I'm going to gift wrap that clock for you for Christmas. In my defense, she called Michael. I'd like to call this meeting to order. The mission of the Freel Township School District is to honor and support every learner every day on the journey to
become carious and engaged members of a diverse global community. A notice listing the time, date, and place of this meeting was posted on the public bulletin board of all Freel township schools on the entrance door to the administrative offices of the board of education on the district website at the
office of the Freel Township clerk, published in the Asbury Park Press on January 11th, 2025, and sent to the Star Ledger on January 8th, 2025. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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. Okay. Can I get a roll call, Mr. Devita? Mrs. Brand. Dr. Casey here. Miss Crosby here.
Mr. Roa here. Mrs. Lambert. Mrs. Steeler. Mr. Williams here. Mrs. O. Sullivan present. Mr. Morosa here have a quorum. Thank you. Can I get a motion for the approval of the July 29th, 2025 regular
meeting minutes? All those in favor say I. Any opposed? Were there any absences last week? No. Okay. Can I get a motion for the approval of the July 29th executive session minutes? Second. Second.
All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? One abstension. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Uh, president's remarks. Thank you everyone for coming out. Um, raise the hands. We have any new hires in the audience? Any new teachers being hire? Well, welcome.
We're going to officially vote everybody in soon, but thank you for coming out this evening. Um, I know her has been working hard in central office. Uh, almost fully staffed, Mr. Redhower. She's she's she's knocking on wood.
But it's hard to believe that we only have maybe what three weeks roughly teacher next week already. Wow. All right. Well, good luck to everyone and we're going to be meeting again soon when all hell breaks loose and schools
open up again, but I hope everybody enjoys the remainder of the summer. With that, I will uh go to the administrative report. Thank you. Um some dates that are coming up for our parents and community to know about. Uh on or about August 19th, uh
parents will get notification through a s'more and a message through school messenger that our forms are available on Genesis parent portal. Um you'll want to fill those out in a timely manner because until you fill those out, you will not be able to see your child's schedule or teacher uh for elementary
school. So there'll be about a week's time where that can be completed at your leisure because on the 25th in the afternoon teacher assignments and student schedules will be released in the parent portal on Genesis. Uh new teacher academy starts next Tuesday on the 19th. I'll say the last count
because it changed. We hired two people today. So that will change. It was 22. Um we do that it for anybody who is new to Freelo Township, not just teachers new to the profession. Um, so that starts next Tuesday.
On the agenda this evening is a motion to approve a grant for it has um a very long name, but basically it is a water improvement grant. Um, basically districts were notified with a very
short time period to apply for a grant to do some remediation for any water stations. So sinks, bubblers, bottle filling stations that had any traceable amount of lead in it during lead water lead testing. Only uh what I can only
assume is that most districts didn't apply because it was an inadequate time frame to apply. So that time frame was extended by 2 months uh and it was due August 25th. So of course we avail availed ourselves of that opportunity. Um we are estimating we worked with a uh
manufacturer who was helping us through the process who estimated that and again not the levels that were concerning any trace level of lead. Um he had estimated up to 71 drinking fountains and sinks
that had a traceable amount of lead that would be eligible for this grant. the uh the replacement and the labor that goes along with it cannot exceed $6,000 per unit and the manufacturer does not believe that we would exceed
that. In fact, he said other districts with which he worked have not exceeded that amount or even come close to it. So, we estimate that we will be applying for approximately $426,000 in grant funds under this grant. It is a competitive grant. Um, it is not like
ESCA where we get the funds allocated to us and we justify how to use them. This is a competitive grant and I couldn't tell you how the state's going to decide how they disseminate that money. Our hope, our story that we're telling ourselves is that they're not going to reach grant applications for the amount that they've allocated to it and we'll
get it. That's our hope. So, what are we going to do with it? All drinking fountains that had any traceable amount of lead will be replaced by filtered bottle filling stations. Uh, also the hardware underneath or behind the unit will be replaced as
well. Uh, sinks that have been identified that may be eligible, the faucets will be replaced. And again, any hardware under the unit will be replaced as well. All filters come with a 2-year supply of filters. And once approved, the district has 2
years for completion. That, of course, our goal will be to do it as soon as possible. It depends on if and how it may interfere with referendum work. Um and the availability of parts. This is grant a grant that's happening. So it could impact the availability of parts.
