okay good evening everybody Welcome to the February 8th hamon Board of Education meeting I'm going to read the open public meetings statement the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and attend any meetings of public bodies in which their interests may be discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the Hamilton board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and purpose and place thereof published in The hamton Gazette and the pressive L cting and posted on all authorized premises roll Mr aie here Mrs berado here Mrs Burns here Mr COA here MTO Excuse excuse Mrs donio here Mrs Bon here Mrs Hunter here Mr here Mr chion here Mr Thomas here Mr Lions here rise for flag flag United States of America the stands na indis all right it's nice to have a packed house tonight welcome everybody so we're going to have a few presentations we're going to start with our field hockey team High School field hockey team I'll call our athletic director Chris Sako up to some introductions all right good evening everyone thanks for having us here tonight uh tonight we're going to honor the 2023 uh field hockey team was a tremendous year uh making it to the semi-finals in group three uh but also winning the cape Atlantic League Championship this year this is the first uh outright Championship that the field hockey program has won through the tournament style uh going to Perfect 10 and0 and uh right now I'd like to call the coaches and they can uh introduce the team as coming out as a whole so I'll bring up uh coach sylveste coach dorham coach Frasier and Coach [Applause] Gillis all right um so first we'd like to thank everyone for having having us here tonight um I would like to um kind of just draw attention to these awesome young women they went 16 and4 on the season um like coach Saka said 10 and0 in the cape not only uh winning the cape Atlantic league but winning the cape Atlantic League Championship conference now that we have which is really awesome um I also wanted to point out that this is the first time that the girls have gone 3 and0 against Ocean City which is a pretty big um that's huge if you guys would come on out here that'd be awesome yeah no problem here so uh first thank you thank you to to all of you to your coaches and to the players and their families I know we have a lot of graduating seniors this year really remarkable uh feat to again beat Ocean City three times on the season and have a true Championship as the athletic director was talking talk about really excited really happy for all of you looking forward to big things from the program uh as we as we move on certainly so I understand some of some of the ladies will be playing in college and wish you all the luck in doing that and all the success and come back and help us with clinics and hopefully volunteer your time and I I think the other thing I would say too is this really is a testament to a quality feeder program you know in Hamilton we are very very fortunate to have the stick chicks organization that puts a lot of time and effort and volunteerism into promoting field hockey helping young girls learn the sport and stick with the sport as they move up and you don't win titles by accident it's it's good coaching it's good players it's good feeder program so um we are happy that we're going to hang our first championship Banner on on your new tur on the new turf field certainly new this season so and I get that banner up oh yeah so I think maybe if you ladies want to hold on to the banner and you can turn around your families you can take some photos uh certainly the press that way enjoy the opportunity to commemorate things if I if I could jump in with these young girls uh the stick chicks program uh help these girls our seniors when they were middle [Music] school if you want to take a photo come on up bashful look this way ready ready conratulations good job congratulations all right I wasn't paying attention so while we're on the topic of field hockey it's hotly debated within this board about who knows more about field hockey our attorney Mr donio or board member palea so that's an ongoing argument we're not going to solve that tonight but Mr plea did have some comments about I'll say that our attorney is not and O'Neal however is why toed as the guru of field hockey and she couldn't be here tonight so I told her I would embarrass her but I would like to say that these especially these seniors uh their middle school team was undefeated and unscored upon uh and that's a testament to the the feeder program Mr Alliance that all our feater programs in the town are wonderful um in the early days of stick chicks uh you know there was a bunch of us men on the sidelines and uh we were screaming pretty loud for our kids but I have to give a shout out to Megan because she was the coach and was house senior are going to playing colard so it's a true Testament to happen so thank you board members any other comments on field hockey congratulations it was such a pleasure to watch you girls play unbelievable great season coming up from middle school with your same coaches and program great job great job congratulations all right next we're going to honor this a very exciting evening we're going to honor our teachers of the year uh we have four this evening from the early childhood education center Mrs Shannon almenta from the warney soy Elementary School Mrs Kelly adamucci from the Hamilton Middle School Melissa Bush and from Hamilton High School Tracy angelosi I I know that the representatives from the Hampton Education Foundation are here as well play a big part in the teacher of the year recognition so I'll uh call call you up to talk to us good evening members of the Board of Education administrators teachers and members of our community it's an honor to be here here representing the hamton Education Foundation along with our vice president Lorie Calderone and our president Roseanne strubel um it's been a pleasure and privilege to participate in this District's teacher of the year program the hamton Education Foundation was formed in 2004 with a purpose to raise and distribute funds through grants to enhance the quality of education for our students in the Hamilton School District our fundraisers uh include recycling Central our blueberry bush which is located in the high school and now in the Middle School our Taste of the town events and our latest fundraiser that's been a great success the thanks forgiving Galla I would like to thank the Board of Education robin keko our superintendent and the administration for permitting the Hamington Education Foundation to use the facilities and the continued support the enormous and continuous support that we receive from the Board of Education the School District administration faculty and the entire Community has enabled the hamton Education Foundation to provide over $600,000 in Grants through the years for $40,000 of these funds have been awarded to the teacher of the year recipients the impact a teacher has on their students is remarkable they help to mold and shape our children and we are grateful for the dedication and influence that they Prov provide this year's teacher of the year recipients are outstanding and the hamton