e e e e e e e order can evening everyone this is the hamton Board of Education meeting for April 25th 2024 I read the open public meeting statement the open the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and attend any meetings of public bodies at which their interests may be discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provision of this act the Hamilton board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time purpose and place thereof published in the Hamilton Gazette and the Press of Atlantic City and posted on authorized premises roll call Mr here M ber here Mrs Burns here Mr Co here MTO here Mrs donio here Mrs Fallon here Mrs Hunter here Mr Mr here Mr Thomas here Mr Lions here two quick notes uh you'll know Mrs Fallon's joining us on Zoom this evening on audio and uh Mr Thomas is excused he'll be stepping out before the meeting ends for a business commitment we'll now have the flag to the flag of the United of America stands indivisible andice we're going to dispense with the regular order of the meeting and change things around a little bit this evening we're actually going to begin with on the addendum Personnel item number 92 which I'll read into the record and then ask for a motion resolution 244 R resolve the h Board of Education approved Thomas Ramsey as Chief School administrator superintendent of schools to begin on July 1 2021 per the attach exhibit e I'll entertain a motion so moved Mr shipon first Mr pul Burns second uh discussion roll call Burns yes Mr yes Mr Bon yes Mrs Hunter yes Mr yes Mr CH yes motion's carried congratulations [Applause] Mr thank you president Lions vice president COA and the entire board of education for selecting me as your next superintendent of schools it's quite an honor and I greatly appreciate the support and the vote of confidence that you have given me I know a lot of time and effort and consideration went into the selection process you worked very hard with the New Jersey school boards Association you left no stone on turn and I could say every single board member had the best interest of the community and the students of this school district at heart throughout the process I thoroughly enjoyed the process from start to finish I look forward to working with this board of education as we collectively continue to do great things for the children of this amazing community and as many people know I've worked in Hamington for a few years 27 but who's counting and I say I'm 100% invested in our school district would be an understatement I am definitely Ely all in on Hamington as they say I'd like to thank former superintendent Dr Warren benedetto and Jim donu for bringing me to this amazing town as a young administrator and Dr badford for believing and trusting me 15 years ago when he recommended me to the Board of Education as its high school principal and I certainly have to thank Miss keko as well for all she has done for the high school school and the school district during her tenure as superintendent I absolutely love and understand this community we have extremely proud loyal and hardworking people that live here there is always an emphasis on family this Community Values the education of their children and their grandchildren and expectations are very high which I absolutely love and I embrace I want to thank the students parents and teachers of Hamington high school as well I've always appreciated the extraordinary efforts and support they have given me and our school over the years I am happy that I get to continue working with them moving forward just in a new and different role my office will still be in this building so they're not getting rid of me and one of the things I'm really looking forward to is building relationships assisting and working with the students parents and teachers at the ecec west and middle school and not to mention the supervisors and the administrators as well you will definitely see me a lot in all of your buildings in the coming months so in closing I know we have a lot of work ahead of us but I promise you we will hit the ground running on July 1st and I look forward to working with each and every one of you again thank you very much Mr President if I can very quickly uh M superintendent Ramsey mentioned the New Jersey school boards Association they handled the search for the school it was a nationwide search we had over 30 applicants in the beginning we had 11 committee meetings so the committee Was the vote tonight that was allowed to vote um we narrowed it down through the process it was a very vigorous process and the committee did an excellent job but the credit goes to the New Jersey school boards Association Michelle Kennedy she led us through the waters and she she she dealt with all of our personalities um she she kept us on the right track so without pointing any fingers to right and brought great snacks so I I I think you know um I instructed our president to send the school boards Association a letter thanking Mrs Kennedy for her work on this committee because she definitely got us to where we needed to be and I'd like to be the first to congratulate Mr Ramsey on his new role so thank you all right thank you Mr ple next we'll go to board member comments uh I'll start to my right with Mr Thomas before you Mrs report Mr shipon are these committee reports yes sir oh comments reports you make comments whatever whatever youd like R it's your time yes Dad jokes what you got yes we have to be serious spring is a very busy time but our schools tomorrow evening the 8th grade semi-formal dance will be held at Paris caters beginning at 6 o' congratulations