##VIDEO ID:bH3VkUqGoJM## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e I notice L sing the time date and place of this meeting was posted on the public bulletin of the free health Township Schools on the entrance door to the administrated offices of the board of education on the district website of the office of the freeold Township Clerk and published in Asbury Park Press on January 7th 2024 please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic which stands one nation under God indivisible Li and justice for all all right tonight is our um annual reorganization meeting and as I always do I'll give my PSA of the meeting will be run um the first thing I will do is I will read the certification of the election results from November of last year um at the next thing that we'll do we will swear into office our two new board members and our one returning board member we'll do an alphal order uh just as a reminder after we you're sworn in please sign the document that's in your packet and after that then we will do a roll call and then my last action for this evening is that you guys will elect your president for next year and just so everyone's aware of how it's done is once I open the floor anyone can nominate anyone else no second is required once I ask are there any more nominations and there are none we'll close the nomination process and then we'll take a roll call vote if there's multiple people that are nominated the first one nominated will be the first one you vote on first person that received five votes is your president for next year understood okay so with that I'll read into the record the certification of the election results at on November 5th 2024 these uh numbers were certified by the mammoth County Clerk all for threeyear terms Emily Crosby received 10,188 votes Todd Casey received 8,077 votes Neil gar julo received 8,811 votes car V the toi received 5,778 votes and there were W in votes of 304 right with that we will start the O of office maybe put on the podium s support thetion United States state of New Jersey okay I Casey I Casey do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and Allegiance I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States to the same name to the governments established in the United States and the state under the authority of the people so help me God and the state under the authority of the people so help me God I Todd Casey s do Solly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for office of member of a board of education for off for office of member of Board of Education yep and then I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office and I will Faithfully where'd it go impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God according to the best of my ability so help me God furthermore I affirm and declare furthermore I affirm and declare that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs1 194 D1 to RS 14 194 194 D1 nor am I disqualified due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in njsa 18a 12-1 nor am I disqualified to a Convention of a crime or offense listed in njsa 18a 12-1 congratulations welcome to the board thank you I Emily Crosby I Emily Crosby do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God under the authority of the people so help me God I Emily cros I am L Crosby do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications do solemnly swear that I possess the qualifications prescrib by law for the office of a member of a board of education prescribed by law for the office of member of Board of Education and I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties that of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God according to the best of my ability so help me God furthermore I affirm and declare that I'm not disqualified as a voter pursuant furthermore I affirm and declare that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuing to rs19 4-1 to R 1941 nor am I disqualify due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in njsa 18a 12-1 nor am I disqualified due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in njsa 18a 12 de congratulations welcome to the board show M done Mr you ready sir I Neil gulo I Neil gulo do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the author the people so help me God and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so help me God iil gulo iil gulo do Solly swear that I possess the qualifications do solemly swear that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of a member of a board of education prescribed by law for the office of a member of a board of education and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my so help me God so that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability so help me God furthermore I affirm and declare that I'm am not disqualified as a voter furthermore I affirmed and declare that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to rs1 194 D1 pursuant to rs19 4-1 nor am I disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in njsa 18a 12-1 nor am I disqualified due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in njsa 18a 12-1 welcome back Mr gjo thank you all right do a roll call Mr amaroso here Mrs brand here Mr Casey here Mrs Mrs Crosby Mr AR julo here Mrs Lambert here m o suvan present Mrs spieler here Mr Williams here all right we have a quorum thank you everyone for being present now my last task before I return to my normal chair is for the election of president for the board of education at this time I will open the floor uh if anyone wishes to nominate another board member please let me know Michael amaroso president are there any other nominations all right before I open up for the vote Mr amaroso do you accept this nomination I do with that I'll take a roll call vote Mr Amoroso yes Mrs brand yes Mr Casey yes Mrs Crosby Mr gulo yes Mrs Lambert yes Mrs ulvan yes Mrs spieler yes Mr Williams no right motion carries the seat is yours sir I'm sorry it's much more fun when you're the [Music] president thank you very much for those of you that U voted for me and instilled your confidence in me for 2025 I can't believe it's 2025 it's getting up there anyway thank you um I'd