e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay I'd like to start the meeting pursuant to the New Jersey open public meetings as njsa 10-4 adequate notice of this meeting has been uh provided by advertising such notice in the home News Tribune the Asbury Park Press the board office the schools and on Cable cable vision channel 118 and Verizon files 24 and by filing such notice with the Township Clerk this meeting was scheduled for Tuesday June 18th 2024 the board will take formal action on payment of bills and any other agenda items thank you the Oldbridge Township Board of Education acknowledges that the law of this state establishes that members of the public including members of the board have the right to record public board meetings using audio or video recording devices provided that the act of recording does not interfere with with the business of this public board meeting therefore the board makes it known that any such recording is to be considered the private recording this individual and in no manner represents the official record of this board the board therefore takes no responsibility for for such private recording and completely disavows any future use thank you Mr W roll call please Dan tuno here jirano here jod here Francisco here lent Marquetta here mazone here Slade here solowski here we have a quorum thank you would everybody please rise for the pledge thank you it's awfully loud okay next week who would like to do the code of etics okay Marge it's all yours okay student uh representative anything to say no okay but we would like to recognize you tonight yeah we're going to do it during um you want to do it during the recognition superintendent okay okay we have a lot of recognition tonight Mr sadino can I get you over to the podium please March thank you Mr President welcome everyone here at the board meting this evening as is tradition I'm carrying on with the June is Aloha season so the Aloha church will be in season through all throughout June uh recognition one of our favorite parts of these meetings and on the first one we're going to recognize move the board to recognize lakshaya vadan she is a seventh grader at Carl Samberg Middle School she was selected as the Middle School winner for congressman Frank Pal's poetry contest laya's poem titled inclusion let it be won the Civic engagement category look sh would you do us the honor of reading the poem sure I oh you do have why wouldn't you I also have your speech for you your poem for you if you needed it inclusion in inclusion inclusion let it be the needle and thread to weave a pattern of diversity let it be the cherry on top of our character Cream let it sew the seeds to strong friendships let it create the trust of holding someone's hand let it sound like a Harmony that Echoes each sound Let It Shine Like a moon in our Darkest Hours let it give the warmth of sunlight to the bitter cold of challenge let it seal like a bandage to cure our hurtful damage let it support our fragile Hearts like an unbreakable spine let it sculpture our acceptance and our perceptions let it write like a pen that doesn't hesitate to paper our thoughts let it destroy the divisions of each and every one of our personalities let it celebrate the culture we are vehement about to follow and share let it taste tast like Delight for a continuation of unity and movement let it paint the Shades of Gray in options of black and white let it stain the permanence of its impact and rights for us all to know that in a world full of murmuring Whispers constant hurt and intersecting differences we can let one thing be inclusive inclusion thank you thank you Laya I'm going to present you with the certificate from the Board of Education and I'd like to have your vice principal Mr Tim gford join you on the stage for a picture with a board member and myself good go ahead Mar Center very good [Applause] okay number two Miss maone I'm sorry Mr Elena Isabella can you join us up here move the board to recognize Isabella Zario she's an eighth grader at Carl sanberg middle school for her selection as the Middle School winner of the New Jersey asbo 13th annual student artwork exhibit I will allow you to show at the audience your artwork because they'll think I'm biased because of what you won I didn't I wasn't in the selection process but you could show it to the audience very nice can we get the three of you up here for a picture here for a picture Mr sadino Elena before we do the picture okay go ahead I do have something else to read uh from the New Jersey asbo the New Jersey Association of school business administrators celebrated the 62nd annual conference with the school business administrators and leaders attending at the state on June 5th through June 7th the New Jersey asbo has been proud to feature artwork from our talented New Jersey students during the conference the spring 2024 conference marks the 13th annual student artwork exhibit in which the artwork is displayed for members to view and appreciate the fine work that's performed by our students all attendees have the opportunity to vote on the student artwork with a winner announced at the final session on Friday June 7th um Mr White just approximation how many people attend that conference um well there's about 500 plus districts in the state so you have at least 500 Business administrators attending really so I would say probably close to 700 people had the opportunity to vote and out of that this year we would like to congratulate our own Isabelle zako that for e8th grade as a sanberg middle school was selected with its winning artist for the Middle School Division with that beautiful piece of artwork which is a great looking labador retriever if I may say so myself um we have a gift card from you for you from Amazon from the organization of school business administrators and the last thing I'd also like I'd be remiss if I didn't uh thank our own here Board of Education please acknowledge that for the past 13 years old Bridge's own um CJ cly Johnson has been working to coordinate the artworks in Miss at the New Jersey ASO conference from around the state so we'd like to recognize Miss Johnson for her commitment to New Jersey ASO and but more importantly her commitment to recognizing student [Applause] achievements on one more okay we're on recognition number three Mr sadino at a Podium can I get let me see at this time can I have our athletic director Mr Dan deino please join me at the dance [Applause] all right so I wanted to just start off in congratulating all the Spring sport athletes and families on an incredible season being able to successfully balance Athletics and academics takes hard work or organization and dedication all these attributes will assist our student athletes in their future endeavors and I'm incredibly proud to watch our athletes grow and develop while being part of our teams tonight I'd like to introduce and celebrate four athletic programs that are here winning either their division Conference Championship sectional Championship or State Championship uh first up we have our girls lacrosse team here to accept the award is coach Kaji and the girls varsity team congratulations on winning the Red Division and Conference champion [Applause] ship girls form uh somebody be kneel down they just keep coming than all right next up we have our varsity baseball team here to accept the award is coach danu and the varsity team congratulations on winning the GMC Conference [Applause] Championship e all right next up we have our girls golf team here to accept the award is coach alsbach and coach waserman and the varsity girls team congratulations on winning the white division championship first time in school history e last but not least is our boys varsity volleyball [Applause] [Music] team before I uh call up the