Oh, Eric and Elisha are outside. >> Hello. >> Hi. Good evening. I call to order the September 30th, 2025 meeting of the Matuchen Board of Education. Please stand for the flag salute.
>> I aliance 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. Alvich, notice of the meeting, please.
I hereby make this 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 burrow hall and the Matuchan public library, the home news and tribune and by filing a copy with the burough clerk as prescribed by this law. >> Thank you. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Mr. Bot >> here.
>> Miss Cheetah, >> she is advised she will not be present today. >> Thank you. Mr. Derlinger >> here. >> Mr. Glber >> here. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus. >> I am here. >> Miss Colleen >> here. >> Mr. Lifton >> here.
>> Miss Michaels Lamort >> here. >> Dr. Sper >> here. >> Mr. Sus >> here. >> Thank you. All right, at this time I turn to Dr. Kabuto to confirm whether we have a
suitcase of success or not. >> No showcase tonight. >> Wonderful. Thank you. And we are now at this time open to the public. And in particular today, we have a public hearing available for the superintendent's contract. If there are any comments, I invite you to
join us at the microphone. Not on that. All right. So seeing no comments in this section, I close the section of the meeting and now I turn back to you Dr. Caputo for some presentations. >> So two required presentations tonight.
Uh the first you'll see later on the agenda um pol C policy number one uh number two rather is the New Jersey Cack placement scores. Last week we received our official QAC scores. Uh as a reminder, every three years all New
Jersey districts are uh evaluated under the the QAC process. Uh and that process takes um the shape of five indicator areas. Um the district is required to do a self evaluation. The state then comes
in via the county office. Um they review some electronic the documents electronically. Then they come on site and ask us for certain things and spot check certain areas like an audit. Um and then they uh submit that to the state department of education and that was in the springtime. So we just found
out last week that the uh the placement scores are in. And the first marker is that each district has to get uh in all five areas an 80 at least. Um if not the district has to enact an action plan. Certainly we well above 80 in all the
areas. And the final placement scores in instruction and program come to 90, in fiscal management to 92, governance 95, operations 100, and personnel 100. So, we're very pleased with the scores. We got great feedback from the the county
executive superintendent and the BA and the ed services professional and the special services uh director for the county. Um, and uh it's a lot of hard work. Uh it's a lot of hard work in interim three years but then those few months um it's a it's a stressful audit
time for us. Um some data comes from the state that we have no control of. Other data is reported through our submissions to the state and they tell us what the results are and other things that we have to have on hand or electronic copies and assure that we're doing things right and I can I can tell the board again that we're we are doing
things right. >> Wonderful. Great to hear that as always. Thank you. The board will vote on that as I said in policy C2 and I'm happy to answer any questions. >> All right. Any questions from colleagues? >> All right.
Thank you. >> There's a second presentation, Madam President, tonight. Um, districts are required to uh report out specific graduation data every year. So, um, at the we we received this data. We have to report it out um today. um listed uh
here is on graduation data and um we have to report out five different items. Number one is total number of graduated total number of students graduated in the prior year. That's 173. >> The next item is the number of unique
students who met the graduation requirement through a substitute competency test in ELA, in math or both. That's 26 students. the number of unique students who met the graduation requirement through the portfolios appeal in either ELA or math
or both and that's 11. The num number of students who met the gra graduation requirement based on alternate requirements in the IEP which basically the IEP says they don't have to meet those. We don't have any students that way. They all meet one of the other requirements. And number of students last year that were denied
graduation through one of these and that's zero. >> Wonderful. So we'll make sure that the minutes reflect both the well they have the placement scores for the QAC but we'll make sure that the minutes reflect this graduation data so as a record for going forward. Miss Aler Green. >> Wonderful. Thank you Dr. Kabuto.
