e e e welcome to the March 13th 2025 meeting at the ham Board of Education I'm going to read the open public meetings statement 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 values at which their interests may be act may be discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the hamton board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having date time purpose and place thereof published in the Hamilton Gazette the president Lake City and posted on authorized
premises roll call Mrs bernado here Mrs Burns here Mr Coya here Mrs donio she's excused Mrs Fallon is also excused Mr fedala here Mrs Hunter here Mr Pia here Mr chipon here Mrs skola here Mr Thomas
is excused Mr Lions I am here R FL to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right welcome everybody um first
I'm actually going to turn the meeting over to Michelle Kennedy Michelle Kennedy is our field service representative with the New Jersey school boards Association who's joining us on Zoom tonight to talk a little bit about about our upcoming strategic planning meetings um I'll talk a little
bit more about them later in the board report as well as some of the other board members but Michelle if can you hear me is is everything lined up yes I can hear you okay then I will let you take it away from here all right great thank you hi everyone and um my
apologies for not being a there in person um I'm I'm on double duty tonight so I'm in another District but I just wanted to um come on and talk about your up strategic planning um it's an exciting time um your strategic plan
will allow you to create a vision for the next five years so this is an opportunity to allow your stakeholders to be a part of this process and it's a good time because you have a new
superintendent um sitting in the chair so we like to have strategic plannings done when you know you have you superintended because this is an opportunity for Mr Ramsey to also you
know put together what we call a state of the schools or state of the district and this is going to outline you know some of the strengths and challenges um that are taking place in the district some of the wants and the needs so that's basically the gist of your
strategic planning and how it works by incorporating all the stakeholders into to the process now just real quickly I'll talk about our time together over the next three meetings so when we meet together for meeting one um I just
touched on your state of the school this is where Mr Ramsey will will talk about that process and that evening we will have the opportunity to work together with all the stakeholders to come up
with a top 10 list of your and challenges now when we're working on these uh processes keep in mind this is a consensus building process okay consensus building so we want all
stakeholders to talk to be a part of the conversation and then the consensus will determine the outcome of each of each of our meetings on that we have so first meeting strengths and challenges when we
come back together two we're going to do a visioning exercise where you're going to have the opportunity to do some Forward Thinking um to look ahead five years from now because your District uh will win this prestigious award from the
Department of Education and you'll have an opportunity to talk about how your District won that award and what things that you have in place to make you to the top District within um the state of
New Jersey and then out of evle two we going to come up with some goals so that's what to let us to come up with some goal areas only about three to five goal areas and then we'll take that over into meeting three where we'll focus on
those goal areas and come up with some goal statements to support them and some three to five objectives that will up into those goal areas and then once we have all of that data from meetings 1 2
and three this is where your superintendent and the administration team will come together and put together action plans on how they are going to bring um those goal areas and objectives
to life okay so this process takes commitment um the commitment of course starts with the Board of Education for approving this service and understanding the importance of it and then it also um you know takes into an account the
commitment from all the stakeholders who will be participating um in this process and then we like to work our way from the bottom of the pyramid to the top and I just outline all of those things in these three meetings so when you walk
from the bottom to the top again you have your state of the school your state of the District you focus on your strengths and challenges you focus on your vision uh exercise or your Forward Thinking for the next five years and
then you have your gold areas which will be supported by your go statement and your objectives and at the tippy top of that pyramid that's where the action plans will come to life from the administration team so that's the
Strategic plan um uh and and you know it's going to be an exciting time over these next three meetings I'm hoping that you know there's a lot of participation and you know we'll set the vision for the next uh five years and
beyond for Amon School District that's all I have great thank you Michelle any of the board members have questions for Michelle there'll be time later but burning right now all right well Michelle again thank you
we'll see you in a few weeks y take care okay next we'll move we'll turn to Mr Ramsey for the superintendent's report thank you Mr Lions um the school districts throughout New Jersey uh they must report incidents to
