The regular meeting of the Galloway Township Board of Education from July 13th, 2026 hereby is called to order. And according to public law 1975, section 231 of the Public Meetings Act, adequate electronic notice of this meeting were provided to
the public through the press, the Galloway Township municipal building, and the district website on July 9th, 2026. Can I have a roll call, please? >> Ms. Chester? Here. Dr. Parmenter? Ms. Lauria? Mrs. Avery? >> Here.
>> Mrs. Hermenau? Mrs. Hank? >> Here. >> Mr. Dease? Dr. Basha Blau? >> Here. >> And Mr. Gentile? >> Here. >> Like that. At this point, I'm asking for the following resolution to be approved by the board. Resolve that the Galloway
Township Board of Education shall meet in executive session on July 13th, 2026, immediately before the board meeting for the purpose of discussion and negotiations, and also attorney-client communication, which could include litigation. It's further resolved that
the discussion of each subject matter in executive session will be be disclosed to the public when the matter has been settled, unless such is otherwise prohibited by law. Can I have a vote on the resolution, please? All in favor?
>> Aye. >> Any opposed? >> Um, excuse me. Can I just have a first and second? >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> A first and a second. >> Oh, okay. Can I have a first for the resolution? >> I'll first so moved. >> And a second? >> Second. >> And now can I have a Do we need to
canvas or just I? >> No, that's fine. >> favor now that we have a A and a second, All in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. And any opposed? Any abstentions? All right. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> If I could have a a motion and a second
to bring the Galloway Township Board of Education reconvene into an open public meeting. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor. >> I. >> Any opposed? Any abstentions?
The regular meeting of the Galloway Township Board of Education scheduled for July 13th, 2026 hereby is called to order. In accordance with Public Law 1975, Section 231, both adequate and electronic notice of this meeting was provided to the public through the
press, Galloway Township Municipal Building, and the district website on July 9th, 2026. May I to roll call, please? >> Ms. Chester? >> Here. >> Dr. Parmenter? Ms. Luria? Mrs. Avery?
>> Here. >> Mrs. Hermenau? >> Here. >> Mrs. Hank? >> Here. >> Mr. Dease? Dr. Beshara Blauch? >> Here. >> Mr. Gentile? >> Here. >> Everyone rise for the flag salute led tonight by Ms. Chester.
>> 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. >> The board is asking for a moment of silence in memory of Mrs. Antoinette,
always known as Ann E. Scro, retired food services manager. Ann was a valued retired food services manager who spent the majority of her career at Roland Rogers Elementary School. She dedicated over 18 years to our
school community. We extend our deepest consol- condolences to Ann's family, friends, and those who had the privilege of knowing her and working with her. Just a moment of silence, please. Thank you. Moving on to the uh next item on the
agenda, it's the minutes for the April 27, June 8 uh regular meeting and June 8 executive session. Can I have a uh motion and a second to approve the minutes for those meetings? >> So moved. >> Can I have a second?
>> Second. >> All in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. >> What's that? Yeah, I'll get to that. All in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Any abstentions?
Thank you. Moving on to public comment, the board values and welcomes comments and opinions from residents. This meeting will now be open to the public uh to public comments, 3 minutes per person on agenda items only. Public comments on non-agenda items will be available at
the end of the meeting. If your question pertains to litigation, student, or personnel items, please see the superintendent after the meeting as the board is precluded from discussing these matters in public. Depending on the nature and complexity of your questions, the board secretary
may ask for your contact information so that someone can get back to you with a response. As a reminder, this is a public meeting and all comments should be appropriate for a public setting and made in a respectful manner. Please come to the podium, state your full name and address, and sign in if you wish to
address the board. Seeing no public comment, we'll move on to the next uh next portion of the agenda, which is the superintendent's report. >> Okay, good evening. So, our superintendent's report has a variety of different items as listed and attached from student enrollment report,
out-of-district suspension report, and HIB. No vote is needed, they're informational items only. >> Thank you. Any questions of Mr. Santilli on that section? Moving on to curriculum and instruction. >> So, for curriculum and instruction, we
are looking to move items 7.1 through 7.3 as listed and attached. >> I have a motion to approve curriculum and instruction items 7.1 through 7.3. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Second.
