I good evening everyone I'd like to call this meeting to order this is the north brunic Township Board of Education meeting regular public meeting on Wednesday May 22nd can we please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Mr Ali here Mr Brockman here Mr Carter here M James here miss Keith here Mr Lori here Dr Patel Miss to here and Mr W here we have a call 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 Monday January 29th 2024 and Tuesday March 19th 2024 in the following manner posted on the bulletin board reserve for announcements in the board office 25 lywood place North Brunswick mailed to the home News Tribune Star Ledger nj.com and the clerk of the township of North Brunswick and delivered to the nine duly elected board members good evening everyone it's great to see a full audience on this warm day um we have a couple of presentations tonight so I just wanted to welcome everyone here it's an exciting night for a lot of you sitting in the room um so I will turn it over to superintendent choka and we will uh have our first presentation very good welcome everybody it's great again as as Miss toad said to see everyone here this evening for our celebrations um our first recognition is uh presented by Hank bitten who is executive director of the New Jersey Council for social studies at Ruckers University who will be presenting a student recognition award to cadit a sixth grader at Lynwood School so Mr bitten if you can come up to our microphone and seea come on up the microone yes pick up if you bang I think it's on and you probably better to pick it up so it'll pick up your voice if you just hit the top to make sure it's on green light you're good to go welcome see and I'd like your teacher Miss also please come come forward uh as you heard New Jersey Council for social studies is a group of about 1550 K 12 teachers and about 25 college you know professors we're at the Livingston Campus at ruers and we uh do professional development for teachers we're involved with curriculum Consulting work um we do all kinds of curriculum resources and we also recognize High School uh college and middle school students and from your District this year C Dixit is the one receiving an award let me tell you a little bit uh about s first of all she was the only sixth grader nominated and she won okay uh seventh and eighth graders are nominated my own grandson and granddaughter are middle school students but they weren't nominated I wish I could just present this to them as well um C is involved well every student let's put it this way every student gets good grades every student is motivated every student is polite just about every student has done some research project and that's how they're recognize see there was a committee of 10 of us and we looked at all the information that was submitted by Miss Tracy and CA okay is involved with a program that you might be familiar with called Rising tomorrow and she has been involved with helping people in your community with food needs with diapers with toys with young parents and I can tell you this okay that at ruter University we have this card and most of us don't think that college students are food insecure but when you think about it even in my community okay everybody works but if you're paid hourly or you have have a single income and you have a teenager or a pre-teen that eats a lot of snacks uh you find you run out of money and there are so many students probably in this community certainly in mine all throughout the state Suburban Urban that really they especially on the weekends maybe have one or two meals but not three meals a day and that's see you that was the one of the um f final reasons okay of why they selected the committee selected you and I also want to say to the board the number one mark of success of a student this is from Stanford history education group and other groups is when a student is involved with Civic engagement when they recognize a need in the local community and do something about it and alert others that is the mark of success we spend a lot of time on content and questions and tests but the true Mark of leadership and success seea is what you are doing and I want to encourage you to expand your network okay to others in your school your friends because what you're doing is very important I can assure you that the members here on your board of education were probably touched by some teacher because they're all volunteers they don't get paid for this and they probably were involved in high school or middle middle school or maybe it was in college of the importance of helping someone else and finally I would just like to commend you for your curriculum I do use it as a model your Middle School curriculum particularly has uh excellent compelling questions you blend in financial literacy into your 8th grade world history curriculum and you're one of the few schools in the state still teaching about Holocaust and genocide side and and encouraging students to understand the diversity of our world in the community so see you she's already seen this not okay first place Middle School student for central New Jersey I want to say thank you and congratulations C would you like to say something CA would you like to say something you want talk grab the grab the microphone and then we'll take a picture um thank you very much for giving me this award and thank you Miss Tracy for your guidance and nominating me I wouldn't have gotten this award with that for you so thank you very much thank you to my parents and family who help me get here thank you Mr bitten stay up here so we can get a picture I just have a couple things I'd like to say great and hardworking and above all kind CA you have made a positive impact in our community through a partnership with St Peter's university excuse me St Peter's healthc care system you have found founded a nonprofit organization Rising tomorrow indeed you have risen the tomorrows of many I'm so proud of everything you've done to help the common good and your volunteerism is to be commended congratulations I'm going to miss you next year I wish you all the best and I know you have many good things to come Mr Mrs Dixit would you like to join us and Mr bitten come on up the picture yese picture [Music] thank you so much Mr bitten and again congratulations see you that's it's a wonderful accomplishment and and we really encourage our students to be civically engaged and to volunteer but you've really taken it to the next level so you're a great role model for our students thank you now I know this is the event that you've all been waiting for uh all month this is uh Mrs ke's chance to share with us and our principal are our wonderful retirees and share their backgrounds and everything uh to honor them for all their years of service here in North brunsw so I'm getting the slideshow ready and you tell me when to change the slides am I the last one go all the way back sorry okay thank you uh Welcome to our annual meeting tonight so we're super excited that you are here um I must say I know most of you personally um as I've worked in the