Welcome to a meeting of the Hunter Central Regional High School Board of Education. Please be advised that this and all meetings of the board are open to the public in the media, consistent with the open public meetings act, and that advanced notice required therein has been provided. Meeting notice was
also posted on the district website in the boardroom of the upper school campus sent to the New Jersey Herald Tap into and sent to the clerks of Delaware Township, East Amwell Township, Flemington Burough, Rariton Township, and Readington Township. The public will have the opportunity to be heard as
shown on the agenda. Roll call. Miss Stokes. Miss Bryce here. Miss Gong >> here. Dr. Halpern >> here. >> Miss Laccasta >> here. >> Mrs. Rodell >> here. >> Mrs. Santangelo >> here. >> Ms. Wallace.
>> Reverend Williams >> here. >> And Mrs. Kellogg >> here. >> Thank you. >> Please rise for this pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. >> Dr. Halper, would you read the mission statement? >> Yes. >> Central is an innovative educational community microphone.
100 Central is an innovative educational community dedicated to the intellectual, social, and emotional safety and growth of all students. While fostering curiosity and promoting wellness, we aspire to create powerful learning experiences, establish strong partnerships, and serve as contributing
members of society. May I have a motion to approve um the June 8th minutes and the June 15th minutes? A motion to approve those minutes. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion? >> Miss Stokes, may I have a roll call?
>> Miss Bryce, sorry, this is going to be a little complicated. um June 8th, yes to executive session one minutes and yes to all of the regular minutes except for the final motion because I was not
present for either of those things. Um and yes to all of the June 15th minutes. >> Miss Gong, >> yes to all. >> Dr. Halpern, >> yes to all. Miss Laccasta.
>> Yes. For June 8th, I was not present after that. >> Mrs. Rothell, >> uh, I will abstain from both. Mrs. Santangelo, >> yes.
Do you want to abstain from June 15th? You weren't retreat. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, I abstain. I'm sorry. >> That's okay, Reverend Williams. >> Abstain from June 8th. Uh yes for June 15. >> Okay. Thank you. And Mrs. Kell, >> yes.
>> Thank you. Motion carries. >> Thank you. Um we are going to convene into executive session um spec specifically to discuss HIP cases pending and anticipated litigation and negotiation. Um may I have a motion to
convene into executive session? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay, thank you. All right. Um, can I have a motion to reconvene into open session?
>> Motion. >> Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Um, so we have three items of correspondence on the agenda today. correspondence is
on file with the board secretary. Um, and I will jump into the president's report. Um, unfortunately this last month we've tragically lost three members of the 10 central family that I'd like to acknowledge. Austin Nace,
who is class of 2023. Austin loved life, but more than that, he loved people. He loved us. And because of how he shined into our lives, we're able to experience the world, at least for a moment, the way he did, seeing the adventure in every moment we are blessed with. Jason
Blanco was class of 2024. Jason cherished spending time with his family and his friends. He had a passion for the culinary arts and his dream was to become a professional chef. He also loved writing and spent countless hours writing stories and reflections about
his life. Bruce Davidson was a member of the Hunter Central Regional High School Board of Education from 2020 to 2023. Bruce retired at age 65, but threw himself back into his community, getting elected to the Raron Township School
Board, ultimately serving as president and then going on to serve the 10 Central Regional High School Board of Education from 2020 to 2023. Bruce demonstrated his passion for learning and challenged the district to be more personalized and impactful for every
student. Please join me in a moment of silence. Thank you. On June 15th, the board held a retreat to discuss and develop goals for both the board and the district for the 2026 2027 academic year. Our conversation was
shaped by what we've learned working together this year, as well as the district strategic plan, action plans, demographic study, and the results of the climate and culture survey. I'd like to thank our community members for taking the time to share their thoughts and perspectives through the strategic
planning process and the survey. Their input played an important role in our discussions. I'd also like to thank Miss Kangalloi Hay for leading a thoughtful conversation about how we can create goals and meaningful measures of success and support our students and strengthen district operations.
As we work through the goal setting process, we recognize that some information such as the state assessment results is not yet available. Because of that, the board agreed that these goals should remain a living document that can be reviewed, updated,
and refined as new data becomes available. We will continue working with the administration to develop the process and schedule for sharing updates with the public along the way. So, Miss Kelsey Hayden, >> good evening everyone. Happy summer. We
have a wonderful presentation planned from Principal Brandt tonight on the 2025 2026 climate and culture survey results. So, I'm going to try and keep my report brief. Um, however, there are a few items that I want to be sure that I emphasize with you all. First, I want
to once again congratulate our 547 graduates of the class of 2026. Our graduation ceremony was on June 18th, which is one of the largest scale events in the county. Was not only well organized and executed, but also really special and memorable. It is always one
of my favorite days of the year. The weather held out for us for the most part. And our student speakers highlighted the importance of each graduate continuing on their journey and keeping in mind the lessons, both instructional lessons and ones they learned between classes to
continue to put themselves in the best position possible to succeed and to lead. It was a great inspiration to take us into the summer months. I also appreciate that so many of you were able to attend. So, thank you. And some of you also had graduates, so congratulations.
And last, but certainly not least, I also want to thank all of our folks involved in planning this ceremony. There are too many to list, but I would like to at least mention offices, our principal and vice principal team, house office staff, counselors, operations, communications, technology, and all of
our staff who helped at that day. This really takes a full team effort. This summer, although our hallways and classrooms are certainly less busy, our summer our leadership team, excuse me, and our other 12-month staff members have been busy preparing for the school year. We are a few weeks into our summer
courses and our extended school year program. And our freshman tours began last week. It has been so nice to see our incoming freshmen in the halls. Our freshman orientation will take place on August 26th with school starting for students on Wednesday, September 2nd.
Our leadership team has been working through summer projects, many of which derive from our strategic plan, which is on the agenda for your official approval tonight. Our 2026 2027 district goals as well as the board goals are on the agenda for approval tonight. as well. As
you know, as we continue to review climate and culture survey results and assessment data, when we finally get it, we will work collaboratively to ensure metrics associated with each goal statement are reflective of the feedback and results we've received as well as the strategic plan.
I do have one additional update as school districts in the state continue to get information on this item. As you know, the state legislature passed a law regarding internet enabled devices in schools early this calendar year. This was commonly referred to as the cell
phone ban, although I do believe that is a mis a misnomer. The law essentially mandated that the New Jersey Department of Education create age appropriate guidance regarding the use of students internet enabled devices in school. Since the release of the guidance, there
have been multiple questions raised from districts all over the state, including this district regarding the logistics of enacting the guidance. We have just received some clarification and with that we have received an updated policy from our policy vendor Strauss SME on
internetable enabled devices. The most critical part of this policy will be enforcing a no-use rule from bell to bell with bellto bell being defined as the start of the school day to the end of the school day. This includes between classes and during lunch for us as a
large high school with a 72 acre campus. This does present some challenges. We will be working through those and I anticipate that we'll have a first reading on the revised policy next month. Principal Brandt will also be sharing some further information from the climate and culture survey and our
stakeholder takeaways from the use of cell phones in school. Also on the agenda tonight is our usual HIP and suspension report. The HIPS um were presented to you during executive session last month. And lastly, before I conclude my report, I would like to echo Mrs. Kellogg's comments and acknowledge
the passing of two of our young alumni, Jason Blanco, class of 2024 and Austin Nace, class of 2023. Our school community is grieving together as we remember these two young men. Both of them have had such a positive impact on the students and staff here. So much so
that we can distinctly remember each of their smiles from class in the hallways, their laughter, and truly their kindness. So on behalf of the board of education and our entire school community, we extend our heartfelt condolences to their families and loved ones. Thank you. And now I'm going to
transition into our presentations. Um I would like to ask Mr. Brandt to come forward and recognize two students tonight. And Mrs. Kellogg and I will also join you and then Mr. Brandt will continue with a presentation of the 2025 2026 climate and culture survey results.
