001one. Good evening everyone. Adequate notice of this meeting was provided by sending such notice to the Adbury Park Press, the Middletown Patch, and the Middletown Public School District website and the posting of such notice at the Augustus T minor administrative offices at each elementary, middle, and secondary school in district. Roll call. Mrs. Mrs. Camdi here. Mr. Fitzgerald here. Mrs. Minuise here. Mrs. Scolanski here. Mr. Saparowski here. Mr. Tull here. Mrs. Wright here. Mrs. Tobacco. Mr. Capone here. I need now need a motion for HIV personnel matters and settlement agreements. All in favor? I oppose. Absention. See there. one. Good evening everyone. Please stand for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice
002for all. Okay, we're going to start tonight with our high school North speaker, Paige P. Hi, my name is Paige Payton and I'm a junior at Middletown High School North. Prayers and proposals were submitted for Leah Holt, 9th grade, Zena Colberg, 10th grade, Isaac Corkan, 11th grade, Brendan Costello, 11th grade, Chase Valentine, 11th grade, Shane Moore, 11th grade, Thomas Laoren, 11th grade, Kate Madonna, 11th grade, Janelle Samson, 12th grade, and Ethan Kinch 12th grade. The North Theater program received six Tracy Award nominations, including Riley Higgins for best supporting actress in Little Women, Molly Barton for best leading actress in Little Women, best chorus in a musical for Pippen, Molly Barton for best supporting actress in Pippen, and Coen Caruso for best leading actor in Pippen. Come on, come cheer on our North Performing Arts program
003at the Bases Awards on Wednesday, May 21st at the Count Basy Theater in Redbank. DECA competitors Santiago Bergus placed in the top 10 in finance at the international competition in Orlando, Florida with over 250 students competing from the United States, Canada, China, and several other countries. This proved to be a fantastic achievement. Santiago was an excellent ambassador for Middletown in New Jersey overall this year. On May 1st, Nor celebrated decision day for the class of 2025. Seniors were encouraged to wear their post-secary, college, university, trade school, military, or workforce attire and took photos in the courtyard. Italian Honor Society members had their kicking board celebration on May 1st. Miltown High School North and our music programs hosted the Music of the Parks Festival this month. Congratulations to Maline Boyce for becoming only the 26th Pitcher
004in the history of New Jersey High School softball to record a thousand strikeouts in a career. She did this in North one 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 1 10 one 10 one 10 one 10 one 10 one 10 one 10 one 10 one 10 one 10 one win of mount squad. Maline finished the game with 18. Varsity boys tennis won 4-1 over Central Regional on April 30th. Patrick found secured the first win by winning his match at first single 606. Next match she had the win was Jason Mcllori at third singles with a 6260 score and Daniel Cunningham and Thomas Sherlock clinched a win at first doubles with a 6136 108 score. Deciding the match, Matteo Corro confirmed the 4-1 score
005at second singles with a 7562 score. The boys tennis team won the first round of the short conference tournament against Jackson Memorial. Daniel Cunningham and Thomas Sherlock secured the first win with a 6061 score at first doubles. At first, Patrick Fonista brought in the second win with a 6062 score. And confirming the team win was second doubles pair Matt Conte and W Boley with a 6226 1311 score. Jason McLarry scored the 4-1 score with a score of 166410. This past weekend the team competed in Mammoth County tournament where boys tennis players throughout the county competed to win their bracket. Patrick Bacquisa competing in the first singles bracket came out of the tournament victorious by winning third place for first singles. Patrick won his first match 606 and surpassed both the fourth seed and the third
006seed in the bracket with scores of 6363 and 6161 consecutively. The freshman and sophomore members of the North Ball team had an impressive showing at the Lacy Line JP Classic tournament, finishing in third overall. Freshman John Everick took home the individual tournament title with a score of 78, followed up by Alex Chonas with a score of 81, Rob Sutton with a score of 87, and Chuck Beman with an 89. Senior Greg Bjon put an exclamation point on his outstanding golf season by shooting a score of 82 at the state sectional tournament. His was the best individual season by middle Middletown North Golfer in recent history. The girls golf team closed out their season in a quad match against SJV, Middletown South, and Freehold Burrow. They beat all three teams with the lowest score of 195.
007Paige Payton led the lines with the low score of 44. Evelyn Stern helped secure the victories with a 47 and Reese Janowski earned. The track program performed well at the Mama County Relay Championships. The night was highlighted by three school records plus the girls team girls team won third place overall. The three school records broken were girls distance medaly 1252.54 first place Isabella Courtney Sam Via Zoidski and Helen Helina Chef girls pole relay 17 ft. Third place, Cameron Uncle and Olivia Panzino and girls discus 207t 2 in third place through 991 and Ava Gonzalez through 973. The draft program also had a great showing at the state sectional tournament over this weekend. The team had numerous medal winners moving on to the group group state championship in two weeks. Girls 4x8 relay achieved second place
008with Mia Zy, Avlyn, Isabelle Courtney, and Helena Chef. Austin the 100 hurdle Chelsea Baxter placed fifth colon uncle fifth 800 Helina chef sixth long jump Francesca Denuzo six high jump Anna frozen Sydney Laoski six shot Brian Novak fourth chop Haley Rodola six triple jump Chelsea backer fifth and discus and for discus lily cycler sixth Miltown North is starting a unified kickball team for the 2025 2026 spring season unified sports brings together both neurotypical and neurody diverent students to participate in authentic authentic athletic events. This year we are kicking off a new team by challenging Middletown South to a unified kickball game on May 29th at 400 p.m. The spring band concert is May 29th at 7 p.m. and the spring coral concert coral concert is Wednesday, June 4th at 7 p.m. All are welcome. The
009National Honor Society induction ceremony will take place Monday, June 6th at 6 p.m. with the rain of June 17th. Thank you. Thank you. I don't see Sophia Castone here yet, so we'll head back to her if she's come. We're going to now go to our presentation with Dr. Young on HIV grades and SSDs period one comparison. Good evening. Good evening. I'm Me Young, district director, student support services. I'll be presenting on the student safety data system and the HIV grants for spring 2025. So SSDs uh we are required to report out on twice a year. The spring presentation is on reporting period 1, which is the period from September 1st, 2024 to December 31st, 2024. You can see listed here the incidents that we're incident types that we're required to report out on. And for
010comparison in the columns you can see this same reporting period from last year compared to the reporting period for this year. Next are the HIV grades. So in the fall each school's um school safety and climate team meets and assesses the does a self assessment on the school's HIV grade according to a rubric provided by the state. Those self- assessment grades are then submitted to the state for verification um and they come back as our HIP grades for um the spring. So you can see each respective school's grades listed here and the district grade is listed at the bottom. It is important to note that the highest possible grade on the rubric is a score of 78. That's it. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Young. [Music] We're now going to start with our committee reports,
