001Thank you. >> Maybe turn the volume down on them. Yeah. Okay. So this is to advise the general public that in compliance with the open public's meeting act, the Little Lake Harbor Board of Education meeting was advertised in the Asbury Park Press, Atlantic City Press, and posted at the office of the board of education located at 307 Frog Pond Road, Little Harbor, New Jersey, and posted at the office of the municipal clerk of Little Harbor. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Chicone, >> here. Mr. Fichello, >> here. >> Miss Lawrence, >> here. >> Mr. Lee, >> here. >> Dr. Mr. Snder >> here, >> Miss Martin >> here, >> and Miss Herbert >> here. >> Thank you. >> Can we stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and
002to the republic for it stands one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Okay. So, in Laura's um absence, I'll be acting as president today and um facilitating the meeting. So, first we have the approval of the agenda. Correct. Okay. Can I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> Motion to approve. >> And I have a second. Thank you. Any questions? >> Okay. Okay. All in favor? >> I I >> I um so approval of minutes recommend a motion to accept the following minutes. Can I have a motion? >> Motion to accept. >> And I have a second. >> Second. >> Any questions? >> All in favor? Hi. >> Hi. >> July 1st here. >> Okay. Moving along. Public public comment. Agenda items only. So, agenda items only for this public comment.
003The board of education now welcomes the public to comment on the items which are on our agenda tonight. It may not always be possible or appropriate for the board to directly answer questions during the public comment period. Each speaker is allotted a maximum amount of three minutes to make their statement. No one may speak more than once on one same topic. You are required to please give your name and address before speaking. And please keep your comments respectful and non-defamy and maintain the level of decorum appropriate for a public meeting where there may be minors in the audience which there are. Thank you. [Music] >> Tiffany Middle Acced, but as someone who has been deeply invested in this district. I worked here as a par professional supporting students in the classroom. I also served for
004years as an executive board member for our parent teacher organization. As of June 30th, I resigned my PTOC and withdrew my second child from this district to homeschool them due to the lack of supports available for our children. That was not a decision I made lately, but it speaks to the seriousness of the issues we are facing. We continue to see program after program cut. student government, safety control, seal program, ASI staff, cutting music and steam to half year. They're not extras. They are valuable opportunities that shape our children's education and growth. At the same time, taxpayers are facing a 33% increase. Families are being asked to give more while students receive less. On tonight's agenda is a proposed over 18% raise for a single employee, not including previously approved purchases. Meanwhile, PAR professionals who
005provide direct daily support to our most vulnerable students are being cut to part-time to avoid paying benefits. New power professionals are being hired at $10 an hour more than current staff. As someone who has worked in this role, I can tell you firsthand, par professionals are not extra, they are essential. Granting a large raise to one employee while cutting or underpaying staff who directly support students raises serious financial and ethical concerns. There are also clear mismanagement issues. For example, phone books being stored in a building with a known roof leak resulting in water damage to about 300 devices. That demonstrates poor planning and puts the district resources at risk. At Frog Pond, mold problems are being handled by painting over ceiling tiles instead of replacing them. That is not a solution. It is a cover
006up and it puts students and staff health at risk. So tonight, I ask our administration directly. Where is the money coming from to fund the $10,000 raise? How much surplus does the district currently have? Who holds the permit for the hazard lights installed on an employes personal vehicle? What other programs and supports have been eliminated that the public and evidently the board of ed members may not know about due to the lack of transparency? I urge this board to reconsider its priorities. Transparency, accountability, and the well-being of students must come first. Raising taxes while cutting programs, ignoring safety concerns, and granting inequitable raises is not acceptable. Our students deserve better and our community deserves honesty. Thank you. [Applause] [Music] All right. Hello. >> Hello. Hi. My name is I'm Sona. I live at 156 Country
007Club Boulevard. I'm here to express my concerns regarding regarding items on tonight's agenda. Last meeting, I heard that much of the anticipated and coveted roles in student clubs are being cut along with clubs at Mitchell. Two of my children were part of and offering enjoy thrived in the club and my oldest couldn't have been more excited about earning a spot on the safety patrol. Last meeting, it appeared that multiple board members were either unaware of these cuts and/or were unaware of the purpose and function of these students clubs. When our district is facing hard times with limited funds, it is more important than ever to be transparent, to communicate clearly, and to share information. As you have all shared goals to effectively operate as a team for our students and our community, I have spoken
008before about my admiration for and appreciation of the staff in this district. We all know most people don't enter into the field of education for the salary. The PTO has been sharing numerous teacher wish lists in order to help provide supplies for the students that they would otherwise use their own paychecks for. Taxpayers who are already stressing about the nearly 33% increase are doing their best to pitch in even more to help staff and students. When clubs are cut, supplies are low, the budget is lower, and taxes are higher than ever, I have to question seeing a nearly $10,000 raise being considered for a staff member. Last month, it was stated that every possible thing was reduced on the budget. It seems hard to justify taking away funding for the few student clubs and programs