the New Jersey Department of Education involving violence including incidents such as fights assaults threats alleged or confirmed harassment intimidation and bullying referred to as hi possession or
use of alcohol or drugs and schools must also report any other incident resulting in a half day or more of in school suspension this information must be reported to the Board of Education in a public hearing two times each year so
this report tonight will include incidents that occurred from August 29th 2024 through December 31st 2024 take a look at the chart you will
see in the Hamington School District the four schools the ecec the war soy Elementary School Hamington middle school and Hamington High School in the column all the way to the left the next column you will see a
number uh that number or the total number of incidents including violence vandalism substance weapons confirmed hi so for example in the early childhood education
center we had zero incidents of violence vandalism substance weapons and confirmed hi which is excellent at the wary soy Elementary School we had a total of three incidents three confirmed
hi at Hamington Middle School we had 16 total incidents during that time period seven confirmed Hib two vandalism and seven
violence at Hamington high school they had 12 total incidents three confirmed Hib four substances one vandalism four violence for a total of 12 and in a school district that has
approximately 3,400 students we had 31 total incidents in the entire District we'd love to see that number at zero but that number is at 31 if you look at other incidents leading to
removal you will see that the district had 126 other incidents that led to a half day in school suspension or more but I am proud to report that it is that is a
66% decrease from last year uh last year the school district had 374 other incidents leading to removal this year 126 again I would love to see that number at zero but 126 is a
66% decrease in in that and we also had a decrease in the number of violence from last year to this year a 48% decrease so that is
my report uh there will be a second report at the end of the school year and as I already stated we're required to do this twice a year thank you thank you next we'll go into our principal
reports uh we'll start with Mr matina come on over good evening um so this week we had our NJ GPA testing um it's a grade proficiency assessment for 11th grade and it went
well uh it went very well actually um we tested our students two days of English language arts two days of math the schedule went was really tight and went well um a lot of planning that goes into that what that means is we had some people really step up and do a great job and that would be our assistant
principles our guidance counselors and our tech department and then also we ran an alternate bell schedule during that time and for and that that to happen there a lot on our bus departments so means Tony Maza did a great job here and the word oford bus Department did a great job there so we really appreciate
all their efforts spring Sports started this past Monday which is always an exciting time at a high school a little more exciting this year for a couple reasons one it's the inaugural season for boys and girls lacrosse so if you get a chance this year to get out there um and share on you know coach Ryan Pendergrass with
the boys coach Tracy angelosi with the girls please get on out there the first game the home opener this year we'll have some excitement going on for it definitely some social media action um some banners out there we make it a a fun experience the second one that makes it exciting this spring is flag football
has expanded to a full schedule um this is the last year in the pilot program under the njsi daa so they'll have playoffs and everything and then next year it'll be a full sport um so we're really excited about that dual credit is something you've heard me talk about
four or five times up here well I can report one really neat thing is that at this point because of our partnership with Stockton and how we expanded it right now we have 48 kids that will leave high school with college credit at Stockton University because we expanded this program and that number is only
going to go up so next year I expect it to be close to 100 to be honest with you um a few weeks ago um Rick hody and Anthony angelosi brought in the laborers union to speak to 83 students on a Friday um anytime an outside speaker
comes in you have kids in the auditorium you're not sure how it's going to go can they keep their attention we're not sure it went perfect it went so good that it went over the the lot of time we gave them and honestly if there were 83 kids in there there were 83 questions so you know Kudos is the Anthony angeloi and
Rick Cody um and last last but definitely not least is on Monday is the uh Disney trip so 100 students 10 chaperons and myself will'll be leaving for Disney it's my first time going um so wish me luck all right thank you very
much all right y that's fine 's just can you hold on one second Dr resy I'm sorry we're going to bring up our athletic director Mr Sako we're going to bring up the wrestling team I know he's here tonight for that and then we'll go back to our principal reports so just
sit tight one second all right good evening uh you know tonight we're here to honor a couple uh wrestlers who had magnificent Seasons uh in each of their own individual accolades and we're going to introduce them tonight before I do that I just want to congratulate all winter