coaches in the team I just want to congratulate them on winning the Red Division Championship Conference Championship group four state sectional championship and overall group four state championship also undefeated for the first time in school history an incredible incredible season uh here to accept the awards we have Coach hotman here we have Coach Coupe we have Coach latch and we have Coach bani Francis bani and the varsity volleyball team come on up to accept the [Applause] award e congratulations again to all spring Sports incredible incredible season very good okay recognition number four so good that's the the principal are going to get up but it's yours go ahead yeah yeah they give them something to do all right we'll get started good evening okay we'll wait a couple of seconds until the crowd leaves okay I see okay Miss H Dr hooker good evening Oldbridge schools have been recognized for more than 50 promising practices tonight we have two honores I'd like Dr pton to come on up to the podium Dr Giles of Miller School Miller mathematics is the promising practice was not able to be here tonight but I have a statement to read for her this is a little bit of a tongue twister Miller's magnificent mathematicians was initiated to ignite interest in the areas of math that Foster success a Deus mindset regarding mathematics frequently arises from exasperation caused by the repetitive nature of computational and algorithmic tasks a more positive relationship results for students when students are encouraged to think about relationships and patterns in their studies taught thoughtfully math and gender critical thinking logical reasoning and higher cognition skills this program focuses on students that Encompass the mathematical practices the standards of perseverance reasoning discussion modeling strategizing precision Vision structure and use of patterns were the guiding principles one student is chosen from each math class nominated by their teacher 104 students have been awarded in our first year each Honore is presented with a certificate and a small prize to Comm commemorate the achievement then a group picture is taken with the principal Dr Giles the response from the student staff and parents has been overwhelmingly supportive and enthusiastic Miller School looks forward to continuing the program again next year they've completed a rigorous application and we're honored by character.org I'm going to ask Dr Pon to share his promising practice I did bring sorry I did bring some photos just to depict our promising practice uh to my immediate right good evening board president and fellow board members the building bridges program at Mo Elementary School was inspired by a promising practice principle number three it is a multiphase initiative aimed at revitalizing The District's existing character education program the school's present character education program is centralized around the following six key pillars caring citizenship responsibility respect trustworthiness and fairness throughout the 23 24 school year students participated in monthly tled lessons and activities led by teachers and the guidance staff these lessons were carefully designed to Foster connections among Learners promote character growth and nurture a sense of community and embrace diversity and acceptance these practices included classroom lessons using restorative circles focused on community building empathy self-reflection strengthening relationships and Equity through these classroom lessons students deepen their understandings of the six core values grades 3 through 5 students were paired with K to2 as character buddies to serve as mentors encouraging positive behavior modeling social skills and reinforcing character traits the program culminated in a collaborative stem project where the older students worked with the younger peers to create various work products using stem materials like Legos engineering sticks magnetic tiles and other manipulatives these challenges were crafted and required students to apply various Lessons Learned earlier in the program such as how to effectively and skillfully navigate obstacles that arose after completing the stem projects students reflected on their experiences and learning where older students were writing Reflections and younger students were illustrating their responses in their character journals at the end of the school year these journals will serve as a Keepsake for students symbolizing the character education Journey they embarked on this school year I would like to publicly acknowledge the memorial team our character Education team from within the building and certainly our esteemed guidance counsel to my immediate right Dr salner thank [Applause] you come on okay we're on recogition number five nowo that would be me oh I'm it's still your I'm still here I'm sorry we are honored to recognize I'm going to ask Mrs ketti Lori ketti from mcdot school to come up to the podium I'm honored to recognize Mrs colleti for the re the character education nomination for a national school of character mcdot school has been recertified as both state and National schools of school of character the McD character Ed team coordinated the process of really a rigorous process of the going through the application um submitting at the state level and then again moving on on to the National level they were participated in a state visit um I'm sorry National visit and have now been recognized and recertified which is all of our schools have that recognition and go through every five years the process to con maintain it Lori did you want to say anything just a board president board members MC divic community and community of Oldbridge just like to say thank you from mcdot um the team works really really hard and I'd like to recognize the teachers and the parents and the students and Madison everybody works very hard at trying to do all of the things that happen at school we hear about so many unpleasant things and when we come into school every day we want to be with one another we want to help one another we want to be kind and it's a wonderful place to be every day and I have to say thank you thank you to all of [Applause] you thank you okay I blew over approval of minutes uh but our attorney said it's okay because we're not going to worry about that this week right we're going to motion for the recognition yeah right okay can I get a motion to move recognition through five please Francisco will second roll call please SED yes Dan tuno congratulations to all the programs and thank you to all the staff that made this happen yes Jano yes jri yes Francisco yes lent Marquetta yes mazone yes solowski yes resolutions one through five for recognition passes thank you uh superintendent report do we have one we do have a special presentation uh today under superintendent's report uh next week under superintendent's report we'll have the uh twice annual habb uh report that has to go out but um today I think we're going to start off with Miss JRE is doing a special presentation then I think M duno has one as well okay um I'm very happy to um present to nesty a gift from the Board of Education we are so grateful for your commitment and dedication and also for your commitment and dedication to the to the students of Oldbridge so thank you so much congratulations on your gradulations thank you uh on on top of thanking Nessie for her work this year I'd like to thank the TV seniors if they could come up for a second you want me to get behind the camera no we're gonna put teacher I was gonna say two just walked out before uh sure we can all right to be continued later all right so all right you gotta hold for that part then we'll come back to that thank you okay we'll put that part on hold um so progress towards goals I wanted to update the