the March 12th, 2026 Hamilton Board of Education meeting. I'm going to read the open public meeting statement. The New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend any meetings of public bodies in which their interests may be act discussed or
acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, The Hampton Board of Education has cost notice uh notice what yeah cost notice of this meeting published by having the date, time, purpose and place thereof published in the Hampton Gazette and the person be imposted on authorized
premises. We'll have a roll call. >> Go ahead. >> Miss Baronado >> here, Mr. Koya >> here. >> Mr. Dphano >> here. >> Miss Donio >> here. Miss Fallon is excused.
Miss Dorado >> here. >> Miss Hunter >> here. >> Mr. Playa >> here. >> Miss Skola >> here. Mr. Thomas >> is excused as well. >> Mr. Lions >> I am here >> and student representative Mr. Don >> here. Great. Let's rise for flag salute
>> 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. >> All right. Good evening everybody. Uh before we we're going to have a
presentation tonight on our 2025 2026 student safety data systems. But before we do that, I want to just thank and acknowledge the Hamilton High School students uh from our Devil's Brew coffee shop. Uh for those of you at home,
you'll see that we all have a hot or cold drink and something a sweet treat. Devil's Brew is part of a program we have here at Hamilton High School where our students can learn valuable life skills and help participate and support the good work that's going on here at Hamilton High School. I know for me
being appropriately caffeinated helps me be a better board member. So this hot cup of coffee will make me so much better as a board member. And I want to thank all of you individually for being here, especially after school and putting in your personal time. So, I appreciate you guys being here as I'm sure the rest of the board does as well,
as well as for the hard work that you that you all do. Okay, now we're going to get into the presentation. So, I'm hand it over to Mr. Ramsey and I'm going to try this Rice Krispie treat and we're going to go from there. >> Thank you, Mr. Lions. And once again, I would like to welcome our student
representatives from the head of Devil's Ritz. Well, that Julia is here tonight, Aiden and Alex. And I can tell you I can tell you that the devil's crew does an amazing job each and every week
of the school year providing sweet treats and hot and cold drinks to the faculty and staff and the high school. Uh orders are placed throughout the week. The students process the orders. They help
the orders. They help order what is necessary for the orders. And I can tell you in the central office to highlight every Friday morning is when the bill's crew stops in to make their deliveries and it's always fun. So we look forward
to that. Um as Mr. state tonight. Um I will present the student safety data system report in the state of New Jersey schools two times a year must provide this information to the public at a
board of education meeting. So it's my honor to present that information to our board of education and to the public. The second slide please. Thank you Mr. Dar. School districts must report to the Department of Education the following
incidents that may occur in schools. Violence that would include fights, assaults, threats, alleged or confirmed harassment, intimidation, and bullying.
Vandalism, which includes incidents such as trespassing, and damage to school property. weapons, substances, possession of use of alcohol or drugs. Schools must also report any other
incidents that result in a half day or more of in school suspension. The information must be reported to the board of education as I already stated in the public hearing two times each year. And this report includes incidents
that occurred from September 1st of this school year through December 31st of this school year. As you can see uh you can see a breakdown of each school in our school district. the Early Childhood Education
Center, Warney Soy Elementary School, Hamilton Middle School, Hamilton High School, and a total of incidents within the Hamilton School District. If you're looking at the ECE, uh you see a lot of
zeros there, which is wonderful. Uh, zero incidents of violence, zero incidents of vandalism, zero incidents of substances, zero incidents of weapons, zero confirmed hit cases, two alleged
hit cases. So at the ECE, that is the report from September 1st through December 31st. At the Morning Soy Elementary School, common theme. I see a lot of zeros there, which is wonderful. Um, you see
zero incidents of violence, vandalism, substance, weapons, confirmed HIP, alleged HIP, but two other incidents. And again, you know, something that results in a in school suspension, a half day in school
suspension must be reported. Edmonton Middle School. Uh we see nine incidents of violence, one vandalism, six incidents for substance, 11 confirmed HI,
uh seven alleged hib and 35 other incidents. And at Hamilton High School, you can see four incidents of violence, five incidents of substance, zero vandalism, one incident involving weapons, a
confirmed HIP, nine alleged HIPS, 77 other incidents, and as a total, you could see what the totals are throughout the school district. And you know that represents, you know, over 3,300 students, you know, 3,300 students. So,
we have a lot of amazing kids that come to the Hamilton School District doing the right thing each and every day. Uh we thank their parents uh for their support and certainly the community. And that is the report for student safety
from September 1st to December 31st. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Ramsey. Um, you want to give >> Okay, that concludes the superintendent's report. So, we'll go to the principal reports. Um, let's start
with ice on it. accompanied by your devil's brew. Right. >> Absolutely. I got my sweet tea tonight. So, >> yes, sir. >> Very happy Thursday night. Um, thank you. You know, one of the things we really want to do tonight was bring in,
you know, the special group of students. We get to see them every day in our hallways working really hard. We visit their classrooms. They bring it every single week. You got to see a small, you know, snapshot of what we see every Friday on a really large scale where they're in every classroom. They're in every office. Um, they're taking orders
throughout the week. like we sent an order form out to everybody here and they got filled out and they get to work on a lot of their life skills in here and they couldn't do this with as well without the allocation of resources that the board provided with this new classroom they have this year and the
