##VIDEO ID:hG4eO75zkvQ## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e can you hear me in the back okay excellent I'd like to call this meeting to order the mission of the freeold Township School District is to honor and support every learner every day on the journey to become curious and engaged members of a diverse Global Community a notice listing the time date and place of this meeting was posted on the public bulletin board of all freeheld Township Schools on the entrance door to the administrative offices of the board of education on the district website at the office of the freeold Township Clerk and published in the Asbury Park Press on January 7th 20124 please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice roll call Mr Mrs BR how here Mr gulo here Sullivan pres Mr spieler here Mr V thei Mr Williams here Mr Lambert here Mr amaros here thank youate yeah carry is going to be about 20 minutes can I get a motion for the approval of the November 12th 2024 regular meeting minutes so have a second second all those in favor say I abstain sir Communications uh the only communication we have this evening is uh enrollment in October of 24 we had 3,417 students in November of 24 we had three more at 3,420 and you compare that to to November of 23 we had 3,464 and that is all for communications thank you okay uh president's remarks um it's very exciting to be in December and I welcome everyone here we love student recognition probably one of the favorite things that the board gets to do is to recognize our students um and also we're here to recognize U Mrs calino on her last board meeting and also Carrie she's running a little late we're also going to recognize her this evening and uh Mary wanted to say a few words so I'd like to give you the floor Mary I appreciate doing this also because this is a bit of a special meeting not only is it my last one I'm sorry is that better okay you know that guy I do I do um this is also a meeting where my the barcalo soccer team is being recognized among some of our um other special students in this district and uh I happen to own a member of member of that team um yeah i' like to say own because he's a teenager now um I just wanted to say a few things because it's been seven years and it's been quite a journey um when I put in my letter to join this board some of you were sitting here um I did it with some intention and some sense of what I was getting into um but obviously this has been an interesting ride um prior to joining the board I was an advocate for children and education in this community I sat over there um and I hope I continued that role on this board I asked questions many of which bothered some of you on occasion and many of which bother my children on occasion as well um I challenged the computerization of our kids learning I fought to keep our class sizes small and maximize teacher-led instruction over machines I fought for all our Learners whether they needed special services needed access to extracurricular activities or required acceleration in their learning opportunities I worked with my fellow board members and administration to expand our capacity to meet the needs of our struggling readers through various interventions programs and the implementation of a districtwide phonics program for all our K to2 students I prioritize the role of teachers in our district and help negotiate contracts that I hope provided salaries closer to what they deserve I try to address parental concerns and facilitate a dialogue between our administrators and our parent Community whenever possible and I do believe we have a lot more open a process than when we all started together this board pulled together Community stakeholders including parents teachers administrators and Community leaders to formulate a strategic plan and vision for the education of our kids and then to provide the resources to support that plan it is this shared vision and shared dialogue that is the strength of this District I want to thank the voters of this community for giving me the opportunity to work on these issues and many more I am honored to have served you I want to thank my husband for being a sounding board and hearing more about educational policy than you ever wanted to know also being an Ardent campaigner and my biggest fan I want to thank my boys for sharing your mom with the kids of this District the spreadsheets the data and reports that occupied some of my days and bearing witness to the frustrations that sometimes follow us as we try to find solutions to problems together it's not always easy being a board member's kids you guys did a great job and I am proud to be your mom to my fellow board members it has been one of the sincere pleasures of my life to serve alongside you and serve the students of this district for those of you who are here in the be who were here in the beginning thank you for taking a chance on this Advocate mom and appointing me seven years ago for those of you that followed me or are soon to join Point keep tilting at windmills keep fighting for all the kids of this District they are most definitely worth it thank you we Carrie walks in I tell her she has to give a speech she'll be thrilled apprciate me no I mean of course it's our pleasure and we thank you and there's more to come as the board uh meeting progresses we have other gifts and things but thank you um with that I think given the time we'll move into the student recognition administrative it is always a highlight of our board meetings to take the time to recognize our students for various achievements this evening we're recognizing students from both of our middle schools uh for different purposes we'll start this evening with Eisenhower our 2024 Eisenhower girls cross country um individual award we'll invite up our principal Mrs Gambino and the head coach for cross