001Good evening everyone. Adequate notice of this meeting was provided by sending such notice to the Asbury Park Press, the Middletown Patch, the Middletown Township Public School District website, and the posting of such notice at the August T minor administrative offices in each elementary, middle, and secondary school in the district. Roll. Mrs. Camdi, Mr. Fitzgerald here, >> Mrs. Vinuiz here, Mrs. Golanski here, Mr. Sapparowski >> here, >> Mr. Tol here, >> Mrs. Wright here, >> Mrs. Tobacco, >> Mr. Kapone >> here. I now need a resolution for executive session to discuss personnel matters. >> Second. >> All in favor? I absent. See you later. Good evening everyone. We're going to stand for the pledge with a moment of silence. Sadly, we have learned the passing of Eileen Skull. Eileen taught in the district for many years
002at both the middle and high school levels. She then worked for several years as an administrator before retiring in 2007. Our deepest condolences to this holy faith. 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. Thank you very [Music] evening with our student speaker from High School North, Mr. Jason Woods. I might go make sure it's on. >> There you go. >> How you doing, guys? I'm Jason. I'm just here to uh update you guys on some things going on in North. Um on August 26th, we welcomed our newest Lions to High School North as we held our freshman orientation. Assistant principal Russ Mus did a phenomenal job organizing this event and our
003civic leaders, band, and cheerleaders all helped to welcome the class of 2030. I'd like to congratulate Middletown School North's four commercial four commended national merit scholars, Dominic Nagel, Gary Albero, Mark Conway, and Monicia Chalismati. Back to school night took place on Monday, September 8th, and we hosted a co-curricular expo in the media center displaying our many clubs and activities. Our guidance department hosted a financial aid night webinar and expert Matt Muharn on Tuesday, September 18th. Additionally, several colleges and universities send representatives to our campus throughout the month. Our drum line our drum line was invited and participated in the let's beat breast cancer rally on se on Saturday September 20th in Redbank. Our varsity football team had recent victories over how and Marorrow. Our cheerleaders and North Nation have been great leaders of amazing school
004spirit. Our next home game is this Friday for a central regional and divisional matchup. Our cross our cross country program had a great start in their season opener. The night was highlighted by freshman Emily Truron and Cath and Katherine Zabraharov going third and fourth place in their first high school races. The senior girls also held an outstanding performance placing all four runners in the top 15. Those being Helena Zap third, Isabella Courtney 7th, Maisnney eighth, and Alandney 15th. The team fared well at both the Thompson Park and Bernie McGee Invitationals and also crushed the B North championships. Elena Zep became the fifth fastest alltime in school history at Homeell Park, running the 5K in only 20 minutes and 14 seconds. Congratulations to our varsity and JV girls volleyball teams on their wins over Shore Regional,
005Point Pleasant, and Long Branch. The varsity girls shut out Freeh Hill two to zero in their match and also won against Azer Park. They are currently they are currently on top of their division. Girls soccer has had big wins over Trinity Hall and RBR. They are now 6 and three. Our Lions Cub preschool starts on Monday, October 6th. Mrs. Tully and her students cannot wait to start the year in their new classroom. and our school can't wait to see our friends join us as the preschoolers really bring in the day of all in our school. Our week of respect will be recognized throughout the school from October 2nd to October 6th. Each day will feature a communitywide theme, purposeful announcements, and many lessons from Mrs. Black and our student assistant counselor. We are proud to
006have Robert Franic, editor and chief of Princeton Review, come to North on Thursday, October 8th from 6:30 to 7:30 with his finding best fit colleges seminar for collegebound 10th through 12th graders and their families. Mr. Frenic will be sharing his expert advice with regards to the college admissions process, focus on deciding factors when selecting a college, what colleges are really looking for in applicants, and the true cost of attending college, and much more. The PSAT will be administered to all 10th and 11th graders on October 16th. That is all guys. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> From high school south, Miss Jessica. >> Hi, I'm Jessica Serillo. Thank you for being given the opportunity to speak tonight. First, I'm going to start with the academic team at Middletown South. The Middletown South academic team will
007be entering for the first time ever in the 29th annual New Jersey school consumer hosted by the New Jersey Department of Consumer Affairs. Students Patrick Dmitri, Buddy McDonald, Lilyaw, Steven, and Brandon Park will be representing the club and school. The environmental club will be working in partnership with Clean Ocean Act um to help clean to help clean Ideal Beach October 18th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Middletown South Senior Council hosted a painted parking spot fundraiser and we raised over $3,700 during that that'll help offset senior class prom. Congratulations. Congratulations to Middletown South students be warners, Ella Crater, Chris Katis, and Hayden Alto. Three of their films were selected to be screened at this year's New Jersey school boards in Atlantic City on October 21st. The event will showcase our students work to over
0087,000 school officials throughout New Jersey and the screening is free. while it will also represent or it'll also have a red carpet boot. Congratulations to B War M Warerswalk Eleator and Ethan Castro. Two of their films received honorable mentions at the Princeton Student Film Festival over the summer. Their films were showcased alongside LO local, national, and international high school and college students work. South's back to school night was held on Thursday, September 25th and was well attended by parents. The South's girls cross country team won the North Divisional title. This is 12th straight year that they've won this championship which includes 79 consecutive dual meet wins. Wow. Congratulations to our lady. Senior Samantha Chano published her first book over the summer entitled On the Escape. It's a collection of short works and draws centered around
