like to call the meeting to order uh at this time I'd like to ask for an appointment of a temporary chair until Miss Bala arrives I Appo Nicole we have a second second Fran all in favor of Nicole May Mary car need a roll call I I yes pleas Miss Kennedy yes Benedictus yes yes mmer yes all right it's all yours probably want me to go first right does does Mary have to call or we don't have to call at this point like call it to order call order already now you read the open public New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the the provisions of this act the brick Township Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be posted on the administration office Bowland board the official District website and the channel btv2 and sent to the ASB Park prbr time St Ledger and Municipal clerk's office can I have an motion and a second to enter new executive session motion pan back alley whereas The Brick Township Board of Education has been formed pursuant to applicable Jersey statutes and whereas the board is charged with responsibility ofering all acts and doing all things consist of the law and the rules of the state board of education necessary for the lawful and proper conduct equipment and maintenance of public schools and public school property of the Brick Township School District and where as SE section seven of the Public's meeting act permits the exclusion of the public from a meeting of the board in certain circumstances and whereas the board has determined the circumstances exist for such an executive session and whereas the board has found the action described below to be necessary and proper now therefore be resolved by the board on January 11th 2024 that the public shall be excluded from the discussion of an action on the ex itive session here and set forth the session will be approximately 15 minutes and the general nature of the subject matter to be discussed is harassment intimidation and bullying reports it is anticipated at this time that the above stated subject matter will be made public if and when it is deemed to be in public interest to do so and the need for confiden confidentiality is no longer required by the board Barry yes Miss Kennedy yes St Benedictus yes Miss Ron yes Mesmer yes M Bala uh e e e e on and then e e e e e e so you're good right y just gonna from 2023 specific but I I think like budget transfers from the September budget yeah I'm going to obstain from those yeah no that's all good out of District that was decided yeah y I should be good yep I'm gonna St through four yes everything else it seems like everything they don't like change you good can I have a motion to return from executive session motion Fran second Aly Barry yes Miss Kennedy yes Benedictus yes misson yes Mesmer yes Miss picala Miss wre can I have a motion to vacate temporary chair motion Aly second Fran yes Kennedy yes Benedictus yes di R yes Mr Mesmer yes Miss picala e thank you to the brick schools Air Force Junior RC Cadet often oh excuse me I just want to say you may have been expecting our president Stephanie wrap tonight she can't be with us my name is Victoria picala often it may appear to members of our our audience that the Board of Education acts with very little comment and in many cases a unanimous vote please understand that before a matter is placed on the agenda at a public meeting the Administration has thoroughly reviewed the matter with the superintendent of schools discussed it in appropriate Boe committees and only then if the superintendent is satisfied that that matter is ready to be presented to the full Board of Ed education it is placed on the agenda for Action at a public meeting board of education members are given advanced notice to review the agenda and through the chair ask questions or voice concerns in rare instances when some matters could be presented to the board of education for discuss discussion and vote at the meeting M will you please introduce our student Representatives call at this time we have our student representatives from Brick Township High School and brick memorial we'll start with brick memorial um I would like to begin with the Vets report um vmms would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year please help me in congratulating vmms eth graders Estella Dunn and Miranda Monero on making the allshore intermediate honors band this is this is a tremendous accomplishment for middle school students the following students will be recognized for the VFW Post 8876 on Monday January 15th for their winning Patriots pen essay first place Lan Smith second place Liam Betts and third place real Katana congratulations to all of the students they are very excited for their green and gold program to kick off on Tuesday January 9th and will run through March students will meet after school school for additional standards based math and English language arts instruction as well as SLE activties winter sports all sports are active and all teams are in the middle of their Seasons boys basketball is six- two and is in the first is and is in first place currently in their div in their division the cheer team has been phenomenal and cheering on our Mustangs upcoming events at VMS include second markeing period ending on January 26th after school clubs have started with a great selection of programs for the students at BMS BMS students are competing in several grade level and schoolwide academic competitions including I ready and Achieve 3000 the sixth grade Excel students toward the Ocean County courthouse and performed a mock trial as part of their first law fair unit on behalf of Ms they are entering four original mock trial cases in the New Jersey State Bar foundation's annual law fair contest that concludes the Vets report now on to bmhs we hope everyone had a restful and healthy winter break we are excited to welcome back our Mustangs as we finished strong for our first semester a few events HP happened after our last meeting including a pep rally on December 15th because of the work of myself and my sgaa board we could finally welcome back the tradition of pep rally sub Memorial this event featured Games music from our band a perform a performance from our cheerleaders recognition of fall Sports and a special teacher flash mob to Jingle Bell Rock we look forward to having future pep rallies we continued our holiday tradition of Caroline choir which serated students during the last hour of our school day on December 22nd this was led by Junior Kelly Fitzgerald and orchestrated by Mr Bettis this is truly one of the highlights of our school year a perfect way to send off the students to their winter break as we coming back brick memorial has a few announcements and events on January 9th we celebrated law enforcement day we extended our deepest gratitude to The Brick Police Department for their unwavering support of brick memorial high school we would personally like to give thanks to Miss Judy detective Alvarado and as well as Mr tle for keeping brick memorial safe yesterday evening January 10th the National Honor Society inducted 41 new members myself included based on the pillars of character service leadership and scholarship congratulations to all the new indues we know you represent brick memorial well our podcast straight from the Mustangs mouth presents the food drive from January 1st to January 31st all items can be dropped off at room 265 the bmhs PTSA will be hosting a fundraiser at The Brownstone Pancake Factory to raise money for our students and staff we encourage everyone in the community to come out and enjoy some good food throughout January pbsis has been holding a battle of the classes to encourage our core values of respect responsibility and integrity on Friday January 19th the winning class will be awarded with a winter field day this field day will include Games music and food good luck to all classes January is School Board appreciation month so Brook moil would like to give a special shout out to the dedicated members of our big Township Board of Education for their unwavering commitment to our schools and our communities thank you for your tireless efforts in shaping a brighter future for our Mustangs our Mustangs are working hard as the first semester is finishing up our final exams will be held on Wednesday January 20th 24th and Thursday January 25th we know our students are well prepared and ready to succeed now coming up in February the drama will be hosting its winter production of the women of lockerby which will be held from Wednesday February 7th to Saturday February 10th all Productions begin at 6 pm and admission is $5 this play centers on the inspiring tale of following a 1980s plane crash the drama club is taking a different approach so far with this production with the audience being Seated on the stage finally once again Mr mcnight on January 13th at 5:00 P PM the bths and bmhs guidance departments would like to invite you to Brick and Beyond brick and Beyond is a unique opportunity for students to make connections to colleges and universities vocational options of course all are welcome now on to the sports report believe it or not we are heading towards the back end of our winter season in athletics and the Mustangs are looking to make some noise in the PO in the postseasons our bowling teams are on Pace for another amazing season our boys are currently 9-2 and ranked 15th in the state our girls are 10 and 0 not having lost the game yet that's 30 straight match wins we are ranked number two in New Jersey Olivia Salvatore and Faith parent are ranked number three and seven respectively in the state individually Faith also recently committed to Bull next year at Cadwell University in track we had a great day at the Ocean County relays the girls meddled in every relay they competed in and finished third in the Ocean County our Sprint medley relay of Emma Canfield Samar Robinson Tory heedley Ryan Kelly finish in third place our 4 by 800 relay team of Katie Rogers Leanne liio Megan albinet set a new school record and finished in second place first place our distance medley relay of Katie Rogers lean Lio Megan albinet and Ryan Kelly finish in first place for the boys their shuttle hurdle relay of Tyron Gonzalez Austin Peterson Jax Malo Thomas cuello finished in sixth place our Sprint medley relay of Austin Peterson Anthony Wilson Josh Vorhees Jared Vorhees finished in second place next up and are the state relays followed by the county Shore conference and State team championships our basketball teams are in the midst of competitive Seasons as well we always look forward to the big girls versus boys double header versus Brick Township this year hosted at brick memorial tomorrow night Friday January 12th girls play at 5:00 p.m. and boys at 6:30 p.m. we would love to see all of our community come out to this great display of our high school experience and speaking of Community High School experience we couldn't be prouder of our Mustangs and Dragons as they share the ice together for our ice hockey program they have