did you go into the new C last night after the okay we just went in there for a couple minutes do a at that oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah oh I totally didn't realize
that yeah it'll be good to I know [Music] that girl in front of me like lots of hairspray I don't know good good evening
everyone welcome I'd like to call this meeting to order this is the north brunic Township Board of Education regular public meeting today is Wednesday March 26th could we please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge 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 Miss Jane here miss Keith here Mr Lori here Dr pel
Mr Singh here miss to here and Mr W here we have a quum thank you the New Jersey open public meeting's 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 meeting which included the time date and location was distributed by 300 p.m. on Tuesday November 26 2024 and Wednesday November 27th 2024 in the following
manner posted on the bulletin board reserved for announcements in the board office 25 lywood place North Brunswick mailed 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 it's great to see a full audience this is one of my personal favorite meetings of the year um so it's great to see all of you great to see representation from all of our schools and um at this point I'll turn
it over to superintendent choka to uh welcome our presentation great thank you Madame President and welcome everybody I love the energy in the room and it's so wonderful to see everyone here and to be able to honor our educators of the year and our support persons of the year so
Mrs ke assistant superintendent will leading be leading the slideshow so I'm going to invite her to come up and we'll get the slideshow ready for you and start school by school good evening everyone I'm am I'm the assistant superintendent here in North Bruns
as our Fort president miss to said and our superintendent Mrs shoka said this is one of our favorite um presentations that we do uh each year recognizing our educators of the Year from each school and I think we're in year four or five
of our own tradition of honoring our support people of the Year from each building so again welcome to all of our award recipients this evening family and friends and our Administration so we will get started I would like to I always
include oops and the newy oh I I can forbade him say it while miss Mr shoka fixes that um the New Jersey governor educator of the Year award um is sponsored and um organized by the new J New Jersey Department of
Education um and every year in the fall uh the principles have a committee that gets together Mrs shooky you may want to stand by for a second that'd be great um just in case oh yes I did see Jen uh principales
send the their nomination form to the entire school committee and form a diverse panel of following program guidelines that are outlined by the state of New Jersey to select one educator of the year um by the end of November and this is again is the timeline that is set forth by the
department of Ed um they have until December 4th uh to upload the nomination form and register their schools educator of the year um and by December 11th uh this this past school year uh principales notify their school selected
certificated candidate at a faculty meeting and it it is called the educator of the year because again it does not necessarily may not be a teacher some years it could be our media specialist um or guidance counselor so any any
certificated uh member of the staff and then by mid December the New Jersey Department of Education will email all of those selected uh educators of the year and encourage them to apply for County teacher of the year and for those that may not know we actually did have a
middle sex County teacher of the year a few years ago from our high school um Mrs Julie Mercier English teacher was actually the middle sex County teacher of the year um so it's a great program and several years ago our nbte president Beth pasner
um came to then superintendent Dr zakowski and myself incoming interm superintendent Dr zakowski um and recommended us to also do our own program and uh honoring our support people in our buildings was such a great
idea we ran with the with the idea and took off with it following the same parameters that we do for educator of the year unfortunately our two uh recipients from the High School could not be here this evening but I do want to recognize our uh Teacher of the Year from the high
school social studies teacher Meg Wright former she's also an alumni of North Brunswick and also our support person the year custodian part of the custodio staff Luis Salvatore so we'll give them around of Applause we look forward to honoring them again as well as all of the
recipients here today um we will be inviting you to a lunch in in ear early June as well um as we get started we will be calling each of the recipients up along with the school administrative team who's here tonight um to say a few words um we do have a special award also
for you um and I would be remiss not to thank a few people before we really kick things off um one of my uh secretaries Connie Saunders helps to me to organize this um we also have Mrs Sha's executive assistant Janine kesy who did this F
presentation worked with me on that she did a great job and also who will be coming up here soon uh Sandy Pon Dr Johnson uh's Secretary she does all the ordering of the awards organizes that designs them and she's actually one of
our recipients this evening so thank you so [Applause] much at this time I'd like to call up our Middle School principal Mr sover as we honor our educator teacher of the year Megan Carol also an alumni and um
our support person of the year Florine [Applause] white don't believe I see Miss White in the room
tonight um that's too bad um Miss White is a very very special person um she was a one-on-one Aid in our building has been for many many years at the middle school level and we were asked to contribute three terms to describe um
our winners this year and the first term I had forine is compassionate which you've ever seen her in action that just sums up who she is she has the biggest part in the world I also use the term gracious because she's so giving of not just her time and her effort but
everything about her everything about she a very very generous person but I also put a aous because when the kids push a little bit they usually wind up getting a whole lot of something they don't like right um she's tough stuff when she needs to be and not just with
the students that she is assigned to um she will extend herself to other students in the building on a daily basis um and she's really a part of the fabric of our school the best thing I can say about Florine goes back to many years ago when I was teaching history down the hall and
she was the one-on-one aid for a young man who had muscular rophe and as you can imagine his needs went far beyond academic needs and she was always right there at his elbow every day with whatever he needed and that's when you really got to see best
of day in and day out and she's just a very special person and we couldn't be happier to have Megan on the other hand no sometimes things in your life go full circle right um many years ago when I was teaching in that same room a hot
