##VIDEO ID:Pru5cB5dECs## e e e e all right good evening everyone welcome to the January 16th 2025 hamton 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 discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act hon Board of ation has caused caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time purpose and place thereof published in The hamon Gazette and the Press l City and posted on authorized premises roll call Mrs berado here Mrs Burns here Mr COA here Mrs donio here Mrs Fallon here Mr fudal here Mrs Hunter here Mr Lions here Mr plea here Mr chipon here Mrs skola here Mr Thomas here Mr Lions here here flag United States of America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible okay good evening everyone we're going to begin tonight's meeting with some presentations it's nice to see a number of students in the audience I believe we're going to begin tonight with a presentation for our field hockey team feel that so I'm GNA call UPA principal hon High School just going to say a few words about the ladies of the field hockey program good evening so tonight we're going to recognize some outstanding achievements from our fall Sports so first what I'll do is I'll read the highlights that took place and then I'll call the coach to introduce their girls and you guys I said girls cuz uh they're all about girl power with the fall Sports this year so field hockey the girls field hockey team finished the season with a record of 183 and one they finished their amazing season as winners of the Cal tournament and Cal champions of the American Division collectively the girls scored 104 goals this season making it the highest scoring season since 2014 and to introduce her players coach Christen [Applause] [Music] sylveste um so before I read off this list I just want to let the girls know how incredibly proud I am of you of the Season that you guys had and as always it's an honor for us and um collectively as a coaching staff to coach you guys so our list I'm just reading off from Seniors straight on down is Kelly cenzo Madison dadio Madison gazara Cameron Kanani Kylie kazlowski Emma Longo Sophia Penza Brooklyn ravenall Sky wisebecker Gabrielle Childs Gabriela taty Katherine Coya albri Ellis Jenna vivadelli Amanda child Luchia donio Hannah Hines Mia LaGuardia Olivia aan Jasmine AIO Julia donio Scarlet Dee Carol Langley Mia pascarell eron short and Ella [Applause] Wilson girl stand still 10 seconds you're good you're good multisport athletes that's all making the entrance that's okay that's okay [Applause] all right now the highlights from a girls volleyball program the 2024 girls volleyball team was led by a great group of seniors who set the bar very high for the future of this program the teams broke the school the team broke the school record for wins in a season with 22 the team won the cape Atlantic American Conference the team played in the Cal tournament and the group three sectional semi-finals and many of the seniors set school records in many statistical categories to introduce his team is coach Matt sylveste [Applause] hello everybody I'm coach sylveste um same thing I just want to talk to the girls I want to thank you guys for a great season um I think you really changed the program um and again I just want to thank you I think you showed the younger girls how to uh you know how to move forward and how we're going to win in the future so I'm going to call everybody's name and then you guys can come up as a group so Yar Flores Jamie Hernandez AG Juliana maglio matalina man Angelina verelli Nicole moano Mia reri Juliana bolina Gabriella Stevenson MRA Samson Cara Rivera Payton Ley and Madison Sylvia that was our Varsity lineup there you go I'm not staying down here yeah stay down no I'm not staying down it's going to keep you know what if we could sorry yeah if we could have the field hockey team come on back up girls like I I saw a couple of you came in a little bit later we're going to retake your photo take you so come on up with your banner and your coaches coach is everybody here is everyone here now make sure everybody's here right come on in smile for the picture Coach are we waiting on anybody else from field hockey or is this we think this is everybody yeah good good no thank you guys absolutely like me don't hide Mio Sean you're not starting trouble over there right course okay just check I see that's I see that smirk I just know thank you all right come on and to talk about cross country I'm going to introduce coach Michelle wosi [Applause] thank you to the board and administration for honoring Natalie today um Natalie Claus became only the second runner in Hamilton High School history to qualify for the state group three championship this past cross country season she did so by placing Ninth at sectionals with the time of 1914 um although that was the highlight of the Season Natalie also ran strong throughout the entire season she set five new hamton high school course records this past season and did well in all of the championship uh meets this season she placed eighth at the Atlantic County championships and 14th at the cape Atlantic League championships as well she is an incredibly hard worker a great athlete and a really kind person so Natalie so proud of all of the hard work that you did this season you deserved every accomplishment and award you won congratulations Natalie and especially thank you to her family as well we're also very supportive thank you Mr matina and on behalf of the board I'll offer our thank our continued thanks to the coaches and the players uh it is a great opportunity to see our our our players do well and build programs and do great year after year certainly for the the three programs we've talked about tonight field hockey team has had such year-over-year success uh despite the and I'm not even going to get into it because I'm just G to make myself upset but despite the adversity that that that they've been fac with they've done extremely well and showed Grace on the on the field and off and that's important uh the volleyball team you know I don't know a lot about volleyball but I've gone to watch High School volleyball and I've said this to the other board members I'll