e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for e start okay uh pursuing to uh to the New Jersey open public meetings Act njsa 4 uh 10 4-10 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by advertising such notice in the home News Tribune the Asbury Park Press the board office the schools and on cable vision channel 118 and and Verizon files 24 and by filing such notice with the Township Clerk this meeting was scheduled for Tuesday April 16 2024 the board will take act formal action of payment of bills and other agenda items thank you but everybody I'm sorry David the Oldbridge Township Board of Education acknowledges that the law of the 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 the business of this public board meeting therefore the board makes it known that any such recording is to be considered the private recording of the individual and in no manner represents the official record of this board the board therefore takes no resp responsibility for for such private recording and completely disavows any future use thank you Mr wedell R call please danant tuno present gardano here jod present Francisco here lent here Marquetta mazone here Slade here and solowski here we have a quum would everybody please stand for the pledge I pledge aliance is to the flag of the United States of America and to the repu it stands one nation thank you uh code of ethics I'm going to we're going to cover this next week uh uh yes can I get a volunteer for the Cod of ethics you got it thank you march okay approval of minutes next week yes y there is just one change we're going to make a correction it is actually supposed to be March 19th uh instead of March 16th so we'll make that correction for next meeting okay we have recognition uh next week one two three and I'll be using the board members for that thank you uh will there be a superintendent report yes there will be uh just a just a few items for tonight um one I wanted to just remind everyone who SE seen the email obviously the budget situation is very uh dire this year as we are in our last year as being S2 district and for those of our our families and parents and District me uh members who want to become involved um to help prevent and what could be uh you know very serious cuts to our our district a model letter to be sent to the governor's office uh assembly missa coughlin's office um has been placed on uh the district website you can take that modified if you need to just take it andert your name and send it off uh to those and any any contact um and proactiveness uh can certainly help I also wanted to add that we were very fortunate this week our uh counselors and our administrators were treated to um a really special presentation from uh Dr Mary shonfeld Dr shonfeld is an expert in trauma relief and Recovery uh she has she was selected by FEMA to go to such disasters such as Columbine Sandy Hook Virginia Tech um she brings special set of skills to teach us um how to recover how to um operate in a in a district or in a community that has had s suffered trauma um her expertise is also in suicide prevention disaster mental mental health safe school systems compassion fatigue Incident Management and exercise planning one of the things I thought was remarkable about her she's also has been nominated to the Hall of Fame of international network of women for Emergency Management so it was really uh awesome to have her here and then she went on to uh speak to Statewide representatives in Atlantic City directly after that thank you very much thank you Mr sadino progress toward goals anything did it all at once okay correspondence Mr W any correspondence I do have uh a couple correspondences first was um there's an opportunity from uh will Lin Attorneys at will Lin is actually serves as our bond Council um but W actually has an opportunity right now where they're they're putting out litigation against uh social media companies um what the correspondence to us was was and I'll read some brief brief notes um will skman Spitzer PA is filing claims on behalf of school district seeking compensation from the social media companies for their role in creating and supporting the social media Public Health crisis facing our youth today this memo provides an overview of P pending litigation against the following social media companies meta platform snap Inc uh bite dance and alphabet Inc school districts are suing these companies for their negligence in creating and amplifying the public nuisance of social media these suits seek financial compensation for those school districts so that they can address the harms caused by social media so what this opportunity is essentially um bringing the the district is many school districts in New Jersey are are coming on board to put a a full um lawsuit against social media companies and essentially the opportunity would allow the district to re uh obtain compensation where um we can help provide districts with financial compensation to help do PD on addressing the issues and um the the penalty or not the penalties but rather the barriers that social media has impacted um for Education uh the representation from W is at uh free of cost no extra cost to the district what they would do is essentially um whatever the final uh sum is they would take an out out- of pocket expense uh prior to that and then the district would get the award um additionally what we're looking for the case to do is um they're pursuing not only past monetary damage that districts have suffered but also compensation that address future costs that districts May expend to manage this epidemic within the school system so we've done I know in the past prior to my arriving here in Oldbridge there's been social media presentations and and the impact it has on on kids and and bullying and um you know just overall education environment so what I'm asking the board is if there's interest to continue with this lawsuit um it's not going to be any kind of upheaval from uh the administration as far as our task it's