June 4th, 2025 | Vineland Board of Education Combined Meeting

001I'd like to call this meeting to order. Mr. Musterell. Roll call, please. Michaela Giuliani. Mr. Bono, present. Mr. Fio here. Mr. Harris here. Mr. Holmes here. Mrs. Perez here. Mr. Rivera here. Mr. Silva. Mr. Sabrana present. Mrs. Godis body present. In compliance with the New Jersey open public meeting law commonly referred to as the sunshine law. The vinand board of education has caused notice and posting of this meeting to be sent to the following announcing time, place, agenda, etc. The Daily Journal, NJ, NJ, NJ, SNJ Today, the Press of Atlantic City, Vista Bueno, the clerk for the city of Vinland, and the administrative office public bulletin board. Would everyone please rise for the flag salute? to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under

002God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Applause] Mr. M, is there a resolution for executive session? Yes, there is. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education of the city of violence school district will convene an executive session for the following reasons as outlined in NJSA 104-12. Discussion is about employment matters and any matters falling within the attorney client privilege to the extent that confidentiality is required in order for the attorney to exercise her ethical duties as lawyer. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second, Mr. Merrell, roll call. Mr. Bono, yes. Mr. Fio, yes. Mr. Harris, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Mrs. Perez, yes. Mr. Rivera, yes. Mr. Sabrano, yes. Mrs. Katispati, yes. Motion carries. Mr. Yan, do we have any special presentations this evening? Yes. Thank you. Uh, to begin, I

003would like to ask Mrs. uh Susette Deari and Miss Cat Rivera, our one of our C and I supervisors to recognize staff and students from Nine High School CTE program. Good evening, Mrs. Kadispati, Mr. Sabrana and board members, Mr. Yano and central administration and our community members. It is my pleasure to introduce Miss Katherine Rivera, whose leadership and dedication to student success continues to elevate our district's career and technical education programs. Through her tireless commitment, Miss Rivera ensures that our students are not only gaining valuable academic knowledge, but also graduating with industry recognized certifications that prepare them for real realworld careers. Her presentation this evening highlights the strength and impact of our CTE offerings at Vinland High School and the extraordinary efforts of our CTE teachers to equip students with the skills, confidence, and opportunities

004they need to thrive beyond the classroom. And at this time, Miss Rivera. [Applause] Thank you, Mrs. Dearie. Good evening. I'm honored to be here tonight to recognize and celebrate all of the students who have earned certifications. An impressive achievement that reflects their hard work and dedication. While many students couldn't join us this evening due to prior commitments like jobs, sports, and most are getting ready for prom, we're proud of each and every one of them and want to make sure their accomplishments are acknowledged. Six of our programs currently offer industry certifications, which are certifications that high school students can earn to demonstrate real world job ready skills in a specific career. At VHS, students earn the following certifications. In graphic design, we offer the Adobe Photoshop certification. This certification validates students technical skills in image

005editing and design, preparing them for real world careers in graphic design, marketing, and digital media. By integrating certification into the curriculum, it ensures our students graduate with both creative expertise and a competitive edge in the job market. I'd like to call up Miss Stockbridge and Miss Griffith. [Applause] So, the students uh that are here this evening, if you would come up uh for graphic design. Why don't you guys stand up? Right. If you guys just want to stand over there. Yeah. Okay, so this wasn't an easy exam. Um, but you all worked very, very hard to prepare yourselves for it and I'm extremely proud of you. Um, so we have George Aguilera Herrera, [Applause] London Hills, who was not able to be here this evening. Jaden her. Um, is he here? He didn't come. Okay.

006Uh, Gabrielle Hunter. Coming. Gabby. Here we go. Jaden Marcato, who was not able to be here this evening. Alisandra Parent, who was not able to be here this evening. Abigail Rodriguez. and Lauren Tran who is not able to be here. Sure. Can you stay up? In construction trades, we offer the OSHA 10 general industry certification. This is a widely recognized workplace safety training program offered by Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It's designed to provide entry-level workers with essential knowledge of workplace hazards and their rights under OSHA regulations. Mr. Medio who could not be here this evening I will call his students Kaden Bar if you're here just please come up Nehemiah Bermudez Josiah Cordiero Brian Kmer Edwin Dela Cruz Antonio Edwin Espana Cypriano Uriel MSUS, Nicholas Monero, Jaden Morero Hernandez, [Applause] Noel Achoa Martinez. Congratulations

007Naomi Smith Pavll Snider, Joshua Vasquez Velasquez, Antoine Wit, and Cheyenne. In our studio production class as well as the next course CAD, our students take the Noctti which is a national occupational competency testing institute. It's a standardized assessment designed to measure students skills and knowledge in a CTE field. In studio production, our students took the digital video production nocti exam and Mrs. Pritchette. Good evening everyone. Um my students couldn't make it because of work obligations. So the first student I have is Joshua Magikadumi and the second student I have is Gabriel Marcato. These are mostly juniors and seniors. So for CAD computer aed design the students took the NTI in CAD. So I'll call up Mr. Gambry. Thank you. And um my students really enjoyed that testing. I could tell you that for two hours

008it was in drilling. It was 160 questions. Uh but uh they did very well and uh these are the future engineers, architects, surveyors, industrial designers that are to be. So this is a wonderful course that we have here. Are any of them here? Uh yes, some I saw two of those. Okay. Uh, uh, Zuma Cruz, I think she wasn't going to make it. She told me. Uh, Brian [Applause] Morales. And we're proud of uh, of Brian here. He's going to uh Rowan University for mechanical engineering. So, we should be all very proud of him. One of my outstanding students. Uh Noah Gregory. Not sure if he's here. Okay. Brian Warz. I saw Brian here. [Applause] Kevin [Applause] Maldonado, Brandon Naves. [Applause] Isaac Santiago [Applause] and Hector [Applause] Valyria. Most of them were university. That's awesome.

009[Applause] In agriculture, FFA members earn levels of membership throughout their time in FFA. These are referred to as degrees. The highest a member can earn at the chapter level is a chapter degree. To earn a chapter degree, members must have earned the following: a greenhand degree, completed 20 community service hours, completed a level one a course, and are a part of a supervised agriculture program. And I'd like to call up Mrs. Castellini. Thank you. Good evening board. First, I want to thank Miss Rivera and Miss Dearie for always supporting our program. Anytime we need anything, they're right there. We're a new program and we're proud to have FFA back in Vinland since it stopped in the 60s. So, I want to call my three students up here tonight that are with us again. A lot

010are getting ready for prom tomorrow. It's a big day. A lot of eyelashes getting put on. So, my three students, please come on up. And then I will just Yes. Yeah. Go ahead. So we have Moses Aru who could not be here. Faith De Chico, Carrie Fuentes, Adam Giaondo, Joanna Gynez, Colin, Deshyra Jones, Adrien Mass. We have Jenna Pollock with us here [Applause] tonight. Sarah St. Jean could not make it. We have Juliana Torres couldn't make it as well. We have Xander White with us [Applause] tonight. And lastly, we have Rebecca Zang with us tonight. I had the pleasure of going to the FFA Ireland trip with Jenna and Rebecca. And our last program, automotive technology. Students are able to earn the ASE which is the automotive service of excellence. It's a nationally recognized certification

011that demonstrates someone has met the industry standard and know for knowledge and performance in areas like brakes, engine performance, maintenance, light repair, suspension and steering, etc. Each one of these students has earned at least one ASSE credential and one of our students earned up to six. So, we're going to first recognize any seniors that are here and then we have a few juniors who also took the ASC exam. So, I'll have Mr. Warden [Applause] Thank you and good evening. Uh, first we have Luis [Applause] Gonzalez, Ashley Javier, who I don't think is here, Natalyia Kovus, Betsy MS, [Applause] Wow. Four. Gami Martinez, Raymond Mahus, Angel Mourn, Dennis Ostapenco, Betteran Ozark, David [Applause] Perez, Hector Rivera, Emanuel Vasquez, Lewis Shimabu, Daisy Bautista, Anthony [Applause] Watts, Umaachan Yagley. All right. And for my junior class, I have