school district is extremely fortunate to have them it's with great pleasure and Honor on the behalf of the hamton Education Foundation to present each of this year's recipients the Teacher of the Year Award with a $500 Grant to spend on their classrooms so congratulations to the hamton high school teacher of the year Tracy Angel hton Middle School teacher of the year Melissa Bush Warren E Junior Elementary School teacher of the year Kelly Adam and the early childhood education center teacher the year [Applause] Shannon thank you very much thank thank you so while our teachers of the Year spend their days in front of their classroom talking to students we'd like them to talk a little bit more they can and maybe come up to the podium and share a few words about teacher of the year so let's have principles okay well let's have whoever wants to go first EC Dr SLE I'll have you go first good evening everyone it's always a pleasure to be here this evening to see our teachers receive this special recognition so I'm excited at this time to introduce our teacher of the year Miss Shannon almenta Miss Al Mena is in her 19th year with the Hamington School District she's currently a first grade special education inclusion teacher and she's also been a resource teacher and self-contained teacher at the ecec she's a graduate of Hammond in high school and a graduate of Rowan University with her ba and dual certification in special education Miss Menor resides in Hamilton with her husband Scott and her sons CIO and Salvatore before coming to hamon school district Miss almenta was a resource teacher in Galloway for three years and a middle school resource teacher in Duncan South Carolina lucky for us she came back to hamton to the ECC and since that time she's been highly involved in ecc's programs I have to say it really is a pleasure to work with Shannon um on so many programs on a daily basis including our inrs team our schoolwide planning team our school and our school safety and climate teams she brings so much positivity and energy not only to her classroom but also to these programs recently Miss Aleta was out of the building for required training several teachers reached out to her asking her when she was returning they said the hallways were so quiet and it just wasn't the same without her at school and it's true Miss almenta really is our school cheerleader as a member of our scho School climate team she plans ways to increase staff morale and create a positive School climate whether it's stopping to pick up Refreshments for Teacher Appreciation Week at 7 o'clock in the morning planning a student mentoring event she's always thinking about how she can help put a smile on someone's face it's pretty difficult in just a few paragraphs to talk about the many ways Miss almenta has helped support students and does so on a daily basis so I'm only going to mention just a few things that I think really stand out for one she helped develop EC's popular Super Friends character education program as a member of this program she works with her colleagues to teach students positive character traits this involves dressing up as a superhero and presenting an assembly for students Shannon is the character Flash the superhero that does the right thing No Matter What by the way she takes her acting and this role very seriously missa has written and received grants from the Hammon head Foundation um for EC's reading guarding and for stem games to promote critical thinking in our classrooms she also participates in EC's little it Italy production and the salute to Seuss as a key member on our school crisis team she has come to the assistance of struggling students many times and being part of this team is not always easy we certainly appreciate her commitment and her willingness to be part of the team and to be so instrumental in helping our students not surprisingly Miss almenta also Volunteers in the community she volunteers for the hamon Hammon Little League she's the secretary of the hamon all all sports booster club and she's a member of the Blue Diamond baseball club where she works on fundraising at this time we all offer our sincere congratulations to miss Aleta on her Rec recognition of ecc's teacher of the [Applause] year okay your turn we're doing things a little bit differently this evening Dr Tigra will present Wes's teacher of the year and then both ecec and West teacher of the year will have something special to share okay will they be getting dressed up or anything in the we never know good evening congratulations to all of our district teachers of the year I'm very pleased to announce Warren suie junr Elementary School's teacher of the year Miss Kelly [Applause] adamucci M adamucci is an ESL teacher for students in grades 2 to five in St me she strategically Works to increase student proficiency with the English language not only does she do an amazing job of connecting with and instructing our bilingual ESL students but she also plays an active role in school and local community Miss adamucci is a positive person who goes above and beyond to make sure our school is colorful and enjoyable place for our students she always has a smile on her face and students love her Miss adamucci encourages and supports her students and makes them feel comfortable and cared about every day Miss EDI was born and raised in Hamilton at HHS she was very active she was a member of NHS student council played field hockey basketball and softball and was a member of the marching band she went on to attend BLB state college and graduated in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary Ed and a certification in ESL she has been a teacher with the Hamington district for 20 years 10 of those years as an ESL teacher she's certified in sheltered English instruction training of teachers phonics first grape seed program and accx for ESL testing Miss adamucci is very involved in our school and District's overall school program she's a member of our Renaissance steering committee where each year she coordinates the field day Color Run which is a huge undertaking and also coordinates our Shoe Drive she's a member of the bilingual parent advisory committee and our student mentoring program she has been a New Jersey t-a member since 2014 within our district she's a member of the HHS Hall of Fame committee and all sports booster club where she served as president for 10 years this past year she wrote and received a grant from the Hamilton Educational Foundation For Kids in Motion which which helped provide additional activities for recess and she was teacher of the month in November 2022 Miss camui is an avid golfer and pickle ball player she resides in Hamilton with her husband of 33 years Rick they have three children Corey Ross and Derek please join me in congratulating our teacher of the year Miss Kelly CRI in order to spare you the agony of witnessing us getting emotional during our speeches we decided to change it up a little because that's just who we are we are teachers hit it Brian it's very to be recognized and be part of an group of people no teacher does we need the others around us to succeed it's the accomplishments and dedication of our entire School community so thank you to all of