to the workshop portion of our meeting I'm going to begin with the uh board president's report um it's that time of year where we're going to begin the superintendent evaluation I want to get an early start on it um and I've spoken to Mr McCarthy and as in the past years our vice president is going to be handling the evaluation um he is going to be using uh New Jersey school boards Association uh the template that they have as well as Consulting with the field rep Dr Tim Tian and the New Jersey School Board Association resources at the next meeting Mr McCarthy if we can possibly work on some dates and deadlines absolutely good all right terrific yes ma'am president I will take care of that thank you um and the second thing I have is that sepa has reached out to all of our board members in regards to special education Excellence to the special education excellence board and three board members have responded Mrs Gilman Mrs McGovern and Mr Dalton so I have packets for you up here and um thank you for volunteering to do that it's really it's really a great night and I believe that the ceremony is going to be on May 8th at 7 pm at the intermediate school and our board is welcome to go and that concludes my report my report and that and we will move on to was it me or you superintendent report okay thank you so much good evening everyone I'll make a short report and then turn it over to the more important event of the evening but I would just like to uh remind everyone that school is closed this coming Monday and Tuesday and also I've had some questions about this I just want to clarify for everyone that because we did use two weather related school closings this year there will be no change to the school calendar and so the last day of school and the Tois and OTS graduations are scheduled for June 21st this year and there is no change to that calendar if we were going to change the calendar we normally would do it at this meeting but because we use those two w weather related school closings the calendar is correct as is and I wanted to make sure everybody was aware of that and also this month in Ocean schools we're celebrating autism acceptance across the district we have many uh different activities planned including a districtwide initiative uh with SEPTA to uh wear a similar t-shirt every Friday many staff members were seen wearing these shirts last Friday we also had our preschool parades in all three schools and a number of different activities centered on uh promoting autism acceptance um and this evening I'm very proud to bring a presentation from our Wayside School about one of the things although there are many that make Wayside School great I'm going to ask Miss palea and Miss Amy ston to come on up and and start their presentation I'd also like to recognize Mrs Hansen who's here too in support and Miss vona of the program and I will turn it over to miss paa at this point and she can introduce all of her helpers here they're gonna introduce okay wonderful thank you [Music] and Mrs Conway I think you can move to the presentation at this point thank you okay good evening my name is Amy beckon I'm the district special education instructional coach and I serve all five of our district schools when this role was crafted I knew in its first year that I wanted to focus on improving our inclusive practices and enhancing opportunities for peers to work together in addition our district initiatives and practices throughout the year have increased education and awareness to students and staff celebrated neurodiversity and build Community Partnerships with some great local organizations that support individuals with disabilities it's an honor this evening to share this wonderful program with you Spartan buddies has transformed the way our students interact and support one another both in and out of the classroom I want to note that many many students are part of this initiative and the group I brought with me tonight is just a small piece of our enormous team I have selected some outstanding participants that are eager to showcase the wonderful ways Wayside has paved the way for future success and strong School culture for students with varying abilities in addition to the wonderful Wayside students this program would not be possible without the support of our leader Miss Kaa our Innovative related arts teachers who we have some here with us tonight Mrs tackler our librarian uh Mrs Lee our art teacher and Mrs P who is our Music Teacher couldn't be with us tonight I would also like to thank my Administration in special education um assistant superintendent Hansen as well as my supervisors Kristen Bon and Kelly male for all the support and finally the Wayside staff and wonderful instructional assistants who support the students each and every day and never say no to my crazy ideas so without further Ado um Off Script I always even in the classroom thought nothing's better than seeing it firsthand from the kids so I hope you enjoy they're going to present for you tonight good evening we would like to thank the Board of Education superintendent Wen District administration and teachers our families and Ocean Township community members for giving us the chance to show you all about our Spartan buddies program at Wayside School we would like to take a moment to introduce ourselves I'm CeCe Torell Ryland Parson Duke poso qu Kelly SLO Fuller Madison Balmer Landon doer Lexi black hi I'm Carter hi I'm Carter hi my Owen my name is Sophia ston and this is my friend Abby say hi Abby [Laughter] weide School presents our inclusionary learning experience Spartan buddies students in grades two through four with varying abilities are learning to work together communicate effectively and build