Can I have a roll call, please? >> Ms. Chester? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Avery? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hermanal? >> Here. >> Yes, Hermanal. >> Is that yes? I'm sorry. >> Yes, sorry. >> Um Mrs. Hank? >> Yes.
>> Vice President Bashir of Wow? >> Yes. >> And President Gentile? >> Yes. We'll go on to finance and facilities. Uh I know Mr. Daze is not here. Can someone please report on the committee minutes that we had last week? >> Yeah, I'll report on that. We met on
Monday night for um 75 minutes. Mr. Daze, Mrs. Hermanal, myself. We went through the bills list and all the um Well, the bills list and the financial reports we went through when we got the agenda. We had an update on
Arthur Rand. Um the trees for school grant. Um the GIF surplus. We went over some purchasing projects. And um outstanding suit food service balances,
which is uh $57,000 right now. Which is really concerning to me, but and the H5 project updates. >> Thank you. Any questions for Mrs. Hank? All right, hearing none.
Mrs. Nixon. >> Thank you. We are looking to move items 8.2 through 8.26 in finance and facilities. >> Can I have a motion and a second to approve finance and facilities items 8.2 through 8.26?
>> So moved. >> Second. >> Have a roll call, please. >> Ms. Chester? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Avery? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hermenau? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hank? >> Yes. >> Vice President Basharablau? >> Yes. >> And President Gentile?
>> Yes. Moving on to personnel. So, under personnel, we are looking to move items 9.1 through 9.7 as listed and attached. Could I have a motion and a second to approve personnel items 9.1 through 9.7?
>> So moved. >> Second. >> Have a roll call, please. >> Ms. Chester? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Avery? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hermenau? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hank? >> Yes. >> Vice President Basharablau? >> Yes.
>> And President Gentile? >> Yes. And could you introduce staff? >> So, uh it's uh my pleasure to uh congratulate and welcome Carl Yoderhauer, who is a special education pullout resource teacher and will be uh
stationed right here at GTMS. Congratulations. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. >> Moving on to the uh policy portion of the agenda. Was there a policy committee since the last meeting? >> Yes, there was. Um we met virtu-
virtually this month. Um we do have um five policies on the agenda this evening. I'm actually going to defer to Steve on this one um because we did change what's a first reading and what's a second reading. >> So, the policy committee did meet
virtually. Uh three of the uh changes are uh revisions, so they require um just a single reading. They're notice of board meeting, superintendent's duties, and family leave. Um legal notices is actually a new policy, so that requires two readings. And uh we did email the
board uh this morning. Um there was a change with the uh policy for curriculum 2200. Ultimately, in consultation with uh the solicitor and also Strauss Esmay, our vendor, what ended up happening was this was presented as a revised policy.
And mainly because the regulation that was already in place for curriculum was actually intertwined or infused into the current curriculum policy. But after further analysis, they also expanded upon a lot of the code that's listed within this policy.
