001January 15th, 2026 notice in the Asbury Park Press and the co-star setting forth the date, time, and location of this meeting. Similar notice has been posted in Burough Hall, the Briel school website, and the Burough CL clerk has been notified. [clears throat] >> Presents >> here. here. >> Here. >> Salute the flag. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We're going to take a brief moment of silence for our auditor, longtime auditor Bob Holert, who recently passed away. >> All right, I think we can move to the approval of the minutes. Can I get an a motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting? >> Motion. Second, >> Mrs.
002Re. >> Yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mrs. McDavid. >> Yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Thank you. All right. We have many presentations tonight. So this is Paul >> about the presentation that we have tonight. Our first we have a lot to celebrate. It is such a great time of year um when we celebrate all of our success and we are especially proud tonight because Marine Whiting entered the Monmouth County Law Day poster contest and she won first prize for her grade level. I asked Marie if she wanted to speak tonight and she declined. [laughter] But um you know her poster was absolutely lovely. Um her mom shared with me that it showed how a community comes together and how all people contribute to taking care of the community. uh
003the important work that people like police officers do and Meredes, you know, poster so beautifully captured that that she won first prize out of all the entries for her grade level in the county. Um she also attended an awards ceremony at June 2nd at the Mammoth County Courthouse. So we just wanted to recognize this great accomplishment for brain and just you know thank her for representing Belle and making us all so proud. SO CONGRAT [applause] like to move on to the recognition of our retirements. We have three staff members retiring this year after many years of service. I want to come back to that. Okay. So, first I would like to recognize Mr. De Benadetto. Mr. D. [applause] MR. D is retiring from bees after 24 years of service. Throughout his tenure here, he has
004served in a variety of positions and for the past several years as our media center teacher. Mr. Mr. D has set high expectations for learning while emphasizing the importance of good character and values for all of his students. Mrs. D's lessons related both to and beyond the curriculum, leaving a lasting impression on many students over the years. Mr. D has coached many sports teams here as well, most recently leading our boys soccer team to three consecutive MCA championships. Mr. D loves the Belle community. We know this is where his heart is. And being both a resident and a teacher, he was fully invested in every student's success. We will miss Mr. D at BES, but we'll sure we will see him out on his runs and about town, and we wish him all the best
005in his retirement. [applause] Did you want to say anything? >> No. [laughter] >> Keep this brief. I actually got to go to work right after this. Keep working. >> Thank you. >> He's [snorts] already working. He's not even retired. >> Yeah, that's how we're retired. Yeah. [snorts] >> Our next retiree is Mrs. Adrien Mahan. Mrs. Mahan couldn't be here tonight, but I still want to recognize her service. Uh, she has been our bees social worker for the past 21 years. And in her role, Mrs. Mahan fulfilled a variety of roles from serving as a case manager to working with students to overseeing certain programs in our school. While executing each of her responsibilities with distinction, Mrs. Mahan's greatest strength has been her ability to connect with students. She is a steady, reliable presence when circumstances
006were challenging, and she was always willing to step in when extra hands and hearts were needed. Mrs. Bahan was a valued colleague and it is not unusual to see staff members stopping in for advice or guidance from her. Her experience and support could always be counted on and we will greatly miss her kindness, dedication and wisdom. Thank you, Mrs. Mahan, for all you have meant to the staff and students at Bees. While we know Mrs. Mahan will be very busy with her family and her grandchildren in retirement, everyone here at Bees will miss her immensely. >> [applause] >> And of course, Miss Dolan, who is announcing how she has been here longer than all of us. [laughter] Miss Dolan has been a physical education and health teacher in Belal for the past 29 years. And
