public. Are you sorted? Wonderful. >> 7:59 8:00. >> I feel like I can't start before 8. >> Mr. Oleg, I'm just waiting for 8 o'clock.
All right. Good evening. I call to order the May 26th, 20 26 meeting of the Matuchin Board of Education. Please stand for the flag salute. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mrs. Alavich, notice of the meeting, please. I hereby make the statement to indicate compliance with the Open Public
Meetings Act, known as chapter 231 of the Public Laws of New Jersey, 1975, which became effective 90 days after enactment January 19th, 1976. Notice of this meeting was given by providing the location, time, and date of this meeting and posting of the same on the front door of the board of
education offices, by delivering copies to the burough hall and the Matachin public library, the home news and tribune and by filing a copy with the burough clerk is prescribed by this law. >> Thank you. Could you give me a roll call, please? >> Absolutely. Dr. Asil >> here. >> Mr. Bot
>> here. >> Miss Chetm, >> she's advised you won't be here today. >> Thank you. Mr. Derlinger, >> ditto. Okay. Mr. Glber >> here. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus. >> I am here. >> Miss Colleen here.
>> Miss Michaels Lamort is not here. >> Mr. Sus >> here. >> Miss Zimmerman here. >> Thank you so much. Dr. Caputo, it is our delight to turn it over to you for this fantastic showcase of Zest tonight. >> Thank you, Dr. Johnson Marcus. Uh
members of the board, we have three showcases tonight. We'll start with um a highlight um from the Edgar Orchestra. So we'll highlight five extraordinary eighth grade students from the Edgar Orchestra program. Daniel, Yatang, Momar, Nick, and Michael started performing together as a quintet at the
beginning of 8th grade and decided in February of this year that they wanted to compose their own piece of music. After working collaboratively for three months, this quintet performed their piece, which is entitled Castle of the Lost, at the Edgar Orchestra concert and received a standing ovation. The eighth
grade quintet is proud to perform their composition again for us tonight and we hope you enjoy. >> Thank you. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hallelujah. Heat.
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Woo! WOO! WOW. PARENTS, you must be so proud. Mr. Mchuan, you must be so proud. I I have
to say I've um I've always known that our music department is excellent, but the fact that this is an original composition blows my mind to this day that y'all are in eighth grade and this is the kind of quality of work that you're doing. Outstanding. Absolutely outstanding. Thanks again.
>> Wow. Wow. >> There's like there's so much emotion in there, too. Is there >> It's like they've lived a lifetime. Old souls. >> Yes. Absolutely. So, I don't know if you were told the story of how you ended up
here. Uh, Mr. Glber and I were at the concert when we heard you perform this the first time, and we immediately were like, "Dr. Caputo, could we please have them back?" Because we were truly bowled over by your talent. So, thank you again for gracing us with your talent. >> When does the next single drop? Because
wow, >> I hope you're getting a contract. >> Wow. >> It's amazing. Fantastic. >> Absolutely fantastic. So thank you. >> Of course. Thank you. >> As our extraord as it says here as our extraordinary five are are leaving the stage tonight move to our second
showcase of success Dr. Johnson Marcus and we have all around us today on the table in front of us in front of the deis up on the stage um we have our Edgar School art display under the guidance of Miss Jennifer Gumbrech Miss Marggo Banner and Mr. Nick Tay. The
Edgar School uh art and industrial arts classes are excited to present a preview of the upcoming middle school arts festival. This evening offers a glimpse into the creativity and talent of our students across various grade levels. We invite you to explore these displays and
celebrate the artistic achievements of our students. On Thursday, June 4th between 7 and 9. Um, the Edgar Middle School Gymnasium will be transformed into a vibrant gallery featuring a diverse array of student artwork and each piece reflects the unique
perspectives and skills developed in our art program. So just it's amazing to be like in and amongst these uh these pieces of art today. So just so so impressive. >> Dr. Kabuto, I know you and I have buen eyeing these treats in front of us. I
mean, I saw the box open in front and I >> We are always impressed. Always impressed when your students display their work here. It's truly fantastic. I mean, personally, this one is my favorite. You know, I'm a sprinkles kind of gal. Um, I'm very careful to put it
down gently. Got to make it to the display. So, thank you for bringing your students work for us. >> Just incredible. Just incredible. Thank you. And thanks for being here tonight, too. Bring out their creativity every year. And this Mr. Taye. Wow. I was like, "Oh,
someone brought me flowers." No, no, it is woodworking. It's absolutely gorgeous. >> What's down at the end by Dr. Herszog? Is that the >> sort? It's sort of a wave to it there. >> Cutting board. >> Oh.
>> Oh, >> it actually looked like it had from this angle. It looked like it was coming out actually. >> Oh, that's fantastic. >> Very nice. >> That is beautiful. I love that. But no, that that is I did think it was. >> Yeah, it looks like it >> comes out
>> beautiful. Absolutely beautiful work. >> There's a similar one here, too. >> Very beautiful. >> Incredible. >> Absolutely fantastic. >> The breadth of talent in our district never ceases to impress me. >> So, so impressive. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being here tonight. We really appreciate it.
>> Yeah, big thank yous. We have more. Yes, we have more. And there's more. We had um two recent contest winners and Miss Oavdo was so excited uh that the next morning she shared these two names with me and I think they're here tonight. So, we had two winners recently in the
Congressman Frank Palone Jr. poetry contest. We had Sena Doshi who was the winner. Is she here tonight? >> Yes, she is. So, please come up to the to the mic uh Sena and just maybe tell us about YOUR AWARD. FIRST OF ALL, CONGRATULATIONS.
