public meetings statement. The New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of public bodies to have advanced notice of and to attend any meetings in which their interests may be discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Hampton Board of Education has caused notice of this
meeting to be published by having the date, time, purpose, and place thereof published in the Hamilton Gazette and the Press of Atlantic City and posted on authorized premises. We'll have a roll call. Mrs. Feronado. Mrs. Burns here. Mr. Koya
here. Mrs. Donio here. Mr. Donio here. Miss Allen here. Mrs. Hunter here. Mr. Fo here. Mr. Shapi. Yes, M. Scola here. Mr. Thomas
here. Mr. Lions here. We'll rise now for the flag salute. And I'll ask you at the end of the flag salute to remain standing. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation
indivisible with liberty and justice for all. I'll ask everyone to remain standing for a moment. Uh shortly before school began this year. Uh two of our students experienced great tragedy and sudden loss of their father. And we as a school
community certainly our heart goes out to them. we, you know, are here to pick them up in their time of need. In addition, today being September 11th, we're all reflecting a little bit, especially in light of events that have
taken place in the last 24 hours. There's so many things that go on in the world that make it so difficult uh especially on kids, on young people. And one of the things that we all work really hard on here is to make sure that
school is a safe, happy to get away from a lot of just the pain and negativity that could be on the outside of the walls of your school or the walls of your classroom. So, I'll ask everybody to just reflect in a moment of silence and think about the people that are
hurting today and tonight. Thank you everyone. All right, move into the meeting. First, I'd like to call up uh Mr. Ron Silipino from Showcase Sports who's here tonight to make a presentation to the board and to
Mr. Ramsey specifically. So, come on up to the microphone. Hello everyone. Uh thank you for having me here tonight, John. Uh just wanted to say thank you Hampton Board of Education for giving myself and showcase sports company the opportunity to help us out
with the with the drone show shirts that we did for the Hamilton tradition. Uh I think it was a great success. It worked out incredible. Um seemed people seem to really like them and we um were really happy and proud to be able to be a part of it. Help us out out with the whole
situation of making it. On top of that the show was amazing and uh we all just really really enjoyed it. It was it was probably the most incredible show I've ever seen. So, uh it with that uh we were really successful in the sales of the shirts. We sold 248 shirts as of
today. Wow. Uh which was really really good and uh I was really impressed with that. Um I know a portion of the shirts, the proceeds of the shirts went back to board of education for this. Uh I rounded it up to 300 shirts uh from us
here at Showcase Sports to say thank you for giving us the opportunity to do this. So, uh, presenting you a check today for $1,500, uh, uh, for that. And, uh, just want to say thank you again very much for giving us the opportunity. Thank you.
Really appreciate that. Yeah. Great. Thank you again. Thank you very much. Thank you. Certainly. Thank you for the continued partnership and support of our student athletes, programs that go on. And you know, uh, for most of us, when you need something appropriate for a
board meeting or a, uh, sporting event, it's the only place in town you can go to to quickly get your size in your color and your design very quickly. Uh, and it was great. It was great to partner with drone show. Such a really exciting time for us and for our kids to
be able community to be able to have something branded for for us, you know, especially with the festival, the 150th. It was a really great success. Yes, I still see students walking around shirts and people walking around the community. So, thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you again, everybody.