009lives of residents living in the same apartment building. Samantha, who took a college level creative writing class that broke down last spring, is co-editor of the Eagle Eye, South's creative student newspaper and an editor for subterranean south's literary magazine. Samantha has looked forward to editing or to publishing a book ever since she was in fifth grade at Nutswamp. You can buy her own copy of On the Escape on Amazon. Via Tanokco is a varsity girls soccer player and she broke the previous school record for career goals which was 63 and continues to exceed it each game. Congrats to Lastly, on behalf of the senior class, we would like to thank Mr. Alawson and the board members for allowing us to use Brash during open block during our lunch campus. We truly appreciate all of the
010effort that was put forth to make this privilege possible. >> Thank you, Jessica. >> Thank you. We're now going to turn the microphone over to Mr. Cullen to speak about the annual graduation report assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. >> Thank you to our amazing student speakers and thank you to our student board members. Excellent reaction. [Music] Just a minor technical glitch there. So, it was it was June 18th of 2025 where we gathered in both of our high school football stadiums and we honored the graduating class of 2025 with our band playing pomp and circumstance, our graduates in their caps and gowns and colored cords. Um, and they were there because they had met requirements as as outlined by the NJ DOE, the New Jersey Department of Education. Foremost were assessment scores and then
011secondly were their course credits. 100% of the 685 students between both of our high schools met the NJ DOE's graduation assessment scores for uh for graduation. So, congratulations to them um and certainly to our staff and to our families for the support that they provide. 99.7% of the 685 students in our class of 2025 met assessment scores and course credit requirements for graduation. In accordance with the NJ DOE, this evening I get to present to you on our graduation data. So this is a new requirement. So each year in September, I'll be presenting on the previous year's data. So certainly we look forward to next year's data as well. And there's certainly lots to celebrate here this evening. So our goal with this presentation is really three-fold. Number one, we're going to describe the three
012different pathways that our students can travel through in order to meet the NJ DOE's assessment requirements. Number two, we're going to speak generally, but specifically about the number of students that went through each of those pathways. And then number three, we're going to report out on the overall graduation numbers for the class of 2025. [Music] So pathway number one, many of us probably remember this as HESPA, right? We call it the NJ GPTA now or the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment. This is administered to all of our 11th grade students during the month of March. I apologize. If a student does not necessarily hit the target score as set by the NJ DOE for either ELA or math, that student is scheduled to take the NJ GPA again in his or her 12th grade year,
013and that's during the month of October. Students must attempt the NJ GPA in order to open up the other pathways for assessment graduation requirements. Our pathway number one performance data for the class of 2025 is as follows. 505 of our students achieved at or above the ELA target score. I apologize. And 381 of our students earned at or above the math target score. Graduation pathway number two is an alternative competency test. So for pathway number two, if a student does not necessarily meet the target score for the NJ GPA in either math or ELA, then there are other tests that could be used in its place. So, these include the PSAT, which all of our 10th and 11th grade students will be taking shortly here on our campuses, the SAT, the ACT, and finally the
014ACUPPLACER. Our pathway to performance data points for the class of 2025 are as follows. 120 of our students achieved at or above the ELA target score and 198 students achieved at or above the math target score. [Music] Graduation assessment pathway number three is the portfolio appeal. If a student does not necessarily meet the NJGPA target score for for ELA or math and likewise not on one of the alternative assessments, then there is an opportunity to submit a portfolio appeal to the New Jersey Department of Education. This is an authentic appeal where students will demonstrate proficiency in the standards related to those tests for math and for ELA. Our performance data for 2025 include two students submitting ELA portfolios and 16 students submitting math portfolios. All of our portfolios were approved by the state of New
015Jersey. And lastly, there are alternative requirements for graduation based upon special education needs. Okay. and the NJ DOA may formally approve these. Our data points pertain to alternative requirements for graduation as specified by an IEP for the class of 2025 are 58 students for ELA and 90 students for math. So this next slide is a one-stop shop for you. So, as you can see, if we look at the different pathways, if we just go down the ELA column, 505 of our students met the target score in the NJGPA for ELA. 120 of our students met the target scores in one of those alternative assessments. Two of our students um earned credit for their portfolio appeals for ELA. and 50 of our students have altered requirements as specified by the IEP for a grand total of
016685. Moving over to math, 381 of our students met those target scores on the NJGPA. 198 met the target scores on the alternative assessments, including PSAT, SAT, ACT, and the ACUPPLACER. 16 of our students submitted successful portfolio appeals to the NJ DOE. and 90 of our students had alternate requirements as specified by an IEP for a grand total of 685. It is important to note and we celebrate that zero students were denied graduation for not meeting assessment requirements here in Middletown. Two students did not meet overall graduation requirements. So, we had a total of 683 graduates for the class of 2025. In closing, we always use our performance results to evaluate curriculum effectiveness and adjust our instructional practices. We truly believe in a growth mindset. We're always trying to get better. We preach the power