country and Mrs snow okay um um so we had a um phenomenal season as a team but individually I had the honor of coaching this wonderful young woman um Leah Sanchez so come on up Leah so Leah is a sixth grader first time cross country Runner um and she blew us away all season and when we got to the meat of Champions which is a huge meet that takes most of the middle schools in Mammoth and many in Ocean County um and there were 139 girls who competed and she got third out of 139 girls so we just want to congratulate her on her amazing season and we are excited to see her continue to flourish as a runner as a seventh and eighth grader pict if he can't oh I'm sorry next we'll be recognizing the fall 2024 Baro boy soccer team awarded the 2024 Mammoth County Champions I believe or yes I see them they made it over from the concert Dr curus and Mrs lman the administrators from Baro middle school and their head coach Mr Moran um first of all I just want to um thank the uh board of education for having us here and honoring Us in this uh very special occasion it's I told the boys I want you to dress up nice because it's always nice to be recognized but also understand that there's formal settings and you always want to be dressed to impressed especially when you're seeing very important people I want to thank the administration at barklo for supporting us this year they've been very supportive um and I appreciate um that as this is our first now rodeo in bark middle school so I appreciate all that um but I especially want to thank the boys for their really hard work this year um at the very beginning of the year once I we chose our team I had a a team meeting with them and I said listen this team has the talent to win the championship it's just a matter of how well you put the work in and are you willing to fight through difficulties to be able to be successful and they were all in like you know sometimes you see teams and they kind of like you know you're your 14-year-old boys and like yeah D damond they were all locked in um and from that moment I knew that we were we had what it took to be able to win however the season didn't start off as well as you would like right we thought we come in we would be winning right away and we played some really tough teams early on but just like life Sports also teaches us a lot um it teaches us that there are difficult times and sometimes when it starts out Rocky or that you're you're having difficulty you push through um we had some injuries we had guys that got sick we had players that were down we lost a few games we weren't sure how it was going to go but we persevered and that's what is great about sports was that we were able to bounce back we put it together and those boys never wavered they pushed through they came in second place in the division but when they got to the playoffs it was a completely new team they went out there with their mission of they said we are going to win this conference Championship and they did it and I cannot be more proud of them for their accomplishment and thank you to the parents as well for getting them as I always tell them too they are the blood of our program they get their kids to in from practices and supporting us um and you have raised very tremendous young men thank you for that support and gentlemen it is your time to be recognized so I invite the Baro boy soccer team to come on up here and be recognized what all right so I'll get come on up pict they look amazing yeah take a cookie take a cookie next we'll be recognizing students from both middle schools who were accepted into the 2425 allshore intermediate band I invite administrators up from both middle schools and our band director from barcalo Mr Crawford and Eisenhower Mrs Feldman my good evening everybody I'm Mr Crawford I'm the band teacher at Paro and I'm Mrs Felman the band director at Eisenhower to the start similar to what Mr Moran say we we thank the board for inviting our students to be recognized um this is a excuse me this is a big honor Among The Shore Community and the Shore area among band um so the allshore intermediate band is an honor band made up of students who are in elementary and middle school so fifth through 8th grade uh from Mammoth and ocean counties these students practice for months learning various scales learning a specific solo work for their instrument and practicing the art of site reading which is looking at a piece of short excerpt of music for 30 seconds never seeing it before and figuring it out and then after 30 seconds they have to play it as perfectly as they can which is a very difficult skill um so each year we have students that audition for this group and this year I know at baralo we have three students who won their audition um they auditioned at the end of November and they had their first practice this past uh Friday and they all had a great time and uh I think you have three students as well is that at Eisenhower um so uh we just we're super proud of them and would like to recognize them so the three students from Baro we have uh eighth grader Riley Chang chin on trumpet and then two seventh grade clarinet players we have Henry Calder and Matthew ukno from Eisenhower we have eighth grade flute Olivia Lao seventh grade French horn John Lynn and I have to give an extra shout out to eighth grade clarinet Mandy glow who has made allshore band three years in a row sixth seventh eighth grade think I just want to acknowledge the dedication of all of our students who are recognized today it takes a great deal of time practice and dedication to soccer cross country and band to have the achievements that these students have with us today and it also takes a great deal of support from their coaches and most importantly their primary teachers their parents so thank you parents students and our coaches that's and on behalf of the