009we have and now considering funding such a substantial salary increase even if it's deserved. For the record, I think every staff member who works directly with our students to meet their educational goals all deserve a raise. These students have to have many repercussions of budget cuts, including larger class sizes, staff reductions, and will now be only getting a half year of music and steam. Please don't also let them have to miss out on these opportunities to grow, learn, and lead. We ask that you please reinstate funding for the aformentioned programs. Please invest in our students and their potential. Thank you. And I do have some safety patrol students here tonight. Um but I believe that they'll be speaking during the second public comment if that's the right protocol. I don't understand the whole protocol, but
010I believe that's >> that's fine. Thank you. >> Just want to confirm that. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. [Applause] Is it on? >> Okay. So, my name's Angela Randall and I teach steam at Frog Pond and my address is 244 Leewood Road, Man. I wasn't planning on speaking. I wasn't even planning on being at this meeting. But when I heard some of the students were speaking, I decided I need to follow their lead and their bravery. The rumors about me being split between two buildings started in June. I have to say I'm an optimist. And though it was just and thought it was just a rumor, then I received a message in July asking if I could take a call the next day. I knew why. When they called and told me I would now
011be doing 90 days at Brock Pond and 90 days at George Mitchell, I was literally speechless. I came from the bass river school and ne ever since our little school closed. We came to LEH Frog Pond has become my home and I have been many things since an Aquate Tech teacher wasn't needed in the district at the time. I have taken an sixth grade ELA classroom when a teacher unexpectedly retired before school started, leaving a home room without a teacher. I have been an in-class BSI teacher that shouted a home room for their whole two years. I have been the overflow art and steam teacher. I've been an ASI teacher, a step teacher, I even took a few periods of ELLL when they needed. They jokingly call me the utility guy. When the budget was
012slashed at the end of 2024, and the non-tenured steam teacher was let go, I was given the job for the 2425 school year. Last year, I taught STEM in week A and Steph and ASI in week B, plus some of the self-contained classes that needed their preps covered. I voluntarily helped on the Facebook page for Prague Bond. The sixth grade STEP classes wrote the new school newspaper, and I took over the morning news and student of the month videos. Last year, I began the Pure Buddy program with my fifth grade STEP students and the lowest self-contained classes where once a month, the fifth grade gened students came up with activities to do with the three classes to bridge a gap and get to know their peers. After the fifth grade step classes read the book,
013Out of My Mind, Mrs. Trezino even included this program. I've implemented it through reports of the state. None of this would happen will happen now that I am split as there is no time in my schedule and I'm not teaching the step two students at all. I have mentioned multiple I have mentored many students on the books and off and don't feel as I can continue since establishing a relationship with a mentee for 90 days and then leaving hurts all involved. I proposed a schedule that would have us staying in our prospective schools and still teaching both steam and staff while keeping the library organized and working. It wasn't an option. I was told this is how it will be this year. No debate and no going back. I lost my school home in 2020.
014I found Frog Pond to be my home and my students are my heart. I don't do things halfway. Being in school half the year hurts my heart and soul. FP has been my home for over 5 years and I don't want to leave. If the transfer being voted on tonight is approved, I ask that there is an asterisk next to my name that says involuntary transfer, I will do the best job for my students wherever I am. But I just feel I needed to put my feelings out there and put the word in. And Dr. Antunes know how much the schedule change is affecting the students and their opportunities. [Applause] Hello, my name is uh Mike Dennis. I live at 21 Bear Halloween here in Little League. Um I came here to address tonight um
015the cutting of the safety control the student government. Um all three of my kids, well two of my kids have been through it. were a safety one was on student government and a safety and I find that these programs it's one of the few things that they can volunteer or be selected to be in and to me it really goes along with the values that the school preaches to them or teaches them is the pillars that we see on the wall and I feel like if you eliminate these programs each one of those pillars a small piece is being shipped away from that and I feel like that $4,400 it cost to run these programs out of the school budget that is a drop in the bucket compared to hearing some of these numbers that
016I've been told in other programs cost and that I've recently been told about. I mean, $4,400 over 180 days is $24 a day. $24 a day is is coffee money for 30 staff members. You know what I mean? It's nothing. But these programs mean everything to these kids. These kids are here on their summer break, on a summer evening when they could be doing whatever they want to do, but they're here to fight for these programs. They don't know anything about budgets. They don't know about salary raises. They don't know about any of that stuff. They just know that they want to be a part of this. They want to be a leader in their school. They want to represent their school. They want to have say, they want to have responsibility and they want
017to represent the rest of the student body. >> Excuse me, sir. Sorry. This this can wait till public comment number two is not an agenda item. So that this all these >> way agenda that it relates to is that the budget where a single municipal employee is getting 18% raise money for that. I've never I've been a municip employee for 12 years. I've never heard of one single municipal employee ever receiving an 18% raise in one year. We as police officers and teachers fight for twos and 3% raises. We get mandated caps by the governor on our salaries. of one man doing a non-eing position getting an 18% raise when $4,400 is being pulled out from under these kids who are here on their summer break. $4,400 is being pulled out from them under them.