017of yet. And so, we try to use these performance results in order to continually improve upon our current practices. Our assessment proficiency rates and our graduation rates undoubtedly supported us being recognized by the US News and World Report once again as best in schools and that is both High School North and High School South. Again, a testament to the community. I do recommend if you have an opportunity to visit our website. Uh there is a tab on the district website that will take you to the school profiles for both both north and south. Um it's pretty amazing the course offerings that we have here on our campuses between dual enrollment and advanced placement and the achievements of our students. So if you do have an opportunity, it speaks to the magnificent magnificence of our school
018and it certainly demonstrates our commitment to excellence. As always, we celebrate that excellence both in the community. Thank you parents. Thank you to our staff and certainly thank you to our students for always, as my students at North know, excellence, right? Doing your very best in every endeavor without exception. We talk about that regularly. And then the last one, we certainly look forward to pomp and circumstance in the stadiums next year when we celebrate our class of 2026 and I look forward to reporting out on their data next September. Thank you. [Applause] And now moving on to our community reports. We're going to start with curriculum and instruction. Mr. T. >> Thank you, Frank. Um I'll be brief tonight because Mr. Cullen's report and also some of Mr. Woods's updates about um some important dates
019covered a lot of what I wanted to cover, but um just to highlight just to reiterate what Mr. Woods said, the PSAT will be administered October 16th to all 10th and 11th graders. So that's obviously important for college prep, but also its eligibility um uh for distinguished national merit scholarships as well. Um and the only other thing I wanted to issue a reminder to everybody about the new um parent university, your learning library uh system is up and running on the curriculum and instruction tab of the district website beneath the parent university tab. That again is a is now a Google form link. It is available. Yeah, it's a Google form link that allows community members to submit their requests for the topics that they would like to be covered in the um sessions that
020the administration will put on to to inform you. So rather than the administration picking topics, we want to be more responsive to what people want. So I encourage people to go on there, fill out that form. If there are district related topics that you'd like more education on, more explanation of, more discussion of, uh please submit that. Um I'll yield my time. Thank you. >> Got it. Thank you, Mrs. Hope. Moving on to student services. Mrs. Right. >> Yes. So, apologies. I'm not feeling well, so hopefully my voice doesn't uh go out. So, we were able to look at the nursing services plan um that actually detailed all the care that was provided in each school for the 2024 25 academic year. And I have to say it was quite a lot. So, big thank
021you again to all of our student nurses in all of our schools that helped make it actually run very well. Um, right now, uh, the district is encouraging staff members to participate in various professional development workshops that are all related to inclusion. Um some of the offerings are allin for inclusion mindset and inclusion 101, allin for inclusive education and the related arts and then allin for inclusive education activity arts. And right now um we do have quite a few of the educators who are signing up for these really great workshops. So looking forward to hearing more about that, you know, as we begin the future. right now. Um, our consultative visits that are being done by AllIn have actually begun this week and it looks like they will be visiting uh three per school if
022I'm correct. Right. And they're actually going to be starting visiting the schools this week. >> Three visits per school. >> Okay. And the other thing that we did talk about and touched on, but there will be more to come on this is that each school in the district is now beginning to develop their buildingwide goals. This is something that is done every year. Uh there is usually a common theme and this year is delivering differentiated instruction. So looking forward to hearing more about that. >> Thank you. Right. Uh going over to financing facilities. This is Dory. >> Finance committee met on September 22nd. Uh we discussed the items that are on the agenda for voting this evening. Uh we have uh two transportation items on the agenda. Uh one being for uh regular ed special
023education routes and the other one for middle school athletic routes. We are happy to say all the middle school athletics are covered by this bid. So um that's good. Uh we also have a sponsorship proposal uh from Alliance Orthopedic. Uh the district has received a proposal from Alliance Orthopedics for the display of signage on the back of the of the new scoreboards at uh High School North and South stadiums. Uh the proposed revenue is $10,000 per year uh for five school years and anything the our policy is anything over $5,000 for a uh sponsorship proposal has to be approved by the board. So it's on the agenda this evening. Uh we also have a breakdown of our ESA funded salaries for this year's grant and we also have the renewal of Microsoft licenses for the
024district uh which we renew every year. We also talked about the free breakfast initiative uh and we looked at the first 15 breakfast service days so far this school year. the average breakfast uh meals that were served was 713 districtwide compared to last year's uh September's number of 167. So we've seen a good increase uh so far uh an increase of almost 550 average breakfast meals per day. So as we talked about uh with this initiative uh we are we have projected that if we could maintain you know around that 700 average uh over the course of the year that the projected revenue would uh allow us to bas basically be giving the it would fund the breakfast for the students that we're giving for free. So um the reimbursements that we get back would
025be exceeding the lower amount of paid revenue that we would get uh when we didn't have this initiative. So we have we're happy to say that so far that's proving to be uh successful. So we're going to keep monitoring that during the year. Uh we also talked about the district every year uh we are audited. We do a comprehensive uh annual financial report. We submitted to ASBO which is the national or actually it's an international association of business officials for a review of our peers and u looking at its uh completeness and uh the thoroughess of its disclosures and so forth. We we submitted for a certificate of excellence in financial reporting review. We're happy to say that uh we did earn that honor again for this year for the report ended June 30th, 2024.