athletes and coaches uh they competed very well throughout the winter and we're proud of them uh first up we have Luca guno he's a senior uh this year he broke the career record for wins in Hamington High School history with 142 wins uh his record stands at 142 and 23
he's a three-time district Champion four-time region place winner and a two-time state qualifier as well as a two-time All Cape Atlantic League uh so with that I want to bring Luca up and present him his poster
[Applause] you can come on up take the photos it's no problem come right up to the center if you want congratulations [Applause] congratulations thank you thank
you next up we have another senior uh Shane wayy Shane hit 100 wins this year um so his career record stands at two wins 21 losses he's a three-time district place winner a one-time District Champion two-time region place
winner and a one-time State qualifier as well as a one-time U Cape Atlantic League All-Star and honorable mention so with that we're going to bring up Shane celebr 100 wins [Applause]
congratulations last year we'll bring up Vince poo Jr uh Vince's career record is 70 wins and 12 losses looking to hopefully get to 100 next year as senior year he's a two-time district place winner one-time District Champion two-time region qualifier onetime region
place winner and a onetime state qualifier fire as well as a one-time Cape Atlantic League winner uh so with that we're going to bring up Vince [Applause] blman and last but not least we're going
to bring up coach moriello uh back on January 18th coach moriello won his 350th career win as a head wrestling coach here at Hamilton High School uh it's a it's a big achievement and uh you know we're very
proud of you and everything you've done for the wrestling program uh we're looking forward to more continued success moving forward and we just wanted to present something for you tonight as a little graduat to congratulations coach me [Applause]
and uh with that I just want to wish all uh spring athletes and coaches best of luck in the spring season thank you job you well first thank you I did not know that was going to happen but I certainly appreciate it thank you very much uh thank you Board of Education Mr Ramsey
Mr Sako for honor our wrestlers tonight uh congratulations Shane Luke and V on your amazing accomplishments as discussed by Mr Sako I wanted to quantify for you the the season well career but the season that these three had uh we had 22 other wrestlers compete
for us at the varsity level this year and combined for 202 wins these three combined for 110 themselves uh so just an impressive impressive season uh out of all three all three were voted captains by their teammates for their on
and off the M contributions to the program very proud to announce that both Shane and Luca plan to attend Belmont Abbey College to continue their wrestling careers next year and Vincent only a junior will return to lead the team chase down 100 career wins and
hopefully District region and possibly state titles uh thank you and best of luck to all three of you moving forward uh I didn't this isn't in here but thank you for recognizing uh my personal accomplishments I appreciate that it's all uh you know because of the kids and
20 years them making that commitment so I'm very very fortunate for that uh and it's real honor to be able to coach young men who exemplify what it means to be a great student athlete and that's what these guys are so thank you thank you very much coach congratulations to you and to
your to the wrestlers show tonight uh certainly at a time when high school wrestling is spending a lot of time in the in the news uh perhaps in a negative way it is nice to see our students display the Excellence that they're known for across South Jersey uh I
myself have seen I know a lot of board members spend time at our matches Home and Away uh in fact most wrestling matches I've gone to there have been two or three board members in each one and so I pay close attention to the not only the wrestlers when they're on the mat
but also what goes on on the sidelines and in the gym and it's really good to see the the boys cheering for each other and staying focused on suppor in one another and just it says a lot we run a really good program here and Coach Morello and Mr Sako do a really good job
of instilling that in the wrestlers and that goes a long way and really uh sets the standard especially when we're on the road and we're at other schools and so I just want you to know from the board's perspective that doesn't go unnotice and the last thing I'll offer as a again from the board's perspective
and as a parent of a youth wrestler uh many nights when you guys when there's matches home matches going on in in gym a youth wrestling practice is happening in the in the wrestling room um and so to the wrestlers that are here tonight if you don't think that the younger boys
in elementary school boys and girls in elementary school that wrestle know who you are they know exactly who you are they see your picture in the paper they see you on Instagram and in these different places they know your record they know that you're that you went to States they know they came to watch uh
they know exactly what you're about and when you win and all the things so it matters to them and that's a that's a really good thing um as a high school student to be able to inspire younger wrestlers so I'm proud of you all for being able to do that as well so again
thank you all for your contribution we appreciate [Applause] it Mr Doo makes a good good point that we should also congratulate the parents of our wrestlers tonight with special
