like to call this meeting to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Adequate notice of this meeting was
advertised in the Asbury Park Press and the Beacon January 9th, 2025 and by posting the notice in the Fork River and Lenovo Harbor Post offices and by filing a copy of the notice in the Lacy Township Clerk as requested by the Open Public Meeting Act. Roll call, please. Mr. Armato here.
Mr. Peters absent. Mr. Bell absent. Mrs. Armato here. Mrs. Walker here. Mr. Connelly here. Mrs. Claus here. Okay, we're going to go to executive session. Be it resolved that an executive session be convened for the purpose of discussing confidential student matters including but not limited to harassment, intimidation and
bullying, confidential legal matters including but not limited to the current case load and confidential personnel matters. Subject matter of these discussions will be disclosed to the public when the reason for confidentiality subsides. The length of the executive session is estimated to be approximately 60 minutes after which the board shall reconvene and proceed with
visits at 7 p.m. Action may be taken. Motion motion second. All in favor? Hi. I don't know. I All right. We're going to resume the meeting. Um All right. So, we do not have reports or
presentations tonight. Do we have a report from the superintendent? I do not. It's July. Okay. So, we'll uh we can move on to public comment. All right. An audience member wishing to make a comment will raise his or her hand when called upon and state their name, address, or affiliation and intention to make a statement. Comments
will be addressed to the board president. Comments will be made one issue at a time. Comments will be limited to five minutes. No audience member shall be recognized twice until all who have wished to have a comment is recognized. This portion of the meeting is for public comment only. There will be no questions answered. The p purpose
of this board meeting is to perform our business in public. Everyone is entitled to a public comment. If there is a question for the board, there's an established chain of command. Would anybody like to speak tonight? you can you stand up and go to the microphone please and name and address
here. My name is Ashley Meyer 738 Wehawen in Foradver. Go ahead. You can speak. Yep. Um this is my first time attending a meeting. Um so just please let me know when my time is up. My name is Ashley and I'm a parent of a profoundly autistic special ed student in Lacy at
Cedar Creek. My son has an IEP and has had one for years. Recently, without going into every detail, he has been denied education services by Lacy. On May 22, I reported to Mr. Zillinsky and Miss Claus that I felt I was being retaliated against by the director of special education, Joseph Bond. Today marks 56 days, and it has not been
looked into or investigated. On June 19th, nearly a month ago now, I emailed the entire board of education asking for help, saying the situation was only getting worse. After a week of not one single person responding, I followed up. Miss Claus, you told me you were unable to comment or discuss student matters. I
emailed the entire board back saying that I did not need you to discuss a student matter, that I was reporting misconduct, violations of New Jersey statute, and Mr. Zalinsky's refusal to respond. That was two weeks ago, and not a single person on the board has responded to that either. I even asked you at one point, Miss Claus, how I
could file an ethics complaint, and you would not give me that information. Since May 28, I have sent Mr. Zillinski, at least 16 emails. He has ignored every single one. Emails about the retaliation. Emails about my son being withheld home instruction. Emails about his indifference. He will not respond.
Everyone who has ignored me is on stage right now. And I felt important to show you who you are ignoring. I am the parent of a 10-year-old autistic boy who has not been educated in 57 days. I've called special needs advocates who are shocked by the situation. I confirm with the New Jersey Department of Education on the phone that you cannot withhold
services. When a parent reports misconduct, violations, and retaliation, the board has a duty to listen and respond, and none of you have. I wish I could bring my son here to tell you how much this has affected him. But he can't speak. I am his voice. By everyone in stage
ignoring me, you are ignoring him. My son has a legal document valid in New Jersey, his IEP, that says he is entitled to home instruction, the summer program, and therapies. Lacy cannot just ignore this. Finally, what's so upsetting, Miss Claus, is from what I can see online, when you were running
for the board in 2020, you said, "I won't stop there. I met with CPAD group. I'm hoping to work with them all. That's a special education parent advisory group. They had some ideas, and I know I can lead them in the right direction." How can you lead special ed in the right direction when you ignore special ed parents? What has been more important to
you in the last 56 days than a parent telling you repeatedly that their child isn't being educated and reporting retaliation? You were quoted on patch.com last month saying, "It's our duty as a Lacy Township Board of Ed to advocate for the students. Where are you, Mr. Amato? Your campaign motto was
putting students first. Why does mine not matter to you?" Mr. Bell, you stated on a YouTube during your campaign, "I think communication is one of the things I would really like to try to work on as I get into the board. Why then won't you communicate with me?" Mrs. Armada, when you were running, you said in an interview, "We need to build a bridge to
the community and welcome open dialogue by listening to concerns. Where are you? You ignore my concerns. Mr. Peter, when you ran for re-election in 2021, you were quoted saying, "When I say students first, that means all students, including special needs. How is ignoring every email I sent you putting special
needs children first? The board cannot claim to care about students while ignoring serious allegations. You cannot represent Lacy education and just ignore misconduct complaints. You can't campaign on putting kids first and then ignore them once you get elected. My son matters. I know he doesn't to you.