026We've actually received this recognition for each of our audit reports since 2011. Uh so we've kept our street going. Uh the receipt of this award can be beneficial when the district's financial statements are being reviewed in relation to obtaining financing, selling bonds. you know, it's just an overall assurance that uh we are uh doing a good job disclosing all of our uh finances and there's a lot of good supporting information in there, too. So, you know, if anybody has free time, it's it's a good source of information. I also want to give credit to our assistant business administrator, Dia Valente, and Moren Casiano, our accountant. They work very hard with me on doing this report and coordinating the audit for the auditors. So uh we had no review comments this year from the ASPO committee
027which is very impressive because they are very thorough. So uh that was all for finance. We also have a facilities committee meeting on September 22nd. Uh we talked about some ongoing pro projects. Uh Mr. Nassau, our director of facilities, gave the committee an update on the Loftra annex renovations and went over some before and after pictures and, you know, we are getting uh closed on closer to completion. They're making good progress, so we're excited to, you know, see that come to fruition. Uh we also talked about uh the repairs that are needed on the high school north track. There's some warranty covered repairs on the cobalt area that are going to be done in the next few weeks. Uh we also talked about the maintenance on the high school south turf field and you know
028that we're monitoring that to make sure that uh we're managing the uh surface of that field. It is starting to age. We did talk about that with the committee. Uh we're going to have to be you know looking at over the next few years to see uh what you know what we can do to talk about eventually doing a replacement. But in the meantime, we are going to have to manage it with increased maintenance, you know, to maintain uh as we go for the next few years. And we also talked about the ongoing bleach repairs that were approved in this year's budget uh that are being done to the outdoor stadiums. And that's it. >> Be great. >> Thank you, Mr. Dy. Okay. Now, before public comment, I'm going to turn the microphone over to
029Mr. Duck, who is here in Mr. Burns absence um his partner uh just make a couple comments. >> Good evening. My name is Ryan Duff. I'm a law firm of partner Duff at the beginning of the baseball playoffs. I'm pinch hitting for my partner Bill Burns tonight. So, um thank you for having me here. Right before public um comment, I I thought it'd be a nice opportunity. We do have some some um guidelines in in the agenda, but I thought it would be helpful for everybody just to to to recall and recognize that the board itself recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves particularly on school matters of community interest. The board itself uses the public comment periods as an
030opportunity to listen to the concerns raised by by citizens or comments or inquiries and and ultimately deliberate upon them. Not necessarily to debate them at that very moment or to engage in a question and answer uh type of session between the public or any specific individual members of the board or administration members. In order to permit the fair and the orderly expression of such comment, the board shall provide for public comment at every public meeting. And this board actually does it twice during their meetings. And I I can tell you that from other other districts uh that we've served over the years, not not all of them do. Uh, pursuant to New Jersey law, nothing under New Jerseys law shall be construed to limit the discretion of a public body to permit, prohibit, or regulate
031the active participation of discourse by the public body during a meeting. subject only to the municipal governing body or board of education being required to set aside time at each and every meeting for the public to to address the body itself. The board of education does permit two public comment periods during the directly scheduled meeting. The first we're about to have which is the first period and that is to address agenda items. comments or questions at this first public comment period shall be limited to the questions or topics that are on the agenda. Each speaker, as indicated in in the agenda that's published uh with the notice, gets three minutes to speak uh on on a topic of choice. The first public comment period lasts for a duration of 30 minutes and there's additional agenda
032items and then we'll have a second public comment uh period that's typically toward the end of the meeting and members of the public during that period can make comments regarding any school district meeting uh any school district matter during this period and again any individual who chooses to speak during that time will have 3 minutes and again that will have a total duration for public comment of 30 minutes. Uh public participation shall be governed by the following rules. Uh come up to the the uh podium. Please address uh the president uh with with your uh of interest, inquiry or concern, announce your name, place of re resident. If you're a member of the group, please feel free to let us know. Everybody gets to talk once during during their public period time. All statements we
033ask should simply be directed to the president. he will kind of govern the the eb and flow of the public comment uh period. Under New Jersey law, the board and the president specifically does have have the the right uh simply to interrupt or or terminate individual speaking if if it becomes abusive or obscene. Um they they have other rights that are available by the board does and the president uh should people kind of lose cited the quorum in a public setting. uh the speakers to simply address from the podium. And again, just a reminder that the board does use the comment periods as an opportunity to listen to to the inquiries that are raised during those periods. They deliberate on it typically under various committee meetings and the like and if there if there's information
034that needs to be reported back out, it's placed on the agenda and will will be addressed at future meetings. Uh the board respectfully does request that that speakers uh expect and understand that the board refrain from engaging in dialogue and back and forth um with any one particular speaker on a given topic except to the extent necessary merely to to to clarify comment or that's being made. Again, public comment is at the podium and only one at a time. Just basic, you know, civil decorum and again both the the board and and the members of the public themselves are are asked respectfully just to maintain proper decorum at all times. Make their comments in civil matters so that there could be discourse, civil discourse on any of the topics raised. Having said that, Mr. President,
035you certainly can move on to the public uh comment. >> Thank you, Mr. Moving on to public comment on gender items only. for extending comment. Please state your name and address of the record and you have 3 minutes resident. I want to address uh the ESA grant that is on the agenda on pages six and seven. Apparently a survey went out. It was only put on the website. It was not sent out via email to all parents in the town so that everyone could participate in the survey. Sent an email to the superintendent said, "Hey, is this a district-wide email? is a district-wide email going to be sent out informing stakeholders about this survey. And the response that I got was, "This has been a survey we have run for as long as I've been
036here, which is the better part of 10 years. We have always disseminated this survey via link on our website, just as we did this year." So, I'm curious. I went back to my emails. Well, an email went out May 11th, 2020. Here's the survey link for the ESA grant. May 3rd, 2021, April 7th, 2022. A followup on April 28th, 2022, and then again on March 23rd, 2023. Why are we not emailing the community and stakeholders about the survey? It makes it look like the board, the district doesn't care to get actual input, and you're just going through the paces of sending out the survey via a link on the website. How is the public supposed to know about it? No one's looking at the website for the most part. The thought that this is the
037way we've always done it obviously doesn't work. We need to change this. We need to communicate with the community. And then briefly on the topic of the bill boards, there should be discussion about the amount $10,000 and the uh duration of the the the contract for 5 years. Now I purchased billboards for my business. They're very expensive, right? So 3month period, I mean, you're talking lots and lots and lots of money with lots of zeros. So $10,000, I don't know that that's enough. Obviously that's for the board insight but there should be discussion about that and some long thought long uh thought long hard thoughts about that. Thank you. >> Thank you sir. [Applause] >> Uh good evening. My name is Ashley S. I'm a resident of Middletown. Uh item six, the committee updates. There
038was no shared services update. Does that mean they have not met? You don't have to answer. Leave it there in case you want. Okay. Uh for me, uh item 12D, uh the bills list. Uh I thought it was a really large bill for Atlantic tomorrow's office for copies for 48,000. I know I'm on you probably don't know. Um, but I just thought so I to thank you. [Applause] >> Hi, Erin Torres, Middletown Res. Mr. Burns, can I ask you a clarifying question about public comment? >> Sure. Yeah, I'm Bri I'm Brian. >> Hi. Nice to meet you. >> Um, oh, I'm sorry. I my >> um >> in the past when we've had public comment if there's something that can be answered quickly it usually was if it was a yes or no answer is
039the board not giving those answers anymore. >> The board the board certainly is free to to do so if there's something that that could be answered quickly. It's more of a policy thing that that involves deliberation but that I think that's where the guidelines more more. >> Okay. So somebody asked about if the committee had met, would that be a quick yes or no that you think they should answer? [Music] >> Maybe they would have spoke about and it would have been pulled out on the agenda, >> right? No, I know I'm specifically asking about the public comment part like cuz you said that these are guidelines that have always been in place, but in every meeting that I've been to in the past year, there has been quick yes or no answers until tonight.