emphasis on the moms for the moms that is not an easy sport not an easy thing to be a wrestling parent it's not an easy thing to watch um so is certainly not without uh sacrifice for the wrestlers themselves and their
parents certainly the schedule you keep and all the sacrifices you have to make so absolutely okay back to we'll take a quick recess if anybody wants to take some photos uh with your parents or anything or if you want to hang in for the rest of the meeting you certainly can um up to you all take a quick minute
recess and then we'll get back into the action e e come on up we are here that's right good evening everyone and congratulations again to our wrestlers and Coach Morello um our
yearly well news from the middle school now our yearly bug up or bring up your grades program sponsored by Kanas has been in full swing now for the third marking period third marking period's ending soon about April 2nd or so um students who bring up their grades or
maintain good grades will receive gift cards from Kanis about $25 each so thank you Kanas for promoting academic success we appreciate it um in February our pbsis committee hosted a trivia night
first one in a while teams of parents students and teachers competed for the trophies um Mr valard did a great job mcing the event we didn't make a lot of money off of it but we had a lot of fun um on February 11th the acua visited HMS
to educate our students on Recycling and showed videos and pictures of the recycling and waste treatment process um our go green dance was the success our middle school students uh celebrated Valentine's Day wearing red line dancing
and having fun a book fair was held also during the uh end of February and it's getting to be the that time we had eighth grade graduation pictures this week um our students were dressed up and ready to smile for the cameras and preparation for their graduation we had
a sixth grade leadership exchange was also held in late February um Dr F Frank renesi um facilitated the activities between our school and Waterford sixth graders so new friendships were
forged um speaking of Waterford our band in course also took took a trip up the pike or down the pike to visit Waterford sixth graders um to perform and build interest in our programs so that when their sixth graders come here they could
already you know begin uh taking our classes here so Mr McLaughlin and Miss Arsenal did a great job um student council sponsoring a St Patrick's Day dance tomorrow night should be a fun time and I'm also happy to invite everyone to our upcoming Play Matilda
junor next Thursday and Friday oh no not next Thursday March 27th to 28th our talented casts and advisers have been working hard in preparation for opening night hope to see everyone there thanks thank you all right next up from the Warr soy
Elementary School Dr T the hold on okay good evening everyone so news from the elementary school our second grade students had many hearts smiling during their annual happy Hearts program they
recited heartfelt poems sang Sweet songs All About Love students also wrote their very own in their very own words about how we can show love what love means and how love can change the world it was a celebration of love that's left everyone
with a happy heart West Renaissance is in full swing we had Valentine Bingo grades students in grades 2 to five participated with the respective grade level winners had the opportunity to choose prizes uh Renaissance rock stars were
recognized one outstanding student her home room was honored for demonstrating respect responsibility and kindness throughout the marking period and additionally we acknowledge uh the gold medal table winners classes that exhibit
excellent behavior during indoor and outdoor recess as well as lunch are nominated as the best bunch at lunch and receive a gold medal the class that collects the most gold medals by the end of the marketing period earn a piece of party during lunch
students from Mr mtio Burnham and copena classes in collaboration with Animal Aid USA and local animal sheltered shelters sponsored a pet food and supply donation drive from February 18th to March 7th this drive aimed to support the
increasing demand for supplies and animal shelters and rescues the initiative encouraged students to contribute pet supplies such as food toys and bedding while fostering a sense of community and compassion our Greenhouse is open and
the fifth grade students are busy planting for the upcoming season we all look forward to their annual Mother's Day sale of Bas one Bonas also I'd like to formally thank the Hampton rotary club for their generous donation that helps to provide students with these
invaluable handson and ongoing learning experiences last Thursday night we hosted our annual family reading night Miss Dr s will'll talk more about that I did want to focus on our uh Scholastic Book Fair an annual event that is
planned and facilitated by our very own Miss Britain media specialist she does just an outstanding job of managing this huge production from beginning to end pleased to report that our total sales were $
34,2 1482 cents and it was our biggest year yet on in addition we raised 4,400 $ 7167 through our dollar drive and spent the funds at the fair on books to give away to students for summer reading we
used Scholastic dollars and a $2500 private donation from Mr cairy during the fair 2 purchased books for students so every student received books we purchased books for the Early Childhood Center we bought books for classroom