say this to the public if you really want to have a lot of fun go to a Hamilton High School volleyball game it is fantastic to watch first of all they're really good second of all the energy the excitement the teamwork it's fantastic I don't know the rules very well but it's really fun to watch and the kids do great and it's really it's really fun and then lastly obviously uh Natalie Claus's exploits as a runner well known to me and she does a great job representing the district all across really the the east coast in New York and in other play you know Pennsylvania and other places where she runs along with with other members of the track team and the cross country team and so it's always a great opportunity to to get to honor the students at a board meeting and so hope to see you all back here soon for some of the other things that you do uh the last thing I would say is just you know again as the board president one of the one of the best things I get to do is go around town and other board members and to other places and other communities and brag about how well you do on the field it's my favorite thing to do especially to other board members and other schools it's my favorite thing it's my absolute favorite thing to do to remind them just how good you guys are how hard you guys work all summer I live right around the corner and I know you're all out here all hours of the night practicing and working hard and perfecting your craft and and putting the time in with your coaches and so that doesn't go unnoticed by me and the rest of the board we're all here a lot and we know that you're all here a lot so you should really take a moment and congratulate yourselves for all the hard work and we look forward to bigger things to come so thank you all right next we're going to have uh superintendent Mr ran thank you Mr Lions um I'd like to begin by congratulating our field hockey team girls volleyball team and cross country Runner Natalie Claus and their coaches for their tremendous fall Seasons uh you have major families our high school and our entire educational Community extremely proud so to this will be graduating at the end of the year I wish you much luck in your future endeavors in college and at the University level as you continue to compete and for the underclassman we're looking forward to watching you on the athletic field again uh next fall so congratulations I'd also like to say that January is Board of Education recognition month uh so with that being said I want to thank all of our present and former Board of Education members for all they have done for our students and local community the board members volunteer their time to serve the community they spend a ton of hours making sure that our schools are amongst the best in South Jersey and I am thrilled and very excited to work with this current Board of Education and I've also worked with some amazing board members over the years and I I don't want to leave anybody out but people like Bobby Caper Loretta Raymond Bob Bowers uh Joe Jadoo and again I'm not mentioning them and leaving other people out on purpose but just we've always had tremendous Boards of education and I've always appreciated that in hamon and the last thing I wanted to talk about tonight were the Atlantic County comparisons regarding our school districts State assessment scores uh the state assessment scores come out each and every year we have to present that information to the board of education and public each and every year which has been done and now after doing a deeper dive and we compare the hamton students standardized test scores to the rest of alanic County I just wanted to share some information with the public regarding our test scores uh first and foremost if we look at last year's New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment scores that's the 11th grade assessment they're our seniors today they had the number one English Language Art scores in Atlantic County the best and they had the number one math scores in Atlantic County as well which I think is a first time for hington high school where we had the best scores in each of those areas so congratulations to our seniors we're very proud uh looking at our njsla scores for ninth grade students Hamington High School had the second best English Language Art scores in Atlantic County with our ninth grade English language arts assessment Hamington High School had the number one geometry scores in Atlantic County for our ninth grade students Hamington High School comparing hamton High School to other high schools in Atlantic County with algebra 1 scores had the second best Algebra 1 scores in Atlantic County moving to the Middle School the results are equally as impressive the njsla scores in Algebra 1 for Hamington middle school and there are many middle schools in Atlantic County second best Algebra 1 scores in Atlantic County if we take a look at a snapshot of just a few of their other scores their sixth grade uh reading and writing scores top 12% in Atlantic County their eighth grade reading and writing scores top 177% in Atlantic County if we're looking at their math scores uh sixth grade had the top 25% in Atlantic County uh eighth grade math scores njsla top 177% in Atlantic County and not to be outdone at the Warren E soy Elementary School a third grade of reading and writing scores top 25% in Atlantic County they did better than 75% of the other elementary schools in the county uh grade four reading and writing top 29% and I could go on and on uh looking at the njsla math scores in the Warren E soy Elementary School across the board all grade levels top third in Atlantic County so it's a testament for the great job that our teachers do in all of our buildings and in bam and Waterford when they're join us at Hamington and they're taking the exams with us uh the students do an amazing job the teachers are doing amazing job and we certainly appreciate the unwavering support of the parents in the communities that support education so I thank you for that uh that's all I have Mr Lions thank you Mr RS I appreciate that um we're actually going to take a short two minute recess there's a number of students here tonight and we'll