and my old early tonight good evening I'd like to call this meeting to order this is the north Renay Township Board of Education regular public meeting Wednesday February 28th could we please rise for the pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Mr Ali pres Mr Brock hman here Mr Carter here miss James Miss Keith here Mr Lori here Dr Patel Miss to here and Mr W here we have a quara thank you the New Jersey open public meetings 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 interests is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the open public meetings law the public notice of this meeting which included the time date and location was distributed by 300 p.m. on Tuesday February 27th 2024 in the following manner posted on the on the bulletin board resered for announcements in the board office 25 Lynwood place North Brunswick New Jersey 08902 mailed to the home News Tribune Sentinel and the clerk of the township of North Brunswick and delivered to the nine duly elected board members we're going to motion to go into closed session whereas Section 8 of the open public meetings act chapter 231 PL 1975 permits the public permits the exclusion of the public from a meeting in certain circumstances and whereas this public body is of the opinion that such circumstances presented exist now therefore be it resolved by the north buy Township Board of Education that the public shall be excl excluded from discussion of and action upon the here andafter specified subject matters the general nature of the subject matter to be discussed is as follows Personnel matters negotiations it is anticipated at this time that the above stated subject matter shall be made public at such time as the need for non-disclosure no longer exists this resolution shall take effect immediately can I please have a motion to go into close session so moved second second all in favor I any opposed we can go into close session thank you Open session so move second all in favor I any opposed we're back in session thank you Miss Keith I'll turn it over to you yes Madam president I'd like to move to approve the sidebo agreement between the North bronswick Township Board of Education and the north bronswick Township Education Association for the 22 to 24 contract relative to article 11.8 second all right I'm going to take a roll call Mr Ali yes Mr Brockman yes Mr Carter yes Miss James yes Miss Keith yes Mr Lori yes Miss to yes and Mr W yes the motion is accepted thank you all right welcome everyone hope everyone is doing well we have a couple of presentations tonight I'll turn it over to superintendent choka to open up our first presentation thank you very much we have a full house and we're thrilled to have everybody here thank you for being patient um but we do have to take some business and make sure that we we do everything that the state of New Jersey requires that we do so I'd like to invite our auditor uh from Samuel Klein and Company Mr Gerald stanitz to come up and give his brief I promise um I've given him a challenge um his brief audit summary for us tonight thank you okay evening you all know who I am Jer St a partner in Sam CL company U we are appointed by the board perform the financial audit for the fiscal year end June 30th 2023 the audit is done based on the records that are presented from the management team whom we're sitting on the de okay and the business office we uh our contract requires us and the standards of the profession require us to go through testing and procedures of various components that make up your financial transaction of the for the year as well as the resultant fund balance at the end of the year basically our work was really conducted from our work was conducted starting in October we did a lot of the accounting work in October and uh with looking to dead to the deadline of August 5th to submit the electronic version of the audit which was preliminary shortly thereafter we started our testing of the expenditures the revenues and the payroll we're happy to report that we have all good results in all the areas of testing um there was an exit Conference held last Wednesday evening uh in this in the Next Room over there to discuss in real detail uh what we did um and the procedures that we employ and to go through the process of looking at the various audit exhibits uh which we we've discussed with the the committee at length um so we're happy to report that based on our audit testing uh there are no audit recommendations or comments that would require the board to uh adopt a corrective action plan um they have a good system here uh there's good people working in the department we want to thank them for their hard work um everybody was cooperative anytime we needed a document they produced it timely which is important in an it um we also uh prepare a document the thinner of the two which I I think you emailed to everyone correctly okay this is our representation to the board about the operation of the business office during the fiscal year we found nothing that would rise to the level as I indicated earlier that require the board to adopt the corrective plan of action to correct that expenditures were properly documented payroll was properly administered food service was properly run um we believe certain know we look at certain grants and we felt that they were a cursory review of what we do not a detail review of the grants uh pretty much compliance with all the requirements that the department vet has and most important your bank accounts are reconciled monthly to the penny okay you have a $150 million operation here and they are reconciled to the penny monthly to the general legure okay that's important so there's a thicker of the two documents okay which is really a whole lot of financial information that is generated by the board through the various reports that we get from them we merely put it into report format okay it talks a lot about North Brunswick about the operation of the school district there is some local Town information in there um but it also has a a section where the board and the Administration has an opportunity to toot their horn about what happen in the district during the year uh or and where the goals of the district are so but in this document the only thing that that belongs to us is our opinion we we're hired like I said by the board we do our tests based on management giving us information and our opinion is that the financial statements as presented to us fairly present the financial condition of the district for the Year Ed June 30th of 23 okay um our job is not to say that you're in great financial shape because that's not the purpose of the audit it's to tell you that your records are that are presented are are accurate okay and that's really the purpose of it and what that means during the year and right around now I believe you might be receiving updates about where we may end up at the end of June of 24 if Rose's uh information that she's always given us is pretty pretty darn accurate uh as presented okay you hear sometimes that people talk about oh we have a lot of audit journal entries you don't have any audit journal entries okay so everything is presented properly so we're happy to report that there are no audit recommendations and you have an unmodified opinion on the financial statements and meaning that that as the records as presented were presented fairly and properly so good job Jerry was that never hear real ni now if there's any questions obviously I don't know if you want to entertain tonight but any any a type questions could be relay and through the administration we're happy to answer them um but like I said you have a you have a good accounting system here okay and it didn't happen overnight and it is the result of a lot of people some of who probably should receive an award as well tonight okay so um you know it just was a lot of people working hard between payroll account payable bill paying uh Revenue everything um all the compliance stuff so we're happy to present this uh and commend the board on a good great thank you very much thank you all right thank you we will proceed with the meeting Madam president thank you thank you again thank you to your your team and for all their hard work we really appreciate it thank you uh I'll open it up to uh public comment uh for the audit presentation if there is anyone that would like to speak on it okay seeing none um Mr Lori can you please take item number nine sure Madam president I move to close the public portion of the meeting related to the audit second I'm sorry I did not hear the second Mr Carter oh sorry thank you all in favor any opposed this portion of the meeting is closed thank you uh Vice