libraries of new teachers and added additional books to our vending machine I can't say enough about Miss Britain for her attention and dedication to this project it just gets better and better each year and we thank her for all of it
and finally this year our musical theater Academy proudly presents Little Mermaid Jr West students from grades 2 through five have had rehearsed on Mondays and Tuesdays for eight weeks to present a journey under the sea with
Ariel and her friends friends from classic literature to the academy award-winning film and Broadway musical Ariel's undersea Adventure is a beautiful love story for the ages the theater Academy will present Little Mermaid Jr to the West student body they
did today and will tomorrow and there will be a culminating parent show on March 18th at 4 p.m. so we hope to see you there thank you thank you all
right come on over good evening some updates from the ecec last week was our annual read Across America celebration at ECE and West this week always goes hand inand with Dr susu's birthday on March 2 and
special activities take place through the week we had special dress up days inspired by Dr Seuss books many guest readers in both schools visited classrooms to share their favorite books and on Thursday evening we had our annual family reading night at the West
School it's always nice to see so many families come to celebrate reading and this year we had a whopping 1300 students and families in attendance so special thanks to Renee Clark the family reading night chairperson and the many
volun teers in both buildings for planning such a wonderful um evening with activities and making it so memorable for our students of course the culminating event of last week for the ECE was our first
grade production of a salute to Seuss which took place on Friday and it was another fabulous performance our first graders worked very hard from the first practice had some additional Psalms to learn this year but all their hard work showed during their formal performances
for both students and families they had a total of four performances so they hung in there and did a wonderful job great job first graders and thank you also to our first grade teachers who go above and beyond by not just managing students during the um play but also
participating with students and that makes a huge difference for students so thank you first grade teachers and of course um a big thank you to our wonderful music teacher Mr anuga who directs the show every year and I know
this show was extra special for him because it was his last Seuss production with his retirement just a few months away so we thank Mr anuko for his dedication and for providing our students with an outstanding music
education in Hamilton for the past 43 years so congratulations Mr anuko on your retirement our student a visit from the dentist at Advanced cosmetic dentistry in hamton for National dental month in
February they presented a fun engaging Dental assembly um students learned about healthy habits and all students received toothbrushes floss and sand timers to take home so thank you so much to Advanced cosmetic dentistry and also
to our nurses Miss Patton and Miss Christopher for organizing this assembly finally we have had a visit from Ashley and Joe di austino from JD strength training in Hampton they set up an obstacle course and exercise class for our preschool students and this was
a fun engaging way for students to conclude their unit of study on exercise and apply their learning so thank you Ashley and Joe and thanks also to Miss Thompson for planning this experience thank you thank you all
right next we'll go to board member we'll start to my left good evening everybody uh last week student council officers met with Mr matina to discuss some potential um end of year events uh not just for the
upcoming month uh but for the days right before graduation um especially for our seniors um and outside of that there are a couple of other happenings uh in Hamington uh we have the upcoming Mr
Hamington show which is is on April 10th I believe uh which is going to be just an amazing night to watch so definitely come out to that if you're interested and uh yeah that's all I have to report all right Mr FAL will you be
attending the senior trip next week uh fortunately I will be in attendance so you will be okay so any raise your hand if uh a do weip anybody need a do brought back one two three four five six we'll get you some dry ice
tury if you if you figure out how to bring the V wh back we'll talk okay we on a list they have these things called cronuts there really good too yeah right yeah listen I'd love to bring back some goet but I think that TSA would not be happy with me if I try
so right we'll talk to Mr matina as well okay now we got that covered he hello um so for the Safety and Security committee meeting um that we had um I just have an update on the AI policy it's still currently being reviewed uh
we should have some additional information on that in the near future um obviously the student safety is the main priority on that so it's it's just um taking its time there so um in addition the cameras in this school district are being upgraded um to increase campus monitoring and make sure
uh everyone is safe or safer with the new cameras um I did attend the labor um unionid presentation uh here as well um the committee at the high school is called students at risk and uh one of
their priorities is to explore career options for students who are not going to college uh I'm a big fan of having options for students graduating high school uh not every child is college material and I believe they need to explore additional opportunities such as the trade with that being said I wanted