Thank you. Next, uh I'm going to invite you this is Michelle Kennedy from the New Jersey School Boards Association back to visit with us here in Hamilton. Michelle had been working with us on the development of our strategic plan uh throughout the
last year or so and she's back and she's brought handouts and gifts it appears. Yes. Hi everyone. No sugar for Ray though. [Music] Oh man. Good evening everyone. Oh wow. It's so good to see you. I I truly did
miss my time here at Hamilton. You know, I've been in other districts doing strategic plans, but I can tell you it's nothing like like here. Not even close. Not Not even close. Not even close. But um I just want to take you through your
final um plan in front of you. you have the final document. Um, also in there is your action plans that Mr. Ramsey and the administration team worked very hard on um to bring this all together. So, I'll just take
you through a quick presentation. Um, first again I just want to thank you, the board, all of the stakeholders who came out and spent their time um working on this plan. um you know it it it really matters when you have your
stakeholders um be a part of something something big like this which is your five-year plan. So I'm just going to do a quick recap. So as you all remember um the purpose of the strategic plan was to create this district-wide vision right for the next
five years um to allow all of your stakeholders to be a part of this process. and the in the end we were looking to um elevate student achievement. Okay, so that was the whole purpose or premises of doing that
strategic planning pro process. Um these are some of the benefits that we talked about during our time together. you know, this allowed you to be proactive more so for your business um administr administration in the office so they can
have time to properly prepare and budget um you know five years out. So that's a nice um you know benefit of this plan and then also again that stakeholder piece allowing the stakeholders to have a forum and and discuss um potential
opportunities for the district. And then keep in mind this is going to be an ongoing cycle um for the next five years to allow you to assess and track the progress of your plan. So this was that pyramid you know you all should be familiar with um those of
you who are in attendance. We started from the bottom and we worked our way up to the top. You know we had our meeting one which was March 24th. Um and that was the meeting that focused on where are we now right? you had your information um pertaining to what's
going on in your district. Um you had a strengths and challenges activity that was done moved on to meeting two which took place on April 29th. That's where we focus on where do we want to be 3 to five years from now. That allowed us to do some forward thinking creating of um
visions and initiatives and ultimately coming up with your goal areas that would be the focus on your strategic plan. And then that last meeting with meeting three, that was May 19th and that's when the goal areas were he did a deep dive into the goal areas, came up
with the goal statement and some objectives to support those goal areas. And then we made it to the top, guys. We made it. So congratulations. That's where those action plans were put together to bring all of this great work um to to what you have in front of you.
Now, when we worked on the strategic plan, we kept in mind your mission statement. That was what was focused on, the mission statement of your district. So, that kind of helped um you know, work around the activities and come up
with what this plan looks like today. This is just an excerpt of meeting one. Um this is some of the great information that came out of the state of the schools that Mr. RAM Z put together and presented. You know, we focus on, you
know, who we are. We took a look at your student enrollment, um, you know, where we are, talking about your budget, the different things that are going on within the district. You had some commendations and then also improvements. So, it was a nice state of
the schools um report that was presented with a lot of substance and great information um that tied it all together. Meeting one that was that small group exercise uh that you focused on again
your strengths and challenges and at the end we came up with your top 10. We came up with a consensus from all of the stakeholders who were present that focused on the strengths and challenges of your district. This is just an
excerpt of what that top 10 um list look like in terms of strengths and challenges. We moved on to meeting two. Um, this is where we had that visioning exercise where, you know, we said that Hamilton
won this prestigious award from the state of New Jersey. You had to come up with a podcast and a title um to talk about how did you get that award um, you know, in 20 2030.
So these are some of the items that came out of that visioning exercise. And then down at the bottom of the screen, those were just some of the the names of the podcasts that some of the uh groups came up with during this exercise.
So now these are your five goal areas. Um this is what you know your five-year plan will focus on these five areas. uh facilities and school safety, student learning, community partnerships and engagement, creative learning
environments, and professional pathways. So on these next five slides, these are just showing you the actual goal area, the goal statement to support that area as well as the objectives um that the
action plans are built around. All right. So, now we're at the action plan. So, this is the how. Okay. This is how are we going to accomplish and achieve all of this great work that was done over, you know, a 3 to four month period. So, keep in mind that the uh
action plan that's going to focus on the resources, the outcomes, um the task, and then you're also going to see some success indicators along the way um as you start to check off the boxes of this action plan.
Just keep in mind moving forward, you know, this is a living document, right? This is your document for the next five years. Um there may need to be some tweaks along the way. So just be mindful in the event you know some some budget constraints or whatever could happen
over the next five years there may need to be some flexibility but just keep in mind the stair steps going up from the bottom up to the top right so just keep those your mission statement your strategic planning goals. So now that
you have your strategic plan, your annual district goals should reflect some of the information that came out of that uh strategic plan as well as your administrative goals, your teachers and classroom goals, and then ultimately at the top is that student outcome. So all
of those items should align um and coincide with your uh fiveyear strategic plan. So thank you. Um we ask that you approve your strategic plan um at a later date
and also make it available on your website so you know everyone can see um again the great work. But I shared this quote at meeting three um never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world indeed is the only thing that ever has.