board congratulations to all and to all the parents present for your support for the kids as well and with that we're going to take about a 10-minute recess and um if anybody has to do any homework or anything feel free take a cook or take a cookie yes so we'll recess for 10 minutes e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e did you finish okay uh today a uh letter was sent to all the Donovan parents um confirming that they will in fact return to Donovan January 2nd um a note in that the the focus of that was to remind parents that while currently all of our Donovan students are uh receiving transportation to and from from school once they do return on January 2nd uh those that qualify for transportation as per our board policy will be the only um ones that are receiving Transportation I did share the way to figure that out is to go into the parent portal and if you scroll down on the summary page it says bus info if it's populated with a route time and location you know that you receive transportation and if it is in fact blank or it says no am route that means that you are not entitled to transportation and as always we cover this usually at the beginning of the year if any parent thinks or believes that there's a mistake you are more than welcome to contact transportation and they will review um your address your location to determine if you are in fact um eligible for transportation our Donovan staff starting uh Monday uh taking time to return and establish their classroom space back at Donovan um and everybody the staff and our students and our families are excited to return um I do want to take a minute Carrie's not here yet but I'll do it anyway to um recognize our two board members who are leaving the board after this month as Mary alluded to uh she does have lots of questions but I am somebody uh who doesn't mind being challenged um it makes you stronger typically when somebody when you don't see eye to eye on every issue it makes you think more deeply about those issues and it might at the outcome might not see eye to eye but um being pushed to think more deeply about various topics is important and something that many men board members do but I do appreciate Mary uh for doing that and um for typically being very upfront like I'm going to just tell you how I feel and I'm going to tell or I'm going to tell you my issue or I'm going to tell you I don't agree um and we move forward so uh seven I didn't count the years so seven years I do remember the time on the other side when I was assistant superintendent um and joining the board seven years of dedication um time and energy and effort into our students and our staff and I do appreciate that um and AR's not here but I do want to also um you know carry I think came at the same maybe the same time or around the same time to the meetings one year like maybe even like was very close um about the same time uh joined the board again uh learning very quickly how a board functions and uh somebody who definitely can see both sides of an issue again I don't know that there's any board member that I we agree 100% of the time and that's healthy um similarly Carrie will ask a lot of questions and say I'm trying to get behind it but I need to understand these things and that's the due diligence of a board member Carrie to Dedicated a lot of time and hours to our board um I know Mary shared some of the pride uh that's why why I'm not sharing them some of the things that she's prideful of of her time on the board I know Carrie was very dedicated to expanding preschool um which now is 100 almost 140 uh students um so much so that we have three sections of preschool in outside of EC um and our classes are probably going to be full by the end of the year um and advocacy for special education and um that is what Carrie will be remembered for I think on this board so thank you both um of course I expect that you'll still be coming and communicating um but thank you both for your time on the board um uh the bullying report for tonight there were seven cases of harassment intimation and bullying after investigating one was founded and six were unfounded thank you the last thing we have is in your packet is the draft calendar e e e e now when you know if it passes then all the fund starts with actually um going out the bid for the bonds themselves so we'll be good all right so I just want to show us because um see if you have any questions maybe flip in the 11th March 11th and 4th might be just because of the referendum vote dat is the 11th may have people have to vote the problem is that it just it and if you're keeping the polls open till 8 o' I I see you're saying the only is if there is a significant change in state aid um we have to then have everything done within four days and that may not give the board enough time to hear what the changes are being proposed and and provide us Direction that's yeah that's the only reason I mean I could CH if we want we could change it to a different day other than a Tuesday it's up to the board but um the day the state put out the numers they will come out the 20 7th of February so the governor will give his address the day we have our last board meeting in February on the 25th he has 24 48 hours from that point in time to publish the state aid figures for the board's event so if you guys want me to move it to another day I'll move it to another day I nope that's a good good point so because we typically wouldn't have a meeting on Election election day for us to so yeah I put this together before we got the Bel so if you guys want to change it right let me know I'll move it to Wednesday adting the budget that's SCH for March 11 is that something we can push back or it has to be done by a certain it has to be done by the 20th it has to be approved and all the documentation submitted to the county office by by