>> All right. Well, thank you very much. Um and thank you for those comments too about uh both, you know, the graduation and also um the losses that we had. Uh we could talk another time about that, but truly was a hit to our community and um and thank you for those comments. So
the first part of my presentation here is I'm going to recognize two of our students, one a former student officially now and one a current student uh for some of their outstanding work in the community. So again, as principal Hunter Central, I'm proud to recognize two students. The first one is one of
our recent graduates, Brandon Delidrios. So Brandon, come on up. Uh Brandon is a member of the class of 2026, just graduated over a month ago. He was a senior class council president, also served as an excellent MC at the
graduation ceremony this past June. But Brandon is being recognized for initiating and leading a nonprofit organization with the goal of providing proper vision care to children. Yes, I said initiating and leading a nonprofit
organization. That nonprofit is See the World Foundation. Actually, you can turn around. [laughter] I noticed that walking in. You can turn back around now, Brandon. Sorry. Um, that nonprofit is See the World Foundation. It has chapters here in New
Jersey as well as in Georgia. Um, in a recent article by Audrey Blumberg, Brandon stated that he chose the name See the World Foundation because vision care is about more than physically seeing. children can lose confidence, struggle in school, and feel limited
um before they even have a chance to grow. So, and and Brandon and with some other uh students here took the initiative to create this. So, on behalf of Superintendent Kangelosi hate and the rest of the Hunter Essential community, I commend you for focusing your efforts
on making a positive impact to those around you. I wish you good luck with the growth of the foundation and your own personal success. Thank you, Brandon. >> [applause] >> Congrats. The second student is rising senior Elizabeth Kellogg. Liz, come on up.
Elizabeth is a member of the girls basketball team and an active member of the class of 2027. But this past spring semester, Elizabeth was one of only 30 pages in the United States Senate. There are only 30 pages that serve 100 senators. And she worked very closely
with New Jersey Senator Andy Kim. So pages are expected to demonstrate maturity, personal responsibility, and time management while playing an important role in the daily operations of the Senate. Those roles consist of delivering correspondence and
legislative materials within the Capitol and Senate office buildings, preparing the chamber for Senate sessions, and working on the Senate floor. Elizabeth lived in Washington DC for six months with the other pages where she learned firsthand the processes that are all a
part of the Senate. Elizabeth observed major legislation and national decisions, was able to meet the Artemis 2 astronauts. That would have been awesome. Um, saw the monks walk for peace and watch the gold medal US uh men's hockey team get
honored down in DC. So, we're excited to have you back here at Hunter and Central for your senior year, and we look forward to learning from you and your experiences with the Senate. Congratulations. [applause] I'm sure. All right, shifting gears here. Um,
[clears throat] so I've been fortunate, I guess, for the last number of years, uh, to stand before you and and provide information and findings from our climate and culture survey that we push out and invite students, staff, and families to
complete every spring. Um and tonight July 20th, I'm going to present a little little different point of view if you would or approach this year compared to previous years. Um this is just a a repeat of a slide from previous years
with with adding the fact that um we did have four straight years from 2122 through 2425 of a very common survey uh provided to you know all three of those populations of our school. Um but uh we made it some
changes to questions this past year but we also made a significant change to the liyker scale. So the liyker scale items those previous years had a five-point scale and we we changed it uh based on feedback uh to a four-point scale which is uh valuable in a sense but at the
same time it makes it very difficult to compare. So and there are items that have been changed as well. Um but so I'm pointing that out. still of course compare if anybody knows the competitive side of me always always always checking the stats. Um this gives you a little
idea of um some of the data as far as who completed the survey and who were the focus groups that took a look at it. So um this past year it was it was provided in March um and in and you see
the number of students there were 945 students who completed it and in the bracket there I have the number of students completed it the year before. I'll be honest with you that one jumped out at me in the fact that this was the first year that we had a dedicated block
for students to complete it all of them. Previous years, we tried to take advantage of during some of the NJGPA testing when maybe the 11th graders were taking the test, but ninth, 10th, and 12th graders had some time. Um, oddly enough, we changed it so that it wasn't
during testing and when all students could take it, and we actually had fewer. I don't know if it's survey fatigue or what. Um, we also did have the and I'm I'm guessing this might be an answer. We also had this year the um
taking the poll surveys that our um student board members were sending out and we had three of those throughout the year. So by this time they already had a number of surveys given. I don't know if that played into it. staff members. We had 136 staff members um complete the
surveys and 168 um parents or guardians complete the survey. Again, all three of those areas down from previous years. However, I felt like this year we devoted more time to it and more um advertising and encouragement to take
it. But nonetheless, uh we still have um a good portion of and a lot of good data This slide briefly kind of walks through what we did with each set of data. Uh so for example um there was a student focus
group and that was a group of student representatives from all four grade levels that met with the superintendent myself once a month and they helped design uh some of the pro some of the prompts going into it. Um and I can point out a couple of them when we get
there. They took a look at the initial results. They also reviewed the AI generated themes if you would and then they identified themes themselves in breakout groups. That same thing happened and the same pattern took place with the parent engagement committee. Um
also our school improvement panel the skip uh they also reviewed it and did the same thing. And then with [clears throat] all three of those entities pushing information in, the administration took um that information
from all three groups and compiled their own. And you can see some of the common intersections of focus and some that were separate um and that that led us to um what I'm going to share out some of the things today.
So one of the things that um again made it difficult in comparison you know oranges to oranges if you would totally is the fact that a number of the prompts or questions changed and the liyker scales changed. So instead um I decided
to take a different approach in this presentation yet we still have data. So each of those groups, the skip, the parent engagement committee, and the student representatives, one of the things that uh a tool we used over the
past few years actually, and it's been helpful is this chart. And what this chart does is it forces you to take a look at what those identified areas either in need or we thought there'd be more growth in this but there wasn't or
things that maybe were tied to um this the district's strategic planning as well. And what we did was we identified whether this was something that can be done immediately like this summer or in the short term or it's a big nugget that's going to take a number of years.
And then we identified who the core people were um core focus. So was it a student focused item? Was it a staff focused item? Was it a family community item or was a whole whole community? So um we each of those entities provided a
lot of input in this format and the administration then took a look at all those to see where was their common overlap. Those were the kind of obvious things to jump on and where were some of the ones that maybe we didn't expect. maybe just from being here day in day out that one jumped out at you like I wasn't expecting that. So I bring that
up to give you a sense of um how I'm approaching this. I also noticed um that in putting this together really it ended up being four major areas that for me putting this
together um or four major themes. The first theme was in safety and building operations. and I'll touch on that first. The second uh theme was in teaching and learning. The third theme was community and belonging. And the fourth theme was support and growth of
the staff. And the idea of two of and when I get to that, I'll point out more, but you know, um the better we support and grow the staff, the better they're going to be able to handle the and help us collectively those other three areas. So, give you a sense in the top left,
you can see that little chart. uh minimized it a bit and um this first set of statements if you would um are under the umbrella of safety and building operations and these are things that we we feel are immediate both and they deal
with students and staff um as a focus. Also what I did was um I I put on each of these slides statements that were either generated by the AI generation of all the qualitative data um or also if
it's not in italics then I point out here are statements made from those focus groups and then I put them together. So for example, safe learning environment, the AI generated, you know, a significant portion of student body reports that they feel safe across this
campus. Um, facility maintenance and bathrooms. That was a theme that definitely came up. We've discussed it before as well. A recurring theme in the feedback is that for cleaner, better stocked, and more accessible bathroom facilities, um, having them unlocked during passing
times is an issue. also the student focused group and staff focus group. They pointed out an increase of staff ability so students can go to the laboratory outside of class time. This past year I feel and um
we did an excellent job of having the bathrooms unless there was an issue in you know an operational issue in the laboratory open during those four class times. um all throughout the building um and also single-use opportunities throughout the campus as well. An area
that we started to improve upon and increase more um based on the feedback of those pulse surveys, for example, is increasing the number of lavatories during lunch. And I say that there um not that that we didn't want them open in the beginning, but we're here during
lunch duty. They the ones that were open weren't being used that often. Um but the feedback from the students was that maybe we don't realize they're open also. So the students for example made a commercial for the morning announcements where they were open and we also opened
more of them. Um so that basically all the lavatories that are on that first floor of each building and in here in the IMC are open during launch where um there's other areas that they were closed but those are also areas that students weren't permitted to be in
during unit launch anyway. where we do want to uh push out and I'd like to push out too going into this new school year is prior to school, you know, students get dropped off from the buses um about 20 minutes before home room. So to give them an opportunity then and also block
five and and um I need to do a better job of collaborating with our athletic program to make sure that you have coaches for example who are also um taking care of um block five tutorial and their their athletes, student athletes are wanting to get changed. So
