All right, I have 7 o'clock, so we're going to get started. Do notice of this meeting has been provided to the retrospect and the courier post as legal ads on February 7th, 2025. Let's stand for the flight. 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. Mr. Billingsley here. Mr. B here.
Here. Mr. Kendall here. Mr. Lex is absent. Mr. Richie here. Matter here. Miss Williams here. Mel here. Moving into section three, our minutes from previous meetings. As a reminder, the minutes are attached in another section um in board docs. Can I get a motion to
approve item Jen? Can I do these all together rather than as individual items? Great. Items 3.1 through 3.3. Second. All in favor? I All right. Moving into section four,
correspondence. Mrs. Ber believe we have correspondence. We do. We do. We got a letter from the age and Michael Berka. I apologize if I'm not saying that correctly. And to sum up their um letter
to the board, it was thank us for raising the taxes and using the NJTOE program to support the district. Acknowledgement of the the unreliable state and federal funding and the tough financial positions schools face. Support for the tax increase is a balanced choice given the community cost
concerns. Emphasis emphasis on the importance of strong schools for families and the community. Urgency to secure funding now to avoid future cuts and loss of vital programs and appreciation for prioritizing students and making thoughtful financial decisions. Once again, that's from Paige
and Michael Bederia. Thank you. Okay, moving into section five. This is our first public comment section of the evening. for comments from members of the public for the board on items included on tonight's agenda. If
you have a comment, please uh state your name, the street that you live on, and limit your remarks to 3 minutes. Right, hearing none, we'll move into section six, our superintendent's record. Okay, thank you, Kelly. Okay, first up, I wanted to once again recognize the efforts from the Hat
Township Education Foundation. Um tonight they are presenting the school board uh with a check for $20,000 uh for the grant cycle that was recently approved. But more importantly um than just the school funding that they're uh providing us that's going to directly
support our classrooms. I do want to speak um to the thoughtfulness and the efforts around the actual process to release these funds. This is a group of volunteer individuals as you know um but I actually have the opportunity to take part in kind of the planning of of the
thoughtfulness that goes into the actual grant cycle. Um the establishment of the timelines, the rubric that's utilized to kind of score uh the applications. Um they utilize a kind of a scoring committee before it actually gets to the
final uh the final night when they're actually reviewed for a second time. So, there's double blind scoring process. I've had the opportunity to sit in on this um for, you know, a while now, but particularly the last week um where they
recently approved $20,000. Nancy Wolf is here. I think it's your first time before the board with with the big check, right? Yes. Um and and she's really the quarterback, so a lot of uh credit uh goes to her organization and dedication. So Chris Cook is going to
kind of co-present uh kind of the big chat on behalf of these together. I am not a public speaker. I prefer to be behind the scenes which is probably why this is my first go around. So um I have a cheat sheet if you don't
mind. Uh since its inception in 2018, the Haden Township Education Foundation has raised and dispersed over $187,000 in grant money. Uh we've had 131 proposals which have benefited students at every school and every grade level. Uh this is possible because of
local corporate donations, but really because of the strong support of the Hatton Township community. So for those of you from the community, um we are deeply grateful for you supporting any of our fundraising efforts. Uh from this spring grant cycle, Haden Township
students will engage with enhanced learning um opportunities for literacy, for math, for science, music, and world language. Um again, every student has been um touched through all of our
grants. Today, we're pleased to present a check for $20,000 two 20,23043 uh to fund our spring grant proposal. So, um, and many many thanks to the whole team, uh, that's involved with us getting to this point. Thank you.
[Applause] I'll I'll only add I speaking solely as a trustee of the education foundation, we are in the midst of a a 10-week fundraiser. We do a variety of
fundraisers over the course of the year. Um, we raised some money through corporate sponsors. We raised some through fundraisers and events. Um, so anybody who's interested in participating in that, uh, re go to our website, check it out. Um, also it's
important to know, especially in this time when budgets are tight and things are are a real challenge, that uh the education foundation, every dollar that we raise goes back into schools. So you like you
don't never have to think twice about whether or not uh giving a little bit of money to the education foundation is a good investment because it's all an investment in our schools. is it comes from our students who are uh from our uh
teachers who are putting in grant applications and then we're funding them as best we can. So, um we we're doing 20,000, we'd love to do 50,000. Um it's just a a question of how much money we're losing. So, thank you.