007throughout her career, she has brought enthusiasm, energy, and dedication to every lesson, inspiring students to leave active and healthy lives. She has consistently emphasized the importance of respect, good sportsmanship, and inclusion, creating environment where students were encouraged to fulfill their potential. By establishing clear expectations and fostering positive participation, Miss Dolan has helped students develop confidence, teamwork, and character both in and outside the classroom. Her commitment to encouraging every child to do their best has left a lasting impact on countless students and colleagues. As she retires, we thank her for all her years of service and wish her all the best in this exciting new chapter. CONGRATULATIONS, [applause] THANK YOU very much. >> [laughter] >> Come on. [laughter] I really care about you and I know that you really do your best and I know is
008the truly best person to be kind and sweet and dedication. And I decided to just have a different approach. [laughter] >> We love it. >> I love it. >> But it still comes from the heart. And I hope you know that. WONDERFUL. [applause] We also are very pleased tonight to have another undefeated team here at Real Elementary School and that is our tennis team. Um even though they're not like the MC, they won every single match that they participated in this year and we also proud of that accomplishment as well. So I'm going to call up Mrs. Highland who's going to say A FEW WORDS. [applause] FOR THE PEOPLE at home. >> For the people, it's going through the computer. >> Um, yes, thank you for having us. So, I thought, you know, they aren't
009part of the MC, but I know that that is usually what happens when an MC wins the championship. We recognized them at the board meeting and we are not part of the MC, which I think that's probably time that we are. Um, but it doesn't that they did not still put in the time and uh we are a small community but 90 and they do um spend an awful lot of time outside of the season preparing and we are a very strong force and we were a tough team to beat. So we were undefeated this season. We were undefeated last season and I'm pretty sure we were undefeated this season before but my calculations might be a little off but since we took over you know since I took over like five years ago we've
010only won lost one match here and there. Um so I wanted to just say you know Thank you for your dedication and I think you should be recognized for that achievement. So, thank you for having us. Um, I'll bring up here we have um our first SINGLE [applause] BROTHER. [applause] DADDY, [applause] TRUMP. [applause] LATINO SECOND [applause] [applause] Valentine and Michael. SO THANK YOU [applause] DO YOU GUYS WANT to take a picture? Here we go. >> [applause] >> Where was the move side? All right. >> I know. I know. Everyone just knew they knew the drill. >> Walk out. >> Yeah. All right. Well, >> I'll move on as everybody's >> Yes. Yes. We never lost a match in tennis. That is unbelievable. >> I know they were I know they were really really good. >>
011Yes. Very good. >> That's a sword I could never do. >> My my sister's kids were on the manisan tennis team and they were like, "Oh, >> I love when I >> was sure if we start talking about boring things, everybody will uh will make their way out. All right, let's move on to >> Thank you. Bye. Thank you. >> Come anytime. >> Anytime. Come hang out. >> Um, be afraid. >> We'll move on to visitors business. Visitors are permitted to comment on agenda items only at this time. >> Any visitors? >> Turns out our visitors are gone. [laughter] Okay, moving on. We have no correspondence. Uh so we will go to committee reports district operations. Mr. We met just this past Tuesday. What what we normally like to go over this coming year just
012to get a feel for what the status of the budget might be based based upon, you know, what the um what's available in in each of the account balances. Uh and it's always it's always relatively relatively close. It's pretty consistent this year and it should be should be should should be consistent. So so um you know without actually through the audit process and having a report issued. I I can say we're pretty healthy as a as a district district good reserve balances spending is very very reasonable. We we have what we need for the most part. Um and uh you know you know [snorts] things look things things are things things look things look good and we ought to continue this way. Uh we spoke about a couple of building issues. Um the courtyard damage