shot quarterback walked into my room who became uh one of my favorite students okay and later was our quarterback at the high school right for those of you who know football this young man ran the greatest play action fake of any High School
quarterback I have ever seen many years later Megan who is also an alumnist comes to work at Lynnwood and then of course at the at the middle school and I will never forget her announcing to me that she's dating Billy
carol which is wonderful surprised you said that I didn't but I will also never forget the day she came to me to say I'm G to be a Carol right and that was a really special day and now here um and that's just a really really
neat HomeTown Story but magn is so much more than that um this is a teacher you know she came in not just as a soccer coach at the high school but also as as a history teacher here at Lynwood and then when the state gave us a mandate
that we needed to start teaching Civics Megan came to me to say I want to be a Civics teacher right and she grabbed that curriculum and ran with it and has been so creative and come up came up with so many wonderful things in that program you would think middle schoolers
learning Civics is like watching the the grass grow right not the way she teaches it okay she's also instrumental in our AVID program which is a support program that encourages kids to really look towards college for their future and she's involved in just about everything right
and my my actually have four words for you the the ones I gave them were first energetic Megan's in the room you know it right um she just has a very positive energy that you can't ignore Megan is very relatable you would
be hard pressed to find a student who does not have a great before with that is theth she's also very clever she finds ways to get things done finds ways to fit things in where they shouldn't they shouldn't fit and they do and I added a word that my mother used to use
all the time to describe certain people she used the word refres right when Megan walks in the room the room gets lighter right and I don't know that there's a better compliment for anyone that um I'm really proud of you besides being
for you to congratulate you having watched you grown as a teacher over the years and remember you when you were you know a student at it's really been a pleasure to watch M we're all thrilled for you congratulations on being our teacher year [Applause]
[Applause] at this time we'd like to uh honor our teacher of the year from lywood Mr Isaiah Mason and our support person of the year Miss Lizette corales thank you very much it's always hard to
follow Rick Slover um because again I work with Rick for many years he just has a great way with words um even the way he writes so this is going to be a tall task but I'm going to try the best that I can um so these two awesome
people um work at Lynwood so Lynwood School has just been a school for five years before that we were the Middle School um so I was glad to uh have this opportunity for the last couple years to present for people um but first I will talk about lazette um so lazette is our
ESP um person of the year if I give this story I like to give stories because it really means a lot to me so before I ever met lazette I work with lizette's Dad so he has been in our district for a long time I've known this gentleman he's
just awesome um and it's just great I have a great rapport with him we always got along and just talked about everything um so I worked with him for several years and then I got a chance to work with Jolene the sister so I was like wow she was also at lwood middle
school she was a great Ela teacher great personality it was just awesome to work with her so we had a secretary who left and took another position so then we had to find another secretary in that building um so when we're looking through the names and we like the
corales that's interesting I know a couple corales um so so we interviewed and we talked and we found out who she was um and before I actually you know work with her just knowing the family I just knew she was going to be an amazing
amazing person so she is exactly that and more so I just really enjoy working with this lady the one thing I really try to do every day um when I come to work is enjoy myself I want to make sure that everyone feels special I want to make sure that my students feel special I want to make sure my staff feels
special so the one thing I can say when I come to work every day we have an amazing time we laugh so much in our office which makes it Pleasant to go to work so I really really enjoy this lady she gets me even though I could be your
dad I'm so old um but she gets me and we work so well together um and I just really enjoy having you um as my secretary um um and you just do a phenomenal job and we talk a lot I I'm a big texter so every now and then I will
mistakenly butt dial her or text her so she would respond back to me with a smiley face but again it's just a pleasure to work with you you know we have a lot of just conversations about life in general about what we're doing and about your dog and she is just an awesome person to work with and again she couldn't have been a better person
to get this award the one thing though I'll say is she does such a great job she looks at all my emails from me she really does so when everything kind of came out she saw it already on my email so I was like the sense but again
she is just an awesome person and again I'm just so happy to have her as my secretary and it couldn't been a better person to get this award and let's said I know you know how much you mean to me and also lywood because you really take care of us and we thank you congratulations all right so LZ that
does want to say anything but hold on is that hold on don't got to give your flowers and say thank you all right so this young man here so what's interesting is being at Lynwood this is my 22nd or 21st year um I've always
heard Isaiah Mason's name unfortunately I did not have an opportunity to have Isaiah in the building with me because he came to nor brunwick when he was at the high school but I've always heard just amazing things Isaiah Mason Isaiah Mason Isaiah Mason Isaiah Mason so um I
was just Overjoyed when I got the information that things would be moving teachers would be moving and I would get Isaiah Mason in my I got to tell you everything they said about this man is absolutely
true yes it is the kids just adore this man um last year towards the uh the end of our performances getting ready for a concert the kids came to me and said Mr shorter you know Mr Mason's birthday coming up we want to definitely get him a cake we want to do this so I'm like fine so we
had a little practice um people said you know what when could we do it I'm like you know what let's just do it during the practice so we had the practice and then they came out and they just said surprise so he was overjoy but the kids just love this man it's a good awesome that he's able to touch so many students because he's the