[Applause] Thank you, Chris. Thank you. Next, uh we have a unique opportunity tonight for for student recognition uh in the area of of athletics. Now, in past years, there's been a lot of athletes standing before
the board for a variety of uh different reasons, but um most of the time, in fact, I think all the time in the last 5 years, these have been for some type of team successes, right? So, you know, when a team wins a state championship, you kind of everyone knows about it.
It's celebrated widely. We certainly um want to honor our teams, but there are a significant amount of athletes achievements that uh go kind of under the radar, maybe not as noticed as much as if they were
achieving a similar level in the context of a team. And um Tim George and I have collaborated recently to you know identify you know most of these individuals tonight for not only really great athletic individual achievement.
These are significant highest caliber state championship level um athletic achievements that transcend group one that transcends South Jersey in a lot of cases. the students that are competing across the state against much bigger
schools. In some cases, we have individuals that are dominating certain sports. Um it's it's really a pleasure to welcome them. These are all great high character kids as well in addition to high academic students. So, it's just proof uh that in Had County, you really can have it all. Right. And uh it's my
pleasure to present our athletic director, Mr. George is going to say a few words about each one of these athletes and Dom Francis Con, our video production club manager, helped organize a little bit of a visual. So, the board event, you're just not taking my word
for it. Um, he's the first, this is actually uh Philip's son, Jacob, that you're going to see the first pole vault video of. And you can see he has the champions. That's all the way up in Staten Island where he's competing uh representing Had Township. So um that's
a college level jump 146 and uh that's just the beginning of this little I think it's a 7minute video that we have. So congratulations not only for your son but by this you know community of athletes that were bron tonight. Yeah we're so happy to be here on behalf of all the parents and athletes. Thank you
so much for recognizing their achievements this winter season. We'll watch a quick 7minute video and then I'll have a few words and then let you guys do Whoever coach Always
Santiago in fourth lane for the Haten Township has the fourth fastest time on the group this season that came at sectionals 7.82 Me
[Music] [Music] too. So good. [Music] [Music]
You waiting for a doss is just waiting. Oh yeah. [Music] [Applause] Fire. [Music] Yes. You are in the [Music]
Hello tonight. Big step up. Head up. Head on. [Music] Good job. [Music]
[Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Yeah, play through fire. She was the first Colonial Conference
player of the year as in my seven years as an athletic trainer. [Applause] [Music] Twin sister. Yeah, right. Right here.
[Applause] Yeah. Heat. Heat up here. [Applause] So, [Applause] I'll just say a few quick words and the
first is a story. So, uh, Shelby Hutchinson comes in as a freshman and she breaks five records on our record board. So, my secretary, Christina Carwaki, calls her down and says, "Oh, Shelby, we need to get your picture."
And Shelby, she's so humble and such a sweet kid. She goes, "Why would Mr. George won my picture. Well, you broke five records. Like, your name's going up. So, that was great. And Ryan's the same way. You know, Ryan plays an intense game of ping pong in the lobby
every day in gym class. He's a heck of a swimmer. We're among two state champions. And as you can see, those races weren't close. Well, like when Dr. Fiserero and I got the footage from Coach McDermott, it wasn't even close.