018I feel it's unreasonable and I don't feel it's right and I can't address that and I'll close with that would be my closing comments. But that's how it relates to the agenda item and that's how I feel and please reconsider and make this happen for kids. Thank you. Would [Applause] anyone else like to speak? Okay. Closing public comment number oneformational items. Um so correspondence from facilities as well as uh fire drills. Any questions just for information? No. Okay. Uh committee reports. >> I'll be super quick. Um the committee uh met curriculum committee met uh on August 7th. Um and it was myself, Mrs. Ber, Dr. Antunes, and Mrs. Gallagher. And pretty much um the talking points was really just um discussing the English language arts assessments for the 2025 2026 school year. Um key points
019that we talked about uh are the dibble screening. Um that is going to be administered as an assessment to the kids uh grade K through six beginning in September. Is that me? >> No. >> Oh, sorry. Um, what that's going to do is evaluate uh their early literacy skills and we'll support in the efforts to meeting the learning goals of all the students um in particular as well. Um put putting some attention towards the ELELLL uh students, the uh English language learners. Um and then just basically just talk about the additional assessments that um will be used this year. one being link for grades three to six um the wonders program risk monitoring assessments and the uh access for ELLL which Mrs. Gallery is going to talk about today so I don't have to continue
020to blather on so that's what we talked about thank you welcome um okay so the personnel committee did meet we met just this past Friday um in attendance was Dr. Antonune Mrs. Trialino Mr. Melli, myself, Christine, and Greg. Thanks for getting this together last minute. Um, very high level, we reviewed the norms. Um, we talked about the interim or I'm sorry, excuse me, we talked about the superintendent absence coverage. So, when the superintendent is not in house, who will be designated as the leader in charge? Um, we talked about the position open for um just an interim for the elementary supervisor. got an update on that. Uh talked about our environmental grievance matter at hand that's been going on for months and months. Um we also talked about pair of professionals and the hire hiring
021plan moving forward. Um which I think will be discussed with this by the superintendent today maybe in our update. Um we talked about the transportation supervisor salary increase and then we also discussed the school business administrator search. Um a formal search is in currently happening because Carl is currently our intim. Uh we adjourned at 9:40 and the next meeting is scheduled for October 3rd. And that's it personal questions. Um Laura, do you have a board president update? Hi, I would like to just speak on the um committee reports. That's all from the work section and I wanted to benefit of the public led reports are emailed charge to the board ahead of time for the board's consumption. But thank you for those brief summaries. But that's all I have. So Laura, it sounds like you
022said that the committees we send out meeting minutes prior to the board meeting so everybody can read and review prior with full details. Is that that's what it sounded like to me. Um so thank you Laura. Uh superintendence report. [Music] >> Thank you. >> Okay. As we prepare for the school year, a huge shout out to our facilities director, Seth Cole, and his team, while the cleaning and prep are not 100% there. It's very close, and you can certainly see the pride with which our maintenance and custodial staff works to prepare for the arrival of our students and staff. In the meantime, we've racked up two days of new staff orientation whereby we welcomed about 12 teachers. The day ended, the second day ended, today was the second day. It ended with a tour of
023the community on our new minibus. and thanks to my coher for driving us through the town and providing us some information with Mrs. Trezalino. Finally, I'd be remiss if I did not take a moment to recognize with gratitude Crest, Little Lake Diner, Dynasty Diner, and the LHDA for providing breakfast and lunch to our new teachers yesterday and today. And don't forget that school begins Thursday, September 4th, and we're excited to welcome everyone back for a tremendous 2526 school year. Parents, as you prepare for the first several weeks of school, remember that transportation will likely be running a bit off schedule, meaning that buses may be a bit early or a bit late for pickup at the beginning of the day and drop off at the end of the day. As long as the students get
024on a bus, we'll be there to greet them at school. However, we want to ensure that the students are placed on the correct buses going back home at the end of the day. So, we will take the time necessary to check and double check that children are placed on the correct buses. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we help our students navigate the first several weeks of school. Be sure to be at the assigned bus stop at least 10 minutes prior to the bus stop time. Additionally, it's essential that students follow proper bus safety protocols at all times while riding the school bus. The behaviors witnessed last school year will not be tolerated this year as it has severe impact on the health and safety of all students and perhaps others. Parents are encouraged
025to speak with their children about remaining in their assigned seats, buckling their seat belts, and behaving appropriately while riding the school bus. Behavior on the school bus is an extension of behavior in the classroom. Additionally, parents are encouraged to have an alternate plan in place in the event your child is suspended from the bus for any length of time. Chronic absenteeism remains a concern for our school district. Chronic absenteeism translates to a student being absent from school for 10% of the year, which is 18 days, and may result in fluency mediation, truency court, and possible retention. 18 days is a lot of time to be out of school and will likely have a negative impact on academic progression. I know that the time following the holidays through the spring was a bit topsy turvy for
026everyone. And during that time, district level administrators were working with mandates and options from the state regarding the school district budget. Throughout our presentations and discussions, I shared that the difficult decisions being made, while not great, were the best decisions that were able to be made at the time with the information we had. I also indicated that I could not promise anything for the next budget season, nor commit to reinstating programs until we closed out the year and prepared for the next. We needed to gauge where we were financially. We're still in the process of doing that. I also committed to looking at reasonable reinstatement of programs if appropriate. To that end, there were several school-based programs that were eliminated from the budget, including the Frog Pond school uh student government, safety patrol at Frag
