Guide for notices being provided by sending such notice to the Asbury Park Press and Middletown patch Middletown Township Public Schools District website and the posting of such notice at the August team minor administrative offices in each elementary, middle, and secondary school in the district. Roll
call, Mrs. Start. >> Mrs. Minu >> here. >> Mrs. Gasi >> here. Mr. Mr. Saraski >> here. >> Mrs. Tobacco >> here. >> Mrs. Torres >> here. >> Mrs. Weinstein here. Mrs. Wright. Mr. Capone here. >> Mr. AA
>> here. >> Need a motion to go into executive session. >> So move. >> Second. >> Discussion. All in favor? >> I oppose. Abstension. meeting back to order. Thank you everybody for your patience. All right.
Uh I'm going to rise to the pledge and please remain standing at the pledge. Your district has been recently informed of the passing of a former employee Kathleen Mosk. Kathy was a secretary of the principal at Leonardo School for over 23 years before retiring in 2009.
We send our deepest sympathy to the Bosik family. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice
for all. Thank you. >> Right into Oh, I'm sorry. >> Okay, I'm good. Going to go to committee reports. Uh Mr. not here. So are you going to get the curriculum report? >> I can take care of that, Mr.
>> Thank you. Thank you everyone for coming. Sorry for the delay. The curriculum committee met on Monday, June 15th. Always a positive and always a productive meeting. Lots of dialogue. So we'll go through some highlights for
everybody. Uh to begin, we're very excited about the official launch of Amplified Desmos, which is our new KTO to 5 math program. For a time, we had two different programs, K to 2 and then 3 to 5. We're proud of the fact that we're now going to be unified under one
amplified Desmos umbrella. We really want our students to be confident mathematicians. So, for so long, we've all heard, well, I'm not really a math person. But, you know, we we really want to reverse that. We want our students to feel comfortable and confident with math. Moreover, we're looking for some
real shared experiences in those math classes where students are collectively and collaboratively working to solve problems while also finding that time for that differentiated individualized instruction that we know they need in order to make sure that every learner is
excelling in all of our classrooms. So, we did have our first training with all of our K to5 staff members on Tuesday, June 2nd. We're also in the process of continuing to explore MClass which is um a product within amplify and we do
believe that we can use MClass um in lie of I ready on the math side for our K to5 classrooms. We think it's a fantastic product and we think that our students and our teachers will embrace it. We're still doing some work in the curriculum department on that, but rest
assured, we'll communicate to all of our families about what our philosophy and our vision will be before the start of the year, certainly over the summer. Uh, so more to come on Amplify. Um, I always say that excellence isn't always being the best at everything, but it's always
doing your best in every endeavor without any exception whatsoever. And our students, they really are the best. And I want to be very clear on that. So, um, to to point out, we had 83 students between high school North and High
School South earn membership in the prestigious 7800 SAT club. That is very, very impressive and indicative of the things that we're doing in this district. So, I'm incredibly proud of our students, our staff, and of course, our families.
Additionally, we had 76 high school students between North and South earn the seal of biiteracy. So that is our students demonstrating proficiency in two or more languages which is another outstanding feat for our students. Uh we
also wanted to give a shout out to the National Honor Society advisors at both High School North and High School South. Um in addition to the tremendous number of students that earned um the opportunity to be inducted into those honor societies. So students that are
inducted into the honor society demonstrate scholarship. They demonstrate leadership, they demonstrate character, and they demonstrate service. And we had some fantastic ceremonies at both high schools celebrating their excellence. In addition, we had our
senior awards night recently at both of our high schools, which really was an opportunity to spotlight how wonderful our entire community is. So, so many of our local organizations came in and presented uh scholarships and awards to our graduating seniors. Um, again,
indicative of the excellence that we have here in this district. Um, really a proud evening and I do want to give a shout out to our guidance departments at both High School North and High School South for organizing those efforts. There's a lot of moving parts. Um, and they really were extraordinarily
successful. Uh, report cards, they will be coming out on Friday, June 26th. Now, we're well aware of the fact we're working on communication, right? That is something that our district is is really emphasizing and honed in on. So students in grades 4 through 12 have a live grade
book. So we recognize the fact that our parents can always access the grades, but we still really do want you to celebrate those report cards when they're released on June 26th. It's a great opportunity to honor the achievements of our students, but also
take some time to demonstrate and talk about where we can continue to improve. Uh so again, those are coming out on June 26th. We will send our typical uh text message to all of our parents on the morning of just as that last second reminder that they're available in the
portal. Um at Ocean Avenue School, we had catch the reading wave. So I wanted to give uh a shout out to OAS because this was a wonderful summer reading kickoff event in the APR at Ocean Avenue School. There was singing, there was dancing, there was trivia. This menu is
going to attest to to this event. But what was most important about it was we distributed some summer reading books and we really emphasized the importance of of reading over the summer months, right? We want to make sure that we're avoiding the summer slide, but more so we want to encourage our students to be,
you know, lively readers and and and grow a passion for reading. And we know that reading is truly the foundation of educational success. So, the more we can emphasize reading over those summer months in addition to all that fun time and and and you know, time with family and friends, the more we can read, uh,
the better off we're going to be. Uh, we also wanted to talk a little bit about the outdoor learning experiences that we're seeing throughout the district. So, when the spring weather comes around, uh, I think it's important that our students are outside. Um, and a lot of them are. And our elementary schools have gardens and they have outdoor
learning spaces. So, you can do all sorts of things out there from science when you're looking at uh growing vegetables and fruits to sorting if you want to do some math with those vegetables and fruits to writing when you want to come in and write about the experiences that you had outside in the
gardens or just like I said reading under a tree. We we want to really emphasize the importance of learning from your surroundings and and certainly being healthy in the outdoors and there was just simply a lot of that throughout the spring uh across our campuses. Um I did want to talk quickly about the
Perkins grant. So, we're we're funding some really exciting CTE endeavors at High School North and High School South, including some upgrades with our computer systems, some uh online internship opportunities. Um, and really just focusing on how we can support our
CTE students, that's career and technical education, to be ready for the real world after graduation. Uh, I also wanted to point out that we currently have 26 dual enrollment courses offered at both High School North and High School South, which really is an
impressive list. We work we work with a series of uh local universities, and we're always looking to add to that. So hopefully by the end of the summer we'll have a few more courses including TV and film three as well as painting as dual enrollment opportunities so our students
can earn credits while taking those courses right here on our campuses. We're also piloting uh AP business. So this is a brand new course again sort of aligned with what we're doing with our CTE classes. Right now we have 28 AP courses that we offer in the district.
This would be number 29 and we'll keep the community updated on how things are going in that brand new AP business course next year. Um, I also wanted to make note of some upcoming events. So, we're working on college and career readiness. Um, and we have two events
scheduled for next year. Uh, Thursday, October 15th and Thursday, April 22nd. Long way off, but it is on our centralized calendar, which I wanted to mention to everyone as well. Uh, but Rob Franic, who is the editor-in chief of Princeton Review, will be visiting High
School North. This is for all of our students in our district, but we'll be visiting High School North on Thursday, October 15th to talk about your specific roadmap to college and then coming to High School South in the spring um to talk about how college admissions counselors admit students and what the
inside of that process actually looks like. Um, the central calendar I did want to reference. So, if you visit our website, you can see all the orientation dates are set for August. Um, as well as upcoming events with Rob Franic. And by the end of this week, we will be sharing
out the back to school night schedule, which is just in the finalization process. We'll get that out in our weekly newsletter as well as uh on the calendar before the end of this week. And my last update is uh just an update to the parent university that we've been
running for some time. We're just rebranding it and we're renaming it. We want to get as many parents into the media centers at High School North and High School South uh for a series of events where we talk about curriculum programs and student service programs
just so that we're educating our parents on all the things that we're doing in the district. It's going to start in September with a session uh that I will run on communication, where to find information in the district, what social media platforms to follow, just so that you're always in the know. We're calling that the Apparent Academy for
Educational Excellence. The acronym is PACE and those dates will be out to you by Friday as well. That's it for the great department. >> Thank you, Mr. Coleman. >> Facilities, Miss Minuise. >> All right.
>> We had our meeting on June 8th. Uh the first thing we talked about agenda items. Um the Verizon easement. Did we ever get that contract? >> It's not on the agenda for this month. They're still working on that. We we were working with the township on where
to um put a Verizon um pole installation. Um it was a problem putting it on township property and they asked us to put it on school property and I think the committee came to um a consensus where
it really is maybe a couple feet away from where it was supposed to originally be. Um, we're waiting to see how that works out. >> I I the update I have on that is the township is arranging a meeting between uh us and Verizon to go out to the site
and make sure that we finalize a good location. So hopefully that'll happen next week. >> Yeah, cuz I noticed when we went to graduation the other day too, the pictures that we saw were not accurate again. Like where they said the sidewalk ended, it didn't end. It went completely
around. So, you know, all the pictures are not in the same thing, but it wouldn't change the conversation that we had because it would still be, you know, looking to put it in the same place. So, um, we talked about that. The new Mammoth playground equipment, this, um,
school community has selected the new playground equipment. The total cost with installation was $93,200 which is within the $100,000 included in the 2627 budget. We did see pictures of it. It's absolutely gorgeous and hope
this is something that we can look to do each year for schools that are in need. And I know that when we met um shared service the last time, there was a little bit of money left, a little bit of money that's going to be going to Ocean Avenue playground to um fix the the rubber on the bottom of the
playground. So that we still have to identify. Um the P the PTA did a great job doing this. The kids got to pick. Um I give them credit. They raised a lot of money the year before to start this program and now it's finally going to be complete for the amount of kids that
they have in that um school. The vehicle lift. The committee discussed the proposed purchase of a vehicle lift for the maintenance compound. The lift will allow the facility staff to perform more maintenance work on its vehicles inhouse. We spend a lot of money going
out of house. If we have this equipment, they could do the work themselves and it would save us a lot of money. the lift purchase included in the 2526 budget. The total cost was $58,784. Current facility issues. Um MTEA Health
and Safety Committee meeting recap. Mr. Naser and Mrs. starty met with the mtea health and safety committee, the NJAWC environmental specialist, and the NJA field representative on May 28th to
discuss ongoing HVAC and roofing concerns. um the particles discharged from the elementary aridel units while the NJC environmental specialists agreed that that material that is blowing out of the
certain aridel units is not in itself harmful. The presence of any particle in the air is not beneficial. The group discussed the deployment of I don't even know how to say that our air quality devices in rooms with concern to
measure air quality in real time and allow continuing continual monitoring. The group also discussed ongoing roof leak issues at Leonardo High School North and Linkraftoft. The district is arranging for repairs over the summer for the problem areas. These were all
the um concerns that have been reported up to recently and they're all being addressed. >> And River Plaza >> and River Plaza also um Leonardo had moisture in intrusion growth. The orgasm growth in room 17 at
Leonardo appeared again in May. The growth was removed and was not identified as mold. Upon investigation with a drone, cracks were observed along the sophet detail above the second floor windows. Repairs will take place over the summer to eliminate the source of
water intrusion. This has been an ongoing thing for a couple years and and Adam has just got to the bottom of it and it's going to be addressed. The Lingraftoft annex AQ testing initial testing results were normal. The
district is awaiting the full report. Harmony water mane leak. The district will investigate a possible water mane leak at Harmony Elementary School this summer. Water usage for this building indicates that a leak may be present. This may also be contributing to the
issues with the curbing and the curbing is on the list of repairs for the summer work. Information on the facilities committee work orders. The committee reviewed a snapshot of the operations hero worker work order maintenance and dashboard
which includes information about the nature of outstanding work orders and age of outstanding work orders. This will be reviewed monthly by the facilities committee going forward. Indoor environmental quality testing. The committee reviewed the list of IEQ
testing for this year. This will also be reviewed each month to keep the committee current. We talked about the 2627 capital items, the Harmony Curb project, which I just talked about. It's still being scoped out.
