e e e e e get started all right good very good good evening everybody Welcome to the July 11th Hampton Board of Education meeting uh I'm going to read the open public meeting St the open public meeting the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notes of and to attend any meetings of public bodies in which their interests may be discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the hon board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and purpose thereof published in the Hamilton Gazette the pressent of L City and posted on authorized premises have the Mr anazi here Mr berado Mrs Burns here m here Mrs Don here Mrs Fallon here Mrs Hunter she's excus thank you Mr here Mr chipio here Mr Thomas here Mr Lions here to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible Liberty and all right next we'll kick it over to our newly newly positioned superintendent Mr Ramsey for his report thank you president Lions I am extremely excited to give my first superintendence report as your new superintendent of schools I've only been on a job for 11 days but I told you I would hit the ground running once I began and I definitely meant what I said even though it's technically summer vacation our students teachers supervisors administrators and Board of Education members have been working extremely hard advanced placement courses started their summer meetings at Hamington High School a plethora of other programs throughout the district including the ECC West Middle School and High School are up and running as well summer workouts for our fall winter and spring athletic programs are in full effect and Summer music lessons are taking place teachers and supervisors are refining our curriculum to keep up with the Ever Changing State Standards so are we are ready to go on August 29th when the school year officially begins administrators are putting the finishing touches on their Master schedules while interviewing and hiring the absolute best candidates for any vacant positions within their buildings I also want to take a moment to thank the Board of Education negotiating team for their diligent work reaching contractual settlements with the Mas of the district's bargaining units and for carefully monitoring and putting their heart and soul into the ecec addition construction project our new tennis courts at Hamington High High School our new track I'm happy to report that everything's going great and everything is on schedule for the beginning of the school year I also have enjoyed every second of our community outreach initiative Mr Lions Mr Coya and I had the pleasure of visiting several of our youth organizations athletic organizations in town last week we visited the flag football organization and to say I impressed would be an understatement Clark hell and his volunteers are doing an amazing job providing meaningful activities for approximately 500 of our local children I can't thank them enough for all that they're doing they're taking they're doing a phenomenal job taking care of our facilities and you know I can't thank them enough we also visited the Hamington Swim Club once again another awesome summer activity that approximately 110 of our local children are participating in right now Mr McLoud was very gracious and gave us a tour of the club and explained all the wonderful things they are doing for our children I've always known that youth athletic programs are the backbone for every successful middle and high school athletic program with that being said we're very fortunate to have these programs in our town and I greatly appreciate the hard work of all of our parents and volunteers I look forward to seeing and meeting many other organizations in town in the coming months thank you all right thank you Mr Ramson next we'll go to board member and our committee reports um I'll start to my r with Mr Thomas like to thank congrat first all right Mr shipan yes short report tonight I also want to congratulate Mr Ramsey on first board meeting uh just want to mention National Night Out will be held on August 16th I to is out for the flag football uh my my boys are playing black football it's close to 500 kids they have 11 fields that all play simultaneously with the main football field having the clock that everyone uses this the same clock and uh our our high school kids are the referees uh it's they really do a great job like you said what nights are they is it always Monday and Wednesday Monday and Wednesday Wes yeah 7:00 I believe it start start young yeah um the tennis courts again like Mr Ramsey said uh look amazing and and I just want to congratulate all the um teachers new teachers that are being hired and support staff um I see uh Mr Lance seta out there I I had him I had his first coaching job Bulldogs he an assistant coach that's how old he is he coached me and I'm like 60 I'm kidding that's that's my report for night but congratulations to everybody uh that got hired uh support staff and teachers thank you Mr sh Mr BL really nothing to reped I to welcome Tom board here to The District Welcome all our new hires uh flag football I encourage everybody from the public it starts at 5:00 Monday and Wednesday is watching the little kids and then up to the older kids it's you can see the competitiveness change and how as they get older they get more competitive and more involved and More Physical it's really great if one my daughter does play so uh I think they're doing a great job over there and that's my report yeah thank you Mr Lions uh congratulations Mr Ramsey glad to have you on board here with us uh congratulations to all of our new hires as well um like you heard Mr Ramsey say if you just drive around the district you see all kinds of construction going on new track new tennis courts uh major construction going on over the ecec uh this is what school district should look like in the summertime uh upgrades happening all kinds of new Innovative stuff coming to the district um also Mr Ramsey had mentioned that we uh visited the flag football and we also visited the Swim Club and while we were at the swim club uh they expressed some interest so um Mr like I said Mr Rams and I went to visit the hamon Swift Club um to visit