011curriculum and instruction. Mr. P. Yes. Thank you. We met on uh last Thursday the 14th. Um few highlights for the uh for the report. Um first, I just want to thank Dr. Carrian, Dr. Cook, and Mr. Kushner um who gave us uh very detailed summaries of the various curricula that were up for revision going into next year. Just so everyone understands whether it's because uh updated state standards come out or a particular area hasn't been revised in is it 5 years or a 5year cycle there's sort of an organized way to revisit and update curricula. Um so they uh I was going to say briefed us but it wasn't brief. was very detailed, very thorough on all the updates and changes in in uh uh you know instruction and some of the resources and all
012those things for the various areas. So that was very much appreciated and very uh good discussion. Um, also just a announcement over the course of the next month or so, probably sometime in June, there'll be a um launching of the summer learning resources website on the on the district's website that'll include information such as summer reading for all the different grade levels, uh, AP advanced placement uh, advantage assignments and um, other resources to promote uh, you know, not falling too far behind over the summer for anybody who's uh, interested and and uh, able to take advantage of that. Um and then we we continue to talk about the K to5 math pilot uh math program pilots. Um the ad administration has evaluated a number of different program options and narrowed it down to the two
013that they've proposed to pilot in the district. And so starting next year there will be a pilot of two different programs. One called um Amplify by Desmos and the other is by the company that provides I Ready the I Ready program to the district already. Um the Desmos program will be in one class of every grade level at Village and Linkraftoft and the Iring program will be at every level, one class of every level at New Mammoth and Ocean AB. And so that'll give the district um a pretty uniform data set to look at over the course of the next year and by probably before this time next year in the early early part of next year 2026 there'll be a recommendation of what program to adopt as the new math program um to what
014what we currently use is called envision. That's still a contender to the extent that it's still in all the other buildings and will be looked at and evaluated compared to these two. Um but again whatever the program is the focus is on a return to the uh you know fundamentals of computation and math skills building and development and memorization things like that. Um and kind of coming back from the overemphasis on uh discovery and exploration of concepts that we might be used to now um but I think that's good for the highlights. Thank you. Thank you Mrs. D. Moving on to student services. Mrs. Right. Yes. Thank you. So, we also met on Thursday, May 14th. Uh the committee did discuss one settlement agreement which is on our agenda tonight for voting. Uh we also
015celebrated that on Wednesday, May 14th, the same night, high school South Varsity baseball team facilitated a game with the autism and ND programs. Uh this was a really great event obviously featuring outstanding collaboration, teamwork and demonstrated the benefits of inclusive educational opportunities. And as Miss Payton was noting before in her address, uh I reported on this last month as well, we are looking to have more unified sports opportunities for our schools and we will be hosting a unified kickball game although we have the date of May 28th, not the 29th. So, I don't know if the date changed. Um, but when we met as a committee, the date was Wednesday, May 28th at 4:30 at High School South. So, hopefully we can see uh some folks out there. And this is something obviously for next
016year we are looking to commit to actually having uh more unified games because there are several county school districts that have unified teams as well that we'll be able to play against. um for the ESY summer uh program, there's planning that's going on to make sure that it's a highly effective program this summer. And the other thing to note was on this past Friday, May 16th, Middletown Friends of Diverse Learners had their meeting with Mrs. Granger. I was able to be there. Dr. Aone and Mr. Cullen were also able to join us. And the biggest discussion was the changes to the ESS program and what we were looking to do in district which I know is part of Dr. Alfel's presentation tonight. Okay. Thank you, M. Right. All right. Now, wish to open the microphone
017up for public comment on agenda items only. If anybody wish to make a comment, please step forward, state your name and address for the record. [Music] Hi, good evening and everybody can hear me. Yes. Uh my name is Jeff Warhower. I live at uh Mammoth AB in Davisync. Um so I believe on the agenda tonight is uh a reapproval of policies. Uh, so I've been reviewing your policies since all of the school closings have been going on on the board docs website. Who who manages that, by the way? I'm just curious. Board docs in general. Uh, yeah. So the it's a service that we pay. Well, who who who's the administrator in district that post things? It would be my secretary who is putting things up. Okay. Cuz I see things changing all the time
018and Okay. Yeah. So, um I get a little skittish. Uh but but anyway, uh so there's a lot of policies I guess that the board of ed has to consider and we'll be reapproving tonight. Um I don't expect the board of education um to be completely liberate on all those policies. I think it's uh probably a heavy lift to have reviewed all of them um ahead of reapproval. I don't know there are um what that would entail, but there are a few that I wanted to highlight at least based on recent events. Uh and that's specifically around school closing and uh the function of committees. Um so I think Eric Dow is going to talk more on school closings. Um but worth noting uh before he goes into greater detail on those um happy to
019just review a couple of the uh the points on that uh that one the proposed closing is consistent with the district's approved LRFP because so and these are policies also taken from uh New Jersey administrative code so there's law that's kind of um informing a lot of these policy Uh, a the district has demonstrated that sufficient school building capacity exists to house students for the 5 years following the closing or the school district has demonstrated through a feasibility study that the benefits of undertaking new construction outweigh those of rehabilitating the school uh proposed for closure. Just want to add added emphasis on the benefits. So I think there's been a lot of focus on uh expense rationalization and efficiencies. So the primary focus should be on benefits. Um and then two, the use of temporary
020facilities in the remaining schools does not result or increase from an overall facility shortage caused by the school closing. I think that was in question uh in prior plans. And three, the reassignment of students to other schools in the district does not produce, sustain, nor contribute to unlawful segregation, separation, or isolation of student populations on the basis of race or national origin. And that was inconclusive. Um, so, uh, there's a lot that goes into doing a feasibility study. Um, you have a policy around school closing. So, I hope the uh strategic planning committee uh and the board takes into account law, policy, and uh community input into all of that. Uh so then on committees that was under board docs as well. I can't tell if it's a policy or bylaw, but I think I
021spoke to uh board independence before. Um, so I just wanted to highlight a couple things to the board. Maybe you can take action ahead of reapproving these policies to make them stronger. Uh, just by way of background, I'm the corporate governance officer for the New Jersey Division of Investment. So I oversee governance for an $80 billion pension fund. So I work with a lot of the largest companies uh in the country around good governance. Um so that being said um on in terms of uh committees just to for everyone's benefit I'll read it here and I'll leave these for anyone that wants to review them after. Uh in order to the uh in order to use the time effort and expertise of the members of the Miltown Township Board of Education effectively the board shall