district for uh 23 years um it's great to see my um my former honors English teacher here tonight Mr Stern so to see you after something as I went to high school here myself but again congratulations to all of you were um so happy for you so excited for you very jealous um as well but um let's kick this off uh one of the things that we like to do um I you I I don't even know need our business uh administrator our accountant for this we calculated it ourselves um total years of District service of this year's retirees 437 years and 8 months that is amazing and again you know someone who grew up in North runs with someone who graduated here someone who has worked here um my whole career um I cannot tell you how impressed um I've been over the years to know you work with you and again uh celebrate your accomplishments of being in our district and for your uh many years of service and your dedication um not only to our students but to our staff and our community so again thank you and we will kick it off with John Adams I would like to invite our uh tea as well as Anna Linda and sus good evening everyone I'm an Kingsley the principal of John Adams and this is Carly Cummings the instructional Dean at John Adams I'm sorry my back with you but hello everybody back there um um we I I I didn't know that Mrs ke was going to tell you how many years uh all of the retirees so I will something like that in my thing too we have three Educators in John Adams who are retiring this year and although I am very old all of them have worked in the district longer than I have okay these ladies have a combined total of 99 years of service in the scho wow why don't you just work another year like to um uh so let me just tell you a little bit about them I'm going to begin with Linda L over there at the end with the beautiful white pant on Linda lewick has worked at John ads for 25 and a half years she began her John ads career in kindergarten and shortly after moved to first grade she gave birth to her first beautiful daughter Lauren and went on attorney leave I didn't really get to know Linda until after that um I was a few years later and I was a special ed inclusion teacher and I got to work in Linda's fourth grade classroom now when you are a teacher you don't really get to know the practice of the teachers you speak to them in the faculty room you see them when making copies but you don't get to see them in action however I got to see Linda in action and working in her classroom showed me what got a cry a little bit a kind fun and and organized teacher she was I'm sad to say that I only get to spend one year with her they moved me to another classroom but also something wonderful happened to her at that time she had her second beautiful daughter Lindsay right so when she returned from matern leave Linda worked in second grade and then she worked in third grade so if you've been following along Linda has taught kindergarten first grade second grade third grade and fourth grade yes she is that amazing which why is why it makes me sad to say that she is retiring we hope that you have lots of time spending relaxing with your daughters I know you're not going to be relaxing and I know they're not going to be relaxing but that's my hope for you and also with your husband Kyle you will be greatly missed Linda [Music] so Anna doomster you thought 25 and a half years was a lot right Anna Doomer has worked in John Adams for close to 36 years when she first started working at a school she taught third grade for nine years she also worked four years in first grade but she spent the majority of her time which is what she's doing now we'll do for the next few weeks is teaching our adorable little kindergarteners I think it was a difficult decision for Anna to retire because she loves being a teacher so much much however she does have many good things to look forward to she can take better care of Riley that's her dog right she can spend time with her dad and her siblings two of them are retired also she can of course spend time with her husband Tom and her son Matt but perhaps what she is currently most looking forward to is planning her daughter Amanda's wedding who will be get getting married next year so we will miss Anna very very much but we are so happy that you have so much to enjoy in your retirement congratulations [Music] [Applause] you okay and our last retiree um is Susan Stern and I'm going to begin talking about Susan Not Susan knows this story but it's it's uh not about her work at John Adam I I will explain to you she is um the director of John Adams right now but I would like to describe the first I'm going to try to make air quotes that I met her because I didn't really meet her this time I saw her but it was the first time I knew who she was I was a teacher at John Adams at the time and Susan didn't work at John Adams at the time she worked at Parsons she was at the luncheon for the teacher of the year and she was giving that award to the teacher from Parsons now apparently the woman who was receiving that honor was a big Miss America fan and Susan knew that so she contacted the Miss America Pageant and got tickets for the teacher of the year recipient to see the pageant I was really just so impressed by her thoughtfulness that I emailed I didn't know her but I emailed her the next day to tell her what a lovely gesture I thought that was and I still do think it was a lovely gesture Susan spent the majority of her time her North bral Career at Parson school I'm going to talk a little bit about that she began there as a grade teacher she worked at Parsons when her three children Emily Frankie and Michael were born she also worked at Parsons when she received her master's degree in administration Susan moved on from being a fifth grade teacher and then she took over the position of the gifted and talented teacher she did that for a couple of years and then she used that master's degree that she got and became the director which is kind of like an assistant principal at Parson school she had many roles in that position such as helping struggling students welcoming new families into school and increasing parents involvement in partis 11 years ago Susan transferred to John Adams became our director of Elementary instruction she has worked hard doing many things in John Adams such as planning bus evacuation drills those are always fun making the master schedule observing teachers and holding meetings to get services for students who need extra help in March Susan told me that she had decided to retire after 38 years in North Brunswick that's pretty impressive 38 years if I had anybody else to talk to I'd be up to like about 50 years but she best person right that is it 38 years that's really that is really impressive we would like to wish her good luck in this next chapter of her life where she plans to move to Bucks County Pennsylvania and spend time with her husband Walt and her handsome grandson congratulations okay [Applause] you I'm never one to shy away from a microphone uh I just want to thank the board and everybody in north brunwick um for allowing me to