High school south door replacements. The district architect has been engaged in to create a bid specification for the project. The anticipated timeline is the bids will be taken on July 15th with contract awarded in July 22nd board
meeting. Facilities use we talked about for 2425 2526. The committee reviewed the revenue generated by the facilities used for the current and prior year. The rates have been increased in quite the rates haven't been increased in quite some
time. The committee will be looking at options to potentially increasing the rates to increase the revenue for the district which will help us to keep up with these buildings as we lease them out. potential Lcraftoft Elementary fence donation. The PTO is considering
donating a fence for the grounds at Lcraftoft. The location would be in the front of the building. The fence would run across the front of the property line and along the driveway. It's it's truly is a safety thing. It would be a positive thing for them to do this
because if you go by Linkroft, it's on it's on the main road. Other schools have fences in the front to protect. So this fence would actually not only protect the students but it would give them more use of the school property and that's what we discussed in facilities.
All right. Finance uh the committee met on June 16th. We discussed the agenda items liability insurance renewal for 2627. uh being the three-year commitment, the diploma chief expired June 30th. Uh we
did a full marketing for the January 1st, July 1st renewal. The diploma just premium proposal for workers comp and liability um for 2627 and represents a 5.23% increase over 2526,
which was slightly less than we budgeted. The total coverage premium is 3,260,000. Uh we'll be looking to approve resolutions for the NJDOE focus grant. It's 20,000. That grant supports literacy programming. A uh NJ DOE
Perkins grant for 27,940 that supports career and technical education. Uh we also have on parent groups insurance coverage. It's the annual renewal for authorization for parent groups to be included. Um, also
in approval for a com Mammoth County shared services agreement. This is an approval for the district to execute a shared services agreement with the county of mom for ser facilities uh related services as needed. Um, there's also a couple of technology
items that we'll be approving tonight. Dell workstations and monitors approval of 105 new workstations and 80 monitors. The total cost is $58,020 and that was included in the 2627
budget. Uh Lion Wise School Manager, Classwise Classroom, and Lion Wise Monitor. Um the approval of purchase of renewable these internet filter and monitoring software platforms. The total cost is
97,00080. Again, that was included in the 2627 budget and TTI wireless licensing and support uh will not be on the agenda this month. We'll be pushing until next month. Um one update like to we'll be
approving tonight. We final we met with the shared services committee for the approval of the SLO agreement with the township and as everybody knows our um contract was expiring. So under further
discussion, the um the township uh offered us an annual cost to the district of 950,000, which represents an annual savings of roughly 350,000. It's a 2-year contract, so that's going
to save us approximately $700,000 over the 2-year period. So we we thank the um the township for their support with that. uh deposits to capital and maintenance reserves. We uh have a resolution to
transfer up to 3.5 million to the capital reserve for the year ending June 30th, 2026. This is the maximum um transfer that that uh we're allowed to that this represents. Um so just one note on that
this uh transfer includes the extraordinary aid which we don't know until late June or early July and we budgeted 1.8 million this year in extraordinary aid for 25 26 years. So we'll have that finalized hopefully in
the upcoming weeks. We have some profess professional appointments on the agenda tonight. special education attorney. Uh that was done through an RFP process. We would be uh appointing looking for an approval of meth vessel and Worville. That's the district special education
attorney. Uh an auditor uh we did an RFP process for this as well and district is recommending Hullman and Fredier and Allison Allison as the district's auditor. We only received one proposal uh as a result of
the RFP. The proposed fee for 2627 is 66,500 and this includes a review of the district's ASSA and represents a 1.5% increase over the current year's fees.
The special counsel would be appointing looking to appoint the Bush Law Group and district physician uh CV Orthopedics Dr. Nelson. This will be a reappoint cost and fee for that for 2026 will be
the same as 2025 26 is 30,000. Um, we also have a joint a jointer transportation with Union Beach for a route to the shore center.
uh stale checks, write off stale checks, prepare for year end closeout, the M o agreement, and we'll also be looking for approval of chapter 47 report to award contracts
on which is the annual list and our tax levy payment schedule uh is also on the agenda this evening. The committee also discussed an enrollment projection update um and for
the upcoming 5 years and revisiting uh the idea of a consulting firm. Uh this discussion will continue through the long range facilities planning committee committee will be hopefully meeting in July. Uh the sponsorship promoter services
which did not get approved last month. We discussed allowing short district advertising the district sponsorship promoter to continue to work on generating advertising revenue for the next few months since their contract was originally scheduled and structured with
a three-year term. And the committee will review their progress in the fall and then make a determination um on the way to move forward. We uh also have a resolution to approve NJSBA healthcare resolution on the
agenda and that is it for >> um I have a couple of questions. When we look at the capital can you go back to the capital reserve? >> Sure. >> Um where is that >> resolution to transfer 3.5 million to
the capital reserves. >> Right. We have 3.5 million. Can you clarify what that is? >> Amy, you want to clarify what that one do? >> So, this reserve the reserve deposits are allowed in in June uh at the end of
the fiscal year uh for any remaining unexpended uh expenses or uh revenues that have come in more than anticipated or a combination of both. So when we end the fiscal year, we will know how much we
have, you know, as far as savings from our budget basically, uh, to allow us to deposit into reserve. As Mr. Avita explained, the 3.5 million number is a maximum number. Um, doesn't mean that we're obligated to make any deposit and
it doesn't mean that that's the actual amount that the deposit will end up being. um it will likely be less, but we end up we we put a number on there so that not to exceed. Uh and again, the board isn't obligated to do that at all, but it you know, we are recommending
that when there if there's revenues and expenses left at the end of the year that they be put into the capital reserve. If you don't put the resolution on, you're not allowed to do it. So that's why we have the board in June. That's the way it is administrative code. So we will know, you know, once we
complete the year and we finish our close out process, how much we're actually able to do. >> Okay. So when we were talking about the extraordinary aid of 1.8 million, what is >> So we budget revenue in our budget every year, we anticipate that we're going to be receiving extraordinary aid as a
revenue for 2526. We won't know what the actual amount that we're going to receive until the end of this month, but it could be also July. like we don't get that till the end of the year. So depending upon whether that revenue comes in more less
the same than what we budgeted that's going to impact how much we have available at the end of the year. The funding hasn't been consistent. You know it there's some years where the percentages have been higher. It's it recent years it's been dropping down again. Uh they're funding less of it. So
if we we put in for reimbursement of expenses over certain thresholds for special ed yeah yeah it's related to special ed but we put in say we put in for $100 to get reimbursed some years we'll get $80 back some years we'll get $50 back you know
we we don't know until they finalize a state budget for that >> and that's state not federal >> state >> okay but you're thinking 1.8 8 billion. >> Well, that's what we budgeted when we did the 2526 budget. That's what we anticipated. So, if we receive that
amount, we will have res residual revenue at the end of the year. Uh if we don't receive receive less, it'll be less. If we are lucky enough to receive more, then that will help us even more. >> And we'll know that in the next couple weeks. >> Okay. >> Right. And so I think my last followup
with that is we're looking at I know that in the facilities committee we were talking about different issues with buildings and whatnot. So could some of that go into the maintenance reserve as well as the capital reserve. How does that get decided? We we are recommending
capital reserve because in our 2627 budget we did budget for a significant deposit into our maintenance reserve already. So that that's been taken care of and so this money would now work toward bringing up our capital reserve.
>> Okay. My only concern is hearing all of the thing all of the maintenance issues and not having that if this goes into capital reserve which I do think we need not we know that we need that's part of the reason the budget wasn't passed
initially by the county last year because it didn't go into the capital reserves but if we are in a dire straight of maintaining our buildings I want to know just how that balance happens of the So, like I like I was explaining in the
2627 budget, we budgeted a deposit of $2.3 million into maintenance reserve. So again, we've already put we've already allocated monies to go into that >> and that would start July 1. >> Yes. >> Okay.
>> Thank you. >> You want before we move on? Well, I I have a question about the sponsorship promoter. I know that we talked about that in committee and Mr. Capone brought up um allowing them another 3 months and you said you were going to speak to them. Did you speak to them?
>> I did. I said that the board was willing to see what what kind of activity and revenue they could generate over the next few months and that we were going to re reevaluate. >> Did they seem that they were going to go after some sponsorships or >> Yes. And you know, as we talked about in
committee, he said that they had actually hired an additional person for this area to focus on, you know, Mammoth County uh districts. I think they've signed on a couple of other districts since they signed us on, so they've got more activity in the area to support. And he was hopeful that, you know, we
would be seeing some more things come through over the summer. I >> I think really quickly, we also asked for a rate card. Could I is that possible to just see what they're putting in the public as far as like the cost for the sponsorships and how they're presenting the different placements? >> I Yeah, I can ask. I mean, they, you
know, for some the sheet or what they use, >> whatever they're putting out as collateral collateral into the public would be great to see. Thanks. >> Yeah. I also asked for that because it would be good for us to know what they're advertising and what the prices are that we're going to get. >> Yeah. I mean, I don't I I'll ask, you
know, in what form they can do it, and I know sometimes it differs between because sometimes they'll uh they'll get a one-year deal. Sometimes they'll have somebody commit for multiple years. So, depending upon what that is, it could be a little bit different, but I'll I'll get some something on that. >> There should be like a general starting
rate card and then >> Yes, I will ask I will ask what they're using and get that. >> So, I'm sorry. I do have one more thing that I wanted to look at. The enrollment projection update and related services for the RFP. Um I'm a little confused
about why that's in the finance versus facilities versus long range plan committee. So can you explain to me like why it's peacemail like why we have been doing the long range facilities plan in facilities up until now. you
proposed the new committee about that. Um we have had discussion and some disagreement about how that committee has come to be and now through the finance committee we're doing this projection update. So is that through the long-range facilities plan
committee? Is it through the facilities committee or is it through the finance committee or is that something that we could really just talk about as a full board? >> Did you want me to answer it? >> You can answer that. So we we it actually crosses multiple committees which is why you know we've and this was
again a discussion about the concept of doing it um just getting the conversation started like Mr. Dervita said this would continue into the long range facilities plan committee. Um the facilities committee would be an enrollment projection is something that
a district our size really should be doing every year just as uh something for for planning purposes but also you know it ties into our budget and what we're expecting for enrollment. So that's almost it for a district our size and where we're at, it should be basically a routine thing that we
update. Um getting into other related services and looking at uh things related to enrollment, but you know expanding into other areas that would be something that we would develop a scope of work on but again that would cross multiple committees. We just started the
conversation in finance but eventually you know it would hit all of the committees and be a board level discussion. And is it also part of strategic planning? >> It would be. >> But wasn't that something we discussed during strategic planning last year about having these projections? >> Well, it would be something as we
develop the action plans for the strategic plan. This would be something that would be part of the action plan and would support the implementation of the strategic plan. Not necessarily, it's not really an objective or a goal, but it's an action plan related to that. Yes.