board as part of our progress we've made towards our strategic plan and that was you know one of the things in there was re-engaging our students especially students impacted by uh the pandemic uh students who aren't necessarily the students who want to come to school or participate in academic events or athletic events or other extracurriculars so one of the things that the S Grant allowed for was money to be used towards extraordinary ways of getting students engaged in school um we used that towards our learning labs and an offshoot of our learning Labs gave us the possibility to have the Esports program something that opened up opportunities for students who normally may not be uh looking to be engaged engaged in school something that gives students great opportunities so tonight I have uh one of our spearhead people one of the coaches from the high school program uh Robert Weiss thei I think correct third and he's going to talk to us a little about the eorts program ort coach should know that right so good evening everyone thank you for having me and giving me the opportunity to share with the board and the community um what alridge Esports has been transforming into um go ahead so while the first thing a lot of us think about with orts is video games maybe not necessarily being educated related there are in fact educational and professional opportunities in addition with 21st century skills that can be learned through Esports um while this chart may seem a little bit overwhelming you go ahead and click it um there is a reduced version and these are skills that we have been working with our students to build um and it has which I did want to put out it has been recognized by the state level organization Garden State Esports as a standout program in the uh in the state so we started back a couple years ago um 2002 Winter 2002 with Carl Samberg um and they were close to about 100 interest um a lot of kids came out we worked with them with content design and we formed two rocket League teams there um surprisingly we did fantastic the middle school team took third in the state their first year um of that uh go ahead click we had one student um that was named Allstar an Allstate player in the middle school and we got to compete at Kane University in person uh our first season we spearheaded the second season in Spring 20123 uh at sanberg as well with rocket League again and content design the rocket League team we up to three teams and one of the teams took again third in the state um they got to travel to Stockton University and play at stock University's facility um so a couple photos here and then we move on to the fall 2023 season which is the beginning of this year where I would say we really kind of start catching our stride um Samberg continues to operate with rocket league and content teams while Sal is founded and they do a great job right there uh at their school as well with one player being named an all state player in Fall um at the high school we started in Fall 2023 as well um and we began creating our logos which you could see on the screens um we became twitch Affiliates real quick which is showing how fast our followers in the school or kids in the school were beginning to follow it and we competed in two separate games at a varsity level um there are currently about 300 schools or organizations in the state of New Jersey competing in east ports um of these two teams um our rocket League team and our Super Smash team finished top eight in the entire State um we designed our content team had designed Varsity logos um next one right there um so we have varsity jackets designed by the esport team and varsity letters specific to the ort team as well um we've taken class trips field trips to universities such as cane so that way they can learn about the different opportunities at the college level that Esports presents um there are scholarships and it is becoming an actual undergrad major that students can attend um the winter season again growth again um Samberg and sulk both competed in new games and Samberg actually made the state tournament with high school teams in one of the games known as Omega Strikers sulk hosted in school tournaments for Madden and NBA getting the school population involved and at the high school our content team began to grow again creating highlight videos and we began commentating our stream similar to sporting events where they have anchors um the high school in the winter began to break out at the state level as well even more not just for its team success but for the programs that we were running with our content team in the Stream um our Street Fighter Team took top eight in the state and our OverWatch team took second in the State losing at the state finals playing iners at Brookdale Community College um we hosted a few in inperson tournaments um the OverWatch team did win the one that we hosted and we also did have when we competed at Kane University one of our high school players was the first one recognized to be an Allstate first team uh uh sorry e first team Allstate esport player Randall Brown and now we come to the spring as we kind of conclude our first full year of Esports um and we watch it grow Samberg and sulk still continue to compete in rocket League smash with their content teams making the playoffs in Samberg in both Smash and Rocket League um and the high school we continued to grow with a couple things that I really would like to share with you um while our content team has moved on to full-time streaming um we also uh awarded our first scholarship to one of our students Luca Dickinson um who is going to be a was looking to be a tattoo artist and with that scholarship we're giving him an opportunity to find something their way um we introduced the valkyrie team which is a girls non-gender team and we also introduced unified Esports for our special education students and then we have a couple photos of those as well um spring 2024 our competition teams all placed all made State rankings rocket League team who did not Place anything in the fall came back and made it top 16 Super Smash BRS the co-ed team took top eight the girls team took top four and one of our valerant teams got to compete down at Stockton University taking second in the state as well um one of the fun things that this team got to do this year is we actually began traveling and having in-person matches just like regular sporting teams so we traveled to New Brunswick High School and Long Branch High School and mwan High School came here to compete with us in person um and again just a couple photos that I did want to show um it's hard to say good future summer this year um we are going to be competing down in Atlantic City with our rocket League team and we formed a Madden team um by popular interest and we're looking to next year introduce orts as an elective uh for our students as well um I actually have with me today what I would really like you guys to hear two of these esport athletes who would like to give you just a little bit of what they've experienced and what it's meant to them as well um first up I'd like to introduce Alexis Le betti who's a senior um she competed in Varsity Street Fighter she was our first Oldbridge High School varsity esport uh athlete for I'm sorry female Varsity esport athlete um and she is also which I'm very proud to announce besides being a pleasure to have on the team she is the first official Oldbridge high school student to commit to playing orts in college okay first and foremost I'd like to thank the board for supporting the program because it's been a real pleasure to be on I find that in a space where women really don't have much of an opportunity to shine um I felt very comfortable on the team and I found that throughout the season as it's gone on Esports has