our students who are participating on the swim team we spoke to several parents and the swim team Representatives uh as they expressed interest in bringing back the swim team to Hamilton High School the only problem is we don't have a a swimming pool uh we immediately started dialogue with our neighboring schools with swim teams specifically bua and we got our ad Chris Sako involved uh looks like the hamine kids could possibly practice with buun kids this winter season and may may maybe begin competition the 24 25 26 school year uh this would be a co-op situation where we cost a share with the buunis school district apparently this Co-op for uh format seems to be a new Innovative Trend and the njsiaa allows it with certain conditions so we are in the preliminary stages but it does look good and we will keep everybody updated to the new uh Hamilton swim team and that's all have my report today thank you Mr Mr thank you um several members mentioned the new hires I would like to mention um page 14 page one of the agenda we apply the names of the new hires we have uh Pat be the heal teacher in high school Frank lasso math at the high school Jessica comes Les uh nurse some of those names are familiar I I remember um I think Jessica was a outstanding athlete here in uh hamon was softball I'm sorry if I and soccer okay so people other than me remember so leave Hall of Famer too oh great did her brother tell him that uh and I apologize in advance if I don't correctly pronounced your name Alexander moth will be a clerk typus Ashley T clerk typus Gabrielle orist clerk typus D Clerk typ not just teachers that were hiring uh instructional Aid Alysa Celli I'm sorry like I said if I mispronounce your name Danica vetki uh she's going to be a personal care Aid uh Jesus Martinez is a part-time bilingual Aid Jennifer hour middle school math Jessica cotton Middle School English and Corey howy shell is's going to be uh elementary school special ed teacher so congratulations welcome and I not that it's against anyone else but I love to see when our graduates come back and teach in our district I think that's great um our teachers have been working on updating the ELA and the maap requirements Middle School is exploring the possibility of continuing the violin program since it was such a success in the elementary school and uh we may be looking for someone who will be able to help us the the violin um the school actually looks like it's still in SE session if you go by we have uh Chev Academy summer Excel esy we have a freshman jump start which is a great thing so it takes some of the anxiety of the Freshman coming into the building and summer credit completion the governor has initiated a new graduation requirement you must as a senior complete a financial aid application I have you know I don't know what that's about but in order to graduate you have to fill out that application we are working to improve uh student attendance some of the things that were talked about that may be put into information are um first period you're no longer charged a half day when you arrive after first period no longer charged with a half day and they cut a class or multiple classes during the day but those consequen will be reviewed and uh determined what the consequences will be for that uh one possibility would be an after school detention instead of uh in school suspension so we're trying to alleviate the unnecessary lateness of lateness in the school and how it affects of course you know the educational process and welcome and congratulations on being our new superintendent ground running and we appreciate that that's all I have thank you all right so uh first we like to welcome Mr Ramsey and happy that you're here and Welcome to our new hires I know some a few a few of you so happy to have you and the ones that I don't know I'm looking forward to getting to know um the negotiations committee finished up for the year with bus drivers bus AIDS mechanics supervisors administrators Food Service workers and at will employees contract so they are on the the agenda items 80 through 87 um I want to thank the committee and everyone involved um it's been a very busy spring in summer and I'm grateful for all of your time and attention in this process so that's that thank you thank you Mr uh welcome Tom I just wanted to thank that committee did a great job great hire for our new superintendent um the state came down uh all school districts have to implement a spectator code of conduct polic beginning for this school year coming up so our athletic director Mr Saker is working on that currently we hope to have that policy in place for the next board meeting and again uh congratulations to all the new hires and it's really great to see some new some familiar faces back here in all right thank you uh same here I'd like to congratulate our new hires and two former students of mine I love seeing them come back here uh and I also want to extend best wishes to our little league All Stars our 10U and I believe our 12u are still continuing on so keep up the good work guys and it's a tribute to some of our coaches and the volunteers who dedicate many hours to our children thank you right thank you Mrs bur so couple brief comments for me uh again I'll Echo the board's well wishes for Tom but time to get to work um so we talk a little bit about strategic planning the board has been talking about uh facilitating a strategic plan conversation with our partner New Jersey School Board Association over the past several months and we waited on purpose until the new superintendent got placed and so now we're going to go back to that uh so look look for some news about the board getting together it's really an opportunity for Tom to share his educational vision and plan out the next three to five years in this District and for the board to intake that information provide its point of view and come up with some tactical decision making around things we're doing related to programs and fisical plant and some other things so it's a really exciting opportunity and process I think as a board member so you'll be hearing more about that um on the ECC Expansion Project uh first credit to the abilities and grounds