Like we were aruck as to how you went so fast underwater cuz neither of you came out until halfway up the pool. It's It's amazing. It's amazing. I know you think I'm a swimmer. I'm more of a floater. Not only were they state
champs, but they were state runners up in the back, too. So, they really That is the most impressive honor of the winter season to have two state champions. and uh we're really excited for the future for both of you. So, my son probably has the hardest
job in the room because I try not to give him any slack, but I, you know, I I love him like crazy. And uh he came to my wife and I and he said, "I'm not going to play fall football because it's going to get in way of my pball goals." And we were like, "What? Why? Why would
we play football?" And uh he goes, "I calculated it and I can't hit my 146 or 15 feet with football in the mix and we said we'll support you and uh he showed us right and is steadfast determination
and we're very proud of you as so is the school district." His partner in crime, Emerson Levens, she's been going after it. You know, she's been an excellent female pole halter since she started. She battled some injuries and fought through that adversity and she was ninth
in the meet chance. Jacob's Jacob was fourth and uh they owe a lot to coach Hooper for pulling them into the sport and it's been great. Emerson's going to jump at TCJ next year and uh they both really found their passion. They found the sport that they truly love. Um,
Andre Santiago has been, you know, arguably the best athlete in the school district since he was in first grade. You know, it was him or Gabe Chattton who was the fastest kid, you know, and Andre has excelled in soccer, but he
really found his home on the track. He's a hurdler and as you saw in that video, he's he's got laser fast reflexes and determination to get to that line. He's extremely competitive on the track. He's
the nicest kid you'll meet walking the halls. Polite, saying hi to adults, a good young man. We're really proud to have him. Um Leila Newton was our first female wrestler in Haden Township history. Um, and she's been to the state
tournament twice and she was really a trailblazer for other female wrestlers. It's really, it's the hottest growing sport in New Jersey. So, and she's done a lot. And I know that it was hard. It was hard having a separate locker room. It was hard when the boys weighed in and
she weighed somewhere different, but she loved the sport so much. She overcame all the negative parts of it and she really excelled. And we're very proud of you, Laya. [Applause] Brody has a similar story to Jacob. He
passed on soccer state championship to train and get beat up all fall long so he could advance and excel past districts and get to the region wrestling tournament. Um he really committed himself this off season. He set his goals and had held steadfast to
them. Thomas Andrews in a similar fashion, you know, he got a membership at a rock climbing gym so he can improve the strength in his wrists and forearms and be a better wrestler. Um, both of those boys advanced out of the district wrestling tournament which is extremely
difficult and they made it to regions and we're looking for big things from them in the future and we're really proud of their accomplishments so far. the the three girls basketball players. Um that was a team accomplishment, but those three senior leaders we wanted to
recognize. They're all in they're all three sport athletes, so they're all involved in other sports. Uh, so, uh, all I can say about them is they they set their goal on a sectional championship and a Liberty Division
championship and they built a culture around it, a a a productive culture that they can leave as a legacy for the girls basketball program. So, thank you so much, Board of Education, for your time and honoring these young men and women
and their accomplishments. And not only that, but their parents and all of their dinnertime conversations about college decisions and hustling and bustling them to training facilities and
uh personal workouts and stuff and [Applause] so I know you're going to an event every uh but I do have some certificates uh for the student athletes. We'll take a picture. Is that okay? Yeah. You want the picture in front of the thing or do you want I like the kids to come up
stay. You all be in the photo as well. I have to Ryan Shelby [Music] Jacobson Andre [Music] Thomas Rey and Sammy Hley and
I Jacob sliding. SL they're a lot better than I ever was. Paris, you're welcome to come up. [Music] I thought so. Don't be afraid to show your teeth. Guys, you have anything to say to the
board or do you want to take questions and answers? I'm going to have a few. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. How about to your parents for a lot of sacrifices for parents? [Music] parents and athletes, as the as the
board moves on in their presentation, you're more than welcome to join us every Thursday for a meeting of Haden Heights Girls Lacrosse this evening at 8:00 p.m. They video they video these beats and put them on YouTube.