leader of our music department um he's phenomenal he's kind of the leader somewhat leader of the department I can always lean on him I can always just text him and ask him a question he feels comfortable with me where he kind of comes into my office and we're able to talk so I have just really really really
been just Overjoyed having this gentleman in my office and having him in my building um to talk to on a lot of occasions the toughest thing is he has his um administrative degree now so I was kind of talking the other day I was saying to him I was saying I was
saying Isaiah you should probably just wait another year I was being a little selfish but I was me little self but I was like say you should just wait just another year but again he is phenomenal and I know that wherever he goes he will be a tremendous leader because he's done it
every single day in our building and as I said our kids love him and again I can't even say enough words how happy I am I know your team loves you too so please say a couple words one of us B out so now I gotta I'll do it for the team I'll do it for the team
okay um so I'm actually at uh I'm at military training this week so I'm not in school so on the drive up from post I was like what am I going to say just in case I was I was prepared for this moment I was prepared um also side note I was fan of myself they're like you're hot I was like anybody else hot they're like no you're nervous I said I'm not
nervous now I know why I was fan of myself I'm a little hot um but uh I'm just really humbled I'll just start there um like he said great the kids are what it's about as we all know and
um you know people used to say I'm the music teacher like oh you love music you love music and I say no my response is music is the gift that God gave me but education is what I'm passionate about so so to be able to work with so many
students and teach them and learn with them um has been a real privilege and um you know my mom's here and my stepdad but one thing I always say like I was they're proud right
I the way that she raised me was with a lot of consistency high expectations and a whole lot of love so that's what I'm trying to do in my classroom too so as the music person is nice to know like oh they see me for more than that as this is what this is what it's about you know
I'm just teaching the kids through music and that's what this you know it's really humbling to receive this award and I'm very grateful I'm grateful for my friends and family that showed up in a great Administration to support me and everything [Applause] [Applause]
this time we'd like to welcome up uh the administrative team from John Adams to recognize our teacher of the year Jessica Drury and our ESP of the Year Vivian [Applause] Luna this is this is our teacher the
year Jessica I'm an Kingsley I'm the principal John Adams this is Carly Cummings she's the director and this is Lisa Rudolph she's our Dean um but before Jessica I'm sorry before I speak about you even though you know I love you I do want to mention that Mrs Luna our um support person of the year is unfortunately on bereavement leave and
is not here so I just want to say a few words about her um she's been our library clerk for many years and she's really good at checking out books and reshelving books and she can check the computer to see if there's a book that somebody wants to borrow she's really
good at her job but that's not why she won this award she won this award because she is kind to the students it's a big thing for me is yes academics are exceptionally important but if you don't teach with kindness It's doesn't mean anything and she's very kind the kids
love her she knows all their names and she takes a real interest in all of them when she walks in the hallway I hear students calling her name because they are so excited to see her she goes the extra mile to help students and staff too her dedication and hard workor make
our building a better place for everyone she consistently provides outstanding support and always strives to make a positive impact on our school Community her dedication and hard work are truly inspiring Mrs Luna is a generous and friendly person she starts each day with
a big smile she's always available to help and find solutions to small and big issues so it is my honor to congratulate Vivian Luna even though she's not here as the [Applause] education now I'm going to talk about my
friend Jessica now Jess guy I have known for many years I think it's starting to get close to 20 it's not quite and I don't know her only as an educator because I'm going to now em embarrass Aiden Dory who's sitting back there hi Aiden he's a man he wasn't a man when I
first met him and you'll find why she um I started at John Adams I worked at Lynwood first and I started at John Adams a few years later and Jessica had just left on maternity to leave to have that man sitting back there um and then
a few years later she had another son and then Aiden started kindergarten at John Adams my job as a teacher at the time was to stand at the door I know you've heard this story a million times and I'm gonna say it again to stand at the door as the cars pulled up and every morning I didn't really know her that
well but every morning I would watch Aiden get out of the car seat on the farther side of the other thing and pass Connor whose legs would go Bo boom bo boom as Aiden walked past him and then he'd give him a kiss and he'd walk into
school and that's how I first met J Jessica jwy right she also then became a PTA was PTA back then it's PTO now but she was a PTA mom she was kind of in charge of all the assemblies she worked very hard and finally she decided she
could return to teaching and we were so happy to have her back was a thrill uh I just want to tell you a few things that her colleagues have said because I you know we don't pick these Awards it's the colleagues pick the awards and these are some of the things uh about they said about her she's a fourth grade grade level leader and she has advocated for
the grade level students as well as all the students in the school she is trustworthy and caring and intelligent Mrs jury is always looking for ways to engage her students and meet their needs um she has been integrating social emotional learning and anybody that's
anywhere near School knows how very important that is these days but she was doing it at our morning meeting for years nobody had to tell her how important that is because she's always had the total well-being of her students in mind she does whatever she needs to help and guide them she goes above and
beyond to help her students her grade level and our school John Adams Mrs Jury has an amazing rapport with her students their families and the staff she volunteers still for many PTO activities now she's not NE well I'm going to get to it she kind of did plan something but
she shows up at things and the kids love seeing her but most recently she helped plan our very first International night that was just a week and a half ago which she also attended Ed and I have to just tell you it was an amazing night and it was all because of her and the
other teachers on the committee um uh one teacher told me that Jessica is one of the best teachers I'm gonna cry a little bit that John Adams has ever seen and I have to tell you that I agree she is just truly amazing so there is no one more deserving than Jessica jury to be