demonstrated what it means to be part of brick schools and we wish them well as they get closer to their postseason run and finally our wrestling team has continued its tradition of winning ways we had a successful run winning the TCNJ Pride tournament as a team and seeing several individual medal winners in the prestigious Mustang classic and short conference championships in the Mustang classic Harvey lington and Ben zuba took home championships Dre talage took second Mason pernick took fourth and Jack tour took five fifth place in the short Conference tournament Ben zuba took second Sunny Deo took fourth Trey talage took Fifth and Michael napol Latino took sixth place also a big congratulations to Harvey lington who won the very prestigious beast of the East tournament before the holidays we have a big few matches coming up including a match this weekend against the state power granford and next weekend against Paul's Barrow at the shore conference versus the state showcase at Southern Regional as always please stay current with all of our news and updates on our brickschools.org website subscribe to our Mustang Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram and X BM Mustang Sports and of course don't forget to subscribe to our Mustang podcast straight from the Mustangs mouth on Spotify Amazon music and Apple and Google podcast platforms and remember all of our home basketball games and wrestling matches are live streamed on our bmhs Mustangs YouTube channel thank you thank you next up is Miss Dalton from Brick Township High School good evening and happy New Year I'm Amaya dalon Brick Township High School student representative we don't have a report from Lake Riviera tonight so I'll be jumping right into bths coming back from winter break bths students have jumped right back into our routine to finish off the first semester strong recognition of the New Year announcements last Tuesday incl segment of reminders of our school's rules and procedures Kylie gelle and Jacob Storch joined our assistant principal Mr hust playing these expectations for the rest of the school year covering important topics such as attendance student parking leaving the classroom and behavior in the cafeteria bths is definitely starting the new year on the right foot back at December bths showed our holiday spirit in several ways in addition to our holiday spirit week many departments and clubs participated in the sj's holiday card competition and the best staff card went to the math department with their name that Christmas song card and the best student card went to the Harry Potter class which wished bths a wonderful Christmas miss Bine and her French Classes won the holiday door decorating contest which showed a which showed off a lot of creativity at bths giving dragons would like to thank everyone who donated gift cards to help out our bths fam and for the holiday season small acts of kindness and service go a long way also throughout December students and staff members took time to reflect on what brings them Joy at bths these responses were written on colored paper ornaments and hung with Garland near our main entrance I stopped by last week to read the ornaments and some of my favorites say motivated and positive students Dragon postcards and my supportive teachers great to see these joyful Reflections started in December and continuing into the new year the guidance department is offering scholarship workshops for students during both lunches every Wednesday this gives seniors the opportunity to ask questions and work on scholarship applications with their guidance counselors the class of 2024 scholarship program is available to all students in the class of 2024 and the list of scholarships can be found on the school counselor Google classroom or on the bths website under the guidance tab our freshman Health classes have joined with counselors from school-based services to administer the both and life skills High School curriculum an evidence-based model designed to promote positive health and personal development for high school it has shown to improve self-management skills drug resistance skills and social skills now looking at our winter sports both our boys and girls basketball teams competed in a wobm Christmas classic at Toms River North over winter break both teams have been prepping for the Rivalry brick first brick game tomorrow night girls varsity is at 5:00 pm. and boys varsity follows at 6:30 p.m. congratulations to freshman Ava aguano of the girls swimming team for breaking the 100 backstroke record with a time of 102.0 our res wrestling team had a lot of success in their tournaments over winter break Liz Aila plays second at the lady Bears wrestling tournament and fourth at The Rumble in the Pines girls tournament at the Timmy Groves tournament in West in West Orange William Walsh placed first Andrew Sherry Joe lowski and Anthony Caro placed second and Lucas Leah and Ricky Gordo placed third in their respective weight classes at The Rumble in the pin's tournament at Lakewood the team played second overall Lucas deia and Ricky Gordo took first and seven other dragons plac in their weight class the track and field team has also had many recent achievements at the bill Bruno holiday Classic on December 16th Trey Williams placed second in the 55 meter dash and the girl Sprint mle Relay Team placed third at the second stca season opener on De K McHugh took third in the girls 1600 meter and Anthony Thomas took fourth in the boys 1600 with PRS by both at the egg Club Invitational on December 22nd K mchu took third in the record with a time of 14537 Caitlyn Chandler won first in the pole ball AEL Ras won first in the Freshman 55 meter dash Giani campon won first in the high jump and Trey Williams placed third in the 300 met second rebel shot jump meet last Tuesday Giani Campion placed third in that boys high jump Caitlyn Chandler placed second in the girls high jump Solomon Brown played second in the boy shop Hut and Sarah barcus played third in the girls shop Hut huge congratulations to all these athletes their hard work is certainly paying off looking ahead the Seal of biliteracy test is being ad administered on Wednesday Thursday and Friday of this week good luck to all the students testing student and staff production of a simpler time will be on January 18th at 6:30 p.m. in the BC J Auditorium general admission tickets are $10 tickets for students and adults over 65 are $5 consider coming out to support the dragon drama club and our talented students and staff members for a super fun production Family Game Night ran by the National Honor Society will be held at bths on February 8th we would like to invite all families in the community to join us also the annual brick and Beyond event will be held in the brick memorial high school gymnasium on February 13 from 5: to 7:00 p.m. there will be an inform there will be information on high school programs as well as post-secondary opportunities with the college fair in the gym and counselor workshops from 5:30 to 6:30 that is all I have for this month the first semester will come to a close on Friday January 26th we will have exams on Wednesday January 24th and Thursday January 24th there will be a half day with early dismissal schedule on Wednesday January 24th Thursday January 25th and Friday January 26th Dr Cajun will be pushing out a detailed schedule and information through our Blackboard notification system this Friday be sure to stay connected to events and inside information by accessing our school website SGA Instagram bths sgaa and our school Twitter at bths dragons you can always see all of our happen happenings monthly through Dr cajun's Dragon review thank you for this opportunity and I will see you all next month thank you Amaya next up we have Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Tyler McLean from the RC provide you with our monthly update yesterday January 10th we had our Air Force unit evaluation this is our first uh unit evaluation since 2018 we were inspected by Mr James Garcia from headquarters Air Force junr RC Maxwell Air Force Base Alabama evaluation included classroom observ observation Mass formation of all Cadets drill evaluation and AD administrative compliance checks the possible overall ratings include exceed standards meet standards and does not meet standards our 2024 rating was Meet standards evaluation included seven graded sections seven title seven compliance in this area we received four exceed standards for uh instructor contracts and storage facilities student scheduling and student credit award instructor performance in this area we received two exceed standard ratings for instructor appearance and use of ort material and student engagement devices uh equipment management this area in this area we received two exceed standards ratings for replica weapon storage and uniform inventory co-curricular activities in this area we received two exceed standards ratings for Cadet leadership course plans organization and execute events that participation rate in events n operations in this area received two exceed stand standards for Cadets demonstrate ownership and unit Mission briefing unit operations in this area received two exceed standard ratings for instruct instructors and Cadets are positive ambassadors to the community and instructors teach from current afj RFC provided curriculum the only section we did not receive received it does not meet standard Trading total number of cadets our current enrollment is 34 students title 10 directs a minimum of 100 Cadets rolled for the jrt program considered viable we work we work toward our continued Improvement in this area as well areas as well as where we did at well we have already begun planning recruiting events for both high schools and both middle schools preparation for the upcoming course selection season on January 20 20th cets will be going to on a Civil Air Patrol orientation flights out of Lakewood airport the flights will be 30 minutes to an hour long and Cadets will experience a flight that will experience flight at the controls of a cisna 182 aircraft as always thank you for your support and have a good [Applause] evening want to say thank you to our student representatives and we wish you much success in your final exams and very little anxiety Edwards thank you uh this evening we have uh Mike Archer with us he's with the Center for Effective School operations they are the firm that the Board of Education hired some time ago to do a uh operation assessment on our transportation department so Mike I'll turn it over to you thanks Jim thank you members of the board of education for having me tonight uh my name is Mike Archer I'm with uh ciso or the Center for Effective School operations um yeah so tonight I'd like to provide just a high level overview for some of our findings from our review of the transportation department here at uh brick schools so just to introduce ciso um again stands for the Center for Effective School operations company is based in Minneapolis