like to open the floor right now for a nominations for vice president i' like to nominate Miss Ellen O Sullivan for vice president okay do we have any other nominations seeing none uh do you accept Mrs o yes okay roll call Mrs brand yes Mr Casey Mrs Crosby Mr G julo yes Mrs Lambert yes Mrs O Sullivan yes Mrs spieler yes Mr Williams yes Mr Amoroso yes motion carries congratulations get she comes over here like musical [Music] chairs take your name I think we should all go in One Direction it's going to be tough everybody circle to the right okay good oh they did yours Diane you're good yeah Ellen's on the top there that's that works right I don't know where the top is there are we good yes all right I I'd like to move the uh Board of Education Code of Ethics for January 7th 2025 um I will read the code of ethics because we have two uh brand new sworn in board members and it's always good to refresh anyway so our code of ethics I will uphold and enforce all laws state board rules and regulations and court orders pertaining to schools desired changes should be brought about only through legal and ethical procedures I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools which meet the individual needs of all children regardless of ability race Creed sex or social standing I will confine my board action to policymaking planning and appraisal and I will help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them I will carry out my responsibility not to administer the schools but together with my fellow board members to see that they are well-run I will recognize that my authority rests that Authority rests with the Board of Education and will make no personal promises nor take any private action which may compromise the board I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or for the gain of friends I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would necessarily injure individuals or the schools but in all other matters I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its schools I will vote to appoint the best qualified person Personnel available after consideration of the recommendation of the chief administrative officer I will support and protect School Personnel in proper performance of their duties and I will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and will act on such complaints at public meetings only after a failure of an administrative solution so it's always good to read through the ethics again to remind us of our roles and responsibilities as board members and you know if there's any questions and issues you can always come to either myself Mrs O Sullivan um and you know any of the senior board members with questions on that so do I have a second on the code of ethics all those in favor do we need a roll call yeah roll call roll call second Mr a new place on the list y Mrs bran yes Mr Casey yes Mrs M Crosby yes Mr gulo yes Mrs Lambert yes Mrs uh Mrs spieler yes Mr Williams yes M oan yes MOS yes motion carries okay I'd like to move the meeting schedule for January 7 2025 it appears at the end of the agenda um we took the look at it at our last meeting in December but for those new board members if you want to look through um we would like to adopt this calendar um do I have a second on that second all those in favor say I I any opposed any extensions okay I'd like to move item H the board reports and actions the superintendent recommends all board members possess the qualifications required by law and shall be bound by the provisions of the the school ethics act the superintendent recommends approval of name stamps for the Board of Education president and superintendent on all checks to vendors all payroll checks and all agency accounts for 2025 the superintendent recommends approval of checks generated by the custodial system with pre-signed signatures of the board president superintendent and business administrator board secretary for 2025 get out my little cheat sheet here because we had some people that um have volunteered for some of these positions so I will read these the superintendent recommends the appointment of Mr gulio as the District representative to the mammoth ocean Educational Services Commission for 2025 the superintendent recommends the appointment of Mrs Lambert as a District's representative to the mammoth County School Board Association legislative committee for 2025 superintendent recommends the appointment of Mrs O Sullivan as the district delegate to the New Jersey school board delegate assembly for 2025 and the superintendent recommends the appointment of Mrs bran as a district Aon to the free old Municipal Alliance to prevent substance abuse for 2025 the superintendent recommends the appointment of Diane Brower assistant superintendent as a district school safety specialist for the year 2025 superintendent recommends approval of the appointment of Robert Dita business administrator as board secretary as the safety and health design as the custodian of record as the public agency compliance officer for 2025 superintendent recommends approval of the appointment of Mr Robert business administrator as board secretary for the year 2025 superintendent recommends the appointment of Alison Allison Williams as assistant board secretary for the year 2025 further it is recommended that Robert Dita business administrator be authorized to award contracts on behalf of the Freel Township Board of Education that are in the aggregate less than 15% of the bid threshold which is currently set at $6,600 without soliciting compe itive quotations and to speak competitive quotations when applicable and practicable and award contracts on behalf of the fre Township Board of Education when contracts in the aggregate exceeding 15% of the bid threshold but are less than the bid threshold of $44,000 do I have a second second second all those in favor say I I any opposed any extensions I'd like to move the public notice um even though you probably already read this before Oh no this is putting it for the we our Public Notices the superintendent recommends approval of the Asbury Park Press as the official newspaper for the advertisement of legal notices and receipt of notices and to designate The Star Ledger as the