##VIDEO ID:MrruBRKZtNY## do roll call oh roll call can I get a roll call please roll call First yes please Mrs Fritz here Mrs gck here Mr Gibbons here M Gore here Mrs Henry here Mr Hutchinson here this Johnson here Mr stino this o Donald here Mr belad star students problem right thank you Mrs odonnell members of the Board of Education members of the public happy New Year welcome to Ann mull Middle School uh to uh continue with our star students program uh I'd like to have our assistant superint tenant Mr tro uh continue from this point Mr tro thank you Mr Bilo uh good evening members of the public Board of Education um we're very excited to continue our star student presentations that we hold monthly at board education meetings to highlight and um really put a spotlight on the excellent work that's being done in our schools every day by our staff and our students and so tonight we've got two great examples one from Lily school and one from Union Valley Elementary School so we're excited to um introduce to you what the students are doing uh just so that you know a little bit of how the night works um they'll be introduced we've got the administrative team and some of the staff that are involved with that that will be introducing them we have certificates from the MR Bido and the Board of Education that will be distributed to them later um we'll go through the presentations and then at that point we'll take a short break um where we will take pictures in the back of the students and the staff involved and um after that short recess then the board will reconvene for its regular um Action meeting and so you're welcome to stay for that but we understand often with young children that you're going to want to get out and get home and so if you need to leave please just make sure that you do that during that time um prior to the board reconvening for their meeting so with that I will turn the microphone over to Mr Ferguson who is our principal at JW ly school and he will introduce the folks that he's brought out tonight Mr Ferguson good evening everyone good evening first I want to introduce the wonderful Miss Diane Rosia she is leads our girls who Cod club and she is also Lily school's computer teacher good even I would like to thank Mr Bido and the gler Township Board of Education for allowing us to present Lily School star students from the girls who cold Champs Club this club is led by Miss Diane Rosia who's to my left girls who cold is a nonprofit organization which started in 2012 with a mission to increase the number of women going into the field of science and techn technology Miss Ria's goal is to inspire all of our Champs Club participants to possibly consider pursuing a career in the computer science or Tech Fields this evening we'll tell you a little bit about what they do during the club and why they are Lily School shining star students first let me bring up The Shining Star students so they can give their speeches just kidding you just can come up that's can you come up please ARA down Ella King Annabella magnata Gian Granderson Ariana mergenthal jul Lana lampier and beu brewyard there are three main programs that the students focus on while attending the girls who cold Club the programs include scratch microbit and three doodler scratch is a visual program programming language that teaches kids how to code by creating interactive stories games and animations microbit is a programmable device that allows students to get hands-on experience with coding and digital making three dood is a 3D printing pen that uses heated plastic to create 3D objects I'll play a quick clip from two of the videos just so you get an idea of what the microid is and what 3D DB does us temp con so now here our girls creating the 3D images from the 3D dood so what the 3D again and kind of creating ladies do you want to tell us about what you were creating there any want to tell us go ahead Captain America got perfect perfect so that's just some of the things that they do and then on the next slide we'll talk a little bit about M cre picture of a letter that correct e e standing here all of who are part of the dedication in regard to embracing opportun that will allow us to posibly pursue a career in science or technolog one last Applause thankk you very much and now we will turn it over to one of our other southern end schools Union Valley Elementary School and we have the administration there I will turn the microphone over to Mrs Elwell and she will introduce their group good evening everyone and thank you very nice job Lily Elementary School girls who code i' give it up for them that was fantastic nice presentation congratulations thank you to the board for allowing us to highlight our Union Valley instrumental music students boys and girls you were such a nice patient audience you were doing a great job over the last several years our instrumental music program has grown significantly it used to be that students who wanted to participate in band had to do so after school hours now students can participate in band during the school day and last year we even had an inch school concert where our students performed for for their classmates and their parents this change has allowed more students to participate in band which continues as students transition into the middle school we're very proud of our students which is why we'd like to highlight