Sayreville Board of Education Meeting - 04/29/25

001Good evening. The April 29th meeting of the Seville Board of Education is now called to order. Please rise for the pledge to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing for a moment of silence. Thank you. Before we begin this evening, I'd like to ask everyone to join me in a moment of silence in memory of Christian Rivera, a young student from our community whose life was tragically taken from us over a year ago. This p this past week, there was a tree planting held in conjunction with the Riverrera family and the Rotary Club of Sable South Amboy. Sorry. This tree will honor Christian. It's a living

002tribute that will forever stand as a reminder of the bright light he was that was taken from us far too soon. Please join me in remembering Christian and his family during this time. Thank you, Miss Hill. Roll call, please. Mr. Callahan, here. Mrs. Chudowski, here. Mr. Hernandez here. Mrs. Hernandez here. Mrs. Maldonado here. Mrs. Npalitano here. Mrs. Pabone here. Mr. Smith here. And Mrs. Bloom here. Miss Hill, will you summarize executive session, please? The board discussed a grievance related to Serville Education Association number 2024-25 2. student matters, matters falling under attorney client privilege, negotiations related to the teamsters, and personnel, including but not limited to agenda items, was on the agenda, but not discussed. Okay. Any correspondence? Uh, yes. There was one letter from a staff member retiring to the board. I need a motion

003to approve the minutes of the April 1st meeting, please. So move. Second. Mr. Smith and Mrs. Npalitano. Uh, Mr. Callahan. Yes, Mrs. Shakowski. Yes, Mr. Hernandez. Yes, Mrs. Hernandez. Yes, Mrs. Maldonado. Yes, Mrs. Npalitano, I'm sorry. Do I have to abstain? I wasn't in the last meeting. Oh, I'm sorry. Um, yes, you can abstain. So, would you like to abstain? I would like to abstain. Okay. U Mrs. Npalitano? Yes. Mrs. Pabone? Yes, I was here. Mr. Smith? Yes. Mrs. Bloom. Yes. Okay. And now to our favorite part of the meeting. Unfortunately, our high school representative Morgan Coun is not here because she is at a track meet. And for the middle school, we have a substitute representative Samantha Callahan. Samantha, go for it. Good evening, Board of Education members and administrators. My name is Samantha

004Callahan and I'm representing the Saraveville Middle School community this evening. Here's what is going on at Saveville Middle School. The student council met today after school to discuss upcoming events. We will be hosting the anything a ghost assembly on May 12th. After voting, we will be hosting a collection for Sammy Hope. The PTO and student council took part in an SMS beautifification day last Friday. Flowers were planted around the school as well as garbage was picked up. Eighth grade promotion signs will be on sale during the month of May. Please look for the pre-order via parent square. The PTO will be hosting the eighth grade formal on June 13th. The students voted and their theme this year is under the stars. The PTO hosted a successful Harlem Wizards game on April 22nd at Cable War

005Memorial. They are currently planning the end of the year events. Class council will be hosting the eighth grade breakfast on June 16th. Yearbooks will be distributed at this time. The eighth grade trip to Eagle's Landing will take place on June 2nd. The music department will be hosting the annual duets performance on May 30th. The acts have been working hard to prepare the exciting evening. The community service club and student council are currently selling tickets to the Blue Claus game on May 10th. Our principles, Mr. Nerburgger, will be throwing out the first pitch. Come out to the ball game and support the middle school. Now on to serville middle school athletics. The servo girls blue softball team is off to a six and0 start this season. They have picked up wins over spotswood southboy Miltown Edison

006and Piscataway. Coach Vasquez and coach Schwarz are very proud of the continued effort and hard work by all of the girls. The silver girls gray team is 4- one. They've defeated Wood Ro Wilson, Piscataway, North Brunswick, and Thomas Jefferson. Coach Ecker is proud of her girls and their hot start to the season. The softball program will be hosting a car wash at the high school this Sunday, May 4th, from 9 to 1. Please come out to support the program. Seville Middle School's blue baseball team is 3 and three, while the gray team is 2 and three for a combined 5-6 record. The players continue to work hard honing their craft and learning about the game. Gray looks to continue their winning streak April 29th when the Panthers of Perth and Boy come to town. Blue

007has their eyes set on winning the North Brunswick Invitational Tournament at North Brunswick Community Park on May 1st. Thank you very much for this opportunity to speak on behalf of the students at Caveville Middle School. Great job, Samantha. You can come in anytime. May I ask some questions? Absolutely. First, Sam, great job. Thank you. Definitely the best speaker in the Callahan family. First, did you go to the Harlem Wizard game? I did not. Oh, you didn't? I heard it was a great game. Yeah. Okay. Will you be going to the Lakewood Blue CL? I mean, at the the Trenton, what the Somerset Patriot game when Mr. Nerburgger throws out the first pitch? I think I Yeah, I will. I think I'll be going. Okay. You and I will enter a friendly wager. I'll bet you

008an ice cream cone that he bounces it to the plate. Will you take that bet? Yeah. Yeah. Great job, honey. Thank you. I'd just like to say one thing. Um, clearly you're a very intelligent, articulate, kind young young lady. You have a great future in front of you and clearly you get your genes from your mother's side of the family. So, um, thank you. Excuse me. I don't think we need two malign boyfriend members. I didn't say anything who her father was. I'm just saying it's clear that you know it falls on the X chromosome. Okay. Great job, Sam. Thank you, Samantha. Um, right now to the president's comments, I just wanted to bring to everyone's attention that uh last weekend we had the Serville War Memorial High School Hall of Fame induction. Um, I

009chair that committee. This was my first time handling the banquet as committee chair. It was very stressful, but we had a wonderful evening and we inducted uh five former graduates into the Hall of Fame and the plaques will be going up this week as soon as I get a chance to hang them. So, that was the highlight of the month. Now, I can relax. Did you like my joke? Um, stick to the straight stuff, please. Thank you, sir. Dr. Lavyby told a joke. We won't go there. It was a very long story. Okay. Mr. Smith, you're up. Great. Thank you. um for district highlights. Congratulations to our own David Naster, our assistant superintendent of special education, for being named the 2025 New Jersey Association of School Administrators and the New Jersey Association of Pupil Service

010Administrators Special Education Administrator of the Year. Congratulations, David. Very welld deserved. Congratulations to the following Seville War Memorial High School ceramic arts students right up your alley list whose pieces were entered into the AM OCA high school jured exhibit. Iet Quasi Kuma and Cassandra Mendoza, Jasine Sambahi, Ava Wallenstein, Ella Yan, Uzi and Jonathan. I'm sorry, Jonathan. Yeah, sorry, Jonath. Sorry, Jonathan. Starts with a Y. Dr. Lavy might be able to help me out with that one. I apologize, but congratulations to Yeah, Yahoo. Yahoo. I apologize for that, but congratulations on your entries and your accomplishments with the ceramics competition. Congratulations to the Saraveville War Memorial High School Studio Art and Fashion illustration and drawing class, Gabriel De Jesus, Ava Wallenstein, whose art pieces were selected as winners of the 2025 sixth congressional district high school

011art competition entitled An Artistic Discovery. Gabriel drew an art um architectural illustration while Ava drew a portrait. Congratulations to the Sairville War Memorial High School senior uh Risha Shaw who placed second at the Kain University Business Plan Competition. In addition, he was honored with a $1,000 NRF foundation riseup scholarship. Furthermore, he recently earned the certification of a Young Investment Analyst designation through the Young Investment Society. Congratulations to students from two War Memorial High School Odyssey of the Minds team that became state champions recently with one team earning the John Hustler 350 perfect score award. Both teams were invited to the Odyssey of the Mine World Finals at Michigan State University on May 21st. Problem one which was the John Huster award the OM OM amazing race. Uh students were Angel Zarzula, Anthony Vu, Isan Cha

012Chand, Daniel Atuna, Nicholas Baratti, uh Sabrina Brown, and Yelen Zang. And problem three, cooking with books, Quinn Geria, Lillian H Highleberg, Jane Lee, Marissa Mandola, Daniel Johnson, and Abdullah Khan. Congratulations to all those students. And finally, congratulations to Mr. Joseph Schmidt, Seville War Memorial High School theater director, and the casting crew from the Don't Drink the Water fall drama on the following five nominations for the 2025 Foxy Awards. Outstanding production of a period comedy by Joseph Schmidt. Outstanding achievement for a stage manager in a play, Kate Burn. Outstanding performance by an actor in a period comedy, Robert Shaw. Outstanding performance by an actress in a period comedy, uh, Brooke Addex. Outstanding acting ensemble for the entire company, entire cast in a period comedy. So, congratulations to everybody. Great job and always proud of our students.

013Absolutely. And by the way, Jonathan's name is Jonathan Yehu Deaf. Okay. I'm sorry, Jonathan. I also want to say um I also want to add that Jordan Gallagher uh was nominated for best hair and makeup for the production as well. So very good. Okay. Thank you. I did too. You're welcome. And you know the the two student actors from Don't Drink the Water, if you saw the play, they were hysterical. They played the elderly couple. Um, and they I mean, if you've watched the play, I I was I I I believe that they were elderly people. I mean, or not elderly, but middle-aged people. They did such a wonderful job. And tribute again to Jordan, as well as Cynthia, her mom, for the um costume and makeup that made them look like middle-aged people, but

014their acting was superb. Um, it it was incredible. So, no, I I think it's fantastic that we have kids from arts programs, business programs, theater programs, Odyssey of the Mind, everybody doing fantastic jobs. Yeah, we we pride ourselves in making sure that we give our students many, many opportunities to extend and transcend what they're doing into the class in the classroom to things outside of the classroom. And we have many that not only do that, but they excel at doing so. So, we're so proud of them. Fantastic. And that will conclude that this Thank you very much. Fine job. Fine job. Uh, okay. Now, Dr. Labby, we have a budget presentation from you. Yes. And, um, I have it up on my screen now. If you're watching at home, you can go into our website

015into the April 29th meeting section, and it's right there for you to download if you'd like to. Board of Education members, obviously, you have a copy in front of you. This is the exact same budget that you approved back on March 18th for the tentative budget approval. So, I'm going to go through it. I'm going to go through it a little bit um briskly, but if I get to a point where you have questions or if you want to ask me questions afterward, board of education members, please do so. But please note that this is our mandatory budget hearing. When we are finished, uh, we will then ask you to vote and adopt the budget outside of the actual finance and infrastructure agenda items. Okay, here we go. Oh, and Jane, help me out. Jilline,

016there we go. Obviously, when we create our budget is a collaborative process. um the board of education, central administration, our principles and directors, our s assistant principles and supervisors, um non-certified directors and coordinators, faculty, support staff, and as you may know, we had a series of budget presentations where we gave an opportunity for the public to listen to what was going to be in our budget or what our principles were or directors were seeking to be in the budget and so forth. So, people could have provided comment to us. And always we give special thanks to our genius sitting next to me, Miss Hill, for her incredible work in putting um you know, this incredibly big uh production together. Oh, and of course, we begin every year with our budget development calendar. As you can

017see, we start real early. In fact, we begin talking about the next year's budget during the summer when we have our administrator retreat. But we go ahead and we ask the board of education to approve our budget development calendar during our state of the school's address, which this year was on October 15th. And the rest of the dates here include when we require our administrators to get their budget data in. For the most part, we practice what's called a zerobased budget, which means they're allowed to budget for whatever they think that they need. Um, and then we go ahead and tailor that. So, as you can see, all that data had to be collected by December 6th. Um on January 7, by January 17th, we produced to the board of education a balanced preliminary budget

018using the revenue from the previous year. Going into the next meeting, we start our presentations and you can see them. We have presentations on January 21st, February 4th, February 18th, March 4th. And then on March 18th, we asked our board of education after we received our actual revenue projections for the state of New Jersey to go ahead and approve what's called a tentative budget. We submitted that to New Jersey Department of Education. They approved it and that's why we're here right now asking our board of education to approve and adopt it. Here is our current enrollment. The enrollment that I use is a little bit different than the enrollment that is on the uh ASSA or otherwise known as the October 15th count. Um I use the data that um board of education members that

019we send out to at the end of every month. So I use that from the from the month of October. Um it's not it's not quite exact to what it is right now. Um but here is our current enrollment as compared to the two previous years. And obviously we use this year's enrollment to project what next year enrollment is going to be. Here's our mission. I'm not going to go through that. It's pretty standard. Ah. We'll go back one more slide. Vision 2030. This is our vision that we created prior to me even coming here back in 2013. The board of education and the then superintendent created this vision called vision 2030. This is it. Believe it or not, at that time it was current kindergarten students and now they are actually 11th grade students.