give you the opportunity unless you want to stay for the rest of the Board of Education meeting we'll give you an opportunity to excuse yourselves school starts early in the morning Hamington high school and I I realize that so if you want to come up and take some photos you can but we we'll take a quick two minute recess and you all can see yourselves out if you choose e e e e e principal reports call Mr matina back up from hamon high school hello again all right good evening um so last month the winter ban in choir concert was held um under the leadership of Mr Martinez and Miss carella Rodeo it was an awesome production it was a packed house it was a high energy crowd the kids did a fantastic job I was very proud of that January 31st we'll have the Hop which is our 10th which our 9th and 10th grade students it's a formal dance um it's a Well attended event and it's back at luan's Manor this year which we're a little excited about and it'll be a lot of fun last Thursday seven of our high school students visited the middle school and presented to the eighth grade class about the course selection um about our all the courses and all the activities and sports we offer here at the high school and they did that before the students sat down and met with their counselors so they were prepared for the course selection process which was really cool so I want to thank Dr renesi for facilitating that and helping us out and then I also want to thank um Mr Frick over at Falon because he brought his students over too so it's the first time we got to have next year's you know class together uh in one group so it was a lot of fun um and last thing but definitely not least is at our first home basketball game this year Coach Joe Martino was honored at halftime Joe stepped down last year as a head coach after 23 years and 245 wins uh coach Martino's commitment to the basketball program is noticed and appreciated by the school and this community it was important for us to deliver that message to him that night so it was a great job by coach Martino we really appre appreciate his time here as coach all right thank you thank you thank you all right Dres thanks for thanking me Mr Martina I just added that because you reminded me but I also want to say congratulations to the high school girls teams Hamilton's proud of you um happy New Year everyone last few months at the middle school we're very festive and busy with the holidays um Spirit week's Blue Devil ticket price prizes and the start of winter sports um in December we also had our winter concerts for band chorus and strings and I believe that was Mr ano's last Candlelight winter uh string con strings concert and I want to thank him for his many years of lighting up the old high school and middle school stages um made a lot of memories up there so we thank him um at the end of January we're also losing a longtime employee Miss Arlene Robo is retiring um she worked since in the district since January of 2001 as the accounts payable clerk in the board office and she's been at the high school guidance department since July of 2008 and she's going to begin her retirement on February 1st and she's made many friends over the last 24 years in her words and she's going to be sorely missed so I just want to thank her for her many years of service if she's watching um also I want to thank again Mr matina thank you for bringing over the elective teachers um they did a great job presenting to our eighth graders about the many choices because our eighth graders are going to be picking their courses already for next year very soon Middle School Parent conferences were today when we had a single session day we were happy to welcome parents into our building and speak with them on the phone if they prefer referred always a good opportunity to talk to our parents and we encourage our teachers to make regular contact upcoming events for middle school we have our spelling B for our all our qualifying students and that's going to be live streamed on January 31st and we have a go green dance planned in February 7th and a bingo night in February as well and as always we encourage our parents to follow us on Facebook and the website for the latest highlights and news of the day thank you thank you right next we'll have Dr T hello everyone we're very busy at the elementary school getting back to work reading and writing doing all of our lessons our our uh clubs andies have again and this week as Dr veski mentioned um conferences at the elementary school were Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday uh the conferences of course are a vital opportunity for parents to collaborate with the teachers about academic progress the meetings provide valuable insights into their strengths areas of growth and ways to support their learning and it Fosters a strong partnership between the home and school so thank you to all the parents that did take the time to attend whether it be in person or on the phone um at West we also have an after school tutoring program that begin on December 9th and will run through April 30th it's two times per week it's a grant funded program and is designed to support about 100 students and they were selected through teacher recommendations based on academic performances and the initiative aims to provide targeted assistance to the students that would benefit with a more from a more personalized uh academic support to build their confidence and to improve their performance in key subject areas um so through these focused small group sessions students will receive the guidance they need to excel academically and finally we're excited about the upcoming third grade performance of salute to service they will be kicking off our Spring filled with grade level performances and this performance will feature musical selections and meaningful messages that celebrate our country and honor many American Heroes that make a difference in our lives from those who serve our country in the military to those Heroes serving our own hamon Community we're looking forward to a wonderful show so put it in your calendars two shows January 30th and 31st starting time for both performances is 9:15 a.m. we hope to see