Fantastic. No questions from the board. All right. Fantastic. I at this time don't have a report. I imagine that perhaps you have just given your list. >> All right. Fantastic. All right. We turn at this time to committee reports and I
believe that Mr. Glber is first up with construction. >> Sure. Uh construction met on September 15th. We discussed um we discussed the soils at the high
school and the removal of them and the responsibility for that. Uh we discussed our contingency status. uh whereas most of the contingency has been used up at this point. Um we discussed change orders. The change
order list is being quantified and then we will uh discuss our options after we evaluate the rest of the change orders. Uh and then we had an update on the different schools at the uh high school. The outdoor patio
is complete but is not necessarily being used at the moment. Um the new gymnasium classrooms and board offices are still targeted for uh middle later part of December. And then the cafeteria, the additional
cafeteria would come back into in online in uh later in January after the temporary board offices move over and the field lights were targeted to be energized in mid December.
uh at Edgar. Uh the air conditioning should be breaking news should be uh on as of tonight actually, but we will uh see we'll get an update on that tomorrow uh once school's in session. So I I was
over at Edgar for back to school night as were uh many of you listening at home perhaps. Um what you were feeling was not the air conditioning. It was not the new air conditioning. There are some rooms that have uh some air conditioning in them, but in case you were feeling
like it was uh still warm there, that's because it was not the new air conditioning that was uh fully up and running. The new office suite is open, but they're still completing some items in that area. Uh the new classrooms are
completed. That's some of the converted old spaces. Uh the new people were entering in off of the side door, but the new main entrance should be open. Actually, Mr. Harveier or Dr. Caputo,
I'm not sure if you know have the latest on that. I had first week of October for being able to use that main entrance. Do we is that still targeted since we're entering? >> I think they pushed it back. >> Okay. All right. So, sometime in October, that new main entrance should
be used, but we'll get an update for our next meeting. Uh, the bus loop, rain garden, basketball hoops should also be completed shortly. Over at Campbell, the air conditioning is up and running. The basketball court and playground are
open. Uh, the cafeteria is open and being used. It looks beautiful. At Moss, the air conditioning is up and running. The repurposed board offices have been converted into classrooms. They are
open. There's still some items to be completed, but they're in use. The bus loop is open. Um, the new addition is targeted for late January. That's the part that's going to allow us to have first and second grade in there as well. So, it'll be done in plenty of time for the
transition, realignment of grades for next September. Uh and then there's some remaining site work to be done there as well. Uh we also just discussed opportunities for when the project is completed to have different types of um celebrations, you
know, and opportunities for the public to be able to come into these spaces. Uh obviously it's something that the public supported and should be able to to come through take tours of u or have some other celebratory type things associated
with the opening of these buildings. Our next meeting is on October 6th. That's open to the public at 700 p.m. right here in the Matuchen High School Media Center Library. And we'll be discussing an update on all of the projects. And then we'll also uh
have some time to discuss an update on the budget. And that's the end of my report. >> Thank you so much, Mr. Glasber. And I will continue to echo the thank you for the patience, the space, and the grace as we continue to round out this
construction project. It has been a major undertaking and truly truly transformative. I mean, if you've been into some of the spaces that have been redone, it is truly fabulous. um if you have young people at Campbell, oh my goodness, they are over the moon about
this cafeteria. So, it's quite delightful to see it all come into place at this time. So, thank you as always, Mr. Glasper, for your thorough update and hopefully many of you will be able to come may maybe you've had your questions answered already, but we do have that October 6 at 7 that's
available for you to come and get any of your remaining questions addressed. So, thank you all for that. Mr. Derlinger, you have a curriculum update for us. Thank you very much. Um although we did not meet physically on the week of the 16th, we did um discuss
some agenda items through electronic correspondence. Uh we received a standardized testing update, got a preview of the district scores by subject and grade. There will be a uh board of ed presentation of those results on the 28th of October. Um,
NJSLA individual student reports were shared with parents this week via Genesis. And just a note of that new adaptive standard standardized assessment that's coming this fall. Um, there's going to be a required fall
field test which is being provided to to staff and it's going to be sent to parents by the end of the month with more information about that. Um, and finally, we discussed the traumatic event team of the district. There was an update provided. The plan has been
