he'll be able to spend time with. Uh, one interesting part, and I mentioned this a bunch of years ago, uh, when when, uh, Danny won teacher of the year. I knew Danny before I knew Dan. And what I mean by that is years ago he coached high school basketball here in Denellan and I coached at another school and we I went back and looked at my old score books a bunch of years ago and saw that we played against one another because the coach's names were in the book and everything and so it was very cool to see that I don't remember
011the game. I do remember who won, but I don't remember the game. And I remember because it was still up in the old gym here uh back at the time. So, uh it was he was a great competitor. He was a great coach here at the school. He did cross country. He did basketball. He did track. And he he's done so much for the high school, the middle school, and the community. And he is going to be sorely missed. Danny Hmel. Thank you. [Applause] And our final retiree for me this evening, Miss Sandy Hoy. [Applause] Yeah, I came to Nellan, I believe it was 16 years ago and Miss Hoy was over at the elementary school as the assistant principal, so we didn't have as many interactions. And then she came across town to the
012middle school and was the middle school uh principal for three years. And so we worked together a lot in in that period of time. I know there's a lot of middle school people here and she worked with them and she did a great job working with the middle school student. Uh that was early when the middle school was just becoming the middle school again. Uh after all that construction, all of this was renovated and added. So, she did a nice job of kind of integrating back to what had been for uh middle Lincoln Middle School, that 6 through eight building and integrating it with what's going on for Denellan High School. Uh she then became director of curriculum and now director of accountability. So, she's worn a lot of different hats over the years here
013in Denellan. Uh she's done a lot for the district and we're very appreciative of that and she is going to be missed. But I know she's going to enjoy her time, especially with her grandchildren because that's a a huge uh part of her life now. So, we wish her luck, Miss Hoy. Thank you very All [Applause] right. So, thank you, uh, Mr. Lynch. I'm gonna bring up Mr. Tenant now to speak about, uh, Miss Kelly Veter, Mr. [Applause] Tenant. Uh, Mr. Ross was going to give me the night off. Um, but I I said to my my dad always told me to honor those who are not here, especially those not in the room. So, Kelly is unfortunately not with us tonight, but I wanted to read this about her. Today we gather to honor
014someone who has not only shaped the artistic talents of our students but also inspired us with her creativity, generosity, unshakable Irish spirit. Our beloved teacher, Miss Kelly Veter. For years, Kelly has turned an art room into a sanctuary of imagination. She's been guiding hands through thousands of student creations, some bold, some beautiful, some uniquely interpretive. But no matter what came out of the students brush or glue stick, Kelly saw potential. She saw stories. She made every child feel like an artist. One of the projects that stands out, not just because it was memorable, but because it's downright magical, was Kelly's annual wigwam design that she did for third graders. You haven't lived until you've seen an art room full of eight-year-olds trying to build dwellings with sticks, cardboards, and sheer determination. Under Kelly's leadership, it
015wasn't just an art lesson. It was a lesson in culture, cooperation, and patience. Lots of patience. She turned chaos into culture and taught our kids that structure and creativity can live side by side. As we celebrate Kelly's retirement, it's impossible not to reflect on her legacy she leaves behind. One that quite literally colors the walls of Faber School. Her breathtaking artwork fills our hallways from the vibrant mosaic heart hands that greet greet us every day with warmth to the inspiring achieve night and day mural that reminds us daily of our potential. Her honeycomb mural buzzes the community spirit and of course her unforgettable Rosie the Riveter mural who if you look closely quite bears a striking resemblance to our assistant principal that we know and love. Kelly's art hasn't just decorated our school. It was
016built with culture and creativity, inclusion, and heart that will continue to inspire students and the staff for years to come. One of my favorite things about Miss Veter, beyond her incredible talent and dedication, is hearing about her stories of her punk rock concert she went to in old school New York City back in the 80s. Her eyes light up as she talks about seeing bands like Blondie, the Pixies, the Ramones, and gritty iconic venues that no longer exist but still live vividly in her memory. It's like stepping into a time machine when she shares those experience, the energy, the edge, the culture, the rebellion of creativity that shaped her spirit. Those stories always reminded me that behind the creative force we see every day at Faber is someone who lived boldly, passionately, and deeply loved
017arts in all forms. And speaking of turning chaos into creativity, I'll never forget the Halloween when Kelly saved the day for quite possibly my street credit as a parent. I had promised my son a Star Wars themed Halloween, but hadn't quite figured out how to fit it into the picture. Enter Kelly. With her unmatched design and prowess, she not only designed the Millennium Falcon costume, she engineered it. Cardboard, paint, recycled materials, and a bit of magic transformed me into Han Solo's favorite ship. My son was thrilled, and I was a talk of the neighborhood. And once again, Kelly turned imagination into reality. But Kelly's talents extend beyond paint brushes and papier-mâché. Over the past few years, she's been working on something many of us dream of, learning to speak Gaelic. That some that same curiosity
018and commitment she brings to her art, she brings to language, too. Her goal to someday step foot on the Aaron Islands and speak to the locals a native tongue. We'll know she'll do it because it's if there's one thing Kelly has proven, it's that heart, humor, and a little bit of stubbornness. Anything is possible. So, Kelly, as you move on the halls of FA move on from the halls of John P. Faber School to a wider world, we thank you for the laughter, for the lessons, for the art, and for reminding us all that creativity isn't a subject, it's a way of life. So, I leave you with an Irish blessing, Kelly, that my grandma would say, as I left Ireland every summer headed back to the US. May the road rise to meet you.