be kind of become like my safe space in essence I used to be super excited to come down to practice and play games and be on the team and I just really enjoyed it thank you Lexis and second our button clicker over here Josh prajapati another senior um I call him the president he's the representative for the esport team anytime we have a club meeting in the school he is the first three VAR Varsity uh winner for Esports he competed in Varsity games in the fall winter and spring um he was offered a scholarship um I Heard for Esports as well um but it was not from the schools he was looking to go to unfortunately um he has talked about going to play at Ruckers potentially next year um and he is by far in a way the role model for this program so Josh prati once again I would just like to thank everyone for their support the program would not have been it is today without all of your support um this program has had such a huge impact on my social life um I love to go to school every day uh just to come to school to play with our team and to compete with my members and I'm really excited to see what we're going to have in the next few [Applause] years so just to end I just wanted to thank everyone for their continued support and for anyone who is interested um in the school District cuz I do hear parents come up and say they had no idea that there was an ort program feel free to email me sber Sal middle or the high school I can direct you where to find the coaches um and how to get your students involved um in addition I do have one email that I'd like to end with that came in from a parent this year um that kind of talks what Mr sadino and uh my two athletes were saying and this came from a parent from um another student and they wrote very short thank you so much for starting this program and supporting our kids it gives them a place where they feel welcomed it is truly transformed the way way my child looks at school and help them find a group of kids that are like them and not so isolated thank you again and I look forward to helping providing a home for our students in the future thank you very well [Applause] put thank you uh just in addition to that um so if you you think the name sounds familiar uh Robert Weiss III Robert Weiss Jr was a captain with the police department decorated Marine Corps and I consider a good friend of mine but when I when the tragedies first happened at Sandy Hook and then of Parkland U Captain Weiss was the person who worked with me to put our security system in place and our um to go out and recruit uh sleo officers uh to really have a model program that we have uh real armed officers at our schools um and we stay in touch and one of the things that he's very big with right now is working with ver Veterans of Foreign Affairs and that's why I talked about his role with the Marine Corps actually went to his Marine Corps retirement in DC um that's how you know of a special uh soldier that I think he is and so one of the things we're talking about doing now and we were actually texting today before uh his son was presenting I wanted him to come up and maybe just talk about the possibilities of uh we have a lot of uh veterans who are looking and facing uh PTSD and one of the things that they're showing is that uh participating in Esports is helping them not only only reduce the effect of PTSD but actually like it's doing for our students taking them and putting them in a social context that they're not having at home a lot many of them are living in isolation um and afraid to come out and speak to people but this gives them a an opportunity to do so so we're looking about having an opportunity for these veterans to use our facility maybe one two nights a month um to help them um and pay them back for what they've done for our country thank you Mr sen can I go back can we yeah we can go back to the I think all the um seniors are here now so if I can call the TV seniors back up J marer can you help me hand out the bags can you help me hand out the bags um I know for these five seniors it's been um Ellis Bella Olivia Lola and Bryce come on on stage you guys are always behind the camera um some of these meetings have gone very late um some have been meetings full of conflict and I know it's not always easy to be behind the camera without having a reaction um so I thank you for your professionalism and for your dedication to getting the message out of these meetings to the community so from the board we have little gift bags for you um so thank you for your hard work this past year all right get [Applause] together thank you guys thank you any special committee reports no hearing of residents agenda items only hearing of residence on agenda items only thank you Andrew Lewis Oba I want to address the rehire list on tonight's agenda and remarks made by Mr solowski at the budget meeting earlier this month at the conclusion of that meeting Mr solowski you said quote all the programs are here and all you people nobody lost their job end quote two days later five teaching staff members lost their jobs one from each middle school and three from our elementary schools are these five teaching staff positions cut due to the budget or are they non-renewals disguised as budget cuts I think I know the answer based on the fact that since February you've approved the hiring of four Elder Elementary teachers how was such a misstatement spoken at a public meeting was the board not informed that these five teachers were being cut despite the budget passing regardless I believe these staff members are owed an apology by the board if they watch the budget meeting they heard that the president tell them they weren't going to lose their job only to be told the opposite a few days later we need transparency and accountability in the time of a teacher shortage why are these five positions being cut this decision is a slap in the face of the hardworking Educators whom you employ with these decisions and a return to the negotiations table next week we can't allow our members to be treated as mere budgetary figures they're life blood of our schools and their value cannot be measured in dollars and cents thank you anyone else hearing of residents on agenda items only no one okay policy do that next week okay uh curriculum professional development D will move can I get a second Joel second one one through five can I get a second please it was J any discussion please roll call please Mara yes mazone yes Slade yes Dan tuno yes Jano yes jri yes Francisco yes lent and solowski yes resolutions 1 through five for curriculum professional development passes thank you okay any discussion on 6 through 10 please no okay Finance oh wait hold on I do have one quick question so go ahead uh number eight for the um L bilingual elll program three-year plan is that part of the attachments that we get just so we can see what that looks like cuz I I didn't see it anywhere so I don't know three-year plan but I don't usually what it is usually actually says in the motion that it's on file in the board office but I'm sure we can get a copy of it okay Finance one and two we're going to vote on tonight can I get a motion to move one and two Mone motion any discussion second I need a second please jel second any discussion Roo please Lent Mark ketta yes mazone yes Slade yes Dan tuno yes jir Dano yes jri yes Francisco yes solowski yes resolutions one and two for finance passes okay on Finance 3224 any discussion on that okay Athletics any discussion nope non-certified personnel office one through four any discussion no non certified Personnel operational one and two any discussion non-certified Personnel other one through 1 through 12 any discussion okay certified Personnel we have some items three items to vote on okay uh one two and three any discussion on this make