but we have U professionals located all over the country um in addition to transportation and we have divisions that serve various business functions of school districts including Communications technology finance and Human Resources um our transportation services division is is around a team of 30 um which provides um transportation management routing dispatching customer service technology and um Consulting projects such as this one we have over 200 clients located throughout North America that are collectively served by our team and a total of 14 in New Jersey throughout the course of our company history um and collectively over 150 years of combined leadership experience in student transportation uh the project team was comprised of myself um and Ben Davis are one of our Consultants who could not be here tonight just to go over our process um we begin with a collection of all technical information and documentation this includes uh bus routes schedules uh Transportation policies that govern uh the department here at brick um summary of the current Fleet characteristics and the budget for the current year and expenditure data that goes back several years in addition to this documentation we collected information from from Personnel interviews we met with every member of the transportation team itself um the office staff the drivers the Fleet Maintenance um we also met with several School principles and front office staff um individuals who may have a day-to-day interaction with Transportation as students are arriving and departing the schools and we also met with other departments that have working relationships with Transportation including special services business Etc um from a combination of these interviews and um and evidence from from the interviews as well as the technical information and documentation we received uh we analyze we research and we develop these recommendations so our first key finding from this this process was just that the the bus routes as they're designed they're efficient overall um the current structure of bus schedules is is that they're divided into four distinct tiers um buses can perform M multiple routes or multiple tiers bringing students into different buildings and then home from the different buildings this is an efficient way to operate Transportation um in a planned environment the average route is transporting 53 students um the maximum capacity of a school bus in New Jersey is 54 students so nearly all available seats are being utilized in a planned environment um I mentioned planned environment because in in comparison to that not all students ride so these bus bues aren't um overflowing or or anything unsafe um but they're planning for these buses to be full um our recommendations here are to measure day-to-day ridership um incorporate this these measurements into route planning it's a great time of year to be doing this type of thing because you're getting ready to plan routes for the the next school year um and then also we'll talk about this a little bit later but adding some time in between tiers or in between the time frames where students are arriving and departing the schools if there's more space in between these schedules um it can allow for better linkage of routes together um so that in some cases where buses are only performing maybe two or three routes because their schedules prohibit them from doing more um more more time in between dismissals um can certainly allow for buses to do more routes and thus reduce the number of buses necessary to operate the system um key finding number two the bus routing function is extremely important to the efficiency of the operation and we found that training and skills across multiple Transportation staff is presently lacking and the recommendation here is to cross Trin additional Transportation Personnel to assist with the routing function a longer term recommendation would be to explore opportunities for new routing software the current software that's supporting the transportation operation uh will not be supported by the vendor uh beyond the current school year key finding number three the bus fleet is aging out of its effective use there are currently 23 vehicles that are set to be retired after this current school year um that is due to a New Jersey law that um ages out school buses after 15 years it has been extended for several years in a row now due to constraints um from covid and other other concerns um but as it stands today they're they're set to be retired um and there's six buses that are on order um to be delivered over the summer for the next year and I include this graph because it just it shows the uh the situation pretty well that there's just a significant number of buses that are in excess of 15 years old bell times could be adjusted to realize the uh realize operational efficiency in transportation potentially resulting in reduction of Fleet uh various recommendations were provided throughout the report that could provide cost savings that range from 28655 $ 53 to $586,500 and also cross training um for the drivers and also a focus on retention efforts that include staff recognition um attendance or other performance-based initiatives and special events that are that can be held for transportation staff that is all I have thank you Mike so uh this time I I know the board members all received a copy of the report was there any questions specifically you had for Mike while he's here tonight change correct so there's a few examples in the report um as it stands today you know overall it's a fairly efficient system we're transporting a lot of students with a limited number of resources um the the main um take way that I had from looking at the existing Bell schedules was that if more space was given in between those arrival times and the dismissal times um there could be some reduction in Fleet question was correct so in that would be one option to reduce that number down um right now we're analyzing the system as for the number of buses that are required to operate it today um if those schedules were changed and let's say you need 10 fewer buses and that would adjust the um the fleet replacement number no I I don't I would disagree with that so we I know Dr Morris is here somewhere the audience you know to empty out a school let me put it this way our Fleet doesn't transport one school at a time our Fleet transports half the district at a time you know so like half so if you need to empty out one school we have even with a reduction of the numbers that Mike talks about in his report in a best case scenario we still would have plenty of vehicles available for emergency situation Dr Morris you're in the back would you agree with that statement all of this went back when I first came stops and everything must drivers hearing this questioning I I don't know the answer if I may um these are just recommendations right now we so let me let me just be clear and Mike Mesmer who's chairing our finance committee these were just presented after months we agreed last year if if you remember one of our largest cost centers in our budget is transportation fuel costs buses drivers and those costs of have gone up exponentially and in our budget which is so tight it is taken away so we look for operating the efficiency recommendations a bunch of them we're going to present back you know at the finance committee we're going to discuss all these recommendations right at the end of the day um we whatever the recommendation that obviously Mr Edwards myself come would be incorporated into the budget so what that means is you could do nothing right and transportation costs are going up class size will increase staff will be cut we can do the maximum which may not have the most efficient academic programming right and consolidate stop that saves you know maybe 600,000 and then there are a couple things in between that we could kind of look at and say well are we only talking maybe increasing 10 minutes you know no change in first tier and 10 minutes say in between a few tiers and that right there allows for drivers to do multiple runs and not do two out of four runs and then we have to sit drivers to be a cover for other two runs meaning we're not efficient with our full-time drivers so that's those are a couple of great things that are in here that we are going to discuss further in finance um two maybe you know maybe the second tier start times move 10 minutes and the third team move another uh third move another 10 minutes that may be a smaller savings but academically programming can still save our budget maybe a quarter of million do the other thing is when we talk about substitutes and covers we can't find when we have drivers doing multiple runs in multiple tiers and not being utilized 100% during a day a full-time driver so maybe a driver does tier one but because of the start time and the time in between they come back to the our the the driver terminal that we have and we're utilizing someone else and there sitting as a substitute cover in between so what we found is we're not as efficient as we could be I don't think we could take advantage of the maximum cost savings just financially and just as numbers because it does not take into consideration to me academic programming School times and the disarray it could cost maybe other things parent staff and all that um I want to be clear and I I made sure I wanted to say to that these are just some recommendations that this board over the last year and a half wanted to look at because when we did our budget last year um two major departments which have been going up for the last five years right special ed and out of you know due to law contract um and you know Transportation due to fuel costs driver shortages buses turning you know turning over that we have to go out so we had to look at those because where other departments and other schools were all cutting the necessary percent now they had to cut more because these two cost centers were increasing again at no no uh fault of our own so we really needed to look at this um and get this audit kind of report and have some recommendations that we work with we will go back to finance committee like we told uh Mr Mesmer and the finance committee um I will share my opinions after looking at it Mr Edwards I'm sure will share his um I will communicate out and then we would incorporate again the board doesn't vote on this would be incorporated into our budget so Transportation budget next year may say okay here's we're going to do we're going to rearrange our tiers by this we have a cost savings here we have an increase salaries and benefits here we're going to have less covers but more full-timers uh that we can utilize in certain areas so those are all the things logistically that we're going to take out of this report um but if you remember I think last summer this board wanted to really look in this this company actually interviewed all the drivers met with people individually and uh there were some other