019May the wind always be at your back. And may your journey ahead be as vibrant, meaningful, and full of wonder as the years of Faber you left for Faber School. Goodbye and thank you so much Miss Veter. All right. Thank you, Mr. Tenant. We have uh one other retiree this year and uh this is Miss Deborah Casabona. Uh Debbie is the accounts payable coordinator in the district. She works in the central office. Um Debbie came to Denellan in 2020 um with over 30 years of experience in office management and leadership um including six years working at a charter school business office. Uh when she arrived she became a key member of the business office team serving initially as bookkeeper and then becoming accounts payable coordinator. She has worked diligently to protect taxpayer dollars by ensuring
020that vendor payments are processed when the proper procedures have been followed and invoices have been received and verified. Now Debbie has decided to turn her attention toward her family. She's looking forward to spending more time with her beloved grandson. Very happy for her and we wish her a happy retirement. She will be missed in the Denellan business office. I will say that those of you who know Deb um just know her. She's an incredible sweetheart. Um and it's funny. I I worked in the district for about a year and a half. And um she came in one day just beaming from ear to ear um because she had gotten a new car and it was like the most excited anyone has ever gotten for you know for something like that. Um it just brought incredible
021light to the the office and she always did that. Um we're very very uh happy for her. We wish her the best as she moves into the next stage of her career. Um and let's give it up for Debbie Cababona. All right, we're going to take about a 10-minute pause now uh just to uh spend some time with our retirees, recognize them um and honor them. So, please uh you know, get up, mingle, uh shake some hands, and we'll be back in a couple minutes. For those of you who are interested, there's two revisions to the uh agenda. The first was uh operations agenda items. S&T were added from the old uh from the original one that was put onto the website originally. So, those are in bold. If you have the updated one, um
022those are added today. There's also an updated staff list which is on the side table um as well. Um and null I think we're up with you. Okay. Thank you. All right. So, moving on to So, we're back in uh moving on to item number seven, president's remarks. So, just a few words as we get back in here. So, first of all, I wanted to give um a big heartfelt thank you to our retirees. uh uh Debbie Casabona, uh Sandy Hoy, Daniel Hmel, Laura Murray, and Kelly Veter for all of the time, energy, and tremendous work that has helped to move our Denellan school district forward. The the impact you have had here in Denellan has been felt by all of us. May your retirement be full of all the things you love, family, friends,
023and plenty of time to enjoy it all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. and all the best wishes on the ne next chapter. Did want to take a moment to recognize uh I mentioned this last time but to give a more detailed number at the last board meeting uh I mentioned how successful our PTO's tricky tray was and uh so and I promised last time I would give what that final number was. I was able to get that and the final number ready $24,3058. So way to go [Applause] PTO, that helps our kids. And I would like to extend, you know, as a thanks to the PTO and especially to Miss Moore. Thank you so much for driving that. And I I understand that uh you're you're not continuing on as president next year. But
024that one also say thank you for uh the time that you've spent building the board and making it really, you know, active and and vibrant and, you know, it's it's it's in a great place to carry things forward. So, thank you so much. You did awesome job. Thank you. And we'll see you in the community. We'll say we doing other things. Um, so as I usually note, uh, staying healthy, um, as the weather changes again and again and again and the temperatures jump like a yo-yo, it is important to reiterate and underscore that healthy kids mean healthy schools, which means a healthy community. So bottom line, we encourage you to take common sense precautions to minimize the spread of infectious diseases that can really impact our schools. and we're about a month away. So, let's
025uh keep our kids healthy in the school that is and let's keep our kids healthy and enjoy all of the great memorable moments coming our way as the school year goes into the ninth inning. So, as I I do um have done for some time now, um I like to call out the monthly celebrations. And now these are not all of them that exist, but ones that uh I I specifically wanted to call out. Um, so in May, this is uh May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. It's also Jewish-American Heritage Month. It's also mental health awareness month as well as the National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day, which was on May 7th, and that's to highlight the significance of children's mental health and promote positive mental well-being for young people. There's also international
026day against homophobia, transphobia, and biophobia day which was on the 17th of May. And on this day, you know, we reflect upon the violence and discrimination uh lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and interex folks worldwide suffer and recommit ourselves to opposing these acts. And this year, like every other year, we state unequivocally, uh, LGBTQI persons deserve recognition of their universal human rights and human dignity, as we all do. Um May 26th is Memorial Day and that commemorates all of our men and women who have died in military service for the United States. And I mention all of these things and these events and these uh celebrations to underscore how important diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are to our lives and the world around us. With diversity, we're able to welcome and appreciate different views and
027perspectives and how that makes our lives richer and stronger. With equity, that's important so we're all playing on the same field by the same rules. Inclusion is key so there is equal access to opportunities and resources for everyone. And with belonging, you feel you are part of something, a group or a community where you are accepted, where you are valued, and where you are comfortable. You fit in and are an important part of the whole. These things have an unbelievable impact on our community. Open, honest, and genuine communication that is respectful, positive, supportive, fair, and most of all, kind goes a long way in strengthening our community. So, it's the time of the year when everything is happening all at once as the school year winds down. Like, as I mentioned, we are about four
028weeks away from wrapping up another great year, culminating in the eighth grade promotion ceremony and DHS graduation. events have already happened like the Denellis and the Faber Band and choir concerts and there are many many other events that are coming up in the not too distant future and Mr. Ross I'm sure we'll touch on on some of these. They're also on the agenda and they're also on denellinschools.org which is our website and you can pull it down actually and add it to your calendar from there if you'd like. But please, I mentioned this to please take a moment to appreciate all the little moments from this year that added up to something truly significant and help us celebrate all of our students and their accomplishments and hard work as they make their push into the
029home stretch of the year. Well done students and thank you everyone for your time and listening. So moving on to superintendent report, Mr. Ross. Thank you Dr. Gendrano. Uh so first of course I want to thank the uh retirees for their incredible work in the district and the tributes uh from Mr. Lynch and Mr. Tenant were fantastic. So uh so thank you Miss Hoy. Uh I I want to say a special thank you to you. You've really been an incredible team player over the last couple years. Your contributions really have been tremendous. Um, and I thank you for the work that you've done and also for the support and friendship and care that you've taken um for your colleagues, for staff members, and and for for me as the the new superintendent. So, thank you.