027Pond, and the social emotional program at GJM. Based upon current savings realized through the reallocation of resources aligned with our prior professionals, we're able to reinstate the affformentioned programs for a cost of $8,800, not $4,400. And Mr. Morelli has some additional information on that, so I'm going to let him speak to that. >> Good evening. I'm happy to report agenda personnel item C3 is the first of what will be many future agenda items regarding my efforts to cut district expenses and reallocate funds. The hiring of the newly created positions resulted in savings to our health insurance costs since these new positions do not offer benefits. A portion of the savings from just these three positions will be reallocated to bring back the stipens that were mentioned in the superintendent's report that had been previously cut
028from the budget. Thank you. >> That concludes the superintendent's report. Thank you. >> Thank you. Can you just state exactly which programs or which positions are being reinstated? >> Absolutely. Let me go back to my report. I'm sorry. Okay. So what's being reinstated are the frog pond student government, frog pond safety patrol and the social emotional program at J. Now the way that works is the uh the positions get posted and then teachers apply and then the board approves the second for the teachers. It's just that's protocol. That's normal. >> I just want the audience to know. Thank you. Okay, >> thank you for that. Um, next on the agenda is presentations. This is Melissa Gallagher. >> Hi guys. Hi everybody. I'm Melissa Gallagher and we are going to talk about the access for L's
029assessment data. Okay, so a little overview of Access for L's. It's a suite of largecale English proficiency assessments for students in kindergarten through grade 12. It monitors student progress and English language proficiency on a yearly basis. Students are tested on listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The assessment focuses on acquisition of language. It's not a standardsbased assessment. It's not standards for math or ELA. The students take the test online and some may take it on paper. That's the kindergarten assessments and a standard reference test. The students performance is compared to English language development standards that we has defined. So our district, our district currently is a sheltered instruction district. That is the program we have here. So what does that mean? That means that we have 20 or more ELLs of a single language group and
030that would be Spanish in Little Lake Arbor School District. As a result, we um apply for a bilingual education waiver every year and we did receive one last year and what that allows us is that it will allow the district to not provide a bilingual program, but rather we have our ELLs have one period of instruction every day by a certified ESL teacher. We again applied this year for the bilingual waiver for 2526 and that is done every year. Okay. So our district numbers. So last year you're going to see ML. ML stands for multilingual learners. That's the new term for English language learners um that they the state uses. We had 55 total by the end of the year of last year. Eight of our multilingual students moved into the district during the school
031year. three moved out of the district during the school year. We had four students who exited out of the program due to the access testing. They received the score to exit out. Um we wanted to compare the numbers or I wanted to compare the numbers from the previous year. So in 2023 24 we had 33 multilingual learners and then in 242 we had 58 which is actually a 76% increase. So this is my grade level. As you can see the lower grades, I have more multilingual learners. We had 17 in kindergarten, 13 in first grade. We had four in second grade, four in third grade, eight in um fourth grade, two in fifth grade, one in sixth grade. We had one student that was an alternate access and that's a special ed student that has
032significant cognitive disability. So they take a different test. So we had 50 total students who took the assessment. Okay, so this is what a individual student report looks like. Uh it shows the proficiency levels and the scale scored for each of the domains. There are four domains which is listening, speaking, reading and writing. And when you look at the bottom right here, overall hit the wrong button. When you look at the bottom overall, you need a sorry, you need a 4.5 in order to exit the program. So the students who receive a 4.5, that's how they exit the program for now and they get monitored the year the next two years after. So this is a breakdown of our students. It's four categories entering, emerging, expanding, and developing. for entering we have 24.5% and that's
033typically our newcomers who just came into the country or a first or second year uh student they know and use minimal social language um we have 20.4% 4% emerging they know and use some of um English language and they can you see visuals and graphic support developing is 32.7% and they know and use social English and some specific academic language with visual and graphic support and expanding is 22.4% 24% um that's really students are really close to passing the access routes testing. All right. So our initiatives that are going to happen for the upcoming school year, the first thing we're doing is we are buying a program called Lexia for um ML students and that targets specific instruction um in the in our language. So our ELS's teachers can really hone in and see what
034these each student needs in post small group instruction and that will be targeted towards our kindergarten through 2 grade population. Um we have scheduling that we looked at. I worked with both Mrs. Cummings and Mr. Mazerok this summer and Mrs. Hopper and we are put we put our ESL students in either the win period which is in George Mitchell what I need now or in an art style period. So they aren't losing the instruction in their ELA or math classes. We are purchasing digital resources such as translators. We have snap and read and scholastic watch and learn which are programs for our multilingual learners. Professional development. So NJTOL is where our ESL teachers is an annual every year they attend this um PD program. And then sheltered instruction training. So all of our teachers who
035teach our multilingual learners will get sheltered instruction training this upcoming school year. And lastly, parent communication and involvement. We really want to get our multilingual learners, parents involved. Um, we're going to do a parent newsletter every trimester with upcoming information, important dates, important information to let them know what's going on in our schools. We're going to set up a parent committee with our parents and administration. And then we're going to have some events as well. We started with one event last year. We um joined up with Dr. Flynn's multicultural night and we had our own room, the glow room. really brought the ESL uh parents out here and had some additional activities to get involved. And that's it. Thank you. Any questions? >> Of course. >> Okay. I I just I have several but just