the motion Dan move j Dan second I thought you did it you did first right whatever think we're both the same time you second I don't know second okay okay roll call please it was Dan tuno and G Dan yes yes R call please this is certificated Personnel correct this is one through three y okay s yes Dan tuno yes Jano yes J yes Francisco yes lent maretta yes Mone yes Kowski yes resolutions 1 two and three for certificated Personnel passes thank you any discussion on four through 4 through 24 I have a question go ahead just really quick on number eight when it says and uh where it says move the board who authorize the superintendent of schools David citadino to tend to Tender offers of employment um do we still over the summer if we're hiring people obviously for positions that need to be filled do we still get a report of who yeah so what I'll do is offer them a uh letter of intent with to hire then in August you'll catch up like and but if I need to hire somebody in July right because there's a position and you know maybe it's competitive position we can get somebody for then I'd be able to do that in July and then the information is still shared with you and then you officially recognize it in August got it also just to clarify from my own mind Dr huler you do the hiring but ultimately you have to approve everything okay just I was just double checking okay thank you anyone else okay non-certified Personnel Transportation one two and three any discussion Transportation one two and three any discussion supplies equipment and services one okay action item on number one any discussion Jano motion Miss second R call please maretta yes maone yes SL yes Dan tuno yes jirano yes J yes Francisco yes solowski yes resolution one for supplies equipment and services passes thank you any discussion on two through five I'm sorry I didn't see the next page okay two through 11 any discussion no miscellaneous one 1 through 13 any discussion okay uh make sure everyone is clear on the number one I believe the the dates the changes of the dates so the agenda meeting is August 20th and the regular meeting is on the 27th okay miscellaneous one through we did that okay board secretary number one any discussion none thank you okay hearing of residents on any school district item anything to do with the school district you can hear me right okay all right yeah hi good evening my name is Alexander Ria I'm a resident here of Oldbridge and also a rising senior at Oldbridge High School I wanted to start off the Night by thanking the board members for protecting the children and families of Oldbridge it's been a little hectic I'll just say that I'm not going to go into specific details but you guys still persevered and you always did your best to make sure that the families of Oldbridge and students and also the faculty to do what they love to do now I'm not being controversial here I promise you on that but I do want to bring up a little bit of a special topic as a rising senior there's always something to look forward to homecoming dinner cruise and especially probably one of my most exciting events would be the Costa Rica study abroad program proud um proudly by Miss Keeler here but I won't be able to share those with our seniors and to those who are graduating I was very fortunate to actually work with our Senior Crew behind the camera who are probably one of the most hard working dedicated and probably the most caring people that I've known and through the moments and memories that I've made with them through the TV I just wanted to thank you guys for everything because you guys will always have a special place in my heart and I'm so grateful to have been a part of that program for this year and along with the senior crew as well I've had the opportunity to be also close with the seniors who have given me something unique to learn which was to courage to show pride and speak up because know you know you're not alone having people to cheer you on behind your back because you know times can get hard communicating and building new friendships along the way and probably the most important thing they've gave me a pathway to what life is about and what friendships are about because that's what keeps you together and I'm so grateful for what the seniors have provided for me this year and I cannot be any more grateful and not just with me because it's not just about me today but I did want to see or talk about how they've impacted our old Rich Community all of our seniors have became role models to our younger peers uh they've actually shown their leaders ship through a program called peer which is basically they go to elementary middle schoolers and they also just go around the district and help out uh they always have been a helping hand to our first day classes which especially for our upcoming sophomores they are a little confused sometimes on where to go so they've always been a pleasure to help with and most importantly they've always brought the most biggest school spirit to any event and as a student here I'm always about unity and how it brings everyone together and they have made a humongous and tremendous impact on bringing everyone together because even through rough times even that can be in or outside of school they've always came to support our wonderful athletes showed to pep Ries and of course support other organizations and proudly represent Oldbridge community and I commend them for that now before I run round this off I wanted to give a little bit of a piece of advice if that's okay with you guys okay perfect I was waiting for that hopefully all right to the class of 2024 College may seem a little scary being away from friends family even your own pets in this case who of course we all love may seem a little uneasy but at the end of the day we'll all be okay because if you look on the bright side there is a future that holds ahead of you with fulfilling Adventures you know that your closest friends will be there to hold to cheer you on and will always be your number one supporters and remember to always be bold and go out of your comfort zone because you'll never know if you do not try and I want to give one more final piece of advice and I think that goes not just for you guys but to everyone in here to be your own self and do not let anyone change for who you are because that's who you want to be I want to thank you for class of 2024 for everything and I want to thank you for the board for [Applause] listening hello my name is uh Ian Ericson senior I have uh two sons in high school and one son that's going to be starting kindergarten in the fall so I got a nice big gap um I just want to address something that happened in one of the schools in the high school The Ninth Grade Center in particular uh on Monday June 10th my son sent me a picture to my phone it was a picture of a giant pride flag in the middle of a classroom when my son came home I asked him how he felt he told me how uncomfortable he was and felt like a political agenda was being pushed on him he felt that what the flag stood for were contrary to his own personal values why should my son have to feel uncomfortable because a teacher feels the need to make a political statement in class and I know my son isn't the only child that felt awkward when it came to the flag hanging in the classroom it took up half the wall we shouldn't be dividing these kids into little segments we should be unifying our kids as Americans and the only flag that should hang in any classroom in Oldbridge is the American flag that's how it was when I was in school and should have never changed flags that interfere with the educational process of other students just simply shouldn't be allowed I asked the board to look into having only American flags in our classrooms classrooms shouldn't be a teachers's