All right. I'd like to call the meeting to order. Will the secretary please call the role? Anna Braun here. Timothy Cummings here. Jamie Falco. Lewis Figureroa here. Lorie Herrick. Lee Wuhong here. Wilbur Pan here. Heather
Gu. Here we have a quorum. Please rise to salute the 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. All right, let's try to make this a quick meeting before the lights go out. Thank goodness for Coler. We did pay the bill, so I just want to make sure. Hi, good evening. We're going to try to move quickly just in case the power goes out. Yes.
Okay. Exciting. 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 meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed and acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the East
Brunswick Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published and posted at the board of education offices. Written notice was also provided to the Sentinel, the New York Star Ledger, the Home News Tribune, the Alternative Press of East Brunswick, and the Municipal Clerk of East Brunswick.
All board of education meetings, with the exception of executive session discussions, are videotaped for later broadcast. It is the policy of the board of education that videotaped meetings are not edited for any purpose. Individuals who speak at the board's public meetings should be aware of those
videotaping rules. We have a need for a closed session first this evening. Uh whereas the board of education must discuss matters which are not appropriate for discussion in a public meeting and whereas these subjects are within the exceptions to the open public meeting act and are permitted to be
discussed in closed session pursuant to NJSA 104-12B and whereas the board of education intends to discuss matters as listed on tonight's agenda. Whereas the length of the closed session
is estimated to be one hour after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and action will be taken. Can I have a motion please? Move. And second Lori discussion. All in
favor? I opposed abstensions. All right we are enclosed. We will be back in one hour to begin this evening with the superintendent's report. Dr. Vleski. Thank you, President Gloss. Good evening, everyone. On Friday, June 13th,
I joined board members at Irwin School's Art in the Sky Capstone event. This unique performance piece made possible by EBF grant funding brought together students, parents, teachers, and community members to form a giant polar bear head. Participants wore specially
designed shirts representing brushstrokes, creating a truly remarkable and memorable visual captured by drone and covered by EBTV. And I've got Can you see me? I've got to tell you, we were we were off to the side, but it is it was No, no, I was in there.
Did you go in? I'm in. I can show you where I'm in. I showed up accidentally wearing a black shirt. That's right. They did send you in. They put me in. But it was quite the process and getting all the students from the center out, organized in. And
they were such a good, wellorganized, and very well- behaved group of students. They were so focused. It was amazing to see elementary kids so focused and just engaged. There was nothing but people sitting waiting to do just that. They were so excited. So the funny thing about it that you know
wasn't part of the script was everybody got in and sat down on the ground and literally at one point uh Mrs. Chillwood said go into a turtle position which meant you know bend over and there was like an entire what felt like 30 or 40
or 50 seconds of complete silence and no movement. And it was it was so funny with a drone flying overhead and and photographing it. And the parents were sorry to interrupt. The parents were engaged and involved too. And they came and they were part of the bear. And
there were some very little babies in that bear that showed up with parents and they were quiet too. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you're doing a pretty good job on this. If I just hand the rest. No. No. I have to you do the whole rest. I'll do that. So where are you?
You you had to be on this part down here, right? In the back side. I challenged my own children to find me and they could not. It was the whole was it? No, I think it was the whole school. I'm right there. All right. All right. It was the whole school at Irwin. All
them except for the the prek. The prek came out later to watch, but yeah, it was pretty it was warm that day. So, in the rest of my report, um, this past Wednesday, June 18th, the East Brunswick Police Department spent time with our central school students during
lunch and recess. Officers ate with the students and engaged in fun activities like kicking the ball around, fostering positive connections, and helping kids see law enforcement as approachable and friendly. And we hope this is just the beginning of many opportunities to build bridges between our community and those who protect us. And this is part of the
community policing program uh that has been ongoing throughout East Brunswick. I was not there. I have nothing to say. Okay. Um a huge congratulations to our SAVE that's SAVVE club and that stands for students against violating the
environment for winning first place in the New Jersey Student Climate Challenge. That's so awesome. Yeah. Very nice. And we're also going to have to give applause to Mr. Crouchel too because part of this as you're going to hear um you know we'll we'll see what his
contribution is. The awards ceremony took place at Drum Thacket Foundation in Princeton where our students were recognized by sustainable New Jersey and first lady Tammy Snder Murphy for their incredible work. This dedicated group of students led multiple sustainab sustainability initiatives at the high
school, including composting over 1,200 pounds of food scraps and partnering with our food services department to shift from plastic to biodegradable utensils. Remember when Joe brought those in for you to witness the different options? So, those are
actually in place. Uh now they're looking to expand their mission districtwide, aping aiming to bring those impactful changes to even more schools. And thank you to their dedicated adviser, Maria Gorman, and our amazing student leaders for their outstanding efforts.