So, ultimately, there's not really any strike outs or bold. It's being really presented as a new policy. So, in turn, what we did was we thought it was best to move this policy from a revision with one reading down into the new section. So, that occurred today. So, that will
also have two readings and the first reading would be tonight. >> Okay, thank you. Does anybody have any questions for Mr. Santilli or Ms. Chester? >> Um yes, I do. Um so, Ms. Chester and Mr. Santilli, did
you receive the email that I sent today? >> Yes, I did reply to your email and included Ms. >> had a chance to look at it. >> Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, I replied and included Ms. Chester in that as well as the board president and vice president. >> Okay, cuz I I sent four questions, but yet I actually had 17, but I didn't send
them all. Um because I just I guess the main concern for me is that voting on something like this when we don't have enough information considering that the policy we before was about four paragraphs not even and now it's about
three or four pages. So, a lot was added to this policy and I know it has a lot to do with the model policy. So, you know, one of my main questions was um what was um Let me just read what I wrote. Ultimately, the board does not have a Oh, you That was your answer. Okay, so I
haven't been able to read that. So, I apologize. Um Give me a second. Which portions of this policy are required by New Jersey law or regulation and which portions are local decisions or additions by the district? Number two, because this policy has changed so
significantly, can the board in the future send a summary and redline the changes? It's easier for us to read, especially since we only get it on Friday night and that is a problem because a lot of us can't even look at it till the last minute. Which part is state regulations and which is the model policy? Does the
model policy have some room to change things, which we do know that at the local level the board does have authority to make some changes as long as it's not core principles. Um the policy repeatedly states the board shall. And you know, I really have a
problem a lot of times when I read the board shall or the board will, considering the board really has no authority on state regulations. Can you clarify which responsibilities belong to the board and which are carried out by the superintendent or administration? These were the questions and I know he's
answered them, but I want people to understand. The policy also references eliminating possible bias. Again, it's a concern because in curriculum and instruction materials, how is bias even defined? Especially if the superintendent is the one who the from what I read has the
authority to look at that. Who reviews that material? What process ensures that evaluations are objective and consistent? Because everybody's bias is quite different. My goal is not to delay compliance, but my goal is to make sure every board member has the information necessary to make a thoughtful and
informed decision. So, I wanted to motion tonight to table this until we have more clarification at a meeting, maybe it's an executive meet session, I don't know. But I think we have some things that we should discuss in regards to this. Thank you. >> So, um we we actually did answer you. I
know Steve answered you and I'm going to let him um talk about that. But I do just want to note here that um in the committee meetings we do go through the um the policy. Everyone has the opportunity to go through them in detail, and we don't always go word for word on what is handed down to us as the
model policy. We often make changes to that. Um changes to the extent that we can make changes, um which is not always possible, but where we can, there are certainly some wording differences. But, beyond that, I'm going to let Steve um go further with what he sent to you earlier.
>> So, I'll just highlight some of the um responses to those questions. So, um I think the first question dealt with, you know, is basically the policy itself. Is it something that's ultimately mandated or needed? Um you know, transparently, the board does not have a statutory or
administrative code requirement to adopt this policy. Um however, and and this is a big however, the policy is mandated um because it's a QSAC requirement. And under instruction and programming as basically implemented through QSAC through the Department of Education, it
is needed uh because without a policy such as this, uh we would also lose points, so which is very important for us under instruction and programming during a QSAC review. Um in terms of the question number two, uh as I mentioned, we didn't have any
new um strikeouts or bold um mainly because of the infusion of a regulation that was current in addition to code language. Um that is why I made the conscious uh decision to call Strauss Asmay and also talk with our solicitor um about this change. And ultimately,
that's why we also made that conscious decision to move this into a two reading um uh section for tonight for approval, recognizing that this really technically has so much language change. As you pointed out, it's going really from one page to to three pages. Um and when you
have that much language change, it's better to have it in new because it is something that then can take a second look, and the policy committee can make a a on whether or not there are going to be um changes to this policy for a second reading. Um number three, um
the language is is sometimes confusing. I will admit, the board shall versus the superintendent shall. Um and really the majority of the language in this particular policy where where it says especially in the beginning the board shall, it is actually straight from the statutes. And a lot of the statutes
within this particular policy are from 6A. Um so an example I I gave in that response um to to the some of the members of the board was that often times, and this is how I look at it, often times the board shall, it means that the board will do things such as
the board will adopt the New Jersey student learning standards or the board shall adopt the budget. So the things in those examples imply that in essence then the board is the board shall and the board is supporting the policy through the adoption of policy,
approving professional development maybe for our staff to then effectively implement such curriculum, things like that. So in essence just like school boards would also say um the board is the oversight or the governance where