laboratory to spread their own personal political views what if a teacher wanted to hang Flags associated with far right-wing movements it's just not appropriate time or the place a classroom usually closed off the parents is not the environment for a teacher to try and change a child's mind about the values the child holds what is happening is indoctrinated Indo ation is being masked by inclusion this Pride flag made my Fe son feel just as uncomfortable as a non-Christian student would feel if a teacher hung the Vatican flag again we should not segment our children but unify them and I believe to avoid these issues in the future only the American flag should be hung in classrooms thank you thank you anyone else I didn't know he was going to say that that's not why I'm up here everyone's expecting me if if you do adopt a code like I'm Scott M the public relations coordinator for Oldbridge Township Public Schools and a social studies teacher at s and if you do regulate flag use in uh the district I have about 13 different flags in my classroom that I don't know how we Define what an American flag is versus an historic flag or what a political flag is versus a cultural flag but that's for you guys sit aside not me that's not why I'm up here I'm actually up here because I wanted to congratulate uh Mr citadino on becoming the new president of the middle sex County Association of school administrators giving us another reason to be proud of him and to be Oldbridge proud and glad he's our leader so let's give him a round of applause for that yeah secondly I want to thank Andrew borello for our new logo I don't know if you guys could show this anyone else sick of looking at that old sticker up there that was tattered um so I asked Andrew I said can you can you do something there and he had it in what less than 24 hours we had a logo on here and it looks great doesn't it so thank you Andrew and everyone in the who made that happen and finally I want to thank uh the board members who have been showing up to events and that and you guys have been posting on social media I mean some of you have been doing that for a couple years of course it helps me at the bridge to do that and to share that it helps you learn about the good stuff happening in the school district so I encourage you to keep doing it if you haven't done it yet get out there with your phones and start posting away show them what we're doing here we're doing great stuff no matter what our flags are so all right thanks guys have a good one thank you anyone else any old business new business I have something me okay um speaking about Oldbridge proud I wanted to just address on on June 3rd we voted 8 to1 to increase the tax levy to 9.9% for one year and as I mentioned in the meeting of um May 7th we were faced with just two bad choices um in the end the Oldbridge Board of Education um as the Oldbridge Board of Education it was our duty to vote based on what is best for our students schools and Community the information we received from the public indicated that they overwhelmingly supported the one-year increase to 99.9% during last week's council meeting certain questions were raised and for the people who were in attendance and the people who watched from home and who watched the recording I wanted to provide some important clarifying information so there's 10 questions or statements but some are grouped together because they're of the same topic so the first one is quote the Board of Ed voted to raise your taxes 99.9% really I think about it it's 10 so end quote the board voted to raise taxes for one year as established in bills a 4161 and s381 to offset huge deficits that would have severely cut programs for all students some of those cuts would have been half day kindergarten high school students dismissed a 1230 cutting mandatory programs like vocational Arts electives clubs and having only Varsity Sports it would have also meant non mandatory Transportation cuts and considerable teacher layoffs we understood that even with increasing the tax Levy to the maximum of 99.9% for one year there would still be some increased class sizes Transportation costs reduction staff Etc the 2% tax levy though I just wanted to explain is mandatory for S2 districts like ours to keep in order to keep up with increasing costs it actually equ equates to 2.9% 99.7% um 2.97% including health insurance costs so the net tax levy for us for one year is just under 7% because the 2% is mandatory um the next three questions are grouped together because they're the same topic so quote this problem has been going back their questions or statements uh quote this problem has been going back to since 2018 and it has not been addressed at the level that it should have been at the state the leader of the school should have gone to the state and that is what is upset there should have been more discussion and there wasn't end quote the second statement is but from 2018 when this was going on six years later and year after year it still hasn't been addressed with the right place end quote quote when we make a decision we have to make it for the entire town not a segment of the town so I think that people have to look long and hard as far as the leadership did they go to the state did they have a conversation I would have in that situation gone to Trenton so I reached out to our business administrator David woodell and our superintendent Dave cadino and I got the father F information throughout the seven years of S2 members of the admin team and superintendent citadino communicated daily with the middle sex County Association of school administrators who have tied within the legislative community in an effort to monitor legislation proposals and limit the impact of the deficit and then I have some specific dates on March 3rd 2019 superintendent cadino went to Trenton with business administrator Mara to meet with legislators regarding the impact of the S2 budget cuts on September 24th 4 2022 superintendent citadino called Senator gopal to talk about S2 and advocate for Oldbridge on April 17 2023 par he participated in a zoom call with Senator gopal and the other superintendents also adversely affected by S2 on February 6 2024 he part participated in a joint committee with those superintendents Senator zwicker and Senator gopal that meeting generated 36 emails between participants to continue addressing the s to flawed and unfair school funding formula on March 1st 2024 the request of Senator Henry superintendent citadino submitted a statement of impact of the school funding formula and the effect it would have on students and schools in Oldbridge on March 8th 2024 superintendent cadino and Andrew Lewis of the Oba released a joint statement expressing their deep concerns and disappointment regarding the announcement of projected state aid cutting $12 million for the 2425 school year on three 2524 Mr cadino Met S2 affected District leaders in Jackson New Jersey to address the school funding formula also on 32524 superintendent citadino business administrator woodell Oba President Andrew Lewis Boe president Matsu lowski Boe V Boe VP Jen duno um also met with Senator Henry personally to discuss the dire impact of S2 on on Old Oldbridge schools on 32624 superintendent cadino held another Zoom call with Senator gopal to advocate for Oldbridge our district is one of the many districts who have seen Cuts ultimately the only organization that had final authority to make a change was our legislators districts have been going to Trenton for years since the start of S2 to ask for a new funding formula there have been Band-Aids over the last few years to address to address it but in 2020 202 24 2025 this is the year that the bubble truly is going to burst the fifth the fifth question is quote why is it when the township raises the