001Welcome back everybody. Been a very fruitful discussion in executive session and again we will release what we can when we can. Uh with that being said we move on to the next item is board correspondence. Mr. J, do we have any to say? >> We do not. >> Great. Let's go into the superintendent's comments. >> So good evening everyone. Uh and I know you'll reiterate this when you speak. I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Um, I feel very lucky that I have a lot to be thankful for both personally and professionally. And thank you to all the board members for your service and to our student rep both who are here and not here. Uh, our student rep who is here tonight happens to have been nominated for our wall of warriors this
002month. So, you'll see her name on the window in the atrium. If you take a look, teachers nominate students for their leadership and and citizenship and just overall kindness. So, I'm not surprised at all about that nomination. Uh, we did our fall play this past weekend, Puffs, and it was uh the students did a great job. It was well attended uh a really nice show and now they're gearing up for our spring musical. And lastly, I just wanted to give a little plug for our December 9th meeting. So, we are starting that meeting at 6 PM instead of 700 p.m. We have a a long sleep that night or a lot of exciting events going on. 6 to 6:30 will be close session and at 6:30 the public portion of the meeting will be starting
003and that is when we will uh celebrate our retiring board members as well as our retiring staff member who's retiring midyear Patricia Tobin. Um and we'll also be recognizing a student uh for their accomplishments. So that will happen 6:30 to probably 6:45 7ish. Then our auditors will give their brief report. Uh that should only be about 10 or 15 minutes because we have such clean audits. So, we'll be good with that. And then we have Mark Maguar and Kathy Hollow, representatives from the Rowan Regionalization Institute. I'm sorry. Oh, and Lucille Davyy. Oh, fantastic. Um, all three of them will be here and we've slotted 7 to 8:00 p.m. for a discussion with the board. And I did let our um elected, newly elected board members know about that so that they can come and listen
004to the conversation. Uh, and then we'll have our our rest of our regular meeting after that. And that was our last meeting of 2025. So, just wanted to update everyone on that and that's all I have. >> Thank you. Stole most of my thunder, but I too wish everyone the happiest of holidays. Uh, I know it's very easy for people to always think of the negatives in their lives or what's going on around them, but I implore everyone to take a moment and think of all the positives and all the fortunate opportunities they have. I do want to congratulate Juliana. Always excited to have one of our own recognized school was able to see your name up there in lights. So just I think I put some lights around. It's nice to see. So congratulations
005to her and Mr. Schultz. I just have a quick update that I received the certified election results. So congrats to Miss Falerki on your election and congrats and also congrats to Miss Rexford, Miss Vente and Mr. Decker from Warren on their elections as well. Okay, we move into student representatives comment. Juliana Santos, she'll be handling double duty is going to say here. Sophie Lamb is a little under the weather, so I wish her the best. Thank you. So, starting off with our student achievements. The induction ceremony for the National Honor Society was held on Tuesday, October 21st. The chapter proudly welcomed 81 new members, bringing in students who consistently embody the four pillars of NHS: scholarship, service, leadership, and character. This induction celebrates their dedication to academic excellence, and contribution to the community. During the
006ceremony, Dr. Labber was present to read the certification of candidates for all new inductees, officially welcoming them, welcoming them into the society. A highlight of the evening was the presentation of the NHS teacher of the year award which was voted on by the students. We congratulate Mr. Gangoff on this honor. He was in attendance to be recognized and spoke highly of the dedication and character of his students. Alina Periq, a junior participated in a surgical volunteer program in Malowie, Africa with Operation Smile. She has been working towards this opportunity for the past three years through leadership conferences in both Peru and Atlanta and surgical training this past summer at the University of Maryland. She's incredibly excited and grateful to have taken part in this mission, which brings life-changing cleft lip and cleft pallet surgeries to
007undeserved, underserved communities around the world. She spent her days on site with the medical team, inside operating rooms, meeting children who travel long distances to receive treatment for cleft whip or cleft pallet, connecting with their families, and teaching them so much as well as learning so much from them. She witnessed firsthand what compassionate care can mean for a child's life. Not only life-changing for them, but for their entire family. The social studies department, as part of their initiative on the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War in New Jersey, held a logo contest to represent Watch Hills in the Rev NJ 250. The expectations were that the logo had to have both Rev NJ250 and Watch Hills represented on it. 114 students entered the contest from all grades. Pure Scornstein is the winner of the contest.