>> Thank you. >> So, tell us about your um your your honor and your award. >> So, uh this whole contest was writing about three topics. It was
district pride, voices of change and um one about environment. So I entered for the district pride where I wrote about how Matachin as one community had so much talent and then I wrote how
it should flow on more towards other communities and throughout our whole country. >> It's beautiful. >> I love that you've >> Do we have Yeah. Yeah. Please tell us about that. Uh could I read out the poem? >> Absolutely.
>> The title is what is it that connects us? Our town blossoms in the morning light with the brainy borrow wisdom clear and bright. Education flows like a river through our halls, building a future where no student falls. We hold the
wonder of nature, a middle sex greenway grace, a quiet wooded sanctuary from this bustling place. Everywhere you look, from the shops to the parks, love and kindness leave a glowing permanent mark. How can we plant these seeds across the wider state? How do we share
the spirit that makes our home so great? We look from district 6, from the shore to the bay, a beautiful sand where we find a better way. In this diverse landscape, every soul can be accepted with every culture honored and every
voice protected. At the very center where the rails and river run, Matuchin is the bridge that connects us all in as one. >> Oh my beautiful. Thank you. Thank you for honoring us with reading that. I mean that theme of connection and that
pride in our burrow. Love it. Thank you so much. That was beautiful. >> Just beautiful. Thank you for coming tonight. Thanks for reading it as well. We really appreciate you. Congratulations on your award. >> Thank you. >> Well done. >> And we have another one. We have um Xiao Yoi who w was the winner of the Port
Authority Bus Terminal Advisory Council uh contest. She um did our power our planet Earth Day poster contest winner. And yeah, come on up and tell us about the poster. Um, it was my te art teacher that helped
me set this up and without her I wouldn't be here. It was all her doing and I really grateful about it. >> Wow, it's very humble of you. Tell us about the poster. Um, I was like, um, a big fan of eating ice
cream and the earth was like perfect. It was a spear and that's how mostly hard scooped ice cream is. >> So, I thought it'd be like a really good
treat to like draw. >> Love that. >> Just incredible. >> Wonderful. >> Just incredible. the music, the art, the poetry, the con the the poster art, just amazing night tonight. >> We contain multitudes here in Matuchin and I'm very proud of all of our folks
who are doing this great work and I appreciate your humility by shouting out your art teacher. Do you want to shout them out by name? >> Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. Well, thank you so much. Thank you for sharing this with us and congratulations on your win as well.
>> CONGRATULATIONS. >> THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. AT THIS TIME, WE ARE open to the public for comment and we will allow Mr. Tay and Miss Gumbre time to collect their beautiful pieces of work so y'all can all come and see them next Thursday, 7 to 9:00 at the Edgar Middle School
Gymnasium so you can see them up close. Do not eat the the cookies though. They're very tempting. They're very tempting. And don't take the flowers cuz they are gorgeous. So, I don't see any public. Any public? No one's coming. All right, feel free to
come on up. Yeah, come on up. Don't be bashful. >> Congratulations, everyone. >> If you want to tell what they can say, for the prestigious >> and uh folks, family members of our awesome performers, uh we recognize that
you may have other things you need to get to this evening. We will not be insulted if you leave at this time. If you you're welcome to stay, of course, if you would like to hear all this insulating stuff we have coming up. Um, but indeed you are welcome to take this opportunity to leave. Thank you for coming and thank you for sharing your
young people with us. >> Don't forget to take souvenir uh agendas. >> Souvenir agendas. >> Souvenir agendas. >> Souvenir agendas on the right on your left side. >> Please take those. >> Do I get to keep this one? You know, Mr. Tay, Mr. Tay, do I get to keep this one?
>> Unfortunately not. It is gorgeous. I do love >> commission for you. >> Oh, I love that. I love that. >> So beautiful. >> She wants a quintet and a um a roses woodworking project. All right. >> The um the whole 3D board. It was
blowing my mind. I'm glad you asked cuz I was like, "Oh, it's just a cool art um art piece." But indeed, it's functional as well. >> Yeah. >> Do we have a >> You have to ask Mr. T. >> Oh. Oh, good. >> Okay. Is that how you would make something like that?
>> Smooth the outside so it spins like a edge on it and then it as it spins around. As the wood spins around, it keeps trimming off a little. >> And did you learn this in your woodworking class in Matuchin? >> We have some nice stuff there. M. >> So, we have we have leveled up. >> All right. We did. I know.
>> And Mr. Tay has been doing a great job pushing us forward. So, >> yes. Thank you, Mr. Tay, for leveling us up. >> I learned it all here. >> Oh, I love that. >> Perfect answer. >> Great circular app. You still have your one door cabinet with the two hooks on it. >> I have it and my eighth graders make that cabinet. >> All right.
>> I love that. >> Well done. >> All right. Fantastic. And next up, we are going to have some Tell me when you're ready to go. >> Let's see. Dr. Herszog is in place. I will let you take it away. I think I have it somewhere.