012another Lewis Gonzalez. Eduardo Gutierrez, Placedo Vasquez, Christian Lopez, Chance Parsons, Jonathan Ridley, Larry Santos and Ethan Vasquez. Thank you guys. All right. Oh my god. So, one more time, a big congratulations to all of our students. And finally, I'd be remiss not to take a moment to thank our teachers. Your hard work, dedication, and the way you go above and beyond for your students never goes unnoticed. You're not just teaching skills. You're helping shape futures, build confidence, and open doors to real opportunities. A special thank you to all of you. Thank you for everything you do for your students, for your programs, and for our district. We are lucky to have you. Can you all please stand? [Applause] Thank you. Ready? You ready? Thank you and uh good evening. We have a second presentation today,

013learning and leading a VPS von public school end of year update. Uh before we transition into the presentation, I I want to make sure we can acknowledge all of our teachers, our students who just were recognized for their amazing accomplishments and the administrators who supported their progress and the certifications that they received. So, let's hear another round of applause for this group of students. This fits in line with what we're doing this evening, which is a celebration of the last school year and the amazing accomplishments that we've been able to put together, achieve together when we work together. When we have common vision and focus, we can achieve amazing accomplishments. And this evening, we're going to be recognizing our team, many of our members who are here this evening, our administrators, our teachers, our community

014members who are here in support of what they do, how we work together, and what we've been able to accomplish. So, I just want to remind everyone that this year we've completed the first year of our strategic plan. We have our five objectives. In August of 2025, you will hear an overview or review of year 1 and a launch of year two. So that's coming up in August. But as you can see, having the strategic plan that guided our work really helped us stay focused and achieve great results. And I want to thank our administrators, our board of ed members who participated in the development of a strategic plan for Violent Public Schools. One area that we often talk about with our administrative team is chronic absenteeism and attendance. And I just want to point

015out a few amazing stats. And I believe those administrators are here this evening. So when I call your school, please stand up. At Sabotair, we've seen a decrease of from 31.2% to 11.7% chronic absenteeism. Those are real gains. Our savier staff over here at Wallace School, they decreased their chronic absenteeism from 45.5% to 23% over the last three years. Outstanding work. And at Durand, Durand is down to 15.7 and actually lower in the last month. So where there's Mr. Greco and Miss Armstrong. This is a testament to the work that we do as a team. united, focused, and delivering real results that are not. We can't deny the progress. 13 schools since the first year, since three years ago, 13 schools have improved their chronic absenteeism rate. 13 schools with sometimes different leaders, different teams,

016but the same end result. We are improving chronic absentism. We're reducing it. We're increasing our average daily attendance rate. So again, to all of our administrators, although we didn't name every school on here, we know we are focused. We know that the work is being done at Pway, at Meny's, at Rossi. We have seen growth in every single building. At the end of this year, we will see real amazing growth in all of our buildings. Preschool, going back to our babies, preschool is an exceptional time for our children and threes, our e our age threes and fours. 41% of our students exceed national math norms and 25 ex 25% exceed national norms in language arts. Excuse me. And that's using our high school program which we brought in an additional component this year focused on

017phmic awareness. Uh but we're not resting on that. We're looking at two programs that are state approved. Frog street and tools of the mind. Both of those programs will be piloted next year in multiple classes throughout the district including our providers. so that by the time we get to the end of the year, we will have a program hopefully approved to go with one of these programs across the city of Vinland. Uh we're looking to make pro um identify a program that's aligned with our science of reading initiative in our K5 buildings. So that's why I want to special shout out to Melissa Painter, Stephanie Steferi, Maline Galan, the team that's working together uh to put this all in place and all of our per teachers and everyone that's uh working on the project together.

018It's a it's a huge project to pilot two programs and maintain high school curriculum. Another area that we need to really just be excited about because this was year one and we see one of our teachers here for our um gifted and talented program that is held at Rossi and at Sabat. I have Mr. Martinez here. Miss Benon I believe is not here but she's one of our excellent teachers as well. uh they have absolutely crushed this gifted and talented firstear program. Many of you have seen uh the presentation that was provided to this board of ed. Gifted and talented is doing amazing. A special shout out to Dr. Stanganger. He uh helped orchestrate the program along with the building principles of Rossi and Saboter who helped uh welcome in these new uh communities to

019their buildings. And it's been amazing. Next year will be even better. exciting times for our gifted and talented programs. Uh next, hey, next we'll touch base on our NJGPA and our graduation rate. We often talk about the NJ GPA every August when our official scores are released. Um but preliminary scores are very promising. Um we have seen growth in student achievement when it comes to the NJGPA with NJGPA scores rising um from a 21.6% to 35% in math and from 45% to 65% in ELA. In addition, our graduation rate in 2022, our graduation rate was 77.4 4 and in 2024 it was 86.1. Uh, I'd like to recognize our secondary supervisors, Jen Lanning and David Krun, our building administrators, and of course our teachers for their outstanding efforts and unwavering support for our student success.

020Next highlight is with our world language program. This year, 97 students earned the New Jersey Seal of Biiteracy, a very meaningful achievement that celebrates both their bilingual skills as well as their academic success. This marks a notable increase from last year when 65 students received the seal of biiteracy. So we went from 65 students to 97 and in just 15 days nobody's counting I'm sure especially our seniors um but we will be recognizing the class of 2025 and what I wanted to highlight here is that among our class of 2025 graduates we have 292 students that will be graduating with honors. That is wonderful. Next, I'd like to bring up Miss Castellini. Thank you so much for the opportunity to talk about some of the great things that we are doing within the student services

021department. Um hopefully maybe in August I get more time to talk about some of the great things that we're accomplishing and trying to work through with the support of district leadership, teachers, support staff, child study team related services. So the first is um our push for inclusive education. Um we have actually exceeded the state target rates for students in general education greater than 80% or more within the school day. and for our students that are actually remaining in district as our programs are becoming more robust and able to support our students in ways that the out of district programs have been able to do as well. Um we have applied for the um all-in new jersey inclusion grant. Um they are actually have been doing some trainings with us with staff but also with district

022administration and that will be continuing throughout the summer as well. our proficiency gap target rate. Students in grades four through eight and high school have achieved proficiency levels in ELA and math that fall within the state's target range um for performance gaps. And overall compliance for the special education department is we meet requirements for overall performance which is actually the highest rating that the state provides. Um, additionally to ensure that we are remaining in compliance, we are expanding our classrooms this year um to better support all our students with diverse learning needs. We've also formed a partnership with behavior consultants to enhance support for students social and emotional well-being and they are able to go in and support these students within the programs and classrooms that they're currently in. Additionally, we formed partnerships with community

023health care providers to also support our students physical well-being. So, thank you. [Applause] Next, we're going to bring up our supervisor of secondary language arts programs, Jen Lannon. Good evening. I'm excited to share our ELA highlights tonight, beginning with key developments with K to 5. This past school year, we have continued to move ahead with major changes to our ELA curriculum and assessments at the elementary level. These changes have allowed us to move forward with instructional practices grounded in the science of reading along with valid assessments for determining student progress. In K&1, we implemented a new curriculum, bookworms. This curriculum is compromised of authentic texts and assists in building background knowledge on a wide array of topics. In addition to the new curriculum, we also began utilizing a new universal screener for literacy across all

024K to5 meeting new legislative requirements. While we're still waiting on all of our data to come in, the early sample from Winslow and Rossi provide some exciting highlights. We have seen a 25% decrease in first graders needing reading intervention from the beginning at the end of the year and a 25% increase in oral reading fluency for first grade students. Additionally, there has been a 30% increase in the number of fifth grade students reading proficiently. Yeah. Can Winsel and Rossi please stand so we can recognize your [Applause] accomplishments? All right. Now for our highlights in grades 6 to 12 ELA. This year we welcomed a new secondary instructional coach who has been instrumental in supporting best instructional practices. At the middle school level we fully implemented a new standards aligned ELA curriculum that is both vertically