findings outside of some of the financial cost Savings of efficiency that came out of this uh that will help Dr Morris and all of us on how we can uh move the climate and culture of that department right they're the first people a child sees in the day parency and we can really uh and we have fantastic drivers don't have enough aging fle there's some software things and cameras things we don't have because we haven't been able to invest in that at least now the discussion will be going forward uh with that so um I I wanted to just make sure that so everybody so there's so many different recommendations right now I want to say there's like five major scenarios and I think in talk with Mr Edwards there's one with the help of Dr Morris obviously that we may morph one or two together um that I think me I realize the overall one but I think it's a good good starting point so so I wanted you to to hear that exactly and he answered I not understanding it because we've had such a hard time getting yes um but at the same time and you're going to hear in my comments when we're cutting millions of dollars from the budget we have to look at areas also in Transportation which now remember there's also routes that have been subbed out to moas because we didn't have drivers cost savings by bringing some back by reducing some of our tiers and bringing them back to our drivers so there's a lot of areas but it's definitely something we have to look at not only for the taxpayer and our community but for our budget as a whole so that the end result is where do the dollars and the resources get into the class right at the end of the day that's the most important you'll find out uh to the common Layman out there about Transportation you know we're required to have a seat for every child on a bus if they want to take it or not we while many parents are driving their students to school you school have a car breakdown or they can't drive that seat has to be there I I look at the high school buses in the afternoon and we all holy smokes they're driving down you know maybe 10 students are on that bus but they're required to have that seat and be available um I look at some of the laws that are in for the Aging out a fleet that will affect us um you know where we'd have to least Finance new newer buses and depending on the model um these things financially constrain us and then affect our overall academic program in the classroom as well so I'm excited about the report and I'm going to say this I think we could be more efficient and we could save some money in this department that will help us in our overall budget and that long term will help our students in our in the classroom so um I think there's a lot and that will be discussed at length in the finance committee and then we would incorporate uh what we decide to kind of go with into our budget for transportation so tonight is just recommendations kind of and it's very generic and general I just like to make one comment that um as board members we are committed to um providing the best programs we can for our students and as a very wise old business administrator said we don't have we don't have we don't have a spending problem we have a revenue Pro problem and we really need as a board to um look at these issues and see where we can save uh rather than riff teachers or something else so thank you for bringing this up to us um Mr Edwards and thank you Mr Archer for your presentation thank you any other questions um just one I Dr Farrell as we're talking about um potentially changing tiers and things like that I hope that the committee will keep in mind the sports complex that we have here at vets middle and vetel you know how I feel about that it is I know I read it and I was very happy to see it in the report because you know I'm like a dog with a bone on that one and you got to keep my teachers safe in there so thank you thank you thanks Mike [Music] app Poli School strive to provide the resources necessary to meet the needs of all students including I'm not loud enough with my coaching voice okay I know you're not enough wow thank you where was I whereas school boards strive to provide the resources necessary to meet the needs of all students including those with special needs and at risk and whereas New Jersey could take pride in its schools which rank among the nation's best in key achievement indicators such as National assessment of educational progress scores and the preparation for college to advanced placement offerings and sat assessments now therefore be it resolved that the Brick Township Public Schools District board of education does hereby recognize the services of local board members throughout New Jersey As We join Community Statewide observing January 2024 as school board recognition month and be it further resolved that the brick Board of Education urges all New Jersey citizens to work with their local boards Boards of education and public school staffs for the advancement of our children children's education thank you congratulations and thank you from the community here at Brick for all your hard work and time that you have as school board members we have a certificate for each board member I would I would love for all the board members that are here tonight to come up but it's presented by The Brick Township Public Schools to each board member in recognition of dedicated service to the school children of our community thank you board members up [Applause] don't what you don't have to turn like we're at the prom like we can just like there we go there we go perfect no that's why I said you don't have to turn like it's BR but if you guys want to scoot this way let us be I'm sorry all right right here here you go [Applause] perfect second accept that resolution okay I would like a motion and a second uh for the approval of minutes motion Fran second [Music] alley Miss Sebert yes Miss Kennedy yes Miss D Benedictus yes Miss aan Ron yes Mr Mesmer uh I abstain Miss picala yes didn't comments and reports first up is uh our um superintendent's comments kudos to Dr Brett novic one of our social School social workers who has helped coordinate our annual Salvation Army Drive during the holiday season our District's collaboration resulted in 544 students being served a total of 13,550 worth of gift cards for the students and families the Sal Salvation Army informed us that our gift card drive has grown to become the second largest in the state so great job Dr nov January as you just saw a school board recognition month so I personally want to thank our volunteers who work to improve our brick schools our Board of Education members thank you to all of you for contributing to public education thank you for devoting countless Hours hard work and dedication that directly impacts the classroom and helps support our students here in Brick well this is the time of year again we get to start talking about our budget process we're preparing for next year's District budget the 242 school year with systems thinking in mind and strategic planning in mind our budget's very simple I know you hear this every year and that we don't have much control over Revenue sources unfortunately our our standard budget increase is around $5 million just in salaries and benefits we also have another year of state aid loss due to S2 and start off with a major shortfall our Revenue can only go up the 2.4 million in tax levy as mandated under the 2% start approximately $6 million in the whole with the process our atrisk student population is growing and they require additional support services and this has much higher cost per pupil this means that the cost to educate an at risk classified or elll student is exponentially greater than the average cost per student many times three to four times higher as this population increases revenues and subsidies associated with this has not for example our elll population which has quadrupled over the last four years I've been here at our title three Federal funding and our state subsidies on cost per pupil for this student population is extremely low um actually to add to that is's my hope Dr Anderson and I will are working on co-authoring another white paper similar to the one I did on state school funding last year um to this um issue about the increase in elll population across the state and the lack of Revenue that supports uh educating this population with our budget process we directed our program managers and administrators many I see here tonight to cut 4% at the start it's almost fiscally impossible to realize this size cut by just reducing Supply accounts a cut such as this can only be realized by reduction in positions our average full-time equivalent or FTE is approximately $90,000 and that's salary and benefits and retirements could realize a cost Savings of $30,000 in salary breakage per person we're looking at the start of this budget as I said previous uh to the the winter break at an initial reduction of almost 30 staff Elementary class sizes will go back up once again and this is not conducive to increasing student performance and improving classroom management of disciplinary issues also this reduction in staff takes away from the comprehensive programming on our high school and middle school levels once again these are the transactional realities we based with heard me talk many many times how fiscally efficient we are with one of the lowest cost per pupils and administrative costs in the state and still we are programmatically effective even with high class sizes but I'm here to tell you we owe it to this community and our students to do better to do better in student performance scores and provide more resources and support So to improve our student in performance does schooling resources that cost money really matter yes a resounding yes research shows that schooling resources that cost money including facilitating smaller class sizes additional supports Early Childhood programs and more competitive staff recruitment permitting school districts to recruit retain develop and promote higher quality Workforce are all positively associated with student performance outcomes schools can become the best places for students to learn and grow schools can't become the best places for students to learn and grow unless we make them the best places for teachers staff to work and grow in some cases those effects are larger than in others and there's also a variation by student population and other contextual variables when you look at the study on the whole however the things that cost money benefit students and there is scarce evidence that there are more cost effect that there are a more cost effective alternative that could heed the positive student performance results with limited investment here in New Jersey and I've said this last year with us2 and I'm here to tell the governor the Board of Ed and anybody that will listen here in New Jersey we need to bump up school aid to meet the higher standards expected after falling short for years with school