022operate under a committee system and there are standing committees. The board may authorize the establishment of such standing committees from among its membership as it finds necessary to study operations in specific areas and to make recommendations for board action. The following rules will govern the appointment and function of such committees. A the following committee shall be established through action of the board and lists out 10: curriculum, finance, facilities, policy, legislative, student services, personnel, co-curricular, technology, and negotiations. Uh B, the committee chairperson and members shall be appointed by the board president to serve a one-year term. Uh so I just wanted to focus real quick on that one. um in that so the to date the board president has appointed all chairpersons of the various committees so Mr. Capone appointed himself as the chair of the
023finance committee. Is that correct? This isn't a back and forth. I'm sorry. Do you appoint yourself as chair of the finance committee? No, I take everybody's input from what they want to be on. What committee? Okay. And I'm sorry you're up your five minutes, so I'm going to have to ask you to just wrap up. Okay. So, uh, thank you. I understand. So I I would recommend since based on what you just said changing appointed to nominated uh because it seems like you were nominated. Uh and then I would add an amendment to that where the president cannot serve as chairperson for any committee. Um so the president and the superintendent are already exeicio board members. So they are effectively across uh members of all committees. Um and in for the uh the benefit of
024independence, it's not appropriate for the president to be chairperson to be on any committee to be chairperson of any committee, especially the finance committee because you're effectively the steward of 62% of all tax receipts for Middletown residents. And I don't think any Middletown resident would want to see that level of concentration um of oversight of finances for one single person. So I would like the board to take into account uh my recommendations um of changing from appointed to nomination for chair of various committees and that the president cannot serve as chairperson for any committee. Thank you. comment. Anyone else wish to make a public comment on a gender item name? Uh good evening. Good evening everybody. Eric Dow uh Native Sync on near the steel steel bridge. Uh just one quick point on on committees
025and then a couple points on school closings. Uh having gone to a few of these meetings now, we can't help but notice that shared services does not report out of committee and that that's problematic. Um there don't seem to be any minutes that come out of shared services. That's problematic. It even if it's not the case that suggests the sort of black box in shared services which is raises all sorts of problems. It's one of the most important committees. I hope everyone could agree with that. That black box effect we would suggest should cease immediately. Um maybe the most obvious way to change it would be to add additional members from this board uh that could help add some transparency for one of the most important committees across the township and we would encourage that
026to happen quickly. uh with respect to the school uh closing policy which I believe is 7113.1 uh we would suggest that it be you know basically segregated out of the book of policies for additional work. Um in our view it's it's deficient um on a few fronts with respect to uh you know mentioned adequacy adequacy of school facilities. They should also consider their quality when you're evaluating whether to close any particular schools, not just whether they're adequate. Um things that are not listed that should be considered are the impact on affected communities, uh economic pros and cons, impact on property valuations, um and all of the other possible options because as has been made clear in multiple meetings, a broad consensus seems to feel that closing schools should be the last possible option. And then
027with respect to the students, uh as Mr. war shower went through there uh rightfully as reference to avoiding unlawful segregation, separation, separation, isolation. Uh but the policy should also evaluate whether any proposed school closure would negatively impact the educational experience or the social emotional experience for any affected children. And again, so much focus on on this particular policy again, which is 7113.1, it might make sense to take that out of the book and and spend another, you know, months working on it in more detailed fashion and and certainly uh the community would be very willing to help with that exercise. Thank you. Thank you. You want to speak about the shared services but or I'm not sure what we've recorded out in the past haven't we? in they don't meet every month right but we
028don't meet every month that's why so jail services is reported out when we do meet but we do not meet sometimes for months good evening Scott McFersonson 32 Thompson and Leonardo I just want to talk a little bit about uh transparency and that was kind of a big theme of the discussions uh that we've had over the last couple of months and looking at the uh agenda that was uh posted did uh and in particular the uh transfers that are occurring throughout the district uh after some uh investigating happening to be the detective in order to do this and not being transparent and open about what's happening. Uh it appears from what I can tell through the through the um transfers list is that uh four schools, four elementary schools are going to be uh
029losing a full-time uh reading specialist and math specialist that be sharing. So Leonardo and Navis will be going from a full-time reading and math specialist to a halftime reading and math specialist uh shared between those two schools. Same with uh River Plaza and uh Fair View. You know, it would be better if the administration was transparent about these things that are happening again instead of having the parents or community members have to go in and investigate and dig through this information that I don't even know is accurate. I think it's pretty accurate from what I can tell uh and from what some discussions that I've been having. So um and and then another you know question and I think there should be discussion on this and discussion as to why this is happening and if
030it makes sense it makes sense you know but my point though is is not whether it's right or wrong or whether I think it's right or wrong. It's just to be transparent and open in communication with all of us so we know what's actually happening in the schools. We really really need that in in order to have a better relationship with the parents and with the with the residents of Middletown. We need to be transparent. So, uh, specifically with Leonardo, you know, I don't know if it's a full title one school, it's a partial title one school. I don't quite understand how that works or if under title one they provide funds for a reading specialist in math specialist. if that's being if that's what happened in the past. Now that's not happening anymore. So
031again, transparency, open communication, just letting us know what's happening instead of just posting it on an agenda on Friday afternoon, which I'm not sure it was posted on Friday afternoon. It might not have been till Monday morning. I'm not sure. I didn't look until Monday morning, although someone said, "Hey, it's not posted yet." But um just be open and honest with us. let us know what's happening within the district so that we can prepare our children for the outcomes that are being talked about and discussed at the administrative level and then presented to the board. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, Ashley Stud. Um, thank uh I was looking through the bills list and I saw we paid the police officers an addition additional $1,000 for board of ed meetings. Uh, I'm requesting that we
032once again revisit with the mayor Tony Perry based on our current financial issues. Uh, sharing the cost of the police officers in the building. Anybody else wish to make public comment? Emily Donahue for Brown Avenue. Um, Mr. Cop, I just want to address the fact that you keep on telling us it's not a back and forth when we have public uh comments. Um, it does seem though that in the rules it doesn't state that. It does state that only if it uh requires investigation that you guys won't answer our questions. So again, in the spirit of transparency and just collaboration, we do ask that unless it really does require investigation that you guys do have conversations with us back and forth, we're here to help. Um, and we have questions. So just hoping moving forward