just something that we can join going along and we need to provide just some overall um information to them what we've done as far as PD what our costs have been to to um kind of alleviate any issues that we've had in the past with as it pertains to social media and our kids and um we could then be part of the the suit so this again was just something I wanted to bring up to the board that we got um there has been some interest from the administration level we just wanted to make the board aware um the second correspondence item I have was I know there's been um some interest to reach out to the township Council for a a discussion or a meeting um to go over some potential um ways that we can work together and help create a more cohesive um Community abroad so what I wanted to just update the board is I've received some in information from the township Council um what they're looking to do is in order to have that that meeting and facilitate it we they just want more information on what the topic of discussion would be at that meeting um I've since talked to uh board president solowski here um it's something that he would like to do Under the um shared services committee um that that would be the way to do it moving forward but again if we want to have that meeting they are looking for just kind of an agenda of topics um so if you want to share that with me I could then send some information over um to kathern Hutchinson who's the Township Clerk that she could share out to Township Council as well before we uh to to move forward may I speak to that go ahead um I know I I was one of the drivers between trying to get that meeting started um I'd like to do it sooner rather than later at least on this budget issue and get the whole Community to go down to try in or you know work together so if we put the meeting too far off into the future and wait till an agenda especially more on shared services I'm worried it'll be too late for the budget issue thank you anyone else any I'll follow we done after okay okay thank you uh I just want to add to to support um the Well's uh legal position is as the board just think about each time you look you you get our H HIV reports at least 65% of them are related to um bullying online out of school on a weekend after a party um through snapchat Instagram uh what have you and how you know at then at the school level once it's reported to us we have 10 days to do an investigation that's 10 days of man hours within a school to conduct investigations talk to people get information um and then situations like that happen with bik dance is um how me that is uh Tik Tock and how many times they have Tik Tok threats the Tik Tok challenges push somebody in school you know destroy School bathroom and then we have to go and with the damages of that or putting out fires and sending home messages Mees to parents saying watch out for this challenge this CH that challenge you know there there's definitely a social media position where hey we can create this fire and just step back from it just reap the profits and that's what they've done and going back from this to The Vape companies they've all done that they've all taking advantage of children and put the cost on to school districts to police it and I think it's a smart move to try to put the bite back on them no no pun intended to get some of that reap some of the money that they're taking can I make a motion to move for forward with it now or does that have to wait till new business you can do that now I'd like to make a motion to move forward with the W's offer I'll second second good are we going on any discussion on that I Eric SE on the second okay any discussion I mean I I like just like a little more information like maybe for next week want next week I I can share out the correspondence with everyone after this meeting uh with with the information oh no I'm saying I'd rather us get the correspondence and then we'll yeah and then we'll vote next week so he's making a motion to postpone the vote till next week do you do you want to change your motion Jen okay all right then you have a motion to table Miss Dano's motion you need a second on that if anyone cares to make a second okay motion to table fails any more discussion on Miss Dano motion thank you roll call please okay we're just going to go down uh Marjorie or J sorry yes to both SL yes jordano no duno yes maone yes Francisco yes lent yes Sakowski yes motion passes okay special committee reports I guess we have a couple next week hearing of residents on agenda items only yeah Mr uh Hardon will say something first okay um obviously this is agenda items only but that restriction doesn't apply to me and I know that there are a lot of concerns in the room on some going on here in the orridge school district we are obviously aware that there are charges active right now against a board member he is not here tonight he knows this would be discussed tonight though um there have been calls for his resignation for him to step down for him to be removed for board members to uh take action under the school ethics act or to Simply remove Mr maretta from the Board of Education if he's unwilling to step down himself uh in the most widely spread of those letters the writers correctly say that if the alleged conduct is true uh it's a reprehensible act uh and that's that's probably a fair sentence but it's most important to note that it says if the alleged conduct is true we just talked about social media and we're in New Jersey the home of suing everybody for everything and it is true that you can make a claim against anybody you can stop somebody from trying to do things by putting up claims against them and those claims may be true but we are very much an innocent until proven guilty country that is true at the national level and that is true all the way down to the bylaws of local school districts like this one uh our bylaws are not made up locally though they are verbatim followed to state law state statutes not regulations but actual laws of