040So, I was curious if that was something that could be answered quickly or not. >> Like I said, it's on the agenda item. If you have any questions, you go to the agenda that will show what meetings meant for that month. >> But I believe shared services never was never on the board's agenda. Correct. >> So shared services never meets. >> That's correct. >> Never meets hasn't met this month. >> But has it's never been on the actual board's agenda when shared services has met as a report. >> Anything else? Any other questions? >> That was my question. >> Okay. Any other comments? >> Yes. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. Would take a public comment on agenda item. >> Uh good evening. Thank you all for your time. I'm happy to be here. Um
041>> your name Middletown. Um I think it's agenda item 12. I thought it was me, but it was the secretary's report. Um specifically as related to the proform balance sheet, I was looking for a line item on replenishment of capital reserves. Um, I saw there was a change that would set $150, but I know that last year's budget was contingent on replenishment of that. I was wondering when we'll see that in your account. >> I haven't right now, but we can get back to you then. Appreciate [Music] seeing no more public comments. So, I wish to close public comments and move on to a proclamation. This month is Alpha Delta Kappa Month. Now, therefore, the Middletown Township Board of Education proclaims October 2025 as Al Alpha Delta Kappa Month in Middletown, New Jersey and congratulates
042the organization on its 78th anniversary. Moving on to reports, I'm going to turn the microphone over to Dr. Alto. >> Uh, thank you everyone. Um, first I just want to thank everyone for a fantastic opening to our new school year. I can't believe we're at the last day of September already. The month flew by. Um, by now it seems that everyone has settled in and the school year is well underway. I want to thank the staff for an extremely smooth opening. Um, it it's quite a lick to get 16 buildings off the ground and certainly all of our staff members play a really critical role in having that happen successfully. Um, and we're looking forward to um the rest of the year being a great one. Um, our champions before and afterare program is also
043off to a strong start. Our enrollment across the 11 elementary schools has significantly increased from last year. Several several of our schools did have waiting lists and the waiting lists were actually composed of individuals who registered either right as school began or after the school year had already started. Um, we have consulted with champions and they've assured us that all the weight lists will be cleared in a timely manner as they onboard additional staff. but they certainly staffed originally to meet the enrollment need um of the summer registrants and they'll certainly um work to get those weight lists cleared and they maintain that 1:15 staff to student ratio. Um in my September community update I shared an interest form for anyone who would be interested in potentially serving in the newly formed superintendent council. There
044will be an elementary council and a secondary council. We just find that sometimes the issues and the situations and the discussions are different dependent on on the level. So forming two councils we felt was you know appropriate. Um the council will consist of parents, guardians, administrators, teachers and students. Each building will have one parent and one student representative. These councils will meet four times per year to discuss relevant topics in the district and the topics for discussion will be generated collaboratively by members of the council. Um, this is very similar to how we facilitated our stakeholder engagement sessions last year, which were really successful. Um, in the next week or so, I'll be sending out emails to those individuals who in consultation with the building administrators have been asked to serve on the council. Um,
045we'll discuss the parent representative as well as the student representative. And our goal on the council is to have positive and productive conversations aimed at making our district the best it can be. Um, we are still awaiting the results on the boundary analysis and building utilization study being completed. Once we receive that information, it will be reviewed by the administrative team and then the board of education. It will then be presented to the public by Haber and Associates. No date has been set yet for this to occur. Um, the district and the Middletown Alliance are partnering to hold a youth wellness event. That event will take place Thursday, October 16th from 6:00 to 7:30 here. actually in this room. Um the event will host local agencies that can support our students mental wellness during the
046school year. Um we have just received uh word from the NJ DOE that all districts will be required to participate in the new field test for the adaptive NJSLA and adaptive NJ GPA which was one of the graduation requirements that Mr. Cullen spoke about. Um that test the adaptive version will be administered in the spring. However, all districts are required to sit for the field test. Um, all students in grades 4 through 10 will be required to take the NJSLA field test and all students in 11th and 12th grades will be required to take the NJGPA. The district field test dates will be November 3rd and 5th. It's that broken up week because of teachers convention where we have election day on that Tuesday and students are not in school. Um, as a reminder, score
047I put this in my update as well. school reports will not be provided to the to the district or to parents showing student results. Um I was just on a training actually this afternoon. The point of it is to um ensure validity and reliability in the test items and actually this test is not adaptive at all. It's not adaptive so they can field test the questions so that the spring assessment can be adaptive. Um, students taking this test will be exposed to standards that are one grade level below where they are. So, fourth graders will be exposed to third grade standards. So, that way they're familiar with the information. The benefit for us um is that it does give our students time to adjust to the new platform. Our teachers time to do a dry
048run um and certainly get ready for the change in the platform um to Cambia in the spring. So, um, but I just didn't want parents to think they were going to get a school report because we won't see those either. It's not measuring student performance. Um, lastly, I just want to take a moment and welcome and thank our two new student speakers. Excellent job tonight. So, thank you guys for coming. And also, I want to welcome our two um two new student board of education representatives, Rashi and Jillian. Thank you. We hope you have a great experience and we certainly appreciate you guys dedicating your time and I'm sure what your what are your busy lives to come and attend our board meeting. So, thank you. >> That's it. >> Very good, Dr. Alone. Thank