serve the children for the past 38 years um I'd like to tell people I grew up at Parson's but I grew old at John Adam so I had my children at Parsons and my became a grandmother uh here at John Adams and um looking forward to as an said spending time with my family and my little grandson uh but I'll have a lot of memories so thank you very much um for Jud we have our principal Dr Veronica Glover um and we have uh Carol and Rebecca here toight good evening my back sorry I'm not I am not texting my speech is here somewhere well I am honored to be here to be principal of these lovely two ladies and we will be sad to miss them but happy to you know see you go and uh start your next phas of life um first I want to talk a little bit about Carol Rosman um Carol has worked many years as an instructional Aid in the special ed department at Jud she has supported many students over the years by by providing high quality special education services to students at their least restrictive environment uh Carol has been a dedicated uh professional she yeah up until recently because she had to really was never out very dependable Carol was there every day um so she serviced her students in kindergarten I believe he began an lld years ago years ago years ago um and you know the students and family and staff that I've worked with Carol are grateful for her Support over the years and we will truly miss you but we wish you the best I should have brought paper bring paper Okay Rebecca so Rebecca Zenus Rebecca has worked the duration of her career as a speech language therapist at Jud Elementary over the years rebea helped countless students not only with their speech production and language development but also in their development as meaningful members of our school Community Rebecca has been an active member not only at judge school but of the special education department often taking leadership role to newer speech therapists over the years Rebecca implemented A Change and Service delivery for students with articulation needs that has been adopted throughout the district with great success Rebecca's collaboration with the teachers she worked with is notable as she often volunteered to expand their knowledge base of our staff in the area of speech language in order to best support our students many of the students that Rebecca has worked with over the years have successfully completed their speech language therapy and moved on without the need for further service a testament to the quality of service she delivered her presence as Jud and in the special ed department will be greatly missed we will miss you again we wish you well thank you [Applause] this time we'd like to call up Mr Sid Dawson principal of Livingston Park our retiree our plant manager Eddie junky good evening everyone and congratulations to all of our retirees I've got the pleasure tonight of uh celebra the career of a great person a really versatile guy um someone I'm proud not only to call colleague but a friend Mr Eddie shuny Eddie's been with the district for over 35 years he's been in several different buildings a variety of roles when I first started as a high school teacher I get to work with Eddie um who at that point was part of the grounds crew he's been a big part of John Adams school and the past few years um has been our plant manager at Livingston Park and as a plant manager you have to be really versatile we've got about 500 kids 100 staff members so we have one plan manager and Eddie works alone during his shift and anything that happens with the building hbac with heat with making sure the school can operate Eddie finds a way to make it happen he's reliable he's consistent and he does a great job at what he does but there's two things that I will always remember about Eddie and the joy I've had of working with him in my time in the first is he's all about the kids if a child needs something he will find a way to make it happen if there's an obstacle in front of him that prevents the child from getting what they need he'll find a solution and he'll make it work he is masterful with children and sometimes we don't think about someone in a plant role or a custodial role or a maintenance role and how important it is that they can relate to kids Eddie's wonderful with the kids the kids look up to them they F bump them in the hallway and we ask kids who do they connect with in the building there's always a few that mention Eddie and that's pretty special the amount of kids he's worked with at the high school um particularly our students who have special needs and find ways to involve them provide them with um Career Training connect them with opportunities embrace them work work with them um is really special and Eddie's going to be leaving us he's got a wonderful retirement ahead with his daughter Skyler his wife Nicole um but he's one of the people who's really built the Legacy uh for what our district values in terms of how we work together how we collaborate and what we can look forward to the other thing I'll really miss about Eddie is um his sense of humor in what can be a stressful role Eddie always finds a way to get get it done and then when it's all um finished and whatever the concern is has been resolved we always find a way to to share our laugh about it and we'll miss that tremendously but we're so excited for you congratulations Eddie [Music] just want to thank everybody for everything and 36 years of great friends and great relationships thank you from Parsons we have our principal Mrs Diana whan uh we also have Betty and phis thank you good evening everyone uh congratulations to all of our retirees and something that's really um touched me deeply as I see the presentations up here in the number of years that people serve in North Brunswick it truly is a testament to our district for how long people stay around in this district and you know it truly is a work that we all do together both with central office administration our Board of Education our parents our students and our families um it's a wonderful place to work a wonderful place to live and I think 4 something years close to 500 is a true Testament to that so congratulations to all of you so tonight I have the pleasure of honoring two of our staff members um today's a Bittersweet moment as We Gather to celebrate the retirement of someone who has dedicated over three decades of their life to shaping the musical talents and enriching the lives of countless students it's my honor to pay tribute to our instrument music teacher Mrs Phyllis bonad for 31 years Phyllis has been a beacon of inspiration and creativity in our school what sets her apart is her remarkable ability to nurture musical talent and students of all backgrounds and abilities many who walked into her classroom with little to no musical experience many of you probably had children play the viola first time they brought it home it sounded like nails scratching on the wall but she took that and they emerged talented musicians under her guidance Phyllis truly has a gift for unlocking the potential within each and every student instilling in them a love