funding we need to come up with even more money to keep up with the raised expectations for student achievement State standardized testing has become more rigorous know if if the purpose for learning is to score well on a test and I see many teachers on that I think we lost sight of the real reason for learning had a discussion recently about the process being F and not just the result and we all know results and Reporting but understand understanding and learning the process for every student and staff member is just as important students are expected to meet higher educational standards along with recommended best practices pedagogies such as differentiate instruction methods and all this since the funding formula was enacted in 2008 and amended again with S2 in 20082 in 2018 if they want us to differentiate lessons why do we give standard tests all calls for more funding the extra funding can be achieved by increasing the base amount needed to properly educate a student and adjusting the weighted for each atrisk student who needs additional support such as special education students and English language Learners which require more money if I can explain when we talk about English language learner students there's Federal money under title 3 which is minuscule and then in your every student there's a weight Factor so let's say an elementary student counts as one if they're classified student they get weighted if they're economically disadvantaged such as title one they get weighted if they're elll they get weighted but they cap if you're two of the three categories there's a cap on the weight so let's say you are elll and economically disadvantaged and maybe classified you get capped on the weight the failure to adapt and adjust funding levels to keep up with the different student populations the learning standards and the increase actually violates our state constitution not about fully funding the current Formula which is in our state constitution our governor believes is meeting the Constitutional requirements but they also talk in our constitution about constant review and adjusting of the the school funding formula that has not happened in some time I agree with setting high expectations and we have detailed some very ambitious goals in our strategic plan some uh some very ambitious student performance goals in our strategic plan but it should be realistic for every child in the state to have the same opportunity to achieve but to do this we will require significant new investment we now live in an era where there's so much fear over K to2 education and at the end of the day if a school district doesn't have the resources it needs to properly educat educate its kids and none of that matters and Franklin said in investment in education always pays the highest returns our strategic plan will help provide a blueprint for future Investments as we navigate these difficult State funding challenges once again close I know I always sound like Doom and Gloom around this time of year with the the budget but the close we have Martin Luther King uh day next Monday we're off and the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King once stated intelligence plus character is the true goal of Education our mission statement which you see up our new mission statement charges us with the responsibility of combining academic goals with interpersonal growth as well to ensure that our students receive the highest Returns on their education thank you Dr F any reports Edwards please I get to go first wow thank you Miss palla uh facilities committee met on January 8th president were yourself Miss P Miss WRA Mr mesner Dr farell myself miss mmar Mr Pororo Mr Duit from fvhd Architects Miss Cashman from spel Architects Miss gallardi from spel Architects Mr Williams from from spel Architects and Mr yor from net Architects uh first project discussion was Lake Riv Middle School air conditioning Mr yor inform formed the committee the project is substantially complete some punch list items are currently in the queue Veterans Memorial Middle School boiler replacement in air conditioning Mr yure informed the committee that the project is still waiting a Transformer electrical minor work will be commencing uh Jersey state controls Ching order which there's three of them on this evening's agenda Mr P informed the committee that the change order related to rtu one 1A freeze protection was reviewed and deemed necessary for the project progression Emma Havens air conditioning Mr you inform the committee the project is still waiting the Transformer and electrical veterans Elementary School same uh and same on the change order for stury State controls Drum Point Elementary School boiler replacement Mr y informed the committee again that waiting on a Transformer and electrical transform change orders for the same uh rtu one and 1A freeze protection finally l Elementary School air conditioning Miss scy already informed the committee that the project is on pause until the completion of the switch Gear replacement is required uh requiring a building shutdown midstreams air conditioning Osborne Ville air conditioning worm Wolf air conditioning and Herbertsville air conditioning I informed the committee that the projects are on hold until the active Netto projects have been included as as the contingency remaining on the Netto projects is the amount that will be utilized for the local share to support the grants that we received on the projects Mr you are informed the committee that those projects will be slated for the summer of 2025 Osborne Ville kitchen Edition Miss Cashman informed the committee that the project is on track with 95% drawings and designed to be released to the district forie next few weeks advertisement for bid is expected on February 22nd Brick Township High School kitchen HVAC and drump Point Elementary School kitchen HVAC G informed the committee that these projects have been issued purchase orders for the for HVAC the material is currently on order and has arrived at the facilities and we discuss scheduling to install maybe as soon as April 24 parking lot assessment I inform the committee that the RFP that we awarded to Remnant Vernick at the last board meeting um was the purchase order was issued kickoff meeting is scheduled for tomorrow uh so we're going to focus on developing the the uh future plan whether it be five seven 10 years uh with the first being this summer of 2024 midstreams kitchen I informed the committee that myself Mr PUO Mr Richardson reviewed the project Concepts and budget submitted by The Architects of record uh noted that the project budgets were greater than Miss Richardson had expected Miss Richardson would like to hold on moving forward with this project until March so she can better have a forecast on the profit for the current year to determine if the project can be fully funded more High School HVAC Jersey state controls I informed the committee that um we had an accounting error in the fact that one of our purchase orders got closed out at the end of the year for $59,800 instead of being carried into 2324 therefore we have to pull that money back out of capital reserve in order to pay the contractor that's on this evening's agenda Township High School track and long jump Mr picoro informed the committee that the Bricktown chip high school track uh has some routine maintenance and cosmetic stuff that needs to be done in the amount of $1,840 he's hopeful that if we have a mild winner uh he'll be able to transfer the money he has budgeted for snow operations to support this work he also informed the committee that the long jump that was uh there uh is in bad shape already uh it's requiring a complete removal and replacement in the amount of $ 48,6 he's going to discuss with at the contractor who originally installed the long jump as to try to determine why it didn't hold up from the initial installation next meeting date is January 29th 30 and then we moved into Finance um Mesmer who Miss wad Miss Bala Dr far myself and Mr Archer who is here this evening first thing we' discussed was the transportation operation assessment Mr Archer Center of effective School operations provided a brief presentation on the transportation operation assessment report I told the board that he would be here tonight which he was and Dr FR reminded everyone that he had not made any decisions yet regarding the recommendations contained within the report which he again 2425 budget Mr Archer left at that time by the way 2425 budget I informed the committee that the program managers are completing their budgets tomorrow tomorrow right philipone yes okay um and then uh the beginning next week myself and um Dr farell Miss mcam and the whole team begins reviewing the submission by the program managers SS contract agendum for minimum wage increase I informed the committee that there will be a contract agendum on this evening's agenda for Effective School Solutions employees to comply with the minimum wage requirements that will do AFF January 1st Community solar and building performance uh form the committee that we received the initial layouts for the car ports for Community solar and I requested the committee to review those we discuss them at our next meeting and Point Pleasant burough shared service request we've been contacted by Point Pleasant to do a shared service with them for oversight of their cafeteria operations we're in the process of reviewing that to determine whether it is worth our time and effort to pursue that U proposal and the next meeting for them is January Finance is January 29th as well thank you Mr Edwards this will be the first opportunity for public comment on agenda items only this will be the first opportunity for public comment and will be for agenda items only the board invites thoughts and reactions on agenda items each participant is asked to give his or her name prior to making a statement all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer the board will not during the public portion of this meeting discuss matters involving employment appointment termination of employment negotiations terms and conditions of employment evaluation of the performance of promotion or disciplining of any specific or perspective or current employee Andor student anybody have a comment on agenda items tonight please STP up to the podium okay let me start off by saying you messed up with my head this week okay number one I usually do this on Tuesdays or Wednesdays couldn't do it Tuesday I did it Wednesday and right in the middle of doing everything your your network went down your servant went down I don't know that when I'm on my computer all I know is my computer crashed and I spend 10 minutes trying to get back in and it it didn't work so I I didn't get all my things done secondly screwed up my whole head with this right I'm old I'm used to routine um if you remember Mr blandina used to say Mr Finelli you really need to spend time coming up with some good things because they're all negative so here's my