committee uh Mr K and his committee they're here every day uh keeping an eye on what's going on and working with staff make sure that we're not only on time but we're we're keeping a close watch on the work being done by the contractor team you'll see tonight that the board's going to take some action uh related to that project uh some smaller change orders for items that we see during construction um and a few larger ones one specifically I'll talk about is the uh expansion of the project to include a replacement or sorry renovation of the middle school fire alarm system middle school fire alarm system is in need of repair and renovation and the board has funding available in its capital reserve accounts and so as a part of this summmer construction project we've expanded that scope to include a renovation of the middle school fire alarm which we hope will be completed uh before school begins in September so we'll see some activity around the district related to that Tom touched sorry Mr Amy touched on the community visits we had an opportunity to I did not make the trip to see the swim team but I did make the trip for for flag football um as we come into the the school year we're really looking to give Mr Amy an opportunity to meet and greet with our students outside of school and when they're doing you know Community cleanups special events different things we really want to make sure that as the T School administrator and a leader in our community Tom has a chance to interact with everyone not just within the walls of our school buildings so next week at the carnival if you see Tom Ramsey there I am f um orage or I will touch a little bit on flag football I know Mr plea talked about it and Mr talked about it the Hidden Gem at flag football there's 500 of our kids that play which is remarkable the Hidden Gem is the female Varsity there's four teams it is they play at like 8:00 under the lights on capella field it is hyper competitive and really exciting to watch and I'm really pumped up to see some of these girls play for our high school flag football team because they do a really great job and they put the time in practice and really enjoy the sport it's been great um a few other things Mr qu talked about the conversations with the Hamilton swim club and the stingray swim team you know we had a swim team in Hamilton then we didn't then we had one then we get and I think there's definitely a need in the community there's lots of kids who swim and lots of kids who would swim in the winter if they had a chance so we're going to do what we can to make that happen with you know in concert with the athletic department and some of the stakeholders in the community um see if we can't get something started there that would be really excited exciting excuse me uh related to our new hires tonight I congratulate everyone certainly I'm sure we'll hear from them a little bit later um but with that I'll thank the negotiation team you know the board negotiation team carried a lot of water this year first with the superintendent selection second with getting all of our contracts handled uh professionally And Timely and one of the things that came out of these contract negotiations is we have the ability now as a school district to hire teachers midcareer that's not something we had traditionally been able to do because of the terms of our contract and we've really been able to open up the so Tom and his team can pick the absolute best and brightest people who want to come to teach here so I'm really excited and thankful that we were able to do that and the last thing I'll say is a a brief thanks to our guidance Department uh I I encountered a a mother this morning her her son went through elementary and middle school here and was all signed and sealed to go to acit until they had a conversation with Mike Ryan at our guidance department and a few of our other staff there and now the student is enrolled here so I'm always happy to see our Hamilton kids stay here uh with all respect to folks acit we do a great job here in Hamilton and I'm happy that we have one more student that's staying with us so good work by the guidance Department that takes me to the end of my report so next we'll go to public comment this is the first of two opportunities for anyone in the public who wishes to be heard come up to the microphone state your name and address and let's have a conversation anybody and there'll be a second portion come on up there'll be second portion for the folks new hires after we vote we can have an opportunity to say hi uh my name is Angela donio my address is 101 Tilton Street hington New Jersey and I'm here because um well as a citizen but I'm also the uh chairperson of the historic preservation commission and um there was a for there were surveys done in 2009 that the town paid for and the two schools that you still own but you lease are uh very important in that in fact they're considered key to an historic district which by the way we don't have but these were done that was the last one that was done um those schools are also on um the pine lands did one quite a few years ago the uh state did one and the county did one and so this this has been going on for many years I don't anticipate any historic districts but what we try to do is educate people and so what we did with this survey um is we sent them to everybody that was an owner of of one of the properties and this survey was done pretty much from 12th Street all the way down to the White Horse Pike CU it mostly Bel Avenue downtown and the houses and uh a few side streets this one was done the older ones have other side streets that are very interesting too we can't seem to find them though used to be at the library but the library upgraded and everything went to maze landing and then everything went to the state and they're really hard to get anyway um so I realized that when we mailed them now we mailed them in 2022 and I realized that we had inter Burly sent the surveys to Central and Vine we never sent them here so I mailed them here I don't know if you if they got them did you get them okay so they're here now so it's the the uh Elementary the old um we call it the primary building