So, this is a favorite quote of mine and I always thought that Margaret me was from the Philadelphia area and I found out at meeting three through Kelly that she actually has ties to Hamilton and I never knew that. I always just saw it as
the Philadelphia area. So, thank you. Um, if there's any questions I'll ask, but what a coincidence, right? Like Margaret as Philly's Karen. No. Oh, and yes, everyone loved
it with you. All roads back. That was so awesome. But all this is for not all roads. But yes, so that's all I have for you. So, thank you for again for having me and allowing me to be a part of the strategic planning process. It was a it
was my pleasure. Thank you, Michelle, for your hard work with the strategic plan and with our superintendent search. You know, I know that you you spent a lot of time with us uh over the last several months here. So, anytime you want to stop back down and visit, you know, there's always a
table for you at the Maplewood. Certainly. Right. Thank you. Great. We'll go to Mr. Ramsey, the superintendent. Thank you, Mr. Lions. I'd like to begin by thanking our students, their parents, our teachers, supervisors, and
administrators, and board of education members for an incredible opening to the 202526 school year. I certainly know that a lot of time and effort from all stakeholders went into ensuring a successful opening of the school year, and for that, I'm
extremely grateful. Uh, next week we will have three of our four annual back to school nights. On Tuesday, September 16th, it will be the ECE back to school night beginning at 6 p.m.
On Wednesday, uh, September 17th, it will be Hamilton High School's back to school night. And on Thursday, it will be Hamilton Middle School's back to school night. be a very busy week. The War Soy Junior Elementary School back to
school night will be the following week on Thursday, September 25th. Um, last night, Miss Amy Claus and members of her World Language and ESL department did a terrific job hosting the first bilingual parent advisory
committee meeting of the school year. The meeting was well attended. While pertinent information about the educational process within the Hamilton public school district was shared and discussed was great night. Uh there was food served. There were balloon animals
for the children. There were uh educational games and activities and you know I'm I was very impressed with the turnout and the job by our world language ESL department. With that being
said, our first special education parent advisory group meeting of the year will take place on November 19th. Extremely important meeting. The purpose of the CPAC meetings is to provide a collaborative space where parents and
school districts have the opportunity to provide input on special education policies, programs, and services to enhance outcomes for our students with disabilities. So, I encourage our parents to be involved and to mark
November 19th down on their calendar and participate in the CPAC meeting. And finally, a quick glimpse of things to come. Uh the highly anticipated playground installation for the ECE and
the West buildings uh should be complete and ready for student use in approximately 2 to 3 weeks. Uh we are super excited about it and I cannot wait to uh watch our students uh utilize that equipment in
the months to come. Thank you. All right, moving right along. We'll go to our principal reports. Start with the high school and Mr. Mat. Come on. Good evening, board. Um, well, the
school year start off a little early for us, right? sort of the Sunday before Labor Day this year with our painting of the parking spots for the seniors in the Cedar Sunrise, which I know our newest board member is going to elaborate on in a little bit, so I won't steal too much time from him. Um, we have a college
fair coming up in a couple weeks. Last year was our first time hosting a college and career fair and we had 28 representatives, which was nice for our first year, but our goal this year was to hit 40 and this year we're going to be at 44. Um, well, might be higher was 44 as of today. So, I want to say great
job to Mike Ryan and his team for putting this together. The fair will take place on Thursday, September 25th. State testing is something we always talk about inside of schools. We have two tests we always take in in the fall, but we'll be taking two additional
tests, two additional field tests this fall also, one for our ninth and tth graders and one for our juniors and seniors. So, a lot of work goes into that, but our guidance counselors, assistant principles, and it have been working on it already, and they'll have us ready and in good shape for this
extra state testing. Um, blue devil time, that's something we've been introducing for some time now. Our first day will be on Monday, September 22nd. There'll be information going out shortly, um, with all the details. We'll send out emails and post information on
social media. The driving force behind blue devil time is to meet the students where they are. Some examples of that are to get extra help from their teachers, join clubs and activities, meet with their coaches, or connect with their guidance counselors or case managers. We're excited about this. Once
again, it'll start Monday, September 22nd. We have another new event happening here at the high school on March 4th. Manny Martinez and the marching band will be hosting a regional competition. It's an all day event. is from 10:00 in the morning till 8 at night and get to showcase not only our
students in the band, but our facilities are top-notch uh facilities here at Hamilton. Um if you get a chance, please come out there. Like I said, it's 10 in the morning to 8:00 at night. There's a lot of volunteers, a lot of hard work going into this. And you know, Manny's
going to put on a great show for us. And just like Mr. Ramsay said back to school night for the high school is Wednesday, September 17th, and it's at 6:30 p.m. We had a great turnout last year, so I'm sure we'll have a great turnout again this year. All right. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. All right, Dr. Come on over. Good evening, everyone. Hamilton Middle School is happy to be back to school. Um, it's been a promising start so far to the 2025 2026 school year. It's been
a busy summer of construction. So, first I want to give a shout out and thank Mr. Rick Cody and his maintenance and custodial crew for um facilitating all the changes to our building. We're thrilled to add a cooking room to our middle school and we're also happy to
add another classroom in our media center for our multilingual students. Thank you also to the board for your support um over the summer with these projects and also with the opening of school. Um our clubsmies and our fall
sports field hockey, soccer, cross country are underway taking advantage of the beautiful uh still summer weather right now. Um, our first dance sponsored by our positive behavior initiatives will be uh September Friday night,
September 26th, 7 to9. It's always a large turnout for our first dance. So, we're looking forward to welcoming back our students to the back to school dance. Um, we'll be celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15th
through October 15th. Our Spanish teachers and media specialists are assisting teachers with resources and sharing information. We would also like to welcome everyone to our back to school night on Thursday, September 18th. The event begins 6:00 p.m. in home
room with a short video and will end by 7:30 after parents follow an abbreviated 7 period day. We're also happy to be introducing this year our new seven period day. is working out wonderfully so far.
