We're get started if we can go to close session and then come back because she's going to start around 6:20 and the kids will finish up. >> Okay. You want me to go through approval of minutes first and then go into session? >> Okay. >> All right. >> I will call it. Are we live, guys?
>> Okay, we're live. I call the meeting to order. Would we please rise for the flag salute in the back of the room? allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. If we would all remain standing for a moment of silence for all those in harm's way and all of our military home and abroad. >> Thank you. We can all be seated. The notice requirements of the open public meetings act of the state of New
Jersey have been satisfied by the inclusion of the date, time, and place of this meeting in the notice of regular meetings adopted by this board on January 6, 2025. Such schedule and notice of meetings is posted at the municipal building, the Mount Olive Library, the board of
education offices, and the six schools was submitted to the daily record for publication on January 7th, 2025. It was filed with the clerk of Mount Olive Township on January 8th, 2025. I direct that this announcement be entered into the minutes of this meeting. A roll
call, please. >> Mrs. Aquino, >> here. >> Mrs. Finn, >> here. >> Mrs. Faggera >> here. >> Mrs. Fitzgerald >> here. >> Dr. Gordano >> here. >> Mrs. Melendez >> here. >> Mrs. Narcissis >> here. >> Mrs. O'Neal. >> Mr. Ozillo
>> here. >> And with that, we will take a motion. Um, Mr. Figer, I'm going to put you on the spot for the approval of our minutes 2.1 through 2.4. >> I'd like to make a motion to approve the minutes. Second.
>> Do we have any comments or questions from board members? >> Nope. Seeing none, we'll move on and we'll take a roll call. >> Mrs. Faggera, >> yes. >> Mrs. Aquino, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fenton, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fitzgerald, >> yes. >> Dr. Geodano, >> yes.
>> Mrs. Melendez, >> yes. >> Mrs. Norciss, >> yes. >> Mr. Orzillo, >> yes. And with that, we'll take a motion for confidential session. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any uh questions or comments from the board?
>> Seeing none, um all those in favor? >> I. >> All right. Be it resolved that the board meet in confidential session for the purpose of discussing negotiation, personnel, matters of client attorney privilege, pending or anticipated litigation, confidential people matters, and real estate matters. We have further resolved that matters discussed in
confidential session be disclosed to the public with the reason for confident when the reason for confidentiality no longer exists. We are in confidential session. I'm going to call us back to session. Can we take a roll call, please? >> Mrs. Aquino, >> here.
>> Mrs. Fenton >> here. >> Mrs. Faggera, >> here. >> Mrs. Fitzgerald, >> here. >> Dr. Jano, >> here. >> Mrs. Melendez, >> here. >> Mrs. Narcissis >> here. >> Mrs. O'Neal >> here. >> Mr. Orizillo >> here. And with that, we'll move to commu
communications and petitions. Superintendent, members of the board may acknowledge any communications and or petitions received. Do we have anything? >> No. Nope. And with that, we will move to the superintendence report. At this time, I would like to invite
high school administrative team up to um discuss the accolades of our class of 2025 as well as our all our AP achievements for our previous school year. Yeah. >> Well, this is a different cler, right? Okay.
>> Okay. Good evening, everybody. Um, I'm Suzetski. As you know, this is Kevin's pride and joy. So, I'm sure you're watching Mr. Sansbury. I hope we do you proud. Um, Mr. stands where I put together his accolades, accomplishments, and
aspirations slideshow to show off, as he should, all of the great accomplishments of our class of 2025. Um, due in large part, of course, to our entire staff and also our fabulous administrative team.
So, as you know, we are uh a high school with unprecedented opportunity. Uh there was a slide a few slides further in, but you may have heard that our ranking went up in US News and World Report. So we're very very proud of that
and pleased. I would think that all of the extracurricular activities that we offer come into play with regard to that ranking. And this is just a very small sampling. I know it'd be very hard to get it all on one slide of all that Manolof High School has to offer to our
students. Um I met with the freshman team or the freshman students rather with our team and when I told them that I graduated in 1988 um that we had you know a very small portion of the these opportunities at my
high school. So currently we are now 1589 in the entire United States. We out of 24,000 plus schools, we are in the top six% of best high schools in the country. We are number 80 in New Jersey,
number 56 out of public high schools, and number nine in Mars County. And again, as you all know, Mr. Stanbury loves to do his statistics. So when he boiled it down even further, um we are even higher than that when you take out some of the non-public schools. So
again, congratulations. This is excellent. Here's [Applause] just a sampling of course of some of the schools in Mars County and you can see where we are highlighted towards the top again. Our student enrollment was
approximately 1511, our national ranking 1580, our state state ranking 80 and our county again nine. So this is again wonderful news. We're very proud of our students and our staff. Um, we work hard and we play hard. And if you're ever at the high school, you
know that. Lots of laughs in between all of the hard work and certainly Mr. Stanbury lip dub obsession. I'm going to let Mr. Feltman who oversees our student services office talk a little bit about the class of
2025 and their accomplishments. They are >> um you know we send we send about each year we send about 85% of our students to uh some post-secary college um uh 64 uh% of them this past year went into a
four-year school. Uh the rest of the breakdown is up. We graduated about 361 students last year. Um they're attending the next click. Um oh Mr. Stanbury has it in twice. Okay, that's a breakdown by
uh demographic and um uh nationality. So, you can take a look at those numbers. Go ahead. And now we're on to our state scores. Um the uh school district uh 68% of uh high
school 11th graders passed the uh math portion of the NJGPA and 95% of our 11th graders earned a passing score on the ELA test. and I'll turn it back over to Miss Wastesi to go over some of our other