020Um which is quite amazing how time has flown. When I did join Seville, we uh developed a series of strategic action plans to go ahead and work toward the goals that we had set forth through vision 2030. The latest was in 2023 and here's what that what was accomplished during that talks about that. And then I'm proud to say that um obviously some of our board members are here and lady was actually a part of that as a parent. So we can't thank her enough for taking the time to help us develop that 2023 to through 2027 strategic action plan. But everyone that participated is listed list there and as you can see the pictures are there as well. Um obviously when you create a budget you're looking to go ahead and work toward achieving

021certain goals. Um we have not yet created our goals for 2025 2026 yet. Those will be completed over the summer and we'll ask the board to approve them in October. But for your um for your information, here are the goals from 2024 2025. Also during the state of the school's address in October, we will inform the board and public on how well we uh went ahead and uh uh progressed toward these goals, achieved them or not, or made good progress toward them. So here's our finance goals and again I'm not going to read through them. Here's our facilities goals and then thank you Christopher our student achievement goals and our culture and climate goals. So with every budget there are challenges. Obviously, we, you know, we have a referendum in which we're doing major renovations

022to all of our buildings. Um, we've replaced all of our roofs by this time. We've nearly replaced all of our windows and doors that are in the referendum. The referendum is coming along very well. By December, the entire all the projects, including HVAC, should be completed at all schools. Uh, which I'm proud to say. And I I give a lot of thanks to Mr. Coleman'sburgger, his team, and of course Aaron for their leadership and guidance with that. Mr. Coleman'sburgger has been managing every single one of these projects throughout the building for the past three years to make sure that we accomplish everything that we need to do with regard to the referendum. But outside of the referendum, we still have to conduct ongoing maintenance and refurbishment of our facilities. So that's some of the challenges

023with this budget, finding the money to do so. When it comes to technology, we still have to make sure that our technology infrastructure um is um very well supported, that we have internet security, that we're replacing our 1:1 devices in grades 6 through 12 um and so forth, and that we're making sure that our students in grades uh preschool through fifth grade have either tablets or Chromebooks or iPads that they need as well to um to utilize technology to assist them in learning. We also have to look at our buses. As you know, this was the first year that we were actually able to transport all of our students in district with our own buses. And I we think that our bus drivers do such an amazing job. And we are so thrilled of the

024work that they do every single day to transport our most precious uh commodity to and from school. But with buses, you need to replace them. And we have two we have a couple of buses that are coming out of commission. If you do not know, a bus can only be in commission for 15 years and then you have to replace it regardless of the condition that the bus is in. So, we have to replace, I believe, two bus, two big buses. Um, and we are going to actually replace a mini bus, too. If you don't know, we provide very extensive what we call tier three mental health services throughout the district. Um, it's not inexpensive. It's about, you know, in excess of a million dollars. So it takes a lot of money to do that

025but um it is um provided our students with the level of care that they need so that they can stay in our schools, be happy, be healthy uh and and and socially and emotionally develop um you know as their typically developing peers do. And then obviously we have to um you know contend with the increases in not only liability property insurance but also medical prescription dental benefits as well. Um as you all know those costs go up, premiums go up. Um and we have to contend with that as a school district when we're budgeting. And you'll see in in some you know slides further down the cost of doing such. I'm going to go through some budget highlights. Again, I'm going to I'm going to go pretty quickly through them, but again, if you have

026questions later on, feel free to ask them. Or if you want to ask them as I'm going, uh, that's fine, too. So, beginning with finance. Overall, the general fund tax levy increase is 5.17%. It's a 2% increase in the regular tax levy, but as I mentioned before, we're expecting about a 14% increase in our health benefits. So, um, with that, that's an additional 3.17%. We did get 3.44% increase in state aid due to our special education aid that we received. We did not use any additional funds as opposed to last year to from fund balance to fund the budget. So, it's 0% there. But we are using reserve monies in this year's budget. And that's not a that's not a typo. It's 2211%. Because we're using our capital reserve money um in this budget for

027um transportation complex and all those other things and and so forth. So that's there. If we end up not using it, we just put it back in those reserve accounts. I don't know if you want to add anything to that. Um, in terms of our debt services, it's a 17.52% debt services tax levy decrease. Um, as a result of our total tax levy increase of 2.89%, um, you might want to talk a little bit more about that. Sure. Um, so the 2.89% is the dollar value increase percentage. So, you know, if we were collecting $72 million, you increase that by 2.89%. However, when you factor in the assessments throughout the town and you apply it to the tax rate, it's only the the taxpayers are only going to experience a 1.8% increase even though the

028dollar amount is 2.89% higher. So that relates to the assessments have gone up in town and the average assessed value of the home has actually dropped a little bit. So people should experience just a 1.8% increase in their taxes. Okay. Thank you. In terms of facilities in this budget, there is parking lot expansion, remodeling, and repaving at the Eisenhower School. If you've been to the Eisenhower School during arrival and dismissal, it is quite chaotic. The parking lot is not set up for what we feel is the safest way to drop students off and so forth. So, we are remodeling that. There'll be actually parking if you're looking at the Eisenado School, there's now going to be parking on the left side of the park of the school as well as we're going to we're going

029to widen the circle and then we're going to create a better route for parents to come up, loop around and drop off their students at school if they choose to do so. So, we're excited about that. We're actually looking to go out to bid on that by the um end of this school year so that they can start work on that in the summer and have it ready for September at Eisenhower. Speaking of Eisenhower, we're looking to refurbish those student bathroom some student bathrooms at the Eisenhower school. If you recall, we use funds this year to do Arlith in the middle school. So, we're going to do the same with Eisenhower. We're going to purchase um uh two big buses and one mini bus. As I mentioned earlier, we're going to also purchase and install

030back lit lettering on the front of the high school. Um there's very little signage that tells people that this is Serville War Memorial High School. So on the front of the high school, um it'll be back lit for them so people can prominently see that this is our high school that we're so proud of. We're going to purchase and install a new sound system at the high school in the gymnasium. Uh we're going to purchase and install one emergency generator at each elementary school and two at SAMO and the middle school. As we all know, unfortunately, we had to close the Eisenhower school just recently. So with a generator that might have allowed us to possibly open, may not have. But in the case where we do lose power, these generators are going to help

031us keep the lights on and so forth. We did have a case earlier in the school year at the Wilson school where we did lose power toward the end of the day. In that particular case, the emergency generator would provide us just with the amount of power that we need um to to to keep the building going if students are in the the building then. So something that that we're we're real happy to be able to fund this year. And then finally, not only we are purchasing an electronic sign, a new electronic sign for the high school. I think it's important that if you're driving by the high school, you're able to see what's going on in the high school through an electronic sign. But we feel that not only should we be doing this

032for the high school, we should make sure that all of our schools have electronic signs. So, this budget's going to go ahead and fund that. Um, as well as the infrastructure necessary to go ahead and um, you know, put those signs in place. For instance, um, the sign at the middle school is so far away from the middle school. The infrastructure alone to wire out to a sign like that is about $50,000. And then I mentioned technology. So we we you know in this budget there's a replacement of onetoone devices and staff laptops, a replacement of interactive boards and projectors and of course we're making the appropriate and the necessary technology infrastructure upgrades in security. This budget is going to fund the purchase and replacement of new video surveillance cameras for buildings. There are times

033when we feel that we need a new camera. we need to replace a camera or that we need a camera added because we're not getting the right angle that we need to get. Um, and um, if you don't know, we have video surveillance all around our schools and the exterior, but inside in our main um, use our main rooms like our our gymnasium, in our um, multi-purpose rooms and in our corridors, we have video surveillance. Um, so there might be some blind spots that we need to replace cameras or install new cameras in or replace existing cameras that are not functioning correctly. With the purchase of the three new buses, the two big buses and the mini bus, they're also going to need video surveillance. So, that money is going there as well. And then,

034I think we mentioned this during um our technology and security budget presentation. There is a new weapon detection software system out there. It's a secondary system. So, as you know, our primary system for detecting weapons is through our metal detectors, but this is a secondary detection system so that heaven forbid someone is able to get in with a weapon, as soon as that weapon is brandished, an alert system will go out to our our administrators and our staff. Chris, thank student achievement. Um, the the first one is that that the that first one is a typo. It shouldn't be the high school. It's the Arla school. So, we are budgeting for a new special education teacher at the ARA school. That would be in our multiple disabilities program. I'll make that correction and place that

035presentation on the website. Uh we're going to expand the study sync English language arts program to the middle school. We're going to purchase a literacy screener for grades K through three. We're going to expand my reading and my math academy from age of learning, that's a software system that we use to grade four. We're going to expand our American Sign Language classes, which are a hit with our students. In fact, if you saw Talk Soup, which I know no one reads, they went on a field trip to Galaudet University um last week, which was incredibly successful field trip for them. Uh so, it's very successful program. We are purchasing, and we kiddingly joked around about this during the Let the Children Lead meeting, a math 180 alternative math development program for students in grades K

036through 8. We're going to purchase and implement something called Momentum and Success Success Maker Mathetics software resources. Um, and I believe they're from our existing math program. Excellent. We're going to purchase new chemistry textbooks for the high school to support our curriculum revisions. We are making some minor revisions to our um course what do we course sequence at the the high school in science. Um, we're going to purchase curriculum resources for grades K through five in conjunction with the New Jersey state learning uh standards and and science requirements. Um, we're going to expand our district writing assessment program to two test submissions. Currently in our writing program, our our students are making one writing submission and it's being scored. The money really is to pay for our teachers to score the assessments because I believe

037students in grades Miss Gman in grades four through 10 are basically submitting writing samples that are being scored. Um all of this is to obviously help our kids improve their expressive writing but also to help them improve their performance on the NJSLA test as well which is very um writing driven. So, um, now beginning next year, they'll have, uh, they'll submit a writing sample at the beginning of the year, which will be assessed, but then they'll submit one again at the end of the year. So, we'll get to see the growth that they've made in the full school year. Oh, too many. One more. Keeps going. There you go. We're going to continue with the effective school solutions tier 2 and tier three mental health services that I spoke about before and our challenges. Uh

038we're going to continue with teacher and administrative coaching that's been very successful. Um we're going to continue with our afterchool math and literacymies which essentially are supplemental tutoring to our students that demonstrate the need for more academic help. Uh we're going to provide tier three tutoring, which is intensive tutoring for students that need one-to-one help to assist them in language arts or mathematics. If you recall, we currently have an ondemand tutor tutoring program in grades 6 through 12 where any student in grades 6 through 12 can go ahead if they need help in anything, get an online tutor to help them in any subject area. Um the current vendor that we're using for that is not doing it anymore. So we will be in search of a new one, but we're going to continue that

039based upon the amount of kids that have been using that service. We're going to continue with learning acceleration during the summer which occurs here in conjunction with our extended school year program as well as our New Jersey graduation performance assessment boot camp, our advanced placement summer boot camp. We're going to be replacing as we always do. We mentioned earlier we have so many kids involved in so many different activities. The budget supports our kids to go to state, national, and world titles. As you can see on this agenda, we have kids uh going and we're paying for their accommodations to go to different places so they can compete nationally or against uh people internationally. We feel that is just as important as our athletic programs. We want all of our kids to have a well-rounded

040educational experience with us. Um, so with regard to performing arts, having a music program is quite expensive. You need to continuously, like we talked about before, replacing onetoone devices. Well, you got to replace instruments. Instruments have a lot of wear and tear on them. So, you have to continuously fund to replace instruments. And we're continuing to do that for Dr. Cruso um and and our our band members. uh we are expanding our volleyball program to the freshman as well as middle school. So again giving more kids more opportunities to participate in something as well as providing those programs at our middle school so that we can grow those programs at the high school. Likewise, we're adding a girls lacrosse and boys lacrosse program uh at the middle school, too. Again, so that we can continue

041to give more kids more opportunities to participate in things outside of academics, make them part of the whole school program, but also continue to build our programs at the high school. And we're going to be providing new bullpens for the varsity baseball field. In terms of staffing, I mentioned the special education teacher. because we're expanding um volleyball. There's going to be two high school uh volleyball coaches, two middle school volleyball coaches, um two middle school lacrosse coaches, one high school flag football coach. Um we our flag football program started off as a grant program. Now it's it's now it's an NJSIA program, girls flag football. Um we have so many kids coming out for it, they need an assistant coach. So this is going to be funding an assistant coach. Um, we have so many

042different programs at the high school, so many different clubs, so many different activities that fund raise and generate funds for their program that having one custodian of funds is just not enough. Um, the person that is our custodian of funds at the high school does a magnificent job. She's amazing, but she needs help. So, this budget also is going to fund that. We're also going to fund after school and summer social and emotional counseling uh with this budget. In terms of non-stiffated staff, because we're adding uh a new MD teacher, we have to also add a new MD par profofessional. Um we're going to add an evening school security supervisor. We're one of the few school districts in the state, I believe, that actually provides campus security monitors for the evening. Um, we have a

043campus security monitor at every single school, but we need now an evening security supervisor to manage them. Um, to ask Mr. Sprag to manage them while he's at home is asking a lot and he's been doing that and will continue to do that, but we really think that he needs assistance in terms of that. So, this security supervisor will be managing the staff that works at all of our schools in the evening. Um, we're also asking for a full-time curriculum instruction support secretary. Previously, we've had a part-time person, but again, with with all the things that are going on during the summer, all the purchasing that needs to be done, it just it can't be done in a part-time position, it's 10 months um and only part of the day. So, that position has to