that's one thing that I always disagreed with that they called it the old the the first High School I think that's completely wrong the two 1904 building was always called the primary building because the building that got torn down was um the first High School the big the front of it the brick Park and it's funny because when they have the survey of the 1927 high school they refer to the 1800 building as the he high school and of course it did become an elementary school and it got added on to and added on to and added on to and um so the forms are interesting someday we maybe like to get them online it's a it's a really long um disc that we have so I don't know if the town could put it on or how that could happen but we want to try and so the reason um it came to my mind and I realized we hadn't done it is um I live in the area I use the streets a lot from up and down my car and so I see surveyors out um surveying the school properties okay why are they doing that who's doing that why are you know so I asked one of them and he said oh we're doing it for the church I said no you're not so that to me meant they were doing it for St Joe so I don't know if you guys were aware of that why are they doing it somebody got an I call will up because I I told him that I we had mailed the uh the surveys to the right spot not that it would have made a difference um but that's why I'm here uh to and I wanted to know if I understood the arrangement and he said I did understand it the right way that they're only allowed to do um minor repairs and you know upkeep and whatever so I don't know why are they doing a survey are they going to build I got to tell you I was involved with the with the dasis and the original plan was horrible so there was going to be this big monstrous thing put in front of the primary school big turnaround driveway you know U driveway so all the trees would have gone and then they were going to add a big gymnasium I think on in back of the other one which would have almost covered up the primary school it wouldn't have that would have remained but it would have been kind of covered up so I never liked that plan and hopefully nobody has that in mind so is somebody trying to sell it I don't know I do some real estate you why do you do a survey so let me and thank you Mr for coming out to talk to us let me share with you what we what we know and what we're aware of I think should answer some of your questions so first of all Bard has a great working relationship at St Joe's Academy with their board and their their head of school uh we we're frequently in touch with them they are a tenant of ours we own the the facility that they occupy they have a lease with us as a condition of their lease uh they are permitted to make what we'll call minor repairs uh that they do day-to-day depending on what's going on with with the operation of their school we were also made aware that a survey was happening so let me be clear the survey that was done was not commissioned or paid for by the Board of Education it was paid for and commissioned by St Joseph's Academy uh our business administrator and our team reached out and spoke to them and they indicated that they are considering replacing some sidewalks and looking at some some of the curving and sidewalk around the facility we're not aware right now of any request or desire to make to do any kind of large scale uh you know demolition or substantial change that would have to be approved by this board that's not a part of what St J Academy is so I just want you aware in case this comes up let me I got to tell you I am one of the people that wrote a letter in the paper years ago to get the first building knocked down because it was a really bad shape I was not that interested I was a little bit but I wasn't that interested in historic preservation in those days and besides I don't know it really would have cost a lot and um but that was a great building and beautiful for the town and it's a shame that it did go down but it did and I wouldn't want that to happen again then because I know a lot more about historic reservation now and it's it's just an important component for your you know your history and your culture and yeah absolutely and I think you know main part in the middle of the Ser the tour that I do which now is on is online but that's only a small part of um what this survey included yeah um so that's why I'm here oh the swimming pool thing very interesting we're still talking about that because I don't know if how many of you remember Nick kot nisso when he was on the board how many years ago that was so I can't remember if it was the elementary school or the high school that they were trying to get passed by referendum I think it got turned down twice so we're talking about swim team not a swimming pool be clear we're talking about a swimming team not a swimming pool I know I know I mean that we're still that that it's being talked about you know and I said to him one day at my father's bar hey Nick you should put us we need a swimming pool at the school and he said are you kidding me I can't even get the school passed yeah so so one thing just before you go I would share with you also the board I'll speak for myself right as a individual board member I'm committed to the fact that the middle what I call the old middle schools where I went to middle school you know that the main School in the red building is a big part of the downtown community and it's really a benefit to all of us that St Joe Academy is there as an option for folks in the community who would prefer their you know what they offer in terms of education but also having someone in there to occupy the building is great and to have kids there and have them do things so we've got a great longstanding relationship with them I don't want to see that change yeah I hope I hope it goes on there are there is such a thing as adaptive Reus I mean look what happened to Craner all you know that was right instead of tearing things down okay thank thank you so much for your time thank you uh anyone else wishing to be heard again we'll have a second public portion shortly all right I'm going to close the first public comment now I'll go to