I don't know. >> Yeah. >> Uh >> I think it's a >> Uh you put this right in the center. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> That's it. >> Excuse me? >> Oh, yeah. Excuse me, ma'am.
>> And down here? >> You can lie down. I didn't see the ball. >> I want to put the chair up. >> I have my jacket on. >> Thanks. >> It's freezing. >> You know what, darling?
I remember you shivering, and that's why I brought this coat. >> I know, it's always cold. >> Long sleeve shirt and a coat. What I say? >> I'm getting all dressed up. But it's too hot. I'm going to turn my phone off.
Do not disturb. Same. Turn your phone off. I did. I did. I did. >> It's freezing in here. >> I'm sorry, nothing in the speakers? Okay, so still speaking to the microphone. >> But not here.
>> And is it live now? Okay, so we're live. >> As I'm banging on it. Okay. Okay. We're good? All right, call the meeting to order. Please stand for the flag salute. >> Good?
What we're looking for? >> flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> They used it for graduation.
>> Yes. Apologize for the flag not being here. It was probably from graduation. The New Jersey Open Public Meeting Law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meeting of public bodies at which any business affecting their
interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Cedar Grove Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be advertised by having the date, time, and place thereof posted on bulletin boards in the district, published and or transmitted to the Verona Cedar Grove
Times newspaper, TAPinto online news, filed with the Township Clerk, and posted on the district website. Can I have a roll call, please? Mr. Alban. >> Here. >> Mr. Marzullo. >> Here. >> Mr. Tyler? >> Here.
>> Ms. Keegan? >> Here. >> Ms. Dora? >> Here. Good evening, everybody. I apologize the mics do not seem to be working in the building, but anybody watching from home live stream um does have access to sound. So, I
apologize. We'll just all talk as uh clearly and loudly as we can tonight. Um at this time, I'd like to open the meeting to public comment agenda items only. Um Yeah, sure. >> of live stream, if you don't mind.
>> Good. >> Thank you. >> Could you just state your name, address? >> Thank you. >> Uh Jennifer Krunt key, 10 Yorkshire Drive. Um I'm standing tonight to speak about the activities fee that is going to be imposed. Um while I understand the financial
challenges facing the districts, imposing a fee on participation in clubs, activities, and extracurriculars creates a barrier for the very students we should be encouraging to get involved. Participation in these programs is not a luxury. It is an essential part of the
educational process. Research consistently shows that students who participate in extracurriculars have higher attendance rates, stronger academic performance, greater school connectedness, and improved social emotional well-being. The development of leadership
skills, teamwork, and time management are essential for our students, especially in this day and age. Even a nominal fee can have a disproportionate impact for families already facing financial pressures. In the face of this, students may choose to not participate instead of having a
tough conversation about why they cannot afford it. We should be looking for ways to increase increase involvement, not additional obstacles. A student activity fee risks the message that Cedar Grove the opportunities for engagement are
only available if you can afford them. So, my questions to the board tonight are will this feed be disclosed on the school profile so that students uh college and career applications are not impacted? So, that colleges and other
opportunities understand that students had to pay a fee to be involved in extracurriculars at Cedar Grove High School. Also, organizations that center themselves on community service or other activities, um how will they judge
applications? So, a student has to pay to join the National Honor Society now? A student has to pay to be a part of an organization that gets them into National Honor Society uh on top of already booster clubs that people are
paying for, um other things? Uh I can say that I think it's it's probably fair that uh while no one wants to cry poverty, right? We also want to to make sure that we are being smart about what we're charging and what we're doing, and
balancing a budget on the backs of the people that already participate is is something that I I really think we should have more discussion about. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. I I appreciate your uh opinion on that. Um at this time, is
there anyone else that would like to speak on agenda items only? No, okay. So, then I um move to close that portion of the meeting. >> Uh Madam President, if I may respond. So, um I appreciate your comments in coming out tonight, and thank you for
your thoughtfulness. Uh I want to reassure both you and the full community. Um the idea of introducing an activity fee into our school budget for the first time this upcoming school year was not something the board or I took lightly. We are tonight adopting a policy to