um I need to help um complement that if you would. Um, also in this and superintendent, you mentioned this too, the alignment of student policy applications. This one here um, screamed loudly both with the AI but also from
the students and staff. Over the past number of years, we knew that um, we had the policy that during class time the cell phones were away, but we left it up to the individual classroom teachers on how they did that. the feedback this
past year both from the teachers through the skip and also the students is that that's all fine and dandy but you know what we really just need one way one consistent way. So that's something right there pointing out in that last um statement there phone expectations need
to be clarified and uniform a mandate from administration that everyone adheres to. So that's an example of the one um category or theme. And here are some uh data points. And understand this
presentation could be three hours long if we wanted it to be. Uh and it's not going to be. Um so I picked and cherrypicked a few of those data points that align to them. So for example, we have a question on this survey of uh
which locations do you feel unsafe? And um there are a number of options, but one of those options is I feel safe in all locations. Um and I'm happy to say that that was 78% of the students said they felt safe in all locations and that
was an increase from 65% previous year. Um there is a difference however with um the parents. So the the parents are stating at a higher percentage um or actually a lower percentage. it was a higher percentage last year of how they
perceived their students feeling unsafe in all areas. So I'm curious as to the difference there. Um one of the items was I feel the students at central help each other when needed and then it goes back to safety and security of the location of the of the plant and happy
to say there 76% of the students were in the top two of those four areas in the liyker scale. two questions also that deal with safety and security and they were focused on HIV or I should just say harassment, intimidation and bullying in general. One item was have you
experienced harassment, intimidation and bullying bullying in person at school and the other one was online. Um and I I personally found it interesting that the the number of students or percentage of
students who did not experience at all online was higher than in person. I quite honestly I suspected it was going to be reverse. I am happy to say it is good to see that you know over 70% in both categories didn't experience at
all. Um that I would say also quite frankly surprised me. Um not that I expect more bullying and harassment going on but um it is good to see the conversations that we have from day one with the students both in whole group and in classes. Um there is a difference
there. The next category and this category here focuses on teaching and learning. Um and again these are all just bits and pieces that I I thought were items that um jumped out. they were in common in all
three of those focus groups and also things that we're jumping on and looking in uh working on going into the new year. The top uh three here were AI generated. It pointed out that we do have a diverse academic opportunities and for the most part um the students
and the parents feel the same way. They also feel that the u supports are present. Um however you know and tutorial is one that uh people felt um very strongly about but we also had points made that it makes it difficult
sometimes for students who are involved in other things or have to go home with the first bus and tutorial is not something that's available to all. So moving forward that's an area that we want to focus on. Uh and the bottom two were areas of the
um as far as teaching and learning that were feedback from the students um and parents that looking for an increase in the frequency and consistency of updating grades and feedback for assessments. So that's an area that um moving into this uh school year we look
to improve upon. also better clarity in expectations. Um which is interesting because one of the um data points is that was an area of strength but it still jumped out um from the students and taking a look at the results. So some of the slides um some of the pie
charts here that um came about this first group were student results and one how effectively do teachers communicate their expectations to you. You know 66 or uh twothirds of the students felt in the top two sectors
there was a strength. How often do teachers try to engage you in class? And that was a a a good robust 76%. That was one of the items that the students actually changed from previous years. We had a a an item in the survey
that was basically more of subjective. Did you find it interesting? And they felt that was too subjective depending on the class. It might be the best lesson in the world, but if you're not in into that discipline, so they they felt it was good to change it to that
the teachers try to engage you uh in class. How often do classroom assignments and activities help? again 70% I thought that was an excellent outcome. How frequently are grades updated to inform you and also how often
do you receive feedback that will help uh with your learning. So those are two areas that and I put them on here again not to compare to previous years. Um but this would be good baseline data here moving forward uh because it is something that was feedback from
students and parents and it's something as administrative team we're going to work with um you know all the staff members to address this. Um this next slide here is based on uh
parent results and um happy to report out here some of the some of the feedback is very positive. Hunter and essential providing engaging learning opportunities uh that slide there on the left 88% of the parents felt yes they either agreed or strongly agreed the
academic needs of the students are being met. uh that slide on the top right there, 86% felt either agreed or strongly agree. Obviously, we would want that 100 um um but at the same time pleased to see that. And also, my
child's teachers encourage students to think critically and independently. So, that was roughly 87% felt in the top two parts of the Lyker scale. This slide then I shift a little bit here. both short-term and long-term
goals with students and staff involved. And this is more about community and belonging. So, extracurriculars definitely are a way um for students to get a bigger sense of belonging. And the AI kicked out that that was definitely a strength here and the students find
their place in school this way. Also, um impactful uh wellness initiatives. This one here focused a little bit more on some of the staff wellness um but also the importance of the student wellness and also robust extracurricular
athletic programs. Um, praise the well-rounded experiences both with the sports and clubs. Um, but there was also feedback on um I guess I would say constructive feedback on pointing out the need for upgrading some of the facilities, specifically demand for an
additional turf field. And on the bottom there, those last two areas, these are examples of areas of the students felt how can we take the needs here as far as student wellness, sense of belonging, and we can kind of really up the Annie
on um our school spirit. So, two of the areas that they pointed out were having thematic months or seasons. Um for example um in November a lot of times Thanksgiving that's the giving month emphasizing or emphasizing positive
relationships they also wanted to uh basically increase some of the good that we have to multiply it out to all students. So for example our red devil ambassadors is a great program where uh students pair up with transfer students to you know
give them basically a um a buddy. But let's let's spread that out to all students. So that's that's something that uh the students would like to really focus on moving forward. And also um they used homecoming and spirit week as an example. Make it not just one
week. Make um and make a an event for the whole weekend. We also have a lot of alumni in the area. Let's invite them back. Um colleges their homecoming is for alumni to come back. Here we quite frankly we don't do that as well. We do
that other times. Um, our college and career program invites the alumni back in December and in May to talk with our students, but to make that part of homecoming. Um, that's an idea that the students and it also came out of uh some of the work with the strategic planning.
Um, and that was one of the categories. So, here's just some of the data that again can serve as a baseline moving forward. How often do you observe students exhibiting pride? This was from staff members and it was only 55.4%
of the top two. So that's something that jumped out of me. I thought it would have been a little higher. Um overall, how much do you feel like you belong as far as the students concerned? I was pleased to see roughly 75% of the students fell in that top two area. Do
we want to improve on that? Yes. Uh but I am glad to see that the blue of of do not belong at all was was the lowest. Um on the left there you can see uh what degree are you involved in sports. Um so at least over 75% were at least a little
involved. Um but not involved at all. That's an area right there in blue uh that we felt let's tap into them. There might be a very valid reason. Um they might have work and get home um and have things to take care of at home or they might be very involved in something outside of school. and we recognized the
Eagle Scouts um a little while ago that wouldn't have fallen in this area right here. And obviously they're very involved in the community. And then um and I do like this one here. I'm proud that my child attends Hunter Central. That one right there um roughly 90% of
the parents who responded um responded with the top two areas. Again, we have um more data here. This is more on that idea of belonging and respect. How many of the staff members at Hunter Central treat you fairly and
with respect? I'm pleased to see that you know roughly 80 86 86 4.4 point4% were in that top two area. Um how much respect to other students at Central show you? That was at 63.5%.
So to me that jumps out at me that all right they're recognizing that the adults here are showing them respect. How can we get the respect um amongst the students to increase and match that? If you need to talk to somebody about your personal well-being, do you know
whom to contact or where to go? And um this obviously we want to get 100% to at least know one of the two. Um but it's good to see less than 10% said I don't know whom to contact or where to go. This is something we do quite honestly
try to um point out in the beginning of the year in our whole class meetings like very explicitly. However, it would be good possibly throughout the year to maybe you know a little did you know slide in the morning announcements of where to go for help.
And then the last group um or the last slide here if you would this is more staff focused and again shortterm and longterm. Um but I I felt it was important to put this in here not because I think if we focus also and
spent some time in these areas strengthening intentional professional learning opportunities for all staff on inclusive practices again that's that wasn't AIdriven that was driven from our focus groups of the students and staff um a platform where staff can connect
and collaborate and support one another that came right out of skip um all staff should have professional development on compassion seminars. That was an interesting one that jumped out at me and that was from our students to help um equip staff to better identify and
respond to and communicate with students in area of wellness outside of academics. Um and then lastly here, assure more availability for staff members um to provide more tier one and tier two support for learning and growth.