030Um, I also want to uh congratulate our friend Ryan Ferrer. Um, Ryan, stand up so everyone can say hi to you. Ryan. Ryan is a proud Ruters graduate as of last Thursday. So, yes, we're very, very proud of Ryan. So, congrats to Ryan and uh it was great to see him on Thursday right after graduation, be able to congratulate him and his family. So, I also want to thank uh uh Miss Nicole Moore for her incredible time and contributions uh on the the PTO as a president and co-president. Uh Miss Moore is stepping aside and uh the new co-presidents are going to be Maria Kowallik and Rebecca Gendrono. Um but Miss Moore, obviously your contributions to the district have been uh you know uncountable in so many ways. Um, and seeing you at every board
031meeting, I think almost since I became uh, superintendent, has just been remarkable. You're often uh, here with the as the as the only two. Um, but it's great to have you here. It's um, amazing to have you in the community. So, thank you. I love [Applause] Yeah. All right. So, we have uh, we over the last couple weeks, we did have a board meeting two weeks ago. Uh last week was special education week. The theme of that was planting the seed of education. Um I do want to uh shout out Dr. Santelo, all of our amazing PAR professionals, our teachers, our child study team members, related services folks. Um we have really been working on inclusive education and uh all of these folks have really done a great job um building our program, supporting our
032students, supporting really innovative programming throughout the district. So, uh, congratulations to all of them. Um, we also are the proud recipients of the silver level award at Faber, um, through Keep Middle Sex moving. So, uh, the 2025 New Jersey safe roots to school recognition program um, had its annual meeting last week and I was able to attend on behalf of Faber School. The recognition is developed by the Department of Transportation and the New Jersey Safe Routts Resource Center um and administered through Keep Middle Sex moving who's a a very close partner of ours. Um I want to give special thanks to Mr. Tennant for his leadership and also uh some folks in the community. Diana Staris who is just she she seems like she's everywhere. She's just an amazing uh friend to the district. Council
033members Crystal Iris Lance and Cole Sigman um and the entire mayor's traffic and pedestrian safety task force and everyone else who's involved in uh walk to school Wednesday and the walking school bus and the safe roots work and all of that. It's really uh making the the town a much better place for for students. Um Kate Middle Sex Moving is working with us on a bike rodeo community fair which is going to be on Thursday, June 12th at Faber. So we're going to be working on that. PTO is going to be involved. There's some community groups involved. We'll have some food service providers uh there, some community health organizations there as well. Um so more information will be shared about that uh as it as the date gets closer. Uh we have a really cool
034video uh called multilingual multilingualism is my superpower. Um, this was a video that was put together by Megan Drakin who's our director of curriculum, uh, Paulo Ortiz, Dearis Rios, uh, and, uh, and Ryan for his editing. In order to inspire students to participate in the seal of bi literacy, we had, um, 19 of our staff members, certainly not all of our bilingual staff members, but 19 of our staff members participated. Um they did a little clip on the video talking about the power of multilingualism um how important it is and what the benefits of our are speaking multiple languages can be. We had folks uh speaking in Spanish uh Morathi, Croatian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Albanian, Italian and French. Um so thank you to all the staff members who participated. It's a beautiful, beautiful video. Dave, is
035that online now for uh for folks to view or Ryan? It it will it will be put on shortly on the uh on the district website. So, check that out. It's about a 10-minute video. You can see uh like I said, 19 of our staff members celebrating multilingualism. Um the district was invited to pres present at the 2025 Teacher Climate and Culture Institute, which will be held July 29th at TCJ. This is being run by the NJDOE. Um, and we're going to be working with a team of teachers and administrators um, who will be involved in the grant work. Um, there are over 600 attendees who are signed up to attend at this point. Um, and we were invited as part of the work that we did with the, uh, the grant, uh, that was
036awarded last year for $125,000. Um, the universal preschool grant, uh, I wanted to just provide an update. I know there's been a lot of conversations about timelines for things and I know a lot of folks are sort of curious about uh where we are with that. So the updated documents have all been submitted to the department of education. Um the scope of work, the cost estimate, schematic drawings, ed specs. Um you probably all know that we moved the location of the project. Um and the preliminary schedule, this is about you know where we hope to be. The submission just occurred. So that's midmay. Design development uh is planned for mid June. Um construction documents will be completed by late August and then the bidding and award is anticipated for September for our September board meeting.