positive PE relationships alongside one another in special area classes with the support of our staff students engage and make connection to peers together these outcomes Foster a strong inclusive and empowering School community at w High School making it a place for all every Wednesday the students and SP buddies work together to complete art projects in the art room we practice many skills like cutting sorting materials using different supplies and socializing this helps our Young Learners buil on their skills and meet some new friends please advance two slides H H is a fun place to be with our buddies because we had to make lot of fun things get it you can go back yeah go ahead go back and this month we worked on signs to post around school to remind our Wayside community that we acknowledge and support autism acceptance month if you visit Wayside School this month you will see some amazing posters on display one of the best things about working with our buddies in art is that we get to be creative together please advance to the next Slide music is on Thursdays in music we practice movement sing theme songs together explore instruments and help each other learn about Concepts like Rhythm many of the Buddy pairs really they get to see what each other areed in music is a universal language and it's great to have the experience of helping one another come here do you love music tell me why you love music why tell them fun it's fun okay good job okay please Advance Friday's are for Library we start off by greeting our buddies and play and get to know each other games it's fun because we all get to participate then the fun continues with reading stories and doing fun projects most recently buddy pears are working on together on stem activities that turn on our creative thoughts this time gives us a chance to interact with our peers in ways we never had before we learn so much about each other I learned that kids have interest like mine and we can use that to build stronger peer relationships it's more important for the kids to be able to communicate with one another so we can help each other what's a ha one of the examples of what we did was we I read a book not a box and with their buddies they went through the process of figuring out what could they make from a a box and um we have things like school buses because one child loves school buses another one loves cats so she made a cat um we have a hot air balloon a rocket ship a TV and a castle rocket and they all work together and created it and put it together and it was just a whole lot of fun I think at least I had fun please advance to the next slide sparting buddies has made our school Community an accepting place not only are we getting to know our buddies in special area classes but we are also connecting lunch time in recess too in other programs we get pencils certificates and stickers for participating but Spartan buddies is different Mrs Deon reminds us the best reward is the warm feeling in our hearts now that we know some things about our program we want to show some cool facts this program is the first of its kind in Ocean Township we hope to continue its success around town over 100 students are signed up this year to be a part of Spartan buddies parents get weekly emails summing our summarizing our experiences with Miss and Miss paa gives shout outs to incredible includers each Monday on the morning announcements once SP communicate with one another these words sign communication devices and nonverbal gestures just name a few we hope you enjoyed our presentation has been our pleasure to tell you all about the wonderful ways way at school has become more inclusive this year how good was that um a awesome one of you um I can't tell you how this has transformed our school I mean I just my my vision was just for students that don't usually interact to high- five each other in the hall to give an a shout out and it totally has opened the eyes of all students staff and the special area people have embraced what's going on and have taken the program to to a whole different level I I can't I can't be more proud because Wayside all right thank you everybody that was absolutely amazing we are so proud of you all great job great job yes that concludes my report that was an amazing report as well then um with that we are going to move on to we'll go to the next section of the meeting but if you were planning to maybe not stay till the end this would be a good time to make your way out thank you so much parents we know we're in this together thank you so much great job Spartans good job okay everyone I think we are gonna begin uh with Mr um Mr Hastings with the school business administrator's report thank you madam president uh just a short report we submitted the tenative budget for 2425 to the county department of at office uh for review by the county business administrator uh the budget was approved over our spring break uh we placed the advertisement that appeared in this last Friday's Asbury Park Press uh and I wanted to remind everybody our Public Presentation will will be on our next meeting on uh April 30th great thank you so much okay we will move on to the public comment section all motions are posted on the district website at this point in the meeting we will now conduct the first of two public comment sessions the first session will be open for public comments on agenda items only and the second session will be at the end of the meeting and can be on any topic would anyone from the public like to comment on any agenda item at this time anyone in the room Miss Conway is there anyone in the queue good evening Madam president there are no commenters in the queue thank you very much we will move on to action