001Welcome everyone to the public portion of our board of education. Thank you for waiting outside. We want to start at 7, so we're pretty close to 7. So, thank you very much. So, what we're gonna do is we have a couple of How about now? Can everybody hear us? We started good. How about now? It's working. It's not. It is. All right. So, I'll just talk really, really loud. How's this? Can you guys hear me now? Yeah. All right. Well, thank you. Welcome. Glad you could came. It was a great turnout. It's going to be a great um night with all the awards that are coming up soon. But we do have a couple things we have to get to. First, we had a opening for the board of education. That be our first order
002of business. And once that's done, we'll move to the superintendence report. So, the first part of that is on the agenda. We have a recognation and a nomination of a board member. So the first item is to accept the resignation of Carolyn Padorski. As of May 14th, she was our outgoing board member. So can I get a motion and a second in regards to Carolyn's resignation? Second. Any discussion on it? Okay. Mr. Mrs. Cassidy, yes. Mrs. Fury, yes. Mr. Vos, yes. Mrs. Menser, yes. Mrs. Rad, yes. Mrs. Ryan, yes. Mrs. Depinto, yes. Mr. Rizzley, yes. Passes. Okay. Thank you. So, the next item is we had the open position for a board member. So, we're going to be bringing that nominations and votes on that and there'll be some discussion on each of the members.
003So, we'll be moving forward with that. But before we do so, I just want to behalf of the board publicly thank all four candidates that came through. They all came here on their own time, volunteered, they did excellent in their interview questions. Everyone did very well. And from the board of education, we all want to just thank you for coming. So, we are now going to move for nominations. Does anyone have a nomination that they want to put forward? I would like to nominate Aaron Maher for the vacant position. Do we have a second? I'll second. Okay. Any other nominations? I would like to nominate Rich Peros for his professional skill sets. I feel they would be an asset to the board and that he has been a community member for 40 years. Okay. Do
004we have a second? Just have a second. So the way we're going to work is we're going to go around and Jason, I don't know if you want to do the roll call and explain the process about the commerce that we're each going to give a comment on each person. Yeah. So, our bylaws uh simply state that we vote on the order in of nomination and that the person that obtains the majority of um those here tonight not abstaining um would uh be elected to the new board member role which we have a vacancy. Um that board member elected is not going to take a seat this evening. Uh they have to go undergo fingerprinting, background check as well as orientation. They'll join us at a board retreat in July. Um, so the first uh
005person to vote on uh tonight is Aaron Maker. Okay. Do you want to let go on I guess normal order that we go? Um, so you would simply say yes or no. Um, and then after that uh we go to the second candidate. U we're supposed to have discussion though about the points before we go home. Well, I think as you you as you vote I think you can give a discussion if nominations. Okay. I thought discussion was you vote. I'm going to vote for or against not vote for this person. No, it's put up nominations and then it's a discussion. You are allowed to give commentary on while you're while you're voting according to the policy. Okay. In support. Yeah. So, we'll just go in order. You can make a commentary as you make
006your I believe almost uh policy number 0143. I'll just read the policy. So, basically um in considering candidates who have expressed an interest in a vacancy, the board of education may interview candidates in public or executive session. The board must vote to appoint a candidate to a vacancy in public session and there shall be no decisions made in executive session. In the event interviews are conducted in executive session, board members in the public session nomination and voting process shall express their opinion in support of their vote so the public can witness any deliberations, policy formulation, and the decision-making process of the board. A roll call vote will be conducted on candidates in the order the candidates were nominated with a second. If there are two or more vacancies, that's not us. Um, so that's it.
007I thought it was in support, but you want to do it ahead of time? Yeah. I would like to give commentary to support why I nominate Erin. Yeah. Okay. Please do. Um, so Erin in her interview I thought was a fantastic candidate. Sorry. I thought Erin was a fantastic candidate um to fulfill this vacancy. And the things that stood out to me is um she talked a lot about balancing um the needs of children that children come to us in all different um in all different ways and it's up to the board of education and the the school district to educate all students regardless of their strengths and um you know things that they need to work on. Uh Erin is a um a parent in the district with young young children and we talked
008about how that would be uh good for the board of education to have somebody who's in that elementary school level uh represented on the board of education. I also the thing that stood out to me the most was um that when asked what the role of a board member is, her um her response was that the board member's role is oversight and policy and procedures. And me personally, I think that's the most important thing in in selecting a board member is to know that it's an oversight position. We're not running the district, which is what she said. She's not you're not running the district. You're just making sure that the district is wellrun. So in my mind that um Aaron is the strongest candidate. Okay. So before we move on to Richard, anyone else want
009to comment on Aaron. Uh I will concur with Miss Bjori's comments because he did mention some of my my rationale. Um I also wanted to point out that uh Miss Mer is a librarian with experience in reading programs which I thought was particularly useful for our district. Um and as the uh as a parent in the district who has been engaged and participating with children in the district, she's very close to parental needs um and uh would keep us in touch with the elementary school activities. You nominated Richards. Uh sure. Um I nominated Richards. Um he's a community member for 40 years. Uh his children went through the Readington school system. The skills he bring will bring to the board are communication skills, strong negotiation skills, experience with contracts. Uh he's wellversed in uh buildings