Got it. Got ace in the hole. Thank you. Mr. Jewish [Music] government, right? I know. [Music] Okay, next on the report referendum
updates. Uh we're having a series of meetings. The tennis courts are well underway. We're hoping to have them completed by May 1st. We do have a completed uh project timeline for the remainder of work. This is a time where things are
going to start very quickly. Design of the media center. uh we're really satisfied with the with the progress that we're now making. We spent a ton of time uh put into planning and now we're actually in implementation in the construction stages. It did appear
before the planning board of uh Adam Township uh last week provide them with a courtesy review of the work that's going to be on advanced. So we all satisfied the progress in that year. Student
representative report Maris on turf right for lacrosse game. But Joe is here. We missed you last month. Uh but you did a good job prepping your middle school counterpart with the report. So we're anxious to see what you have to say to us tonight. Yeah, I'm glad to be
back. Uh so there's been a lot of excitement throughout the month of April. Um mostly pertaining to uh college acceptances. Um, a lot of logistical stuff for prom in May, um, spring break and, uh, on that end, we've had a spirit week as we
usually do leading up to the breaks. Today was Billy's day, um, just cuz there's a game later today. And tomorrow, I believe, is like a tropical Hawaiian theme day, but it's been good. They're always great. A lot of, um, participation between both students and teachers, which is always great to see.
And um in terms of college acceptances, April is always a big month cuz it's usually the regular decision. It's when schools release, most of their regular decisions. So um a lot of a lot of commitments. Um especially going off of what Mr. George said, a lot of athletic
commitments, which is always um nice to see. And they're displayed, as we've said before, there's Instagram account for the class of 2025 um admissions. And also on in the counseling hallway as you walk by the upper gym, they have the
counselors put up all the um acceptances for each student. And we haven't heard as many um trade or military um commitments yet, but we feel like that'll come more as we get closer to decision day, which is now, I believe, in a couple weeks, May
1st. But um and also based off the referendum, I know there's been a lot lot of excitement especially around the tennis courts cuz um the bulk of the student body walks down MacArthur uh for parking. So it's always people are always everybody's just eyes glued on
the side looking at all like the dayby-day progress which is very cool to see. Uh, everybody's excited, especially of course uh a tennis team and um yeah, it's really cool to see like the um referendum like physically like at work in front of everybody. I know everybody appreciates that and like you said, all
the work that went into it. Um yeah, lot to look forward to. Um like I said, prom stuff, tables, we just picked the prom song, but then after that, I don't want to go too far ahead, but graduation is unfortunately coming up. But um yeah, lot to look forward to.
Have a seen your trip. Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. It feels like it was so long. It was It was incredible. Yeah, it was everything it was made out to be and more. I thought it was it was really a great time. Did you ride? Uh yeah, I'd say there's a there's a
Jurassic Park theme one in in Universal called Coaster, and I thought that one was really cool. That's I I think that's like that's been the consensus number one among among the seniors. But yeah, I thought that was incredible. I'm ready to go back. best commitment to our uh students, our
staff, our parents, our kids. You know, take a whole class of kids to put them on, take them, put them on a bus at 3 in the morning, take them to an airport, put them on a plane, put them on another bus, take them to the amusement park, take them back to the wherever they're staying, rinse and repeat for 4 days, bring them back on a bus, back on a
plane, back to school. Not one disciplinary issue, right? We have great kids, great parents, a testament to our to our school community. Great job. Okay. Uh, next I want to publicly uh
invite our community. Uh, you'll start to see this around the school. We'll email advertise. We're having three school safety school district safety forms. Um, these are for parents and community members to meet with me. We'll have a few board members at each one of these meetings. But our first meeting is
April 29th at 10:00 a.m. for parents who may be available in the morning. And that's going to be at the Township William G. War Memorial Library on Mac. Um May 14th at 4 PM we'll host a second meeting here
uh right in this media center uh at 4:00 and May 22nd will be part three of the series Sky School um in department. And uh I want a few more members with me at each meeting. I may have an administrator. I would invite the chief
of police or have to delegate maybe that responsibility to a captain. Uh but there's a lot of responsibility around not only physical safety but psychological safety and uh mental health and internet safety and safety