President James will you please take item number 10 surely president to I would like to make a motion to accept the annual comprehensive financial report for the school district of North Brer Township for the fiscal year ending June 30th 2023 and the accompanying Auditor's management report on the administrative funding Financial compliance and performance also for the fiscal year ending June 30th 2023 this also includes a system peerreview report conducted on Samuel Klein and Company second I'm going to take a roll call Mr Ali yes Mr Brockman yes Mr Carter yes M James yes Miss Keith yes Mr Lori yes Dr Patel yes Miss to yes and Mr Wen yes the audit report has been accepted thank you all right we will move on to presentation number two Miss Amy ke take it away thank you evening everybody good evening I'm Amy ke I'm the assistant superintendent here in North Brunswick and I am so excited I always get to perform perform I'm like looking at the slide I'm like um I always get to com um for our annual Governor's educator of the Year Awards and our education support staff person of the year award um I'm thrilled that so many everybody showed up tonight family friends this is such a great honor for our recipients um and I actually said to Mrs broke it today um again for those of you that don't know me or only know me as the assistant superintendent um I'm North Brunswick born and bred I'm a graduate I taught here I taught at Lynn it was Lyn middle school for 12 years before becoming an administ 11 years ago and this marks the 20th year that I was the governor educator of the Year award at lywood um and I thought my gosh 20 um it really is so special to me to be able um to recognize this fine staff um to the board tonight and to all of you so we will get rolling with our presentation um and again you know our theme this year is you know Superstars because that's really what all of you are day in and day out and we could not be more proud to have you on our staff um and to recognize you and honor you tonight um just you know to give a little bit of background for those that don't know this is a process that starts in September the governor's educator of the year uh award does come from the state New Jersey Department of Education it starts in September it's a two three Monon process um that principles you know have a special nomination form they put together a diverse panel um they have program guidelines they have to follow and have to select their educator of the Year by the end of November um and it just gives you some brief indicators by December um they do have to upload this form to the Department of said um and the principes do notify their school certificated candidate at a designated faculty meeting and the state actually does prompt them to then reach out to the educators of the Year encourage them to apply for the county teacher of the year and if you remember last year um we had our high school teacher of the year Julie Mercier was the middle sex County teacher of the year so again this award is you know heartfelt for me but means a lot to this district and you know again through all our Superstars uh 2020 Beth I think so this is our fourth year where um Beth pner our president of the mbte um came to myself and former superintendent Dr zakowski and you know brought this education support staff person of the year program to mirror the governor education uh educator of the Year program for our support staff because truly it does take a village and our support staff are equally as important to the education and the foundation of our district as our certificated staff and we were 100 a th% on board with this program so we decided to mirror it the same way we mirror the state program where the same panel is used stakeholders all have input to nominate and decide on a support staff person of the year for each building so without further Ado I'd like to call up uh m Michael neller um we'll get rolling with our high school support person of this uh staff person of the year and our teacher of the year and if they can also come up Sue and Jeff right good evening everyone um I just want to congratulate all of the teachers of the year and support people of the Year for all the schools I usually go last so you decid to change it up this me again um so it's my pleasure tonight first to speak about uh our educational support person of the year at nbths um s balini is my secretary although I did not nominate her because I'm on the committee and I cannot not saying that I wouldn't have but Sue's been in this position uh for about a year and a half as my secretary um and probably the best adjective that was used to describe her and it's not so much an adjective a description that the building would collapse without her working every day she makes sure all of our classes are covered and serves um as the first line of parent communication um every morning she comes in and for and I know for a fact that she starts well before her reporting time at 6:30 um and looking at the sub report making sure we have substitute teachers and then if she has to coming in and begging and pleading um staff members to cover classes and they like her so much that they do it every day for her she has one of the most challenging jobs in the building she start as I said she starts well before her 6:30 reporting time and she always does it with a smile on her face she attempts to raise will Spirit through constantly asking me for King days also sending out positively fun emails and is diligent in getting things out in a timely matter she is a happy face in the main office and she is very efficient at her job she is a model Community member and she supports our students at after school events even though her children are our grown adult she still supports our students at the high school um almost every day and she is an extremely generous person and I very lucky to have her working with me in the main office I next I would like to uh congratulate our teacher through the year Mr Jeff Smith uh Jeff is a music teacher at the high school and he is our marching band director um and he has uh been a great addition to the high school Jeff has the positive energy in the classroom that attracts students to his course extremely dedicated to his students by creating a comfortable learning environment he builds great rapport with his students that last well beyond their graduation when we say that our music program is a family we mean it because our and I are constantly coming back to support our music program and Jeff is a big part of that he has been the pit director for our Alchemist performances for the last six years he's always willing to help out Beyond his responsibilities helping with rehearsals and auditions when he's not as M at nbths you can find him at our marching band events and they have a very long season in the fall and then they pick up again in the spring in the summer and he is continually working with our students to make our marching band better he's constantly at their shows to make sure that they have the chance to show off their talents to the entire North Brun of community he is continually growing as an educator learning more genres of music and sharing with his colleagues in the department to help them grow professionally as well he is always willing to support his colleagues and last year when tragedy strucked Department due to the sudden loss of a colleague he was a great support not only to the the person's family but also his colleagues and especially our students I would like to congratulate Mr Jeff Smith ands we also have and I I'm not going to unbox each one but I do want to show each support step person of the year has an their own plaque we going to hang I know see um and then teacher of the year is I got always you need to read well we'll fix that there it is no John Adams is after nbths I can jump I can jump ahead we'll call up Mr salver Mr Slover from the Middle School this is good news because I know if Mike goes first that means I go second we've been lobbying for that for years anyway I'd like to invite Mrs Denise mcar our educ um I don't believe our support person of the year is here tonight which is kind of not a surprise she's not one for the spotlight but maryo if you're here first a few words about Mary and we were asked to submit a few words which you can see on the screen behind you um and when I thought of Mary I thought of steady supportive and thinks ahead Mary as I said is our plant manager and Mary is always steady and calm and she gets things done and with Mary on board when it comes to Art facility I literally worry about nothing smoothly and efficiently she gets things done I also said she's supportive and whether