them here tonight at this time I'd like to introduce our instrumental music teacher Mr Michael O'Brien I didn't know I could walk in front like that okay so hello thank you Miss Elwell for that wonderful introduction as she said my name is Mike O'Brien and I'm proud to say that I am the Elementary music instructor at Union Valley as well as Blackwood and aerial Elementary so just to go over what's happened in the past 5 years that I've been here um this program started in 2020 it was fully virtual um at the time it was me and another teacher who was no longer in the district uh we had a total of 48 students between elementary schools I am very proud to say that in 2024 2025 we have broken 350 students between all eight elementary schools uh yeah it's a little crazy so brief growth of the program like I said our first year was about 48 our second year which was in person in 2021 2022 we had 180 fifth grade students in 2022 2023 we broke that 200 threshold with actually 240 something students in fifth grade last year we started introducing fourth graders for the first time broke 300 and now we're over 350 I also want to say um another cool thing that happened last year we received $8,000 through the gtef grant as well as other funds to get instruments in for students who can't necessarily afford to play them we were able to purchase 30 instruments with those funds and of the 30 about 20 are out helping our students all over the district perform so that's a really cool thing last but certainly not least one thing I want to thank the board and our amazing Administration for um last year we were able to add a third person to the music team for years it's been me and uh my colleague uh Christy bur and now we have Mr Charles Lane who is now teaching over at Lily School Glendora and Gloucester Township they're not here tonight but I want to give them a special shout out as well as our awesome Middle School team of Mr Owens Mr Brooks and Mr Nichols who helped get this ball rolling before we were here now I can Yap all night but I'm not going to do that anymore so I'm going to introduce the students we're going to play four pieces for you this evening the first one is going to be code name band this is going to be played by the combined group of fourth and fifth graders I hope you enjoy e e the next piece we're going to p uh perform for you is a piece called buns variations which is different versions of a famous Melody called Hot Cross Buns uh there's normal buns which is the irregular song backwards buns and short buns this is going to be played by our fourth grade band I'm going to introduce our fourth grade band really quick in our front row we have Miss Ella kachatorian Miss Tean keru and Miss Scarlet chaplinsky in our back row we have Dominic bamy we have Cameron ballinghoff Amari Hart grve and Elijah Kai this is buns variations I also want to give them a special shout out we learned this one in two weeks for for next up we are going to play the three note March featuring our fifth grade band in our front row we have Jacob choco Dominic SoDo Cecilia carmichel Belle Hall and in our back row we have Hina m Doom Blake Brinley Luke gaspi Gage show and Liber Michael law horn Ellis Johnson Kandis Francis IV and Brody Phillips this is the three note March [Music] stand e our final piece is probably everyone's favorite piece and it's going to bring back the fourth graders in a very special role one of the biggest compliments you can get as an instrumental music teacher is having a group that is so good that you don't have to do anything for them to play the song so I'm going to stand back and I'm going to introduce our last piece the power Rock which we're going to play half of it's a famous tune you might know it's called We Will Rock You by Queen um I don't know I've never heard it before I I found it the other day online so without further Ado I'm going to have our percussion start once I give them the point they got it from here you guys ready e my arms really do appreciate how well you just played that by yourselves you did great today Union Valley I'm so proud of you guys great things that go on in the district and just a little sample of some of the great things that happen each and every day we thank all of our community for supporting us our board for supporting us and our staff and students for the great work that they do we are going to break for a let's give them one last round of applause for everybody we're going to take a short recess um any of the students involved and any staff involved if you could please move to the back Miss Bon is going to take some photos for the website and so forth and um we will do that for 5 to 10 minutes and then we will reconvene the business portion of the board meeting so for those of you that are leaving good night and for those of you that are staying around um we'll be back in session meting back to order just go can I get um a motion for the approval of the exe executive session minutes for December 16 2024 so moved Mrs Johnson with the motion can I get a second second Mrs Gore with a second any discussion questions can I get a roll call please Mrs Fritz AB stain Mrs gck yes Mr Gibbons yes Miss Gore yes Miss Hendry obain Mr son abstain Mr Johnson yes M dintino yes m s yes can I have a motion for the approval of the regular minutes for uh December 16th so moved and let's do the reorganization