check check check [Music] heat heat n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] to flag United States
this meeting is in compliance with the open public meeting law and has been duly advertised in the newspaper as an official meeting roll call dr osman mr walsh present mr mccarron present mrs rivera present mrs baroas present mrs
gardella present mrs cass present i need a motion for the approval of the agenda with addendums motion second discussion roll call mr walsh
yes mr mccarron yes mrs rivera yes mrs baroas yes mrs gordella yes mrs cass yes i now turn the meeting over to Mrs primilli for her superintendence report
thank you Mrs cass and good evening everyone um tonight as we always do we will start with our high school board rep reports and tonight I'd like to begin with Katie from Liberty High School good evening Superintendent Permilly members of the board of education and
distinguished guests it's a privilege to be here once again to share some of the exciting things happening at Liberty this past month our winter sports season has come to a successful close and we're extremely proud proud of all of our teams some of our athletes have earned special recognition and we'd like to highlight their achievements after hosting the region six wrestling
tournament the boys wrestling team sent four wrestlers onto the state tournament william Hutchko Armani McCann Tucker Pazino and Jordan Aash both Jordan and Armani placed to become Liberty sixth and seventh state medalists and the first since 2015 jordan placed seventh while Armani placed eighth additionally
our JLHS competition cheerleaders won the next level national championship in Providence Rhode Island they advanced to this competition after winning the state title for the fourth consecutive year our athletic trainer Mr grande is in the final rounds of the short conference wrestling coaches association trainer of
the year competition with back-to-back nominations he consistently ensures our athletes perform at their best we are incredibly lucky to have him spring sports are underway and they have started scrimmages this week li the Liberty boys baseball team had an early jump on the season when they attended the Shore Conference baseball coaches
association sportsmanship dinner this is an event where teams from across the area gathered for dinner and hear from a guest speaker it was great motivation and inspired them for the upcoming season our clubs have also been very active the Jackson Liberty STEM Academy hosted a big sale this week and the dance team is currently hold hosting a
cookie dough fundraiser meanwhile the PTSN is very busy preparing for our bingo gift auction in addition our arts programs continue to thrive on March 11th Liberty hosted the Jackson School District Museum night providing an opportunity for all Jackson students to showcase their work this event was a
tremendous hit earlier on March 6th 7th and 8th the Jackson Liberty Drama Club presented their production of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief which highlighted the talent of many students liberty is also proud to support the McAlliff Middle School Drama Club in their production of The Lion King Jr which will be be performed on March 25th
at 6:30 and March 27th 22nd at 1:00 p.m and 6:30 p.m additionally Liberty is hosting several important events including the College and Career Planning Night the School District Trade and Job Fair and the Jackson Education Association Vision Day these events are intended to help students succeed well
beyond graduation helping them plan for the next steps in life we are very fortunate to have so much support and access to impressive resources a necessary part of academic achievement is completion of state testing our juniors recently fulfilled the requirement of taking the NJGPA we're
confident that they all scored well our events are built into our days to help um motivate the community as well we recently hosted a spirit week to promote health entitled March into Wellness student council is also busy planning events that will take place during lunch as a way to promote unity and hype everyone up about the merger that will
take place next year as much as we've been working as a community to make this year great there are some individuals worthy of special recogn recognition we'd like to recognize a few people for their ex exceptional achievements sam Capan and Katherine Spalto have been named seniors of the month while Victor
Akin Babo and Nyla Nyla Laan Spears has earned athlete of the month lastly family and consumer science teacher Mr zenovitz has been named line of the month congratulations to all of them for these impressive accomplishments as the first marking period of the second semester comes to a close we are hitting
our stride and are working harder than ever ap classes are on their final stages of preparation and committees are meeting to discuss possibilities for next year i am truly grateful for the opportunity to represent Liberty tonight thank you all for your time and have a wonderful evening
thank you Katie that was a comprehensive full report um I'd like to now call Colin from Memorial to the podium good evening Mrs perily members of the central administration staff and board of education members i'm excited to be here tonight to share some of the
amazing things happening at JHS first I want to give a huge congratulation to our students for an incredible showing at Battle of the Classes the competition was fierce the Naz was high and in the end the juniors came out on top a huge shout out to everyone who participated and helped make the event such a success
looking ahead spring sports are officially underway our athletes in spring track boys and girls lacrosse boys tennis girls softball boys baseball and boys volleyball are ready to take on this season with dedication and school spirit some of those sports have scrimmages this week and we wish them
the best of luck can't wait to see all they accomplish march is filled with exciting events for our students this Friday we are hosting the annual dodgeball tournament where teams will compete in a fun and competitive showdown it's always a highlight of the year and we're looking forward to another great event last week Shrek the
Musical was a huge success captivating audiences on Thursday Friday and Saturday with incredible performances from our talented cast and crew the hard work and dedication of our students truly paid off bringing the beloved story to life with outstanding acting powerful vocals and stunning set designs
each night the auditorium was filled with energy and excitement as the audience cheered on the fantastic performances a huge congratulations to everyone involved your commitment and passion made this production an unforgettable experience for the JHS community also happening this month is
March into Wellness Week a time dedicated to promoting mental health and well-being for our students this year's spirit days include tie-dye Monday wear green Tuesday wear what makes you happy Wednesday pink red and hearts Thursday and Jagar Friday as we continue to plan
for the future our branding and merging communities are working hard to develop ideas for uniting our schools as Jackson Memorial and Jackson Liberty come together this transition presents an opportunity to build a stronger Jackson community and we're excited to see the creativity and collaboration that comes
out of these meetings scheduling for next year is also underway and students are making important decisions about their classes we encourage everyone to take the time to explore their options and choose courses that will set them up for success for our juniors an exciting night is just around the corner junior
formal this year's theme is masquerade promising an evening of mystery elegance and unforgettable memories the dance will take place at Battlegrounds on May 2nd providing the perfect setting for a night of celebration bids are currently being sold so don't miss your chance to be part of this incredible event get
ready to dress your best and dance the night away lastly our students recently had the opportunity to attend the VOTE Career Day Expo where they gained valuable insights into a variety of career paths it was a great experience that provided real world knowledge and exposure to different job industries as
always thank you Mrs primilli and the board of education for your continued support i look forward to up to you again next month have a great evening [Applause] thank you Colin again um an incredible report comprehensive there's just so
much happening for our students on a daily basis in our schools and uh thank you for mentioning the rebranding committee and the students that are participating in those uh conversations um we've definitely have been moving forward and I'll talk a little bit more about that in a few minutes um you know
Katie mentioned the end of the first marking period of the second semester already the time is just going so rapidly in the in the school year it's hard to believe that we're already there and then we're talking prom um prom bids and and moving forward there's just um
it's just speeding ahead of us so many wonderful opportunities though for our students um I just wanted to mention a few district happenings some of them you you've actually heard about from our high school students this evening um but first of all I just want to make a comment that this is the time of the
year that we receive a lot of retirements from our staff um you'll see some on the agenda this evening there are several retirements um on the agenda and I believe we've approved a few at the last um board meeting as well and I'm sure we will approve more in the
upcoming months but this is the time that people put in their letters and they make their decisions and it's not always an easy choice to make those decisions um people are very committed to our students and to our our community um and tonight there's there's quite a few on there and some retirements from
some really uh long um long staff members history here some staff member that have been with us for a very long time some more than 25 years that are retiring um including three principles tonight on the agenda I just want to take a moment to say to all of our
retirees that um we want to thank you for all of your years of service your dedication uh your commitment and the impact the positive impact that you've had on students families and staff um it does not go unnoticed and uh you've made
a difference i think it's important for people to know that uh you've had a real positive impact on the lives of so many and congratulations on your retirements and best wishes so moving on to some of the district happenings last Tuesday night we um we had our district-wide museum
night it was a lovely evening the atrium in Liberty was just filled with student art um some of it 3D art if you were unable to attend please check out the Facebook post there are some pictures the art's amazing i'm just always in awe of the amazing talent that our art
teachers are able to pull out of our students uh I loved some of the pieces that were were 3D they had a whole selfie area where students had had produced art for the purpose of people standing there and taking selfies uh what a what a what an interesting smart
creative way there was so much creativity some of the three-dimensional work was just incredible i want to thank say thank you to all the art teachers for their daily instruction and pulling out such great work from students and it was really heartwarming the most most heartwarming part of that evening is
watching the students glow in sharing their art with their family and their friends it's just incredible it's a great night if you haven't weren't able to get there check out the uh the website i also did attend the two high school productions Lightning Thief and and Shrek and Colin said it well as did