044grow into a full-time position, and that's in the budget as well. And then finally, again, we have one full-time um secretary that manages technology as well as security, and that's asking far too much from that person. So, um we're asking for you to fund a part-time technology support secretary to assist in that with all the purchases that we make in technology, but also managing helping uh Mr. Sprag manage the day-to-day with the security department as well. As I mentioned before, in the next slide, it shows our increases. Not only is there a 14% increase in our medical benefits and our prescription, but it's also a 14% increase in our property liability and workers compensation insurance. So, insurance is is quite costly as we all know in our own personal lives. Um, if you shop around

045for your homeowners insurance, you can see that it's it's going up dramatically as well as your your automobile insurance. We deal with the same thing in terms of our liability and property insurance and of course with our our health benefits. We do the best we can to keep our premiums down. As you may or may not know, we are self-insured. We run our own programs here. Um but that can be quite costly. So um these are the projected increases and as I said earlier we did request an uh a waiver because of those increases and that was that additional I think 3.17% that I spoke about earlier. In terms of the next slide this just breaks down the costs for personnel. As you can see benefits are 28% of our personnel budget. Um, obviously the

046rest is uh our our personnel staff and as you might know and might imagine personnel is probably about 80% 85% 79 80% of your budget is personnel. So when you look at that and then you factor in 28% of that is just benefits. So next one is just a comparison chart of the operating budget. um you know shows what what you know we're budgeting in terms of regular uh general education instruction, special education instruction, tuition, sports services, administration, transportation and so forth. And the next slide after that, sorry. Now we're fighting is a pie chart um that illustrates that a little bit more visually for you. Next few slides are are just appropriations. First one beginning with um our our federal funds that we receive including our state funds and our state funds preschool expansion

047aid but then going into our federal funds such as Perkins title one, title two, title three, title four and next chart after that is the breakdown of our debt services fund with interest and principal included. The next slide after that is a breakdown of our revenue. It's an analysis of our revenue. As you can see, 51.8% of our revenue is from the local tax levy, but uh nearly 34% of our revenue comes from the state. We have other sources of revenue such as extraordinary aid. Um the miscellaneous revenue is the me and it may not seem like that much to you. It's 0 29%. But it it is quite valuable uh in the sense of we you in the miscellaneous revenue is the revenue that we collect for people using our buildings. Um we have

048one group that uses our buildings every Sunday and I believe it's in excess of $250,000 I think close to that that that you know goes again toward funding our budget and so forth. So that's where that miscellaneous revenue comes from. the transfer from other funds that would include from the reserve accounts. Um fund balance very little from the and fund balance is the unspent surplus. So we use very little of that to fund our new budget only 02% of that. And here's the chart that basically um outlines what I just mentioned in the in the that that piraphph. Next one is the revenue comparison for special revenue. Again, this just goes over our state grants and our federal grants as well as our preschool expansion aid. Again, another revenue comparison with debt services. And the

049last second to the last slide is our revenue analysis. We have our special uh revenue fund which is about 8% debt services is about six uh 6% total revenue is $172 million and uh the fund balance it's worth it's 86% of our our 86% of that is our general fund and the last one is probably the one most people are concerned about. Um the proposed budget results uh from this budget is going to result in an annual tax increase of 1.8% for the average home assessed at $146,000. So obviously if your house is assessed more than that, you would use this formula to determine the impact that it would have on you. And I don't know if you want to add anything to that. So board of education members, I I know we've gone through

050a lot. I tried to go through it uh in detail but quickly. Um are there any questions for Erin or me? Dr. Lavyby, now that we have a night school security supervisor, perhaps we could look into getting an actual night school. Well, I didn't say I didn't say it was a night school supervisor. I said it was a security supervisor for the evening. Saying but now that we have security, perhaps we could get the ball rolling for an actual night school which would actually fund itself. You know what? If we could ever find um a what what a stain not a stained glass was stained glass a stained glass art teacher we might consider that. I I know that is that is a goal that we've had uh for for several years is to res

051you know um to resurrect I should say our adult program which I believe was in place in 2012 was the last year 12 or 13. So um that is a goal of mine before I do go out to pasture I'd love to be able to um see if we could resurrect that adult school program Mrs. boom, especially since we now have the security and a supervisor to monitor that security. Is there an interest in that? I'm not quite sure yet. Um, I do know that there is a huge interest in our English as a second language learning program for adults. Um, in fact, we have to turn away people. Um, as you know, Mrs. Gman and and Miss Bert, um, they do a nice job of funding that. U, if you've ever seen it, it's

052great. they get teachers and they work with our parents to teach them basic English. Um I think that would be a big part of our adult program. But yeah, I mean we can definitely we'll probably Eileen to your point put out a survey and see if there's interest from the public in doing that. But I know that um you know at least 15 20 years ago it was a big thing in many districts. Um it was a great opportunity for a very low cost for community members to to get some form of education on a different number of topics. um you know that that could benefit them. Yeah. When it was in place, they offered all kinds of courses. There was golf and pilates. Wood shop and things like that. Wood shop, language, Spanish. Um

053you know, a lot of different things that people could come out. Definitely something to look into. We we did a lot of our not going to high school at night. No, no, it wouldn't be it wouldn't be a high school program, but things like um um prep for the AC SATs and the ACT test, that would be done during the adult program. and so forth. Yeah, it would all be combined. Thank you, Dr. Labby. Anyone else have any questions for Dr. Labby on the budget? Just just a comment. I really do have to especially this year commend administrators, you, Dr. Labby, and especially Aaron because when our burrow is asking for an above average tax increase and school districts around our area asking for above average tax increases that we can do 1.8% 8% is

054absolutely amazing. So, I just want to commend all of you for the hard work on that and the the credit goes to Aaron. She's amazing. She's a genius. Y I appreciate that. And I and I I and I do commend our entire team um that I mentioned earlier that collaborative process including yourselves for the feedback that that you gave us in terms of u expenditures but also um the the support you gave us in terms of um some of the finance decisions that we made with regard to it. So total team effort but led by our genius over here. Yeah, absolutely. Great job Aaron. Anything else by anyone else? I just want to say like as a new member never you know about millions of budgets the way that you guys explained to us everything

055it was easy for us to understand and and it was you know it wasn't once all at the same time so that we did it like that we have you know the time to read and process and you know answer our questions so I was very impressed for how you guys. Thank you, Mrs. Hernandez. I I I really appreciate that because it's a system that um you know, we've developed and that we are actually very very proud of. Um so I I really do appreciate that. That means a lot to me. And I can also attest as former county president that there are other districts that do not get this information. My colleagues tell me, "Well, we vote on this, but we don't know what we're voting on. We don't know where the money is

056going. We don't know where it's being spent." And I'm saying like you you don't sit through these budget meetings like we do month after month and they tell me no. So you know we really are fortunate that it's very open and we all know what's going on. So thank you. Thank you. At this time we will open to public for budget only. Any questions on the budget from anyone in the public? Usually as I walk to the microphone, Mrs. Bloom says agenda items only. Right, Anthony? Not this time. And and please address your remarks to the chair. Thank you. Of course. Uh Gab's dad, Anthony Spazado, Washington Road. Good evening to board members and staff here this evening and those watching at home. Um I wanted to speak this evening about the agenda item regarding

057Bombers Beyond Cafe and their new menu offering. This is budget only. This is budget only. Just the budget. That one's coming up. If you had warned me, I wouldn't have come up. I said budget items only. Mrs. Bloom, we'll see you later. Flag on the play there, Mr. Thank you. Okay. All right. Seeing none, we will close public on the budget. Uh, Miss Hill, we will now do a roll call to adopt the budget, please. I just need a motion and a second. Oh, we need a motion. So moved. Second. There we go. So that was Mr. Callahan and I think Mrs. Pabone. All right, Mr. Callahan. Yes, Mrs. Chedkowski. Yes, Mr. Fernandez. Yes, Mrs. Hernandez. Yes, Mrs. Maldonado. Yes, Mrs. Npalitano. Yes, Mrs. Pabone. Yes, Mr. Smith. Yes, Mrs. Bloom. Yes, okay. Um, okay.

058So, we're good with that. Now, we're going to move to board discussion. Yes. All righty. Finance and Infrastructure. Mrs. Cabone, please. Alrighty. All right. Well, I do I can't even believe how quickly all of these things that were done for the referendum have they're actually being completed. So, you know, here it was just a dream, just a plan, and now it's actually happening. And um we did meet last week to discuss the uh finance and infrastructure information. and um Jimmy was able to provide an update on all the facility improvement referendum projects. Um the the one thing that we are waiting on is an electronic electrical panel replacement that did start at Truman. However, um the switch gears needed to be um installed there and at the middle school. So that's a little bit of

059a delay. um with we're waiting on uh Jersey Central Power and Light for another to install the transformers at Wilson School and the middle school and 90% which is a huge number of their HVAC work will be finished at SAML by the time the camp XL and um the accelerated learning program begins there on June 30th. So, what a difference for these kids. Instead of being all sweaty and they're really going to be nice and cool, cool the schools and it worked. So, that's a good thing. Um, also too, a lot of people just think it is about cooling the schools, but it's really not. It's about window replacement, door replacement, roof replacement. Um, you know, so the doors and the windows are being done. Uh, they'll replacement at Wilson Samil and the high school

060are finished as well as window panels at Truman. And that's a that's a feat in in itself. Um the doors at Samil Wilson and the high school are finished. The window replacements are finished. Um 80% of the windows at Wilson are finished. And then finally the HVAC installation at Eisenhower Wilson Orleith and the high school are progressing well and expected to be finished by the end of September. So when our kids come back and they're sweating because it's still summer. We got the Indian summers this year. They will be nice and cool and cool to school. So, um, that's pretty that's pretty much it. I mean, everything is progressing and I think that, um, you know, the money that is being, uh, monitored by Erin Hill, who is the administrator, she does a really good

061job. So, you're keeping everything on track. We don't have really too many things going over budget. So, you guys are really doing a good job and so is the infrastructure committee, right people? Thank you, Mrs. Pong. And just to add, I mean, if you if you haven't been over to the Wilson School, the windows there are so incredible. It's so charming. Again, the school was built in the 1930s, but the the work that's being done on it is just amazing. Um, and the windows that that Jimmy worked with Aaron and our architects to put in there, they're they're almost time capsules. It's they look like windows that would have been used in that particular time period. The school looks tremendous. So, if you have the chance, drive by the Wilson School. It's It looks great.

062And I also want to add that the high school is looking really nice because we finally got rid of the crumbling blue tiles in front of the library. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It looks lovely. One step at a time, but we're we're getting there. Mrs. Ro, I I also want to I didn't know Jimmy was back there, so I just do want to say, "Hey, Jimmy, you're really doing a good job." Um, you know, and not for nothing, a lot of people don't know it, but instead of going out and hiring and paying a lot of money for some project manager who really doesn't care about Seville that much, Jimmy is our project manager. And trust me, people, this stuff would not have gotten done as efficiently and economically sound if he

063wasn't in charge. So, thank you, Jimmy. And while we're get while we're at it, we should add uh commendations to Mr. Saddowski and gratitude to him as well because as Mr. Mr. Coleman'sburgger is focusing on that. Mr. Saddowski is keeping everything going uh in the district, too. So, great job by that dynamic duo back there. [Applause] Okay. Thank you so much, Mrs. Pabone. And now on to personnel. Mr. Callahan, the personnel committee met uh just a couple of hours ago, maybe, and uh we reviewed several important items. We discussed the recent and very successful career fair that was about a couple weeks ago which is helping fill several open positions in the district. We also reviewed the new hires and appointments along with most of the other items all listed in section D of the

064agenda. Our next meeting will take place uh before the next board meeting again. So short and sweet. Thank you. Governor, thank you. The committee met on April 22nd. We reviewed policy 5111, eligibility of residents and non-resident students. We also reviewed some updates to the district calendar. We also reviewed possible le leg legislative updates that that might be coming. And we also discussed the Milis County law enforcement unit recognized the great and collaborative work done by our district, especially our director of security, Mr. Sprag and Mr. Mallaloy. The work they've done relating to security has truly put this district in the forefront of school safety. Not only across this county and across the state, but I think across the country. Every school district I've spoken to, friends and family and other individuals I've spoken to AC

065across the country, I' I haven't seen a single school that has security as indepth and on the forefront as we have. So, um I know we're still working on it. We're still making there's there's always room for improvement, but the job you've done is by far set setting the standard. So, thank you to you two and to Dr. Labby, to our administrators, and also big thank you to our to our to our staff. I know security involves more work on on their part and our teachers and our custodians and and everyone else and everyone's been pitching in on this and this has been an incredible job by everybody. So, big thank you to everyone. Thank you, Mr. Fernandez. Can I add one thing? And we talked about it and I just I'll let you add

066it this time only. I, you know, one of the things we talked about with that new legislation, I'm not sure if many people are aware of it, but just another example of the many, many things that are put on public school districts plates that distract them from doing what we're really supposed to be doing, and that's educating our students. Uh, if you're not aware, there is a new sunscreen law. that now school districts are required to provide notice to parents that they must make sure if their students are participating in anything in which the child's going outside that they have sunscreen and they use sunscreen. Uh and if um they don't have sunscreen, we are now required to have sunscreen. However, we are not required to administer it. Thank thankfully. But just another example of