the governor educator of the year for John Adams congratulations [Applause] I've been explicitly told that Jessica would prefer not to say anything thank you so much Jessica's also an
alumni and side note things as Mr Sil said earlier come full circle Jessica and I not only graduate from here we also are sorority sisters together um so I remember one time coming into John ad s there was like oh my God so anyway
it's you know I I hope everyone also takes away from this night which we always do you know some of these full circle stories of our amazing staff um that just are so grounded and rooted here in North Brunswick um but without further Ado I'd like to call up the
administrative team from Jud it went very fast there we go um teacher of the year Fran Alvarez and our support person of the year Maria Roman [Applause] good evening
everyone I love a good story however I am not a Storyteller so we're going to have a little hopefully I can capture what um the essence of these two wonderful people first I want to talk about Marie Marie R Roman it is with great pride
that I recognize our educational support professional um and that Marie is it for this year my first really full year as a principal on that these two are the recipients she truly embodies the heart and soul of Jud School her positivity is infectious each day she greets everyone
students staff alike with a warm smile making students and Staff feel welcomed so it's great to come into the building and whenever I see her no matter what kind of day I'm having you know she kind of briens my day um in the classroom she's an essential partner she's a um
one-on-one Aid or classroom aid for our CG population um that is a full day uh from the from the time she walks in the door to the time she leaves this this action going on and she's very compassionate um she work you know she
you would think that those are her own children which is what we want everyone would want whether working one-on-one with students or assist in the classroom she approaches her work with patience and Care uh she's not just a hard worker she's an advocate for her students always ensuring that they feel supported
she extends her willingness to help any colleague at any time offering assistance whenever needed her unwavering commitment and nurturing uh spirit create a loving environment and um everyone can thrive in that kind of environment please join me in
congratulating Marie Roman as our education support professional [Music] [Applause] [Music] next similar to the last like Fran I met Fran um she was a PT PTO parent
hardworking um raising a lot of money for us hardworking is key though and so I was really honored to be on um the committee with with our um principal Barbara gibbons's hiring
friend um a teacher so I've been here and I've seen her grow in her Craft um but I'm so honored to recognize her as teacher of the year she embodies the essence really of an exceptional educator she consistently puts students
first ensuring that their needs are met she guides she guides them and their parents you know through whatever um whatever is needed her organization English and Spanish yes um her organization and reliability create
a stable and supportive environment for everyone around her U we had a growing um Spanish population and we needed a bilingual teacher and we cannot we could not find a bilingual teacher we tried we kept
posting so I asked Fran if she would go back and get certified and this is who she is she went back to school and got certified she's selfless she's always ready to lend a hand she's always the first one at school she provides a calm and a
kindness um even in challenging moments um she served as a mentor to many stud uh many teachers as well building strong relationships with parents and encouraging um involvement with their children is also a strong suit for her
um we've used her over the years to translate we continue to too she's never never does she complain she's just always waning to do whatever it takes the impact she has on her students is profound they often return to her and
come visit looking for her to seek her out after they moved on to to high school and Beyond um it is my privilege to present this award to Fran her dedication and passion Inspire us all to be better educators [Applause]
[Music] [Applause] El [Applause] [Music] Park sorry about the mic our principal Mr Dawson as well as our ESP of the Year
Sharon demerest and teacher of the year also an alumni Denise tor [Applause] right good evening and congratulations to everybody it's my pleasure to tell you about two amazing people we have at Livingston Park so we'll start with
Sharon demerest Sharon is a PA professional in our multiple disabilities program and our pairs in all of our schools are really the the pulse of the school they do so many things they are so incredibly multi-talented at what they do and
Sharon really epitomizes that she is hardworking she believes in our kids she is reliable she is endlessly caring and she will do anything above and beyond in fact this year we had an unexpected uh vacancy in our program and Sharon has
led the class the entire year um she is stepped up to the plate and one of the things Mrs Kingsley said really um reminds me of Sharon as well oftentimes when you talk to Sharon she uses two
words that I love our kids to Sharon all of her kids are her kids she's the teacher who's going to bring them a little extra food because they know she know she needs it she's going to look out for them she's going to take care of them and she'll give
them what they need the students in her program um they need different levels of support um and the CG program basically runs on small intervals of instruction so you're planning instruction 5 to 10
minutes at a time and that's really um a a talented person can do that but a really talented person can do that for a seven-hour school day and Sharon makes it look easy but it's not and we are Beyond honored that she's part of our
staff we're so proud of her we're really hoping she considers alternate root teaching hints and we are really really happy to celebrate you today so thank you Sharon for being amazing [Applause]
teacher I'd also like to introduce you to also like to introduce you to Denise Torres Denise Torres is also a North Brunswick alum I and she is such an important part of of Livingston Park School um like many
of our schools we have a very large population of kids who speak another language our multilingual Learners we love them we've got almost 90 at LP so it's a really big part of our population and to better serve those students a number of years ago we started a dual
language program so nuts and bolts of that is half of Denise's class are kids who speak English at home she's helping them learn Spanish as a second language the other half of Denise's class are kids who speak Spanish at home she's helping them Master English every
student that she serves is a multilingual Learner in some capacity and when you watch Denise teach you watch Magic happen it's interactive there's music there's movement when I come down the hallway at 3:00 for bus