the board agenda I'll ask for a motion on finance items number 1 through 54 motion Mr Anon second Mr shipon roll Mr yes Mr berado yes Mrs Burns yes Mr yes Mrs yes alen yes Mr yes Mr Shion yes Mr liance yes motion carried next we'll entertain a motion on Personnel items number 55 through 109 motion first no I motion Mr F just on on the question we're withdrawing item 106 are you okay there oh yes ahead okay so 55 through 109 but not 106 Mr yes abstain on resolutions 80 817 I think you want to obain on 778 okay right forado um yes with an abion 77 number 80 and number 81 thank you Mrs Burns yes Mr P yes abstain from number 77 80 and 81 Mr donio yes Mrs Fallon yes Mr yes Mr sh yes Mr Li uh yes with extension on 778 81 motion Carri next we'll take we'll entertain a motion on program students in miscellaneous item 110 through 118 motion Mr Co second Mr Anthony aie Mr yes Mr berado yes Mr burs yes Mr yes M yes this pal yes Mr yes yes allance yes motion carried now we'll move to the board of denum I'll ask for a motion for finance items number 119 and 120 so move Mr shipon first second this is bernado second Mr yes this berado yes Mrs Burns yes Mr yes Mrs Don yes Mrs Fallon yes Mr yes Mr shio yes Mr W yes motion carried next we'll take a motion on item number 121 Personnel second Mrs Burns Mr yes Mado yes Mrs Burns yes Mr Co yes Mrs Mrs yes Mr yes Mr sh yes Mr liance yes motion carried now is the second opportunity for the public to come up and be heard approach the microphone and give us your name and address and address the board so who wants to come up any our new hires want to come up and say hi EXC my name is Jennifer hour I live in obse 220 mil Road I am one of your new hires tonight coming to the six to the middle school as a sixth grade math teacher and I am over the moon excited I've heard great things the team that I interviewed with was amazing you all seem wonderful so I'm more than thrilled to be here I'm looking forward to getting to know hamon thank you welcome congratulations thank thank you good evening Frank lasso um thank you Mr Lions Board of Education Mr Ramsey new principal to you Mr matina not new to me I had the pleasure of working for him in Ocean City for The Last 5 Years uh and as we found out he was leaving everybody was disappointed and behind closed doors I was still excited to continue to work for him um for me personally this is than just a a a job uh this is going to be about service to my community um I've been a hawks board member for 20 years um coach down there for almost 20 years with the Hawks with the little league grounds keeper coach for 20 years and still it felt like I I wasn't doing enough for Hamilton um my grandfather was a police officer for 34 years in town my dad going into his 24th year for the Hamilton School District they both spent 40 plus years with the Hawks in the Little League uh and for me uh it's about carrying on that tradition um and continuing to serve a town that I take great pride in so I thank you all for the opportunity and looking forward to getting the work thank you welcome welcome back welcome FR you're very delete a little bit there you're a talented math teacher well experienced math teacher and I think we're looking forward to you do for our kids and you also let his father's age out right your father's not going to be happy 40 you know so yeah he's he's not 40 we know know we're looking forward to having you thank you thank you hello everyone Pat Lanetta um there somebody told me I'd be back here today but it's funny how things work um you know things happen at Rowan um had a contract there to 2028 so that would took me to retirement but then this opportunity uh presented itself and the more I thought about it uh nothing like coming home again um I think I can offer a lot to not only football but also the education here in Hamilton and also the other athletes here at Hamilton with the experience at the college level um I think the biggest thing and I told Mr Ramsey this in in the interview was we need to hit the kids when they're young because they don't understand how important their freshman and sophomore year is when it when it comes to college so I think you know I can I can help out with that and just you know and All Sport and like I said the academic part i' like to thank Mr Ramsey and Mr Sako for a great interview um you know tough to turn down and then I like to thank the board of education for giving me this opportunity and I'm happy to be home again thank you welcome back welcome back hi my name is Jessica cotton I am a new hire for the seventh grade uh language arts position at Hamington Middle School um I'm very excited to start my career here at hamon and I just wanted to thank the board for this great opportunity to Kickstart my career as a teacher hello my name is Jessica Co I grew up here um thank you for hiring me for the sub the nurse at the west building um I just came from work sorry about the El of it um I mean I fell into the long-term sub position I absolutely fell in love with it and then as as opened up I had to apply um I've been a long-term resident here for 32 years now um and I just can't leave I moved the house down for my mom and dad so thank you guys congratulations Mr Ramsey thank you everyone thank you you hello my name is Corey howy shell I'm one of the new hires here for the elementary school I just wanted to thank your time for interviewing me and giving this chance I'm very excited to be in the Hamington school district and ready to start my journey thank you welcome all right see none I'll close the second public portion of the meeting and I'll entertain a motion to adjourn Mr before we adjourn Sor uh the board will be having a special meeting one week from uh today uh 6 p.m. here in this in the library here at Hampton High School July 18th we'll have a special meeting to act on any matters which may come before the board so tune in and there will be executive session y an executive session and an open session and it's also my birthday that day so Mr so Mr Coy will be buying at the carnival when we get done so that's how that goes um motion to return Mr play first second Mr second all favor thank you everybody everybody you done good