>> Dr. Johnson Marcus and members of the board, the next uh part of our uh agenda tonight, we move into two presentations. Um this was originally scheduled one the first one was scheduled for last week but I'm kind of glad they're backtoback. Uh Dr. Bonis and Dr. Herszog worked closely together um on our mental health
initiative. We'll start tonight with Dr. Herszog who will present to us our annual mental health update. Back in November of 2019, the board passed the referendum. We promised every year an update on our progress uh well before the rest of the state and country were
talking about this. Uh and Dr. Dr. Herszog's back with another um iteration of the uh update. Thank you, Dr. Herszog, for being here tonight. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Our mental health initiative, our comprehensive programming continues to develop each year and um this
presentation will be posted on the district website so anyone who wants to follow it more closely can take a look. But um I'll flip through it um a little bit fast. So there are some statistics here which emphasize the importance of
having services for youth mental health and why it's so important and the um quite alarming statistics about how it impacts youth throughout the country and locally. Our mental health referendum from 2019 incorporates components of additional school psychologists,
additional behavioral support, therapeutic programs, academic interventions, and clerical support. and these continue as in addition to resources funded separately outside of the initial referendum. Our initiative includes prevention
services, education services, and support. So with a focus on intervening early, developing awareness, acceptance, and supporting students who have needs in this area. Oops. Our components are identified here
which are aligned to the New Jersey tiered systems of support framework and we've worked hard over the last two years to uh organize all of our components of this initiative and tie them into our social emotional learning
and our behavioral health because all of these uh skills and services do in are interconnected. So starting with a strong character education program and embedding social emotional learning competencies into our curriculum and
then having tiered e systems of support and interventions for behavioral health for mental health for social emotional learning development. It this includes instructing in these core skills explicitly having opportunities for practice and to apply these. It includes
leadership and staff development in these areas, partnering with community, parents. Um, it includes engaging our students in this work through peer leadership, through mentoring, and then of course safety and awareness components, um, prevention lessons built
into health curriculum, crisis intervention, early identification. This is a visual of what we call tiered systems of support. Tier one being the components that all students and um all
individuals who work here participate in. And that that's our core programming. And that includes professional development for all staff, school counseling services for all students, targeted class lessons, um awareness activities, advisory programs,
coping skills, parent workshops, and then as you move up through the tiered systems, you get supports for those who need it, such as individual or group counseling, needs based groups, maybe friendship, maybe loss, maybe anxiety based, um social skills instruction. And as you move up through the triangle,
less students might need those. And maybe the intensity uh increases as well. And that includes more clinical programming and services and therapy for students in school in authentic settings, supports for families,
communication with private providers, and even up to daily therapy. We've worked hard over many, many years to embed social emotional learning competencies in our curriculum. This includes teaching explicitly um through targeted lessons, through
integrating these skills into our curriculum and through embedding them into our routines. We teach a problem solving framework embedded in our curriculum as well based on action research and we've worked on sustaining these skills through our teacher orientation, through our professional development aligning with our district
goals. We focused on our core skills, the social emotional learning competencies, character traits, resiliency, wellness. We teach these explicitly, and there's many ways these have been done over the past year, which you can look further
at, and making sure we have ways to practice and apply these skills. We're committed to our staff professional development through all inservice days, pre-ervice, continuing education options, bringing consultants in. We use a variety of high quality resources with our partnerships
with Ruckers, UBHC, No Place for Hate, Lifelines, um, Castle Framework, Wingman, and many others. And we have full leadership support with this initiative. We now have a mental health leadership team. We have multi multiple multidisciplinary teams. We um, align
this with our wellness committee, with our whole child focus. And um we are constantly working with parents, working with families, partnering with our community, engaging our teams, our RTI teams, our men, our child study teams, our school counseling
teams. And we've really proud of how our student leadership component has developed over the last few years. Programs such as Wingmen, Bulldog Buddies, mental health ambassadors to name just a few have done great work. Uh we've brought in Lifelines Trilogy. This is year two with lessons for all
students in grades 6, 9, and 11, training everybody on what to look for and um when to intervene. And just highlighting a few key points from the last um year here is our mental health program now spans prek through high
school. And we're very proud of that. We've expanded our partnership with Ruckers. We're fully ready with our Ruckers clinical services at Moss School for anyone who needs them with the realignment that started this year. We also brought in a new counseling program at Moss in anticipation for the
realignment and that is strong and ready to go and spent the year developing and some highlights of the new Moss counseling program includes small groupoup services, class lessons, and ongoing support for the whole school community. It's been a great addition.
Another highlight for this past year are our fun things that we always do to raise awareness like interactive bulletin boards. The themes change every year such as winter blues, social media, trusted adults, lunch table events to build awareness for students, uh mental health awareness activities, cute things
like recess chalk, affirmation stations, um specialized supports, zenens now in in almost all of our schools and um engagement activities for students like the mental health ambassadors, um the national art society students working on
self-expression with painting. Uh that was a fun one. And we're also focused on professional development and our district support this year. We brought in a consultant through the Magnolia group that we and we were able to offer
targeted professional development for all elementary staff on behavioral health and ways to um intervene and support. child study team and school counselors received specialized PD in this area and elementary special education teachers receive multiple days
um from this presenter this um partner as well. We are working on updating our resources for community referrals and partnerships. And something that we're really proud of is is we were asked to serve on a Middle Sex County behavioral
health panel where our several of our staff members um Mrs. Curtain, Samantha Polalmo, our um and a Rucker clinician went and represented Matuchen to show how we do this work in a district. So, we were asked and and that was really
wellreceived. So, that was very very nice to to be asked for that. And we were also asked to present on our collaborative model and how we're we tackle behavioral health issues in the elementary levels through the Ruckers collaborative. Um our me memorialization
committee is a is a new development and our traumatic event committee and that has um been a focus this year to get that launched. Our district wellness committee is doing a lot of work too. So those are some highlights from this year and moving forward we will continue
focusing on student well-being, fostering kindness and empathy, coping skills and problem solving skills, emotional regulation and engaging families, community partners and supporting the realignment. um that we are all taking on in September. So that is a little bit about
our mental health initiative and these slides will be posted if anybody wants to look at them a little more closely. >> Thank you Dr. Herszog. Um I see some board members coming back. I'm not sure if they have questions or they're just
questions. >> Thank you. Thanks for the presentation. And I appreciate um our district's commitment to having this annual presentation uh after the public was willing to support the mental health initiative back in 2019.