Duty there there's a lot of lot lot lot of Little Fiesta going on there's a little almost kids are having fun they love her Denise is an advocate for her kids she can reach them in so many ways
instructionally but she can also connect with them on a personal level I love watching fourth grade kids third grade kids sneak down the hallway like Mr Dawson's not going to see them and they're peeking in and they're saying hello to miss Tores cuz she means
something to them she's the reason that kids come to school CU they feel supported they feel loved they feel cared about there's someone like them cheering them on she's also the epitome of a wonderful colleague Denise Works in
partnership with an English World teacher and they model for staff what professional interaction should look like focused on kids purposeful meaningful Denise goes above and beyond she's writing curriculum she is coming
to work early to work morning programs she's staying late she's our technology Ambassador if you name it she can do it so for those reasons and about 8 million more we are very happy to recognize and celebrate uh Denise Torres
congratulations [Applause] [Laughter] I just want to say that I'm very grateful for this award and like we mentioned full circle some of my best teachers are in this room
now thank you [Applause] [Applause] our last school still have one after this oh no we still two sorry oh my gosh Parsons our administrative team from Parsons and our award recipients our
teacher of the year Kathy Reynolds and our ESP of the Year Julia coop [Applause] good evening I'm Diana whan the principal of Parson school it's a pleasure to be here tonight and congratulations to all of our award
recipients very very duly uh awarded that definitely um deserve those honors from what we're hearing about you I'm going to start with Julia Cooper um it's an absolute honor to recognize Julia as our educational support professional of
the year at Parson School Julia serves as a power professional in our preschool program she's a truly helpful patient and inclusive member of our Parson Elementary family as a par professional she brings warmth dedication and a
nurturing spirit to our youngest Learners every single day whether offering a comforting hand guiding a child through a new challenge or supporting her colleagues with unwavering kindness she is always willing to lend a hand wherever it's
needed her ability created welcoming an inclusive environment ensures that every child feels valued and supported and it's no surprise that the children absolutely adore her today we celebrate her hard work her heart and the
incredible impact she makes on our school Community congratulations Juliet [Applause] [Applause] it is great with great pride and
admiration that we recognize Kathy Reynolds as our Governor's educator of the Year Kathy serves as a special education self-contained teacher in our lld program her passion for education and her unwavering dedication to her
students make her a true advocate for those who are need of a voice she has an exceptional ability to inspire students of all backgrounds and all abilities ensuring that each one feels motivated and empowered to
learn her remarkable dedication goes far beyond the classroom as she creates a welcoming and inclusive environment where every student in the building feels valued and supported whether they're in her classroom or not Kathy tailor her teaching methods to meet the
diverse needs of her students and demonstr ating a deep commitment to their success and well-being any day you walk into Cathy's classroom it's a different lesson for every child in that room it's amazing take a look at her lesson plans talk about differentiation
they go pages and pages on end because she makes sure that every single student gets the individual instruction that they need behind her impact on students Cathy has earned the respect and admiration of parents administrators and
colleagues alike she's a trusted voice in our school Community known for her willingness to help her approachable nature and her ability to offer Sound Advice even if you don't want to hear it he's always right though Kathy's
proactive engagement with families ensures that students receive the best possible support both at home and at school strengthening the vital connection between education and our community a lifelong learner herself she collaborates with teachers and support
staff throughout the district to continue growing and refining her practice Kathy's dedication Innovation and unwavering commitment have left an indelible mark on our school and we are incredibly grateful to have her as part
of our Parson Elementary family congratulations Kathy [Applause] either of you like to say a few words no good [Applause] [Music]
[Applause] now we'd like to call up our administrators from our Early Childhood Center to recognize our teacher of the year Sheena Chen and our ESP of the year zenb rzan [Music] [Applause]
such a great night I just feel the energy and I just want to say every year just like I think Mrs ke said to start we should feel so special working in a district that really values the amazing things our staff is doing each and every day so I just want to this is an exciting night I'm so happy to be here
honoring two such incredible staff members I do want to say thanks to the board Ed Janet Amy all those people who have been honored tonight all those students all the that are here supporting their teachers all the staff and the families and it's just exciting
but I wanted to start and say with us being in preschool it's so exciting to see all the amazing opportunities that our students have in their Futures the amazing teachers they'll have the amazing experiences and opportunities and it's such an amazing aspect to see
from the start that we have students who are three four and 5 years old who are just developing and growing and it's just very exciting so I have in the past left my notebook up there before so this year I put it on my phone so we are so fortunate I'm going
to start with Mrs rosani we're so fortunate to honor her tonight she is amazing and we've been so fortunate to have her at the ECC supporting our youngest Learners one of the things as I pull up my notes just like other staff members had said this is award is about our staff and our community and our
families and I'd like to take what they say and share and what's always said about Mrs rosani always is how kind she is her caring nature how dedicated she is not only to the students and staff and families but always looking to go
above and beyond at our school other things she's dedicated supportive and always a team player no matter what she's always up for new challenges and for supporting students and we are so proud of her congratulations Mr
[Applause] [Music] [Applause] now I'm so happy and just like Mr shorter sadly Mrs Chen's gonna have to hear a little story time too and I can
say how fortunate I am when I first met Mrs Chen all the way back in May of 2014 in Parson's elementary school right next door to me with Mrs sh classroom and the support from Miss Reynolds and
Mrs Lewis and all those amazing teachers at Parsons so I was so fortunate because she was a colleague I came back from a longterm leave for having my second child Mrs Chen was right next door welcoming me back to this building and
