Good evening everyone. At this time I would like to call to order the August 20th, 2025 Hamilton Township Board of Education meeting. This meeting is being held in compliance with the Sunshine Law having been advertised in the press of Atlantic City and notices posted at the Township Clerk's Office, Maze Landing
Post Office, Misba Post Office, Atlantic County Library, as well as the schools of the district. This meeting is being recorded. Roll call. Mrs. Ankra, Mrs. Bachelor here, Dr. Sero
here, Mrs. Dirks, Mrs. Jackson, Dr. La Hawk here, Mrs. Pedto here, Mr. Rogers and Mrs. Bar here.
I please have a motion to convene into executive session. So moved. Motion by Miss Bachelor, second by Miss Jackson. All in favor? I opposed. Resolve that pursuant to section seven and eight of the open public meetings
act, the public shall be excluded from that portion of the meeting involving discussion of legal matters, attorney, client privilege, personnel, and HIV. Be it further resolved that the discussion of such subject matter in executive session can be disclosed to the public when formal action is taken on such subject matter or at any other
appropriate time. Be it further resolved, the board may take action on items discussed in executive session. Now therefore, be it resolved, the board will be in executive session for approximately 30 minutes. Good evening everyone. Welcome to our August 20th, 2025 Hamilton Township
Board of Education meeting. Can I please have a motion to close executive session? So moved. Motion by Miss Bachelor, second by Miss Pedto. All in favor? I I oppose.
This meeting is being held in compliance with the sunshine law having been advertised in the press of Atlantic City and notices posted at the township clerk's office, Ma's Landing Post Office, MSBA post office, Atlantic County Library, as well as the schools of the district. This meeting is being recorded. There are two opportunities to
address the members of the board. The board values and welcomes comments and opinions from residents as long as remarks are not personal or discourteous. The public comment portion of the meeting allows the board to listen to community members and to hear their opinions on school policy and operations. The first public portion is
reserved for persons wishing to speak about agenda items only. The second opportunity following the action items is when residents may address the board on any school related issue. Each speaker is asked to limit their comments to three minutes and you are not permitted to yield your time to another. The public comment portion of the
meeting during both sessions will not exceed 30 minutes. Upon being recognized, persons wishing to speak should stand and identify themselves by name and address. Can we please stand for the flag salute? Please take a moment of silence for
private reflection. Thank you. At this time, I will turn it over to Dr. Zitto for superintendent staff report. Good evening, President and members of the board. Thank you for your steady support and partnership. First and foremost, none of this progress could
have been made without this administrating team of administrators sitting right back there. Um, including our building administrators, Mr. Venziani, Miss Lzitzki, Mrs. Bryant, and Mrs. Decker. I want to recognize our buildings and grounds team and our
custodians for an exceptional summer. Classrooms are clean, safe, and ready. our technology department completely device refreshes, network checks, and and staff support so teaching and learning can start smoothly. Thank you as well to our summer staff, including
our extended school year teachers, um our uh agents for change teachers, administrators, secretaries, and aids who kept our schools running and students learning over the summer. We're on track with hiring and onboarding. Orientations are scheduled, and our back- to-school communications are
rolling out through Parent Square. Student safety remains a priority with updated procedures and staff training in place in the fall. Our transportation and food services team are finalizing routes and menus and we appreciate our PTA and community partners for their continued help. I'm proud of the
teamwork across the district and excited to welcome students and families back. Thank you for your continued trust and support. uh for your just the following are dates to remember. On August 25th, that will
be our PTA um preschool new student question and answer session in the Davies cafeteria here at 5:30. On Monday the 25th, we also have our PTA meeting for at 7 o'clock in Davies. On September 1st, the school is closed for Labor Day.
On the 3 will be our first day for students. That's a full day. On the 8th will be the Davyy school back to school night. On the 9th will be Shainers's back to school night. On the 10th will be the board of education meeting at
5:15 uh for the executive session and 5:45 for regular session right here in Davy's cafeteria. Thursday, September 11th is H back to school night for grades four and five at 5:00 pm and grades 1 and three at 6 pm
6:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 16th is Hamilton uh hallways of horror community meeting at 6:00 p.m. at Davies Cafeteria. And Wednesday, September 24th is uh our PTA fundraiser for Chuck-E-Cheese at Maze
Landing at 3:00 p.m. This concludes my superintendent's report. Thank you, Dr. Zto. At this time, we will open public comment. Any persons wishing to speak should stand and identify themselves by name and address. Public comment on agenda
items only. Okay, seeing none, we will close public comment, open board member comments. Are there any board members who would like um I just want to say that there was a lot of work done over the summer. All the teachers are coming back getting
their rooms ready. Um I'm excited for the new school year. I want to thank all the teachers, the paris, the administration for coming and taking care of the school, getting it ready for the
students and um just caring because that's what I see when I look at our staff. So, um Dr. Zto, thank you very much. I appreciate all you do as well and um just want to send a big thank you
out to everyone. So, And just to echo that, um, can't believe it's the end of August already. Here we are. So, I just want to wish everyone a fantastic school year, um, with the new students that come in. I know some days seem really long, but the kids are
excited to come and meet you and get into these buildings. So, wishing you a very fun and educational um, school year. At this time, we will move on to our committee.