support that that announces the fee, but then the next steps over the summer will be to develop a regulation. The reason to it's important to to focus on that is the regulation will be very explicit in answering the questions you asked for tonight. So for example,
rightly so, you asked about National Honor Society. Would that come with a fee? An organization that's focused on community service, would that come with a fee? And the answer is no, but we're going to delineate that in writing through a regulation over the summer so that we're being transparent with the community about what does and what does not
include the fee. And then two other things I'll just share for your consideration. The college profile we will very much take into strong consideration and make sure that is public and transparent. And then the balancing act and you alluded to it in your in your comment, very properly so,
of getting to a budget for this upcoming school year in a climate that is extremely challenging economically. The reality is when we started to build the 26-27 school year budget, we had to factor in a projected 35% increase in
benefit costs. And so that already put us in a significant hole. Now, I I'm I believe we created a very strategic budget for next school year and what I mean by that is we didn't just slash positions. You know, we were very clear in where we could reduce, but then we did also
embrace this new idea of an activities fee. It was all part of the equation. We will In closing, we will be ongoingly transparent with the community about where we are at the fee, what the timeline for implementation would be, and to your point about
participation rates, let me end my comment there cuz that's an excellent point as well. I will reassure you that we will monitor both current participation rates and then future participation rates going forward. I feel confident in our coaches and our teachers know our students very
well. One of the benefits we have of being such a small community is we can keep a close eye and in the case that we think there's going to be a negative impact, we can take action. And so it's something we will monitor closely, but I do want to reassure the speaker that
your comments are being taken very seriously. Thank you. >> Okay, thank you Dr. Tran I mean. All right, at this time we have a special presentation tonight. Yes. >> Shall we go right into >> Yeah, let's go right into it. Yeah.
Absolutely. >> May I ask the board to join us out front? Okay. We can't say enough. We're so proud of all you accomplished, our varsity baseball team. Thank you all for coming out tonight with your families, giving us the honor an opportunity to honor your accomplishments and how much you achieved this year on your first new
full year of a turf field. So we couldn't be more proud of all of you. So thank you for coming out tonight. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Gogerty. And let me help with this. You got it. >> Good evening. I'm honored to present and recognize our two 2026 Cedar Grove High School
baseball team on winning a sectional state championship, breaking a 23-year drought. I want [snorts] to congratulate the coaches, the athletes, and the families on an outstanding season. And I want to thank you all for your commitment to excellence and striving to get past a
hurdle that we all have been waiting for. To briefly sum up sum up their season, the team finished the season with a 20 and 10 record. They had a 7 and 3 Super Essex Conference Colonial Division record and clinched the SEC Colonial Division Championship for the third
season in a row. And on June 5th, 2026, the team defeated Hanover Park High School 11-5 to win the NJSIAA North 2 Group 1 State Sectional Championship for the first time since 2003.
Congratulations to the following members of our 2026 state championship baseball team, and we ask that you come up, you know, and kind of stand, you know, >> You can go through the line and then come up on stage >> Come up on I'm going to start with our sophomores, Carter Hekt.
>> [applause] >> Andrew Loftus. >> [applause] >> John Carlo Morressi. >> [applause] >> Ronald Rica. >> [applause] >> Dominic San Giacomo. >> [applause] >> Jack Shea.
>> [applause] >> Junior class, Chris Halbert. >> [applause] >> Chris Mullen. >> [applause] >> Jack Fallonis. >> [applause] >> And their senior class, Xavier Andujar. >> [applause] >> Ryan Dugan.
>> [applause] >> Marcus Quillan. >> [applause] >> John Rear. >> [applause] >> Jake Skurka. >> [applause] >> Nicholas Testa. >> [applause] >> And head coach Vin Cordasco.
>> [applause] >> Congratulations again to our 2026 NJSIAA North 2 Group 1 state champions. >> [applause] >> First I got to turn my phone off before we begin. >> [laughter] >> Don't you guys look great. Just give me one more second.
There we go. Perfect. And can we get one more round of applause? >> [applause] >> Good job, guys. >> Once again >> Thank you. >> Thank you guys. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. That's always the fun part.
>> It is. It is. It's quite an accomplishment. >> And we've had a lot of them this year. A lot of recognitions. It's been great. Okay, so we have some uh committee reports. Uh we have three tonight.