being just so supportive and I was so fortunate and then she went to second grade and I left Parsons and then all of a sudden we both ended up back in ECC together in September of 2019 and I was so fortunate to have
someone who I knew that always put children first just like all of our staff but someone who I collaborated with who I had seen the dedication and all that she puts forth and it was so amazing and then watching her just
building capacity learning growing helping support preschool students Age 3 four and 5 coming from upper elementary and primary grades and it was just amazing to see her growth and her development but what does the staff say about Mrs Chen she's
Innovative she's dedicated she's patient she is a team player she's caring she's kind this one she is inclusive and having that inclusive ability is so important Sheen is empathetic she's
Dependable she's reflective she's also a building leader she's helps to be part of our read Across America committee every year and she collaborates with different staff members on different things always trying continuous Improvement to help us
grow as a program as a building and as a district I could not be more honored tonight to honor Mrs Sheena Chen as the teacher of the year at the EC congratulations [Music]
[Applause] before we leave we're taking the selfie [Laughter] this time I'd like to welcome our director of curriculum instruction and Technology Dr Johnson to honor our Board office ESP of the Year Sandy pon
[Music] [Applause] good evening everyone good evening uh board president uh superintendent shoka congratulations to all the world recipients and welld deserved um I get
the honor and privilege to recognize Sandy Pon she is right arm left arm in the curriculum Department as well as the grant office across the hall even helps the people in Personnel Miss K knows that too and not to mention the Ba's
office and Rolland clerk so for Sandy uh this isn't something that she enjoys is the spotlight so uh Mike T are you out there we can put the spotlight right it's the one night we can probably get away with it um so my story is pretty short because this is my fourth year
working with Sandy and I remember coming to the curriculum department at the board office and you know it's kind of a feeling out process you know you got a new boss you really don't know anything you heard about them but you really don't know how to work with them and I remember she did a headcount so I'm like
number six so she's been around a long time she's seen a lot of people come to the curriculum office as well um and she actually told me by the end of the first year you're a good egg told me I was all right told me was all right but the thing about Sandy is that um coming to work is fun and
enjoyable um I will tell you your colleagues and even I think that you are very persistent persistent when it comes to a work task or what needs to be done so whatever it is it might seem like it's a challenge I might say a couple things about it before I know she's already taken the initiative she figured
out who to reach and contact whether it's in the business office the personnel office or any office that need actually don't need a microphone um so knowing you know we thank you for that she's also extremely Dependable um when it comes to anything
if you ask her she never says no she always says okay give me a moment and then and she'll come back with an answer or a solution or something that can help you um many of our colleagues come into the curriculum office so sometimes I wonder if it was coffee time and I didn't get the invite honestly and I
don't drink coffee but I would have a cup of tea um at the same time but I noticed that they come from different departments even from the tech department and she's given them advice Sage advice because Sand's worked in a number of different departments so one thing about you you're always willing to share your knowledge and that we're so
grateful for because it allows us to get through what we need to accomplish um and she's very patient believe it or not cuz sometimes phone calls are tricky extremely tricky phone calls you have to be patient um and she takes it with Grace smile and I did prank her one time
on a phone call because I did a phone call check haven't been in administrator long enough sometimes you do you kind of want to test how the person responds on the phone and she goes you can't get me today um but first she thought I was joking and I said I really done it I said ask anyone I will tell you I've
done it but she's one who's always extremely professional I know when I talk to parents who I finally end up returning a call I will get comments that tell me the woman who answered the phone was so extremely helpful patient with me and she got the person she need to get to so we're very thankful for
that um but I will tell you that um you make it easy to to come to work honestly you really do it's just one of those things that's easy to do and I know that whatever we need to accomplish we're able to get it done together as much as I'm her direct supervisor she's like my colleague in the trenches right you know
whatever it is she's like you let me know whatever you need and sometimes she anticipates what it is I might need so that I'm extremely thankful for me as well as other people so on behalf of members of the board office we are more than grateful to recognize you this year and you being the reward assment because
it's welld [Applause] deserved already know she already told me no microphone [Music]
[Applause] like to thank you again all of you and congratulations to all our award recipients this evening um again as everyone can see and I'm sure as the board can see and recognize the amazing talented staff that we have in our buildings working with our students um
um every day could not be more proud of all of you um and if anybody has any other comments they'd like to share you know again this is this is just an amazing night thank you Mrs ke and thank you principals for for coming and speaking about the wonderful
characteristics and features of your educational support professionals and your teachers um you know we're all teachers at heart here and just are so grateful that we have such wonderful caring staff members here who take care of our children so thank you all
[Applause] thank you again and uh like I had said at the beginning of the presentation this is as a board one of our favorite nights to recognize uh the great staff that we have and just on a personal note
um my mom was a teacher in a neighboring district and she won uh Governor's educator in 2005 and I was a fifth grader at the time at John Adams and and and I don't think at the time I
truly realized what a big deal it was and I'm sitting here tonight and I'm looking at all of the family members as the speeches are going on and I see the pride and you as family and friends that are in the room should be so proud um of
your family members that were up here tonight we are grateful for them thank you for them thank you for the time that um you all provide to us we're very very very lucky so thank you all for being here [Applause] tonight anyone else from the