You've made that clear, but he deserves your attention and my formal complaints to you should not be ignored. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Just miss Meyer, just um I just encourage you to continue to speak to Mr. Bond, our director of student services, who's reached out to you
multiple times. Um he is your direct contact. We've provided you with that direct contact. That's just where I'm stopping there. I mean, you understand that. You know who he is. you've in contact with him uh on a pretty constant basis. So just please continue to have those communications with Mr. Bon um is
all I can encourage you to do. Of course I cannot discuss your student matters in front of anybody else. I would never do that. Okay. So please I encourage you to continue to do that. Thank you. Thank you. Would anybody else like to speak? Go ahead, Mr. Bnick. Uh, Richard Bidnick, Lacy Citizens for
Responsible Government. Um, Miss Meyer, I apologize on behalf of the citizens of Lacy Township for the way you've been treated in this situation. This Mr. Bnick, please make your comments. This is Thank you. This is a constant thing that I have
heard over and over again from many different parents. We have a problem. We have an administration problem. We have a board problem. But nobody does anything to take care of anything. And I'm really sorry that you're going
through this because it's just a story that I've heard many times over the last several years. I want to go into I was online today and on Lacy, New Jersey, and there were a lot of senior citizens that were concerned about their senior
freeze checks because they don't know how they're going to cover their upcoming tax bill. And by the way, the new tax bills are online. It's going to be quite a shock to everyone when they see it, but there's five people on this board who we can blame for all of this. And they're
going to try to say, "Oh, it's Governor Murphy. Oh, it's the legislature. Oh, it's everybody else." But you know what? They didn't have to increase the taxes the way they did. This was a decision that was made by five people on this board, and they are responsible for
that. Um, and there's no other answers about it. They didn't want to even listen to anything that we, the public, have to say. Um, they even refuse to acknowledge the economic damage that they've done to this town. And that's because we have a
board majority, especially a board president who is a micromanager. She doesn't understand macro management. And when you're a macro manager, you have to look at the bigger picture. It isn't only about Lacy Township school
district. There's a whole town we have to worry about of taxpayers, citizens. How are they going to afford to continue to live here? And you've done a terrible disservice to the taxpayers of this town. I just want you to know the five
of you that did this. I know you don't care. Thank you. because you're totally incapable and having a conscience in understanding the difficulties of people. Please, I'm speaking.
I interrupt you. So, there's also been this gaslighting that's been going on by our public officials about how the school's ratings and the test scores by the state
don't really matter. Well, let me explain something to you how it does really matter. If you have a student who's a really good student and they want to get into a really high ranking college and you come from a D-rated or
C-minus school district, you're not even going to have a chance to get into a school district like that. And that's really the problem with all of this. And we have listened to the educators who have confronted me publicly and said, "Oh, the test scores don't matter."
Well, they matter to me. Okay? And I want to mention this too. When the school district is failing, it affects all of our property values. So now we have a high tax increase twice, two
years in a row, 20% and our house values and I've been checking on real estate sites and all the homes are being that people have to lower the prices on their homes now to get them to sell. This is another issue and you have to take
responsibility. I know you don't want to hear this, but a 20% tax increase on the people in this town was done by you, not by us. You know, if this had gone to a referendum, it would have been voted down just like we voted down the
referendum on the repairs, the overinflated repairs that you tried to put out on us. This is just another sad case of a situation. And I think that there is one thing that we all can agree on. We have a lot of unprofessional people working in this school district.