Uh the availability of installers and the uh manner in which our grant funds are distributed to us. Did they give you a time frame with which we'll know if we were awarded this? No. And I divided 426,000 by 6,000 got 71.
Does that mean we're getting 71 of these? It's we are estimate we have to finish he has to finish the work that he's doing the manufacturer he's estimating up to 71. So change that to up to $426,000
cuz the timing of that decision I'm sure our architect would want to know right if we have the 71 fountains throughout the buildings or all the work they have to do. It's not going to impact them because did we leave the two buildings out? No. Every building was impacted on this.
The pods are getting demolished and they're getting new sinks already as part of the uh referendum bid. They're already like filtered. We didn't I don't have any of the specs yet. We're not at that level. We'll find more on and we didn't get and we didn't get back
the report yet of which which are going to be identified. So that's why I'm giving you an overview today. But we didn't get back from the manufacturer exactly which ones were which uh drinking fountains or sinks were included in what he's estimating the 71. Once we get that back, then we'll
evaluate it. But it's up to 71. They don't um advertise the timing of the grant when it will be issued. No, they just give a due date. Okay. Thank you. That's all I have. Any other
administrative stuff? Nope. Okay. This is the first opportunity for public participation. If anyone wishes to address the board, please write your name and address on the sign-in sheet and state your name for the record. Statements are limited to three minutes
and should not be abusive, obscene, or defamatory in nature. Do we have anyone that would like to address? Okay, seeing none, um Mr. Williams will be substituting in to give the personnel policy and communications
minutes. Here we go. Good evening. Uh we did meet as a committee tonight. Myself, uh board member Dr. Casey was avail was was in attendance. Board President Amarosa was attendance. Superintendent Dixie and
Assistant Superintendent Breth Howeller were all in attendance. Aside from discussing agenda items, we reviewed various regulations and policies that'll be coming out for first reading over the next meeting. You board will get more information on these. We're pushing them
to first reading. So you guys will get information uh before the next meeting regarding those. Uh I'm going to move the following items on the agenda. Number three, first reading of policy 4126, terms and conditions of employment for non-affffiliated support staff
members. Number four, retirement. Number five, resignations as listed. Number six, adjust resignation dates as listed. Number seven, and most importantly, new employment as listed. We'll get to that after.
Number eight, rescend offer of employment as listed. Number nine, establish start date as listed. Number 10, adjust start date as listed. Number 11, change of assignments as listed. Number 12, change of assignment/
salary adjustment as listed. Number 13, temporary change of assignment as listed. Number 14, district honoraria as listed. Number 15, additional compensation, new teacher academy as listed. Number 16, additional
compensation, zones of regulation training as listed. Number 17, Wilson reading system level one certification as listed. Number 18, Brailing Services as listed. Number 19, summer IEP meetings as
listed. Number 20, standing orders for school nurses as listed. Number 21, school physician as listed. Number 22, translator/interpreter as listed. Number 23, safety care instructors as
listed. Number 24, class coverage as listed. Number 25, district monitors as listed. Number 26, certified substitutes as listed. Number 27, non-certified substitutes as listed.
Congratulations to our new hire. Well, it'll be official more in a second, but I'll say well, I have a second. That's it. Do we have a second? Second. Great. Um, any questions,
comments, questions? Okay. Can I get a roll call? Mrs. Brand? Yes. Dr. Casey? Yes. Mr. Crosby? Yes. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Co? Yes. Miss Lang here. Mr. Williams, yes. Mr. El Sullivan, yes. Mr. Amaroso, yes. Motion carries.
Now it's official. Congratulations. May the force be with you, as they say. Star Trek. I mean, Star Wars. Star Wars. Fresh on my mind. Fresh on my mind. All right. Curriculum committee. Good evening. And uh the
curriculum committee did meet this evening. In attendance were myself, Miss Crosby, and uh Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Montgomery. We discussed the agenda for the
committee which included a preliminary review of the access scores. The public presentation will be at the end of August. We reviewed the preliminary uh NJSLA data
and we uh had an update on the ESA grants and the allocations will be discussed also later in the month. Uh I'd like to move the following at this time. Number three, course reimbursement as listed.