new kitchen. And to say thank you for all that, I'd like to invite Miss Kinur up. Hello. Thank you. I gave everybody a copy of this. Sorry, we copied it and it got a little wonky. I'm not going to go through all of it, but this is just a snapshot of what we do. Last year, we
went to a Dare Dream conference, which is a special need conference, and we presented Devil's Groove when we not even in it still kind of in its infancy. So, this was a start of what we did last year. So, I tweaked it up for for tonight you guys could see things that
we have evolved with. I just want to say last year, I started this in October and they could not crack an egg. Um, and so now they're we hand them a box of cupcakes and they can go on their own and make them. We started with just
making basic cookies as we're saying from scratch to um now we're making parfets once a month. We are making cupcakes that are not just a cupcake with canned icing. We're making homemade icing. We made a hot chocolate cupcake this year. So it is absolutely where it
has grown. I am so impressed and overwhelmed by where they've come. Um, and I'm always so proud of it. I go everywhere and my husband says, "Oh no, she's going to talk about Devil's Brew." I'm always talking about Devil's Brew. Um, and one of the biggest things I talk about Devil's Brew is follow our Tik Tok
and Instagram. It is Devil's Brew Crew. Devil's Brew Crew. I'm always talking about it. We go out our boat, we meet people. I'm like, follow me at Devil's Brew Crew. I'm telling you, I am so proud of what we are doing here and so grateful for everything that you guys are supporting us with. Um, and one
other thing to mention that we started this year is we are working together with Stacy Pretti's uh, peer mediation club. So, we have an average of 10 to 12 peer mentors that come in throughout the course of the week helping us with a variety of things. So, not only have we
grown in our life skills, but we're also incorporating inclusion throughout the building. So, thank you guys so much. If anybody else needs any other treats or any other beverages, just let us know. But thank you so much for giving us your time tonight and all that you've given us for this amazing classroom and the
life skills that we're gaining. Thank you. >> Anybody else need anything? >> I'll have an unsweetened iced tea. >> Okay. >> Anyway, a roll out. >> Anyway, congratulations to the devil's room. We have our own feeder program,
the coffee cart. So, they'll be looking forward to that, too, as well. Um, very quickly, I want to get to see sister act. I heard all the great reviews. Um, in February, we had our spelling be. We're happy to announce the first time in uh recorded history, we had a repeat
winner. Um, congratulations to Olivia Kiola, eighth grader. She's threetime winner. every year she won. We're very proud of her. Second place, Thomas Chapman, eighth grader. And third place winner, Jeremy Ryan, seventh grader. Congratulations. It's a It's a great
accomplishment just to qualify to compete in this uh trivia night. We had a successful trivia night sponsored by our PBS program. 22 teams competed. Um winners included returning members of our staff who had teams of their family
members. It was great to see multi-generational teams enjoying a night out together. Thank you to our team, student council, volunteers, and ha for your support. Um, last Friday we had our end of the barking period award. Um, we had Ivan Michael the magician
performing comedy, magic, and levitation for our students and we thanked Miss Ford and Mr. Domingo who were pulled on stage for some magical fun. Thank you to the crew, Miss Arena, and the PBSIS team for organizing a fun magic show. Tomorrow we have a Holocaust survivor
son returning again to tell his father's tale of survival during World War II to our eighth graders. Um, students are going to get to hear the story from Mr. Jeff Seager whose family survived the Holocaust and he's spoken to our students for the last few years and
students are very impacted by his heartwarming presentation about humanity in the darkest of times and the power of kindness. Finally, we're looking forward to Mr. Misar's geography B in March 26 at the end of March and the performances of our own spring musical News East
musical on March 26th and 27th. So, inviting everyone out. Thank you. Just say I'm feeling a little left out. You might need to program. Uh during the month of February, students at West participated in the nation uhwide initiative Read Across
America Week's festival guest readers, Olympic theme days, and great literacy focused activities made this an exciting week for everyone. Uh the highlight of the week of course took place last Thursday when our school hosted its annual family reading night. This
exciting event is fully funded by the HA and facilitated by our teacher volunteers from West NDCC. From crafts to cookie decorating to yoga to bingo and games, students and their families were treated to an amazing fun-filled
evening. Uh this week also marked the conclusion of our schools school book fair where students were able to shop for new books to build their at home libraries. The success of our fair benefits students and staff by providing funds for new teachers to start class
libraries, books for special projects or clubs, digital subscriptions, and ensuring that all students have access to high quality text over the summer months. The West after school tutoring program began on March 2nd and runs two days a
week through April 29th. This grantf funed program is designed to support approximately 80 students. These students were selected for this opportunity based on recent assessment data. It is designed as an additional support not mediation. The goal is to
provide targeted instruction and small group setting to help students strengthen key skills and build confidence so they consist can consistently meet or exceed grade level standards. And finally, as you can see on the agenda tonight and last month's as well,
we would like to acknowledge three retirements this year of three amazing veteran teachers. Over the years, they've shared their time, their talents, and their hearts with our students and our school community. Daria Dphano is retiring after 25 years
teaching at our elementary school. Adrien Weiss originally worked in another district and has 24 additional years teaching at West. And finally, Angela Cerillo has taught at the Hamilton School District for 37 years.