025and horizontally aligned. Additionally, we've had approximately 50% of our middle school students demonstrate at least one year's worth of growth on the I Ready Diagnostic, which is our middle school benchmark. At the high school level, we introduced a close reading course designed to support students in analyzing and understanding complex texts, and this course will be expanding next year. In addition, our high school benchmark data shows gains in proficiency with a 33% increase in English 1, a 15% increase in English 2, and a 40% increase in English 3. We are also excited to report a 6% increase in our NJGPA scores. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you for that update. Next, Mr. Krun for math. Good evening, everybody. I'm happy to be here tonight to talk about our math progress over the last year here at Vinland

026Public Schools. So, at our elementary schools, we have seen progress from our initial year of Go Math implementing across all of our classrooms here in Vinland. From our beginning of year to end of year benchmark assessments, we saw a 20% increase in our kindergarteners meeting grade level expectations here at the end of the year. And we continue to see this increase as we look at grades two through five who averaged an average of 40% increase in grade level expectation meeting grade level expectations. When we move into our middle school, we implemented a new program called I Ready this year that gives us a new way to support our students. In addition to this program, we also focused in on small groupoup instruction during our mascot period to support our students in in addition to their

027core math class. We saw more than 50% of our middle school students gain more than a year's knowledge over the course of this school year. At our high school, we continued our second year of reveal math program. We also dived into the data and looked at the released NJSLA test items to see where they can be incorporated into our classes this year. When we compare the proficiency levels for our benchmark classes of algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2, we saw the proficiency rates on the end ofear benchmarks double in comparison to the beginning of the year. For our juniors and seniors that took the NJ GPA assessment this year, we had an increase of 6% who are graduation ready compared to last year with an additional 13% of our students who are on the bubble

028of being graduation ready. Thank you. [Applause] Vinand continues to expand learning opportunities with new and innovative courses across all grade levels. Highlights include our go math program, our open sed program, new high school electives in areas like floral design, advanced placement African-American culture, advanced placement biology, and a standalone financial literacy course which will launch in school year 2026 for the class of 2029. As you can see across mathematics, language arts, CTE, it's the work that we do together from our board approving the programs to our administrators monitoring implementation to our teachers delivering the content. So, let's just hear a big round of applause for everyone who's done the work together to get this done because the work's not easy. It's challenging. It's difficult, but it's worth it for our students. Uh next, Gia Misori will

029talk about some of our strategic programs and grants. [Applause] Good evening everyone. I want to start off by talking about our portrait of a graduate program. As many of you know, Vinand launched Portrait of a Graduate in 2023, which is a collective vision that helps articulate our entire community's goals and aspirations for all of our Violin Public School students. Our competies, our competencies include critical thinking, adaptability, perseverance, communication, empathy, and responsibility. As of this school year, we started monthly lessons and activities that have been established from preK through 12. We've had a lot of amazing programs, a lot of amazing classroom activities, um, a lot of which have been highlighted on our Facebook page and our newsletter. So, we want to give a good thank you to our schools for taking that on. On the

030grant end, there are a lot of really good numbers on this page. I had the pleasure of writing these grants, but it is really our curriculum department and our schools and our teachers that took on the responsibility of enacting them. Our high impact tutoring grant will end this June, just in a few weeks. Our first year we got one uh $618,000 from the state and then we qualified for an extension program for a little over $483,000. This tutoring program um targeted our third and fourth grade students and all of our elementary schools, those that have might have fallen behind uh following the pandemic. And I don't have the exact numbers, but we have seen a lot of increases in our students productivity. Our dual enrollment grant will end on December 31st of this year. Our

031first year was $148,000 and a year 2 extension of 60,000. Our dual enrollment grant is one of our most successful grants. This allowed all of our students in Violin High School, especially those that might have some income based um issues, to qualify to take uh or receive college credit for all of our dual enrollment classes. We've had several hundred students qualify and earn college credits through this grant. And our advanced placement grant, which also ends this year, is $69,000 for our first year, and our year 2 extension was almost $50,000. Our advanced placement grant was twofold. It allowed our advanced placement teachers to take additional courses and qualify um to teach these advanced placement classes. And it also allowed us to implement new AP classes by providing funding for um textbooks, training, and additional resources.

032And that's it for me. So, I don't know if you captured the numbers, but it's over a million dollars in supports for third and fourth grade students. Over a million dollars. You don't receive an extension from the Department of Ed, Department of Ed, unless you're doing something right. You're accounting for all of your expenditures. and we received extensive uh extensions, the AP grant at the high school. Thank you to the high school team. I see some of our partners in the back over there who are supporting us this evening and for the work that uh Deb Quinn, you know, who as an interim uh led the effort at the 1112 building that AP grant is huge and we're super excited about it. But now we get to bring one of our rising stars up here

033to talk about the 9th grade academy. A rising star. I am uh Mr. Adams. uh principal of Vinland High School's Dennis Tanner building, our 910 building. Um next year we will be launching our 9th grade academy. Um and essentially what we're looking to do within our 9th grade academy is give all of our students that base that they need to receive these certificates that our seniors and our juniors receive tonight. So it's just kind of resetting our expectations for our students. We do have um almost 250 seats that are going to be opening for courses like math lab. that is uh it's going to be an extension of an algebra course. We're going to have 60 spots open for a pre-alggebra course to really um help with those challenges uh that students may have faced

034in middle school. We have an expansion of our close read program which will help with literacy and comprehension skills. And then we're bringing back a freshman seminar with a new twist um to it that sets our students up for success with social emotional skills, uh resources, study skills, note-taking skills, and things that they will use all across uh their high school career. Um within our 9th grade academy, I have to give a shout out to to my team, uh Miss Craig, Mr. Lapsley, and Mr. Hall, um for being there every step of the way, and also to Mrs. Deari and our supervisors. I have met with them probably more than I've seen my own family some nights. Um I just met with Mr. Krun for about an hour and a half this morning to hammer

035out all of our math numbers and our math numbers look really good going into next year. Class sizes of 18 to 19 as opposed to 2425. So that's always a welcome site. Less students, more attention, more instruction for our students. um within our ninth grade academy. While it is academically driven, we are going to have a large component of team building and that's going to start in August. We're going to have two um renditions of what our freshman orientation looked like. So, we're going to have our typical freshman orientation where we welcome our students back. They get their schedules. They get to meet their counselors, their teachers, and then later in August, um the last the final week before school starts, we're going to have an open house to allow them to get to know

036their classmates. In talking to Michaela and Obie, two of our rising star students and uh future leaders, they have expressed just things that they would do differently if they were in our shoes and they could relive their 9th grade experience. So all of those things that you have told us, we've listened. Believe it or not, we do listen to you guys. Um and we're trying to implement that for the class of 2029. So it's an exciting experience. It's going to be a new experience. It may come with some challenges in the way. Um but that's what education is. you think on your feet while you're in education and you make things work for your kids. So, I'm excited for our 9th grade academy and uh we'll get it going in a couple short months here.