Okay, do we have a second? Second. I'll second. Any questions for our curriculum committee? One quick and you're probably not going to answer this, but so far from what you've seen from NLSA, are we feeling good? Are we the numbers look
good or you're not going to answer the question? Um, I have not done enough analysis to give an overall expectation. Um, but I continue to be improved.
Just to be clear, the only thing that was released was a student roster with individual scores. So any work that was done has to be done manually. So there's no reports that you can run. Literally, all it shows is every student's name and their score. On August 20th, the state will be
releasing all of the sub scores for individual students and then I I can do and and Lincoln can start to do the comprehensive data analysis for us. Gotcha. right around the corner. That was more of an answer. Okay, there you go. You got an answer.
Any other questions or comments for curriculum? If not, all those in favor say I. I. I. Any oppose? Any abstensions? Okay, we'll move into finance facilities. Um, I'll do it.
We can do it for now, Mr. Gulia. The uh finance facilities transportation committee did not meet today. Um, so I'd like to move the following items. Number two, travel and related expenses as listed. New Jersey School Board
Association's attendance as listed. Number four, transfers as listed. Number five, transfers ratify as listed. Number six, non-public aid as listed. Number seven, state contract numbers as listed.
Securing Our Children's Future Bond Act as listed. Number nine, commission for the blind contracts as listed. Out of district contracts as listed 11, out of district transportation contracts, Mo SC as
listed. Number 12, contract with uh Van Conc for 2025 2026 as listed. Contract number 13, contract with um Sal Electric Company,
Inc. as listed. Okay. Thank you. Do I have a second on that? Second. Thank you. Um any questions for finance and facilities? No. Yep. No, because I wouldn't wasn't around last week to
review them, so we mixed it. So, Yep. So, I think it's time I've ever seen at this time. Yeah. This is only this board meeting is only new for the last two years, I think. So, I'm just squeezing out some more new hires and stuff. Yeah,
some transcripts. I'm going away next year the following week. So, have fun. I'm boycotting the meeting. All right. Um, we don't need any rolls on anything, right? All right, then. All those in favor say I.
I. Any opposed? Okay, there you go. Um, old business. Do we have any old business? I have one. It's just that um while I was in Charleston, um, Neil was so kind to send all the committee chairs
out the board goal template. So, um, we feel like over the course of the next maybe two meetings, we can start filling those out and then we can maybe report back. So talk to your committee chairs if you start having ideas um to fill in
that chart and we can kind of report back maybe in a meeting or two get a status update. Um I didn't have any old business unless anybody else does business. Do we have I think Cindy sent out yes a while ago back to school night dates
you get no no. So after this meeting we have that we made the spreadsheet. I just didn't know if it went out yet. Sometimes too soon is not good. So, we will be sending out then after this meeting this week, we'll send out your signups for back to school nights. Um,
you've all done it before, so you know what? Sign up for that just like graduation. If you have any questions, let me know. We uh standardized last year all the start times, so there's no confusion. Every their back to school night is 6:30. So, there's no confusion. Who's 6:00? Who's 6:30? Who's 7:00? Everybody's 6:30. No duplicates. That
was a request to the board a while ago if we can avoid them. So, there's no duplicates. And I remember try to get our attendance up. We're all going to put in great effort this year. Trying to get as many as we can. I know everybody's busy. We're working and volunteering for a lot of different things, but if we could make a good
showing, at least if half the board could be at each one, that would be wonderful. There was a day when it used to be, remember, unanimous attendance at every single backboard at back to school night. So, we'd love to get back to those days if we can. New business.
Okay, seeing none, the second president's remarks. Um, very brief. It's just congratulations for all the hard work over the summer and uh I look forward to opening up the school year. Um, as always, and if any
board members have any questions about the ongoing work with the goals, feel free to email me um if you have any questions. With that, I will go to the second opportunity for public participation. A show of hands if anybody's going to approach the podium.
Seeing none, I will skip reading that and we will get a motion for adjournment. I'll move. Do I have a second? All those in favor say I. I. Thanks.