And again with the idea this area um if we can increase and improve the support in this area it's going to then trickle to those other areas. And here are some slides also of metrics that can serve as um baseline going into future years. How
connected do you feel? And this is now the staff members connected to other adults. And that was um roughly 75% of them um identified in those top two liyker scales. And are you satisfied
with the opportunities? Um and I have two two of them here. And the reason why is we separate the um the uh survey for staff members to be teaching staff and non-eing staff. And sometimes we and I'll catch myself of thinking that
professional development uh might be just for teaching staff but it's really for all staff here. Uh so to the good thing was um there's not a tremendous difference between the two of them. And the one area too that I put on here um
and to what extent do you feel and there's a typo on the one but do you feel that staff are supported to remain here at Central long term? And that's one there that jumped out at me that um was a little lower than I expected. But again, maybe that's something that too
as an administrator, the principal of the building, um I need to be a little more explicit in why we're identifying certain PD for staff, why we do certain things the way we do. There is a goal definitely for long-term success for our staff members here, but just like some
of those areas um I mentioned about how we need to be more explicit for students, maybe I can um you know be a better leader if you would um of the staff and be more explicit in why we identify certain
areas to help support um staff because yes, we want them here long term. they are um the people here who do the magic. Um but anyway, so those those are just some of the metrics that I thought would be worthwhile to highlight here. These
are again just some of them. Um we still have all the metrics to compare moving forward and I I can skip this for now. Um but in general, those are some of the measures and again I took a little different approach. It wasn't a comparison year to
year, but taking a look at some of the things that we're focusing on moving forward. And then here's the data that we have that can serve as a benchmark or baseline moving forward. >> Thanks for your time. >> Thank you so much, Mr. Brandt. Um, I'm
going to guess there are questions. One thing I want to point out which it's hard to present but one of the really neat things and I don't know if you remember a few months ago I was debriefing on a meeting and I think I said it's like one of the best meetings I ever attended at Hunter and Central was with our student um representatives.
They were leading us through the revision of the climate and culture survey and you know they really honed in on that sense of belonging and they said you know what like do people are we all saying the same thing when we say sense of belonging and so they put an
open-ended question they added it what does sense of belonging mean to you so um that that is the most powerful thing when when we're finally able to read that when you go through that um I ask you to please read that cuz it's really powerful and it speaks to the nuances
and people do see it differently but it it's very meaningful. So thank you for presenting and now does anyone have any questions for Mr. Grant? Go ahead Jess. >> Mr. >> A simple question really. Um I know that you mentioned you thought maybe there was some survey fatigue because those students were doing their poll surveys.
Do you have access to like how those poll surveys turned out? Is there any meaningful data that could be included in in this in some way? >> Uh sure. Um yes we did have access um one of the areas for example and um
that showed an in for example one of the areas was about the lavatories during lunch and and that feedback from the very first one poll survey you know uh we initiated change to it and and the students made a um a morning
announcement uh commercial about where the laboratories were and such and it improved Um, they also gave me anecdotal and I think you were there for this when so I changed my location for lunch duty to be near one of those bathrooms just
to unlock it, not to to be there and nobody was going and uh they're like, "Well, maybe because the principal is standing next to the bathroom." So I move. So they're like, "Great job, but move." Um, so the feedback was honest. It was good. And sure enough, I changed
my spot. we put somebody else over there and people were using the bathroom. So, um that's one of those areas there. And I think um what jumped out at me too was um in the anecdotal remarks of the lavatory for example was not during
school class times but during those either changing time before and after and lunch. Yeah. Um uh we do basically have almost all the bathrooms that are on the first floors open. Um
but I I also don't know if for example in the 910 building there's four cafeterias one of them has a bathroom right in it. So only the students in that cafeteria were using that one. Um nobody in the other cafeterias were leaving to go to use it. So um we just
have to improve. But that that was very helpful. I really enjoyed the presentation. One of the things that I think about with these surveys is that it's lovely to hear what a strong percentage of students are are feeling belonging, are feeling like they're treated well, feel
seen, and so on. But I sometimes wonder about the the the ones who answered at that lowest level. Um and whether they are students who feel that way overall or students who feel that way some about some things but maybe because they have other stuff going on in their life and
so they're not as connected to the school. But I am I am how we raise those percentages into positive means we have to know who isn't in the posit you know right >> who those students are. So, so that's an interesting thing to be able to have it.
And the change to the 4point um is is an interesting change. So, I like I like seeing that. >> Yeah, it was to me, too. And I'm looking forward to next year because the AP stats teacher and me can't wait to actually do those comparisons and see. Um, but thanks for that. Going back,
actually, if you don't mind, to the other question you had too, the the morning bathrooms was also one off of the feedback of that pulse. So, we increased the number of bathrooms open from the time the kids get off the bus and before home room. And again, that
was probably an area too that kids didn't realize it was open. Also, uh there were like the one outside the 910 house office in the 200s there was open. The kids were coming in and walking right by and then they run down to the cafeteria to see their friends. So, reminding them which ones are open is
something we got to get better at. and and for me to find a different spot. [laughter] >> Yeah. Go back outside. >> Could you just remind me are the bathrooms um in terms of being open really a function of whether you have
staff outside the bathroom or to monitor who's going into the bathroom? It is, but we do during the class times we have enough um we have enough staff members between our teachers who have a duty period and our duty release aids who can cover and
substitutes to cover that during the class times. We pretty much have them all open. The only ones that aren't open are staff bathrooms, staff only bathrooms. So, for the most part, um they are open. Okay. Thank you, Mr.
>> And I do believe you have like all the Yes. >> I just picked >> Yes, they Yes. full data. And I do it's good just for everybody to know the presentation is posted in board docs with with the agenda. So, um I just wanted you know it's hard I know it's hard to see those little charts from
there. [laughter] Um, so you could take a look in in board docs. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Turn that back on. I'm going to do the five minute timer. Remember that was a good suggestion. [laughter] >> No, that was good. So that I don't have
to turn my computer around because that's sometimes hard. I'm going to see if I can connect for the five minute timer. >> Before we do that is um this is our residents forum for action items on the agenda. So on the agenda only. Um
>> okay. So, I was going to say, so we're asking um to limit your uh comments to five minutes. Please sign in and state your name and municipality before you speak. >> Okay. It's not my favorite thing.
>> And the timer's there. Okay. Rachel White, Rariton Township. Good evening. I'm here tonight to talk about what happens when student support programs are cut and what the research tells us about the cost of that decision. Before I get into the findings, I want to be clear. This is
peer-reviewed science published in national academic journals, not opinion. The American School Counselor Association recommends one counselor for every 250 students under the assumption that those counselors are spending their time on actual counseling, not
coordinating schedules, testing, and referrals. When that standard isn't met, there's a measurable cost. A 2012 statewide study of Missouri high school students, >> Miss White. >> Yes. >> I'm sorry. Which agenda item does this refer to >> for like the board goals and that whole student support section pillar? Is that
okay? >> Yes. Thank you for clarifying. >> Yes, apologies. >> Um, sorry. Um, so a study of Missouri high schools examined 481 schools and found that lower student to counselor ratios were associated with better outcomes, higher graduation rates, better
attendance, and fewer disciplinary incidents. Schools that met the ACA ASCA recommended ratio of one counselor per 250 students had a 91% graduation rate. schools that didn't had an 86% graduation rate, a 5 percentage point
gap tied to counselor access. The same study found for every 50 students added to a counselor's case load, the graduation rates dropped by nearly a full percentage point. That study is now a decade old, but a 2023 study out of the University of Texas and the University of Washington analyzing data
across 900 school districts over 17 years confirms the same pattern holds today. years in which districts employed more counselors per student were associated with higher graduation rates, lower dropout rates, and stronger academic achievement. The researchers concluded that school counselors
should be included in ongoing improvement plans, not eliminated from them. I want to turn for a moment to the recent incident at Central. We may never know whether it could have been prevented, but we have to ask the question. Programs like Care Plus and Schoolbased Youth Services exist to
identify students who are struggling and intervene before a situation escalates. Building relationships, assessing risk, and connecting students to support long before there's a crisis in a hallway. Our principal has spoken about restorative justice, which requires
skilled, trained facilitation. Community members described the teacher who was involved in this incident as a source of emotional support for students. But identifying risk and intervening early are not teaching responsibilities. They belong to licensed trained counseling professionals. When we eliminate those
programs, we don't eliminate the need. We transfer it on to people who were never hired to meet it. That's unfair to teachers and students. This board cares about academic outcomes, student safety, and legal liability. So do I. But removing the professionals best equipped to protect all three of those things
doesn't advance any of them. At the board retreat, outgoing student representative Bronwin Downey, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics inaugural youth leadership group on youth suicide prevention and their first ever teen national conference speaker, spoke directly to the board. Some board
members weren't in the room to hear it, including some who have voted against these programs. She spoke about how 13 separate public comments described Care Plus as having, in her words, rescued so many in need. She said, "Being a mental health advocate means keeping quote a
young person you care about at the front of your mind every time you cast a vote." I encourage those of you who missed her speech to go back and listen to what she said. Her words should stick with you. Not every student who needs support comes with a visible crisis. Many are