010and roofing. Um he has served as the president of boards throughout his career. Uh and I feel that his professional skill sets would uh be a great asset to our work. Thank you. Anyone else would like to make comments? Just I can add to um Ellen's I agree with all that she said. Um he is a longtime resident. He also um strongly stated how he wants to give back to the community and he's there to support all the children in our district. He is um he believes in communication with between the school and parents and the students. So I also agree that he would be a very great great asset to our board. Okay. Anyone else? Any other comments? Okay. So, as we're doing this, as Jason does, it as as best of the policy,
011you can also make comments when you make your vote as well, reflect during nomination or as you cast your vote. It's up to you if you want to make any additional comments as you go. So, any other discussion before we move the vote on our Yeah, Mr. B. So, as a friendly reminder, uh do your best not to vote twice. Um, and yes and no. Uh, so the first vote uh will be on Aaron Mayer. Um, I'll go in normal roll call order. Uh, Mrs. Cassidy, yes. Mrs. Fior, yes. Mr. Lopes, no. Mrs. Menser, abstain. Mrs. Rat, yes. Oh, no. I'm sorry. No. I'm sorry. No. Mrs. Ryan? No. Mrs. Pinto? No. Mr. Rizzo? No. Um, so this second vote uh will be for Richard Pieros. Remember, vote yes or no. Um, and try not
012to do it twice. Um, Mrs. Cassidy, no. Mrs. Fury, no. Mr. Lewis, yes. Mrs. Mens, Mrs. Rat, yes. Mrs. Ryan, yes. Mrs. Depinto, yes. Mr. Rizzo, yes. Um so the majority of uh those here present in voting and not abstaining um Richard Pieros has successfully achieved that for policy and by thank you Mr. All right. So everyone thank you very much once again I want to thank all four candidates for coming. I want to congratulate Mr. Purus for being elected to or being appointed to the next um position. As Jason said, that'll be sworn in on our next meeting, which is July 22nd, I believe, right? Which is also our board retreat. Um, on that, I am now going to move to the next item on the agenda, which is why most of you are
013here, which is the superintendent report. So, Dr. Thank you. Welcome everybody. Thank you for joining us tonight. Um it is June which means it's a very exciting time of year. Um and I have the privilege tonight of honoring all the uh young students that are here with us tonight and some of the more recent awards that our students have achieved uh in our schools outside of our schools and in local competitions as well. I'm going to begin tonight with the student council award. Um, and I'm going to read a brief intro and then I'll introduce uh a teacher to hand out certificates. So, the RMS Student Council has been awarded the prestigious Standards of Excellence Award this year at this year's New Jersey Student Council Association's annual ceremony at Six Flags Great Adventure. Not a
014bad spot to get award. Uh, this honor recognizing recognizes outstanding student leadership, service, as well as engagement. Our student council earned this award by organizing impactful events, demonstrating small strong communication with school leadership and fostering a positive school culture. We want to recognize the student council for their extraordinary efforts and leadership under the guidance of Miss Erica Apple. This is come on up. This is Apple when you can do a brief intro if you want to. We have students. Sure. So, hi everyone. I'm Erica Applebee. I teach sixth grade language arts at Readington Middle School and this is my first year advising student council. Um I advised it with Mr. O'Neal. He is a um special ed math teacher at Readington Middle School. We were really excited to apply for this award and we didn't
015really know what to expect when we did. And if you look up the award, it says it's a very rigorous process to um apply for it and compete for it. And it was we had four members of the student council who took a huge role in us earning this award. Um they met during lunch, they met before school, they went on a trip to West Orange to meet with another student council. Um and those were our four um officers of the student council. So, I'd like to announce them and have them come up if they're here. I know I see I see one of them. I'm not sure I see everyone. Um, but first is our student council president, Sophia Reyes. So, come on up, Sophia. And Sophia is graduating, so you will miss her
016greatly in student council next year. Um, and then, uh, our student council vice president, Max Baker, who I don't believe is here, but he was recently voted elected president for next year's student council. And then, um, our spirit coordinator, Lucas Sans, who's a seventh grader, and he was also just, uh, reelected as a spirit coordinator for next year's student council. And then last but not least, Kira Wilson, who is our uh event coordinator for student council. Is she here? No. Um she'll be graduating also. Also, Mr. Great student council. So, they did a great job. Good job, guys. Thank you so much. Also at Readington Middle School, it was the Battle of the Books event. It's provided by the New Jersey Association of School Librarians and students are required to read books in a very
017competitive way and that of course makes it more fun. But to tell you more about the competition and our student winners, I'd like to introduce Mrs. Singer, the librarian. Um I am Yeah. Okay. Um I am so proud of all of our readers. We had four teams this year that competed. Every year we have an inschool battle of the votes where the teams compete against each other uh in practice for our county tournament which brings in uh teams from throughout the county and actually just uh welcome to Hillsboro as well. So um it is created by the New Jersey Association of School Library Tourist members to with their schools and um our teams uh had to read 15 books and we found that the most successful teams were uh there was overlap and there definitely
018was um there was a lot of reading that took place and um it's a great event because it takes something reading which is like naturally a personal sort of you know internal pursuit and makes it fun and competitive. And I have to say that I love when all these other students come into the library from all these different schools and there's just like a little chatter about books and then they're just all so exciting like they all see their own people like you're my people, you're my people. That's wonderful. Um, so I'm very proud of all of our teams and if this uh trophy I designed it 10 years ago when we first started hosting at RMS and it was due to come back and I'm super proud of our our our winning members. I
019just want to point out that Kira Wilson was also on this team for the in school battle but she had a conflict and wasn't able to join us for the tournament itself. Um, so she was also very helpful in the team getting ready. However, our four competing uh members of the Battle of Books that won this tournament for us uh was Fernand. [Applause] Marjgerie, I just want to say guys, I am proud of you with all of your reading trophy or No, no, I'm fine. Congratulations. Uh the fine fine and performing arts are truly valued here in our district. We have an overwhelming number of students who participate in band, chorus, and orchestra programs. And we also have very talented artists using a variety of different media. Once again this year, students from across the