037All right. Thank you, Mr. Adams. Uh super exciting work happening at our high school led by our high school leaders and a collaborative effort from our central administration team. Super exciting news. Again, you've heard of our Verizon grant that we brought in this year for all of our middle school students. We have a partnership with Verizon and Digital Promise. 253 staff devices, 2,292 student devices. If you mo if you add that all up, it comes out to a lot of money that was donated or provided to the district as part of the pro uh the partnership. Over a million dollars in devices that came to us through Verizon and Digital Promise. That was cohort 12. Cohort 13 is we're applying for and I believe Mr. Mason and Mr. Adams have interviews set up soon with

038Verizon to be part of cohort 13 so we can receive additional supports for the entire high school campus over 2,600 to 700 devices. We haven't gotten the the partnership approval yet, but we are in the midst of getting to that point of being able to announce hopefully uh cohort 13. We are just absolutely excited. Again, over a million dollars of devices that don't come from the school district's budget. It's coming from outside dollars to fund and support. Additionally, $107,000 to support four uh partially support four instructional technology coaches. One of them was here before Carrie Stockbridge was here. Um we're excited about all of our coaches who are going to be working with our middle school students next year. Uh so wonderful things that are happening with our partnership and we're also engaging our community

039at a different level from the schools to our athletics department through the arts, theater, whatever it may be. We are connected with our families. But we brought in a really special middle school program called peer group connections. Uh this year was the pilot year where we had eighth grade students trained to work with and mentor and model good behavior and good you know school communication uh attendance good skills. These eighth graders partnered up with a few select sixth graders and they had mentoring opportunities. Incredible. Next year 100% of our sixth graders will have access to these mentors and a new set of of eighth grade students have been identified I believe uh for next year. Correct. the Ryzen eighth graders. We have a new set of PGC trainers. Right. Excellent. McKini Vento, we have a

040pantry in our building here. Uh we've served over 90 plus families that need support uh when they're homeless. We continue our CPAC committees working with our families, our community, and the faith-based community. And we also have our CPAG uh program, our special education parents advocacy group that's led by uh Terry Gadlooki, who was not able to be here with be here with us this evening, but she's extremely excited about the work that she and her team with Jared and Kelly have been able to produce and our specialed teachers. Uh we had our recently we just had our planning session for the back to school extravaganza for next summer. This past summer we had over,200 guests at Gaton. An amazing first year. Next year is going to be quite amazing. It's going to be exciting. Our

041principles and our newly promoted principles are already planning how they're going to compete for the best display, the most table space, designs, and backgrounds. And that's right. That's right. Dr. Spieman says HR is going to bring the bring the heat with her tent. And I got you. It's going to be hot that day, so bring some uh extra shirts. Little Folks Festival, 800 plus guests recently on our campus as well. We are absolutely excited about the work that we're doing with our community and engaging with them throughout. Again, we have an amazing art program. Uh many of you came to see the elementary and middle school art shows that we had here uh recently. Uh the Sergeant Dominic Pill mural was unveiled recently. Incredible. You can see the images up on the PowerPoint. Performances at

042VHS and schools throughout the district. Every day seems like there's another performance happening in one of our buildings. you go to these events whether it's uh beauty and um no frozen right frozen at Rossy you can't even find a parking spot wonderful wonderful work wonderful work and I I I'm going to get the name wrong but it's was it push start push start ready start was the play at um at the Paloto Push start that's right it was awesome again another incredible evening uh with our families and our kids get to be on stage performing and celebrating in their skills. We have a special plan uh with Gaton that one of our board members uh brought to our attention. Mr. Bono uh offered to have a special project where we have a contest, an art

043contest, design a mural uh that we can place at the press box at Katone and that he'd be willing to support, you know, with the purchase of of of the supplies after we have a a competition for our students to who has the best design that can really be prepared and put up beautifully to enhance Gaton Stadium. So again, thank you Mr. Bono and thank you to our art teachers are going to help us put the specifications together to do that project. And next bringing up Suzanne. Okay, so next we're going to be talking about our Danielson rubric, the launch of our uh new teacher evaluation model. It is the Danielson rubric of 2022. Currently teachers are being evaluated with the 2013 rubric. Um the planning for the Danielson rubric began in June of 2024

044and that link right there um will take you to a document that will outline um all of the happenings, all of the plannings since June of 2024. Um throughout the year, professional development was provided during faculty meetings to support staff understanding in each domain. Full implementation of the rubric will take place in September of 2025. And on June 23rd, districtwide um all teaching staff will be receiving training um of our Danielson 2022 rubric. This year we introduced three new programs to support a more personalized and effective te effective teaching and learning. I'd like to uh particularly highlight I Ready. I Ready is now used in all middle schools and this helps teachers see exactly what each individual student needs in both reading as well as in math in order to provide targeted instruction to their

045students. And next I'd like to call up Mr. Musterel. Thank you. Welcome everybody. Safe, modern, future ready. Uh so for building the grounds this year, we had over 20 plus HVAC roof and window projects finish up this year. Uh we've secured $18 million for the next few couple years for energy savings improvement program. Uh that's going to be a big project and it's going to span multiple fiscal years. I'd like to have Paul Finacio come up and recognize a couple of his employees. Thank you, Mr. Musterell, Mr. Yano, central administration and violent board. I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank and recognize two valued members of my facilities team. Uh, Mr. Jose Ayala and Mr. Alfonso Villan Noeva. Uh they recently just completed the Rucker governmental coursework for the certified educational facilities manager

046certificates. This is a requirement of their job and they hit the ground running after being hired. It's a rigorous course. It contains nine modules that vary in facility related coursework and it ranges all the way from building safety, building cleanliness to procurement and legal. And so they excelled within that coursework. They did a fantastic job. It usually takes about a about a two-year st scheduling. They got it the coursework done in over a little over a year because they took on weekends and nights. And so just I wanted to acknowledge them this evening and and beyond the coursework I only wanted to call out you know th those two individuals they reward me. My team makes me look good. Facilities is always a challenging we we've got a lot of challenges with the ages of

047our building and all. And so these guys are doing the leg work. They're always present. They're always available nights, weekends, whatever. And so their dedication and their commitment uh are are to be applauded. And it all goes for the betterment, for Violin, for the students and the staff. So, thank you very much for this opportunity. Thank you, Paul. technology. Uh we have a $3.7 million investment secured for the backend technology that they'll be working actually they're already started working on and they should be able to finish up this summer. Uh that's districtwide. Uh that was a 0% uh loan we or uh lease purchase we got. Uh $600,000 this year spent in Chromebooks. and we created a 5-year technology plan. Um, we also finally completed our broadcasting van, which we'll be investing in every year,

048a little bit at a time. School safety, that's Lenny, correct, Mr. Wolf. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Honored members of the board, um I'm honored to speak tonight and briefly touch on our ongoing improvements and upgrades as they relate to school safety. Our extensive camera system with over a thousand cameras throughout the district has been upgraded in a variety of ways, completing our phase 2 requirements. Uh these cameras are more useful and accessible to our district staff. And we now have a central command center here in this building uh where any large-scale security event can be monitored and controlled with the support of our emergency services providers. Um, we are also in the early stages of integrating Raptor Technologies emergency management suite into all of our schools. This system enhances communications between our staff and

049expands our already robust security protocols for response to emergency situations in our schools. Uh, it facilitates near instant communications with emergency services and will provide uh them with critical information on how to respond to a threat in the school. Uh there are many more facets to the software and how it will modernize our school district's capabilities and bring us into compliance with state regulations such as Alyssa's law. We already use Raptor technologies in our students our schools for visitor management systems and this is an expansion of that which will further integrate many of our existing systems like Genesis and other attendance systems. Uh, our security team is continuing to handle the responsibilities at both our schools and at many of our sporting events and other school functions. Uh, improvements continue to be made as we

050tailor our security team to the specific needs of our community. And speaking of which, our partnership with Allied Universal Security is now almost at its one one month mark. Um, we're pleased to report there are armed guards uh integrating well with our existing security teams in the schools. uh adding an enhanced level of safety for our students and staff. As this program continues to expand, these guards will become integral to all of our district events and become a familiar face to our students um as they settle into this new role. Um just like to say I'm grateful for the support of uh Mr. Bermudez, Mr. Yano, and my staff, Nancy Torres, uh Freddy Loy, Eddie Santiago, guys. I couldn't do it without him. Um, I look forward to what's next and uh I'm honored to

051continue to serve. Thank you. Before we bring up is for transportation, I just want to touch on budget and finance a little bit. Uh, as I said, we secured a 0% tech lease. Uh but more importantly, we have a balanced budget for next year, which is a collaboration of my office, central administration, the board, and virtually every administrator across the district. So, $238 million for 2526 balanced budget. That's great news. Uh Mr. Bermudez, please come on up for transportation. Thank you. All right. Thank you. So, I do have a few highlights to share just from our transportation department. Um, we've had 33 new buses added to our fleet. Um, through our in-house certification program, we've had uh 50 plus CDL certifications and we're actually expanding uh in a partnership with uh the the city of