bill which we have to do because the cost of insurance the cost of gas police protection everything's going up everyone goes in an uproar but 99.9% you're cheering I don't understand it end quote so similarly the district must pay for many of the same Rising costs associated with our schools police officers school security program cost school buses and gas mental health counseling Mental Health Counselors the rising cost of insurance and repair and maintenance of our school buildings to ensure the safety and well-being of our students through emails to the board and statements made during the public hearing the public overwhelmingly advocated for raising the tax levy for one year instead of making drastic Cuts or allowing the state to arbitrarily make Cuts without knowing the needs of our students uh question six I want to know also were there budget books given to each member of the Board of Education how many subcommittee meetings were had was the line by line budget given to board members yes we were provided with line byline documents including documents entitled revenues and Appropriations line by line and sub subsequent documents provided were 2425 initial budget presentation 2425 proposed budget 2425 proposed revised budget we're also provided with historical tax levy docs all budget presentations going back to 2008 can be found on the district website if you go to the menu tab business office and then user-friendly budgets you can find them how many subcommittee meetings were there there is a weekly admin meeting and since January there have been three committee the whole finance committee meetings each year during the seven years of the S2 budget cuts the finance committee has held multiple meetings every year to make it diff to make difficult decisions based on budgetary constraints we're coming down the home stretch quote what do they do with the $500 that they get every year from renting Cheesequake out do we know we don't know so the bottom line is what happened with the covid money we don't know so these are the discussions that I've never heard from listening to the Boe were these things discussed were they made available to everybody and that's the reason I'm bringing these up it's because there may be many people sitting at home and who are listening um who don't know the answers either and are confused the budget the funds received from leasing Cheesequake school goes directly back into the operational budget for the past 3 years s money has funded summer program supplies funded me funded mental health clinicians substitute salaries and mitigate mitigated S2 shortages by using Esser funding Esser expired this past year and again you can go back to the district website and see all the the current and past budget presentations nine maybe a presentation here they could come in front of the council and explain why they raised the taxes 99.9% so again it was the net of uh a little below 7% that the taxes are being raised but at the request of the Oldbridge um Board of Education vice president miss duno our business administrator extended an invitation to the Town Council to meet with the board of ed through Township CL clerk Katherine Hutson on 326 and the offer still stands so we'd love them to come and visit and talk to us the last question was quote why these towns why this town does anybody know why this town what's the reason why and why this town end quote so S2 for 2425 um there were 140 districts that lost state aid this is the final year of the school funding reform legislation known as S2 orbridge is facing this final year of S2 meaning that as per the funding formula there should not be any Equalization Aid cuts to state aid for next year 2526 however because the state's funding formula is proprietary and not shared we could never accurately predict the state aid numbers moving forward the S2 cuts are based upon a formula protected from public View and the following indicators the first indicator is student enrollment and I believe um superintendent citadino also went over this at one point and our student enrollment has been relatively flat so that really didn't have anything to do with it home value sales and that's not assessed values it's home value home sale values the town has not been reassessed in multiple decades for example my own home currently has a value of about 650,000 based on recent comparable sales but since I moved to Oldbridge in 1998 my home has always been assessed at $160,200 even until today homes that are currently valued at about 1 million are still assessed at about 350,000 based on the assessment value not fair market value the state expects districts to make up the difference for that they expect school districts to make up the difference and then the third indicator is the residential income residential income has also gone up over the past several decades the state knows exactly what we all make because we file income taxes each year the state says that because home values have gone up and incomes have risen but the town has not undergone a reass reassessment in several decades the town should be contributing more to our schools the district is limited to 2% in taxes but that is based on the outdated home values and Resident numbers from past decades um the state has determined that we are below adequacy by $20 million and therefore the town should be contributing $20 million more to the school district this means that we have lost lost about 48% of state aid because of this until the town under goes a formal reassessment the state aid the state may very well continue to hold the students and schools in Oldbridge Hostage to make up for the difference in our local fair fair share whether as to whether the S2 um cuts end this year or not we still may be we may be held accountable for that so that's it thank you anyone else old business new business yes um I just want to say in general for any issue uh is recommended to go through the teacher then the principal Central Administration then the Board of Education uh commonly known as the chain of command I would highly recommend that to any parents or any students actually that are active and have any questions or concerns in the classroom settings and see you at graduation seniors thank you thank you anyone else yes um since in the past month it's really been a showcase to all of us of like what makes Oldbridge amazing um I myself have been able to uh attend quite a few events I know I've missed some but I want to thank the community for the invitation and was proud to be part of visiting the challenge showcase the spr either as a parent or as a board member um The Challenge showcase the spring Sports recognition the wood shop classroom the Jewish Student Union uh ended up with a last minute invite inviting me to make hollow bread which my kid is then went home and made more so that's been great um attended both preschool graduations uh both Middle School graduations thank the Oba for their ice cream social uh saw people from all over the district with that uh scholarship night was amazing with how the community pulled out for that uh Memorial's military day was amazing we even had a chopper flow fly in um it was great to welcome the Juniors to their Junior Prom and attend McD's Carnival and definitely like looking forward to graduation for you guys I'm Monday so thank you for the invite and it was an honor to be part of your community events anyone else yes I'd like to piggy back on what marer was talking about um painfully I watched the council meeting again before today's meeting um because the prior week maybe they were venting you they want to get some stuff off their chess but then two weeks in a row I think it's at least my duty to kind of defend ourselves and myself on the board um and some of the quotes that I took from