board all right at this time we will continue uh the remainder of our meeting hi thank you am love it thank you I'm char
[Music] may want to let you know continue [Music] [Applause] all right everyone we're going to continue the remainder of our meeting so we just ask that you take
your celebrations out to the hall all right at this time we will continue with item number six our meeting minutes Miss Keith would you please take item six yes Madam president i' would like to make a motion to approve the following board minutes board retreat minutes
February 5th 2025 executive minutes February 5th 2025 executive meeting minutes February 26 2025 regular public meeting minutes Fe February 26 2025 and budget Workshop minutes March 12th 2025 can we have a second thank you
thank you Mr R all in favor I is anyone opposed all the report or the minutes are accepted thank you are there any Communications this evening there are not I just have my administrative report M president great we will jump to item eight then administrative report thank
you good evening to all our families guests and viewers here tonight I am thrilled to announce that we did receive final certification today of the March 11th referendum vote confirming the strong yes vote on both questions for our community we again thank our Board
of Education parents staff NBTA members and Community for supporting this vital infrastructure work our offices have begun the process of planning for the bond sale and planning for how projects will occur at each school once again our great appreciation to all of those who
supported us through this process thank you to all parents and families who participated in our parent teacher conferences last week parent involvement in the a child's education is so important and we love being able to have our parents and families come in to discuss and jointly support and be
partners in their students learning schools will have an early closing this coming Friday March 29th due to a staff professional learning day that was rescheduled due to a delayed opening for inclement weather please also note the schools will be closed on Monday March 31st in recognition of the holiday the
Muslim holiday Eed alaer spring break will begin with a half day on Friday April 11th and school will reopen on Tuesday April 22nd finally due to a mild winter we are able to motion an update to our school calendar to return the three emergency closing days you will
see this reflected on tonight's agenda schools will be closed on Tuesday May 27th an extension of the Memorial Day Weekend Tuesday June 10th which is primary election day and we prefer not to have students and staff in schools as voting as as we prefer not to have
students and staff in schools as voting occurs finally the last day of school will now be Friday June 20th and graduation will still be on Monday June 23rd but I am happy to announce will now be at 10:00 a.m. at Jersey Mike Arena that is it for my administrative report
this evening thank you at this time we will jump to our student reports good evening hello um so to start off for March we had the north w t high school held the 40th annual rockathon which is where you bring in a bunch of rocking chairs stay 24 hours overnight in the
high school you can bring Foods people bring like PCS video games they some people stay up all night for 24 hours I can never personally I use my 3 hours of rest time um we had 70 participants and we raised over $111,000 for hugs for Brady the north bunic food bank and
bra's home plate on March 5th sgo hosted the annual student for staff basketball game some people didn't like some calls that were made but overall it was a wellplayed game and the teachers continued their winning streak I'm pretty sure the record is like 50 to two or something like that like they have a
really big winning streak um on Friday March 7th pained words held coffee house which is basically where you come into the comment you sit you drink coffee tea hot chocolate and all the people from painter wordss Club they share poems they share music play guitar and it's just a great time and experience and
then Mr MBT was held on Friday March 14th there was some interesting acts this year um Andrew shover solved a Rubik's Cube while telling dad jokes um Timmy diano cut one of his friends hair which was definitely an interesting talent and then Scott Cohen was
obviously amazing Scott Cohen always performs well sing a great song and it was basically unanimous that he was going to win and he won $100 towards his tux for prom he could use it this year or next year but he's probably going to win next year hoping for
him and then on Friday March 21st the class of 2026 held a very successful pocketbook Bingo and gift basket auction we raised $27,000 for our class which will used for prom this year and next year and next year senior barbecue and everything like that and this is a
record for Ms and um we just want to say thank you to all of the parents and volunteers that helped I was there I can say it was a very exhausting night for the volunteers so we are so grateful to all the parents that helped make this a very successful event and obviously our advisor Miss rashan um the new members of NHS were inducted last night Tuesday
March 25th we had six 66 new members it was a very well done event or induction ceremony and yeah and then the members of nbths Key Club and NHS and National Honor Society were incredibly helpful during our parent teacher conferences they served as door knockers and gave
directions to parents in the building cuz you know MBS it's very difficult to navigate when you don't know where you're going so they were very very helpful and finally um we have a couple exciting cultural events coming up so May 2nd the Latin American Club is hosting SOS Uno and May 9th the South
Asian Cultural Association is hosting their annual event innovasion tickets for both events will be going on so after spring break so be ready that's it thank you great thank you lot of stuff going on per usual all right we will move to our committee reports we'll
start this evening with Mr Carter business Ops good evening good evening thank you madam president uh the business operations uh committee met on Wednesday March 19th on the agenda this evening you will find the following items a motion to approve the acceptance of a grant from the USDA to purchase an
oven for Jud School in finance section 3D a motion to approve the purchase of a security vehicle in finance section 3G and a resolution to sell bonds for the referendum um that passed earlier this month in finance section 3H um finally
we received status updates on the lywood chiller which will be fired up next month uh Middle School leak forensics potential cost of 150,000 in the FY 26 budget uh Livingston Park Paving and traffic flow bid date opening on April
2nd Parson's Courtyard and concrete repair scheduled for June 20th ECC Courtyard drainage repair scheduled for spring break uh mbts MRC cubicle instulation and auxiliary gym floor rep painting scheduled for June uh
districtwide HVAC control upgrades are ongoing and Lead water retesting scheduled for the end of March great thank you Mr at this time we'll jump to Mr Ali education good evening good evening thank you madam president um the