013uh damage sorry the courtyard um drainage drain drainage issue has been resolved stac made an observation while it hasn't rained yet [laughter] we're still waiting to see how it and Um uh you know you know we're we're going to have to face we're going to have to face face and eventuality at some point. That eventuality is going to be uh two two things are going to happen not necessarily simultaneously but but but with within with within [clears throat] a within a pretty short period of time. Uh the lease the lease is going to expire on our solar panels and and we have to be clear what that date is. Right. >> I contacted Mike questions that came up during the meeting and I haven't heard back yet. >> Yeah. So so we we have that
014we have that issue which which is consistent with the issue. Do we continue with the solar panels? And um the the other issue is the roof issue. Um and Sarah Sarah put brought up some good points and so did Stacy about about you know are we really going to put solar panels u you know back on a brand new roof? I know I don't really know what the answer is but but that's the issue right here. um um or shall I say the secondary issue, the primary issue is being being able being able to pay for all this. So So um our our cap capital reserve funds in place. Uh we have we we haven't we haven't put any specs together in so far as what to do if it was going to cost. might
015look for any any any of the particulars, but that process has to start pretty soon. So, um I I and and we're going to have to get it done for January 1st, by the way. [laughter] So those are the issues facing the district. Um uh and um to re to reiterate from my from a financial point of view where where to bring this right now. So I don't I don't have anything else. >> Great. Any questions or >> Yeah, I'd love to talk about this the solar aspect. Um I know it's come up before. I'd love to know what the committee discussed. uh far be it for me to be the sustainability guy here, but it's one of the suckiest places in town with no tree cover. It's 66,000 uh 60,000 square feet of available
016space on the roof, but I also know that or assume that the incentives and pricing structure has probably changed significantly from when we originally did leasing. Um, so I really would just love to know more about this like what are the financial aspects of it? You know, what is our offset? When I ask about carbon offset, I'm asking about, you know, electricity offset with the rising cost of power [snorts] um that the school district would benefit from. What's the what's the return on investment time like all those types of things, right? Um, and also I have to assume that the, you know, the kilowatt hours per square foot have increased dramatically since we last installed this. And so really would just love to see that costbenefit analysis to understand it. Um, because again, there's not
017another building in town that has this maybe something on that has this type of uh >> exposure structure and and obstruction to trees and everything else like that. is insulated every single day. So, >> Yeah, >> we I mean we asked a lot of those questions in the meeting and and Diane has some follow-ups um from our the the company where we >> Okay. Yeah. Um so it's ongoing right now. Um but yeah, the similar types of all those questions to understand. I mean I felt as well like if we're going to be doing the new roof then putting solar solar panels are probably going to be lighter. They're probably going to be more efficient like you mentioned and would make an impact to uh our savings as a school. So, um yeah, just kind
018of more more coming. >> Yeah. And I guess the only thing I have with that is like is there any because I know they've pulled back quite a bit on the SRX and everything for residential but as a government building is there is there other things like what's the full >> Oh yeah that's a good point. Yeah because I know there Yeah. Like you know you can get like the state to pay for it. >> Yes. Yeah. >> Yeah. That's a good We didn't talk talk about that but hopefully there are some Thank you. >> Right. Our representative to Manisquan, Dr. Jambrosio, >> nothing to report. >> All righty. >> Curriculum and programs. Mrs. Reed. >> All right. Uh, we actually had a meeting um at 6 p.m. tonight. Um, in attendance uh was myself
019and Kristen Walsh from the board and Miss Pulstra and Miss Pearson from administration. Um, our agenda contained a few items. Um, one was followup uh on a question about the outcomes of the combining of the grades four and five. Um, and the administration put together some data points looking at uh for the fifth grade year 1, 2, and three. Year one being when they were in a uh group with three classes. Year two with two classes. Year three with two classes. They looked at NJSLA in both ELA and math. They looked at scores in both ELA and math. And they looked at link scores in both ELA and math. And looked at the trend over the time. Um, and there are some places where there's slight plus, there's some places where there's a slight minus.