037That then means that we have about a month for permitting and then the construction schedule gets figured out after that. So we'll probably start, you know, actual construction into the winter um at best. Um, so you know, just to get a sense of kind of where the disruptions will be and and all of that, that's that's about where we're looking. Uh, I want to thank the DEA and the senior class adviserss for putting together the senior breakfast. Um, beautiful pictures of uh of that event. And then the senior trip to the Poconos took place on Friday. Um, and everyone looked like they had a lot of fun despite some rain. There's some Yeah, a lot of fun. Everybody looked very cold because of the rain, but then they looked like they were, you know, shaking
038it off. So, uh, but that looked like an amazing time. So, yeah, thank you to everyone that was involved in that. And congrats to our seniors. Spring testing is wrapping up. We have, uh, NJSLA continuing just for the next couple of days of school. Our AP exams ended on Friday. Um, we'll be doing some recruitment for open positions. Uh we have the NJTOL recruitment uh efforts happening at the state conference. Um that's Thursday. The conference actually started today, but we'll our team will be there Thursday. Um we were involved yesterday in Clifton in a really cool uh opportunity called the labor management collaborative. Um this is an organization that is uh sort of run through NJA in partnership with Ruckers University. Um, and I was there with uh a team of administrators and also Monica
039Vakultic, Allison Egan, Ed Zukowski, and Laura Palmer from the district. Um, and uh, I had gone about two weeks earlier with uh, Miss Laguna Morau to Cherry Hill um, to check out their their work as well. So, this is a really great structure that the district is um thinking about using implementing just to build more of a collaborative set of regular structured conversations at the buildings level and then at the district level. So, very cool event, lots of really good feedback, lots of notes being taken yesterday. So, uh we have our May PD inservice coming up on Friday. We have our our starting with a keynote um which is a uh a keynote speaker is Alexander Shalom who's a partner at Loenstein Sandler. He's the former director of Supreme Court advocacy at the ACLUNJ. He
040has argued bless you over a hundred times before the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Um and he is the chair of the Loenstein Center for the Public Interest. He'll be talking about responding to the moment, understanding the law on supporting undocumented students. Um, so this is obviously a topic that's very relevant to our community. Um, and uh, it's going to be given to all of our staff members, including secretaries, power professionals, everybody in the district. We then have time set aside for vertical articulations and then building based staff meetings. Um, in the afternoon we have activities planned. We have doggy yoga. Um, we have sandart, birdhouses, kickball. Um, we had tried to plan a blood drive. Um, we had enough participants for a blood drive and then the the company actually backed out. So, we'll
041plan that for probably in the fall. Uh, calendar changes. Just a reminder, there's no school for students on Friday and then there's no school for anyone on Monday, obviously, for Memorial Day, but then also Tuesday and Wednesday due to the inclement weather um the lack of use of the inclement weather days. And then finally, our next meeting is June 10th. Um, we will be honoring our educators of the year. Um, Denellan High School is Tammy Del Rosario. Uh, Lincoln Middle School is Steph Dazy. Uh, Faber Elementary School is Sher Krauss. And educational specialist for the district, Lisa Liowitz. So, very excited for our educators of the year. We'll also be recognizing our student representatives, uh, Douglas Gordado Crian and Jazara Mccclaclin. Um, and this is also the last meeting of the school year. So, we
042will be renewing our tenur staff and other positions like facilities members um and non non-tenure eligible folks. Uh, and with that, uh, that's my report. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Ross. So, moving on to, uh, item number nine, public comments on agenda items only. So, the board invites public comment on agenda items only for from members of our community in accordance with board policy 0167. Public comment sections are intended to provide an opportunity for members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest. The board and administration will be taking notes during public comment, but will not provide substantive responses to questions or concerns raised by individual speakers. If necessary, superintendent may provide a brief response after the entire public comment period is completed. The board appreciates and welcomes feedback from the community,
043but is not at liberty to engage in a back and forth dialogue with members of the public during this portion of the meeting. Prior to making your public comment, please state your name and municipality. Please note that all statements must be directed to the presiding officer, myself. Please come to the microphone at this time. If you would like to make comments on agenda items only. Prior to beginning your comment, please state the agenda item you would like to comment on. Any comments? Did Board of Education members. Excuse me, sir. Could you please state your name and about to? Yes. Uh, Mr. Superintendent. My name is John Ruski. Uh, I am a teacher here at Lincoln Middle School and I reside here in Denellan. I'm sorry, your your address, sir. Oh, Mal is fine. Okay, sure.