to our winners of the Hampton Middle School geography B first place eighth grader Connor wagley second place seventh grader Nathan church and third place seventh grader Nathan so our Middle School spring inter mural Sports have begun with many students participating in baseball softball and Tennis along with our competitive track team our kindergarten students will be performing their Little Italy program on April 30th and May 1st at 9:15 congratulations to the high school jazz band for receiving best saxophone section and best trombone soloist at at the mainland Jazz Festival on April 13th the diverse voices poetry Cafe will be held on April 24th at 6: PM in the high school cafeteria well sorry that was yesterday the junior senior prom yeah I made okay the junior do we have the prom yet the junior senior prom will be held on Friday May 3rd at the Sheridan in Atlantic City the prominade begins at 4:30 in gy a our spring teams are having a great season the baseball team is 8-1 with Lucas garrier recording his 100th career strikeout versus Holy Spirit on April 20th and I believe it's been 10 10 years since uh someone has reached 100 career strikeouts girls track is 3- one and boys track is 4-0 with numerous records being set by our students I believe we have some banners we're handing out tonight and finally Nicholas abui was awarded the cape Atlantic League male unsung athlete uh of the winter so congratulations to him finally I'd like to congratulate uh our new superintendent Mr Thomas Ramsey and wish him and his family the best of luck and I also want to want to thank the committee uh chairman Mickey POA fellow members Kelly donio Kelly Fallon R Hunter Linda Burns and John Thomas uh for all the time and effort that uh that everyone put in and and that's my report thank you Mr shipon Mr hun no wford report just wanted to congratulate Mr Ramsey get everything started thank you thank you Mr P although you've had your turn once you can have another nothing more to report Mr President okay very good Mr qu um yeah thank you Mr Lions I actually have a couple of things tonight first I'd like to start with congratulating Mr Ramsay um and I would also like to thank the committee um you know as board members know what it takes to um how much time you're away from your family and in these meetings night after night I know that this committee has spent uh many nights late late into the night 10:00 10:30 um you know trying to get to the finish line and I'm very pleased with where they landed although a couple of us couldn't be a part of it um I think the committee did a phenomenal job and I'd like to thank them for all their time and effort that they put in there and congratulate Mr Ramsey I'm excited to get working uh full steam ahead with you uh next if we could I'd like to call up Coach G and coach M morela um to honor some standout athletes who've broken some records that we have here they could please give us a little bit of insight on that hello to the Board of Education my name is Coach G I'm here on behalf of the entire boys track and field team on behalf of the entire coaching staff I would like to thank the Board of Education and administration for honoring one of our student athletes Aaron mul this past winter season Aaron was the 55 M South Jersey group 3 sectional Champion his time of 651 6.51 seconds also qualified him for the New Balance Nationals that he had competed at in March Aaron continued his 55 meter Journey at the state group three championship and placed second and again at meet of Champions along with the sectional win he had broken a few records during the season the 55 me dash record the 200 M the 300 M and was a part of the 4x200 m and 4x400 met relays that broke school records the coaches and the team have been very impressed with Aaron and wish him luck tomorrow running the anchor leg in the 4X 100 meter at pen relays thank you [Applause] hello every hello everyone I just want to say thank you on behalf of the hamton wrestling program and Athletics to the board of education for recognizing our wrestlers tonight um you know I'm sure you're all familiar with the term stud and when it comes to wrestling right there's other terms we use and in the case of the two young men that we're talking about tonight uh often times we would refer to them for good bad or other as a beast okay or as I like to pre prefer a hammer and in wrestling if you're a beast or a hammer you're pretty darn good and what does that to note well uh when when when a beast or a hammer walks into the gym the other kids from the other school know who they are and they definitely don't want to compete against those guys so the two guys I'm going to talk about tonight are Shane way and Luca Gia gunto and uh real quick Shane way completed his outstanding Junior wrestling season by winning a district 30 title at 113 lbs Shane was voted the most outstanding wrestler by the district 30 coaches he earned a fourth place finish in the region eight wrestling tournament to advance to the njsiaa individual wrestling tournament in Atlantic City he also earned All Cape Atlantic League honors for his efforts Shane completed his Junior season with a career uh wins Total of 68 uh as a basically a two-year full-time Varsity wrestler so a tremendous effort and congratul in Shane way and your family our our next Hammer is Luca gunto he completed his outstanding Junior wrestling season by winning a district 30 title at 138 pounds his second career District title he earned a fourth place finish in the region 8 tournament uh his third region Place winning he' take fifth in the other two years uh