you there thank you thank you all right Dr slle sh education center good evening everyone and happy New Year some updates from the ecec we have our ecec registration taking place the first week in February it's Tuesday February 4th uh Wednesday the 5th and Thursday the 6th at the West School from 10: to 2 um there's detailed information on our Facebook page and also on our school website also that first Friday in February the 7th we have our preschool students uh participating in their annual fashion show to cmin culminate their unit of study on clothing so they get to choose their own outfits for this and they walk down the red carpet um so it's a lot of fun for them the a flyer went home today so parents please look for that um in addition as part of this unit of study preschool is partnering with the women's Civic Club to collect gently used clothing that will be distributed to area families so information will be coming home soon regarding that so please be sure to check out our Facebook page after the 7th to see the wonderful pictures from the fashion show um our kindergarten teachers Mr R and Miss Long applied for and received a grant for Flex seating from the hamon Education Foundation and I just wanted to to say thank you we received that seating this week each kindergarten first grade classroom received five flexible seats I wasn't quite sure about these seats they were wobbly and you know U swivel but they are a hit um the the kids are loving them teachers are loving them so thank you very much to the teachers for having the vision to order them and also hon Education Foundation also wanted to thank our families who supported our ornament fundraiser in December prior to the break students had their pictures taken with our therapy dog Tater top and the pictures were made into ornaments so we had over 300 families purchase ornaments um raising ,00 over $1,400 for our therapy dog program and also the organization that trained our therapy dog Tater toau um theral so thank you so much for supporting our ornament drive and by the way tater celebrated his second birthday yesterday students made him birthday cards and Miss hansbury made sure he visited every classroom at school she said he went home and conked out so thank you so much Miss hansbury for that thanks everyone thank you all right next we'll go to board member reports I'll start to my right Mrs SPS I have no report but I would like to ask um if we could revisit our committee list because I remember last year's committee had a special committee for the early childhood and we have eliminated it according to this year's but since we have a project coming up I thought maybe we should revisit adding it back to the list okay yeah so uh I'm going to talk about board committees my report but we can always talk about them at any time so I'll come back to that sounds good Mr Thomas just like to report that after two very brief meetings with the Bon Education Association we have entered into a uh MOA for a new contract I would say a total of 50 minutes very happy about that that might be a record Mr Thomas congratulations on your re-election to the board leadership and fall abely this is H uh wooder had our first regular meeting uh 2025 last night it was a very riveting meeting our solicitor did our annual ethics training lots of fun you know um we went through that and our next meeting is the 19th at 7 p.m okay Mr shipan thank you I'm sorry that was my fa I forgot I absolutely love the card so Aaron at West you did a great job and I am happy to hear that you are happy at school thank you no problem that's what I'm starting with I received this beautiful card from Ian uh from Wes room 108 and I loved his joke about meatballs why did the spider eat the meatball because he likes meatballs that's kind of what I tell my wife when I want meatballs and she doesn't want to make them I say but I like me F so then we order pizza but anyway thank you I I will be writing back to you I got some jokes for you my friend hopefully I'll still be here next month um uh my report our 10th grade class is is planning a a clash trip to the Poconos they will be snow tubing and swimming in the indoor water park we are currently in the process of working on a $100,000 grant that would uh allow us to build a beautiful playground where Penny park once stood so hopefully uh we will get that March 5th will be media day for all spring Sports and also we'll be hosting an hosting an event for special needs athletes these athletes will compete in track track and field events bowling and kickball then my sports report I don't i' also like to congratulate the varsity field hockey volleyball and cross country teams for being honored tonight the December athletes of the month were Anthony leovic I hope I'm saying it right and Corin Eagan Corin Eagan set three school records this season in the 55 meters 200 meters and 400 m the 4x2 200 meter team of laiah Johnson Rachel gnarley Journey Lucas and Corin Eagan broke the school record the Sprint medley relay team of Corin Egan laiah Johnson Janelle gartley and Natalie Claus broke the school record as well Anthony leak noich broke the school record in indoor shop put is currently ranked fifth in the state of New Jersey and has the all-time best throw in Atlanta County history he also has the weight throw record in our school and which is currently number one in the state congratulations to the boys basketball coach Ian McCarthy for earning his first career win as head coach by beating Mainland 67 to 45 on January 2nd boys bowling High games Trevor West 246 and Isaac Fishman 246 and the High series which is um the total of three games uh goes to Isaac Fishman 665 and finally I was very very very very very very sad to hear that our very own Miss Barbara Prettyman will be retiring hopefully we could make her stay somehow by force or otherwise that's my report all right Mr PL so my committee for 2025 is strategic planning we've reached out to the New Jersey school boards Association last year they're on board they're going to be setting up some dates and times to meet with me first to discuss what their goals are to get us this is something that we've talked about for many years