Um and it's kind of like when we do building upgrades how we take a lot of pride in in maintaining those and uh really valuing the extra taxpayer money that we asked for in those cases. So this is appreciated as well. uh question
or two. So one is um a lot of these programs or personnel uh the costs increased from year to year. We've been able to maintain our uh mental health services
our partnership with Ruckers despite changing costs in those programs. Yes, we have. That is a challenge when you partner with entities outside of the district that we don't have control over their increases and they don't have the
same guidelines of 2% increases. So, that has been a a a significant challenge being able to keep up with those increases. Um, with very good budgeting with Mr. Harvey or Dr. Bonosisa, we've been able to do it and working with Ruckers as a good partner.
Um, we've been and we also work with Wellspring who has worked with us too on their rates. >> Um, so they've been they've been good partners and we've done good work being fiscally responsible on our end to be able to continue these services, but that is a challenge. >> Thank you. And you mentioned uh Wingman
a couple of times uh and that was an eighth grade or seventh and eighth grade program working with our fifth grade students. Do we know what that's going to look like yet next year or >> so? We are committed to continuing that program and and at Edgar School they have some recommendations that they're
working on um to implement next year of how that program should develop staying as an Edgar program but also bringing in reaching out in some way to connect with fifth graders to get them ready. So definitely at Edgar hopefully some outreach to fifth grade and also looking
at partnerships with other districts who are doing the program. the program is changing a little but they've made it clear to us that we can continue as we have been with that program. >> Great. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Mr. Glasburg. Any other
questions or comments for Dr. Herzog? >> Just one comment. Great job. >> Thank you, Mr. S. Yeah, I want to commend you for all of the work that y'all are doing to support the mental health within our community. is we were clearly as a district ahead of some of the curve and I'm grateful for the
sustained and expanded work that continues here within our district. So, thank you Dr. Huzzah. >> Yeah, I'm just the one who presents it. The school counselors, the child study team, the student assistance counselors, the clinicians, um our director of special services, our supervisor school counseling, and our school
administrators all working really hard to to keep this program developing and successful. So, thank you everybody. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Herzog. Next we have um Dr. Bonosissa and Dr. Herszog mentioned the wellness uh committee um and we have
a board policy as Dr. Bonisa makes her way down to the uh the podium. We have a policy which which has some pretty prescribed steps and Dr. Bonisa took that on this year um as a focus and really um led us through the steps required to get to where we are today.
So, I'm really happy that you're here today um and kind of take the board and public through um this high level requirement outlined by this district wellness policy. >> Sure. Thank you so much and thank you for the opportunity um as we're getting the slides set up.
>> Um there's only like three that's it's a short presentation but it's the highlights from the year. Um you this is a comprehensive report serves as the assessment towards the district policy
8505. It's the local wellness policy nutrition standards for meals and other foods. So driven by our commitment to health and wellness. This scorecard evaluates our compliance with federal requirements and standards. It measures
our progress towards specific wellness goals and highlights our ongoing efforts across the district. >> Yeah, we'll just pause a second. That's fine. >> Thanks for the introduction. >> Yeah, of course. >> Um, and I know you're going to dive into some of this. I think you we posted
online. I think you share with the board the full report and the full assessment that you did. Uh, and I know you'll hit on a lot of those highlights today. >> So, yeah. So on the website there's a full report that was done um an assessment that I created based on the
policy which is a requirement of the policy. Um oh there they are. So I always get confused with this thing. I'll try. So um tonight I'll be presenting our progress through three specific lenses. our compliance with the
administrative and legal requirements of the federal healthy hunger and free kids act, a benchmarking comparison of our current standards against a national model of school wellness policies, and a comprehensive look at how we attained
our specific goals for nutrition promotion, nutrition education, and physical activity across all four schools. Ultimately, this scorecard is more than just a compliance measure. It is a direct reflection of our whole child focus and our dedication to the
well-being of every student in Matuchin. So, there we go. All right. So, oh, this looks a little bit different. Okay. So, um our progress this evening is anchored by four core pillars. So,
nutrition excellence, community impact, active lifestyles, and school wellness week. So, as you can see, we are 100% HHFKA is that healthy hunger-free kids act. Um, with our interactive menus,
we're smart snack compliant in our cafeteria. We have um our partners with Pmptonian make sure that we have special chef days and with like sushi flavors around the world. Our farm stand. Um and
through that partnership we also have interactive digital menus which are on our school website. Um, we have permanent your plate nutritional signage and again those dynamic chefies um featuring diverse culinary options like
again like the sushi and the chef around the world. Um, so that's nutrition. We have um community impact. Through the share my meals initiative led by Kate Lemmer. Through this partnership, we've recovered 2,8
2,873 meals, 3,622 pounds of food were saved, and we have avoided nearly 15,000 lbs of CO2 emissions, which is completely, it's
very impressive, and we're very proud of that community impact. And then active lifestyle across the district. So aside from the PE classes that our students receive, there are other many opportunities for movement.
So for example, at the elementary level, students engage in daily classroom activity breaks like go noodles and mindful movement. They have active recess where they're encouraged to play different games and and you know share
fun activities with each other. And then there's also special events like field day and the bike brigade. At the secondary level, there are a robust selection of intram murals, competitive sports and inclusive programs such as our unified PE program.