Katie uh just again in awe of the talent the dedication and the commitment of our students um and our staff the creat creativity of the sets set designs and how they make things happen the choreography the music the vocals were just phenomenal um I actually bring my mom to these she's blown away by them as
well so congratulations to um both the students on stage and offstage it takes both um and to all of our teachers advisers and volunteers they were incredible shows and as mentioned um Katie thanks for the plug for McAuliffe over there that their production of The
Lion King is on Friday and Saturday this even uh this week and then Spongebob forgets is in on April 11th and 12th so I encourage everyone to get out and support our students as our high school reps mentioned our spring sports are well underway um I can actually hear
some of the the practices happening from my office and we see we see students practicing about looking forward to getting out in some warmer weather and seeing some of our students compete uh I do also want to say congratulations to our elementary um spelling bee winners last night 25 elementary
students competed in this year's spelling bee so impressed with these students and their strong skills of spelling that any one of us as adults may struggle with uh to spell correctly and thank you to the staff who coordinated and ran that event it's a lovely event
also congratulations to the Memorial uh DECA students 31 members of the Jackson Memorial High School chapter uh of the New Jersey DECA joined over 4,600 high schools in competing in the areas of business finance hospitality and
marketing in an annual um competition for career development the winners will advance to an international competition um in Florida Orlando Florida so we have some students who will be attending that so congratulations to them and the hard work and to the adviserss and students
just want to give a a quick plug to the trade and job fair uh March 27th at from 6:00 to 8 at Liberty High School it's a wonderful opportunity to get out and hear about some of the trades and jobs um that uh provide special maybe skills
that you need to um to learn and or uh careers that do not require necessarily a four-year degree also kindergarten registration is open please visit our district website for more information about how to start the process for registering and also posted
on our website we are experiencing a shorter shortage of drivers we've had many retirements uh we need bus drivers so please if you know somebody who's interested pass along the information and ask them to apply um before I move on tonight with uh this
evening's presentations I just want to mention that uh we I do want to comment on our um restructuring progress we did put out information to the community last week about the steps that we've taken forward
to begin um moving forward in some of those difficult decisions and the work that needs to be made committees have been formed uh we still have a lot of work to do a lot of decisions to make uh but nevertheless we are moving forward uh we're working hard and we will continue to work hard and making some
diff difficult decisions but good decisions to unite our district and we will keep our community informed as we demonstrated last week we will continue to update as we ma move forward come the April board meeting we should have even more information um in moving forward
with some of the big decisions that we've have to make so my last uh um comment before we move on to the presentations as part of moving forward with making decisions for strategic planning you'll see on tonight's agenda uh the appointment of
three principles a transfer for three principles for the 2526 school year uh for the high school we have Mr brignola who is being transferred as what will be the high school principal for next year Mr parino who will be the middle school principal and Miss Phillips who will be
the upper elementary principal we congratulate these principles and know that they will do excellent work to develop a strong culture among the staff and the students and to help with transitions and over the next few months uh as I said we'll continue to keep you updated as we move forward in making
decisions and progress so with that we do have three presentations tonight before I conclude the uh my portion of the superintendence report so this evening we will start with um our annual first reporting
period for the violence vandalism and hip report and tonight we have the director of security John Bajowski here who will come to the podium to present that to the board and to the public so there will be slides so board members you're going to want to turn around good evening everyone uh thank
you Mrs primilli superintendent the district administrators and the board members uh my name is John Powski i'm the director of security here in the district as well as the anti-bullying coordinator uh tonight I'll be doing the semiannual report uh report period one
uh from September through December 2024 uh both on the harassment intimidation and bullying and the violence and vandalism reports as well uh the Jackson School District's commitment uh the district is committed to creating a safe learning environment
for all of our students investigating all complaints of harassment intimidation and bullying preventing all acts of harassment intimidation and bullying uh the district is proactive and prepared um to make uh the culture and
climate in the schools positive and friendly uh through various uh programs behavioral threat assessment training uh for the staffs for the teams for the district understanding school violence uh the I love you guys foundation standard response protocol implementation and training through the
DOE and the office of preparedness and emergency preparedness i love you guys foundation again standard respon uh reunification method implementation and training uh district training for all employees and anti-bullying specialists policies and procedures for addressing and reporting
HIV violence and vandalism and substance use the anti-bullying coordinator and anti-bullying specialist meetings HIP policy and data review HI investigation procedures to the left you have the schools uh with their respective anti-bullying
specialists um through their endeavors uh there's events and initiatives uh to prevention um hip prevention assemblies at every school at every grade level uh focus on explaining that when it comes to bad
behavior we do not do that here especially the parent guardian nights to help better understand and prevent incidents of HIP uh classroom lessons grade level activities character education through bucket fillers pause uh pause positive programs peer
mediation uh morning announcements school spirit days character education groups social emotional character education diversity and equity uh especially for the parents and students social emotional evening or presentation of mindfulness district-wide suicide
prevention and education climate and culture meetings surveys to strengthen the use of data to target our programs and approaches so with this section just uh the comparison between the 2023 20 24 school year and the 2025 2024 25 school
year specific to September and December um we're always looking there's more decreases uh with the numbers and I'll give you a couple minutes to look at that um and where there have been an increase uh they're working on uh proactive and reactive strategies to
continue to decrease those numbers same with this uh same as the previous slide uh regarding the number of incidents again looking to reduce comparative from the 2023 2024 school year to the 202425 school year
and for this slide these uh couple different sections going on to the right there are different classifications of actions of investigations through the HIV incidents uh demeaning offensive text messages name calling offensive comments mocking teasing taunting and
physical uh the motivations uh the top section these are the numbers that we came up that through the investigations uh motivation of founded hibs that's that first section the second section is the outcomes of
all investigated hip incidents uh specific to the left is consequences and then to the right are the remedial measures for those incidents and that bottom section is a location of founded hibs uh it's broken down to four different uh onschool
grounds off school grounds on the school bus and then cell phone and then internet and those are numbers for that any questions on the HIP report the secondary level went up a lot yes uh from 24 to 23 to 24
i mean I know you can't necessarily make a hypothesis you know what I'm saying but um I think is are we getting better at identifying possibly yes so what happens I spoke to the coordinators um and they had said recently uh within the last couple years two years more
programs for them to present to the students to feel more comfortable reporting stuff okay so now the kids are feeling more comfortable in coming forward to say this is an issue this is an issue as in before the before that and I noticed that um you know you had 106 parent teacher conference or parent
student conferences compared to how many actual cases and you know I want to thank every staff member who participated in doing that because it definitely is probably a benefit for those kids oh absolutely absolutely so the drastic increase it gets is
basically because of reporting yes yes i again I spoke to each school's individual um anti-bullying specialist and I I asked them what they credited that to and they said um presentation specifically they mentioned the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office their
presentation for reporting um once they had that presentation that they brought to the school it was like an increase um at all the levels So this is the CMA annual report uh for violence and vandalism substance abuse and weapons offenses in our school
district again report period 1 uh September through December of 2024 as far as a background and overview the state of New Jersey began collecting this data in March of 2002 with the objective uh to collect and report incidents datas concerning serious
student misconduct in the areas of violence vandalism HIV weapons and substance abuses uh so the five U categories uh that we focused in on again compared from September December uh 2023 through September and December
2024 and those are the numbers this is at the elementary level uh with respect to the uh fights assaults threats sexual offense and then the hibs alleged and confirmed uh with all our five elementary schools and this is the
numbers for the report period one this slide is for the secondary uh schools specific gets maul liberty and memorial and uh these are the numbers respective to the fights assaults threats sexual offense the hip alleged and confirmed again for the period of
September through December 2024 this is the substance abuse section and as well as vandalism uh the section to the left vandalism incidents uh for September through December of 2024 we only had one at our um secondary schools
to the right uh the substance under influence of students the number of incidents uh involving marijuana or alcohol prescription drug uh substance suspected and refused exam those are the numbers for that
and then the bottom right section is the substance possession of the same marijuana drug perilia alcohol undetermined and those are the numbers for that so this slide is uh for weapons offenses in all of our schools and there's a
definition of what a weapon is um relative to to our laws um the one caveat is that a toy gun is not considered a weapon and if it's brought into the school um it wouldn't not necessarily be reported um that's
more at the younger ages and then the number of incidents compared to last year uh to this year uh went down this is the action taken by the school district uh the actions are police notification no complaint filed
police notification complaint filed in school suspension and out of school suspension and then the bottom section I'm sorry the impact of students uh I apologize it's student offenders and student victims and we will continue to strive to ensure
