--------- notice a meeting to be held by the township promotion board of education on Tuesday February 25th 2025 at 4M has been provided in accordance with the requirements of chapter 231 public laws 1975 notice of this meeting was posted on the bulleon board in the lobby of the admin building at 163 M old New Jersey
all Ocean Township District Schools and transportation and the school district website on February 18th 2025 notice of the meeting was transmitted to the Asbury Park Press in the coaster newspapers on February 18 2025 a notice of the meeting was filed with the municipal clerk C ocean on February 18
2025 the meeting will come to order Mr asting would you please call the role M here Mrs Dam here M Gilman here Mr govern here Mr Schneider this meeting is being recorded M Stevens Mico
here here keep my president report very brief just a quick housekeeping item so the board has completed their ethics training in accordance with our uh annual reorganization meeting however I do believe that it's important for this board to have additional training if
possible um so we have requested that the New Jersey school boards Association come in do a very brief session for the board as we have received in the past um just to go over school ethics uh and to to just keep us in good standing and good understanding of all of that so uh
that is scheduled for our first meeting in June uh they will come into our uh our work session work session and they will provide a uh a brief overview of squad School Board ENT okay uh otherwise um for the public the board did conclude
interviews for a uh for a candidate tonight so that first round of interviews is complete we will discuss more of that later in our regular meeting all right any comments or questions about the president's report thank you Mrs Welden
superintendent's report thank you McCarthy I will have a a larger report this evening we have a number of wonderful recognitions and honor joining us this evening but just as a uh some announcements uh the preschool
applications close on Friday we have our Lottery coming up Monday March 3rd at 10:00 a.m. we had more seats than applicants at Wayside School and W aasa school which means no Lottery necessary
everyone who applied in those two for those two schools have been you know granted Act seat in the in our school next year for the 25 26 school year so that's wonderful news uh this is a level we've been hoping to achieve for ever
since we began our preschool program at otes we did have more applicants than we have seats so we will have to have a lottery at that school however the number of overflow seats which is about
10 we have 10 seats in our district so those 10 who do not get into the lottery do not get a seat at ootes will be offered a seat in another school in our district if they so choose to take it um
it is their choice at that point but we are hopeful that every single person who applied will accept the seat in our district and we will have you know not really have to have uh anyone wait on a list for any amount of time so that's wonderful news um and if anyone is
missed the lottery or miss the application and still wants to be considered we always start a secondary list and I highly encourage families to apply and you know visit our website and register and we will walk you through that process so all good news there and we have a few events coming up we have
Wayside Bingo night the 27th um we have the Tois Black History Month virtual assembly going on there will be a link to the to the presentation on our website on the Tois homepage it'll be streaming that through
the YouTube channel the ocean view um as I said the lottery is Monday March 3rd at 10: a.m. and our Tois drama club performances are coming up March 6 and 7th at 7 pm and March 8th at 2 pm so I encourage families and the community to
come out and see the show what's the show it's um High School yeah no it's I just saw it the side I'm sorry let me I'll look it up while we're we're continuing but that is my report for this evening so is it safe to assume based on what you just said M Wen that we have a seat for every
student for prek in our district we just don't have a seat for every student in their neighborhood School correct it's wonderful news that's wonderful news that's an amazing thing that to have happen in this District um Mr AC School business administrator's report please
thank you Mr President um last year the district replaced three age boilers at tlis uh with high efficiency boilers this year we worked on the other Boiler Room uh and replaced two existing uh 30 plus
year old boilers with three brand new high efficiency boilers uh that project is completed we're working on the punch list now with the vendor and the architect so we're really down to just um correcting some controls issues so that's great news for us um we also made
several repairs to the high school roof over the gym and over the office uh so I'm sure the staff and students are very happy to hear that uh so we will continue to work on the high school roof and that's going to be a priority for us going forward uh but we've taken care of
leaks that uh surfaced over this past uh patch of bad weather um also in the last meeting there was a question about enrollments some enrollment figures over the past three years um so I went back and looked at the uh agendas for July
