Yeah, just a sec. Check. Check. One, two. Testing. One, two. Check. Check. One, two. One, two. Check. Check. Check. One, two.
Check. Check. One, two. Check. One, two. Check. Check. One, two. Check. Check. One, two. Check. Check. One, two. Testing. One, two, three, 4. Testing one, two, test, testing, testing. Hey,
check. Check. One, two. Check. Check. Testing. One, two. One, two. Check. Check. One, two. Yeah. Get it. It's on. Once you're green, you're good.
Testing. Testing. Good evening everyone. Thank you. Welcome to a meeting of the 10 Central Regional High School Board of Education. Please be advised that this and all meetings of the board are open to the public and media consistent with the
open public meetings act and that advanced notice required therein has been provided. Meeting notice was also posted in the boardroom of the upper school campus sent to the courier news star ledger express times and the hunter county democrat and sent to the clerks
of Delaware township eastwell Flemington Burough Riden Township and Readington Township. The public will have an opportunity to be heard as shown on the agenda. Can I get a roll call, please? Mrs. Dugen, here. Miss Gong here. Mrs. Gray
here. Dr. Halpern here. Mrs. Kellogg here. Ms. Lacosta. Mrs. Rothell here. Mrs. Peterson here. And Mrs. Santangelo here. All right. Please join us in a flag salute, please.
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, liberty and justice for all. All right,
Claudia, would you read the district mission statement, please? Hunter 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. So, yeah. All right. So, next we're going to approve the minutes from last month's meeting. We're going to actually do it
in two motions because the executive session minutes have a um we need to clarify something. So, we're going to actually move to table that to next month because Maryanne is not here. So, um I would like to just make a motion to approve the minutes only from last
month. Can I get a roll call on that? A second. And a second. I'm sorry. Thank you. And a roll call. Thank you. Mrs. Dugen, yes. Miss Gong, yes. Miss Gray,
abstain. Dr. Halpern, abstain. Mrs. Kellogg, yes. Mrs. Peterson, yes. Mrs. Rothell, yes. And Mrs. Santangelo, yes. Now, you need to do a motion to t
Yep. So, my next motion is to table um the executive session minutes from last month because we want to get a clarification from Maryann Stokes. So, we will put that back on the agenda for next month. Can I get a second? Second. And a roll call, please.
Mrs. Dugen? Yes. Miss Gong? Yes. Miss Gray? Yes. Dr. Halpern? Abstain. Mrs. Kellogg? Yes. Mrs. Peterson, Mrs. Rothal. Yes. And Mrs. Santangelo.
Yes. All right. We have correspondence that was received by the board. It will be maintained on file in the office of the board secretary. Next up is the president's report. So, good evening everyone. I would like
to begin by clarifying the confusion from last month's meeting regarding mental health services in the district. First, school-based youth services began as a grant-f funded program at no direct cost to the district. The initial contract was minimal in scope and lacked
clear oversight and accountability. The board raised valid concerns about whether the services were aligned with the terms of the contract and the needs of Central. As board counsel explained in detail last month, the administration attempted over many months to work with the provider to address these concerns,
but those efforts were un ultimately unsuccessful and the administration made the decision to terminate the relationship and did not recommend that the district enter a new contract with school-based youth services. This matter did not require a board vote and was not placed on the agenda. Although this
service was free, it came with risk. The contract left the district exposed to potential liability and litigation based on the conduct of individuals over which the board had no control and the provider failed to work with the district regarding concerns. Grants at no cost to the district can seem
appealing, but this experience reinforces the need for thorough vetting, clear contractual protection, and a focus on how external services truly add value for our students. We now have New Jersey 4S in its place. So, just to recap, the administration ended
the relationship with school-based, not the board. We never voted on it. Next is Care Plus. Care Plus was brought to the board for a vote. Given what had recently unfolded with school-based, many board members were cautious about entering into another external contract.
The claim that the board waited until right before school started is inaccurate. Back in the spring, I personally recommended the administration consider hiring additional internal staff if additional counseling was warranted rather than pursue another contract. The law and
board policy both limit the use of such contracts to areas where the district lacks in-house resources and expertise. A clear preference exists for in-house services. This recommendation was not pursued. The board was not informed that the administration had begun the RFP
process for an external service provider until July 15th, even though the RFP indicated that vendor responses were submitted in June. Our questions and concerns, including contractual issues, were not adequately addressed to a majority of the board members satisfaction when the matter was
presented for a vote. In addition, our request for the maximum budget amount for these services per the law and policy 0177 was never provided. Keep in mind these services have also increased by over 25% over the course of four years. As a
result, we could not support these services. However, the good news is that the administration now supports and looks like they are going to pursue the original recommendation and preference for hiring additional in-house staff. On the October agenda, we are expecting to see the administration make a
recommendation to hire an internal employee to serve on the child study team. It's unfortunate that the process unfolded the way it did. We're encouraged though to see this course correction and more account and a more accountable approach to each to these
services. We will now have probably one of the most robust counseling departments in New Jersey according to Becky Peterson's um thorough research. Excuse me. Please don't do that while we're
speaking. Okay. So, I'm gonna ask just keep going. I'm going to ask you not to interrupt. If you interrupt, I'm going to have security ask you to leave. It's very simple. You need to adhere to the rules.
I want to remind everyone that while the board take, excuse me, takes the superintendent's recommendations seriously, our role is not to rubber stamp them. According to New Jersey law, if our decisions are not arbitrary or capriccious, which this was not, it is
within our purview to reject or request modifications to such recommendations. Given the public scrutiny we operate under, we routinely consult with board counsel to ensure that our actions are both lawful and in the district's best interest. Our mandate is to govern the district responsibly, not to run it, but
to ensure it is run well. This year, the board has made substantial improvements in transparency by implementing a board handbook, establishing a regular president's report, launching a board of education newsletter, including committee reports, and ensuring that the board gets to review the legal bills,
which we were not permitted to do in the past. These measures have s have significantly increased transparency, fostered broader participation, and allowed all board members to have a voice in the process, including those not on specific committees. This board is committed to accountability and open
governance. We have shared more information with the public than ever before and we remain focused on improving how we serve our students and families. Thank you. Next up, we will have the superintendence report. Okay. Thank you. Good evening everyone.
It's been some time since our last board meeting and a lot has happened since then. Most importantly, we welcome back our students and staff, and our school year has settled into strong routines and power powerful learning experiences for students. The start of the school
year brings a new energy and a rejuvenation of our commitment to our district mission statement, which Claudia read recently, and this year is no different. It was good to speak to parents at our back to school night and hear their perspective on how their children are doing at
Central this year. We are honored to be able to involve our students in board meetings again this year. Just as we had last year, we will have two student representatives to the board of education. Our administrative leadership team has reappointed Brunwin Downey. Brunwin, could you wave? Oh, we could
clap. Brunwin is now a senior and she served in this capacity. Last year, we also held an election for a second student representative where we had 15 students in the running. An excellent testament to our students desire to be involved in their school community. I would like to
congratulate and officially welcome Alexis Chen who is also a senior at Central. Alexis, could you wave? Bronwin and Alexis are leaders in our school community and they bring with them the energy, perspective, and insight that only our students can provide. Their voices will help us stay
grounded in what matters most, the experiences of the young people that we serve. I am very energized by the fact that we had them as they step into this role. And I'd like to ask everyone to give them the time and space to get acclimated and ask that we refrain from
asking them questions at the table at this time. This will allow them to ease into the process this year and contribute meaningfully. To Brwin and Alexis, thank you for your eagerness to serve in this role. Your participation shows both your leadership and your commitment to your classmates and
greater school community. We're excited to hear from you and to learn alongside you this year. Next, I wanted to give an update on some key items. First, we have both board and district goals on the agenda for your action tonight. We have been working on the district goals, as you know, and the
corresponding metrics over the past couple of months. I believe these represent metrics suggested by the district's leadership team as well as our board members. As everyone reviews the metrics and because we heard from the public about some of this last month, I think it's important to iterate
and to commit to the work that goes beyond the metrics you see. Our goal statements are designed to be broad so they can capture the forwardthinking and student centered priorities and work that we have always valued and aspired to because our goals need metrics. These
are some of the ways in which we will be measuring the progress along the goal statements. Rest assured that our work extends beyond the metrics. For example, when we look at the metrics and instructional priorities and student achievement, you'll see specifics about
testing data and increasing our baseline from this past year. This is a valid metric and one that is utilized by the New Jersey Department of Education. What you do not see is our district-wide focus on higher order thinking as we develop models by department and design professional learning experiences around
these. We have always believed that assessment scores should be a byproduct of strong instruction and this is no different. I am very glad we have settled on our goal statements and metrics and I'm confident that this will serve as a good basis for our work together as we begin the strategic
planning process next month. I also want to provide an update on mental health services as this received much attention at last month's board meeting and continued attention in the public and media. As a district, we believe that student academic success is our highest
priority. At the same time, we recognize that true academic achievement is only possible when students needs are being met. This includes their physical, social, and mental health needs. That is why we are seeking to continue with additional mental health services that
support the whole student. By doing so, we are ensuring that every student has the foundation they need to thrive academically. Our counseling department has a specialized structure that is unique to our district and helps to serve our house team model. Each grade
level has three counselors and a student assistance counselor or SAC who work with our grade level vice principal and nurse on a team. Even with these specialized supports, we have seen an increase in student mental health needs over the past six years.
This is not just a district-wide need or trend. This is true on a national level. It is combined with our students and families desire to have exceptional counseling services and an environment where our students feel comfortable reaching out for help and guidance. We
have extremely caring and dedicated counseling staff, but we need additional support for our students. We previously had two external mental health services in our district, school-based youth services and care plus. Last month, I noted that we had been working with
Hunter and Behavioral Health to address concerns about the school-based youth services program and potential changes to enhance the services, but could not come to an agreement to continue those particular services and therefore I could not recommend them for renewal.
Additionally, I had recommended a contract with Care Plus again for this coming school year. And as we know, this did not receive the support to move forward with the two Care Plus counselors. At the end of last month's board meeting, I told you that I would be
working swiftly and intentionally with our staff to develop some alternatives. I want to review the alternatives that we have come up with. First, we have partnered with NJ4S for free mental health services for students. They provide three tiers of services.
Generally speaking, tier one services are for everyone and include schoolwide, grade level, or parent group presentations. Tier 2 services include small groupoup counseling for students who are referred on topics that we deem in need. For
example, they may be topics on grief, cyber bullying, or school avoidance. For these small groups, NJ4S has over 95 evidence-based programs that they can utilize. Tier three services are individualized
counseling support for students while also linking the student and their family with additional resources in our community. The tier 1 and two services will be particularly beneficial to our district as this is not something that school-based youth services did.
While NJ4S will provide tier three services, we still have a need for student mental health needs that require more immediate responses and counseling. Through our committee meetings this month, we discussed audition additional, excuse me, alternatives, and we have
resolved on hiring a full-time staff member who will serve in a mental health clinician capacity. This staff member will work with our most atrisisk students as well as with the counseling and child study teams. While this does not require any board action tonight, I felt it was important
for everyone to have this update. You will see a job posting for this position soon, and we hope to be able to bring you a candidate recommendation next month. Tonight, we will hear from Rob Hastings, our supervisor, special projects, TED, broadcast technologies, and business.