to advance to the njsia individual wrestling tournament and Atlantic City he also earned All Cape Atlantic League honors Luca completed his Junior season with 105 career wins the fastest in school history to ever achieve a 100 career wins uh Luca giunto and your family congratulations so on behalf of the wrestling program in athletics I'd like to uh you know thank you for honoring our two uh studs hamers two hammers in in honor of um you folks we have some bring them up banners we're going to well we have the students come on up parents can take some photos if you want to thisf you what uh gentlemen why you go ahead and come up here and then face out towards your parents uh and uh you can go ahead and come up take photos it's no problem at all guys so folks while you guys are taking pictures these Banners are going to be placed throughout the district I assume and then they will keep yeah all right thank you gentlemen congratulations thank [Applause] you Switching gears a little bit back to uh buildings and grounds I just want to quickly touch on the item on theendum which is item number 90 uh it's a pretty good amount of money and it's for uh we're totally renovating the High School tennis uh tennis court and we're actually going to put a new um track in as well the life expend of a track is usually 5 to seven years um we're very fortunate that we've been able to get almost 25 years out of ours so I don't think it owes us anything in return so that's what that is about just wanted to point that out and that'll all take place uh right after the end of the school year and I believe that's all I have for my report tonight all right thank you Mr cor Mr Fado thank you uh congratulations to our athletes I know that I try to go to a lot of activities and um Aaron like what you can do in six seconds is like unbelievable it's like I I sometimes when I'm driving down the road and your GPS says um you'll be there in like a mile oh my gosh that's a mile we have kids that you know r that it's like I that's B but anyway congratulations and wrestling forget I I've been to a lot of wrestling matches and both of you are I guess Hammers and it it's wrestling is like it's you you're it's you you know you can't blame anybody else you could be winning 15 you know 12 to one and you make one wrong move and you're pinned so you know it's not just strength it's you know a head gate so congratulations you're well deserved and it was a pleasure of watching you actually okay uh last month I I had forgotten I wanted to um give a shout out to arur Enders he is an eighth grade and he was chosen and honored uh to participate in an eighth grade uh dialogue that was sponsored by the um New Jersey school Atlanta County School Board Association and uh the students were there to share um about their school and about their future and what they wanted and and they were very well received but the one thing that stuck out to me and not every school is like hamton Middle School there's smaller schools larger schools whatever and the they were asking like what is your goal for high school what what are you looking forward to the most and the one girl said we're not going to have to walk in a straight line but out of everything that's happening to you this is you know this is one thing but that was that was her concern I would also like to congratulate Matt donio and Robert giley is that how you say G uh for being recognized In the Garden State Film Festival they did a short documentary on um the World Series 1949 uh win uh for hamton so that was that was a great accomplishment for that uh the band is having a car wash on May wor $5 people so go out get your car wash for $5 and help the band and um it seems a while since we had our last meeting but if you had a chance to see The Adams Family I think you walked away seeing a great production it was fantastic so congratulations to Mrs uh caola brodo and everyone that was involved with that the students did an excellent job and on our agenda tonight we do have Cheryl pesy our school system administrator is um retiring Amanda Eckles who is a district bookkeeper and I just spent out tonight she started out as a bus driver in in our districts bernardet Rodeo Middle School secretary William Dominico H Monitor and Don Kio a cafer a so we wish them well and I we hope that they enjoy their retirement Mr Ramsey congratulations um well deserved you've been in the district a long time I congratulate you and look forward to working with you so good luck to you and that's the end of my report thank you thank you Mrs f mras um no report um I just want to thank coach moriello and Coach G for sharing those impressive uh uh statistics and honors of their student athletes that was fantastic to hear um Mr Ramsey congratulations um the board obviously looks forward to working with you me personally got to work with you as we became as assistant principales here um so I really looked up to you and I I thank you for your guidance back then you got a good board but more importantly you have a great administrative team that's all hovered in the back there so you got great support and uh you're going to do greatly in this one in the near future congratulations Tom thank you Mr chantas Mr sprs yeah I don't have a committee report but again I want to reiterate what Mr r i Mr Aton as said congratulate Mr Ramsey good luck to you and Mr marielo and Coach G thank you for your dedication to our students to raise such fine athletes like we saw tonight thank you thank you Mr C um this the school year is coming to an end we are wrapping up the year with as many fun events we can squeeze in