the 20th y it's got be correct correct so it's up to you um could we start the meeting at 8 after the poll SP we do that we have to start by 8 don't we start the meeting at 8 then okay works for me we always used to meet at 8 anyway what just leave the date 11 at 8 o00 no because this is just a draft okay yep all right any other questions um does anybody else have a question on the calendar June 3 I know but that's that's that's we always retire to recognition that week okay all right yeah sometimes if there's a personal conflict y it's an absence y okay all right that's all I have about that nine different times all right thanks yep thank you do we have any other administrative uh items no okay this will uh move us to public participation this is the first opportunity for public participation if anyone wishes to address the board please write your name and address on the signin sheet state your name for the record statements are limited to 3 minutes and should not be abusive obscene or defamatory in nature do we have any takers now we have to wait second you can wait till the second one this will just be on agenda item yeah all right so let's move right into uh Personnel policy and Communications Mr go jul good evening we did not meet tonight as a a a group but I did have a chance to see the a Winter concert and it really was very very good I enjoyed myself thank you so since we didn't meet we didn't have any U items to discuss so I'll go right into uh the board issues I'd like to move the following items the second reading of regulation of gifted in taligent pupils as listed number three retirement as listed four resignation as listed five recent offer of employment as listed new employment as listed number seven is establish start date as listed number eight change of assignment as listed number nine change of assignment salary adjustment as listed number 10 temporary change of assignment salary adjustment 11 as listed 11 a of absence as listed 12 extended long-term uh assignment as listed 13 unpaid days as listed 14 additional compensation compensation transfer of assignment room as listed 15 additional compensation substitute nurses 16 as listed uh 16 additional compensation extra hours as listed 17 additional uh additional comp compensation Laura Donovan school as listed 18 PTO honoraria as listed 19 honoraria resend as listed 20 firm bullying investigation findings as listed 21 student teacher uh practicum observation place as listed 22 certified substitutes as listed 23 certified substitutes as listed and number 24 translator interpreter as listed thank you I have a second second we have questions seeing none roll call Mrs bran Mrs cosino yes number 19 all right Mr Gula yes Mrs ulvan yes Mrs spieler yes Mrs V theoi yes Mr Williams yes Mrs Lambert yes Mr Amarosa yes motion carries thank you Cula Mr Williams thank you uh first and foremost I would like to um offer my sincere congratulations to Mrs calino and Mrs benoli for their services born over the over the years especially the last two uh that I've been here and good luck and hopefully we'll see you guys at Future meetings we did not meet as a committee tonight so I going to move item number two horse reimbursement and item number three home instruction as ED and would also like to wish everyone in the audience a very happy holiday season hi we did meet this evening uh present were um Mrs brand Michelle Lambert Ally Williams Bob Dita and myself um we discussed uh the opening of LDS um on January 2nd um we discussed Neil's letter and uh all the work uh Bob's office and our um custodial team has done to get those buildings up and run that building sorry um and when it opens I think it'll be the cleanest building in [Laughter] Freehold yeah um I we also discussed the referendum the payroll transfers the sick Time payments and agenda items I would like to move [Music] um number three the bills and claims for a total of7 million $52,800 the travel and related expenses as listed the transfers as listed the transfer corrections as listed the out of District contracts as listed the outof district contract update as listed The outof District transportation contracts with M moesc as listed the nursing Services as listed the PTO honoraria as listed thank you to the PTO for what they do for this district and how they support our students um the donation as listed um which was $1,000 from the first day of school Foundation to the Laura Donovan Elementary School to purchase Al items for Kelly Smith's classroom for her Grant application the disposals as listed the extended school year program as listed with the hours as listed the school bus emergency evacuation safety drills as listed this the specialized evaluations and services as listed and that's all I'm moving this evening I and Miss I'd like to move item 17 bond proposal resolution as listed we have a second second any questions on the bond proposal seeing none Al We Roll M brand yes Mrs coino yes Mr gulo yes Mrs ulvan yes Mrs spieler Mrs vendi yes Mr Williams yes Mrs Lambert yes Mr amaroso yes motion carries thank you that was a big one folks business as well um this past Friday um there was a model un conference at CBA um barklow sent a team and those kids did extremely well for such a small delegation so I'm sure you guys know about that and uh proud of those kids they did a good job e yeah we hope you prepare to speak I fled well we won't we won't roast you too bad thank you um but I you know on behalf of the board um we're indebted to you for all the time and effort you've put into this board um you've been a fantastic colleague um we hope this is isn't the end that we see around I one I just my favorite memory of Carrie of course with the board business is she goes I hate everybody equally yeah I think that's her most famous line Thank you so on behalf of the board we want to present you