it's for myself a teacher a club or a special event Mary will always do whatever she can to accommodate the needs of our staff and students often going over and above the norm and finally I said that she thinks ahead I never approach Mary with an idea a question or a concern that she isn't already three steps ahead of me no matter what it is if I see her on the hallway and say hey mayor what happened with this she's like I would took care of it two days ago what about this issue we called they're coming next week she's always ahead and that you really can't uh you can't beat that it is these traits that Mary brings to the table that quite frankly make everyone else's job easier and I don't know that there's a higher compliment than that Mary makes everyone's day easier and that's again absolutely Mary P now for our govern educator of the Year Mrs Denise mnam my three terms for Denise were Dynamic precise and standard which might sound odd but I'll explain I said dynamic because Denise is a passionate teacher with a tremendous work ethic and a huge heart her lessons are engaging and enjoyable for her students and she runs an exemplary class that students want to be in I use the word precise because Denise continues to wear many hats in our school Community she has advised clubs facilitated parenty and she has been instrumental in orchestrating our annual spelling be no joke if you've never been to that it's a little dicey those final couple rounds further she is a teacher among our a teacher leader among our staff as an Ela subject area leader and in all of these Endeavors she was always right on point right on point and unfailingly precise finally standard as in the standard he is the standard that a middle school teacher should be striving to emulate is the standard that a colleague should aspire to be Denise sets the bar high for herself and others and she reaches it our entire School Community is so fortunate to have Denise and it is a joy and a privilege to watch her work and do what she does and we're all better off for it now Denise and I share a love of the New York Yankees so I will end with this you know I was going I would never compare myself to Joe Tori but I think I know how he must have felt to know that no matter the situation when he looked out on the field he knew Derek Jeter was there nbms no matter the situation we've got Denise macara you can't do any better than that wonderful for Lynwood invite Mr shorter up and our educator of the Year Nicole Lori and our Sports staff Person of the Year Julie Francis [Applause] good evening everyone I want to say first of all congratulations to all the educators of the year and support first we are blessed that lywood school to have two of the best here two of the best my vision is bad so can't read what that says okay but I am going to read to you what their colleague Lord B and I think that is really special when you have people who work with you day in and day out write things about you so here we go the first is going to go for Julie Francis since Julie is the backbone of the house center she is knowledgeable kind and a problem solver and I would definitely attest to that we have issues in the main office regarding printing up reports and we can always go to J Fran takes the time to make relationships with both staff and students she goes above and beyond her duties and she's been awesome to me my little entire career at iate so I'd like to congratulate Julie Francis as language school's support person of the thank you next is Nicole now Nicole and I I think we came around the same time so I've known Nicole this my 20th year so it's been a long time with us in the district so this is what her colleagues wrote about her Nicole exudes professionalism dedication and empathy to all students and co-workers she is a trusted colleague that staff can fight in and seek guidance from and I can also agree with that um she was a sub to car Lea for a long time did a great job in helping us come out um she's always welcoming and helpful and it's just awesome to see her in the hallways I'm kind of stickler about certain rules about teachers being in the hallway to make sure they're supervising students and staff and I can always count on Nicole L Tori being in that hallway when I come around the corner and I truly do appreciate that so I'd like to say congratulations to you colori as our as Lynwood school's educator [Applause] thank you next up I'd like to call up our administrators from John Adams I see uh Mrs Kingsley Mrs Stern Mrs Cummings come on up let also invite Maria and K as well good evening everybody as Mrs Kia said I an Kingsley uh principal this is Mrs Stern the director and Mrs Cummings our team but most importantly these are our special people we are here to uh congratulate and just say wonderful things so I'm going to begin you know I'll bring begin with you Mar next to me um Maria can is a John is John Adams educator support person of the year and she's been working in the district for 10 years and we have been lucky enough to have her at John Adams for eight of those 10 years um a little bit of an aside She was transferred to a different school I don't know like about maybe a year and a half two years ago um I've lost my mind and um and uh I'm just going to leave it at she's back at John Adams now very happy um she is an amazing she's one of our security AIDS you know so yeah she invited the people sign in she's nice to everybody that comes in but that's just literally this much of what she has to do not has to do I take that back what she does because she does many many things she she checks the people that come in she makees sure the building is safe all those things that she's supposed to do but she does a lot of other things for example she supports our staff by um unjamming the copers that is a big deal thank you is D you're a teacher you know that as a very big deal right um sometimes people send down a piece of paper and say can Mrs K just make 10 copies of this place she does that also um she reminds teachers about that they haven't submitted their attendance gently politely reminds them that they haven't submitted their attendance and she also does all of our laminating and she's the only one allowed to touch the laminating that laminating stuff costs a lot a lot of money all right she every single day arrives at school earlier than she has to be there and stays later than she has to stay um I'd like to think it's because she likes me so much but I really know she's just very very dedicated to her job and I'm so happy most importantly Maria is friendly kind and hardworking she's a wonderful member of the John Adam staff and oh I feel a little cry coming on we are so so lucky to have her at our school [Music] congratulations Quin loves being in the spotlight um so Karen is the John Adams Governor educator of the year she was hired N9 years ago and she initially worked as a first grade teacher but more recently she has become our technology teacher for old people like me that's the computer teacher but we don't say that she's a technology teacher and when you hear what she does you'll realize well we don't call her the computer teacher cuz cuz she's not all right she um just like when she taught first grade she works hard to stay up on and I mean really works hard to stay up on everything this lady goes to more professional development than I don't know eat C I eat candy and I eat a lot of candy she's busy busy busy all the time um she has created a welcoming inclusive and the inclusive part is very important she really does love every one of her students and most of the staff I guess right I think she of the staff too right um she produces and I mean produces like a television producer our morning announcements they are amazing she started a girls who code club which is just amazing she teaches our robotics program after school you see why it's not just it's not I didn't even I said the word computer right she's doing all these amazing technological kind of things and she's although she's not the tech Ambassador we do have a tech Ambassador but sometimes she's busy teaching the tech ambassador and guess who does the job if she can do it for her so she's wonderful at helping people out um she does not teach just an old-fashioned computer class if you came in your room her room you would see that nobody's just they do practice keyboarding but you know it's not just that it isn't just that she's hardworking she is innovative and most importantly she cares which is so important to me about her students she is an educator who motivates them every single day I'm so proud to have Karen in our school congratulations [Applause] k hey from Jud we have uh Dr