Township Board of Education meeting today is February 26 can we all please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one
nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all Mr Ali here Mr Carter here M James here miss Kei here Mr Lori here Dr Patel here Mr Singh here M to here and Mr W here we
have a thank you the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the open public meetings law the
public notice of this meeting which included the time date and location was distributed by 3 pm Tuesday November 26 2024 and Wednesday November 27th 2024 in the following manner posted on the bulletin board reserve for announcements
in the board office 25 lywood place North Brunswick mail to the home News Tribune Star Ledger nj.com and the clerk of the township of North Brunswick and delivered to the nine duly elected board members good evening everyone hope everyone is doing well it is February we
are nearing the end of February so March is right around the corner spring is around the corner I personally didn't wear a jacket tonight which was kind of nice um we've had a cold winter so definitely looking forward to the warmth of spring and um you'll notice that I
have a new but not not so new face uh to my left we have Mrs Amy Kea filling in for U Mrs Janet choka tonight our superintendent um superintendent choka went through uh some surgery on her eye everything is okay um and she is in
recovery mode right now she will be back to us very soon um we wish her well we've been checking in on her and I know that she's probably watching and listening in tonight so thank you for filling in and being here and I'll also turn it over to you because um our one
presentation tonight is our annual violence and vandalism report reporting period one for our district and uh we will get started then thank you so much thank you madam president happy to be here tonight and sitting in this chair um
well as we do twice a year um this is our required annual um reporting period one which covers July 1st of 2024 through December 31st uh 2004 and the information can be found on our board agenda Pages 12 through 14 but I also
did have a presentation packet for the board in front of them tonight um that also highlights this information so as required um we do compare uh numbers of incidents uh HIV alleged training
programs um from one reporting period to the previous exact reporting period um again that is because of the time frame our numbers typically are lower in reporting period one because July and August um we're really not here um our students are you know just a few in
summer programs so really these numbers are reflective from the beginning of the school year um through winter break as you can see from incidents which the state lists um and labels as violence vandalism substance uh weapons and uh
harassment intimidation bullying or HIV confirmed um notice that our numbers did slightly go down uh from this time last year which we really proud of and we hope to cons we hope to continue to see that number um go down as well um really
what I'd like to highlight for the board this evening is the other incidents leading to removal that's uh what the state considers class classified as tardy cutting class insubordination disruptive behavior academic Integrity you can see we went down by 94 incidents
of that nature from this time last year which is really really impressive um that is the biggest drop that we've seen um in the past several years um we do attribute that a lot to our attendance matters initiatives in all of our schools um also we attributed to at the
middle school we do have the Yonder pouches so the cell phones are not being used during the school day at the middle school and also at the high school there there's been limitations placed on cell phone use during the school day um also I'm proud to report again I know that we um as a board see the monthly HIV
reports we this is the second year in a row so far I don't know if there's real wood here um we have not had any hivs at the elementary schools um and again we do you know attribute to we are getting out there doing more trainings more programs with our staff our
administrators our students um but also we are still seeing and although covid is almost at the 5year Mark which is crazy we are still seeing we're we're seeing that transition out of those covid years our elementary students right now have pretty much been in
regular school regular routines interactions with each other so we are starting to see that kind of phase out where our numbers for HIV or incidents are anywhere from sixth grade to around 11th grade or so and we we started started to see that Trend they're kind of trending out and we hope hope that
Trend continues you know on that right path we're really proud of these you know these numbers that we see them going down um HIV alleged simply means that there were forms submitted and that they proceeded but that they were unfounded and we did see a drop in that
as well um HIV trainings again every year we try to increase the number of trainings that doesn't necessarily mean the trainings that we give to our staff but also that staff and administrators take on their own as well um and in your packets for the board although the state