Mr. Palik and I attended. So Mr. Palik, would you like to >> On Friday morning the 19th, uh Mr. Dewar and myself, uh Dr. T, Mr. Palik, we met and uh condensed three meetings into one sitting.
Uh first um and they're all brief reports because of um a lot of the items that were discussed in all these areas are being presented this evening on the agenda, which you can see. Uh the first we'll take you up was finance.
Um when you get to your June 30th meeting, as you'll see Mr. Palik has done a great job. This becomes a reorg session as our fiscal year turns over from the the last fiscal year on July 1st, we start a new one. So all contracts, all
vendors, all the individuals in our district and and companies that we deal with uh will be approved this evening uh through that res um those resolutions and Ms. Blood did a great job of explaining each one to us. Um
in the in the area of personnel, there are a number of personnel appointments that uh will be presented this evening by the superintendent that we discussed um uh the bulk of the meeting was discussed uh with discussion is based on uh several legal matters uh in the area of
personnel which were discussed during closed session. And then finally, our education committee agenda um it it's it was a a really an excellent meeting and I like to thank Dr. T. Also, our
principals at our elementary schools and and Ms. Masado and the staff that were involved uh moving moving into a departmentalization setup for grades three and four do really does accomplish a great deal of
things educationally and academically for those children. And we're moving through the first phase of that in the next school year. They were able to put together a schedule for us. Um and one of the most important things I think it does, it allows teachers teach to an area of strength, but also
for our students, it allows our students not to be situated in one room for an entire day. They're able to get up, move, go to another room. And and I think that's most beneficial. And I think that if you do your research in that area, uh it's it's prevalent in most districts
in the state of New Jersey. But um it was excellent meeting. I thank our administrators for presenting us with that information. And as you'll see, most of these will show as part of a series of resolutions this evening. Thank you, Ms. Dore. >> Thank you.
Any comments, questions, concerns? Okay. Uh Dr. T, anything you would you like to add to those committees before you do your report? >> Uh nothing specific to the committees, but I can roll into a report. That'd be helpful. Thank you. Um thank you, Madam
President. Uh I I'd be wanting to begin this evening by acknowledging uh our the administration at both the high school and our middle school. Last week, our community was the benefit of some really one uh well-run promotion ceremonies and ultimately our officer our high school graduation last Friday evening. So,
um just want to appreciate all of the hard work from the administration through our staff that was put into planning those ceremonies. The amount of care and love for our students was very evident in both. Um so, I wanted to acknowledge that this evening. I want to highlight for the
community because since we do have many items on the agenda this evening, one of the items that's uh important to highlight is we're updating our school calendar for the 207 20 20 to 26 27 school year. Specifically, we're moving
our back to school nights up 1 week. Um so, they'll be sooner than they've been in the past, but you may recall last year we changed the calendar to make it so they were all the same week. We have um our high school, the middle school, and then the end schools on that Thursday, and then just the one early
dismissal that Friday. However, the other reason for making this change is to provide as many of opportunities as we can to inform our community about the referendum, which will be voted on September 15th. So, by moving these
nights up by a week, uh we have more of an audience before the 15th to just inform community members about the referendum vote. And then lastly, speaking specifically to the referendum, uh early next week, I plan to announce four dates this summer uh when we will
host forums. There'll be a forum hosted at every school. Um at each forum, I'll either be joined I will be joined by the school leader, but we'll also either be joined by an architect or our bond counsel. So, we'll have expertise in the room at each forum and look forward to engage
the community throughout the summer about the referendum. Our website continues to be updated, so I encourage community members to continue to check the website for information. And again, I'll just reiterate all phone calls and all emails will be responded
to for any inquiries whatsoever. So, with that, I'll conclude my report for the Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. And I would just like to second the remarks about the promotion ceremonies and the middle school promotion and
and obviously the high school graduation really was um beautiful ceremonies across the board, so thank you to the administration, all the families. I hope all the dads had a nice Father's Day this past weekend, so happy Father's belated Father's Day to all our
fathers and our father villains. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Okay, we have a lot to move tonight. We do have some minor changes on a couple of our resolutions tonight, so I will try to be clear in
um pointing them out. So, under the business administrator's report, can I have a motion for G1 through G34? There is a minor change on G27 under the
doctrine of necessity and the minor change should read halfway through where it speaks to the four board members, number three, C.N. Keegan is employed as a teacher in
a bargaining unit represented by the N.J.E.A. So, that minor change should represent be represented with that statement. And that is the only change in that section.