our fellow and former colleages administrators superintendent board members support staff par students and friends we would like to thank our entire family for always being there for us and putting up with all of our crazy ideas and costes a special thank you to our parents for their help and support our first and best teachers so many people have helped us get to this point some of you are and some are not all of us have special ones who have helped us along the way we would like you moment and think of the people who have helped you become who you are those who have cared about you and wanted what was best for you in life think about it how nice it is to know that they made a difference in your life it help shap who you are today we love what we do well they not everything we have to do but nothing quite compares to it being a teacher can make a difference giving kids confidence telling them again and again that they are speci and letting them know that they matter those feelings stay with them forever we have the power every day do you know why because we are teachers most people will tell you that we can be quite the characters we get the special job of not only teaching kids but giving them a feeling and a sense ofing teaching them with cheers Rhymes Dan costumes and and our passion we take a time to get to know our students we are kind caring sympathetic passionate engaging and funny always helps you know why because we are teachers we get to inspire Inspire possibilities and potential within our students of all ages regardless of their background disadvantages or challenges that they are facing we look feel good even if it's little those little things all up and part of the big picture we've had the privilege to work on a variety of settings and grade levels which have given us the opportunity to work closely with multiple departments and teachers being a part of our school teams like mentoring superv program and Renaissance have been such valuable experiences that affected our practice as a teacher we are a part of these programs do you know why because we are teachers we want every child that comes through our schools to know that they have a cheerleader who wants them to succeed and fulfill their potential the community of hon and especially our school district has always had a special place in our hearts and we have been fortunate to spend most of our careers here students and teachers of imine we are your biggest fans do you know why because we are teachers hey Jordan what makes a good teacher teer is hey girls what makes a teacher a really good teacher because you have [Music] and [Music] is someone nice kind and she has [Music] up [Music] [Music] not giving up Andie in showing that you andal thank you who we are who we are today has been shaped by how people made us feel as Maya Angela once said I've learned that people will forget what you said people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made the F teachers have the power to give the greatest gift to believe in them why do we believe in them because we are [Applause] teachers thank you both well that was interesting next we'll have dreski how do I follow that okay they set the bar really high for the future I'll tell you what anyway congratulations to the high school field hockey team so proud of you good evening Miss keko Mr Lions Mr Coya and the entire Board of Education and the foundation it is my pleasure to be here tonight with the Hamilton School District Community watching as all these fine teacher representatives from each of our schools are honored I too am proud to announce the Hamilton Middle School teacher of the year for 2024 Melissa Bush and to tell you a little bit about this 17-year teacher veteran and why she so is so worthed worthy of this honor Melissa attended Rowan University and majored in collaborative education she received a bachelor's in collaborative education American studies and a master's degree in the science of teaching and earned the certifications of elementary school teacher teacher of the handicapped and teacher of reading all within a fiveyear period no wonder she works so well with others in her many years at Hamilton Middle School she's taught eighth grade inclusion pull out resource reading inclusion English phonics first pullout resource language arts self-contained social and emotional and now the lldd room she's also been a part of the summer enrichment and esy programs and after school tutoring programs she is the adviser to the school store and now the coffee car not surprisingly she runs the sunshine club for Hamilton Middle School and also participates in the district pcast committee program yes she has had the opportunity to grow many programs with her positive contributions Miss bush has a full home life as well she's married to Don Bush who is a familiar face around Hamilton Middle School and they have a 5-year-old son Tyler according to her many recommendations from her peers and from my vantage point Miss Bush truly sacrifices her own time and gives of herself to impact her students in a positive way each day when you see her smile and her upbeat manner she totally makes the school a friendlier place to be and that is saying a lot because I think our school school is a happy place to work whether it's the school store or the coffee cart Melissa goes out of her way to incorporate fun in learning real life skills even her students can attest to these statements I just made Lewis one of her students says she is one of the best teachers I ever had she's the best coffee cart leader another student Donnie says Miss Mrs Bush is good at adjusting her lessons to help her students understand more I feel like she makes everything fun jazin adds she is funny and I am sad when she is not here others added how fun she even makes math lessons well there's the proof she truly is a ray of sunshine making other lives brighter when I announced her name you could hear the cheers around the building and of course her students and staff ran down to the lobby to greet her please welcome Miss Bush Hamilton Middle School teacher of the year thank you good evening and thank you for recognizing me as Hamington Middle School's teacher of the year I am typically one who likes to fly under the radar and do not like the extra attention so this is very odd for me however I am very honored to represent the Hamilton Middle School uh personally since I was a little kid I always wanted to be a teacher I loved working with kids um I had a family member who struggled in school and he ignited my flame of why I specifically wanted to pursue special education I wanted to help students like him who struggled in school and help them achieve their potential um I always pictured myself teaching the younger kids especially like second or third grade and when I applied here I actually applied for a long-term position at the elementary school and the supervisor at that time was like I have a position at the middle school do you want to come on over so I met Mr Miller at the time and I was hired um and I got to work under Mr atanase for a year but I do not know what to expect as I stepped into the middle school but I cannot picture doing anything else I've grown to love it I