only requires us to to say who attends training or who has been trained um you will see um a nice chart that I have that lists some of the trainings um they range from anywhere again like I said for our in school trainings of Staff but also trainings that take place out of
District the New Jersey Law Center um offers a lot legal one um and again pbsis enrollment sessions for training or just other things that are included um besides the Ann ual Hib trainings that take place throughout uh the school
year um HIV programs they are also listed for you in detail um starting on page 13 and going on page 14 um we there's a slight drop in that and that's I I will explain um the New Jersey
Department of Education also requires us to have an anti-bullying specialist in preschool yes preschool um and you know we were having our Hib specialist Mrs Egan do a lot of programs and unfortunately though a lot of the programs we feel are fit for preschool
are not technically labeled as Hib um you know we do not have any hibs in our preschools and hopefully we don't um so I actually asked we discussed scaling that back a little bit and Reporting period one and doing more of those types of programs this time of year because
now they're going to be going into kindergarten so you'll see that number change and increase actually for reporting period to when I report out in the summer um again I have listed for you here of the Hib submitted claims because as you can see the Hib confirmed
um it doesn't separate that number out so I have done that for you um of the Hib submitted claims and reported period one 20 of them were founded um and again you can see the 15 listed here there were also 15 that were unfounded as a reminder under the uh New Jersey
Department of Education Hib amendment of 2022 23 Hib claims are reviewed to determine if an investigation should or should not proceed um 11 submitted claims in reported period one were preliminarily determined as not
proceeding that does not mean that these claims were fruitless or anything like that what it means is that the administration can see on its surface this was conflict this did not meet the parameters by state law um as defined by HIV but they were dealt with according
to code of conduct if there were violations there it just doesn't mean that they met the requirements as an HIV investigation to be launched we continue supports for both the offenders and victims through our anti-bullying Specialists um in the schools and particularly our school counselors um
again you can see you know through the different uh programs that we have throughout the year but also um important that I just want to take a moment to highlight is although the state does not considered HIV training our staff do participate in a lot of
student Behavior related trainings outside and inside the district um whether it's on conflict resolution mental health um just looking at relationships classroom management and a lot of these that you can see in your packet that I listed for you um are
actually ones that our staff put on for other staff our own in-house PD which is great we get to TurnKey that inside um our mtss approach with multi-tiered support systems for social emotional learning um Team Suicide Prevention our school threat assessment teams and their
training and the impact of social media in schools so there is a lot going on outside of the scope of what the state considers um just simple HIV training by their definition so that is my report for reporting period one um I'm happy to
take any questions from the board okay great um I would just also like to share that and for our viewing audience um that we do have a designated page on our website at MB T schools.org for anti-bullying info there is the link
to any forms um to report any suspicion or claims of bullying um whether you want to report them anonymously or as a parent um those forms are readily available along with FAQs about our bullying anti-bullying programs and policies in the district thank you madam
president thank you Mrs Kean thank you for all of your hard work with this and you know putting together this presentation uh for us multiple times a year obvious obviously um you know we know that um you take great pride in
this and to see you know 90 plus um had gone down in that one section was remarkable it's something that you know the district should be proud of um and you know you should be proud of the the work that's going into that so thank you thank you very much anyone else have
anything that they'd like to mention questions all right pretty straightforward we can uh move on to the the remaining of our meeting um Mr Carter would you please take item six our meeting minutes sure thing Madam president I'd like to make a motion to
approve the following board minutes conference meeting minutes January 15 2025 executive meeting minutes January 15 2025 regular public meeting minutes January 29th 2025 executive meeting minutes January 29th
2025 second all in favor I Clos we've accepted all the um meeting minutes thank you there any Communications this evening no Madam president thank you um all right moving on to reports I'm
assuming we can just jump over to the administrative report which Mrs Kea will be giving thank you madam president I'm reading this administrative report on behalf of Mrs shoka this evening uh good evening to all our families guests viewers uh here tonight Mrs shiroka