We watch them berate members of the public, bang on table, scream, yell, moan and scream. I think that is one thing and that really is a reflection on the management of this school district and the people that you have hired. I mean they call themselves professionals.
I could never go to a public meeting as a professional and behave the way that these people do, even if I don't agree with what they're saying. Let's face it. And you as the board should be calling these people out. The taxpayers pay the salaries of these people. Whether they
like what I say or other members of the public, we have a right to say it. We have a right to be treated without a whole bunch of people. You can cut me off, but I don't think there's anybody else to speak. Why don't you sit down for a minute and there's still someone else that might like to speak? We'll call you back up. Got to follow the rules.
Is there Is there anything? Nothing. Okay. Uh, hold on. Have a seat. You're You're Yeah. Is there more that you wanted to add or Okay. I'm just going to speak again because Mr. Lunay called out. Um, what you're
telling me is that I've reported retaliation to you against Joseph Bond. you are not going to look into it. You're not going to investigate it. You don't care to know anything about it and that I should just continue to keep working with him and you were going to do nothing about it. You're continue to
ignore my emails and there's nothing you were going to do about retaliation. Miss I've I've invited you to my office to meet. Okay. I told you I have a special needs child. I'm available. You can bring your child with you if you want. And you told me to get a babysitter. I've encouraged you. I've encouraged I did not tell you to get a babysitter. Yes, you did. Okay. If you can get a
babysitter, that's fine. I've encouraged you to come meet with me in my office with Mr. Bond and anybody else you want. Okay? I've encouraged you to do that to go over any issues that you have. My son was suspended. He's been I appreciate that you have some struggles. Please work with Mr. Bond to
continue what we need to get done here and we keep doing that. We cannot talk about this in public. Okay. All right. If you'd like, we can go in the hallway and talk about it if you'd like. I have emailed you 16 times since May 28th and you will not respond to me. I'm just telling you. Yes, ma'am. That I'm reporting retaliation to you.
You're not doing anything about it and you're continuing to tell me to just go and talk to the person, I am reporting to you for ter retaliation. And I just hope I know this video is public. I hope that if you have any family members with special needs children or a neighbor with a special needs child or maybe you have a special
needs child, I hope you're embarrassed by this video that this is how you're treating special needs children in this district, how you're treating me. And it's it's I I can't even believe the situation that I'm in. Just just go back and talk to the person I'm reporting for retaliation. Mr. Bnick, would you like to finish?
So, I'll continue with this. I sure would like some real explanations to this letter that I've obtained that Mr. Zalinski sent to the state concerning the final budget submission which was actually the the action of quite a
little bit of action after that meeting where you were assured that you told the state Mr. Dorso that you had the five votes to um to pass the budget. And I I
find that quite interesting because we had a board meeting before where we had a budget at seven what was it 7.5 7% increase and the majority voted it down in including a Mr. Kennady sitting here who said you know we can't allow the
state to do this to us you know uh making us take on the burden and then we have another meeting where you know suddenly there's five people who are going to approve a 9.54%
tax increase. I mean, seriously, there's a problem with this because you're not really supposed to be doing uh straw polling or whatever. Uh especially about a budgetary issue. I mean, this possibly could be another ethics violation that
we will be filing against you. Um you know, it's kind of like maybe that's the only way we're ever going to get any action on any of this. But, uh you know, that's another thing. So, another point I wonder I was going through all the legal bills for the month. Okay, so we
have 50 almost $55,000 in legal bills. Unbelievable amounts of money being spent on legal bills. I noticed another $5,700 to defend the Gordono from his ongoing ethics cases.