very well needed I'm very happy that we are doing it and happy to take over it and and head the committee um so you know the whole board will be involved in this process once we get moving forward in these meetings but there has to be a committee to get it started so I look forward to strategic planning and I'd like to thank Leah for my card although there's no joke in my card so I won't read it but thank you for the nice card and I'm happy that you enjoy coming to school right well I'd like to thank Mr Matthew as well because it seems like he likes coming to this school as well it's the most important part favorite part of his day is going to class being the chair of buildings and rounds defin defly makes me feel special uh speaking of our buildings and grounds full transparency I'm sure a lot of you heard we had a little bit of an issue with the uh heating system in our Middle School uh this past week um and on top of that the the temperatures have been well below the average and the normal uh so we went ahead we had some rental units uh dropped off immediately uh put a single heater in every single classroom building uh we have since had uh some repair folks out uh and we have the system now that was only running at about 15 to 20% is now up to about 80% uh back back running and we still have uh a couple compressors I think two compressors that are down out of the total six that we're looking to have replaced in the near future so that's all I have to report for buildings and grounds today I would like to thank Brooke I didn't realize that January was Board of Education appreciation this is the first but Brook is very happy in school so that makes me very happy that's a good thing um just as no January 31st I know the uh Hop was mentioned but Jan January 31st will be a half day for the high school only because of the H uh we need two positions are needed in school for longterm Subs unfortunately no one has applied so we will try to fill those um positions with General Ed certification also there will be a survey if it's not already on the website uh survey by the state and the county um regarding attendance so if you have U the where with all please go to that and try to fill that out one of the things that was discussed was Kindergarten and age our cut off is you have to be five by October 1st the question that arose was if for some reason you feel that your child is not ready for kindergarten and you uh keep them out of kindergarten don't have them go to school um by the age of five when they turn six is our policy that they go to kindergarten or they will be put in first grade we need to uh look into that policy so that we can have a um an answer to that question okay and um also the Rotary Club thank you so much $5,000 donation for the uh West Greenhouse they are helping them uh the club wants to grow basil and theonas for a Mother Day Mother Day fundraiser so I thought that was really really very nice that one thing that I want to uh end with also is um we brought up at the December curriculum meeting the bell schedule the only board members that were privy to that unfortunately were the board members that were at that particular meeting I asked the vice principals to print out the PowerPoint for all of you and I gave that to you at the last meeting so not everyone has the same information but apparently there will be meetings to contous with a student body and um so that everybody is on board with what exactly is going on I know Mr Ramsay is going to be going to Cherokee because they have a program where you have a zero period I'm sorry did I say Cedar Creek I'm sorry because uh we may not have enough electives to um compensate the schedule change for the number of uh classes per day so um with that um either we add electives or we try to work through that also at the time it has never been fully presented to the student body has senior privilege been admitted that that conversation did not well we did discuss it but we never actually said senior privileg was going to be permitted um there is the possibility of planning stages and we certainly discuss this to come it may not change at all it maybe after we review everything we find out well you know what this is not going to work for hon high school so um a questionnaire is going to be coming the student body and um the parents also yes on it will be on the website on the website so if you have a chance again um try to look into that and fill it out so that we know your concerns and um you will see on the agenda this night as um was announced this is pretty been is going to be retiring we will miss you we have certainly worked you have C to your excellent ability and uh wherever you go I know you're going to have that pencil that big eraser but you may not need it can't use that on a beach can't use that on a beach we certainly certainly appreciate take to the beach yeah certainly appreciate all that you've done and and you well respected and a great Authority for our school so thank you very much and that's all I have all right so um my committee assignment has been a combined committee now it's um negotiations and superintendent evaluations because it's basically the same people on both committees so um from that perspective I would like to from the negotiations chair perspective then I think I've been the negotiations chair almost every year since I've been on the board so I really do want to thank Mrs pryan because you're just everything during that and and we really lean on you and ask you so many questions and you are always there with your pencil ready to give us answers and numbers and work the numbers and I know we appreciate the the teachers and the union and and everyone we're negotiating with appreciates your diligence and just your professionalism so I I personally thank you from that perspective and um you will be Miss I will miss you um Matteo thank you so much Matteo thank you so much I'm glad that school makes you feel really happy makes me happy too so thank you um I just wanted to say congratulations to our amazing female athletes here tonight awesome showing um amazing fall season and um also too at this the string concert was mentioned and I had the privilege