the council meeting which is a shame CU it might sound like we're going tid for Tat but to see a wedge being created against two agencies that are working for the common Community is it's kind of sad especially when it's inaccurate when I hear statements from one council member that it's only $23 a month that's not true as if what Mr weell presented was a lie you know that we're not being open and transparent it's a lot of misinformation we had a council member disappointed with the levels of Education that we have compared to overseas and maybe the remedy would be to stop funding the schools because not competing with International students um another statement that the government is not good at educating our children um but one of the inaccuracies that was brought up was that the union should be taken out of the education system because they're not allowing teachers to come in early to teach our kids I mean I don't know if they're getting it out of The Twilight Zone but I specifically know that my children have been addressed in the mornings after school I even asked the board president uh the union president that it's not prohibited I'm sure there's some contractual teachers that can't come in and want to get paid but for the majority of the teachers there's a passion out there to make sure that the kids are educated so they can definitely come in early or stay late um just to make sure that if a kid needs to be educated they're not going to leave them out in the cold and then it leaves me for the I guess the long list that marjerie talked about but then there's another council member that said that they support that we should have made cuts that it's a lesson learned so if we would have had those cuts that that council member would have mentioned that recognition that we just had would have been filled with crickets we wouldn't have had anybody to recognize next year CU we would have had a lot of cuts and I really not too sure the lesson was learned and a lot of arguments are going about the the um the uh laws that were passed by the Senate we're not responsible for the election that the Senate put that what what they're voting upon we've got to be reactive to what they gave us so they gave us an opportunity to raise the taxes we took an opportunity instead of cutting programs so we took it it's a one year it's a onee it was them passing a bill it was a one-year raise um and and marjerie talked about you know the town raises taxes based on their expenses but the school district doesn't have any any expenses that are raised um I also take a personal because we sit at Committees of the whole meeting till 10:00 at night we're volunteers we're taken away from our families I'm sitting in a room till 10:30 we're beating each other up we don't get paid for this Council get paid for what they do um so I don't want to go back and forth I do I know an invitation went out that we should meet together I would like to rein instate that invitation because we need need to be on the same page um creating a wedge against two agencies in the same district I don't know what they're looking to accomplish um so that's it so yeah so I'm I just wanted to address that so I'm hopefully that we're not going to go into a third week of them bashing the board of had and the decisions that we made we're not proud of it we weren't excited about raising taxes but we're definitely proud of saving the school district and the programs that we're proud of so that's it thank you anyone else I have just one little thing I I think I didn't watch the council meeting um but I think where the the anger and the resentment comes in was because there was another bill that was brought to the table um um that provided 100% back instead of the 45% back that that the bill that we approved uh provides um and I and I think that the problem is is that everything gets so political everything is just so far left so far right and and you know it's because that bill was a republican-backed bill we had no chance of anything passing because of that word Republican put in front of it and I think that's where the anger from the council comes from because there was another bill there was another option that would uh provide more money back than the one that we that we approved and again I didn't watch the meeting I I'm just speaking just from you know hearing things and that's I think that's where their anger comes from but that anger could be directed at the senate or the assembly the Board of Ed has no control over what bill is passed right if the other bill passed first then we'd be working with that bill we have to deal with what we have we can't wait to see well maybe something better will come along right but no one even fought for this bill and I and I think that's that that's where it stems from Christina I think also if you watch it that you'll see it kind of puts us in a really bad light and presents things that really really all this information is easily accessible on either on the district website or watching the meetings or even attending uh committee meetings you know all this information is accessible and it's been talked about over and over again but the way it was presented is like nobody knows anything we haven't provided any answers we haven't provided any information and that is simply not true no I get it I'm I was just saying I think that's where the anger comes from and again as as Jen said and I agree I you know none of us are happy about raising taxes but as Jen there there aren't nine Senators up here that voted on a bill we had to use what we had so I understand their passion nobody wants to raise taxes I get that but what's the alternative but just it was just a tone that we did something wrong if that's what it was then it was misdirected because we had nothing to do with that right I didn't vote for that know we don't have an opportunity to vote on that bill right anyone else thank you we will be going it's something at yeah I didn't get any emails from Council or anyone about the budget in the last few weeks so I was reminds make sure to email me if you have any legitimate concerns um as it happens with the state I went to 2,000 houses and left an email and no one emailed me because uh most people don't care about real issues they want to vent so I don't consider venting any real discussion if you have any legitimate concerns you could email me that's the only way that I will recognize any complaint I don't go through the Baner of what's been going on apparently I didn't watch the meetings but that's just what I see so as a reminder please email me with any concerns or questions thank you thank you Mr J S who decides what's legitimate when you said legitimate concerns what if somebody really feels something's legitimate but it doesn't seem that way to you oh no I was comparing because we've had a lot of meetings where people voice their concerns or social media but there's a very few minority of people that actually email with concerns I feel like if you're going to a meeting or anywhere on social media you're doing it for your own attention you know so Oh I thought you were just talking about people emailing you with concerns that you deemed non-legitimate okay thank you no no the okay yeah no I mean if if it is legitimate you would email me I consider emails legitimate forms of communication not yelling at a council meeting or social media so please do that public thank you thank you for your wise words okay uh we are going to be going into executive close session so that's the end of the meeting tonight you you need a motion for executive session Mar moves for person attorney CL Marquetta moves and missone seconds yeah in a second okay thank you folks good night we'll see everybody next Tuesday all in favor all in favor all in favor good night folks for