If the board had any integrity, you would pass a policy stating that any liability costs dealing with possible wrongdoing by a board member be paid by the board member after the insurance runs out. Does anyone honestly think
that Mr. Gordono would have continued these ridiculous lawsuits if the school board wasn't paying for the cost of the lawyers? I think not. Since we're so concerned about spending money, this should be a nobrainer that you add this
to your board policies. Also, it may be a deterrent for board members who don't follow the rules to think twice before they do something erroneous. As a taxpayer, I'm outraged at all the expenses that we've had to pay on these
ethics violations because board members can't get their act together. It's just another awful stain on our all on our school district. I'd also like to say that we're still paying legal bills for a former employee by the name of Crystal
Daro. Remember her? she was let go and I see it was $12,600 just on her case alone. It's interesting that she was the second food service director that they fired in a row. I mean, there is obviously an administrative problem here in the
school district and we will continue to be exposing all of this stuff because now that you've 20% increased our taxes, we want accountability and this board has not shown any accountability. you've not stated to the public that yes, we
are partly responsible for the mess that the school district is in. And you can't start to even heal the problem until you acknowledge that you are the problem. And tonight, we've heard from another parent. It's just readily obvious what
the problem is here. Thank you very much. Okay, I'm going to close public comment. We're now going to go on to board committee reports. Uh we had no curriculum this month. August August We will next meeting in August. Oh, okay.
Um, next meeting in August. Okay. I'm going to read for policy for Mr. Bell. Um, we started at 4:15. It was myself, Mr. Bell, Mr. Connity, and Mr. Zalinsky. Um, let's see. We uh reviewed um policy
8350, records retention. Mr. Zalinsky led the discussion on how the district uh is keeping records related to Google Workspace. Um AI prompts everything a student or staff member enters into Gemini and is recorded and needs to be on the schedule for retention. We talked
about graduation dress code. This was just a discussion. Mr. Zalinsky led a discussion of the district issues, tassels, sashes um issued for the formal ceremony. Cell phone policy. We had a discussion. and the policy committee expressed their support if there are needs to be any policy changes to make
cell phone policy particularly at the high school and middle school more robust co-curricular um athletic costs that was a discussion Mr. Zillinsky led a discussion of the efforts to trim cost everywhere possible in the athletic program and the discussions are ongoing.
Nothing for safety and security. LTASA uh job description 6 through 12 supervisor of school counseling service that was revised. This job description has been revised from a 7 to 12 position to a 612 position based on the middle school configuration. Grievance
committee employee 856889 level three grievance. The policy committee served as a grievance committee as it's related to level three grievance. Other uh we talked about school hours. The school hours for Cedar Creek Elementary and Lenoka Harbor Elementary School were switched to
accommodate more parent drop offs. And our next meeting is August 6th. Okay. Now we'll go to finance. Mr. Cony uh held on Thursday at 4:18. It was myself, Miss Blaws, Mr. Peters, Mr.
Zonesky, and Miss Ormsby. Uh, Miss Ormsby led discussions on the following. Um, she updated the committee on the status of the pedal school uh,
ROG grant and that they're going to be meeting shortly. Uh, discuss the status of the land surveys. Um he received two of the three. Um
discussion on that. Nocow for the paint here at the high school. Um they're 10 of uh scheduled to be coming out here on Monday. We'll see if they cancel again.
Um discussion on the referendum committee. Uh and so Skip will handle all that. Uh talked about the flooring at the middle school
um which is being covered under the insurance uh that quote is actually in tonight's uh minutes or uh agenda.
in their finance. Uh talked about the preschool curriculum. Um he reviewed the quotes on that and that's on tonight's agenda. Uh Kaplan quote senators well uh his arms
be uh reviewed the change for the contracting uh limits from 44,000 to 53,000 that'll be on for approval. uh discussed the
IDA grant and the allocation approval will be on tonight. The athletic cost, we discussed that food services, uh the price changes for the 2526 school year
on tonight. and he discussed the food services director parking uh hourly prior to his official uh start date um which will be on for tonight. Talked
about the uh hulta purchases for curriculum. Uh he discussed the uh supervisor of guidance
interviews and uh I believe she's on for tonight as well. Technology the uh renewal is on tonight's agenda. Remind Ch homebook purchases,
phone purchases in the Google workspace. uh renewals. Uh discuss the use of facilities, job description for the 6 to 12
supervisor for uh counseling and in school hours. Um he also had interview for general uh counsel. Um he met with uh one firm up that night and
that will be on the resolution for the uh tonight's agenda and next meeting is Thursday, August 7th and we adjourned at 6:00. Okay. Thank you. All right. Mr. Peters, you have any updates on the referendum?