067some of the hands off crazy legislation that um is put on our staff and our our school districts when um you know we we really should maybe be focusing on other things particularly educating our students. Thank you Dr. Labby. Okay, student achievement. Mr. Callahan, back to you. Back to me. All right. Last Tuesday, the student achievement committee met. During the meeting, Mrs. Gman reviewed the eighth grade physical education curriculum guide. And at the previous meeting, she reviewed the kindergarten physical education guide. Both guides are on tonight's agenda for everybody's approval. Next, Mrs. Gman reviewed the highlights and all the great details on the 2023 2024 NJ performance report, which is located on the NJ DOE website. Anybody wants to browse that? Uh when she finished, Mrs. Burns provided an the early childhood education update. She

068discussed a recent visit by age of learning who visited to commend our staff for the usage and growth our early childhood learners have demonstrated in math and reading. Likewise, Dr. Coons, our literacy consultant, visited the classrooms to coach teachers in leveraging the new Fontis and Panel program to teach emergent literacy literacy skills. Furthermore, Mrs. Burn shared that the NJ DOE is currently assessing our preschool programming and instruction using the early childhood environmental rating scale, the EC RS acronym. And finally, we reviewed the calendar, the updated revised calendar, which we're going to ask to approve tonight as well. The only change is that the last day for 10-month staff is going to be moved from June 20th to June 18th, except for the staff at Eisenhower. As Dr. Dr. Lavyby indicated earlier they had a power

069failure last week, so they've got to make up another day. And that concluded the meeting. I know you all probably wanted to have a different Callahan do that summary, but Callahan, that was excellent. That was second. It was It was second, but it was still good. Thank you. Okay. Uh, now to the Middle Sex County Schoolboard Association update. The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 21st at the Colonia Country Club. Uh at that meeting, we will honor the teacher of the year and also member milestones. Anyone who is uh achieving 10, 15, 20 years will get a pack and a pin from New Jersey school boards. It will also be the meeting at which we will vote for new officers for Middle Sex County School Board. I am the chair of the nominating

070committee. I just don't have enough to do. So that will be conducted at that meeting and you can attend virtually or in person. And that's it for school boards. Okay. Any questions? At this time we will open to public for presentation and agenda items only. Agenda item. This would be an agenda item. Agenda item. You're good here, Mr. Spock. Man, man, it was great watching you watch your daughter give that presentation. That moment was a very special one to be a fly on the wall for. So, congratulations. Um, Gab's dad again, 54 Washington Road. Good evening everyone here. Um, I did want to speak this evening about Sorry, can you just say your actual name, please? Oh. Oh, right. I'm I have a name, too. Uh, Anthony Spazado. um these days it's just dad. Um

071so I wanted to talk about Bombers Beyond Cafe. I noticed they're uh they're going to be offering some new menu options and I thought that was great. I enjoyed coffee and really great company at Bombers Beyond this morning and yesterday morning and most mornings these days. Um what I have found at that cafe is something I can't thank you all enough for. Um Bombers Beyond has become such a home for me and for my family. Um, whether it's engaging with my friends from the historical society over cream cheese bagels or seeing some of my friends from the transportation team, sometimes you want to go where everybody knows everybody's name. And that is Bombers Beyond. When you walk in there, uh, it's either Teresa or Gary or Felix who are right at the door holding it

072for you, high-fiving you, fist bumping, smiling, just ready to engage. Um, they know my son, they know me, they know my husband, and they are excited beyond words to help serve customers. Mikey gives me a joke of the day, usually asks me where Gabe is. Um, I let my friends know that I've just dropped Gabe off. Uh, made those wonderful new windows at Wilson School. Michael is usually then on his way to Wilson School where he and Gabe will find each other in the hallway and fist bump friends um, intersecting during a shared moment in very different days joined because of this little cafe in the heart of our burrow. Damen asks me if I'm staying or going, and I'm always staying. And Nor brings my French toast muffin around the corner. Uh yesterday I

073spoke for a long time with the parent of an adult staff member at Bombers Beyond. Today I did the same um as a dad to see that kind of pride that parents have in their adult children who have stepped into moments in their lives where they can both serve young adults like the friends that I've mentioned but can also serve the customers who need these moments of connectivity and shared human experience more than we can sometimes put into words. It reflects the values of our burrow and it it shines a bright spotlight on what well parented kids can grow up to be. I know that the adult staff of Bombers Beyond is tonight holding a transition resources event that I stopped in at um and that they would and will push away any spotlight I

074attempt to shine on the work they do for our kids, but I appreciate them so much. As Bombers Beyond continues to stretch beyond its borders, offering new menu options and new experiences for Serville, please know that the work that this board and this superintendent and staff have done to create a space that is welcoming to all, created for all, and maintained for all means more than I can say. I hope more parents will make time to spend the morning at Bombers Beyond. It is a place where the rest of the world disappears for just a couple of hours at a time. And to each and every one of the young adults working at Bombers Beyond Cafe, please know how proud we are to have you as part of our burrow and its story. To the

075parents who support those young adults, thank you for sharing your kids and their amazing hearts with us and giving them the opportunity to shine. I thank the board for their leadership, the staff for their work, and my friends at Bombers Beyond for their friendship, their kindness, their board game competitiveness, and their smiles. Thank you, Mr. Spado. Happiest place in Sable. Anyone else on agenda items only? Okay, seeing none, we will close public. Dr. Lavyby, back to you. Disclosure. It might be a little bit long because we have seven retirements. Oh, God help us. Everybody take a drink of water, sit back, and relax. I know. I'll I'll do the best that I can. All right. So, let's begin with number 14 on page four of finance and infrastructure. We're act asking you to accept a

076very gener gen generous donation from the VFW post 469 4699 in Sville um for a thousand um donation to our RO junior ROC program at the high school and it's going to go toward our cadet leadership program at the joint uh air force base at Maguire. Um and on from from June 22nd to the to June 29th several of our students are going to that. So this is going to pay for that. So, uh, we can't thank the VFW enough for being such great partners with us. Number 15, which can be found on page four, we're asking you to approve the submission of the 2025 cops office um, school violence prevention program application. And I can't thank Miss Bird enough and Mr. Glocky enough for working on this grant, which could total up to, I

077believe, uh, $500,000. Right, Miss Bird? If so, it's a pretty substantial grant. And again, we talked earlier in the budget about those um miscellaneous resources or revenue. Um these non-entitlement grants, these competitive grants that Miss Bert and our administrators are aggressively seeking goes toward that revenue that we spoke of that helps us offset the burden on taxpayers. So, uh our fingers are crossed with this grant that can go to great use for our security program. numbers 18 and 19 which can be found on page five. We're asking to prove an agreement for professional development services with teaching strategies gold for early childhood teachers. Um as in the amount of 9,111 and some change as well as professional services uh with tools of the mind for early childhood teachers at the expense of at the co

078at the amount of $22,000. And I can't thank Miss Burns enough uh for going out and getting that professional development that our early childhood learner educators need to um to really expand learning for all of our children in the preschool. And of course that's being paid for through preschool expansion aid. So great job Miss Burns with that. Number number 20. Yeah, Audrey. That's I think that's I think that's your first applause that I think we've had for you. It's wonderful. It's almost like baseball. You come out of the you come out of the dugout and tip your cap a little. Great job. Number 20, which can be found on page five. We're asking you to prove a contract with direct flooring for the replacement of floors in nine classrooms at the school, which is obviously

079one of our preschools, at the cost of $272,310. And I tell people this all the time. We worked in the Slover school for you know I think when I was hired in 2014 we worked there until when did we move Mr. Collinsburgger 2019 or 18. I go in there now and it's a total different place. The work that you and your team and and Aaron and Audrey and and our principles have done in those schools and even our students when they painted murals and so forth. Anyone that would like to take a tour of that school, especially if you saw what it was before, what it became, let me know and I'll gladly take you on that tour. But this is, I think, the final piece outside of the air conditioning. Um, they the school

080will be the last school in which the a HVAC is done and that will be at the end of September, October. Everybody else will have HVAC by the beginning of September. Hopefully Silva does too, but these floors will just be the the cherry on top for that school and it it's just a gem and it's our second oldest school in the district. But it it is a gem now because of the you know work that that our professionals have done there. So great job. Number 26 and 27 which can be found on pages six and seven. We're asking you to purchase the installation of a Genesis dishwasher champion model for the Sam Ciper Elementary School kitchen. Uh, and that's from MAP Restaurant Supplies, and that's in the amount of $27,499 along with services related to

081the inspection repair of a hood system at the high school in the high school kitchen, not to exceed the amount of $1,000. All of which is going to be paid for out of our food services account. And if you've been attending meetings uh specifically since January, you see that we're doing a lot of work um to either replace equipment or to repair things in our kitchen uh at all of our schools. So, um, great job with that to Miss Hill and, uh, Mr. Citadino. Any questions on those particular items or anything else that's on finance and infrastructure? As you know, I did um request the itemized estimates for the classrooms because when doing the math at 30 $33,000 per classroom was just a shocking number. So is it because um it's a uh a union

082contract, a government contract, the grant funds, what is it that and I know that we had we had looked at other bids and this is the bid that was accepted for doing the floors. So this pricing is from a cooperative bid. So head services commission of New Jersey is who bid out these this work. So we get to use that to utilize the better pricing. I can tell you as an example, when we did this only a few years ago in some other classrooms there, they were about $20,000 a room. So really, it's just the cost of labor has gone up. The cost of materials has gone up. That's really all it comes down to. Thank you. I appreciate the explanation. Thank you. Any other question? I can just add, sorry, we do have to

083pay prevailing wage. So the costs that we pay are naturally going to be higher because of that. And can I add, Dr. Lobby that it's not just the flooring because I looked at, you know, the the piece that Erin sent to us. They have to remove the old floor. We have to pay for them to dispose of the old floor. Then they have to install the new floor and do all baseboards. So there's it's it's not just a new floor. It's And as you know, noted separately in here is the abatement. Yes. Because it is such an old school, they use the spastice to glue those tiles down. So that's what I was ask. Yes, when I was looking at it, I was wondering about that because on the estimates for the rooms, there was

084no note about asbestous, but I was wondering if that might have separate factor in there. We have to hire a separate company to do that. So, they do that, but it's also where it's friable versus nonable, right, Jim? Can you come up to the mic? So, thank you. If you're going to participate, participate, right? Do it the right way. Uh can you mention your name and your address? Um the floor is is asbestous. So that part of this contract is the asbestous removal. They have to set up the whole building to remove it. The McCabe that was approved prior the testing is just for air testing. The same company cannot legally do both. It's for our benefit. So our company does a testing to make sure that the building is safe to enter after they're

085done. So that's great. When you see the price, I understand it's very expensive, but to remove a spec is very costly. So to clarify the work that we're asking to be done um for the floors is includes the removal of the floor which is asus and the abatement involved and then the new floor. The other asbestous motions are just for the air quality test. Air quality testing which has to be a separate contractor. Got it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Any further questions on finance and infrastructure? All right. Seeing none on student achievement. If number one, page 18, we're asking to approve unfortunately a long-term suspension for a student. Number two, which can be found in pages 18 and 19, we're asking you to approve revisions to the kindergarten and eighth grade physical education

086curriculum guides. And number three, which can be found on page 19. I love this new club. Um, we're asking to approve yet another opportunity for our kids to engage in something outside of the classroom. It's a girls who invest club. Love it. Um, Mrs. Maldonado, this is might be something that you know. Yeah, this absolutely. Um but uh we can't thank Mrs. Drebeck enough for being for volunteering to be the adviser on I love it that uh we're creating a club like club like that for our our female students at the high school. Fantastic. Sorry, you're a professional. Put your microphone on. So, a student actually approached um the administration at the high school and we have other clubs that are kind of related to investments, but she gave such a wonderful description of why

087they wanted it and they wanted it to be this kind of um intro to investing. So, after approving it, I also said to her that I'm going to pop in and learn along with them. So, but um our kids are amazing. They know what their focus are, you know, is at the high school. So, we're excited. It's awesome. The only thing I'm allowed to invest is my time. Mrs. Labby won't let me invest in anything else. Okay. Any questions on those items or anything else on student achievement? All right. So, let's move along to governance and uh number three, which can be found on pages 21 and 22. Um, as Mr. Fernandez mentioned earlier, we're asking to approve a revision to the 2024 2025 school district calendar. The previous calendar um noted that the last

088day for staff, as Mr. Fernandez said earlier, would be June 20th. Um we're we're we're so grateful for with the Sable Education Association who works very closely with us and we're incredibly thankful for that. We've been able to move that now to June 18th so that our our 10-month staff, which is basically all of our teachers and faculty, they'll now be able to leave on June 18th. Unfortunately, and I do send out an apology to all of our students and our 10-mon staff at the Eisenhower School. As was also mentioned previously, we did have a power failure at Eisenhower last week. Through Mr. Coleman'sburgger's leadership and guidance, he was able to work with JCPNL um to remedy the problem, which was not ours, by the way. It was underground wiring, not our responsibility, but definitely