Glover acting principal our interm director of el lry instruction Mrs Alderman our interm Dean um Miss green and I'd like to call up our Jud recipients Ernie and Melanie hello welcome um I'm Dr GL the acting principal of Jud and I'm honored to be here to present this to our two uh outstanding representative you met first Melanie is a truly deserving of the educational support staff recognition award um serves as a PRK professional uh she took on the responsibility this year of leading our prek classroom uh when we were without a teacher faced with the challenge of stepping into that role she led she led as if she was the teacher she demonstrated exceptional dedication to ensuring her students contined to receive the high quality instruction instuction and the absence of the regular teacher Miss pasta's commitment was evident as she arrived early every day to set up her classroom decorated just as if she were the classroom teacher and established essential routines for all of her students her efforts extended Beyond regular work hours often staying late to meticulously prepare for the following days lessons um her comprehensive understanding of the curriculum combined with her hardworking nature kindness and compassionate demeanor sets her apart as an invaluable member of our educational staff what makes Melanie truly exceptional is her unwavering drive and passion to guarantee the happiness and and success of her students her constant presence with a smile as she is right now on her face has endeared her student staff and parents alike Melanie's contributions make her a standout candidate for the the educational support staff recognition award and she is truly deserving conr Ernie T Ernie T stands as a highly deserving candidate for the prestigious Governor's education of the Year award he a committed and passionate educator who possesses the ability to inspire students from diverse backgrounds specializing and teaching language arts he has dedicated his efforts as teaching fifth grade and now fourth grade students and Beyond fostering a love for reading and writing Ernie demonstrates an exceptional commitment to supporting the social and emotional well-being of his students known for his patience Ernie actively assists students in navigating the challeng challenging the challenges that may arise uh during the school day he was confronted with a um challenging case and he took the initiative to undergo the NCI training this past year showcasing his dedication to enhancing his skills and de-escalating situations involving students in need the positive impact of his teaching is evident as former students frequently return to Jud specifically to reconnect with Ernie his genuine and personal approach is evident in the way that he greets each students each student every day creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere furthermore his enthusiastic support for spirit days contributes to the vibrant and engaging School Community now I'm not sure everyone knows this but beyond his role as an educator Ernie is a talented musician he looks surprised I'm I'm surprised he doesn't have a Uli today um he often treats students to delightful sounds of his guitar and singing dur dismissal and his multifaceted contributions make him an exemplary candidate for the Governor's educator of the Year [Applause] War [Applause] this time we like to call up our Livingston Park administrators Mrs finan Mrs Mory and our uh Governor's teacher of the year Jillian rice and our education support staff person of the year good evening everyone hello congratulations I have a few lovely words to say about these ladies um Miss rice I'm going to start with you miss rice is a special education teacher of our multiple disability program with students of different ages and needs you will know that Miss rice is ready for work with her messy bun on the top of her head and her lanyard full of 800 Social stories that she might need at any moment she demonstrates exceptional dedication empathy and skill in catering to the unique needs of our students with disabilities she advocates for the rights and needs of these students Miss R Works closely with parents administrators and case managers to ensure the students receive the resources and support they require she helps her students access school like every student and Designs events for our school to become more aware of differences Miss rice demonstrates empathy understanding and recognizes the challenges her students face she celebrates their strengths and their achievements she actively collaborates with colleagues therapists and other professionals to create comprehensive support systems for her special ed students for example she taught the project Leo and writed School staff strategies for working with our students she engages in continuous professional development to stay updated on the latest research and best practices but she also delivers professional development to our staff here miss rice has a profound positive impact on the lives of her students empowering them to reach their full potential and succeed academically socially and emotionally she serves as a role model not only for her students but also for her fellow Educators inspiring others to embrace inclusive practices and cultivate a culture of acceptance congratulations to miss R we are so lucky to have [Applause] Miss Mills Miss Mills is an instructional Aid also in a special education classroom her class this year is comprised of students with multiple disabilities of various ages however her assignment has frequently changed over the years and she has excelled in every placement Mrs Mills plays a crucial role in ensuring the success and well-being of students with disabilities she provides direct support to special education students offering assistance with tasks such as personal care Mobility communication and learning activities she cultivates strong positive relationships with her students fostering trust confidence and a sense of belonging by understanding each student's unique ability challenges and preferences Mrs Mills can provide more effective support and encouragement she provides a safe and nurturing environment where students feel accepted valued and empowered to express themselves through her dedication compassion and expertise Mrs Mills helped students overcome obstacles achieve their goals and Thrive both inside and outside the classroom congratulations to Mrs Mills as our [Music] [Applause] [Music] take call up Parsons Mrs whan see Mrs quat here our principal and our director of Elementary instruction and our educator of the year at Parsons Jennifer guio and is oh she's here evening I'd like to congratulate all of our award recipients this evening and I'd like to start with Miss Anna pany she is our building Aid at Parson school um I'd like to share some comments that our staff had need for each of our award recipients so I think that's a lot more important than just what they know that I think about them so Miss Anna as I said serves as our building Aid she always has a positive attitude and a smile even when she's outside Manning the gate in the rain in the snow as parents are pulling up not following the directions as she's telling them is their but she's always got that smile going she exudes warmth and love and many students go to her when they need the comfort of someone who generally cares for them her flexibility and warmth are appreciated by students staff and parents she always stops what she's doing and assists in any way possible she has even taken the personal initiative to teach herself Spanish to better connect with and serve the Parson Community she is selfless in all that she does and Parsons is lucky to have her I'm honored to present her with this very deserving award congratulations he next we have Mrs guio as our Governor's educator of the Year miss guio is an exemplary educator she serves as our technology teacher but that's just one facet of what she does she is also our technology Ambassador she teaches our robotics club and she is the director of our Parson news show that puts any channels news to shamee she's absolutely phenomenal with it she does our news show every day with our students in both English and Spanish to serve our Parson's community so what has her staff said about Miss guio she's innovated dedicated and passionate about her students and our school she started our dual language program seven years ago but while no longer teaching that she's still an advocate and a resource for our dual language staff she's a natural leader in our school often initiating new programs and initiatives to improve the academic excellence and cultural inclusivity in our building she collaborates