to thank the chair of the student at risk committee Mr angelosi for reaching out to the laborers and Union uh Representatives and having them come in and speak um I think it was really amazing there that the kids enjoyed it and engaged um I'm looking forward to more of those um maybe uh other
presentations in the future or the near future uh as an animal lover um I wanted to uh say great job to Mrs deao Mrs Burnham uh and Mrs Filipino in their class for uh all the pet supply and food drive donations received I think that's
wonderful and I commend them and shout out to all the parents who came and read uh in honor of readed Across America I think that was great all that participation and congratulations to our wrestlers that's all I have all right thank you good evening uh tonight on
page eight number 46 you will see uh new hires and positions that we are going to be um filling this evening um as everyone has heard Mrs pryan is retiring and we wish her well Carissa
Rose is going to be replacing Mrs pyman and um she will be ative as of what July June June June June 1 I'm sorry uh Richard Cody is going to be our new director of
operations and uh we are looking forward to working with him he will be in that new position on July 1st so we're happy about that Alysa bamy has completed everything that she needed to do to um get her credits for the music teacher
and um she did a great job she did a wonderful job with the play uh it was really very very uh good salute to him to um the USA it was great Kathleen
Barka is going to replace Mr anuka as of May 21st she will be the music uh teacher of the elementary school Christina Donal is going to be replacing Su chica with Mr Ramsey and
marisel will be replacing paulio in that superintendent's office so we wish them well we welcome them and looking forward to a job well done by them tonight is the opening night of our school play Little Shop of hars um I
believe it's tonight tomorrow night and Saturday night so if you have a chance it's always always does a great job and it's always a great a great performance um we will be posting for a speech
pathologist we will be um also looking into summer curriculum hours and summer programs and um one of the things that I wanted to bring up that I think I I kind of mentioned at um
curriculum last year I noticed a graduation you mentioned this also with uh Vicky uh we had several young people that are joining the armed forces and you always see um which is fine the student
athletes that accepted into colleges and get scholarships and we have Signing Day for them I would like to know if we could possibly have a signing day for those people that are going into the military you know have them come in whatever you know have May the arts
department make a logo whatever forces they're going into and take their picture it's a big big under you know for them to do it's it's it's very courageous and you know I wish them well
and I'm not even sure how many there are if there are any but I think maybe that is something we want it's a big undertaking and I think that um we should do everything we can to support them so we might discuss that comme
again and uh it for me thank you right Mr oh thank you good evening uh I too would also like to congratulate all of our wrestlers and also coach marello uh along with all of our new
hires out here uh from the buildings grounds and Transportation uh have a quick little report uh last week our turf Stadium Field lighting was completed ahead of schedule within the budget we actually have them turned on tonight
for the first time to see how they look following the uh the board meeting so if anybody wants to take a swing them through the parking lot feel free that's what I'm going to do and I'm sure a couple other of us will be doing um our Engineers have developed a plan for the
new hybrid field that you've heard us talk about uh and we'll be uh digging test pits at the proposed location starting tomorrow uh we will ensure for a speedy process and hope to have this field and project complete by
August um I would yet again like to thank Mr Robert cairy for his generosity and dedication uh to this town uh more specifically the school district uh not only has Mr caair donated a uh bathroom
facility to us and then he painted it all our school colors and had everything uh refreshed on it uh but now he's actually has his company out here um installing this uh unit for us um and when I say installing it this is all
free of charge uh by the way I mean not just like installing he is he's running sewer electric water lines pouring a concrete pad for this uh unit to sit on with a walkway going to it leading from one of our other walkways I mean it's
just it's incredible and uh it's just amazing what he does uh for this town and this school district and um you know we cannot thank him enough and um that that's all I have to report for this evening right thank
you Mr fo next Mr CA thank you Mr President uh you heard from Michelle keny tonight our school board representative uh the strategic planning is something we haven't done for a while glad to have the school boards Association on board um the first meet we've been meeting as a committee and
some board members but the first meeting for the public is March 24th at 700 p.m. right here at the high school in the cafeteria will be um so I encourage there's an ad in the Gazette this week I encourage the public to come out and they're the stakeholders of this so you know tell us what they think