089a total team effort by our staff to help JCPNL get Eisenhower back and running. And I I think it was like 5 or 6 o'clock in the evening when they finally got power restored on the day we had it cancelled. Correct. Yeah. So, we were able to get the Friday in, but we lost last Thursday because of this. So, unfortunately, that means that our students and our staff, I know Mrs. Bloom, um they're going to have to go one more day. It's required by the state of New Jersey that we have 180 school days by June 30th. So, unfortunately, it breaks my heart, but um our stu our students and our staff are going to have to go to school on June 20th at the Eisenhower School. Numbers four and five, as well as eight,

090which you can find on pages 22 through 23. and the addendum. We're asking you to approve the Teamsters Local 469 and the Savville Education Association information technology systems and services engineers and full-time technicians holiday schedules for the 2025 2026 school year. So, it's three schedules. Two are on the agenda, which is 22 and 23. One is on the addendum. Number six, which you can find on page 23, we're asking you to approve the 2025 summer hours uh as indicated at in the chart that's provided to you uh on the agenda for 12 month employees that would be administrators, secretaries, technicians, and technology engineers. You can find that on page 23. And number seven, which you can find on the addendum, we are proud to ask your approval of a memorandum of agreement between um the

091International Brotherhood of Teamster, Chauffeers, uh Warehousemen, and Helpers of America, otherwise known as our Teamsters Local 469. We have a collective bargaining agreement, memorandum of agreement with them that is signed. Um and we're asking you to approve that. That agreement would span from uh the 2024 2025 school year this year uh through the 2027 2022 school year. Number eight, we're asking to uh uh deny savable education association grievance 2024 2025 colon to cafeteria upgrade. Any questions on those items or anything else on governance? number eight. Okay. So, as I mentioned to you before, we have some retirements. What I'm going to do is I'm going to go through the rest of the personnel and then I'll go back to the retirements and I'll try to do my best to um honor our incredible staff members

092who are are leaving us during this bittersweet moment. Um but also get everyone out of here in a timely fashion. So, let's skip over number one. So, number seven and 10 and 33. As we always do, we're asking you to hire new certificated staff and non-sertificated staff, but this time we're asking you because of this time of year to do so for the rest of this year, but also for next year. So, some of those are for 20 for the 2025 2026 school year. You can find that on pages 26 and 28 in the addendum. Numbers 11 and 12, we're asking you to approve the transfer non-disted staff for this school year. And you can find that in page 28 and 29. One of those is a temporary transfer. and number 21, which you can

093find on pages 31 and 32. Um, it's that time of year. We're getting ready for our summer programming. So, we're asking you to approve personnel for the advanced placement summer boot camp, which I mentioned before in my budget presentation. Similarly, number 22, which you can find on page 32, we're asking to prove personnel for our summer learning acceleration, which I also mentioned in the budget, and our camp excel programs. So, going back to our retirements, we have several retirements here, beginning with Mrs. uh Blum, a second grade teacher at the Truman School, Mr. Deoya, a music teacher at the Wilson School. Mr. Carr, the lead custodian here at SAM cell, Mrs. Peron, one of our supervisors of early childhood education. Uh, and Mr. Peron, one of our maintenance workers, and finally, Kathy Jennison, one of

094our pair professionals here at SAMO. So, let's begin with Mrs. Bloom. Mrs. Blum. It is with great It is with great pride and and well, I only say that because I I worked with a person um with the same last name, but she she referred to herself as Bloom, not Blum. So, uh it is with great pride and gratitude that he announced the upcoming retirement of Suzanne Blum. Suzanne has been a dedicated teacher at the Truman School for the past 27 years. For over three decades, she has provided countless opportunities for her students to learn and grow. She has dedicated her career to inspiring, educating, and shaping the minds and hearts of our youngest learners. Suzanne's passion for teaching and unwavering commitment to student success is ever so apparent. She has impacted the lives of

095many, and we commend her hard work, creativity, and dedication in the field of education. Through her love of teaching, Suzanne has fostered a love of learning in her students and an appreciation from their parents. Throughout her career, Mrs. Blum Blum has been an inspiration to her colleagues. She is responsible for bringing theater week to the Truman School. Suzanne was a proud member of the Patriotic Committee. She always looked forward to celebrating our veterans and fostering her patriotism in the Truman students. For many years, Suzanne brought her father, a proud veteran, to our patriotic assemblies. And the pride she exuded on those days was undeniable. Susanna has gone over and above by bringing Santa Claus of all people to visit all the Truman students during the holidays. She has always been willing to lend a hand,

096share ideas, and model the utmost professionalism. We thank Mrs. Blunt for making a difference in the lives of so many children in S in Sable community during her 27 years of impeccable service. While we are saddened to see Mrs. Blum leave, we are excited for the new chapter that awaits her. Please join me in thanking Suzanne Blum for her exceptional commitment to the Serville School District. We wish her happy, fulfilling, and a well-deserved retirement. Thank you, Suzanne, for your years of dedication. You will be greatly missed by all those who have been very fortunate enough to call you teacher, colleague, and most importantly, friend. Also from the Truman School, Kim Thornton. Mrs. Kim Thornton has been a dedicated and admired teacher at the Truman School for over 33 years. Once again, three decades, folks. She

097started her career as a student teacher and is ending it as an integral part of our ASI team as the math support teacher. Most of her career here was spent in kindergarten and first grade where she not only shared her expertise with her students, but with the teachers as well. She has successfully mentored and trained many new and seasoned teachers throughout the district. She serves as a vital part of the school response to intervention team where she helped implement the new Lincoln intervention manager system. She is the chairperson of the outdoor committee. Through her work with Aadia National Park and the Truman PTO, she actually secured the first outdoor classroom in the district uh where her legacy and love of all nature will live on. She is always willing to help anyone, anytime, anywhere. And

098she's the laminator changer and the only one that knows how to fix the laminating machine. So hopefully she's willing to train other teachers about this, too. Just one more time. Seriously, we wish Kim all the best in her retirement and all future endeavors. So, please give her a nice round of applause, too. Um, I've I've had the honor and privilege of really getting to know Kim since I started in the district and um, she is the epitome of professionalism and what a master teacher is and she is going to be greatly missed. And above all, what I enjoy the most about her is her enthusiasm and her steadfast commitment to the students that she serves and she loves and adores. So, I'm going to miss her greatly. Uh her smile is one that lights up

099a room and um you know she's just an incredible person. So going to be missed. Paul Deoya. Paul Deoyer is the music teacher at the Wilson School and has been in the district since starting at the middle school in 1998. For these 27 years, again almost three decades, he has instructed students in music appreciation, concert band, string orchestra, and chorus ensembles. in these two schools. Mr. Deoyer is remembered by his students for his entertaining teaching techniques of the magic composer's basement, traveling with the magic airplane and unique versions of happy birthday. Over the span of his career in Sville, Mr. Deoya has directed over a 100 performances of these various bands and orchestras. He has created many arrangements and composed several songs for these performances which worked in conjunction with the school theme for that

100particular school year. That's how talented he was or he is I should say. Mr. Deoy has always been most passionate about instilling a love for music for his students which he does so effortlessly. Many of his former students have continued with their music education. Several have actually become music teachers. Some of them are now professional musicians. We wish Paul continued success in his musical career. We are so grateful to him for his contributions to the musical scene in the Sable Public Schools. So, please give him a big hand on his retirement. Next one's going to be rough to get through. Judy Peron, on behalf of the entire district, I want to express our deepest gratitude and congratulations, Judy, as you prepare to retire after 25 incredible years, again nearly three decades, as an early child

101educator in Sville. Your dedication, passion, and hard work have had a profound impact on the student, staff, and community, and you'll be deeply missed. Throughout your distinguished career, and I emphasize and underscore distinguished, you have been an invaluable asset to our district. Your leadership is the expansion and growth of the early childhood education program, was nothing short of extraordinary. Working closely with Miss Burns, our director, and the entire preschool team, you helped take the program to new heights, always with a focus on providing the best possible start for our youngest learners. Your positive personality and unwavering commitment to your students and colleagues have made you a beloved member of our school community. The relationships you have built over the years have left a lasting impression, and your kindness and expertise will be missed by all

102who have had the privilege of working with you, especially me. While we were excited for you as you enter into this new While we are excited for you as you enter into this new chapter of your life, please know that your legacy here in Seville will be cemented and continue to live on. You have truly made a difference and your contributions will not be forgotten. Judy, we wish you nothing but the best in your retirement and we thank you for the years of service to our district. You will always have a special place in our hearts, in the hearts of everyone who has worked with you over the many, many years. So congratulations to Judy Peron and and we're going to ask her to stand so you could put a face with the name and

103she's here. So there she is. Mrs. Peron. There she is right there. And on a personal note, I'll never forget when again the when I was hired, we had two preschool classes at um at Sllover School. And I walked into her classroom and I was just completely amazed and inspired by her and what was going on in that classroom. And I knew as a superintendent um if we are going to grow this preschool program, we have to grow it like the way she was teaching her classroom. And goodness gracious um Miss Burns u when when she recommended her, we both knew that our classrooms were going to be models of the classrooms that she went ahead and oversaw for so many years. Um, Judy, your attitude is infectious. Um, you come in every day with

104a smile and this undefiable optimism, and I think that along with your loving and caring personality is what I'm going to miss most. So, thank you so much. Kathy Danielson. Kathy Danielson has dedicated the past 24 years to the Savville public schools. I think we're getting the theme here in terms of decades. During this time, she has provided the highest quality of service as an individual student and program paraprofessional as well as a colleague and friend to many. As a program paraprofessional, Miss Danielson is, to put it bluntly, the gold standard. Absolutely the gold standard. Her knowledge of student needs, knowledge of district and school procedures, and the most and most impressively her knowledge in the area of social emotional development has made Miss Danielson a tremendous resource for our special education teachers and child

105study team members. And by the way, the go-to person for some of the most complex student needs in the district. As a one-to-one pair professional, no one, I mean no one, can dispute her wellestablished reputation as a stabilizing force for students and the most significant behavioral challenges. In fact, Mrs. Danielson has often been matched with students who need the highest level of care and support. And there was no doubt in anyone's mind that she was the catalyst for many students as they adjusted to the elementary program, which prepared them to move to the middle school. To illustrate this point, Mrs. Danielson has exclusively served our behavioral disabilities program in several schools from the program's initial inception to the present day. As a colleague, Mrs. Danielson goes well beyond the consmate professional. She is a colleial,

106supportive, and helpful and as well as truly caring individual. So much so, in fact, that Mr. Nasser and Mrs. DO have specifically selected and relied upon her as a stabilizing presence for both new teachers and new students alike. It goes without saying that Mrs. Danielson has offered the highest level of care through her patience, compassion, commitment, and encouraging manner. These outstanding qualities have surely left a lasting impression on the students she has served and the colleagues she has worked with so well. When you think of someone that is going to be hard to replace, think of Mrs. Danielson. When you think of someone that is selfless, think of Mrs. Danielson. When you think of someone that deserves a heartfelt gratitude, think of Mrs. Danielson. On behalf of the Sarville public schools, our board of education,

107we wish Mrs. Danielson a long and happy retirement. Please give her a hand, too. And again, you can't put into words how magical she is with our students, most importantly our students with the greatest behavioral challenges. She is truly one of our student whisperers and uh her performance just illustrates that. Barry Carr. Barry Carr started his career with the Serville board of education in October 1989. After years as a custodian at at the Truman School and the middle school, he moved on to Samill in 2001 where he where he would eventually become the Lee custodian. Barry has been quite the hero of the Samo Upper Elementary School, always keeping things spotless, lending a hand, and brightening our days with his friendly smile and incredibly positive attitude. It won't be the same without him, but we're

108so very excited for him to enjoy some well-earned rest and relaxation during his his retirement. Congratulations, Barry. We will miss you very much. And on a personal note, you know what, moving from the Salva school to SAMA was pretty difficult, I think, on all of us. And um one of the many people that made that transition much more bearable and comfortable was Barry. and I'll forever be grateful and in his debt for the kindness and the um support that he provided to each and every one of us, especially me in making that transition. His smile, again, as is written, is exactly what it is. He lights up the corridor as he's going down the hallway. always willing to do whatever you need him to do without a complaint with a smile and doing it because

109he wants to do it for you. Um just again a a great example of someone that can have such a dramatic impact on the climate of a building. Barry Carr again. What a climate changer here. Not only for us in central office, but most importantly for the students and staff at Samsung. And then if the name sounds familiar, it's because they are related. They're stealing away um to what's that? How's that song? Going sailing away to Kargo together. We had it all. Oh, sorry. Sorry. There is no singing. I'm not allowed to sing. Um, Thomas Peron, aka Judy's husband, Tom Mr. Tom started his career with the Sable Board of Education in September 2011. During his years of service as a night maintenance worker, Tom has always been dedicated and reliable, and I underscore reliable.