049you. Okay, moving on to approval of meeting minutes and a motion to approve 10 A and B. >> So, second >> discussion. All in favor? >> I oppose. Absent. I'm going to abstain because I was absent for that. >> I'm going to abstain as well. >> Need a motion. >> Motion to approve 11 board of education consent agenda. A >> move second. >> Discussion. All in favor? >> I >> oppose. Abstensions. Motion to approve 12A through I. So moved second >> discussion. >> All in favor? >> Yeah. Can we talk about the um scoreboard cont? >> How did we come up with that amount? $10,000. [Music] >> Amy, you want to speak to that? I don't know how you >> the advertising company or >> Yes. that the sponsorship promoter that the board has engaged
050with is the one who goes out and solicits deals on our behalf uh based on you know market rates for you know similar type uh displays and so he is the one that brought that to the board to approve at that rate >> and why are we paying for their setup fees for >> we are only contributing toward this is the first time we're putting signage on the back of the of the scoreboards so we are contributing toward the frame that it will go in that will remain our property. So if we get another advertiser in the future, then we won't know that's a onetime cost and we would be able to just have them place. They pay for the signage, they pay for what goes into the frame. We're just paying for we're contributing
051toward the frame. We're not paying the whole cost of the sign. And then like I said, we'll have that to reuse, you know, as we go forward. Motion to approve. I think the motion's already out there. Uh >> there a second. >> Second. Okay. >> Um all in favor? >> I oppose. >> I'm opposed on Mr. Feda's bills on the bill list. >> You have a number there or a letter or >> list is the bill. I >> Okay. [Music] >> Need a motion to approve A >> through F. Uh, actually A through G. >> So >> 1 through 20 on that list. >> So moved. Second >> discussion. 22. I'm sorry. 1 through 22. >> Again discussion. All in favor? I >> I opposed extensions. >> You got any? >> And now moving to
052old business. Does any board member have any old business they'd like to discuss? >> Yes, I wanted to us that open to discuss it on how we um celebrate the student success. We went back to two times last year. I don't know. It's just my opinion that when the kids are achieving these goals, we should be celebrating them as they do that, not four months later. Kind of old news by then. Is there any consideration that we could go back to doing it, you know, as we have recognition for students so we don't have to wait? We did it purposely that way because we were not getting good attendance and we were competing with so many other things on a month-to-month basis and we actually got extremely we got a lot of positive feedback last
053year >> from parents about the events. >> I just feel that and I I also heard from parents too. It's just like it's old news by the time we get to them and if we could do it when it's happening it might be a better experience. Anyone else? Any old business? >> Moving to new business. Does anyone have any new business? >> Um, by law, the superintendent must be evaluated by the board every year. That evaluation is required to be submitted by June 30th. That deadline has come and gone and it still hasn't been done and this is a serious lapse and our responsibility as a board and it's our duty to correct it. So therefore, I uh would like to make a motion that the board of education schedule and complete the superintendent's evaluation
054in compliance with NJSA18A col 17-20.3 to be finalized no later than our next regular schedule. >> Absolutely. I think everybody has it. So if you'd like to fill it out, fill it out, get it back. >> Okay. So everybody has it. So fill it out before the next meeting. Send me everybody's comments. and uh analysis. Okay. >> It's been a while, so maybe you want to resend it. >> I can resend it if you like. >> Information. >> Yeah, sure. >> And just for everybody's information, prior to June 30th, I sent the entire board evidence. >> Yes, that's >> because it's evidentiary >> with this survey. Yes, we sent out >> and people didn't respond. >> No, it got cancelled. It got cancelled. But did anybody respond before it got cancelled? >> No, no respond.
055Any other new business or anybody? >> I have another item. Um, I also move that the board of education direct the administration to compile a comprehensive list of all properties owned or leased by the board of education, including but not limited to the schools, administrative buildings, athletic fields, vacant properties, and other facilities. And this list should be made publicly available on the district website for ease of access and transparency to the community. [Applause] We do have a report of all of our vacant properties um that we had that done a a few years ago and it's the ones that are not occupied by Athletic Field. So, we we have our schools and our campuses, but then we do have a list of the other properties that aren't occupied by that. We already have that. So,
056>> where where is that available? We have we have a report. I know we we went over >> asking for be available on the website for the public to be able to access easily public access already. >> We don't have it posted on the website. No, it was shared with the facilities committee and the board when when it was done. >> So we do have that public access. That's fine. >> Any other I have one other item. Um, look, our board meeting should be access accessible to both the public in person and online. And right now, um, we're meeting in a small room that can't accommodate our community sometimes, and the live stream, audio, and video are poor. We can all agree to that. And that limits transparency. So, I am moving that the board
057of education direct the administration to one evaluate and recommend relocating our regular public meetings to the auditorium or another appropriately sized venue and two research and present within 60 days options and cost for improving the video and audio quality of our live streams of board meetings so that the public has appropriate access because there's times when we can go back and watch it and miss parts of the meeting and I think we've experienced that oursel here. So I make that motion. >> I'll second it. But I'll also um in our next technology we come right up and we have technology called >> I I have I have some new business. I just want to um thank our custodians, our teachers, our administrators as going to back to school nights. I didn't get to all them.