And yes, that is his title. He has a lot of different responsibilities about the district's magnet programs. We have been developing magnet programs for the past eight years or so and we are very proud of the work we have done to strengthen the programs and increase the opportunities for our students. This is
also related to one of our district goals and metrics in communication and student voice. Dr. Hastings, I will have you take the lead now and I'll ask our BOE members just for ease of and efficiency if we stay up here. The presentation is linked in board doc so
you'll be able to view it. Move down. Right. That's not bad. community. Thank you so much uh for the opportunity and the platform tonight to talk about an area that I'm really passionate about which is our magnet programs. Um this is something as part
of my job position at special projects is that I oversee our six differentmies that we have at 100 central. The logos are on this slide right here. Um and our sixmmies being architectural design, the biomedical sciences, computer science,
engineering, media and communications and robotics. So these are six different areas of academic rigor. But even though we're in academic areas, there are still characteristics that are embedded within all of our magnet programs and I listed
them on this slide. One of them being a cohesive pathway of experiences. So each of our magnets are three years or four years, but all of our courses have been thoughtfully designed to increase in complexity and a real world experience as we go through the uh the program. Um,
another one of those characteristics being that there are accessible on-ramps. So, ourmies don't have admissions processes where students have to test in. If you're interested in a subject or you just have a spark of curiosity or you want to try to develop
your passion in an area, you can take the first course of any magnet program. So, they're available to everybody um as an on-ramp. And if you decide to go on, great. And if you decide that it's not for you, you can choose to get off that ramp and then try something else. But if
you do choose to continue to move into the next course of your magnet sequence, there is a supportive peer cohort that'll go with you. These people in your class will share that enthusiasm and that interest with you um and ultimately help to build community and
to collaborate and with one another um in order to have this provided supportive peer cohort as you work through your program. Um in the last part of the courses there is a capstone learning experiences that um students engage in which is basically
the culmination of all of their learning. So you're synthesizing what you've learned in three to four classes and you're applying that learning to a real world independent project under the guidance and mentorship of your magnet academy teacher. And then embedded also
within our magnetmies is the opportunities to earn college credits through our dual enrollment partnerships or to earn industry valued credentials. So for instance our median communications magnet um have partnerships with Satan Hall University. We have NJIT as a partner with our
engineering academy and then raren valley community college and many other universities um that are local to us here. So regardless of whether you're going into robotics or you're going into architecture, all of these components are embedded within your program in one
way or another. Um, and throughout this presentation tonight, I've invited some students to come speak as well. Um, to just share their experiences about their magnet programs and to speak about kind of their cohesive pathway and their supportive peer cohort. I want to bring
up uh two of those speakers. One of them representing the engineering academy and one representing the architectural design academy. Um so meet Reed and Ryan. Hello everyone. My name is Ryan as he said um I personally um have experienced
the engineering program. So in my freshman year I did TED and then last year I took engineering one and this year I'm in honors engineering. Um one thing that I really want to speak about is um specifically one of the teachers who leads the engineering program Mr.
Brohaw um while he's only one of the teachers in this department um he formerly worked at Loheed Martin working on satellites. So, he has a like leading like experience, you know, he knows what he's doing. Um, and I just think that
that really, you know, allows students to be pushed and learn um skills that are necessary um in the actual field, not just, you know, you need to learn this because it's on the curriculum, but this is going to help you later down the line in college and in the real world.
Um, personally, a lot of my friends um went to college already. Um, some of them are currently in college and some of them speak to me about what they're learning and a lot of it is what I'm learning in class. Um, personally, Mr. Brohaw has pushed me to even further
than I thought I could be pushed and able to achieve things that to be honest I never realized were possible from a high school student. So, I just think that that's really just the strength of uh this program. And that's all I have to say. Thank you.
[Music] Uh, good evening everyone. My name is Reed Ler and I am part of the architectural design academy magnet program here at Hunter Central. So far, the hands-on experience and engaging projects I have worked on have not only
made learning fun, but have opened my eyes to the possibilities that the world of architecture offers. I began participating in this program last year and I've already gained so much knowledge from both my peers and my mentor Mrs. Smith who are all equally
excited about creativity and design. Each project we tackle is more than an assignment. It is an opportunity to explore not only the study of architecture but each of our unique perspectives. As high school students, we are not just
learning to draw and design, but to think critically, solve problems, and communicate our ideas effectively. Being a part of this program has been an incredible journey so far, and we look forward to developing new skills to help give us a head start as we begin our
future careers in the professional world. Thank you. [Music] So, thank you Ryan and Reed. Um, so to move on, we just as a refresher, these are our six current magnet programs that we were talking about. Each of these have a three-year or a four-year
structure depending on the individual program. One thing that I want to highlight here is something different that we do with our median communications academy, which is different than the other five offerings, is that there are tracks that students can choose to participate in as part of
that academy. So they take their introductory course and then they can choose to engage in the academy in podcasting and audio production or in television and video production and in 2026 2027 there will be a journalism track added to that um media
communications academy as well. So there's I mean enrollment benefits for entering into our academy. So one being that students remain on campus, right? There are some programs throughout the whole state of New Jersey where students may be in high school for
half of the day and then go to another high school for the half of the day to complete their magnet program. But our program is woven into the students daily schedule in campus life, meaning that they still can participate in sports or student activities or clubs or the
theater or the musical um all with their friends. So they just they stay here and um they get to have that full high school four-year experience here. Um as we talked about earlier with that accessible on-ramp, students are exploring without pressure. So trying a
course doesn't lock them into something. It kind of opens them up to a broader and wider range of possibilities. So sometimes when you try something, you might develop a passion. And that's what trying a lot of the courses in our magnet programs aims to do. It's hoped to develop a passion that's already
there or just a curiosity into a passion. Um and then at the culmination students will earn an endorsement. So 100 central magna program endorsement signals to colleges and to universities and to employers that students engaged
in a rigorous academic track and with real world skills and with industry standards so that they're fully prepared for the next step in whatever careers they decide to partake in. Um, I do have another student I want to bring up at this time who will be earning this endorsement after this year. Um, she's a
senior and she has completed the media and communications academy in the television and video production track. Uh, so Cali, if you don't mind coming on down and she Hi all, my name is Callie Cullinin. I started exploring my love for film my freshman year in TV1 and since then I've
taken TV 2 and I'm scheduled for an independent study this upcoming spring semester. The curriculum of Central's broadcast program is purposefully curated so that the projects reflect real world industry specific challenges. This curriculum combined with the
professional studio level equipment provided to students effectively prepares them for the field. This program requires students to be well-rounded, teaching them all parts of pre-production, production, and post-production while also providing out of school opportunities to further our
experience. This is a phenomenal program filled with staff that only want to see you succeed. I'd like to give a special shout out to my film teacher, Mr. Lazik, who does a phenomenal job of pushing us to be our best selves in our craft. Thank you very much.
So, as we've been engaging with uh expanding and broadening our magnet programs, um we started to think about as a magnet program committee and as a supervisor team, the kind of students that theoretically would be successful in these programs and also historically
for the classes that have been running, the students that achieved the most success kind of what were their characteristics? Now our classes are open to everybody but when you start to look at especially in these threemies architectural design biomedical science computer science
about who the academy may be ideal for there's a lot of common themes here. So asking why and how being able to think analytically and creatively being able to visualize. There's a lot of hands-on design thinking, problem solving, solutionsoriented curriculums here for
people that may be interested to be either future architects or aspiring doctors or future software engineers. And that pattern continues in our other threemies, engineering, media, communications, and robotics. Um, you have students that are hands-on learners. They enjoy storytelling, being
behind the microphone, uh, coding, mechanics, the the creative piece is also there as well. So even though you're taking six differentmies or a student is taking one of the six differentmies, um there's still a lot of overlap between the kinds of skills that
they're going to be um expected to and present to have. So um I just want to before I go on to the next slide, just I want to bring up two more people. Uh one person representing the robotics academy and one person representing our biomed
sciences academy. Um so that Sebastian Hi, my name is Sebastian and I'm an inspiring doctor part who has been in the biomed program for three years. This program has given me opportunities that I wouldn't have had if I took the normal curriculum the school gives. I have
participated in countless dissections and on top of that I've I've learned count major in-depth human anatomy. I've worked on case studies that have allowed me to see how doctors think and what my future health careers might look like.
Part I also participated in a field trip to Rucker's medical school that gave me a chance to see kadaavvers for the very first time which is something mostly college students would get to do. Overall, this program is an opportunity I'm very grateful for and it has helped me a lot in discovering my career in
being a doctor. Sorry. Uh, hello. My name is Thatcher Wright and over the past three years I was a part of the robotics magnet program at Hunter and Central. Um, I got an amazing experience with opportunities to channel
my creativity into gratifying robotics projects that involved career skills such as but not limited to uh manufacturing with a CNC machine, uh, computer assisted design or CAD, uh, using machine shop tools, programming,
welding, and much much more. These hands-on opportunities were unbelievably important for my goals as I go forward and continue my education in robotics and automation. I am very grateful to the program and to teachers like Mr.
Master Pietro who showed me what I could really do in the field and all of the different things that would be important as I pursue my career. Thank you. [Music] So up until now you've heard about our six currentmies that are running at
Hunter and Central, but there is expansion happening too um along the way. So um I'd like to I'm very honored to talk about our two newmies uh that are joining us in 2026 and 2027. uh the learners to leaders education
academy which is career focused for students who may be interested in the field of education. And then we're going to have the performing arts academy which emphasizes creativity, expression, and choice. And just like media and communications, there are going to be
specialized tracks in theater, instrumental music, and vocal music. And for those magnet programs, there's a lot of creativity and a lot of um just curiosity. So students who are curious about the science behind childhood, very similar to the
biomedical science program where we're asking why and how. And then also for those students that wish to build confidence and be creative, very similar to our media and communications academy um where that happens behind the microphone and behind the camera. So, these are two natural fits um that are
going to expand our magnet program and make it even stronger. So, um we're very excited about adding them next year. As part of the marketing for all of ouries, um we are going to be having a magnet program showcase on campus. The date is
going to be Tuesday, October 28th at 6:30 in the Commons. And we're going to be inviting our seventh grade families, our eighth grade families, and our community here at Hun Central to come learn a little bit more about our individual magnet programs. Most of our teachers will be in the classrooms, and we'll be able to speak to you about our
programs. We're going to have student representatives giving testimonials similar to all of our speakers here tonight. And then you'll get a chance to witness, view student projects, visit the classrooms, kind of see what it's all about. Um, and we'll have all of the six currentmies open with information
about our newmies as well. Okay. So, you can learn more about Hunter Central's magnet program on our website. If you go to the academics tab, there is course sequences, there's descriptions, and there's videos um giving you just more information. So, thank you for the time.
Appreciate it. Thank you so much, Dr. Hastings. And I really want to take a moment to acknowledge the amazing participation of our students. So, Reed, Ryan, Halia, Sebastian, Thatcher, and then also Bramwin and Alexis. Thank you so much.
Um, it's so ha it's so it makes me so happy. See, I can't even speak. But it it really makes me so happy to have students here again. It's just a reminder of why we're here and what we why we're doing what we're doing. And I'm sure um every staff member I I think every board member would say the same
thing. So, thank you so much for being here. Um okay, so now Alexis and Brunwin, but really Bronwin since Alexis only found out at 1 p.m. today that she was our student representative. So, Brunwin um has prepared a report for us
um and she will be reporting on the specialized happenings going on in the community. Um I am always so glad to see students take an interest in our school district and our community. Their involvement is so important. Um and with that in mind, I wanted to remind us all
that we serve as models for them, not only in the decisions we make, but also in the way we interact with one another. Our meetings should reflect the same civility, respect, and constructive dialogue that we want our students to demonstrate in their own lives. I hope
we all keep this in mind at the and in our forefront as we move through tonight's agenda and in any future meetings. And Bronwin, I have read your report in advance, so I had a sneak peek. I'm very excited and I hope I didn't step on your toes in anything that I said tonight. So, I'll hand it over to you.