110From quick fixes to big projects, Tom has done it all. We thank him for his hard work, his proficiency, and his many contributions and wish him all the best during his well-deserved retirement uh with his wife Judy and the rest of his beloved family. We will surely um he will surely be missed by all who have had the pleasure and most importantly the privilege of working with him. Cheers, Tom. Congratulations, Tom. And I know I believe Tom's son is with him today and Judy Tom son is with you. The twins are with you today. So I know that their plan is to spend a great deal of time wii with them in their retirement and uh you know who could blame you. Um and in terms of Tom again coming to a new district is

111difficult. when I was superintendent, all of a sudden this guy would walk into my office and then he'd ask me how my day is going. And that's something Tom did every day that he saw me. And you know what? There were times when maybe there were contractual problems that you know and so forth between the team serves and the board of didn't phase him at all. Tom came in whenever he was in central office most of the time to see Judy. He would always take the time to stop by and say, "How are you? How's your day going? What's new with your family? Is there anything I can do to help you?" And Tom, that will always be a lasting impression that you've made on me. And Tom, that is something that since you started

112that with me, I've always tried to model that with other people. I've always tried to pay it forward for what you did for me. So, I can't thank you enough for your kindness, your humility, and your generosity toward me. So, congratulations to the two of you uh in your well-deserved retirement. And Mrs. Bloom, I'm sorry for the long presentation, but it has concluded. Dr. laughing. I I would say that I grew old during your presentation, but I'm already old. So, at this uh at this time, we will uh need a motion to approve the um agenda. Thank you. So, I have Mrs. Npalitano and Mr. Mr. Callahan. Mr. Oh, Mr. Callahan. Sorry. Mr. Callahan. Oh, yes. Mrs. Chedcowski. I'm abstaining from number 50 in finance and yes to all others. Mr. Fernandez. Yes. Mrs. Hernandez.

113Abstain for 22nd. The rest. Yes. That was number 22 in finance. Did you also want to abstain on number six in finance? All right. Abstain to number six. Yep. And yes on everything else. Uh Mrs. Maldonado. Uh yes to all but 50. They abstain on 50 from finance. Finance. Hey, Mrs. Npalitana. Yes, Mrs. Pavone. Um, I'm abstaining from number 31 and the Yes to the Is that in finance? I think so. I'm not sure. Yes. Yes. I tried to look at the title, but I That's fine. Um, Mr. Smith, yes. And Mrs. Bloom. Uh, yes. But I have to abstain in finance number 31 on page eight. Okay, everything carries. Okie dokie. At this time, we will open to public participation on any items. I will remind you that the maximum time is 30 minutes.

114Sable residents may speak first. Each speaker has three minutes. If you intend to speak, please line up so that we can save time. Come forward, please. Michelle Bardsley, 28 William Street in Sarville. Um, I'm speaking on uh policy 5756. Um, I just want to read some statistics. LGBT LGBTQ plus young people are not inherently prone to suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, but rather placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society. A recent study among LGBTQ plus young people only one-third experienced parental acceptance with an additional one-third experiencing parental rejection and the final one-third not disclosing their LGBTQ plus identity until they are adults. Another study found that LGBT LGBTQ plus young adults who report high levels of parental rejection are eight times more likely

115to report attempted suicide and six times more likely to report high levels of depression. Um, I'm a proud mom of two gay daughters. Uh, one of my daughters graduated from Seville High School. She's a 911 dispatcher in South River. Um, my other daughter is in a high school in East Brunswick and she just got accepted to Mason Gross at Ruckers. Um, my daughters were very lucky because they have two very supportive parents. They never had to look outside of the home for the support. Um, but there are many children that do not have that support at home, they're rejected and school is a safe space for them. Um, if if an LGBTQIA youth with at least one trusted, supportive adult in their lives, they are 40% less likely to end their lives by suicide. Um,

116I don't think that getting rid of uh this policy is a smart choice at all. Um, these students need the support more than just the regular average student. Most times, um, students that are rejected by their parents often have no one else to turn to except for someone, a trusted adult in school, in their community. Um, and taking that ability away and the autonomy for them in school is not safe for them. Um, it's a death sentence for many students and having somebody to talk to such as a trusted counselor or teacher is sometimes the only outlet that they have to express themselves and talk about their confusion or just things that they need to discuss about their identity. LGBTQIA youth make up 7 to 9% of the population and 1.4% identify as trans. But

117yet so many people are focused on this small group of individuals. So much so that they want them to disappear. They want to take away all the love and support from them. And I will never understand why. Having a support system for all children is imperative to their mental health and their growth. LGBTQIA youth deserve this just as much as any other ch child. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hi Lisa Reebach Trial Street. Um first I wanted to say Dr. Labby, I do read your talk soup every week. And actually, thank you because you clarified uh the start time for the sophomores and seniors this week. I thought it was 9:00. You said 9:30. I double checked and my kid gets to sleep another half hour. They were very happy. Uh Mr. Nester, I

118am so happy for you. You This is an award that has been so welld deserved. I've known since I met you in 2017. Dr. Lavy, I think, introduced us when I was going through something with my son in eighth grade. And I so welld deserved. I can't believe it took this long, but you're an amazing human being. And every day I work, I want to be like you. So, just want to say you're an amazing human being. We We should all be like Mr. Nast. Yes, absolutely. or his wife who is amazing. Could you please tell the superintendent that he doesn't listen very well now? I'm trying to get him to come to Old Bridge, but he keeps, you know, I know. Um, he's locked in. Also wanted to comment about the traffic situation at

119Eisenhower. Now, Dr. Aguilles, I'm not sure if it was a if it was you or Mr. Scorsky that talked about it all the time. I never talk about anything. So it's probably Mr. Scart. No, it's been actually it's been talked about by all principles who have taken the the lead there at Eisenhower. Yeah. So I'm glad to see that after you know 20 years it's finally being handled. Um also wanted to ask see I I'm not good at just like doing speeches. I'm better in a conversation. What is the policy um regarding religious speech at public meetings? Like are we allowed to just spout whatever we want or is there anything restricting speech? I thought there was a separation of church and state thing here. Does anybody have an answer to that or should I

120keep talking? Keep talking. Oh, 43 seconds. Okay. Um, I I think it's ridiculous that we people are allowed to come up here and just say whatever they want. Kids need support. I have messed up as a parent more times than I want to admit. And there are people like Dr. Aguilles and Mr. Nester and Dr. Labby and the amazing teachers you have here who have been there for my kids. Now, my kids thankfully talk to me about more things than I'm really comfortable with. Um, my teenager is texting me right now and I have to go handle that. But every time I've messed up, there's been another adult that's been there for my kid and I cannot thank you enough for being there for my kid. Mr. Callahan, your kids are amazing because of both

121of you. Just letting you know. Thank you. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you. Good evening. Joseph Compa. I'm a Sville resident in Haven Terrace and I'm just here to let you know that I oppose policy 5756. As a parent of three uh school age boys, uh I believe that parents, no one loves our kids like us, right? Teachers are great, faculty are awesome, but parents deserve a say in our children's lives and to be able to minister to their hearts. And so I just am here to humbly ask you to resend policy 5756. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Um Carolyn Mack, 23 Closter Court. Um a few weeks ago I sent a letter to each of you about a new study that shows a 12fold increase in risk of suicide amongst those who have had

122gender affirmation procedures. The study was comprised of 90 million patients and compared rates of suicide and self harm between transgender and non-transgender patients. Uh quoting from the study, transgender individuals face elevate elevated depression rates leading to an increase in suicide ideiation and attempts. The conclusion of the study is gender affirming surgery is significantly associated with elevated suicide attempt risks. The study reveals that if you continue down this road of keeping this policy 5756, you are elevating the risk 12fold by promoting this ideology. 5756 does not save lives as as some of you have been led to think. Some on this board would stubbornly keep this policy with its flawed ideology and risk losing federal funding of 140 of a 147 million budget and that's Dr. Lavy's number. He said the federal portion is 2 million.

123He said that this loss would certainly not cause our taxes to go up which indicates to me he is willing to lose that money by hanging on to a policy that is optional. It's not mandated. Meanwhile, newly released data from the state shows SAT scores have dropped in New Jersey for the third year in a row, as have math and reading scores. As we continue to talk about why to resend 5756, the academics are not what they used to be and not what they should be. When students learn, contrary to what science teaches, that they can change their gender by cutting off body parts and going on hormone blockers, and that they can do it all behind their parents' backs. And this can be a secret between teacher or counselor and a minor child, it

124is no wonder that academics in America are just not what they should be. I agree with what Dr. Labby said a little while ago. Our focus needs to be on educating our students. As for the reference of separation and church and state at the March 18th meeting where one of the board members chastised a parent at that meeting, I want to remind you that every board meeting begins with the pledge and we say in that pledge, one nation under God. All of our money has the words and God we trust on it. The erroneous separation of church and state comes from a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1802 to the Danbury Baptist to clarify that the first amendment protects the church and the believer from interference from government. Our free speech is protected under

125the first amendment. All right. I ask that God is up please not be swept under the rug when you cast your vote on 5756. Thank you. [Applause] Hi, I'm Kim Bland 13 Meadow Lane Oldbridge and I'm reading a letter from Kim Lemley who couldn't be here tonight. Dear Saraveville board of education members, good evening and thank you for all you do for the students of Saraveville. My name is Kim Lley, a mom, former teacher, taxpayer, and a Manalapan resident. Tonight, I would like to speak on the rescending of suggested policy 5756. In the recent past, the following school districts abolished policy 5756. Hanover, Middletown, Marlboro, and Manalpin just to name a few of the 40some. Now these schools can concentrate on learning. Policy 5756 is a schoolboard policy that is divisive to the family unit.

126This policy creates division within the school community. A student is allowed to change their gender identity without parental authorization. If a student identifies as a different gender, the school is required to now recognize them with their new name and gender. A separate file is created for the student. The parent is not made aware. The school social worker stands in lie of the parent. If they aren't accepting of the new gender identity of the student, a gender affirming plan is created with the student. Again, parents not notified. The student determines when the parents will know. Parental authorization is required for distribution of aspirin, for school trips, and for pictures of students to be taken. How does policy 5756 make any sense? One key element that a teacher strives for is clear communication lines with the parents.

127It has been proven that when the teacher and parents work in tandem, that the student is the ultimate one to benefit. Students who have parental involvement tend to have less behavioral problems, less absenteeism, and more involvement in school related activities. Getting parents involved in schools by the Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement is just one article that encourages parental involvement, www.readingrockets.org. When teachers have parental involvement, they benefit as well. These benefits of clear communication lines with the parents are less homework problems, less absenteeism, and more precious time teaching than addressing behavioral issues. How can there be true clear communication lines with policy 5756? This breaks the trust between parents and teachers. Why and when would a parent believe a teacher when they don't know if they're hearing the truth? The harassment, intimidation, bullying pro

128policy is already in place for the protection of students when in need. Please resend policy 5756 so we can focus on learning. Thank you for your time. Sincerely yours, Kim Lley. Thank you. Hi, I'm Alice Finny and I am from Colts neck, New Jersey. And I am just here to ask you to abolish policy 5756. Um, I wanted to also address that the separation of church and state was in that letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Society because they were concerned about um about the church about the state interfering with the church as it did in England and it required them to all practice the same faith. So Thomas Jefferson said, "No, we're going to protect the church from the state and allowing us to practice our freedom of religion, not freedom from

129religion." So it's easy to have a prayer and it is a an application that we are allowed by our by our first amendment rights. In addition, um I am a teacher and I teach high school students and I know that this policy has come down and we got we had some training on it. um as far as um pronouns and things like that. Now, that is not exactly what this policy is about, but I feel that I want to have my right to be able to tell the truth to my students because of my faith and I'm allowed to in the New Jersey state constitution to exercise my rights according to my faith. So, I think there's a lot of teachers and other people that would like to tell the children the truth. That said,

130that means we don't want to hide secrets from parents. And this is what the policy is about because children um are young and they're vulnerable and they do not understand really when they make these decisions based on feelings and not a medical decision that um it could really affect them the rest of their life. And it's about parents being there to stand beside them and to guide them and to help them go through whatever difficulties that they're going through. Children are not allowed to have a tattoo or to drink or to drive or to smoke or to vape or do other things. And why would we allow them to hide secrets from parents? Um so my story is that I was a tomboy when I was a child. I grew up um seven, eight years

131old. I ran around not thinking I was a boy, but wanting to be like a boy. I rode my bike. I climbed trees. I caught frogs. I did a lot of things that boys would do. I played with dinosaurs. I did not like dolls. But if I was born, my parents, my mother and father always told me that I was a girl. And I'm grateful that they had the right to do that. I mean, it wasn't even a question. And I think if I grew up in this age, I was so easily influenced by peers and other things and teachers who I really, you know, thought very highly of. I was a great student. I was an AB student. I always listened and complied to everything. I would not have liked even the social media

132came in. I can't imagine what my life would have been like if I was born today and followed these policies. Please resend policy 5756 and allow parents to be involved with their children's lives. Good evening. My name is Ron Mack. I'm from Obridge. Um yes, we do have a policy about uh uh separation of church and state. It's called the Constitution of the United States. It's the first amendment. I stood here a year ago and I said, "If somebody can show me the separation of church and state in the Constitution, I'd give them a $100 bill." There's no such thing. It's a myth. You can't constrain people's uh free speech. Um I speak tonight as an American with free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment. I speak here tonight as a New Jersey citizen