about the district and what direction they would like to see the district going uh other than the next meeting then will be there's three meetings the next one will be April 29th and then May 19th so and there will be a progression at each meeting so it's not going to be the same thing over and over again so so
it'll formulate with the May 19th meeting and then the board will get together and discuss what the stakeholders recommended and wanted to do so this could be very uh fruital for the school so I look forward to getting into the process that's all I have
tonight thank you uh coach should beon thank you for that um I'll be repeating everything in my report since it's already been said but real quick the amton High School spring
musical Little Shop of Faris will be from March 13th to the 15th uh I believe we mentioned the senior trip will be from March 17th to the 21st they will be visiting Cabana Bay Resort well they're staying at Cabana
Bay Resort correct and they'll be visiting Universal Studios and Disney World the Hamilton Middle School spring musical will be from March 27th and 28th I believe that's
Matilda I also like to thank Mr caair for uh providing books at the book fair for all West students he also donated as Mr Coya stated uh and installed the
restrooms behind the varsity uh Baseball Field Sports the spring season has started March 10th for All Sports I also want to congratulate The District 31 winners Luca gunto and Vince pero
Vince poo 165 lbs and Lucas 144 PBS congratulations to our February athletes of the month Mitra Samson girls winter track and Luca Gia gunto for wrestling Mitra became the first high school girls
winter track and field athlete to qualify IFI to the meet of Champions she placed sixth the state group three championship and went on the place 12th overall in the entire State at the meet of Champions in the shop Hut Luca is a
three-time Division champion four-time Regional place winner and two-time state qualifier and has 142 wins as we mentioned earlier uh which is the most in school history on Sunday March 1st Anthony
lakovic competed in the meat of Champions and came in second with a throw of 62 feet 6 Ines he was the top South Jersey athlete that Mark is the new School record and was also in the
top 20 in the United States uh also congratulations to Shane way on his 100th career win in wrestling and Aubrey Smith placed 26th in the state in the girls
Bowling Championship and that's all I have can I just add one thing while he's on Sports I forgot um Kylie Kowski was U nominated for First Team
all Camp atantic league in basketball so congratulations congratulations that was great uh I guess I wanted to comment and thank Dr radeski uh for the for Hamington
Middle School hosting the leadership uh committee uh my son is on that for AO he came home and would not stop talking about it Mom they've got this club they've got that club I can do this I can do that how many can I sign up for it so he did have a blast I know you
know I heard a lot of positive feedback so thank you I love that we do this give them an early start kind of getting to you know their their future classmates sorry talk with my hands with their future classmates and everything um and
I also want to thank you for letting that the band come down I got Brave reviews from my son from that too so you know I appreciate everything and thank you for the hospitality and for traveling down the pike and um our next
board meeting is the 19th at 7 o'cl and that concludes my report all right uh I just want to give a shout out to all the staff at West each year they outdo themselves with family reading night I know the preparation that goes
on behind the scenes has been many years going on it gets bigger and bigger every year and Sean enjoy your trip thank you much have safe travels thank you Mr SPS um okay from the board finance committee you'll see on the addendum tonight the
board will will introduce our budget for the fiscal 2526 school year um this is the first of two opportunities where the board votes on the budget tonight's first vote sends the budget to the county office for technical review uh the board does have the opportunity to
make amendments and changes to certain aspects of the budget in between the two meetings uh to be determined if we will make any changes right now um if you look at the figures from last year this year you'll notice that a lot of the
state a categ ories from year to year really change uh the governor and the state legislature often will change the different categories of Aid and they'll increase decrease and or zero out certain categories of aid for this particular year our general state aid is
down about 400,000 our preschool Aid is up about 900,000 uh but our Equalization Aid is also down right so what do all those things mean all those things mean that we need to continue to do what we're really good at here
is being mindful about what we spend and looking for ways to find efficiency and optimize and make sure that we are putting the money where it counts which is in classrooms every dollar that we can save on items that are not directly
impacting student education in the classroom is every every dollar we can save on things that don't impact classroom activities a dollar we can put into a book or a teacher or a piece of technology that a student is holding in their hands or or a uniform that a kid's wearing on the field of the play it's