which had our June numbers for 22 23 and 24 um total enrollment in 22 was 3,28 students 1,56 were K to4 969 were 5 through 8 1,3 were 9
through2 the 328 D to 2947 and 238 at our elementary which is a slight decline uh 906 at the intermediate level 5 through 8 again a slight Decline and 9 through 12 was actually an increase uh
to 1,23 2024 our numbers went up slightly the 2955 with the 1061 in the K to4 876 at the um intermediate level and 1,8
at our high school level that's all I have we have a budget report later in the agenda uh so I can address some issues then this is M govern I was just wondering if you had a update on the um High School
auditorium yes so uh day after Christmas uh a um a heating unit burst and leaked water down into the equipment room uh down through some of the lighting interior lighting and then of course was
at the top of the auditorium which is sloped down so all the water then rushed down on the carpets uh to the face of the stage uh that day uh we had custodia help there drying things out and mopping things up roving equipment um we then
reached out to a uh recovery and restoration specialist who was there shortly thereafter as well who is on a co-op so that was good news for us they came out and did an assessment we filed a claim with the insurance carrier to uh cover those costs uh we a $5,000 dedu r
on that um over the past uh two weeks um we've had people in patching the plaster and the ceiling and on the walls they've removed some sound panels at the back of the auditorium and Patch those sections as well um today they were again
painting the ceiling and painting the um cinder block um Sound and Lighting Booth uh on the outside there uh so that part has been complete uh we have carpet that has been ordered
and has been received by the contractor however in addition to the carpeting there was lighting that went alongside the aisle to help people get into the uh to the aisles when it was dark or when the lights were down that is probably
another week out uh so we need both of those things in the house to get those installed uh we have claims in for the electronics that were damaged and we actually thir they have a second party coming out to verify the initial appraisal on that uh so uh we have
received a check from the carrier on the um physical damages if you will of the carpet and the paint and the walls uh so we've already receive that check and those repairs are underway uh we're hoping to get the electronics squared away quickly however the electronics
that were in place were older and the connections were older that connected the lights overhead the lates on the stage the control equipment so we're looking at potential upgrades and what's available as well uh to replace that equipment so uh again Thursday we're
getting a second uh opinion from the carrier on the cost that was estimated which was close to $250,000 for that for the electronics part so we've been working closely with the principal uh and the U the drama
coach uh to discuss how we're going to do little shopa hars at this point it looks like we'll be on on the target for the first week of April uh for the carpeting and the lighting to be done and for us
to be able to get in there with that because with no carpet becomes problematic uh and we're looking at potentially renting some light and sound equipment because it looks unlikely that between ordering giving the approval and then ordering getting it in installed
that we would make that April 1 first week of April for that part of the job so so are they able to use the stage at this point they are using the stage and practicing on stage they have a partial set that's up already okay uh so they've been working very diligently on on
rehearsing and getting the show ship shaped right so we're trying our best toh make sure it goes off well thank you to you and and thank you to I assume it's still miss worth lne I don't know for sure it is but miss worth lne and her students for dealing
with what we have to deal with right it's back to life but you know just I just thank you I appreciate I happen to see the trucks every once in a while when I drive by so I just want to you know thank you for the update of how far far we are yeah we've emphasized to the contractor that you know there are no
ifs ANS or buts that they you know we use this daily and then the students need access to it and there's a play up coming with a deadline and really press them as well to I'm sure you have app things moving thank you Miss go works
most closely as well and there's other events that go on in there with other staff members as well that are you know part of this but um also just to follow back up it's The Descendants that be good can I just see those numbers I'm
sorry you went fast and my mind just I couldn't write them down as fast as you were seeing them do you just have a little like sticky of those numbers so I can write them down sure I just wanted to see all of them but thank you I mean can do it later or now whatever thank you we email it out
to the old board yes is is that something the whole board would like to say yeah okay so we'll email it out to the whole board thank you sir appreciate that abely um okay does that conclude your report it's very very informative but very necessary thank you thank you app