020district were selected to have their artwork displayed in the Hunton Art Museum's Young Artist Showcase. It was celebrated on April 5th. The artwork included dragon eyes, pet portraits, celebrity portraits, gamagraphs, which is art that looks different from various viewpoints. I had to look that up today. And bubble heads. Um, I also received a special personalized note from the director of education and community engagement over at the art museum, um, Dr. showing her appreciation for the high level of engagement and talent from our students um and all of the work that they've done in the art museum. So, tonight we recognize their incredible talents. I'm going to ask Mrs. Singer once again to come up and help me recognize the students. There are many. All right, here we go. Michael Aubber. [Applause] Skylar Bradley Brooks Cooper
021Castler just Dudley Lily, Emily Fisher, Diana H, Percy Hway, [Applause] Sophia Hoffman, Zachary Kaval, [Applause] Easy. My Molly Nolan Bali Street. [Music] Cameron sites Stevenson. That was disease. Okay. I'd like to introduce Mrs. Hollazan from Bridges School. Hello everyone. It is my pleasure to read the boomer scenes of our outstanding students from school. Sylvester Kofi, Olivia Deli, Aliana Dillard, Jackson Dun, Samantha Irwin, Skyler Finley, The Tuso, Aiden Gibson, Mabel Hathway, Hampton, Roco Laorta, Felicity Logan, Evelyn Mayor, Scarlet May, Jack Le, Eva McMahon, Agnes, Bailey, Patula, Nolan, Norup, Norup, Coulen, Delawa, Serno, Anthony Sarapin, the Simmons, Paul Singh, Alana Soua, Charlotte Steer, Garrett Thompson, William Tucci, Alina Ina Tumbumber, congratulations. [Music] Thanks guys. At this time, I'd like to introduce Glaciius from White House. Hi, I'm glacias. I'm the art teacher at White House School. All
022right. Violet Adamic, Jesseline Allen, Ellis, John Brown, Jasper Ka, Nicole Deepio, Cora Jenzo, Gavin Delasio, Jaziel Doll, Emma Elysia Dominguez, Thomas Dunham, Bryce Emmens, Oliver Franco, Russell Gregorio, Emily Harris, Dennis Paper, Stella Higgle, Dean Catless, Ka Prouch, James Librock, Lana Meta, Carly Metaf, Charlotte Murray, Everly Nelson, Elena Reie, Reagan Riley, Anna Scott, Eric Roanitz, Juliet US, and Chelsea Bles Gabrielle. Congratulations. [Applause] Uh this evening we also celebrate accomplishments from the Readington Township of Music Department. For the second year in a row, our schools have been selected to receive the National Distinction as one of the best communities in music education. Now in its 26th year, Best Communities for Music Education has the designation is awarded to school districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in providing music access and education to all students. This is exemplified by
023our CJMEA honors and band recognitions. In March, seventh and eighth grade students performed to hundreds of people at Monroe Middle School. And then in April, students from Holliver School participated in the CJMEA Elementary Honors Band. They had amazing performance, met other music musicians, and worked hard for their entire concert. I'd like to take a m a moment and introduce some of the teachers to tell you a little bit more about the awards. To start with the elementary and honors band, Miss Richtor. All right. So, for all of the honors band, orchestra, and chorus uh performances, these students were chosen out of hundreds and hundreds of nominations to represent Readington with students from all over the state for all these performances. And we are just so proud of them and all that they accomplished at these
024events. So, for the elementary honors band, we have Relio Mueller, Anthony, and Eric. Okay. Um I'm also on behalf of this open hour I'm going to be announcing the honors chorus that performed for the middle school. So those students are Olivia Bradley, Natalia Danbeck, Jordano Bosford, Veronica Maran, Patrick O, Caleb Holly, Annabelle Shaw, Maline Casey Swan and Wilson to present students with their recognition recognition for elementary honors orchestra and middle school orchestra. I'd like to introduce Mr. Hassleberg. All right. Uh and just at the end we have CJA honors focus trip uh where we have a large amount of students this year invited to participate uh you're here Matthew You done rory Richards shop. [Applause] And here it Congratulations. Finally, I'd like to introduce Mrs. Lrange to talk about middle school honors band as well
025as the jazz. Hi everybody. Have a little guess with me. My son James just like Miss Victor and Mr. Hasselbury have mentioned um the audition u not really audition process we nominate students um and based on our nominations they did select students from our school we were lucky to have a lot of students nominated this year and a lot of students accepted this year for our um middle school and elementary school honors band. So um we also did a jazz festival in March as far away as that seems from now um in March and um because we wasn't really much of a competition. It was more of like hey let's see what all these other schools are doing and let's celebrate our program. They did give us awards at the end. um our saxophone section
026uh won award for the best best saxophone section that stood out um in our performance and our soloist Jaden Chen um also received an award for impro um improvised solo that she made up completely on the spot. So um we're really proud of that. All right, for the middle school honors we have Victoria who's actually Trevor Bowser, Samuel, Elizabethi, Gonzalez. Phil, Adriana, Lincoln, Jonathan Carilla, Eric Stroer, Annabelle Shaw and Matthew S. Hey, two for um CJMEA does elementary fourth through six. So some of our RMS students actually are participating in that as well and they are nice. All right, they are Kelvin Bagina, Jaden Chan, [Applause] Reggie Nolickey, Maxwell Parker, Nicholasy [Music] and Zachary. It's just represent. Oh, yeah. Awesome. I think you're still here. Um we also went to um the music in the
027parks festival and um we scored a superior for jazz and excellence for um chorus banded orchestra with Annabel Shaw winning the best student. So we had a really nice performance. The students had an excellent time at the park. We had mostly good weather. So we really we had a rain for about an hour and then got to enjoy the rest of the time. So, um, you had a really successful day at music in the parks. That was actually last Friday. So, uh, all right. This is what happens when babysitting falls through. All right. All right. So, for the Bridgewater Jazz Festival that I mentioned before, our honores are Jonathan, Eric Schroer, and Matthew. You get to get to [Music] That this concludes our recommendations for this evening. I want to thank you all for coming.