the state of New Jersey and the controlling law here is njsa 1881 12-1 which provides that somebody can be removed from the board if they are guilty of certain criminal misconduct and the word that that statute uses repeatedly is convicted if any board member is convicted of anything that is in the list of disqualifying offenses be assured that they will be removed immediately by this board and by the way by the state but this board would act immediately if that were the case until though that is the case or unless that is the case this board has no Authority even on an 80 vote to remove another board member there are other factors at play as there always are the meeting attendance requirements remain in place for all board members regardless of what they're alleged to have done or not done uh whether they're here tonight or not uh if somebody were to move out of town they're no longer board member if somebody misses three meetings in a row they're no longer a board member but being accused of something at this point in our country at least does not take away any rights so we're watching you're watching we're all watching but at this point there is no basis and there is no Authority on this board to remove a board member for anything that has happened so far uh that may be frustrating there may be strong feelings on all sides of this we tend to come here and talk about strong feelings on all sides of this issues every month now and this is no different but in this case we do have an easy answer although it may be frustrating we cannot remove Mr Marquetta based upon his being charged with something so if that answers some of your questions before you come to the microphone that's great if you have more questions later we'll talk during the general public portion thank you Mr Pon excuse me Chris I just want to clarify you said Miss three meetings yeah you said Miss three meetings you can be I think the emphasis is that you can be removed not that you missed three meetings you are removed clarification at the at the will of the board the remaining board members somebody get can be removed if they miss three meetings without just cause and just cause or excuse is determined by the remaining board members and yes thank you uh under your bylaw which is a legal and enforcable bylaw it is three board meetings it is not regular action meetings it is three board meetings so tonight for instance is a meeting that counts if somebody missed missed tonight that is one board meeting that they have missed if they missed the last meeting then that's two so it does count and as always Mr weell and I are counting thank you Mr paron thank you Jen policy we have nothing under policy oh okay agenda items only I'm sorry does anybody have any comments anybody like to say anything agenda items only I see no hands thank you under policy uh curriculum professional development one through eight anybody like to say anything any discussion no okay under Finance we have uh action under one through one through four I believe yes I just have a question go ahead on uh three and four where it says original project cost and then it says access cost uh forward Doral does that mean that that it went over the original correct yes so that was the the original project cost and and the the issue became those projects were actually in last year's budget okay for for this year essentially okay um we have a couple change orders on the project um so when we withdrew the money from capital reserve we didn't rraw take into account those change orders that came up so we now just have to withdraw um those excess costs to to pay the final payments off okay thank you thank you I have a question as well got a mtion can I get a motion to to move one through four please M will motion lent will second thank you any discussion okay so um for Number Four The Learning labs and the excess cost of 25,000 what exactly is that covering in ex like what is what did we not factor in for the learning Labs that would cost that much more that was specific work done at Sal Middle School cool um the application is unfortunately on my desk it's a a rather large it's not through email um I can get the the notice for it but it was just additional work I don't I don't have it off the top my uh in my email here um it was just additional work that was completed at sock okay um and then curiosity for number two is that the cost of graduation itself that is correct that is the cost for grad uation now there is payments there are payments from students which um subsid subsidize some of that cost but that is the overall cost to license the area and then security and and parking all the all the things that come with it um it has increased in the past couple years so it's something we could look up as an Administration team to to see what other options are out there right um it has been going up quite quite handsomely since uh since Co so right okay thank you very much thank you at this point I would say that there's not many options left roll call please lent yes Mara mazone yes Slade yes Dan tuno yes gardano yes jri yes Francisco yes and solowski yes resolutions 1 through four for finance pass thank you any discussion on 5 through 13 under Finance no discussion okay Athletics one and two any discussion no non-certified personnel office any discussion no non-certified Personnel operational one through four any discussion non-certified Personnel other one through one through seven any discussion quick question go ahead Christina do we ever get clarification for the attachment for leaves of absences yes Dr huler you email me back today I think and I don't want to pull it up on the phone but for the uh regarding the leaves of absences that that was it was in reference to that was for the termination on here but the the attachment didn't match the title of leaves leaves of absence can say that leaves of absence oh yes um it's in my email okay yeah all right we we'll check it out for next week thank you uh certified Personnel we have one item for