133under the New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act. A year ago, I suggested that this U board of education put 5756 up for vote. You didn't do it. You should have done it at that time. It's a you're entering a new era. You have a short window of opportunity to resend 5756, which is an abuse to the New Jersey children and a target for the new administration. Today, where does Serville stand legally? Where does Seville stand legally after the first 100 days which is today? Years ago, Seville board of education, not you, a previous one, voted foolishly to place themselves legally under the suggested policy 5756 suggested. This was unfortunate, if not outright legal ignorance. 5756 was never at any time mandatory. Because of this, some New Jersey schools chose not to endorse it at that

134time. Voting yes back then to 5756 removed Sarville parents right to know what is going on in this area and with their child in your school. Now the current board of education, you have a short window of time. You're being given the chance to legally free Seville from this non-mandatory guideline that your previous board foolishly voted to convert as a guideline to a legal mandate for Seville. So the board now you now represented been legally bound to this good news is that Seville parents and taxpayers the current board of education can re legally resend it in the next two months. 42 other school districts in New Jersey have recently done just that. Do you know why they voted to rescend it? Because all 42 have had some good legal advice to do just that with

135their school lawyers present all the whole way. There is not one push back from Trenton to those districts that remove 5756. Every one of those districts has a school lawyer sitting in their meetings. Donald Trump is promising to remove federal funding for for schools that don't comply and it's coming. So, you have a chance. Do the right thing and it's the right thing for the kids. Thank you. Kelly Wank Mueller, Parland, New Jersey. Bear with me. I want to choose my words uh wisely here. A few meetings back, I believe it was the March 18th meeting, Miss Pabone asked Carrie where her supporters were, it seemed that it was insinuated that they didn't have any other than the people who come from out of town and her husband. I'm one of the residents who voted

136for the ladies. Um, just as I voted for Eileen uh when she ran. not because they're bingo balls, but because I like what they stand for or what I thought they stood for. I do happen to have concerns with policy uh 5756, and I'm not alone. That doesn't make me a bigot. That makes me a concerned parent. I have questions. I have concerns. And I would like an open forum to address those things uh instead of just being shut down here. I know that some of the board members are sick sick sick of hearing about it, but really that's too bad. I mean, this is a current issue and you're on the board and you need to hear about it. It doesn't surprise me that many residents don't come to these meetings to speak because

137of how they're received if they are not 100% on board with 5756. And please know that when you mumble something under your breath, your microphones are picking it up and YouTube is close captioning it. Just so you know. Um, a few of the reasons why I voted for the ladies, they're not afraid to ask questions. They're not afraid to vote against the majority. And they've handled the social media bashing with grace and self-control. And ironically, it was one of the board members sitting here that pushed me to vote for them. Not once did I see one of them post on social media about their faith during their campaign, but the sitting board member did time and time again, calling them bigots and bashing their faith, which I happen to share. At the meet the candidates

138session at the high school, when it was one of their turn to speak, two of the sitting board members had a full-on conversation with each other in the same tone that I'm speaking right now. It was rude and disrespectful and inconsiderate. Dr. Labby, you know that my kids love you. I happen to think that you are a godsend, pardon the pun, to this district when it comes to special education. My question for you is if if a student is in class and they don't like what's being taught, they don't feel like listening to it, would you suggest that they put their earbuds in and turn their back to the teacher or should they just get up and walk out? Whether you have a blurb on your social media that your opinion is yours and not

139that of the board of education, you still represent this board and our schools and you're not being a good example for our kids. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, board and staff. Anthony Spazado, Gab's dad, Washington Road. Um, it is lovely to be in a room with so many of uh Mrs. Chudkowsky's donors. I've certainly heard so much about them. Um, I'm here tonight to talk about the bills list for April 29th, specifically the dental account. That would be nice, right? I would love to be able to talk about that. No, I'm here because the train is back in town. Uh, I saw folks posted online and encouraged us to come talk about the don't tell parents policy, which sort of made me laugh. Um, since 5756 was introduced years ago, not a single parent

140in Serville has ever ever had information withheld from them regarding their students sexual orientation or gender identity. No speaker tonight nor member of this board can change that fact. Like almost all other Serville parents, I am proud to have put my kid into the public school system here. With incredible staff that we don't thank nearly enough. And as the parent of a public school student, I am grateful beyond words for everything we ask our educational partners to do for our kids. If you are a parent listening, please understand that children who struggle with sexual orientation and gender identity issues do not struggle in a vacuum. There are a myriad of pressures and conflicts that make life hard. candidates who ran on revoking their right to privacy in violation of state anti-discrimination laws. Notwithstanding, the Trump

141administration is now defunding the suicide hotline for LGBTQ plus kids. So parents who can hear me, your support now is going to be extremely crucial. The truth is this. The presence of a single supportive teacher or community member has proven to be determinative. So please continue to be visible and vocal in your support of our kids. Now, in light of folks from other towns coming in with political and religious agendas, spending money to elect candidates who want to insert their beliefs into our public schools, and despite a sitting board member saying she would put a Bible in every classroom if it was up to her, folks with a rudimentary understanding of constitutional law know that there is a separation between church and state that has been upheld for decades, one that has been written about

142in books for generations. And I'll say this to be heard clearly. If anyone on this board is actively looking for books, please know I've been waiting for this and I'm ready to make many referrals for you. I do find it curious how a member of the public might know what a board attorney thinks or does not think about 5756 and its relationship to funding allocation, especially given that a board attorney has not spoken about those issues, certainly not in public session. That is where we are. So, what do we do? If parental involvement is important, as I believe it is, please grab your friends and come to these meetings. Not only will you be part of Dr. Labby and Mrs. Bloom's playful and yearslong comedic rapport, you will get to hear incredible stories of success

143and triumph from our kids across the entire district. You'll get to see how well your tax dollars are spent, how hard our educators work for all of us, not just our students, but our families as well. We can't outsource public policy creation to Oldbridge or Aberdine or Bridgewater. We can't let those decisions be made by folks from out of town or people who have never put their kids through several public schools. We have to speak up. Thank you, Mr. Spay. Thank you, thank you again. Once a bomber, always a bomber. [Applause] Good evening. My name is uh at GI reside Henry Street in Serville and uh I'd like to talk about 5756 policy. I heard about it about three four weeks ago and I get horrified when I read about it more when I search

144YouTube and Google what about 57 56 how damaged for a lot of kids and some of the kids commit suicide as well. um I rejected I oppose it and as a parent as a serville resident I oppose this one and all what I'm asking to resend that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hi Steve Fiser, 58 Gear Street. Um, I'm here to talk about uh about boys and girls sports. I noticed this evening I was very heartened by all the those signs of a boys lacrosse team, a girls lacrosse team, all the teams separated. So my concern is what's going to happen when a transgender wants to be on a girls team. Now, I grew up in a situation where fizzed was not co-ed. The boys were separated from the girls by a wall. But

145then it ended and I was a fizzed teacher in 1972 in school and I learned all about Title Nine. And I thought it was the greatest thing ever because in a co-ed sport, in a co-ed uh gym situation, everyone could work together. the kids would learn together, boys and girls. That's a beautiful thing. It's a great thing. Title Nine. Also though, Title Nine went into athletics and it made girls sports come around and my sister who was born in the 60s never got a chance to do that. My younger sister, she got a chance to do it as because of Title Nine. And there was a big big difference there for both of them. It was a great thing. So comparing athletics to physical education, there is no comparison. I taught in several for 40

146years. I was a teacher for 42. I coached boys sports and girls sports. Boy soccer, girls soccer. They are not the same. I coached boys track and girls track. They are not the same. The implements are different. things way more. The hurdles are higher. It's different. So why would I let a boy who supposedly is a girl compete against girls? It should not happen. I coached wrestling. I coached at the recck level all the way up to varsity. Girls wrestled in the in in the recreation program. Was great. Girls can wrestle. But now what has the state done? They formed two teams. Boys wrestling and girls wrestling. Go on the website, you'll see it. Seville has a girls wrestling team. It's listed. And that's the way it should be. So my concern is what the

147board's going to do with this policy that is not mandatory. It is optional. We don't need it. We have laws. We have things that protect people. We don't need a policy extra to make people are different. Thank you. Okay, at this time we will close public. Any closing comments from any board members? If I may, if you'd all bear with me. Thank you. Since taking office on this board, there have been many, including this evening, who have shared their views on policy 5756, from fellow board members to many members of the community. The views shared have represented both sides, those for keeping it in place and those for rescending it. The three people who have not yet shared are Lady Katy and I. We've listened respectfully and attentively to every single person who has taken

148the time to come out to our board meetings, regardless of whether their views aligned with ours. As elected officials, every stakeholder deserves our thoughtful consideration of the things that concern them. And we'll continue to treat everyone at the mic with the same dignity, respect, and decorum that we expect and that our bylaws dictate. During our campaign, we pledged to focus on policy 5756 among several other important issues. And from the moment we were sworn in, we have been working hard to that end. We've met individually with almost every member of this board to get to know you and to give you opportunity to get to know us. We've talked about 5756 together and discussed your views on it. One thing that rang out the loudest is that we can all agree that we are for

149the protection of every student from discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying. We agree on this. This we all agree. So, let's start where we, the state of New Jersey and the federal government agree. I ask that you thoughtfully consider the following, my fellow board members. The New Jersey law against discrimination protects every US citizen from discrimination, including our students. Title 9 of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects US citizens from discrimination. The Civil Rights Act protects US citizens from discrimination. These have all been in place long before 5756. They are all upheld in New Jersey and the Seville School District and they protect all of our students and faculty from discrimination. Reading through policy 5756 in its entirety, there's only one single item that is labeled as a protection in the entire policy for trans students

150and it's the withholding of information from parents about a student transitioning. So the claim that 5756 protects trans students is only based upon the do not tell parents clause. There's no other protection described in the policy. This is the issue that's up for debate from those who are for keeping this policy in place. In all other ways, all of our students are under the umbrella of protection by state and federal laws against discrimination. Now, let's look at the don't tell parents rationale because that's really what we're talking about and it's very serious and it's worthy of our time at this table. The federal furpa act of 1974, the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act is a law that protects the privacy of student records and the rights of parents access to any and all information

151in such records until a child turns 18. So parents have the right to all information about their child here in Seville according to federal law. Quoting the law, Furpa gives custodial and non-custodial parents alike certain rights with respect to their children's education records unless a school is provided with evidence that there is a court order or a state law that specifically provides the contrary, which there is not. Otherwise, both custodial and non-custodial parents have the right to access their children's education records, the right to seek to have those records amended, the right to consent to disclosure of personally identifiable information from those records, etc. So, let's be clear. Parents have the right by law to all information in their student record. However, 5756 directs the preparation of a second file for trans students, a secret

152file that is to be kept from parents. This is clearly a violation of federal law and the protected rights of parents. It doesn't matter who may disagree with this law. It's federal law. It's not our job nor right as a board to disregard federal law and the language of any of our policies. That alone alone is a very strong reason to resend a policy that contains such a violation. It opens up our district to the risk of lawsuits as parents become more and more versed in their rights as they pertain to 5756. In addition, 5756 violates parents constitutional right to direct the upbringing and the education of their children. Now, let's look at the other aspects of the don't tell parents clause. It's a reckless undermining of the family unit to tell children to keep

153any secret from their parents and in so doing rendering null the most important support system in their life. Some shared here at the microphone that they have gay or trans children. But they also shared in the next breath that they had an open relationship with their children and their their children shared everything with them. This is what I'm referring to. It's not our call. It's not our right. It's not our job as a board. Our job is to provide an excellent education to every child in Seville. As Dr. Labby pointed out three different times this evening, when do we start thinking that our role is to infringe on constitutionally protected parental rights in this way? Teaching them through this policy that their parents aren't to be trusted, that their homes aren't a safe place is

154an egregious affront to the parents of Seville. They deserve more respect than this. Looking at Supreme Court cases, the following quotes demonstrate this point. Wisconsin versus Yodor. The history and culture of Western civilization reflects a strong tradition of parental concern for the nurture and the upbringing of their children. This primary role of parents in the upbringing of their children is now established beyond debate as an enduring American tradition. Quilloinne versus Walcott. We have recognized on numerous occasions that the relationship between parent and child is constitutionally protected. Parham versus JR. Our jurist prudence historically has reflected western civilization concepts of the family as a unit with broad parental authority over minor children. Our cases have consistently followed that course. Santaskki versus Kramer discussing the fundamental liberty interest of natural parents in the care, custody and management

155of their child. Gluxburg Supra in a long line of cases. We have held that in addition to the specific freedoms protected by the Bill of Rights, the liberty specially protected by the due process clause includes the right to direct the education and upbringing of one's children. citing Meyer and Pierce. In light of this extensive precedent, it cannot now be doubted that the due process clause of the 14th amendment, excuse me, protects the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children. We clearly do not have any right to withhold any information from parents about their child. It's not debatable according to the laws of our land, no matter our personal opinions. Let's unpack that save that one child rationale. This rationale assumes all parents of trans students guilty

156of intent to abuse their child or render them homeless and their homes unsafe for the trans child. Hence the don't tell parents clause. All in an effort to save that one child. Save them from what? What case study in Seerville is based is this based upon? What which child is the one child? How can we know which child is the one child in this scenario? This defies logic and reasoning and common sense to put at risk hundreds if not thousands of children by dismantling the trust between parent and child in order to hypothetically save the one. It's not it is our staff not trained to recognize the evidence of abuse and neglect and to act accordingly. Would our staff therefore not recognize the abuse and/or neglect of this one hypothetical child and proceed according to