for music that will last a lifetime one of phyllis's greatest strengths is her flexibility in a world of Ever Changing academic schedules and demands she has remained steadfast in her commitment to providing quality music education to our students she's adapted her teaching methods and curriculum to meet the needs of every student ensuring that each child has the opportunity to excel in the Arts year after year Phyllis has tirelessly planned and executed wonderful concerts that have brought joy and pride to our school Community these concerts have not only showcased the Incredible Talent of our students but have also provided an opportunity for family and friends to come together and celebrate the power of music Phyllis your impact on our school cannot be overstated you have not only taught notes and rhythms but have instilled in our students the values of discipline perseverance and creativity your dedication to your craft and unwavering belief in the potential of every single student have left an indelible mark on our school Community as you embark on this new chapter of your life and retirement know that your legacy will live on in the countless lives you've touched on behalf of the entire School Community I want to express our deepest gratitude for your 31 years of service your passion for music and unwavering commitment to our students may your retirement be filled with music laughter and all the happiness you so richly deserve okay we also gather today to honor someone truly special in our school Community for over 15 years Mrs Betty Ball has been an integral part of our team dedicating her time and energy to ensuring the well-being and happiness of our students during lunch and recess Betty has exemplified what it means to go above and beyond in her role in addition to being a lunch and playground Aid Betty has been a Cornerstone of support for our students staff and parents alike whether it's ensuring that the cafeteria runs smoothly with utensils and items readily available like the true cafeteria queen that she is or going the extra mile to create engaging activities for indoor recess she always put the needs of our students first one of Betty's great greatest qualities is her dependability and her flexibility rain or shine she was there for our students ready to adapt to any situation with the smile on her face her presence has brought a sense of comfort and security to our school Community knowing that she's always there to lend a helping hand Betty your dedication and commitment to our school have not gone unnoticed you have touched the lives of countless students over the years and left a lasting impact that will be remembered for years to come as you embark on this new chapter in your life in retirement know that you'll be dearly missed but your legacy will live on on the hearts of all those that you've touched so deeply on behalf of our entire School community at Parsons I want to extend our deepest gratitude for your 15 plus years of service for unwavering dedication and your infectious positivity may your retirement be filled with joy relaxation and all the happiness you so richly deserve than I'm to call up our principal of lywood uh Mr JD shorter and our H honor who's here tonight uh Ed kaosi our assistant principal good evening everyone and good to see you all again um and congratulations to all the retirees um it's just good to see people being that long and just doing a phal job to the so I am here to talk about my friend and colleague Mr Egg Wy um again I am also about texting I'm going to read well let's begin so congratulations on your retirement and I wish you success in whatever life brings you which I'm sure will include boating fishing biking hanging out with your wife and hanging out with Goliath who his dog your career at Lynwood has been phenomenal from start to finish starting as a shop teacher 36 years ago in 10 months which is just an amazing number I'm moving to dean of students and then on to an assistant principal um you've been the Cornerstone at Lynwood School for the past 36 years um your hard work dedication to our Lynwood staff and to our students has been St um your amazing ability to see things and create multiple schedules whether it be Co whether it be changing of classes again you just have been phenomenal um and and your ability just to be the person who I can go to for everything has really really helped me J minous um the three things that I am going to miss about you personally Mr Kowalski is your hilarious sense of humor I can tell you at least a 100 times where we have been in a meeting and it's been very serious and everyone's stressed out but Mr K will come up with something that is just hilarious okay the laughter is just awesome and again I would truly miss that about you um also and you wouldn't know it but Ed's knowledge of music so Ed's knowledge of old school rap to Hard Rock to smooth reg like he brought some things up that I had to say you know what I do remember that lyric so just been amazing and something that we have really enjoyed also and the last thing that I say that I would truly miss is just he is someone that I can go to andent um I know there several times you remember I would come to your office and say Mr K I do not know what I'm going to do this person these things this situation and you've always been there to give me sound advice and I truly truly truly appreciate you and I tell you that Lynwood Middle School who was past now lywood school we will truly miss you we really really appreciate all the things that you have done for us thank you so I have had the uh privilege of working in the same district my entire career and also working in the same school my entire career in fact the other day when I was pulling in the driveway I was walking into the building and I was thinking to myself how many times have I walked in out of this building in the past 36 plus years and I did a rough calculation and it it comes to about 15,000 times so uh that is not what I'm most proud of at the same time I am so thankful from all the time that I've had here as an industrial arts teacher I was an industrial arts teacher for about 18 years and then I had the privilege of being a school administrator for the remainder of my career here um I think as I look back that I've learned just as much as I think I've given to a lot of the students and um and I really enjoyed my time here it's really something special to really spend your entire career in one building so and I am grateful for all the people that I've worked with who have helped me along the way throughout my career thank you so much Mrs junky is the instructional Dean um yeah I'm not just getting in the she's she's they're the house center together we actually do not have anybody from the Middle School retiring so we will say unfortunately um Cheryl Litman could not be here tonight from the high school but again science teacher for over 20 years in the district um and we applaud her as well we do have two District employees who are retiring I'd like to call Doug De Haven and Francis Ryan speaking on their behalf we have uh