052Violin to work on some uh CDL class B licenses as well. So, excited about that opportunity. Um with respect to zonar and tracking, we are um looking to um update that system uh to better allow families to let better allow schools to monitor and track where those buses are traveling to. And then some statistics I wanted to share from our our DRTS is u we have a total number of 140 routes. Um there's 132 drivers. Um, but this was I I think it's just kind of uh interesting to also see that in terms of the number of students that we transport both in and out of district. You're talking over 10,000 students that we transport each day. And in terms of mileage, that totals up to over 31,000 miles uh that they travel to get

053these students to and from school. So, we're really impressed with the efforts of our transportation department. I thank you for this opportunity to speak about it. [Applause] And last but not least, I would like to recognize uh Mr. uh Nick Fio uh who is uh has been elected the the president of the Violent Education Foundation. So with his uh leadership, we've been able to do uh a couple events. We're launching teacher grants in the next couple weeks uh for next year. Uh there's going to be a bunch of events coming up. Uh Mr. Rivera is a part of that effort as well. You'll hear more about it in a newsletter or or or flyer that comes out from the VEF announcing all the different opportunities that are coming up. But it it'll be a lot

054of fundraising that goes directly back to the community, back to teachers, especially teachers to do innovation grants to support innovation and awesome projects that you would like to do in your classroom that are outside of the typical, you know, what we allow, right? And also administrators will be able to participate in those grants as well. So, the Vine Education Foundation uh kicked off with a pasta event this year where many of our administrators and one of our board members, Mr. Bono, was uh I actually actually I think he won the event. Uh that's a sore point. I don't want to cause no problems over here tonight, but yes, I know. Thank you, Dr. Speakman and Jackie Mangaluso. There was some uh there was a recount that happened and and and still the the results are

055being they're not verified. So, as you can see, we have accomplished a lot working together. We have pushed each other forward and it's just going to continue. The momentum is building and we're going to achieve greatness by investing each other and being positive about what we're here for, which is our students. So, I want to thank the board for all of their support because everything that we've done and we talked about today comes through the board through their approval process, through the committee process, and with their support and their guidance, we're able to bring these projects, programs, expenditures, new ideas to our community, and it's been a great partnership. So again, uh, if I could have everyone who works in our school district, administrators, teachers, who's on this side, just stand up for one minute.

056And even our new hires who are on the agenda tonight, you can join us by standing up. This is a great team. I look forward to continuing serving the community with my team. Thank you, board of ed. Thank you for your time. Do we have any questions or comments on the HIV report? Do we have any questions or comments on the minutes of May 7th combined meeting and budget adoption and May 7th executive session? Seeing none, do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Roll call. Mr. Bono, yes. Mr. Foke, yes. Mr. Harris, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Mrs. Mrs. Perez, yes. Mr. Rivera, yes. Mr. Sabrana, yes. Mrs. Katispati, yes. Motion carries. Committee reports. I'll start with Mr. Rivera. No report. Mr. Fio. Yes. Good evening. Uh, finance committee met May 27th at 8 a.m.

057via Google Meet. In attendance was Mr. Musterell, Mr. Yano, Miss Carrie, Mrs. Pres, Mr. Silva, Mr. Rivera, and myself. Following topics were discussed. Uh, new contracts Allied Universal Security Services Supplemental Agreement. Uh, RFPs to be awarded for 2526 are food service, Duran Roof, uh, Depalto Rossi Siding, Alternate High School. Uh, facilities VHS roof replacement cost estimate. Personnel items discussed APS and principal to be approved on tonight's agenda. transportation supervisor, administrative contracts, uh, and bus mechanics. Lastly, uh, miscellaneous finance items 2526, capital projects. Thank you, Mr. Holmes. Curriculum and instruction made on May 27th at 4:00 p.m. And attendance was Mr. Yano, Mr. Marchie, uh, Mr. Rivera, Miss Cat Rivera, sorry, uh, Miss Galooski, Mr. Sabrana, Miss uh, Perez, Mr. So, and myself, we discussed the NJGPA preliminary results. We discussed summer reading. Uh June 23rd

058district-wide professional development day, the studio production VPS van integration, the career and tech uh technical education industry credentials. We discussed uh attendance and absenteeism, and lastly, the in-class resource uh social studies and science for sixth grade. Transportation Committee met the same day at 4:30 with Mr. Rivera, Mr. Harris, Mr. Bermudez, Mr. Musterel, and Miss Mason. There are 143 drivers budgeted, 140 route packages, 131 field positions, two drivers on leave, 15 substitute drivers, four drivers in training, three new hires, and two separations. The average absences in the morning for May 2025 was 18 and average absences in the afternoon was 21 for the month of May. We discussed and reviewed the current joint tour and co-ops with our with other districts. We reviewed the number of accidents in May which was one with one minor injury

059reported. We discussed the personnel items. Last day of the year for drivers is June 23rd and job posting for the transportation supervisor. The events uh driver appreciation was celebrated on April 29th and they moved the buses for the Littlefield festival. In the garage mechanical position opening uh following recent resignation and in general we discussed the planning for ESY under is underway. Scheduled meeting to discuss uh the school year 2526 training schedule for drivers. We met to discuss preschool boundaries and enrollment. met with the city to prepare for graduation and organize drivers for project graduation. Thank you. Public meeting report by the board solicitor. Nothing to report. Thank you, Miss Giuliani. Good evening. My name is Michaela Giuliani and I am the senior class president at Vinland High School. For the last time, VHS has had

060an incredibly busy month. The music department had multiple concerts, each of which were absolutely beautiful and had impressive turnout. Later that week, bilingual students, bilingual seniors were recognized at the seal of literacy award ceremony and will receive a graduation cord for their honor. A few weeks ago at the moving up ceremony, honors graduates were recognized, juniors earned awards, and the classes had a moment together in preparation for graduation. The following week, honors students were also recognized at their Suma, Magna, and Kumla banquetss. That Friday, our music department won first place at the Music in the Parks competition in both band and choir performances. That evening, senior athletes were recognized at their annual banquet, and each team had a player chosen for the coaches award recognizing outstanding athletes. Last week, our seniors attended the merit assembly

061where they received scholarships that they had applied for in March. The awards totaled upwards of $300,000. The next day, our incredibly successful FFA had their end of year banquet at which were members of the state FFA organization. Tomorrow, seniors and some juniors will be off to Centerton for the senior prom, followed by or following their prominade at BHS. Everyone is very excited, including myself. Prom king and queen will be announced tomorrow night, of which the top five for each have been campaigning all week. I've gotten a bounty ball and flowers. It's been quite the ordeal. The next day, students will be heading up to Slick Flags for senior night. The juniors will have their class trip next Wednesday when they head down to Mory's Pier in Wildwood. Also, next week, members of our senior class

062will visit their alma mater elementary schools to walk the halls and meet the students. On Thursday, seniors will gather at Katone Stadium for their senior sunset, preceding the senior picnic and graduation practice. Finally, in just 11 more school days, the class of 2025 will once again be here at Gaton Stadium. This time for our graduation. To be perfectly honest, I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. And it seems like it was just a couple of weeks ago that I was planning for senior sunrise or writing my first speech for the meetings. I didn't realize that this would be so sentimental for me. Even so, there are a lot of goodbyes at the end of senior year, and you aren't getting rid of me just yet. But I will definitely miss this monthly

063tradition very much. While it has concluded for me, I am incredibly happy and incredibly proud to introduce the class of 2026 President Chimobi Okafur. Good evening everyone. My name is Chobi Okafur and I'm honored to be the newly elected senior class president for the 2025 2026 school year. I'm beyond excited to start this new year with all of you as I plan to be actively involved in not only our school's affair but also our violent community. Over the past year, I've had the privilege to serve as the junior class president, where I've had the chance to advocate for our class and help plan events to make both our class and our school better. Now, I know I'm just a high school student. I don't have a college degree or a LinkedIn profile, but I do

064have big dreams and a deep commitment to make our school the best it could be. Additionally, I'm grateful to follow follow the the footsteps of Michaela Giuliani. Honestly, I need a who has been a true mentor to me throughout this whole school year. I'm also thankful to have an amazing superintendent and school administration like Miss Quinn and Mr. um Adams and our assistant principles that are in the back there too. Thank you guys. Elsa whose openness to ideas and genuine passion for our school inspires me me and gives me confidence in a good school year next year. I look forward to returning next year to share updates on Violent High School. Continuing the tradition set by past class presidents. Thank you all for allowing me to speak this evening and have a great rest of