All right. [Applause] Thank you. All right. Good evening everyone. Again, my name is Bronnwin Downey. I'm a senior here at Central and I am the student representative for the board of education. Tonight, I will be
introducing the role of the student rep to those who don't know and reporting on student life here at Central as we start the school year. For those who don't know, uh student representatives were introduced to the board table last year. um they were a part of a new New Jersey
state law in order to essentially increase the role of the student in the school's decisions and ideas. Uh as student rep this year, I will continue reporting to you all about student life events and ideas um as well as report back to the students through ideas
forums and lunchtime sessions um to get their input and tell them all about the board meetings. Since my co-re Aaron has since graduated, we were in the process this month of getting a new student representative through a student
election. So, interested students applied through a Google form and then students from all grades were able to vote from these list of candidates and I am looking forward to working with Alexis and with you all this year. As far as student news goes, uh students
were welcomed back to Central this year on September 2nd. Um, and as expected, immediately began participating in various events across campus. Um, for seniors, we had our college planning night with the wonderful college and career counselor, Mrs. Nectarine, in
order to get ready for our future and senior sunrise out on Steuart Field in order to appreciate our final year of high school. On September 18th, all grades had their class meetings in order to meet their grade level teams and get a feel for just how much you can fill
the central auditorium. That same day, parents learned the same thing during this year's back to school night with various student groups like Model UN and Interact uh club holding bake sales to fund raise for their events this year. As always, our central community is going strong with support from various
students. Students with high school scores on the PSAT test as juniors were honored as semi- finalists and commended students in the National Merit Competition, which will award scholarships for some finalists next year. Central sophomores and juniors will be
traveling to Dorney Park on October 10th thanks to their hard work and fundraising efforts from the class councils. Finally, Central will be holding their homecoming football game and dance on Friday, October 17th. In arts news, the Marching Red Devils
scored 74.9 out of 100 points in their home show competition as the hosts of the event. And this Friday, the Thespian Honor Society will hold their beginning of the year showcase with songs, scenes, and monologues from the talented theater
students. Also, fall sports are in full swing. Boys soccer won against Swatch Hills two-0 to start off their season. Girls volleyball, at the time of my report, had six wins so far. Um, and the boys football team won against North Hunter and Monroe and then Union. Many
fall athletes will be honored at our central pep rally uh to finish off the spirit week and are encouraged to wear their uniforms to school on October 17th. I wish the best of luck to all fall sports teams as we move forward in the season. And then as far as um
representation goes for students, Mr. Brandt and Missosi Hay held the first student lunch uh which was on Wednesday, September 24th. We had various student reps from the class and student councils across grade levels and we discussed
plans to send out poll surveys um to students to get a sense of their desires for central. Uh so these surveys would include liyker scales and openended questions um to get feedback more consistently throughout the year. Um in addition to the annual climate and
culture surveys that are already given. Attendants at the meeting suggested including questions on this survey regarding lunch options and pricing, block scheduling and length um and phone rules based off of the goal of seeking more input from students and developing
those solutions. This feedback will then be used to develop questions on the subsequent survey sent out to the student body and we're looking forward to this new avenue of communication this year. Thank you all for listening to my long report tonight. I look forward to welcoming in Alexis and as always wish
to continue sharing the passions students have for Central through a variety of outreach methods this year. Happy September. Thank you so much, Bronwin. And I was actually I have something written to like further explain the poll surveys and I don't even need to do that because
you did a better job than I actually wrote it here. So, great job. Um, I am really looking forward to seeing what develops as our group progresses through and as we get the feedback. And um, if you read through the district goals and metrics, you know that this actually fits under our student voice um, and
communication goals. So, thank you to our students for helping with that. And Alexis, welcome again. I appreciate you being here when you only found out just like six hours ago. And, uh, we're looking forward to getting your voice heard here next month. Okay. Um, I'm now
going to ask Mr. Brandt to come. I know this is a long report. I apologize. There's a lot of exciting things going on. Um, but I will now ask Mr. Brandt, our principal, to come forward. We have a special honor to present this evening regarding our National Merit semi-finalists.
Good evening. Um, if Bronin, if you want to come up, Philip, come on up. Come on. Right up here. So, I want to congratulate seniors Brian Wend Downey and Philip Kazansv on being named semi- finalists in the 2026 National Merit
Scholarship Competition. Out of 1.3 million juniors that took the PSAT last year, which is a qualifier for the National Merit Scholarship Competition, they are two of approximately 16,000 students nationwide to be named semi-finalists.
The nationwide pool of semi-finalists, representing less than 1% of US high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrance in each state. The number of semi- finalists in a state is proportional to the state's percentage of the national total of graduating
seniors. Semi-finalists will be notified in February if they advance to the finals level and have the opportunity to earn national merit scholarships of $2,500 or corporate or college sponsored scholarships. And on top of, and I got
to say on a side, on top of strong scholarship, Brian and Philip are two of the genuinely nicest people that we have here and are influential members of our school community. They are. So, I'm proud as principal to uh introduce
them to you as national merit uh semi-finalists for Central. Congratulations. Do you want to keep congratulations ations again, Bronwin and Philip. And I agree, you are two of the nicest people here at Central. Um,
and we're really proud of you all. Thank you so much. Um, okay, a little in opposite direction. We also have a HIB and suspension report on the agenda. Um, you're still seeing the 24 There was no easy segue into that. Um, you are still
seeing the 2425 Hib report. This will be the last month. it's still on because we affirmed the final HIB from 2425 last month. So, um, so moving forward, we'll only see this current school year. Um, lastly, before I hand it back to Lisa, I
wanted to extend an invitation to everyone here and to everyone on our live stream to participate in our strategic planning process. Our strategic plan will set the vision and goals for our district for the next five years. It is so important that we have all voices represented. Students, staff,
parents, and families, community members, and business partners. Our first meeting is on October 8th at 6 p.m. And all information can be found on our website under quick links. I hope you will join us. Thank you for your patience and attention to tonight's long
report. And I will pass it over to you, Lisa. All right. Thank you. So at this time we will move into our first uh public residence forum. I just want to remind everyone that this is only for action items on the agenda. Care plus and
school-based is not on the agenda. Um I also want to remind you that there are rules for public speaking that are on the agenda every single month. And I'm going to just add a couple of my own comments. We fully support everyone's first
amendment right to speak and be heard. That applies to every member of this community. However, it has become increasingly clear that our public discourse is becoming unacceptable. Personal attacks, name calling, and public shaming have become far too common, particularly towards board
members who are serving in good faith. These kinds of accusations and insults, including being called Nazis, white Christian nationalists, book banners, bigots, racists, and worse, are not just offensive. They are deeply harmful to the civility we should all be working to
create. This type of behavior only creates division. Us versus them, me versus you, right versus wrong. It does not move us forward. It discourages community participation, stifles respectful debate, and creates a hostile environment not only for the board
members, but for students, staff, and parents who are watching and listening. Is this really the culture we want in our schools? One where disagreement is met with vilification or inclusion and belonging only extended to those who think alike? Last year during our
superintendent search, we held a student focus group. One of the strongest messages we heard from students was the desire for diversity of thought. Clearly, we have work to do. There is a growing intolerance for differing viewpoints that runs counter to everything we're trying to build. We are
in election season. Let's hold ourselves to a higher standard. All too often, we see community members tearing others down. Attacking individuals with false allegations and unsubstantiated claims isn't courageous. It's destructive. It doesn't tell us anything meaningful
about the target. It tells us everything about the person making the accusation. Let's encourage public discourse that is rooted in ideas, not insults. We still have work to do. We can do better, and I hope and pray we do. With that said, last month the board was forced to adjourn into recess due to the lack of
decorum during public comment. Individuals who interrupt others, become aggressive or loud, or fail to adhere to the public to proper decorum will be asked to leave the meeting. Thank you. So, with that, I will open up the first public session. And please be reminded
that this is for only action items on the agenda. If it if you start talking about something that's not an action item, you're going to have to wait until the final session. All right. So, with uh you think so is everyone is everyone okay with moving
to three minutes because we have quite a few people? Yeah. How many people are up there? Just six people. Okay. All right. All right. So, just state state your name and your municipality. Thank you. My name is Melissa Stagger. I live in Raritton Township and I'm here tonight
to talk about themies that you have going on. I am the proud parent of two central graduates. Um, one who is in Round Bale or Round Valley. Um, he's in Ritton Valley Community College studying nursing and another who's at the University of Georgia. And I'm just here
tonight to say that the decisions that the board and the administration make have a lasting impact. And let me tell you what I mean. When I taught at Central, and it was in 2001, a long time ago, um at that time that we did not
allow freshman to take AP classes. My son, who is now going to University of Georgia, was able to go there with 60 credits. that is not only a savings to the family, it's a testament to the education that he received here at Central. So, I'm incredibly proud
because the decisions that we make as a board, as a community, and as a staff have a lasting impact. So, I just wanted to say it's great to see more going forward and thank you so much for the work being done to move our students forward because that's the most important thing. Thank you.
Thank you. Hi, Edna McLaclin. I'm from Delaware Township. I pardoned my outburst. I apologize for that earlier. I surprised myself even. I don't know if this is an action item on the agenda, but this is an item on the agenda. I have a a
request with respect to the public comments themselves. I know that uh that uh conventionally we have a 30 minute public comment period. I think that there are a lot of folks uh here this evening that would like to make comments. I know that the board values input from parents and from the
community. So, um I would respectfully uh uh ask if you could extend the uh the 30 minute period and uh uh allow folks to have uh the opportunity to to uh to uh make their public comments uh even if
it goes over the last even if it goes over 30 minutes. Um, Miss Santangelo, I recall just a few years ago uh that yourself and members of your church group uh attended a meeting and um so Mr. Mclaclin, I'm sorry. I think I have three minutes, right?