We'll also have translators available upon request. Our book fair is also in September and classes during um we'll have the opportunity to visit and on back to school night parents have the opportunity to enter a raffle as well for their child. So, we're looking
forward to welcoming everyone into our school. And also as always for the latest information, pictures and updates from our middle school, please follow us on Facebook and social media. Thank you. Thank you.
All right, Dr. Jer, come on over. Good evening. I'm happy to share that we have had a very successful beginning of the school year. We welcomed our new second graders and new to district transfer students at orientation on August 25th. We have many new teachers
and staff members joining our team and everyone has assimilated very well. We're very pleased to say the first week of school, actually from the first day of school, everything has gone according to plan. Uh, it's probably the smoothest
opening I can remember and I've had a lot of years to remember. Typically, one of our biggest challenges those first few days are student arrival and dismissal, but this year really went great. Uh, dismissal on the first day was well ahead of the typical first
week. Uh, the credit for that goes to our outstanding elementary school staff who are so conscientious and work as a team to keep all students safe. everyone was prepared and ready to go. I'd like to thank Tony Maza, supervisor of
transportation. She has a huge job each year coordinating for schools, student buses, and drivers. The buses were on time and ready for us to dismiss. I'd also like to acknowledge Dr. Clay and the entire ECE staff for their proactive
planning during dismissal. They work with our youngest learners and ensuring that all get dismissed the correct way and on the right bus is challenging and they were great. Other members of the school community also deserve a thank you for contributing to such a smooth
and successful start to the new school year. Thank you to Ricot and our custodial maintenance staff for making our school shine not only on the first day but every day. Thank you to our technology department for making sure teacher instructional technology was up
and running and students all had working Chromebooks and correct loginins for programs. Thank you to our office staff, Mr. Morell, our assistant principal, who helped prepare all summer to ensure a smooth start. And thank you to our parents and guardians for your partnership, support, and patience
during the first week. And one last thank you to our leader, Mr. Ramsey who is always around and available making sure the district maintains its level of excellence. It all starts at the top. We have lots of positive energy throughout the school. We're off to a great start.
Mr. Ramsey mentioned the playground. We've seen great progress on the playground at the elementary school. Thank you to the board for recognizing our need to expand recess opportunities for our students. And the latest report, the installation of the equipment will be done by next Wednesday. and then the
stone and rubber crews will come in to install the base. In addition, Mr. Cody let me know they have added additional electric for lights in the back area for the school which will illuminate the parking lot and playground area from dusk to dawn. We can't wait to see the
finished product. Other than that, individual student pictures as well as class pictures will be taken on September 16th and 17th. Makeups on October 29th and back to school night will be held on September 25th. Doors
open at 5:45. There will be three sessions and we hope to see you there. Thank you. Thank you. I understand that uh Dr. from the Early Childhood Education Center. It's a little under the weather today, so we'll excuse her from tonight's
meeting. Um, next we'll go to board member comments. I'll start to my right and welcome back my friend Mr. Thomas from absolutely I too would like to welcome Jeff back and I'd like to welcome Matthew as our
student rep here tonight. Uh a big thanks to all the custodial staff that work tirelessly this summer. The place looks amazing and I can appreciate the hard work that the teachers and staff did on the first day getting everybody
to and from school safely. Thank you. Uh Woodford uh kicked off back to school. Uh students were welcomed back very enthusiastically. We're looking forward to a safe and happy and successful year. Thank you. Fall sports is underway.