highlights. >> Okay. Um, as you can see, these are some of the highlights of the class of 2025. 84% of the graduates will be pursuing post-secary education with 63% attending
four-year colleges and universities. Our graduating seniors will be attending colleges and universities across the country, including institutions such as John's Hopkins University, Northeastern University, Lafayette College, Cornell University, University of Chicago, and
NYU. 98 students have opted to remain in the state of New Jersey to attend one of our fine four-year institutions. Going to plug Ruckers. While 78 students will start college utilizing the resources of our community college network. 24 graduates will enter the workforce. And
this is very honorable and impressive. Five graduates from the 2025 class will serve our nation as a member of the armed forces. And yes, and as always, our generous community
awarded over $65,000 in scholarship money. And as always, we appreciate their commitment and support in helping our students. Three students were recognized as National Merit Commended students. And additionally, we are proud to recognize
our 34 graduating seniors who have earned the seal of biiteracy diploma, which is a distinguished honor that celebrates proficiency in two or more languages. This reflects your dedication, culturalware, cultural awareness, and communication skills in
an increasingly global world. that I would just like to say because I used to supervise the world language department that my favorite part about that seal of biiteracy is that it went to a lot of our students who didn't get other awards. So it really made them feel seen
and heard and you know we commended them for taking a chance on that diploma. Our valadictorian, Blessing Anyang, is attending John's Hopkins and our saludiatoran, Tanisha Duza, is attending
the honors college at NJIT. Our Mort team as always had a very successful year. They were the 2025 Manal of District winner, the Centennial District First Impact Award, and they won the Mid-Atlantic District
Championship. And those kids and adviserss work hard and around the clock. I see them in their black and yellow shirts all the time after school. Similarly, our underwater underwater robotics team mate took second place in
technical documentation. Our 12th grade health seniors participated in our community awareness night. I know some of you were there. We have been doing this for a few years where the seniors get to work in a group and
choose a passion project basically and provide a presentation to everybody who attends that night on things such as mental health, physical health, all sorts of areas of health and how to lead a healthy lifestyle. And that was held in the main gym and was very well
attended. I'm sure you came to all of our fabulous plays this year. We put the prom on in the fall and Greece, one of my favorites in the spring. And I have to say, I love all the plays, but Greece certainly won my heart this year. So, if you haven't
had a chance to come to any of our school's productions, I highly encourage you to do so. I uh dragged my husband along a couple of times and he was like, "Oh, a school play." And then afterwards, he's like, "That was not just a school play." So, I'm anxious to see what they're putting on this year.
This year, our drama club also, as always, won many awards. Four seniors won awards for their performances in Greece and the prom at the Bucks County Drama Festival. Seniors in both ensembles of Greece and the Prom won best ensemble awards at the Bucks County Drama Festival. One senior was nominated
for best solo at the Bergen Pack Awards. One senior won best lighting designer for Greece at the Bergen Pack Awards. One senior was part of a duet that won first place in musical theater at Mars County Teen Arts. Another senior won second place in musical theater at Mars
County Teen Arts. Seniors in our thespian society won performance excellence at Mars County Teen Arts. Another senior was nominated for best overall actor for the prom at Monontlair's Foxy Awards and another one at the same awards for best lighting design. Seniors in the prom were
nominated for best overall production and best ensemble at the Foxy Awards. And one senior won for lighting design at Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards. Our Air Force junior Rosi also had a very successful year. 14 seniors
fulfilled all four years of the Air Air Force Junior ROC program and are recognized today with the red, white, and blue cord that would have been at graduation. Nine of those seniors were part of the executive leadership who led the largest class of cadets to date with
123 core cadetses in obtaining a perfect perfect score on their annual unit assessment by headquarters resulting in an exceeds standards rating and capturing the prestigious distinguished unit award with merit. And I think Mr. Felman that was the event we attended
where some of them were standing for a very long time and it looked like they might pass out a few of them but they did it. It was very impressive. 17 seniors contributed to the record- setting 1,92 cumulative hours of community service. Seven seniors
competed in last year's Junior RTC drill competitions and came home with a record- setting 12 trophies with six first place, four second place, and one third place and the unit's first ever overall first place trophy. and one senior was selected for the Air Force
Junior RTC Flight Academy scholarship and earned their private pilots license. And if you've met Chief Bedell, he also lives and breathes Mount Olive and the Junior RTC program. So, congratulations to him as well. drill competition. We had an unarmed
color color guard achieving first place, an armed color guard, first place, solo exhibition, first place, and dual exhibition first place to Kyle Enzinger and Jah Jazal Ona. First place in the athletic challenge, first place in the academic challenge,
and the unarmed overall winner. So again, congratulations to our junior ROTC Air Force program. Mount Olive High School inclusivity, as you know, is a top priority. Our unified
program was wonderful last year. We've added some new courses this year. The sports program is wonderful. Um, it's the only sports teams that let me play with them. So, I always enjoy playing basketball with our unified teams and it's always a great time.