to be voted on can I get a motion to move certified personnel number one Francisco will move it can I get a second please thank you Roco please any discussion or okay any discussion no okay s yes danant tuno yes Jano yes Jodi yes Francisco yes lent yes Marquetta maone yes solowski yes resolution one for certificated Personnel passes thank you yeah any discussion on certified Personnel 2 through 32 yes uh more of just a clerical thing on number item number 22 page 17 it says the move the board employee one and then it has three in parentheses I'm assuming that's just a type graphical page 17 number 22 move the board employee one and then three in parentheses bcbas okay we'll make that correction thank you okay I have a question go ahead okay if I'm in the right spot um number 12 and 13 um appointing Dr tuy for the 504 officer and the district homeless liaison um do we are those positions currently occupied by somebody else or they're they're new it's just you but we're just renewing it okay that's and the same with the with the um number 11 those go on annually and that information will be put in for the next meeting and I just want to clarify I think that the question on the attachments was if I have the number correct the C1 wasn't in the attachments and that the clar so the leaves of absences are ongoing we have really I'm going to say since covid we have put the leaves of absences for certified staff on both the agenda session and the regular meeting for approval because they're constantly changing and it allows us to get staff in those to cover those positions when we have last minute updates to the extensions of leaves or sudden leaves um we started putting on the other um staff in other the support staff and and in all of the other areas we do the same thing now with the attachments but those um they're not as many staff members that fit into those categories so we put them on on the regular meeting so you're not approving those and the attachments are updated for the actual meeting um we could put it on but there will always be changes by the time we get to the regular meeting so that's why that wasn't provided in the update um than you Dr uh also on number 23 it says move the board employe six child study members there's only five we didn't have enough people apply so we're only going to go with five got it but we still have seven days so maybe someone else changed their mind got it there's a blank thank you any any other discussion non-certified Personnel transportation we have motion to move one one through five can I get a motion please Jo move Dan second uh any discussion uh just clarifying the resignations of the head mechanic and so basically we're just moving people around someone's tiring we're moving people up to head mechanic and whatnot right we had one opening and then we had a resignation so we are one person is moving up we h HED two additional people so all three positions are filled got it thank you okay broko please one through five mazone yes Slade yes danant tuno yes Jano yes ji yes Francisco yes lent yes Marquetta and solowski yes resolutions 1 through five for non-certificated personnel Transportation passes thank you any discussion on six and seven no discussion okay Transportation one through four any discussion okay supplies equipment and services for approval of the agenda okay one and two one and two okay can I get a motion to move one and two under supplies equipment and services please lent we'll move it can I get a second Jo second thank you any discussion um I just wanted to clarify that these are just renewals of contracts that we already have these are um Cooperative purchasing agreements so there's a district called an educational Service Commission that essentially puts out bids for us um to piggy back off of they they make the award they put out the contracts we can use their services to to do the award so this first uh demand response Services is actually like a utility audit it provides make sure you're not taking up the the power grid um so we join this cop it actually gets money savings back to the district they pay us um so their contract was up this is their new contract in order us to continue using those Services we have to continue with this part participation it starts uh June 1 the second um resolution is joining uh the P County Co-op um we're not currently a member of it this is a resolution to join them what they have is um they have an RFP done for auction services um so there was a few months ago um we put on the agenda to dispose of old vehicles that are not being used anymore and typically when you do that um they just go to the trash we're using this Ser we're going to join this Co-op to then put a public auction out through a place called gov deals um where we're going to use their online service is and and the public can essentially bid on and uh we get money back on those those auctions does it cost the district anything to be a member of this no no no cost to District got it thank you any other discussion roll call please lent yes Marquetta maone yes Slade yes Dan tuno yes gardano yes jod yes Francisco yes owski yes uh Mo resolutions 1 and two for supplies equipment and services passes okay can I get a motion to move our discussion any discussion on three through 23 23 okay miscellaneous one through 1 through 17 any discussion should we discuss the the new calendar yes you may please right so floor is open go ahead um looking draft a is the new proposed one not NE correct not giving necessarily off for Ed and devali but making the compromise of doing a half day so that we don't end school at the very very end of June that correct that is correct so that would be option a option b would be a a much more traditional calendar that we've had in the past and option C is inclusive of the holidays proposed uh being closed so you have all three of those um we'll have discussion with the board and then the information will be used in real time to present the information to the parents in which they can