Mr Carol we have Mrs Hawk our business administrator I'm Paul Carol I'm the supervisor build Doug Haven's been with us for 32 years in the district the man's been on our roofs back in his younger days not re done everything from working on our roofs all our doors our floors he's crawled in his faes under this building we're going to miss him he's got expertise that we are going to have to fill his shoes and I I say we do have a good team he does Mentor the team we have now and we're just going to have to fill our shoes as best we can with each together been a great [Music] time say something sir you I just like to say uh thank you very much for letting me have privilege of working here for to bed I love my job I love you people these people the maintenance crew keeps doing what they're doing IES Paul and I comb our hair the same way it's not too many I don't think this is probably your first time anybody seen the way I comb my hair I just want to thank you very much I'm really sorry that uh I'm this old that I cannot get the service I like to give for the school district I love my job I love the people and I just want to thank you very much so our supervisor of transportation is not able to be here today so I actually have the privilege to introduce to you Francis Ryan so many times when you're driving throughout our town you see some of our smaller buses the St North Brunswick on it they carry our most precious asset which is our children and and we are so fortunate to have a group of drivers and AIDS that make sure that our children get to school safe on time and prepare to start to learn and we had the privilege of having Francis with us for over 15 years now he retired at the end of December and he quickly took off to start on his retirement and he started to travel but it is uh employees like Francis that really make our schools tick um and bring our our students ready to learn with all the teachers and all the great stories that we' heard from our instructional people our teachers and our AIDS so Francis we you have been missed because you've been gone for five months now um but we thank you for your service for the time you gave to our children and your dedication to North Brunswick uh Board of Education so contined uh enjoying your uh retirement and of course your travel I want to say thank you to everybody for many year 15 years of happy memories you I got to know I can only say back when the board was down at the at the work the transportation offices now I got to know Dr Z on the basic a for basis how many people can see in today's world if you walk in the company that you actually got to know the CEO of the company will recognize you by your first name that has I was left an impression and I am grateful for that thank you and thank you to all of our retirees who were able to make it tonight and our administrative team uh who is also here in family and friends and guest we do have a clack for each of you but due to some shipping uh issues uh we it will be here um shortly we will get those to you promptly I do apologize but again congratulations to all of you um you know wishing you just the best of luck and much happiness in this new chapter of your life that you have either started to uh take on or will be very shortly again for someone who grew up here in this District uh maybe not 36 years ahead but uh my whole career has been here as well um as as most of you and again just a testament again of the great community that we have built here in North Brunswick um all of these years of service and that careers are built here and and our staff um are truly appreciative as our parents students um and our our board so thank you again very much thank you Mrs ke that was terrific and thank you all retirees your years of service is just amazing to see and your dedic to our students and our community um is truly a thing of wonder in in the world today you don't see that kind of dedication of people committing and staying in a place for so long so that means so much to this community and to our students so thank you board members anybody well thank you all I uh greatly appreciate everyone being here and learning many of your stories um especially I recognize some of the faces at John Adams where I actually went to school um so I greatly appreciate all of you um especially you know serving our kids for you know a combined over 430 years I mean it's it's wonderful to see um you will all be greatly missed and we're very lucky to have had all of you um I just wanted to Second those sentiments a personal I guess I'm going to divulge a personal anot of mine um I try and live my life in a way that by the end of my life my hope is that I would have exhausted all the talents that I feel like the higher power has given me and I think that all of us kind of have that same desire to make sure that we use our talents well um and we serve well and hearing the diversity of different experiences from you all serving as instructional AIDS playground AIDS you know lunchroom AIDS or teachers or bus drivers plant managers um you all have brought your skills to Bear for the students of North Brunswick for the community and I am extremely grateful because you all make our world turn right it's very important and I just want to say a job well done thank you for your service and we hope to continue the good work in your absence and enjoy your retirement all right thank you thank you all we'll continue with our regular meeting um at this time we will move to item number six Mr Lori would you please take item six sure Madam president I'll make a motion to approve the following board minutes the regular public meeting minutes of April 24th 2024 and the excutive minutes of April 24th 2024 second all in favor anyone opposed the minutes are accepted thank you any Communications this evening no Communications all right um any old business or new business not today all right so we will move to your administrative report Mrs tra thank you madam president good evening to all our families guests and viewers here tonight our school district recently participated in the spring 2024 replenish program program a middlex county program where each School collects non- perishable food items to help feed the Comm community in a time where Feud insecurity is a real issue as we heard tonight already these donations help to assist our community members struggling to meet their basic needs I'm proud to say that as a combined School District we were able to collect over 2650 pounds of food uh for the local food bank schools will close early this Friday as we start Memorial Day weekend and we will be closed Monday as well on Election Day Tuesday June 4th we will have an early closing for students uh students only due to the elections in the buildings me messaging will be sent out shortly to parents so they can begin to plan ahead this is our last full full board meeting prior to the last day of school on June 19th please continue to watch the website in parent Square for end of the year notifications on events and and important of announcements I would also like to acknowledge our new