058climb us on vacation in a couple days. But the ones I went to, our buildings look great. And our teachers had the classrooms, they looked tremendous. So, they're so bright and cheery in a lot of the buildings. You know, you want to sit down and learn with the kids. All the exciting things that they talked about at back to school night, popping in out of different classes was exciting. And it's the best time really to get out in the public because everybody's happy at back to schools and you really get to see what it is that we're working so hard on, what our teachers work so hard on, our administrators and everybody. So I just want to thank everybody for that because I think it was great. Um I did when I was there talk
059to people about the breakfast program and um some of the numbers are really jumping, some of them were low. So I still think that we should advertise a little bit. you know, maybe promoted in some of the schools so that we get even more. I mean, I think the numbers were good, but in some they were really low and everybody felt maybe because it was announced at the end of the summer, people were busy. They weren't paying attention. But I'm sure by now they're catching on that kids are getting free lunch. But I don't think we should give up with the advertising of it and think we need to uh push it a little bit further. and um Ch. >> Yeah, >> I do know that High School South and Matwa in their newsletter, they
060do advertise that, >> right? >> So, that's good. >> But not everybody is. So, >> yeah. So, I think we do a districtwide thing because I did I did talk to someone at Nutswalk about it, too. And um everybody was excited. I think the offerings are good. I think the offerings in the high school are good. I think once more high school kids get that idea, maybe they'll get there a bit earlier and have a nice hot breakfast because the offerings really are good. So, um I was glad to see that and um I just hope everybody has a great school year because it looks like there's a lot of positive things going on in our schools. Very good. All righty, we're going to move on from the new business and go to public comment
061on non-aggender items. Please make a comment. Please state your name and address the address of the record. Hello, my name is Melissa Callo and before I start, I would like to say hello to all of the board members from uh board president Capone, board vice president Jacqueline Tobacco, Leonora Leonora Camiti, Joan Minz, Katarina Scalasi, Gary Tol, Deborah Wright, lastly, Joseph Fitzgerald and Mark Sakarowski. Um, I think that something that has become very lost on this board and this town is that we can't just be a political because none of this is apolitical. You have all chosen political sides and some of you are more vocal about them than others. But we can all see, we can all read, we have Twitter. But there are other issues here like the fact that every time something happens,
062you say, "Oh, well, they dropped the ball back then. They dropped the ball here." And none of you seem to be able to say, "Okay, well then we're going to pick it up and do better." You talk about closing schools. You talk about consolidation. And then you go around and you say, "Oh, look how great we're doing. Look how smart these kids are." If you want them to remain smart, remain intelligent, ask questions, be curious, then you can't just keep on cutting stuff and making things smaller. It's just going to make things worse. It's going to increase crime rates. It's going to lower education. And it's getting to be ridiculous. And also I would like to say that this isn't a situation where you're going out for politicking. This isn't to shake hands, kiss babies,
063and it's also not for people to who are on this board to step towards somebody and intimidate them. I really really appreciated Miss Minz's words and I think that not enough of you have and I also will uh give regard to Miss Jessone. I personally think that you're getting railroad and thrown under the bus for the mistakes of very specific people and I truly apologize to you for that. But from now on, we need to stop acting like this isn't about politics. This is politics. It's always gonna be politics. >> Just direct your comments to me. I'm sorry. You have 10 seconds if you can just wrap up. Thank you. >> All right, then. Let's see. Last names mean something. Anybody remember last name? Capone. Last name tobacco. >> I rest my case. >> Have
064a good night, boys. >> You, too. Thank you. Would anybody else wish to make a public comment? Good evening, Mr. Good evening. Yeah, I guess it is. Good evening, Mr. P. I'm Bernie Daws. I live in Middletown. I got three students in Middletown schools. Um, if you haven't already, I encourage you to review the uh, Middletown Planning Board uh, master plan and all the redevelopment plans that are um, floating around from Campbell's junction to the Route 36 corridor. Uh, what's going on at Belelfford and it's going over by exit 109. So, the the the master plan draft came out on the 18th. I had a chance to read it today. I think what's most noteworthy is that it's forecasting another 1,000 residential units to come online soon. That's in the pipeline. That's approved, pending, or
065under construction. Right. So, um, multi- family development is going to bring families and students. Um I know sometimes that's a little bit dismissed like single family homes are really where you know student populations are driven from but I think if you ran a back the envelope um simp like demographics just on Atlantic Point which used to be the Thousand Oaks over in the Nap section you'll find that they push a lot of students into the school system and those are apartments. So, as we add apartments, a thousand of them, in the next 5 years, um I think we're going to boost up our our our student enrollment, which is trending up. So, you know, I I don't want to dismiss that student enrollment over the last decade has gone down. It has, but over the
066last 5 years, elementary enrollment has increased. And I believe it increased again this year. You haven't I haven't seen any published data yet, but anecdotally, it's up for probably the fourth or fifth year in a row. So, I need that to be monitored, you know, in coordination with the Ross Haber demographic and I want you to be aware, and this is for the administrators and for the parents, pilot programs. This doesn't have to be a yes or no. Just nod your head if you know what a pilot is. Okay, good. So, payment and little taxes is basically going to steal revenue from you folks, right? You're not going to have money for teachers. And Deb, I think you're in the Belfford area, just not okay. So that PSCG property that's been an eyesore next to
067Kinderare, it's got to get redeveloped. Nobody's going to argue that, right? Except for maybe the neighbors that live adjacent to it that are fine with it or whatever. But that's pushing revenue into the schools currently and sending no students that could possibly get redeveloped into 10, 20 apartments and then not send money into the school district, but send children. Now multiply that down. Each property on Highway 36, everything in Campbell Junction, and everything that they're labeling as mixed use is a euphemism for multif family. >> I have to cut you off 10 more seconds. >> All right. So, the master plan suggests that you monitor this as they come online. I suggest you get out in front of it. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Erin Torres, Middletown Mr. Duff, I have another clarifying question. Um,