the superintendent is let's say the individual or the person who executes or oversees the operations of that, the procedures that would go behind it. And then the last question um dealt with um bias and whether or not um you know,
really just looking for an explanation I think on on bias. They they used the term bias within this policy. Um and for this particular policy's purpose it actually is strictly tied to 6A um 7-1.1
and that deals with um and I'll read just in part um this section because I don't know code. Um I don't have it memorized of course, but the purpose of this chapter is to ensure all students regardless of housing status, social net economic status, immigration status, or any protected
category under NJAC 10:5-1, such as race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, and the list goes on. Basically, what this is saying is that bias is making sure that we have programming, hence within our curriculum, to be inclusive of all of
our students. So, students that may come to us who might be homeless or make an event, students that come from us as immigrants from other countries, hence why we have a ELL program for multilingual learners. So, those are the types of things that when they reference bias within the
curriculum, they're not necessarily talking about curriculum resources. They're talking about making sure we don't have bias to any of these different groups of students. That's why also within they talk about gifted and talented, making sure we cover our bases with our our advanced students, our
accelerated students. Um so, I think that is what we were trying to capture in our response. Good questions, but I wanted to make sure I shared with the public to, you know, so they they you know, and the rest of the board because I did share this back with the president, vice president, yourself, and the and the
chair of the committee. So, I wanted to make sure everybody on the on you know, the dais got the same responses as well. >> And because we moved this to have a second reading, we will meet again. So, if there are additional comments, please send them along and we'll consider them in the
committee meeting between now and then. >> Thank you for the answers. And like I said, I had really 17. I didn't send them all. But, it's just that there's so much to it. There's so much meaning in it, and it's it's hard to really read between the lines on some of these
issues because it could be local or it's a lot of anything with the NJAC, obviously, is the state. It's state regulated. So, I just think it we just need a little bit more time to understand and answer the questions before we vote on it. I mean, is it something that has to be voted on
tonight or can we cuz obviously we don't have enough time to you know, go through this and really ask the kind of questions that need to be answered. When you called Strauss estimate today, Steve, thank you for doing that. Why did you call? What was the question? >> The question was it goes back to
how they had this listed as a mandated policy and mainly because of the fact that it's a QSA, where I wanted to confirm that because you know, sometimes they may say that something is mandated and we've talked about that before. So, I just wanted to be transparent with that and make sure that this, you know, what was the mandate and they're very clear that this isn't because of
statutory requirements. The board truly doesn't have to even adopt this policy, but if they don't what would end up happening is I can tell you right off the bat we would lose a lot of points from a QSA review and points especially in curriculum and instruction that are absolutely needed.
So, that's why I called and and also to just get more clarity in terms of the infusion of the regulation. Just to understand it a little better and that's also what my conversation with our solicitor was as well. I think also, you know, from this is exactly why we moved it to the second reading or first
reading was mainly because of the fact that it does allow as Mrs. Chester said the opportunity for board members to pose additional questions or recommendations for consideration of the committee to then be able to be in a situation where we could potentially have that
discussion and bring forth to the board for a second reading recommended changes. Often times that's exactly why we have two readings with policies that have a lot of changes or technically are new. >> Okay, just one more question. When you say you lose a lot of points, see to me
it sounds like that's kind of a strong arm kind of the thing that they they make you do this or you don't get the points. So, I don't even know what that means, but I I still think, I mean, does it have to be passed tonight or can we look at it a little bit more because I know you're going to say we'll have a second
reading. But once you have the first, normally we have the second and everybody approves it. So, I don't really have a I'm not really sure that you'll make changes that need to be made or agree to make any changes at that matter. So, I think it would be good to just table it till the next meeting so
we can ask questions and maybe change it if we have to. >> I do just want to say that in the past we have actually tabled things after the first reading. So, it it's not out of the realm of possibility that we wouldn't go back and take a look at it and say we're going to pause this for a moment. So, I just want to be clear
about that because even though there is the first reading, it's not an automatic for the second reading. We may take it back and say, you know what, there's too much. Um we need to look at this a little bit longer. It may not go on the agenda for August, it may go on the agenda a couple months from now. It gives us the opportunity to take a look
at it, for you to comment, for us to then take it back and say where are we at this point. >> All right. Any Anybody have any other comments? All right, hearing none. Uh so, with regard to section 10 of policy, there are essentially two sets of policies
before the board. The first I'm going to address are those set forth at uh 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4. So, can I have a uh these are new items and they're I for a single reading. So, can I have a motion and a second to
approve items 10.2 and 10.3 through 10.4. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Have a roll call, please. >> Ms. Chester? >> Yes. Mrs. Avery? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hermenau? >> Yes.