028Um the board of education and I are going to move forward with the superintendent report which includes um the discussion of the referendum. So you're welcome to stay. Really everybody laughs. It's very exciting. Before you go, please I would like to just ask if Mr. Riza from the board of education would you like to say anything? Yes. Thank you Dr. Hart. Please go ahead. So, first of all, I want to congratulate the students and amazing accomplishments that you've done between the student council, the battle of the books, the young artists, the CGME music. It's just an amazing set of accomplishments and congratulations. I also want to congratulate the parents for supporting the little children, brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles, family that came. Thank you for coming out and supporting the school district and your children
029and the teachers as well that came. So, thank you as well. So on the path behalf of the board of education very appreciative of everything you've done the teachers parents and congratulations to the students. [Music] Yes. It was okay. Show that. Maybe I don't think Yeah. Yeah. That's mics are working here. He said um for the next portion of the superintendent's report, I wanted to update the full board of education in regards to the referendum communications timeline. Um so we met the and Mrs. Depo will be giving a report later on our agenda that we met last week I believe it was and our communications consultant um spent the first 10 15 minutes of of the meeting discussing for bond referendum communications and our timeline. There are some things when it comes to um referendum
030communications that are critical to share with the full board of education with presentations like this so that we're all on the same page when it comes to our timeline. So, first I'll just draw the board's attention to the deliverables that are included up in the upper right hand corner. Um, we've been working with our communications consultant um to develop some deliverables. And these are tangible take-home um artifacts, if you will, that we're going to implement and execute as we get closer to the referendum um ele uh date on November, which is election day. Uh so there will be a direct mailer um which is you know like those postcards that you get in the mail as a resident um that'll have information about the referendum. Um we have met with I have met with a
031animated explainer video production individual small company um that provides animated uh videos that are short. They're two minutes long. They use only graphics and uh animations to provide very very high level um yet with a level of detail in the simplest and quickest way fashion type of information that's a great clickable video for social media to put on a QR code. Um and it it's everything that the community needs to know about the referendum in two minutes or three minutes. Um there will be a one-pager that uh administration and board members can bring to events uh like back to school nights and events like that. That's just a simple one page back and front handout that we can provide to any member of our community. Uh we'll have social media graphics. Uh, we also talked
032to the individual in charge of the animated explainer videos about doing like 30 second quick videos maybe once a week that could be social media videos that are delivered uh via Facebook and Instagram and Twitter. Uh, we're going to develop some banners to hang up in each of the buildings. Um and then we have uh at our uh disposal township newsletters as well as local newspapers to uh print information about the referendum which we've started a little bit of already with through just the superintendent newsletter. Um so our timeline is underneath we are in we we've completed the April May timelines. We've done some communications planning. We've done some vendor outreach. Um we're in the process of developing the direct mailer. Um and um we're working on our campaign tagline, right? Just a short quick
033couple of words or sentences that can really capture the attention. Um this month we're going to finalize all of the creative the communications committee policy committee is meeting again next week. Our communications consultant will be with us and she has some samples to show us of the creative work, the tagline, the one pager, the one pager that'll be shrunk and then do the mailer. The goal is we need to ensure that the policy and communications gives us the green light to move forward with some minor revisions uh for our creatives so that we can send items for production over the summer because by the time we hit September and October, our goal is to fully launch and use all of these deliverables to execute a successful referendum vote. Uh so we're going to release communications
034in the fall, specific timeline in the fall, and we're going to have in-person events. Um, I've begun creating a document that I'll share with the full board of education. The document lists all of the the schoolwide and public events that we have in the fall, events that we can take advantage of and as board members and administration to be in the community to set up a table um and to hand out information about the referendum. So, I'll be sharing that with the board once I finalize it. includes um community nights, parent information nights, back to school nights, um and other community events where we can bring a table and some artifacts to talk about the referendum with the community. Um I'm going to say I I will need your assistance. I hope there's a lot
035of interest from the board to come to these events. Um as wonderful as it is, Jason and I can't be the only faces of the referendum. We need your help. we will need you to stand with us to hand out information about the referendum to really get out to the community. So, I'll share that and we can create a sign up and we can reserve those nights where we work together. An administrator alongside, you know, one two board members handing out pamphlets at an event would be fantastic. Um, I'm going to coordinate with the HSA as well and talk about potential opportunities at HSA events. If you'll be there, I'll be there. we can talk about uh handing out information at HSA events if the HSA is okay with that um and their bylaws. And
036then November, uh our goal is to celebrate success come November. That's uh what we're looking forward to. So this communications campaign is really going to be underway at the end of August and beginning of September. Uh but we're really going to look to uh work hard all the way through November and then we'll be here at the November board meeting celebrating. and then turn it over to Jason and Don to do all of the work to implement all of those ref 80 some odd referendum projects that we put on our our agenda. Um, so this is just a quick overview of our communications. Are there any questions from the board about our communications? Any thoughts? Sound good? All right. All right. The the final thing, although Caroline couldn't be here with us tonight, um we
037have a certificate that we sent to her as well, and I just want to take some time to reflect on her her five and a half years about on the board. Uh Carolyn McCorsey took her seat on the board of education in January of 2020. Uh she often mentioned how she can recall in-person committee meetings and is probably one of the last board members to remember the in-person committee meetings in my uh superintendent's conference room after that. who went virtual. Miss Porski served on the personnel, edtech, policy, communications, and negotiation committees in her time on the board. She was the chair of the personnel committee over the course of several years. And Carolyn also was a consistent member of the sick bank trustees when needed. Carolyn was always a thoughtful and conscientious board member, sharing
038her perspectives always with the students and the staff in mind. In her five five years and five months of service, she provided her input in countless ways and spent many evening hours, particularly on the negotiations committee. She is a stalwart public servant and we thank her for her contributions to the board. And I wish she could be here tonight, but I'd like to say thank you to Caroline for contributions. [Applause] That concludes my superintendent. Thank you, dog. Thank you, Dr. Hart. Okay, so next item on the agenda is public comments for items on the agenda. So, does anyone have any comments for items on the agenda? And just please state your name and town before you speak. Uh my name is Michael Russen. Um I'm special ed teacher here at Halbrook. Uh I've been here
039in the district for 18 years. Um Dr. Hart, Mr. Bone, board of education members and the community of Reinson. I would like that's a lie. I don't want to do this, but I'm going to take this opportunity to submit my resignation as a teacher um from the Reson Township School District. And in that, I want to take a moment to let you know how difficult of a decision this is for me. My family and I did not take it lightly. And this decision was not made in haste or with emotion, rather with serious reflection and enormous gratitude. There's no doubt as to just how much I've loved working here. I've been here for 18 years and I know that life goes on, but Readington has been with me throughout my entire professional life. In my
04018 years of service to the community, I achieved perfect attendance for seven of those years. And before I had children, excluding professional development and responsibilities, I was absent for less than 1% of my contractual time. I say this to brag, not about myself, but about this community and just how enjoyable it was to be involved in it. commutes that easily hit 90 minutes, leaving and getting home in the dark, as well as compromised time at home. They were all easily dismissed when this place was the destination. For years, I thought about trying to change my situation. But every year, as is the Readington Way, a new crop of kids would show up and I'd fall in love with them all over again. This town not only trusted me to work with their children, but it's