Some more sports highlights. This year, the gymnastics team was crowned state champs. Our wrestling team was district and regional state champs. Our outstanding conference and county champions include teams in field hockey and gymnastics, volleyball, baseball, flag football, with wrestling also
taking home the prestigious Morris County Championship title. We had the honor of celebrating multiple coaches who earned coach of the year recognition, which is a testament of course to their exceptional leadership. And beyond team victories, our athletes consistently push their boundaries with
multiple players breaking conference, county, school, and even state records. This commitment to athletic excellence is further highlighted by the 120 athletes who were three seasoned participants, demonstrating incredible dedication year round. This remarkable
talent extends to their next chapters as 24 of our graduating student athletes from the class of 2025 will continue their athletic careers at the collegiate level. Alongside numerous individuals honored with scholar athlete awards,
dual enrollment, we have some programs working with Satan Hall, Fairley Dickinson and Keen University and advanced placement which is I think the reason for our large large audience tonight. Our AP results again were
excellent. My vision isn't great, but I think it says 856 students took the exam with an average score of 3.4, eight, six, six. Thank you. And nearly 80% of our students scored a score of
three, four, or five. And the highlighted column to all the way to the right shows the increase in scores from previous years and compared to New Jersey. Man Olive versus New Jersey. In that same vein, Mr. Felman and I are
now going to present our AP scholars with their certificates. We did ask for an RSVP because there were really quite a few students who earned this distinction. So, when we call your names, if you could please come up and if you are here and I don't call your name, stand up, jump, shout, get my
attention. I will find your certificate because I have it here. So, just to clarify, I have my cheat sheet here because it does get a little confusing here. But to be recognized as an AP scholar, you would have had to score three or higher on three or more
exams. A scholar with honor, you would have scored a 3.25 average and scores of three or higher on four or more exams. an AP scholar with distinction, a 3.5 average score, and three or higher on
five or more exams. To be a capstone diploma recipient, you would have had to take and succeed with the seminar and research exams and scores of three or higher on both exams and on four additional exams. And the seminar and
research certificates go to students who have successfully completed both the seminar and research courses with a score of three or higher. So without further ado, Lakshana Arumugum,
[Applause] Logan Berg, [Applause] Aiden Bobby, [Applause]
Suev Chatari. [Applause] [Music] Madison Clemente. Clemente. Okay. Madison, I think I have two awards for
you. AP Scholar and AP Seminar and Research. [Applause] Jacob Kramer, Katherine who [Applause]
Oliver Hoon Benjamin Kennedy [Applause] Aaron Klene, [Applause]
Dominic Landi, [Applause] Sumeda Maram Ganti, [Applause] Richard E. Mattiskll
[Applause] Sven Moray. [Applause] Jillian Moscatello also getting two awards. Anthony Murray,
[Applause] Mel Pipilly. Resh Ragu Debi Ray Nicole Rampasad [Applause]
Arman Shanker [Applause] Sanvi Shanker, [Applause] Liam Shelton.
[Applause] Liam, I bet that's your dad or grandfather, right? Abigail Stewart. Benjamin Swick, [Applause] Rashida Travidi,
[Applause] Sophia Trombley, also getting two awards. >> Dylan Vanradit. He has your certificate. Anthony Walsh, [Applause]
Richard Wang. [Applause] Is there anybody who didn't RSVP but is here? I probably have your certificate. Okay, so just to show everybody this is the pile. So this is how many students
they might be on summer vacation. They couldn't attend, but this is how many students we had receive one of these awards. So that's quite an accomplishment. So congratulations to all of them. And the last slide was Kevin's plug for the lip dub as you saw. So go home and watch it again because we know how he
loved that. Thank you. >> Before our Are we on Are we live? Before everybody leaves, is there are there any comments from the board? Well, Dr. Godana, >> thank you, Madam President. Just a congratulations, Miss Z and Mr. Stanbury and the high school staff, Mr. Felman,
excellent job. I just want to put out a couple things uh to our community and to the board. Um that second slide when we talk about Malav High School unprecedented opportunities that is something no other high school in my opinion being in the field myself for a long time absolutely does not do for their students or for their for their
community. Uh I was fortunate enough to work at uh Berkeley Heights Governor Livingston High School just rose from number 90 to 54. I guarantee you that school does not offer I know for a fact that high school does not offer their students what we here in Mount Olive offer. And I know a lot of their board members want them and a lot of their
teachers want them and a lot of administrators outside the high school principal want them to offer what we do here. Hopefully, they'll get it together. So, when we hear in the community um how much our taxes are going up, I get it. Everyone's taxes are going up. I think it's archaic that school education and state of New Jersey
is funded off a property tax. It's a very repressive system, but that's the system we have to do. And our goal as a board and past boards of eds and past superintendents including Dr. Lamonte, Dr. Reynolds, Dr. Dr. Ziki and our current superintendent, Dr. Banu, have recognized that we want to continue to
move our district forward, continuous school improvement. And we are fortunate enough as a board of ed, past and and current board of ed members to have a principal and Mr. Stanberry who understood that, was willing to take that challenge. And we always didn't agree with Mr. Stanberry on what we wanted to do, but he got on board with
it and said, "Hey, I have some great ideas that we can start to give our students these opportunities to find themselves." And that's what we do amount of. So although I'm very proud of our score being 80 and us moving up the ranks, I hope our community does recognize and know especially my fellow board members who whose students are
going to be freshmen, your your children have tenfold the opportunities my kids did even eight years ago. So I just want people to know that that that's a great score, but but really I don't really care about scores. I care more about the opportunities that we're giving our students. And so I think that's everything to be proud of. And certainly the high school administrative staff
should uh should stand up and take a bow. So thank you. [Applause] Any other comments, questions? I think to piggy back off Dr. Gardano is
we're looking to put students into the world that have global, you know, experiences, opportunities that are outside the classroom. It is also proven when the students are engaged in their community as a school, they do better in the classroom. They have more purpose.