of attending it and it was just wonderful to see the stage was filled filled with kids with string instruments and um Mr anuko I mean some of these kids just picked up the instrument for the first time in October and they participated in a wi in a concert two months later so what he does with these kids is amazing and he's we're going to miss him so much but you know and I've said it before we I I know this whole board fully supports what he has started and that we will continue so um because just what they've done in two months some of these kids have just done in two months it's amazing like what can they do in two years what can they do in four years like just amazing possibility so thank you um to Mr NCO and everyone who supports the music programs um that's all that's all I have for tonight thank you good evening um I just wanted to say uh well reor was exactly two weeks ago today um the very next day I took some time to visit EC the staff was welcoming the Halls were full of Little Smiles I visited the transportation department where I met with Tony Maza who was uh busy uh preparing for the the anticipated snowstorm coming up um a few of my fellow fellow board members and myself accompanied Mr Ramsey to the Quan's meeting where he shared a presentation on improvements to the athletic fields uh shared the standardized testing results uh and shared future ideas that were looking to explore uh as always I want to thank the guanas for their generosity to our community and our schools uh last Friday I was able to tour the Hamilton High School uh again this staff was very welcoming I have to say I was most impressed with the presence of the faculty staff and Hall monitors in every hallway especially during the uh changes in between classes it was pretty impressive uh to keep that many kids in line um they did a great job um I am the new chair for the safety uh and security committee we will be scheduling upcoming committee meetings soon I've had discussions with Mr Ramsey already about the particulars uh to get started and I'm looking forward to working with Lori shabila our district safety specialist uh as well as other committed members to ensure the safety of our students in school district um finally I'd like to share the card that I received from Mata so um it was adorable Miss Greco's class um I appreciate you uh having your students you know send these lovely cards to all of us it was wonderful um and that's all I have thank you all right thank you Mr so I would like to thank Hayden for my card and Hayden says his favorite part of the school is the sensory room and I think that you are um there are a lot of students that love the sensory room room and a lot of the teachers and staff love the sensor room as well so thank you for your card and I'm glad you like the sensory room um I have nothing to report committee wise but I would like our board to look at a few new um policies uh the first is an AI policy I don't know I would defer to the solicitor but I know many uh districts are looking into AI policies I know that that that's a very popular buzzword these days but I do think that you know we need to at least look at it in terms of you know the uh ethical implications I know people are concerned about you know cheating and things like that but on the flip side I think there's a lot of positives happening with AI and education specifically so how do we apply those Concepts to our board and the policies in our district in addition I think one thing that we've talked about over the years years is uh cell phones and you know you love them or hate them they are here to stay and I just read the news recently about the governor Murphy um proposing a ban for cell phones in schools from K to 12 so regardless of what your stance is um I know that some parents really feel cell phones are an integral part of the school system in terms of safety um and some parents feel that you know they wish they didn't have cell phones in the school so I think it's something that we need to re-evaluate I know certainly during covid times I think a lot of our own policies were sort of you know people kind of went backwards a little bit just because we know so many more students were using technology so I think we need to re-evaluate that and look at our own cell phone policy that we have in our district I know we've talked about that but and I'd love to hear um more input I've spoken to many teachers and staff and it's been very eye openening to me just hearing their thoughts as well so I do think it's something we need to explore further and really think about it because this could be a potential uh a ban if there is a ban but regardless I know we need to update our policy so that's all I have thank you Mr good even good evening everybody uh first of off I would like to thank Brooke over at the West I'm glad to be a part of the school board that allows you to eat ice cream um outside of that uh as for himton High School uh School morale is still high which is surprising because it is kind of the slower part of the year now that we're in uh winter we closed off 2024 with two pretty exciting Events first off was our holiday spirit week uh everything from pajama day to Mrs Pet's Infamous ugly sweater contest uh it's always a festive and fun time and our uh Christmas giving uh trip to the Leap Academy over at uh Camden uh we all got presents for uh I want to say four to five year olds uh who it's a really special time for them because they come from uh places where maybe they don't have Christmases at home so it's always nice to you know give back and provide a really special moment for them as for upcoming events for 2025 uh we are currently planning our winter pep rally which is always fun uh grade by grade competitions and uh we are potentially hosting an academic bowl like uh meet in February uh with a bunch of different schools from Atlantic County uh that is all I have to report all right thank you um I too received a card from Caesar in room 108 uh I've been here every day the last six or seven school days for different reasons and so I took my card home but it was lovely Caesar let me know that he really likes school a lot and he is friends with