good thing for tonight um there's two schools of thought no pun intended on internal promotions you know not not internal promotions senior promotions like a school principal one of them says you're much better off hiring from the outside because they bring in all new ideas the other school says better off hiring from inside because it gives you people a career path and and they know they can move ahead if they want to All Things Considered I go with the hire from inside so you get an ad boy for that of course 10 OS wipes out 100 AD boys and you got to start all over so that that's my good thing for today all right um yeah I was worried I didn't see them she just took them out but when I'm done you can do it right my first question is just with the school bus thing uh C and I number two it looks like you're looking for a rebate do we have electric buses that's a quick one can you answer that item number two under cni I has huh no okay uh here's my other one and this is I have a bunch of questions about this one item number 17 this contract that you're signing with r right how do you decide which students are involved in this is it only for Brick Township High School done during normal hours the sites that you're going to take them to the job sites or are they only in Brick and finally what's I know the program says there's no course for the program but there was course for transportation so basically what what are we looking at in transportation course right and uh two other things that were part of the before agender items number one you'll never get me to say you don't have an expense problem you have a revenue problem however I will say this and I hope every one of you understands it your Revenue problem has now given you an expense problem it's just like me going out and buying gas and the gas went up a dollar a gallon and I can't do a damn thing about the price of gas and if I can't cut my 15,000 miles a year driving I got to do something else so I I I getting into the transportation thing the other thing you might not know about Transportation I read today that the that the state is thinking about passing a law about you going you're allowed to go outside like like Lakewood does get your form out your transportation and of course they're telling you if you do that you're going to fix all the problems just like they fixed them in Lakewood thank you for your comment one last thing when you're speaking can't turn your head and speak over here and speak like meline because then it doesn't go when you look at the video you can't hear you have to speak into the microphone all right so I know your tendency to turn your head and look at me and talk you really have to  okay that's it for now so can you answer basically the questions on number 17 thank you Mr Finelli um Mr Edwards would you just there's two items the electric buses um there are some grants and the costs and which are expon eventually greater than um a regular bus I also the new bill you're referring to regarding Transportation um I actually was quoted I found out today from Dr Anderson in the paper today uh in the a Park Press there's a potential for cost savings for us in the way work not a additional cost that is our hope when I read it Mr Edwards read it as well there is a potential for that consortiums have always been around in transportation mam ocean Educational Services a myriad of them um and lately those consortiums are actually higher than the cost to do it internally when I was at Shore Regional and other districts we would sub out to these consortiums and the cost made sense they went up and a lot for non-public um transportation costs but this new bill uh could be a saving so if Mr Ed if you want to comment just on electric buses and maybe that new bill and then I'll get to number 17 for Mr finel don't have any Electrics so the the grant that's there I mean there's been this has been going ongoing you've seen us apply for electric bus grants before it's been going on for years EPA has them New Jersey this is a New Jersey one that they're asking for uh I think the governor put 50 million aside for electric school buses we just try to continually get in there as you saw but from the slide presentation we have we have um replace 23 this coming school year if we can get five two 10 30 I don't know whatever they're going to give us any any little bit will help okay so it's not it's not a rebate because you have electric school buses no they call it a it's a grant rebate so I I don't who comes up with these terminologies it's it's really a grant I didn't think so and um Mrs grer um on number 17 so the arc there is no cost for us I know you say Transportation cost we transport during the day because our drivers are working full-time uh continually with many different programs whether it's our special services department or through curriculum and instruction um I know there's some fuel cost but it's not uh that much but Mrs grer if you could just comment on some of the questions Mr Finelli had on the arc program which is a great program um so the arc program is currently just going to enhance our current workpace learning program our students already go out during the day so there's no additional cost for transportation we are already transporting our students out into the community already um what the arc does is they come in and they support our teachers and students in the classroom and then they support them when they go out also so it's just enhancing our current work-based learning and our community based programs um there's no additional Transportation costs because they already go out it's just that the arc is providing a uh robust curriculum and their staff come in and help our students transition to adulthood okay let just all students my two questions I asked how do you pick the students and it's just it's uh the current students that are working in the communitybased program so it's classified students who are scheduled in work-based learning and community-based learning classes already at Brick Township High School okay and and they all that's the only School you do it in uh so brick memorial high school does have a work-based learning and those students come over to Brick Township we bring them over to Brick Township High School and they join those students for that program which is currently happening already now the arc is coming in to provide an additional service for those students okay thank you anybody else have a public comment on agenda items hey thanks Doc no I'm sorry I'm late I am I want to thank I want to thank Dr farell for his recognition of the New Jersey school board and brick School Board volunteers I'd like a motion and a second to approve the resolution that he read earlier motion second Mike was second I was you got okay yes Ken yes Benedictus yes yes yes yes [Music] a ow look at that he's getting a hook um Dr Anderson will you please introduce um uh the curriculum instruction recommendations thank you Mrs thank you Mrs picala under curricul instruction the superintendent recommends that the board approve the following items one through two I have a motion and a second please motion alley second PR is there any board comment Mary Miss Sebert Miss Kennedy yes Miss Ste Benedictus yes missan Ron yes Mr Mesmer yes Miss picala yes thank you Mr Edwards will you please introduce um the uh recommendations for operations this month thank you Mr Mall this evening this superintendent recommends items 1 through 21 any board comment oh I'm sorry second Motion in a second please motion pan second Nicole any board comment uh can I make one comment Miss Bala I may have said it last month but I'm excited to really like drone in on the speech therapy services um as a parent of two children in the district who actually do receive these Services I am so so excited that we're back up and running and we're able to give the kids exactly what they need second that that was very exting that was on also that we got donations for the lunches I was fa no absolutely um absolutely are we still talking about operations okay um is it my turn I just want want to thank all the people who donate throughout the year to pay P due lunch accounts for the children and Brick Township Schools I appreciate if we accept it um the Pine Belt Enterprises um and the anonymous donor and anyone who um pays it forward for our kids thank you Mary Miss Sebert Miss Kennedy I'm G to abstain from number two and yes to everything else you an addicus yes to everything except number two I am also abstaining di R yes on everything except number six scheduled [Music] 212444 212 5 46 Mesmer I'm going to obain on items 1 through four and 8 through 12 and then a yes to everything else Miss picala yes Mr Kiser will you please announce the human resources recommendations for this montha this evening under Human Resources the superintendent recommends items 1 through 27 for approval have a motion please motion Aly second Fran any board comment um I would just like to call attention to number 25 and our incredible um athletic director vice principal who is going to be our new principal at brick memorial I think that I agree with Mr Finelli that hiring from within is the right thing to do Mr sarluca has given 25 years to our district and he's a pretty awesome catch to have in our district so I'm psyched and I definitely second that well said all do we're very proud and very happy that a as a board we definitely appreciate uh you accepting this position and um I would just like to say I'm looking forward to um a culture and a learning culture and a kind culture in brick memorial at your leadership thank you Mr s other board comment Mary please miss Sebert yes Miss Kennedy absolutely yes Miss T Benedictus yes Miss aanon Mr Mesmer so I do have to abstain on a few things because I wasn't on the board but not that one just to be clear uh so I'm going to abstain on items 12 13 15 20 and 23 yes to the rest Miss picala yes so I believe we have some folks here that we've approved for um for new positions in the district before I get to Mr saruca um from Veterans Memorial Elementary School Ed Edward cologne yes welcome do I have any of the other candidates here this evening well if you're listening we welcome you to our family as well so it was with great honor that I get to introduce Mr saruca graduate of brick memorial High School 1993 2021 Ocean County athletic director of the Year outstanding colleague amazing professional welcome to the brick memorial high school principal position position and welcome to your family being here and congratulating you please stand up I know good backe all right is this on is this on hello okay hello um thank you to everybody that showed up here tonight um I swear outside of my family I didn't really ask anybody to show up and uh I'm very humbled and and thankful for that thank you to the Board of Education um to Dr Farrell Miss Mack Dr Anderson Mr kler Miss Granger Mr Edwards um you know it's it's it's been a long time um in this district and when