whether it's on the sports field, whether it's the TV production or more, our students are global, you know, individuals going out into the world and experiencing and then sharing those experiences in their next journey. So, I do absolutely, you know, say get
involved. There's something for everybody at this this district. And congratulations, your accomplishments, students. Amazing. Do you ever sleep is my question. Any other comments from the board? Dr. Dr. Bier, >> I just want to echo everyone's
sentiment. We are incred incredibly proud of our students and most importantly our staff as well because certainly it's the staff behind the students who really create those opportunities and that was reflective today when we had our opening with the staff today. So, thank you for everyone having a warm welcome and we're hitting
the ground running for the welcoming the students back this Wednesday. And with that we it is if any of the students wish to depart now would be the time. I'll give you guys like a minute or two.
>> The room is clearing. >> We're not taking a full break. Everyone >> is clearing. Meeting >> personnel. You're going to be up next. >> On deck. And deck. >> On deck. Look, I got my thing so big.
Look at this. >> I'm in favor. >> Yes. >> Okay. I think most of the students have departed. With that, we're going to move on to the remaining reports. Personnel committee report. Miss Fenton.
>> Hi there. Yes, we met um on the 19th of this month. Uh, so Miss Aquino could not be there in her place. Was >> Can you hear me? >> Yeah, we can. >> All right. You can hear me. All right.
Um, please correct me if I'm wrong, but Miss Melendez, you were there in place of Miss Aquino, correct? >> Yes, I was there. >> Yes. I I I get confused between CNT and personnel. So, we had our district hiring update by Mr. more with an
overview of all the new hires. Um, they were invited to meet at the board this September. I think it's Yep. >> Next week. Yep. >> Next week. Uh, K through 12 science supervisor search update. Mr. Moore updated the committee on the status of a
science supervisor position. The post is still open. We have a lunch recess monitor job descriptions right now. Uh, one of the things I am Am I allowed to say about their vests? >> The vests.
>> Vest. >> Sure. >> All right. One of one of the things about that is everybody gets to have a nice yellow vest if they're going to be lunch or recess monitors. So So we could tell Yes. So you could be the proud uh wearer. Um, we also, um, looked at the
county average substitute pay, um, rates and we have raised the rates, uh, quite substantially. >> We're looking into it. We haven't finalized that yet. >> We haven't finalized that. >> No, we haven't. We haven't. >> Okay. Well, we made a suggestion. >> Yes. >> Yes. I'm sorry, please. And, uh, that's
about it. We just had some other small confidential discussions. >> That's it. >> Thank you. Any questions from the board? >> Dr. Bania, I would just like to say that if the 140 does not work for our subs that we this board considers going a
little higher than that because there's neighboring districts that pay more than 140. So if we find that we're struggling with with substitutes, I think we need to go a little higher. >> What do neighboring districts What's the do we know >> average? >> Yeah, we looked it was created a chart
looked at all it's it spreads. We're on the lower end. Got it. We're on the lower end. Okay. So, >> right now we're we're low for our for our daily rate. We're pretty high for permanent subs. Uh so, what we kicked around was if we raised the daily sub rate, we'd have to raise up we'd want to raise up the permanent sub rate. So,
back to me, we were just throwing around numbers and I Dr. Brewer, we she gave us a spreadsheet um on what was surrounding districts do. So, right now on the low rate right now, currently it's 140 to 160 depending on daily rates um size of districts needs and stuff like that. So, but again, we we we tend to task our
substitutes um a little bit more with what with what we can anyone hear me? I'm sorry. Thank you, Dr. We tend to task ourselves a little bit more, I think, than other districts do. So, when you sub for Mount Olive, you just don't follow the teacher schedule. When that teacher has a prep, you're shifted to another area. You only get basically a
lunch. So, that's another thing we asked Dr. Bania to to investigate. So, that's why we didn't really sell that 140 rate. We're still kind of kind of kicking around this. >> Why would they need a prep though if they're subbing? We used to do that. So back in the day we changed that years ago to say we need to get more. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So but other districts the sub
back in the day when I used to sub like when I was young enough you used to follow the teachers. So when they had to prep you had to prep now it's >> kind of that was that was a little long time ago. As long as you >> wow move on >> for the for the peace of mind uh uh Miss
Aquino we discussed that yes in the meeting and we uh were the perspective of the lower and the higher and then we came to the mean and an average that is competitive is still competitive even when it's in a lower end.