We are thankful for everything they've done and we wish them well as they begin their retirement. Thank you. So now let me switch out. That's why you're here.
No report. >> Nothing to report. Thank you. >> I have nothing to report, but as one of the only Irish people in Hamilton, I would like to wish everybody a very happy St. I want to, as I'm sure you all do,
congratulate again. He went on to be um the first time in a very long time to win the regions for our district. Um if you haven't seen him wrestle, he missed
a good wrestling match. He is he's just I guess you can say he's just a natural talent. What impressed me the most about him is his attitude is one of his um interviews he jungle was very
encouraging to his teammates and future wrestlers. And he had said that when he was first starting out on his first year, he only won two matches, you know, for him to say that, you know,
we saw him at the matches, you know, the other on the states. Um, we talked about people retiring. Sorry to see them go. We wish
them well. But you know what we have to do now is att as as effective as it can be. and uh that it will be uh cell phone the policy is still being in but it's still being
processed and we will um usage and that's it. >> Good evening. I do not have your report tonight, but I want to say thank you very much to the devil's crew. Um, it was really great to to get these treats
tonight, so we appreciate it. Thank you. >> I do not have the report tonight, but I would like to echo the thanks to the XT and St. Patrick's Day treats that we got. So, thank you. >> All right, I have a little bit of a longer one. First off, thank you to the
Devil's Group. My iced tea is delicious. Um, but first I have to start off by highlighting our annual spring musical. Uh, last night I volunteered to help film it. I would highly recommend everybody goes to see it in person. It's excellent. Um, the school really has a lot of talented singers. Um, Miss
Carafiello students work really hard every year and they deserve a soldout crowd every single night. Tickets are still available for tomorrow and Saturday, both at 700 p.m. Uh, another thing I want to highlight, the senior trip, the annual senior trip to Disney
and Universal Studios leaves on Monday. Miss Pretty and Miss Bonus for a great trip every year. I can't wait to go myself. Uh, next on the student council side, we partnered up with coach Matt Sylvesty and the volleyball team to bring back the annual student volleyball
tournament. Last week we had 10 teams and 60 student students participate uh and many more watching the crowd. It's usually a fundraiser for a volleyball team, but this year they didn't need the extra funds. Instead, we were able to raise $745
from the event for our St. Baldick's fundraiser for childhood cancer research. All the proceeds from this specific tournament have been earmarked to go directly to local Hamilton prek student Eli Scarilli as he has been battling cancer at just four years old.
Eli is such a good kid and his parents are great. His mom actually teaches in our district as well. Uh I finally met them in person at another St. Paul's event earlier in the week and we're so grateful for the support of the community. Um we're one big family here
in Hamilton. It's really important that we're helping St. growing in times of need. Uh it's really amazing to see what this fundraiser has become. All four Hamilton schools are now involved along with Falsome, Little Cups Preschool, and St. Joe Academy. I think it taught all
our students a valuable lesson, which is that when we all come together, we can do great things. Uh on that note, our high school student council has raised about $3,500. As you all know by now, I'm shaving my head once we hit our goal of 5,000 and we are just 1,500 away from that
happening. Uh, the fundraiser runs until March 27th. So, make sure to stay up to date on all of our social media and I have a good feeling by the next board meeting I will have someone here. That's all I have. >> Thank you, Mr. Lions.