my son Michael and they both like school and I take that card next to my monitor at work so it is there and I Caesar if you're watching I appreciate you taking the time to make me a card and certainly came in handy at at the right time um couple other things uh I want to report he asked me to let the folks know that he board know he could not be here councilman Anthony Marino will be the new representative or continued representative to education from Town Council he had another commitment this evening so he will not be here um as a number of you have touched on our business administrator prman is retiring uh she has two more jobs uh before she goes one is to help us build the budget for next year and two is to select help us help Mr Ramsey select her successor and so once we get those two things taken care of we can give you your pencil we can take you to the beach and go uh but not not before and the AUD we got to get the auto wrapped up too but once we get those couple things done we're we're we're good um a couple other things I had an opportunity to attend the alumni night wrestling match here at Hamilton High School uh what a great night you know it's really nice to see uh sort of wrestlers of all ages come back and participate the program and talk to the to the current day wrestlers and be acknowledged for their contributions to the program it is evident that these folks stay in touch with the coaching staff and are plugged into the program plugged into kids and really interested in our success interested in the development of our student athletes and that's really really good to see and nice to see um I also attended the Hamilton du which I think was last Saturday wrestling match we had four different schools here and there's lots of people and so I found myself sitting in the bleachers amongst are our wrestlers and I shared this with Coach Morel and his staff um it's really eye openening when you sit with the players and many of them who I I only know maybe one or two of them but it's great to just sort of take it in and listen to them cheer for each other and talk about each other's performance in a positive way and encourage one another and it really shows the sense of team spirit that they have and dedication and focus on the work that they do it is really a nice thing to see um certainly really they're doing a really great job having a great season but I got to witness that firsthand um it was it was exciting for sure so um as we move into February you'll hear more from state government about state aid projections and what that will look like as we begin to build our District budget uh we will wait the governor gave his State of the State address um we will wait and see what our slice of the pie looks like in terms of state aid and where we are as always we will hope for the best and plan for the absolute worst uh we've been down this road in Hamilton too many times but we will be ready and be prepared and start talking with the administration building principles on what their needs and wants are and look at some of our fixed costs and arrive at a draft budget in the coming months um specific to board committees so I shared this with the committee list with the board a little bit earlier in the week um couple of the board committees we as Mrs Fon talked about merg now that we have our superintendent Mr ry's here and seated we went ahead and merged the or I went ahead and merged the negotiations superintendent evaluation committee so that's taken care of um previously we had a separate committee for community relations and early childhood education specific to community relations uh Mr Amy and I talked about that at length given the approach he takes to Leading The District really he's handling community relations on his own he's out and about pretty regularly telling our story to a lot of different places um so he's doing an excellent job managing that and sort of infusing that part of his work into the board meetings and discussing it with us and into the other committee meetings and the other works so we'll see how that goes if we feel the need to spin up a separate committee again we could certainly do that um relative to Early Childhood last year's Early Childhood committee really was focused on determining and deciding what we would do about three and four year olds right what the ECC would look like from a student body point of view what are we going to do with three-year-old students would we how many would we take what it would look like um I had a an interesting conversation with some folks from New Jersey School wordss Association two of the things that they brought up to me in terms of strategic planning where a lot of other school districts that do with through strategic planning spend a lot of time talking about what they'll do with three and four year olds if they don't have an active three-year-old program which we really we have a limited three-year-old program which I won't get into the leads about but that was one thing that they suggested we really spend a lot of time on strategic planning and community relations as well really understanding what our messages in the community and where we fit into the story here in Hamington and some of those broader things so the full board will be a part of that process um you're required to have a separate board committee for strategic planning in the contract with New Jersey school boards that'll be a short somewhat proforma process the entire board will be involved there'll be some special meetings around strategic planning as we get in the next month um for that but that's some of the background and then going forward again I'm up for the discussion on all of it we'll see how things go if we need to expand or contract and spin up some additional work one other thing I'll note we used to have a Safety and Security committee then we didn't then we did um because of some of the challenges we're dealing with with cyber security and student data management and cameras there's a lot going on in that space Not Just police officers and physical security and so I I made the decision to stand up something separate about that so that we can spend time in community meetings and