Yeah. But again, it's not an action item. So if you want to make that quick request, but this is going beyond that, right? So I guess what I'm saying is that that you were your group was extended the courtesy. I think you had about an hour and a half of of commentary. So we will take that into consideration. So yes, I'm asking you for the same
consideration. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you. [Applause] [Music] Rachel White, Ryan Township. I was disappointed in the board of education for not answering my email from September 4th, which was sent to the
board president directly along with the full board. I would appreciate it if the board attorney would explain tonight how the taxpayers are supposed to communicate with the board if they refuse to respond at meetings and also refuse to respond to official correspondence. How can the board serve
the community if they don't even speak to its constituents? Thank you. Thank you. [Music] Don't want to fall on your podium. Um hi, my name is Leah Klene. I am a Flemington Burough resident. I am the
parent of a college sophomore and a senior here at Hun Central. And we have had the most amazing experience here at Hunton Central. The staff go beyond how they care about the
students. Uh the everyone from the coaches to your amazing guidance program has steered my children in the perfect direction. Um, I do and I want to thank Mr. Rob. I think I saw him here. He has
been lifech changing for my child. But I just want to keep in mind that but my children are very different and my second child needs all of the extensive services that they give to students with
who struggle and he will always struggle. And I'm so proud of him for how he comes every day and tries to do the things that, you know, are available to him. But we really need to be mindful of
the extreme challenges that some of our students have that go beyond and may need services that I just I'm just not entirely sure we're providing right now for mental health services. So, thank you for
listening to me. Thank you for the great work that you do. Thank you for serving and please protect our children. Thank you. All right. Okay. Hi. Uh, Reverend Vernon Williams, Raritton Township. Uh, first I want to
uh congratulate uh the central uh and and um the activation of the magnet programs and to uh Dr. Hastings and the great job that they are doing. Uh I stand before you as one who had a similar experience in my high school. uh uh I had uh something akin to the
architectural design uh magnet and uh now I stand I stand here as a uh ma ba bachelor's of mechanical engineering uh and that was birthed out of that uh out of that work. I also want to uh in in their absence u congratulate uh Alexis
Chin on being selected as a new uh board rep and to welcome back uh our uh board rep of Browin uh Downing. Um however uh I was also reviewing the board goals that are being proposed in tonight's agenda. What is striking to me
is that the proposal uh proposed goals are missing ideas of the current 2425 board goals. The current goals have a section titled effectiveness, preparation, time management and communication. I think it
important that I re I emphasize that last component of communication in the last paragraph of that section. It states the board will work towards more effective intraboard communications including but not limited to productive and efficient committee structure and
accessible exchanges of information. I'm assuming that the board leadership in previous years thought that communication among board members and committees needed to be improved upon. But now you have removed that stated goal. We have seen with this board this
year that communication among board members and committees have been significantly curtailed. The current board goals include a section titled building trust. That section states, "The board will work to ensure that all members voices are heard and considered
through a process of honest and open communication and mutual respect." What once was a standard of open board communication during board meetings has been thoroughly undermined by this board in the form of a no uh of of no board
comments and limited board interaction before the public. So much so at an earlier meeting this year on the record that we have seen you, Madame President, storm out of a board meeting in protest of one of your uh colleagues who wanted simply to
congratulate the students on a great job that he had done uh on a performance. Such conduct belies the proposed board goal of open communication and mutual respect in which the proposed uh uh uh goals
goals state model professionalism and respect in every interaction and will be mindful that individuals can disagree while still behaving ci with civility. Why must we wait until the 2526 board to begin modeling this behavior? I
challenge you to begin tonight. The culture and environment of a board of education should be a model for students, staff, and parents. We can and we must do better now. Thank you. [Music]
Good evening, Scott Cohen, Raritan Township. Uh, I too want to echo the sentiments and congratulate Dr. Hastings on a phenomenal job with our uh with Central's uh academy program. I think it's stellar. I'm super stoked to see the growth of the program and I
appreciate the administration and the board support uh of continuing to encourage our students to advance and excel in the ways we expect at Hunter and Central. So, thank you for that and thank you to the students who came to speak about the richness of the programs and what it's done for them personally.
It's absolutely amazing. Um, so tonight I'm here before you to talk about uh the the district goals. Uh at the August 18th board of ed meeting, the board presented its rough goals without any specific measurements. We know that. We know that they were a work in progress.
We know that the outcomes are now displayed in the minutes and the agenda. Uh and I'm glad to see that that work has moved forward. Uh yet the goals appear to be more compliance-based than visionary or aspirational against Central's mission statement. And I
applaud Dr. Kangalloi Haye's comment about that. this isn't just where the work ends, that there's deeper, richer work that's going to occur beneath the goals that are listed. The concerns I have and and I know this work will be done because I can entrust the
administration at central to take care of this, but there were some gaps that I just want to elevate and bring forward so that we make sure that this good work continues. There were no real serious goals to address the following. There's not one
goal or measure focused on supporting central staff or staff development. I think that's a significant miss if we don't develop the staff and it may be inherently embedded in the wording and the construct of the goals and I know that work will continue because we see
PD and other things on the agendas but not to have it as a district goal I think is a miss. uh nothing around expanding opportunities for professional development for the faculty and staff focused on instructional practices and student needs. Uh I didn't also not see
one goal or measure focused around ensuring equitable access to highquality education and support services for the diverse student population that continues to grow and expand across our community. Addressing the various needs of Central's diverse learning
populations and measures to support those. This includes Central special education students, our marginalized communities, and more specifically our Latino community. given the significant reduction and in some cases elimination
of title funding for the coming year. Uh nor is there any goal around fostering sort of a more inclusive school community. There's elements of student voice but not necessarily the inclusiveness of the larger community. Uh, I also didn't see one goal or
measure promoting student wellness by creating supportive environments and solutions that address social emotional skills and mental health for all students. Rather, there is simply a measure to have a revised listing of resources posted on the website. I did
not see one goal or measure that focuses on the continuous strengthening of innovation, technology integration, and steam initiatives. Even though we did hear about the growth of the magnet program to prepare our students for college and career and other readiness,
rather there is only a measure for a communication and marketing plan to increase awareness of the existing programs. Lastly, I did not see one goal or measure around enhancing curriculum articulation and alignment across grade
levels to ensure continuity and readiness from middle school to high school. So I understand that this work will likely happen and is going to occur. I just am concerned that at the highest level of district goals that not
seeing this but seeing a goal around uh the the use uh where was it here? uh plan that developed to provide students with access to 85% of mechanically
operable bathrooms throughout the entirety of every school day and implement the plan no later than January of this year. I I don't even understand what that means. I would hope that every student does have access to a bathroom that's working. That would be an
expectation in any school. So I I'm concerned on some of the measures that they're not really that aspirational level, but rather that we're addressing things that in a normal operation of a facility one should expect to occur and
not have it as a district measure. So um and lastly, I just have concerns of really expecting or relying or I don't know what that the board understands some of the terminology in the goals. So, thank you for your time.
Thank you. [Music] I just I want to remind everybody that they should be writing their name and municipality on the uh We passed it back. We did. You did. Okay. Very good. Thank you. Um Okay. Madame President and and also the rest of the board. Uh Matt Call,
longtime resident here. I live in uh Flemington uh Raritton Township. Uh two kids, one's a senior now. My my other one's graduated and I have two still to come. So, four children coming through Central. Uh I come today representing uh
245 youth athletes in the area and 55 coaches and I'm the league representative for Central Youth Football. Um looking to you know the strategic plan that you had mentioned. Uh we also submitted the email on the on the line as well with all of our details
supporting uh we're privy to some information around a multi- field expansion project potential here at central. We 100% are endorsing this initiative. We need the continued growth for the athletics in the community as
well. Um, and we feel, you know, we have some state-of-the-art areas, but we're very much behind given other when you go and visit other schools to see where they are with their complexes and things like that. Uh, so we're asking today to be a part of that strategic 5-year initiative, we would like to support
that to continue that. And also, if there is a subcommittee that would uh kick off the initiative to study further and details that expansion project, we would like to be part of that as well. Um the reason behind it, it's not just about, you know, football fields for the kids. It's so much bigger than that.
Getting the kids out playing athletics. It brings the community together. Um you know, I I heard a lot of, you know, and I've coached a lot of the the board's kids here as well, too. But and I've heard a lot of stress around mental health and things like that, but um activities, getting the kids out, bringing the communities together. Uh we
see Friday nights here. We know what it's like. So, we want to continue that. Um we have really grown our program. You heard the numbers I reported out. We've started very much very small and uh Casey Ransone came in and he's been very pivotal with the youth organization
growing our numbers uh bringing us to a uh standard that we are. But now we are, you know, if I just talk about expenses, if we charge $250 a kid, um, basically we're paying more than half of their registration fees just to run uh diesel generators blowing fumes out in the wind
and and all the different things that we have to go and and copple our fields together just to host our kids. So, I know these would be the high school multi-use fields with the long-term vision from me. Yes, I would love to be able to organize to get on those fields to run uh youth athletics as well. So,
thank you for your time and look forward to hearing back. All right. Hi, good evening. My name is Chad Mau. I'm in Readington Township, White House Station. I have uh two children, one who's graduated two years ago, is in university now, one who's a senior. And
I had a a question. And I was looking through some of the bylaws, specifically P6D220, which is the budget prep bylaw, and it looked like there was a rather substantial change, which was the uh the board, it was the removal of the line that said the board shall also provide
for community input during the budget development process. It looks like that was struck twice from the policy. Um there was mention about inspection. It looks like that language was preserved, but to me inspection is likely substantially different from input. So I
was very curious as to why that was done. Um the other part was the first strike in the document which was um the so it was let's see the annual budget is a financial plan for the uh effectuation of the educational plan for the
district. The following continuation of that sentence was struck. its preparation is therefore one of the most important functions performed by the board of education. So I was curious why the board's thinking is that the creation or preparation of the budget is
not one of the most important functions if not the most important function of the board. Um because to me it seems like all of your goals and targets you the budget is the vehicle by which those are achieved. So to me it seems like that is the most important thing that
you guys are doing because that's how you're likely going to accomplish many if not all of your goals. Um the other question I had was on another bylaw which was in terms of a disruption. I think it was 5560. The second paragraph
it listed out what the definition of a disruptive student was. It seemed three of the four criteria there were rather subjective. The only one that seemed evident or empirical based was uh a pattern of behavior I think it was that
um was uh not in conformance to policy and or regulation I believe is I'm probably paraphrasing a little bit there. Um but since the point I'm getting to there is um these things often will lead to some sort of
disciplinary action. So as a parent, I would expect that uh you have quantifiable or you know fact-based reasons as to why a disciplinary action is being taken as opposed to the rather subjective language that's in the policy
itself. So my ask is to go back into that paragraph, see if it could be tightened up so that you're actually making decisions based off of factual evidence-based reasons and not re really relying upon subjective analysis. Thank you.
Thank you. [Music] All right. Thank you everyone. We're going to close out the first public session and move on to organizational items, which is our board of education uh goals and our district goals. So, I
would like to move and have get a second on those two items. Can I get a second? Second. All right. I would like to speak on that. Yeah. So, we can um if anyone would like to make a comment on that action item, they can do that. So, go ahead, Ellen.
So, I looked at the board goals. Um, unfortunately I did not have an opportunity to look at the board goals because they were only actually posted in our email um with four days to post and I don't read my board email every single day and so I didn't know it
didn't know it was coming up and so I wasn't looking for it. Um I'm not happy with what has been listed and um I think those are all really great and important goals that are there. There's no question. I have no problem with them, but I have a problem with some of the ways that I have been ignored or um
actually attacked by other board members and that there's a lack of there's really a lack of of expertise that I am aware of in creating district goals. And so there's some things in here about expertise and about um uh communication
that I feel isn't really happening. There was no communication with the returning board members to me. um for example the president um or uh some of the other uh board members about how how the boards are run or anything like that. No one no one had any interest in
speaking to me pretty much about anything except a couple of other people. Um and I appreciate that they did and I I really feel like the board this is really not these are really not goals. These are like the way we should be towards each other and I do think
that we generally are very respectful towards each other during the meeting and um and we try to to continue with this but I do feel as though this these are not really goals. So I just wanted to make that statement. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else have any
comments on the action item? I I would just like to note that um typically the way this has happened in the other years that I've been on the board is that the board develops visionary goals and then the district goals follow from that. So this process
has been um very different for me and and I will agree with um some of the commentary that these are are lovely goals but I I'm not sure that they are um up to the task.
Okay. Anyone else? Sandra? Uh yeah I you know the district goals are much better so I will be approving them. Um so thank you to the editors for district goals. Um but I also still volunteer to help edit things but no one
ever gets back to me on the board goals. However, um I wish that we could discuss as a board what the goals are that we could discuss the input and again that didn't happen. So I won't be approving the board goals.
Okay. Anyone else? just if there's going to be Okay, now it's on. Um, you know, an allegation that someone has attacked you. I hope that during executive session you'll share with us so that we can be aware of what you're talking about.