don't think I could go elementary I I just have come to love the middle school it is my home away from home my greatest pleasure is seeing my kids grow whether academically socially or emotionally my saying to them is practice doesn't make Perfection practice makes progress we're looking for Progress all I want is progress um so I been blessed to work with such wonderful people all over the building literally um I think our janitor is so glad one he's retiring but two he doesn't have to move me around hopefully anymore um I cannot count the number of rooms I've been in but due to that I've worked with so many great people in all the different departments and I could not and cannot do what I do without them and their support I know in the building if I ever need someone to turn to they're there to listen ask for advice collaborate with ask them to share their knowledge the materials of their supplies so as my students say I make math fun oh I get to borrow tangrams from other Math teachers they're nice to share uh look up to as mentors or just have as friends teaching isn't always easy and it takes a team and I have the best team that I could ask for being part of this wonderful district has provided me with many different opportunities to be involved outside of the classroom and get to know other students as well with my teaching I'm very limited of who I interact with i h typically have a class of sometimes five kids or 10 but with these other opportunities I get to participate in the summer enrichment programs the various names that we go through or if I'm needed I get pulled to the esy programs or back to the enrichment program I wear a hat many different hats um or the after school tutoring programs my school the school store has become a pit we've moved into a fancy car outside the cafeteria and this is since we've moved there it's been the best years making getting the kids to see and interact teaching those kids those life skills that they cannot learn just in the classroom learning how to interact with each other how to use a cash register how to keep track of your their sales and things like like that um I've also enjoyed being part of the pcast committee if you guys don't know that stands for a person centered approach to schools and Transitions and my biggest thing with that at the middle school level is teaching the kids how to self- advocate for themselves how to speak up learn what their strengths and weaknesses are because when they go to the high school they need to know those things they need to speak up for themselves so I really enjoy being able to teach social and emotional lessons Within my classes and thankfully Administration has allowed me to do that and not always have to focus on the academics um and this year I've had the pleasure of overtaking or helping oversee the coffee cart once again giving those kids those life skills that they can then use outside um hington has become mine and my family's home away from home as Dr renesi said my husband sometimes I think is more popular than me um and when they announced me as teacher of the year I was like are they going to think it's Mr Bush and not Mrs Bush um but Hamilton truly has had a remarkable impact on my family even to the point where my son now he knows where we work he wants to come up and watch the sporting events he wants to help with the scoreboards and things like that so it is our home away from home and I am wholeheartedly appreciative of every opportunity this district has given me and I look forward to what the future begins brings so thank you again and for this honor next we have Mr Ramsey hamton High School thank you Mr lions and members of the Board of Education I would like to begin by also congratulating the field hockey team on their amazing season so congratulations to the ladies that are here this evening and I'd also like to begin by congratulating all of our teachers of the year uh it's quite an honor and it's great to know that your hard work and your commitment to your students and our district is greatly appreciated and recognized by all so congratulations to all of them I've had the pleasure of working with Hamington High Schools teacher the year for 19 years and I was elated when I found out she was chosen as our Teacher of the Year Tracy angelosi graduated from Rowan University with a ba in English while at browan Tracy was a division 3 All-American women's lacrosse player so she's a real deal she then attended Wilmington University and received her master's degree in education Miss angelosi has taught a plethora of English courses ranging from our special class program courses all the way up to our honor Hors level courses this year she teaches four sections of honors English 3 it's an 11th grade course and two sections of College Prep English to it's a 10th grade course she had a similar schedule last year why am I telling you this because last year Hamington High School's Juniors had the highest English Language Art scores in Atlantic County on a New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment in Miss angelosi taught approximately 100 of those students who took the test last year so I know there are a lot of teachers who contributed to those test results but Mrs angelosi certainly did as well in addition to her Stellar teaching Miss angelosi advises the book club where she Fosters her love for reading she also advises the live it beit club and orchestrated events such as the highly attended Hamington Lake cleanup in the community paint night Miss angelosi serves on many professional committees at the high school she's a member of our instructional management team she is the chair of the curriculum and instruction subcommittee and she's on our schoolwide planning team as well furthermore Miss angelosi coordinates Hamington High School's quarterly newsletter and she's the vice president of the Hamington Education Association Miss Angel also resides in Hamington with her husband Anthony a history teacher at Hamington high school and their two children Juliana and Luke so with that being said it gives me great pres pleasure to introduce Tracy angelosi as Hamington High School's teacher of the [Applause] year hello so good evening I was thinking about what I wanted to say here tonight um and the first thing came to my mind was when I was a little girl I always knew I wanted to be a teacher some kids play doctor some play house I played school and when I would invite my friends over they would be my students I even gave them tests and I would assign them grades needless to say I had very few friends fast forward 23 years old and I was finishing up my student teaching I saw this posting for an English teacher at Hamington High School I applied and of course I immediately called my mom and I said hamon do we know where that is I lived in Marlon she laughed and she said we used to drive you down there to play travel basketball in the annual Christmas tournament every year tons of farms all right so so I interviewed at 7:45 a.m. 2 days later I wanted every applicant to be measured up against me throughout the day I received a phone call from Jim Donahue at 3 P.M that day to come back and meet the superintendent and the rest is history so here I am 19 