secondary newspaper for legal advertisements for the freeold Township Board of Education for the year 20125 notice of meetings will be posted in the Board of Education administrative office and of the school buildings on the district website at the office of the Freehold Township Clerk do I have a second second okay all those in favor say hi hi hi I just want one comment on that sure so I don't know if the existing board members saw notification by school boards March 1 yeah so last year we ran into an issue where the news transcript after we went through this process uh went bankrupt or it shut its doors down um and then this year I think in December the star Ledger and all subsidiary Publications is no longer having a print medium so they're only online so the state uh is providing uh until March until March yeah yeah are they going to vote on that again the guidance that I read said assume there's something happening we're allowed to use them at knowing full well if they are only publishing online maybe this will be the straw that finally makes no sense until March we do it and then we can't do it again correct so this may CH we may have to do this again and but I don't I don't even know another newspaper that's around here that's imprint so if anyone else knows one let me know sorry yeah again now a wanted poster on a telephone pole yeah like in the old Wild West all right um did we take the roll call that one we did okay so I'd like to move item three the bylaws policies and regulations the superintendent approves recommends the approval of the all bylaws policies and regulations previously in effect for the year 2025 do I have a second second all those in favor say I I I any oppos any extensions okay I'd like to move um item one claims auditor prepayment Authority superintendent recommends approval for the year 2025 the business administrator board secretary be designated as the board of education's claims auditor with authority as provided by at&a colon 19-2 amended to direct prepayment of the claims for Debt Service payroll fixed charges and any other claim or demand which be in the best interest of the board to pay promptly do I have a second second um all those in favor say I I any opposed any extensions I'd like to move item one under fees for copies of public documents the superintendent recommends the approval that a photocopy fee of 5 cents per page for printed matter of legal size page or smaller and seven cents per page age for printed matter of legal size or larger for official board minutes and other public documents for the year 2025 do I have a second second all those in favor say I I any opposed any extensions I'd like to move item one under K parliamentary procedures this one comes up on a ke we have to grab our book I think we're good with that the superintendent recommends approval to adopt Robert's Rules of Order 11th Edition as the official parliamentary procedure manual to be used to conduct meetings and appoint the board secretary and board attorney to act as the parliamentarians for the year 2025 do I have a second second all those in favor say I I any opposed any abstentions president's remarks um other than thank you again uh for instilling confidence in me for 2025 I don't have a big speech prepared although I will say that this is a very very busy year for the Board of Education we have a referendum that we are trying to get through um that is very important that we have to educate our town on um and we're spending a lot of time um meeting with different community members to try to really get the message out about what's going on with our infrastructure and how important it is that the Town come together and support this referendum because we have expenses that far exceed what we have in our capital budget to keep our buildings operational and we're doing a lot of educational videos and we're meeting with different groups and it's really a very positive thing that we'll be doing for our children and our community so I encourage all of you if you don't know much about the referendum um to look at our website which I'm sure we can post I don't know if we can put that on our video maybe the website link um but that would be good for any community members that want information on the referendum and while that's going on we also have a uh contract negotiation with with our uh Teachers Association that will be going on this year so we're going to be very busy bees um as board members and we have some new board members that'll be doing some training so um it's going to be a very productive Year I hope for all of us on the board with that I will move right to the administrative report and the bullying investigation report Mrs brow thank you so since our last meeting we had four total and two were founded two were were unfounded and just um a thank you to the board who supported a business portion of this meeting tonight because um as you will see we have quite a few retirements I see Kathy Armen sitting there in the front um I don't know if I see any others but um we have some we're losing some quite a few people this June and uh we also have some new hires that are here tonight um so thank you for allowing this opportunity because our children need to have staff in their classrooms tomorrow okay do we have uh en micone on Communications the only thing we have is enrollment um November of 24 we had 3,420 students in December of 24 we had 3,417 compared to December of 23 where we had 3,466 and that is all I have thank you thank you okay this is the first opportunity for public participation if anyone wishes to address this board please write your name and address on the sign-in sheet and state your name for the record statements are limited to 3 minutes it should not be abusive obscene or defamatory in nature do you have anybody that would like to address the board being none we will go into the approval of minutes I'd like to have a motion for the approval of the December 10th 20 24 regular meeting minutes I'll remind our new board members you can abstain from this since you obviously weren't at that meeting um do we have a second on that second okay all those in favor say I I those opposed and those abstaining thank you okay we don't