sends her regrets for this evening um as uh Mrs Miss to uh mentioned earlier she's unable to be here tonight due to eye surgery that she had on Monday um she is recovering nicely and expect to be back in District in a few days um however she did prepare the following administrative report that I'm about to
give as a reminder North Brunswick Township School District is excited to announce that it has the unique opportunity to present a bond referendum to the North Brunswick Township residents to invest in much needed infrastructure in our schools at zero zero cost to the tax payer these
projects are also eligible for 40% facilities funding by the New Jersey Department of Education the MBT school's Bond referendum will take place on March 11th 2025 from 2 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. it includes
63.7 million in improvements to our district schools again with zero tax increase to our taxpayers the ballot will have two questions please know that question two cannot pass without question one passing the first question
will be for $52.5 million and focuses on vital HVAC heating and cooling work in all of our buildings except mbtm building envelope repairs to the brick work at both mbts and Lynnwood to keep our building safe and on the upgrade of
bathrooms to ensure that they are Ada or handicap compliant which they currently are not question two is for $1.2 million and again can only pass if question one passes question two focuses on replacing outdated windows and doors and locks
throughout our facilities improving security Energy Efficiency and most importantly safety just as in any election voters can vote by mail or in person polls will be open again from 2: P.M to 8:00 p.m. on March 11th 2025 mail
and ballot applications and voting information is available on the middlex County website more information including project details FAQs informational presentations and video can be found on our district website at nbtschools.org as a reminder we have
several early closings in March Thursday March 20th and Friday March 21st will be early dismissal days for our parent teacher conferences Friday March 28th will now be an early dismissal day for staff professional learning that was cancelled in early February due to a delayed opening with weather
additionally schools will be closed on Monday March 31st for the Eid holiday and that concludes my administrative report this evening Madam president thank you at this time we will move to our student reports Miss Montero and Miss Kei thank you for joining us again hi um so first
on Friday January 31st sgo sponsored the annual talent show we had 13 acts and it was really amazing to see one of the first performers was actually the winner and it was a duet uh a guy came out started singing he had a band behind him playing and then a girl actually came out after and started singing with him
and there was flashlights on it was just really amazing to watch um next up many of our clubs participated in the Martin Luther King Jr and Black History Month assembly on February 12th and our BCA Club Band choir all contributed to the amazing event and then last week we had
a stem night and the science National Honor Society like hosted this and it basically showcased everything that our STEM Academy at the high school has so 3D printing um laser cutting all the things that we showcase and we got to talk to underclassman upcoming high schoolers about all that and then we
also had somebody who went on Shark Tank come in and show us the projects He made for us out of college and he kind of talked to all the stem kids about like what he does and how like even if you're in the St world you can go into business and all these other things like you're not constricted to one thing um and then Thursday February 13th the class of 2027
in class of 2028 co-sponsored a very successful movie night event in the Commons in MBS they played 51st dates and students showed up in late pajamas with their blankets and everyone just had a good time watching the movie this past Friday February 21st BCA hosted a very successful BCA night in celebration
of Black History Month the event is always very fun very Lively it's a great show of the culture and all the participants and people coming to watch always have a really good time and this coming Friday evening mbts is hosting our annual rockathon this is the 40th year that this event will take place and this year students will be raising money
for hugs for Brady the north Bic food bank and the sjo charity which is Raiders home plate and it's basically students sit in the commments for 24 hours in rocking chairs they get a couple breaks but they start Friday after school till Saturday afternoon and only get like 3 hours of sleep we go
from we get a sleeping period where people really don't sleep it's like quiet time the lights are still on but they're just dimmed a little bit and you get to sleep in period from 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. yep otherwise you're in that rocket shair all day and that's all thank you so much