quietly struggling with mental health challenges, academic pressure, or figuring out what comes after graduation. These are exactly the students that structured support programs help us to reach. When those programs are cut, those students and their needs don't disappear. They simply
go unmet. The students who needed Care Plus and Schoolb-based youth services didn't stop needing them when last year's board voted to cut them. We are seeing the effects of that decision unfold in real time. and students who are struggling and teachers who are absorbing needs they were never trained to meet in an
incident that asked all of us to consider what we could have done differently. Some of the students in this building are facing crisis. The question before this board is not whether the need exists for these services. It clearly does. The question is whether you will
meet it. Thank you. Is there anyone else speaking during this public comment? Then I'm going to close public comment and move into the organizational items. Do I have a motion to move items,
let's see, H1 through H5. That would be um the strategic plan, the district goals, the emergency virtual remote instruction program, and the 2026 2027 officials
>> and the HI report. >> So move. Have >> a second. >> Second. any comments? >> I just um wanted to maybe because I know I asked this when we met through our committee. When I was looking at the
goals and all of the different things, assuming a committee member, a board member is only on a singular committee. Right now, we're looking at 28 meetings in 12 months based on the outline of a committee of a whole, all of our
trainings, and 12 board meetings plus 10 regular committee meetings. Is that really where we're going to land next year? Obviously, I I would think it's aspirational as a goal. Um, I mean, we do have 12 board meetings and 12 committee meetings. So that's 24 that we
commit to every month or every year regardless. Um hopefully the committee of the whole meetings may save a few since some people sit on multiple committees. And if we can I think the goal is to incorporate some of those trainings within the board meetings
themselves. So we wouldn't be sending folks or asking people to do separate trainings. But it's a valid concern. [laughter] All right. If there's no other comments, Miss Stokes, roll call, please. >> Dr. Halpern,
>> yes on all. >> Miss Laccasta, >> yes for one, three, four, and five. No for two. >> Mrs. Rothell >> uh yes to one three and four no on two I would like to see some more
collaboration and I'm going to recuse myself from number five I was not here less okay Mrs. Santangelo. >> So yes on 1345, no on two due to the lack of raw data
available. >> Reverend Williams, >> yes on one through four. Um I abstain on five since I was not here last meeting. >> Miss Bryce, >> yes on one through four, abstain on five
because I missed executive session number two. Okay, >> Miss Gong, >> yes on items one through five. >> And Mrs. Kellogg, >> yes. >> Okay, motions carry. >> Thank you. >> Dr. Halpern, student life and program.
>> Okay, student life and program met on um July 8th. Um I was there. Um Ed Brandt, Dee Dichure, Matthew Hall, Dartha D, Nikki, Marisella, and Maron. Um so we have a
number of action items. Um foreign exchange student from Germany. We looked at the application for this student um uh who looks appropriate for the school. Um overnight trip from the dance team. The committee reviewed an overnight field trip request for the dance team to
attend the overnight trip to Universal Dance Association camp in Scranton, Pennsylvania from the 7th of August to the 10th. Approximately 15 students and two chaperones will attend. Costs for the trip will be approximately 550 per student paid for by the student and
family. We added another um trip, the cheerleading trip recently. Um this is the uh uh hundred central JV and varsity cheerleaders to attend the overnight trip to Trails and Camp Beach Lake, Pennsylvania from the 19th of August to
the 22nd. Approximately 38 students and four chaperones will attend. Cost for the trip is approximately 500 per student paid for by fundraising and the transfer provided by the booster club. Um uh professional development plan and mentoring plan statement of insurance.
Hang on. Statement of asurances. The committee reviewed the annual statement of assurances for the district's professional development plan and mentoring plan for the 2627 school year. This compliance item ensures that the district's ongoing staff training and professional onboarding and mentor
pairing processes for novice novice stu uh teachers fully meet current New Jersey Department of Education regulations. Um, we also had a memor memorandum of understanding from Ryder University. Uh, tomorrow's teachers program renewing the partnership between
Hunter Central and Writer for the Tomorrow's Teachers Program. Dual enrollment agreement allows aspiring student educators to gain hands-on classroom insight and earn transferable college credits while completing specialized high school courses.
um uh NJSIAA membership membership affidavit for 2627. The committee reviewed the annual intercolastic athletic association membership affidavit. Um approval of this document formalizes the district's continued enrollment in the state
athletic association permitting student athletes and teams to to participate in sanctioned intercolastic athletic compet competitions under state governing rules. Nursing services plan. The committee reviewed the annual nurses services plan which outlines the
statemandated health care and medical services provided across the district campus. Tuition and transportation. We have two items here. The committee reviewed an amendment to a previously approved out of district special education pl uh placement but the we uh
had to change the um uh clarify that amendment to uh be strictly administrative um change to correct an error in the student's identification number. There's no adjustments to the costs or placement terms. The other TRA tuition and transportation, the committee reviewed specialized out of
district placements and tuition agreements for both the standard academic year and extended school year periods. The administration explained that when students require both standard and summer programming, the respective tuitions are combined on the agenda for clarity. New clubs. We have four new student
clubs um proposed um for the upcoming academic year, including the 10 Central Rock Climbing Club, Morgan's Message Club, Pause for a Cause Club, and the Technology Student Association, TSA. The committee reviewed applications detailing evidence of student interest,
identified faculty adviserss, and discussed the role of extracurricular clubs in enriching student life and expanding engagement op options on campus. Hang on just one sec. So, I'll move this down a little. Okay. I'm pretty sure, yeah, the clubs are
described in here as well. Um, so I think Morgan's Mesh's Club maybe needs a little description. Um, hang on. Uh, raise awareness about mental strengths and Morgan's message. Um, primary goal and volunteer opportunities are what the
club wants to do. Um and so that's the new clubs articulation agreements that we removed one of those. Um it was noted oh so research prop project proposal from the college of New Jersey. So we reviewed a research
project proposal submitted by academic researchers um from several universities one of which is the college of New Jersey. The administration evaluated the scope of the study and noted that participation would be limited to staff volunteers who may be asked to complete a survey regarding assessment practices.
Um, it should be noted that this is not about to start. This is a a sort of like a agreement to be involved, a collaboration agreement, and they need these collaboration agreements for their funding source. And so they cannot actually get their funding until they
actually have these agreements that they're funding something that can actually happen. So, at this point, we're not talking about anything that's happening tomorrow. We don't know whether they're going to get funded. They don't know they're whether they'll be here. There's some aspects of the proposal that may or may not apply to the program, but it only involves
teachers and it only involves volunteers. It does not involve students or student data, and it is a survey potentially with other types of things, but nothing involving students or student data. Um, we also had several discussion items
to mention briefly. Um uh our principal again discussed the various um uh halo sensors particularly the vape sensors and the different things that we do and why we do it and emphasize the importance of the safety aspect that
that students who are um actually um in inhaling substances that may affect their health and the health of students around them is really the most important aspect of this. I know it's been noted at other meetings that sometimes there aren't that many students that are
actually found with vapes on them, but every year when they end up digging up the vapes, there are a lot of vapes in there. So clearly, it's hard to judge how many vapes are going on. But it certainly is important that even if there are very few students who are identified who are potentially in danger or unsafe to others, that's better than
not finding them. Um, so I know that there'll be potentially some uh discussion about um h helping the public and others understand more about what actually happens when a when a vape is suspected. Um, and I think that's it. We talked
about the board and district goals. Um, we talked about communication, public relation, and uh some other topics. Thank you. I move these items 1 through wait
1 through 11. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. Any comments? >> So, Ellen did touch on some of the questions that I had sent and I know that Jessica also saw them. Is there anything that you want to add based on
the questions that I asked? I know Ellen touched on >> No, I think you asked good questions. So, just to um clarify, Mr. submitted some great questions to Dr. Halpern about the research. Um making sure essentially that if it well one it doesn't involve students and it doesn't
um but that if it did we're protecting the student data. So that's really important. Anytime we receive these research requests we're looking at that before it gets to you. Um some do use student data. This one doesn't. If it did you know they need to tell us how it's deidentified, how it's protected,
that kind of a thing. Um this one is volunteer. The first phase is um just a survey for students uh excuse me for teachers um that they would again it would be voluntary on their time to take and and fill out. Um so it's pretty mild
at this point. >> Yeah. I'd like to note though that all research has to be volunteer. So um the memory agreeing to participate doesn't um obligate us to participate. If there are teachers who want to, they'll be
participants, but that's after all that process of um getting approvals, getting funded and all that. >> Oh, and I think you asked another good question um about like how will our school district be identified? So, of course, in their their application,
they're going going to identify their partners and have that letter of support, but if their research is published, our school name doesn't get published with it. they usually deidentify the name. >> I think the other question though and I think I know the answer to it really and you did elaborate before we met. Um
there's no financial >> correct >> um negative to us. So teachers if any teachers are participating it's not during class time. It's not >> correct. We're not looking for them to do anything. >> Exactly. Exactly right. We're not getting a sub so they can fill out the
survey. And you also asked another good question which was like do we get a financial benefit and we do not. So we want to be clear about that too. >> The committee met on July. >> I'm sorry. I thought [laughter] you I thought you had a question. Yeah. Um so if there's no additional comments, Miss
Stokes, can we have a roll call, please? >> Sure. >> Miss Lcasta. >> Uh yes. on 1 through 10. No on 11. >> Mrs. Rothell, >> yes on all. Mrs. Santangelo,
>> yes on 1 through 10, no on 11. >> Reverend Williams, >> yes on all. >> Miss Bryce, >> yes. >> Miss Gong, >> yes. >> Dr. Halpern, >> yes. >> And Mrs. Kellogg, >> yes. >> Motions carry.