Lynwood Dean who was on the agend who was already been actually approved uh last month Abby con as well as our new John Adams uh director for next year replacing Miss Stern um Miss Carly Cummings so if they'd like to stand up if either one of them would like to come say something after [Music] I so this is Miss Cummings she was approved last month yes you pick it up won't bite okay I'm also not texting good evening um I wanted to take this opportunity to formally thank you for approving my appointment to the position of director of Elementary curriculum and instruction I think that's the right title it's a whole lot longer than instructional Dean um North Brunswick has been my home for my entire teaching career and John Adams is the only place I have work so maybe I'm on track for 15,000 times in and out of the building um I began as a brighty 23-year-old college graduate and here I am 21 years later Landing in a role that has been my goal to take on I'm so incredibly proud to work here the ways that we support our students and how we work to help them to be a successful as possible is what keeps me here we do such amazing work here and I'm excited to continue to be a resource for our students staff and families thank you again for this opportunity thank you m k Miss con would you like to say something good evening um I'm grateful for this opportunity to be moving from the Middle School back to Lynwood to work where my career here began um I'm not from North Brunswick but um I call this home and I am hopefully going to be standing up here here um in 30 years accepting retir from you all well you might not be here young I'm very excited to to come back to to Lynwood where I started and um I do want to give just a little note about um Mr Kowalski who's here uh he play he has played a major um role in my journey into becoming an administrator and I'm grateful for him um I'm going to miss him because you know his career is ending and mine's just beginning but um I hope that I will do him Proud by uh serving the school as he has for the past 36 plus almost um years so uh thank you all and I I appreciate this opportunity thank you thank you so much Miss conone and that is it for my administrative report this evening thank you congratulations to you both we look forward to seeing you in your new roles uh we'll move to the student reports hello ladies hello uh so first off um on April 26th our mbts painted words hosted a successful coffee house event where students were able to Showcase their various talents on May 3rd our Latin American Club held s unus event members of the club were able to highlight the Hispanic culture through dancing music and fashion um and on May 10th the class of 2027 uh hosted a movie night fundraiser in the Commons it was well attended um on May 10th no on May 11th our South americ Asian culture Association hosted their annual Innovations event students performed a bali wood inspired skit with dances choreographed by fellow classmates and just last Friday May 17th the class of 2025 held the junior prom at the Pines Manor uh over 200 students attended the great gasby themed event uh by their class officers and class advisers this afternoon where I where where I was um there was class of 2024 kicked off their senior end of the year activities with the senior barbecue students were able to enjoy games food and ice cream while listening to students um play music they were called boys in the band back um and then lastly uh we have recently held our elections for sgo and um class officers for next year new members of executive board have been chosen and will meet next week for the annual leadership training conference and begin planning events for next year thank you that's all excellent thank you uh at this time we'll move to our committee reports we'll start with human resources Mr Brockman yes ma yes Madam president um uh the human resources committee uh Human Resources Community Relations Committee met on Wednesday May 15th to discuss the various personnel and Community topics for those on tonight's agenda who are either resigning retiring the board thanks them for their service and wishes them well and we'll be honoring them um at tonight's meeting um as as of last Wednesday vacancies for the 2024 25 school year uh were posted and include positions at the elementary middle high school and pre pres School levels for which alternate route and traditional route teachers candidates are encouraged to to apply several support positions in transportation were also posted the district also continues to seek out candidates for several bilingual teacher positions at the elementary level Miss ke shared a detailed spreadsheet with the committee on the status of all the open positions for the 2425 school year and most candidates are either on tonight's agenda for approval or in the final interviewing stages our administrative team recently participated in two job fairs sponsored by New Jersey school jobs and continue to encourage any new or current educator interested in joining our team to view our job openings on our website and social media Pages our new staff recruitment video can also be viewed on these sites there are several reassignments for this year and next year and we thank our staff for taking on these new roles our human resources department continues to actively recruit for substitutes and several new ones are listed on the agenda and we welcome them to the district uh we also reviewed the need to expand to two additional gifted and talented teachers at the elementary level as well as a math instructional coach for grades 5 through eight these positions will be budget neutral uh we also discussed any upcoming leaves of absences for the remainder of the school year and for the next school year and how those positions may be filled via daily subs long-term subs or six periods uh teaching statements um the committee reviewed the North Brunswick Township spectator code of conduct guidance and the district's the districts are anticipating an upcoming review of the new policy related to spectator code of conduct before the start of the new school year lastly the committee had a first reading of the civility policy thank you thank you uh the education committee Vice President James will be filling in for Dr Patel this evening uh yes I am the education committee met on May 15th uh Wednesday May 15th and we went over well our first order of business is that we had a presentation um by a committee that was established to um develop an application for the uh teacher climate and culture Grant it's an Innovative grant that uh Governor Murphy's task force on the teacher shortage decided that there were um some needs to look at the teacher shortage um and they proposed ways to reduce administrative burden um and so we had some staff that was gracious enough to put together a proposal for that Grant application um and so the key aspect is collaboration between the board and local and the association who were members of the task force um that presentation is still being uh dispensed amongst the board for consideration about um the