updated over the past year to reflect evolving procedures as well as additional best practices learned through our participation in the lifelines trilogy training series. Um series of training sessions have been planned so that members responsible for the implementation of this plan are
familiar with their roles and responsibilities. And our next meeting will be on October 27th. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Derfleger. Miss Khen for extracurricular >> extracurricular met >> extracurricular met on the 15th and um
talked about a couple of things. One um recommendation for a peer leadership adviser which we will see uh here. Um another discussion about an overnight possibility of an overnight band trip. Uh Matuchen High School marching band is seeking permission to attend an overnight band trip to Delaware for a
competition. Um so we discussed that in detail. Uh we talked about the week of lights. Dr. Dr. Caputo shared uh the schedule for the 2025 week of lights which is setting up to be very very exciting. Uh beginning October 7th, we've got girls soccer, October 9th,
field hockey, October 10th, field hockey. October 11th, boys soccer. Did I miss anybody there? >> I think you got them. >> I got them. >> Four events Tuesday through Saturday. >> Yep. Yep. Uh so, uh come out to all of the games, make all the noise, have all the fun. uh coaching salaries. We had
the committee had asked for an update on coaching salary considerations discussed at the August meeting. Uh there were no recommendations from Dr. Puto to change um any anything that is uh currently in place outside of negotiations. Um we talked about hometown online
fundraising. Uh Dr. Caputo gave the committee an update in the online fundraising platform. It's currently being used by boys soccer and girls soccer for preseason gear, t-shirts, goals, that kind of stuff. Um, and it was running well when we had our meeting, so that was good news. Uh,
field, we talked about a construction update on the fieldhouse, um, which you really just heard from Mr. Glassber. And, um, we talked about a new Edgar volunteer club, um, for American Sign
Language Club. That's very exciting. Um there's a change on the agenda for uh the Campbell Orchestra that you'll see for tonight. We discussed that as uh one of the that the original teacher was going to be out on leave. Um
there was an update on sports injuries and then talked about um approval of volunteers for the Edgar and High School robotics teams uh which you also see on the agenda tonight. And our next meeting is going to be October 20th at 9:00 p.m.
>> Thank you so much, Mrs. Scalen. Appreciate it. Uh Dr. Spner, do you have a policy update for us? >> Yes. Oh, we didn't meet physically either, but we did have exchanges um on email uh to review some mandated changes to a few policies in the regulation. I
believe that's on the agenda for first reading tonight. So, we uh we're all in agreement because it's mandatory. Thank you so much, Dr. Sper, and especially for calling our attention to that change. >> Uh, Mr. Sus, do you have some finance good stuff to tell us?
>> We do, except my uh electronic device is not coop. There it is, finally cooperating. There we go. >> Uh, finance also met on the 15th. We got an update on the EIP project. This is the uh project for um where we're going
to have um an outside group do an energy survey of the the school district with the potential of moving towards solar p uh solar panels. We had a update on the capital reserve and the various cash movements and we talked about uh
insurance increases across the state and our district. That's it. >> Thank you so much, Mr. Sus. I appreciate that. Alrighty, turning Oh, just kidding. >> Could I just make an addition to um I didn't answer uh Miss Clean's question
fully. Uh the schedule for week of lights, Tuesday, October 7th is girls soccer. Thursday, October 9th, field hockey. Friday, October 10th, football, and then Saturday, October 11th, boys soccer. So those of you looking to come out to uh October 7th, 9th, 10th, and
11th night games and as part of our week of lights at the high school. >> Wonderful. Thank you. >> That's good. So people can get it in their calendars now. >> Yes. >> Thank you so much. All right. Wonderful. I'm turning down the way to Miss Michaels Lamort.
>> Thank you. Uh so at Campbell from the 6th to the 8th there's going to be a uh PTO sponsored book fair. >> And then this is just a reminder uh that on the 31st the Halloween parade and the uh Halloween party is going to be
happening too. Wonderful. >> So for the high school as previously stated um the 7th, the 9th, the 10th and 11th will be the week of lights. And just a reminder that for sophomores, juniors, and seniors, Psats this year will be taking place on the 11th, which
isn't this weekend, but next weekend. And then all the schools will be closed on the 2nd, which is this Thursday. And then all schools will be closed on the 13th for students. That's very important information. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. All right.
At this time, we turn to old business. Is there any old business from the board? Is there any new business from the board? All right. So, at this time, I'd like to move to approve the September 9th, 2025
minutes of the Matuchen Board of Education special business meeting one, special business meeting two, as well as the board meeting. Is there a second, Mr. Derlinger? At this time, I'd like to ask for a roll call, please.
