001Welcome everyone. May call to order the March 24th, 2026 meeting of the High Point Regional High School Board of Education. I ask you please stand for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. New Jersey Open Public Meetings Law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of the act, the Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place thereof posted at the Augusta, Branchville, and Sussex post offices, and notice
002sent to the New Jersey Herald, the Sunday Herald, and the clerk of the boroughs of Branchville and Sussex, and the townships of Frankford, Lafayette, and Wantage. Our mission statement: High Point Regional High School, in partnership with staff, family, and community, is dedicated to the quest for individual excellence. By fostering high standards of achievement, we prepare students to become responsible and productive members of a diverse society. Can I ask for a roll call? >> [snorts] >> Mr. Anderson? Here. Ms. Longcor? Here. Ms. Zorsi? Here. Ms. Diaz? Ms. Stackus? Ms. Gall? Here. Mr. Van Stone? Here. Ms. Hill? Here. Ms. Wise? Mr. Dunn? Here. Dr. Rickert? Here. We do have a quorum. Okay, excellent. A motion will now be made that the High Point Regional High School Board of Education enter executive session to provide enough data
003on legal, personnel, and negotiations items which are exempt from public participation pursuant to New Jersey Public Law of 1975, Chapter 231, Open Public Meetings Act. Any [clears throat] discussions held by the board which need not remain confidential will be made public when appropriate. Minutes of the executive session will not be disclosed until the need for confidentiality no longer exists. The board will reconvene in public session, in person and virtually, at the conclusion of the executive session. It is not anticipated that any action will be taken. So, I'll make that motion. May I have a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Executive session. >> Mhm. >> Uh, [clears throat] may I have a motion to return to public session, please? So moved. And a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay,
004we are returned to public session. Uh, let's have approval of minutes from the regular meeting of February 24, 2026 and the executive uh, minutes from February 24, 2026. Uh, I will make that motion. I'll second. Uh, any uh, comments, questions, corrections to those minutes? None to report. Mr. Anderson? Yes. Ms. Lambert? Yes. Ms. Dorsey? Yes. Ms. Diaz? Yes. Ms. Gall? Yes. Mr. Van Stone? Yes. Ms. Hill? Yes. Ms. Wise? Yes. Mr. Dunn? Yes. Passes. Next. Um, bringing us to our first public comment section of the evening on agenda items only in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act, we will open the public comments for agenda items only at this time. Each speaker should state his or her name and address. You will have 3 minutes to address the board, which will be timed by
005myself. We will limit this section to no longer than 45 minutes. Please be respectful and mindful that your comments are being recorded. Do we have anyone in the room or virtual like to make comments? I'm just going to check. Just No. Okay. Uh, so may I have a motion to close? the second? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, moving on to presentations. First we have George Oriana, speaker of the house. Welcome George. He'll give us an update on the activities of the student council. Good evening everybody. So I suppose I should start with March's theme, which again is March's character being trustworthiness and to sort of represent trustworthiness and discuss it and give a whole report on it. Our students meeting trust starts with me banner writing ways they promise to be more trustworthy,
006which is currently hanging in the main office hallway. And then for St. Patrick's Day there was a lucky leprechaun trivia contest where students were emailed a Google form with about 10 trivia questions and the first five students to answer all 10 correctly would win prizes such as candy and writing journals. And as for fundraisers in each of the classes the senior class of 2026 is doing yet another dine to donate this time at AMG's this Saturday, March 28th. All pizza sales of course go towards prom, senior cruise and other activities that the senior class is doing. And they are also selling graduation yard signs through March 31st. The junior class of 2027 is currently collecting money for prom and they just finished a Gertrude Hawk chocolate sale and it is mostly doing a custom ink
007order next and working on moving to Virginia. The sophomore class of 2028 is currently doing a Gertrude Hawk chocolate fundraiser. And starting today they are starting a prank day fundraiser where money jars are outside the main [snorts] office with names and faces of administrators and teachers and top four who receive the most money in their jar will quote unquote pranked during unit lunch in the east gym on April 1st. They wanted to be fun and harmless which is why the sophomore class is monitoring it and all pranks will be approved by Mr. Talmadge. And for the freshman class of 2029 they are doing a couple of dine to donates specifically for Chipotle on March 31st and at Barnyard on April 16th each from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. But other than that that is all I
008have for you this evening. Thank you again. Next HPA president Lizbeth Sunda. Updates on HPA items. Good evening. How are you? Hello. My face is not on one of the jars but I did offer to pay and I was not chosen. So just saying for the prank I'm not there and I'm hoping that I'm voting against my admin who are [clears throat] on the jar. You're on the jar. Um so we really don't have much as far as items on the agenda. I just wanted to say that I think it's kind of that push of the year that we're finally done with winter and happy first spring sports. So we just started week three and I know I'm hoping this is the last day I'm wearing my scarf with hat. But it's nice to be