033you guys will answer our questions before you guys vote on things. Uh, because I only think that's fair. Thank you. So let me just add on to what I think Mr. Wower, I believe his name was, what he asked before. the policies he's reading, we hear long before I was present on the board and I think probably everybody on this board. So, we're just implementing what we have as a policy. We appreciate the input and maybe something we have to revisit and look at, but these are not policies that we created. They're policies that were there already existence, right? So, we do ask that you guys just read them. This is just from the agenda. So, the agenda states clear that these are that we created. These are stuff that we're just abiding by because
034it'll pass on from board to board to board. Maybe it's something we have to revisit and we'll look at that. Thank you. Hi Chris 10. Just to piggy back off of that, I know that these are policies that have been in effect for years, but we know that as a board that you do have the power to change policies. So that's I think what we're talking about. So we know that you've changed policies in the past related to other things. So I would hope that if there's something that we come upon that is a policy that's existed for many years that is no longer adequate because times change and the world changes that you as a board would take the responsibility to reexamine that policy and change it where that's necessary and I thought it
035would be your responsibility to the students of our district which I think it's a holding staff I think it's important to know that we don't create these policies they're created through um actually we use New Jersey school boards So they're model policies and there are people that actually write these policy based on alignment to the law um and the current school climate. So we receive them certainly we do have the board does have the ability to make changes and tweaks but they are are updated to the current standard of what education or law is. Um we pay for that service. Um so we don't originate them. They're originated from a service obviously the one of the larger overarching governing bodies in New Jersey which is New Jersey school boards and we just switched from straps
036last year into school boards. Um and they have a little bit different of a templating system and certainly they tried to encumber as much of the language that we've organically added through the policy committee of the board over time. But um I just wanted everyone to just kind of be aware that they create those policies with law in mind and they're categorized as either being mandatory um or otherwise. Some of them are mandatory by law, some of them are mandatory um by just what occur, what processes you need to occur in a school. Um and then there are other ones that are more optional in nature. Thank you. You're welcome. I think it's also important to note that we all know that you have changed policies in the past and caused some pretty drastic ramifications
037that we're still paying for. So to say that you can't change them is not 100% true. Well, I'm not saying you can't. No. Well, I mean to say they were handed down and handed down and handed down and this is what was yours and we can't change it, that's not 100% true. So that's what I'm getting at. If there's a policy that doesn't work for our town, we've examined other policies in the past that we didn't like and we changed them. So, if there's something that we all agree doesn't work for our town, then that is the responsibility of this board to examine. And not to say that we've just been handed this because that's 100% not true. Thank you. That's correct. Thank you for your comment. Would anyone else wish to think public comment?
038Hi, Erica Lucesy. Um, I have two kids at Thompson. Um, and I wanted to talk today about the district recent decision to cut the tier three effective school solutions program for our most at risk students with social and emotional needs from the middle schools. Without the ESS program, the demands on teachers and staff who are already stretched thin will increase significantly. Teachers are not trained nor have the bandwidth to handle the complex social and emotional needs of these at risk kids. To try and illustrate, in the fifth grade before ESS, I had four formal IEP meetings, 29 email correspondences with just the classroom teachers and 93 more between myself and the SPSS who was serving as my daughter's counselor. All of these were around social, emotional, and behavior issues, not academic one. This year under
039ESS, we had one IEP meeting, the shortest and most productive we've ever had, one to two email to each teacher just to check in, and two emails to the guidance counselor to discuss minor scheduling issues. This speaks volumes. Fewer crisis meetings, fewer emails, less scrambling to manage behaviors without the right tool. Teachers, counselors, and case managers weren't being pulled in 100 directions. ESS gave them a team to rely on and that freed them up to focus on what they're actually there to do, teach, guide, and support all students. There was rarely a call or a meeting with our ESS counselor, Monica, where she wasn't being summoned to go to guidance, the office, or the classroom to support students in staff. It was clear that Monica was essential to Thompson's school climate and functioning. Now, I
040know you will want to say you're hiring an in-house clinician for Thompson and Thorne that will mimic the current program as much as possible, but ESS comes with a proven model of success. Monica has a clinical supervisor she reports to and consults with. Who will the district's clinician report to and who will be their resource? Monica collect collected structured weekly data via teacher feedback and her own observations. Will this district hired clinician be collecting this teacher feedback in the same structured format like Monica did? Will they formally track outcomes as as is required in the program? And will the data drive treatment plan? Will they follow an evidence-based mental health curriculum like Monica did in group session? As parents, we had a built-in weekly call with Monica. This is all part of the ESS program,
041not specific to her. um she would update us. We would update her on how things were going at school. Monica was our contact point for any concerns regarding our daughter that arose. Transparency creates trust, fosters collaboration, and improves outcomes. When parents feel informed, they do not need to escalate. Will this clinician be as transparent when their paycheck is coming directly from the district it works for? I'm concerned hiring in house poses a conflict of interest. How will this new indistrict clinician adhere to HIPPA laws and furpa standards? How is the district planning on finding a clinician with the same level of specialized experience? I looked up the requirements for being a school-based mental health clinician with ESS. The applicant needs at least two years of experience treating children or adolescents with significant behavioral and emotional
042challenges along with their clinical license in social work um counseling or marriage and family therapy. Dr. Alone, you had mentioned in a previous email that there were in district current staff that may be interested in the position. Do they check all the boxes that ESS requires to be hired? The district has had trouble filling open roles for case managers and paraprofessionals for the past few years. What happens if this counseling position goes unfilled? Or if the clinician leaves, gets sick or needs extended leave? Who will then fill in for the kids relying on them? With ESS, those gaps were covered. They carry the costly ESS carried the costly and time-consuming burden of hiring, vetting, and staffing the clinicians in our schools. It was taken care of. They also carry the burden of liability and maintain