have committees Mike you want take some volunteers take some volunteers um want to move Personnel okay you want to hit your mic Mr Gula CH we did not meet today because of the reorganization and I'd like to move the following items on the agenda uh number one retirement as listed uh number two resignations as listed number three new employment as listed number four change of assignment as listed number five change of assignment SL salary adjustment as listed six temporary change of assignment uh SL salary adjustment as listed adjustments to the start date as listed eight extend long-term assignment as listed nine additional compensation extra hours as listed 10 additional compensation safety care training as listed 11 additional compensation technology Department as listed 12 PTO honor areia resend as listed 13 PTO honor area as listed 14 unpaid days as listed 15 translator interpreter as listed 16 revised substitute rates as listed 17 certified substitute as listed 18 non-certified substitute as listed 19 affirm bullying investigation findings as listed 20 student teacher practicum observation placement update as listed thank you do we have a second second any discussion or questions 20 20 kicking off the year with only 20 agenda items yes I don't know I think I might have to vote no on item one on Miss arm arm yeah I think she'd have some Choice words technically technically what happens if we all vote no I don't know if we all vote no she has to stay forever I don't I don't know what happens if we all vote no this is tempting she'd probably kill us so we better she strongly encourages a yes V okay with her permission with her permission I will go yes yes with regret congratulations than yes all the to all the retirees yes congratul the new employees and all of our new employes welcome yes welcome in a minute when we vote can I get a roll call Mrs bran yes Mr Casey yes Mrs Crosby yes Mr or julo yes Mrs Lambert yes Mrs spieler yes Mr Williams yes Mrs ulvan yes Mr amaroso yes motion carries congratulations yeah she gonna get the whole board crying we're we can't do this now curriculum committee uh Mr uh Williams not a lot there so I'll move item number one for reimbursement item number two call course reimbursement of DAV thank you short sweet short and sweet okay um Finance um transportation committee your V we got a vote on oh sorry I got ahead of myself that's that was quick all right um do we have a second okay all those in favor say I I any opposed and no abstentions U let's do Finance facilities and transportation would you like to do and tonight uh we have I like to move bills and claims as listed we have number one oh hit the button there thank you number one bills and claims for payroll total uh it's got to be me I think turn off use Bob's mic it's a there we go uh payroll total of 2,632 1835 in a grand total of 7,485 747 34 and we'd like to thank Neil for that uh Neil Gul for those reviews n I'd like to move number two transfers and number three travel and related expenses number four disposals number five out of District transportation contracts m o c number six shared services agreement interlocal number seven memorandum of agreement Freehold Township Police Department and that's it okay do we have a second second thank you no no no yeah thank you do we have any uh questions or discussion for [Music] [Music] finance all right talking he'll pick it up we'll talk really loud do we have any questions for finance no none okay um all those in favor say I I any opposed exensions you obain on the entire motion okay thank you just want to clarify okay and uh old business any old business new business um second president's remarks opportunity I just wanted to add in that over the course of the next few days I will be forming the committee structure for the year and just to update everyone how that gets done it's been a tradition that has been passed down for many many years that the newly elected board president would look at where everybody had been on what committee they had been and if somebody had been chairing a committee or if they hadn't had experience on a certain committee that that person would then get rotated into a new committee so that we can have well-rounded polished board members that know all aspects of how this board has run so um understand that if you have never served on a certain committee it's very likely you'll probably be moved to that committee if you're very new you most likely will not be a chairperson because that would be a lot of responsibility for you so um it's kind of like a matrix that I'll be looking at and I'll be um leaning on Elena and Michelle you know and some of the senior board memb MERS that have known kind of the history as to where everybody's been and we'll try to create the most Fair placement for everyone we can't always promise that you're going to go where you love but understand that as a seasoned board member you will go through all of these committees to be well-rounded and to understand all the operations of the district and to those watching and to those present we are a board of a committee structure so a lot of times you'll see us quickly move items and think that we haven't even deliberated on them or thought about them that's not it works offline our committees meet and have indepth discussions and conversations about what's going to be on the agenda and those committees don't act on behalf of the board they do all the homework and the research and the background and then when it when it comes to the occasion of being put on here oftentimes we're just voting formally in public so if you ever have a question on something that's why the podium is here on agenda items and you could come up and ask your questions if you don't hear us debating about something or or we can't debate about something because it's a Personnel issue and we don't debate those in public anyway um which leads pretty soon to us going into an executive session but I'm going to open up for public participation one more time to see if there's anybody are there any takers that would like to approach the poding before Oh we do so this is an opportunity uh for public participation on anything not related e e e time this exact e e e