044Go ahead. As some of you know, I'm a longtime longtime resident of Denellan. As a student many years ago, I attended Faber School, Lincoln Middle School, and Den Ellen High School. My late wife and both of my daughters also went to school here. I have been a teacher here for 20 years, and my investment in the town and school, as you can see, runs quite deep. As a student, parent, and staff member, I have witnessed and worked for many administrators in this district. Bob Altmire is undoubtedly, in my opinion, one of, if not the most qualified of them all. For over two decades, I worked as a carpenter contractor before becoming an educator. I ran building crews for myself and for others. I understand how difficult the job of managing people is. Bob makes this
045look easy. He has a gift. He's fair. He knows when to bend and when to hold the line. As a member of his staff for 13 years, I have never heard a negative word uttered in the halls or the faculty room or even around town towards him. He quickly earns the respect of every new teacher that joins our staff and retains high respect from all of the veterans. Bob has dedicated 25 years in this district and has proven to be more than a capable leader. All of us in this district should feel lucky that he has chosen to dedicate his career here. I hope this will influence your decision on the future placement of Mr. Altmire. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, good evening. Good evening. Could you please use the microphone board members? Danell 400
046Dell. Say it again. 400 Dell Dell. Yep. Uh and your name and the and the um item number on the agenda. Yes. Tracy Valentine. Item number 13. Okay. For those of you who do not know me, my name is Tracy Valentine and I've had the privilege of working alongside Mr. Almire or Bob for the past seven years as his secretary. I stand here today in solidarity with my fellow staff members and community in support of keeping Bob as Lincoln Middle School's principal, a position that he successfully established and maintained for the last 19 years. As a close colleague, I can attest to his attributes to the school. He is the most supportive and passionate principal I've ever known. His values and character are superior. He is honest, loyal, trustworthy, fair, reliable, humble, and dedicated to
047his work. Throughout the years, I have witnessed Bob foster an environment where everyone is valued and supported. It would truly be a loss to the students, staff, and community after almost two decades of effective leadership. When I was hired, a countless number of people told me, "You are so lucky to be working for a great principal in school." And I could definitely attest to that sentiment. One of his many strengths is how he engages with the students. His passion is evident and is inspiring to say the least. Year after year, students come back to visit and express how much they miss their years at Lincoln with him at the helm. I've seen students handw write letters, some with tears in their eyes, expressing how much of an influence he has been in their lives, thanking
048him for his compassion, guidance, and advice. I've seen him go to bat for teachers and advocate for them. I've seen him meet with parents and students and manage any situation that comes at him so effortlessly and naturally. He is true to himself, transparent, and is one of the most genuine people I know. In closing, to place Bob in an administrative role that does not directly connect with the students and staff would be a disservice to us all as this is his home away from home and where he thrives the most. It is apparent that the time he has served in Denellan has been positive and productive. Board members, I hope you make a well-informed decision and take the time to reconsider and realize the impact this decision will have. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening. Good
049evening. I'm Stephanie DBAC, Alison Taminsky, Dory Dapoli, and we're speaking on item 13. Thank you. We are the team uh good evening, Denellan Board of Education members. We are the team leaders here at Lincoln Middle School. Together we have a combined total of over 50 years teaching in the district. We are here tonight to offer our support for Mr. Altmire remaining as principal at Lincoln Middle School. Mr. Altmire brings a strong st sense of stability to LMS. Prior to his time at the middle school, there were five different principles in five years. His steady presence serves to provide reassurance and consistency even in times of change. His dependability has been a key factor in building trust and maintaining building momentum over the years. Mr. Altmire is a strong leader, a clear communicator, approachable, and sets
050high expectations for all. He is decisive in his decisions, yet adaptable and flexible when needed. He makes his teachers feel supported and valued. Additionally, Mr. Altmire has the unique ability to connect with all of the students. He is always there to offer them words of motivation and encouragement. However, he is not afraid to have the hard conversations with them about their behavior or lack of performance in the classrooms. He shows them he genuinely cares about them, their lives, and their future success. In closing, Mr. Altmire has proven his loyalty and dedication over the years to the students, staff, and community of Denellan. He makes Lincoln Middle School a terrific place to both work and learn, and we hope that you will decide to keep him in his current position. Thank you for your time and
051consideration. Good evening. My name is Rocky Modi and I'm speaking on item number 13. I teach seventh grade math here at LMS and I've been teaching in the district for over 18 years. I'm speaking tonight to express my strong support for Mr. Altmire as a principal. Having known him for over 18 years, including his 13 years leading LMS. I deeply value the positive impact of his leadership. His open door policy fosters a welcoming and supportive environment where both students and staff feel heard and valued, enabling him to build strong relationships throughout our school. His consistent presence has been crucial in providing stability and strengthening our school's climate and culture. As a teacher, I find Mr. Almire's feedback and guidance extremely constructive and motivating. I wholeheartedly believe his continued leadership is vital for the success at
052LMS. Thank you for your time and cooperation. I'm Joe Moran. I'm talking on item 13. I'm social studies teacher here at Lincoln Middle School. Uh I've known Bob for quite some time. I knew him when I was uh in Denellan prior uh as an administrator myself and I know that having been an administrator for 16 years and also a board member for seven years um how difficult the job can be to be pushed and pulled in a lot of different directions, have a lot of different stakeholders telling you a lot of different things. Um Bob does that very well. Um, and what I've noticed most about Bob in my time with him is uh he has a gift. You know, you can go to school and learn a lot of things about how to how