043their own insurance and supervision structures. Will the districts now be forced to carry that liability without the same resources resources to manage it? It sounds costly. This is a short-term budget move with long-term consequences educationally, financially, and legally. There will be an increase in out of district placees, uh, placements, conduct violations, loss of instructional time, litigation, and a definite increased burden on school staff. The Collier School in Marlboro that serves as an outofd district placement option for atrisisk students like the ones in the program cost about 77,000 per year for one student. Cornerstone and Cranford, another therapeutic school and out of district placement school is upwards of 90,000 per year. Take a few of these placements along with the transportation cost we are required to pay and you've lost your cost savings and our middle
044schools will have no ESS program to show for that cost. Our atrisisk kids are bright, brave, hardworking, loved and incredibly and have incredible potential. Dr. Alone, in your email to families within the middle school ESS program, you stated, quote, "Begin, we begin to brainstorm ways to continue to provide, even though not obligated to do so, the critical clinical support that many of our students need to thrive in the school setting." I have two things to say to that. Number one, I believe schools provide the tier 3 ESS program because it saves money in the long run and keeps students in district. Number two, our kids are thriving in middle school. They are just trying to survive. Kids with severe social emotional disabilities are working twice as hard to get through the day. Every moment takes
045effort. Sitting still, following directions, regulating emotions, keeping up academically, and all of it while facing often social rejection and isolation from their peers. It may sound like a reach, but it is not. When I say their safety is at risk with this move, it wouldn't just be a step back. It feels like pulling the rug out from under our most vulnerable students. This is not the age group nor the population to cut support from. Thank you for letting me go past 3 minutes. [Applause] Hi, Sierrai Drive Middletown. Um, on the personnel side, I wanted to start off by recognizing the retirement of Mary Pat Harrington. She might be our best teacher in district. She will be irreplaceable. I've had the honor of having her volunteer at an understanding challenges program with me when my kids
046were in elementary school and she um captivated the second graders and um she's just spectacular human being. So I wanted to make sure she didn't head off into the sunset without recognizer recognizing her. Um then the other um I just wanted to make a comment and I I already wrote to the administrators about the transfer of um coach Britney White from South to Thompson and um I I won't reread what I wrote but I just felt it was important that people understood um although she wasn't my daughter's teacher that she was very important um to her and um and Hannah even wrote about her in her National Honor Society um of essay um and for those of you that don't know, Hannah has Down syndrome, so she has an intellectual disability. Um and she talked
047about her cheer journey and being cut from the cheer team in ninth grade and how sad she was even crying. And um to try to keep her spirits high, my mom reached out to the gymnastics coach who kindly offered even though she had a manager, kindly offered me a position assisting the girls team. This opportunity turned out to be wonderful. I had a good time supporting the girls by incorporating cheer moves. You know, Hannah, it's all about cheer. Um into the pre-ompetition cheers, helping to keep score during meets, and making the coach dance to silly songs. best of all, I was able to form new friendships. She kind of goes on and talks about how she worked hard to make the cheer team um the next um year. And she adds, "Even though cheerleading coincides
048with gymnastics, I make it a priority I try to attend to attend competitions and celebrate with the gymnast gymnasts at their year end banquet. I'm grateful to have met Coach White as the gymnastics team has played an important role in my journey. So, I just wanted to point out um a teacher that has gone the extra mile. Um again, she never taught my daughter. Um but she is probably the only teacher in the building that will have full conversations with her and is communication impaired, so she doesn't like to use her voice a lot. Um, so, um, I don't know everything that goes into the decision, but, um, I I think she will be sorely missed. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else wish to make a public comment? I can come back up. They can't,
049but you can just on the same topic. Okay. Agenda item. I you just real quickly again on on policies because I I draft policies as well. Um and then the committees um I understand that they're not amended regularly but these are extenduated circumstances and I know everyone appreciates that. Um and and lastly I mentioned before on uh normally there are like committee charters where um the public understands the duties of the committee as well as the committees as part of your policy. It says the committee shall be provided with a list of its functions and duties. Um I was just hoping that um those functions and duties of each committee could also be made public for everyone's benefit. So all this is public and there's actually four members of the board on each committee and
050then you have the chair of each committee. That's the way it's been for as long as I've been here and prior to that as well. The functions and duties are public functions and duties. I believe there might be a little bit of a note of what they entail. I don't know how in detail it does. Whatever the committees need committee members need to understand their functions and duties. It would be helpful if the public understood those as well so we can hold board of ed members and committee members accountable for what those functions and duties are. Thank you. Would anyone else wish to make a comment? Seeing no one else making other comment, I wish to close the public session and move on with our agenda. We're now going to go to Dr. Alone, Superintendent
051Report. Great. Thank you. Um just first a reminder about our upcoming strategic planning sessions. Um our steering committee is meeting on May 27th at 6 p.m. at the high school south in the high school south cafeteria. Um the first community atlarge session led by New Jersey school boards will be on May 29th at 6 p.m. at the high school north cafeteria. Um, our second steering committee meeting will be on June 12th at 6:00 p.m. here in the High School North media center. And the second New Jersey school board uh full community session will be on June 16th at 6 p.m. at the high in the High School North cafeteria. Again, um, I do want to talk a little bit about ESS. I know there have been some concerns. We did send an extensive communication home
052to those impacted families yesterday. Um, and the first thing um, in my letter that I said is I appreciated everybody's patience because as everyone knows, we've been trying to rectify the budget. Um, certainly with the financial situation in the state that it was in, we had no ability to make a full commitment to anything until that dust settled. Um, and then our second priority was obviously staffing the district for next year because we do need to get that done. It is timesensitive. We have a deadline. Um, with those two things in our rear view, fortunately, um, we can move on to things such as the ESS, um, contract and certainly the hybrid model that we're going to be, um, moving forward with for next year. Um, this, you know, certainly when we have challenging budget
053times, we have to, um, look at, you know, the costs of of things such as this. And certainly um you know when things are not mandatory within a district and I'm not saying not important crucially important I'm just saying not mandatory by law or statute or um you know a requirement of us um you know we have to begin to look at those things. We also have to look at the fact that the history of this contract. Our contract began back in 2016 as a small seed program at our high schools. Um it was predominantly put in for our um bridges and vision visions program um at high school north and expanded to high school south. Um then came the pandemic. The pandemic came there was a lot of federal money that also came with