with artificial intelligence and technology. So all these topics we're just going to explore in a collective way and engage with our parents because I know there's a lot of interest um to explore uh this important topic. So, we're looking forward to those
events. And in the last item I have that's not on there, we met executive session. We talked about the uh school budgets and you know, we're looking at schedules and programs uh and areas related to
personnel. The one area that uh was not discussed in um executive session that needed to be in public session on the request of uh individual was uh the science department and I do want to publicly say there are
absolutely no performance concerns with anyone in the science department. Uh we're simply looking at numbers and uh class rosters and enrollment. And when you have the deficit that we have, uh we have to consider uh areas for reduction
where there may not uh be a certain amount of enrollment. So um it's all I have to offer about uh personnel in that department, but if the board has any questions about that, I'm happy to question. Okay. Um that's all I have for my
report. All right. Uh moving to section seven, presentations. We have none this evening. Uh so moving into section eight, finance and facilities. Can I get a motion to approve items 8.1 through
8.16? Second. Any questions? Actually, Jen, there was one other question I had on that about the elevators. Is that just repair and maintenance for South Jersey elevator? Yeah, we're doing that as part
of our project. Okay, that's I just wanted to jump on that because I know we haven't seen anything for a while. So, just wanted to make sure we Thank you. Uh I did want to point out uh item 8.8 is the approval of our HT principles and supervisors
contract. So, have great um process in negotiations with that team. Feeling really good about where that contract landed and appreciate our entire administrative team and glad we could get this contract done to help show that appreciation to them. All right, roll call. Miss Billingsley,
yes. Mr. F? Yes. Miss Bley? Yes. Mr. Kendall? Yes. Mr. Richie? Yes. Miss Der? Yes. Miss Williams? No. Miss Single? Yes. Uh, moving into section 9, instruction and program. We have no items to approve this evening. So, we'll move right into section 10. Personnel.
Can I get a motion to approve items 10.1 through 10.18? So, move. Second. Any questions? Hearing none. Roll call. Miss Billingsley. Yes. Mr. Cook. Yes. Miss Desi. Yes. Mr. Kendall. Yes. Mr. Richie?
Yes. Miss Der? Yes. Miss Williams? Yes. Mr. H. Miss Hingle. I'm sorry. No problem. Uh, all right. Moving into section 11, student services and activities. Can I get a motion to approve items 11.1 through 11.7?
Second, any questions? I had a question about the homebound instruction. Their students are just going to be taken care of in their own homes. They're not being sent out. Is that what that one is? That's a great question. So, they're just they're not in a facility. They're
just at home. Okay. That's my understanding. Okay. Just wanted to check on that. Thank you. Even if they were in a facility, it would still be the same, right? It is the same. Okay. Yeah, that's who was the second on that. Was that you or was that Kristen or
any other questions? Miss Billingsley? Yes. Mr. Cuff? Yes. Miss Dazzy? Yes. Mr. Kendall? Yes. Mr. Richie? Yes. Matter? Yes. Miss Williams? Yes. Miss? Yes. Moving into section 12 policy. Can I get a motion to approve
item 12.2? So move. Second. Any questions? Do want to highlight to the board that there was a policy there that pulled off for tonight because we're uh one more look on regulation uh not a policy or
regulation on use of cell phones for recording as they pertain to uh events that are open to the public. Right? There has to be a line that separates um students have that permission to film in school if they're going to, you know,
use any type of device or recording. Um but certainly our intent is not to overregulate um that uh student that students feel like they can't video like a school player or sporting event or you know something that schools open to the public. So you know a little bit better
language in that regulation. So I'll put that before the board in um in May. Roll call. Miss Billinsley. Yes. Mr. Cook. Yes. Miss Desi. Yes. Mr. Kendall. Yes. Mr. Richie. Yes, Miss D. Yes, Miss
Williams. Yes. Miss, yes. All right, moving into section 13. This is our final public comment section of the evening. This is for comments from members of the public for the board on any topic, whether or not it was on tonight's agenda. Uh, if you make a comment, please state your name. The student go on and move your remarks to
three minutes. All right, seeing no comments, any final comments or questions from the board or the administrative team? It was a nice pres I think we had a nice presentation from that group, right? Yeah, that was that was great. That was
I like being able to see the events because you can't always be nice to see All right. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? Motion. Second. All in favor? I thank all you