Referendum will be coming out in November on the election. The high school, we're going to be doing uh the roof and 10 units. The middle school, the roof and two units. Mil Pond school roofing. Cedar Creek roofing. Lenoka
Harbor School. We've determined that um we can get another couple years out of the roof. So, we're just going to do um the rooftop AC units on there with no roof. and the Forkid River School. It looks
like uh from deductions that we made from the questions, it's just going to be question number one. And it looks like it's going to be a uh no tax impact to the taxpayers. They'll
be getting back $4 a year. So, it's something. Um, but we're still our roofs are still leaking bad, guys. And we're just trying to um keep the the water from penetrating our buildings. And that's it. Okay. Thank you.
And we have a walk-on tonight with that question. So, we'll be doing that. Um, Mr. Zalinsky, is there anything else? Even though you had nothing before, I still Okay, great. All right. Board member comments. Does anybody have a comment? Miss No. No. Okay. No. Mr. Arman, I have nothing.
No. Mr. Armano, I I have no comment, but I just want to say that um I did receive emails, but we are not allowed to answer and our board president answers. So, I just want you to know that your emails aren't falling on deaf ears. They are being read.
That's all. Thank you, Mr. Peters. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. Mr. Connie, any comment? Nothing this. The only comment I have is our next BOE meeting uh will most likely change to August 18th, 19th, or 26th. So, if you if you want to just check the website,
we're having some scheduling conflicts. All right. Now, we're going to move on to new business. All right. Are we ready? Okay. All right. Uh, meeting minutes A1. Can I have a motion, please? Motion.
Second. Um, roll call, please. Mr. Armato, yes. Mr. Peters, yes. Mr. Bell's absent. Mrs. Armato, yes. Mrs. Walker, yes. Mr. Connity. Yes. And Mrs. Claus. Yes. A2 and three list of bills. Can I
have a motion? Motion. Second. Roll call. Mr. Armato. Yes. Mr. Peters. Yes. But I need to recruise from A2, please. Thank you. Mrs. Armato. Yes. Mrs. Walker.
Yes. Um, I'm abstaining from number two of bills number 950927. Bill number 953843 and bill number 950460. Thank you Mr. Cony.
Yes. Need to on pay to 955136 955 921 955339 950460 and 283300. Thank you. Yes. Uh page 384 and5
transfers and S1701 Peters. Okay. Second. Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Armato, uh, yes. Mr. Peters, orthopedic? Yes. Mrs. Armato? Yes. Mrs. Walker? Yes. Mr. Connelly?
Yes. Mrs. Claus? Yes. A6 to 15 finance. Can I have a motion, please? Motion. Peters. Can I have a second? Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Armato. Uh, yes. Mr. Peters.
Yes. Mrs. Armato? Yes. Mrs. Walker? Yes, Mr. Conny. Yes, Mrs. Claus. Yes. Page 9, A16 to 18. Technology. Can I have a motion? Motion. Second. Roll call, please.
Mr. Armato, yes. Mr. Peters, yes. Mrs. Armato, yes. Mrs. Walker, yes. Mr. Conny, yes. Mrs. Claus, yes. Page 10 and 11, A19 to 28, curriculum. Can I have a motion? Motion. Second. Roll call, please.
Mr. Mr. Armato, yes. Mr. Peters, yes. Mrs. Armato, yes. Mrs. Walker, yes. Mr. Connelly, yes. Mrs. Claus, yes. Page 11, 8:29 to 30. Obsolete equipment and facilities. Can I have a motion? Move. Second.
Roll call, please. Mr. Armato, yes. Mr. Peters, yes. Mrs. Armato, yes. Mrs. Walker, yes. Mr. Conny, yes. Mrs. Claus, yes. Page 11 and 12, 8:31-34. Other Can I have a motion, please?
Motion Peters. Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Armato. Yes. Mr. Peters, yes. Mrs. Armato, yes. Mrs. Walker, yes. Mr. Conny, yes. Mrs. Claus, yes. Page 12, A3536.
Hibs. Can I have a motion, please? Motion. Second, Peters. Roll call, please. I'm sorry, Kim. What? Hibs 35 and 36. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Mr. Armato. Uh, yes. Mr. Peters, yes. Mrs. Armato, yes. Mrs. Walker, yes.