036to clarify since we're all talking about budgets, we are required to have an ESL teacher, but we do not receive additional state funings. We receive title three funding. >> Title three. Okay. >> Mhm. >> So title three covers that. >> Yes. Not not a lot. It doesn't cover our doesn't cover the teachers. It covers our uh the program or night events. >> Got professional development. >> And what is the difference between ELLL and ESL? >> So ESL is the program. English language learners is ELLL. But ESL is is the program. >> Okay. Anybody else? >> How many ESL teachers do we have? Do you know? >> One and a half. >> Okay. >> Right. Because we I feel like I remember in past years we got rid of that person. >> So the half person
037does Spanish in the morning and ESL in the afternoon. >> Okay. Thank you. And that's both schools that they float between. So she does ESL in the afternoon at Frog Pond and then trimester 1 and two Spanish in the morning and then trimester 3 she does Spanish at George Mitchell. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And what other languages do we have besides? >> There's Chinese, Portuguese, but mostly Spanish. >> I just want to give a shout out to the teachers, all of the teachers, because I cannot imagine trying to communicate um with a student that does not um speak English. I know that like we've had I've we have a deaf student in our class who were given a um someone to translate with American Sign Language. So, I can't imagine that. And I'm sure
038it's an added struggle because I'm going to guess that it might not necessarily be reinforced at home. >> So, that's fine. >> Thank you. [Music] Okay, moving on to action items on the agenda. So, recommend a motion to approve finance items A through F. Can I have a motion? Motion approved. >> I have a second. >> Second. Are there any questions? >> Yes, I do. Um I noticed that we have um several facilities on here and do I know we had discussed about charging for facilities. >> Um it's two the big table. I mine's on page three and four >> just a just finance items. A >> you know I always jump ahead. >> Sorry Christine. >> It's been a long day. >> I hear you. >> I don't have a coffee maker so help
039me out here. >> Number of the Celsius drinks. I'm just kidding. >> Okay, I told you about those saw that. >> All right. Any other questions? Finance items A through F. >> Okay. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Chion, >> yes. >> Mr. Felichello, >> yes. >> Miss Lawrence, >> yes. >> Mr. Lee, >> yes. >> Dr. Snider, >> yes. >> Miss Martin, >> yes. >> Mr. Ber, >> yes. >> Motion carries. Okay. Recommend a motion to approve facilities items A through C. >> Motion. >> Can I have a second? >> Second. >> Any questions? >> All right. Now, I'm going to ask >> um are we charging for use of our facilities? Obviously, I'm assuming we're not charging the PTO, but there was questions about Highland Basketball Association. Are we going to be charging
040them? Yes. >> And is there a fee schedule that you can [Music] >> It's in the policy. >> A policy I'm sorry. A policy requires charge the outside organizations. >> Yeah, it's in the policy. I apologize. >> Yeah. I was just trying to see like how much it's going to be generating. >> I'm sorry. I >> how much it's going to be generating like what we're going to be charging specifically. We're happy to [Music] >> the fee schedule's in the in the policy. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> Can I have a roll call, please? >> Mr. Keion. >> Yes. >> Mr. Felichello? >> Yes. >> Miss Lawrence? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lee? >> Yes. >> Dr. Snder? >> Yes. >> Miss Martin? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ber? Yes. Motion carries. >> Recommend a motion
041to approve school business administrators non-personnel items A through N. >> Motion to approve. >> And I have a second. >> Second. >> Are there any questions? >> I just have a comment. I just wanted to say thank you again to all of our um wonderful businesses that donated for teacher or teacher orientation. is wonderful. Our business has always come to our >> Okay. Anyone else? >> What is F? >> That's the right school that we approved. >> The right school is the after school program. Is that right? >> I might have the wrong order, but >> Okay, roll call, please. >> Mr. Chonei, >> yes. >> Mr. Felichello, >> yes. >> Miss Lawrence, >> yes. >> Mr. Lee, >> yes. >> Dr. Snder, >> yes. Mr. Martin. >> Um, yes, but I need to abstain
042from item K. >> K as in kite. >> Okay. Noted, Miss Bert. >> And yes, >> motion carries. >> Can I go back and just ask a slight question? Um, I know that um Mrs. Mason left. I hope that she got to use some of her award or does it No. Did you choose who it goes to? >> So, we were able to incorporate it into the school as some for her request and some for the needs that Miss Cummings identified. But the the and they upped it from 2004,000. So, that was great. >> Well, thank you, Mrs. Mason. You need your retirement to give you back to the district. >> Okay, moving on. recommend a motion to approve personnel items A through H. Can I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Can I have
043a second? >> Second. >> Are there any questions? >> So, I have a question on the transportation supervisor. >> Um, what's comparison to other transportation supervisors in the county? And uh someone had brought up earlier about the issue of the lights being installed on a personal vehicle. Can you just explain that and um you know what happens to those lights if the employees leaves the district? >> The average salary the average salary in in Ocean County for transportation supervisor is approximately $75,000. The lights are not emergency lights. They are not blue or red is what I think that the the deal was. And they were it was discussed with the with the police department prior to purchase. The district did purchase the lights. If the transportation supervisor chooses to leave the district or use the
044district manner, they would either be repaid by the person or the district would remove or they would be removed from the vehicle. >> Okay. So the salary itself, what we're proposing is 10,000 less than the average in Ocean County. >> Correct. But I would give a guess that the average does not necessarily determine the number of years of experience either. So it's not it's the average that we don't know how long that individual those individuals have been in that position. So again, it goes back to my question. Are we comparing apples to apples, oranges to oranges? That's just >> there were also these certifications. Again, we don't know anything that's equal among any of those. >> But you would have to have them certifications >> no matter what to be in that position from what
045>> still like the number of employees that they oversee buses in their fleet. There's a lot of different variables that we are unaware of that that determine that salary is my point. >> I I have a question on D. I just we are not privy to to transfers. Um and I I genuinely, you know, feel your heart. So, I don't know, maybe you can explain how transfers take place. So, that I just know that it's out of my realm of voting on I I'm proving it, but what what role did we play in I guess how is it determined since it was brought out, Michael G? >> Oh, sure. >> That's not what you're asking. You're asking how is the decision made on transfers. Right. >> Right. And like we're approving it but >> right