I say that I I pretty much mean my my entire life you know I I've been here as a a l and alumnist a proud alumnist of midstreams Elementary Veterans Memorial Middle School and of course B Memorial High School um I was lucky enough to be asked to come back and work here by one of our our former uh Central administrators Mr ganella and uh it wasn't wasn't the conversation I I saw him at the gym we were working at the gym at the time I was working at barnegate and uh he said hey do you want to come come work for us I said of course I want to come work for us the next week I was in his office and it wasn't even an interview he was just telling me what step I was going to be on and and the rest is is kind of History I've I was uh lucky enough to be hired in brick um worked at vets Middle School worked at Lake Riviera Middle School uh got a head coaching job as a bit with the basketball program at that Memorial and came to teach there um ironically it's been nine years uh you know in the Middle School level it was nine years as a teacher and a coach at at M Memorial and this is my ninth year as the athletic director and uh now I'm kind of taking that next jump um it is our building is a a fantastic building um it might not has it might not have gotten the love that maybe it's deserved over the years but uh it is a tremendous building with an unbelievable staff unbelievable students and an unbelievable um sense of of tradition and pride and and Community um when I think of Brick Town uh those are three words that that come to mind you know Community strength tradition of course uh the foundation of of Brick Township High School and all of the Traditions that they have and of course 44 or 43 Miss T how many 43 43 years of brick memorial 43rd year um the Traditions that we that we've had as Mustangs and uh the the pride is unlike any other Pride I know every every town every school district every every school community boasts of tradition and community and pride but there is none like that of of Brick Township and uh it's very you know there's a lot of emotions there's been a lot of emotions in the last couple of days for sure um excitement uh proud um but I think that the the the biggest one for me is humbled and uh to be given the opportunity to lead that building um after calling it my home for for as long as I I I have been able to um is just a humbling humbling feeling and I greatly greatly cherish it and am thankful for the opportunity that you have given me and I am very excited and I look forward to to everything that lies ahead I just want to thank my family you know when you get one s Luca you know you kind of get a whole Army and uh you know there's there's you know my my wife of 20 years um who is an unbelievable support and uh you know I couldn't do anything without her and you know we couldn't do anything without what she does for us of course you know Ella and Cara and Michael and Joseph our unbelievable you know team at home I've been fortunate to be a part of some great teams there's none greater than that one right there and uh you know I know they didn't all really necessarily want to come here tonight but they're all here and I didn't even tell them that they were going to be cookies I kind of forgot about that part um I I can't thank him enough uh of course my mother and my father who've been along you know this journey me from day one you know my mother's wearing a sweatshirt that's probably older than most people in this room and uh they've been Mustangs for for a long long time and uh again you know mentorship you know it doesn't do it any justice with what my father and my mother have laid in in the foundation that they've laid for me um I couldn't talk about my family this is the toughest one without talking about Sarah she's meant so much to me the hardest part of this job is going to be not being with her every single day and uh ridiculous I'm sorry no words I just want to thank you guys and I'm looking forward to it my friends and and everybody that's here tonight wow and uh hey we're going to do this together so thank you very much the other the other part of this real quick uh you know the the healthy rivalry and competition that that is brick memorial and Brick Township is a great one and it's great to have that but I I'd be remiss if I didn't say the collegiality and the and the respect that um I think we all have as District administrators but that I have certainly felt um not only you know going through this process but certainly working together as a team from Dr Cajun and Jim Marvin and Ryan hon and and uh Aon Bayan Cella and uh of course Jay Longo as my counterpart over there um we are a team and yeah we want to beat each other sometimes on the fields of play um but to to be able to work with you Dave moving forward in this capacity you know I I don't know if I could ask for a better for a better partner so uh I'm I'm thankful for it and uh I'm looking forward to it and one one last comment I'm sorry I'm taking up so much time thank you for not putting a timer up there um you know uh the last couple of days we've pay tribute to um a great man and uh an important man not to me just to me personally but to the brick memorial Community he was a ring leader and a foundation builder for what brick memorial is today in Mr Pete walski and uh you know along with a couple of other families the Caravella family the Albanese family the Caruso family the arganda family and and and there's others that I'm sure I'm I'm I'm not mentioning right now um they set out 45 years ago when there was just one school when there was just one it was one town they set out to form an identity and to build a tradition and here we are 44 years later you know with the first Mustang taken to helm and I couldn't be more privileged in your guys name so thank you thank [Applause] you congratulations Ed um you could see the passion when I started four years ago go um I started to meet many of the administrators staff and I would do our walks around here um short story when I started that at Shore Regional walking around the lake I found out that the previous superintendent that was the way he terminated people they take a walk around the lake and I went to our principal at the time also a former Mustang Mr do Cardell I said how is secretary I said come meet me we're going to do a little walk around lunchtime around the lake to get to know you and he was nervous as SEC um well he they didn't have that tradition and I walked with many of the people here in the room around this complex and uh just to get to know people and I really didn't ask for their resume I wanted to know about their family and just about them as a person and Mr saruka was one of the first people I walked with and we're just talking and his passion and energy not only for his family but for this school district is amazing and I'm here to tell you because I've witnessed many things he's accomplished but his work ethic is second to none if you're at brick memorial on a Saturday you will find Mr saruca any job that he's taken over even project whether it's with curriculum and instruction and supervising fizzed or moving a certain policy or making a presentation um or under overseeing co-curriculars and Athletics um or even our big rivalry game that I couldn't wait to bring back even at night he took on these projects collaborated but always went about it with the Positive uh start sometimes the Irish iny gives the Doom and Gloom a little too upfront because I'm worried about what could happen but that's not the case when you talk to Ed he's positive from the start gonna be great Dr Farah we're gonna have a great night one of the greatest games we ever had and everything he takes on comes with that attitude so I'm excited he knows the challenges ahead but his heart's going to overcome overcome any obstacles so congratulations welcome um we're we're in good shape here in Brick school so thank you um we were going to save it to the end of calendar there were two calendar changes from the reorg meeting not major that were advertised plan is every teacher to year meeting which is in May would be rotated each year between the high schools this year is at Brick Township High School and every December board meeting would be rotated between the other high school for the Christmas student presentations course whatever it may be so we changed the place of the December board meeting December 2024 to be a brick memorial high school also this board I think many of the board members asked at the reorg meeting the one Thursday in July uh conflicts with Summerfest which I believe was July 11th we moved it to the following Tuesday which there's no conflict with the municipality and any other means we moved it to the following Tuesday which is July 16th that was advertised uh that'll be posted and and change for the website um moving forward so I wanted to just share that comment shall be limited to five minutes and each speaker may only speak once the board will not during the public portion of this meeting discuss matters involving employment appointment termination of employment negotiations terms and conditions of employment evaluation of the performance of promotion or disciplining of any specific or prospective or current employee Andor students uh would anybody like to make a public comment go ahead Mr Luka thank you John sluka 950 s your court um I know we have a budget situation as usual uh don't forget Sports cultural items and clubs are a part of growing and learning we need to keep that in mind when we make those cuts because I know we're going to make Cuts again okay now I'm going to be my last letter uh December 27th I dated it uh Dr F answered a lot of these questions to me but it's always better when we get on the outside because most of the questions really don't come from me uh so the questions I have uh they related around real estate taxes maybe that's what brought it up but the state schools and maybe brick itself seem to have an elll students many many students El students and maybe that is why the question comes up in Brick do we have require proof of shots and vaccines that used that were required in the past do we have any idea of the situation in Ocean County in the state of New Jersey itself I think people are getting sick with Kohl's flu and covid and are looking to find out why they haven't been sick forever and all of a sudden they get sick this year uh they're looking for answers that's what it comes down to uh what illnesses do they get that they haven't gotten in the past is School attendance worse than it was a few years ago that was one of the questions is it related for the influx of students who came from different areas around the country and around the world uh why is re in the real estate thing taxes again brought up that people seem to be concerned with New Jersey as a debt amount and gives back M much money to its residents in the State uh a lot of times people related it to the anchor program which again I don't have a problem