effectively with all stakeholders and is always willing to share resources to build capacity and our staff and our students she's an active member in our extracurricular activities and engages the community to support events at our school Mrs guio is a tremendous asset to Parson school and I'm very honored to present her with this award from our ECC we have our principal Mr pner and our supervisor of preschool instruction we have M Ken [Music] R can please have Stephanie Palco and Merida Thorne please join us up here Adam wants to come up he's more than welcome well first off I just want to take the moment to thank congratulate all the winners and you know this is one of my favorite nights because we're fortunate to celebrate the amazing success in our school district we are so lucky to have such a supportive Board of Education such a supportive central office leadership and just such support from our staff our community and tonight is a chance to celebrate success and we saved the best for last yeah as Mr n said usually I go first and he goes last so I guess I'm a little more nervous based on that no I'm joking so first I want to start about Stephanie Palo first off we are so fortunate to have Stephanie working in our building as an instructional Aid in a special education program and just like Mrs Wayan shared I like to take the words of our staff because that who sees in action each and every day when people discuss and talk about Stephany they talk about kindness her hardworking demeanor each and every day no matter what's happening within the building she's a team player that's always willing to rise herself to the challenge and support people in any way that she can both students St staff and the community at large she's an active member of all of our outside activities when we do events and always shows up and has such a great connection with our students the relationship she builds with students each and every day is a model for everyone um I could say personally I'm so fortunate when I first met Stephanie she was a a substitute par professional at ECC and when I got to work with her and I said Stephanie we need you on our team and I really wouldn't take no for an answer so I know I asked multiple times but dedication just like her her persistence her hard work her caring nature we cannot be more fortunate to have Stephanie at the ECC congratulations Mrs Thor we are so proud of you and Mrs Thorne also is a special education teacher in our pre preschool program and we are so fortunate to have such a great teacher leader as Meredith again bringing the words from her colleagues dedicated caring Innovative team player hardworking she's a lifelong learner always striving to improve her practice but the key thing I see each and every day is the ability for Merith to meet the individual needs of each and every student that she comes in contact with no matter what the student needs marith Works to meet their needs support them and help them grow as a parent watching her welcome students into our school district we always talk about the relationship in preschool where we have the ability to welcome families her support dedication communication collaboration with parents makes them feel like they have an advocate from the day they first walk into their building for their their children they she makes them feel special we are so fortunate to have Mar Thorne at the ECC congratulations on the educator of the year before we go selfie picture well surprise Mr neller and Mr pner I'm last um again you know we do recognize off obviously in our schools but one intrical piece of our district is also our Board of Education and each year when we brought on board the education support staff person of the year um Beth also recognize that we have one for the district as well so we each year have been recognizing a member of our Board of Ed team and I'm happy to call up uh our one of our human resources secretaries Connie Saunders woo and on the administrator who will speak go way back just like Mr neller said um you know I'm part of that committee so the nomination uh did not come from me but I couldn't think of a person who I've actually have known um for over 20 years who is so dedicated and hardworking to this District as Connie um you know it's it's a it's personal for me too I'm I'm going to keep it together um I I've known Connie for a long time I first met her she is a Community member I met her she was the parent of one of my students um who's now getting married makes me feel one year old but um one of my and then she became a she came back to the district she became a substitute teacher she was one of my go-to Subs as well so hardworking and dedicated I could just leave my classroom with her and I knew it was in great hands in fact if I knew I was going to be absent I texted her right away um and then I moved over left the classroom over to Central office a couple years later she left subing for the district and came up uh as a as our receptionist um in the board office where she proved herself time and time again um she is extremely hardworking she is up to any task or challenge she was the face when you walked in the door door so helpful um to anybody who' call and again that first line um who's going to pick up the phone when you call the district and the superintendent's office was Connie um we were lucky a few years ago to have a position open in our s our Human Resources office and she is now a confidential secretary um in our Personnel department and we could not be more proud of you for this award again there are so many different adjectives that I could use to describe Connie but helpful is at the top of the list you are extremely um personable and in terms of helping us out daytoday um monitoring the attendance of a thousand person staff is not easy by any stretch imagination and you do it with such ease you know we talk about our certificated staff and I heard it time and time again tonight that our you know our staff are looking for new challenges they're not afraid to grow and learn time and time again Connie has always said what can I learn what can I do better what can I do to help and that is that is your personality that is true that's that's not about the job it's because you want to grow as a professional and you help us out time and time again and all the people in sitting here especially the administrators call you pretty much every they're all shaking their heads call you every day and you are more than happy to assist them in fact you know you come in you're the first one in because the high school ass su's there at 6:30 in the morning um and you're you're there to assist no matter what and people who nominated you um truly you truly deserve this and the the words speak for themselves you are supportive you are helpful you are kind you are up to any challengeing task and especially for me as one of my right hands in our in our office um you're also like my mama be and you keep me grounded um and truly you are so deserving this award and I could not be happier or more proud picture we we'll different [Music] thank you everybody so much to all all of you again your dedication and your hard work in our district are so very much appreciated time and time again you rise to the challenges you are our Superstars and we are so excited uh to continue celebrating you um there will be uh we do an annual luncheon in late May early June that we look forward to having you all there and recognizing you again and I'd be remiss not to also thank um Janine kfy who's in our office who helped put together this presentation I'd also like to thank Sandy Peterson from our curriculum office who coordinates all the awards and I'd like to thank Connie who also helped me put together tonight's presentation and awards thank you all for coming so much such a pleasure thank you Mrs ke think we'll let let everybody take a minute to leave and then we'll continue the meeting take outside yeah it was crawling [Music] around a couple minutes and yeah right that chair [Music] thank you all for being here tonight the board uh congratulates all of our Educators and support professionals we do have our meeting to continue with so we ask that you continue your celebrations uh in the hallway and thank you all for coming all right Mrs ke thank you so much for that wonderful presentation it's very well done and uh very nicely organized and again we do thank our our teachers of the year and our esps for all their hard work that LP CR yeah wild all right next on our agenda this evening we have the annual violence and vandalism report for reporting period one and if you would like to stay you are more than welcome to stay and enjoy this next