008He will receive a Watch Hills t-shirt and have his logo on air team and around the school. Congratulations to violinist Emily Wang who placed first in the state on violin and served as concert master for the New Jersey All State orchestra on being named the recipient of the governor's award in music. All state orchestra is one of the highest performing opportunities for high school students of New Jersey. About 125 students are chosen to perform at the New Jersey Education Association Conference in November in Atlantic City and the following week at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in New York. Out of the approximately 125 students chosen for all state orchestra, only one student is chosen to receive Governor's Awards in Arts Education. And this year, we are so proud to have one of our own
009win the award. Moving on to our school events. The fall instrumental music showcase held on Tuesday, October 28th successfully launched our instrumental music season. The audience was highly engaged for the full hour supporting all of our talented ensembles. A significant highlight of the evening was the wind ensembles special program through war loss and renewal celebrating America's 250th for which director Alan Das selected and framed the works zer's wear fang stranger and play his successful work with the students in such a short time highlighted their exceptional talents and musicianship. The repertoire was intentionally selected to support the human universal human experience of conflict and recovery as our nation approaches its 250th Revolutionary War anniversary, tracing a cycle from chaos and fury to grief and reflection and culminating in renewal and joy. This thematic programming demonstrates the
010department's commitment to delivering musical education that is both artistically challenging and historically and culturally relevant. And finally, the Longill Historic Preservation Historic Society spoke to the Social Studies Department on November 12th. Carol Prasa, Fred Hunt, Sam Cornish, Longill historian and committeeman, and former mayor Scott Lavender, and they spoke about the history of their community. And that's all. >> Great. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. >> Yes. >> I just wanted to make a a comment regarding the uh governor's awards and arts education. the uh the award actually goes to a single individual across all content areas. So it's not only the orchestra, but it's also uh the all of the all state bands um and the jazz bands and those ensembles as well. So there's only one student in the state that actually receives that
011particular governor's award. Uh and so certainly congratulations to Emily. She's actually the second student from Wong Hills that have earned that distinction. The first one was Ethan Marleos who's actually all Eastern tuba player. Uh so it's it's great to see and congratulations to Emily for uh an outstanding recognition. I mean it is it is the highest award for arts education in the state of New Jersey. >> Anyone else? Okay, great. This the first uh public comment period which will be limited to agenda items for this meeting only. Second public comment period will be open to any top. All comments are limited to five minutes. We have any public comments relating to tonight's agenda. Seeing none, I'm going to close first round public comments. Is there any discussion? There are some, but I don't think there's
012any unless anyone has questions on any discuss. >> Got it. Okay. Mr. President, I'd like to move items A >> Majio. Miss Ferki. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gall. >> Yes. Mr. Mayor, >> yes. >> Mr. Morrison, >> yes. >> Mr. Proa, >> yes. >> Mr. Burberry, >> yes. >> I'm so used to Tim saying motion carried, right? I'm like motion carried. >> After and two weeks, you don't have to worry. Mr. President, I'd like to move item B1. >> Any discussion? Roll poll, please. Mio, Miss Fermki. Yes, >> Mr. Gall. >> Yes, >> Mr. Mayor. >> Yes, >> Mr. Morrison. >> Yes, >> Miss Proa. >> Yes, >> Mr. Burberry. >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> Mr. President, I'd like to move items C1 through C7. >> Any discussion? >> All call, please. >> Mr.
013Deagio, Miss Fazerki. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gall, >> yes. >> Mr. Mayor, >> yes. >> Mr. Morrison, >> yes. >> Miss Proa, >> yes. >> Mr. Burberry, >> yes. >> Motion carries. Mr. President, I'd like to move items D1 through D10. >> Any discussion? >> Sorry. Yes. It's affectility for us to teach the kids quickly point and and to that point certainly certainly brings up the conversation that we talked about about early start times, our own busing company, you know, all of all of those things. as we've been seeing since co it's getting worse not better. >> Sorry. And it also relates to what we also discussed in the past. Most of these are special ed items and the state we keep set hearing that they're going to pay because right now they're only contributing
014certain amount above that 40,000 threshold to the special education. But the state does not define transportation within special education course. They they get to make their own rules and they carve that out. Any additional comments? Roll call, please. Mr. Majio. >> Mr. Feronki. >> Yes. >> Mr. Galla, >> yes. >> Mr. Merch, >> yes. >> Mr. Morrison, >> yes. >> Miss Proa, >> yes. >> Mr. Burberry, >> yes. >> Motion carried. Thank you. Okay. We now move into the second opportunity for public comment. opportunity to say what you will with regard to our school. Again, if you're interested in making a comment, please step up to the podium, state your name, where you're from. Please come on up. I'm Charlie Ford and I'm a sophomore here at Watch Hills Regional High School and eventually somewhere
015down the line I'd like to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point. And there's a lot of opportunity here at Watch Hills and I'm very thankful for it. And I think that there's so much that I've like I came from a smaller school. I came from Greenbrook. When I got here to this such a big school, I tried to immerse myself in so many of the activities that the school really had. But one thing the school didn't really have that I really wished it did was a JOTC program. I know that this would least importantly be helpful for me, but also be helpful for the rest of the students in the school and the school as a whole. I think that many students at this school, I know many kids um that I'm