meeting at the same time for January 8th thank you Mrs Gore with the motion can I get a a second second Mrs Johnson with a second any questions can I get a roll call please Mrs Fritz abstain from December 16th 2024 and yes to January 8 2025 noted Mrs gck yes Mr GI yes Miss Gore yes Miss Henry obstain on December 16 2024 yes on January 8 2025 noted Mr Hutchinson abstained from December 16 2024 yes to January 8 2025 noted Mr Johnson yes M dintino yes M oon yes uh Mr Bido any changes to the agenda uh yes M yes Mrs odonnell thank you uh I actually have three changes on the superintendent's portion um and these are not in alphabetical order so bear with me under 6.6 I the attachment uh I just want to get to that and be specific 6.6 I is transfers and reassignments on the one two three four five seventh row from the top um employee ID 6 i39 that entire row uh I'd like to remove that with all other items there uh for tonight's agenda so 6539 just strike a line through that whole row the second item under 6.6 F 6.6 f um the very last row Lisa pomante um which would have been a Behavior Support technician uh she accepted the job and then late Friday afternoon after the agenda was prepared she called and she declined the offer so if you could put a line through leis Lisa pomante on 6.6 F 6.6 F okay on the attachment the final row Mr Gib and then under 6.6 a uh the 6.6 a which is listed in the actual agenda it's not an attachment excuse me um the first the first listing Kelly Sheeran uh was requested to prove um her college credentials uh that wasn't available so uh it's still will remain at step 8 but it is not Masters 30 it will be only Master's level so that salary is at 68,276 216 that's pro rated and they are the only changes so the agenda not I I only have Masters it's lowered down to Masters okay but I do know the salary yes thank you thank you Mr 68 to16 and that's all the changes thank you Mrs adonald any public comment agenda items only seeing none report of the solicitor Mr Bido report of the superintendent thank you Mr zonell uh I'd like to uh requesting the Board of Education a consent resolution and they would be for items 6.2a through 6.6 K as amended can I get a motion so moved Mrs Johnson with the motion can I get a second second Mrs dintino with the second any questions roll call please Mrs Fritz yes Mrs gck yes Mr gimons yes M Gore yes Mrs Henry yes Mr Hutchinson yes Mr Johnson yes Mr dentino stay on 6.6 J yes on the balance noted Mr s Don yes report of the business administrator Mr mccol yes M president uh asking for the board's uh approval for um 7.1 through and including 7.7 C can I get a motion please so moved Mrs Johnson with a motion second second Mrs Gore Mrs Gore with the second oh this is sorry about that with the second any questions I do Mrs Johnson um regarding check number 136 239 do we get a breakdown on how much we save on solar from gsrp Project Holdings that check is for $1,491 a month that we're paying for solar now I don't understand I don't have solar so I'm a little confused about this but doesn't it save us money because but we're spending $188,000 a month so um it's been asked in the pay asked and we were told that we didn't know how much we were sent we were saving because of having these these solar panels um is there any way that we can find that out I'm going to discuss the solar initiative on on new business tonight I'm I'm gonna go over the whole thing with you great thank you anybody else no questions um I do have a question regarding one of the itemized invoices um for check number 136317 for Parker McKay Mr mccol are you gonna send that out tomorrow because it was missed yeah I'll send it out to you you wanted to right um Mr G um you could send it to everyone we typically all get them anyway okay perfect any other questions can I get a roll call please Mrs Fritz yes Mrs gck yes Mr GI can I ask a question about that check that she was or the invoice she was just talking about is that now out of the bill list or no it's still on the bill list he said he'll send the itemized bill tomorrow so it's still there okay um so then I'm a no on check 136 317 no on check 13615 yes on the balance noted this is Gore yes this is Henry I'm abstaining on 7.3 a um and yes on the balance noted Mrs H Mr Hinson yes upan up stain on the entire seven point the entire business portion know this is Johnson I'm going to abstain on check number 13659 and 136 263 yes on the balance noted M dintino yes M Sano yes I old business Mr Belo uh Mrs odonnell I did want to uh let the members of the Board of Education know of uh last month's meeting at Glen Lany Middle School there was a member of the public uh specifically a staff member asking about um policy number 3216 which is dress and grooming and um just to add a little cont text uh there is a specific policy for teaching staff members an inappropriate Tire the very first item listed under inappropriate tire is jeans however to be fair It also parenthetically says unless approved by the principal or designated for a special activity or event uh last year uh in the summer summer of 2024 I was specifically spoke to my administrators about all um of our employees dress not specifically teachers but that it had to be following of the policy and in good standing and so knowing that there were school special events I asked for calendars from each of the 11 schools