I just I just have a question on on the committee because as I reported out last month in my committee that Mrs. Gallagher brought up the long range facilities plan. She asked every member of the facilities committee if they wanted to be on it. Erin and I said yes.
Mr. Vita Mr. Kapone didn't say anything. And next thing we know the committee's changed. You did what you said you were going to bring it to the board meeting and find other board members. And now all of a sudden the whole committee's changed. >> Well, we discussed it at the last
meeting and I asked the whole board. I thought it would be fair to open it up to the entire board on who wanted to serve on the committee. >> But when we did it in the committee and I reported out last month, you never said that in our finance committee. She offered the entire finance
>> facilities committee to be on it. Two of us said yes. Then she said she would go out to the rest of the board and see if two other people that would want to be on it. Next thing I know, the committee's changed. >> No, that was not what was said. I reported it out. That's not what was
said. It was Aaron and I on it and then Amy was going to find two other people because you guys didn't commit and that's what she did at the last meeting. She brought it up and then next thing you know, the committee's changed. >> Well, the the committee wasn't set in the facilities meeting. We couldn't set
the committee. I didn't set the committee until we met as a full board. But I I think what we're saying and I brought this to your attention and I'm fully >> responding. >> I didn't say you didn't. I was finishing. >> What I was saying was that
it was perceived in the facilities committee meeting that the two of us were going to be on it. And um it does not seem fair that there have been two new committees and some people are on both of those committees and I asked to be on one and got none. Um, it's
something I'm very interested in as the facilities committee member. It's something I've asked about numerous times and the only way I have gotten answers is to be asking the questions in person because these questions are not answered in our full meetings. So, I
will make it noted here if there's anybody on the committee that's willing up to give up their spot, I would very much appreciate it so that I can continue to be on it. Um, but you know, I don't have that power. I'm just asking for some collegial courtesy here. The
same thing happened to me with the wellness committee and it's on tape. It's on video. We sat in that allpurpose room when Sar brought this up. I was the first one to say wanted to be on that committee. Mrs. G, Mrs. Gallagher said yes. Mrs. Dy said yes. Next thing you
know, I'm not on the committee. >> So, the committees are being made up. I'm not sure how you're doing this with when we're talking about this stuff in public and we're committing. Yeah. >> So, so the just to clarify that the um long-range facilities plan committee
would fall under an ad hoc committee of the board which the board president does have the uh authority to appoint members to. The wellness committee is really more of an administrative uh committee where you know there's board members that can be involved but there's also
other people on it as well. administration participates. You know, eventually we'll have members of the uh community and also the greater school community. So, >> I'm just talking about the process, right? We did it in just explaining how the committees are >> and as you see with all the committees,
the the the minutes are circulated. There's questions asked the board member. Everything is discussed in the open. Nobody's hiding any information. You're not on if you're not on the committee, you'll get the information or you can ask questions. >> Respectfully, Mr. Vita, respectfully.
It's not always true. Um, there are people that do not show up to meetings and do not let people know and we are short members and it's been happening a lot in the past two months. Things happen. I am the first to say when I
have missed a meeting, but I have let you know as soon as I can. That's not the same for all the members. >> I listen, not everybody know notifies me when they're missing a meeting. not here tonight that haven't notified me. So amount of policemen. >> You continue to say that, but it is your
job to rule over the board and make it fair as a leader. >> I think we're all adults and everybody cannot. >> We are all adults, but not everybody is respectful that way. >> Yeah. >> Any other questions on finance? >> Before we move along,
>> student services, Mr. for the student services meeting. Uh we had a shorter agenda, but there were a lot of really good things that we talked about. First was the Harmony preschool program with inclusive excellence. Uh there was an award that was given to
only three districts in the state for inclusion excellence. Uh so uh Middletown was one of those that was invited to the Department of Ed celebration. We do not have the pres preschool expansion grant, but we are still doing the preschool inclusion project and are adding another inclusion
class this year at Ocean Avenue. They are also discussing uh looking at the kindergarten students moving up, I'm sorry, the preschool students moving up into kindergarten and doing all that they can to get them into an inclusive environment instead of self-contained.
So, it's taking what um the preschool program is doing and expanding it into the lower elementarymentaries, which will then in turn hopefully continue with the inclusion initiative. Uh we talked about the beayhore autism program
graduation as well as high school south autism and transition program graduation. Um the there was a ton of excitement and photos and enthusiasm with each celebration and the meaningful events that honored our students achievements and celebrated their growth
and reinforce their readiness to embrace their successful future. We also discussed the workforce academy of Middletown which is the um name of the Loftraftoft annex program. Uh the students and families will have a walkthrough event in July at 1:30
uh July 23rd at 1:30 p.m. And it is really to ensure that all students have the chance to get acclimated with the building um as they have done some visits this year, but they're going to continue to before the final program
starts in September. And I know that Mr. Vita talked about the attorney RFP and we talked about it in special services and had Miss Granger come explain the process to the full board during exec session for how they're going to choose
the um special attorney for next year. That concludes the report. >> Thank you, Mr. Uh shared services. We already there was uh two items we met on June 8th and then again on June 15th. June 8th. Um the township originally
proposed they wanted to move to a I didn't mention this before a quarterly payment um for the contract rather than like a a pay as you go invoices for services. And then um once they finalized the numbers, which we we just reported out was
950,000 savings of 350,000 per year uh for a 2-year contract. Um, and the only other item we discussed was the Bay View field improvements. The township just awarded the contract for this project
and that's expected to be completed by Labor Day. I also do I think they're doing in a parking lot over there. >> They're doing the pavement the pavement. >> They're doing some additional pavement. We actually have a pre-construction meeting tomorrow. >> Excellent. Okay. All right. That was it for shared
services. Uh, next is Wellness and Nutrition Committee, Miss Weinstein. >> So, we had our first kickoff meeting on the 29th. Um, we reviewed with the administration the policies that we were supposed to be following for this
committee. Um, and then kind of discuss the initial committee structure. Right now what we're doing is going back to each and every um school and seeing what they are exactly doing for their wellness initiatives whether it be outdoor education, gardening clubs, um
physical education and just kind of compiling what every school is doing to see what we might be able to make more uniform and what we can focus on. Um, we're looking at putting together kind of our our focus and what we want to do as far as like our mission statement.
But overall, we came up with a list of things that the committee is going to look into, which are, you know, food ingredients and quality, physical education and health curriculums. Um, outdoor education was a big one where we're focusing on getting kids out in the sunshine as much as possible when
the weather permits. um screen time initiatives within the schools especially on the at the uh younger ages. Belltobell initiatives obviously that has been like a big topic within our state. Um you know after this past winter indoor recess how we can get kids moving a little bit more after there was
3 ft of snow on the playgrounds for 3 months I think or something. Um you know focusing on cleaning supplies getting chemicals out of the cleaning supplies. again, gardening initiatives within each and every school and maybe potentially using some of our unused property to focus on potentially making like a
gardening community or something that the different schools could participate in. Um, and then focusing on lighting and potentially changing that to make more um healthy improvements to our lighting for students and their focus. So, a lot of different topics to be discussed. Obviously, we're really just
getting this off the ground, but we're really excited about getting all of our staff and community involved just to make sure that, you know, we're giving all of our kids the most healthy approach to education that we possibly can every day. >> Thank you, Mson.
>> Okay, that's it for committee reports. Next up, public comment agenda items only, 30 minutes. Please state your name. Good evening, Scott Mcerson, Middletown resident. Uh, when you spoke about the
LRFP committee, who is actually on that committee? >> Um, that's Miss Minuise. Mr. Gone, Mr. Weinstein, and Miss >> Scholaski. >> Scholastic. >> And why was that committee formed?
>> It was the recommendation of the business administrator. >> Okay. And what's the goal of that committee? >> Discuss the >> it it's to again this is actually for agenda items only, but we'll answer the question. And we're not voting on this
tonight or anything related to that, but um it is to look at the uh the use of the buildings planning for you know the future. Yeah, there's there was a lot of discussion about the long range facilities plan over in the last few months. And uh as we've also been
talking about, we're at a critical juncture with our our bonds and our financing and the fact that we're going to have that fully paid off for the next few years and that the buildings are in need of a lot of improvements. uh a lot of basic things and then some other
improvements and kind of marrying all that together with the fact that we're at a point where you know we can be looking we should be looking at a new large scope project because we're going to have everything else paid off the fact that the building's needed and also
the continuing discussion about you know how we're using the buildings. >> Thank you. Uh, and I only brought it up because it was discussed uh prior to uh public comment. And then the enrollment projections, do you have enrollment projections? Are you talking about getting them for the next 5 years?
>> No, it was done what was it 5 years ago. So, >> no, it was actually done about a year and a half ago. We we did and so we really, like I said, should be updating that and cuz they do it for basically 5 years. That's about the uh longest time they were reliable. So every year if we
move that down the line, you know, of course we'll be getting further out. So we we do want to get an update on that as well. >> And then did anyone other than Holman, Fina, and Allison submit a bid for the auditing service? I think you guys said no. There's just one. >> We only have one proposal.
>> Um so I want to give praise to whoever helped obtain the focus and perus uh Perkins grants. It appears these grants will enhance learning opportunities and support student achievement. So that's that's great. With respect to the 105 Dell workstations and the uh monitors,
are where are those going to be placed? Throughout the district? >> Throughout the district. We have we rotate aging machines out on an annual basis. >> And then the shared services services agreement with Mammoth County. What is that specifically for?
>> They offer a a list of facilities related services. It doesn't mean that we are committed to use it. It just allows us to use it if we need to. that we um you know they they have things like paving uh I I don't have the list
in front of me but it's all basically it's it's geared for municipalities and for school districts but again it would just allow us to avail ourselves of those services if we wanted them. >> Okay. Have we ever done that before? >> Uh we haven't done a we haven't adopted a formal agreement with them. We have
utilized the county for some one-off things, but we all of these uh shared services agreements and cooperatives, you know, we it's better to memorialize it, a formal agreement. They have a standard template that's up on their website that they offer to all the local government units.