065the school years for you teachers. I know you know with extended days and stuff, we'll all make it through. Yeah. [Applause] I want to take a moment on behalf of the Violent Board of Education to recognize someone very special, our senior class president, Michaela Giuliani, and our 10th member to the board. Michaela has been a familiar face at every board meeting, keeping us and the community updated on everything happening at the high school, especially with the senior class. Her reports were always thoughtful, clear, and helped remind us why we do the work that we do. On top of that, she's been working hard behind the scenes all year long, leading her class, organizing events, and helping make senior year something special for her peers. Michaela, thank you for your commitment, your leadership, and your positive

066spirit. You've done an outstanding job, and we're all excited to see what you do next. Best of luck. You've got a bright future ahead of you. We're very proud of you. [Applause] Thank you. [Applause] Public comment on agenda items only. Please limit yourself to three minutes. Mr. Merrell, Steve Soloff. My comments are not related to the agenda. Agenda or any other item? Oh, sorry. Good evening everybody, members of the board, administrators, and members of the public. My name is Steve Soloff, and for the past two years, I've been running a civic resource called informthenj.com. a nonpartisan platform designed to help residents here in Vineland and across Cumberland County better understand their local elections and the people running in them. I attended board meetings, reached out to candidates, covered campaigns, and now recently expanded this work

067through a weekly radio show. I'm here tonight simply to reintroduce myself to the board and to anyone watching at home. There have been some questions circulating, including unfounded rumors about AI or misinformation. So, I want to make it clear, I'm a real person, and I've been trying respectfully and persistently to open lines of communication with many of our elected officials for some time. Over the past two years, I've reached out through letters, phone calls, emails, and other channels. I understand that digital outreach can sometimes feel impersonal or even spammy. But in this era of declining local press, the reality is that this kind of outreach is often the only way left for residents and independent civic efforts like mine to engage with their representatives. Moving forward, any continued lack of response or participation will no

068longer be chocked up to miscommunication or misunderstanding. It will be documented plainly and publicly as a choice. And so if there are any concerns or limitations about how the schoolboard members are expected to interact with members of the press or the public, especially outside of board meetings, I strongly encourage this board to clarify those expectations soon. Not just for my stake, but for the benefit of voters, candidates, students, and all citizens who believe in open government. Thank you. [Applause] M Miss Kospati, if I may. Um M Mr. Zolaf, I I represent the the board in the district as board solicitor. Just just to clarify, um a few of the points that you mentioned, there's no outright prohibition against board members uh discussing or having conversations with with the public. What there is however is there

069is no unilateral authority um to each and every single one of these these board members to discuss board or district matters just on behalf of themselves. Um there's uh school ethics act, there's board policies, there's other legal implications that could be presented if any member of uh this board is to unilaterally portray any opinion of the board or the district as as a whole. So again, there's no outright prohibition as to anybody speaking in a public forum or a public setting. Um just I I recognize that it's just sometimes easier to ensure that we're abiding by the school ethics act and other implications if uh we're just discussing matters in this public setting with a quorum um as to board items. Thank you, Regina Merkel. Good evening everyone. My name is Regina Merkel and I'm

070a fourth and fifth grade ICR teacher at Pway Elementary. Myself and a few of my colleagues addressed the board in October with our concerns due to the changes that were put in place this school year in the fourth and fifth grade ICR programs. We made you aware that doing the job of two teachers was not allowing us to meet the needs of all of our students. The next day, myself and Mr. Russo met with Mr. Lano, Miss Galooski, and Mrs. Castellini to discuss the situation further. and we were hoping that changes would be made, but nothing happened. An IEP is a legal document outlining the specialized education plan that supports a student with a disability to succeed in school. As special education teachers were legally obligated to abide by the IEP, but that was not

071possible this school year since we were split between four classrooms with limited time. At the end of April, I met with Muscatalooski and I asked her if the fourth and fifth grade ICR program was going to continue this way for the next school year. She said yes and my heart sank. In all of my years of teaching special education, I've never felt so ineffective as an educator. I'm out of compliance with most of my students IEPs and I can not understand why you are allowing this to happen. You have a choice. We are not in a financial crisis. All students should be a priority. And we as a district should be meeting their educational needs, not the needs of the district. Each grade level should have their own ICR teacher so we can help our

072students, not leave them fending for themselves. We used to have a lot more intervent interventions to offer our struggling students and now we only have one basic skills teacher and special education as another option to help them. Empathy is a component of portrait of a graduate and we need to show that to all of our struggling students not deny them our services. Thank you. [Applause] Barbara Cutner. Good evening, members of the board. I am speaking as a certified special education teacher and an advocate for students with disabilities. I want to raise two urgent concerns about how special education services are being delivered in grades fourth through six across our across our district. First, in some schools, there are only one ICR teacher assigned to support both fourth and fifth grade and only in English language

073arts and math. That's one person expected to deliver in-class support for four different grade level subjects across two grades. This is not sustainable and it is not equitable. It limits the time and quality of instruction our students receive and puts both staff and students under tremendous strain. Second, special education support has now been completely removed from science and social studies in sixth grade. This follows what happened in fourth and fifth grade years ago. And since then, we've seen how our students have continued to struggle in those core subjects. These are not enrichment classes. They are part of the general education curriculum, and students with IEPs are entitled to support in all areas where they have identified needs. Under IDA and the New Jersey Administrative Code 6A14, services must be based on each students individual needs

074and present levels of performance. IEPs must be written with parent input and data, not to fit staffing or scheduling limitations. Removing services across entire entire grade levels or buildings puts a district at a risk of non-compliance. Also, aids cannot replace the special education teacher. Their role is to is supplemental, not substitute, and only under the supervision of a certified staff outlined in the IEP as required again by the New Jersey Administrative Code 6814.5D. We are at a point where students with disabilities are being denied access speciallydesed instruction in many academic subjects. This isn't just a staffing issue. It's a legal and ethical one. I respectfully ask the board to reconsider these decisions and make sure that students with IEPs receive all of the services that they are entitled to in every subject and in every

075school. Thank you for your [Applause] time. Is there anybody else that would like to speak? Super superintendent's recommendations for discussion and approval by the board. Yes. Requesting discussion and approval regarding personnel items 1.1 through 1.4. Questions or comments? Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Mr. Bono. Yes. Mr. Fio. Yes. Mr. Harris. Yes. Mr. Holmes. Yes. Mrs. Perez. Yes. Mr. Rivera. Yes. Mr. Sabrina. Yes. Mrs. Katispati. Yes. Motion carries. Congratulations. And I would like to ask Principal Heather Johnson to come to the podium. [Music] [Applause] Good evening, Mr. Yano, members of the board, central office, and members of the audience. Before I start my speech, I would also like to say congratulations to the remaining candidates tonight who are being promoted to the assistant principal roles. Congratulations to you all.