>> Okay. >> Thank you. And we have to look at our fill rates too. You know, I agree with you. If we're not in our fill rates, >> let's raise. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> All right. With that, we'll move on to curriculum and instruction committee report. Mrs. Figer, the CNC committee
met last Monday, the 18th, in Dr. Bania's office. I was not present. Mrs. Narcissis and I switched meetings last week, so she was a guest on my behalf. Um, Dr. Bania was present. Dr. Reagan, Mrs. O'Neal, and Mrs. Fenton. We also
had some other guests including Deb Huffman and Mr. Godeno was in attendance. The committee discussed um they well they finalized their board goal to support the curricular and instructional practices of the district.
I thought you were going to say something. Okay. Um um another topic was special education. They plan professional development work. They also updated the 2025 2026 school calendar.
Um, elementary curriculum night was discussed. Dr. Reagan discussed the early planning phases of the first annual elementary curriculum night which is planned for Wednesday, November 12th. NJSLA and NJ GPA updates were given by
Dr. Angia. Another topic of discussion was the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the NAP, long-term trend assessment. Um, in regards to Tins Road School,
I teach was also discussed. It's a fully online asynchronous and alternative pathway to obtaining a standard New Jersey teaching license. And Dr. Krider provided a technology report which was reviewed.
>> Do we have questions or comments from the board? Dr. Gordano. >> Thank you, Madam President. And just a follow up to uh to to Miss Fugera's um uh update there on the on the just so everyone knows the NJSLA and NJPA updates, but the NJSLA um that has I
know Dr. Banjo updated the full board on it. Uh they're they're the the state is proposing changing that test for the spring and doing field testing in the fall. So um if parents ask you, I'm sure those letters will start going out from the schools at some point in September. I'm sure our our parents and our
community may get up in arms. So that's why I want to put out there now the five people that are home watching this that um they can get a handle of this to understand that this is to the state. Although we don't know if this is going to happen or not because it's the state and there's a lot of things going on. So you want to say something about that, Dr. >> Yeah. Certainly right now we're waiting
on to see what sections of the test each grade level is required to take. We don't have that information. They're saying that it's not going to be the entire T test, but we're not sure if it's 2 days, 3 days, one day. So, we're holding that information. That's why we're holding off on sharing our assessment calendar because we don't
actually know from a state perspective how many days that's going to entail with respect to um NJSLA and NJGPA for the field test this fall. Um with respect to the NJ um the NAP which is that national test that our M um Tinsroad was chosen to take um that's
definitely going to be happening. Um it's one of those you know tests that are administered across the nation to calibrate as far as how we're performing against other schools across the nation. So it's you know it's one of those tests that we do get chosen for periodically. >> And and just to follow up to that too Dr.
just and correct me if I'm wrong. Really, we're doing this field test because the state is finishing up their contract with Pearson who gave the test is not renewing it. So, there's a new vendor coming in. So, now this whole cycle starts again with school districts having to spend their own money from tax dollars to train and make sure
infrastructure all set up and all that stuff. So, >> and it's a different it's a different set type of test. It's adaptive, meaning that um how a student responds to a question will dictate the um the questions that will proceed from there. So that's certainly a different type of test that students have never taken,
hence the field test. I certainly understand the logic behind it, but to then as a school district to be told not exactly to know how many days and also we don't also want to over test our students. That's something that we're very conscientious about that you know
at the start of the school year they're valuable days. Kids are very engaged. They're excited to be in school and you know we don't want to spend them all in some kind of testing form whether it be something that's given at the state national or something that we do at the local level. >> Do we know the vendor? Do you know the vendors doing that test? >> I don't know the name of the top of my
head. >> No. >> So just a question is this are these two add so it's the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment Adaptive and the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment Adaptive. Those are additional or are
they replacing the NJSLA and NJ GPA? >> So, there's two different things going on right now. We have the field test which is going to I want to say um look um look at how this new test, the adaptive test is going to be because they've never taken that type of test. Moving forward this starting this spring
the spring of 26 the NJSLA as well as the NJGPA is going to be adaptive which is that format in which the questions are going to be dictated as far as their responses to a prior question. So every child sitting in a classroom may get totally different tests >> just like our diagnostics.