>> Thank you. Yeah. And then finally, just uh happy to see that the playground equipment will be purchased for mom if it's been a long time coming. I know they worked really hard on on trying to advocate for that and it's great to see that they're going to see that uh get that and it comes to fruition. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Ashley Stud Middletown. Um in relation to item 11J personnel, uh we are noticing quite a few fantastics. It's just in general. It's nothing there. That's the personnel section of the agenda. Um, we've noticed
quite a few fantastic staff um, including the Bayer supervisor are leaving to go to other area schools and I can't help but know that it's the instability that was caused by some really
drastic decisions of some board members that I I don't blame them. I would not want to be worried about my job. I can't imagine what it was like in those schools for those months when they were dealing with this. Um there's been so
much instability. What has the board planned to do to regain trust for our staff and families? I'm seeing absolutely no one answer. Okay. Thanks, Uh Emily Donghue, Middletown resident. Um I'm probably just going to read
because I'm kind of tired of talking about the same stuff, but um the resolution before the board states tonight that up to $3.5 million um of unexpended appropriations can go into capital reserves. Um as a taxpayer and a parent, I want to understand how they
become available. You explained it, Amy, and we do appreciate that. But, you know, not knowing how much money we're just going to have potentially as a surplus when we're talking about closing schools is kind of concerning, guys. Um, so we just expect more than that. Um,
also putting $3.5 million into capital reserves and not knowing what your intentions could be with that also concerning. Uh over the past year, our community has repeatedly been told that there's difficult decisions that have to be made, including school closures by many of you um based on the district's
financial challenges. Yet tonight, we're discussing the transfer of millions of dollars into reserves. I get it up to, but let's be real, we're 7 days away from the end of the month, so you definitely know how much it's going to be. >> Um we also know that in 2027 there's return bonds um that are expected to
provide the district with significant additional financial flexibility. So they absolutely raise important questions that you guys just fail to answer or maybe you don't even think about. What is the long-term plan? You're forming a long range facility plan. That's great. Why you're taking it
away from finance, I'm sorry, facilities and you're really cutting out the community, right? This is something we talked about doing in strategic planning. You're silencing the community again. So that's how it feels. What's the plan for our buildings? What's the plan for enrollment? What's the plan for staffing? How are you going to plan to
restore the confidence among families, employees, and taxpayers? There's a whole lot of extra money that you're collecting from taxpayers. You all say you care about the taxpayer, but there's a whole lot of money that you're putting into reserves. Why? We continue to debate facilities and finances, and uncertainty continues to
take a toll on our district. As Ashley just said, our teachers in staff are making decisions about their futures. Talented educators are leaving for neighboring districts that can offer stability, direction, and confidence in what lies ahead. Every teacher who leaves takes with them the valuable experience, relationships, and institutional knowledge that directly
benefits our students. Our kids are paying the price for your poor decisions. Remember that because our kids are supposed to come first. And ultimately, it's only them that are paying the highest price besides the taxpayer that you continue to talk about. They lose trusted teachers. They lose the continuity, the stability, and
they're asked to navigate constant uncertainty while the adults in this room, which you continue to say you are, continue to debate what comes next. At the same time, taxpayers continue to invest millions of dollars without really knowing what it's going to to or that you say that we're not doing. But
every single year, you're continuing to say that we're in financial crisis. Having $7 million or sorry, $6 million in reserves, it's a whole lot of money, guys. Okay, I'm all for reserves, but not not without transparency. Our community has every right to expect that those investments are guided by a
clear vision and future. Where are the board goals? Why are we talking about long range facilities plan without a strategic plan? Those are supposed to come and be one and the same. The public has a right at that table. We should not be funding uncertainty and students should not be bearing the consequences of it. We're not asking for perfection.
>> Please wrap it up. >> I have about 30 seconds. Thank you. We're asking for leadership. We're asking for transparency. We're asking for a comprehensive road map that explains how reserves, future financial capacity, facilities, staffing, and educational priorities fit together. Thank you. It'll serve students first. up. Thank you.
>> We delay our vision. Our students have to come first. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hi Veri Shar Middletown. Um I wanted to um publicly congratulate as we call her Mrs. K or Miss Daria on her retirement.
Sorry. Um, my family can't thank her enough for stepping in to support our daughter this year as she was struggling. There are no words to express our appreciation and truly Paris are this district's unsung
heroes. Um, I was also going to um wish Dr. Alone best of luck in her new endeavors, but since she's not here, I won't say nice things. No, am I kidding? Um, I've always appreciated our conversations and
her data and research based approach and in particular her commitment to inclusion. Um, also on the wellness committee, um, please include the workforce academy. I think gardens and and you know that sort of thing would be a perfect fit for that
environment. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Katie, Middle Page, Middletown. Um, so you will be voting on with if you'll if you'll put up to $3.5 million in the
reserve. That's correct. Okay. Um, so in March, February, March, we were told we were going to be $3 million in debt, but then we received about $900,000 in state aid. And then with the three%
and change tax levy increase from the board of ed, we received around another $2 million, which put us at about like $400,000 in debt, but that didn't account for any teacher retirements. So I guess my question is, did we end the year in a without a deficit? Did we end
the year in a surplus? >> You're talking about the current year. Well, it's not. It ends June 30th, but it it is projected that we will end the current year with the surplus. The things that you've been talking about were for next year's budget 2627. Okay. >> But as we did discuss in other
discussions, there was um you know, we did talk about the fact that uh we we would be able there were other ways to close the budget gap for next year, which is what we're now doing, you know, and that was always part of the picture.
How much money did we end in a surplus? >> Well, like I said, we have an end of the year and a big variable in that amount is going to be how much we receive in this extraordinary aid. So, I really can't tell you exactly until we get that number. >> And that number you were projecting was around 1.8 million, but it could be
more, could be less. >> It could be more, it could be less. Yes. >> So, we're projecting to end our year in a surplus of around $1.8 million >> right now. You know, I have the number a little over 2 million because it's the 1.8 made plus some other monies that we've been able to save out of the current year budget by being more
efficient with things. >> Okay. I just wanted to fully understand that. Okay. Thank you. >> Hi, Kristen Middletown. Just piggy backing off of that thought. I feel like that was not a that was not something
that was introduced in the budgeting process that what we were going to be looking at as far as a surplus at the end of last year because I felt like at the last meeting when the vote was what we were going to do as far as school closures versus not versus is money
going in reserves because if the schools weren't closed that was the bargaining chip, right? that we were going to have money in reserves, but now it sounds like we have this surplus that you kind of probably could see coming, but it wasn't mentioned in the whole budgeting
process. So, I feel like at least from our side, we didn't see that. And then that was a big piece of the puzzle cuz $3.5 million is a lot of money and you were talking about closing three schools for less money than that. So that
humongous surplus, that's that's a big number. If it was big enough to close three schools, it's big. So to to have that going forward cuz I'm trying to look forward and positive here to have that number, what is our projected
surplus going into the next year? That would help us and that should help all of you in deciding what your budgeting and you know what you need to do for the future. I know it's not a crystal ball and it's not perfect, but it's something that wasn't on our radar.
>> So, if I can just clarify a little bit, we don't when we build our budget for a year, we don't we don't build the budget anticipating and and allowing for a surplus. How a surplus would happen would be is if uh expenses come in less than what we anticipate, we get
additional revenues, you know, savings from from operating the district. And you, as I've said, when we do the budget process, you know, we start that process in the fall. I mean, we really only start fully operating in September. So,
you know, by the time we start doing our budget, you know, it's November, December, January, we have basically a few months under our belt. Um, as we go through the year, you know, and we get closer to June, we do get a better picture of things. And if sometimes,
like I said, we receive additional revenue, we're able to achieve some savings from things. And another big driver of our budget, which we've talked about, is health insurance. And some and being that we're self-insured, that is also a big variable.
>> This year, you know, we we are doing much better compared to budget than we were the previous year. But we don't know how that's going to end up until we get to June. you know the the you know we track that on a monthly basis and you know some months it looks like you know
we're we're doing okay the next month we could get really heavy month and you know our projected overage is higher it could come back so that is very unpredictable for us so um so far knock I don't know if I've even been around it you know we've been we've been holding
to pretty close to what we budgeted that wasn't the case the previous year so it is hard to say and I know It sounds like a lot of money and it is a nice amount of money to be able to put in reserved and we do need that. We have a lot of things that aren't included in our
budgets and we've talked about that. We've there's a lot of things are not included in the operating budgets that we need to do that we don't have the bandwidth to put in the budget. So, putting money aside for future capital projects and for unexpected maintenance
expenses like Mrs. Torres was talking about is very important for a district our size. Anything that would come out of the capital reserve would be representative of a capital project and it would absolutely be discussed by the board and by the committees like we
before we would be able to dedicate any of that money toward that. It actually would likely be something we put in the 2728 budget and the way that we're going to be able to do that would be to take the money out of the reserve that we've put aside. I don't know if that's if
that makes sense to you, but that would be an additional revenue source in the TW if we chose to do something in 2728 to fund that. So, it wouldn't have to come out of what we're trying to fund out of the tax levy and the uh state aid that we get. So, it it's defin it's not
something that we're just going to put in reserve and then just start spending. There's a whole process for doing that. You have to have a board um approve a withdrawal. You have to budget for the project. you know, it's not something that's just can be done freely. >> No, I appreciate I appreciate all that
detail and I think we're all fully in favor of reserves. I'm just saying that when we're budgeting, if we're responsibly budgeting, we kind of, right, you're forecasting throughout the course of the whole year. So, as you get close to the end and you have like an idea, are we going to be in the red or
the black this year? That should be something that's on the budget end of it radar. when we're getting closer to the end of the year. >> I'm offered those and I really appreciate all the details. >> Well, just keep in mind with a $200 million operating budget, $2 million is
1% of our budget. Although it sounds like it is a larger number in comparison to our entire budget, it really isn't agreed. And last year, we were ready to close three schools over it. So, that's why I'm like, let's not drop in the bucket. I'm just saying that all we're
talking about here I think is really useful going forward and that the things we're saying now you need to remember going into the end of the year especially from our perspective because I don't think we heard that piece of it cuz we're not mixed in it. So I appreciate on the the >> and the other thing I'll just add to it is we
>> M has three minutes. We have >> Okay. But if you want there'll be an opportunity to speak after >> the only thing I would want your majority. >> Well the only thing I would also want to say is it's not it's not responsible for us to take anticipated surplus and use
that to fund their operating budget too because that's exactly what got us you know to this spot in the first place. So we we would not do that. Even if we anticipated that we were going to have a surplus in a budget, >> we wouldn't use that to fund. So the the
the prudent thing to do is to do what the board is doing right now. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else with public comment on agenda items only? >> Okay. Uh we're going to move into the um
voting agenda items. Need approval for the meeting minutes 7 A and 7B. >> Second. >> Discussion. All in favor. >> Extensions.
Need a motion to approve item 8A. >> So moved. >> Resolution urging relief from rising public school employee healthcare costs. >> Second. >> Discussion. All in favor?
>> I oppose. Abstensions. Uh professional appointments for 2627 school year appointment. Uh excuse me. A motion for approval of number nine. >> So second
>> discussion. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. >> I'm opposed on the auditing firm. >> I'm opposed on the auditing firm. Any extensions? >> Business office consent agenda. Need a
motion to approve items 10 A through W. >> So second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed
abstensions. Recommendation. Superintendent of schools consent agenda. Need a motion to approve items 11 A through I. >> No, aren't we doing the whole thing? Would
it be easier to do everything but the two appeal lines and then just do Okay. So, we could leave the first one as 11 A through I but excluding the appeals. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, >> did we have a second on that?
>> Yes. >> Okay. >> Discussion. All in favor? I >> I opposed abstension. >> Okay. >> And then on the appeals, you have two HIV appeals. Uh HIV appeal
308031 and HIV appeal 306811. >> Okay. Could I have a motion? >> Second. All right. Discussion. Mr. Mr. Burns, you want to clarify? A a no vote would be uh voting no would
be not to overturn the recommendation of the board andor building. Voting yes would be recommending the overturn >> Mrs. Minuise. >> I am no on the yeses and yes on the nos. No. >> Well, it's just the two appeals.