Field hockey is off to a 3 and 0 record. Gabrielle Childs and Gabrielle Teddy both have seven goals each through three games. Congratulations to coach Pat Lancetta for earning his first career win as the
head coach of the football program versus Franklin High on August 28th. Congratulations to Jojo Scott for winning the press of Atlantic City Player of the Week with his 249 rushing
yard performance against Franklin High School. Hamilton will host the Atlantic County Cross Country Championships on October 16th starting at 400 pm at the Hamilton
Lake Park. All records and standings can be tracked on high school sports. Jersey.com. Please download the activityuler app to stay uptodate with the latest schedule
changes. Winter sports registration is open through November 1st. Visit hamiltonbedevils.com to register. Let's see
the new fieldhouse which is was named the Blue De Blue Devil Performance Center. Uh I took a tour of that. It it's absolutely amazing and will now host both uh all our boys and girls athletes.
And finally, I also want to welcome Matthew Donio as the new student council president and student rep on our board. I knew you'd be sitting here one day, so thank you. And I'm sure you'll be here again after school, so
that's all I have. All right. Thank you, Mr. Clear. Thank you, sir. Um, so today we played our first soccer game on the synthetic field that we put in over the summer. Uh, it's lined. is working. The scoreboard will be going up shortly. I don't know the outcome of the game. I
was on the field, but uh it seemed to be playing very well. So, we're happy to have that up and running. You've heard many reports about the playgrounds. They'll be up and running very soon. This little bit of a process to get the equipment ordered and in. We were trying to get it done before school started, but it'll be here very complete very
shortly. Uh last thing is we had a pre-construction meeting for the addition to the ECE. Uh they're going to be breaking ground very soon. the temporary fence is already up. The it's going to be noisy and loud and you know we're going to just get through it like we did with the last addition. Um the
only we had to start now otherwise we would not be in the building for next September. So and that that's the goal here to work with the contractor and be in by the school year of next September. And uh congratulations to Matt. Welcome aboard. A lot of donios in this room right now. I don't know. So uh we'll see
how that goes. Thank you. Uh thank you. I'd just like to welcome back all of our uh students and staff and also thank our staff members and administration and all of our uh departments for a very successful as you
heard it was probably one of the best that I could ever remember opening some school this year. I'd like to welcome Mr. Matt Dono as our new student rep and uh I wish everybody a very successful school year this year. That's all I have.
Of course, a very wonderful school year. We're off to a good start. Seemed like summer went by so quickly and here we are. Here we are again. Uh on a lot of curriculum items were already mentioned. On the agenda tonight, you have an
update of our board policies um that we have discussed. Um the state testing was discussed and um the college fair on September 25th. The um and welcome to
Matt and um I don't know if you know me, Matt, but sometimes I have some ideas and I um I can run them through your name. I'm happy to hear. Okay. Uh one of the things and uh all I
wrote up at student activities with Mr. soccer. I thought it would be fun maybe to have a parent sport game. So, I thought we could if we chose to do it or if you chose to run
with it, um I would pick basketball because it's the smallest team numbers and you know there's not too much going on there. It could be a fundraiser. Um and I don't know if you want to for great boys and girls. But I just thought
and it would give you some time from now if it is something that you know is the first thing I'm going to bring to you. I have others but um you know it's up to you if you would like to go with that. Also we have a um student activities
committee meeting uh before uh usually our board meeting. So, I would like to have you uh receive the notes from that meeting uh the minutes from that meeting and um you can go over and if you have any questions about something that's
brought up at that meeting, but you can always get in touch with me or you know, Mr. Ramsey. So, you know, it's up to you. I'm sure you'll have some pretty good ideas, too. But every once in a while, I do think of something. So, uh and it's usually some some kind of a
camaraderie thing. But I thought parents against students. Let's give the parents a chance to shine and show what they can do instead of shouting from the sidelines. What about What about grandparents? Grandparents, too. They they tend to yell too sometimes, I've heard. But
anyway, so welcome and uh we look forward to having you. And uh on uh page eight, we'll see new hires. It's always nice, I think, when um they come to the meeting and introduce themselves so we can introduce we can meet them firsthand, know who they are, and um
welcome them into our district. And that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Um I just want to say welcome back to everyone. Welcome back, Mr. Thomas. Welcome, Matthew Donio. Nice to have you on our board. I'm looking forward to working with you and hearing your ideas.