041always by my side. and you gave me guidance and support, handshakes and hugs throughout all of my all of my major life events until now. One of my strongest philosophies is my belief that children should be able to have fun and enjoy coming to school as the community setting has the ability to offer so much to them. I always aim to provide a sense of safety and stability given the tumultuous ride that their developmental years guarantee them. I know to many that I'm the fun teacher, but please know that I take my job very seriously and it is important to me that students feel happy, safe, and comfortable in the school setting. It's important that they know they're cared for. I do not take for granted the trust that we educators are given in helping
042shape children's views of themselves, their community, and the world. And I loved it because education, when it's great, it's amazing. It changes lives. It's changed my life. It inspires. It grows people. And it's contagious. It really is magic. You can break it down. You can study it all you want, but you can't just dial it up and call it in. It doesn't work like that. You can't predict what's going to happen dayto day, month to month, or year to year. There's a quote out there that states that a teacher never knows their success until many years later. But in the meantime, we put our heads down, we get to work, and we believe in the process. And we hope that we help con we hope that we help inspire a child to become the best
043version of themselves because we know in the end that is something special. That's something magic. When I was hired in the principal's office up at the middle school, they told me to go to the board office in the other building. So, I got in my truck, drove around, and entered the eighth grade wing of the middle school and wandered around. So, I ended up right back where I started. I've reflected on this embarrassing mistake many times. We reflect a lot. We try to do our best, but we do make mistakes. So, to those who I gave a grade or punishment that felt they didn't deserve it, or even worse, to those that I cut from a sports team, please know that please know that those experiences still stick with me. And I'm sorry for any
044hardship that I imposed on you. But I've been lucky to work with so many wonderful people, both students and staff. In this time, I had no idea of the possibilities that this plays out, the memories I would form, nor the lessons I would learn, both as an educator and as a person. And now as a husband and a father. So, thank you for that. But tonight, when I looked around earlier and I contemplate my future here, I see that it's only friends, it's only family, and it's all gratitude. It's incredibly difficult for me to end this. To leave a place that has served as a home, a beacon of the future, and quite frankly, is paradise to me. It feels like the entire community has been with me throughout this journey. But I want to
045say thank you to a few people who helped shape this experience before I go. Blair Albert, who was my first colleague, sidekick, and friend. Colleen D. Gregorio, who took me under her wing in room 23, encouraged me to start a family, and showed me how to install a baby seat in my car. Bob Climber, who has guided me, mentored me, and looked after me from my first day until, well, we can't get rid of him at this point. the many, many students I've had the privilege of working with, watching over them proudly, enjoying the successes that they ultimately do deserve. My mother, who instilled the power of education by being a Huny County Board of Ed member for 30 years, so believe me, I know the sacrifice you're all making. I also know how to
046use the micro. My father, who is my biggest hero on my role model, my twin brother, Stephen, who's my best friend. my wife Laura who has always believed in and supported me in everything I do and knows just how much this job meant to me and of course my little Hazel and Emily. And tonight I know this is you know you can see this anywhere. So this is for all of you for taking a chance with me accepting me as one of your own, showing me how to be the best version of myself and most of all for waiting with me as we've all waited together for something magical to happen. Thank you, Readington. This has been a wonderful, perfect place to work. The pleasure was all mine. Thank you. Okay. Any other comments, public
047comments online? Can I say something real quick? I just wanted to say Mr. Ren was going to be missed. I have personal experience with my child. He had he had my child and he cried when Mr. Rome left to leave and I've never seen any of my kids cry when the teacher leaves. So, I feel like the district is gonna be missing a really good teacher. Thank you for your service. Thank you. Okay, so the next item on the agenda is correspondence. We have two that we have on record. Um after that, we're going to move to some board actions. The first one is the approval of administrative reports. We have four items 1.01 01 through 1.04. Can I get a motion and a second on those two items? Four items. Alan second. Okay. Excellent.
048Any discussion? M. Cassie. Yes. Miss. Dior. Yes. Mot. Yes. M. Spencer. Yes. Mrs. Pratt. Yes. Mrs. Ryan. Yes. Mr. Pinto. Yes, Mr. Yes. Passes. Okay. Next item is approval of minutes. We have two items 2012. Can I get a motion and a second? I'll second. Okay. Any discussion? Mr. B. Mrs. Cassidy. Yes. Mrs. Fury. Yes. Mr. Oaks. Yes. Mr. Spencer. Yes, yes, Mr. R. Yes, Mento. Yes, Mr. Yes. Okay, next item is financing facilities. We have 27 items 301 through 327. We're also going to have a committee report. So, before we do the report, can I get a motion and a second on the 27 items? A motion. Okay. Second. Thank you. And we have a committee report. Yes. Okay. To go. Y. All right. So, the finance committee met on Friday, May 16th. I'll
049run through the list of topics and the key takeaways. Uh, first topic was property. The committee discussed the Ryerson Road property. IT shared services. The committee discussed the potential for a shared services agreement for IT services with the township of Readington. This would allow district employees to extend their workday after school hours in exchange for compensation and the township would benefit from the district's IT expertise. The committee agreed to proceed with an IT shared services agreement with the township non-resident staff tuition. The committee is supportive of extending eligibility for staff non-resident tuition and suggested communicating this to all staff to ensure consistent awareness across the district. RTAA negotiations. The committee discussed the financial implications of a potential administration restructuring. Next step is for the negotiations committee to engage with the RTAA on the topic. No
050decision was made by the finance committee on this topic. Referendum communication and guidelines. This topic was table for a future committee meeting. Perk and health and prescription insurance. The committee discussed a potential perk regarding health and prescription insurance. The shift insurance wellness grant. A wellness grant at no cost is available from the insurance. This will create funding for employee wellness access. The board will need to formally accept the grant in the future. Unpaid insurance waiverss. That topic was tabled. TBS preschool bathroom rod grant. The rod grant for preschool bathroom has been extended and the funds need to be utilized prior to the extension deadline which is in 2026. The bill list was available for the committee to review. Expenses were typical with the exception of final payments to preschool providers and capital projects. Next meetings
051are planned for July 2nd and August 21st at 8:30 a.m. Thank you, Michelle. Any discussion? Okay, Mr. Mrs. Cassidy, yes. Mrs. Cord, yes. Mr. Ro, yes. Mrs. Spencer. Yes. Mrs. Rad. Uh, yes, but abstain on 3.16. Mrs. Ryan. Yes. Mr. Gento. Uh, yes to all except for item 3.01. I abstain from check number 065029 and check number 065337. Mr. Rizen. Yes. Motion passes. Next item on the agenda is education technology. There is no committee report today, but we do have six items to move. So, can I get a motion on in a second to move items 401 through 406? Motion follow. Okay. Any discussion on the six items? Okay. Mr. Mrs. Cassidy, yes. Mrs. Fury, yes. Mr. Oops. Yes. Mrs. Spencer, yes. Mrs. Fra, yes. M. Ryan, yes. Mr. Hind, yes. Mr. Yes. Passes. Next
052item is personnel, which we will have a committee report. So, first I'm going to move item or have asked to have items 501 through 539 moved in a second and then we'll do the committee report. Can I get a motion in a second? Motion Paul. I'll second. Okay. Um, thank you. So, Justina. Yes. So, the committee met on May 30th at 8:30 in the morning. Um, we discussed staffing updates for the 2526 school year. The committee reviewed current updates across all the schools in the departments. We discussed the enrollment update for the 2526 school year. um projections for the school year and will continue to monitor enrollment trends throughout the spring. Shared services agreement for the business department. The committee discussed the shared services agreement for our business department with East Amwell. This collaboration is
053a strong reflection of the outstanding work our administration staff contributes to our district and it presents an opportunity for us to extend our expertise and support of a neighboring district. The committee discussed the supervisor of early childhood position along with revisions to administrative job descriptions. We also discussed um health insurance per the committee discussed two concerns in regards to the current health insurance. Both have been resolved. Agenda items include new hires, supervisor job description, shared services with East Amwell, um ESY hires, motion to allow superintendent to hire over the summer, and other typical items. and we set our next meeting for July 16th at 8:30 a.m. Thank you. Any discussion? Mr. M. Cassie, yes. Mer, yes. Mr. Lo, yes. Mrs. Mer, yes. Mrs. R. Yes. Mrs. Ryan, yes. Mr. Pinta, yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you.