Important reminders as we conclude the school year. Friday, June 20th and Monday, June 23rd are single session days for the high school in Churchill only. Tuesday, June 24th and Wednesday, June 25th are single session days for
all students with lunch served for grades K through six. And of course, Wednesday, June 25th is the last day of school for all students and graduation of the class of 2025, which will take place at the Cure Arena in Trenton beginning at 10:30 a.m. I'd like to wish
everyone a safe and enjoyable summer. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Our student representative is not with us this evening. So we will move directly on to the good of the cause for the public. The board of education
recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest. To protect the privacy of all students and staff, concerns regarding individual students and staff members should generally be addressed by first meeting with the
appropriate administrative staff. In order to permit the fair and orderly expression of such comments, the board shall provide a period for public comment at every meeting of the board. Each person who steps up will have three minutes to speak. The board secretary
will keep the time. When you step up, if you could state your name and address, unless you're a student and then just your name and school. Is there anyone this evening wishing to address the board Jeff Winston fresh so I'm gonna do this uh in two parts.
First, I'd like to address it to Dr. Velesi. As you all are aware on the board, I did send you a letter that I have uh been uh excluded from a long-standing tradition uh which has been former board members being able to give their kids um their diploma along
with sitting on the stage and taking part in that in that ceremony. Dr. has decided that that's not going to happen for me and has decided to treat me as such. Uh Dr. Veleski, let me just real quick with you and then I'm going to talk to the president. You're resigning because of you, not because of me.
Things happened to you is not true. Nothing happened to you. Hundreds of people have spoken to you and told you how to do your job better. You admonish them. You remember the big dog comment. You're leaving this district because you're an outsider and you did a poor job. Make no mistake. Enough with you,
President Guas. There will come a time when your daughter is going to graduate. Lou, uh, Leewoo, and all of you who have children, Tim, in the district, and if your politics don't align or your feelings don't align with that
superintendent at that time, you could have this done to them. You didn't hurt me. You hurt my boys. You hurt children. My boys are so miserable. Their words in describing you, Veles, is bully. And you are. You're a bully. You're taking your
shortcomings out on my children. That's pathetic. Do you even like children? How in God's name can you stare at me and could and this board allow this to occur? Heather, how can you let this happen? He is your employee.
He is your employee. Everybody on this board should be disgusted by what you're doing. And if the res and I've heard that the reason why is because I resigned. Dude, you resigned. What are you going there for? So, please spare me your blank stare. I
wish you were leaving now. And now that you're leaving in February, there's a high likelihood I'm going to be sitting on this day in January. I will not forget this. And Matt, be an attorney. For God's sakes, tell them it's a bad idea. This tradition has existed since while I was
on the board. Um, who was it? uh Chad Sailor, Todd Simmons, Mark Corangelo, and all former board members were given that privilege as a result of the years of service, and you sit there silently in allowing this to happen. I did have an attorney who wanted to take the case,
but you've made such a fiscal mess of this district. I couldn't in good ethics make you pay to defend your stupidity and your stubbornness. Shame on you, Heather. Do the right thing. Do the right thing. Get your board together.
Override this man's decision that is impacting kids. How would your daughter feel? Give it some thought. Thank you, Jeff. Anyone else? Good evening. My name is Neil Shaw. I live at One Jennifer Court. Um, I know
that we are actually going to be appointing a new person to sit on the dascese and I just wanted to remind everybody of the rules for people that can vote for the dascese. Um, if you do have any sort of association or affiliation with any of the groups
within town, especially if that person um is going to be reporting to them or voting with them, they should be uh recusing themselves from that vote today. um they should not be receiving any of the packets. They should not be reviewing any of the people that should
be uh applying for this position. So we have had that um in the past where uh President Lock removed herself when she had somebody that she was associated with. So I hope you guys do the same thing going forward. Thank you. Thank
you. Is there anyone else? I promise. Okay. Fran Snow Eyes 7 Schindler Court. Um I'm going to speak a little off the cuff today and a little from what I have here. I will preface what I'm about to
say with revisiting my June 4th email to you all about the comprehensive equity plan and my contest of the plan in hopes that you have 30 I'm assuming calendar days which takes us to July 3rd to hear
back from someone. I did have some clarifying questions that I sent in an email this week. I would really um appreciate that and I say that um on the coattails of my son sitting in a bomb shelter for the last seven days. Okay.