046not what your role is in the decision just how is the decision made. >> How is the decision made and then ultimately like why is it our realm to approve it or disapprove it. So in terms of rationale for transfers I'll defer but in terms of the process because the law says so. Um, I hate to say that, but that's that's the truth. Um, the law requires a board to approve transfers. I don't know why. This doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. Uh, because it is typically a administrative dictate, administrative decision is made. Um, so the board typically >> because it's more of running the school and that's not our job, right? >> Yeah. So, I guess to answer your question, I have no idea other than the law says you
047have to. Okay, I just want to make it clear that why transfers are made is we we as administrative team take a look at the needs of the district. How can we look at schedules every year and we look at teacher schedules? We look at how many students we have, what's best for students. We listen to recommendations from building based administrators and some teachers and then we make decisions based upon that. that's typically haven't been made. They're not made in isolation. They're usually made as a team. >> Okay. >> And we did discuss it, I believe, at one of our meetings. Was it was it >> I don't recall but we discussed it somewhere but but >> and I just have so if I'm understanding what's happening and possible that I'm not that we're decreasing
048the number of specials and if cuz if they're going 90 minutes 90 days at one school but they're not at the other school then does that mean that we're decreasing the number of specials? I just want to bring up my paperwork before I before I before I miss Okay. So, what the proposal was that we would steam and music would be half year courses. The media specialist instead of the district would be fully here. So, What we're seeking to do is provide consistency with the music teacher being in one building half a year rather than every other week going back and forth, back and forth. So, we're trying to be more seamless in the way we're presenting the schedule. This assists with many things, including student relationships and classroom management. Instead of teachers doing seven
049prep periods every other week, the new format allows the teacher to stay in one building and focus on either grades K2 or 36. It allows for the district media specialist to be available in both buildings. And the because there was another position that was let go to rift, there's someone then to help and the media center at Frogcon for the school year. the same step teacher for both buildings age in the aid a aids in the consistency of a gifted and talented program. That's the gifted and talented program and Mitchell is able to have a concert due to having a semester course which promotes student parent involvement and engagement and it's really what the administrators felt moving forward was worth a shot for the district to to see how it went with the teacher schedules.
050That's basically the reason for so last year it was every other week. Last year it was every other week that way. Yes. >> So they're still getting the same amount. >> Oh, yes. Absolutely. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Okay. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Chapi, >> yes. Mr. Felichello, >> yes. >> Miss Lawrence, >> yes. >> Mr. No to GI. Yes. To the balance. Gni. [Music] Dr. Schneider, >> I'm yes to everything except for GI and I will um respect um Mrs. Rangle that it's against her wish. I know I felt her. So everything except no GI. >> Miss Martin. >> Um I'm a yes except I'm going to abstain from GI. >> Mr. [Music] Yeah. [Music] >> Motion carries. >> Um, okay. Recommend a motion to approve Superintendent of Schools non-personnel
051items A through K. Can I have a motion? >> Motion to approve. >> Can I have a second? Second. >> Are there any questions? Yes. Um, for the network systems administrator, um, job description, um, that's a new job description. Does that replace an old job description or an old position? You did state that we would be posting for it. So, I'm just trying to figure out what position that was. The I don't remember what the what the actual position title was. Um, >> I feel like you remember a lot of technology, >> right, Dr. Yeah, I'm gonna have I I don't want to miss I don't want to misspeak so I can tell you exactly what that was, but I I I can't. >> But it does replace a former position. It's not additional >>
052with it's a transition to a more responsibility, but but you can but yes, it's a replacement. I think in the past it was a shared condition. >> She said in the past it was a shared position maybe position. [Music] Um any other questions? Thank you for answering my questions on the PD plan. Much appreciated. >> Okay. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Felichello. >> Yes. >> Miss Lawrence. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lee. >> Yes. >> Dr. Snder. >> Yes. >> Miss Martin? >> Yes. >> Mer. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Okay. Um, new business. Is there any new business to discuss? Okay. Uh, public comment. Number two. The floor is now open to members of the public. The board of education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues.
053The board requests that each statement made by a participant is limited to 3 minutes as cited in policy number 0167. There is a sign-in sheet located on the podium. Please sign in before you speak. And we would still love to hear from the students as to why safety patrol and student government is so important to you. So here's your chance. [Music] Hi. >> This works. [Music] Okay. Hi, my name is Meredith Seals and I'm going in the sixth grade. Since third grade, I've been on five different I've had five different bus drivers. I've always looked up to the kids on safety patrol who helped keep everyone safe. And I thought when I'm old enough, I want to do that, too. Now I'm finally in sixth grade, and I'm excited for my turn. Taking safety pathway
054mean wounds wounds my class and every class after us won't get the same chance to step up and live our mark. Student government is just as important as it makes school fun with days and activities. Without them, the kids will be less excited about school and that's hurt and it hurts the morale especially during testing when we need the most encouragement. I know money is a part of the decision, but doesn't fit care to cut the student program because there isn't enough money. One month and the next month there isn't enough for big braces, especially for people who don't even work directly with the students. These programs that help kids should come first. Safety Patrol Student Government teaches us responsibility, teamwork, and how to be and how to become a good citizen. If we can