020Um, but the overall data uh did not have any glaring uh changes um that were, you know, anything that was sounding off any alarms. There was also um a look at um analyzing kind of behavioral referrals, HIV reports as well. Um and same was done for the fourth grade cohort, year one where they were in three and then when they were in two as well and look at data on those same um in those same areas. So um anyone who's interested the report um and we look at it we discussed it and um you know everything kind of uh I guess supported the decisions that were made by the administration. um that fifth grade cohort will be still transitioning kind of back into a group of three due to the um the classes at the
021sixth grade level that need to be kind of offered and the way the the teachers and the schedule and all of the different things. Um so hopefully that will answer the questions that uh some people raised about that uh consolidation of those great levels. Um, we also talked about the new initiative where band and choir are being put into the school day. Um, the enrollment thus far for our sixth to eighth graders are 44 students enrolled in band, 31 in course, which if you've attended any of the concerts over the years, that's definitely a significant increase, especially in the chorus. Um, so everybody is really positive and excited about that transition. Um, and possibly looking for some fourth fifth integration and possible changes to their music program as well. So that's kind of forthcoming, but
022um I think that's a great win for arts in school and um hopefully will be positive. Um administration and um the younger primary grade teachers have been looking at some changes to uh our reading program and there's been a decision made to kind of take another year. We recently transitioned in with our math program. So kind of give the staff a chance to um really get that under their belt and roll that out properly. So we are going to um support staff with more PD and a chance to kind of observe um the UFly program. So that transition won't be happening this school year but is uh planned for next school year. um math placements for sixth through eighth graders went out successfully and smoothly. So that process is completed and those rosters are set
023for next year. Um lot of end of year um events have been going on especially for our eighth graders. Um lots of exciting things. Um one thing that was kind of special this year was the 250th celebration. just something extra thrown into the very busy June. But it was um a kind of not impromptu but a little you know it kind of came together really nicely with input from all the different grade levels in a um celebration assembly um that was wellreceived by the um students. Um, and then for the summer, there's going to be um some looking at um curriculum in certain areas and some benchmarks, maybe some transitions there. Um, and parents can also be on the lookout for um, information about recommended summer work for their uh, children and links will be
024provided for access to everything they need to avoid the summer slide. >> That's about it. >> Great. >> Any questions? >> Julie, I apologize. I didn't understand if that was a standing committee meeting an hour before and I my calendar so I need to put that that on there but >> got no problem the data report. >> I have a copy for you too late. >> Thank you so much for getting that and look forward to reviewing it. >> Great. >> All right. Uh human resources miss suck. >> Uh the HR committee met on uh June 3rd at 4:15. In attendance was Mrs. Pra, Mrs. Walsh, myself, and Mr. Becker uh joined virtually. We um it lasted about 45 minutes. We discussed uh retirements, scheduling and teacher placements for next year. Uh the interviewing and
025hiring for positions that are open for next year, both um leaves and permanent positions. >> And they're on the agenda tonight. So, >> yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, they're [laughter] all [clears throat] >> questions. Nope. All right. Um, policy. Mr. Waltman. >> Yes. The policy uh committee met briefly yesterday. Um, Paul from the administration as well as Mr. and Mr. Mino. Uh, we only have two agenda items. Um, the first you'll see as C1 this evening. Uh, we made a final decision. um on policy 1643 which is uh leave and there's a question about when we would actually um how we would actually count the 24-month period in which the new uh leave policy that leave could be taken by staff and um we chose the recommended approach which was a rolling 24-month period measured backward
026from the day a staff member uh uses any leave under JFA um and then also tonight oh I'm sorry and then we also discussed our our AI policy. Um, understandably with the end of the year, it's been difficult to continue to do that. Although, we have continued to talk to staff. Um, there's continued interest in getting this uh policy codified, reaching out to other districts that have been forwardleaning uh across privacy and implementation of different platforms. Uh we are continuing looking for an advisory committee for the fall uh both from staff and and uh others that might be interested in in contributing to that uh to try to help us form this [clears throat] policy. also including a an audit of the existing technologies. So we've done a lot of of uh consolidation and um