054So, the next item is the communication. We will have a committee report. But first, we have two items. 61 through 62. Can I get a motion in a second? I'll move Ellen. Second, Paul. Excellent. Thank you. Sure. Um, the policy and communications committee met on May 28th at 4 p.m. The first item we discussed was the referendum communications. Gory Purllo, our communication consultant, joined our meeting to review referendum communications with the committee. There was a civic student survey. The eighth grade uh civic students created a community survey to gather community input on school funding taxes and the need to complete projects at RMS. Dr. Hart shared the results with the committee. We look forward to seeing these presentations at the project citizens forum in June. Then we moved on to the timeline. Lori Purllo reviewed
055the bond referendum timeline. Right now, the deliverables are being fine-tuned with the following goals in mind. June, finalize the creatives, direct mail, videos, banners, social media, etc. July to August, we will send all items to print. September through October, we'll fully launch all communications and in-person events. Um, we were given the opportunity to view a cartoon edu sample. Dr. hard and we are looking into a company called Cartoon DBU that puts together animated explainer videos is relatively inexpensive and could be a helpful tool for referendum communications. We also reviewed the taglines. Um we went over some of the possible taglines for referendum communications. The committee preferred the use of three-word language and provided feedback and suggestions on some key works to highlight. We uh then reviewed a dos and don'ts for BOE members. Lori presented
056the committee with a document that reviews the board members involvement in the bond referendum campaign. It explains the two primary goals for board members are to inform voters of the vote and to direct voters to the official district resources with factual information. This document has been shared with the pole board. Um then we moved on to our policy tracking document for review of the thousand series in our manual. The committee reviewed their suggested edits with Dr. Hart for each of the policies in the 1000 series. The following policies require no changes. Uh 11:30 staff leaison committees. 1260 incapacity of superintendent. 1310 employment of school BA board secretary. 1320 duties of the school VA board secretary. 1330 valuation of school VA secretary. 1350 incapacity of the school VA board secretary. 1400 job descriptions. 1510 Americans with
057Disabilities Act. 1511 BOE website accessibility 1570 internal controls 1581 victim of domestic or sexual violence leave 1613 disclosures and review of applicants employment history 1620 administrative employment contracts the following policies are recommended to be abolished policy 1555 domestic partnership this policy is outdated and goes against state law requirements and policy 1648.15 record keeping for healthcare settings and school buildings um for CO 19. This policy is no longer relevant. The following policies were recently updated and not included in this review. 1523 comprehensive equity plan 1530 equal employment opportunity 1550 affirmative action program for employment and contract practices and 1642.01 uh sick leave. The following policies require minor edits and further discussion. Policy 1100 district organization adding a line for clearer instruction for staff. An example, personnel are expected to refer matters requiring administrative action to the
058administrator to whom they are responsible. Personnel are expected to keep the person to whom they are immediately responsible informed of their activities by appropriate means. Policy 1120, the management team add technological staff to our list and consider listing out our management team. Policy 1140, the educational equity policies affirmative action. As per an article ND weekly, the US Department of Education considers the use of diversity, equity, and inclusion to be a potential violation of the anti-discrimination law. It argues that the act of treating people differently based on their race or programs that advantage one's race over another constitute an illegal DEI practice, citing the US Supreme Court's 2023 decision to overturn the legality of affirmative action policies that allowed universities to consider race as a factor in college admissions decisions. The department initially gave states 10
059days to respond but extended to uh extended the deadline to April 24th in a follow-up letter. The agency is also asking state education chiefs to collect certifications from local districts. As of today, the state responded on behalf of all schools. We will keep up to date on any changes. Other policies in this series may be impacted by this at a later date. Policy 1210, board superintendent relations. Um, we talked about do we want to add anything about keeping costs down while ensuring the best educational opportunities also coordinate community resources with those of the districts. Some committee members suggested we not reference costs in this policy as this isn't necessarily needed in board relations. This may require further discussion. Policy 1220 employment of chief school administrator. Uh, include a statement about the board evaluating the superintendent
060one time annually according to policy 1240. 12:30 superintendent's duties. This is missing content. Um, on code 18A 37-4, suspension of pupils by teacher or principal, but this may not be necessary. Uh, 1240, evaluation of superintendent, include language to make it clear that all superintendent evaluations are to be completed by July 1st, regardless of tenure status. 1522, school level planning. This policy is listed on our table of contents, but is not listed in the manual. It has been suggested to add this policy to the manual as it reflects how the building principles come up with achievement plans and report out to the board. Policy 1540 administrators code of ethics suggested that we remove the five principles of commitment to the profession as other districts have only the ethics listed. This policy requires further discussion prior to
061any edits. Uh 1643 family leave need to update the staff eligibility section to reflect enrolling 12-month period backward from the data staff member uses any family leave. Ours currently has the beginning of the school year as July one. Um we then went on to discuss um breakfast offer verse serve policy 8507. It was a policy sample. The board only has policy 8508 to reflect lunch service but we'll need 8507 because we now serve breakfast. Our district has above 10% low income in more than one school and therefore we need to offer breakfast. Adding this policy will keep us in compliance with the department of agricultural requirements. This is going well in the elementary school and is doing better in Holland Brook School in RMS than it was. Uh this also includes off-site preschool locations. We