a safe district and school environment by bringing school and district safety teams and school anti-bullying specialists together to review data using that data to plan programs and inform uh practices approaches and curriculum building strong partnerships with the Jackson Police Department and
local law enforcement uh providing training for school administrators on the effect of prevention and response to violence vandalism and substance abuse uh educating all stakeholders on how they can make Jackson school safer and providing community events to educate
parents guardians about school safety any questions yes I got a question one um can you specify what exact interventions are being utilized to address the substance abuse usage for both the possession and the um I
know there uh with the again talking to the specialists um prevention they do have different speakers coming in uh different organizations uh talking about the dangers of not limited to like marijuana alcohol vaping
Um with that if a student is found there's some punitive uh as well as also helping that student out with that parent uh providing services for them u to educate them to keep preventing that aspect of continued continued use
did you I remember uh when they legalized marijuana we saw like a big increase of marijuana use in the school i mean obviously that was I think the year before this data is in did you happen to just like peek at it is it going back down or is it about stagnant
i mean it was going down on here it has been and I I think I want to say the fat of it you know now that it's um out but the students are still getting in trouble um so talking being in the in
the hallways and talking to the students um there are there's a lot of students that know that it's still dangerous and and even though they're some students are doing it uh the other ones are kind of like I want to get away from this um it is decreasing and I think that also
helps with the school doing these presentations prevention aspect but also educating parents too um that it's you know it's still not okay and to do this you know especially at a young age there was a large increase in I in
school suspension versus out of school suspension a large decrease was there a change in policy or something as far as the penalties are concerned I believe so it went uh there was a shift in the model u for exclusion and inclusion um
to also again educate the students um to prevent them from getting in trouble or you know code of code a kind of code code of conduct violations or anything like that um yeah so Mr dr walsh we obviously prefer
to have our students in school and learning um and so there's an emphasis on education being proactive and also being reactive if an event happens that we are educating the students on how to
improve they were they meet with if it has to do with the substance they're meeting with the student's assistant counselor and we avail ourselves more of the inschool suspension um so that the students are still having their education um and getting the supports that they need to prevent this from
happening again it's the most severe cases that we have or a a case where we've done all of that and have not made progress uh that we move to a out of school suspension are there any other questions from the board thank you Mr bachki thank
you thank you so also tonight um we're required to ensure that the board has their ethics um overview and training every year and Mr zitmer our attorney is going to do an ethics presentation for the board this evening and I believe there's a little
um quiz involved good evening members of the board members of the administration members of the community staff uh thank you for inviting me to speak this evening on the New Jersey School Ethics Act uh the nuts and bolts of ethics for school officials
um in New Jersey school officials are governed by the New Jersey School Ethics Act which really prescribes the the ethical dos and don'ts of board members and school officials and I'll explain who school officials are under the School Ethics Act and I always uh think
a good place to start this presentation is with the preamble or the opening statement uh to the school ethics act which says that in our representative form of government it's essential that conduct of members of local boards of education and local administrators hold
the respect and the confidence of the people officials must avoid conduct which is in violation of the public trust or which creates some justifiable impression among the public that such trust is being violated and what does all of that mean it means that board members not only have to avoid actual
conflicts of interest but they have to avoid the appearance of impropriy the Jackson School District has to feel confident that when board members uh act on matters when they vote when they participate in discussions that they're always acting in the best interests of
the Jackson School District and the students that you're serving rather than your own personal interests uh your own family members personal interests or financial interests or interests of businesses that you're involved uh with you have to be here for the students and
your action has to be reflective of that so the school ethics act applies to of course board of education members uh but school officials is really how the act defines it so it's board members um as well as officers of the New Jersey school boards association and highle
administrators within a school district the code of ethics within the school ethics act only applies to board of education member conduct and so I've handed out to everybody this evening uh a copy of the code of ethics and on the other side of the page are the
prohibited acts those deal with conflicts of interest and that applies to everybody so the code of ethics only applies to board members the prohibited acts again dealing with conflicts of interests applies to all school officials and let's walk briefly through
the various code of ethics provisions um section A basically says board members have to follow the law you're supposed to uphold and enforce laws rules regulations of the state board and orders pertaining to the schools i think that's pretty self-obvious um section B you're here for all the students and
you're supposed to make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of all children regardless of race religion creed uh sex social standing and so forth um section C really defines what it is to be a board of education member board board members are responsible for
setting policy of the school district you're a policymaking body that is the main function of board of education members and of course we use a policy company they give us templates uh for all of the different areas that involve our school district and it's up to the board to take those policies and shape
them to the Jackson School District in the way that we see fit um the code of ethics says you're supposed to confine your board action to policym planning for the future and appraisal taking a step back and saying "How are we doing?" Setting goals for the district setting goals for the board and so forth it goes
on to say that you're supposed to frame those policies and plans only after the board has consulted with those affected by them and how do you do that you don't do that in your individual capacity you do that uh through your work on the various committees and we're obviously at every board meeting we hear committee reports and we hear what our committees are up
to um section D is an area where board members sometimes get themselves into trouble uh because I think sometimes board members forget that they are not responsible for administering the schools not running the schools but seeing that the schools are well-run and the code of ethics says you will carry out your responsibility not to
administer the schools but together with your fellow board member see that they are well-run um New Jersey code goes on to say that if somebody were to file a complaint against somebody for instance for violating that provision what would they have to show to show that a board member administered the schools uh
they'd have to show that a board member gave a direct order to school personnel or became directly involved in activities or functions that are the responsibility of school personnel or the day-to-day administration of the school district uh and here's kind of an extreme example from a case uh an ethics
case that was filed against a board member where the SEC referring to the school ethics commission found a violation where a board member uh on his own decides one day he's going to go into the guidance office and starts having all the assistants there making make him copies of the SAT reports uh
then heads down to the locker room this is in the middle of the school day by the way heads down to the locker room uh does an inspection starts telling the PE teachers how they should be better supervised in the class and so on and so forth a clear violation a clear example of a board member getting involved in
the day-to-day administration of a school district and there was uh found to be a violation in that particular case section E says you recognize your authority rest with the board and make no personal promises or take private action that could compromise the board uh you have the authority to act and
take action when you're sitting at our board of education meetings of course we vote on matters uh through the various committees as I mentioned before but once you're outside this room you don't have the authority to act on behalf of the board you don't have the authority to speak on behalf of the board again unless you've been authorized to do so
and um we have to be really careful about that board members have to remember that uh once you leave this room you really don't have the authority to speak or act on behalf of the board and if you do it's considered taking private action there's lots of cases where board members do their own investigations into matters and they
really kind of step outside their lane so we have to be careful um section F says you're supposed to surrender your independent judgment to special interest groups or partisan political groups or using the schools for personal gain or for the gain of friends i think that's pretty
obvious uh confidentiality um I always stress to my board of education clients that um maintaining confidentiality is so important as you know you come across a lot of confidential information in your capacity as board members confidential student information confidential personnel information uh
attorney client privilege communications and the law as you know allows us to discuss confidential matters in executive or close session and I always um warn my board clients that if board members don't feel confident that what they say in closed session stays in
closed session it really undermines the ability of the of the board of education to be an effective body because nobody's going to want to have open and honest dialogue and debate about topics for fear that as soon as the meeting is over whatever said in that room is going to be leaked so I always implore board members not only is it an ethical
responsibility but it's so important for the smooth functioning of the board of education that you maintain and respect confidentiality and I also go on to tell board members uh your family members your friends your relatives they are not bound by any of this so you shouldn't be
sharing information even with your closest friends because we all know there's no such thing as secrets and it always amazes me uh when I go to certain boards where confidentiality isn't respected how quickly things get out into the community and somebody may have just simply told a family member and
then the family member tells somebody and before you know it everybody knows what's said and and again it really is undermine it undermines the the whole operation of the school district the other part of section G that's important to remember is that you have to provide accurate information and we'll talk a little bit later about the free speech