on when they were having spirit days each month um unfortunately for the one particular event at uh Glenn Landing uh that information came I believe uh the timing was um difficult for perhaps a school administration to grant that day uh so uh I don't think it was um so I did want to let the board know there is a policy the administration is trying to follow it but they also do have the leeway my suggestion is that in the spring of each year that we include Representatives not only from teachers but from other unions on what the special school event days would be so there's a little bit more Street of core on those days but 3216 okay is that it for old business yes any new business from you um uh from from me yes I do have one item uh under policy 3216 uh in light of yesterday's Eagles win I would ask uh permission from the Board of Education to permit within the next two weeks one day uh for those specific schools to come up with a spirit day of their t including all staff to wear jeans any exceptions and jerseys anything they want okay as long as it's green speakers whatever they want he said it only has now we're only going you're pushing it now Mr Emerson it has to be green are so we in all favor with that I'll put the word out to the principal so let the staffs pick something someone wears red I'm I'mma feel bad for them yes all right thank you uh that is all I have for new business but I know Mr has something yes yes I did uh I did locate the contract the contract was signed April 12th of 2013 um I don't think that the actual project actually completed until August of that year it's a 15-year contract and for your answer of do we save anything right now the answer is no and I'll tell you why but but but the savings is coming so I I'll explain why we didn't pay anything for the solar field to be installed we're paying them for the electric usage that it's producing that we don't pay psng or Atlantic City Electric so basically it started out with a rider of how much the electric would cost in year one and it goes up 2% per year so it's increased over over the last I don't know 12 years that we've had it right at the end of that 15th year we own it so right now we pay about 420 to $470,000 a year for what it's actually producing but come July of 2018 we now have a savings of 420 to $470,000 28 per year 2028 you mean 2028 yeah did I say 2018 you said that's okay 2028 so and if you when you look at the contract it says there's a de um degradation value degradation value where it's supposed to degrade in what it puts out a half percent per year so just say they're putting that at 100% in year one and then it's 99.5% in year two and then it's 99% in in year three so at the end of of you know 15 years it should be putting out above 90% and those um solar panels are guaranteed for 25 years so really on the when you look at it we're going to have at least 10 years of saving that $400,000 so in the end we're probably going to have what $45 million that's going to be saved on the backside but we we didn't pay anything to install them is is there a warranty on them for 25 years they guaranteed to last 25 years they maintain the actual solar field themselves we maintain it at the switching point to go into the building so if something happens with the switching point we have to maintain it if something happens in the Solar field they maintain it for 25 years no for the 15 years and on once the 15 years is over we're on hook for all of it so we're currently we pay 18,000 a month that currently 15,000 year there's a minimum and a maximum that's in the contract yeah is there a way that you could have them come out at the end of the contract and tell you what the maximum oh turn just turn your mic on please start over thank you that's okay at the end of the 15-year contract is there a way that you could have the company come out and under the warranty or a warranty check hopefully you know they would say yes or no determine the panels um efficiency like what if they had reduced their efficiency to like 80 70 60% and then the the the gains doesn't it's not like a fair I'm sure we can probably have that happen yeah but I don't know you know they without calling them I don't know that either and I don't know that we want them I don't know that we want them to do it we may want a third party to verify that that might be or to come out and do one last maintenance on it or something or yeah something or get them to replace replace the panels right at your or if any yeah if any are bad yeah like before the contract's up determine what would be considered under warranty and deter I'll have to read a little bit more detail about about the change over to take a maximum use of that warranted thank you yeah that's it thank you any more questions regarding that uh I'd like to open it up for public comments for any items public comments Mrs gilch on the re meeting I'm very very very disappointed that people stay there I don't understand I'm not sure if you can answer several people obain on V and I'm not sure why to me all know everybody here May ask a question not I like to see is worksh we've had Workshop meetings I think it's a time for the public to come out and ask questions if they have any instead of asking the day of the meeting and then concerned if anyone would like to respond to Mrs gilch regarding in exension you're more than welcome to I