>> Exactly. Just like a diagnostic test. >> So but the at the moment though for these field tests that means there's two additional >> there's going to be Yes. So fall administration and spring administration but only the spring is going to be counting. So, but for our students that means it's taking classroom learning
time away from them, >> you know, and engagement and time with their teachers to actually be learning, let alone being tested on. >> And we've been in contact with the county and we expressed our frustration. Certainly, we recognize transitioning to a new type of test. there's a there's a
level importance for students to get acclimated to it but not to be told as far as the um the parameters in which that test is going to be administered and it's already September >> and that is a bit frustrating right because we always want to do right by kids right and that's really what we're
always going to do but if we don't have the parameters in which that's going to test is going to be administered number of days number of sections it's very difficult for us to then administer our important diagnostic tests yeah >> because that those are local things that we give. So, but to my point before, we also don't want to over test our
students. So, we're going to have a lot of decisions to make um you know, come September as far as what we're going to end up being required to do and what we should do. So, we're going to have those conversations and certainly we'll be engaging um curriculum and technology committee as far as our steps moving forward. But certainly, the
responsiveness of the county has been very um very appreciative. um all officials at the county level have been very keen and understanding of our um frustration. In fact, that's a nice word of how to phrase it. >> So, and then the other question though
is this these tests the data from that how how much do we get and at what time frame do we like obtain that data as a district or is it more for the state zone? >> To be honest with you, we do get them relatively quick. When I say quick, for
example, the NJSLA, we got those results in July, but those are also at the macro level, meaning that we only got the scores on the total sections of ELA and math. Um, it's not the breakdown in which we kind of analyze that data comes in about September. So that we do use
that data. You know, our our staff are very um data wise individuals and they incorporate that into their PLC time in which they make data informed decisions as far as placement is concerned and supports. And that's really we don't try to use state testing as a gotcha by any means. If there is used in in a
placement, it is used in context of multiple measures. You know, one of the things that I am very proud about the district is that we're not a data driven district. You know, we have to obviously make it inform our decision-making. So that's why I like to use the term data informed and not data driven because kids are much more than test scores. But
certainly to your question, we do get the scores much sooner than we have in the past as far as all tests are concerned. But we get them July initial um overall scores in September and we get those breakdown scores and families should be receiving their um individual
students um reports sometime in October. >> Any other questions? I know we've kind of harped on that a bit. Nope. Seeing none. Okay, we will move on to finance and operations. Miss Fitzgerald. >> Yes, finance and operations met August
18th. In attendance were myself, Miss Shoning, Dr. Bangia, Miss Narcissis, and Ms. O'Neal. Uh, we started by reviewing security, transportation, and facilities reports. Um, just a note on transportation. I'm sure you guys have seen Stopfinder has rolled out. Uh, I
think we have at that point, this was before a lot of the notifications went out, we already had 600 people who had downloaded the app. If you haven't used it, it's like tracking your Amazon package, but that package is your child. Um, it's very exciting. So, um there's going to be a bunch of different um phases of it that will be rolling out and a lot of different functionalities,
but it is very cool. As a parent who can never tell when I should get to the bus stop, I'm really excited about it. Um so, that was the first part and then we went on to learn uh Miss Shoning said that the audit for our 2024 25 year has started. Um she also shared that her
team has been busy on a purchasing manual for the 2025 26 year. Uh and so it's just going to be uh going over the processing of purchase orders, the way to do that in compliance with purchase laws, and then our staff is going to be retrained on those best practices.
Uh we reviewed a potential guidance uh suite project at the high school, discussed some potential options there and estimates. Uh there will be more um discussion on that in the future. We also looked at a couple grants. We have a couple grants out that are kind of interesting. We have the uh 25 fiscal
year 25 violence prevention grant and the water infrastructure grant. The violence prevention grant uh that we should be notified early fall, fingers crossed on that. And then the water infrastructure grant uh is due August 31st. And then a couple projects. Uh so the um
high school stadium drain repair that is complete which is exciting. That is done. Thank you to the team who worked on that. The Sanure Direct Install project, our financing was approved, so that's 0% over five years, which is great. Um, our concession services RFP
has um been readvertised. Uh, we didn't get a great showing the first time, so we're hoping for a great showing the second. Um, and then we uh also will be discussing more in the future um overtime analysis. Um, we'll be reviewing that. And then we are also looking for a new property manager
appointment to our um office, our board office building. Did I miss anything? We covered a lot in that. >> Just two things I want to expand upon. That concession RFP that Mrs. Fitzgerald is referring to is um a company that we would like to contract out a company in general as far as the advertising for
our jumbotron. Yes. So that's something that I just want to be clear on as far as that, you know, because we generate revenue from it. We want to make sure that we are operating within, you know, the money required to. So that's why we issued the RFP. We're looking forward to some companies um putting in for it so we can get that off the ground. So we
have been working diligent behind the scenes in order to um take that place. The other one is the NJ cool grant. I know that Chris. So, just to let you know, we are looking to pursue the NJ cool grant, which is um a grant was put back out by the state to replace, you know, cooling and heating units, so to
speak. And um we're looking to um three of our schools qualified because you had to be within an overburdened, you know, portion of town. And so there um a couple schools that we're looking at to ensure to get about 50% of the cost paid through by the state. Um that's something we really are excited about.
So, we're looking at um talking to some of the companies to see if that's something that we want to pursue, but certainly that's another cost savings along with the rod grant that we got here um for the HVAC. So, the district has been doing a number of things for the past couple years to address the
infrastructure um at a at a rate that's much lower that if we just paid out of pocket. So, so we're excited about pursuing the the cool grant as well. >> Yeah. And I have to again kudos to our team and administrators who have been really diligent about looking into grants as options to really reduce the financial burden on the district. It's
really phenomenal. >> And certainly um Michony can probably speak to our direct install project over at Sanro is going to be beginning soon. Correct. >> Yes. >> So that's another cost savings of how much to the um to the district percentage wise do you call Michony? >> Uh that was a savings of about 65%.