as the May 3rd senior Junior Prom um and then the last spirit week of the 2023 2024 school year will be held the 13th through the 17th with an Olympic theme pep rally on the 17th the seniors also have many fun events lined up for them as well a Philly's game on May 23rd kayaking on the 28th and zoo trip June 3rd thank you to miss Paretti for setting them up for us um Hamilton is also very excited to be having a powderpuff again this year to raise money for Hamilton cancer Cancer Foundation which will be held on May 29th lastly June 10th the seniors will be celebrating their last day of school with the annual food truck day after their final exam all right thank you Mrs caler so a couple comments before we continue on with the meeting um first I I'll Echo the board's comments and offer my personal thanks and on me individually and on behalf of the board to the superintendent search committee um you know this board we have a great board uh we have a great group of people here that work really well together um because of the legislature and the laws and regulations around board members and what you can participate in and which you cannot participate in uh there is a small number of the board that carried the water for us on the superintendent search long nights and lots of deliberation and pressure to lead through candidates and make good decision so I certainly thank and respect the work that those folks have done on behalf of the board going above and beyond um personally and i' I've said this more than once in public and I'll say it again I believe the state legislature got it wrong when they talk about how things that board members can be a part of and not I know this board conducts itself in the utmost professional manner and in a manner that is diligent and honorable uh there are other boards in this County and in this region that do not but I know we do uh so I I would have no problem believing that all of us can make an impartial decision however we work within the rules and so the committee did their job there they've been asked to do an additional task and negotiate with the teachers which has begun recently and will continue over the next few months as we work to come up with our next collective bargaining agre next I'll again Echo some of the comments and thank Mr Ramsey for choosing to step up and and be with us as the chief School administrator Hamilton is a great Community it is a unique job being the superintendent of schools here here uh I've had an opportunity to work with several superintendents and go through several searches and it is it is a difficult job with a lot of responsibility but I certainly believe that Mr Ramsey is up to the task uh the last thing I'll say about that is really is uh Mr Anthony ASI touch line it's nice to look out behind the camera and see uh the administrative team some of our supervisors and our building principles uh Mr ramy's counterparts here tonight showing their solidarity for him as well as members of the Hampton Association representing our staff it's it's good to see it really is a good thing to see um the last thing I'll offer is this is the time of year when we do a lot of hiring so we've got several different jobs open Mrs ronado talked about retirements so as some folks Sunset their career new jobs open so there's lots of jobs open so tell a friend tell a neighbor tell a family member Hamilton's a great place to work we'd love to have you um we're hiring a number of different positions including a high school principal so uh that concludes my report for the evening now just to give everybody a little bit of a telegraph what happens next we're going to move into the budget hearing which is a meeting within a meeting so on our agenda we're GNA Robin's going to give a presentation about the budget little video about some things that are going on we'll do after that we'll vote on items one through five in finance then we'll go to the regular agenda before we do that we're going to open it up to the public anybody in the public wishing to be heard you can step up to the microphone give us your name and address and uh Hamilton Board of Education Anthony angeloi president of the hammilton Education Association uh just a few quick words uh there are a lot of factors that contribute to a successful School District uh one of which being the Board of Education uh I want to commend the uh new board leadership uh in creating you know a lot of transparency and a line of communication uh with with the hamton education Association the union that represents uh 400 employees the certified staff and the support staff uh I will say that it's been refreshing uh to be in regular contact with the board president the board board vice president uh solving problems you know uh figuring things out together uh the next factor is obviously the relationship between the staff and the superintendent um I will be very sad to see uh Miss keko go um I visit her very often she never frowns when she sees me it's always a big smile um but you know that's a culture and I know a lot of you who you know have spent your whole careers in hamton may be surprised to know that it's not common for the superintendent to have a good relationship with the staff a lot of times that relationship is very strained and when I go to my union president meetings you know people often talk about how much they dislike their superintendent and I often just stay quiet because I always liked my superintendent and with that being said said um I'm ecstatic to be able to uh once Miss kko leaves to be able to work with uh you know Mr Tom Ramsey uh you know as our new