wow well I hope that goes well I can't wait to hear about that next month so please some great bonding moments yeah I'm sure very good glad you guys are having a great time sounds like it all right we'll move to our committee reports this
evening we'll start with Mr Ali education good evening good evening thank you madam president so the education committee met on February 19th and we have two items that were discussed on tonight's agenda and a few other districtwide updates that are be reporting tonight so in terms of the
Statewide budget the Department of Education informed all school districts around the state that we will not exceed 3% cuts for the 2025 2026 school year um quick update about the referendum as Miss ke mentioned earlier we're still the referendum voting phases will be
Tuesday March 11th from 2: to p.m. 800m and there has been a few updates on our website to provide more clarity and address some questions that have been coming from the community so you can check our FAQ in the areas of Grants and assessments the committee receed a Marcy
Chang and we are um we are going going to be well we we some some updates about our morning math and our project achieve programs which are ongoing academic support for elementary school students and this is in addition to our ongoing Title One tutoring at the Lynwood and in
Middle School um the New Jersey graduation GPA efficiency um assessment will be taking place on March uh 10th and 11th for 11th grade students and that is our graduation uh proficiency exam we have finished our high impact tutoring Grant period and we sered 40
Elementary School students and several of the high school students with this funding there is overall positive feedback from the staff and teachers so we hope the state has more initiatives like this additionally we have been notified that the high school has been released from its targeted support and
Improvement plan so that status will be dropped from our our school designation on June 30th we have also made amendments to our elementary and secondary Education Act grant funding and our individual disabilities Education Act funding so whenever
changes that that have been made to this we have to report out and these changes really were just made to better meet the needs of our students and that's all for assessments and grants and in the area of curriculum and Technology the Committee reported updates from Dr Johnson and students this month will be
taking to um the state house in Trenton on Thursday March 27th for New Jersey stemo silc case and many students from our district will be showcasing their work around state to others so that's going to be very exciting exciting for them and we are also integrating the ALR
blow environmental science curriculum into our environmental programs at the high school we are potentially reducing the number of dual language classes in our Elementary classrooms which will result in varying class sizes however all of
the class sizes will meet the state requirements and the area of pup and Personnel Services we receive updates from Chris Harry and we only have one update from this committee and we have met the requirements for our state targeted review pertaining to indicators
4 a and 4B which uh touch on disciplinary rates and disparities um remaining to uh student demographics so we are no longer under review for that which is great to know and for the one policy review this is for the second
reading for policy 5460 and this is just to introduce the new graduation requirements for the school year 26 and 27 GR graduates and this is pertaining to the fast form that families will need to fill out that state mandated and
lastly on March 28th we will have a half day for students this will be a makeup professional development day from one of the uh delayed openings we had from the snow and that's all from our education Community report thank you Mr Alie next we have Dr Patel Human
Resources thanks thanks Madam president the human resources committee Relations Committee met on Wednesday February 19th to discuss various Personnel topics for those on tonight's agenda who are retiring or resigning the board thanks them for their service and wishes them well there are new staff and many new
substitute staff on tonight's agenda we welcome all those new members to our district and we look forward to having you work with us here in North BR as of our committee meeting any remaining or new vacancies for the 2024 2025 school year continue to be posted and can be found on our district website social
media pages and posted in each of our buildings we discuss these vacancies along with the upcoming lead of absences and how those positions may be filled via daily subs long-term subs or six teaching period there are a few reassignments on tonight's agenda and we thank our staff for taking on these new
assignments Miss key to share that she's working with our administrators on attending at least five virtual job pairs coming up this winter and spring one of which was last Thursday February 20th current remaining vacancies were posted for potential candidates to consider for any teaching positions alternate route and traditional route
candidates are both encouraged to apply the committee had their second and final reading of revised policies and regulations all related to the uniform State memorandum of agreement for education and law enforcement officials these include 5512 harassment