Um, I just wanted to just really highlight again, I think everyone's kind of mentioned what a positive start to the year it has been. It It really has been. Um, I think I was like joking with Barbara. I was like, I haven't heard anything. Either I'm really out of touch or it's really going well and it really
is going well. And so I just and I just want to reinforce that that doesn't happen by accident. It happens because of great leadership and hard work and support um from the administration and wonderful enthusiastic teachers and
staff creating a safe and welcoming and warm environment for all of our students. And I just want to thank everyone who has put their time in and and done that and created this environment. It's wonderful to see as a board member and as a mother I'm just
filled with gratitude. So especially given what's happening in the world around us for what to see what's happening in our buildings is just a wonderful thing. So I just want to thank thank everyone involved and uh welcome back.
Good afternoon. Um so I'm just going to echo what everyone else here has already said. Welcome back teachers, staff, and students. Welcome Matthew and John. I'm I'm glad to have you back as well. Um very hopeful this will be our best year
yet. Um safety and security met last Friday. It's been reported um as you heard that arrival and dismissal procedures are going very well. So much so that our very own school resource officer said it's been the best first day he's seen in the past six years at
least. Um so um that's great news. Um as far as our safety and security drills go, I'm pleased to announce we're on point with those. everything is smooth and at this time I have nothing further. Um I don't have any committee reports
but I would like to just echo what everybody else said. It's been a great opening. I was especially excited. I know some of the other board members we got to see the new parking spots which I'm sure Matthew you're going to talk about. But if you drove through there or if you have a minute, I really recommend
people in the community drive through because it was really exciting to see all of the students creativity and painting their parking spot. Um, and it was just a really exciting way for me to get excited about starting school again.
Certainly, I'm a little um sad because my son is going to be a senior this year. I know Christine is in the same boat. Um, I would certainly like to welcome you to the board. To say that I'm proud of you is an understatement. Always very proud of you. And I'm
reminiscent of the time when you were in kindergarten that you said, "Mom, I really want swings on the playground." And I said, "You should probably write a letter to the principal." And you in fact did. So, uh, I look I got a response. You did get a response. So I look
forward to seeing the things that you do this year and representing your class very well and the students and classmates. That's very important. Thank you. So I'm very excited to have this opportunity to you know be up here and
represent my fellow students and you know also to highlight a lot of the great things we're doing at at the school. And you know I'm also very excited to sit right here next to my mom. You know she's a great role model. But um you know there's a lot of great things that we're already doing at the high school. You know we started over
the summer. We started painting senior parking spots for the first time ever. You know we had about a hundred students sign up and come out and uh even some families, friends and some recent graduates came out to help a lot of the seniors and uh it beat every single
expectation I had. You know when we first started talking about it over the summer you know I was like you know my class is like a little lame sometimes. So, you know, I wasn't sure how many people would come out the first time, but everybody beat every single expectation I had set. And, you know, I
love seeing the spots every single morning. And I love having my own spot, too. And uh, you know, it was a great kickoff to the year. And, uh, I want to thank Mr. Matina, the administration, and the board for, you know, working with us to uh, make it happen. And, uh, school spirit's really important to me.
So, anything we can do to get school spirit up is is a win in my book. And uh we want people to come to school every day and be proud of their school, proud where they come to school, and you know, be happy to be here. And uh we had our first two home football games. We're uh pushing the student section theme
nights. Uh we're trying to get some really big student sections for our last couple home games as we uh move through the season. And we've had some great success with that so far. And uh I want to echo what everybody else is saying, too. It it has been a great start. really I I don't know if I'm biased
because it's my senior year, but it's it's been a great start so far. And uh the last thing like Mr. Matina mentioned, Blueevil Time starts on the 22nd and I know a lot of us are really excited to have that time in the morning to get that extra help and uh have our club meetings. It's going to be really
helpful for student council as well and uh it opens up a lot of opportunities to a lot of people. So uh me and my team have a lot of great plans coming up. We're uh having meetings and starting to plan homecoming. So, there's a lot to look forward to coming up. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Can I just say one of I think one of the
greatest things with the painting of the parking lot, uh, one of the students had to work and wasn't able to do it, so the parents came and did it for them. I thought that was absolutely wonderful and it worked out really well. They really look so good. And one thing to add, we're getting
swings. So, we'll make an arrangement for you to We're finally getting a swing. 12 years since you sent a letter. Swings are are on the list, I believe. Right. Right, Mr. Choya. Yeah. So, we'll make sure you get an opportunity to test them out. All right, Matt. We are in sync because I always
wanted swings to bring back swings. Kids love swings. There you go. Excellent. Excellent. Um, you know, a couple things, right? Second only to graduation, the September board meeting is sort of the best event of the year on school board because it's the opening of
school. The kids are back, positivity, you know, the staff and everybody. It's just really exciting to hear all the great things that are going on and and all the all the happiness and all the anticipation and to see it all come to fruition once we open the doors. Um, so many people to thank, so many things to
go over, but just a couple points. Um, we, you know, number of people talked about we're doing a great job, especially at the EC scene in the West with the pickup and drop off. Um, we run better, you know, line cues than Chick-fil-A. Uh, you go out there and and the teachers there, we're better
than Disney, as as said, we're better than Chick-fil-A. We've got it down to science. By the third day of school, these teachers know what kind of car mom drives, what kind of car dad drives, grandom, your aunt that picks you up every other Wednesday. They've got it wired and they've got the kids lined up
and in the car and buckled in. And here in Hamilton, we're the only school district in the area that buckles and unbuckles kids in cars. That's a uniquely Hamilton concierge experience. Um, so I'm really proud of the staff for for continuing to do great work on that.