009outside and boys and girls track and field and the girls team and the boys team and seeing all the other teams out. We had pictures last week. We'll have pictures this coming Friday for the rest of the team. So it's nice to just give out uniforms and just be out in the fresh air again and it's nice to see the kids out having fun. I also apologize I was coming in as you were coming in. I just left the Sussex County had a dinner at the Farmstead to honor union women of the year. It's their first year doing this for Sussex County and they nominated or 15 women were selected. One of ours is Corey Loyola who I nominated as well as her sister who is in the Sussex Tech school. Justin Philly she was
010there. And so we had just come from that. I left them there. They were still hanging out having fun. So that was nice to be recognized. And I just want to thank you again for the continued transparency and open communication with the admin. I know this is a tough time of year and everything that's coming up with the season ending and for next year as well. But our officers appreciate the open communication. I'm here if you have any questions on any agenda items if I did not miss anything. And to wish you all a happy and healthy Easter and spring season. So thank you. Thank you Lizbeth. Mr. John Talmadge, principal's report. Good evening everybody. See you again this beautiful night as Ms. Sunda as Ms. Sunda described. Thank you Ms. Sunda for your work
011and continued communication and all the things that we talk about every single day. As you can see up there I'm going to skip [clears throat] right to that. One of the things I wanted to say thank you to you know our school board. Mr. Dunn was there last night as the president of the Sussex County School Boards Association. This was started the third year that the county is doing this and it has become in my opinion one of the nicest nights that we do. Not many times that all the county schools or boards or ministry figures and and students come together. The round table awards is another time that that that happens but few and far between. So to have this award from a hometown hero is a really neat thing. So hopefully that this
012continues on for infinite future because it's really cool to be there in that same auditorium together recognizing sixth graders, eighth graders and 12th graders from from county schools. It's based on criteria where in our case Ms. Kennedy Shepherd was was selected and and a well deserving nominee. Those that lead all the time, those that lead by character, those that lead by that silent voice sometimes right or that action that you don't always see that are behind the scenes. Lead by role modeling, lead by character and integrity every day. Kennedy represents that in so many capacities for for our school district not just within our school community. She also extends outside our school community. Works very very often with Lower Cape May school district as one in particular with their sports programs, in particular basketball running
013camps and practices and assisting with them. So again a true epitome of what you want a high school student to be. So Kennedy was recognized last night with many of her classmates that are also seniors from the schools as well as sixth graders. So thank you again Mr. Dunn for kind of getting that initiated and we're hoping that that that continues. A very very nice night and fun for the the kids and the parents. In addition to that great news we had our Teen Arts event earlier in March. We had over 100 students that attended and I just wanted to highlight a couple of things. Roxanne Kemline actually had her work chosen for the state Teen Arts. I think I spoke about this before but how that works is when you go to Teen Arts
014students artwork whatever it may be, poetry, music, theater, dance and all those things, film are then kind of graded and and recognized at different levels. It could be at a local gallery, like Sussex County Art Museum. It could be at SCC itself. It could be one of [clears throat] the judicial branches in Newton, one of the buildings that they have there. It could also be at the state level which is what we'll do later on in June. So Roxanne was selected to be recognized at that event there later on. Many of our students had their artwork selected and chosen for different areas of recognition as well. I just wanted to highlight hers. Also want to thank you particularly to our teachers. We talk about staff and students all the time. That's what we do because
015that's what High Point is about. Mr. Gerloff, Mr. Shreiner, Mrs. Shreiner, Mr. Sack from our fine arts department, Mrs. Martin, Mr. Slanina, Ms. Staley Smith from our performing arts department, Mrs. Geddes from our English department with poetry, Mr. LaVance from media tech with our film group. So all those teachers that are there to get to sit back on that day and walk through the galleries and be there for the film and and see the students shine. It's really cool thing, cool experience to see that aspect of it as they are also just kind of observers and and that leading that. So thank you to them because there's a lot a lot of work Ms. McCarthy does a lot of work and many supervisors putting that together. As well without that we wouldn't be able to
016to send our fine arts students to Teen Arts each year. A couple of other events that are coming up I think we talked about a little bit but we have a college and career fair on March 26th. That is a large undertaking for our guidance team. We're thankful to all of their work particularly about Mr. Flatier, Mrs. Meyer, Mrs. Jackanin and they are coordinating all the college and career aspect of it. Mrs. Beggan is coordinating the health and wellness fair. So we are taking on the campus and here we're going to have a health and wellness fair in the media center and have a career fair in the college. We expect a question of about 65 colleges there as well. So this whole area will be opportunities for our students to explore. We're looking forward
017to that. In the afternoon we're going to do our spring musical preview. We've been doing that for many many years. We bring all of our student body two grades at a time and they get about 25 minutes snapshot of Freaky Friday by Saturday, Sunday if you're looking for something to do. 7:00, 7:00, 2:00. They get a chance to see their own classmates right on the stage. It's a really cool thing and then hopefully come back on Friday or Saturday or Sunday and see the whole performance. But we've been doing that for many years. Mr. McCarthy started that and we want to continue that. It's neat to see all their hard [clears throat] work in fruition. Tech week is this week so they're there till about 10:00, 11:00 each night and it's a long long week