Excuse me. I think you were at the meeting where it happened. I have it happened in an executive committee meeting and I was attacked. Okay. So, we don't have to discuss it here. That's why I said executive session because I think when you say something like that in the
public, it could damage the board. Excuse me. It shouldn't have been said. It shouldn't have been said. It shouldn't basis and it shouldn't have been said. The lawyer should have stopped it. It shouldn't have happened. Okay. Okay. No idea what she's talking about, but uh anyway, on the district goals, yes, I
agree with the public in that it should be a given that students have access to all of the bathrooms throughout the day. They don't. They have not for years. If you go back to 2023 when Edward Brandt did the principal Brandt did the thorns and flowers presentation about the
feedback he got from the students interviewed during uh the climate culture survey, access to bathrooms was something that was on there then. It's been on there. It was the most frequently discussed thing in the student responses to the climate and culture survey. We heard from students
that they are having medical issues due to not being able to use the bathroom. So, I know it's an odd goal to have to have, but at some point when you have students who are afraid to go to the bathroom or who can't use it because it's always locked or because there's
not enough teachers there being there to help, you know, to leave it open for them. That becomes a basic necessity that I do think we have to address. So, I know it might sound kind of like a silly goal. I hope, you know, that the students can appreciate we're actually
being responsive to that need that has been talked about for year after year after year because it really does need to be addressed. Um, there's a lot of information here and I appreciate the community feedback, the staff feedback, and the student feedback and these schools are really responsive to a lot
of those things that we heard the most. And I think it's really demoralizing if you ask for feedback and don't address it. So these are some of the biggest things that the community both inside and outside of the school have been telling us that they need. And so um working with the administration to come
up with some of these some of the responses weren't feasible. Some of the things had to change on the fly. But um and yeah, we can't cover every single goal and every single item, but these are really um addressing some of the issues that you know, triage, you know,
there are some things that really have to be said and some things that we have trust in the administration to carry out on a day-to-day basis. Um as far as the board goals, I'm thank you to the people who participated. They are very similar to last year's. Um, we ended up
basically recycling last year's I think uh the year before because the superintendent was brand new. So, we didn't really get an opportunity to develop them. Yeah, we just kind of pushed back the 2023 goals
into 2024. So, it is good to see um these goals um ready for the new year. So, thank you. All right. Anyone else have any comments? I also would just like to say that um not everyone participated in supporting um reaching out about board
goals. So I would like to thank those who did do the work for board goals. Thank you. All right. Anyone else? I just want to say that I did participate in board goals, but the first goal is really just taken from our
board handbook. Um, and again, I just want to emphasize or at least encourage us if we have another project like that that we can actually work together as a board to get input from each other. Well, I think that we did get input from
everyone. It's just that sometimes we can't all meet in extra meetings, right? So, based on our schedule. So, that's why we did it that way. In fact, I actually think the process lent itself to giving us more time to contemplate and um exchange information. All the
information was available to everyone. It was uh in the Google Drive accessible to everyone. So, I actually think the process despite the fact that we couldn't have a special retreat or meeting worked out really well and everybody could have participated if
they chose to. So, thank you for the comments. With that, um, we will ask for a roll call. Miss Gong, yes on district goals, no on board goals. Miss Gray,
yes. Dr. Halpern, yes on district goals, no on board goals. Mrs. Kellogg, yes. Miss L. Oh, sorry. Mrs. Peterson, yes, Mrs. Rothal.
Yes. Mrs. Dugen, yes. And Mrs. Santangelo, yes. Motion carries. All right. Thank you. All right. Next up, we're going to read out our committee reports. Um, Student Life and Program Committee is usually read out by
Leslie Lcasta, who is not here tonight, so I will do that for her. Um, the Student Life and Programs Committee met on September 17th. In attendance were S. Sue Dugen, Leslie Laccasta, Rebecca Peterson, Jessica Kangalloce Hay, Dee
Dietra, Matt Hall, and myself. The committee discussed new state approved evaluation options for highly effective tenur teachers. These give staff the chance to grow through activities like action research or leading professional development and will be piloted on a voluntary basis. We reviewed out of
district placements to ensure students with specialized needs received the right support and reaffirm our annual commitment to the Mckin Vento program to assist students experiencing homelessness. And finally, we reviewed the district professional development plan focusing on aligning staff growth
with district goals and student achievement. So with that, I would like to move items one through four. Can I get a second? Second. Any comments on those action items? So, I was very surprised to see the um in the minutes of the uh student life
and program committee that um apparently the student life and program committee is has been given the power to um decide what professional development uh opportunities our our teachers can participate in. Um there was particular
concern over the Salem witch trial uh continuing education because it included content on gender identity, sexuality, race, and class issues that are related to the Crucible play which is taught at the at the school. Um and then there was
an agreement that the workshops would need to focus on math, science, and general education as well as a discussion that emphasized the importance of improving the process for reviewing professional development opportunities. So because of that, I
went back and looked at what our board policy is. And it specifically says that the committee shall be provided with a list of functions and duties and then the committee may make recommendations to the board for action, but they may not act for the board. So then I went
back to our handbook and looked to see what the student life and program committee is supposed to be doing. And it says it reviews initiatives and status and recommends policy and action related to curriculum, extra and co-curricular activities, as well as
professional growth and development, special and counseling services, community partnerships, and all other matters as they relate to the educational mission and goals of the district. So, I guess what I would like to know is when did our student life and
program committee get the power to decide what continuing education the teachers are allowed to access? Um, and then when do they also get the power to decide what the curriculum is because there's another item on here specific to
teen pep um and the changes to that curriculum that were made by the board. So, I hate to disappoint you, but the first of all, the minutes were uh actually not accurate. So,
that's number one. Number two, those courses that you're talking about are not on the agenda item to be approved. That does not require board approval. So, the items that are on the agenda are under personnel. We're going to put those up for a vote. So, the ones
you're referring to do not require a board vote. So, you're telling me that Dr. Hall, who prepared these minutes, inaccurately recorded the fact that the members of the student life and program committee rejected specifically
so continuing education because I I believe that there were communications made to people outside of this board um that are operable. So, I'm I'm just going to interject in terms of talking about individual staff members and what they may or may not have done and any evaluator I'd advise you to steer away
from that. Certainly, you can talk about the process and whatnot, but talking about individual staff members conduct or any criticism or or accolades should be avoided. I I I guess I will note that the author on the minutes was a specific staff
member. Okay. Well, part of that process was not followed. And regardless though, those courses are happening. So, teachers are taking those courses that you're referencing and the board does not have
to vote on those. I understand that the board doesn't have to vote on them, but apparently the board never had to vote on them because the committee was doing the work behind the scenes without getting approval of the board. And that's the part that concerns me. To me, that seems like you're directing staff
and that would be an ethical violation. So, everything we do because of the scrutiny that we're under is cleared by board counsel. So, board counsel is aware of everything that goes on and so we're not out of any none of the stuff
that you're talking about is accurate. See, thank you though. I appreciate that. Again, I didn't write it in the minutes. This isn't I'm not accusing like I am. Thank you. You're very welcome.
Okay. Anyone else have any comments? All right. We'll take a roll call. Miss Gray? Yes. Dr. Halpern? Yes. Mrs. Kellogg? Yes.
Mrs. Peterson? Yes. Yes. Mrs. Rothl. Yes. Mrs. Dugen. Yes. Miss Gong. Yes. And Mrs. Santangelo. Yes. Oh, yes. Motion carries. Thank you. All right. Jessica Rothl will um take the operations and
transportation committee. The operations and transportation committee met on Wednesday, September 24th. Sandra Gong, Lisa Santangelo, Jessica Hayade, Heather Spitzer, and I were in attendance. Um items 1 through 7 and 9 through 18 are standard
organizational items that are approved annually or monthly in order to conduct the day daytoday business of the district. We are accepting with gratitude a donation of a MacBook for our yearbook committee from just yearbook company. We are also seeking approval for four new professional
services contracts that will be used as needed to support juristic needs in a timely and efficient manner. With that, I would like to move items 1 through 19. Can I get a second? Second. Any comments on the action items?
Uh, yes. I think I've been uh told once or twice that the invoices aren't up for approval. Um but just for my information um my concern is that the invoices show u several hours at least in August almost five hours of conversations
between the board attorney um on the topic of governance. Um you can do the math. I've asked what constitutes board governance. I'm a member of the committee but haven't received much information. I'm curious and I want to
learn more about governance. I understand that Mr. Trent represents the full board. He is discussing board governance and so I'd like to learn more about it. There's a lot of money being paid to our board attorney in these discussions.
Today I actually called NJSBA. It's a free service that's open to board members and you can ask the board attorney of the day um lots of questions. So I'm encouraging our board attorney to share with the full board what gets discussed. I'm not asking you
to dis to reveal anything publicly. I'm not asking you to reveal anything that's confidential. I'm just asking as a member of the board. I'd like to benefit from Mr. Tren's experience and advice. I have one vote on this board and I would
like to use it wisely. Additionally, as we were talking about minutes, um the current committee minutes as of this afternoon did not reflect some of my comments. I would hope again that they be reflected to include some of my comments from the
meeting. All right. Any other comments? I'll take a roll call. Dr. Halpern, yes. Mrs. Kellogg, yes. Mrs. Peterson, yes. on everything would abstain abstain
on item I3 check number 83595 83595 yes on that one I will recuse thank you thank you Mrs. Rothel yes Mrs. Dugen. Yes.
Miss Gong. Yes. Miss Gray. Yes. Miss Gray. Yes. Sorry. And Mrs. Santangelo. Yes. Oh, yes. I didn't hear. All right. Thank you. Next up is our
personnel committee. Um, it was held on Wednesday, September 24th. In attendance was Jessica Canalosi Hay, David Bailey, Maryanne Stokes, Heather Spitzer, Claudia Gray, and myself. We discussed action items related to resignations, appointments of various positions,
professional development, amendments, leaves of absences as indicated on tonight's agenda. I just want to note that with regard to item 13, professional development, that each board member should abstain from their personal professional development for the New Jersey School Board Association
conference. If you want to take a quick note, Sue, your number is nine. Sandra, your number is 13. Ellen, your number is 15. Becky, your number is 24. And Jessica, yours is 28. Um,
and you will see all the I'm sorry. I missed what these numbers are for. I'm sorry. So, you want to help her? Yeah. Okay. All right. So, with that, I would like to move items one through 22. Can I get a second? Second. Thank you. Any comments on the action
items? Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. Any comments on the action items? All right. So, roll call, please. Yes. Mrs. Kellock.
Yes. Mrs. Peterson. Okay. Uh yes to all items ex with the exception of J13 item number 24. Thank you Mrs. Roth.
Yes with the yes with the exception of item number 28 in action item J13. Mrs. Dugen, yes with the exception of um J13 number nine. Thank you. Miss Gong,
yes, with the exception of J13, number 13. Miss Gray, yes. Dr. Halpern, yes, with the exception of J13, number 15. And Mrs. Santangelo,
yes, with the exception of uh item J13, number 31. 31. Motion carries. Thank you very much, Heather, for that. All right, next up is the policy committee, Becky. Okay, we have 13 policies on for first
read. Aside from the regular policy manual review, we had an update from our policy vendor Strauss Esme. So, uh, with that, we have um all 12 of the 13 were updates from Strauss Esme, including some in the 6,000, which was part of our manual
review. Um there's a little confusion on one of them 0141.3 board member number of term and term they have broken that out from uh the original 0141. So 0141.3 will be replacing 0141. So you will see with
0141 on for abolishment. Um I will note that these are all first reads and the the committee can certainly uh change things. So, I would ask the individual who spoke earlier um who had questions specifically. I
couldn't quite follow what you were specifically talking about in the budget presentation one. Um if you could send us an email um that would be really helpful. And then um you know I I some of the wording was taken out by straw
seesme but um you know I'd like to I I couldn't quite follow everything that was being suggested and like I said this is a first read that goes through a second read. Uh we have policy 0157 central regional high school website. That is a policy that we actually started talking about back in January, I
believe, um to update and increase the amount of information available on the district's website, including board docs, so that um we get a lot of Oprah requests and when there's information on the website and in board docs, thanks to a change in the OPRA law, we can uh
refer people to the board docs and that information rather than utilizing the administrative and legal uh time associated with responding to those OPER requests. tests. We have first read for abolish. We have four items uh that are
the three of them are outdated and non-stress as may that have information that is covered in other policies. And then we have our second reads uh for adoption and second reads for abolishment that we did not receive any questions about. Um
there was a question about uh disruptive students. We do have a code of conduct which very specifically lays out um specific conduct which is actionable. Um so the language of the the policy we also have the code of conduct that that
that is quite specific. So uh that should hopefully alleviate any concerns on that. So with that I will move items one through four. I'll second 50 minutes and there's still two commenters left.