Um, really excited about the strategic plan. I think, you know, as we talked about in prior board meetings, strategic plan really sets the beginning of a conversation for some bigger capital projects and bigger policy discussions that the board will undertake. So, now that we've got a little bit of a
playbook and roadmap, Mr. Ramsey and the administration can get together and really come up with some ideas for the board to consider. And I think that's really exciting. Um, certainly I'll echo everyone else and welcome Mr. Don, our new student representative. Hit the ground running is an understatement. uh
extremely engaged in representing the students well and providing that unique value added perspective. Uh I had anticipated we can just document for the record that he and Mrs. Bernado would be best friends. Uh they both have great ideas about what to do in terms of
school spirit and I can't wait to see what you both come up with. Really excited. Uh I was here for the parking lot uh painting like a lot of people were and it was great. Uh the one thing I've set out to work on in a bit of a goal is there are a number of civic groups around town that always ask like
what can we do to help? We want to help schools and I was talking to the students. A lot of kids went into their pocket even though the students were able to arrange a discount at the local Sheron Williams that went into their pocket for you know almost $100 or a little bit more to paint their spot. So between now and the end of the year,
we'll work with some private uh civic groups in town to see what we can do about getting each student some money toward that and figure out the logistics and the mechanics of that to help defay some of those costs. So more to come on that, but I think uh that's something we
can definitely do to help take the edge off a little bit. But definitely very very exciting. Um Mr. Kuya talked about some of the construction that's going on. Just Mr. Kya, lots happening here. The playgrounds are going to look great. The new hybrid uh soccer field, really,
really great. Uh our high school girls soccer coach, today was their first home game on that field, their big kickoff. Uh for those of you that haven't caught any girls soccer games, the head coach uh had her baby a little bit earlier today. So, she was coaching right up
until yesterday and had a baby earlier today. So, we wish her, you know, certainly congratulate her and her family, but she uh you know, it's dedication. It is one more day. Uh man, they went through summer practice and everything and certainly so don't
ever say coaches aren't dedicated. Um so many good things going on. One thing about the the CPAC meeting Mr. Angie talked about, we're really going to make an effort. I heard especially coming out of strategic plan, we heard from a lot of parents uh in the special education community that wanted to get involved in
the CPAG and I know that the special education department welcomes that involvement and was really interested to have people get engaged. So looking forward to that. We're going to do what we can to help promote that and get some good speakers out and really build those bridges in in the community and help parents get the resources they need. So
certainly looking forward to doing that. Um and the last thing I'll say and again I'll just kind of touch on we talked about the beginning of the meeting, right? And I think Mrs. Fallon put really well. Uh there's so much happening in the world and the great thing about our schools is it's a place
uh like we talked about graduation. It's a place where our kids can come and get away from all of the negativity or the noise that's going on in the world, either in their own home or just in social media or just out in the news media and just the things they have to be exposed to. They can just come here
and be happy and matter to other people and be cared for and thought of and really have something that's just for them. And so that's great. And I I really am thankful for the opportunity to be a part of that. So everybody's just doing such good work. With that,
we're going to open it up to the public. So this is the first of two opportunities for the public to address the board. If you're here as a new hire, there's a second opportunity after we vote on your new hire that you can talk to us. But anybody else who wants to come up, you can come up to the podium and give us your name and address and
talk to the board. I don't see anybody coming up. So we're going to close the public portion. We're going to move into the actual agenda. So let's go to finance items 1 through 20. So moved. Mr. Shep first.