018for them. So kudos to Ms. Staley Smith for that. And again if you're looking for tickets I think Dr. Mr. Colucci has sent out the the link. It is a a digital form to get those those tickets for Friday, Saturday or Sunday if you're looking for a night out. In addition we are once again bringing back we do like a two year cycle of what we call every 15 minutes prevention you know different trends that are out there, different things that are out there. Always very mindful about positive choices for our students and positive decision making. So I'm not really big when Dr. talked to us often about bringing that speaker in that one and done speaker in and they kind of go away into the mist. This pre-prom activity every 15 minutes is a
019national program. It builds upon the fact and sad reality every 15 15 minutes a young adult is taken based on substances and alcohol. We also pair that with a large community event with a mock accident in our junior parking lot and our senior parking lot. So all our junior seniors come to see that and then the second day of that event we do an assembly where it all comes together. So kudos to Mrs. Cardinal and Mrs. Dugan. They work directly with our community members on that program. We kind of tweak it a little bit to make it our our own and then so it can fit in within a day and a half aspect of it. We have a parent meeting actually tomorrow night with all the student volunteers that are going to be part
020of that because it's a serious undertaking to be either in the accident scene or part of the classroom scenes. And it's pretty emotional part of it, right? So the parents come in. We meet them tomorrow night in the media center and kind of go over what their roles are going to be and and make sure that they are okay with that. And and moving forward that process for the next several weeks. There is a parent piece of it too which in that assembly the parents will come and and read letters that they wrote to their students that were involved in the accident. So it's it's very very emotional. It's very very powerful and you know our students have said many times that it is one of the most impactful things that they see along the
021way. So that's April 21st and 22nd that we're going to have I like to call it a program more of a really good resource that kind of covers all the bases for them. It's not just one one thing and then and then it's done. Also in April thank [clears throat] you to LOS which is our Library Outreach Society DEI diversity everywhere and inclusion as well. We're looking at that program and saying you know what else can we do with our with our our school, right? And LOS has really been a forefront of our leadership and they've been very proactive with wanting to do programs last last year we did a Black History Month Museum in the library and that was really an awesome opportunity but it was student led. It was helped shaped by Mrs.
022Ludo and it was helped shaped by other individuals and other teachers but it's really a student led. So LOS this year as well working with many other clubs are looking to bring Hispanic Heritage Museum into our our library again on the end of April the 20th and and 30th. We're looking to turn that into a classroom activity as well and our we have teachers that are signing up for activities. So we're looking forward to again recognizing and honoring and celebrating all of the different backgrounds of our student body. And we talked found talking to those students that we're trying they're trying to develop a way to do that on a rotational basis. So each year it's not the same thing and every month of the year that state has identified for something it's not the
023same thing but we're giving a chance for all of our voices to be heard over the course of a couple different years. Because like the Black History Month Museum last year was about a six month planning that the students and teachers had together. So they're looking again to to bring that together with the World Hispanic Heritage and Mrs. Ludo who's our media center specialist is one of the big leaders behind that as well. She's letting the students kind of craft it but she is there to facilitate that along the way. So there are some upcoming school events. Shifting over to the athletic department if I can Mr. Duck. Some great things to talk about is the end of the as Mr. said the end of the winter season and on to the spring season but
024so there's a lot of awards and significant um student achievements to talk about. So for our wrestling program we had our district champs and we had state champs all along the way which we're very excited about and that's a huge opportunity. So we had district champs for girls we had Ella Ludo, Ella Shagrees and Payton Manuel all champions. Second place Kendall Servo, third place Gabby Villafana, fourth place Faith Lledo, Bella Bogon and Carly Lockard. So pretty good representation of district champs for our girls wrestling program. Boys wrestling we had again district tournament champions Thomas Chaus, Carter and Gavin Miracle. Second place Jack Kickart, Jake Rupal and Luke Tompkins and third place Logan Tackett. So again good representation of of boys wrestling for that aspect of it. From there then you advance to the states which
025becomes down in Atlantic City and get a chance to wrestle your way to the possibility of individual state championship. Wrestling is very unique that way you have the team championship and then the individual. And we had two state champs. We had four wrestlers go down. Gavin Miracle and Payton Manuel just missed out on medaling for for boys and girls. And Ella Shagrees was a two time state champ and Ella Ludo was a three time state champ. So seeing that program again seeing girls wrestling really come to another level this year than it was last year. More more girls are wrestling, more student more schools are representative, more weight classes are represented throughout that aspect of it. Great to see those wrestlers be crowned champs again along the way. I'm sure they have seen that throughout