presentation it is it is the uh Mrs Kea Road show tonight all worked out perfectly for that um but this is a mandated program uh report that we must give each year for the district the state requires that we uh present this data twice a year and so Amy will be presenting on reporting period 1 July 1st 2023 to December 31st 2023 Mrs ke you're back shoka as you know in in taking on the assistant superintendent R several years ago as Mr shoka indicated this is a required report that the district presents uh during different periods of the Year this is on our board agenda tonight um and instead of just reading through it I do like to Pro uh present context with the information so which is why um we choose to do a a bigger presentation again this chart is um is already in the board agenda for tonight but we are required to compare reporting period one which although it is from July 1st to December 31st really it's only 4 months because school does not begin until September um although we do have summer programs and we do follow those same uh HIV regulations and code of conduct um it is very rare that any of these numbers in fact none of them in terms of the uh first view boxes pertain to uh the summer they do really start in September with the start of the school year and we are required to compare them to the prior reporting period so what you are seeing is the incidents uh in terms of violence and vandalism HIV confirmed um again it does give you the incident description but you can see we are down um which is a good thing uh from the same period of time from the 2223 school year uh with 65 incidents recorded other incidents leading to removal things such such as tardy cutting class insubordination disruptive behavior academic Integrity fall into what the state calls this category and although our numbers are up there it is important to remember we are still really committed to and focusing on absenteeism which includes tardies so especially um we find that in with the cutting of classes at the high school middle school level mostly at the high school um although those numbers have risen since then um we also have more students who have been in our schools and again with that focus on um attendance piece uh is why we're seeing more insubordination those incidents being documented as well HIV alleged uh in terms of being found it we are down um from 34 in the first reporting period from 2022 23 to 23 to this reporting period for the 2324 school year um what we are seeing as you can tell here is we are seeing an uh we have really taken on quite a proactive approach in our HIV training and HIV programs which as the anti-bullying coordinator for the district I lead the instructional Deans who are each school's anti uh bullying Specialists uh regardless of our own trainings that we do we have been encouraging and promoting and the board with the board support uh going out of District to trainings offered by the Law Center offered by PSA and we do a lot of our own internal trainings which also include quarterly meetings that I have with the Deans as well um aside from basic trainings uh within the district PD development that we do uh with staff and same thing with our HIV programs our week of kindness antiviolence week our pbsis programs all of that is included as you can see we have increased those and that is why we believe we are starting to see a decrease in our HIV founded with part of the new amended law last year we uh now can see an HIV claim and the uh specialist can decide preliminarily to proceed to open investigation or if it doesn't already meet the definition on its surface they can say not proceeding and we did have 12 of those for the first four months again it does uh tell you how those claims are found to be outside the scope of HIV um but again supports for both alleged or founded offenders and victims continue to be overseen by the instructional Deans and school counselors these are all in the report as well these are more specific to trainings whether they were in in District or out of District so just wanted to highlight a few of those that we do uh particularly in the first reporting period and then other trains related to student Behavior although not required to report that in this report by the state I do like to highlight the the first 1 2 3 4 5 S first half of those six of those are ones that we do in District those are our after school PD programs that our own staff and our own administrators um uh uh present to our staff the other ones are outside of District trainings that are Deans and other staff members counselors have attended and then also listed in in the board agenda are the list of HIV programs please I know the elementary looks very long but again that is all four of our elementary schools are preschool and lingwood school as well and then the middle school and the high school and again we are required to report those programs out we have a lot of HIV resources that are available we did create an updated anti-bullying info site for parents that's on our website a specific one for staff just related to HIV and school safety um um HIV frequently ask questions we revamp that uh for this year and we include them in the letters that go home uh with the superintendent letters and also brochur for parents at the school as well we have them in both English and Spanish uh links to our policy and links to other resources and guides are all available on our website uh and at each of our schools and that is the reporting perod one report very nice job Mrs ke very offic icient any questions board members okay it's been a big Focus this last year obviously post pandemic um getting a hold of those numbers again and getting getting a a focus on not just what is HIV what what what how what we we know that we have to look at um you know something that may not rise to the occasion of being an HIV case but it may be um a violation of our code of conduct and that can often be a very difficult thing for for parents to get their head around and to understand that and we've done a lot about educating parents and providing a simpler uh explanation for people but also providing supports for those students who may um be violating the code of conduct that doesn't mean they're not getting consequences so that's also an important thing to remember right thank you Mrs shro one one thing I do want to mention um you know again not required part of the reporting but part of the trends that we're seeing is again coming out of that pandemic and why we do also attribute the the you know which we hope is a continual decrease um in the HIV cases is students especially at the elementary level they've been now in school enough out of the pandemic to be back in that school environment and their social socialization um with other students and and some of those behaviors that we saw a huge rise in these cases when we first returned from the pandemic um and where we're seeing the least amount of cases is the elementary school and the upper grades of the high school it's that middle grade Focus still um is where a lot of our efforts are because that's where the most cases we've been seeing and again those those students we are like I said we're starting to see them coming out of that pandemic and being in school more and getting back used to those social cues but again a lot of our Focus has been there I mean I can honestly tell you I have at least one Dean who hasn't had an HIV case in almost a year um and we're we're seeing that Trend in terms of you know the programs we're putting in place but again the students being back in a regular school environment again um and and getting those supports we we hope are are helping that Trend to continue thank you very much thank you Mrs ke for both of your presentations tonight we greatly appreciate your time all right we will move on to item number 12 uh Mr W would you take item number 12 sure I'd like to make a motion to approve the following board minutes regular public meeting minutes January 24 uh 2024 executive minutes January 24 2024 conference meeting minutes January 10th 2024 and conference meeting minutes February 7th 2024 second all in favor I anyone opposed the minutes are accepted thank you any Communications no Communications tonight old business or new business no just my administrative report great so good evening to all of our families guests and viewers here tonight February has been a busy month for our schools as schools celebrated kindness week and the 100th day of school as well as many other events as we head into March schools have begun celebrating read Across America week and I know our board members and myself and some of our administrative staff have been visiting