rights of board members and that you don't lose your free speech rights to be a board as a board member but it's important that when you speak about school district issues that you're accurate in what you convey um accuracy is very important and if you don't know something and if you're not sure about
something you're better off not saying it and checking to make sure that what you're saying is is is accurate um section H says you're supposed to appoint the best qualified personnel after considering the recommendation of the superintendent as you know by law
every personnel recommendation whether we're talking about appointing transferring terminating has to be on Miss Pormilly's recommendation board members cannot make motions to appoint staff remove staff transfer staff etc without the recommendation of the school uh chief school administrator and the
code of ethics says you're supposed to appoint the best qualified person after considering the superintendent's recommendation there's another section of New Jersey law that says board members aren't supposed to withhold their approval of the superintendent's recommendations and it goes on to say
for arbitrary and capricious reasons so in other words if you're going to vote no on a personnel recommendation it's got to be for a wellfounded good reason not an arbitrary one and we can certainly talk more about that later if you have questions um section I you're supposed to support
and protect school personnel in the proper performance of their duties you're not supposed to evaluate your staff in a public arena like this we're allowed to discuss those matters in close session to to show somebody violated this uh somebody filing a complaint would have to show that a a
board member took deliberate action which resulted in undermining opposing compromising or harming school personnel in the proper performance of their duties um section J I happen to like i think is a great section for board members uh this section allows a board
member when when they're at the local supermarket and a parent comes up to them and complains and says "Oh I know you're on the board of education my child's teacher is giving too much homework can you handle that matter for me?" You're supposed to say "Thank you for bringing that to my attention i'm going to refer it to the superintendent of schools who will uh address your
concern." You're supposed to refer the complaint to the chief school administrator um is it okay as a board member to refer a parent for instance to the chain of command yes that's fine if you said to them look have you spoken to the child's teacher your child's teacher have you spoken to the principal have you worked your way up the chain of
command that's fine but at the end of the day the point is that board members shouldn't be handling these complaints on their own you're supposed to refer them to the superintendent and it goes on to say that you should only act on those complaints after the failure of an administrative solution and with the administrative team in Jackson we don't
have to worry about there ever being a failure of an administrative solution um who can file a complaint if somebody believes that there's been a violation here and the answer is anybody can file a complaint if if you believe that there's been a violation it could be a board member it could be a community member the answer is anybody
is there a time period by which you have to file these complaints what do you think no no no time period no statute of limitations does anybody think there is a statute of limitations in other words if you don't file it within X period of time that it's time barred what do you think somebody said three years i heard
yes in the audience the answer is six months it used to be a year i think the school ethics commission was getting so many complaints they actually shrunk the window of time down to six months so if it's not filed within six months it's time barred it's out of time uh a board of education can't file a complaint
against somebody but individual board members could if they wanted to and like I said before there's a six-month statute of limitation um the New Jersey School Ethics Commission is the only entity that can determine whether a board member or school officials conduct violated the school ethics act who
comprises the school ethics commission anybody know who is who's this magical school ethics commission who's on the eth who's on the ethics commission i'm not asking for names but does any do folks understand how they're appointed and so forth um they're appointed by the governor the school ethics commission
consists of five citizens five community members who again are appointed by the governor uh two school administrators serve on the school ethics commission and two board members so if you don't if you have some extra time on your hands haha and you want to serve on the school ethics commission you as a board member
could go uh volunteer to work on the school ethics commission and and and adjudicate these cases the way it typically works is the school ethics commission if there's factual issues in dispute does not actually hear the cases what they do is they assign the cases to an administrative law judge for a full
hearing the administrative law judge issues a decision and then it goes back to the school ethics commission to essentially give the the thumbs up or the the thumbs down um we can request an advisory opinion so if there's a question about a board member engaging in a particular course of action you can
write to the school ethics commission and say uh I'm thinking about doing X or I do you think it's okay if I vote on my sister's employment in the Jackson School District and you could write to the school ethics commission and they will issue what's called an advisory opinion telling you uh whether or not uh
what you're thinking about doing is okay or not um the only time I've ever gone to the school ethics commission just to digress for a second is I represent a school district where a senior a s a senior student got on to the board of education a very unique situation he was 18 he got elected to the board in his
senior year and my client asked me "Can he vote on his teachers can he vote on fellow students what are the limitations?" And I and I scratched my head and I said "This is a great opportunity to go to the school ethics commission and get an advisory." and there wrote us back a very detailed letter explaining kind of the dos and don'ts of what that senior student could
do and he turned out to be a great board member by the way um what are the sanctions for violating the school ethics act um at the lightest end of the spectrum we have a reprimand which is kind of a slap on the wrist it's a letter from the school ethics commission a censure is a resolution read at a
public board of education meeting kind of embarrassing for the board member quite frankly uh suspension is exactly what it sounds like removing the board for board member for a certain or school official for a certain period of time and then lastly in the most extreme cases removal from the board of education um can you file an ethics
complaint against somebody who's no longer on the board what do you think i see some yeses the answer is yes you can as long as it's within that sixmon statute of limitations that I talked about before the only thing is suspension or removal are obviously not going to be an option because they're no
longer um on the board um I mentioned this before you don't lose your free speech rights as a board member um where board members oftentimes get themselves into trouble is for instance on social media or they write letters to the paper what you have to do and it's right in
our board policy 0146 is that you have to very you have to make it very clear when you're speaking outside this room uh or posting on social media or whatever the case may be that you are speaking as an individual and that you're not speaking for the board of education and what our policy says and I
want to read this because it's important board member shall not represent his or her personal opinion as the position of the board and and shall include in all formal expressions in which his or her board affiliation is likely to be recognized including on social media a statement that is that here or she's a
member of the board uh that the person is speaking as a private citizen and that the opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the board of education and you should have the specific disclaimer that the school ethics commission recommends which is as follows and the disclaimer this is kind
of their their model disclaimer language so if you're going to post something on social media you should immediately follow whatever you said with this statement which is that the following statements are made by me in my capacity as a private citizen and not in my capacity as a board member these statements are also not representative
of the board or its individual members and solely represent my own personal opinions um the only kind of exception to this is the board president by policy is the spokesperson for the board of education so the board president kind of de facto is authorized to speak for and
on behalf of the board of education but everybody else um should have that disclaimer so um every year you know I like to do a little quiz based on the latest and greatest cases from the school ethics commission and that's why I handed out this um code of ethics
section so you can refer to the various provisions but this is an advisory opinion request what do you think about this one is this a true or false a board member is permitted to review the resumes of candidates who were within the candidate pool for a position that was being recommended by the superintendent this was a request that somebody got i see Tina shaking her head
yes so the answer do you think most of you think that's true it is true good we're one for one all right yeah so we talked before about the fact that board members have to appoint the best qualified person after considering the recommendation of the superintendent and the school ethics commission said as part of that due diligence you're
allowed to see the pool of candidates you're allowed to look at the resumes now you shouldn't just show up at the board office you should make an appointment it should be done in a secure location you're not allowed to take the documents with you and that sort of thing but the answer is true um how about this one a board member violated section D of the act and that's
prohibited acts um D referring to the fact that you shouldn't take any undertake any employment or service whether compensated or not which might reasonably be expected to prejudice his independent judgment in the exercise of official duty so a board member true or false violated section D of the act when
he continued to serve as a volunteer football coach after being appointed to the board until the football season ended which was approximately two months after he was seated as a board so the question is is it a violation for a board of education member to serve as a volunteer football coach what do you think uh true violation or false not a
violation i hear falses mike looks like he's kind of Mike thinks it's true you think it's a violation i'm going with Mr walsh on this one it was true and so the school ethics commission says that board members are allowed to volunteer in other capacities you want to read to a
class on Dr seuss day or participate in a car wash or kind of work backstage perhaps to set up the play that's okay the question becomes how much interaction is the board member having with staff direct interaction with staff and students and if the answer is