026social media. And also wanted to talk about some of the other sports. I flipped pages here because I have some notes for all the sports and I want to make sure I don't miss anybody. Otherwise just make sure they're all represented. So for bowling talked with bowling all last year and a great job with Katie Bruno. Has received so many awards this year. Talked to her last month. She's got the girls bowler of the year but she also was with Haley Souther first team Sussex County. Second team was Rebecca Federman and Attea Gustafson. Honorable mention was Braden Lorenzo and Ethan Bethancourt. So for for bowling we had a good representation of team and individual recognition. For boys basketball and then it's by league right? Or or by division. So all league honors for second team
027Matt Schepper and honorable mention was AJ Hamilton. For girls basketball we had Claire Siminski and Brooke Wagner for first team and Addie Yanoff for honorable mention. So again a good representation of each one of our sports teams. For swimming which is combined with swimming is with Wallkill Valley. We had the girls NJAC first team Riley Buber in her freestyle. As compared to McKenzie De Roo. Riley Buber for the 200 freestyle relay. I'll also talk about that in a second. Then NJAC Freedom Division for honorable mention was Pete Postma. Boys NJAC Freedom second team was Ryan Davis, Rebecca Stroh. And then the boys NJAC honorable mention was Tucker Carlson. And Mrs. um Guerra our coach said the second year in a row that our girls 200 free freestyle had won the county championship and has been
028named first team. So again huge effort there. And one of our swimmers Riley Buber her one of her times qualified her for the Junior Olympics. So she was able to swim with that about a week and a half ago. So I'll talk to her about that today about that. And it's funny because Riley qualified her time qualified for breaststroke which is not her favorite stroke but she's like I'll go anyway. So pretty good to qualify for the Junior Olympics. It's all based on time. She actually qualified a long long time ago time wise and just finally got recognized for that in the last week and a half. For girls wrestling Faith Lledo honorable mention, Kendall Servo for second team, Ella Shagrees for first, Bella Bogon for second Gabby Villafana for second team, Claire Delaney for
029second team, Ella Ludo for first, Payton Manuel for second team and Carly Lockard for second team. So almost all of our weight classes were represented there on the the all league awards. And surely not least is boys wrestling. We had Thomas Chaus first team, Carter Drew second team, Logan Tackett honorable mention, Luke Tompkins first team, Jake Rupal first team, Jack Kickart first team, Caleb De Falco first team and Gavin Miracle first team in NJAC Freedom Division. So all of our winter sports were well represented. We we should all be proud of what they do all the time. And as you know you hear me say this all the time it's not about the awards and recognition that they receive whether it's team awards or the end of the year end of season awards but it
030is great for them to be recognized as individuals and as teams. So that's all I got. Questions? Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Campbell you're up. Good evening. So congratulations to Kennedy. What a beautiful picture, our lovely guidance counselor and our principal who battled the TSA shortage in Newark Airport to rush from I think from the plane to the event last night. So want to thank the board for your support with bussing to allow our baseball team to go to Florida. [cough] Mr. Talmadge [clears throat] was on the trip and I think it was great for the students. I know they were really they love their principal and for them to be able to go down and have that support and to play baseball. So it was a great trip and kudos to Mr. Talmadge for
031making it back to the event. And again thank you to Mr. Dugan also for starting and most of all congrats to Kennedy. Last week we had testing here and everyone loves it. Perfect. It was fantastic. And I say it was fantastic because state wide there were a lot of problems. It's a new adaptive format and all of us as administrators were on different email chains with people in our respective roles. And so supervisors, principals, curriculum director leaders I don't know what the state's going to do because the directions were very difficult to follow and there were problems everywhere. Our problems were relatively very very minor. Our students were mature, cooperative and focused. Our staff worked very hard to support the students. English and math in particular to make sure the students were prepared. It was
032not without incident as all as no testing is but it went really really well. And we'll be extremely well prepared for the big test in that what it's freshman, sophomores, and juniors. In the curriculum office, Ms. Jessica Briggs is as if she's leaving the military brigade. She starts planning this probably around Thanksgiving. There are thousands of variables to move around for hundreds of students to test. Thank you to her work, to everyone, Mr. Gardner, Mr. Trocard, Mr. Perry on the back end of the IT tremendous support. So, it's a big undertaking and it went very, very well. Students in particular were were very cooperative. In October, we provide comprehensive review of student behavior, suspensions, and substance abuse, etc. But we are required a second time of the year to report incidents that occurred from July
033through December 31. So, the second half of last calendar year. I'll move through some of this relatively quickly. First number really excited about. This is not This is apples to apples because it's the same months last year versus this year. So, essentially, we have July and August, but really it's September through December. 58 suspensions last year, 39 suspensions this year. I'd say a drop of approximately 1/3 and we're proud of that achievement. Our main office staff and Mr. Jane Wright, who's here tonight, who does a tremendous job with our kids, uh together have worked very, very hard to bring about that drop in suspensions. Also, there is a team behind the team that provides counseling, um nurturing support, um trained support for students with disabilities. Dr. Ripley is adamant that if a student has an