062then went on to discuss the school calendar for the 2026 2027 school year. Dr. Hart proposed the 2026 2027 school year calendar with leadership. It is new district practice to plan the school year calendar more than a year in advance. Please note this is not for the next school year but for the 26 27th school year. It has been decided to have teachers begin on September 1 through two and students on September 3. September 4 will be in early dismissal for the Labor Day weekend. If we have two snow days, the school year will end on June 21st. Graduation will be held on June 18th. If we do not have two snow days, school will end on the 18th. Um the agenda items will adopt policy 8507 and the school calendar. And our next meeting
063is scheduled for June 18th at 8:30 a.m. Thank you very much. Any discussion, [Music] Miss Cassie? Yes. M fury? Yes. Mr. Hopes? Yes. Mer? Yes. Mr. R? Yes. Mr. Ryan? Yes. Mr. Pinto? Yes. Mr. Rizzo? Yes. Thank you. Okay. Next item on the agenda is unfinished business. We have two items, the board retreat and the board self-evaluation. Um I could comment on the evaluation if you want to come on the the board retreat a while. They're similar agenda items. I'll just say that the board retreat is scheduled for July 22nd. Um during that board meeting, we traditionally have uh dinner brought in. So you can arrive or expect to arrive a little early. The board meeting starts at 5:00. We can have dinner at about 4:30. Um and then call the meeting to order order
064at 5 and we begin our retreat around 5. Um and I discuss some topics and the board self-evaluation with Judith Wilson once the evaluation is complete. I'll send it over to her so that she can formalize the agenda. Okay. Thank you. Um, for the self evaluation, I sent an email out about a week ago or so with a link to the evaluation done through New Jersey School Boards Association. Um, saw the questions and get details. So, I think I gave until next Friday to complete it. So, if you have a chance, please go in and complete the self-evaluation. Once that's done, our NJSBA representative will compile the results, send them to me. I'll review them and as soon as I get them, assume that there's no issue. I'll forward them out to the full board.
065Dr. Hart and Dr. Hart at the board, Dr. Judy Wilson. So that's the process and then we'll discuss it as Dr. Hart said at the board retreat. So I don't know if there's any questions on that. Okay. Next item is new business from the board. Um Dr. Hart, did you want to discuss the dates? Yeah, I um I was just looking in the agenda and I don't know if this attachment made it into the agenda, but something that I wanted to bring to your attention. Um with the referendum vote being November on election day, um what I will send to all of you via email were proposed board of education meeting dates in the fall to include our traditional September 9th first meeting, adding a late September board of education meeting for September 30th, and
066then an October board of education meeting. The my thinking here is um let's say the first September meeting on September 9th we would host in for example three bridges school uh we would start the meeting early on September 9th we would do an open public forum and tour of three bridges school for the referendum purposes we can invite the public and we would hold the meeting there um then on September 30th we could do uh hold the meeting at White House school uh invite the public at six o'clock for example again do you know 45 minutes to an hour of a tour of White House School um review all the projects there as well. And then the October board meeting is a a pretty busy board meeting because we go over the achievement results, but
067I thought we could start that meeting closer to five and do the tours of RMS and Holland Brook. Now, Holland Brook doesn't have a ton of projects for the referendum, some of which we're, you know, doing through capital projects over the summer. Really, it's HVAC systems on the roof. And I'm not really going to take you or community members up on the roof or anything like that. So we can walk through Holland Brook. That should be a relatively quick tour and also tour RMS too and then have the meeting in our traditional meeting here and just push the achievement results back to about 7 o'clock. So do about 90 minutes of tours and then a 7:00 meeting. And I apologize I don't think I don't see it in the agenda but I redid all the
068the list of board meeting dates. The purpose being for us as a board to host a meeting in the location where we can discuss in any great detail the um referendum projects in that building and the public can see the projects for themselves as we walk through together and it could be an official board meeting. Um I mentioned this to the leadership team in our meeting last week so they're aware of it as well and I'll coordinate an agenda and a tour with you know the principles of each building. Um that's the idea. So I think those are the dates. The 9th, the 30th of September, and I believe it's the 15th of October is our 14th 14th of October is our October board meeting. Um and then um I also will add to the
069calendar um you know just a public information forum for the referendum as well sometime in late October maybe after the school board's convention to come back in late October um and have a open forum for the community that wouldn't necessarily be a board meeting and board members are welcome to attend um we could talk about that in a little bit more detail but just an opportunity for Jason and I to be there with our architect or our bond council and have just a strictly referendum and referendum only event for parents and community members. Yeah, do we know back to school nights for September or we'll just steer clear of that for the Yeah, because I didn't see that person. So, we have a you know the detailed district calendar that's on our website that we
070started planning that out um about a month ago. Um, and we I put I put placeholders for the board meetings and for referendum public forums on the agenda first and had the principles plan back to school night around those events. But um, so they they'll be totally different, but if you want to if you're interested in seeing the document of all the back to school nights that are tentative so that you can sign up to be there with me or Jason to hand out referendum items, I can share that with you sooner rather than later. so we can go to sign up. What time are the um reward meeting dates that you're adding? So, um the nth 9th of September would be um six and the tour would be about an hour long and then
071we would go into our regular business at 7. Uh September 30th would be six o'clock again as well about an hour of tours, regular business at seven. Uh and then October 14th, my proposal would be 5:30, 90 minutes of tours, both Holland Brook and RMS, and then regular business starting at 7 o'clock, which would include the achievement results. So that'll be that was the 14th. October 14th. What time would 5:30? I'm sorry, did I not say that? 5:30. You did Would we start the meeting at 6 for the board reviews or would we actually start at 7:30? like maybe we actually what I would what I would think is you let me know what you think because superintendent's report is first. We could even put a separate agenda item like we could call to order.