And then every school um also participates in the school wellness week. So throughout that week um all the students engage in different activities around wellness whether it's nutrition, physical activities and um mental health wellness. So that happened at every
school and in fact Moss is doing it this week. Um and then all of the additional activities such as the blood drive, power, friendship, crochet club. So there are all different activities that hit different facets of wellness throughout the district.
So, as I stated earlier, there was an assessment that I had to create based on this policy and we had to look at a model policy, a model national policy of health and wellness and see how our
policy aligns to it. And actually, our policy 8505 is in high alignment with the state and federal requirements. And notably our policy actually exceeds the national model due to the rigorous
annual reporting. So I have to create the report, I have to create the assessment and I have to report publicly. So through that assessment um we had to um through our district wellness committee we had to increase our
participation and offer um more robust uh participation. So we had to have a principal, we had to have a nurse. Palonian is a representative on that committee. Also we have parent representatives, student representatives. So it's a very robust
committee that collaborates on different things including this policy and wellness across the district. Again our policy is in high alignment with the model policy. Um one of the requirements is that we have to make recommendations to this policy if there are any changes.
We are not recommending any policy changes at this time. So that you know we're going to continue with this policy as is. But we did look at certain actions, things that we can do to make action steps and make this
policy more um uh of accessible and different things through it and gather more input. So for the parent resources, I worked with Pmptonian. We're going to be sharing that Jersey Fresh Farm to school website with our nutritional resources on our
school district website. We want to engage students more and gather more input from them on wellness activities. So they are on the district wellness committee and there are other different student advisory boards that we can also collect information from. um beyond the
curriculum, looking at ways to provide direct nutrition education to reach 100% of the students and then working towards all of our fundraisers, school day fundraisers um to be smart snack compliant. And
that's it. Those were the highlights from this year demonstrating how we are cultivating health, community, and active lifestyles in the Matachin public schools. This is an initiative of this scope is truly a team effort and this work was done in close collaboration
with so many different groups. I want to extend a sincere thank you to Pmptonian, all of our school principles and assistant principles, the district wellness committee, our dedicated teachers and staff, and all of our wonderful community partners just to
name a few um for their daily commitment to our students. And then finally, I'd like to thank Dr. Caputo, Mr. Harveier, Dr. Dr. Herszog and the board for your continued support of this work. Um, thank you so much and I'm happy to take any questions that you might have.
>> Thank you so much, Dr. Bonusissa. Um, I just wanted to say that I think hearing you talk about the way in which input is gathered from the multiple stakeholders across this initiative is just really fantastic. It really speaks to that
whole child commitment involving children, making sure that the activities are reflective of their desires as well. Um, and pairing that with the mental health initiative, it truly is impressive to see the way in which we as a district are walking the walk and and and not just paying lip service to these kinds of policies and
ideas. So, just com commendation to all of the folks involved in this initiative as well as uh the mental health initiative. Thank you for that. I'm very impressed. >> Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Other questions, comments?
>> Thank you for all the work that that you and the group have done in just a decade or less. We've gone from styrofoam trays and food waste to compostable uh trays and saving thousands of meals
and getting that to people who who need that food. So, I think we've come a really long way in this area and I appreciate the efforts. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> Thank you so much. >> Questions, comments? All right. >> Appreciate it.
>> Thank you. >> All right. Just let me finish that one. Okay. There we go. >> All right. Back to me. Yes. No. >> To you, Mr. Harvey. All right. At this time, we are opening up. We're making a
motion to open the public the meeting to the public on our SESO refunding bond ordinance. And so it is open to the public. However, for those of you not actually seeing our auditorium, I think it's only Dr. Bonosisa and Mr. Ulik in
the audience. Uh but I would ask Mr. Harveier, our fabulous business administrator, to explain a little bit about what it is that we're opening this up to speak about at this time to explain it for our viewing public. >> Okay. Thank you. Just a brief overview
on our energy savings improvement plan. We've been discussing it over the past year. We had our architect and energy conservation manager come to a couple of board meetings, a couple of committee meetings. The plan includes coating of all the roofs on all the buildings which
comes with a extended 15-year warranty. Comes with the installation of solar panels, retrocommissioning of all the buildings and uh and one other Oh yeah, retro commissioning of the lighting also. Now,
in order to do all this work, we have to borrow $ 8.5 million to to complete all this work. and and the principal and the intro and we're going to issue bonds. The principal and the interest for those bonds will be paid by the energy savings that we accumulate through the solar
panels, through the energy lighting, through the retro commissioning. That will all pay that will pay for all of our debt service. And our energy conservation company had to submit their plan, their energy savings plan to a third-party auditor to approve the
savings. And that obviously was approved. They they agreed with the savings they thought they would realize and then we had to go to the public finance board the state the state in New Jersey public finance board and they approved the financing also. So tonight the last step in the preliminary process
is to approve the financing of the project then we can go out to bid for the work. >> Thank you so much for that explanation. I'm sure that's very helpful for folks um as we move towards realizing this energy savings improvement plan IP. Yes,
the ESIP plan. Uh it's very exciting time for us to be able to move towards um the improvements in our energy usage and uh especially these days I don't have to tell anyone how the prices are going up. So very forward thinking of our district to be moving forward to do
that. So I did make a motion earlier. Did I need a second for that? Let's just make sure we have >> I can get one. >> Okay. Can we get a second? >> Mr. Glassber. >> Oh, go ahead. Mr. Ar you opened it up to the public, right? Even though >> I did I did open it to the public. Uh pointing out that there is currently
only one of the school employees here in the audience. Um so seeing no public having come after your very thorough description. See they stayed home because they're like this was good. I get it. I understand. Thank you for that. Uh, so I will move to close the public hearing on the SESO refunding
bond ordinance. You'll see those later on in our agenda under the finance items as well. So if you want to read a little bit more and get a little bit more detail on that, they are available to you there as well. So I'd like to move to close the public hearing. Can I have a second please? Mr. Sus. Fantastic. Now
we move to the report section of our agenda. And at this time, I do want to take a moment. On uh Friday the 22nd, I popped by um this high school, this same space, uh to congratulate our retirees.