intimidation bullying 7441 electronic surveillance and school buildings and on school grounds and 9320 cooperation with law enforcement agencies additionally we had our first reading of policy 9163 on spectator code of conduct for inter Scholastic events lastly Miss ke she
reviewed the districts required by annual violence and vandalism report for the reporting period of July 1st 2024 to December 31st 2024 the report can also be found on tonight's agenda and Miss ke will be presenting that information at our February board meeting which she did thank you thank you and again that could
be found on pages 12 through 14 uh at this time Mr Carter business operations thank you madam president uh the business operations committee also met on February 19th on the agenda this evening you'll find the following items uh change order for additional work
related to The Lynwood Chiller in finance section 3F a motion to approve the contract to purchase three floor scrubbers to be used at Jud lywood in the high school in finance section 3G and a second and final reading of policy 8500 in policy section 1B of tonight's
agenda finally we received status updates on lywood Chiller fire updates still scheduled for April Middle School leak forensics we're waiting on final estimate John Adams divider has been installed in the gym uh Livingston Park Park Paving and traffic flow bid date of
49 estimated ECC Courtyard drainage repair scheduled for the spring and districtwide HVAC control upgrades are ongoing as is lead water tested thank you Mr Carter um Miss Keith anything for negotiations this evening n at this time Madam president thank you
and Mr Lori our liaison for uh New Jersey school boards as well as the township mayor and Council Madam president thank you um there was a middle sex County School boards association meeting on February 6th I'm happy to report that four of the nine duly elected board members attended that
meeting online um we after a quick board of directors update we heard from our School Board Association field services team and our friend Maryann fredman reported out on a couple of items uh including that the superintendent evaluation time frame is approaching uh
that the deadline for uh new member orientation is approaching that that needed to be done within 90 days uh and one piece of legislation that she brought up that recently passed was that uh for board members who were running this year or members of the public who wish to run this year uh that your
petitions have gone up from 10 signatures to 25 signatures now um we then had a spirited conversation with uh state senator Vin gal uh from Monmouth County who is the state senate education committee chair we've heard from him last year as well so it's always a great
conversation with Senator gopal uh among the items we discussed uh the ongoing sfra issue and whether there will be changes to sfra he has his ideas the governor has his ideas they still haven't come together just yet um we discussed some reforms in Charter School
hearings including how their board members are selected which was fascinating um he is also considering legislation on mandating consolidation uh but nothing yet on that from Senator gopal that was about it and just a quick
update from uh my liaison to the mayor and Council uh just wanted to say a quick thank you to way mayor wac uh the members of the council especially council president guadino uh for supporting our referendum initiatives um we've seen stuff both online and at
their meetings so we thank them for that as well that would conclude the report thank you definitely thank you Mr Lori I think that wraps up our reports for the evening so at this time Mr when would you please take item nine yes Madam president I would like to make a motion to approve the administrative
student and committee reports second all in favor I I is anyone opposed all the reports are accepted thank you at this time we will review our agenda for our February 26th meeting um as always the board receives the agenda in advance we
have ample time to review the agenda anything that is different um from our first uh receiving of the agenda is in bold so we will start our review on pages two and three pages four and five six and
seven eight and nine 10 and 11 12 and 13 Pages 14 and 15 16 and 17 and wrapping up on page 18 this
evening can jump back to page two at this time we will do a public session on agenda items only if there's anyone from the public that would like to come up and speak on anything listed on our agenda we just ask that you uh come up state your name and you'll be given
three minutes seeing none can I please have a motion to close this public portion of thee second all in favor is anyone opposed this session is closed thank you um Miss Keef would you please take item 13 yes
Madam president I would like to make a motion to approve the following consent agenda items Personnel curriculum misscellaneous Finance items one through three policy and transportation second I'm going to take roll call now uh Mr Ali yes Mr
Carter yes M James yes Miss Keith yes Mr Lori yes Dr Patel yes Mr Sing yes Miss to yes and Mr W yes all the Motions of resolutions are approved and passed thank thank you Miss HW all