significant direct interaction with staff and students then it's a violation in this particular case they found that being a a volunteer football coach involves significant interaction and that's why they found it was problematic for this person once he got on the board of education to serve as a volunteer
coach he's basically wearing two hats how about this one a board member violated sections B and G of the act dealing with conflicts and those various provisions of the code uh when she picked up a letter from the home of an employee who was a friend of hers regarding the employees disciplinary
discussion which was going to take place in close session she gave it to the business administrator asked him to make copies for the rest of the board said don't make copies for the superintendent and then during the exact session while they were discussing that particular employee began to interrogate the superintendent regarding the employees
actions um who thinks that that was a problem true anybody think false and the answer was true it was absolutely true um and here's what the school ethics commission said they said that if the
respondent referring to the board member believed that her friend needed assistance she could have picked up the letter delivered it to the superintendent as required and then recused herself from the matter so that the board and superintendent could have discussed the issue without her influence following her direct
involvement on a close friend's discipline matter however respondent instead advocated on behalf of her friend questioned the superintendent's motives and more importantly specifically requested that the superintendent not receive a copy of the letter um respondent then went on to
personally represent her friend's interest in the matter before the board and even further attempted to influence the proceedings by privately giving a letter to the board members and not to the superintendent who was responsible for making the personnel recommendation and then by disparaging the superintendent's recommendations so
hugely problematic in this particular case um how about this one a board member violated section E of the code of ethics um E referring to authority rest with the board and not making personal promises or taking private action that could compromise the board did a board member violate that when she texted a
staff member and said "Did you receive a Rice notice?" Which is a notice that an employee gets if they're going to be discussed by the board in close session did you get a Rice notice um um if not I could accuse the board president or secretary or chief school administrator
of malfeasants if you did not receive the notice and they want to discuss you in close session was that a is that a problem would you say I see Tara shaking her head yes yeah absolutely they're undermining the the superintendent undermining the board president and
basically saying "Hey if you didn't get a rice notice that's a big no no and we can accuse them all of malfeasants." Um how about this one a board member violated section A and C of the code when he have voted against amending a board agenda to swear in a new member who the board had previously agreed was
going to be uh filling a vacant seat so what happens here is there's a vacancy seat down the board of education the board conducts interviews and at the end of the meeting they decide at the next meeting they're going to appoint whoever it was to fill the vacant seat and when it gets time to adding that person's name to the agenda this particular board
member um voted no and somebody filed uh an ethics complaint do you think it was a violation to vote no to add that person's name to the agenda when the board had previously agreed at a meeting before that the person's name was going to be added what do you think it's a little tricky this this this
exam so Megan says no board members have a right to change their mind disagree don't have to vote yes and and you're spot on with that it was not a violation and there's lots of cases by the way where um complaints are filed against board members for the way they vote and the school ethics commission universally
holds that how board members vote on issues is not an ethics violation um that's up to you that's your own personal opinion and so I'll just read you briefly from the case um the school ethics commission said that board members are permitted to vote in accordance with their beliefs and as
such it's within respondents prerogative to vote against amend amending a meeting agenda including one regarding the swearing in of a board member who may not be eligible to serve that the the board member felt accordingly by voting no respondent did not take board action
to effectuate policies and plans without consulting those affected or take action unrelated to their duties as a board member so it was perfectly acceptable to vote no um how about this one so a board member owns a spiritware company um and the question was did he violate section
C which involves conflicts of interest when he sent emails to the school principal asking him to send emails to students and families to promote the sale of the spiritware from his company even though he donated the materials and did not profit for them do you still think that that was an issue um do you think that's a
violation and the answer is it was a violation true why do you think that is he's he's donating the stuff so what difference does it make what do you think he's promoting his own he's got an advantage right that probably nobody else has he's promoting his business essentially even though he may be
donating these particular items they found that that was problematic all right last question of the night and I think you're like really doing well on these um last one a board member violated sections D and I of the code of ethics when he publicly stated at a board meeting dur during a discussion
about a plan referendum project i'm going to continue to repeat this loud and clear so the taxpayers can hear this i encourage our community to vote no on this i encourage them to come talk to other board members and tell them to back off do you think that was protected
speech okay not okay what do you think sorry I didn't hear you what do you What do you think true or false violation or false you could just yell out yeah what do you think d is let's go back to the uh the cheat sheet here d is
um responsibility not to administer the schools uh section E is recognizing your authority rest with the board and not making personal promises or taking private action and then I is um supporting and protecting school personnel and I guess the thought was that um this had been recommended by the
superintendent this this referendum project i guess you think it's not a violation i hear a lot of falses and the answer is false false false um school ethics commission said board members are
allowed to express their opinions on issues at meetings uh it wasn't a violation um what it said was that respondents opinion during the public board meeting that the taxpayer should vote against the planned facilities referendum project was not a violation
his statements did not contain any personal promises nor is it action beyond the scope of his duties as a board member that had the potential to compromise the board at a public meeting uh and a board meeting is the appropriate place for board members to have discussions and essentially disagreements so they found that this
was was not problematic was it kind of poor form maybe was it a little crass probably so but ultimately it was not an ethics violation uh does anybody have any questions thoughts concerns about anything I talked about this evening
thank you thank you Mr zinnamer thanks and board members you now have been had your official training it's required every year so last but not least um we this is the time of the year we have been working um
over months and months on the district budget tonight uh Mr beginsky the business administrator will be presenting the tentative budget it is a tentative budget it's still being worked on but he will be sharing the information of the progress that we've made thus far so Mr
and uh the good news is there will not be a test at the end of this presentation and calculators will not be allowed so tonight I'm presenting the tenative budget um for the 2526 school year uh the typical budget process for us looks a little something like this it starts
in September and October where we engage a variety of stakeholders including school level and district level administrators to identify different instructional and operational needs as we progress through the school year the needs and initiatives are assigned costs and and prioritized based on the level
of need and the fiscal impact uh you ultimately we end up with a line item by line item analysis where we determine what the actual need is and what the actual fiscal um line item will will result in uh however this budget process is anything but typical when you throw
into the mix the district's redistricting and restructuring plan the closing of Rosenau uh the decommissioning of the classroom trailers throughout the district um all these present a serious uh challenge to the school district and kind of mix it up this year um so where exactly are we
this year uh we're moving forward and we're doing so in a fiscally responsible manner um tonight's budget is a balanced budget which means that we are planning our revenues to match our expenses it is a state requirement and we're fulfilling that state
requirement the budget will continue to provide the resources to achieve established educational goals it's going to provide uh continuence of the highest quality of instruction that we've come to expect here in Jackson we must all continue to work together uh to maintain
the history of excellence that this school district has had and protect and preserve the outstanding educational opportunities and exceptional teachers and knowledgeable and caring leaders and staff that we have and for that I I want to take an opportunity really just to say thank you to all the Jackson
Township citizens for your continued support through through the redistricting restructuring plan and through what has been uh another very difficult budget season so a driving factor for all of the uh budgetary decisions is student enrollment uh on
this table you see a year-to-year comparison between our current year and what is projected for the 2526 school year these enrollment figures are based on flat enrollment of student cohorts as they move up in grade levels um these uh these projections as they stand now
indicate that we should expect about a 3.7% decrease in student enrollment for the 2025 2026 school year when it comes to our projected expenses they really get broken down into two categories one is considered non-discretionary uh these
items are either mandated or required in some way whether it be through state law established facilities needs such as energy related expenses uh educational programs that are determined by law such as special education uh or contractually obligated uh items such as salaries and
health benefits uh on the right side are items that are directly within our control these items include costs associated with substitutes technology supplies equipment athletics and co-curricular costs and some portions of of transportation including courtesy
busing and afterchool activities the the spending plan for this school district includes $147 million worth of expenses uh that overall reflect less than a 1% increase from the 2425 school year the two largest categories of expenses are
related to salaries and health benefits both of which have been impacted by the district's redistricting and restructuring plan uh in all the school mergers resulted in a savings of approximately $7 million uh with regard to these two uh categories salaries
alone would have increased sign by a slightly more than 3% next year so even though you're seeing um you know a decrease it would have had it just rolled over it would have been about a 3% increase uh and health benefits were projected to increase close to 17% uh