We had a wonderful um crew of folks uh whether uh folks serving as custodians, art teachers, fizzed, health, science, special ed, elementary intervention specialists across many different spaces, many different buildings. Their
legacy here at our schools is one to really marvel at. Their commitment has made a tremendous difference in the lives of our students. In fact, some of the folks at this uh uh table, this table have uh taken classes with these folks
as well. So indeed, we applaud and celebrate them as they move into the next phase of their lives. And we also honored our governor's educator of the year. All of those fantastic folks have had the opportunity be to be celebrated and all of the stuff that we heard about
these presentations, these students, the art, the woodworking, all of this is happening because we have such amazing staff working within our district. So, we're very grateful. Um, and I want to tease a little that we have some really outstanding numbers here in Matuchen.
Our public schools are truly, truly excellent. It's not just cuz we say so. They're being recognized by many other entities out there. We're outpacing the state in our learning rate. We are in the top 5% for our Edgar Middle School, top 12% for Campbell Elementary School,
and our high schools in the top 19% all of these in our state. So, as you know, many of you, New Jersey is a state with lots and lots of schools. So, the fact that our little burrow, our public schools are doing as well as they are is something to be celebrated. But none of this would happen without the dedicated
team of folks that we have across the board in our district. So we are just really really grateful. We'll be sharing more information about these numbers coming up. Um but I did want to take a moment to celebrate our folks and to to you know celebrate the um awesome achievements within our district as
well. So now I am turning over to our amazing superintendent here who is going to have a report of some sort perhaps. >> Thank you. Yeah, just to follow up a little bit on what you said, I'll include um some of the specific data points. We're still going through it. The school performance report is now
publicly available and everyone can just log on to New Jersey school performance reports and you can search any district in the state as well as Matuchen. We're also made aware of a national uh report called the education scorecard that was re released out of Harvard and Stanford.
Um, so we have some data I'll be sharing tomorrow as well in the Wednesday after the Tuesday night board meeting. And we'll still as a staff, we're still going through those numbers uh and trying to use those. We we've had pieces of those data for a while now, but to see it all in one place uh in a
coordinated report is good for us and we can look forward to changes we've made. Hopefully that'll be reflected next year and in future years as well. So really proud of where we are and uh but we never stop growing. >> Absolutely. And that's that's that's that's the key to excellence there. for using this data to help us continue to
uh grow and learn and move on forward. So, thank you for that, Dr. Caputo. Next up, we have committee reports and it's a little bit um different because I usually turn this way, but I'll start with you on construction, Mr. Glber.
>> Construction met on May 18th at 7:00. Uh we were joined by the health and safety committee for the district. Mr. Stike presented to us. It was a brief presentation uh discussing the elements of this year. There were no particular
major concerns that were brought forward to us and they did discuss um how things might change with the grade realignment and having staff members be in buildings that they have never been in before. They might be looking at that building through fresh eyes uh which could bring
issues to the forefront uh that we did not previously consider in the area of health and safety. We had an overview of the construction status at all four schools. There's uh punch list items taking place at all the schools. Landscaping taking place. Uh the
Matuchen High School cafeteria uh is continuing to be converted and hopefully we'll have an end on that soon. We discussed around a mos school, some um things that we've been working on, a
wall uh that is adjacent to a property um that needs to be repaired and some other change orders that were taking place regarding the exterior conditions at Moss um that will help benefit the neighbors around us. We did also discuss
the EIP program. Um first of all timeline uh expected completion sometime around uh late August 2027 and that that is with regards to the roofing, solar and lighting that was just talked about
by Mr. Harveier. Um if there are any delays to that that's not expected to have any impact on uh the start of school. These are things that are happening really outside of that. We were also looking at Campbell School. Um we are looking we have been approved
to put solar on all of the different schools but we have identified Campbell an area there that was not included in the original plan and we're investigating whether we could add some additional solar there to increase our savings and we're also looking into co-op pricing for some of the lighting
upgrades. Uh additionally we discussed open houses at the schools. Um Dr. Dr. Caputo shared a really comprehensive list of activities that are taking place at each building. Uh there are different uh groups that have already been through some of these spaces uh at different
types of orientation sessions. Um but we are also looking to have a full open house for people including those who are uh don't have children in our district to be able to see the different spaces uh that the public helped support through the last referendum.