072We could do the flag salute and we could have a separate item that just says tour of Three Bridges School and we could be walking around the school and that could be immediately at six o'clock. Anticipated that 7 o'clock or so we would get into our regular business. Any any thoughts? I mean I I can be flexible. I would I would open the meeting and advertise it as six o'clock. I mean, that worked well when we did the last meeting where we did the call to action and then we went to the cafeteria for um into the board the retirements. I mean, that seemed fine. Yeah, that's what I would think. Hopefully, we get a good turnout. I could put some awards on the board for the night, get everybody to come, right? But the
073actual board business most likely will start at seven. So if someone can't make it for six, that'll be fine because we still make it for seven. Yeah. As long as we have a quorum. We'll just have to make sure each of those board meetings, you know, maybe Jason could just do a, you know, a quick email, make sure we have a quorum to open the meeting at 6. So at least we have five members here. So for example, if someone says, "Oh, I'm really I'm stuck at work." Or, you know, something like that, you know, we have board members come at seven for regular business. Okay. All right. So, anything else you want to talk about? No, that's everything. And I will send you the um list of dates with the time so you have
074it. Uh the only thing that we'll have to do as a board is we will have to vote on that. Correct. Jason will vote new board dates into the record at the next board meeting. It's always an appropriate step. Yeah. Yeah. So, we'll just put your if possible. something agenda 9 in July. Okay. So, next item is the NJSBA delegate report and spring conference. Uh yeah, I um emailed board members the um county meetings all take a break for the summer, so they'll start back up in September. Um, the one program coming up, there's a webinar coming up that I emailed everyone, uh, setting district and board goals, a practical guide for board members. It's a one-hour webinar on June 18th in the morning. It's free to register. It might have some good information for
075our next retreat and set goal setting. Um, I thought that would be interesting. I know there also is a webinar on the board self-evaluation if anyone feels they want to. It's on NJSBA's website, so you could always look there also. Um and then for the spring conference, I know several of us attended. So I just will share um the uh best session that I found was um related to school nurses and uh security drills. I actually sent that information to Dr. Hart and the staff just um things that you know I said I'm sure you're all aware but new things to me. So I I passed all the information along that I um learned during that session. I thought overall it was really good. But that's the first time they've done that format. So that's
076really nice to do a virtual um spring session as opposed to just going in in the fall. If anyone else is any one time, but I didn't think that could Oh, really? You can go back and watch any of them too that we have access. I think it's for 30 days um to go back and if there was like two that you wanted to see and you only could attend one. So the one on the ESSR was I'm sorry the one on the ESSR I thought that was the other one. Yeah, I was disappointed in one I was expecting I think I was just expecting something different with the um it was addressing the teacher shortage and stuff like that. It was pretty much all about I guess Rowan's teacher program there. So, I was
077just expecting something a little different. Um, and then, um, I thought the school safety one was was good and worth watching. So, we can all access these recordings or only if you register? Only if you register. But, I mean, if you if you ask me about a topic, I'm sure I could probably find a way to share it with you. the I'll just mention too they they sometimes I find the school boards will do like repeat topics over and over again. So if you if there's a topic of interest, I mean certainly I think Beth could maybe find a way to get you the information, but the next opportunity would be the convention in Atlantic City. Even if you can go for a day, Pam, like I I don't I don't know if that's of
078interest. And I think that if you if if there are some recommendations of good sessions, you might be able to find them at the Atlantic City convention because they tend to repeat some of the same sessions at different times. Yeah, that's what I would welcome. any recommendations for which courses to take? Beth said they're available for 30 days before only if you registered. But the NGSPA has a bunch of webinars and actually what they do a lot of times is they just take those anyway and put them on their webinar site. So if you go on and look at all their um they podcasts and whatever like they just put all that information up at some point. So Thank you. Yeah. Any other comments, thoughts, discussion? So, the next item is the board member election
079deadline. So, I'll just throw some comments in on that. Everyone here has ran, so we're all familiar with the process. So, I'll just give some details for people listening at home. So the board member deadline is July 28th at 4 pm. So if you go to the Hunter County Clerk's website, there is a petition you can fill out. The petition is you can have single candidate petition or you can actually run up to three candidates together in a joint um election. Um you can go there, you need signatures. It's very self-explanatory. If you have any questions, Mary Melie, the county clerk is excellent. She'll answer all your questions. So, if you're interested in running, just realize it's not just filing the form by December 28th. You do have to get it. You have to get
080some signatures. I think it's either 10 or 12, but I think this year, yeah, they changed it. I want to say 25, but okay. So, they have to 25. So, there you go. So, if you go into the discussion um the difference from last year and just give yourself time so that when you get there, you can actually file. I don't know if anyone else has any thoughts on it. Thank you. Our next item is public forum for any item on or off the agenda. So, does anyone like to come to the podium and speak? We have anyone online? I noticed that, but I don't know where. Yeah, it says Kayen. Hi, Kayen. Does anyone know what the current topic is? When you were reading the uh policy, that's when someone posted that. Oh, okay.
081That could potentially be a student name that I, you know, I think we called the name of that student maybe a couple times. So maybe maybe the student was just looking to see if it was right. All right. So close public session. Our next item is we're going to be moved into executive session. I'm going we're going to have a motion to adopt the following resolution. resolved to adjourn to executive session in accordance with the sunshine law to discuss HIV RTAA negotiations a legal update and the superintendent's evaluation for approximately 60 minutes at which time the board expects to return to public session or action shall not be taken. The matters discussed will be made public if and when circumstances requiring confidentiality no longer exist. However, is not presently known when sir scances will exist.
082Can I please get a motion in a second? Motion. And can I get a roll call? Mrs. Cassidy. Yes. Miss Gordy. Yes. Mr. Hog. Yes. M. Ner. Yes. Mr. Strat. Yes. Mr. Ryan. Yes. Mint. Yes. Mr. And I'll be excusing the public from executive