Reverend Williams, >> the committee met on July 14th. Uh, and in attendance were myself, um, President Kellogg, Ellen Halpern, uh, Leslie Aosta, Superintendent Kangalloi Hate, and our acting business administrator, Maryanne Stokes.
The committee moves the committee moves the following uh, the following 23 board items for approval. Items one through three, which are standard board items for the financial reports, invoices, and transfers. Item four, 20 uh 627 professional
service providers. Item five, donation, a donation from Shopright of Flemington. Item six and seven, uh non public school transportation aid and extraordinary aid. items 8 through 10, an athletic grant, the fiscal year 2027 individuals
with disabilities education uh act uh grant, the fiscal year of 2027 elementary and secondary education act. Um items 11 through 12, which are student parking fees and student IT device insurance transfer.
Items 13 through 14, the sale of buses and the purchase of a new uh truck for maintenance. Item 15, our trained uh US um priority service for uh the HVAC systems. Items
16 through 17 26 27 liability insurance uh renewal as well as the health insurance renewal. items 18 through 22 uh 26 27 joint uh joiner uh with Hunter County ESC routes,
the Hunton County ESC ESY routes, the transport the Redbank uh routes, the Somersville routes routes, and the Branchburg routes. And then item 23, transportation uh field uh trip rates. We did receive a number of uh questions
uh for discussion on um the uh legal contracts as well as Brown and Brown that we had conversation discussion in uh >> Oh, I'm sorry. So, I I I move these items. >> Is there a second? >> Yes.
>> Second. >> Any comments? I feel like I'm asking a lot of questions tonight. Um, so two of the questions that I had sent, I think one of them was basically answered in the minutes. I just was asking I'd like
clarification. So I, one of the questions had to do with UDICA and I know that we had some negative, you know, thoughts or whatever. In the past, we did renew them. The minutes state that we renewed them in June of 2025. So, are we up for renewal in June of
2026, or is it longer than a one-year contract? It's a two-year contract. Okay, so that was my clarification. >> And then it seems like it's different now. Maybe I am confused. But in the agenda, we had two bills from Shank
Price. One was the date Shank Price, and then the other one was the same exact date, but then said updated. So, the question was, what were the differences? But now they don't now they're not in there. So maybe >> I I I think that that was u the first
one the first invoice had incorrect um rate on it if I'm not mistaken. >> It was the invoices >> right and and and it was updated to have the uh corrected the appropriate rates
>> are for all for payment next month. >> Yeah. So, um, we can certainly talk about that, Reverend Williams, if you'd like to add that to the, um, committee agenda because we're not paying any of those invoices this month. They would be on for payment next month. So, we can certainly follow up with that and and
make sure. >> Was it the one I asked about also? >> This the one I asked about also. I >> I believe it is. >> It was just something that was corrected, >> right? It was odd to me because it was like in there and then it was updated, >> but then there was another one that said
corrected. Like I feel like there was three different ones that was all the same invoice and I couldn't tell what all the differences were. >> Okay. Thank good know for future too for file naming. So thank you. >> All right. If there are no additional
comments u roll call Miss Stokes. Okay. Mrs. Rothell. >> Uh, yes. Mrs. Santangelo. >> Yes. >> Reverend Williams. >> Yes. >> Miss Bryce, >> yes.
>> Miss Gong, >> yes. >> Dr. Halpern, >> yes. >> Miss Laccasta, >> yes. >> And Mrs. Kellogg, >> yes. Okay. >> All yes. Motions carry. >> Miss Gong, personnel committee.
>> The personnel committee met on July 14th. The Zoom meeting was attended by Maristella Wallace, Lisa Santangelo, D Kellogg, David Bailey, Jessica Canelo, Hay, and me. Personnel has 39 action items that are recommended by the superintendent, and some items have
already received interim approval. We also have an addendum um to approve that we discussed in executive session and that has to do with negotiations. So um again it had to be discussed in executive session according to NJSBA
guidelines. For item one there are four resignations. We always appreciate uh the time and commitment from the staff and it has been whether it's one year, 5 years, 10 years or 12 years and we appreciate the advanced notice as well.
Items 2 through 12 are various appointments. Three contractual salary appointments six hourly appointments. one per DM appointment, two for substitute positions, 13 for curriculum writing, 36 and 21 respectively for AM and PM supervision, and five
appointments for PM security, 31 appointments for proctors, monitors, and test coordinators, one appointment for summer campus reception, which is the front desk security, and 70 athletic event workers, and we're also adding one chaperon to this list as well. Items 13-
16 are reappoints for 46 substitute teachers, five substitute secretaries, one substitute custodian, and one substitute nurse. Items 17 is a correction of a salary for a tenure math teacher. Items 18 and 19 seek approval
for salary and or stipens according to the HCA contract for one teacher and one paraprofessional. Item 20 seeks approval for professional development for 14 different staff members, some of whom are taking more than one course. Item 21 seeks approval
for schedule D positions for eight staff members assuming full coaching positions. Item 22 lists nine individuals for unpaid athletic coaching positions. Item 23 requests approval for 65 unpaid co-curricular adviserss and
volunteers. Item 24 adds one individual to the summer counseling 504 summer committee. Item 25 confirms five salary guide advancements per the HCA contract. Item 26 is a salary guide advancement for profofessional.
Item 27 requests approval for non-pensionable longevity bonus payouts for two of our bus drivers. Item 28 lists campus security overtime rates for special events for the upcoming 2026 2027 year. There are four
uh individuals listed. Item 29 requests approval for 39 individuals to assist with a new student orientation. Item 30 requests approval for a stipen for a new staff induction and mentoring coordinator. Item 31 is a stipen request for a maintenance staff member who
earned a boiler license. Item 32 is a sidebar agreement. Uh we've done this in a previous year. We would pay the unpaid club advisors with the funds from clubs that didn't run but had available advisor funds. There are 30 staff members who will receive a uh small
amount of money. Item 33 corrects stipent payments to three staff members. Item 34 is a request for a stipen payment for special transportation assistant. Item 35 will abolish three full-time positions. So
these positions will not be backfilled. Item 36 is to approve leaves of absence for six individuals, three of whom received previous interim approval from the superintendent. Item 37 changes the dates of a leave of absence. Item 38 is for an extension of a professional
development course. Item 39 resends the student council advisor appointment for a staff member. I'd like to just read the official uh addendum that we had and that the board um had a chance to discuss in executive session. So it
would be to move to approve a labor agreement between the 100 and central regional high school board of education and the 100 and central regional high school bus drivers association for a three-year period July 1, 2026 through June 30th, 2029.
So with that, I'd like to move items 1 through 39 along with the addendum. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any comments? [laughter] >> All right. Roll call. Miss Stokes.
>> Mrs. Santangelo. >> Yes. >> Reverend Williams. >> Yes. Miss Bryce, >> yes. >> Miss Gong, >> yes. >> Dr. Halpern, >> yes. >> Miss Laccasta, >> yes.
>> Mrs. Rothell, >> okay, no comments, but I'm going to make this difficult for you. >> Okay, >> so I'll go slow. >> Okay. Item 11, I'm going to recruit recuse. Item 22. Wait, let me start again. Item 11, number 35, I am recusing
myself. Item 22, number six and seven, I am recusing myself. Item 23, number five, I am recusing myself. And then yes to everything else. >> Got it. I got it. Thank you. And Mrs. Kellogg?