Mr. Connelly, yes. Mrs. Claus, yes. Page 12, donations. Can I have a motion? Move. Can I have a second? Second. Roll call. Mr. Armato? Yes. Mr. Peters? Yes. And thank you. Mrs. Armato, yes.
Mrs. Mrs. Walker, yes. Mr. Cony, yes. Mrs. Claus, um, I have to abstain on the Lacy Football Foundation. Thank you. Okay. Page 12, programs and curriculum. Can I have a motion? Motion. Second. Roll call, please.
Mr. Armato, yes. Mr. Peters, yes. Mrs. Armato, yes. Mrs. Walker, yes. Mr. Cony, yes. Mrs. Claus, yes. Page 12, Professional Days, Workshop, and Travel. Can I have a motion? Motion. Second. Roll call, please.
Mr. Armato, yes. Mr. Peters, yes. Mrs. Armato, yes. Mrs. Walker, yes. But I'm abstaining on Mrs. Amos, Mr. Dow, and Mr. Zillinski, please. Thank you, Mr. Connelly. Yes. But need to abstain on Mr. Zalinsky, please. Yes. Mrs. Claus. Uh, yes. Thank you.
Page 13 to 17. Certificated personnel, E1 to 17. Can I have a motion, please? Motion. Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Armato. Yes. Mr. Peters. Yes. Mrs. Armato. Yes. And congratulations on the retirement.
Uh, Mrs. Walker. Yes. But I'm abstaining on number three, replacement position um for Mrs. Mallaloy. Thank you. On that, please. Yep. Mr. Conny. Yes. Mrs. Claus. Yes. Uh page 17 to 20, non-certificated personnel F1 to11. Can I have a motion,
please? Motion. Uh roll call, please. Mr. Armato, yes. Mr. Peters, yes. Mrs. Armato, yes. Mrs. Walker, yes. Mr. Conny, yes. But I need to abstain a number five
for Mr. Gibson, please. Thank you, Mrs. Claus. Yes. And we have a welcome resolution tonight. Okay. I'm not going to read the entire resolution, but I'll read some of it. Be resolved. The board of education of the township of Lacy and the county of Ocean, New Jersey.
The board, not less than a majority of the full membership of the board concurring as follows. The following bond proposal shall be submitted to the legal voters of the school district at the annual school district election to be held on Tuesday, November 4th, 2025 for the purpose here and after provided.
The form of the proposal will read substantially as follows except as otherwise may be set forth herein. The board of education of the township of Lacy in the county of Ocean, New Jersey is authorized to a undertake the replacement of various portions of roofing at Lacy Township High School,
Lacy Township Middle School, Cedar Creek Elementary School, Fork River Elementary School, and Mil Pond Elementary School, including any site work. B. Undertake various HVAC upgrades, alterations, and improvements at Lacy Township High School, Lacy Township Middle School, and Lenoka Harbor Elementary School,
including acquisition and installation of fixtures, equipment, and any site work. C. appropriate $28,873,500 for such improvements and D issue bonds in the amount not to exceed $28,873,500. The final eligible costs for the
projects approved by the New Jersey Commissioner of Education are $28,873,500 consisting of $14,85,000 for Lacy Township High School, $3,725,000 for Lacy Township Middle School, $2,148,000
for Cedar Creek Elementary School, $2,150,000 for Forgood River Elementary School, $5,468,000 for Milpond Elementary School, and $1,297,500 for Lenoka Harbor Elementary School. The projects include $0 for school facility
construction elements in addition to the facilities efficiency standards developed by the commissioner of education or not otherwise eligible for state support pursuant to NJSA18A7G-5G. The state debt service aid percentage will equal 40% of the annual debt service due with respect to the final
eligible cost of the projects. The board of education is authorized to transfer funds among the projects approved at this election. Okay. Can I have a motion please? Motion Peters. I have a second. Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Armato, yes. Mr. Peters,
yes. Mrs. Armato, yes. Mrs. Walker, yes. Mr. Conny, yes. And Mrs. Claus, yes. Thank you. Okay. Motion to adjurnn. Motion. Peters. Second. Second. All in favor? Everyone. Look at that.