034IEP and there is a situation that involves discipline, their case manager and counselor is there to support them. So, I really think that our overall support system includes a lot of people and I want to highlight our resource team who um they keep us safe, but they also build relationships with students and they respond to incidents and they're very proactive and supportive, our child study team, and our counselors. So, it takes a lot of um people working to drop those suspensions. Of the 39 suspensions, this is a little bit of a breakdown of the categories they fell into. When you see fights, does not mean we had 10 fights. It means there were 10 specific students who were suspended as the result of an altercation. Could be two fights. Could be three fights. Um we
035are um and when we say fight, I don't mean to um belittle it, but if there's a shoving match in 2026, that goes on the books as a fight. Um almost every physical altercation, literally, um from what I just described, gets counted as a fight. Um so, we've always been very um uh faithful in what we report. We're transparent about it. And those are some of our number numbers. This chart shows you on the far right, for a handful of incidents that led to suspensions, the number of suspensions for the first half of this school year, and then the full year total number in those categories um for the previous decade. And I think you'll see some trends look um positive and encouraging. There are some ups and downs, but again, we present this twice
036a year and we're transparent about um these incidents. Okay, back to harassment, intimidation, and bullying. If you go back here, I had on the bottom there one HID. Doesn't mean one HID. That means one of our suspensions was directly related to a HID. But for that first part of the school year, Mr. Wright oversaw 17 investigations, of which six were considered a HID. So, approximately 1/3 were a HID, 2/3 were not. Oftentimes, misbehavior occurred, but it does not rise to the level of a HID. Uh I was uh recently sharing with some of the board members. I went and uh looked at the other schools around the county and on a given year, you'll see the range of official HIDs that they reported on a given year. 0 1 3 8 9 15 17. And
037I think that uh speaks to the fact that schools have a um individualized approach to how they go about it. I don't think the disparity in human nature is is that vast. So, um we do a lot of investigations. We're very thorough. If there's any possibility there is a HID, um we'll take action to investigate it as that. All of our HID resources are right on our website. Resources to report a HID, policies, contact information, um etc. Um so, that's uh That is it. Any questions on SSDS or state testing? Okay, thanks folks. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> I actually choose our presentations. So, I will move to other business and New Jersey School Boards has um nice enough to provide us with a resolution [clears throat] uh template that we can read regarding
038the Unsung Heroes. So, whereas the Sussex County School Boards Association, in collaboration with New Jersey School Boards Association, recognizes Unsung Heroes from each school district in Sussex County to celebrate those whose character and impact define the heart of our schools. And whereas the Unsung Hero Award honors students who make outstanding contributions to their schools and communities, but are often overlooked by traditional recognition programs. Students who have modeled good citizenship, a spirit of quiet strength, and a commitment to elevating character strength beyond the spotlight that inspires others. And whereas these Unsung Heroes may have organized community programs, selflessly supported their peers, or achieved significant academic success while overcoming difficult personal challenges, disabilities, or language barriers. And whereas Kennedy Shepherd has overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles to reach their full potential, servicing serving both the school community and
039the community at large as a beacon of resilience and integrity. And whereas on Monday, March 23rd, 2026, Kennedy Shepherd was formally recognized by those achievements at the 2026 Sussex County Unsung Heroes Award Ceremony held at Sparta High School. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the High Point Regional High School Board of Education officially recognizes Kennedy Shepherd as an Unsung Hero of Sussex County and the High Point Regional High School District. I don't believe we have to take a vote on this, but we can vote. >> [applause] >> Uh so, moving on to action items. Then, curriculum and instruction and technology is the first. Mr. Van Stone? Well, I think I have eight items to move. Well, eight items. Uh back to the attendance rate. February was 94%. Student attendance was 91.5% and the suspension report
040is attached. And uh of course that we approved the harassment, intimidation, and bullying reports. Item five is um field trips that are listed, approving them. Um number six is for professional development as listed. And number seven is our perennial revised calendar, which I guess this is the last one. And uh eight is the school calendar for next year. That's all the items. I will move them. Second for a second. Second. Does anybody have any comments or questions on those issues? All right, roll call, please. Mr. Anderson? Yes. Ms. Longberg? Yes. Ms. Orsi? Yes. Mr. Van Stone? Yes. Ms. Wise? Yes. Ms. Hill? Yes. Ms. Gaul? Yes. Ms. Diaz? Yes. Mr. Dunn? Yes. Passes. Uh [clears throat] next we have personnel. Ms. Orsi? I'd like to move two items together. Um number one is accepting retirement
041notification from Doris Martin. Number two is approving Barbara Goldstein as a substitute teacher for Making a motion, seeking a second. Second. Any discussion? Questions? I'd like to congratulate Ms. Martin for a lovely, wonderfully impactful career that she established relationships with kids over the time that she was here such that she was a positive influence on our community and will be remembered fondly, particularly with her volunteer efforts in as far as the beautifying our campus and committing to uh improving not just the way it looked, but how it was received by visitors and staff and students alike. So, congratulations on your career. Flowers may not be the same. No. Roll call. Ms. Gaul? Yes. Mr. Van Stone? Yes. Ms. Wise? Yes. Ms. Hill? Yes. Ms. Diaz? Yes. Ms. Orsi? Yes. Ms. Longberg? Yes. Mr. Anderson? Yes.