>> So 65% savings on that. Um the rod grant was about how much savings? 33% >> 34% >> 34% and then if we um pursue this um cool grant 50% savings on that as well and that does not include the um direct install that we did at the um district
building in which we also saved about >> that was 75% >> 75% cost that we saved as well. Plus we also earned that recent playground grant. >> Yes. >> That was $100,000 $1,000. So we're not talking like tiny dollars. We're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars in
savings, which is phenomenal. >> So when you look at the combinations of all those grants that we pursued in the past three years, we're looking up substantial savings for the community while at the same time ensuring that our facilities are top-notch and safe places for both our students and staff. >> Agreed.
>> Any other questions from the board? >> Very thorough. >> That's all right. Seeing none, we're going to move to the policy to the policy committee and we have Miss Melendez. >> Yes. Uh the policy committee we met on
August 19. Uh we were Miss Fitzgerald, Dr. Jordano and Dr. Ba in attendance. Um at the meeting uh so the policy committee review as stress as made recommended policy and regulation uh
revision creation and abolishment uh policies regulations focus a wide variety of topics including those impacting the business operation personnel and student health specifically the new sunscreen policy.
uh district recommended policy changes focused on student health uh for the lies and student privacy. Uh recent core decisions were discussed also uh that impact the above policies and future
policy changes. >> Thank you. >> I just want to bring attention to that sunscreen policy which is new. Um so certainly um after next the next meeting which we'll have the second reading we'll set up more information to our families that's going to enable students
to um bring sunscreen with permission to school in order to apply it so that you know we can ensure that their um sun safety is a priority for the school district. >> Any any other questions or comments from the board related to policy?
Okay, seeing none, oh, I lost my spot. Here we go. I'm back up. Sorry. Seeing none, we'll move on to subcommittee and parent teacher association liaison reports. Do we have anyone from the public tonight?
>> Hi, Amy. >> Hello. >> I'm Amy Marini, one of the co-leaders for CPAC, the special education parent advisory group. I know I say that every time. Um, welcome to a new school year for everybody. Um, I really just wanted
to say, you know, um, welcome. Um, we still are meeting every month, the second Tuesday of the month. September, we actually are shifting to September 11th, Thursday, because, um, the middle school's back to school night is actually falls on the same night. We don't want parents to have to choose
where they're going. Um, so we'll be sending out something about that shortly. Um, we still will be alternating. The district will be coming. Um, so September, November, January, so forth. Um, and then it'll be
parent only for the alternate months. Um, so that way we can get some more feedback, kind of really work together. Um, both to collaborate with the district, but also to really get that information from the parents. Um, I know I sent you all the SEAK stuff. Sorry it was so late but I'm hopeful that it was
helpful. Um so that way the links are there. So the SEAK is the state special education advisory council. Um their dates just came out for this school year. So um you know exciting stuff if you would. Um and so
um so yeah so um we always are looking for more people to join us. Um, if you have any questions, you know, reach out to me or, um, you know, any of you guys, I suppose, you can point them in the direction of CPAC and, um, you know, looking forward to a a good year of
collaboration between the district and the parents. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Any questions from the board? >> No. Okay, seeing that, anyone else for subcommittee and parent or parent teacher association leaison?
>> I do on behalf of the FPTA. They sent me a message. They have a welcome back breakfast for teachers planned as donated by the parents um in partnership with their spiritware provider. They have student t-shirts and teacher teacher t-shirts to be used
throughout the year designed. Um they've distributed folders and agendas throughout all of the classrooms. They've successfully welcomed their newest students to Mountain View in preschool. Tomorrow, the fifth graders are invited to participate in a chalk the walk event to welcome all students
with words of encouragement. They are also greeting all kindergarteners with kindergarten swag bags filled with scholastic goodies. They have signup sheets via a QR code for all volunteers for the many events that they have coming up this school year. They will be provided at back to
school night. The first PTA meeting is scheduled for September 7th and their membership sign up is up and ready for members to start joining for the year. Do we have questions from the board? >> No. I will actually add to it. I
actually attended the Mount Olive Township Council meeting. It was workshop meeting on August 19th. Couple items of interest related to school district and just community members in general. Um they actually read out a
resolution authorizing a cost share agreement between the New Jersey Department of Trans Transportation and the township um to move forward with implementing a traffic plate at Route 46 and Connley. It's a 25% cost sharing agreement between the Department of
Transportation and the township. Um there was another item of interest. they um appointed and approved um Michael Schwarz for instructor to run an afterchool program which is run by
the recck department. Um so I don't have much information. I did ask for details on that additional programming. Um, the other item that was of interest on our radar is the passed a resolution authorizing and directing the township
planning board to conduct a preliminary investigation to determine whether a proposed study area at 3100 Continental Drive, block 301, lot 4, can be designed as a non-condemnation area in need of redevelopment pursuant
to NJSA 40A. semi colon 12A-1. Um, essentially they're looking to see if the planning board will um evaluate and do a survey if that area can be
developable. The township owns um over 50 acres in that area is my understanding. And that was really all that was pertinent to the district. Any questions? >> Nope. Why don't you let me mention?