076I wish you the best in your journey. Get [Applause] ready. As I stand before you tonight as the incoming principal of Dr. John H. Winslow Elementary School, this all still seems a bit surreal. I would like to start by thanking God for all the doors he closed to make this one open. There were quite a few. To my children, Kylie, McKenzie, and Dallas. Is he awake? You are and will always be my proudest accomplishment. And being your mom will always be my most important title. To my husband, Rob, my biggest cheerleader through it all. Sometimes my coach on the side pushing me along to be the best version of myself and seeing things in me that I couldn't possibly ever see in myself. To my parents, thank you for always making education in a prior

077a priority in our home. It turns out we really were listening. I'm overwhelmed by the amount of support here tonight. Friends, family, past colleagues, All Kids First in Zago, and my fabulous Winslow crew. For me, tonight comes full circle as Winslow has been a part of my life since my oldest daughter entered kindergarten there in 2008. You see, Winslow became more than just the school my children attended. It became a nurturing environment where not only my children would feel supported and valued, but my family would always feel welcome. Ironically, Winslow was also the school where I learned to be the administrator I am today under the fabulous leadership of Miss Debbie [Applause] Quinn. The last three years at Winslow have been nothing short of amazing. I have grown both personally and professionally, and I'm confident

078that I'm ready for this next journey. I would be remiss if I didn't recognize that my confidence stems from the opportunity to spend the last three years in admin with the best in the business, Dr. Kristen [Applause] Speakman. The hardest part of this transition will not be having her right next door to ask a question, bounce an idea off of, or get advice from. I'm pretty sure she knows everything. But mostly, I will miss that joyful noise that she brings. And I think you all know what I'm talking about. Finally, to my Winslow crew, staff, students, and families. You are the reason I come to work each day, the reason I strive to be the best version of myself, and the reason I work so hard to make a difference. You see, you have impacted

079me in more ways than you will ever know. And I consider myself blessed to be your next principal. So, here's to our next adventure. Let's make it one to remember. Thank you. All right. Next, we we have a special announcement. We want to make sure that we get to acknowledge our APS who are being promoted tonight. So, if you could come to the front. We're not going to give you the microphone. Not yet. We want you just we want to get a quick picture with you. So, Maria Garcia, Linda Fields, Christina Kulich, Matthew Donado, Sylvester Shafalio, and Devin Land. If you could come on up here to the front, and we're going to take a quick [Applause] picture. We're going to see a tie on Coach Shift sometime soon, I think. Right. A tie. Yeah.

080Eventually, we'll get you in the tie, right? [Applause] You are officially locked in. You can't leave us now. We are excited for you and welcome to the team. And just a final note, I would like to recognize one individual. And if we could give a big round of applause to Mr. Jeff Deo. [Applause] He's like threat he's threatening me. He won't bring me a BLT or or if I if I make him stand up. So I just want to you know he does not like the spotlight as you can see. I don't believe it all the time. But he's a exceptional man, great career, a mentor to many of the folks who were just promoted, just he's also the guy that you can that can talk you off the ledge at times, you know, because

081he he he's seen it all, knows it all, and shares it with such a wonderful smile on his face and some quick jokes. So, this is truly almost the last large hiring event, board meeting that we will participate before Mr. the boys uh retires at the end of of July. Uh but just wanted to make sure we recognized him for another opportunity. We'll be recognizing him for the rest of the month. But again, on behalf of of I know the board members uh feel the same way about you. You've done a great job for us. We appreciate you. Thank you so much, sir. [Applause] requesting discussion and approval regarding procedures and operations items 2.1 through 2.7. Questions or comments? Yes. Question on uh line item 2.3 summer programs. Who Who can I address that to?

082Is it Mr. Marchie? Superintendent. Um, just had a few questions for verification before I vote on it. Also, um, on line item 2.3, summer programs. Yeah. So, I'll address the question and if there's a follow-up, if if I need additional information, Mr. March can chime in. Okay. Awesome. Go ahead. Appreciate it. Um, and with all due respect, I would uh just want to make a a point here with the um agendas. If we could, you know, myself, a pretty busy board member, I have two businesses, three kids, a lot going on. If there's any way that we could probably if we can get these agendas a little bit with some some little bit more notice. It's tough for me to go over all these line items, especially with an agenda like we have tonight. There's

083a a lot of items on here and just as a board member, I want to do my proper due diligence to, you know, do the research needed before I vote on an import an important topic. um you know and so if I believe in the past there was a more like a week noticed if if that was um what I've understood from some previous board members but just a little bit more notice would be much appreciated if we can work on that I you know I'd appreciate that. Um but I just had some questions on the the summer programs. Um, are these programs offered to our 10-month contracted employees or just for administration? The summer uh item 2.3 links to a document that has a variety of of of programs. For example, New Jersey Youth

084Corps. That's a program that's run by the district. There's a building administrator, Mr. Bermudas, who oversees the overall project, but that is something that's open to the staff of New Jersey Youth Corps. It's not open to the rest of the district. There's already a staff in place that run a summer program. Okay. Uh special uh education ESY program. That's a requirement that we provide special education programs every year over the summer. There's an advertisement that goes out. Staff apply to participate um as nurses, um teachers, uh child study team members, and that's the 10-month group of people. They get an opportunity to apply for those positions. and it's completely run by our teachers, by our district staff. Okay. So, in saying that, do those uh educators that can't attend the dates that are provided, are

085those same programs offered during the school year when they can attend? So, for do they get paid to go to these uh programs? ESY is like a summer is a summer instructional program. So, it's not a professional development. So, teachers work the program to provide instruction to students. If a teacher can't work the program and does not get employed, they're not missing professional development. They're just not working the program. And that's the largest summer program that we have uh every year. Uh the other ones um you heard Mr. Adams talk about the freshman orientation. That's just setting the times and the dates of when orientation will be provided. Staff who come in to provide support are compensated for those days as well. Champions summer program is uh Champions is our vendor who provides afterare programs

086beforeare afterare. So Champions provides a summer program for uh the children of families who who are working and they need daycare. So that's um and Champions does employ some of our district staff. They apply directly through Champions Quality Care Conference is a conference that's held on our property. It's through the um facilities use of our of our conference room and one of our community members, Jasmine Dembi, she runs that and works through my department to organize, you know, how many tables they need, what type of equipment. So, none of these are actually uh and PAL PAL is our partnership with the city uh our police athletic league. They usually work out of Wallace uh middle school. Rosen Rossado is listed here as administrator because she helps coordinate the use of the gym and and the

087facilities along with Mr. from Merell and his department. So these are all if if there's an employment opportunity, Mr. Deo uh puts out a post in throughout the year. If there's a professional development opportunity like curriculum writing, I believe those postings went out to all 10 month staff to apply and become a part of it. So there there there's often there's a lot of opportunities especially through the curriculum department uh to do additional work over the summer. If a teacher cannot attend the PD over the summer, we often do have another followup at the beginning of the school year because we need to cover as many of our staff members as possible. Okay. Thank you. I just, you know, when I was reading it, I saw summer time, you know, summer programs and I value

088time off. I know what it's like. I work 12 months out of I don't know what it's like to work 10 months out of the year, but I respect time off and when my employees take off, I try not to, you know, in get involved with them, try not to contact them. Just respect their time off. So again, that light bulb went off and that's why I had some questions on it. You know, our 10-month employees, if they're taking training in August and, you know, July or whatever, um, you know, it's their time off. So that's why I was just wondering and then, you know, talking with a friend, he he's gone away for a whole summer to Italy. So if they're away and they don't, you know, have access to these trainings, that's why

089I was asking. Okay. So thank you for your for your answers on that one. Appreciate it. Any further questions? Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Bonto, yes. Mr. Fio, yes. Mr. Harris, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Mrs. Perez, yes. Mr. Rivera, yes. Mr. Sabbrana, yes. Mrs. Katispati, yes. Motion carries. Requesting discussion and approval regarding buildings and grounds item 3.1. Questions or comments? Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Bono, yes. Mr. Fokei, yes. Mr. Harris, yes. Mr. Holmes, yes. Mrs. Perez, yes. Mr. Rivera, yes. Mr. Sabrana, yes. Mrs. Katispati, yes. Motion carries. requesting discussion and approval regarding finance items 4.1 through 4.32. Questions or comments? Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Bono. Yes. Mr. Fokei. Uh, I need to

090recuse 4 22. Yes. On the remaining items. Did you get that, Scott? I did. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Harris. Again, I need to refuse from uh vendor number 1333 and 1074. Uh is that for bills, Mr. Harris? Yes. Okay, that'll be the next motion. Okay, thank you. So, yes. So, yes, the other one. Okay, Mr. Holmes. Yes. Mrs. Perez? Yes. Mr. Rivera, yes. Mr. Sabrana, yes. Mrs. Katispati, yes. Motion carries. Regular agenda items? None. Bills, right? I'm getting there. Okay. Approval of bills. Do are there any questions or comments? Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Bono, yes. Mr. Fokei, yes. Mr. Harris, again, recuse from uh vendor number 1333 and 1074. And yes to everything else. Thank you, Mr. Holmes. Yes. Mrs. Perez, yes. Mr. Rivera, yes.