054that and a lot of it was budgeted towards mental health. Um certainly there was a greater need. Unfortunately that money has expired. It was termed um it was a finite amount. It was it was a one-time infusion of money in a variety of different grants which had great restrictions on how you could use it. And we were extremely fortunate as were many other districts in being able to dedicate a significant amount of money towards um you know clinical mental health support in school. And it's a real fine line between our role as educators and what happens in the private therapeutic world. Um but this gave us a mechanism to be able to bring more of that internally into the district. Um, prior to last year, that contract had grown to $1.6 million, which is a
055significant amount of money for the number of students we were servicing. We were servicing 74 students at the time, which is is, you know, not real cost effective, as important as it is. Um, so last year we made a half a million dollar cut in some of the periphery things that we knew wouldn't impact the quality of service at in the building with our kids and that brought it down to 1.1 million which was still significant for the 70 or so kids that were receiving services in the program. So we started to say all right well this is obviously a very large ticket item and a very big contract and it's also extremely important. We all hold that belief administratively and I know the board does as well. So we started to think of how
056can we do this um in a more cost-effective way while still getting um a very similar level of service to our students. And I know there's change and and you know there's going to be different clinicians potentially in district. Um but I I know that my team and I are confident that we're still being able to uphold um a certain degree of service that we really feel is important. We met with the SS today. They are still partners with us. They will be working um in our two high schools and they will provide the clinicians. Um they will also be providing a clinician for all of our fit to returns. We really felt that was extremely important. They will service all 16 buildings in that capacity so that students can get someone to crisis screen
057them that's neutral and outside of the purview of you know the domain of you know school everyday school functioning and also um the turnaround time. We want kids to get help and assistance immediately and also if they are seen to be um in a place where they can return, we want them to be able to return as soon as possible. And when you start to create an allocart menu of places to send students for fit to returns, you lose those things. You lose the immediacy, which is why we chose to maintain the fit to returns because we do a heavy volume of them given that we have over 8,500 students in the district. Um and ESS has done a great job of that for us. Um you know, our middle schools obviously were our most
058challenging um in the sense that we needed to find a more cost-effective way to get clinical support. So we have some really smart people on my administrative team. Dr. Young has a clinical background herself. So does Mrs. Granger and they put together an amazing job description where we do believe we will be able to find someone who has that extensive clinical background. And you know I did make mention that there are people within our district that do not work under their clinical license but work in the private world as well under their clinical lensure that may want to enter into this field and just be a clinician for us. They will not be doing double duty. They will not be functioning members of the child study team doing case management or assessments. They will be
059clinicians and they will mimic the work that ESS has upheld for us um at the middle school level. Same thing with our elementary. Um, in the past we have had a clinician working directly with some of our um, students who are experiencing behavioral and social emotional challenges. However, we have decided to pivot on that a little bit. Not because we don't want to put a counselor there, but because many the majority of our elementary students who are exhibiting difficulties are exhibiting high levels of behavior. And because ESS is based on a playtalk therapy model, students have to be ready to receive that. So we need to put other resources at our youngest kids to try to give them and develop skills um and coping mechanisms to deescalate behaviors before they can be available for that
060clinical support to work. So um like I said, this was very important to us. we to try and minimize the expense because we knew we had to, but also not not allow um this to go away in some capacity. Um actually this hybrid model will allow us to service more kids and just so everyone is aware ESS limits our case case their case management load because they require the supervision aspect um because of the way their lensure works. Um ESS explained to us today um and Dr. Young was explaining to us that the people that we will employ do have full clinicals and they will be able to take on a bigger case load and and that's not a sacrifice to the level of service. A lot of the ESS clinicians um time is spent
061engaging with the supervisor. The people that we hire will not have to have that because their clinical certification is at a certain level. Um certainly we're going to look for all the features that ESS is employing their clinicians with as well. And we are going to maintain the same intake model um that ESS already has. We met with them today and we are going to be in lock step. Um and it's going to be two programs, two two different sets of providers that are doing exactly the same thing. Um, we will also be able to expand this program to students that do not have IEPs, which is crucially important because it's not just students that are classified as special education that need mental health and social emotional support. Quite frankly, we get many outside of
062that that we cannot pair with ESS in the old model because it it was it was preventative. So, we are um happy that we were able to find a way forward in a really really challenging situation. Um you know, and certainly it's changed. I get it. It's difficult, but um you know, we're going to continue to evaluate it as we move forward. And we're not opposed to certainly feedback and and evolving things for in the best interest of our students. Um but we also have to pay attention to the cost effectiveness of what we're putting forward. So um I'll move on to other things. Um the champions program which is our new before and afterare program will be providing informations to families in the very near future um regarding registration and openhouse opportunities. We are
063meeting with them tomorrow to go over the the details of the rollout plan. Um the first thing that will launch will be a website where parents can register and we'll send out communications um to that effect. And then um they've already started their work behind the scenes with engaging with our building leadership, getting lensure for each of the buildings and then also um getting supplies and materials organized for each of the 11 elementary sites that we'll be running. Um just a reminder, this Friday the district is closed. Um that was a weather related day that we didn't have to utilize this year. So happy 4-day weekend. Um school will be back in session on Tuesday, May 27th. I'll be at a soccer tournament. So, fun for all, right? Um, on June 12th, it's on the
064agenda tonight, just for everyone's information, an amendment to our school calendar. It is not for anybody but the high school because of the exam schedule. We need one more built-in half day because of the way the days fall. Um, so June 12th for our high school students only will be an early release day to accommodate the exam schedule. We just have to make an adjustment to the school calendar, but that does not apply to Middleland Elementary School and our vocational and special class programs will be in for the full day as per normal on, you know, those early dismissal days that are unique to the high school. Um the final update I have is for the bees at um Bayiew Elementary School. So, um, I talked to the principal today and tales of oldest time.