items Mr McCarthy move to approve items 7.1 and 7.2 do I have a second second for the approval of items 71 and 72 Mr Dalton yes Mrs Dam yes Mrs Gilman yes Mr McCarthy yes Mrs McGovern yes Mr Schneider yes uh Mrs Tarico yes Mr Weinstein yes and Mrs paramas yes thank you Personnel Miss McGovern I'd like to um appr move for approval items 8.1 to 8.9 may I have a second second for approval of all items 81 through 89 questions comments Mr D oh oh I apologize no issue um I I would just like to comment on uh Mrs desantis's retirement um you know we talk a lot in in board meetings about the opportunity for education to start at the home uh she's not only an individual who taught in this district for as long as she did but she raised three Spartans who came up through our school district I had the Good Fortune of spending many weekends at her home uh and education was always at the center of whatever we did in her house uh and so she did a great job of contributing to my growth as a young man in this district and uh I think she's a wonderful woman and I'm sorry to see her leave us uh but I wish her Fair Winds and following Seas okay thank you Mr Hastings this is for all items 81 through 89 Mr Dalton yes Mrs Dam yes Mrs Gilman yes Mr McCarthy yes Mrs McGovern yes Mr Schneider yes Mrs Tarico yes Mr Weinstein yes Mrs paramas yes all items carry thank you financial management and Resource Services Mr Weinstein um thank you madam president um like to move for approval um uh 9.1 and 9.2 and any discussion around 9. um 3 to 9.6 second I think we just want to vote on 91 and 92 right is there any questions on either of those two no no okay okay this is for 91 and 92 correct Mr Dalton yes Mrs Dam yes Mrs Gilman yes Mr McCarthy yes Mrs McGovern yes Mr Schneider yes Mrs Tarico yes Mr Weinstein yes and Mrs Paramus yes those two items carry so jefff is there anything you like to say about 9.3 to 9.6 at all or do anybody have any questions about those or anything you want to say Jeff uh yes I would just point out two things um on the safety Grant this is an annual um application the district makes to our through our insurance carrier at New Jersey schools Insurance Group and through the subf fund which is the uh mamamo Ocean County shared services Insurance Fund uh each year we get uh various amounts of funds that can be utilized for safety uh improvements throughout the district uh we are going to move forward with that application and uh we'll look at District safety needs and and uh put those into the application one of the things we are looking at is the former uh grant that we put in through the uh uh community policing um grant that we did not receive so we'll look at those items and see what we can incorporate into this uh amount but this is significantly less than than what that was so we will certainly not cover all those things um the second issue I just wanted to point out for the board in 9.5 is that we are approving uh the or well next meeting will be approving sedexo to renew their contract for next year the prices you see here are not the prices we charge our students these are um prices charged by sedexo to the district that was good that was going to be my question I thought that was what we were charging thank you for clarifying that right M mcgoverin um on Theo I know that every year we get these numbers we also sometimes get um what what they're charging deal to make sure that the prices are the same are you know sometimes set up since it goes through our kitchen can we um just have that number if possible you know absolutely anyone else any questions Mr mcy I I just wanted to it's a quick point of inquiry we put the contract the major contract out to bid last year yes this is our first year under the new contract yeah so this is not a one that went out to bid this is just approving an increase to the existing contract this is a renewal for next year of the same vender and we can do that up to five years okay so we don't normally it's not normally our practice to put that out the bid no thank you Miss Stam so um as Mr Hasting said so this is what they're charging us is the increase going to then affect what we're charging the students well each year the state puts out a range of pricing that they suggest districts charge okay for breakfast and lunch to their students for full price uh they require us to be in within a certain range of that price whether it's a little lower or a little higher um I believe in the past uh We've slowed the increases or reduced the increases uh to lessen the impact of those prices and uh in speaking with sedexo the tool that the state puts out for us to evaluate those prices is not yet available but they're looking for that uh in the month of April uh so we'll know those student prices and we'll approve the student prices probably in May okay and just to piggyback on that if a price let's say we have to increase it right if the price gets too high for a student a parent has can let us know or let the school district know that and we can do something about that because if we're forced to increase it but they can't afford that how do we resolve that right so the um State and the federal government puts out the uh through the national school lunch program uh they annually update the um guidelines uh for qualifying for free Andor reduced price meals uh so uh we'll certainly update that uh and the state has another program um uh in place right now that helps offset some of those costs great but we can't guarantee any particular person would you know qualify Mr Weinstein are the are the prices for all the districts the same prices that that they charging or they or do they vary District to District district to District yeah I don't know off the top of