055learn these lessons now in elementary school, it can make a big difference for the future. [Applause] [Music] I'll do it. Hold on. >> Okay. Hello everyone and good evening. My name is Sophia Andrews and I live on CB Drive in Little Lake Harbor. I'm here tonight in front of you all to add my voice to the group of sixth graders who are devastated by the news that our safety program was cancelled. Parents with the fond memories of being part of this program when they were younger had to find the moment to tell us that what we most look forward to was no longer going to continue. I remember when my mom told me I was so shocked and upset. I worked really hard for this opportunity and felt really proud of myself when I was
056chosen. I didn't understand why our school who claims to support the students would agree to get rid of a program that goes beyond just wearing a yellow belt. The safety program was created to give us the knowledge and skills to recognize and take action against bullying, to help grow independence, prevent actions around our accidents around our school, and reduce stress and anxiety by giving our fellow peers and younger grades a friend to reach out to for help. This program gives us more safety awareness and leads responsible and leads to responsible behavior that will carry with us into middle and high school. I can't believe why something that promotes so much good could lead and could lead to students to have better grades and overall mental health could be taken away so quickly. So, I use
057my voice tonight to reach out to whoever I can and plead not to get rid of our safety program. Please be for the students and our futures. Thank you. [Applause] >> Thank you. My name is Jamie Lee and I'm here in replacement for student not be here tonight. Um, so let me just pull that up. [Music] Okay, so I am speaking on behalf of Cole Tuchi, who could unfortunately not be here. He wrote a letter that states, "Dear Board of Ed, my name is Cole and I'm going to be a sixth grader. I was looking forward to being on the safety patrol and other sixth graders before us as safety patrol and now we're not. We've suffered enough because of CO and recent budget cuts. Please don't cut the program because we need to keep
058the school safe. Please check the budget again so we can keep the program going. Sincerely, Cole. Would [Applause] anyone else like to speak? [Music] Hi, I'm Liliana and my address is N Hannah Place. I'm going into sixth grade in September and I'd like to talk about Miss Randall. It's so sad that she is leaving and me being a sixth grader means that I won't be able to see her before I leave to move on to Pinelands. She has given me so many opportunities and things to have such as being in STEP. Step has been such a fun experience with me and knowing it won't be with M Miss Randall makes me devastated in STEP. In talking with Miss Randall took my mind off things that are distracting or maybe overthinking. She has connected me with
059lots of peer friends and that is very special to me and it makes me sad I won't be able to see them again because of her being moved and her busy schedule. Now I have every week been going with Miss Randall to um see my friends and maybe just visit during lunch. Miss Randall has changed the way I see coming to school. Thank you for your time. [Applause] [Music] Hi, my name's Abigail Hope and I live on 88 Andrew Drive. um safe. When I got found out that I got into safety, I was extremely excited. When anyone were to ask me if I was excited for school, I would say I'm excited because it's my last year of elementary school, but I'm really excited because I'm a safety patrol. It means a lot to me
060because I would because I feel like protecting kids from getting hurt because because I love to help people. Um, I extremely hope that you make sure that we can have safety patrol in student government because it takes a it's extremely important to all of us. Thank you. [Applause] [Music] Hey guys, you don't have to say your address. This is uh on YouTube, so probably would. >> Good point. [Music] >> Hello, my name is Vinnie Sabinara. I'm a sixth grader at Frog Pond. [Music] Hello, my name is Vinnie Sappano. I'm a sixth grader at Far Pond. I have wanted to be a safety patrol since first grade. In fifth grade, I wrote a mini essay, talked to some teachers about applying. When I was chosen to be on the safety patrol, I felt very happy. I'm
061sure everyone who was chosen was happy to be picked for a good reason. And yeah, and and for a good reason. We helped the school be more respectful, responsible, and a safer place. We set a good example and helped the school to be safer. We spent the time doing training last year in preparation for helping the following school year. When I heard that safety patrol was cut, I was very disappointed. We are an important part of this school's of this school and keeping our hallways and buses safe. We are a role model for you and your students and we'll do the best to encourage respect, responsibility and safety in our district. I hope you will understand the importance of safety patrol and reconsidering including our club. We are willing to do fundraising and ask for
062donations but we need your support. Thank you. [Applause] Would anyone else like to speak? >> Thank you for being so brave. >> Um, okay. Board forum. >> Oh, opening it up to the board. >> I'll go first. Uh, thank you to the students and parents for coming out tonight. Uh, for all the students who spoke up. You guys did a fantastic job. You had a goal of becoming a safety patrol member and you all accomplished it. So you should be very proud of that. And all the younger kids will look up to you and now having the courage to speak your mind, us adults will look up to you as well. So great job on them. And since our last meeting, many many of us the board members expressed our desire to reinstate the student
063government in sleep patrol. um we knew how important that was and when we found out about it, we started to take action and express how we felt as well. Um and so thankfully it was able to be reinstated. But I did want to kind of explain how that was reinstated in case you missed it cuz it happened really quickly. So in the way the government works, one day you're going to find out that we had to make a choice a few meetings ago. we had to choose on the way that we um paid our par professionals and so that money from that pot was used to reinstate the student government and safety patrol. So it's not like we had new money but decisions had to be made on how to spend it. And as Carl
064was saying, we had to decide how to reallocate that. And because this is uh so important, we made sure that that money that was freshly um uh freed up so to speak, we were able to use that right away for this particular uh objective for the government and the safety patrol. So just you guys should be very proud. We're doing everything we can to support you. And if there's anything else that you need that we can help with, please let us know. And I do want to explain uh my yes vote on the transportation supervisor. I know that was a bit of a contention tonight. Um for me it was not about a person. It was more it was about the position. When I was told by the superintendent that the average salary of the