>> Uh, no. >> No. Okay. >> Mrs. Scholaski? >> No. >> Mr. Sarasi? >> No. >> Mrs. Tobacco? >> No. >> Mrs. Torres? >> No. >> Mrs. Weinstein? >> No. >> Mr. Capone? >> No.
>> Mr. Avida? >> No. >> Okay. Now, I need a motion to approve 11 J HR1 through HR7.
>> So we didn't do the 11 do the other. >> We did it. We did. We did both. So then I need to um >> you want to overturn the >> uh no I am a no on the 031
and I need to abstain on 811 >> what >> I'm going back to what I said before and you told me it was just the >> it was just a two wait hang which is 031 >> the high school
So, you're voting yes on that one. >> I'm voting no on that one. >> No return and abstaining on >> and I'm abstaining on the second one. >> 88811. >> That is correct. >> Okay.
>> Okay. Miss Muies, you wanted to abstain on the second. >> No, I I wanted to um vote no on the yeses and yes on the nos, but you told me we weren't doing that. >> We We did already as part of the whole agenda. >> Well, that's what I was saying before, and you told me no. We're on the uh >> No. No, you voted already.
>> Oh, I'm that's my vote. >> So, we have to reook at >> So, that that was the vote before. >> We have to look at 11 A >> through I including appeals, >> right? So, what I would suggest does anybody have any other
>> changes with respect to B through I? >> No. >> Okay. So, then what I would suggest is doing a re-roll call on 11A excluding the two appeals. I mean, we could do that or I could just record.
>> I I would to make it clear, I would do it. >> All right. Uh, Mrs. Vinueise >> on on A. I am no on the yeses and yes on the nos. >> But for all other items in this motion, B through I.
>> No, we're not doing B through I. >> Oh, you're just doing that. >> We're just doing a letter. Excluding the abuse. >> Okay. All right. Let me move that separate. Sorry to did anyone. Will we keep the same motion in second?
Okay. >> Yes. >> All right. Mrs. Minuies. So, you're a >> yes on a no. >> Yes. >> No on the yes. >> Okay. Mrs. Scholasi. >> No. >> Mr. Sabarasi?
>> Yes. Mrs. Tobacco. I'm >> You approving the H report? >> Yes. >> Yes. You voted yes before. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Torres. >> Approving the H report. Yes.
>> Yes. Mrs. Weinstein. >> Yes. >> Mr. Capone. >> Yes. >> Mr. Avita. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Okay. Now I need a motion to approve item 11J HR 1 through HR second. >> So moved. Second
>> discussion. All in favor? >> I opposed abstension. >> I'm abstaining on the transfers. >> So am I. >> Who is the So Iain on the transfers also.
Okay. All right. Old business. >> Um, I have some old business. Do we have board goals? >> Goals. >> No, we're going to be working on that as part of the uh >> as part of what? I can't I'm sorry.
>> Super uh with the I'm sorry, school boards. He sent a meeting with him on that. >> What? when >> uh he sent me some stuff. We kind of got sidetracked with the last couple of months, but I'll be addressing it next week. >> I'm just afraid that by the time we do
it, we're going to have a new board, >> right? Well, we also have a new superintendent coming. >> I understand, but the superintendent, >> we'll try to align everything. >> The superintendent's goals are not the board goals, >> right? >> Okay. Do we'll work on We'll get working. >> Great.
>> No worries. I just have a quick old business question. Um, I probably should have brought this up in the facilities report, but I'm just I'm wondering why half of what came up in the report stemmed from something that was brought to us by a community member from
somebody that got fired that we were told was a non-issue that is now being addressed uh in facilities. Like, it is an issue. So, I'm I'm just a little concerned about like how we're addressing leaks and particulates coming out of air ducts
when we were told as a board that all of that was already addressed and wasn't an issue. I I'm just I cuz I'm on the facility. >> We asked for a followup in our committee and that's what the followup was. >> So, some of those things are on addressed but they weren't being
addressed. No, they were made the the way that um it was explained to us and the in-depth part where they talked about the wick and the meetings that had been happening. Sorry, I'm trying to see you guys there. Um was that what was reported to us what h is what had been
happening over those 3 months that didn't happen in two weeks from when we got that letter to that next facilities meeting. it was going on. And then what uh Miss Minuise asked for was the full reports. So all of that information
about the wick and the meetings and all of those things going on are what were supplied to us in the facilities meeting of everything that had happened up until that point, not just those last weeks. >> Okay. So this is actually was something that had been happening beforehand, not
just in response to >> Correct. The response was us getting the actual reported information and the what we asked for and what is happening and what um Mr. Nasser and uh Miss Dy showed
us was a portal that we're going to make part of our facilities meeting so that we can see all of those things as they are happening. It was not a response to what we got instead of wanted to know why we didn't know. Right. >> Essentially, >> that's and that's what the information
we're getting. And the reported meeting with the MTA is something that they did prior to someone coming up and saying that and the results that they got from that. >> That's actually an ongoing process that's been going on for years. That happens on a fairly regular basis that
um representatives of the district will meet with the MTA Health and Safety Committee. That's been like a standing thing. All right. All right. Thank you. I have I have something old business. What happened at delegate assembly?
Because we didn't receive any information on having a discussion on what to vote for and it was held May 16th. Did Did you guys go? >> I did not go. >> Okay. If Mr. Vita, if somebody's not and I I
get it, everybody has things to do, but if somebody's not going to go, maybe you should put it out to the board so >> the rest of us could go and our town could be represented. I mean, there's many times I was on that committee and it was not a good Saturday to go, but maybe, you know, other people
went my place. >> Well, I'm the delegate and Cat was the alternate and neither of us could make it. >> Well, that's what I'm saying. If Mr. Ramita could find that out. He could have asked somebody else to go. That's all I'm saying. This this way we get
represented. It happens that people can't go. >> Not any other old business. >> Uh any new business? >> Yes, I have a lot of >> Okay. Um, I just wanted to say about all
the things that I attended in the district. This is an amazing district and I think that we get lost in in the negativity and it's something that I've talked to Mr. Colin about and other people. We need to start promoting all the good things that are in our
district because our staff and our students are amazing at the things that they're accomplishing and we're not giving them credit for that and we're not giving our town credit. We're letting our town think our schools stink and nobody cares. When if you go to some
of these events and us advertising it, you're going to see what an outstanding school district we really are. And it's because of our staff and students and the collaboration from our parents and our parent groups and our administrators. We need to start getting on top of this
because we really do have an amazing school district. And I'm going to tell you some of the highlights. Um in May 22nd I went to the um Corporal Thorn Memorial. Every Memorial Day Thor Middle School has that. Why that's so special is those kids know the history
of their school. They know the history of what the property was before it was was a school. What Corporal Thorne did. They met his family. You know, unfortunately, you know, two of the oldest older people have passed away in the last couple years. They used to be a
big part of that school every year. These kids don't forget. And as they come in, the education of how that school was named and what it it stands for is incredible. They have a big thing outside. It's just schoolwide. It's not a, you know, a big public event, but
they have their singers out there. They talk about the history. It's an educational moment, and it's really proud to see what the kids know about that history. So that's something that I mean my kids went there so that's been going on for a long time but it still
amazes me to this day how these kids learn so much about the history of their school. I also attended the North and South um scholarship awards. This was another incredible thing. I didn't I wasn't part of the South scholarships. I don't know
who on the board was but I did reach out to get the numbers. South gave out $110,000 in scholarships and this is thanks to our guidance counselors who put themselves out there really digging to
get scholarships for our kids. High School North gave out $144,000 in scholarships. And I'm sure that this is going to apply to South too. But when you add in the militarymies and uh the
Navy nuclear trade schools and the armed forces, it came to $859,000 in scholarships to students in this district. Totally amazing. The number of um colleges that they're applying to, I'm not even going to read them. There's
there's at least a hundred here that our kids are going to, and they're great colleges. the amount of um students that are going into the military. I wish they could be here today so we could congratulate them. It is amazing
and we never talk enough about it. You know, I look at some of these kids and I say, "Oh my god, I can't believe what they're, you know, they're getting they're going into the hard work, the dedication. They rep they're good representation from us." And each one of them in their scholarships thank the
school district for the education that they've received here. That's a plus. I I it just blows my mind. I went to the North and South honor societies. The amount of kids that are being inducted into our honor societies,
it gets bigger and bigger every year. I remember I used to go when I first got on the board, there'd be like 20 people from each school getting inducted. Not anymore. That auditorium was filled with students getting inducted. The guest there was very little room for. That's
accomplishment. That says a lot for our school and our education. Um, let's see. I also attended a few of the end of the year choir, chorus, and band concerts. I'm tell I tell people all the time, and
I wish we could get this out to our senior citizen centers. You don't need to go to the city to see plays or chorus or band. Our kids are amazing and if you came to the graduations, you could see it. Our band, our middle school bands
are as good as our high school bands. And for them moving up, I can't imagine what our high school bands are going to be like next year cuz that's how amazing it was. Um, let's see. I also attended the um
awards ceremony for the link annex now called the workforce academy in Freehold. Mr. Naser was there. He gave a little speech on the history of what was done in that building. It was really nice to be recognized in our custodians and maintenance. They deserve tons of
credit for that. They did a marvelous job. We were a little over budget. That concerned me, but it's for a good cause. our kids are going to gain a lot of um good experience from it. But just getting recognized for that, that was really nice. And I think um Mr. Naser
and his crew deserve a huge round of applause for that one. Um let's see. I Oh, I did I said it before, but I wanted to congratulate all the um students entering military and armed
forces. I wished them all the well and I thank them for everything they've done for our school district. I've attended some field days, opening um ceremonies. The kids are so proud. I like to thank all our PTAs and our parent groups for
supporting that. That's really um they do a lot for our kids. They supply things that our district can't afford to do and our kids, all of our kids benefit from that. So, I want to thank all our parent groups. And let's see.
I Oh, I went to the Ocean Avenue, catched the reading wave. That was amazing. Mr. Cullen talked about that before. Totally amazing. These kids were so excited about books. And the teachers, they they were up and dancing and singing and games to engage the
kids. And the kids were rling for their teachers to get the right answers about what books they were trying to describe on the screen. It was kind of like a um a maze. They put up pictures and you had to guess what the name of the book was and the kids were screaming for their teachers to do it and those were the
books that they were going to get for their summer reading and they each went home with books. It was just really nice to see kids really want to read and they really got into it. It was it was really incredible. Mrs. Frzy did a good job putting that together. So kudos to her
and the staff of Ocean Avenue for getting that involved. And the preschool graduation that was held here also was really cute. It was nice to see our high school students engaging with our preschool students and how much respect they have for each
other and how these kids love to come to preschool every day and be with with our high school students and the teacher. Teacher is amazing. Um that was also very well attended. It was nice to see the stage fright students to the ones that couldn't wait to keep going and singing and dancing. And I'm sure by
next year we'll be seeing them singing and dancing at their kindergarten graduations. And that was it. But it was a lot of good things and I really hope that we can get our district back on the map with positive positive things because there's so much positivity going on.