065The bee issue has been everpresent, probably for the better part of her time there, which I think is 14 years. So, the bees are back. Um, we've had the exterminator out twice now, and apparently it's because the ground is extremely dry. They like dry ground. Um, they've created homes. Um, there's not been a lot of water, collectively speaking, so they're quite comfy. Um, so we brought the exterminator back in again to try and treat it a second time. We are also limited in how we can treat it because we have kids on the like it's a school building. Um, but we are doing the best we can and we are paying attention to it. Um, you know, I know that the township is working on some irrigation in the field um for the long term
066obviously for the upgrade and upkeep of the fields, but it will also help with the bee issue because they do not like wet ground. Um, we do have some sprinklers that they're going to be running out in the back of Bay View to try to help the problem in addition to what the exterminators are doing. Um, if the field work on the irrigation with the township doesn't get started um before the end of the summer, we may actually even till it to try to ruin their homes to disrupt their lodging, so to speak. But, you know, all that we'll have to see where we stand with the work the town is doing. But, we are paying attention to it. Beayshore was also treated this week because I know there is a similar situation over there,
067but it is due to dry ground. Um, and many of the bees that are apparently under the ground and coming out are not the ones that are stinging. There's also coinciding wasps that like to get into the mix. Um, and and they tend to be the the stingers, so to speak. So, we are on it and I just wanted to update the community on where it stands at the current time. Thank you, Dr. Alones. Okay. A approval of the meeting minutes 9A and B. Motion to approve. So move. Second. Discussion. All in favor? Opposed? Abstensions. Need a motion to approve 10 A through BB. So move. Second. Discussion. A what? BB. BB. There's a lot. You ran the letters in the alphabies 12 to 24. Yeah. [Music] All in favor? Can we talk about them
068a minute? I want to understand what some of these titles are we hiring new people? No. No. These are mandated. You have to name people already in district to hold these titles. Like somebody has to be the HIV coordinator, somebody has to be affirmative action. They're already people that we employ. Okay. Thank you for that. You're welcome. I al I also want to bring up being that um people are discussing the policies. and we make a commitment to maybe look at these and discuss them because you're right, some of these policies have been here even before I've been on the board and I think that we could probably update some of these. So maybe I would even like to see maybe we could do it as a board as a whole so that we all
069can have input on I would suggest that everybody needs to do their homework on reading all the policies and they're all posted online because it there's an ex an extraordinary amount. So Well, we could we could do it. We don't have to do everyone at the same time. We could take a few and really dig in. I mean, we're listening to concerns. Maybe they're concerns of board members sitting here and grab a few, look at them if we need to change them and then we should be doing that anyway. Every year they should be evaluated by the policy committee and, you know, tweaks made. But I think um being that it has been brought up again, maybe we need to do that. I think Dr. Alone's point is good. come up with a few thousand
070and we got a few. We have some discussions tonight and then we can get organized. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't hurt to to do that. And like you said, some of these are so old that it might not even exist and and I think it's also think it's a good idea for the um some of us have to get them mandated also. So we can I also think it's a good idea for the committees to have a guideline of what it is that each committee is supposed to We can have somebody guess that on our website to see what it is. Yeah. No, I I you know, I just think it's it's a good time for discussion on it. And so, so we could vote in the ones we have now because policies can be changed
071any time. It's fluid. Y. So, we start here and we But we need a set of policies for the district. Yep. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Great. Any more discussion? All in favor? I I oppose. I abstensions. A motion to approve business office consent agenda 11 A through N. So move discussion. All in favor? I oppose to be on legal bills. Thank you. Which one did you say John? Legal bills. Anyone else? Okay. I need a motion to approve 12 A through R. Mr. Capone, can we do a roll call on 12 A just so we have Sure. So, let's do a roll call first on 12 A. Amy, roll call. We need a motion and a second. Yep. Motion to approve sex. Discussion rolling. Mrs. Camini. This is it for the HIV. I'm exactly saying
072no. Yes. Mr. Fitzgerald. I'm a yes on all except for uh 291905. Mrs. Minu, I am a yes on all the unfounded and a no on the founded. Mrs. Scholanski, yes. Mr. Sapparowski. Um yes on all of them except for 29 is it 29 0034 and 291905 and 292186 is now Mr. T. I am a no on 29 291905 and a yes on the rest. What was the third the last one? 295 291905. This is right. I'm a yes on all. Mr. Capone. No on the pounded. Okay, I need a motion to approve 12B through R. [Applause] Discussion. Yes, I would like to um have you vote on this. Thank Mrs. Harrington for everything she's done for this district. I've known her for many, many years. She's touched so many children's lives in a positive
073way, and she definitely is going to be hard shoes to fill. I wish for her retirement. I echo that. She's been excellent for my family. Thank you. Okay. Uh all in favor? I oppose. I'm abstaining on number 11. What's number 11 or 11 on the personnel report? 11 on the person. Okay. So R1, you're all 11. Yeah. Good evening. Yes. Okay. Okay. Um, first I'm going to go to Megan and Ryan. You have anything you'd like to add or say or Go ahead. Yeah. I just wanted to say that we're really excited South is hosting the second year of the fleet week um naval ceremony where they come with our helicopters and they talk about the process of and the benefits of being in the Navy. So hopefully all goes well weather holds up but
074we're really excited about that. What day is today? Thursday is Thursday. Yeah. Um, I don't know like what Paige said I got here after her, but uh, regarding AP exams that just concluded last week, um, I just want to say good job to all the students that took those after those stressful exams, like I know how they could be. So, I just want to say good job. And then one more thing, I believe I'm pretty sure that this is Megan and I's last last meeting. So, I just wanted to on behalf of both of us express our sincere gratitude. Um, we want to say [Applause] What are you doing this summer? Experience for you guys. Thank you. All right, we're going to move to old business. Does anyone have any old business to discuss? Yes,
075I do. Um, I'd like to know where we are with the RFP process that we came up with last month and if we're going to pick dates. Can we do it while we're all here so we can get this moving? So, we did issue three RFPs. They were all due back today at 12. Uh, I do have a several responses for each. Uh, I've finished putting them in Google folders. I can share them with the board and it's, you know, up to the board and how you want to proceed. I know we will review them as an administrative team and the board will review them as well. And yeah, usually we get to pick our top three each board member and then tally up to see which we get the interviews. So let Amy send