And me not being able to get my son home. He's there because he wasn't feeling safe here. This comprehensive equity plan is designed to be, as we know, quantitative and qualitative. But
the quantitative piece of this guides us in how and what kind of quality we give our kids afterwards. If we're dishonest about how we are interacting with this plan, how we're implementing HIB, how
we're investigating our HIB, right? to not be forthright or have everything on the table as quantitative is a real disservice when it comes to what kind of quality we can give our kids. Right? So, I'm not really sure what's happening
with the comprehensive equity plan. I hope that you are in a position where you are reviewing it and we're in a place where we can start taking what we have, the numbers, the data, the information, and come up with some actionable, measurable, and sustainable
goals for our community. Our kids deserve it. My my seventh grader deserves it. My 11th grader who is in Israel right now deserved it. Right? So,
please let's revisit this. Let's just go back for a second, right? I trust that you guys can all do it. Thank you. Thank you, Fran. Anyone else this evening? All right, then I'm going to close the
public portion, which takes us to Dr. Did you want to add anything there? If I could clarify um directly to Mr. Winston's comments, Mr. Winston was not clear that he was offered the opportunity and I assume is
still uh participating in graduation and will come to the stage to give his sons their diploma or diplomas and the only difference is he is not sitting on the stage with the board.
Why? Because you guys back and forth respond. No, it's there, sir. There's not a there's not a back and forth. If Dr. Leky, if you want to make a statement, you can make a statement, but we're not going to have a back and forth dialogue.
The sole reason is because Mr. Winston resigned from the board and with the words effective immediately and left the board. There is no other board member who has participated in graduation who resigned from the board
and came back to give a diplomas. Thank you. So, all right. Moving on to our agenda. Does um can I have a motion to I would like to combine the whole agenda. It doesn't in any way discourage any discussion.
Can I have a motion for the entire agenda this evening? Wilbur and Lori discussion. Um, no discussion of moving the whole agenda. Well, the discussion on any items now. Okay. Did you need a vote on
the whole? No. Okay. Fantastic. Thank you. The agenda on the table. Discussion on any of the items on the agenda. Fantastic. I'm just going to start from this side and move around and then I'll come back if we need to. Did you want to start or do you want me to come back? Find the um I can't find uh it was old
page 29 contract award board attorney is that uh that is um uh removed from the base part of the agenda. Got it. That's all I want. So that's not within this. Perfect. Because I thought I couldn't find it. Okay. And I was just really
happy to see that we got a grant for um optimal comprehensive universal screener which is really fantastic. So thank you to the person who wrote the grant for that and also the grant for special Olympics New Jersey United um unified
champion schools. Those they're two very valuable um items. Thank you. Thank you Lori. Um, sorry. Um, also going to echo that. Um, happy to see that we're resubmitting for the grant for the
unified sports and also just want to thank the Warster PTA for their donation um on the agenda this evening. Thank you, Jim. You're good. Leo, anything? Yes. uh
to the business and support operation item number five. Uh Mr. Kani, would you please uh elaborate how this contract works? Use we pay the the form with a
flat uh audit fee in the amount $83,500 and under that number they list this the hourly rate. So can you please elaborate how those rate works? Yes. So um the the
base fee covers the annual audit and all the work related to the annual audit. Um there are uh hourly rates also indicated. They have nothing to do with the annual audit itself. Uh those rates would apply if we needed the auditor to
do supplemental work. Uh what would that be? So it um uh it would be for example if uh we wanted an interim review of um student activity funds which we've done in the past we would do an interim review of those and that would be above
and beyond what the base audit is. Um uh if there was um work required to uh any kind of special financing where the auditor's uh review of that information was necessary uh that's where that would apply. But the base audit is covered.