have discussions around Safety and Security in the district um and really drill down that a little bit more but again all these things will be discussed as a part of the Strategic plan as well so we'll see more to come on that as well I'm not prepared to talk more about uh integr details we just got started by more to come to future board meetings so that concludes my report um I have a question don't we have to change the policy on committees that just lists the right the Committees that are this year and number we don't as the board president I'm allowed to make whatever committee I I don't think your policy allows you to have any kind of ad hoc committee oh okay I think the policy really just deligates the standing committees and right but I think are those changed well I I'll take a look I know it's just a matter of formality but right let's go to the agenda oh public comment I apologize thanks for keep me honest this is the first of two opportunities for the public to be heard come on up to the microphone and give your name and address for the board and you can talk to us this is the first of two so if you missed this one you can talk this again see none we'll move to the agenda uh I'll take a motion for finance items 1 through3 so moved Mr Shion second Mr f question roll call Mrs vernado yes Mrs Burns yes Mr Kya yes Mrs donio yes Mrs Fallon yes Mrs Hunter yes to wford items 1 through 17 thank you Mr Cleo yes Mr shipone yes Mr Scola uh yes but abstain from number one Mr Lions yes motion Carri next will entertain a motion for personnel items 31- 50 motion Mr Co first Mr berado second roll call Mrs berado yes Mrs Burns yes Mr COA yes Mrs donio yes Mrs Fallon yes Mrs Hunter yes wford items 38 through 50 Mr plea yes with regrets on number 39 we tried to take that off the agenda we couldn't but hear in Mr I'm gonna keep talking with Mr lion saying that you have a couple majority here now you have a couple she knows how to count the budget and that that should take us about six years to get through so we got you for a little while longer Mr chion uh yes with a no on 39 Mrs Scola yes Mr Lions yes oh she carried she really wrote vote right she tap it's on tape she uh I'll entertain a motion on program students and miscellaneous items 51 through 55 verado first second Mr should on second roll Mrs bernado yes Mrs Burns yes Mr COA yes Mrs donio yes Mrs Fallon yes Mrs Hunter yes waterf items 51 52 54 55 she's machine Mr pla yes Mr chion yes Mr skola uh yes abstain from item number one oh I'm sorry 51 thank you Mr Lions yes motion Carri that takes us to the end of the published agenda now we're at the second public portion of the meeting this is the final opportunity for anybody in the public wishing to be heard you can come on up to the podium and give your name and address and speak to the board come on up hello my name's Amanda mazio on your agenda I'm the new special ed teacher over at ECC and I just wanted to thank you guys for the opportunity to be a part of the team and I'm excited to see what my first year as a special ed teacher holds congratulations thank you Amanda and welcome okay I'll entertain a motion to Jour John can I have a moment you can okay yeah okay uh I would like to take the opportunity to clarify the public record since last week Mr shipon commented in The Gazette and inaccurately represented the reasoning behind my vote on this board's leadership positions at the January 2nd reorganization meeting Mr ship young not only publicly questioned my reasoning in The Gazette but also made factual Mis misrepresent ations regarding my husband and his prior lead leadership roles on this board while I was a teacher in the district I feel compelled to correct these misrepresentations for the Public's understanding and to camner the aspersions Mr shipon cast on myself and my husband first to correct Mr shon's misunderstanding regarding my reasoning I was clear from the onset that I believe it is problematic when the sole leadership positions on this board are both simultaneously held by members who have a conflict of interest and who are prohibited from voting on several issues given that we vote for the position of president first and given Mr Lion's substantial prior years of experience serving on this body I was comfortable voting for him as president pres again however once that vote occurred and Mr Lion's bid for the position was successful I was not willing to support a second conflicted member in the only remaining leadership position hence my decision not to support Mr Coy my vote on this issue is consistent with both my own views on the subject of a conflicted board member and as well as that of my husband my husband served on this board over 20 plus years ago and despite the inaccurate information presented to The Gazette during my husband's tenure as vice president he was the only board member in a leadership position who was conflicted because the then president of the board was Mr caair a non-conflicted member similarly when Mr cairy resigned from the board and my husband became the president the board at that time decided to vote for a non-conflicted member Mr Dave rat as vice president finally I would also like the record for the public to reflect that I began my employment with this District in 1975 a full 21 years before my husband became a board member in 1996 thank you I would like to respond that that's my opinion what I said to The Gazette and that's my opinion whether you you know it's okay to have one person conflicted but not to it's like being a little pregnant so that's my opinion take it or or leave it or do whatever you want with it it's my right Mr ship you did it's my right my right Mr chipon okay you insinuated that I had double stand I'll keep I'm not saying you're not entitled I'll keep our talks to my I I won't you know throw you under the bus but we all know the real reason okay I'll just leave it at that well you've both been you've both been heard you both had an opportunity to say what you need to say public denied their ability to say what they have to say so we leave it there right let's leave it there a motion toour motion second this is Hunter all in favor J thank you everybody good evening