application process and that will be under review in the near future to determine if we um are going to uh proceed with that Grant and what the inner workings of that might look like um we also went over um some other events ice cream for literacy nice what happened at ja Jud LP in Parsons um there was an update on our gifted and talented program which is our seeing our achievements Ras sore program for K to 5 um we talked about updating our K to 5 standards based report card um and that is currently under way we discussed uh a proposal for a math coach uh kindergarten night for um kindergarten parent night on May 30th at the middle school and also as it relates to assessments and grants we received updates from um uh Miss Chang who reported on the GPA schedule considerations for the 2425 school year that's the njpa testing um and we are looking at the testing schedule as it currently exists and determining if there are any possible alterations that could best suit our needs going forward um the acup plure testing is completed as as is njsla and dlm um and we received an update about the portfolio appeals process for 2024 we did have a first reading on on policy uh 5440 which was honoring student achievement um and we did finalize the uh version two of our calendar for the 25 2425 school year 2526 calendar um and that is now finalized and complete and as um superintendent shoka noted for June 4th we have early dismissal for election day um for our students and that concludes the education committee report thank you appreciate you filling in uh business operations will be given tonight by Mr Wen thank you madam president all right the business operations committee met on May 15th as well we discussed um that the 3 to fiveyear facility study report is nearly complete and is planned to be reported in June we also reviewed some prelim preliminary data for the demographic study which indicated that our enrollment seems to be stable however it is unknown if charter school or any uh influx of families with school- ag childrens may affect this we also discussed the following items pertain to the fiscal year 2024 and 2025 budget all of which will be motioned tonight firstly new visitor management system not to exceed $4,998 um which you can see in finance item 4M there's also the purchase of new security cameras for El elementary schools in Maple me not to exceed $231,000 373 uh Finance item 4L we also discussed the awarding of the long cutting services Finance item 4J uh we are renewing the agreement with remedy analytics for one year to help the district with reducing our health care costs through appropriate uh rebates this is finance item 4K we also discussed the renewing of the Chartwells contract Finance items 4 B and C um the most important piece of this is that um we will be able to keep the meal price is the same for our students and families um we also discussed items pertaining to our current U FY 2023 and 24 um the replacement of lywood kitchen refrigerator not to exceed uh 4,800 about about $4,800 paid through um the food Enterprise fund this is finance item 3D um we did discuss a very urgent need for the uh the High School auditorium lighting system which needs to be replaced uh with the cost not to exceed $684 $714 this includes a dimmer and control rack and house light rep Replacements also includes a required New Jersey code compliant emergency lighting egress package this work is planned to be uh for the end of June fortunately we can utilize monies in the capital fund as the upgrades to the lighting system have been in our previous doe Capital plan we'll be we will be utilizing a vendor from the co-op um they had previously worked on the stage light Replacements and this is finance item 3B we also discuss our transportation renewals that can be found in transportation items uh 2A and a resolution for participation in coordinated transport uh Transportation through um the ESC andj we briefly discussed the status updates on a number of existing work including uh the Linwood roof the major work is completed and we're just working on uh finding some sources of leaks um the forensic envelope assessment which has helped to identify some issues where uh water is not going through the uh the weep holes properly um we also talked about the rod Grant submission uh of the design consultant form and checklists just a number of things that still has to happen um and in the high school we talked about the pool work uh to tentatively start on August 26th and um just as the the other committee did we discuss the uh 20 2526 calendar um and the most notable change for the 2526 calendar uh will be that the Spring Break dates which will be more in line with some of the districts uh surrounding North Brunswick and that concludes my report excellent thank you for filling in appreciate it um negotiations Miss Keith uh yes Madam president um the negotiations team met with our teachers union on May 13th regarding our continued negotiations and today we met with our administrators regarding our partnership and collaboration I would like to thank Mr Dawson Miss whan and Mr felter for their partnership and their continued collaboration thank you uh I'd also like to personally congratulate Mr Ali and Mr Lori for receiving uh board member recognitions at the uh middlex County meeting we had earlier in May so congratulations to you both Mr Ali received the I believe new member certification and then Mr Lori received certified board leader which is I think the highest uh recognition you can get so congratulations to you both uh anything from our Liaisons Mr Carter who uh works with our Township Council and mayor sure the the next uh Township council meeting will be uh May 28th at 7 pm uh also there'll be a community meeting on May 30th with the mayor the governing body and the township directors at mle meet at 700 p.m. as well excellent thank you and Mr Ali who is our liaison for uh New Jersey school boards as well as middlex County School boards thank you madam president so last week we had our njsba general assem assembly which is essentially the governing body of New Jersey School Board Association so we discussed a lot of legislative topics that are going to be on the ballot for our second legislative meeting in the fall um the main three are the main ones that I think may impact our district just to um let you all know so we're going to be talking about waivers for some prek um we're looking to re-envision Charter Schools and we're looking to um start talking about caps on shared services so looking at like when we have extra or when we need different services around like school psychologist or just anything they're trying to think about a cap because inflation you know when these caps happen it it it allows our school district to have more funds and just to do more so when we have these caps it's going to allow the state to regulate how high these people can charge us and charge the district and charge you know the lovely taxpayers and then secondly um well lastly the biggest thing that we spoke about in my perspective was thinking about changing up how we