and we will have an update on that at a later time. Our next meeting is June 1st uh which we are going to have at Mos School so that some of us who have never seen the new building including myself will have a chance to see it. >> Thank you. >> Wonderful. Thank you Mr. Glber. Uh Miss
Khen, would you like to report on extracurricular? >> Sure. So we have not had an official meeting for extracurricular. Our next meeting is June 1st. However, this afternoon we did meet briefly. Um, tonight we're going to be adding an item to the agenda. Um, Dr. Caputo and his
team have been working to secure or to to come up with a name, a recommendation for a football coach for Matuchen High School football team. Um, and so the committee met briefly today to uh discuss the recommendation with him and
we are requesting that that be added to tonight's board agenda. We met at 4:30 this afternoon, so it was um a late ad, but um we heard the parents the last meeting. Uh there seems to be um a real interest in having a coach named for the students and have the players have
somebody that they can be in contact with um before the school year lets out and this would be the best way to get that to happen. So um please look for that on um to be added to uh the personnel section for this evening. Um but other than that, our next meeting is
June 1st and we'll have a report done. >> Wonderful. Thank you, Miss Galen. Uh next up, we have Mr. Sus with finance. >> Yep. Uh finance met on the 18th. We um met with our uh the cyber security
collaborative committee. Um talked about some of the trainings that they do, some of the um newsletter that they put out, etc. Uh we talked about uh transportation for uh next year. We talked about just uh the the budget
process and just how it works. Just kind of a review. We talked about the school of the arts um looking at the number of students that attend that. I know that uh curriculum will be taking that up. We approved non-resident tuition to
basically remain the same as previous years. We looked at um the list of recommended UN technology items from Mr. Thuman. Um thorough as always. Uh we approved most of it. There were some follow-ups on on one item. Um there's also a list of recommended year-end
maintenance items which I think the administration I'm not sure has sent out yet, but we'll be doing that via via email. And that's pretty much it. the uh the last um item
again we remember we reviewed the uh the budget process and I guess we'll start reviewing things for the 2728 budget in October 2026. We talked about uh the administration coming up with a three-year view given that some things like the um teachers contract which is
the bulk of our our spend is in place. So looking forward to those discussions in the fall >> and your next meeting is >> h >> next meeting. Oh, the next meeting is whenever Mr. Glasber said the next said the next meeting is.
>> All right. Thank you so much, Mr. Sus. I was buying myself time to finish a signature. All right. So, uh, as Mr. Derlinger is not here, I will give the curriculum committee report. And Dr. Herszock, please feel free to chime in if I misstate anything. Um, so we had one of our collaborations with the
instructional council this time, our district instructional council represented by Mr. Robbins. Um the conversation was around the committee's work increasing student engagement through instructional practices that will foster critical thinking. Uh we talked about the growing
impact of screen use on uh our students and being thoughtful around promoting balanced meaningful learning experiences. Also making certain that we were clear that the committee collaborates across the district with representatives across the the prek
through 12 continuum. We also had a conversation around physical education uh instructional minutes, our win program as well as an inservice preview for the event that happened on Friday here at the high school. Uh Dr. Herszog gave us uh some really great updates
around that. Um and some of the minor scheduling adjustments that will be made to make sure that we're remaining in compliance with the state instructional requirements. Um we also learned a little bit about our focus grant update. So the committee got um information
about from year one we had enhanced curricular supports for multilingual learners and gifted students and we utilized that data to help us inform instructional decisions. We implemented researchbased materials expanded learning around effective reading strategies and then indeed the year 2
application was approved. So well done in continuing to find us grants that help us to move everything forward. Uh we also talked about the APsite textbook. Um and the current textbook has been in use since 2019. Uh while it can be continued to be used as a
supplemental textbook, it is recommended for retirement as the primary AP textbook and the new primary instructional materials uh was recommended and discussed. Uh then we also talked about standardized testing and the fact that we are mostly complete
with a couple of makeups ongoing. Um and then future uh as Mr. Sus teased uh the curriculum committee will continue to have conversations around the Middle Sex County Arts High Program. And so that is curriculum.
I also have the update for the policy committee as Miss Cheetum is not here and she is the new chair of our policy committee and the font on this is a little smaller so bear with me as I make this one a little larger. Thank you. So we also had a collaborative meeting. We
got to connect with the DPDC and they provided an overview of the inservice professional development topics that they talked about year to date and then talked about what they were planning through the end of the year. Um they wanted to make sure that folks were clear that these inservice days are really important and school tends to be
closed is closed during those inservice days but they're really important for our staff's professional development. Um indeed there was an impressive variety of subjects and engagement opportunities. for example, first aid education, safety care, certification. Making sure that as we move through this
reorganization and realignment, there was a lot of support provided for our staff as they move buildings, etc. Um they also talked about a student panel in um engagement. They connected with the future educators club, which is a relatively new club, and it's really exciting to see them being able to again
engage in that true matching collaborative spirit, connecting with the students who then are interested in going into careers as educators. Um they also had sessions with literacy and behavioral uh consultants. We had a very large uh policy alert from our
organization that supports us with that. Strauss SMA uh 13 pages of 21 policies and regulations. It will take us some time to move through all of those policies. It was a big big alert. Um but we will take the time as necessary to review and to be thoughtful around it
and to make sure that we have uh good compliance with the policies and regulations. So, more to come at the next committee meeting. So, that was policy. Any questions or comments on any of the reports this evening thus far?