068there were a number of motions that were made and seconded but weren't voted on. Is that going to happen after public comment or does that happen while motions are made? >> Secretary, were there any >> The only motion that I recorded was on the superintendent evaluation. The items that Mr. Sarowski talked about new business. Uh there they weren't motions, but they were new business and directives for the administration which the board wouldn't need to vote on. You know, we can certainly carry that out. >> Okay. It was just last question. Thank you. >> Right. >> I took the technology. >> Got it. Thank you. Thank you. >> No other comments. There you go. Good evening, Kristen Rooney, Middletown, New Jersey. Um, I guess through our research, we've learned that um, all the committees that you
069all sit on, um, for the most part keep minutes. Um, it's just surprising to us that it seems that shared services is the only committee that doesn't seem to have meeting minutes recorded from June of 2024 through August of 2025. And I guess we confirmed tonight that there hasn't been a shared services meeting because it wasn't on any agenda in any recent meeting. Um we know the meetings are happening because we've heard references to them especially um in one of the AP April meetings when we talked about the mayor offer offering to pay half the class 3 officers and buy a piece of land. Um so we know these meetings are happening. Um and so to us it seems like it's an important committee as it faces the township. Um, and in light of what
070Mr. Doss just said about all the development that's going on and the potential um, loss of the school due to pilot programs, it just seems to the public that minutes might be nice and more frequent meetings of a committee like that that has such a big impact on what we're doing here. Thank you. [Applause] Again, [Applause] [Music] Scott McFersonson, uh, Middletown President. Uh, at one of the past recent board meetings, uh, Miss Dardy had spoken about the long range, uh, facility plans and that it was being discussed and I believe that it was supposed to be reviewed sometime in around about April of this year. It's more than 5 years old at this point. So, it'd be good for the public to know what's going on with the long range facility plans, where we're at
071with it, where are we with it in the uh renewal uh process. And then briefly touching back on the ESA survey, one thing I forgot to point out was the responses and and why I brought up this point of it should have been sent out to the parents via email. We're communicating a community newsletter every month. We're communicating other information throughout the district through an email. People are using their emails all the time to communicate this is something that should have been sent through an email. There was 464 responses. We have 9,000 students in this district. Okay. So using 9,000 students, 464 out 5.1%. And look, I know that there's there's siblings in the district. So there's less families than 9,000. But still, it should have been pushed out. And one of the interesting things
072and I don't know if it's just the way it's recorded but the participation from board of education members was zero. Now I don't know I know some of you have students in the district. I don't know if you put yourself as a parent or if there was even an option for board of education or I don't remember uh when I filled out the survey but if zero board members filled out the survey because you didn't know about it. That's really really a big issue in this district. is about sharing information and letting the public know what's going on. [Applause] >> Hi, uh Jeffer again, Middletown. I just wanted to bring up the the Habber study. I was under the impression the results were going to be released in September. Uh now, I don't think there's
073a specific date. Uh but if it's finished and the results are available to me to be made public, I think public would benefit from those coming out sooner than later, particularly as it pertains to the election, um I think the public would benefit uh because it has implications on strategic planning. Uh the public would benefit uh understanding how all the board of education candidates um feel about strategic planning particularly with regards to study. Thanks. Thank you. [Applause] public comment. >> Hi, Katie Little Paige, Middletown. Is um this video that's on YouTube, is this on the Middletown Township Public School website? >> It was not as of this evening, but we've asked the IT department to turn it on. Have are any of the YouTube videos from the last year on the Middletown Township public school
074website? I I haven't seen them there, but I've seen ones in years past. I just haven't seen I'm just curious as to why there are uh recording video recordings of these meetings on the Middletown Township Public School website in years past, but not this any from this year. Why is that? I can't answer your question because I don't know if it's there or if it's not, but we'll check it and we'll get back to you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> It's not put on. I can deal with it. >> Okay. Would anybody else wish to make a public comment? [Music] Emily Don res. Um, tonight I was actually voted on, but I didn't want to talk before. Um, I noticed on the transfer for funds, um, insurance seemed to go up quite a lot. Um,
075bigger than the budget was projecting. So, I think it was about 121,000 went over into transfers for insurance. I think we have talked a lot about insurance when we talk about closing schools and how you know teachers were really expensive and insurance was really expensive. Um and insurance doesn't seem to be working in our favor sometimes. So I guess my question is just what are we doing to ensure the fact that the benefits are actually affordable with being self-funded as I do think they've gone up quite a few million every year. So I'm just going to implore you to actually look into benefits. make sure the fact that you are being creative in how you are shaping your benefits. Um, just because we cannot continue to see an increase in benefits the way we have
076and so I just want to make a note the fact that you should be doing everything in your power to make sure that for transferring funds there should be a great explanation behind it. Thank you. [Applause] >> Anyone else need to make a public comment? >> You can only come up once. I'm sorry. >> Unrelated to my last comment. Yeah, >> you can't. Only once. >> Okay. Sorry. And we only have two minutes left for the half hour. So, does anybody else wish to make a public comment for two minutes? >> Let's give a chance to tell another >> I wish to close public comment >> and all. [Music] >> Is anybody else making a comment? First thing, you want to do two minutes >> real quick. Got it. Two minutes. We only >> something
077that I had thought about and I could probably email you too, but um I know we had talked like several times in the last meetings when the meetings go over and we're waiting and we know that there's things you have to talk about that you can't talk about in front of us. So I think a few parents have called around to a lot of other towns and it seems that there are ways to have meetings at a certain time where the public comment part or the public meeting part is at a set time so that people who have babysitters and are trying to get here at 7:30 can come to the meeting and then either the board meeting is before or the board meeting is after or the board meeting starts at the beginning pauses
078and then finishes. So, I know you were going to take that away and think about it, but just something to think about. Some of the other like larger towns are doing it, so I think it's probably something we can consider. Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> And I wish to make a motion to adjourn the meeting. So moved to second. >> All in favor? I oppose. Abstent. Have a great night everyone.