superintendent uh I just want to say a few words about him because Tom and I spend a lot of time together we've had a lot of uh conversations over the years uh a few things I'll say about our new superintendent is that Tom Ramsey is a man of the highest character you know when you talk to him when you see what his values are what he stands for you know that's that's that's the person you want to be your superintendent um the other thing that I I really appreciate as a as a teacher here in this district is that Mr Ramsey really trusts his staff and he really believes that his staff are the experts in their subjects and in their areas and as high school principal one thing that Mr Ramsey has always done is defend his staff protect his staff he's a Defender he's a protector and I really uh look forward to the other staff in the other buildings realizing how great he is and how great he will be and how he will back them up uh and then lastly I just want to conclude by saying you know uh Mr Lions pointed out that there's a number of hamton Education Association members uh in the crowd tonight and and that is no accident you know when I know the notice went out a little bit late that uh Mr Rams would be announced as superintendent tonight but I had people coming to me all week going you know is is is this the meeting is it going to happen because we want we want to make sure that Mr Ramsey knows that we're here and that we support him uh and I really think that going into the going into this summer and going into the next year we're really going to carry all the momentum that we've built under Miss keko and to even better and greater things so I thank you all for the time and uh you know appreciate all that you do thank you thank you thank you Mr H Loy anyone else from the public willing wanting to be heard this is your first of three op opportunities tonight as it is okay we're going to close the first public portion we have some of the students here we want to let them go so we're going to take a quick three minute recess and then we'll we'll pick back up with the budget hearing I know many of them keep did she hang on haven't seen you in a while with the facial yeah 11 I just I keep having dream I cut off the Em's what did she say something like dude I don't know what the hell I was thinking I will mine's not work than you [Music] ch [Music] congrats to you too you're never going to get any no watch who's he's not down to mytle yet um I've heard M okay we'll call the meeting back to order thank you everyone um before we move into the budget presentation one thing I would offer Mrs Fallon was on the meeting on zoom and had the drop but she did ask me to share her congratulations and best wishes for Mr Ramsey SM had foot surgery earlier today in fact so she we wish her well in her recovery uh she could not be with us tonight uh so let the meeting reflect that she's no longer here uh so Mrs Keo thank you Mr L one for the roadd that's right um as Federal funding received during Co comes to an end the upcoming presentation will reflect a budget that is primarily based on local and state aid to develop this budget we reflected on the previous year evaluated existing programs and research enhancements for a continuous cycle of school Improvement in order to achieve growth there must be a cohesive plan and continuity of programs to provide opportunities for all students to Excel for the 2024 2025 school year our total budget is 7,228 1824 the tax levy is 20, 288,000 m349 40 the budget increases for the upcoming year will be salaries and new positions which are unknown at this time due to pending negotiations and there will be an increase of approximately $626,000 benefits also incorporated into the yearly budget is replacement cost for Chromebooks in the amount of $300,000 to maintain our 1:1 ratio of devices to students as you can see the increase in our state aid is minimal as we have reached the threshold of being fully funded in the past few years increases in state aid have been in the $2 to3 million increments to reach the required amount of state aid owed to us and once again there will be no increase in local taxes as there are no big increases in our upcoming budget we will ensure that our current programs and activities are maintained for consistency throughout the district we will continue utilizing existing resources such as wonders go maath study sync envisions common lit link it Etc environmental science and CP art 4 will be added to the high school program of studies and the Spanish Heritage elective will be offered at the middle school effective School Solutions will continue to provide mental health clinicians in all four buildings as part of the bipartisan saf safer Community Schools grant that was received this past year maintaining our current programs is vital to promote student growth and achievement as evidence in the recent performance report that was released early this month by the state of New Jersey our district has met the state standards in in student growth and assessment performance and English language arts and Mathematics in addition during my 10e superintendent we are recognized as a high performing District by the New Jersey quality single accountability Continuum this is a comprehensive review that is conducted every three years that evaluates areas of instruction and programs fiscal management governments offer operations and Personnel the board continues to search for ways to maintain and improve our facilities while remaining fiscally responsible repairs are needed the High School tennis courts as well as replacing the original