with it myself because I get money on it but is that a political scheme that's what they say because they say we're cutting back on everything and then we get back money are are the taxes the School attendance problem and illnesses somewhat related to each other thanks for your time John sler 950 sovet court if I didn't say it thank you would anybody else like to make a public comment Mr Finelli you're up okay my first question is Mr pharoh did you give Mr saluka that Ty what no no what can you say about a man who shows up wearing the district color for his promotion I knew that I knew that you're welcome how could it go unnoticed you'll learn okay I only have one topic and now we're done with the fun things and let's get into the not so much fun things somewhere on your agenda either the top portion portion or the bottom portion I don't remember which it says that a person can only get up and speak once see them on the top or the bottom I'm not sure which and and and you youve enforced that not you personally but that's been enforced at the Schoolboard meetings you only allowed to get up once in the beginning Once In The End I want to read you something no participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard but what that means to me is you're allowed to come up more than once right what am I reading from District policy 0167 public participation in board meetings and it was updated December 2022 why am I bringing this up because policy says you're allowed to do that but that has not been the case so somewhere along the line somebody decided that we're not going to follow the policy now these policies were from December all the school board members voted on them and approved it there is some leeway that gives the school board president when things get out of hand to avoid the policies because things got out of hand my interpretation is you can't just make a blanket statement that says well you can't do that if you're G to have a problem you fix the problem but if it's not causing a problem then you follow the policies now you have a couple of decisions to make and I'm not looking for an answer tonight I'm not even looking at you you're looking at me when I'm not looking at you this is a policy if you're not going to enforce it then you either change it or you change the way you do things at public meeting or you don't do anything and then leave it up to me you know I'll do something right so I don't require an answer I'm just bringing up the fact that it says people are allowed to come up more than once now how many people came up and spoke tonight the same twoo that always do want more participation at the meetings you got to make them more user friendly know by the way thanks for the cookies and there was no Finelli farell show tonight well it's his fault because he had me on the phone for an hour and a half this afternoon you having the pelli Farrell show in private thank you the meeting dates I was a little confused I have the agenda here and originally was Tuesday June 618 Was A Tuesday meeting is is that still in effect so so when when is the June meeting no the June meeting is still okay so so June June 18th is the Tuesday and then July is at Tuesday July is now the 16th and what's the date of that 15 16 and then Tuesday 10:18 that's still a date too or 10:15 what's the date okay so you got three Tuesdays this year that's three three three weeks I don't miss my Thursday night poker game than just a quick summary after second public comment session um Mr sluka as you know um we we take we call them co-curriculars when I first got it I don't believe in extracurricular so I agree with you I believe in clubs and our Athletics and our theater and our music they're so important they're they go hand inand with our programming I did I did want to just comment I did respond to your email very quick that the items you asked are mutually exclusive first of all our elll population which very Transit usually do not come in for the register till the end of January mutually exclusive from flu season or anything else our attendance has actually increased as I told you uh I told Mr Finelli and and thank you our attendance has increased this year with students um and I'm I am not um able to speak intelligently enough about the anchor program because it has nothing to do with the school district as I said said that's a municipal uh job so I wanted to just clarify that in I email and uh just to Mr Finelli we we we will review policy 0167 because I have read it um there is some vagueness in there it's not specifically but we will put it under review to our policy and planning and look at the wording like we do that's it okay thank you m m we'll close the public comment if there's no one else that would like to speak and I would like to ask the board to make um thoughtful comments Mr start with you please and thanks for the finance committee meeting this week you're you're off to a great start yeah so I've been on the board for one week now so already got an award tonight so things are looking up so I I do want to thank the board and Dr Farrell Mr Edwards uh just for helping me out so far I dove right in finance meetings facility meetings um and they're a good team so I'm looking forward to the next three years um on top of that Mr saruca this is a great first meeting for me with a former Mustang taking over the helm uh seems like I had the same path is you uh I started out in midstreams elementary then vets middle then uh Memorial so congrats um that's awesome and Happy New Year everyone in a room first I'd like to congratulate Mr second I would really like to thank P so important also the anonymous up our schools and our children now can't afford to have the lunches it's that all I have for tonight and hope we don't have to really lose a lot of employees that working really hard on that goal would be to see how many working because that's very Ben dictus he everybody um when Tom ask oh how do you guys feel about this I overwhelmingly everybody didum Welcome couple things kind of stuck out to me the gift cards it is so amazing how this come together and it goes hand in hand with Bel giving the money for all the everybody just works together and it just makes it easier on everybody especially sometimes these kids everybody gone all the prices of everything has gone up all know that and it really getting made fun of because they don't have things and really awesome that we can come together and just a little hand up for those families so that the kids don't feel it welcome back everybody and thank you Mr Ben Benedict is Mrs Kennedy please just um okay I also wanted to say thank you to our Anonymous donor and to Pine Bel the sickle family you guys are awesome and I am super proud to call you guys my friends Mr saruca I already told you how excited I am um I I uh loving the new Podium and the wireless uh microphone and the non-trip hazard walking in the door that I literally knew was there and tripped over for the last 12 months every sing I tripped over the sign um and Mr Finelli as the chair of the policy committee and when you were done speaking I already sent Miss Mack an email and said let's grab that policy um 0167 and let's get that reviewed and any other policies that have to do with board meeting so we'll straighten that right up for you don't you worry one month well we got to do two reads so you got to give me at least two but we'll get them nice and tight and neat and pretty foren a package thank you everybody have a great January I feel like it's January 937th today I don't know but um see you in February thanks Miss Kennedy paa should we tell Mr shuca we don't like him I mean like I don't think I can Echo everything you are absolutely loved and I'm excited to see you thrive and grow and be the best of the best because we know that you are so congratulations again I could tell you we don't like you too if we want to just change this up a little bit congrats to all our new hires welcome to the family if they are anything like the family that's here supporting you um they're in for a wild ride here what else um board members congrats I love working with all of you um but am looking forward to working with the rest of you for this year oh I love the new format of our agenda it really does like bring the the Student Center teacher Le community connected like right in the Forefront so it's something that we I did notice it is right in the beginning so um that's it it's been a long night I'm sure everybody wants to get home so thank you for coming enjoying cookies and keep coming back Mr Finelli knows we feed him thank you I'd just like to say congrats also to Mr soruka and I would also like to acknowledge um his administrative team there at brick memorial uh that I know is opening opening their arms to welcome him and support him and uh I'm very glad about that I um I also attended the green team meeting last week and we did set a date all principles all principles I'm talking to you um and Dr Anderson um we did set a date of May 18th at 9:00 a.m for the green Fair this year there'll be a rain barrel Workshop a pollinator Garden Tour water station Boy Scouts Hydroponics um all kinds of good stuff but the best of the of the um green fair is always how we put our students and teachers in their amazing programs on display so mark that down May 18th and um oh Jen Lane are you listening and um I just like to say how much I enjoy um working on the Green Team um as far as the um School Board member appreciation night I would like to say that we all participate because we hope our volunteerism has an impaact on the well-being of brick students but I also have to say our volunteerism also impacts our families our families really pull the weight behind us I'd like to say thank you to my husband and all of the members of our board members families for running an errand picking up a report um giving us time alone in our office to read the agenda and then read the agenda again and then read the agenda again anyway um I'm thrilled with this recog and I do salute my uh fellow board members and hope that um you all just feel like we can dialogue when we need to dialogue thank you very much have a good evening hey it's good to see you how'd you know I was talking to you Dennis all right I just like to I am um cajun's going to be upset I didn't say hello to him hi i' just like to mention the following calendar events January 15 2024 is our celebration of Martin Luther King Junior Day schools will be closed March on January 24th and 25th there will be an early dismissal for high school students only January 26 there will be an early dismissal students only February 8th we'll be back here at 7 pm for our regular board meeting I'd like to get a motion and a second for adjournment motion bran second Aly Miss Sebert yes Miss Kennedy yes Miss D Benedictus yes Miss Ayan Ron yes Mr Mesmer yes Miss picala no I just wanted to keep going thank you thank you everybody for coming Kevin Kevin Kevin don't great J ran I want to talk to Kevin