I'm sorry. Okay. Um any comments on the action items? I guess Go ahead. Um so on bylaw 0177, professional services,
it just and u I'm sorry, policy 6220 budget prep. It just seems like we are adding a lot of language and adding a lot of work to our already overworked staff specifically for policy 6220.
Um there is a policy alert from um Strauss Esme and it just seems that we don't need all of this additional language. So I will not vote for the first read on
bylaw 0177 professional services or policy 6220 budget prep. Um you know we we go through a lot of meetings in terms of our budget preparation um every year and what I also hear at
the end of our budget prep and at the end of our budget presentations are actually a lot of compliments and kudos for our business administrator. So I am really reluctant to add much more work onto our business
administrator or her staff. Thank you. All right. Do you had a comment? I I had a similar question as to what the level of effort was going to be that was required for um you know the changes in 6220 as well as 0117. So I I will
just ask the committee to consider that for next month. Um, so you can send us an email with that right with the question. Sure. I'll put it in an email, although that didn't work so well last month. So, well, maybe it'll work this month. Thank you. We'll see.
All right. Uh, any other comments? All right. Can we get a roll call, please? ly I just want to sorry I'm yeah at the last moment there just um you know clearly there's a lot of um focus
attention you know that the board uh in what we know and what we don't know about what's in the budget um I know the committee gets a full rundown of the budget um I was on it last year and I appreciated that however what uh the rest of the com the board gets is what
is publicly presented so there are some obviously this year we have found some gaps apps in the process and and um we are going to be expected to know information in depth and so we need to have the information to make those make those
appropriate calls. All right, thank you. Can I get a roll call now? Mrs. Peterson? Yes. Mrs. Rothal? Yes. Mrs. Dugen? Yes. Miss Gong? Yes. with the exception of K1 number
five bylaw 0174 professional services and number 13 policy 6220 budget preparation Miss Gray. Yes. Dr. Halpern. Yes. Mrs. Kellogg.
Uh yes, with the exception of items K1 um number 13, policy 6220 and Mrs. Santangelo. Yes. Oh, yes. Motion. Thank you. All right. And finally, we have our additional business. Um I don't
know if there's any liaison reports. I don't think so. Um but as far as additional board business, is there anything anyone wants to recommend uh to put in a committee? I I just want I was going to say this is a a positive comment so bear with me. Um
there has been quite a bit of uh newspaper coverage about Flemington Rariton and how much federal funding they have lost. Um, and I just want to really appreciate Heather and her staff because the amount of federal funding that that Hunter and Central has lost is almost negligible. And I think that
that's really um just huge kudos to you guys and the the job that you do and the attention to detail that you have. So, thank you very very much. Does anyone want to see anything added to the committee for next month?
Okay. All right. With that, we will uh con finish the agenda items and we will move to our final residence forum. Uh so I think what we're going to do is extend the 30 minutes as requested. We'll add an additional 20 minutes and we'll um
have the uh limit to be 3 minutes per speaker. Just ask that you write your name and your municipality. Do you need a motion for that? No. I asked Kyle. There you go. Oh, okay. All right. Never mind. So Kyle
just wants us to do a motion on uh extending it 20 minutes and the reducing from 5 minutes to three minutes. Can I get a second? Second. Okay. All in favor? We could just do it easy. I Thank you. That's all right.
All right. Ready to go? Yep. Ready. Tedoff Ryton Township. So I'm not here to criticize the board or any members of the board in any way, but rather to make a plea. So, in March of 2023, 2 and a half years ago, a board
member was criticized from the floor by a local resident for making posts on Twitter that appeared to this resident and other members of the public as exemplifying hate speech. The board met in executive session 5 days later and
determined that this post and other actions that need not concern us here amounted to a violation of the board's ethics. At the April 2023 public board meeting, it was announced in public that an ethics violation charge was going to be
sent to the state ethics commission against this board member. This was done finally in September of 23, two years ago. So instead of making her case to the SEC as it's called, the board member as well decided to sue her own border
education. This case has now gone on for over two years, two and a half years. Indeed, most of the board that made the ethics violation complaint in 2023 is long gone. So, the board member is no longer even suing those she thinks
wronged her. But the most important thing here is the money, the cost of this lawsuit. It is costing the taxpayers in this audience and the parents of Hunter Central School District tens of thousands of dollars if not hundreds of thousands of dollars so
far eventually when all is said and done. Just this year's budget saw a 75,000 to 125,000 a year increase in legal expenses for the board. It's rumored that the board member has already
rejected an offer from the board of $85,000 to make this all go away. Who can tell what the final number might be if the board member prevails? Meanwhile, and this is even even more important, uh the at the last board meeting, although it
wasn't brought up by the uh president today, at the last board meeting, it was voted to discontinue mental health care for the school's students, which indefensible in any case, but the board members who voted to end the program explicitly at that board meeting
justified their opposition, citing budgetary concerns. Parenthetically, there were no budgetary issues because uh the program had already been budgeted and funded. Uh but in addition, all those who voted against had voted four just a year earlier. So,
if money really is the issue, and there are doubts about that, but if money really is, I implore the board member who's suing the board to please just drop the suit. So, the district's tax dollars can be
reallocated from legal fees used to counter your now multiple lawsuits and of course away from whatever settlement is ultimately reached should the board lose. I'm sorry. Or calculate. It is cheaper to pay you off. And when I was attacked here three week three three months ago, you didn't
stop him from going over time a minute and a half. Listen, excuse me. All right. We're going to have security. I have one sentence. You're going to leave. Instead, place the interest of the high school students over your own material interest. If you're not going to follow the
process, you need to leave. [Music] I'm just going to tell everybody now, if you're going to go over your time, you're going to be asked to leave. It's not fair to everyone else that adheres to the rules. Nikki Bryce, Rariton Township. Uh my
husband and I moved to Rariton Township in 2012 when our children were only babies. uh so that one day they could attend Hunter Central Regional High School, a national blue ribbon school with a fantastic reputation for a
highquality education. Um those children are now a senior and a freshman here at Central. I've been attending school board meetings here for over three years since my now senior was an eighth grade at JP Case. I've seen a change in board
members as terms expire and new members are elected. I've seen changes in board leadership as the board president and board vice president are chosen at the annual reorganization meeting. And I've seen a change in superintendent after Dr. Moore resigned and Miss Kangalloi
Haid was hired. This year in particular, I am incredibly alarmed about what I'm seeing in terms of some board actions, behaviors, and decisions. Board members have been silenced at the table. If a board member tries to ask a question,
they are interrupted and told to send an email or bring it up in committee, both of which are not public. The board comment section has been removed from meeting agendas. So now there is much less public discourse. Despite public
outcry, the board majority seems to vote how they intended to all along, oftentimes against public opinion. Policy 2110, the philosophy of 10 Central Regional High School, was revised to strip away all language
describing how to fulfill the school's mission and all language regarding the philosophy itself. The only sentence that remains in policy 2110 in addition to the mission is it is the expectation
of this school district that all pupils achieve the New Jersey student learning standards at all grade levels. This is so underwhelming and disappointing. Where we used to be high achieving and high quality, we now seem to be settling
for average. This is not what I was looking for when we chose this school district in 2012. We cannot expect students to achieve academic excellence and increase text test scores if we are not considering the overall wellness of the whole child.
Your decision 10 days before school started to not renew the Care Plus contract against the recommendation of the superintendent was shortsighted, fiscally irresponsible, opens the district to liability, and could lead to devastating harm to students. You are
restricting intellectual freedom by trying to designate which professional development courses teachers are allowed and not allowed to take. You are wasting this district's precious dollars and wasting taxpayers money with excessive legal fees from having an attorney
traveling to and sitting through every single board meeting. Excuse me. I'm sorry. Your time is up. Thank you. Thank you. [Music] Kathy Layman Township. I am a retired school administrator and special ed
teacher, but I am here to respectfully encourage the board to reconsider funding the Care Plus students. They need quality mental health services. I have a a family experience personal
and I'm going to take you back 39 years. My daughter was an entering freshman at Hunter Central and she was struggling. So I decided to go speak to her guidance counselor because that was who we did
not have mental health services then. That was who we went to. So I went to her guidance counselor and just asked her to please introduce herself to my daughter and to check on her because I knew my daughter was experiencing some
very severe self-confidence issues. I happened to come home early from work late in October and when I entered my house, I heard a very strange noise. I found my
daughter in a fetal position inside her closet and she was making statements of self harm. We were able to get her into Fair Oaks Hospital because at the time Carrier was
full because back then there was a real high incidence of teenage suicide. When I went back to the guidance counselor to pick up my daughter's work so she could have it at the hospital, I
then learned that the guidance counselor had never met my daughter and she had not sought her out. I do not say this to downgrade any of our guidance counselors. They do magnificent work
but they are so busy doing that magnificent work that and and they do not have the expertise for the mental health as well. So my daughter is fine. She's a wonderful adult.