for 2526 and because of the redistricting restructuring plan being implemented uh we've been able to keep that at an 11% increase also related to the school mergers and the decision to close the Mclliff Middle School uh the funds related to school budgets facility
supplies and services and administrative and instructional support staff are reflected as very significant reductions which have netted savings around $2 million comparably to the school year so that's really where the you captured the savings in those in those five
categories uh from the redistricting and restructuring plan uh not all of the numbers are good and uh and and decreases or holding steady uh out of district tuition is projected for a very significant 21% increase uh in spite of the outstanding work of our special
education department uh to continue to support the needs of our most disabled students within district programs some students needs must be met in a school setting outside of our district and those schools have tuition increases that far exceed our own budgetary
restraints and with some tuitions approaching $200,000 per year for 2526 we are projecting to have 50 students attend an out of district placement school the final two categories of expenses are related to transportation costs with the
major cost driver being the rising costs for Aiden Lou for non-public students which is increasing by $1.7 million in 2526 as of March 5th uh this year uh the district is responsible for transportation for
6,414 eligible non-public students that surpasses the number of public school students that we are responsible to transport uh this month um and next year we are projecting to be above 8,000 in terms of uh eligible non-public students
for for 2526 uh to summarize the major expense components of our general fund are are they're mostly personnel related um the large chunk of it is personnel related um where you see salaries and health for fringe benefits uh we are truly a peopledriven organization and our
largest expenses are related to the staffing of our schools and that's what this chart uh illustrates um so how do Jackson's expenses compare to the state and what the state calculates what we should be spending uh to educate our students uh
this is a slide that is not exactly uh something we should be proud of um it has been uh essentially out of our control due to the state aid cuts that we've experienced over the last eight years but every three years the New Jersey Department of Education puts out and publishes what is called the
educational adequacy report which updates the major data elements that make up the school funding formula it publishes this report uh the the most recent report just got published last month uh it's labeled as a 2026 report
and so the state uses this to to see if uh for school districts to measure up to see if they're providing a thorough and efficient education with the spending that they're doing um so the comparison range from the uh what a district spends on transportation security facility maintenance so all of this is factored
into it and the the cost that you spend on teachers and what you pay people uh and the state calculates each school district's adequacy spending and provides it with at our on our annual state aid notice every year we get a state aid notice and they put this number right on there if what the adequacy spending should be for your
school district based on all the factors and where you fall and you see in that table right there where we've fallen over the last four years most specifically on the most recent state that said we are spending $40.5 million below adequacy according
to the state's own calculations this is on the heels of three previous consecutive years of our district spending below adequacy with this past year the current year we're in being $23.7 million below adequacy and you know you think about this and yet we're
limited in in how we could even reach that number u with tax levby caps and continued state aid cuts um are why our are our the students in Jackson would be deemed not worthy of being spent adequately um is something that um
that's hard to understand um certainly our students are worth every bit of the spending that they deserve and that they should be getting in terms of the adequacy uh calculations according to the state our district's revenue uh comes from a variety of of sources um
four of them specifically federal and state grants which make up about 8.7% of our total revenue uh local revenue which includes facility rentals tuition fees and property sales uh and the local tax levy which now comprises over 66% of our
of our revenue source and state aid and state aid is uh the something that has been the real bone of contention if you've been at any board meetings in the last two years or really the last seven years and the drastic reduction in state aid over the last eight years continues
to hold this school district back in terms of making large inroads to to bridging that deficit and this year the state uh produced an aid cut that was equal to $700,000 less than what it was this this past year uh they they rose
our transportation aid and our special education aid and our security aid to a more normal range and but what they did they zeroed out the equalization aid so no matter how you slice it we lost $700,000 in categorical state aid um
also impacting this budget on the revenue revenue side and state aid uh is the the state infrastructure aid and the stabilization aid that we received this year we received it this year for this school year great it helped but now as we roll into next year it's looking as
like a loss of revenue because that's a one hit that's a oneshot uh revenue source for this year so all told you're looking we're you know we're looking at and building a budget that is $5.2 2 million less in state aid for
2526 this is a familiar analysis probably my favorite slide um and you know it illustrates the idea that this compounding effect of the aid cuts over the last eight years and so I
liken it to when you have a job where you have two incomes in your house and then somebody loses their job or their job gets cut cut so every year when you cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut cut you're losing income and so you're losing income on the income that
you've lost already and so over time that really adds up and so you've heard they've heard people say that that's all related to the enrollment dropping that's not related to the enrollment dropping the aid during that time the state aid the categoral state aid was
reduced by 54% the enrollment dropped 20% so don't don't sell us a bill of goods that this is this is all about enrollment dropping federal and state grants um we um we they are make up a a really
important part of our budget they serve a great role these funds include the idea grants for special education students the SEA grants the title grants um for economically disadvantaged students also the state preschool grant um and smaller grants like the Perkins
grant for vocational education and also uh our state school based mental health grant these grants we receive this money so it shows up as a revenue and the revenue matches our expense so what comes in every year goes out and that's how it works and uh and and even this
year at the federal level not quite sure what we're going to receive but we budget for 85% of what we re received previously as a precautionary measure the local revenue uh that includes our local tax levy um which for
this year is projected to be increasing by $4.5 million or 4.48% uh this levy increase that is proposed does exceed the 2% cap this year and it exceeds that cap because the district qualifies for a health benefit cap
waiver um because of the steep rise in our health care benefits the state when you put this the budget in the budget software program it does a calculation and when your health benefits rise as much as they have this for the coming year um you can be eligible for uh the
ability to exceed the cap and when we did that we have the ability to exceed the cap by that amount uh many school districts in the state of New Jersey are eligible for that because of the exorbitant and sharp increase in health care benefits costs this year um also on
this you see the uh very significant increase in miscellaneous income as we plan to capitalize on the closing of the Mclliff School uh and whether we do a property rental or a property sale um that hasn't been determined yet but so that is accounted for in that
miscellaneous income um so all told the the total budget is a is approximately $170 million it's a reduction of $2 million from the current year or a 1.21% uh decrease uh it is a balanced budget as I
mentioned it does protect things like class sizes instructional programs um it it also fulfills the obligations for our contracts uh and our federal and state requirements the special education transportation um it does all those
things and in my opinion this is a budget that maybe we all wouldn't dream of for our school district but this is a budget that I think is fiscally responsible and is putting us on a path forward a path to sustainability which
um I know that this board and this community really wants for its school district thank you Mr begin and the hard work of of many to balance the budget for this upcoming school year um is appreciated
and it as you just said protects our programs for our students all of our programs and as we've said before in um some of the redistricting comments also will allow us you know to start to introduce some new and expanded things as well um I just want to make comment
to this is the tenative budget there's time for comment there's time for input we'll continue to work and refine the budget um and move forward to the April 30th board meeting where we'll present um a budget for the board to vote on uh also want to make comment to things
we're hearing um out there from county officials from the Department of Education that the Department of Ed is perhaps looking at putting something out for school districts that qualify um who are below
adequacy to exceed the 2% tax cap we've not received any detailed information in writing about this but did want to make the board aware that once again at the last minute something might be coming down from the Department of Ed to allow
for exceeding um the cap of the 2% that's been in place for seven years um lots to say about that we've had seven years we've advocated for seven years to fix this yeah I did i haven't heard anything Miss Binsky i don't think you've heard anything about them
extending the budget process timeline any longer but um again you know look what happened next year it could come down the pike last minute okay any I don't see any other questions so with that I'm going to close my superintendent report Miss Cass and turn
it back to you and thank you Mr beginsky for the very thorough presentation thank you yeah thank you Mr beginsky uh that was very thorough and um and I think it's also easy to follow which is uh very helpful to the public so thank you i appreciate that um we're going to continue with standing committee reports
so we're going to start with um buildings and grounds we have Mr mccarron yes buildings and grounds committee met on March 10th uh in attendance was myself Miss Permilly Mr beginsky Mr bruno Mrs cass and Miss Rivera uh we
went over a timeline for the building moves for this summer uh the need for and use of seasonal workers to assist this summer with the moves uh facility needs related to redistricting uh gets as the 56 building needs chiller HVAC
rooftop units partial drop ceilings and hallways floors in hallways paint in the hallways and uh we discussed the bus ramp memorial 78 building moving of the Prometheian panels uh closing a
McAuliffe and focusing on moving out this summer uh some capital improvement projects districtwide were Mclliff had a new gas valve and control board installed for the library unit gets uh had a H