>> Comments or questions? >> Wait, do I thought so, but then you looked at me like you were ready. >> Any questions or comments on the business meeting minutes? Usually there's none. That's why I forgot. All right. No questions or comments. Fantastic. Now, can we please have a
roll call? Mrs. Elliott, >> Mr. Thought? >> Yes. >> Mr. Derlinger? >> Yes. >> Mr. Glassber? >> Yes. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus? >> Yes. Miss Pen, >> yes. >> Mr. Lifton, >> yes. >> Dr. Spigner,
>> yes. >> Mr. Sus, >> yes. >> Motion carries. Thank you so much. At this time, the meeting is open to the public on any topic. >> We got to come to our um Good evening and just state your name and address for the record please. Thank
you. >> Good evening board. My name is Tommy Tukur and I'm a 12-year resident in Matachin. Uh I have two boys uh who gone through the system at Matachin. You know my elder one went to Campbell and then passed out of Edgar. Now he's going to bridge academy. So uh question I have is
I've been working with uh Mr. Javier uh you know uh after he got admission at at Woodbridge Academy I reached out to the uh to the transport uh department in March about the transportation said it's a commission's decision you know middle
sex county commissioneration so you know reached back to us at some point I reached back at in June they said uh yeah it's a commissioneration you have to wait for the bus to be ready right so uh when the bus stop came out it's it's We we live in Beacon Hill and the and
the bus comes in at Edgar in Brunswick and and Main Street Junction, right? So uh then I reached out to the to the uh to the commissioner actually uh Miss Lorraine and I talked to her and she said no it's your town's station. They should have communicated that you needed
an additional stop which never happened right and I did reach out to to them in the summer right so there's back and forth working with Mr. Ravier on this topic but ultimately I think uh you know they went back to the commissioner they spoke to the commissioner they they uh
they couldn't increase the number of stops and and they came back and said that they cannot uh you know give us a new stop and my request is the bus goes through Amboy uh to to to Woodbridge Academy right and all I'm requesting is if you look at the map there you know um
one mile from where he's taking the current current bus one mile from there Eggert and Amboy is is is one mile away from Brunswick. If if they can make a stop there, I'm not asking for them to drop him close closer to my place. He can walk another mile, but 2 miles is
long, right? And the bus doesn't need to take any deviation. It goes through Amboy. If they can just make a stop there, I think that'll be really helpful. You know, the bus is already there. It's taking that route. It's just a stop for a few seconds and that'll help him, you know. So, I just wanted to
present to the board. I had a discussion with Mr. Ravier and he said uh all you can do is come come and present to the board and see what what we can do about it. >> All right. Well, thank you so much for coming and thank you for raising this concern and with your beautiful color map articulating your point. I
appreciate that the clarity is is noted and appreciated and I'd want to turn over to Mr. Harvey to see if he has anything to add to this conversation. >> Yes. So ideally we would like to have as many stops as we could for the students but it all comes down to money and if if
we added a stop it would cost more money. So so des I think the commission or the bus company told you something differently but I have an email that says if we added another stop it would cost more money and then that would just
open up uh other people to say they want a closer stop to their to their house. So that's that's the situation. >> Yeah, this seems like a genuine request, right? You know, if it is if it is a two blocks away, we're not requesting for a
stop two blocks away, right? He's ready to walk a mile, but but but there are only four kids who go to Woodbridge Academy, right? And uh and the bus takes only those four kids, drops them at Woodbridge and brings them back. So on the way, if they can make a stop there, it'll be much easier for him. It'll
it'll help him. So if it is two blocks, three blocks, I wouldn't I I've never walked into uh with unreasonable requests. I think it's a very reasonable request. We've talked about the money as well. You know, of course, for my other kids, we we pay annually some amount to for them to take the bus, right? So, so
if anything that the town can do, consider just adding a bus stop. I think that will help. >> Thank you for asking. So things have calmed down a little at the at the commission. >> So we can ask him again, but I think we're going to get the same answer, but
we'll try. >> Thank you, Mr. Harvey, for being willing to reach out to the commission again because that's I think because there are all these different entities involved, I think it's important that we take another look and >> I'm sure that he'll be in touch with you
with what we hear. >> Okay. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. All right. Just making sure. Sure. You don't want to come say anything? You're good. All right. Thank you. All right. At this time, I'd like to turn to the recommendation of
the superintendent of schools. At this time, sorry, gonna increase my font size. I'm sorry. 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 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. Turning to personnel, I'd like to move personnel items A1 through A28. Is there a second? Mr. Glber, are there any questions or comments
about the personnel items? Roll call, please. Mrs. Valovich. >> Mr. Bot. >> Yes. >> Mr. Derfinger. >> Yes. >> Mr. Glassber. >> Yes. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus. >> Yes. >> Miss Colleen. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lifton. >> Yes.