just that simple there are places where we can save money and there are places where we need to spend money and the board works real hard with the administration to identify uh what those things look like um tonight we're moving forward with a number of hires all in concert with Mr
Ramsey's plan to position his leadership team so that we can be well suited to make the right choices and make the right decisions as we move the district forward um little a bit more about some what we're working on tonight you heard Mr P talk about the Strategic plan uh
it's really a great opportunity so please tell your friends tell your neighbors come out to the Strategic plan meeting it is a really good opportunity to get engaged and get involved have direct access to the administration and all of us to really be heard talk about that thing that's important to you that
may not get on the radar of the administration or the board something that maybe you saw at a school district across another part of the country or heard about or read about that you think would be a good thing here we want to talk to you about it right we want to understand where you're coming from we
want to hear about what we're doing well what you'd like to see more of perhaps what you'd like to see less of so definitely get engaged with strategic plan and come out um building on what Mrs bernado brought up about acknowledging our seniors that are choosing to volunteer for military
service I think that's an excellent idea um and I know Mr matine is still here I'd actually like to see us do um you know National Honor Society they host a ceremony where the students are inducted I'd like to see something similar where perhaps we can invite the students who
have agreed to join the military and invite their families out we could put something on for them have a little event let their names be read and talk about their Journey maybe what brought them to that choice and acknowledge them for their families and have a have a nice little event so hopefully we can
put something like that together I really think that would mean a lot to those students their families and the community as a whole so I'm looking forward to hoping to see if we can put something like that together um that brings me to the end of my report now we'll move to the board agenda but
before we do that we're going to go to the first public comment this is the first of two opportunities to be heard there'll be another public comment at the end okay Mr pardon pardon everyone excuse me never mind Mr is a little bit distracted
uh this evening but it's okay now we're back first two opportunities for the public to be heard step up to the microphone and give us your name and address there'll be a second chance in a few minutes seeing n we're going to close the first public portion and move into the agenda we have Finance items 1
through 24 I'll take a motion berado first first Mr Shion second roll call Mrs bernado yes Mrs Burns yes Mr qua yes Mrs Hunter yes
Woodford items one through 17 thank you Mr Pia yes Mr Shion yes Mr Scola yes Mr Lions yes motion carried next we'll entertain a motion on Personnel items 25 through 46 motion Mr COA first second
Mrs berado second all in favor or sorry roll call Mrs bernado yes Mrs Burns yes Mr qua yes Mrs Hunter yes to Woodford items 26 through 46 Mr Pia yes M Mr Shion yes Mrs skola
yes Mr Lions yes motion Carri next we'll take a motion for program students of miscellaneous items 47 through 57 motion mrra first second Mrs schola second roll call Mrs berado yes Mrs Burns yes Mr COA
yes Mrs Hunter yes Mr Pia yes Mr chipon yes Mrs skola yes Mr Lions yes motion carried next we'll move to the board addendum I'll take a motion for finance items number 58-
63 motion uh Mr FIA first Mrs Hunter second roll call Mrs bernado yes Mrs burn yes Mr Kya yes Mrs Hunter yes Mr Pia yes Mr shipon yes Mrs skola yes Mr
Lions yes motion carry next we're going to go to Personnel items number 64 through 66 I'll entertain a motion motion Mr COA first second Mrs bernado second roll
call Mrs berado yes Mrs Burns yes Mr Coya yes m M Hunter yes Mr Pia yes Mr chipon yes Mrs Scola yes Mr Lions yes motion carried next we'll do program students
and miscellaneous item 67 and 68 I'll entertain a motion so move second Mr shabon first Mrs Burns second roll call Mrs bernado yes Mrs Burns yes Mr Kya yes
Mrs Hunter yes Mr FIA yes Mr shipon yes Mrs Scola yes Mr Lions yes motion carried now this is the second public comment this is the second opportunity for anybody in the audit who wish us to be heard come up to the microphone and give us your name and address and you
can speak to the board so if anybody wants to come on up face I'd like to say thank you for the past 27 years in the wood shop it's been an amazing experience I look forward to to being the next director of operations it's going to be a great
experience I'm humbled I'm very thankful and I just wanted to come up and say thank you so much thank you thank you thank you Mr Cody hi everyone I'm Carissa Rose I will be your next business administrator I know I have some big shoes to fill I'm looking forward to working with hamon so
thank you I appreciate it [Applause] hi everyone I'm Kathleen Bara I was just hired as her new ECC music teacher and fourth and fifth grade band teacher and I'm really excited and thankful for this opportunity to spread my love of music to the students of Hamilton thank
[Applause] you great see anyone else coming up in in the public session I see Mr Marino from Town Council here hon us that he's here with us um seeing anything else I'll close the public
portion I'll take a motion to adjourn motion Mr P M Hunter all in favor hi post turn thank you everybody