Ahu-2 HVAC installed uh new free statick portable 4 new upgraded electric panel installed by in-house electricians generator had some preventative maintenance completed gets inspect and
clean coils jmhs Clayton installed new batteries and Crawford Rodriguez installed new battery and block heater the JHS elevator installed new control board and capacitor elms installed new
50-gallon water heater and districtwide lead testing the districtwide lead testing was uh has been completed by partners engineering and science as soon as results are in we'll make the necessary corrections and have it posted on our website
thank you thank you Mr mccarron um we have budget and finance although Mr pinkinsky just gave a report but Mrs gardella do you have anything to report um I'll just say that we met on March 12th our next meeting is April 8th and we reviewed the
tenative budget and asked some questions that were well clarified in this presentation thank you um we have uh transportation chairperson Mrs barack uh transportation met yesterday on March 18th in attendance was myself Miss Cass
Mr walsh Miss Permilly Mr begensky Mr sto and Miss Vulpi uh Mr sodto reviewed the route development plan for next year and shared the bus routes by tier with the uh new uh redistricting plan uh Mr beginsky reviewed the subscription late busing and the fees for next year mr
sodto reviewed the summer transportation routing uh Mr beginsky reviewed the non-public transportation updates uh you know we're in constant contact with the LSTA and uh what we're still working on what next year will look like
um we discussed our school b our school bus maintenance and replacement cycle we continue to replace nine buses annually and this year's buses arrived last month mr begensky reviewed the history of the district's uh spotty uh bus radio transmissions and uh all buses um all
the radio systems will be replaced with the digital Motorola systems and um installed let's see uh and they're going to install a repeater on the cell tower by the Johnson School and this $350,000 project is being paid with the
infrastructure funds that we received last year during the governor's budget from June um the capital improvements under capital improvements um the other half of the memorial transportation depot needs paving so it was recommended that
this is added to the 2526 school year budget and we also as a committee we asked about uh repaving Memorial's parking lot and also uh we looked at um we asked about the Johnson parking lot as well and so this is still being
discussed for the 2526 school budget thank you um ad hoc committees which meet as needed um we have the policy report um and I will be reading that it's a little lengthy so bear with me
um we met on March 12th and in attendance was Dr godlitzky myself Mrs gardella Mr mccarron and Mrs pilly policy 5512 um these were the discussions and things that happened policy 5512 harassment intimidation or
bullying it's mandated and revised um had to do with word changes of adding surrogate when parent was listed procedural guidance when a school must pause a HIV investigation to allow law enforcement to conclude their investigations policy and regulation
5533 mandated revised addresses the school's responsibility to report the seizure of electronic smoking devices to law enforcement if reasonable suspicion of controlled substance or cannabis uh policy and regulation
7441 mandated revised allows for law enforcement to ask excess Assess and activate live stream video during emergency situations policy and regulation 9320 cooperation with law enforcement this is
also mandated and revised the designation of law enforcement unit in the district and the handle with care program which requires law officials to notify the district when an enrolled student witnesses something traumatic outside of the school environment policy
5460 high school graduation mandated revise student may be exempt from submitting FASA with a submitted district waiver available through guidance um I'm actually very happy about this personally i wish this was in effect last year so I advise anyone who doesn't want to fill out a FASA please
get the uh form from guidance uh policy and regulation 5516 electronic communication devices policy revised regulation um and new when and where students may access communication devices and disciplinary
action no videotaping is allowed policy 5701 academic integrity revised recommended change in the name of the policy from plagiarism to academic integrity policy 5710 student grievance revised recommended more detail
regarding the student grievous grievance process and its timelines policy 8500 food services mandated revised new terminology expansion of income eligibility for free meals and additional parental
notification policy 9163 spectator code of conduct this is new and mandatory from the NJSIA requires every school to adopt a spect spectator code of conduct policy um we have decided immediate removal from the event and school for a first
offense 365 days the calendar starts with the suspension from any home event for the activity of the offense for a second event suspension from three home events for that activity and all other district held activities and events a third offense will be a total ban from
all district home events and activities regulation 7510 use of school facilities revisions um JHLS grant hallway rental fees increase policy 5756 transgender students abolished policy
review and discussions fundraiser and booster policies to be reviewed and revised for the new school year future discussions policy 5111 eligibility and resident non-resident students and policy 2365 accept acceptable use of
generative artificial intelligence and that concludes the policy report thank you next up is scholarship uh Mr walsh uh right now the scholarships for seniors are in the selection phase the sponsors
are going through the applications uh the students should know in early May whether they receiving a scholarship or not that is all state and county school boards representative report chairperson Mrs
rivera next county meeting is April 30th at 6 p.m at the Claren Hotel in Toms River advocacy Committee Mrs gardella um yes we had a virtual meeting um to discuss
Assemblyman's bill A5041 which you can see as a resolution added on the agenda the addendum agenda it's number 18 um should I read that now or when we go to finance miss anybody um I think when
we go to finance you got it uh otherwise we're drafting an email to send out to all Assembly and Senate budget and education committee members and we hope to be sending that out shortly thank you and that concludes all of our committees
um okay I need a motion for approval of policy regulation first reading motion second discussion roll call mr walsh yes mr mccarron yes mrs rivera yes mrs baroas yes mrs
gardella yes mrs cass yes i need a motion for I need a motion for approval of regulation revised adoption motion second discussion roll call mr walsh yes mr
mccarron yes mrs rivera yes mrs barokus yes mrs gardella yes Mrs cass yes i need a motion for approval of policy abolished motion second discussion oh my roll call
mr walsh yes mr mccarron yes mrs rivera yes mrs baroas yes mrs gardella yes mrs cass yes i need a motion for the approval of the minutes motion second the closed session meeting
February 25 uh February 5th 2022 25 the special SRRP board meeting February 5th 2025 the closed session meeting February 19th 2025 and the official board meeting February 19th 2025 business meeting
discussion roll call mr walsh yes mr mccarron yes mrs rivera yes mrs baro yes mrs gardella yes mrs cass yes i need a motion for approval of the bill
list motion second discussion um I actually am going to start the discussion um for finance we just want to bring something to the public's attention our unpaid lunch balance for the district is just over $129,000 yes that is the correct number
um I was a little shocked so that is a significant balance and we do ask our families to please check their balances we do understand that these are hard times in the past we have received donations toward our unpaid lunch balances and we always appreciate the generosity of the public so if anyone
would like to donate to those less fortunate please send your donations to the board of education building and notate your wishes on the check um we will update this balance monthly for public involvement so thank you kindly um and second we have a um resolution
that Mrs gardella is going to read thank you i'm adding motion number 20 the board of education approves the following resolution for the sale of Sylvia Rosenour Elementary School whereas on December 11th 2024 the board awarded a
contract of sale for the Sylvia Rosenower Elementary School to Bias Yakov of Jackson in the amount of $13.1 million subject to various terms and conditions as set forth in the bidding bid specifications and bias Yakov's bid in response there
too was submitted and signed by its president Aaron Rottenberg and whereas the parties have been engaged in negotiations since the award for finalization of contract of sale which has yet to be completed and whereas the time period
Are we good okay so I'm sorry whereas the time period for which a contract of sale was to be executed and for the sale to be completed has now expired Now therefore be it resolved that the board authorizes the superintendent business administrator and board attorney to send a final contract of
sale to the representative of representatives for Bias Yakov as prepared by the by board council which shall be ex executed no later than the close of business on March 24th 2025 and it be it further resolved that should the contract not be executed on
March 24th 2025 by the buyer and or should the buyer fail to comply with all included conditions and contingencies for the sale to the satisfaction of the board president superintendent business administrator and board counsel the award shall be deemed rescended and be
it further resolved that in such an event the board authorize authorizes its superintendent business administrator and board counsel to take any and all necessary steps to effectuate the sale of the property including but not limited to the rebid of the property the
sale of the property to other biders or to explore alternate uses for the property with other interested stakeholders all of which shall be subject to final board approval and if anyone was looking for that it's the blue copy on the back with um if
anybody wanted to read that on their own so just um it is back there um did I do the motion we did well that was discussion right i did the motion so you just need the approval right so I just need Okay roll call unless anyone else has any other discussion for finance yep
okay roll call yep mr walsh yes mr mccarron yes mrs rivera yes mrs baroas yes mrs gardella yes mrs cass yes i need a motion for approval of the
treasurers and board secretaries reports motion second discussion roll call mr walsh yes mr mccarron yes mrs rivera yes mrs baroas yes mrs
gardella yes mrs cass yes i need a motion to open public forum on agenda items only we will hold another public forum during this meeting for other questions this public forum will be for questions on the agenda only
motion second please sign it and state your name and whether or not you are a Jackson resident each person is allowed a maximum of five minutes to speak no person may speak more than once on a topic until all others have been heard hi Christine McInley um I noticed that
uh Mr sodto will be having leave of absence um and at the very end it says his return is to be discussed i was just wondering um is there an interim person
uh because I know myself as a parent the whole changes and everything and bus route routes and I would like to know if there's like test runs planned that was a little uh unsettling to see that our transportation person is going to be out
um indefinitely and then also I was wondering if there are any exit interviews conducted with all the driver bus driver turnover do we have um kind of any idea why the turnover is what it