>> So thank you. >> Any other new business? I just want to piggyback on what Miss Cass said about the promotion ceremonies at the middle schools at the uh we I attended all three of them with her and the bands were amazing and it was really cool to see the different bands and how they all
put it together and the speeches that the the students gave. Um and all the ceremonies were very respectful which I thought was incredible even the high school graduations. Um, and also on the um, class 3 officers, I want to thank the town for giving some money back to
us because that's kind of been an issue that I've been pushing for the last 2 years and I'm glad that we got Look, any money is better than none and it's a step in the right direction. So, thank you. >> Any other new business? >> Mine's unfortunately not nearly as
positive. Um, I've been trying to figure out how the best way to say this, but I got in the mail the other day a flyer from Rumson County Day School, Country Day School, that says, "Don't spend another year stressed about your school." This was
targeted to my neighborhood. It says, "Ele and middle school are the most formative years of your child's life. Let's make the most of them." All of these things, we want to make tuition available for your affordable for your family. ask us about tuition assistance.
Why am I bringing this up? Because as board members, it is our job and we must avoid conduct which is in violation of our public trust or which creates a justifiable impression among the public that trust is being violated.
It has been violated immensely in the last two years. And the things that we are asking about and as board members and as members of the public are not fully being answered. They are not fully transparent. I don't know what it's
going to take to have us to have a real conversation up here. I've been asking since January, since sitting up here, and have said it many times that I'm tired of hearing my own voice and saying the same thing. We go
to these meetings, people are quiet, there is not a lot of conversation and I don't know where these decision decisions are being made but they are not being done in the public or in the full view of this board and it needs to
stop. If we are going to have goals and work together as a board, it starts with our leadership. It starts with every one of us actually being the adults and coming to the table to have these hard conversations.
We have so much going on in this district and yet we have the perception on social media, with real estate, with people in town and everywhere else that we are a disaster because the people up
here make it look that way. It is embarrassing. It's political. It's grandstanding and it has zero place in our board. Our job is to be a representative of the
community to the schools and the schools back to the community and you are we are not examples for the students. We have amazing staff that is leaving. We have students and families that are choosing to either go private to move or to do
something completely different. And that is on us and what has gone on here in the last year and a half. And it continues. There are still rumors out there. There are still no trust between the public and this board and quite
frankly members of this board and each other. And I'm right here. I am here for the conversation. So I'm asking for anyone that is willing to have those conversations. Let's go. Let's have the conversation. Mhm.
>> Nothing. >> Does nobody We really have nothing to say. Nobody has anything to say. >> What do you feel like? Do you want to have a conversation like right in this moment or do you want to set up like a forum to talk about very specific things? Cuz I know right now I think what you're talking about is obviously
off the table. >> It's not off the table. >> Okay. I I just want to understand and I think also sometimes some of us over the last year given litigation are a little uncomfortable speaking about things because of what we were told by lawyers
that we're not allowed to talk about in public. >> No, but we can talk about goals. What is the goal of this board? We can have a forward way of 100%. But we're not focusing on that. >> But we didn't and we haven't. >> I can't hear you. >> I didn't say >> no. Somebody else was talking down
there. I heard speaking. We 100% have to put together board goals. And I think that that's something that look, I've only we've been here a short amount of time. It's been an a very intense start to being on this board. I think that I I'm here to talk about whatever you want to talk about
where I'm able to speak about goals and whatever we want to focus on. I want to be as transparent as possible, but there were times before where I was told I'm not allowed to speak about things. But we are allowed to speak about things and we should have are we are not in a position to be making these decisions.
That is the administrator's job. Our job is to create policy to hire a superintendent and then ensure that the administration is following the policies. That is the job of a board of education. We're not doing that.
>> Where do you feel like we're failing right now? Like in this moment, like what is In this moment, I feel like everything has been pushed. Let's start with board goals. Let's start with strategic planning. Let's start with the fact that we have a superintendent that has left, principles that are leaving,
staff that is beloved, experienced, and the heart of our buildings leaving. We have families leaving. That is because of the actions of this board. >> Amen. And not for nothing, at the reorganization meeting, I brought up that we need to have board goals and and
>> I know and I did six months into it. >> No, I brought it up like the next month cuz I did have a conversation with Mr. Tian and then we went through the whole budget process and we know how that went for the last few months. >> But regardless, I >> we have to do many things at once.
>> Okay. And we will >> we set a timeline for board goals. Are we going to have board goals? You said I I'll get an email out to the board in the next week or so >> because I I have to be honest with you. When it goes like this to me and perception is reality, right? Mission
accomplished. You've got your goals. >> Is that your goal? >> No, it's not my goal. That's why I'm bringing it up to have the conversation. It has never been my goal, but it seems to be the goal of the direction of this board.
I don't even know what that means. >> It means that everybody's trying to close schools and do things their way instead of having the actual public in mind here. >> That we come to the table with things already decided and things already in the works before we actually have a
conversation about it. >> Am I wrong? >> Truth is the long facilities plan committee should be a committee of the home. We should be doing in public. What are we afraid to talk about in public? Why not? Because we're going to have to do it
anyway. Why not do it the first time? I thought that this committee was just to educate board members, but that's not what it seems to be to talk about. >> And I feel like this committee started um the thought that Miss Dardy and I were talking about this because last
year we spent the entire year going through all the buildings with Miss Dardy and Mr. Nester and myself kind of top to bottom looking at everything that was going on. >> If I could just jump in because I I am I am the one who was pushing this with the board. The way that we wanted to
approach this was there's a lot of information that the board members on this committee need to be presented with and digest on their own before it can get expanded out to a larger group. And it should get expanded out to a larger group. that there's a lot of education
and background that needs to be shared. You know, two out of the four members of the committee are new to the are relatively new to the board and haven't had uh the whole history and why this is important at this juncture. And I I'm just going to speak for myself and in
the recommendations that I made to start this committee is to be able to focus on this information alone. And the question also is well why isn't this being done in the facilities committee? Because the facilities committee has a lot broader scope than this. This is going to be
focused purely on long range planning use of facility buildings going forward and looking at the condition of our buildings. We as you can see from our reports from facilities we cover a lot of different topics. It's not and we don't have the proper time to spend on
this. That's why it is a separate committee. But the intention is and at least from my perspective yes eventually there will be uh broader participation but my personal belief from being and working with all of you is that you're
not all on the same level of background knowledge because we haven't had the chance and the time to do that. So at least the first piece of this, the first, you know, whatever amount it takes, a few meetings, whatever needs to
be that with the board members before, you know, we can springboard into something else. So that that's just the way I'm approaching it. But just to finish, if you're experiencing uncertainty or frustration with your child's current school, it's time to
connect with RCDS, where the needs and interests of students always come first. That should be our goal is to have the needs and interests of our students first. And that is not happening with this current board. If I'm wrong, please correct me. If you have something else to say and you can
prove to me otherwise, please do. in in our conversations coming up recently taking closure of school off the table. I'm getting the opinion that this is going to take a few years before any kind of decision is made and it's going
to take collaboration with the strategic plan and it's going to take financial um obligations. But that's not what the perception of the community is anymore. They're being told third time's a charm >> and we can't enter another school year
like this. We can't. We've taken two school years and our kids have lost education from January to June every year. This can't keep happening. It's not fair. So, if that's the plan of the Lone Range Facilities Committee, then that's pretty
sad. Just speaking the truth. It's out there. It's it's I'm sure half of you people heard it. That's why you're still coming. It's really sad. People have no trust. So if that is the plan, somebody say it
now so these people know now because I'm being told it's going to take a couple years to even come up with a good comprehensive plan for this district. Not to be thrown in in September again to say we're closing schools. >> Discussion needs to be had.
>> I don't think that committee is focused on that. From my perspective, all I can tell you is coming into this town where this is a beautiful town that I'm proud to live in, the schools are a mess. They need a lot of work. And I think that outside of the day-to-day facilities planning, we do need a long-term plan to
figure out what we're going to do because they're not going to take our kids past the next few years. All you have to do is walk in a building. They're falling apart. They're not up to modern standards. But Sarah, how are you going to do that when you don't have
trust in your community? We need, if we're going to do this, I get it. Everybody wants modern schools. I would love them, too. But it takes money. Right now, you put a referendum up, you would not get a dime. >> We need to rebuild our trust and we need
to maintain our schools. If we have to redistrict, we have to redistrict. whatever we it is we have to do to keep our kids in their community schools because all we're hearing now is that everybody loves our communities and I do. I'm the biggest town supporter there is. But you know what? Every time you
rip a school out of our community, you kill the community. Our schools are important. We have to find a way to come up with a way to make these modern schools that everybody wants. It's not going to happen overnight and it's not going to happen by closing three schools. It's going to take a heck of a
lot more money than that. and a lot more planning. When we went to the the middle school graduations, I wish you guys were there. Those rooms were packed. There wasn't enough room for one more person. And yet, we're talking about adding 100 to
300 kids to two of those schools. It It's It's ridiculous to see that. It needs to have a comprehensive plan. And you know what? I'm tired of hearing people say, "Nothing's going to happen to my school because so and so's here.
Nothing's going to happen to my school." Everybody's got to feel the pain to make this community stick together. We have to make decisions. And I don't mean pain. I mean everybody has to be together to make these decisions. We can't just pick a school here and there
where we're not making money. If if we're going to have to close a school somewhere down the line, we're going to have to look and see where are we going to make the money because we need the money to build a new one. We're going to need money to build on to middle schools if we're planning on closing one. We don't have that money, but yet we're willing to jam these kids into crowded
schools. And maybe you don't have middle school kids yet, but some of us that do know how crowded that gets. and middle school need space or they're going to be right on top of each other and we're gonna be sitting here with hib after h after hib.
These kids need to be kids and they need the space to grow and learn. That's how I feel about middle school. High school, I think our high schools have come a long way since I've been on the board, but our middle schools, we can't we can't be crowding them in like that. So, if that's the plan, I'm I'm
asking again. If that's the plan, tell the people that you want to close their schools because they're frustrated. People are moving out. I met seven people the other day that are pulling their kids from our schools because their uncertainty of what's going to happen this year, just like
what happened last year, just like what happened the year before. They don't trust us. And I'm not saying they don't trust you. They don't trust us. >> So guys, if you're going to say it, Sarah, you want to close school, say it. don't have a plan. I'm talking about just making the schools better. That's
the whole trying to figure out what we can do to get these schools into the next generation. They're old. They need work. It's not the the long range facilities planning committee is not here. It's like a secret school closing committee. It's has nothing to do with anything. It's a matter of trying to figure out
what we can do to get the schools to the future. I'm not talk Look, I I've walked into schools. I'll give you a personal story. My kids's kindergarten graduation. My mom came. I didn't grow up with any money. She came in and I said, "This looks just like the school I went to." And she said,
>> "Your school wasn't a dump like this. It was It was nicer than this." My mother here. >> Yeah. It was horrible. And that's not what I want to hear because I didn't come from a nice town. I came from a crappy town. It wasn't nice. So, my goal, why I'm here, is to try and make
it better for everyone. Everyone. That's the goal. Not to just close schools, just to make them better. That's it. There's no secret agenda, Joan. And I just wish you could maybe put some of the rumors like >> I wish we could too, Sarah, but they're coming with attachments.