right we could jump to page 17 item number 14 on our agenda at this time we will have a public session on any matter if anyone from the public would like to come up to the um Podium and speak on any manner this is the time we just ask that you state your name and
you'll be given three minutes good evening Miss pasner evening good evening everybody um good evening to the North Brunswick Township Board of Education and the North Brunswick community at large my name is Beth pner I'm the president of the north Bruns Township Education Association we are the union that represents the teachers
and support staff of North Bruns Township Schools I'm here tonight to speak in support of the upcoming referendum and to speak on the time to vote Yes is now everyone keeps saying that North Brunswick has this unique opportunity with this Bond referendum and I want to explain exactly why that
is this Bond referendum comes with a zero tax increase at this time but how is that possible and I'm going to explain why our school district has been making payments on prior debt that is now maturing voters now have the opportunity to allow funding allocated
to mature bonds to be reinvested in the new and badly needed work the school district has been approved for significant state aid to offset the cost of these improvements the combination of these two circumstances makes it possible for there to be no increase to the North Brunswick taxpayers for this
referendum the bonds will be issued on a tax exempt basis which means that interest on the bonds is exempt from federal and state income taxes keeping the interest rate lower than rates that an individual could receive for other debt such as a home loan the actual rate will be set at a competitive Bond sale
after the bonds are approved by the voters if the rates go lower North Brunswick would have the opportunity to refinance them at lower rates later there is no guarantee that rates will be lower if we delay the bond sale also if we wait for another time there's no
guarantee that this will be a zero tax increase for the taxpayer the cost of goods and labor could inflate I could I will definitely inflate um and 40% state aid might not be available and you may be wondering whether there's a way for
us to pay for this without going through the process of a bond referendum and ultimately the answer is no um while of course North Brunswick schools have capital and maintenance reserves that help pay for improvement projects we do not have the money to finance such significant projects in the time needed
in order for the work to actually occur um we have extensive work that is needed particularly to our HVAC systems and all of our schools except for mdms of course um and without a bond referendum we'd have to spread these projects out over a significant number of years uh we cannot
wait years to fix fix these problems and we would not receive state aid for these projects there's a chance that we would have emergency repairs and we'd be on the hook 100% for the cost of those repairs um I want the community to think about their own HVAC units in their own homes um would you rather replace your
20-year-old unit now have 40% of it paid for by someone else and have time to secure the best company and best price or you know would you rather you know wait for it to break have to pay 100% out of your own pocket for it scamble to find a company that probably would not
give you such a a good deal um while Meanwhile your house is freezing um to me it's a no-brainer um and so you know we cannot wait years to fix these problems they need to be addressed as soon as possible a bond referendum is the only way to do that and and once again we do have staff members here um
as much as you love hearing me every month right we have staff members here um that have come to speak tonight about the issues in their schools and and in their classrooms um and I encourage encourage the community to to listen to them vote Yes to questions one and two for the referendum so thank you thank
you thank you good evening good evening everyone uh assistant superintendent H and the rest of the Board of Ed it's good to see everybody um my name is Maria Russo and I am here tonight both as a staff member uh of
North Brunswick schools and a longtime resident of North Brunswick um I'm thankful to have this opportunity to express my support in favor of the referendum that will be brought before the members of the town ship for consideration on Tuesday March 11th I've
been a teacher in North Brunswick for over 30 years and a homeowner in North Brunswick for over 20 years I've seen the school buildings of North Brunswick over these past 30 years go through many stages of updates and changes um I
worked for years at Livingston Park um before all the doors had to be locked every second of the day there you would find a door that maybe wasn't locked all the time and that was okay back back when um there was no air conditioning in
the elementary school buildings and kids would readily have worksheets stuck to their arms because they were sweaty and there were Windows opened and we could hear traffic and there might be a big industrial siiz fan that was blowing