Okay. So they were paying the form for the flat fee. Correct. If there's nothing happened, no additional work is is needed. So we just pay the flat fee. Correct. Thank you for the explanation. You're welcome. And I want to echo my
fellow board members. Uh really appreciate you guys trying very hard to apply for every single grant at this time. It's very difficult as we are under financial stress. So please try
your best. If there's any grant just try so most of the time I know you guys got it. This is very important for our student and our school district. Thank you
Wilbur. Yeah. Um, so I'd also like to uh appreciate my appreciation for um express my appreciation for uh uh the efforts to the uh grant money uh coming in. Every little bit uh every little bit helps. Um my my one question is on item
uh 12 for uh business and support operations the uh um uh the contract for the school uh physician. I first of all I do not want to you know uphold uh hold up um you know this year's uh this year's contract but one thing I do want
to note is that uh uh the physician here Dr. Mencha is certified in emergency medicine. Um- w which is fine. Um but given that this is a school district, I was um you know I'd like to see if there are any options for someone with
pediatric experience as as well. We can you know uh target this u for the following um year. Um and the main reason that I'm um I'm bringing this up is under the description of uh items that the uh uh chief medical the school physician would be providing is uh as a
chief medical officer which is not necessarily specific for a uh you know scope of practice. But uh the other items here are athletic physical reviews cost uh physical exams for students who do not have a medical home and uh cost
per game to attend uh football games. Um and for the first two um you know any physician should be able to do this but um again uh we have uh kids in our school district and so someone with pediatric experience might be uh better
suited for for those items. Thanks. Thank you Luke. Anything? All right. All I had to say was about the grants as well. It's just nice to see I mean I know the work that goes into getting them. So I'm truly very appreciative. All right. Because the
number of items, this is a roll call vote. Anna Bronn. Okay. Page seven, item seven, memorandum agreement. I need to abstain. Everything else is yes. Noted. Thank you. Timothy Cummings. Yes.
Lewis Figureroa. Yes. Lori Herro. Yes. Um, abstain under board of education number six, the minutes from the May 22nd meeting. Noted. Lee Wu Hong. Yes. Abstent from business and support
operation item number 20. Item 20. Yes. Noted. Wilbur Fan. Yes. Heather Glass. Yes. Motions carry. All right. Motions carry. Moving on to committee reports, information items, and the good of the cause for the board.
Um, I will start because my list is ridiculously long because there are so many good things that are going on in the district right now. I feel like I I feel like I haven't been home in days. There's just so much to go to. Um, so congratulations to the high school on a
beautiful yearbook. Uh, followed by senior sunset last night. the weather was not so beautiful, but they were inside and signing and happy to be together. So, thank you, I believe, to the PTA for sponsoring that. Um, congratulations to our retirees. Uh, we
I had the opportunity to attend with Dr. the East Brunswick Education Association retirement dinner. It was amazing. Um, they definitely know how to throw a party. And I just want to congratulate again all the retirees that were there and the retirees that were not there.
It's just quite the accomplishment. Um I also want to thank the high school and Frank Malta and Julie Circus and Dr. Bashure and everyone who had a hand in doing the senior sports banquet. Um the banquet used to be at a banquet hall with dinner with dinner and it was
incredibly hard to hear. So this was amazing and so well organized. The students were actually seated in order that they were getting the awards too. So it just moved beautifully and they were all so happy and it was so if you have the opportunity to go they say a lot about our students character and
that's always beautiful to hear. So that was an amazing event and I really enjoyed the Irwin art in the sky. I wouldn't interrupt you again and participating and participating. Yes. wasn't planning on participating, but I really enjoyed it and it was it was nice
to talk to the the principal and the staff about that this was something that arked over a full year and everyone was able to participate in. It was just very very inclusive which is always good to see in our schools and it's nice to see a school working on something that fits
specifically their community. The principal was very insightful. Great. Anyone else? Yes. So, um uh I I also wanted to echo the uh comments about the um uh recognition of
the students achievements at the athletic awards. Um Lori Herrick and myself were also able to attend uh that as well. And you know, my takeaway um I I know I've said this before, we're not really a sports family because my kids have inherited my talents in in that