Can I have a motion to approve the minutes of the regular and executive session meeting from July 30th, 2025? Motion by Dr. Serino. Second. Second by Miss Bachelor. Any comments or questions?
Roll call. Mrs. Bachelor. Yes. Dr. Sero. Yes, Mrs. Jackson. Yes, Dr. Lak. Yes, Mrs. Perto. Yes, Mr. Rogers. Abstain. And Mrs. Bar.
Yes. Thank you. At this time, we will move to committee reports and personnel and policy. Miss Jackson. Hello. Um, so we met on Tuesday, August 12th virtually. Um, in attendance was myself, Mrs. Bar, Mrs. Bachelor, Dr. Mr.
Zto, Mrs. Lzitski, and Mr. V. Um, on the uh we discussed policies. We reviewed all policies, both new and policy revisions. They're all on the board agenda. We also made some corrections and additions to the policies which are included or in uh indicated on the
templates. Um, and I'd like to motion to approve the minutes. Um, I'm sorry. The what am I saying? The section the section 10.
Section 10. So moved. Motion by Miss Bachelor, second by Dr. Serino for items in section 10. Comments or questions? Thank you.
Okay. Roll call. Mrs. Bachelor, yes. Dr. Serino, Mrs. Jackson, Dr. La Hawk, yes. Mrs. Perto, yes. Mr. Rogers, yes. And Mrs. Bar, yes. All right. And at this time, I know
we have some of our new hires here. So, take it away, ladies. [Applause] [Applause] welcome. Congratulations. Finance and operations. Dr. Serena.
That's me. Um, so, uh, this commit committee, uh, August 12, Harry Rogers, Dr. um I don't think Ian was there, but we did get his report. We discussed
Duberson and where we are with that. Uh all the summer projects that happened and the update um which was pretty amazing to me that it was very close to finish. And uh we talked a little bit about the preschool edition and um kind
of what next steps are. So if I could get a motion to approve section 11.1 to 11.15. So moved. Second motion by Mr. Rogers, second by Miss
Perto. Any comments or questions on section 11? Roll call. Mrs. Bachelor. Yes. Dr. Serino. Mrs. Jackson. Dr. La Hawk. Yes. Mrs. Pto? Yes. Mr. Rogers? Yes.
And Mrs. Bar? Yes. Thank you. And Dr. La Hawk, curriculum? Yes. Um, the curriculum committee met on Tuesday, August 12th. Um, we didn't have many updates on our agenda. So, um, I
motion to move 12 to 124. So moved. Motion by Miss Bachelor, second by Miss Jackson. Comments or questions? Roll call. Mrs. Bachelor. Yes.
Dr. Serino. Mrs. Jackson. Yes. Dr. La Hawk, yes. Mrs. Breto, yes. Mr. Rogers, yes. And Mrs. Bar, yes. Is there any old business that any members of the board would like to comment or discuss?
There any new business any board members would like to introduce? At this time, we will open public comment. At this time, we'll receive comments from the public in accordance with the board's policy on participation. Hello, Mary Lindstecker, supervisor of special education. I wrote an official
letter um so I will read it. On behalf of our administrative team, please accept our sincere gratitude for your recent decision to fund the move for 20 part-time Paris full-time PAR positions. This is a monumental step forward and your commitment to our students and
staff will have a profound and lasting impact. The approval of these full-time roles addresses a critical need within our district. By providing our par professionals with the stability of full-time employment, including access to benefits and more predictable
schedules, you're making a direct investment in the retention of these extremely valuable team members. This move will significantly reduce the turnover we've experienced, allowing us to build a more experienced and consistent support staff. This
continuity is essential for creating a stable and productive learning environment for our students. This decision will have countless benefits for our students. A consistent paraprofessional provides a reliable anchor in the classroom, fostering stronger relationships with students,
and a deeper understanding of their individual needs. This stability leads to more focused academic support, improved behavioral outcomes, and a greater sense of belonging for our students. Furthermore, it allows teachers and parents to collaborate more
effectively leading to more tailored and impactful instruction. So, we thank you so much uh for this decision. I I think it's going to make a huge difference for us in our special education program and in our district in general. Um, in
addition to that, I just wanted to share that um, this was our second summer where we had some of our paris come in and do over 40 hours of training um, to become registered behavior technicians and so that's been really helpful as
well and I think that will be huge and um, today the administrative team and our counsel counselors participated in threat assessment and threat and risk assessment training again will be hugely hugely impactful. So you supporting us in all these efforts is much
appreciated. Thank you. I just have a correction. I need to abute from 10 N. Thank you. This time we'll close public comment and can I please have a motion to adjurnn?
Motion by Dr. Serino. Second. Second by Miss Jackson. All in favor? I I thanks everyone.