>> Dr. Spigner. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sus. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you so much. >> If I may. Absolutely. >> Item 23. Um the um approval of a new 5-year contract for me. I'm very
grateful to the board. Um, I did a lot of reflecting being here since 2011. Um, it's a wonderful community to work in, work with this board, this community. We have a great staff and team I work with every day and our students are fantastic. Uh, I think
we've accomplished a lot. We talked about some of those today. Um, but we have lots more to accomplish and um, I'm very excited to be here for uh, the foreseeable future. So, I want to say thank you to everybody. >> Thank you. We're grateful to have you in this time of tremendous transformation,
growth, and continued progress forward. All right, turning to you, Mr. Sus, for our finance items. >> Yes, I'd like to move items B1 through B6 as listed on the agenda. >> Thank you so much. Is there a second?
>> Dr. Spner, any questions or comments about the finance items as listed on the agenda? Seeing none, roll call, please. >> Mr. Bot, >> yes. >> Mr. Derlinger, >> yes. >> Mr. Glber, >> yes.
>> Dr. Johnson Marcus, >> yes. >> Miss Colleen, >> yes. >> Mr. Lifton, >> yes. >> Dr. Sper, >> yes. >> Mr. Sus, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you so much, Mrs. Alavage. Dr. Spinner, turning to you for policy. >> I'd like to move items C1 through two on
as listed on the agenda, please. >> Thank you so much. Is there a second, Mr. Sus? Any questions or comments on the policy items which indeed include those NGQAC scores that Dr. Kaputo mentioned earlier? Any questions, comments other than kudos?
All right, Mrs. Alivic. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bot, >> yes. >> Mr. Derflinger, >> yes. >> Mr. Glasper, >> yes. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus, >> yes. >> Miss Colleen, >> yes. >> Mr. Lifton, >> yes. >> Dr. Sper, >> yes. >> Mr. Sus, >> yes.
>> Motion carries. Thank you so much, Mrs. Ivich, Mr. Derlinger. K. >> Yeah, that one. >> You know what you're doing. >> Thank you so much. Um, I'd like to make a motion to move item D1 with all of the field trip attachments as listed on the agenda, please.
>> Wonderful. Can we have a second, please? Mr. Lifton, any questions or comments on the field trips? >> I have just one very quick comment. >> Absolutely. Um over time I'd say field trips have drawn after the calendar of course the second most comments during
board meetings over time and I have to say after looking at this list of field trips it it look it is the most impressive list of field trips the most educational and funl looking list I wanted to go on every single one and I also want to point out that it's quite appropriate that um that our students
are visit visiting the yogi um is it a museum it's a and especially since the Yankees, although I'm not a Yankee fan. Um, unfortunately my Mets are we won't discuss, but just want to point out uh how uh the fact that Yogi
Bear is in New Jersey and was born in New Jersey and is from New Jersey and his family lived in New Jersey and we have the opportunity to go. It's a pretty spectacular place. I've been there and uh the more you can learn about Yogi Barra, the wiser you get, I think. So, so thank you. I just wanted to point out how I how spectacular I
thought the list of field trips were. >> Wonderful. Thank you so much, Mr. Lifton. They all do look really cool, so thank you for that. Now, with that comment, can I get a roll call, please? Mrs. Alvich. >> Mr. Bot, >> yes. >> Mr. Derlinger,
>> yes. >> Mr. Glber, >> yes. >> Dr. Johnson Marcus, >> yes. >> Miss Colleen, >> yes. >> Mr. Lifton, >> yes. >> Dr. Spigner, >> yes. >> Mr. Sus, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you so much, Mrs. Valovich. At
this time, the meeting is open to the public on any topic. Seeing no new folks coming in, no one rushing in the door, we'll close this section of the meeting. This time we typically have announcements by Mrs. Cheetum. Has she shared those with
anyone or we've just got such a great set of information from Miss Michaels, Lamort, Dr. Caputo, and Miss Khen with respective week of lights. Anything else people feel like we need to know? Are we good? All right. So, everybody good? At
this time, I move to adjourn the meeting. Is there a second? Mr. Lifton. All in favor? Good night, everyone.