regard. Uh but um uh but what really impressed me uh was um more so than the athletic achievements that our students have uh accomplished but uh all the night wonderful things that they've done off the field. Um to me that was um a
really touching and moving uh thing. Um I also uh had the chance to go to Central's 75th um an an anniversary. Um Dr. Figuroa, Mr. Hong was there. I think that was Oh, and and Dr. Bleski. Yeah,
we were all there. It was a wonderful uh thing. It was nice to see all the kids lined up in a in a rainbow colorcoded by by grade. That that that was a lot of fun uh as well. Um and the other um uh thing that I I attended uh I just wanted to give a shout out to is the CPAG
family meetup um at Great Oak Park. Um it was it was a wonderful um event. Uh this event was designed to bring the families together so they could meet and network and get to know uh know each other. Um and uh it seemed like a
successful uh event in terms of the turnout. I was very surprised to find out that this is the first time that they had tried it because it was so wellrun from the time that I I was there. And on top of that, the weather was so good that I want CPAG to coordinate all of our outdoor events
from here on out because it it was perfect. So thanks. Thank you. Yes. I just want to echo uh words uh of my esteemed colleague here. Um the central school 75th celebration was outstanding. Uh Dr. Gascal, his staff
did a tremendous job. Uh I want to thank also EBEF uh for what they've done and uh helping out in in the garden. Uh just a real nice day. um a real good time to say, you know what, with with all that's going on in our schools. It's nice to
see the little kids and each each class. So, kind prek, kindergarten, first, second, they all came up and spoke and said, you know, uh certain things that are important to them and it's just just really nice. So, once again, thank you, uh Dr. Gascal's staff, Dr. Bleski, uh
for uh for organizing all of that and the EBEF. Thank you. Anyone else? Yes. Go ahead. Leave it. Yes. Uh I want to echo Dr. Pan, Dr. Figurora
comments about Central 75 anniversary. It's really beautiful event. Those lovely kids per they form a very beautiful rainbow sitting there for the entire event. Even the temperature was very high. I was
pressed up. So I was sweating. And it's 75 years for his school means a lot for this community and they are still growing and uh you know I'm I'm sure they under the uh uh Dr. Gazco's
leadership and future principal leadership that school will grow even better. So at the same time I want to appreciate EBF's effort. they sponsor a lot of uh programs there grants to
central uh school and I want to uh I'm proud of for that 75 years old school and the community should be proud of that school too. So and I'm sorry I
didn't go to the retirey party due to my own complex scheduling. I it was on my calendar but I couldn't make it finally but I wish all the retirees very happy life after you know they put down their
jobs enjoy their retirement and I want to thank thank them for their effort for the dedication to our school our teachers thank you all retirees anyone else all right and finally I just want to wish all of our students a
wonderful ful relaxing and rejuvenating summer. And congratulations to our seniors in just a few days. I will be there and be crying a little bit, I think. Um, but congratulations to our seniors on graduation. And to all the little ones that have moved up, the
moving up ceremonies are going on. We're seeing pictures of them all over town. A lot of proud faces. So, I wish everyone a wonderful graduation week and end of school. My little one is my youngest is actually very upset about school ending which I think says a lot about the
district. All right. We have a need for a second closed session whereas the board of education must discuss matters which are not appropriate for discussion in a public meeting and whereas these subjects are within the exception to the open public meeting act and are permitted to be discussed in close session pursuant to NJSA 104-12B.
And whereas the board of education intends to discuss matters as listed on tonight's agenda. Whereas the length of the closed session is estimated to be one hour after which the public meeting of the board shall
reconvene and action will be taken. Can I have a motion please? Wilbur and Anna discussion. All in favor? Opposed? Abstensions. All right. We are enclosed. Okay.
And we are back. All right. We need to vote on other actions. Number one only. And this is I'm so sorry. I was looking to see if it was a roll call. No. Okay. I'm sorry.
Voice vote. We can do a roll call. We don't have to do a roll call. All right. So for under other actions number one, can I have a motion, please? Anna and Wilbur. Thank you. Discussion. Okay. All in favor? I opposed.
Abstensions. Motion carries. Okay. All right. Can I have a motion to adjourn? Move. Who was that? Wilbur. Wilbur. Second. Second by Anna. Discussion. No. All in
favor? Opposed? Extensions. Fantastic. We are closed. Everybody have a good evening. Thanks everyone.