>> People are tired of hearing this. >> Uhhuh. >> They really are. We have to build the trust back in this community. And you're right. I I have no problem saying we have to fix our schools. We do, but we need money to do that.
>> And just like we have projections, so do these private schools. and they are projecting that they are going to get our students and they are targeting our students because our families are ready to find something that is certain. What we are doing is not certain.
We have so many good things to offer. Our schools are great. Our community is great. We got great parks. So many great things to do in Middletown. I wouldn't want to move. And I'm a senior and I can't afford it, but I don't want to move. I love it here.
But I love our schools, too. And I think a big part that's missing is people are forgetting that people not only move to town for community parks and and engagements, but they move here for their kids' education, too. And our schools are a big part of this. We have
to make sure we fix this for our kids' sake and our community. Any other new business? >> Okay. All right. Public comment on n uh on non agenda items.
30 minutes. >> Mr. Thank you. Hi, I'm Mary Mura. I'm a district employee for many years. I've been at Nav and Leonardo for at least the last 15. So, this children and the staff are
amazing with all of whatever's been going on. But the only reason why it came up was because I just want to give some clarification. And I am also on the health and safety committee for the MTA. And whatever happened in the past that um I'm unsure who brought it up about a firing of someone that has nothing to do
with the reports of the Airdales and the Black Portables. We have records because we started a health and safety committee with the MTVA back in 2019. And we do have documents that do even note some of the concerns. So, it's great that we were able to meet recently with um with
Amy and Adam and share our concerns. We've always talked to even before Adam uh when they were um Vinnie and Walter and John and many others, Sean um they knew of the of the many of the concerns, but we've been able to dive in a little bit deeper of what they are and like
we're actually at a point where I think it's like oh wow. So there really is understanding between everyone about the finances and you know what we might need to look forward to do and why we're still concerned. So anytime you have
questions about it, we also would join in um with you and we we've asked that before. But I just wanted to clarify it has nothing to do whatever was just said. This has been going on for quite some time. Documents are a little hard to come by because the district changed their system from hero to another one to
another one. So there are full records. We don't have full records, but we do have a lot of information that could be very helpful when you work toward planning and um we welcome that. So I hope that's helpful. Thank you. >> Thank you, Ashley Steam. Um Amy was a little concerned about the long range
facilities plan that you implied you weren't going to be sending out the materials to everyone on the board um just the small committee. Did I hear that correctly for like the pro prepare preparation for long range facilities plan?
You want me to respond? I didn't say that we weren't sending out information. And we said we were starting with this committee to focus specifically on these issues and present information to that committee to start so that we then could expand to a larger
group and have more detailed discussions and start moving forward. But you have to start somewhere and with the board committee you know that would be the logical place to start. Um, I think for the sake of transparency and trust, the whole board should get whatever materials are being dispersed whether or
not you decide to go forward with a smaller group meeting, but just having everyone in possession of all the same information so that they can digest it. I think if our elected officials want to be part of this process, I personally really would like them to be and uh the
more the marrier and we have to have a meeting like this for you guys to talk about it. Um I personally am just here to advocate for that. I think we need have a lot of work to do to regain trust and I think that would go a long way. So, as a cabinet team, we actually were just discussing today, you know, not
specifically the long range facilities plan committee, but integrating more of these um information presentations into our board meetings in the you know, going forward so that we could have more of these uh sharing information sessions with the entire
board and also at the public meeting. So, we were we have been discussing that and how to incorporate that into our into our meetings. >> Yeah. Cuz I'm concerned that some people on the committee weren't having any of the strategic planning sessions last summer. So, just want to make sure that
that's all um going forward. And then as far as our crumbling schools, if we are not getting together as a board to try and fix things going forward in addition to having crumbling schools, we're losing staff. So, like you're just making a bad problem worse. I get we have coming to schools, but I'd rather
have our staff there with like a little bit of assurance. So like let's really focus on that and like try and turn things around. Say some things. I don't know, maybe like a board president report beginning the meeting about the things you're going to focus on to make the board better. The silence is
deafening. >> So anything you can do to show that you want to work towards something good would be awesome. Thanks. Thank you. Hi, Kristen honey town. Um, just processing all this explained to me
before. Um, I just wanted to say this again, Laney. I think you said this at the end of your statement that it's not a good idea to spend reserves to cover budget shortfalls that could be addressed through a tax increase. So, another thing to keep high on our
list because I think that's how we ended up in the hole we were in last year. Um, and then just on a positive note, I do want to thank all the retirees. We like there was a lot of retirees this year. Um, and a bunch of amazing educators
because we do we do have very very amazing teachers and students here. Um and just a thank you and to the teachers that are leaving. Um unfortunately early shore students have had to endure 2
years of uncertainty and now they were happy that their schools will be open next year and then they found out you know they're losing some of their best teachers and they're losing their very amazing principal Mr. Curtis, who I do not fault for finding a new stable job somewhere, but he was next level as far
as a building administrator goes. So, congratulations to him on that and thank you to all he did to make our kids stay happy and steady during this pretty crappy couple of years. Um, and I am
looking to the future and I appreciate Joan talking about all the positivity. I really want also to build positivity and to come back here more often and start talking about how we can improve the lives of our students and
our staff and retain them and build ourselves back up again because we're better than this and we have a lot going for us and I really really appreciate it and I'm thankful that my kids are here. I have an almost senior who's thriving
and is so so thankful for the education she got and it this is all making her very sad because our kids lived through co and now I feel like two other years of our lives have been stolen by this. It's had a shadow over their education.
It's had a shadow over our experience as parents. we're supposed to be enjoying everything that happens. And the last couple years, we've all been, you know, on edge and waiting for the other shoe to drop. So, I'm hoping for a positive year forward. We're all here to work together. We're all here to be
constructive, productive, and I just I hope that we can move forward and um be positive, and get back to what we know we're good at. So, thank you. Uh Emily Donahghue, Middletown resident. Um I often come up here and I have to
speak to you, Amy, and I apologize because you're the one that always has to deal with my emails and my questions, but you're normally the only one that has the answers, so I do apologize. Um one of the things that just kind of sits with me and as I looked at the agenda and saw this up to three and a half million and why it hits so hard, I think, to this community is because and
you and you nailed it. You said it, right? Like it is the responsibility of this board to put it into reserves, right? because we should have went to operating, but we got that money because you increase taxes that maybe you didn't need to. Now, I get it. $3.5 million is like you said 1%. Which is true, but
that is taxpayer money and we should know if there's going to be a surplus. I know you're doing the best that you can, but if we truly feel that our schools are crumbling and we're going into our elementary schools and we're embarrassed, why are we not advocating all year long to be using the money the way that it should be used? If we're
embarrassed of our elementary schools, why are we sitting here with seven days left to go in the year talking about it when we could have already been like advocating for our schools? Why are we waiting? We could be taking this money that we're now putting into reserves and voting on it to put put money back into
our schools. Why is it always after the fact that we're having these conversations? and you might have the answer, but like I I can't sit here and accept that, you know, you you really know the right things to say and I think you're actually quite brilliant, but like I I find it hard to believe the fact that why are we not advocating as a
group to invest in our schools now? We have the money now. We're putting it into reserves for capital improvements, which I don't know what those projects are, but I think that should be discussed as a board before you voted on it. Um, you know, and maybe it did, but I'm just so confused on why we continue
to accept it. like this is a this is a board. If you're embarrassed of your schools, why aren't we doing anything about it? And it can't be at the expense of closing schools to then pay for it because I don't think this public is going well. The public hasn't accepted it. But now we're going to come back to this conversation which the whole
community has hurt their types of charm, which is absolutely devastating for our children to hear. But how are we going to accept knowing the fact that we're putting $6 million into reserves? $9 million of bonds are coming out are about to mature. And if our schools are public, why aren't we talking about it
in January, February, March, and April? Why are we talking about it in June? If we knew this money was could potentially be here. So that's all I'm asking is why do we continue to do this? And again, it's going to roll into strategic planning and rolling to long-range facility planning. And this is why the community needs true transparency. and
you guys promised us that. So, enough with like telling us some things that you think we want to hear and just start being honest because if we're embarrassed of our schools, we should have been doing something 6 months ago, 7 months ago, a year ago. But like we can't we can't continue to just accept the fact that you're going to say something nice and that we're going to
cuz I think you're brilliant. I actually think you know what you're talking about, but why is nobody else advocating? >> So, is it okay if I respond? So years ago, you know, we were in a pattern of being able to preserve money out of each year's budget and put it in reserves.
And then what would typically happen is after we knew that we were able to do that, the very next year, we would make plans to do some major projects that we couldn't absorb in our regular budget and use that money to do that. A lot of it would be
it it's the goal to be able to be continue to do that. Like I said, you know, we don't know exactly how much we're going to have per reserve. That number is a max. It's not going to be as high as 3 and a half million. I always overshoot it because I just want just in
case the state decides to fund all or we want. >> So the plan would be right. We don't we we're not in the business of building a reserve just to have the reserve. the re the reason you put money in reserve is so that it's set aside not to fund your operating budget but to do improvements
to the schools and so that's why I was referencing you know as we start to build because believe it or not I know everybody in this room is going to hate to hear it but in a few months we're going to start in serious earnest building next the next budget it's pretty much a year process so as we do
that you know now that we'll know that we have certain monies put aside we can actually say okay let's prior Prioritize some really, you know, what are the most needed projects rather because at this point we don't have enough money. We're talking about modernizing schools and
doing we're actually talking about triaging schools. You know, we need we need new windows. We need new parking lots. We need back >> but we caused it. I think >> but let me finish. Let me finish. So what what you could do with your capital reserve is at least pick out the most
needy of those projects, budget for them, you know, in the very next budget. And if we know that it's going in the 2728 budget, then you can start, you know, even before that fiscal year starts in July, you can start months before that because if you're going to do a major project, you really need to
start working on it, you know, probably 6 to 7 months before the end of the year. So, you know, hopefully we can get to a point where we say, "All right, we're going to be including this in the next budget. Let's get the ball rolling. Let's get the product designed. Let's put it out to bid. Let's and but we know
we have the money." If we don't have the money set aside, we can't do any of that. So, that's I I know it seems that it it's hoarding money before money, but it's not that. >> It's putting it aside so that we know it's there so we can plan something, actually get it done, you know, in a
reasonable time. I'm I'm all for that, but I think it's very hard for a community to accept that coming off of two years in a row saying we are in such financial distress that we're closing our buildings, right? So, it's hard to like I I'm totally supportive. I think we need it. I think we need reserves. We
need to reinvest in our schools. I'm begging for that, but you can't those things can't be true. We can't be closing schools and then putting millions of dollars in reserves, you know, and and without even talking about and I I know my time is up, so I'll be respectful, but without with with redistricting, I think the conversation has to continue. And I think the
community wants to know the fact that this will not be rushed. And I I thank you. I I guess I'm done. But um hopefully this conversation continues, not just here, but amongst um all of you as you continue strategic planning. Thank you. >> I'm sorry to keep everybody. I swear I
wouldn't speak anymore, but Fier drive. Um, for somebody that's lived through four, five attempts to fix things, Mr. Kpatrick, how many do you think we >> lost track? So, for somebody that has um
gone through this, I'm going to tell you all I am the the people that have been suffering the most through this for decades have been the children with special needs. Everybody can talk about their own
little silos and their own little schools, but for years, the kids with special needs have been pushed where there's room. Now, that hasn't had to happen recently, but these kids zigzag back and forth through the district was, and I will tell you from these four
or five attempts that I've seen at fixing, the thing that fails at the most is it's it tends to be a bit too extreme. We don't make little fixes. We don't redistrict. We don't move things. There were many wonderful plans in this
plan that everybody is shunning that related to children with special needs. It allowed getting the autism classes to have a direct line into high school so they didn't have to zigzag. It allowed some of those students to get back to their home schools and now everything
seems to have fallen. So until everybody gets out of their little silos and stops worrying just about their own little home, this is never going to happen. And and I will tell you, I've seen it. I've seen the Navvising trailers closed.