education committee met on March 19th at 6 pm and for the areas of assessment of Grant we have completed our NJ GPA testing and our access for Ells um that will conclude on March 28th we will be moving to approve amendments
to a few of our state and federal grants and we have also submitted our ESS our performance reports for the 2324 school year additionally we've had two School assemblies at Lynwood and many of our math and ESL teachers will be uh attending professional learning
workshops to stay up to current with the trends and in areas curriculum technology we currently have 42 students who are attending uh historically black college and universities also known as HBCU College Tour where they'll be visiting North Carolina ant or North
Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University it's at Greensboro North Carolina and it's going to be a few other visits at the HBCU in that area and some good news we are one of 13 uh schools in the state to receive the 2024 sustainable Jersey Grant sponsored by
the njaa and we're getting $10,000 to purchase kits to support our environmental science courses in the environmental club we will also be renaming two of our elective courses in and Lynwood to be more aligned with New Jersey technology
standards and we have no updates from pupil and Personnel Services this week and additionally we have received three policies for first readings um policy 5533 which is State mandated updates for student smoking in electronic cigarettes
or some people might call them vaping devices 51 5111 which provides updates and guidance pertaining to the eligibility of residents and non-resident students and policy 2365 which is touches on the
acceptable use of gen generative generative AI artificial intelligence and we will be making a districtwide AI plan in the coming months and that's all from my commune report thank you Mr Ali Dr Patel Human Resources good evening
good evening thank you madam president uh the human resources committee Relations Committee met on Wednesday March 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 especially John Adams principal an Kingsley who is retiring
from the district at the end of this school year with over 25 years of service to North BR Township Schools there are new support staff and new sub substitute staff on tonight's agenda we welcome all those new members to our district and we look forward to working with you here in North buun as of our
Committee Member committee meeting excuse me any remaining or new vacancies for the 2024 2025 school year continue to be posted and can be found on the district website social media pages and posted in each of our buildings we discuss these vacancies along with coming leaves of absences and how those
positions may be filled with daily subs long-term subs or six teaching period there are a few reassignments and additional stien roles on tonight's agenda and we thank our staff for taking on these new assignments Miss ke shared that she's working with our administrators on attending at least four remaining virtual job fairs coming
up this spring one of which was last Thursday March 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 policy
9163 on spectator spectator code of conduct for inter Scholastic events and that cones our report great thank you um Mr Lori AR aison for the township mayor and Council and middle County School boards anything this evening nothing for this month Madam president thank you uh
anything for negotiations Miss none at this time Madam president okay I think we are all set then uh moving on to item nine Mr Wen would you please take this item sure Madam president I would like to make a motion to approve the administrative student and committee reports second all in favor anyone
opposed all the reports are accepted thank you at this time we will review our agenda um the board as I stated at the beginning of the meeting receives the agenda prior to our uh public meeting so we've had time to review so we will go quickly by Page by Page
anything that is changed from the last time we've seen it is in bold so we can start on pages 2 and three three four and five six and seven pages 8 and n 10 and
11 pages 12 and 13 14 and 15 16 wrapping up on 17 and 18 so at this time we can jump back to page two at this time we will have a
public session on agenda items only if there is anything uh that the public would like to speak upon from the agenda item we ask that you come up to the podium just state your name and sign in seeing none can I please have a motion to close the public portion of
the meeting so moved second all in favor I I is anyone opposed this session is closed thank you uh Dr Patel would you please take item 13 on consent agenda yeah I'd like to make a motion to approve the following consent agenda
items Personnel curriculum miscellaneous Finance items 1 to three and policy and transportation second I'm going to take roll call uh Mr Ali yes Mr Carter yes M James yes Miss
Keith yes Mr Lori yes Dr Patel yes Mr Singh yes Mr uh Miss to yes and Mr W yes all the Motions resolutions are accepted thank you and at this time we can jump to item 14 which is on page
17 at this time we will have a public session on any matter if anyone from the public would like to come to the podium and speak we just ask that you state your name sign in and you'll be given 3 minutes J Jen MBTA vice president um I just like
to say that now that the uh referendum has been officially passed we were very proud to partner with the on the passing of that and also to say how extremely proud We Are of all of the honores this evening who happen to all be ntba
members thank you anyone else all right seeing none can I please have a motion to close the public portion of the meeting so moved second all in favor I anyone opposed this session is
thank you at this time Miss James our motion to go into Clos session yes 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 this public
body is of the opinion that such circumstances presented exist now therefore be it resolved by the north brunic Township Board of Education that the public shall be excluded from discussion of and action upon the here and after specified subject matters the general nature of the subject matter to be discussed is as follows legal matters
and Personnel 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 have the motion please so moved thank you
second all in favor is anyone opposed we can go and cl s thank you [Music] all e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e e
right right imagine texed M okay okay can we have a motion to return to our meeting so moved second all in favor is anyone oppose we are back in Open
Session thank you Dr Patel a motion um I'd like to make a move to approve the termination of employee 9059 effective March 14 2025 thank you can we have a second second I'm going to take a roll call on
this Mr Ali yes Mr Carter yes M James yes M ke Mr Lori yes Dr Patel Mr Singh yes Miss to yes and Mr W yes the motion is approved thank you and at this time can we please have a motion to adjourn our meeting so moved
second all in favor I is anyone opposed we're adjourned thank you all very nice guys