schools and being able to read and interact with the students which is which is a really fun week for all of us we've also had many guests from throughout the community as well in February we also celebrated our school resource officers and our school counsellors on special days to thank them for all they do to support our students parent teacher conferences for the spring are scheduled for March 21st and 22nd these are both half days for students and your child's teacher will be reaching out to schedule a conference if one is needed congratulations to the boys bowling team for making it to the state finals on Tuesday yesterday against St Peter's prep at Bol Bolero see I almost said it the wrong way I always want to say it that way the boys bowling individual state finals will take place tomorrow Thursday February 29th at Bolero in addition the wrestling individual State Tournament begins on Thursday February 29th in Atlantic City um and we have three female wrestlers attending that event and finally we have two pole volters competing in the meat of championships for for track we'd also like to congratulate the nbths winter percussion Ensemble for coming in first place at the tournament indor Association competition on Saturday February 10th I'm also proud to announce that on February 27th we had eight yesterday we had eight student athletes signed to continue their athletic careers at the college level on our official Signing Day students committed to to Ruckers hofra Felician Monmouth Alia Gettysburg and William Patterson congratulations to all our student athletes on this evening's agenda you will see my recommendation to appoint Dr Veronica Glover as principal of Jud school with over 25 years of educational experience and a Doctorate in Education Dr Glover has always been a leader collaborator and Mentor whose primary focus has been to help students make Positive Choices and to help teachers grow in their instruction for many years Dr Glover has served as the Director of Elementary instruction at Jud Elementary School not only has she led many school-wide initiatives but behind the scenes she has managed the building schedule inrs process curriculum revisions teacher observations onboarding new staff and Day-Day safety operations her deep understanding of the school processes will help her make midyear transition to principal seamless and we are excited to see how Jud School continues to grow under her leadership that is it for my report this evening Madame President and I do know that um Dr GL is here um I don't know if we could invite her up perhaps to say a few words and so everybody can meet her officially yeah yep press the turn on M evening I'm pleased to formally accept this role of a principal at J elementary school has been a long um a longterm goal of mine to be the Principal I'm I'm happy to serve serving as the acting principal for the past two months has been an honor and a tremendous learning experience I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to superintendent Mrs shoka assistant superintendent Mrs ke and the members of the board I appreciate your unwavering support and guidance through this transitional period your trust in my abilities has been a source of inspiration and I'm truly grateful for the opportunity to lead Jud into the next chapter of success I would be remiss not to acknowledge the invaluable support and collaboration of my dedicated administrative team Dominique Alderman and jevie green together we have worked diligently to uphold this school's Mission and Foster a positive learning environment I'm committed to working collaboratively with each member of the school Community to enhance the educational experience for our our students support our dedicated staff and strengthen the ties that bind us as a school family thank you congratulations and thank you for being here tonight thank you Dr Glover and that is it for my report thank you all right we'll move on to our student reports good evening hello um so on Friday January 26 sgo sponsored their annual talent show we had 12 and acts showcase their talents and on that day we also had our winter pep rally we honored our winter athletes and classes competed for the spe cup after a close battle the Juniors were able to hold on to the spe cup for another season nbths hosted our second tedex Youth Event under the leadership of student Ria Patel four speakers gave a thought-provoking speech speeches on their impact of technology in our lives this um sorry this past Friday February 23rd our black cultural Alliance hosted a successful BCA night in the celebration of Black History Month this coming Friday evening nbths is hosting our annual rockathon this is the 39th year that the event will take place and students this year will raise money for hugs for Brady the North Brunswick food bank and the North Brunswick domestic violence Response Team thank you that's it thank you okay we'll move on to committee reports first we'll start with human resources Mr Brockman yes Madam president uh the human resource committee uh Community Relations Committee met on Wednesday February 21st to discuss various personnel and Community topics for those on tonight's agenda who are either resigning or retiring the board thanks them for their service and wishes them well as of last Wednesday there were teaching vacancies in the high school science Elementary bilingual and special education for which alternate route and traditional route teaching candidates are encouraged to apply support staff openings in transportation and buildings and grounds have also been posted and the district continues to advertise for substitute staff vacancies all openings are posted on our website and on social media our administrative team is preparing to attend five upcoming virtual job fairs as they continue to recruit staff uh the first one is sponsored by the CJ Pride on March 21st and any new or current educator interested in joining our team can register to participate all registration information can be found on our website and social media Pages Miss ke and our uh coordination or or coordinator of District Communications Dr Ellis will be launching a new staff recruitment video to promote the wonderful opportunities that NBT schools has to offer a special thank you to our staff members Mr Swain and Mr guio on the on our high school students in our produ TV production classes who have played an integral part of creating this video there are also several new hires and substitute staff on the agenda and we welcome you them all to the district we discussed any upcoming leaves of absences and how those positions are being filled via daily substitutes long-term substitutes or six uh teaching periods we also discussed the process for interviewing and hiring newly posted administrative positions and we look forward to those F final candidates being named in in the early spring Miss ke provided an update regarding the nbths Hall of Fame the committee is working on reviewing nominations and anticipates the selected inductees to be named in a few weeks thank you thank you uh education Dr Patel uh yeah thank you uh the education committee met on Wednesday February 21st on February 7th we had a qac visit and we discuss how the district performed well in all areas last week testing for Access for ell's was conducted at the high school and the window for transfer student closes on March 29 2024 uh NJ GPA testing is on March 12th and 13th for the 11th graders so there will be a delayed opening for grades 9 10 and 12 to accommodate for the testing acup Placer tests will be administered to current seniors who have not met the current placement requirements on March 6 and 7th few curriculum revisions have been made for ELA and math standards that have have to be implemented by September 2024 students in K to4 were tested in December 2023 for El eligibility for sore this was the second year of testing we briefly spoke about a few items which will be on the school budget for 2024 due to in due to an increase in in costs and we also spoke about the mckin vento status and there's 47 students which um is higher than previous years this concludes my report thank you uh business operations Mr Lori thank you madam President we also met on Wednesday February 21st and among the items we discussed uh we briefly touched on qac monitoring in addition to the education committee how they visited with us on February 7th they visited the high school the middle school and Jud with the final outcome still to be determined because it's still early in the overall process across the state we were also visited by Jerry stankowitz as you saw his presentation this evening to discuss uh the audit findings uh he