Those kids with special needs get moved somewhere else so that the neurotypical kids at Navis can have their space and nobody else has to move. It just is a constant constant constant. and and what you know I got a phone call last week from a mom that that they want to move
her son out of a home school because they say they have no room for any intensive therapy and it's sad can't her the child's sibling is there okay but everybody tends to look at their own little silos and this has been going on
for decades and until we we all come together and look beyond our little borders this is never going to get fixed Next. Thank you. >> Hi, Melissa Doss, Middletown resident. Um, I've been sitting here listening
about our crumbling buildings. Um, I have been in schools as an educator for um, 26 years. And I can tell you as an educator, most kids do not remember their crumbling building. They remember how they felt in that building. They
remember their friendships. They remember their teachers. They remember how they felt, the things that they learned, the special things that their parents came to. Um, I know even growing up myself, I don't remember what my building was like. And I've worked in
buildings that were built in the ' 50s, the '7s, the 80s, and most recently in the 2000s. And I live I worked at a very modern school that had a hole in the floor of my classroom on the second
floor. So modern does not mean better. Our children deserve places where they feel safe, where they feel valued, and where they feel like they belong. It's the connections that make the building. It's not necessarily what it looks like.
And I'm not saying that we shouldn't have new windows or HBAC, but that's not what the kids remember, okay? They remember how they felt. They remember the things they learned. They remember their friends and their teachers. It's the memories that they make. They probably don't remember that
they had a smartboard or that there was a TV in their classroom or when I went to school, the TV was rolled in on a cart. Like, those things are great, but that's not what truly truly matters. And I think we need to remember that
and make decisions that reflect that. My own child refused to go to school yesterday because one of his beloved teachers is leaving to go to another district because of the instability of this board.
He is losing three of his classmates because the parents have decided to go private. And I know for some of you that's our go that's your goal. want our attendance to go down so you can, you know, consolidate buildings, but that's not how we attract good families to this
district. And I think it needs to stop. And I need to, you need to start thinking about the children. Thank you. Katie, Little Page, Middletown. Um, Mr. Alita, how did you decide who would
be on the long range facilities plan comm uh committee? >> I asked everybody who wanted to be on it and chose four people. >> Okay. And so I'm hearing that at the previous meeting, um, Miss Torres and Miss Minuis volunteered first. So why
were they not chosen then? Or I know Miss Muise is chosen. Why was Miss Torres not chosen then? >> It wasn't a matter of not choosing anybody. The whole board didn't have an opportunity to weigh in on it. So after everybody weighed in on it and pick four people and that's who the committee
>> Okay. So the committee is Miss Minu, Miss Gasi, Miss Weinstein, and who was the fourth one? >> Mr. Mr. Capone. So speaking on the concept of trust,
you have a committee that is supposed to do some work for the the majority of the work for the long-range facilities plan comprised of three members who were in favor of closing schools and you have one person who was not in favor of
closing schools. It doesn't seem balanced. Do you think that that's balanced? Is that your interpretation of the committee? >> Yes. And then I'm asking you if that's balanced. >> I don't see it that way. >> Could you explain board of nine? So,
like we said before, the committee will discuss it and it's discussed with the entire board. >> Four four committee members cannot make a decision for this board. >> It's voted on by the full board. >> Okay. >> And the majority of the board makes the decision. >> Okay. I'm glad to point that out. Um and
then in terms of um wellness, Miss Weinstein, I do appreciate that um you want to take the initiative um of um inst instilling some wellness uh opportunities for our children such as you know gardening like you said,
outdoor education, things like that. I would also ask you to take into consideration the concept of stability for our children, the concept of stress on our children and cortisol because that is that contributes to their level
of wellness. They can't enjoy an outdoor garden and outdoor activities if they feel a lack of stability. I'm a mother. You're a mother. you know that stability, we know that stability is the number one thing that we can provide for
our children to make them feel safe. So that is a part of wellness. I think that's the most important part of wellness. And so I would ask that you champion that and that you advocate for our children to feel stable. Um we were
told um after the uh the district got a large tax increase last year that that was going to buy us time to formulate a long-term plan for the district. And then we were all slapped in the face and said, "No, that's actually I understand.
I'm I'm wrapping up. Thank you." We were all slapped in the face and said, "No, that's not actually happening. We're going to close schools." and you were one of the people, Miss Weinstein, to vote for closing schools multiple times and that creates a lack of stability and a lack of wellness. So, I'm just
bringing that up and I hope that you'll take that into consideration. Thank you. Scott McFersonson, Middletown resident. the public perception. It doesn't feel like school closures are off the table. It just doesn't. And look what this process has done to
our district. There's been comments, we lost a great principal at Beayshore, Mr. Curtis, who I don't blame him. His job's been on the chopping block two years in a row. We hear f we hear uh from people that
families are leaving the district or not bringing their kids into the district because of the instability in the district and the unknown as to what's going to happen. And if it's really true that a board member is saying or telling people third times a charm when it comes
to closing schools, that should embarrass every single person sitting up here tonight. At this point, if you're still pushing school closures, it doesn't feel like it's about finances. It feels like it's about getting your way and wanting to be
right. My view of being a board member, it's supposed to be about serving the community, listening to families, and doing what's best for our students and our district. It's not supposed to be about personal
agendas. Our district deserves better than this constant cycle of in of uncertainty and we need to move forward and move away from that cycle. And Mrs. Minwise is right. I'm a product of this school district. I have a lot of pride
in the school district and the way we are perceived now. It's it's just it's ridiculous. It's horrible. And it's not just in Middletown. It's throughout the state. I'm an attorney. I travel throughout the state and I get in conversations with people sitting in courtrooms and they
say, "Oh, you're from Middletown. What's going on there?" It's horrible. We need to be better and do better. Thank you. >> Anyone else for public comment? >> Motion to close public comment. >> Oh, sorry.
>> I just want to know, is there an update on you? Please state your name. Sorry, Heather in Middletown. Is there an update on the superintendent Covert? Covert, >> I'm sorry, what was the question again? >> Is there an update? Any updates on the superintendent process? >> Yes, we had a meeting tonight with New
Jersey school boards and we'll be posting for the position shortly. >> Okay. Hasn't even got to that step yet. No, >> I know at an earlier meeting you had mentioned that outside consulting firm would be utilized in what capacity? >> New Jersey school boards is going to be running a search for us. New Jersey
school board. >> So it's not a hiring. It's not a headhunt hunting company. >> No. >> And New Jersey school board would be doing the interviewing process and the hiring process. >> No, the board would be doing the interviewing. They'll they'll get all the res the uh the people that respond
to candidates. They'll submit it to the board. The board will review the candidates and then we'll choose uh who who will be in who we will be interviewing. That's the normal process because the way it was presented at an earlier meeting you were saying oh this is a great thing this is an outside
source is going to be used at least that's way I perceive information saying use >> no so this is the normal normal way nothing new okay and then how about we're missing two principles now right Leonardo's principal was moved into
another position and now we had the resignation at beayore >> correct So, are we anywhere with those? Are those positions posted? >> Yes, those positions are posted. There's interviews actually tomorrow. We'll have recommended candidates definitely for
the July agenda and the recommendations we'd like to share with the public before then. >> Okay. And that's the same that the board sent them in. >> Those are recommendations that the super the superintendent will recommend
candidates for board. So the superintendent who's done >> at that time it will be the interim superintendent. So that will be me. >> Okay. Okay. I'm just wondering what the process is like updates to the public would be nice. You know it's important
like we've talked about again and again this instability that we're projecting out to the town and then not knowing if our kids are going to have if we're going to have anybody higher up running the show. It's important. All this information would be important. I know someone suggested maybe you open the
meeting with a little, you know, leadership and sharing and getting the transparency out there and keeping everybody informed. >> Sorry, I have something unrelated. Kristen Rooney, sorry. Um, I know these weren't
my words, but they like my heart when I heard it. Um, none of our schools are dumps. That that's very very degrading. And I know you might not have meant it the way you said it, but for a community or a school to hear the word dump in a
description of it is kind of crushing because none of our buildings are dumps. Maybe they need new windows. Maybe they need a new door, a new curb. But our buildings have been here for a long time. They're part of our history as in Middletown and
they are part of what our town loves. And there are custodians and staff and teachers who give their blood, sweat, and tears to keep those schools beautifully running, shiny, and safe for our children because our schools are safe. And while I appreciate the need
for safety, I just personally want to say to the schools community that was just insulted that your school's not a dump. Nothing here is a dump. Everything could use a new coat of paint maybe. But um if someone said that in relation to my kid's school and my kids heard it,
they would be like, "Oh my god, mommy, is my school a dump?" Like, "Why are we even going there?" So, I just think it was a bad choice of words and I app I just It hurt me to hear it. >> Can I Those weren't my words. >> Okay. I It doesn't matter. >> I felt when I heard it, too.
>> You said that your mom said it. So, >> right. >> To call a school a dump in your position is probably just not It's not a good call. was saying that was one of my impetuses for when someone said that it hurt me to think that you and that's why I
>> it just it it's worth the clarification because like it's just it doesn't feel good to hear especially if it's their >> too 100%. >> Okay, that's yeah just wanted to put that out there cuz we have beautiful schools and beautiful teachers and Yeah.
Do they need some help? Sure. None of them are dumps. They're amazing. Okay. Public comments now. >> If you're elected a motion to adjourn your meeting, please excuse me. >> Katie Little Page Middle.
>> There's a motion to close. >> I was on my way up. >> Should I pull up my speech from January 27th when you silenced me and the rest of the public during public comment when there was still 15 minutes remaining during public comment? This is what
we're This is This is on tape right now. This is being recorded. Is this how you want to be recorded? Mr. Eva, I have a quick comment to make on the strategic planning that I attended over the summer and you did not. Correct me if I'm wrong, >> Ms. Weinstein. At that strategic
planning session over the summer, we resoundingly as a community said that we value our community schools. Nowhere in there did anyone say we want modern schools. We said we value our community schools. So I think we would like to see
this board rally around what the public who came to those strategic planning sessions and made their voices heard and said this is how we would like you all to use our taxpayer money that you are responsible for managing. We are telling you how we want you to use it and we told you that we want our community
schools. We would like to see our community schools protected and upgraded. Thank you. Thank you. Comments motion. There's a motion on the floor to close the meeting. Move a second. Second.
All in favor? I I >> Thank you.