053to um be a leader and be an administrator, but sometimes you're just born with a gift, a gift where you can speak to people, people can speak to you, you can understand and empathize with them. And Bob has that. And it's it's a rare commodity. And uh kids see it. we as a staff see it and uh I really would encourage you to think hard about where a man like that would best be placed. I think he's in the best place for the district and for the kids in the district right where he is. So, thank you. Thank you. [Applause] John Osborne, 432 First Street. um like to address two uh agenda items. Uh the first is uh I believe 8E the uh football coach position and I just want to congratulate the board and
054hope that the board approves this selection. Uh Mr. Mcuan is an excellent coach and uh he would be a terrific um person to come in uh in um uh in coach Napoli's place. So uh congratulations on an excellent on an excellent choice. Uh the other one is on the staff approval list uh line one and that is Mr. Oldm has been the subject of discussion. We've heard a number of people from the staff uh declare Mr. Olmire is a terrific uh building administrator from the perspective of teachers and um I'm going to speak with respect to his value uh as a building administrator uh in the school system from the public's perspective. Mr. Paul Meyer is an outstanding building administrator at a time when developing uh building administrators which are a primary and extremely important
055part of the administration in any district uh is a difficult thing. We have a man who has uh extensive experience and someone who is of great value to both the community and most particularly the students. Uh it would be a disservice to the community and to the district to put in him into a position where he does not have direct contact with students the way he does right now. So, I would urge the board very strongly to support the position of many in this community uh in uh maintaining Mr. Altmire as a building administrator and particularly in Lincoln Middle School. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening. 747 Walnut Street. Roger Dalton. Hello. Fantastic staff. We'll see. Um, my son is Preston Dalton. Um, you know, when I heard about all this, I just felt I had
056to come and, you know, and voice my opinion. Um, you know, it's a it's not, you know, it's a very small town. You know, the transition from being at over at Faber to come here for a lot of kids, you know, they feel like, h it's a little nervous. I'm a little nervous. Preston was one of those kids. And when we did the back to school night and even before that, the intro to sixth grade, Principal Altmire really made us very welcome and very excited about coming over to Lincoln Middle. And the enthusiasm that he spoke about every faculty member that was here that day and about the ones that weren't made us, we knew that this was going to be a great year for him. He is a three three uh marking periods in
057a row high honoral student and we owe that to the fantastic staff. But what principal Altmire brings to this town is his enthusiasm and his true love for education and developing young minds. So, you know, frankly, whatever has to happen, I hope he stays on. He's a fantastic guy. I heard about his name before I even came to this school. And um listening to what everyone says, I just second all their opinions. So, um I hope this is something that can be rectified. Thank you so much. [Applause] Good evening, Lasuses. I reside in Dellan. So, um I'm probably the guy that knows the least about this. Um I have a sixth grade I actually have two sixth grade daughters. um they their transition to um the middle school was fantastic. So I can't say enough
058about the teachers and the fact that they're saying all this stuff about Mr. Altmire has to have a lot of credibility because I truly believe in the teachers. My interactions with uh Mr. Altmire have been limited. I'm picking up and dropping off kids. But I see the way he interacts with kids. I see the firmness, the gentleness. He looks like a principal to me. So I literally found out about this this afternoon at 3:00 through the grape vine. I heard, "Oh, he might not be coming back." And I was shocked. He looks like a principal to me. He acts like a principal to me. Again, I don't know if there's an incident where he deviated from policy or was if if that's the case, you know, was he, you know, asked to remediate something? Was
059that done? Again, I don't know these facts, but I would ask you to look into that. So, what that deviation is um if there is, but um again, from what I saw, you know, he was he always looked like a principal. And um like I said, I don't know what the politics are behind this, what the situation is or what happened, but I would ask you to really look at the facts and make a good decision because um like I said, as a parent, I was [Applause] shocked. Good evening. My name is Steven Knight. I live at 443rd Street in Denellan. I've known Mr. Almire for 10 11 years now. Before my stepson transitioned from Faber into the middle school, Mr. Meer used to come up to my facility where I worked and we used
060to interact and he was just a pleasant gentleman. And then I found out he was the middle school principal and uh I made a joke to him and I told him I said, "Wait until you meet Eddie Kimok, my stepson." He's given a lot of people, you know, a hard time over the years, but Mr. Meire, he laughed. He said, "You know what? I can't wait to meet Eddie." And throughout the time that Eddie was in the middle school, he never gave up on him. He always supported Eddie, even though Eddie had some issues. and he always called me and gave me updates. He told me, "Hey, Eddie, he's doing this. We got to work on this." He's a fantastic gentleman. I know that he's been here a long time. All these teachers have dealt
061with Eddie and they know how he was and is some days better than others. Mr. Almire deserves to be here. He loves this community. He spent almost two decades working for this community. I think he needs to stay here as the principal. [Applause] Other comments? Okay, last call for public comments on agenda items. Okay, so we will close item 14, move on, sorry, item nine and move on to item 10. Sorry. Education discussion items. Uh we did not meet as a committee um sorry uh education committee report since there were no committee meetings uh prior to this. We'll move on to uh item number 11 education action items. So uh looking for a motion to move item 11 A through G as a block. Motion to move A through G as a block. Actually, wait
062a minute. Sorry. Sorry. Let me say that again. A through E as a block. Sorry, not G. A through E as a block. My My apologies. Motion to move A through E as a block. Second. Okay. Open for questions, comments. I did have a question. So with with on the CBI site list. So I noticed uh Uncle Luig's Italian Ices and Ice Cream, they're under new management. So I I guess that was taken into account. I I would have to assume, right? Yeah. I mean, I think that the this is a pre-approval for the 2526 school year. Okay. So assuming that a relationship can be built with any organization, if there is new leadership, then our MD teachers who are amazing will just work with those folks. Okay. Wonderful. So any other uh comments, questions.