everything and we managed um but when the school was finally air conditioned and the kids stopped sneezing and they could think and we could all stop sweating all over each other it was a huge Improvement to their
comfort and the Improvement of their learning environment it was phenomenal um and their education just improved tremendously so now we're at another juncture 20 25 years later the
buildings have gotten older and updates are once again in need um the heating systems the windows door locks brick work and restrooms in many of our buildings I Have No Reservations that a yes vote for both questions of
this referendum is what is best for the town of North Brunswick not just our students not just the teachers but for the entire town um I currently teach fifth grade math in a classroom at Lynnwood school on the other side of this brand new facility or this newly
renovated facility I say um a few years ago I inherited a few of my father's possessions when he passed away and the possession that I used the most often in my classroom is a letter opener this metal letter opener um that was on his
desk and I use this every day in my classroom to turn the heating unit on and off because the toggle switch where this heating unit is behind this grate that I my hands can't reach so every day
I have to use this letter opener to turn it on and off um and I tell the kids like please don't do this because it's akin to shoving a fork in a toaster like you just don't do that so I tell them don't ever do this at home but I have to do this in my classroom because no matter how much I ask Frank to adjust
the heat he can't adjust it properly and my room is either ridiculously hot or cold so I can't leave it on and I can't turn it off off um the really strange days are when it's on all day and we're
still cold cuz usually it's on and we're super hot or it's off and we're cold so I toggle it on and off all day long um or every once in a while there's a weird day and it's on and we're still cold so then I don't know what to do um it's
also very loud so while I never worry that the kids can hear me obviously I do sometimes have trouble hearing the children and I know that a lot of times the children can't hear each other and at a time when it is very important for the kids to be able to share their ideas
with one another I'm constantly asking them can you repeat yourself did you hear him did you hear her can you please say that again like so a lot of times I will take that letter opener and run over to the heating unit and turn it off and be like we're going to talk again now can you repeat yourself now that the
heating unit is quieter and we can we can now we can now talk um so and to put this clearly this I I mean I consider myself lucky because my heating unit works so that's this is all minor more of like a nuisance than anything because
in my hallway just within the past couple of months there have been other classrooms where the heating unit is making scraping noises there's the smell of like acrid Burning metal coming out of these Heen units where they need to be turned off and classes in the morning
are just grabbing up their things and moving to the cafeteria so with all of this consider um again I do consider myself lucky I haven't been put in that position um but it's clear that something needs to be done and needs to
be done now and since like Miss pasner said like we've all said this can be done without a increase to my taxes or any of the taxes of our um residents um it's it's time to do this now before we are paying for this out of pocket um so
I'm here tonight to speak to all of us to our community to strongly encourage everybody to vote Yes to questions 1 and two on Tuesday March 11th maintaining our schools means maintaining our property values and since P passing this
referendum will allow our buildings to be fixed with a zero tax increase the choice is clear the citizens of North Brunswick need to vote Yes and give the children of North Brunswick the safe healthy and comfortable learning environments that they need and that
they deserve thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you good evening oh are we on I didn't touch it I teach music production the green light this good evening everyone how are
you um my name is Cooper Ford I am a teacher in the high school music teacher I have been there since 2015 I am also a parent a resident in the community and have um play Maria you seen a lot of
things with the schools I'm here to speak tonight about the uh hbac as well as about the referendum uh the music Wing oh is um similar other parts of the school has had its challenges we have had a low since January of
43° up to 91° some days we'll have a swing of about 40° uh within the same day from one to the other and part of the reason is because uh basically our our heating system has only two settings right now
it's either snower or a teiser right so it's either on and off and in order to switch it one with the other we need to send one of our uh one of our maintenance guys up on the roof to adjust it manually um and that's how it's done so I don't ask when it's raining or anything like that because
that's just really rude uh but that's that's this that's the situation and I do give props uh you know to to the board and to our Central administration because in the last two months um which many of you know know uh you know there's been emergency work there's been