would just like for clarification I don't think I understand um are you referring to tonight vot tonight I understand not or who you're going to get upet because I didn't V here do we have a record of that okay thank you Mrs gilch does anyone else have any public comments speak for any issue yes Dorothy Hope Deo a former employee of gluster Township Schools of 37 years um I have a couple things to address I was terminated by Mr Belo on November 6 2024 and one moment minute I got to put my glasses on okay so was my termination brought before the board before my actual termination on November 6 2024 if so I didn't receive notification of it that's the first thing I want to address okay the second thing I want to address is how many other employees did Mr did superintendent John Bido terminate besides myself uh a rough estimate was it 510 15 none I would like to know that number I am a taxpayer of gluster Township and I pay $23,000 a year taxes I was employed uh even though I was employed for 37 years 24 years seven months were contracted years so I needed five more contracted months in order to get my employment benefits for life um therefore I do not have benefits um the wasn't the Cobra it was that you sent me a letter but um they want 12 thou U $1,200 a month for those uh for that medical which when you're due to math it's 14,000 a year um I still I still don't have clarification on why I was terminated none of that and the other thing is that well like I said my termination you wrote me a letter Mr Belo you did not uh get approval by the board to terminate me can I stop you for a second have you addressed this with Mr long I'm just filling in today but these are questions that he would be in a position to answer okay all right I just want to say like one more thing and I I don't know if it's appropriate here that's why I'm saying maybe contact him directly he can answer your questions I can't say anything else a solicitor I just don't think it's appropriate here well I'm going to let her finish her 30 seconds and then I'll address her at the end please thank you go ahead Mrs Mrs Deo okay as I was saying about uh having 24 years seven months contracted years even though I have 37 years with gluster Township Schools I was terminated five months before my 25 years how convenient for gluster Township Schools and you Mr Belo to get rid of me I have a Crystal Clean record of 30 years I stated this Mrs Deo so I just I just want to address a couple things you brought up because you asked some questions um and you asked if your termination was brought before the board but I do know legally tell me if I'm stepping on your toes that um you would have to have gotten a rice notice had that have happened how many other people were terminated we cannot discuss other people's employment got we C it's just not something we legally do so we can't I cannot allow him to answer that question I'm not talking about names or anything I'm just talking about an approximate number I don't know that that's something that we can legally verify with you I apologize for that and like I said when you apply to Gloucester Township Schools uh they need you're not hired for 30 days it has to come before the board they vote on it and so forth and it's just it's the same thing when you're termin at it has to come before the board and um be approved by the board 30 days I got a letter from you and I got it right here and you terminated me you it resulted in your decision Mrs deay let me just see if anyone else has anything because the time did go off give me one minute I'll let you come back up okay sure give me a hot minute does anyone else from the public have anything Miss Mrs gilch if you'd like to mm okay I actually went on and clicked on it oddly because I don't typically do that um to look for the attachments and I did find it I will say that Mr wells will be very upset because he works hard on that website but I will absolutely let him know that you're having troubles finding it and see okay and see what he says does anyone else have anything okay Mrs Deo just know that um regarding employment issues we really can't comment so I'll give you your three minutes to say whatever you'd like but Mr Bido can't really have it back and forth with you well I understand that to a certain point I am a taxpayer I understand all right I'm no longer an employee thanks to Mr Bido but I am a taxpayer and I pay a hefty bill every year so I want to know think I have a right to know how many people were um I don't want to use the word fired but how many were released I don't know that I can I can I don't know that he can release that information because it's employment issues which by law we cannot discuss publicly I don't want to know the issue that they I just want to know approximately how many uh um employees This Man released in in his lifetime H in his lifetime or no I I want to know because I what was done to me was I hear you so so I would say um when Mr long comes back I'm assuming when Mr long comes back um if you would like to ask that question but I just have a feeling he's going to give you the same kind of legal thing that it cannot be discussed publicly you can discuss whatever you want publicly we cannot well like I said uh I was terminated uh five months before my uh um medical okay because even though I had uh 36 years uh 37 years it didn't you know I had 