063Okay, last call. Okay. Uh Mr. Pepe, can you please call the role? Mr. Excuse me, Mr. Anderson. Yes. Mrs. Condit. Yes. Ms. Ibeck. Yes. Dr. Gingano. Yes. Mrs. Howard. Yes. Mr. Senoi. Yes. Miss Shyf. Yes. Mrs. Shep. Yes. Mr. Walker. Yes. Motion passes. Great. Thank you. Moving on to item number 12, personnel discussion items. Um, personnel committee report. We did not meet or personnel committee did not meet prior to this meeting. um but will before the next. So we'll move on to item number 13, personnel action items. This time it's A through G. So looking for a motion uh to move items 13 A through G as a block. Motion to move 13 A through G as a block. Second. Okay, we are open for questions or comments. I just sorry I just want to
064uh congratulate uh Miss Anastasy on her upcoming retirement. Um she will be working at the beginning of next school year. Um but we have uh posted a position for an elementary music teacher. So we'll be hiring a new music teacher for September and October. she'll remain on staff um helping out uh in some leave replacement positions, but um obviously we'll have the opportunity to honor her and her incredible contributions to the district as well, but I just want to congratulate her as uh as you know for the contributions that she's made. Um I also do want to uh point out that we are hiring a new football coach. Um, and this is after the amazing career of Dave Denapoli. Um, and his decision to uh step aside, which is obviously bittersweet. Um, we know that
065if he felt like he could do it and put the time in and be physically up for it and mentally up for it, he would probably never stop. Um, but, you know, all good things must come to an end. Um, I do think that the work that he did with Mr. Lynch in finding uh Flip Maguan uh was great and I think we have an excellent successor um who will really lead the program in the same vein of character and uh trust and um you know success that that that he led it for for for the many years that he did. Um so I'm excited about that as well. Thank you. And I too would like to echo um M Mr. Muan coming on as well hopefully very soon coming on as coach. I think
066that's a wonderful choice and I look forward to uh him him joining us in that regard. So we are open for 13 a throughg questions comments I too am uh looking forward to flip coming on. Um, I just, you know, when Barb was a part of this this board, um, it was nice meeting Flip through that and, uh, he's always been a stand-up guy and he's a great leader of on the field from what I've seen. I would like to thank the public for their comments that were made today. That's it. Any other questions, comments? And uh thank you Mr. Anderson for reminding me thank you everyone for the comments that you gave today as well. Okay, last call. Okay, Mr. Mr. Pepe, can you please call the role? Mr. Anderson. I vote yes for
06713 B through G and no to A. Everything on A or just A1. Thank you, Mrs. Condit. Yes, Miss Zybeck. Yes. Dr. Gendrono, yes. Mrs. Howard, yes. Mr. Sinoi, yes. Miss Shyf, no to A1. Yes to everything else. Miss Shep, yes. Mr. Walker, yes. Motion pass. Thank you. Moving on to item number 14, operations. The operations committee did not meet, so there is no uh report committee report to add. So at this time, moving to item number 15, operations action items. Looking for a motion to move 15A through T is in Thomas as a block. Move 15 A through T. Second. Open for questions or comments. Yeah, I just want to point out a couple uh things on the ops committee agenda. The first is uh I'm very excited that we'll be uh bringing back
068the dual enrollment program with uh Middle Sex College. So, thank you to Mr. Lynch um for spearheading that work with the counseling department. Um it looks like in year one, probably next year, we'll be offering college algebra and pre-calculus, those two courses. Um and hopefully in the hiring process, we can bring in some new folks who have the master's degree. Um those courses are three, four or five credit courses for $135 um and a college transcript. So it's an incredible bargain for the students. Um and uh Middle Sex College has been great um expanding their work. So that is the first item. I also want to point out uh item H. Um item H is a new MOA that we have with the uh New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness. This is a
069level of uh this is called crowdstrike falcon which is a state-of-the-art uh endpoint protection platform cloud-based um it works on all platforms so it will work for PCs, Macs and Chromebooks etc. Um it's used by Intel and really sort of all across um industry as kind of an industry standard. Um and we've basically gotten this for uh for a song. Um I really want to thank Dave for his incredible work um working with them and pushing them. Um but that's going to be deployed to to our uh to our units as well coming up shortly. And then lastly, we are we are uh renewing the uh contract and the prices with Mashios for next year. Um and these prices remain the same as last year, which actually uh remain the same as the year prior.
070So this is now two years in a row that we've been able to keep costs uh the same. um as a result of the the surplus that we've been able to generate in the cafeteria fund. So, excellent stuff for uh for the kids. Thank you. I'm sorry, Mr. Ross, can you uh expand on what that endpoint protection services does again? Yeah. So, it's um it's like early warning uh for malware attacks on the system. So, it's not actually on the system. It's all cloud-based. um it's not on computers, individual computers, but it's it's protecting the network prior to even the network protections that we have. Other questions or comments? I too did want to note about the u uh Middle Sex County, the dual uh enrollment. I think that's fantastic. I believe it's is it
071pre-alggebra and algebra, I believe, for the courses. Oh, sorry. Pre-calculus and college algebra. and they'll be able to those will be transferable credits that they can apply to to a college degree for so I'll say for a junior to rising senior I think uh that's going to be uh very tempting so okay any other questions comments yes oh it's okay um item I the support services from white glove what exactly do they do in the I remember we had this conversation last year. Now that now that you mention it, um I don't know off the top of my head. I would have to look at the uh attachment more carefully. I think it was the substitutes. Yeah, I think it was like substitute nurses and um possible related services. Yes. And I don't believe we
072use them at all this year. Same thing is that we have we approve a because in in a pinch when we need to use someone, they're on our list if we have to use them, but I don't believe we've actually used them yet. Your feedback is noted. Yeah, thank you for the reminder. Uh, any other questions, comments? Thank you for that, by the way. Thank you. Questions or other questions or comments? Last call. Okay, Mr. Mr. Pepe, can you please call the RO? Mr. Anderson, yes. Mrs. Condit, yes. Miss Ibeck, yes. Dr. Gendrono, yes. Mrs. Howard, yes. Mr. Cenoi, yes. Miss Shyf, no to item I, yes to everything else. And Mrs. Shep. Yes. And Mr. Walker. Yes. Motion passes. Okay. Wonderful. Uh, moving on to item number, sorry, 16. Um, old business. So, anyone
073would like to bring up old business. Okay. Um, I would just mention uh make my my my plug and we'll keep doing this until we get there uh for um New Jersey School Board's workshop in October. So, we've talked about it before, but just want to put the plug in. It is a wonderful time to learn about what's going on in other school districts and what is the state-of-the-art uh with regards to school boards. So, uh and that is again in October 3rd week, I believe. So, I'll I'll leave it there since we've covered that ground. So, let's move on to uh 17. Uh new business. Anyone with new business? I have some new business. Miss Ibach, I had the opportunity to move. Sorry, moving pre just moving closer. I had the opportunity to participate
074in the NG JSBA delegate delegate assembly on Saturday uh May 10th. At the meeting, there were three resolutions that were passed. The first resolution was uh proposed by the Woodbury Board of Education which involved the inclusion of esports for intercolastic competition. It passed by like a multitude of measures. Um it was um demonstrated by the the background um reviewed the benefits of having esports as an opportunity for students that um don't typically participate in traditional sports um competitions. And they found that 90% of the participants in districts that provide those esports um 90% of the participants uh did not participate in traditional sports within the district. It was found to offer social emotional functioning and enhancements a sense of contributing to the school community um through esports um and the opportunity to earn varsity letters.