uh and Mary with bouquet we also have a cake and I have to tell a funny story it's time for some comedy so I go to the bakery and I'm like can you write congratulations Mary and Carrie and she's like would you like Wedding Bells on that and I was like I was like no this is more like a divorce I'm just kidding but I did change it to thank you I thought it was just a little better that way he likes Jeff likes The Wedding Bells that's fine and uh to Mary what can I say I mean we're always on the phone we're always going at it right she's putting in her two cents I'm putting in my two cents but it was a labor of love I think and for the children and Mary has such a spirit and she really um asks those questions Digs at the heart of issues you know such a researcher and we do appreciate that that's an element in this board that will be um sorely missed and we appreciate all the time that you've put in you we'll miss you and we'll miss you we won't cry and carry on but you guys can come in and visit as often as as on the for requests ladies yeah I had the back table saf I found it up in the attic take it easy on us right all right I don't know and I invite anyone on the board at this time if they want to say a few words please you know before we move on if anybody has any words um I want to say one thing uh we are definitely a diverse board we have diverse interests diverse views but but the Common Thread amongst every board member sitting here including Mary and Carrie and Mary and Carrie can both tell you at any point in time any one of us have gone at it on different issues uh the public doesn't often get to see that it's typically done behind the scenes so um I don't know that the public fully understands what goes on sometimes uh leading up to a vote or you know how we disagree with one another challenge one another to be better board members MERS by hearing the other side um and but we all do it from the heart and we do it for the best interests of the children and one of my first interactions with Carrie was under a previous administration there was a meeting request with a parent and when the superintendent says I'm afraid to meet with this parent by myself could you join I'm like all right who is this person it was Carrie but you know but you know what that kind of passion tells you all you need to know about a person and it was short time later she was on the board and took that same passion in that first meeting um where I first met her and brought it to the board um luckily Mary Had No Such fear meetings although I'm sure they feared her and her Oprah requests just the same um and the passion was also equal so in wherever that passion takes you both I wish you both a heartfelt good luck and thank you for your time here Mary and Carrie I wish you the best of luck I know you're going to be back you know and you're going to be involved in other ways but we wish you the best of luck thank you I'd like to say something also I've had the pleasure of working with krie and Mary on two on the two different on the same committee two different times and it's always been a pleasure to work with you you've been more than informative and you've always helped explain items and issues and thank you very much you'll be missed thank you you um I don't know you very long because obviously this is my first year but you've always been very helpful sitting in the committee and always supplying me with pens and everything and I appreciate your passion and I can see it vividly and and Mary I I appreciate you're questioning everything because in life I really do believe and question everything and so while some of our Spirits might not travel the same direction I I think I don't know I don't know you well enough but I do think the question everything motto is is don't worry I'm not going to be but I I do I appreciate that and when I see that I'm like oh she's asking that question yeah you know thank you to both of you oh I say you could hear me in the back oh okay the um what you brought to the board was what one of the superintendents that I worked for in the city always called intestinal fortitude you had the fire in the belly you were the ones that were truly you know all right this is the situation this is where we're going to go the 500 questions and then the PowerHouse you know so it it was a good mix and it and it Blended and it made the board move brains and the muscle say that again however you want to look at it it works out that way um but in the future you are going to have as as Mary and I were talking before let the holidays pass let January let put your Christmas trees away come February you're going to have more people calling you asking for your advice asking you to do things the time that you spent here you're going to spend double time doing other good things for other people other students and for the community of Freehold and thank you for all your hard work and can I thank you for the Mato Pizza that you brought to our committee meetings that is no one's mentioned that a big introduction there you go no one's mentioning the food or the no car Bob there is no car Bob there's no carbs on that committee my committee has pizza and snacks iost and Bob meetings I'm sorry he apologize well thank you to everyone and now what we'll do is we'll move into public participation I think Ray is going to jump out of his seat any minute my my kids are going questions okay the 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 [Music] e e e um with Mary and there is a cake it does have their name it says thank you on it no wedding bells and anybody else has address it Inu to be challenged is quiet car's friendly and a pillar of the community apparently is there anybody else who' like to project they think they are don't know so can can I have can I have a motion to a Jour second all those in favor thank you