24 years seven months of contracted time he knew what he was doing he did it at the right time I needed five more months of contracted time in order to get my medical for the rest of my life and another thing guys stop you there again this isn't the proper form to attack people it's stated in the agenda you see right in front of you I'm say one more thing uh the wex weex benefits that you stated in the letter wex for Cobra benefits just to let you know that's uh $1,200 a month thank you Mrs Dela anyone else hi come on up sh well a name and where do you live okay hi Mrs Palmer for which payments oh the solar sure it's the actual electric that's used by the solar panels because it's producing electric for the district so if we were to buy that from Atlantic City or psng this is the rate you would pay so really that's where they're making money right now so once the 15 years are over we don't pay them anymore and that's a 400 to $470,000 savings to us so they're it's produced electric and we're we're paying for the electric that's what the bills for anyone else have anything oh okay uh board member comments um I had the opportunity to attend the Martin Luther King Day of Service um and congratulations to all those that were nominated and it was a great day making sandwiches over at the chws um United Methodist Church um so it was a great program and um thank you very much thank you anyone else I just uh I'll thank the uh star students that came out tonight um I was out of town for the MLK but I did get to attend something that I guess most people don't get to attend which was the cafe at shoes um it's really an adorable um you know program that they have going on there and really appreciated that um other than that thank you for coming out and see you later congratulations to all the students who are awarded the uh Star Award um also um just wanted to um accommodate not not a comedy just say how proud I am of the girls who are in the club um to code I am in technology and that's really great that we're promoting in that for girls to be involved in technology and science so congratulations to them all I'd also like to congratulate all the the students from excuse me from Glen landing and from Charles W Lewis that we that um we're inducted into the junior National Honor Society we'll be back here on Thursday night for for the Mullen students so congratulations to them also anyone else um yeah so I went to several of those events as well um the choose Cafe was absolutely adorable um it is the MD students that have a little cafe and they make bagels and coffee and it was it was really sweet it was a good time um I also want to congratulate the star students um the band so my kids went to Union Valley and at that time it was a long time ago but they had a summer program between fourth and fifth grade and that's when you got to experiment playing the instruments and then in fifth grade um it was after school and so that was their first start in music my son ended up playing the saxophone until he was a senior in high school my daughter put it down after middle school but whatever it was still it was great and but my kids never played anything as cool as Queen never Hot Cross Buns yes Queen no um I also wanted to congratulate the coding girls and here's why that's so impressive because I don't understand what they did at all whatsoever so um I appreciate that you're in technology I want to bring that up because that's something else I want to talk about one of our board goals is um to have some discussion and look into um AI for schools so I wanted to create like an ad hoc committee and my thoughts if no one wants to volunteer I volunteer already started to work on okay that's kind of cool great love that um I would like to know if Mr Hutcherson would be on and if you in technology I would love for that to happen so I'll reach out via email because I would love that goal to be push I would love all the goals to be looked at but that one in particular so Mr Bell I'm do that I have something else to add too yeah add go ahead um to Mrs Gil's Point earlier about the workshops I would like also to see those come back um I do want to mention that I am happy about one of the policy changes that we had in here on the new agendas where committees which is where the board does our work there's now a spot that will be on the agendas that those committees will be reporting back of what was discussed I mean not the Minor Details but it's a very good in my opinion move towards transparency and you know what what happened and keeping people informed of decisions that were made by us up there I agree um I appreciate that everyone did um vote Yes on that policy um it does have to go through one more yeah and then we will probably implement that in March with um committee meetings and also part of that policy is committees um meeting at least twice a year so I know some of them meet a lot more often because it's necessary but um Mr Gibbons is that all of the work that the board does is in committees and if committees aren't meeting what are we doing other than coming and visiting you guys which hey is fun but you know does anyone else have anything sorry Mr B up can I get a motion to adjourn Mrs Johnson with the motion can I get a second second uh Mrs Henry with the second is that that's an all in favor guess all in favor thank you for all for coming out