091Mr. Sabrana, yes. Mrs. Katispati, yes. Motion carries. Emergent items. None. Old business. None. New business. None. Um board member superintendent remarks. Mr. Rivera. Kim, if you if if you don't mind, can you mind if I go? I unfortunately I have to skip out of here. I have a playoff baseball game that we have I have to attend. I'm coach. Um but just real quick, congratulations to all the promotions in the district. Um, and a special congratulations to our class president of 2025, Michaela. Uh, what a fabulous young lady and what a tribute to all her educators in her previous, uh, educational career. Um, a student like Michaela attending these meetings, bringing important topics and, you know, difficult conversations to the board meetings. Um, it's something to say. She is a fabulous young lady and um

092I wish her uh incoming president for 25 26 the same u respect and and success. Um she is a awesome person and it was fun to work with her on the board. Um so good tribute to all you educators out there that were part of her life. Um it's just a good tribute to what Dennis says all the time that Violent Public Schools is the best district in Violent. So thank you and have a great evening. Mr. Rivera in New Jersey. It's all right. It's all right. It's all right. Uh good evening everyone. Uh I'd like to thank the students from many and Rossi the letters in the flag salute. Um I actually wasn't going to speak tonight but um hell of a job. Sorry that I use that word, but hell of a job

093to our district, to our principles, to our administrators, to our central administration. We are seeing the progress. We are seeing the work being put in day in day in and day out. And we're seeing the results that we all wish to see. I remember back in 2021 when I first got on this board, there was like a cloud over the this district and it was clouds over every school district in in in this country. But for coming from out of that to where we are now and seeing the the things that we're implementing, the things that are about to kick off, I I I could like my heart wanted to jump out of my my chest. And I'm not exaggerating at how proud I am to be part of this school district. How proud I

094am that each and every one of you are part of this school district. and how proud I am that this school district is one day going to be recognized as the best school district in New Jersey. I say that with all my heart and I believe it because we have individuals like yourselves that are doing the work day in and day out. Individuals like yourselves that care, individuals are like yourselves that are not just collecting a paycheck. You guys are here doing the work. And I thank you. I thank you as a board member. I thank you as a parent of children in this school district. Thank you because the work is being done. We see the progress. We see the results. The numbers don't lie. They don't lie. We're seeing it. We're seeing it

095done. Again, congratulations to you. We have more work to do. There are areas that we still have to improve. Absolutely. But I am proud. I am proud of each and every one of you. Thank you and have a great night. Mr. Harris. Once again, it's always a tough act to follow. I'd like to thank the uh children that came up led us in the salute. I'd like to congratulate all those that were promoted and uh wish them well. Good luck. If you need anything from me, let me know. Uh just like to take a moment and go off in a different direction. Uh, I was driving to work the other morning and uh, we've been getting a lot of rain and I noticed an older gentleman out crossing a kid. So, I reached out to

096a sergeant and let them know that I'm going to acknowledge thank you to all our crossing guards for coming out every day. I know they don't get recognized, but they're a valuable part of our district, and I appreciate everything they do. So, hopefully they're watching. Thank you for me and uh hopefully you're back again uh next year. Thank you, Mr. Holmes. Yes. Congratulations to everyone recognized this evening. I want to congratulate the internal promotions and I'd like to welcome our external hires to the district. I know that you will serve our district well. I just want to highlight as Mr. Rivera stated the central office presentation. Me and Miss Perez always talk about outcomes and the entire presentation just confirm that we are a district moving in the right direction. A lot of times we

097get caught up in the minutia and different things that happen and we forget facts, data, and outcomes that really matter. Student achievement matters. Increased graduation rates matter. Students coming to school every day matters. 20 projects completed uh on our schools matters. And the list goes on. So kudos to all of you for your hard work and your dedication to our school district. I'm extremely proud and pleased to be a part of it. Uh we're looking forward to graduation and all of the end of year activities and we're wishing our students a fun and safe prom on tomorrow. Thank you and have a great night. Mr. Fio, no comment at this time. Mrs. Perez, good evening. I just want to take a moment to echo what my fellow board members in congratulating everyone on their promotions

098and the new hires from out of the um out of the district. Also, I want to congratulate the students for their CTE certifications. I think that's awesome. We need you guys. So, you know, keep up the good work. We appreciate it. Thank you to all of you and thank you for what you do every day to help our students and to help this school district. You are much much appreciated. Thank you, Mr. Sabrina, the future for this district is the people that are the people like the people sitting in the audience here, the ones I'm looking at right now. some who have been here a long time, some newer people, and this year on the personnel committee, I feel this has been the most challenging part of 10 years on this board, but also the

099most rewarding to put the right people in the right places to make all of our schools better and therefore our district so we may rise to the lofty heights that Mr. Rivera mentions. That's not one person's responsibility or their success. It's all of you a little bit at a time. And that's why we've tried to take each of these hires or promotions and be very careful about putting the right person in each of those jobs. not who do we like, who has the best qualifications, who was the rock star in the interview, who was the cousin of the friend of somebody who lives down the block. Although it's certainly important to have that connection that you do to this community. Um, what's important is that you're stakeholders. You live here, you work here, you go

100to church here, you go to the Waw Wa, you buy your gas here, you go to the mall, you go to wherever you buy your stuff. And you want the community to be as good as it can be and have our students that go here learn and grow and are taught by people and guided by people who care about the town like like us. So um we wish you the best. Uh if we're sitting here, we're here to support you. We want you to be have the best environment for you to work in, safe, um, you know, wellunded when possible. And every time I hear a story about what we don't have, it it makes me more frustrated because we still have some work to do obviously. Um, and the only other thing I want

101to say, um, besides silencing my phone from spam 24 hours a day, is um, that we're only what how when's graduation? Next week. One more week next the 19th. Yeah. Um to our students if you happen to be watching or listening to parents please please please let's not have any tragedy in graduation. All over the country and in New Jersey you always hear about a story about graduation night or the day before graduation and there's some awful thing that happens and it just it spoils it for for people, their families, their their friends, and their kids. So, let's stay safe. Uh don't be a knucklehead, and let's have it be a great night. Thank you, Mr. Yano. Thank you. Uh just a quick thank you to all of our administrators and our team members, our

102central office team who work together uh to put, you know, that showcase of all of our work that we've been able to accomplish this year. takes teamwork and that's evident by the work that we've been doing every day together. I also wanted to acknowledge, you know, one of our partners in our school district is uh the Violent Public School uh the Violent Public Library uh and they suffered a great tragedy recently and uh we just wanted to acknowledge that we we are here for the public library. Dr. Ambers and his team, you know, uh we we are here to support them during this very difficult time. High school seniors are going to have their prom tomorrow. They're going to their graduation in two weeks. It's going to be an exceptional time of the year. There's

103events pretty much every single night as we've experienced over the last couple weeks. It's been incredible. So, again, just want to say thank you for everything that you're doing to keep our kids safe and uh take care of each other and uh looking forward to seeing you out in the field as we celebrate all of our wonderful student celebrations and achievements. I just want to thank our students who came out tonight to all of our awardees with the CTE program. Ever since I've been on on the board, we've pushed for the heavy CTE program and I'm so excited to see where that's going. So, thank you Mrs. Dearie and Mrs. Rivera and all your staff and thank you to all of our teachers and our staff for everything that you do, all of your hard

104work going above and beyond every day, 365 days a year. So, thank you. You guys owe yourself an applause. So, congratulations to you. Um to our seniors, I've had the opportunity to attend some of your um award um assemblies and congratulations. I was just so impressed. Over $300,000 we gave to our seniors this year in their merit assembly. So, kudos to you guys and kudos to our community for helping our our students out. Um to our seniors, we wish you the best of luck in everything that you do. um in your college endeavors, in your military, in your trade school, whatever you plan to do in the future. Uh make us proud. You will. Um thank you very much. God bless you. And do I have a motion to close? All in favor? I