>> Mrs. Tank? >> Yes. Vice President Bashert Blough? >> Yes. >> And President Gentile? >> Yes. And moving on to the second set of uh I'm uh policy changes, uh I'm asking for a motion to approve
policy items 10.6 through 10.7 for first reading. So can I have a motion and a second for that? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Is there any board comment? Hearing none, can I have a roll call,
please? >> Ms. Chester? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Avery? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hermenau? >> Um yes, but I I abstain from 10.7 policy 22 2200 curriculum. >> Ms. Hank?
>> Yes. >> Vice President Becerra Blauch? >> Yes. >> And President Gentile? >> Yes. >> Moving on to old business, please. >> So at this time we're looking to approve item 11.1 as listed and attached. >> I have a motion and a second to approve
old business item 11.1. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I'll have a roll call, please. >> Ms. Chester? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Avery? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hermenau? >> Yes. >> Ms. Hank? >> Yes.
>> Vice President Becerra Blauch? >> Yes. >> And President Gentile? >> Yes. >> Moving on to new business. >> Under new business, we're looking to approve item 12.1 the GTPSA contract. >> I have a motion and a second to approve
item 12.1 under new business. >> So moved. >> Can I have a roll call, please? >> Ms. Chester? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Avery? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hermenau? >> Yes. >> Ms. Hank? >> Yes. >> Uh Vice President Becerra Blauch?
>> Yes. >> And President Gentile? >> Yes. >> Moving on to board informational items. So, we have 13.1 the revised board calendar is attached uh for all board members. Um also 13.2 lists a variety of special events. I certainly encourage
you to check out these events. We do have a few uh things happening over the summer with summer pops and summer theater, so you can check out uh those dates and times as listed here under special events as well as save the dates for the Education Foundation's um golf
tournament and also designer purse bingo, both very important um events that help raise money that come back to the students and staff right here in the district. Thank you. Moving on to public comment. The board values and welcomes comments and
opinions from residents. The meeting will now be open to public comments, 3 minutes per person. If your questions pertain to litigation, student, or personnel items, please see the superintendent after the board meeting as the board is precluded from discussing these matters in public.
Depending on the nature and complexity of your questions, the board secretary may ask for your contact information so that someone can get back to you with a response. As a reminder, this is a public meeting. All comments should be appropriate for a public setting and made in a respectful manner.
If anybody has any public comment, please come to the podium, state your full name and address, and sign in. Seeing no one, we'll move on to the next item on the agenda, which is uh items for the good of the order. And I will uh open the floor up starting with uh Miss Hank to see if any board
members have anything to offer for the good of the order. >> Nothing this evening. >> Uh nothing this evening. >> Miss Chester? >> Nothing this evening, thanks. >> Mrs. Avery? >> No. >> Vice President Perchalski? >> No. >> And I have nothing.
We've already been in executive. Having a motion to adjourn, please. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Aye. >> Any opposition? Any abstentions? Hearing none, the meeting is now adjourned.