076to the entire board and everybody if you can send back the three top. Yeah. And and then we'd have to pick the dates to do this. Yeah. I don't know if you want to give me dates tonight or you want to if everybody's on the spot right now, but you want to do it now or you want to come back to me by tomorrow and just give me I would definitely like to see it on the next one board member not here today. So yeah, I'd like to see it on the next agenda. So whatever dates in between there that get that. Yeah, we definitely have to get it done though. Yeah, definitely. Good. I guess our next meeting is June 24th. So we have to have Perfect. May I ask, are we going to
077look to do these at night or during the day? Excuse me. We're going to have to do them at night. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's what I want to do. Thank you. Yeah. Think you have a day job? That is the old business. And I want to be here for it. Old business. New business. Anyone for new business? Yes. I have one piece of new business. So, I was approached by uh a member of the South the Fairview uh cemetery crematorium group to ask if the board would consider writing a letter opposing the plans to uh put a crematorium at Fairview Cemetery considering the fact that it is in such close proximity to not only the neighborhood obviously right across the street where a lot of our students and families reside, it's right down the
078street from Cory Park, which is a favorite, you know, site of school trips for our elementary schools. It's very close to Fair View Elementary, Nutswamp, Thompson. Honestly, depending on the way the wind blows, it could be Middletown Village, right? And so all the pollutants that can be put in the air could pose a real risk to, you know, not only our students throughout the district, but also their families. And so I drafted a letter. Um, I shared it with my fellow board members to see if there was consensus uh to do this and I believe that there was some good positive feedback that we wanted to do this but I just wanted to raise it formally tonight on the new business. I will be signing that fee. Me too. So will I will as well
079sit here. And I did hear from Miss tobacco. Um, she's not able to hear tonight but she also wants to sign as well. Okay, great. Thank you so much. Anyone else for new business? Okay, see no one on new business. Now wish to open the microphone for public comment on non-aggender items. Have anything to say? Please step to the mic, send your name and address for the records. [Music] Again, Scott 32 Thompson Avenue. Thank you to the students uh for uh being here and having attended those board meetings over the last couple of months. I felt for you guys up on the stage as I did for board members as well. Um, but you know, showed grit and determination by staying up there and and staying well past 10:00 one of the nights and you
080know it doesn't go un unnoticed by by the public and we appreciate you and wish you all the best moving forward. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So one of the things that's come to my attention throughout this process is you know on this topic of transparency and a lot of us don't understand how this works. Now my understanding is that we have an administration we have Dr. Alone and her administrative team and they come up with ideas for the district and and you know board business and then they present those ideas to the board who then have discussion about it and then potentially vote on the issues. That's my understanding of how it works. I think that's how it works. I think it would be good and it would be helpful to everyone up
081here on stage if that was communicated to the public so that everybody had an understanding of how this process actually works and maybe people will get more involved such as you know some of us parents have you know based on this issue of school closings you know. So it was just a you know suggestion that came to my mind. I I love that we're having these strategic planning meetings and that we're being open and transparent and we just want to keep that train going down the tracks. Thank you. Thank you. [Music] Hi. I just have a question. When you name your address again, sorry. Um when you vote on the hip stuff and maybe this is something that you can explain to me offline. Um I don't I don't understand exactly what you're saying yes
082and no to because I know that there's investigations that happen. So yeah, what what is happening? They're voting on the outcome of each investigation, whether it's founded, meaning it was found to be HI under the law, or unfounded, meaning it was not determined to be HIV under the law. So they're voting to affirm the outcome of the investigation, either as founded or unfounded. But the investigation ends and says this is founded around. Correct. Correct. And then it's presented and the board has to affirm that. Is that that's part of law? That's part of law. Part of the law. Okay. Yep. Interesting. I could I could explain if she wants. So I vote no. Go ahead. Yeah. I I vote no because we're not a part of those investigations. I I just don't see how we
083could sit here and say yes to some and no to others. We're not a part of it. Truthfully, I believe this board shouldn't even have to vote on them. If that's an administrative function, that should be an administrative function, you know, but yet sometimes people vote yes on some and no on others. I don't understand how, you know, for myself, I don't understand how I could do that. I would just rather not be a part of that. And I can add on, you know, these are files that go to the state. Yeah. Yeah. So for a first, second or third grade doing something wrong, obviously the discipline that does take place, but that file then goes to the state and I don't know what that goes later on in life. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. And
084kids grow up. So your kids I share what you're saying and I that's why I was wondering all the time like especially since you have trained people doing investigations, right? to then bring it forth to vote yes or no to what somebody already did who's trained to do it. It seems crazy, but that's what the law is. So, I guess more into that. Thank you. I'll just I'll just add something to clarify. It's something I think gets lost in translation a lot, especially to the public or people who are just learning about it. When we vote on something being quote founded or unfounded, it's just a very narrow answer to the question of whether it meets what founded or unfounded is defined as in the statute, the HIV statute. It is not a determination that
085the conduct was. But I'm just saying, for example, if there's one that's unfounded, it is not a determination that the conduct was acceptable, that it was appropriate, that it wasn't a violation of school rules and behavioral standards and all those things. And the students are often disciplined as you'd imagine and expect if it actually happened obviously. Yeah. But and I think we all have our critiques of the law and how it's written and what it imposes on us and the administrators and all the but that determination of founded and unfounded. I think it often gets lost in translation and it leads to issues because people rightfully so might get a letter home saying what you reported happened to your kid was unfounded. That's not it. And I think we we've actually corrected and updated those
086letters over the last couple years to to make that more right. I think a lot of people just sometimes don't I understand what a HIV is. So sure but I think if people don't understand that then that's probably HI is a categorization mechanism. It's a reporting mechanism. Yeah. Right. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate the information. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Would anyone else wish to make a public comment? Seeing no further comments wish to close the public comment and journ the meeting. summer. Good luck. All in favor? Opposion. Have a great night, everyone.