years later constantly Reinventing myself but keeping my core values as an educator I collaborate with rookie and Veteran teachers in my department at times I relish in being a mentor and taking new teachers under my wing and other times I enjoy learning from the younger staff it's exceptionally challenging being in a high States tested area such as English you're constantly under the microscope but we're experts in our craft and I'm thankful for the admin because they trust us with that Grace the hamton high school English Department is one of the best and I truly value the friendships I have made over the years I take pride in staying relevant with te teenagee students and refuse to go stale I enjoy being a go-to person in the district when it comes to curriculum needs State Testing and especially young adult literature exposing students to high interest reading is an affection of mine and I'm able to Foster that through the high school book club currently I primarily teach 11th grade English which is a crucial year for high school students they're talking about what's going to happen after graduation and they're also going to take the New Jersey GPA it's standardized test for graduation things really start to get serious for these students a diploma is on the line I view my role as more than just helping students pass the graduation test I strive to build their confidence and how they feel when they're taking that test to overcome the testing anxiety something that's very real amongst High achieving students on the contrary I also coach and administer the accuplacer exam 12th grade students these are our last students who have not met that requirement so for the last 10 years my partner Stacy gers and I have taken this on um it's generally taken by students who are struggling in school helping students of all levels from the most advanced to the most vulnerable is something I'm really passionate about helping young women has also been a priority for me as a female educator I'm an adviser of the live at beia Club it's a service Club associated with the Ser Optimus chapter of hington I Empower young women to be proud of who they are build their self-confidence and help develop good character through service activities and Leadership skills I hope that carries over into the newly formed lacrosse team I'm looking forward to coaching and building the program here at Hamilton High School like Mr Ramsey said I was a two-time All-American lacrosse player at R University un and I've honed my skills over the past 10 years on the lacrosse field as a referee across the state of New Jersey I can't wait to bring my expertise and enthusiasm to the lacrosse program in addition to being an educator here I'm also an advocate for my own profession I am one of the vice presidents of the Hamilton Education Association the union that represents certified staff and support staff in the hamton school district I'm particularly proud of being a grant writer writer through nj's program which brings in $35,000 annually to the district to fund events such as family reading nights Community trick or treat the middle school team up day and the quarterly bilingual parent advisory dinners I loved collaborating with the staff at other buildings and getting to know everyone we organized these activities for students and you bring the community together my career in hamon has changed my life in so many ways I went from a Davidson back to Regal and now an angel Loy I met my husband here and relocated our children Juliana and Luke to Hamilton um we've put down Roots here and I couldn't be happier a big thank you to our two children Juliana and Luke it is very difficult to have your parents work in the same district they do not get favors from us at all end there is zero nepotism it is difficult when you are mistaken from your mom on a daily basis is that Miss angelosi no I'm her daughter but at the end of the day my favorite things is listening to their days seeing them on the courts the fields or the baseball diamond through both kids though I have gotten to see how amazing the teacher staff and admin are in the entire District the hamon school district is truly a special place because of all the teachers and I am have gotten to witness that I especially want to also thank my husband Anthony who is my partner and inspires my teaching as well he is equally fantastic with his students a master in his craft and also an advocate for his profession we're pretty much a package deal and when we come walking down the hall either people are like the angel Lois or great the angelis could go either way finally I want to thank my parents who I invited here tonight my parents are my role models and they are two of the most hardworking people they are always ready to help juggling our household of responsibilities and busy schedules I want to dedicate this award to my mom she helped raise and caretake Juliana and Luke for the early part of my career I was so incredibly fortunate I never had to worry about them coming to work for the first 10 years I would come they would be sick but my mom was there I consider myself so incredibly lucky and it truly does take a village I thank my students colleagues administrators and the board of education for this honor I pledge to continue to do the great work I do every day and I'm truly humbled for this honor thank you so much for letting me speak here tonight thank you in a moment I'll I'll turn it over to Mrs kko to talk a little bit more about our teachers of the year but I would just say it's great to see so many staff here tonight teacher of the year program in hamton is an organic program teachers are chosen by their peers which is important and really says a lot about the folks that are honored I'll also extend our thanks to the hamon Education Foundation for their continued work in funding this award as well as several others so I'll turn it over to mrso and then we'll take a short break thank you tonight is truly a proud moment for me as the superintendent as we celebrate just a few of the exceptional individuals in our district congratulations to our outstanding field hockey team as you demonstrated your conviction and fortitude as a team I'd like to take credit for Mrs sylv's coaching talent but I was only her chemistry teacher so sadly I had no influence as her coach I would also like to congratulate our world language students and staff at the high school regarding the Seal of biliteracy 35 of our students received a passing score these students will reive recognition in the National seal of biliteracy providing them with two separate certificates that they can add to their resumes with the designation as being biling bilingual literate finally to our wonderful teachers of the Year congratulations you are the epitome of our profession as educators it takes more than just earning a teaching degree to become an exceptional teacher it takes a calling from deep within yourselves to do whatever it takes to make the connections to your students and provide the best experiences for them you have truly made an impact on your students and they will remember the influence you've had in their lives forever we as a district are fortunate to have you on our staff and