Um sorry I've lost notes. My my fever went ahead of it. Okay. Um, 10 Central needs a dedicated mental health source
and I am very fear fearful that we have started the year without that and I really think that we need to have a system care plus from what I understand was there were so many
students that relied on it and so many teachers who were able to get students help through that. Just a few other points. Um I'm sorry your time is up. I'm sorry. Thank you for Thank you for your for
hearing my story. Rachel White, Ron Township. I'm not familiar with uh the board members professional backgrounds. Um, I don't know if um but I don't know any counselor who would have voted to cut
care plus and school-based use services with 10 days going into like before the school year starting. And I heard what you said about posting a position and all that other kind of stuff. I don't know again if you know anything about case loads or how many people can be served by one counselor in the course of
a short day. I don't know if the person you're bringing in can offer after hours support, but even right off the bat, you're talking about one counselor replacing two full-time counselors and replacing an outsourced service that was an umbrella where you could get psychiatrists, psychologists, and whatever else you needed for medical
clearances and things like that. All probably for the cost of like three positions just for the care plus part. That's not even the two full-time counselors who I'm guessing you wouldn't have been paying medical benefits for, paid time off, all that other kind of stuff. So again, the math doesn't make sense, but anyway, the decision doesn't
align with social work values or the code of ethics. As a licensed social worker who's worked in local nonprofits, I know students in our community struggle with substance use, refusal skills, unrest at home, bullying, self harm, and suicidal ideiation. This is in addition to social and
academic pressures that they face. Many community agencies and private practices have long waiting lists and limited capacity. and our nonprofit agencies are also facing potential federal cuts. Our community cannot afford to decrease services that are often the only accessible resource left for 100 central
students. By eliminating these programs despite public outcry, the recommendations from mental health professionals, teachers, the superintendent, you're showing the students and the community that their needs are not a priority for this board of education. High school students today face unprecedented stress, anxiety,
depression, all the things. Teachers and administrators and in-house counselors, while they're deeply dedicated, cannot replace the specialized care that these programs provided. You've cut off two critical lifelines. Your decision will undoubtedly increase the risk of absenteeism, academic decline, social
withdrawal, student harm, and long-term struggles that follow students into adulthood. Protecting student well-being must remain a top priority. It is not a matter of if harm will occur from the loss of these programs, but a matter of when. I urge you to show your commitment
to the welfare of our community. Reinstate these vital services for the 2526 school year and commit to expanding, not reducing, mental health resources for our students. Thank you for your time. U my name is Sarah Trillin. I'm resident
of Delaware Township. Um I'm the parent of two Centrals. I've also uh sent a email letter to this board that was not responded to as well. So I guess I wasn't the only person here today. Um I've been a licensed mental health professional for more than 20 years. I served on the Delaware Township School
Board for three years. All my children were students there. and I'd like to speak tonight about my serious concerns about the process of how the school board is being run. First, I was deeply concerned about the conduct of the board president, Mrs. Lisa Santangelo, during the August meeting. During that meeting,
she presented her personal opinion that there are adequate mental health services available to students without the Care Plus program. She based this on the research she said she and another board member had done to compare the services to other high schools and also to assess what other services are currently available to students in this
community. Although I notice not whether those services are actually accessible to students in this community. I found Mrs. Santangelo's reference to her degree in psychology particularly troubling as if that should indicate she was an expert on this topic. There was a total lack of clarity about whether this
was a budget issue which wouldn't make sense. board already approved the Care Plus contract in June or whether the problem was that Mrs. Santangelo personally did not approve of these particular services despite the fact that these services have been used with good faith and with good experiences in
this community for years and despite the fact that your superintendent recommended them. Second, during the August meeting, two board members expressed concerns that some of the school goals they were voting on were incomplete and contained unclear language and no metrics. Their concerns were dismissed and another board member even reprimanded them for bringing up
their concerns. Mrs. Santangelo casually suggested that perhaps the wrong version was sent of the goals without suggesting that the board should hold off on voting on that goal until there was clarification. She was not even willing to amend the language of the motion to to reflect that they were working goals and not district goals. As a former
school board member, I thought this behavior was shockingly sloppy, unprofessional, and possibly unethical boardmanship. Third, tonight in the reading of the minutes for the student life committee, which was in itself quite shocking as a board member read the minutes that she was given and then
Mrs. Santangelo said that those were inaccurate. So, I don't even know what to make of that. Um, I thought this was another concerning example of a board making decisions behind the scenes and likely going against specific directions in a schoolboard handbook. We heard that a committee took it upon itself to
decide which professional development courses teacher could and could not take based on their personal opinion on what was appropriate without bringing that decision to the full board. I think this provides a clear example of a board that is not operating as a body that is making decisions in the best interest of the community it's supposed to serve,
but instead making decisions based on the personal opinions of a few members of the board. As a stakeholder in this community, I have lost all faith in this board to govern responsibly or in the best interest of this community. Thank you. [Music] Uh my name is Alexander Rup uh Touary
Township, but I uh I teach here at the school. Um I've been thinking a lot about uh a riddle. What gets bigger the more that you take away from it? And I'll answer that. Um, but uh, pretty
early in my teaching career, and there's never a good time to have this happen to you, let me be clear, but it was too early for me. I lost two students to suicide in short succession. And um, it was after that that we
started to input more and more of these programs, including the ones that were stripped. And uh, one of my students I consigned, we had consigned to ash and the other to the dirt. And the one that we consigned to the dirt, their parents told me and a colleague of mine, Gail Enterline, about
the time we bought him. And now it's a beautiful statement, but it's a hell of a weight to put on a man because it leaves you going, "What could I have done more? What could I have done more?" Now, it's not a rational thought,
but it's a really human one. And um these healthcare initiatives we added, they've helped. I've seen them help And now we remove two. Now we remove two. And we can give all the jargon and and
codes we want, but plain language. I like that better. And if it's not broken, don't fix it. And Care Plus wasn't broken. We could have kept it and we could have added these positions that they want to bring in and that would have made us even stronger. But instead, we took away two with the promise of adding one. That
one's not even added yet. And that brings me cuz we built what we added. We gave more and we gave more. But that brings me to what happens. What gets bigger the more you take away from it?
A hole. And you have made a hole. And if a child falls through that hole while we strive to fill it, well, we'll know some people who could have done better.
Thank you. [Applause] Hi, my name is Marissa Stoic and I'm
from Delaware Township. I moved here several years ago and this is the first time I've attended a schoolboard meeting here. I'm a little concerned seeing the behavior that is being displayed by the board members. So
that is my thing number one. Thing number two, I'm going to reiterate what the past people have said with regards to the mental health services being removed. I can tell you I have four children who um who I have been putting through schools. one will be graduating
this year. They have developed such a significant mental health need that we are going we are appropriately seeking outside services. But what happens when those services need to occur within the school day? My child has a need where it
seems as if they developed a seizure disorder as a result. It's not. It's a mental health need. So when he needs to have the services piggybacking within the school day, it's something that is lacking within here. That is point number one. Point number two within
this. I'm I've not heard anyone bring up concerns about the transportation piece in Delaware Township. When we moved, our our bus time was starting at 6:40, which is pretty early, but oh well. Now it's
at 6:20. and that particular child because of their disabilities cannot function to get out the door at that time frame. When I called to inquire why there was a difference, I was told that there was a disagreement within some
services and a discrepancy between the transportation services. I'm asking and imploring that you look into how to fix this so that way those services could be taken care of. My last thing, I thank
you guys for hosting students who are international and exchange students. My family has hosted two students. We are in our second student, but we've had a difficult time navigating this year.
Um, one of the suggestions that I'm asking is coming from my sister who also lives in a different area but had people who had exchange students with their this within their district last year. My child who we had had wanted to go
through a graduation process. It's not something that he would have received where he had come to school and we were told no. So, I understand that you're looking at graduation rates and whatnot, but where my sister goes, the kids are
put in whatever grade and they're allowed to do the senior activities and the different fun things that seniors do just because it's something that our kids won't be able to experience. So, I'm asking if that's something that you guys can do. And with that, I will share
as quickly as I can the experience we've had this year. So, okay. I'm sorry. Thank you, though. [Applause] Scott Cohen, Raron Township, and I agree
with the board president's comment that the board's responsibility is not to rubber stamp everything the superintendent brings forward. However, with that said, the superintendent was hired by this board. the superintendent's goals and objectives
and review renewed the contract for this current superintendent. I would hope that by the time we get to this place that when the superintendent brings a recommendation forward that there's no surprise data presented in a way that suggests the superintendent
doesn't understand the need or doesn't understand the data or doesn't understand the state of mental health across the country across the state and the needs for the school in which the superintendent has been hired to deliver services. So, I I can't even understand
that uh that piece of it at all. Uh what I do want to do do tonight is talk about NJ4S because that's a direction we're moving in and that's severely disappointing given the differences between NJ4S and Care Plus despite us
looking into hiring a full-time position. The main issue with NJ4S is that it has insufficient clinical capacity, a focus on prevention that leaves many students with intensive needs underserved and the replacement of
established inschool programs. We heard a great detail from an administrator at the last board of ed meeting of what Care Plus provides that we can't do internally. The hub and spoke model also creates access barriers for some
families and has been criticized for being rolled out without adequate input from schools. They have insufficient capacity with a high ratio of students to available clinicians. The program cannot provide comprehensive or timely
mental health support to all students in need. They have for students with higher level needs. Individual services are often brief, typically 6 to 8 weeks, rather than a sustained treatment model. This is intended to teach coping skills and refer students elsewhere, but it is
not sufficient for those requiring intensive care. By design, NJ4s is a prevention and early intervention program. It does not address severe mental health concerns or crisis situations, leaving the most vulnerable
students to find care elsewhere. The shift from inschool services to regional hubs creates transportation barriers, especially for students and families in some of our more rural areas across the county who have limited access to
reliable transport. By moving support away from the school building, uh the model risks losing the trusted relationships that students often have with our in-house school staff. One school superintendent noted that relationships are essential for
effective service and an inconsistent schedule makes it harder to connect. Thank you. Sandra D'vor, Raritan Township. I would like to discuss an issue regarding the ethical obligations of board members. On March 20th, 2023, Maryanne Rampula made
a public allegation against a sitting board member. In response to Ms. Rampula's allegation, the board engaged in a campaign to discredit and remove a board member who was overwhelmingly elected by the voters of Ritan Township, Mrs. Peterson. Also, in March of 2023, I
made an allegation against then board member Noel O'Donnell. In response, the board did nothing. Or so I thought. That April, the board passed a resol a resolution censoring Mrs. Peterson and sought to have her removed from the board based
based upon their own false allegations. At that same meeting, Ms. O'Donnell made a tepid apology for her own behavior. Thanks to a recent Oprah request which has been made the board's public legal bills public, we now know that the board
used our district resources to pay the previous board attorney to write Ms. Oddonnell's quote unquote apology statement. This was at the same time that that same attorney was writing censures of Mrs. Peterson. That is a
gross abuse of power. As some of you might remember, in 2023, Miss Kellogg was the vice president of the board that engaged in this abuse of power. She has continued to make it her mission to try to discredit Mrs. Peterson and devalue the transparent work of the board. She should remember the saying, "People in
glass houses should not throw stones." In December of 2024, I filed an ethics complaint against Miss Kellogg with the school ethics commission. Unlike the former board, I respected the request of the school ethics commission and kept the complaint confidential until the
commission made a finding. On September 23rd, 2025, just six days ago, the ethics commission found that there are sufficient facts presented in my complaint and Ms. Kellogg's written response to lead a reasonable person to believe that Ms. Kellogg violated the
School Ethics Act. That complaint will now move to adjudication. Ms. Kellogg is being defended by the same attorney who prosecuted Mrs. Peterson and protected Ms. O'Donnell. Mrs. Kellogg is the first board member in Hundred Central history to have an ethics case credit with
probable cause. Rather than change the manner in which she conducts herself since I filed this complaint, Miss Kellogg has continued to flout her ethical obligations. I am certain we will not hear complaints from Ms. Rampula about the amount of money Ms. Kellogg's ethics defense is costing the
district. And we won't see the letters to the editor calling out Ms. Kellogg's behavior. Apparently, Ms. Rampula, Miss Kellogg, and their friends only hold others to standards and never themselves. Thank you. personal personal attack.
That's not a personal attack. Trish wrote in Rarin Township. Witnessing the community's behavior at last month's BOE morning was meeting was disappointing to say the least. People were out of control, making accusations,
yelling over the board attorney, and calling people names. Where's the respect for differing viewpoints? Some of the worst behavior I saw was from people looking to gain a seat on this board. Mrs. Wallace has been seen in the video interrupting the board attorney
and yelling from the audience, forcing the board to have to take a recess due to the loss of dctrum. Another candidate, Mr. Williams, alleged he was shocked that the board member did not know that Care Plus was in the budget. He found it reprehensible, a word he
uses against members of the board. Miss Kellogg made a similar claim on Facebook. However, when a member of the public asked Miss Kellogg, "Where is the budget presentation for Care Plus information can be found?" She never
responded. I looked at the budget budget presentation for myself. I didn't see mention of Care Plus. People should not make baseline claims that can't be backed up. Also, I recently saw a letter to the editor of Tap into written by
Mrs. Rampula. Mrs. Rampula was sitting on the board of elections, served as a campaign manager for a board member Sandra Kong Gong, which rire a conflict of interest. Miss Rampola has apparently moved on from Miss Gong to be official
campaign treasurer for Mrs. Wallace, Vernon Williams, and Nikki Price. Like Mrs. Rampula, the Wallace Williams and Bryce campaign likes to focus on legal bills. What is clear from the legal records and from previous
decisions of the school ethics commission is that Miss Kellogg and the previous board acted beyond what a board is allowed to do. Additionally, it is clear that the former board attorney worked with Miss Kellogg and only certain board members against Mrs.