provide their feedback in a much more secure and closed um feedback environment and that would go out um tomorrow it would have discuss right if you agree with or if you agree if you agree with these options and we present these options to the public and they would have a um a a time period in which they could close you could tell you want open it tomorrow close it on Friday you know it's up to the board okay I like that um we're still acknowledging the holidays but yet not making everyone come in on June 30th for graduation or whatever so um I think it was good work by the the administration and the board and the council that put this together um I think a week is enough time to to ask for everyone's opinion oh no wait um say Tuesday so Wednesday through Friday I think is a good enough time you need the information by Tuesday obviously wait is that our meeting next week Tuesday oh we have the Thursday because right we're off so we're back Wednesday yeah it's up to you you can have it on you can have it on Friday you could I mean I think we can close it on Friday and get the results CL it by noon on Friday this Friday would we be able to get it by like Monday even though the schools are closed because if it's how are we sending it out to the parents the information will be placed on from what I understand will be placed on real time and they will receive a link in there as well right so people will still receive it over the weekends and the two days off but I'm saying how are we going to get back to you I don't have someone here to read surve close Tuesday we get the results Wednesday Wednesday you give it to you by probably give it to you by Wednesday Wes morning Wednesday noon yeah give you enough time time to decide on what you want to do and and vote reasonably by Thursday yeah yes okay thank you thank I thank all of you for your comments okay thank you uh board Secretary of board business hearing of residents on any school district issues boy Andrew Lewis Oba thege Ed ation Association is deeply concerned and disappointed to have learned about Board of Education member Leon Leonardo Mara's arrest and subsequent charges that include seven counts of bad checks two counts of theft the theft by deception and conspiracy Mr Mara's alleged actions greatly affected two parent teacher associations within Oldbridge and the Rebels football and cheer program our association is sadden that our students and staff were taken advantage of through the misuse of their PTA dues and fundraising efforts the needs of our students families and Educators should be at the Forefront yet this incident highlights how certain IND individuals put their own greed first Mr Mara's charges not only cast a Shadow of Doubt over his Integrity ethics and trustworthiness they CS us to question his decision-making as a member of the Board of Education while Mr Marquetta should be afforded his due process rights members of the Board of Education are expected to abide by the code of ethics for school board members and it appears that Mr Marquetta has not the Elbridge education call Education Association calls on Leon Marquetta to resign effective immediately I ask that the Board of Education member seated here join us in demanding his resignation May each of you take this as a moment to reaffirm that you're committed to transparency and accountability thank you anyone else Matthew to Franco parent uh just want to Echo uh Mr Lewis's comments uh though I know Mr pardon said and throughout the country we do have the right to uh be innocent till proven guilty but being on this board is not a right it's a privilege that everybody in this community put Faith in all the individuals on this board to sit there and have ethics and not UTI utilize our schools to facilitate a crime it's just ridiculous that anybody would even fathom doing that yes he has his day in court but the board should Echo what the community feels and implore Mr marchett to step down understanding you guys cannot take formal action but you can certainly voice your opinion to St stand with the community and say you know we're not going to stand for this thank you thank you anyone else okay I see no hands so we're going to close the portion of the uh comments for for the residents thank you the old business any new business oh yes one think goad yes uh just as a reminder um as Mr Cino said on the school website there's a template for um letters and emails to be sent to the governor about the state a cut that we facing and um I once again encourage everyone to participate thank you thank you any other comments um I have something uh Saturday um April 20th Grom is holding their first annual um vendor fair it's going to be located in in Sal Middle School from 10: a.m. to 400 p.m. oh Samberg sorry um sorry uh from 10 a.m. to 4 pm we have over 90 vendors coming food uh trucks so we welcome everyone to come stop by and I think that's about it thank you any other discussion from the board um I got uh a thank you note this meeting and last meeting I had some others um Thanking us for going and reading to the classrooms um I want to thank the staff for inviting us as board members I know I thoroughly enjoyed reading to the different classes when we had read Across America so just acknowledging all the thank you notes so thank you thank you Mr duno yes one more go ahead um so several of us last night to the indoor percussion send off to cheer on those students and I was blown away by their performance and I know they are competing in Ohio I don't know if the exact date of competition was today or if it's over the next couple of days but I just wanted to wish them the very best of luck thank you anyone else I'll Echo Miss Francisco it was it was awesome to watch Good Luck go nights okay okay thank I thank everyone for coming we're going to go into a close executive session for the board and we will see everybody next week thank you you need a motion for exec for personnel negotiations andne motion lent will second thank you grit all I all in favor I