celebrate with you in this special recognition so congratulations to all thank you all right we'll go ahead and take a 5 minute break then we'll resume the meeting you watch out see you later bye [Music] every single one of you you guys me the world everyone that you teach [Music] I Fe your [Music] guys where did oh what know I oh she probably does that's [Music] not you can't get any better than that right you're [Music] was you know just just [Music] say is [Music] more same time did [Music] conratulations [Music] say hie anybody we'll go ahead and get back in a minute here [Music] right that's my nuts Mr shipo doctor doctor doctor doctor get out so we can all right welcome back everybody next I'll call up for the presentation of our 2022 2023 School District audit Mr Jerry conedy of homman frenier and Alison come on up Mr hello thank you very much everybody um this B on um thank you my name is Jerry conedy um I'm here on behalf of the firm H friendy Allison here to present the audit report for the year ended June 30th 2023 um before I talk about the AIT I was just saying to the two ladies over here I was speaking with it's uh it's always wonderful to see especially teacher of the year presentations uh really kind of brings you back to when you were in school and the teachers that you had made an impact so for me Mr Larice uh my geometry teacher in in middle in high school so um but it it it's uh congratulations to all them um so first of all I just want to thank you all for having me here tonight uh we're here a little later than when we normally like to be in to present to our boards of Education uh reason behind that is the state of New Jersey for a number of years now has delayed uh release of certain reports that are required to be implemented into these uh audit reports um so I'm happy to report that we're here we're here as early as we can be uh hopefully the state's getting a little more timely with the release of that information so we can start getting here a little earlier uh each year um I usually refer people to if you want to kind of a uh very quick and easy uh understanding of the financial statements there's two pages uh two schedules that I refer you to uh page one is the letter of transmittal and page 19 starts the Management's discussion and Analysis um those are un audited documents but they kind of take a lot of the information that's in the audit and uh boil it down into very uh uh easy to read format uh and gives a little bit more information as to where the district's been where it's positioned moving forward some of the major initiatives and things that have been undertaken things like that happy to report that we have an unmodified opinion on the financial statements uh that's the best opinion that we can give that says that there are no modifications necessary to bring us into compliance with generally accepted accounting principles um we we've gone over these financial statements in depth with with Miss Prettyman and her staff so uh I'll save some of the in-depth analysis uh but one of the things I like to turn to especially at board presentations especially this time of year is fund balance numbers and where you're at especially as as management is starting to put together fin uh the the budget for the upcoming year uh the district ended the year with about $ 13.5 million of fund balance of that about $7.1 million was set aside in various reserves for uh maintenance Capital emergency and unemployment reserves of that you also had about $760,000 that was set aside for incumbrances those are Goods that were ordered before year end but had not yet been received uh by the district in addition to that the board had approved when you adopted the fiscal year 24 budget the utilization of about $1.8 million left the district with a maximum un assigned fund balance of just over $1.5 million uh at the end of the year in addition to that it left you excess surplus of about $2.25 million so what that means is as as management is starting to put together the budget for fiscal year 25 that's going to be the minimum amount that you're going to have to utilize uh of your fund balance to help balance that budget there all right um in addition to all of the testing that we do making sure that the financial statements are materially correct um since the district does spend over $750,000 of both federal and state uh financial assistance we're required to do an additional layer of testing over and above that uh it's referred to as a single audit um for what that means is we do an again an added layer of testing that's uh specific to certain compliance requirements that the granting agencies put forth so for the federal government uh for those grants we attested the education stabilization uh funds that were awarded and the special education cluster and for the state grants we attested the state aid public grant program as well as the uh reimbursed tpf uh FICA reimbursements so I'm happy to report that in all of our single audit testing and all of our testing of the financial statements we had no uh significant deficiencies no material weaknesses nothing that needs to be uh any sort of corrective action in that nature um we did have one finding uh in regards to the um Food Service fund um one of the requirements that the Department of Agriculture put in probably within the past couple years uh is a net cash resource schedule um so if your net cash resources exceeds uh what they refer to as three times your monthly uh operating expenses they want to see that you're starting to spend those resources down um this is a common finding that we've been seeing at a lot of our districts over the past number of years uh especially with uh the closures of the Food Service fund going back to the covid times um so it's not uncommon uh I know the districts already kind of prepared a corrective action plan and and is is working on implementing it um and before I turn it over to questions I I really just want to give a huge thank you to miss keko miss Prettyman and I don't think she's here but but uh Miss Marjorie Crawford uh for for all of the uh courtesies extended to both myself and my staff and my team throughout uh our entire process here uh for anybody that's never undergone it uh undergone an audit it's it's quite extensive uh in addition to all of your day-to-day responsibilities it's as answering questions constantly and and finding documents and running reports and things like that so uh thank you guys so much uh for for all the courtesies again extend to myself and my team throughout this whole process so uh I'm happy to answer any questions if anybody has any for members any questions regarding the audit thank you Mr County for coming out and seeing us and thank you to Mrs prman and her team again for another successful L thank you right thank you thank you okay next we're going to move into committee reports um I'll switch it up so I'll start to my right Mr Thomas from falson not report but I did want to thank you Luke Kelly and Mickey for attending my first board meeting as president of Fon and uh really appreciated the representation there the message that you guys sent while you were there was well appreciate it nothing to report well I have something to