>> Yes. >> Okay. Oh, yes. Motions carry. >> May I just make one comment? Thank you so much, board members, on the um bus drivers negotiation agreement. >> Yes, I I do want to echo that. Um, Reverend Williams, Miss Laccasta, Miss
Gong, it was it was yman's work. It was um, yes, that this is the first time I've done negotiations and and it was um, you got you guys really stepped up. I can't I can't thank you enough for all that, Miss Bryce.
Policy time. Uh, the policy committee met on July 9th remotely via Zoom. In attendance were Mrs. Rothell, Reverend Williams, Mrs. Kellogg and myself. Principal Brandt also joined for the beginning of the meeting to discuss
regulation 5530 substance abuse and regulation 5600 student discipline code of conduct. The committee is addressing updates outlined in Strauss as May's policy alert number 237, which replaces,
adds, and/or abolishes policies and/or regulations in the bylaws and sections 1,000, 5,000, 6,000, and 8,000, mostly due to language changes in the administrative code or statute. We are also working on
four additional policies and regulations in need of updates that are not included in the policy alert. The committee did not receive any questions or concerns related to agenda items L1, L2, or L3 prior to our July 9th committee meeting.
Um, one comment was received after and I believe it is addressed by the language in policy 0174 which I will detail uh in just a moment. The committee has 20 items for approval and two items for abolishment on first reading. It was a
busy month for us. Um, of these 22 items, all but four are from Strauss Esme's policy alert number 237. So, instead of reading off the number and the name of each of those items and providing a brief statement regarding
the changes as I typically would, um, instead I'd like to focus on the four with more substantive updates. So, starting with policy 0174 legal services, um, five notable changes are proposed. First, adding that the
superintendent and/or the board president update the board on active legal matters during regularly scheduled executive sessions. Second, clarifying that the use of legal counsel must be in support of district or board operations.
Third, adding a table that outlines the primary point of contact for specific legal matters. Fourth, including a statement that legal invoices pertaining to indemnified legal matters, particularly ethics charges that will be reimbured by the district insurance
companies will be reviewed and initialed by the subject individual. And uh finally, since the district is already tracking all legal invoices, removing the requirement to track only after exceeding a certain threshold.
uh regulation 5530 substance abuse and regulation 5600 student discipline and code of conduct. Uh both regulations have been revised by district administration following an annual review as required by Strauss Esme. In
5530 at the suggestion of Strauss Esme, specifics of disciplinary consequences and supportive interventions were removed and placed into regulation 5600. Also in 5530, the requirement for students to see the school nurse upon
return to school was removed. In 5600, the number of days of out of school suspension and the number of required counseling sessions was lowered and for a first tobacco and nicotine offense, uh, the requirement to submit a drug
screen was removed. uh policy 9125 school district cable television channel. The committee is still reviewing the 9000 section of the policy guide. Miss Kangalloi Hay identified that policy 9125 should be in
place as we have a cable television channel. The district is adop adopting the Strauss Esme version of the policy. Uh in addition to the 22 items for first read, the committee has four items for approval on second reading detailed at
the June 8th board of education meeting and listed under item L3 of tonight's agenda. And finally, um just a quick update on the cell phone policy we've been discussing. I know Miss Kangalloce Hayes said a few words during her
superintendence report and principal Brandt, you mentioned a couple of comments that students had through the climate and culture survey about consistency um across teachers and classrooms with cell phone uh management. Um but the New Jersey
Department of Education, they published their FAQ document in mid July. This is the document we were expecting in early June. Um they confirmed that each board must have a policy regarding bell-to-bell restriction of internet
enabled devices and they confirmed that bell-to-bell does include the time between classes and lunch. Uh this is especially challenging in our large high school and expansive campus and just a few days ago Strauss Esme released a
sample policy and regulation and the committee will discuss for August and Miss Kangalloi Hade I you said the the goal with having a first read in August for the upcoming school year. And with that I'd like to make a motion to
approve agenda items L1 through L3. Is there a second? Second. Any comments? >> Can I make a com, please? >> I just I would like to thank the policy committee and the full board. This was
um a lot to take on this month. So, we tried we really worked hard to get you those policies in advance. Um committee, I tried to make you a chart, like a little cheat sheet for what the updates were because most really are just administrative code language changes. Um, thank you Mrs. Bryce for
highlighting the more substantive changes. Um, but I appreciate your support this this month and all months, but this month was a big one. So, thank you. >> Roll call. Miss Stokes. >> Reverend Williams. >> Yes. >> Miss Bryce, >> yes.
>> Miss Gong, >> yes. >> Dr. Halpern, >> yes. >> Miss Laccasta, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rothell, >> yes. >> Mrs. Santangelo. >> Yes. >> And Mrs. Kellogg. >> Yes. >> All yes. Motions carried.
>> All right. Is there any additional board business? >> Oh, okay. Um, so just although school is out, there has been no shortage of learning opportunities courtesy of New Jersey
School Boards Association. Um, so I just like to mention since our last board meeting, um, I did attend one in-person conference and two webinars. Um, the in-person conference, it was June 11th. It was the spring school law forum. Um,
and the topics that they uncover they covered included case law, legislative updates, separations, indemnification, uh, title 9, HI, and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigations, and preventing violations of the
individuals with, uh, disabilities education act. I did find the attendees were primarily attorneys, including quite a few who also serve on their local school boards. um and they got continuing legal education credits for
it. But regardless, as a non- attorney, um I did feel like the information presented was relevant and timely and I I did learn a lot. So, thank you for your support to attend that. Um if anybody is interested in more, I do have
materials from the the forum. Um and then quickly just the two webinars. Um later in June there was uh special education a quick review and what's new. Um and one of NJSBA's attorneys from their legal department um they provided
a brief overview of special education law. They highlighted uh current data regarding uh costs for special education and the legal basis of those costs. Um the presenter also outlined the special
education dispute process and went over recently issued directives regarding settlement agreements um and address new laws that have special education components. Um and then finally just um
this past week the bimonthly webinar um with their two attorneys the what's brewing in education law um they covered the commissioner of education and school ethics commission decisions from uh
April and May including four public advisory opinions that were released. Um and sort of the overarching theme of this particular um webinar, the the presenters remarked that um they're seeing no probable cause decisions from
the SEC and insufficient factual evidence uh by the complaintants. And in case any of you are interested, the next webinar is coming up on September 3rd and they'll discuss the June and July decisions.
>> I also attended two webinars. the um 15th of of July webinar coffee talk with Kathy and Caitlyn about cases. Fascinating. My goodness, that was fascinating. Um some of them similar to things that we've had and um uh some of
them wow. And then on the 8th of July, I attended the state budget recap and legislative update. And that was really interesting and very clearly presented and I appreciated being able to see that and that we're doing okay.
Okay. Thank you both. Now we are going to move into the second residence forum. This residence forum can be on any topic. You have up to five minutes to speak. Please sign in. Um, and before you speak, state your name
and municipality. Hi. Um, my name's [clears throat] Edward Brandt, principal. Um, but I'm also speaking as Eddie Brandt, community member here. Um, I want to thank you uh for everything
you do um to try to make this school as good as it can be uh for our students. Um over the last just a little bit more than a month, I experienced two pretty um impressive events. Uh number one was
graduation. Thank you again for all of you who were able to be there and be a part of that. uh for those of you who had graduates, how awesome is that? Um and once I exhale after, you know, all the logistics of the day, it is a really
great moment here for school and how many people we have here enjoying that time for them. And if you think of those kids who went from little kindergarteners getting on a bus one day and then there they are and again we still have it, you know, they're throwing their caps. Um, I'm glad we
were able to give this students a sense of community that day. Um, and then I had another experience that was totally on the opposite of end and um, superintendent, you mentioned uh, the passing of Jason Blanco. Um,
and he was definitely a a member here of Hunter Central, but he was also a member of a number of different communities within Hunter Central. And I was humbled to witness at his service where
there were so many um students and staff members who were parts of those separate communities sitting together um and eating together, sharing stories together. Um and they
were able to show to his family. um amidst all of that horror that they were going through that Jason was part of a community here and um I thought wow how powerful is that too and I sat in the back corner watching just our kids
current and former um working for each other there that moment and it and it did both of those reminded me the power of community here um and we talk about belonging you know um and you can have all that data, but uh day in and day out
if we can remind ourselves and I'm basically telling sharing this but also telling you that I pledge as principal um to definitely going into another year to asssure that we give community to your children uh because they're your children. you're the residents here that
are um members of the board and I I take that seriously and I know our staff members too take it very seriously and u so thanks for your support um keep that in mind as well moving forward in your decisions and um thanks for your time on
that. Thanks for letting me share that. All right, good night. Any other public comment? >> Before I start, I just want to the hearing of the two students passing is just freaking traumatizing.