Mrs. Burns second. Roll call. Mrs. Faronado. Yes. Mrs. Burns. Yes. Mr. Yes. Mrs. Dodium. Yes. With an extension on number one since I was not present at the meeting. Sorry. Was that number one? Thank you.
Number one. Mrs. Fallon. Yes, Mrs. Hunter. Yes to Woodford. Items number one through 17, Mr. Pa. Yes, Mr. Shafone. Yes, Mrs. Skola. Yes,
Mr. Lions. Yes. Motion carried. Next, we'll entertain a motion on personnel items 21 through 49. Mr. Fado, first, Mrs. Hunter, second. Mrs. Faronado, yes. Mrs. Burns,
yes. Mr. Foyer, yes. Mrs. Donio, yes. Mrs. Fallon, yes. Mrs. Hunter, yes. Mr. Flea, yes. Mr. Shafone, yes. Mrs. Fuller, yes. Mr. Lions,
yes. Motion carry. We entertain a motion on program students and miscellaneous items 15 through 57. Motion. Mr. First, Mr. Shabon second. Roll call. Mrs. Feronado. Yes. Mrs. Burns. Yes. Mr. Fuyo,
yes. Mrs. Donio, yes. Mrs. Fallon, yes. Mrs. Hunter, yes. Mr. Flea, yes. Mr. Shapone, yes. Mrs. Scholar, yes. Mr. Lions, yes. Motion carry. We'll go to the
addendum. I'll entertain a motion for finance items 58 through 66. Motion. Mr. Koya first. Second. Mrs. Fon second. Roll call. Mrs. Feronado. Yes. Mrs. Burns.
Yes. Mr. Foyer. Yes. Mrs. Donia. Yes. Mrs. Fallon. Yes. Mrs. Hunter. Yes. To order for items 58 to 64. Mr. Fa. Yes. Mr. Shap. Yes. Mrs. Skola. Yes. Mr. Lions.
Yes. Motion carried. Next, we'll entertain a motion on personnel items 67 through 69. So moved. Mr. Shion first. Second. Mrs. Schol call. Mrs. Baronado. Yes. Mrs. Burns.
Yes. Mr. Foyer. Yes. Mrs. Donio. Yes. Mrs. Fallon. Yes. Mrs. Hunter? Yes. Mr. Foya? Yes. Mr. Shapi? Yes. Mrs. Scholar? Yes. Mr. Lions? Yes. Motion carried. Next, we'll go a
motion on programs, students, and miscellaneous item number seven. Take a motion. Motion. Mr. Foyer first. Second. Mrs. Burns second. Roll call. Mrs. Baronado. Yes. Mrs. Burns. Yes.
Mr. Poy. Yes. Mrs. Jonian. Yes. Mrs. Bon. Yes. Mrs. Hunter. Yes. Mr. Floyd. Yes. Mr. Shap. Yes. Mrs. Skola. Yes. Mr. Lions.
Yes. Motion carried. We have one additional item. I'll ask Mr. Donio to read it in the record. Yes. Thank you, President Lions. On behalf of the administration, I would ask for a motion for the board of education to deny the residency appeal heard in executive session and authorize the administration to send the
appropriate notices. Entertain the motion. Motion Mr. Koya first. Second, Mr. K second. Mrs. Baronado, Mrs. Burns, yes. Mr. Foya, yes. Mrs. Donio,
yes. Mrs. Stalin, yes. Mrs. Hunter. Yes. Mr. Poa, yes. Mr. Shipion, yes. Mrs. Skolola, yes. Mr. Lions, yes. Motion carried. That takes us to
the end of the published agenda and the addendum. This is the second opportunity for public comment. Anybody in the audience wish to be heard, come on up to the podium and address the board. Just go ahead and give us your name and address for the record. Good evening, uh, administrators and
members of the board. My name is Tina Kennedy and I want to thank you for the opportunity to join your district as the middle school ESL teacher. I'm truly honored and excited to be a part of a community that values education and
invests in its students. I look forward to contributing to the growth, learning, and success of every student that I have the privilege to teach here. Thank you again. Thank you. Congratulations. [Applause]
Okay, seeing no one additional, we'll close the second public portion and I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion first second. All in favor? We are journed. Thank you everyone.