report uh comfortable my it's actually short um first I I want to congratulate also the teachers of the year for for 2024 uh we are truly blessed to have the best teachers anywhere I also want to congratulate the field hockey team on their their championship and and the the banner that uh they got tonight is very impressive that will be hung uh congratulations to our high school wrestling team as they defeated Tom's River East in the quarterfinals and Shaunie in the semifinals of the njsa playoffs also congratulations to Hannah lasso Colin hes and Gabby wires for their selection to the all South Jersey course our basketball team's uh doing well I I read that they had a 10 game winning streak uh so congratulations to them our Hamilton Middle School hosted a very well attended variety show on February 2nd second grade happy Hearts program will be held on February 13th and 14th and be sure to mark your calendars for family reading night at West on February 29th and that concludes my report thank you no report water our next meeting is the 21st of this month Mr C The ongoing Services going on the superintendent we started interviewing and uh thank you Mr Lions uh with buildings and grounds just a couple things uh the ECC project is uh moving along it's actually a little bit of head of schedule um all the exterior masonary veneers is complete you'll see that They removed all the scaffolding uh so that the exterior is shaping up very nice we have the temporary electric is on and operating uh I believe they're supposed to be pouring the roof slab tomorrow from what we understand which is a pretty big deal uh they got some good weather coming so they're going to they're going to go for it interior framing has already started uh and it's really starting to look look like something now uh also you'll see some construction over by the water tower uh by the EC that's the town doing a little project over there they're going to resurface and repaint the water tower I think that's going to go for quite some time right Barbara into the Memorial Day so you'll see that going on one other thing uh that you'll see on the agenda is with the tur field we need to repair on the turf field from the severe storms that we had with the intense amount of rain uh it actually created like a pocket from what we're being told and um actually lifted up the uh turf field so it has to we have to get some repairs done there and um you'll see it on the agenda tonight we're going to move really quickly so we can get that done before the season starts and uh some I have to report for this even all right thank you Mr okay thank you um number 43 on your agenda you will see um approval for policies for bylaws for committees and for quorums so uh I hope that you all had a chance to look at that number 47 on your agenda we have new hires this evening we'll welcome um middle school special education teacher Alicia Campion and um high school nurse so we welcome them and wish them well uh for the asss parent support groups the btis and safe committee they're going to have monthly meetings that I hope people will uh reach out and attend this month is just the open house in March they're going to um talk about coping skills selfhelp April is going to be family relationships May is parenting skills and June summer planning things to do with your children so if you want um make use of our newsletter Facebook and our district website if you were interested in that Robin U mentioned the U seal of lit literacy um it's a grant it's awarded in recognition of students who have studied and attained a Proficiency in both English and one or more other languages last year I believe there were 18 students in passed and this year there were 37 so uh congratulations to Mrs Amy Claus and the people that work with her are along with that to make that a success she uh also informed me that in the uh spring sometime May or June there will be a launch in to present Awards and she would like for the board to attend if possible so we hope that we also have a future goal of uh reclaiming individual space at the west building to smaller class size more individualized um instructural and other programs to meet the needs of our students so that's something that is going to be on the uh front corner um Ray mentioned February 29th as uh read across family reading night they are asking that if you do attend that you wear your favorite hat so that should be uh interesting and uh in January there was an introduction into what is going to be on February 15th from 6:00 to 8 to celebrate reading month and people were asked to uh go on Google classroom and and sign up but that night there were going to be Raffles grafts and um snacks and that is also that is funded by the AA and let's see what else we have this is for next month but I think the quanas club is helped sponsoring the Easter egg extravagance at the toy market and you're having the egg drop again are you doing that downtown Hamilton downtown okay and oh I had the opportunity to attend the third grade class presentation uh salute to um service oh my God oh my gosh it was it was a wonderful presentation uh this Harriet um de Alonso what a great great job she did and then thanks again to the a because they provided the t-shirts red white and blue the children were so well behaved it was just such a great thing and uh to thank the the uh people who showed up as representatives of the service people in the community and a special thank you to the veterans because the they were honored and it it it almost brought you to tears when they sign song it it was really really a great great great program and just want to say congratulations to all mention Ray mentioned the winter sports but last night hamon went to the sectionals wrestling at Broly Tim but unfortunately they lost but what a great effort I mean wrestling is like oneon-one you know you can't blame somebody else you know for what happens it's nerve-wracking to watch and uh just the slightest move you could be winning you know 10 to one and then the slightest move you get Pinn but um they gave they had a great season I think they're going on to the districts and so on um I guess that's it for me just uh Ray also mentioned U Aaron U Maul broke his own record with a 200 meter dash and 2245 seconds I me think about what you're doing in 22 seconds um certainly not certainly not and La SAA I hope I'm saying her name right Johnson she set a new record 55 M Dash in 7.66 seconds so all the um teams did a great job for winner Sports congratulations to them all and that's it for my from um well first I just want to say congratulations to our field hockey team and our teachers of the year as I'm just going to speak as a Mom it just shows how much teachers care about our students and it's it's just wonderful because we entrust du to our children all day long and everyone just cares for them so much and that was very evident tonight so want to congratulate all of them and thank them also thank Mrs pryan and her team for another um successful audit um and um almost brought you to tears the third grade play know I I full-fledged cried during the third grade play it was wonderful so thank you to everyone involved in there um negotiations the