Fantastic. All right. At this time, I'm skipping on. Yes. Old business. Is there any old business from the board? How about new business? Any new business? Any? No. All right. Fantastic. So, at this time, I'd like to move to
approve the minutes of the May 12th, 2026 special business meetings 1 and two and the board meeting. Is there a second? Mr. Bot. Are there any questions or comments on the minutes from May 12th? >> All right. Roll call, please. Mrs. Alavich. Dr. Esong.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Bot, >> yes. >> Mr. Glber, >> yes. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus, >> yes. >> Miss Colleen, >> yes. >> Mr. Sus, >> yes. >> Miss Zimmerman, >> yes. Motion carries. Thank you so much, Miss Ellavich. Now, at this time, we are
open to the public. And seeing that there has not been any folks joining us, I will also close that section and move to the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. Oftentimes, it may appear to members of our audience that the board of education takes action with very little comment
and in many cases a unanimous vote. Before a matter is placed on the agenda at a public meeting, the administration has thoroughly reviewed the matter with the superintendent of schools. If the superintendent is satisfied that the matter is ready to be presented to the board of education, it is then referred to the appropriate board committee. The
members of the board committee work with the administration and the superintendent to asssure that the members fully understand the matter. When the committee is satisfied with the matter, it is presented to the board of education for discussion before any final action is taken. Only then is it placed on the agenda for action at a
public meeting. At this time, I'd like to move personnel items A1 through A11 and make a motion to, as teased by Miss Gene, uh, add personnel item A12 for the hiring of Matuchen High School head
football coach for the 2026 27 year. May I have a second on those dual motions? So, do I take two seconds, Miss Khen and Mr. Glberg? Yes. I don't know. If you're doing it all together, it should be fine to just have another set. >> Wonderful. So, we'll
>> Dr. John, can you just read uh item 12? The full garbage. >> Yeah, because the just just 12. >> Okay. >> The language on 12. >> So, move to approve Joseph Riy as the Matuchen High School head football coach for the 2026 school year
>> effective May 27th, 2026. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, moved. Miss Kian seconded. And are there any questions or comments on any of the personnel items? All right, fantastic. Roll call, please. >> Dr. Esield,
>> yes. >> Mr. Bot, >> yes. >> Mr. Glber, >> yes. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus, >> yes. >> Miss Colleen, >> yes. >> Mr. Sus, >> yes. >> Miss Zimmerman, >> yes. Motion carries. >> Wonderful. Thank you so much. Mr. Sus, could you move the items?
>> Yes. I'd like to move items B1 through B14 as listed on the agenda. >> Thank you so much. Is there a second? >> Miss Zimmerman, are there any questions or comments on the finance items? Would you like to elaborate? >> Just a couple comments. Items 12 and 13,
uh, go back to the commentary that Mr. Harvey gave before >> on the approvals. Um, uh, conveniently, uh, there are a lot of items for, uh, the mental health contracts for next year, which we had the great presentation from Dr. Herszog,
and I'll let actually Dr. to Caputo talk about item 10 which is a approval of a nice donation. >> Sure. Yeah. So MEF um thank you for supporting MEF and MEF thank you for the uh the work you do to support our efforts here but MF is making a large donation to redo the entire sound system
in our auditorium. As Dr. Johnson Marcus said before we value the arts it was wonderful to hear our musicians and now this space where we hold most of our concerts um uh will have a state-of-the-art professional sound system thanks to the MF. So, thank you
>> indeed. Thank you. Any other questions or comments on the finance items? All right, seeing none, roll call, please. Mrs. Ellavich, >> Dr. Mr. Bach, >> yes. >> Mr. Glassber, >> yes. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus, >> yes.
>> Miss Colleen, >> yes. >> Mr. Sus, >> yes. >> Miss Zimmerman, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you so much. At this time, I'd like to move policy items C1 and C2. Is there a second? Miss Zimmerman, are there any questions or comments on the
policy items? Seeing none, roll call, please. >> Dr. Asuiel, >> yes. >> Mr. Bot, >> yes. >> Mr. Glasber, >> yes. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus, >> yes. >> Miss Colleen, >> yes. >> Mr. Sus, >> yes. >> Miss Zimmerman, >> yes. Motion carries.
>> Thank you so much. All right. At this time, I'd like to move curriculum items D1 through D4. Is there a second? Mr. Glberg, are there any questions or comments? Seeing none, roll call, please. Mrs. Alivic. >> Dr. Asio, >> yes. >> Mr. Bot,
>> yes. >> Mr. Glber, >> yes. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus, >> yes. >> Miss Colleen, >> yes. >> Mr. Sus, >> yes. >> Miss Zimmerman, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you so much. At this time, the meeting is open to the public, but I
find ourselves in the same predicament as earlier, so I shall close that section of the meeting. And I turn over to Dr. Al as our newest board member. And she gives me a look of horror. So I
turn the other way. From A to Z. Miss Zimmerman's like, I got you. Don't even worry about it. >> We're going to give her some time. >> All right. Miss Zimmerman, could you >> help us with the announcements, please? >> All right. Um the school climate improvement survey is still open for parents of students at Campbell and
Edgar. Um, so if you can check your email and please take the survey so we can better understand ways to improve and what we're doing well. And that survey is open until June 1st at Moss. Um, the last PTO board meeting of the year is going to be Monday, June 1st at
7 p.m. And there is a sec rising first and second grade orientation um, event happening on June 11th. More info to come for parents on that one. Um, Campbell last week Dr. held a your new Campbell event. Um the presentation and
FAQs are available on the website. So if parents want to learn more about what Campbell will look like next year as a third, fourth, and fifth grade school, you can check out the Campbell website and uh click the link for the presentation. Third and fourth grade chorus and band concert is this
Thursday, um May 28th, 7 p.m. right here at the high school. Um, the Scholastic Bookf Fair is coming up next week for Campbell next Monday and Tuesday. Um, and the Campbell PTO board has an opening for a secretary. So, if you're interested, you can reach out. Um, and
the board will have more info on that process. Edgar, we saw the arts here tonight. So, the arts festival again, Thursday, June 4th at 7 p.m. Um, 8th grade dance is this Friday and the athletic dinner is Wednesday, June 10th.
Um, and the PTC also has openings for a secretary and vice president on their board. Um, for more info, you can reach out directly to ptcounselmatuchen@gmail.com. And the next board of ed meeting is Tuesday, June 9th.
>> Thank you so much, Miss Zimmerman. I am sure you're quite relieved, Dr. Als. All right. Fantastic. At this time, I'd like to move to adjourn the meeting. Is there a second? Mr. Glassber. All in favor. Good night, everyone.