educated us that the odds sum which is the audit summary uh was submitted on time on January 1st uh the audit that he and his team performed included areas of payroll expenditures and revenues uh which included taxes and state aid as you heard uh he issued an unmodified opinion which is about as good as it gets which means no recommendations in the auditor management report and just we thank everybody from the business office the superintendent uh for your unwavering cooperation with the audit as you as you do every year um with regards to the rod grant that we've been discussing uh per some guidance from the school Development Authority you'll see three resolutions on tonight's agenda the first one to execute the agreement the second to delegate authority to the ba to supervise the project and then thirdly um there needs to be evidence that the district has available funds in cap reserve and putting that into a construction fund uh those appear on page age 21 items 3j 3K and 3 l this evening we talked about a bit of an issue in our athletic area pertaining to a a a sewer issue in the boys locker room that unfortunately spread into the boys athletic area um we will be filing a claim with our insurance company and work will be done on that during spring break but there's been no impact to our athletic teams um with regards to the high school and the middle school also on tonight's agenda you'll see a forensic en uh yeah a forens envelope assessment uh from USA Architects on our agenda is item uh 3H on page 21 for $39,000 um they will be investigating things like leaks looking at our bricks our flashing Etc they'll look at the uh the middle school for any bonding and warrantees that may be applicable as well uh with regard to our 3 to 5e facilities plan also on our agenda this evening is a facilities study report for $49,800 it's on page 21 item 3H uh this will not include Maple me because there are no students utilizing that building and there is an ongoing facilities inventory uh that's in progress the principes are all assessing their needs at their buildings and it'll preliminarily guide uh a long range facilities plan in the near future we talked about a demographic study again with Ross Hab and Associates and tonight's agenda includes uh that motion on page 21 item 3G Ross habber and Associates is a local demographer they've done demographic work in some nearby school districts as well we began talking about well we've been talking about but we we talked more about the uh fiscal 25 budget assumptions and the timeline uh which is coming Upon Us rather quickly the governor's address was yesterday uh and the long- awaited state aid numbers come out tomorrow fingers are crossed and the governor indicated in his address that uh we should be fully funded according to the state's funding formula this year cautiously optimistic we'll see numbers tomorrow but our fingers are extremely crossed uh the budget workshop for us is on March 13th uh the budget is then due to the county the week after and the final budget will be adopted on April 24th we had some ongoing facilities updates at the high school the recommissioning of the uh season 4 four units we're just waiting on the dampers and the actuators in the 500 Wing we're still developing a work plan the high school TV studio work has been ongoing and it's nearing completion at the end of this month uh and the work at the pool has a tentative start date at the end of August and it'll take about a month to wrap up at Lynnwood regarding the chiller the equipment's been ordered it should be delivered mid to late summer with work to be started after the cooling season uh and then the roof work has begun we saw but uh last week when we were here and it's uh it is continuing and then finally at the elementary and ECC uh the prek Courtyard at the ECC we reaching out to vendors for work proposals same with Jud um we talked about the Livingston Park site and Logistics study that was ongoing and uh there was some discussion about possibly tapping into those uh that wooded area behind the school and we found out it's Wetlands so we can't do much with it uh but we're still waiting on the results of the traffic study there and then the Parson playground we're happy to report the playgrounds in full use that concludes our report as well thank you great thank you uh Miss Keith anything for negotiations at this time no but we will be meeting tomorrow with the negotiating team okay thank you um I also want to formally introduce our two Liaisons so for njsba and middle six County School boards uh the Lea on is Mr Ali any updates tonight yes we do we have a a quick update Adam president so um on March 6 between 6:45 and 8:30 p.m we'll be I'm having our middle sex County SBA meeting and it's going to be about teacher shortages and we're going to have a surprise guest well not surprise anymore but um Senator Vin gopel from um legislative district 11 he's going to be talking about teacher shortages what him and his committee is planning on doing he's the the lead for the Senate education committee he's chair so he's really going to be filling questions and trying to really see what we need as a district and as a state to help with theer short teacher shortages wonderful I think that meeting is virtual so yes it will be any board members that could attend it's uh next Wednesday thank you you're welcome and uh the township Council liaison is Mr Carter Mr Carter sure so on uh February 20th uh Miss to and I attended the council meeting um in terms of updates there wasn't too much uh updates one of our students was honored um as well as some some Community updates on uh events going on in town uh other than that I spoke briefly and just introduced myself and opened up the line of communication um and look forward to engaging with them more great thank you so much all right I think that concludes our reports for tonight thank you all very much uh Mr Carter will you move on item 15 yeah I'd like to make a motion to approve the administrative student and committee reports second all in favor I any oppos all the reports are accepted thank you this time we will review our agenda for tonight's meeting um per usual we received a copy of the agenda days in advance uh any changes are in bold so we will review our agenda at this time starting on uh page four and five six and seven page8 and nine 10 and 11 12 and 13 page 14 and 15 16 and 17 Pages 18 and 19 20 and 21 22 and 23 Pages 24 25 and concluding on page 26 so at this time I'd like to open it up to the public we'll have a public session on agenda items only if there's anything that the public would like to address the board um on this is on agenda items only we ask that you come to the podium state your name sign in and you'll be given three minutes seeing none can I please have a motion to close the public portion of the meeting so moved second all in favor I any opposed this session is closed thank you um Miss Keef will you please move on item 19 consent agenda yes Madam president I would like to make a motion to approve the following consent agenda items Personnel curriculum miscellaneous Finance items 1 through three and transportation second I'm going to take a roll call here Mr Ali yes Mr Brockman yes Mr Carter yes M James yes Miss Keith yes Mr Lori yes Dr Patel yes Miss toes yes and Mr W yes all the motions and resolutions are accepted thank you all right we'll take it all the way to page 26 so at this time we'll have a public session on any matter if anyone would like to come up and address the board we just ask you come up state your name sign in and you'll be given 3 minutes hi everybody my name is Beth hasner president of the north C Education Association um good to see you all again I just wanted to thank the board for a wonderful presentation to um honor our governor educators of the year and also our esps of the year um it is wonderful to see them being honored in this wonderful way and I appreciate you know all the efforts Miss K in that um I I I think my one of my favorite days as being president was the day that um Dr Z at board meeting said you know Beth pner you were right that was a great idea and I love that we still continue the the tradition because our esps um you know are just as vital to the school system as our educators are as well um so I appreciate that wonderful presentation thank you so much and uh we will see you tomorrow night yeah thank you Miss pner is there anyone else seeing none could someone please move to close the public portion of the meeting so move second all in favor I any opposed this session is closed thank you and can I please have a a motion to adjourn so mov second all in favor I we're returned thank you all