bending over backwards to try to get this stuff fixed uh but it does make it very difficult to teach music classes or any classes when you know you're trying to move fingers for those violins and you know the fingers are frozen or the sweat sweats worn down as we're trying
to make things happen uh the auditorium which is next door has also had its challenges uh it is our Premier public space in January we almost could not use it Jud had to relocate their uh play uh
to the middle school we almost had to cancel and reschedule two of her concerts and you know that's no way to be um we uh you can you imagine the adult drama tonight is practicing for their musical this weekend can you imagine if something happened to the
hbac and they had to cancel it because it all went down um and I so I it it it is challenging um and which is why I'm glad this referendum is happening it's why cuz people ask me they said they asked me how are things going and I said well you know it's kind of hard with
that and they said what's the you know what's the board doing they should do something they said yes they are doing something they're doing something good they're being smart about it because you know paying emergency fees and things like that to fix is not very smart it's it's it's expensive trying to rush Parts
in from you know whatever parts of China and hopes it shows up on this ship or from Georgia or Texas or I don't even know where our last part came from but you that's that's the B which many of you know the bending over backwards that's had to happen this referendum is
smart right we're it's like a car we're at the point with the car it's not worth fixing anymore let's get the new car and at least in this case we're getting a better car at 40% off because the state's taking care of that and the payment's not going to be anymore I mean
as a taxpayer that's great I love that get me that deal any day you know sign me up uh you know as a resident I want schools you know you know people ask how are the schools you know as a minimum we should be able to say yeah you know climate control that would be nice right
um and so we are being proactive about that I love that and I hope the rest of the town will get behind you know get behind this and get behind all us because I you know with everything that's happening let's be honest I don't know you know if that 40% will be there
next time if this doesn't go go through I don't want to be on the hook for that to me that's not smart let's be smart let's be proactive this to me is smart so I hope that the toab will join me in voting for questions one and questions number two let's do it for the town
let's do it for the kids thank you thank you thank you anyone else okay seeing none can I please have a motion to close this public portion of the meeting so moved second all in favor I is anyone oppos
this session is closed thank you m James do you do the honors of number 15 happily Madam president um whereas Section 8 of the open public meetings act chapter 231 Public Law 1975 permits the exclusion of the public from a meeting in certain
circumstances and whereas is of the opinion that such circumstances presented exist now therefore be it resolved by the north Buck Township Board of Education that the public shall be excluded from discussion of an action upon the here and after specified subject matters the general nature of the subject matter to be discussed is as
follows Personnel matters and legal matters it is anticipated at this time that the above stated subject matter shall be made public at such time as a need for non-disclosure no longer exists this resolution shall take effect immediately thank you can we please have a motion to go into close session so
moved second all in favor I is anyone opposed we may go into CL session thank you e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e there's probably a lot less right okay at this time we will uh open up our meeting can we please have a motion to return so moved second all in favor I I
anyone opposed we are in Open Session thank you at this time we have two items to take action on uh Dr Patel sure motion number one so move to approve the termination of employee
9026 effective March 5th 2025 five second so I'm going to take roll call on this one please uh Mr Ali yes Mr Carter yes M James yes Miss Keith yes Mr Lori yes Dr Patel yes uh Mr Singh yes Miss to
yes Mr W yes motion is approved thank you at this time we will um motion on another item Dr Patel move to one appoint Dr Brian zakowski to the position of interim superintendent of schools for the per
period from July 1st 2025 through June 30th 2026 and to approve the previously submitted employment contract with Dr zakowski which has been approved by the middle sex County Executive County Superintendent of Schools second again I'm going to take a roll
call Mr Ali yes Mr Carter uh I abstained due to a family conflict thank you Miss James yes Miss Keefe yes Mr Lori yes Dr Patel yes Mr Singh yes Miss to yes and Mr W yes the motion is approved thank
you and uh at this time we will adjourn our meeting can we please have a motion so moved second all in favor anyone opposed we are adjourned thank you