is and knowing that we have a lot of changes ahead are there any plans within the transportation department or those of you on the board who participate in the transportation realm of how we can
um close that gap or get people to stay i understand money is probably a big part of it but um they're not staying very long so I wonder if you know why um and thank you again for all that you do
thanks is there anyone else okay um there's no uh seeing no one else come forward I need a motion to close public forum motion second sure okay all in favor i so you just happen to be sitting
in front of some of Jackson's finest right there in transportation department who are out in force tonight so they can give you their own opinion later in the back of the room about about uh why how we need bus drivers uh Mr sodto this is a planned leave of absence for him he
left us in goodstead uh the the TBD really is just in you know uh a matter of determining when he will be back but he anticipates to be back uh in a timely manner we're in good standing we have uh Christine Vulpi and Sheila Aila our two assistant transportation coordinators uh
who are both both former Jackson bus drivers they're going to be you're they're going to be in good hands we also are in great place with regard to planning for next year we just had a transportation committee meeting yesterday with the board uh we reviewed where we are with the route development for next year um so you know I feel like
we're in a good place um returning our sites to extended school year and routing for that uh and then obviously with all the redistricting we'll be ready to go um as far as the recruitment of bus drivers it's it's it's a
obviously something that um we take seriously we have postings we've always had a posting up um many of the bus drivers that I know that leave they leave after they they get their training we have a really robust training program here and they you know we we'll take
people and take them all the way through getting their their license and sometimes they go through get their license and then they leave us and go on to somewhere else um so um and as far as uh the transportation department goes in
general I I think that um the bus driver sitting behind you um we have one of the greatest transportation departments in the state of New Jersey certainly one of the biggest ones um it's a tall order here um and we have some of the best professionals in the business um and sometimes that standard can be a little
intimidating for people coming in and it's it's a tough job to drive a bus um we do have a posting and an advertisement out to the community because sometimes people don't realize that they wanted to be a bus driver so if you know anybody or if anybody who's watching tonight knows anybody who's interested please uh feel free to to
apply and we'll we'll train you thank you i need a motion to move finance motion second discussion yes hello am I on um I had a question for Mr
beginski on finance number 11 it says that we're declaring items with no monetary value say it again i said I have a question on finance number 11 it says we're declaring some items with no monetary
value two overhead projection projectors 20 replacement bulbs two microphones a camcorder two projection projection lenses 30 outdated remotes and assorted wiring wiring i'm just wondering is it possible to put
it on gum deals is that a lot of work so we we can't get rid of equipment until we we put it on board approval okay yeah so no matter how old it is or how possibly obsolete it is um we put it on for a board agenda to be surplused uh
and then we can dispose of it or try to resell it on gov deals if there's any value so this is the first step i'm sorry I didn't realize that yep um I also just wanted to make a comment on motion number 18 it was added to the addendum with the support of Alex Aiki's
bill number A5041 the resolution publicly supports I'm sorry we are approving a resolution tonight that publicly supports this bill A5041 it's sponsored by Assemblyman Alex Aiki who's a Jackson resident um this bill states has the state
providing supplemental appropriation of 106.5 million from property tax relief fund to the department of education to provide emergency supplemental aid to certain school districts that qualify so whereas um as a result of S2 the Jackson School District has experienced a loss
of state aid further further hindering the district's ability to meet adequacy budget as defined by the New Jersey Department of Education and whereas the Jackson School District has experienced negative negative budgetary effects over the last seven years whereas Jackson School District has been forced to lay
off hundreds of teachers and staff and reduce programming to balance budgets and whereas the district believes that the loss of state aid at the 2% cap for seven years the increase in inflation and non-public transportation has negatively affected the district budget and hindered our students to receive an
educational the educational funding necessary to be thorough and efficient and basically tonight will be you know uh be it further resolved that the Jackson School District Board of Education in the CA County of Ocean State of New Jersey supports this bill
A5041 sponsored by Assemblyman Zawiki for the state to provide supplemental appropriations to those districts that qualify which we would be one of them um I just want to thank um Councilman Paul Mary for the generous donation of 115 school supply kits to the uh Johnson
Elementary School again we're always very appreciative of all of our donations and our public uh that help us out thank you um anyone else roll call mr walsh yes mr mccarron yes m mrs
rivera yes mrs baroas yes mrs gordella yes mrs cass yes i need a motion to move facilities motion second discussion i just wanted to mention that facilities number three um
I was reading it and it looks like it's a shared service the township is looking to use some of our buses and transportation services for Jackson Day and I just thought that that was something that I'd like to point out for the municipality supporting the schools roll call mr walsh
yes mr mccarron yes mrs rivera yes mrs barus yes mrs gardella yes mrs cass yes i need a motion to move programs motion second discussion
roll call mr walsh yes mr mccarron yes mrs rivera yes mrs barcus yes mrs cordella yes mrs cass yes i need a motion to move students motion second discussion
roll call mr walsh yes mr mccarron yes mrs rivera yes mrs baroas yes mrs gardella yes mrs cass yes a motion to move personnel motion
second discussion roll call mr walsh yes mr mccarron yes mrs rivera yes mrs baroas yes mrs gardella Epstein from 15m like Mary
yes to everything else mrs cass yes i need a motion to open public forum on any topics pertaining to the board of education motion second please sign in and state your name and whether or not you are a Jackson resident each person is allowed a
maximum of five minutes to speak no person may speak more than once on a topic until all others have been heard hello good evening uh Andrea Frangella uh district mom and and work in the buildings just this really isn't a board of ed question per se but I think it's
something that needs to be discussed along with all the PTA presidents and I know that you usually have like a quarterly meeting with them um now that the schools are changing the fifth and sixth graders are going to one building and the seventh and eighth are going to another i think the PTA from the elementary schools and maybe even the
middle schools need to figure out how they're going to hopefully help fund the PTA of the fifth and sixth grade building because right now they're kind of displaced children they're not elementary they're not middle school so I just hope that that's a discussion of
how we can at least give them something to start with um for the school year um just so they're not starting with zero just something I wanted to bring up so thank you anyone else seeing no one come forward I need a
motion to close public forum motion second so yes that's exactly the plan thank you for the comment and for always thinking about our our our kiddos um we have an upcoming president council meeting and we're going to invite some other folks to that meeting with us i believe it's
April 6th or 9th right april 9th uh we were actually just talking about this today um so we will make sure that that dialogue and conversation is happening at that meeting and will continue to happen so and thank you for advocating for our kids okay thank you um now we're going to
have board comments we will start down at the end with Mr walsh uh it's a kind of a regretful thing that I see so many retirements of people I work with for many many many years okay I
don't want to mention anybody specific okay but you'll enjoy it and uh I came to see Shrek here okay and my wife was amazed at the talent that we have in this building absolutely amazed
okay we got some tough decisions to make in front of us and I think we'll be in the right direction thank you everybody for coming out tonight and watching at home and have a good night oh I want to thank you all for coming out and viewing us meeting on live
stream your input presentations and the comments and I want to thank you and best wishes to all on all retirements and everyone have a wonderful evening um I had the opportunity to attend the uh Jackson Liberty musical of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief
and of course it was amazing as always I always say we should be charging more for those tickets because it's really you you're going to see these kids on Broadway one day um between the actors and the lighting and the stage crew and the musicians it's just wonderful um and
I'm looking forward to seeing uh the Lion King Jr this Saturday uh for McCullof so I hope to see many of you there and I also wanted to thank um Mr beginsky and everyone up above for working on the budget i know that is you
know definitely not a small task and we really really you are just you guys are doing an amazing job and we we back you up 100% so thank you for all you do and have a good night everyone um I also wanted to wish well all the
retirements um thank you for your time here and best wishes on your next chapter i too saw the plays and I mean incredible i saw both high school plays each one of them were jaw-dropping and it's really a kudos to everybody staff
parents students tremendous work and I agree Alison we could see some of those players on Broadway i want to also thank uh congratulate all our winter athletics that ended their state championship spots and I'm really excited and I wanted to just say that again I think
it's great that Mr palumbo and the Jackson administration have put on a vocational career fair next week and I hope you guys get a great turnout have a great night um I just the same I want to wish all the retirements um the best of luck and thank you for your service i'm sure
you've impacted many students over your years and um so it's you know it's a wonderful thing um I did see the play as well i saw Percy Jackson unfortunately I didn't get to see Shrek but again our talent just they it's amazing i I can't can't get over all the um all the things
that they do so it's just wonderful and I need to put a shout out to DECA because it's near and dear to my heart so um and wish them good luck in the Nationals that's coming up in Florida and thank everyone else for coming and with that um we are going to go back
into executive session for matters of um confidentiality and um student confidentiality no further action will be taken when we come back out here just to adjourn so uh matters of client privilege right attorney client
privilege um couldn't read my own chicken scratch but uh so when we do come back out here um it we will really just be uh adjourning the final meeting but we need to go back in for executive session so thank you again second i need I need a motion motion second
discussion all in favor all in favor hi hi any opposed good