My daughter my daughter was here when two students committed suicide, one of them in the bathroom. Um a after that I think my daughter was never the same and I attribute the mental health program that was here of
saving her life. So I just want the other members to know that. Okay. Sorry about that. I'm literally shaking how traumatizing this is to to see young people die.
Okay. I'm Kathy Tyak. I'm I'm from I live in Readington. Tonight I'm going to speak only on one member of this on this board because I think you are a
pretty pretty good unit here. But except for one. Let's just start with the obvious. Miss Santangelo doesn't look happy to be here. She appears every single time on the board and she looks just unhappy.
She's dismissive, short-tempered with other board members. Is that really the disposition our community wants from someone representing our children? Let's walk through some of the Miss Angel Miss Santangelo's highlights since she's going to be
>> Excuse me, ma'am. You need to address me as the the chair of the board as opposed to an individual board member. >> Got it. >> Thank you. She ran on the platform of transparency. While serving on this board, she the
member red restricted public boards board comments. They were just reinstated this year. Did you know that she filed an ethics complaint against a fellow board member for wearing a rainbow mask? Did you know she interfered with teachers professional
development sometime this year? Did you know that Miss Santangelo also among others voted against the mental health support for our students during a mental health crisis just one month before the school started? Did you
know that even a student board member Bronwin Downey stood up during the public comments and directly criticized her for that vote? Did you know that she accused fellow board member Miss Bryce of attending a committee meeting? She
wasn't she wasn't authorized to attend or of hiding it from the public. When another board member confirmed that the person that she was mistaken, Miss Santangelo never really gave Miss Bryce a proper apology. Did you know that her
enthusiasm for banning books is shared with her husband, David Riza, who serves as the president of the Readington Board of Education and is currently in the middle of banning yet another book? Have you noticed the pattern where she
and other members raise a cost concern? And right on Q, a former board member rushes to the podium to echo the same complaint. Even at the last meeting, a member of the public called out
this coordinated routine. And finally, let's talk about these board members truly caring about school costs. At the end of last year, a board member resigned am controversy over an alleged
homophobic Twitter account. The same person while serving on this board worked for a law firm Murray Nolan and Burudi. That same person has now filed a notice of claim intend to sue this board
for $5 million in damages through that very same law firm. And that same law firm is also currently suing five other New Jersey school districts over policy 5756.
I'll close it with a quote from a Readington Board of Education member Richard Pieros who said, "I think you would tend to say that having safety for our children and what they read is more important than being afraid of litigation."
So there has to be a time where you stand up for what you think is right and not let our goals and objectives be directed by attorneys, litigators, the First Amendment people,
and just do it and let the chips fall when they may. Well, ladies and gentlemen, these chips are real dollars being taken straight out of our kids' schools. Thank you. Once again, my condolences to the
family. Good evening, Scott Cohen, Flemington, Maritan Township. Um, my condolences to the losses that were expressed tonight as well. Deeply, deeply troubling. Um, but I'm actually here just to say thank you to the entire board and the school
administration for opening up the auditorium on July 16th for the Eric Clapton performance for the Hunan County Parks and Wreck uh, musical performances. I know we've done that in the past, but it's a real true sign of
how we use our facilities for community experiences and collectively use and engage uh the community in these activities. And I have to do a shout out since he's here to Mr. Tim Klene for all the amazing work that he did that night
in making it a phenomenal performance. So, thank you Mr. Klein. That's all. Thank you. Any other comment? Not we'll close public comment. Are there any board comments this evening?
>> I attended the um high school graduation this year and I I really enjoyed the event and I particularly enjoyed the speaker who mentioned curiosity and purpose. I think that as life lessons, these probably are two of the most
important things that can make your life successful in whatever way you think success is. Curiosity means that instead of having a reaction, you learn something. Purpose means you have something that means something to you.
And I I couldn't think of two better words to say to graduates. So I just wanted to say how impressed I was with that speaker. Um just amazing. I don't remember her name but I was really impressed. Curiosity I tell you that is
just so precious because any situation can be made different with curiosity and purpose. I have two comments. Um I'm gonna I'm gonna start with the negative and then I'll go to the positive because it's always good to end with something good. Um, I'm not going to put out names, but
um, you know, the goal, the number one goal on this here is um, to build, protect, maintain a civil and productive culture, conduct respectful and efficient meetings where different viewpoints are heard, and civility shapes how we serve, collaborate, and
communicate. Um, at our committee meeting this past week, I was very um outspoken in how I felt about these goals and definitely had diff a difference of opinion and I think that
that's healthy and natural and should be done that way. We should have robust deliberative discussions and disagree. What I don't agree with is name calling. And when name calling happens in a committee meeting at a board meeting,
you have 100% overstepped bounds and you have dismissed the ability to be respectful to the person in which you are name calling and have now put yourself in a situation where what respect was there is now gone. So it will make future meetings going forward
very difficult. On my positive note, this is the second year I was able to do graduation and both years I was able to give a degree to a student of mine. I am so grateful for that opportunity and I
echo Mr. Brandt and everybody else. Graduation at Central is a really, really, really well done event and um I'm looking forward to next year's graduation as well. I just wanted to make uh one comment
about uh Bruce Davidson because I think he was probably one of the first board members that I met and probably took his position and um he was so committed to education. I think his family would be so touched by uh the comments that you
made this evening. um he would always impress upon me that he was uh committed to education and uh so appreciative of so appreciative of what Hunter and Central does and he would always say to
me not just students he would say but for all students. So thank you. Um, I just like to give a a thank you to one of our staff members, Miss Winters Johnson, for inviting the board to uh the wonderful event that was the achieve
program end of year celebration on uh June 15th, the last week of school. Um, we were invited along with parents and staff and community business partners and the achieve students played a video
that they made showing them working at the local businesses um, highlighting the skills that they learned on the job. They chose the music. This was the opening of the program and I was already crying. It was just the start. Um, each
student received a certificate. They were all recognized by name and came up one by one. Um and then those that were graduating the program, the couple of graduates were um especially recognized. And um one business partner, they they
gave a really inspiring speech and honored uh his student worker with a a meaningful gift. Um the students sold a variety of handmade crafts that uh they do throughout the year to fundra for the
program and just overall it was a really beautiful celebration. I'm so proud of our achieve students and I was so grateful to be able to attend. So thank you for including us in that. Um, and then just one other thing. I I'm sorry,
Mayor Stella Wallace is not here tonight because I do have a shout out for our special board member. Um, I I think she may have mentioned something about this at our last board meeting and it kind of went over my head. I didn't realize exactly what she was talking about, but
I was reading an email the other week from um New Jersey School Boards Association's uh president and our very own Marisella was listed as one of the members of the newly formed nominating committee task force. Um so I was just
really proud to see her name and the name of our school and um I will thank her the next time I see her. But I do just want to thank her for representing us so well and her dedication to our school. So I would just like to correct the
record yet again that the board last year did not vote on school-based youth services. that was terminated by the district due to one um the contract had issues with it. So to
quote Leslie Laccasta, it looked like a permission slip. Um and then the other thing was the counselor, one of the counselors was actually terminated by the district due to not following those contract contractual terms. So the board never voted on that. That was a
completely um that was up to the district. With regard to Care Plus, we talked about this that they were not renewed because there was a lack of information that the board did not feel comfortable with. Uh and there were also several contractual issues that could
not be resolved. I do find it interesting that services that provide mental health uh make it very difficult to work out their terms and conditions when they're trying to help people. So, that was very unfortunate. But what we
did instead, as a reminder, was we hired a full-time counselor. And I will also add that this district has one of the high highest, if not the highest number of counselors uh to ratios in all of New Jersey districts. And that's despite the
fact that we lost a thousand students in enrollment over the past 10 years. Um we also confirmed that there is 247 free wraparound services and many of the members that attended the workshop last year that was confirmed by the people
that are providing those services. So they were baffled by what happened with Care Plus because they've been working with these students non-stop at at no charge by the way. And just a final note with regard to Rich Pios,
I really think people should take the time to read full context. It's very easy to pull out a quote from someone without the context and try to reframe it in a way uh that was not intended. So
I would just ask people to be accurate next time. Thank you. Any other board comments? >> I was going to say, so may I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Second.
>> All in favor? >> All opposed? Okay, we're adjourned.