track at the football stadium to allow our athletes to compete compete safely in addition uh security cameras will be upgraded and the fire alarm system will be replaced at the middle school all schools will continue to have four or have police officers assigned to them for safety and security purposes over the past several years the district has experienced an increase in multilingual students a multilingual learner is any student whose primary language is not English this includes students that have been residents for many years students res recently arrived to the United States and migrant students as you can see from the graph the percentage of grow for this group group has increased each year with an overall 36.4% increase over the past 3 years many of these students are classified as Scythe or student students with interrupted formal education the enrollment has remained fairly steady at the EC and West with a general increase in students in grades four and five the greatest increase in enrollments has been at our middle and high school levels as a result the district will be hiring four additional ESL bilingual teachers to provide the required instruction as part of our bilingual plan one teacher will be added to the West for the increase in grades four and five as well as two teachers at the middle school and one teacher at the high school it will be challenging to fill these positions as there is a specialized certification required the biggest news for the upcoming school year is the completion of the construction project at the ECE arser pandemic funding was utilized to move all pre- students to the early childhood education center to provide additional classroom space needed for students in grades 2 to five the goal of the construction process was to regain use of all West classrooms to promote student engagement and learning of core core programs supplemental instructions and schoolwide initiatives to meet the needs of all Learners these rooms will be used to for a proper stem computer room an additional bilingual classroom speech and related Services RTI classrooms a health classroom and additional counseling counseling area that can accommodate a sensory room at the ecec building the new construction will provide eight classrooms for prek additional related services and RTI spaces a remodeled main office to better utilize the square footage and upgrades to the nurses Suite A video has been provided to showcase the new addition [Music] [Music] [Music] access and school year com [Music] contal or in closing I would just like to thank the board of education for their continued leadership and governments in all areas related to The District I would would also like to thank the Hamilton Community for their support of our schools and finally I would like to thank the staff for their continued hard work and dedication to our students each and every day thank you all right next we'll thank you Mr keko we'll open it up to the public if anyone is willing wanting to be heard on the budget items one through five step up step up and be heard um I just would add before we vote I just add one thing on on the budget and Robin's presentation uh you know we are Robin made the point we are fully funded so I would like to thank uh especially assemblyman teresi Hamilton High School class of 1993 for working with the 8th legislative district staff and the other elected officials to help us get our fair share in Trenton it is not by accident I think the state legislature recognizes how good we are doing with with so little and so they've rewarded Us by living up to their promise and giving us the funding that our schools so desperately deserve and need based on the law going forward we're going to continue to be Innovative and look for ways to save money where we can and spend money where we need to um that said I will take a motion on fight Finance items 1 through five motion Mr Coya first second Mr anonie second yes yes Mr yes Mr yes M Hunter yes Mr yes Mr yes now we will move into the regular agenda I will take a motion on finance items number six through 31 motion Mr anony first second Mr Co second roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes yes motion carried next we entertain a motion on Personnel items 32- 69 however please note that item 64 is being withdrawn at this time Mr Fado first second Mr chapion second roll call Mr yes yes yes yes yes9 yes yes yes motion carried next I'll entertain a motion on program students and miscellaneous items 70 through 88 motion Mr Coya first second Mr shipon second roll call yes yes yes yeah I just have a question yes yes thank you Mrs hun yes Mr yes M yes Mr yes motion carried we move to the agendum finance items 89 through 91 I'll entertain a motion motion Mr Coya first second Mr Anie second roll call Mr Anie yes ber mrss yes yes yes Hunter yes items 89 yes yes yes motion carried next we entertain a motion for personnel items number 93 and 94 Hunter first M ber second roll call Mr yes ber yes Ms yes yes yes hter yes yes motion carried uh this will be the second opportunity for anyone in the public wishing to be heard step up to the microphone see none uh one brief item um following the appointment of Mr am or superintendent the board will be issuing a press release I have a copy of that here copies of that here for any board member that wants to see it it will also go out in your email so I have that here for you to look over uh other than that I'll no one else has anything we'll take a motion to adour motion Mr anything ask this Hunter second all in favor I weour thanks everybody thank you everyone Tommy thanks