065same position was 75,000 across the county, 65,000 was reasonable to me. Uh so whether it's Mr. Kofheer or somebody else in the future. I feel like we need to have a position that's backed up with a salary that would be competitive in the future because it's such an important role in our district. And with that being said, I would like to make and I've said this multiple times this year, transportation a priority. Uh I know Dr. Antunes is going to present a plan I believe next meeting on transportation. There's a plan in place that we are trying our best to make transportation a priority um because it's it's such an important aspect to school. It's the first thing you see for most kids when they come to school and it's the last thing they experience
066when they go home and we want to make sure your entire educational experience is the best we can give you and transportation plays a huge role in that. So Mr. Coper, we uh believe that you're up to the task. So, we need to make sure that transportation is definitely a priority this year. And uh I hope you enjoy the rest of your weeks of your summer. It's going quick. And uh thank you very much. >> Anyone else? >> I would like to say huge shout out to all of you students who uh came up to speak tonight. Public speaking isn't easy. Some adults even uh struggle with it. So, you all did a fantastic job. you all had a unified goal and you guys attacked it. My hats off to you. Um, on a side
067note, I don't know if now is the time to discuss it, but I is there any way we can go out to for an RFP for a grant writer? Um, or do we have to wait until January or something like that? >> I'll be furnishing the board with information on a grant writing company that I'll be suggesting might look at for the next meeting. >> At the next meeting. Thank you. Um, first I want to thank all the students that came here tonight and that's why I wanted you to speak because we value that the fact that you came here on a summer night in August and then probably the last place you want to be is school because it's coming really really quickly now and you did a wonderful job. You brought tears to
068my eyes and I'm so glad that you all still spoke um because we always want to hear what you have to say. So, don't ever think that we don't. I don't care what your age is. Someone could be 95, you could be five. I'll still here, be here, and I'll listen. So, thank you very much, and we really appreciate, and I appreciate your parents for bringing you out. Um, Mr. Morali, I want to thank you, and hopefully you see what joy you brought by finding those the money to fund these programs. Um, it was very important to a lot of us board members and, um, you made it happen. And just in the short time that you've been here, thank you. Um, >> it's our cold. >> Thank you. That's right. Kids first, right? Um,
069and to the teachers. Um, I was watching and I saw that the co babies are going to be the first kindergartener class this year. So, I wish all of you well. I know that all of you were prepping already. I know that school doesn't start. I was working on my syllabi today. Um, so everyone, you know, thinks school starts, you know, September 1st for you. But I know I'm sure many of you have been thinking about different things all summer um and starting to put everything into place. Some of you maybe even putting your classrooms together. So, thank you and we do appreciate it and um I hope you have a great first day and um I wish you the best of luck and a great school year. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um
070first of all, you guys were awesome. I talk in front of people all day and I still get nervous and you guys were so good and um hope hopefully I'll see you in a year. You got a year and here and then I'll see you over at Pineland. Um you did an amazing job. Um I'd like to echo what Mr. uh Pichella said. Um I for the past few better part of a week or so I've really wrestled with um the transportation position and as well as the programs. Um I'm just thrilled to pieces that they have come back. I mean I'm sitting there trying to think what grant do I know that maybe we can give an idea to to get that back in place. So it is such an important program and I
071am also the student government adviser where I work. So I understand the value of it um in a learning environment. I'd also like to say is that um I'm very all about teachers. They know that anybody that knows that about me. But I'm also understanding that there's a lot of cogs in the system that make the school district work. And sometimes, you know, we we have to make decisions such as hiring or increasing the salary in order to make the district work. So, I just wanted to put that out there. Um, took me a long time. It's not personal. Um, took me a long time to really wrestle with that. So, it's kind of I'm on the same page as you, Mr. Dill, so thank you for saying that. Um to my fellow teachers, enjoy
072these last two weeks. You know, I know I was in school all day today, too. So, um you know, enjoy the last two weeks and hopefully we're all going to have a great year. So, enjoy the rest of your summer, everybody. [Music] >> I I also agree with uh Alison and Mr. Philello about transportation. I feel that that's a a key factor to success in the future, per se. I think that he's going to do well in that position as he already shows that he's doing well because we've already saved um $200,000 if correct on that. So, you're taking $200,000 in savings and I think there's a a big future ahead as far as transportation goes, which Dr. Antune will later come up with that to break down for everybody here. Um, also I want
073to give a shout out to maintenance as I usually do for custodial maintenance because they did a great job and I know they're going through a lot to get this place into tiptop shape before school starts so the teachers and students are comfortable. That's a big goal and a big task, but there's a lot of work behind the scenes that goes into it. And uh I I have to say thank you to them also. And great job with uh safety patrol. your presentation was phenomenal. Um, really made me look at it in a different way. So, it's very good. Thank you. >> Um, I'll just say Mr. Morelli, uh, I've said this in the past, but you are a breath of fresh air. >> So, thank you for all that you're doing already. >> And
074I want to thank the board for their support. Also, as I said a month ago, some of the decisions are going to be tough, but we have to make them. to make them together unified and in the best interest we can show. >> Well, we appreciate you and students, I commend you for for getting up and speaking. You did a great job. That was really brave of all of you. And just seeing people in the audience is a breath of fresh air. So, keep coming back. Um, I think that's it. Anyone else? Oh, Laura, are you still there? Okay. All right. So, the next um we have a couple meetings coming up. There's a board retreat next week on the 28th, correct? Um that will be a public meeting. No. Yes. Okay. Sorry. Thank you.
075Um and then the next uh regular public meeting is scheduled for September 16th at 7 p.m. Um can I have a motion to adjourn? >> Motion. >> Can I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Thank you. Roll call or everyone say I. >> I. >> All in favor. Thank you. [Music]