042Mr. Dunn? Yes. Passes. Uh next we have uh extracurricular up. There are six items in the regular uh agenda and there was an addendum. I'm sorry, five items in the regular agenda. There's a sixth item as an addendum. So, I will move all six items. One is a recommendation to accept the resignation notification from Lorina uh Adamo Morris head cheerleading coach effective immediately. Item two is a recommendation to approve uh Joseph Cameron as a volunteer chess club advisor for the 2025-2026 school year. Item three is a recommendation to approve the following individuals as volunteer coaches uh as listed for football and softball. Item four is a recommendation to accept a resignation notification from Kayla Velez as assistant cheer coach effective immediately. Item five is a recommendation to uh approve the following extracurricular appointments for the
0432026-2027 school year uh for fall cheerleading and winter cheerleading >> [clears throat] >> as listed and item six is a recommendation to approve the following extracurricular appointments for the 2025-2026 school year as listed for uh assistant track coaches. So, I will make that uh motion. May I have a second? >> Second. Uh any discussion on the extracurricular appointments? Motions unanimous. Ms. Longberg? Yes. Ms. Diaz? Yes. Ms. Gaul? Yes. Ms. Wise? Yes. Ms. Hill? Yes. Mr. Vanstone? Yes. Ms. Orsi? Yes. Mr. Anderson? Yes. Mr. Dunn? Yes. Passes. And I was remiss for thanking our volunteer coaches. We should do that. Yes. Um without them we uh often cannot hold some of the um programs which we which we do. Uh Thomas board Two items I'd like to move together. The first is a second reading of
044the new policies on sexual harassment and library materials and the second item is on approving the revised regulations on resource materials. I'm making a motion seeking a second. Second. Is there any discussion? Thomas I'm concerned with the with the uh library material. I had sent over some information or a or a a revised policy. Uh it just gives me concern with minors being able to check out books without parental approval that that could be uh considered you know, soft porn or just just I'm just concerned and I'm I don't know I don't have an answer to it. I had sent over a policy. I don't know how it would be monitored or to what degree what books are added into a category that would be considered risky. But I I don't know how many people
045have dug into to this. I'm not uh proposing books be removed, but as a proponent of of parental rights I I I think that some of the books, especially some of the newer books parents should be able to say whether their kids can take out these books. Any other comments from board members on the library policy? Mr. I just would So, this was sent over to the curric- Well, that I It was sent to Personnel. Per- Personnel and Policy. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Uh is there anyone from the Personnel and Policy Committee can address that? Well, uh we did we did discuss your recommendations. Um I believe the um you had suggested two recommendations. One being having the parental opt out and then a second holding the librarian responsible and I think the sec- the second
046piece is easier piece. Uh holding the librarian responsible, I think we decided was probably um I'm not sure it would be illegal, but it certainly would be a violation of the union protection for librarians. Um especially because in the policy I think it said that um librarians should not cannot be held responsible. As as long as that is to where they are not they can't be totally immune if they do go against the policy which which you know, I I think uh Dr. Ripley uh he noted that that he monitors that, but I just don't want a situation similar to what happened in Roxbury where we have a a rogue librarian who's out and and you know, if the policy says that certain kids if if a parent says my my kid should not read
047this book, but then the librarian gives it to the kid anyway, there should be a consequence for that for the librarian. So, as long as long as we're covered in that regard to where we don't have somebody you know, going against the will of parent, that's where I'm coming from that. Which I think Dr. Ripley confirmed that he has that under control. Yeah, there's some things that I think that I can bring some light to this if possible. Um you know, the library materials which is up here as a second reading uh has now been differentiated from resource materials and it's based upon the Freedom to Read Act which was um New Jersey law that took effect in December of 2024. As a result of the law which is specific to libraries, resource materials and
048library materials are now each covered by separate policies. Library materials as as we're looking at here, policy and regulation 2535, as I said it's abide by the Freedom uh to Read Act. It prohibits censorship, but permits removal of material if it is found developmentally inappropriate for certain students. Age may be a consideration. It also distinguishes and the differences from library resources and other resources. What it does permit, an individual with a quote unquote vested interest can challenge a library resource closely defined by uh as uh vested interest is someone who is a current High Point teacher a parent of a current High Point student or any current student. Those are the people who can challenge a library resource under the policy under the code that I just referenced that was just put into effect in
0492024. The complaint form must be online and at the principal's office and the committee must be estab- a committee must be established when a complaint is lodged so as to address this. And I can go into it further, but I think that gives you a um an understanding that it is not a blanket authority to have books that one might believe is without some consideration. So, there is the facility to be able to remove something that a parent that a uh teacher or a student feels or believes might not be appropriate developmentally to be in the library. So, there is a system in place according to the regulation that allows for the removal of a library material as appropriate based upon the regulation. Can I ask is was the Policy Committee aware of I assume
050that was discussed >> Yes, it was it was discussed in committee. Not like That quite quite quite different. We certainly tried to look at the issue from all perspectives and uh obviously we're looking with the best interest of students. That part. Mr. Anderson, are you Yep. With that. Roll call. Ms. Orsi? Yes. Ms. Diaz? Yes. Mr. Vanstone? Yes. Ms. Wise? Yes. Ms. Gaul? Yes. Ms. Hill? Yes. Ms. Longberg? Yes. Mr. Anderson? No on 2535 policy and no on 2535 regulation. But yes on two. Very good. Mr. Dunn? Yes. Passes. Uh no negotiations or buildings and grounds items. We'll move on to finance. Uh we'll move one through five together. First, one is a recommendation to accept the report of the board secretary/business administrator for February 2026. Two is a recommendation to accept the report of
051the treasurer for the same month. Item three is a recommendation to approve the report of transfers and minimum expense transfer report for the same month. Item four is a recommendation to approve the board payment, the attached schedule of audited bills dated March 24th, 2026. And item five is a recommendation to accept the adult education agency account, athletic account, cafeteria account, construction account, principal's petty cash account, scholarship account, school store, and student activities reconciliations for the month of February 2026. I'll make that motion. May I have a second? Second. Uh any comments/questions on those? Roll call, please. Mr. Anderson? Yes. Ms. Longberg? Yes. Ms. Orsi? Yes. Ms. Diaz? Yes. Mr. Vanstone? Yes. Ms. Wise? Yes. Ms. Gaul? Yes. Ms. Hill? Yes. Mr. Dunn? Yes. Passes. Okay, item six is our important one for the evening. Um