Quick report from buildings and grounds. Our EC project is knock on wood. It's actually well ahead of schedule. Uh we are currently priming the interior walls. All the HVAC is installed. 90% of
the electric is installed. Um this week we started installing the windows. Um, and I believe next week we're supposed to start the flooring. We'll be going down. Uh, the week after that is the
case work, which is like all the cabinetry and little cubbies that go into those rooms. So, moving right along. Uh, nothing unexpected in budget for this project thus far. Certain things going
>> um, I have a short report as well. Today the state governor spoke before yesterday and today the state translated our annual state aid figure. We are up 1.6 million net as a round number to us
a little bit more than 5% which is really encouraging to see the state high performing lowend districts like ours. Um the board will meet over the next several weeks with the financial team here to craft and develop the budget. Uh
the board has opportunity to go over the budget twice first as draft tech county. So there'll be lots of work that goes on next 30 days
to come up with next year's budget $1.6 6 million is a lot of money. However, the board is uh required to fund contractual obligations for staff which increase each year health insurance costs which increase each year utility
costs which we have also substantial this year but very top. So stay tuned for updates on the budget. Um I'll echo comments everyone else was students
here frequently. I do Fridays that happen. Uh that concludes my recording. So we'll go to uh the public comment. This is the first two out public heard. Go ahead and step up to
the microphone address. There'll be a second to see none agenda. I'll take a motion for finance items number one through 27. >> Mr. >> Meron,
>> yes. >> Mr. >> Mr. Yes. >> Mino. >> Yes. >> Mr. Yes. Miss Hunter. >> Yes. >> Mr. Fle. >> Yes. >> Miss. Yes. Mr. Lions.
>> Yes. Next. We're going to go to personnel. >> Yes. >> Second. a second. Two amendments to the published agenda. Um on item number 44, we're looking at Gavin West as a
volunteer boys baseball coach. And then on item 47, we're going to make a correction. There's a typo. Salary is listed as 66,658. It should be 62,68. Yes.
>> Okay. >> Miss Faron. >> Yes. >> Mr. Poy. >> Yes. >> Mr. Steel. >> Yes. >> Miss Donio. >> Yes. >> Miss D. >> Yes. >> Miss Hunter. >> Yes. >> Mr. F. >> Yes. >> Miss.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Lions. >> Yes. Mr. Next. We'll go to programs. Miss Baronado, >> yes. >> Mr. Puya, >> yes. >> Mr. Jeppa, >> yes. >> Missio, >> yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Miss Hunter, >> yes.
>> Mr. Fa, >> yes. >> Miss, yes. >> Mr. Lions, >> yes. That takes us to the end of our public address. I messed this up. Jason Garrison, 317
Belleview Avenue. I come here tonight as the president of the Hampton Wrestling Club. Um, and I want to publicly thank the board for all the support and help that you gave the club this season. Um, the Hampton Wrestling Club is the youth club here for wrestling in Hamilton. And
I particularly want to thank you guys for all the support with the first annual Hamilton Hammer tournament that we hosted this year. We opened it up to 400 entrance from all over South Jersey, Pennsylvania, and we got every bit of
400 boys and girl wrestlers to come to Hamilton. It was an overall overwhelmingly success. We got nothing but positive feedback about the location, the facilities. Um, and we've already locked down the date for next year. So, we hope to make this an annual
tradition here in Hamilton. And just in case you guys don't know, uh, the Hamilton Wrestling Club does help support middle school and high school programs. We give funds to scholarships to the seniors and captains, kids who started in the wrestling club and then made it all the way up to the high
school level of wrestling. Um, and we also help out with the middle school a little bit. We did so well with the tournament this year that we are in talks of helping the high school buy a new wrestling and scales for the wrestling team. So, thank you guys again very much. I really didn't want to be the one speaking here tonight on behalf
of the board, but as Mrs. Bernado alluded to earlier, the rest of the guys are down in Atlantic City cheering on Vinnie Permo. So, we wish them the best of luck. Thank you all. >> What is the age that they start the program? Sorry. >> So, we start as young as five
>> and we do have kids in middle school that wrestle with us, like 13, 14 year olds. So, they can cap out at 14. >> 5 years old is the youngest that they start at. Yeah. >> So, thank you for that. On the wrestling
club, my son, we were at the game tournament and it was great. Uh, there was a lot of people place was packed and I didn't know hardly anyone except the kids in West here. So, it's a great opportunity for
the district to show on show our community and do our theater program and opportunity to raise money, but it's also such a great economic driver. Um, with all these people out of town coming to town, they all have to lunch somewhere, get dinner somewhere, buy gas somewhere. So, it's
great to just get more people in town to see all the things we have to offer. So, we're happy to have the event. legacy night for the Hamilton High School wrestling. I believe they invite that the theater program to them. So you hear these little voices in the back
screaming just like oh they're so tough right nothing else first.
All in favor?