075It also was encouraged to uh involve inclusion for students that don't typically uh participate in intercolastic uh groups. So, um, I found that an interesting resolution. Resolution two passed very narrowly. That was proposed by Franklin School District and that involved an amendment to the requirements for school nurse um to a change to that of an RN with three additional classes um for school specific operations um rather than during the course of the first 18 months of employment. So, it was proposed to offset the challenges of uh the uh school nursing uh deficits that we're encountering through districts. But the those that opposed the amendment or the resolution were uh retired school nurses that found that they their position was that this would negatively impact the certification itself. And finally, the resolution number four proposed by
076Kittton Board of Education um involved position of reasonable amount of state approved excused absences for students pursuing careers in skilled trades um comp in compar in comparison to uh those that are um seeking collegiate uh opportunities. so that the students that would uh be participating in skilled trade interviews um and um exploring um those career paths would have uh equitable opportunity to have uh excused absences. So that passed by a large margin as well. So just wanted to share that with the board. Thank you, Miss Ivan. Can I just add a little color to that? Absolutely. Please go ahead, Mr. Pepper. That was great. I just want to share for the public and for anyone who's not aware of the work of the delegate assembly just what its purpose is. So, school boards has this
077group of um delegates that come together. These motions that you just heard about are motions that people from around the state or around the region make to um promote NJSBA advocating for these things. So what happens now with those motions that pass is NJ school boards will now go into gear of of doing advocacy act actions for those things. Right. And thank you Mr. Pepe. And just to add to that so Miss Miss Ibach is our representative or is our delegate representative. Altered it. You are a representative but it it kind of puts into perspective. So we sit here as a board of nine for Denellan and we are one of many many boards that exist in the state of New Jersey and there are different things that you know do come up different questions.
078Um what we do is is dynamic um and what you've demonstrated or what you've shared with us are is is is the process working and it's the process doing its business. um as things as the as as um our environment evolves, as things change, we adapt and resolutions like this come out. And then that's how we advocate for our kids and make what we do better. So, it's not just what we do here at the board, but on the in this town, but across other boards in other towns across the state that helps to unify us. Thank you again, Miss. Any other questions, comments? Sorry. Uh new business. Okay, moving along to president's remarks. Again, uh I will pass as I think I've said enough already. um in the initial session. Um moving on to
079item number 19, public comments uh on any issue or any topic. Um the board uh invites public comment on any issue or topic from members of our community in accordance with board policy 0167. Public comment sections are intended to provide an opportunity for members um of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest. The board and administration will be taking notes during public comment, but will not provide substantive responses to questions or concerns pre raised by individual speakers. If necessary, the superintendent may provide a brief response after the entire public comment period is completed. The board appreciates and welcomes feedback from the community, but is not at liberty to engage in a back and forth dialogue with members of the public during this portion of the meeting. Prior to making your public
080comment, please state your name and municipality. Please note that all statements must be directed to the presiding officer. Please come to the microphone at this time if you would like to make comments on any issue or any topic. Last call. Okay, moving on to item number 20, executive session. The Denellan Board of Education will now adjourn into executive session to discuss items that fall within specific exceptions to the Open Public Meetings Act, CJSA 104-12B. The confidential matters discussed by the board during this executive session include items related to individual privacy, collective bargaining agreements, uh, pending or anticipated litigation, as well as personnel. Any discussion that does not need to remain confidential will be made public as soon as it is practical. Minutes of the executive session will not be disclosed until the need for a
081confidentiality no longer exists. All individuals who may be discussed in executive session have been adequately notified. Action will not take place after the conclusion of the executive session. So may I have a motion please to move into executive session. Move to move to executive session. Second. All those in favor? I opposed. Okay. So, we are going to move to adjournment after the executive session. So, uh there's no need for you to stay unless you really want to come back and and we're going to be in there for a while. Um our next meeting is June 10th. Uh same bat time, same bat channel. Hope to see you then. Thank you so much.