027maximizing utilization of different platforms to have a full understanding of what AI capability to exist in those tools that we use today and what the staff may be [clears throat] may be using. >> [laughter] >> And then finally uh we will also be maintaining the policies from last last meeting from the stress made stress estimate 237 update uh for second reading. >> Um Mrs. Baldino sent a couple of updates to me uh for community relations. Um the PTO would like to thank the field day shirt committee for designing and organizing the production of the shirts for the entire school and staff. They looked they looked amazing and they did a great job. Uh also on the agenda tonight, uh you'll see that we are receiving uh a donation from the BEF to purchase the um
028collaborative learning technology tables uh which I believe Miss Pulstra is in the process of ordering. Um and also just in general BF uh is looking for new leadership as we head into the next year. I I think the PTO is PTO is as well. Yeah. Um >> committee chairs, but I think their their officers will say the same. >> Oh, okay. Got it. Thank you. Um it it wasn't specific here. So, um yeah, and those were just the two updates from community relations. All right. Uh we can move on to administrative report. >> Sure. So again, you all have done such a thorough job in your um roles that there is not as much for me to report because so much has been shared. But I do really just as we come to the end
029of this of another school year, just a heartfelt thank you to, you know, you as the board for continuing to support the work that we're doing. Um and our organizations like our PTO. Um, you know, I think about all the events that take place every year and how many volunteers step up to give our students such an amazing experience. Um, field day in June is just just one example. Um, but our PTO and all their volunteers are just outstanding and so lovely to work with. Um, and and again, PEF has been really supportive. But, you know, we've got a a beautiful space here and, you know, I hope that, you know, with the generosity of organizations like BEF that we can continue to turn this into a true media center and learning hub for our
030building. So, thank you to the BEF as well. Um, I want to thank, you know, my administrative partners, two of whom are here tonight, Miss Pearson and Mr. Greenfield, and of course, Mrs. Panetti. Um, you know, they worked so hard all year. Um and you know certainly you know they contribute so much in a small place we wear a lot of hats and they're always willing to pick up whatever it is that you know we give them to do. Um and next of course Mrs. Quigley um who has news on our agenda this evening but uh we will be sure to reach [laughter] >> that was meant for her. >> It's got a bad arm. It it curved [laughter] it. >> That's our answer by the way. >> That'll be quite an undertaking for us
031um this summer, you know, and of course we will talk about that um you know after this evening. Um but but truly, you know, our teachers, you know, who come every day and give their best for our kids. Um and of course our families um for supporting our students. I always say our students are so fortunate to come to a school like this where you know it's big enough to kind of provide them with so many opportunities but small enough to feel like a family where everybody knows their name. So you know I just want to thank everyone who's contributed to this school year. Um it has been successful and very uh rewarding and it's just you know very gratifying. So I just want to just say thank you. We're really looking forward to tomorrow
032night. Um it is such a a lovely ceremony to recognize the accomplishments of our eighth graders. Um and just such a great way to end the year. >> So thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um all right, moving on uh to HIV reports. Looks like I I don't know if there was a link to this, but just one investigation, one unfounded. There's no additional information on that because Okay. >> Yeah. >> Is it I don't It's not Oh, it's on It's on the drive. >> Oh, it's on the drive. Okay. Oh, that's right. I'm sorry. That's >> Thank you for reminding me. I seem to always forget that. Um All right. Let's move on to action items, curriculum and programs. Math, will you advance these? >> Yes. Um I would like to make a motion
033that the board of ed passes the following under curriculum and programs A1. way through A6. >> Second. >> Yes. >> All right. District operations. Mr. Vitali, should you do the honors? >> Operations. >> Second. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wolf. Yes. >> Uh and for policy, Mr. Welman. Yes. >> Like the motion the board approves policy number C1 for first reading and then board approves the following policies and regulations for second reading. >> Second. >> Yes. [clears throat] >> Mrs. Yes. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hut, would you do human resources? >> I would like to make a motion that the board uh passes items D1 through D20. >> I'll second. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> Right. That brings us to visitors business. I don't believe we have any visitors. Okay. Um so we will move
034on to the payment of the bills. Dr. Drosio, would you pay the bills? Motion that the board of education authorizes payment of the following June 2026 bills list and that the secretary is authorized to draw warrants of the treasurer in the total amount of 1,479,72.95 Yes. >> Yes. >> All right. And we have our board secretary certification and then we will move on. Uh this evening we will be having an executive session. >> I'd like to make a motion that we move into executive session. >> Thank you. >> I'll second that. >> I >> Yes.