016very friend that I'm very close friends with or people I'm just acquainted with that would like to go either into academy or into the military somehow. And having a JOTC program is an opportunity that many schools have, but that would provide these students that want to go into the service for our country. One of the greatest pursuits that I think anyone could undergo. And I think it would provide these students with a facet to be able to get a foot into the door already and get a step ahead when they're there. Because when you're into the military, ha having this JOTC experience already sets you one step ahead of everyone else there and it can kind of put you on the fast track for better leadership positions or better jobs in general. And so um
017some um things we could see even on the school level, not just where the students go, but it increases physical fitness, academic performance and citizenship in the community of the students as well as increasing attendance, average GPA and average graduation rate and it decreases on average schools dropout rates and disciplinary issues. And so these are all things that schools see in the short term of applying this program and in the long term. And it's proven that these all are results of having a JRTC program. And it's something very prestigious that brings a lot of um um acknowledgement to schools and can set them above other schools that don't have it. And so I had a petition of my peers at the school and over a hundred students were willing to sign the petition and were
018enthusiastic to have this program move forward and um would be interested in um partaking in this program. As well, I've emailed with John D. Doano, the um North Dor Planefield um director of the JROTC program and he said that any problems that or any anything we would need assistance with he would be able to help provide with. So I think it would be very important for watching hills to get an army JROTC program and I think we would really benefit from this. And so um one problem that might be brought up is the expenses but if done right most or if not all the expenses can be covered by the US Army and the state and federal government um because they will cover almost all of the expenses if not all of them from this
019program. So, I think this would be something very good for our school to have and I'd be interested in seeing the school moving forward with this. >> Thank you. Are there any other comments? Public comments? Yes. >> I was with them until he said army. I was a graduate of a Navy ROTC program. Um, my name is Marissa. I'm the president of the WH. I'm just up here to promote one of the initiatives that we're working on right now. We have a food drive that has been advertised in all the mares. Um we have partnered with two local food banks um to raise we would like to collect 1,400 pounds of food to deliver which would be a new record and these uh this food would be going to the food bank network of Somerset
020County as well as the 12 basket food pantry in Sterling. So directly to um our local communities. Uh and lastly, I did want to congratulate uh both Mr. Gangliff. And then we also have um Mrs. Krueger and Mr. Porter who won the educators of the year at the school. So, a lot to be thankful for. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. Are there any other comments? Yeah, I'm going to close the uh second opportunity for public comment. Uh I will make a comment with respect to one of the comments. Not that I'm prone to do that. With respect to the ROC program, junior run program. Um, as everyone knows, I'm a uh big supporter of Rosi. My son, although he was accepted to West Point Military Academy, he chose to go Rosi. Uh, had an
021excellent experience. I'm very proud of him as as all of you know, he is a veteran. I fully support the Veterans Day. I mentioned that quite a bit. Um, again, I had the opportunity to speak to Mr. Ford about the program and I know there is support there is support on the board with respect to the program and uh I've had conversations with Dr. and I know that she is looking into uh the requirements, what we have to do, you know, participation, all sorts of things like that. So, we're certainly looking into that and and again, there is that support on the board. So, if we can make it happen, we're going to certainly try to make it happen. So, and we appreciate your Mr. Ford your initiative in this matter. So, thank you, >>
022Mr. President. >> Yes. So uh or Dr. Joe where where are we in in the process? I mean does this go through the normal club evaluation process or is this something that's separate? >> So uh Mr. Sabino is looking into the requirements so that we can talk about it at committee meeting um probably in January or February. >> Thank you. Any other comments? U yes >> I also support the program. My husband in the maritime industry was always intrigued with the fact that we live 20 miles from one of the most significant ports in the world and we sent so so few of our not just our students and the area think about maritime industry as a profession and the majority of training for that are in is in the military the navy the coast
023guard the merchant marines so yet another little reason why we We've we've talked recently about the need to broaden you know where I'm going with this. Broaden the spectrum of of ideas for the kids. And yet here's another one. It's >> Thank you. Thank you, Michael, for being supportive. >> Carol, I was about to say the same thing. I think this is important for us to offer as a another path for young people to go instead of just going to college as a contractor can't speakful for that. The other side though is it is definitely a career path or a significant amount of percentages that would be derelct in our duties not to offer that and I think this is one pathway to it. Thank you for bringing this up to our attention. >> Yeah.
024And I'd like to just add on to that that what we are seeing not only here but around the country, you know, is the evolution of these pathways. What we're beginning to see is, you know, they they're beginning to segregate them into uh employment, you know, for like those students that are going from high school into some votech type of program uh enrollment, which are those that are going off into college and enlistment for those that may want to, you know, look for careers in in the military. So, given the fact that this is a trend that's evolving, you know, around the country in education, you know, it certainly would behoove us to, you know, take a strong look at how we might be able to incorporate that here for our students. >> Great. Thank
025you. Do we have any other business? If not, happy Thanksgiving to all and I will take we have a motion to already. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Everyone enjoy their holiday. We are journed.