conceptualize voting in school places so right right now as you heard um Miss Sher said that we're going to have a um shorter day on um on voting day because of that so was looking at ways to look at different voting places around town to help us have more time in the school with the kids so thank you excellent thank you we all uh have a lot going on so I appreciate everyone's collaboration throughout the last month uh at this time uh we'll move to item number nine uh Mr one could you please take item nine sure I'd like to make a motion to approve the administrative student and committee reports second all in favor I anyone opposed all the reports are accepted thank you so at this time we'll review our agenda for this evening um the board has received a copy prior to tonight's meeting anything new will be in bold so at this time uh we will review our agenda and we'll go through it pretty quickly as we've all received it uh so Pages three and four five and six pages seven and eight 9 and 10 11 and 12 13 and 14 15 and 16 Pages 17 and 18 19 and 20 21 and 22 23 and [Music] 24 2 25 and 26 27 and 28 29 and 30 31 and 32 33 34 and taking us to our last page of 35 thank you so at this time we will have a public session on agenda items only if anyone would like to come to the podium and speak to agenda items we ask that you please come and state your name sign in and you'll be given three minutes uh seeing none can I please have a motion to close the public portion of the meeting so move second all in favor I is anyone opposed this public session is closed thank you um Miss Keith can you please take item 13 cons agenda thank you I would like to make a motion to approve the following consent agenda items Personnel 1 and two curriculum 1 and two miscellaneous Finance items 1 through four policy and transportation one and two second I'm going to take a roll call Mr Ali yes Mr Brockman yes Mr Carter yes M James yes M Keef yes yes Mr Lori yes Miss to yes and Mr W yes all the motions and resolutions are appr thank you at this time we'll flip to page 35 where we will have a public session on any matter at this time um at this time if you'd like to come to the podium and speak on any matter we ask that you please state your name sign in and you'll be given three minutes good evening good evening um um some of you know me for the ones that do not know me my name is ke Stokes um I have a seven grader here in the district and I have two points that I would like to discuss um an incident involving my daughter Alana Stokes who is a seventh grader at the middle school occurred on 513 24 my daughter was brutally attacked by another student Alina quino this entire incident could have been avoided had staff and administration handled the situation properly By Number One removing Elena from the class being that she continued to cause a disruption within the classroom that prevented the students from learning I'm Sorry Miss Stokes I just want to make sure that we don't mention any other students names okay so if you want to refer them by initi can you do just do so is it okay if I mention my daughter's name yes no problem I puzzled as to why there was a lack of intervention from the classroom teacher when faced with the disruptive behavior that ultimately led to a disturbing altercation involving my daughter the failure to address the students disruptive behavior promptly and decisively despite numerous opportun unities to do so is deeply concerning this failure allowed the situation to escalate to a point where my daughter felt threatened and intimidated culminating into a physical assault it is quite evident that there are significant issues pertaining to accountability on the administrative front and that my daughter was made to suffer due to the lack of control by Administration I am even further perplexed by the absence of appropriate measures to control the situation by other faculty members and security Personnel the failure to disperse a large Gathering of students and prevent an assault on my daughter is distressing and raises serious questions and concerns about the safety protocols in place within the school premises the leniency of the disciplinary action taken against the perpetrator and the form of a mere 3-day suspension is woefully inadequate considering the severity of the incident and the trauma inflicted upon my daughter I am demanding a comprehensive explanation of what safety measures and protocols will be taken to address the systemic issues that have contributed to this distressing situation additionally please advise on the appropriate measures that will be implemented to ensure the safety and well-being of my daughter as well as other students within the district and my second issue um your three minutes are up yes okay thank you um Miss Stokes thank you for for coming and I I certainly understand when when something like this happens to your child how disturbing that is um we are more than happy to speak with you um from the administrative level and what we what we do ask though is you follow the chain of command so I don't know if you've met with Mr Mr Mr follow the chain of command I felt that it needed to be made a public issue because I'm not getting the proper response that I should be receiving regarding this matter so I will follow up with Mr sover and find out where things stand with that and then we will follow up with you tomorrow as well okay okay are you certain that you will follow up with me because I've had an issue in the past where I came here nobody has followed up with me I just want to make sure you will follow up with you we can assure you someone will follow up with you tomorrow we follow up with you would anyone else like to address the board all right seeing none can I please have a motion to close the public portion of the meeting so moved second all in favor anyone opposed this session is closed at this time we'll move to go into closed SE session whereas Section 8 of the open public meetings act chapter 231 PL 1975 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 therefore be it resolved by the northw Township Board of Education that the public shall be excluded from discussion of and action upon the here and after specified subject matters The General eneral nature of the specified subject matters to be discussed as followed Personnel matters 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 someone please move to go into Clos session so move second all in favor I e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e session so moved second all in favor I I anyone opposed we are back in session at this time we have a motion Mr Brockman sure I'd like a like to make a motion to approve the restoration of increment for employee number 6 550 effective July 1 2024 second okay I'm going to take a roll call on this one uh Mr Ali yes Mr Brockman yes Mr Carter yes Miss James yes Miss ke yes Mr Lori yes uh Miss to yes and Mr W yes this motion is uh passed thank you and can I please have a motion to adjourn our meeting so move second all in favor I anyone oppos we are done we are thank you all thank you thank you all