Do I have a motion for G1 through G34 with the change? >> Second. >> Any discussion? The only thing I would like to say for G33 and G34, we have a couple uh donations tonight that I wanted to just
uh uh take a moment to express our our thanks and our appreciation. Um the Memorial Middle School FSA has graciously donating a a sizable donation uh towards a new sign at our middle
school. So I'm excited to see that. So that will be um in the works for the upcoming school year, maybe? I believe. >> right now we're we're our goal is to have a plan in place hopefully by the fall so that we can begin installation >> Yeah. It's a little bit more
complicated, correct, than the high school? >> and given some of the budget challenges, we want to kind of get up get the school year up and running and >> Absolutely. >> see where the budget is. >> So we do appreciate that. And I also want to point out for G34, the Pat McCarthy Memorial Foundation graciously
donated a nice um um donation towards upgrades in the weight room. So on behalf of the Board of Education, I want to sit you know specifically say thank you for that. Um very much appreciated. Can I have a roll call, please?
>> Mr. Oldman? >> Yes. >> Mr. Marzullo? >> Yes. >> Mr. Salek? >> Yes. >> Ms. Keegan? >> Yes, but abstain from G6, my name only. >> So noted. And Mr. Ors? >> Yes.
>> All motions passed. >> Thank you. Under our Superintendent's Report, General Administration, can I have a motion for H1 through H6? >> Second. >> Any discussion? Roll call, please. >> Mr. Alden? >> Yes.
>> Mr. Marzullo? >> Yes. >> Mr. Palace? >> Yes. >> Ms. Deegan? >> Yes. >> Ms. Dora? >> Yes. >> All motions passed. >> Thank you. Under human resources, a motion for I1
through I16 with a minor change in I1C. Please note there should be a change in the date. It should say September 1, 2026 to June 30th, 2027.
Please note that change. Thank you. Any Can I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Roll call, please. >> Mr. Alden? >> Yes. >> Mr. Marzullo?
>> Yes. >> Mr. Palace? >> Yes. >> Ms. Deegan? >> Yes. >> Ms. Dora? >> Yes. >> All motions passed. >> Yes. Yes. Go ahead. >> Mr. Hicks is with us this evening and I'd like to invite him to introduce himself to our community.
>> So in that group of resolutions, we just approved the hiring of our new high school vice principal. Mr. Brian Hicks. Thank you. >> to say thank you very much. I am very excited to join the team. Um I've had the pleasure to get to know my partner
uh over the last couple weeks and I'm just very excited to be here. Um I'm coming from Dover High School where I've been the vice principal for the last 4 years and I will be joining you next Wednesday. So thank you very much for having me. >> Welcome to Cedar Grove. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Welcome Brian. Thank you again. >> Okay. All right. We're under special services. A motion for J1 and J2, please. >> So moved. >> For a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion?
Roll call, please. >> Mr. Alden? >> Yes. >> Mr. Marzullo? >> Yes. >> Mr. Palumbo? >> Yes. >> Ms. Keegan? >> Yes. >> Ms. Dora? >> Yes. >> Motion has passed. >> Thank you. And finally under curriculum and
instruction, can I have a motion for K1? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? God bless you. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Alden? >> Yes. >> Mr. Marzullo? >> Yes. >> Mr. Palumbo?
>> Yes. >> Ms. Keegan? >> Yes. >> Ms. Dora? >> Yes. >> Motion has passed. >> Thank you. This time I'd like to open this portion of the meeting to public comment on any school-related items. Seeing that there is no one requesting,
I move to close this portion of the meeting. Um announcement of future meetings. Our next meeting will be July 14th. A closed session will be at 5:00, regular meeting will be at 6:00, same location, and the following meeting, August 15th, same
times, 5:00 p.m. for closed and 6:00 p.m. for open. Um this time I move to adjourn. All in favor? >> Aye. >> All right, meeting adjourned. Thank you very much, everyone. >> Thank you.
>> Have a nice evening. >> [laughter] >> Be careful. >> everybody. >> You see you understood my note, right? >> Yeah, yeah. >> Yeah.