052it spans about three pages. I'm not going to read everything in detail. However, let me provide some highlights. Be it resolved that the board approves the adoption of the tentative school budget for the 2026-2027 school year as follows. First section is related to travel and related expense reimbursement, basically saying something along the lines of an annual school threshold of $1,500 per staff member where prior board member board approval shall not be required unless the annual threshold for staff members is exceeded in a given year. Um and um the maximum expended total maximum expenditures expenditure for travel and related expenses of 75,000 for all staff and board members. The second portion of that resolution, adoption of the tentative budget. Be it resolved that the tentative budget be approved for the 2026-2027 school year using the 2026-2027
053state aid figures and the secretary to the High Point Regional High School Board of Education be authorized to submit the following budget to the executive county superintendent of schools. And I'll highlight what's in that table. Total expenditures of I'll just give you the totals in the far right column. $25,710,339 less anticipated revenues of $6,563,787 results in the I think go to the next page. The taxes to be raised $19,146,552 with a double asterisk underneath that table. This includes a 2% increase and the number listed there that is associated with that and a health care adjustment and the number associated with that. Be it resolved that the High Point Regional High School Board of Education approves the levy of general fund taxes for the tentative 2026-2027 school budget to be $19,146,552. This budget addresses health and
054safety issues related to facility capital spending, student centered items, and program integrity. Be it further resolved that included in the general fund appropriations is $31,098 for deposit into the Board of Education's approved capital reserve account for future funding of capital projects and represents expenditures for construction elements or projects that are in addition to the facilities efficiency standards necessary to achieve the New Jersey student learning standards. And to advertise said budget in New Jersey Herald in accordance with the form suggested by the State Department of Education and according to law and post tentative budget on our website. I will make that motion. May I please have a second? Second. Any discussion or comments on tentative budget motion? I would just like to say that uh there are two numbers that are compelling factor, obviously the tax
055levy, but also the general fund which also gets forgotten in the tax levy. And I would like to uh present to the board that the proposed tentative budget is a reduction in overall spending in the general fund by 0.8% while 0.8% does not sound like a lot given the rise in health care costs and fixed costs being that which they are, to reduce our overall operating budget, or otherwise known as the general fund, to reduce that by 0.8% is something about which we're we're uh I'm proud and uh the business office worked very hard to be able to present this to the board and to the community to demonstrate fiscal responsibility in reducing the overall operating budget. And at the risk of repeating what I say uh every time a budget comes across the board's
056uh table, I consider uh vote voting on the budget one of the most important jobs that we do as board members. Uh I know as a member of the finance committee, uh hadn't been involved with the budget uh from that perspective and as president of the board, it is it is a lot of hard work by Dr. Ripley and Mrs. Kobush to prepare the and and everybody else that submits their information to them uh to prepare this. And we believe that we are not we're not asking for anything that we don't absolutely need. Um we're not asking for more than that either. We've taken efforts not to use everything that we are allowed to pass on. So uh we're hopeful that that is recognized by the community um uh towards our fiscal responsibility as board
057members. So, get off my soapbox. Um If there are no other comments, we'll take a vote on the Ms. Wise? Yes. [clears throat] Mr. Van Stone? Yes. Ms. Orcutt? Yes. Ms. Longberg? Yes. Mr. Anderson? Yes. Ms. Diaz? Yes. Ms. Gall? Yes. Ms. Hill? Yes. Mr. Bettencourt? Yes. Passes. Uh I will move seven through 14 together. Seven is a recommendation to uh send approval of the vendor payment for the spring musical uh who's forgot to fill the payment. And item eight is a recommendation to approve vendor payment for the spring musical, believe for the replacement Shelley said uh came in. Uh item nine is a recommendation to authorize the approve and authorize the execution of an agreement between NJIT and High Point Regional High School to offer concurrent enrollment courses for uh the 2026-2027 through 2028-2029.
058Wow, that's a long name again. School years. Um item 10 is a recommendation to approve and authorize an agreement between Sussex County Educational Services Commission and High Point uh the district Board of Education for ancillary educational services for the 2026-2027 school year. Item 11 is a recommendation to grant permission to the High Point Football Camp to host a non-affiliated co-ed camp grades two through eight which will run as posted uh camp will be self-supporting and will charge $125 per participant. Item 12 is a recommendation to grant permission to the speed and strength camp to host the non-affiliated co-ed camp ages 12 through 15 which will run as listed uh same the camp will be self-supporting and will charge $125 per participant. Item 11 is a recommendation to approve and authorize the following tuition contracts between
059High Point as the receiving district and the following districts uh and related information uh for sending districts. And item 14 is a recommendation to approve and authorize the following tuition contracts between High Point Regional as the sending district and the following districts and related information as receivers. So, I'll make that motion on seven I think it was seven through 14. May I have a second? Second. Any Any comments there? Seeing none. Ms. Orcutt? Yes. Ms. Diaz? Yes. Mr. Van Stone? Yes. Ms. Hill? Yes. Ms. Wise? Yes. Ms. Gall? Yes. Ms. Longberg? Yes. Mr. Anderson? Yes. Mr. Dunn? Yes. Passes. Okay, 15 I think is our last item on Oh, no, it's not. I'm going to move 15 and 16 together. 15 extremely lengthy uh resolution that spans about four pages. Uh so, let's see if
060we can uh condense this a little bit. Uh it is recommended the Board of Education approves and authorizes this agreement made the 24th day of March 2026 in the County of Sussex, State of New Jersey by and between the School Health Insurance Fund, referred to as SHIF, and the governing body of High Point Regional High School, a duly constituted Board of Education herein referred to as school boards. And uh I believe this uh approves our uh membership and uh for period of three years from July 1st, 2024 and ending June 30th, 2027. Um school may withdraw at any time with 90 days written notice. And any other key points I might miss here uh related to our uh school health insurance fund? Our participation in this health insurance fund has been uh very helpful to
061us in maintaining a uh controls over health costs in our budget. Uh it has muted the vast swings of increases over the last several years. And to be a member of selected for and be a member of this health insurance fund is very beneficial to our district and our taxpayers. Uh so, that that entire resolution is related to our health insurance fund and item 16 is a related resolution that notes Kathy Kathy Kobus is hereby appointed as fund commissioner to the school health insurance fund effective March 1st, 2026 to represent High Point Regional High School Board of Education and be it further resolved that Dr. Scott Ripley be appointed as alternate fund commissioner to the school health insurance fund effective March 1st, 2026. So I'll make that a motion on items 15 and 16. Second.