>> Oh, sorry. You're on. >> I I just want to casually uh mention that I did um attend planning board. They asked me to uh please just inform them what um any of our capital projects, which we really had none. We
were doing all improvements. Um they're very pleased to see us there. They did ask some questions on um what we plan on doing with all the children we'll be getting with the new buildings and we had a small discussion about that that
hopefully we will keep discussing but it was just a very casual conversation to start up what what we've been doing and what we will be doing. Any other questions from the board? Nope. Okay, seeing none. um president's
report other than new school year. Um have a great year all students, all the parents, please staff. Um we're back to I'm going to call it back to academic focus I think for everyone. Um and with that, I will move on to public comments
on action items. Members of the community may comment on any action item prior to board discussion. Please state your name and address for the record. All comments must be respectfully presented. abusive or obscene comments will not be tolerated and there is the additional public comments on all items
at the end of um the agenda. So the mic is open for public comments on action items. Nope. Do we need like the Jeopardy music going? Okay, with that going once, twice. All right, we'll close out public comment. We are going to move on and
we're actually going to do a consent agenda if everyone is in favor and I will take a motion to approve item 7.1 all the way through and I'm going to call on somebody. Um all the way down to 11.19
and Dr. Gordaniano I'm going to put you on the spot like always. >> Super. Thank you. On the recommendation of the superintendent move action item 7.1 all the way down to >> 19. I like to do it myself. Thank you. >> Just take longer. >> 11.19.
>> Second. >> Questions or comments from the board? >> No. Okay. Seeing none, we will take a roll call. >> Dr. Gordano. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Aquino. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fanton?
>> Yes. >> Mrs. Faggera? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fitzgerald? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Melendez? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Narcissis? >> Yes. >> Mrs. O'Neal? I abstain from anything for Christian Humphrey or special education. >> Mr. Orzillo.
>> Yes. >> All right. With that, the mic is open for public comment. Students, parents, employees, and community members may comment on any item of interest pertaining to the Mount Olive School District. Please state your name and address for the record. All comments
must be respectfully presented. Abusive or obscene comments will not be tolerated and the mic is open for any public comment. All right, I'm going to count down. Going once, going twice. Okay, we're closing out public comment then. And we will move to
old business. Members of the board may comment on any item of topic that was previously discussed. Do we have anyone with old business? Nope. Okay, we'll move on. Anyone with new business? [Music] Nope. Okay, we'll keep moving and we
will move to board administrative comments. Members of the board may comment on any item of interest pertaining to the Mount Olive School District. We'll start at the end. Dr. Cheraniano, >> no comment, Madam President. >> Mrs. Fitzgerald, no comment. Mrs. Melendas
>> wishing everyone a very schooly a a productive school year and that is commencing this week. Teachers already are at school and students will come in on Wednesday. So we hope you take advantage of the all the opportunities
that the school district offer you as students and engage not only academically but also in specials and all the interests and activities and organizations that we have and the teachers um offer you at the classrooms
and offer also as mentors in the different organizations and the coaches uh on a for it >> and subpoena. >> Um I ditto second that and also congratulate the high school and all the
administrative team and congratulate the students for doing another wonderful year and moving us up the charts. Thank you for that. >> I'm going to ditto both of them and I'm also going to say welcome back teachers and welcome back students. I hope you have a blessed year.
And with that, I'll also add um watch for our athletics and all of our other activities. I think football kicks off before our next meeting. So that's always a great time for the community. Also um before our next meeting, we have 911 there. 6 on 911, 6:30, 7:30, there
is a vigil at the All Veterans Memorial. And Mrs. Neil, I think they're doing the all veterans um vigil as well, >> the 24-hour vigil. And >> yes, they are again this year. >> And will that be September, October? >> It is in the date
>> in September. September. >> September. >> Yeah. >> We'll put some information out about the all veterans um 24-hour vigil. Um our ROC usually participates as well. And with that, I will pass it on to Mr.
Rosillo. Any comment? No comment, >> Mrs. Figerero. >> So, all of my notes were already said. Thank you. Um, but I do want to add one thing. Um, on Friday night, I was out on the field at the high school and the new
turf and track look fabulous. They do. >> Um, and very squishy. It was It was It was very comfortable to sit on, to walk on. We had our cheer practice there. No pellets, right? >> No pellets. >> It was very No pellets, which is the best of all. I'm so glad I'm not going to find those all around my house.
>> Yes, it's a win-win for all. >> And with that, >> September 19th, >> September 19th is the all veterans 24-hour vigil. >> Opening ceremony will be at 4:00. >> 4 o'clock. Okay. And any comments, Mrs. O'Neal, to add to that?
>> Uh, just have a great year. >> And Dr. Bae, >> already said it, but >> good luck everyone. Have a great year. >> It'll be a great year. All right. Right. With that, I'll take a motion to adjourn the meeting. >> So moved. >> All those in favor?