Peterson while actively defending other board members. It seems that some people on the board and others who frequent these meetings are not actually here seeking to prove good faith input. Instead, their focus appears to be trying to publicly humiliate board
members that they have marked as the enemy. They will feed lies to the media and do their best to cause disruption. They are trying to disguise the fact that the Oprah uh legal bills are a window into how our previous board
weaponized and abused their power and use district resources to try to silence a board member. The fact that these current candidates and their treasury continue to rely on this style of abuse to support their campaign is beyond
disturbing. It is this kind of people. Is this the kind of people we want on the board representing us? I hope I hope not. Thank you. [Applause] Christa Fletcher, Flemington Burrow. I
have similar concerns. I would like to address a letter to the editor in Tap into written by Maryanne Rampull, which falsely claims that Mrs. Peterson has cost the district $70,000 in legal fees defending herself against the witch hunt
that was aimed against her in 2023. Coincidentally, it was also Maryanne Rampullo who made the initial complaint against Mrs. Peterson in March of 2023, which is when the legal bills began to acrue. Between March 20 and April 2423,
the board paid the previous board council more than $11,000 to help investigate and target Mrs. Peterson to publicly humiliate her. None of the $11,000 had to do with any legal appeal filed by Mrs. Peterson. The board spent
an additional $1,000 on a petition to have Mrs. Peterson removed from the board and about $500 to review the personal board comments of Mrs. Ms. Kellogg, Miss Hughes, and Miss Blfield, which were aimed to publicly smear Mrs.
Peterson and calling for her resignation. School boards are not permitted to use public resources to attempt to hold fellow board members liable for alleged ethics violations. This was made clear by the school ethics commission in February in a case against
members of the Berkeley Heights Board of Education who engaged in the same behavior against a board member as the central board did against Mrs. Peterson. The commission found the Berkeley Heights board members guilty of ethics
violations, stating that the board quote unquestionably weaponized the board to file legal proceedings against a fellow board member and went so far as to authorize the use of board counsel to support their cause unquote. The commission went on to say that it was
unethical for board members to vote at a public meeting to file ethics charges against another board member and that it was unethical to use board resources to support their own personal desires. The ethics committee recommended that the board members be publicly censored,
noting that the board members, quote, made this an issue of public interest when they sought to make the alleged ethical violations of a fellow board member known to the public by discussing it and voting on filing an ethics complaint at a public meeting.
Therefore, the general public now has a right to be informed of the sanction publicly." unquote. I can only assume that there are pending ethics charges against many of the former and current board members involved in wasting taxpayer money and weaponizing the board
to their own ends. Those board members will likely face public centure just like the Berkeley Heights board members. It is too bad that more public resources will have to be wasted in defending those board members to write this wrong.
And that is the truth. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you. Mayor Stella Wallace, Raridan Township. I would first like to address um a complete lie about me. It's Ms. Wallace.
Thank you. Um today at work, I couldn't believe the conversation I was having. We're a laughingstock. I'd like to talk about professional development in the courses available to the teachers. Mrs. Santangelo was absolutely correct that they can still attend. They will just
not be reimbursed and they have to use a personal day. So, that's very different than being able to attend because that would also be unconstitutional. Um, the fact that I'm even talking about a class over the Salem witch trial that
took place in 1692 in 2025 is mind-boggling. Things can be presented as fact and it's an evidence-based class. It happened. It happened in our history and everybody acknowledges it. Whether or not you believe in witchcraft and magical thinking is that's done on
your time, not on professional development in a public school. This is a public school. We don't have time for a theocracy or a putoaucracy or anything that we're the board is slowly coming to. And the fact that we are still talking about something that the
governor of Massachusetts in 1711 exonerated 22 people of not having witchcraft at all. And the seminar, you know what? It's that it would probably end up teaching the mob mentality. how that's
not okay. How not to believe everything you hear. How to handle different points of view. How to handle women in power. I don't I I just it's mindboggling that anyone in 2025
has issue with that unless it's personal. Unless it's your theological viewpoint on witchcraft, which I find offensive in public education. I do not profess my beliefs on anyone in this room, in this board, in this town,
and I'm not on that board. So, this is ridiculous that we're still talking about this. The other thing I'd like to address is that previous speaker who then said that myself, Reverend Williams and Nikki Bryce do not deserve a seat on
this board isn't I think that's out of line. They officially campaigned on board time and in the public where it is banned from this school. And the fact that you what Mr. Attorney, I'm sorry I forgot your name, did not shut that down
is really out of line because isn't that what you're there for? That's it. And enjoy and I have time. Enjoy your ride home while you get paid for it. [Applause]
Robert Lanica, Raritan Township. So, I had a whole prepared speech I was going to give here talking about all the wacky things that are going on here with the board. And I I don't even know that I can give them in all honesty. I I just have a couple
of observations to make that I'm going to share with everybody also in this room. You all are the most dysfunctional board I've ever seen. I've been here coming to meetings and I see you arguing in public. You're supposed to be unified in
a direction that saves our kids, that keeps our educational system moving forward, that keeps them pointed in the right direction, that gives them the tools so that when they graduate from here, they become doctors, lawyers, engineers, plumbers, electrician,
whatever, that they get their life together. But you all argue in public. I'm flabbergasted at this. How can I trust you to help guide our children with policies and procedures that are going to get them out of school? It it's
it's just amazing. And for all of you here, I find it offensive that we can't come together and and unify around getting our kids the best education and the best support possible. That to me is just disgusting. Regarding the
cancellation of Care Plus, you know, the process that the board has taken has created a huge vacuum in critical services that are provided to our kids. Why you didn't continue care plus while going through a parallel process of
deciding to insource this properly is beyond me. Reckless is a great term for it. I run projects for multi-billion dollar companies and if I were to go in and just yank a project out and not have a plan to replace it, I'd be fired. I
think you all ought to be fired. Thank you very much. Maria Wright, Raritton Township. Uh mental health programs are proven to help students. Thoughts and prayers are now proven to help. Thank you.
[Applause] Good evening. Janet Cuaderone, Flemington Burough. As a member of this community, I follow what this board does because I care. Success for a community begins on this
local level. Success for a community begins with its young people. They need our support. They need all the support we can give them. So I, like many, take the time to support and follow school board members knowing how difficult the job is and hoping that they will be
worthy of our trust. That word trust, it has been claimed by members of this board. It has been spoken by many people coming to this podium. Earlier, Verdon Williams reminded us that trust is one aspiration outlined in your mission. So we vote. We
put our trust in those board members and we trust that they are there as public servants committed to the support and success of every child. Trust is earned and when board members break our trust, we notice. And more importantly, when board members break our trust, they also
let down our kids and their teachers. I respectfully ask, why do the majority of this board attempt to deny a significant professional development training to Huntington Central's teachers? This training sponsored by the College of New Jersey, the teachers as scholars program
was already paid for. So the board was not acting as a good steward of the budget. Rather, it pains me to say it would seem that they sought to control teachers ongoing growth. And I do not believe that that is in the board's job description. I just heard though that powerful learning is a part of your
mission statement. Much, but perhaps still not enough, has been said of late about the loss of mental health services like Care Plus. I heard the statement read at the top of the meeting. I also heard the report that there was a recommendation to continue Care Plus, but it did not
receive sufficient support on the board. And the gap that that leaves currently for students needs that are in need today is more than troubling. I heard the plan to hire an internal counseling support that will result in a robust robust program as determined, I assume,
by experts in the field. I certainly hope that this will remain a time-sensitive topmost priority because folks of course will follow your progress on that here. I'm certainly encouraged to hear it suggested that board members are aware of the myriad stresses and challenges in being a high
school student and I hope of how many students have been saved by mental health resources in school. I might reasonably argue that that awareness should be in the board's job description. I want to thank you for your service and support the courageous currently
minority voices on this board. I and many will seek to support to support school board candidates this November that are honestly committed to the welfare of all students and their teachers. And I would ask the currently majority voices on this board to please
stop and consider moving forward how they can actually be worthy of our trust. Thank you. [Applause] My name is Mary Deal. I live in
Tukesberry Township. And I um I'm going to do something I think that might be a little bit unusual and comment on two things that happened here tonight that disturbed me. Uh, one was member Gong's
request that the attorney make available to her, and as I understand it, your attorney serves all of the members of the board. And so there should be transparency about any legal discussion
or legal advice that is given by that attorney. All members should receive reports from your attorney and I greatly support your request for that. I don't
see any other way that there can be equality among the board members as there should be in communications especially legal communications.
The other uh comment on tonight that I'd like to make is the gentleman who raised the concern about discipline and the fact that there were three subjective items and only one um that had was
evidence-based that had to do with student discipline. I believe that the um response to that was, "Oh, well, we have a code of conduct. It's clear." Then I would say
refer to the code of conduct. Don't have two different standards sitting out there. All you do is you create conflict. So I would really encourage that you
make that change in that section of I don't know was it a policy was it a goal was it a what but um if you've got a code of conduct use the code of conduct don't have something else the other thing has been that I would like to
comment and has said been more eloquently said especially by the gentleman who talked before me. But it makes no sense to me whatsoever that you had a budget that was passed considered based on
how many years at least three, right? Two, three years of providing mental health services where you think there's something better. Fine. Fine. Find it. Bring better. But you don't bring better
by throwing out what was working. It it make it it boggles my mind that you would have a budget that provided for these needs of these students and then all of a sudden you throw it out. Thank
you. Your time's up. Reverend Vernon Williams, again, two things I'd ask that if you could clarify for me. Uh, that was uh, one that was stated just prior to the open public forum, the second open public forum. Am I correct in in what I heard a member of
the board say uh imply that perhaps board members don't get to hear the entire budget or don't get to be presented the entire budget before they come into this public meeting and vote on it. Am I am I correct at hearing what
that board member said that they did they don't you don't get a chance to know what the entire budget is before you hear what what the public is to hear. And then two is it can you vote to
award a contract that is not being appropriated as a line item in your budget. So for instance, if Care Plus is what you voted on on at the last meeting to not go forward with, if it is not a
line item in your budget, why are you voting on it? Please clarify that. Hi, Chad Mau. I was up here earlier and I'll be real quick. is really I'm just coming back to respond to the woman who was I think speaking about what I had
discussed earlier. So it was in relation to the disruptive student policy which is P560. Um and it was second paragraph. There were three subjective criteria and one that was actually qualitative or quantitative evidence-based. Um there
was there is a statement in that policy that refers to P5600 which is the code of conduct. That sentence specifically is disruptive students may be disciplined in accordance with that policy. So it's not indicative to me that the definition of a disruptive
student is in the code of conduct. It's that how if a student is deemed to be disruptive, they are disciplined in accordance with the code of conduct. So to me, the purpose of the disruptive student policy is to define what a
disruptive student is. So my ask is in that second paragraph take another look at it really ask yourselves is this too subjective right so like the very first one for example is for the purposes of the policy disruptive student means that a student who has difficulty
establishing good relationships with peers I don't know what that means right if I'm s a very introverted student then does that mean I'm disruptive right so it's those kinds of things there that don't quite make sense to me so I'd appre appreciative if maybe that language could be fine-tuned and make
better sense. Um the other one was the budget and that was really two questions. It was why was community input stricken from the policy and why is it appear to be the opinion of the board that their most important job that statement was also stricken
from the the budget policy of you know the most important thing we do is to have a budget or formulate a budget. And thank you. [Applause] [Music] All right. So, seeing that there are no other speakers, we're going to end the
final residence forum. I thank you all for coming. We are going to motion to convene into executive session. Can I get a second? Will there be Will there be action after the executive sessions? No.
Um, okay. And a roll call, please. Mrs. Peterson, yes. Miss Mrs. Rothell, yes. Mrs. Dugen, yes. Miss Gong, yes. Miss Gray, yes. Dr. Halpern, yes. Mrs. Kellogg, yes. And Mrs. Santangelo,
yes. All right. Thank you.