062Any other comments related to that? Mr. Gaffney? Yes. Mr. Anderson? Yes. Ms. Longcor? Yes. Ms. Orsi? Yes. Ms. Diaz? Yes. Mr. Gall? Yes. Mr. Van Stone? Yes. Ms. Hill? Yes. Ms. Wise? Yes. Mr. Duff? Yes. Passes. Okay, transportation. Ms. Wise? We got 1 2 3 1 2 3 Okay, I'll put them all together. It is recommended by the board approves execution of following contracts for the mileage remainder of the 25 26 school year. Number one is uh a contract with Lakeland Andover School. Number two is a contract with the Winger School. Number three is a contract with Northern Hills Academy. Number four is a contract with Lakeland Andover School. Number five is a contract with High Point High School. Oh, I'm sorry. Where is it? Oh, I'm sorry. Joining with Wayne Township Public Schools. And
063then number six is with Kittatinny Regional High School joining with High Point. Number seven is a bunch here. Uh but Byram Bus. Do I have to read these all? Yeah. Okay. And then number eight is recommended superintendent board approves jointure agreement between South Bergen Jointure Commission and High Point Regional High School for anticipated coordinated pupil trans- transportation services for non-public and added district special education, vocational, include Bergen Tech, regular field trip, athletics, summer programs for the 26 27 school year with 3% administrative fee. Making a motion and I'm looking for a second. Second. Roll call. Any com- comments Well, any comments or discussion? Roll call, please. Ms. Diaz? Yes. Ms. Orsi? Yes. Mr. Anderson? Yes. Ms. Hill? Yes. Ms. Wise? Yes. Mr. Van Stone? Yes. Mr. Gall? Yes. Ms. Longcor? Yes. Mr. Duff? Yes. Passes.
064We have no correspondence uh miscellaneous item the standing notice about school board mandated training. So that brings us to our second public comment section of the evening. Same rules apply as the first although it's not limited to agenda items. We haven't had any public comment, please welcome to the Hi, good evening. Good evening. My name is Lisa Carlson. I'm the deputy mayor for Lafayette Township. So I have a question as to how many students are totally total enrolled here at High Point at this time? I think it's about 815 give or take. Okay. Um we sent a request yesterday. I believe it was yesterday. Yes. To Ms. Kobus, did you receive that from the clerk? Yes, I responded to answer that. [cough] Okay. So we are requesting the sending district census broken down by who
065how many students are from each sending district along with the property tax formulas to see the breakdown in terms of monies. We understand Montague is a send receive so we're also looking for cost per pupil that comes into High Point per Montague student and how many there are. That should be included in the census as well. Um Was that was not listed in the request. Certainly I'm not denying it but if you could or to have uh We'll send resend the request. Yeah, that's not a problem. Um and also wondering if you will be coming to any Lafayette Township meeting to do the budget. We haven't seen you guys since pre-COVID. Uh presentation of the board for our budget will be here in April and that will be our presentation of the budget. Okay. All
066right. I'll be back. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I would like to thank you. Uh are you a like a liaison from Lafayette? I'm the deputy mayor this year and >> But I mean from the town council do Yes, I'm on the Excellent. We um this is for the general public. I believe you're the first uh aside from some representatives from Franklin that have come to a board meeting in my recent memory and that goes back at least well more than a few years. So thank you for coming and making public comments. I was um I will say previously we the board and Dr. Ripley did go to um present at the individual municipalities. Um we are videotaped. We are we we get to meet and we're board members are unpaid for this if
067we attend. Um we feel when we present a a budget we're doing it in the forum here as we're required. Um so just to insulate Dr. Ripley, it wasn't the sole decision of Dr. Ripley's not to continue going out to the individual townships. It was recognition that maybe that was a little bit too much to ask when we're doing it already. So Any comments virtual? No. Okay. Um can I have a motion to close public comments? So moved. Can I have a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, we don't have it listed on our agenda but I'm going to make a motion to enter a second executive session um to discuss matters related to uh Dr. Ripley's contract renewal. Um it is not expected that any action will be taken. So I'll
068make that motion. Second. Uh all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Uh we will return to just as for the public's notice, we will return to public session and then immediately adjourn so uh there's no need for anybody to stick around. We don't intend to videotape that. Um and we have no idea what time that would be at at this point.