my head um I would think different districts have different needs and different economic circumstances based on uh their demographics uh however that does uh then work into the percent of free and reduced uh population that they have so I can check on that for you well the actual the actual price for the meal should same meal same meal should be same price same price right um perhaps again I can't commit to that answer one way or the other I'm just kind of um yeah I don't know either but there could be some variation to the offerings like the contract that the district into with food service are you talking about the charge for the student on any particular meal that they would pay I actually I guess what I was so if we look at neighboring districts perhaps the lunch that served in Asbury Park may be different than the lunch that served in Wall Township versus Ocean Township yeah so those prices may not be similar uh in terms terms of based on what's being served okay okay but again I'll follow up and get answer for so just just you mind if I keep going for a no go ahead so so I can't remember but this was a couple years ago where we went we asked to go out to bed right last year last year your your memory is going back to so as last year we did this so so are we locked into to them for five years or is just our ability to renew for f every year for five years so the state has a very prescriptive method of bidding Food Service management companies yeah uh and that's a very involved process needs a lot of lead time so the state does allow us to renew uh for five years however if we're dissatisfied with the service of any particular company at any given point we can uh then go out to PID before that uh contract expires okay okay thanks sorry one more question I and I probably can figure it out myself if I look through the contract but I feel like last year years ago in the contract I don't know if it was the contract or it was just a sedexo program when they did the and this is not based on this but when they used to do the they used to do the where the kids cooked and it was competition I can't remember the name of it right now wonderful young chefs thank you young chefs sorry to point um and I believe we were talking to them about bringing it back and it did not come back last year so I just would be interested if we're in the contract at any point to see if that's part of the contract is something that that was a service that was supposed to be be done um if not how do we start that again I think that students really enjoyed that staff enjoyed it board members enjoyed it um it was the last day we did it was the day before Lally day we did it and the next day we shut down so um so if we can find out if that's something that's coming back to sedexo or if it was in our contract and we should be getting that service I would just be interested to know course so we can check the contract and see if that's in in the contract it's also sometimes based on participation so if you have a very low participation one year they may discuss not continuing it the following year and then uh some of the bidding specifications and requirements come into question and it may not apply to this particular program uh but sometimes there's a feeling that in in order to keep the uh playing field level for all companies that may want to apply whether they be large or small that the district's not put in extras uh into their bid specs so but we'll check and see what's in there to see if they're ready to start back up again okay thank you Mr Schneider the the cost uh for breakfast the fixed cost for breakfast and lunch is that an annual cost per student that's a meal cost per meal so if you were to buy today if you went up to buy breakfast this morning for the whole year Well it goes day by day right so if you were to go in this morning if you were gonna go in this morning and get breakfast s EXA would charges $252 and5 I was in so it it seems very uh small so I was I was curious to see what the concern of the board like the current The past members was around sedexo contract is 1% CPI seems reasonable and this economy or I didn't know if you guys were thinking the quality of the foods not as good as it should be considering the cost or is there better options out there I didn't have a problem with the cost I just yeah I think we just no I just I I was more just curious if they were the same because if if there's fluctuations we probably should know why the fluctuations right yes and I believe the letter that's attached uh they discuss CPI and the increase of food costs uh over the past year as their primary reason for increasing this fee okay anyone else all right we will move on to instruction and education and Student Activities Miss Gilman certainly Madam president I'd like to move to approve items 10. 1 to 10.4 curriculum writing internship PD and our school field trips any questions or discussion second anyone have any questions no items 101 through 104 Mr Dalton yes Mrs D yes Mrs Gilman yes Mr McCarthy yes Mrs McGovern yes Mr Schneider yes m Mrs Tarico yes Mr Weinstein yes Mrs Paramus yes okay is there any old business from the board is there any new business all right at this time we'd like to take public comment on any item anyone in the room Miss hay good evening Alex hey from Oakhurst um somebody just said I wasn't really concerned about the prices of these lunches or lunches um 1% increase isn't the problem it's $4.60 for the price of a lunch and in order to get free or reduced lunch in this town you need to make $55,000 roughly or less the average family making even $100,000 a year or $460 time several kids per day is too expensive a quick Google search and while I'm just sitting here