negotiations committee board committee did meet um we discussed um um you know possible dates and we are um in the process of reaching out to the Ed hamon Education Association to um give them some days we haven't done that quite yet we're trying to get everyone's schedules aligned I also want to just um make everyone aware that for the most part the Committees who are searching for the superintendent and negotiations are basically the same board members so we're pretty busy right now in the thick of superintendent interviews and we're hoping by March um you know to lighten our load a little bit and and be able to meet as a negotiations committee and and meet with the Education Association and get to work there because we're you know we're excited to get the ball rolling there so um that's my report from negotiations Mr I have nothing to report however Luke if you wouldn't mind just sharing Mr es company of uh absolutely um as as I was explaining to uh rest of us our folks here uh a big thank you to two big organizations in the town um one is the all sports booster club um and the other is the Blue Diamond Club these two organizations um if you guys notice we are paying attention we starting baseball and softball this year in the Middle School their brand new sports uh and these two organizations the all sports boost club and the Blue Diamond Club have volunteered and and uh purchased all of the equipment all the bats all the helmets um gloves equipment te's anything that we needed to get these programs off the ground and running uh these two organizations were very generous and uh we really want to thank them and while we're thanking people we also like to thank our grounds crew um we had that snowstorm just a couple of weeks ago uh our ground screw did a phenomenal job and also like to thank Mr cery who just comes out of nowhere with this equipment and like the snow is gone so a big thank you to Mr cery he also put some uh signage out there for us toh help slow some of the traffic down and uh did a tremendous job clearing the snow Force i' like to thank him as well can I just add one to the blue G Club the all sports booster even um the AA and organizations like that that help out our students they're always looking for a new member so if there is anyone interested in like joining that club because as you know as your children graduate then a lot of people don't stay in that particular organization and you know if you've been in any kind of organization there's a certain core of people that do a lot of the work um so anyone is interested in joining any typee of um all sports boosters the AA the Blue Diamond clock I'm sure that you would be welcome because they certainly could use the help the uh all sports booster club um if you're go to a football game they're the ones that run the stand and um the food and and do all of that for um to benefit of the foundation so I'm just trying to get a plug for them to you know if you want to Jo organization they'd be happy to have you that's all they're definitely in need of some members uh John and I and M barnado had a chance to uh stop out and they you know like M barado said they they they children are now getting older and graduating and moving on so uh you know we are looking for some young fresh uh members to start joining these organizations that really make a big difference here right start I have no report but I would like to Echo my colleagues in regards to the Hamilton field hockey team congratulations and it seems like our feeder program is paying off big dividends and speaking of dividends I want to thank Mrs Prettyman and her crew for keeping our audit a good report every year thank you thank you I just have two short things one um I'll I'll both thank and acknowledge Council Marino he is the Hamington Town Council representative to uh for education so Mr Marino is here tonight in the audience and certainly welcome him to take a tour of our buildings and see some of the great things that are going on I definitely picked a great meeting to attend teacher of the year feel hocky and all the good things um second just and this will be published in official notice the board will be holding a special meeting February 22nd here at 6 p.m. uh so you'll see notification about that shortly after this meeting uh but next we'll go to public comment this is the first of two opportunities of anybody in the public wishing to be heard from so come on up give us your name and your address and you can make a comment hi my name is Alicia Champion I've had the opportunity to be a long-term substitute at Hamilton Middle School since I have started at Hamilton Middle School the Administration staff and students have been amazing and so welcoming I am beyond grateful and want to thank the board of education for the opportunity to be hired here tonight as a special education teacher at Hamilton Middle School thank you and I look forward to my future with hamton school district welcome sorry I pronounced your last name incorrectly anyone else for public comment all right close that portion of a comment next we'll go to the printed agenda Finance items 1 through 21 we'll take a motion motion Mr COA first second Mrs berado second any questions roll call Mr ADI yes Mado uh yes I'm going to say on number three I wasn't hear thank you m SPS yes Mr Kya yes Mrs donio yes Mrs Fallon yes abstain on number three you Mrs Hunter uh yes to Waterford items one and two I'm going to abstain on number three then yes what for items 4 through 16 and number 19 thank you Mr Kia yes Mr shipon yes Mr Lions yes motion carried next I'll entertain a motion for personnel items 22 through 37 motion this is Fallon for Mr anonie second questions roll call Mr Anie yes Mrs berado Mrs Burns yes Mr Coya yes Mrs donio yes Mrs Fallon yes Mrs Hunter Mr P yes Mr chipon yes Mr Lions yes motion carried next one entertain a motion on items 38 through 44 so moved Mr chipon first second Mr Coya second question roll call Mr Adie yes Mrs bernado yes Mrs Burns yes Mr Co yes Mrs donio yes Mrs yes Mrs Hunter yes order for items number 38 44 you Mr yes Mr Shon yes Mr Lions yes motion carried next we'll move to the agenda Finance items 45 and 46 motion motion Mr an MR sh on second roll call Mr Anie yes M Fado yes Mrs FS yes Mr P yes Mrs donio yes Mrs Fallon yes Mrs Hunter yes Mr plea yes Mr shipon yes Mr Li yes motion carried we'll entertain a motion on Personnel item number 47 this verado first second Mr shipo second and I apologize I mispronounced her last name Mr yes Mr berado yes Mrs Burns yes Mr COA yes Mrs donio yes Mrs Fallon yes Mrs Hunter yes Mr baa yes Mr chipon yes Mr liance yes motion Carri we'll take pram students miscellaneous items 48 and 49 motion motion Mr Co first second Mrs Hunter second Mr Anie yes Mr verado yes Mrs Burns yes Mr Kya yes Mrs Donia yes Mrs Fallon yes Mrs Hunter yes Mr F yes Mr shipon yes Mr Li yes we'll go to the second portion of public comment anybody willing to be heard step up to the microphone sure those two goodlooking guys come up pizza pretty serious want better Pizza I don't all right they're here keeping an eye on what's going on and getting local school government okay I'll entertain a motion to adjourn Mr anthon all in favor i e j thank you