157protocol in alerting the principal etc. and therefore start the appropriate process of protecting that abused child. This process has always been in place. There is no one child in danger. Our staff is well trained. 5756 doesn't provide protection. our longstanding training and protocol does. So we violate federal law with do not tell parents clause and the save one child theory is not supported by logic, reason, common sense, nor any statistics for this local for New Jersey nor nationally. Lady Katy and I are not against protecting trans kids, but we do very strongly state that 5756 does not protect trans kids and that it violates federal law and constitutional parental rights. Our students are very well protected already. This policy is neither mandatory nor necessary and causes many more problems than is purported to solve. Thank

158you for your time and for your thoughtful consideration of these points. I have a comment. Lucy. Lucy. Any other comments? I'm also board me. Yes, I do. I'm just All right. Well, I'm going to go first. You go around. Um, I am very proud to be the member that all of these people who are against the uh policy refer to as the board member who did this and the board member who said that. I am that board member and I am that board member who will be concerned about that one life that we could possibly save. One kid who doesn't commit suicide. I am sorry, but I do think that saving one life, one kid is worth it. And I will continue to be in favor of this policy, keeping it intact, no matter how

159many people come from different parts of the country, the state, the world. I don't care what Donald Trump says. I don't care what the news says. I will continue to support this policy. And if you don't like it, I'm entitled to my my opinion and my vote. So, thank you and have a good night. Gotcha. Yes. Um, I'm going to, um, talk about policy 5756. Um, for the first time, I want to my fellow board members to hear what I have to say about it. And when we talk about policy 5756, I want to be clear that we are not against transgender students. Every students deserve to feel safe, respected, and supporter. Our school must be welcoming envirments for all children. My concern is not about who we support, but how we support them and

160more specific specifically how we embold the people who know them best, their parents. Policy 5756 allows the schools to keep information about a child's gender identity from their parents. I believe this is a mistake. While the policy made by trying to help, it creates a wall between the students and family. That wall can hurt trust and make it harder for a student to get the full support they need. Parents are the primary caregivers and decision makers in a child's life. They are already involved in every aspect of their life, academics, health, discipline, and more. Schools regularly inform parents about grades, behavioral issues, and medical concerns. Why should something as deeply personal and potentially lifechanging as gender identity be treated differently? When school keep this kind of information from parents, it can led to more than

161good harm. It can led to more harm than good. Parents are often the one who know their children's the children best. Taking them out of the conversation is a student without the full support they need at home and in school. It also sent a measure that pattern can be trusted with just isn't true for most families. Some may argue that withholding this information protest a student from an unsupported household and that's an important concern and the school should take it seriously and it must be addressed with care and balance. We already have policies and system in place for cases where a child may be unsafe at home. That's different from having um a room that keeps the parents out of the loop. If the goal is protect the children, policies must be balanced safety with

162parental involvement. Parents should be part of the process to ensure their children get the support they need both at home and at school. Removing this policy doesn't mean a student won't receive support. It just means parents will be involved as they should be. Parents have a fundamental right to be the primary decision making in their children's life. School and parent can work together to offer the right resources, guidance, and emotional support while ensuring that the child's well-being is prioritized. Also, it's important to know that policy 5756 is not a state law. Schools in New Jersey can choose whether or not to use it. Many school districts have already removed or changed the policy after hearing from their communities. In summary, policy 5756 should be removed because it keeps pattern out of an important decision. It

163break trust between the schools and families and make it harder for the students to care to get the care they need. The best way to support a student is by fostering cooper cooperation between parents and educators. Families should should never be left out of the loop when it comes to to decisions that affect their child's identity and well-being. Parental involvement is not just a right, it's a responsibility and a school should honor them. Let's choose policies that build trust, respect families, promote collaboration, and ensure every student receive the support they need with their families standing besides them. Thank you. Any other board members wishing to comment? Yeah, Madame President, I'd like to speak as well. So, first and foremost, as Carrie mentioned, um we have done extensive due diligence. You know, I'm a CL compliance

164person, so I always go back to the fact base, right? So, this folder here has every single policy, including 5756, Furpa, NJ laws, the statutes within there, the administrative codes. I've taken time, we've taken time, ample time to go through it to understand what it means and how does it translate based on everything else. So, I just want to preface that with that information and if you guys want me to share it with you, happy to do so after after the meeting. Um, from the very beginning of our campaign, we promised to prioritize transparency, accountability, and unity between parents, students, and the school district. That promise included a clear commitment to re-evaluate and work towards rescending policy 5756, a policy that undermines trust and parental rights. We have heard compelling remarks from Carrie and Katy

165on the issue as well as um members of the community and now I want to offer my personal perspective not just as a board member but as a parent who has spoken out long before running for this seat. At that time I shared not only personal views but also data and real stories from families and students who have experienced the unintended consequences of policies like 5756. I followed up with factual resources and video testimonials and today I want to build on that foundation with what we have since uncovered through our continued diligence. Policy 5756 states that the school staff are under no affirmative duty to inform parents about their child's gender identity or expression. Let's be clear, this policy doesn't just break down communication. It creates mistrust and drives a wedge between families and places

166educators in an untenable position. Our Sarville teachers, which in my opinion are some of the finest I've seen, are being put in an impossible situation. They are dedicated professionals who genuinely care about the well-being of our children. Yet, this policy asked them to withhold deeply personal information from parents, the very people who have the legal and moral responsibility for their child's upbringing. That is not just unfair, it's unacceptable. Furthermore, there are already laws and local policies in place that protect the rights and dignity of transgender students. And more importantly, they protect all students. Rescending policy 5756 is not about removing protections. It is about restoring trust, upholding parental rights, and ensuring our educators are not caught in the crossfire of conflicting responsibilities. To get into my main points, there are already laws and cereable policies

167that provide necessary protections not only for transgender students but for all students such as the NJ laws which I mentioned which prohibits discrimination based on protected categories including but not limited to age, sex, familial status, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and disabilities. Current Savville district policies include 2260 which is the affirm affirmative action program for school and classroom practices. Paragraph one of this um policy states, "The board of education shall provide all students with equitable and bias-free access to all school facilities, courses, programs, activities, and services regardless of the protected categories listed under the um NGAC administrative code 6A7-1.1." I quote that just so you could see how extensive my research has been. 3280 liability of student welfare. 0.9 states, "A teaching staff member must immediately report any instance of substance abuse, violence,

168vandalism, accidents, or suspected child abuse in accordance with policy numbers 8442, which is reporting accidents. 8461, reporting violence, vandalism, harassment, intimidation, bullying, alcohol, and other drug offenses, and 8462, reporting potentially missing or abused children." Paragraph 1 of 8450 uh 8442 reporting accident states the board of education directs that all reasonable efforts be made to ensure a safe learning and working environment for the students and employees of this district. Policy 5512, which is harassment, intimidation, or bullying policy. Bullet A, amongst other things, states, "The board has determined that a safe and civil environment in school is necessary for students to learn and achieve high academic standards." Policy 5750, equal educational opportunity, paragraph 1, states, "No student shall be denied access to or benefit from any educational program or activity or from uh co-curricular or athletic activity

169on the basis of any of the protected categories listed under the before mentioned uh administrative code. We conducted a thorough review of this policy, like I mentioned, federal and state laws and our own district's policies. Nowhere during our due diligence did we find language that endorses or supports the practice of withholding information from parents as 5756 does. In fact, the fura which is the one that um Carrie mentioned earlier explicitly affirms parents rights to access their children's educational records. 99.4 What are the rights of parents? An educational agency or institution shall give full rights under the act to either parent unless the agency or institution has provided with evidence that there is a court order statute or legally binding document related to such matters as divorce, separation or custody that specifically revokes these rights. Sarville

170school district policies include again the um HIP policy which is 5512. It asserts the rights of the parents provided parental rights have not been terminated by a court of appropriate jurisdiction. 8330 student records the end of paragraph 3 and beginning of paragraph 4 state the district shall provide annual written notification to parents, adult students and emancipated minors of their rights in regard to student records. Copies of the applicable state and federal laws and board policies shall be made available upon request. And I quote this. Non- adult students may assert rights of access only through their parents. 9240 Rights of Parents. Paragraph 3 states, "Every parent except as prohibited by federal and state law should have access to records and information pertaining to his or her unemancipated child, including but not limited to medical, dental, insurance,

171child, child care, and educational records, unless that access is found by the court to be not in the best interest of the child. So again, at the heart of the this conversation is something far greater than policy language. It's about the fundamental right of parents to be engaged in their children's lives. It's about the trust that must exist between schools and families and the responsibility we have to safeguard that trust. Policy 5756 undermines these principles by promoting secrecy over transparency and isolation over inclusion. We can and we must protect every single student while also honoring the vital role parents play in their children's lives. That is not just possible. It is necessary for the sake of unity, transparency, and the well-being of every student and every family in our district. I strongly urge this board

172to do what is right. And as such, Madame President, I move to resent policy 5756. I second. [Applause] Miss Hill, roll call. Mr. Callahan, you got to tell them they're voting. They move to rescend it. No. Mrs. Chaikowski, yes. Mr. Fernandez, no. Mrs. Hernandez, yes. Mrs. Maldonado, yes. Mrs. Npalitano, no. Mrs. Pabone, absolutely not. Mr. Smith, no. And Mrs. Bloom, no. Okay. Motion carry. So, does this mean does this mean because I've asked for us to vote on this before to get this done with. Does this mean that we are done with this discussion that we've all voted that we're not going to rescend it? Are we going to because I mean, not for nothing, it's 10 something. We're still here talking about this thing week after week, month after month. We're not going to

173rescend it. Save people the gas money. We will not stop fighting. And I don't and I don't and I don't take anything. It's our positions. I know. Let me just and I and I am speaking. I don't take anything away from you and your belief and your desire to overturn it, but it it's not being overturned as of tonight. So, are we going to be going through this every single meeting? I just want to know because it it is very upsetting to have to go through this every time. There are some districts in New Jersey of the 44 that have already rescended it where it but this isn't one of them but where it was not accomplished in one meeting. It takes dialogue. This is our first effort in sharing about this for the first

174time. One district it took two and a half years to get it rescended. This is not something that that we feel is unimportant. It's important enough for us to continue the effort. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. Smith. I I do appreciate the three of you sharing your views tonight. I appreciate the public when they speak on either side of it. Uh I may agree with you, I may disagree with you. The one thing that I will say tonight, there are 2312 school districts in New Jersey. 44 to 47 have repealed this. That's 02%. So I just want to kind of put it in perspective. If I may, just a quick comment. There are actually 544 districts in New Jersey. So the number therefore percentage- wise is is much higher. Actually, it's it's over 600. If you

175total up the total number of school districts is over six, slightly over 600. Mr. Smith, I think you're referring to number of schools. Yeah. What I will ask what I will ask is um like I said and like Carrie said, we're not going to we're not going to stop. However, and I know that you're a man. You like to do your research. I will give you all the stuff that I did. I will I mean I these are directly the policies are not I I appreciate that lady. I know I have no doubt that you did your you did your research. Um I'll continue to do mine. Yeah. And that's all we ask. Yep. Fair enough. Okay. At this time, I haven't said much, but I'm going to say something now. I believe that this

176is a total misinterpretation of the wording of 5756. It says that staff may not disclose information that reveals a student's transgender status. It does not say will not. It does not say shall not. It says may not which is at the discretion of the teacher as to whether they want to or not. So it is not a policy that restricts and it is not a policy that puts anybody in jeopardy. Unless you do not know your child, you would know that your child is transgender. That's all I have to say. Thank you, Mr. Anybody else? Yeah, I have a comment, Mr. Bloom. Um, first of all, I want to thank all my board members in the the audience for for participating in this discussion. I will not be commenting on this discussion as I have

177something totally different I'd like to say. First, I'd like to thank Dr. Labby and our administration for the support that you've given the Rivera family over the past year and and the support that you gave to all of our students through those through that very difficult time. you responded quickly um on that evening and it was truly appreciated by everyone and it was amazing support they gave to our student body and my second comment as we as we as we all go through kids through primary secondary and our universities we have many influences on us we learn great many things throughout the schools one of my greatest influences to me who taught me not only things in the classroom but imparted upon me great life lessons that I carry through with me to today and

178that I impart upon my children is in this room today. Coach Fischer, your passion, your dedication, and the lessons that you've taught me, I've I carry through to to this day. I can't express to you what what you've meant through me to to me o over the years. And I want to thank you and I just want to say that we are you know we start with we wanted to you guys to hear what we have to say about it and we like to have a conversation but I just want to remember the board members that we all care about the children. We all agree and disagree and things but most of it we agree in a lot of things as a board members and I keep that with us you so we can you

179know move forward working together and having this conversation this is a healthy conversation so we can have it it today is this maybe in a couple of months month is going to be something else but we agree in a lot of things keep it in that so we can work together as a board member for the kids that we all love and want to the best for them. Anybody else? Motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. Meeting is a Jeff.