um e uh Wall Township I'm sorry Ying schools is $330 these are only the quickest ones that came up for lunch $330 for the high school $310 for the elementary schools and breakfast in buing Township New Jersey for through this year is a 95 so I I think you guys um should maybe be concerned about the price of school lunches um and I don't believe the 1% increase is that big of a deal because they'll probably having prices go up but why different districts are paying different prices beond um I'm curious uh there's been several phone system down email blast throughout the district in the last month where either an entire School sent out a blast saying the schools phones are down or the whole district has been down so I'm just wondering what's the status of that and why does that keep happening um I'm also curious we had a number of uh substitutes on the agenda today um I know each district has like different levels wondering if we have a minimum of 60 credits per substitute and some of these questions on mind following up afterwards uh the safety Grant as U Mr hings was mentioning it would be nice if we could get you know some of those things that folks have been asking for years for like districtwide remind um other uh ways to eblast parents and families with some of that grant money um from what I could tell there was a termination added to the agenda after there was an employee suspension um you know how you guys update the agenda in the afternoon the day of the meeting meeting so that's curious um and I think my last comment here is well two comments I'm sorry how nice of you guys are starting the superintendent evaluation um Kelly's doing a fantastic job much better than her predecessor who you guys did not even do a superintendent evaluation for so I hope you guys actually do one this year um I'd like to know where uh the summer camp that was going to go to wanasa decided if they are going to any school district um that would have been a nice $250,000 chunk of change and I think that's it right now okay thank you anyone else in the room Miss Conway is there anyone in the queue yes Madam president there are a couple of commenters our first one is Tiffany fiser please go ahead can you hear me yes okay as many of you know all four of my children are on the autism spectrum I want to take this time to discuss the lack of involvement from the district during autism acceptance month it is nice to wear t-shirts and have preschoolers March in a parade but I guarantee if you ask a three or four-year-old what autism is they don't know I have asked begged pleaded over many years to incorporate teaching of famous people on the autism spectrum it hasn't been done my daughter had collaborated designed and sold a dress internationally at the age of six my son knew every country and their capitals US president and species of dinosaurs by age five my other daughter also had uh numerous art shows uh throughout Mammoth County and different galleries starting in age nine my other son knows every working of every Muppet on Earth he could be the next Jim Hensen who by the way is on the autism spectrum these kids along with many others are being ignored Michelangelo Leonardo da Vinci Thomas Jefferson Henry Ford and numerous others should be discussed this month I have done my part my children know all of these individuals the district needs to teach typical children because they are the ones who bully our children for being different I will leave you with a quote from my 9-year-old daughter they don't teach us about famous people with Autism because they don't think that they are important because they don't think that we who have autism are important inclusion matters have a good night thank you for your comments Mrs Fischer Miss Conway yes our next commenter is Christina Stoner please go ahead hi um I just wanted to say two things number one I thought the Wayside Buddy's presentation was absolutely amazing so they all did a great job and I love seeing that they're doing that in the school and then I did have a question about the prices of the sedexo it says it was a one% increase but currently a lunch is $325 so that's not a 1% increase so I I just want to know if that's the actual projected price well we can answer your question at the board meeting at the board yet tonight at the board meeting but please reach out to miss Welden uh that that actually I have a third comment I really do not like that you don't answer questions because as a school in a school Community every single person has the right to know and is encouraged to ask questions we're told as we tell our students you know there is no stupid question you're encouraged to ask questions so that everybody can learn so if I'm the only one received an email with that answer then the rest of the community is not receiving the information so that's just a comment thank you Mrs Stoner we appreciate it thank you is there anyone else Mrs Conway no Madame President there are no further commenters okay Miss Hayes um I just wanted to Echo what Miss soner said thank you for for speaking up about the lack of answering questions because the answers do get you know in a silo um Mr Hastings would also know that the Asbury prices for schools are completely free because 100% of Asbury schools are free and reduced um if you want to look at Neptune Neptune High School pays 375 for lunch Middle School 350 Elementary School 325 once again I'd like to reiterate going up to $460 is ridiculously expensive for a town that's 40% reduced free free and reduced lunch thanks thank you all right being that there no that there are no other comments I'd like to make a motion to adjourn the meeting May I please have a second Mr mcy thank you meeting is adjourned