apprciate that um at this point uh I do just want to remind you know we have lovely 24 participants on Zoom right now I would like to remind as a point of order to all members who are participating on there um that we do not allow comments to the side in uh of the
public members that are present at these meetings while we were conducting business we would ask that individuals refrain from doing things virtually in the chat and commenting on things uh at all please handle yourselves with appropriate decorum we do have a public comment session uh at the end of this
where you can say whatever you would like uh we will give you that opportunity but I just respectfully request uh that all all members of the virtual chat do so so thank you that was all and I I apologize for derailing us from our business uh Mr Vice President
would you please uh take over action item say yes Mr McCarthy we have the presentation of minutes from our executive session on the February 11th meeting I'm sorry the work and executive session on February 11th thank you do we have any comments or questions on
6.1 wonderful Personnel handled in ex ex thank you very much Mr do Mr McCarthy uh items 81 82 and 83 for uper discussion uh 81 are discussion on
budget any comments or questions on 82 or 83 wonderful sorry go ahead M um my question from last week was about the percentage that the taxes went up and then the total last year sounded like
Jeff was trying to actually jump in and say that so yeah no no please I stepped over you so thank you um so we do have a presentation associated with 8.1 that I believe we're going to go through now if that's the board's pleasure which will include some of weema absolutely
app Conway if you could open our attachment on 8.1 thank you and if you could go to the second slide [Music] [Music] [Music] sorry Pardon
Me So at the last meeting we discussed the budget and we went through some of the budget process we talked about the uh school funding Reform Act and how that works and how the state uh determines aid for for us for our district um and went through some of
those slides we also discussed um uh some Revenue adjustments that were coming from the state in terms of guidance on grant funding uh and we at the end of that meeting uh looked at a deficit uh of revenues versus expenses
of about 3.6 million that deficit was based on uh asking our Administration our our principles and supervisors to look at the 2026 budget evaluate their needs and then provide us with
requests uh for programming and supplies and resources going into 2026 uh so that's what put us at the 3.6 uh million doll deficit uh we went back over the past
week or so and looked at the capital requests we looked at Personnel requests and Technology requests we went through those and sorted through them to see what could be elimin ated what was likely to be approved as a project for next year based on our funding and which
would we need to perhaps postpone um to another year or was there a possibility of uh getting some of that done this year with this year's money so we looked at a reduction uh in capital requests of $957,000 um some of the requests that
were asked that we may not uh plan to do next year or heat curtain at the high school so a heat curtain basically is when you come in the front door there's a blast of heat uh that will look at um repairing what's there um and and
addressing it in that way there was a request to redo and this government just sort of mentioned it redo all the auditorium lighting uh but with the um unfortunate damage that was done with this water leak we do have the opportunity to do some of those upgrades
this year so while we not will not rep place all the lighting we can make a substantial leap in how we control The Sound and Lighting in the auditorium uh there was a quest for New Stadium turf which was a rather large item um again
that was almost half of that $957,000 probably a little bit more than half uh that we were not going to look at for next year we regularly maintain the football field the life of the field from the installer from the company that
makes field Turf uh says that about 10 years you should start thinking about replacing it uh we maintain the field uh with a contractor who comes out and does impact testing um and and cleans the fields and looks at different
sections for any faults or tears or those sorts of things um and then also puts the pellets back in uh and Smooths them out and evens them out over the field so we've been taking great care of the field there are no divots there are
no tears right now so we don't feel that it's necessary next year to replace the entire field it's over 10 years old now too though right yeah so that's good we um there was a request to redo Jim floors uh we are looking at Tois and a
gym there where we will resurface the floor uh and address some of those issues with this year's money and then the requests for doing more replacement of interior doors and flooring perhaps replacing carpet with the with tile and again those are
things that we can spot check and scale back in terms of the request that was made so we were able to reduce again Capital requests by about $957,000 we looked at Personnel requests and looked at actual costs versus um
what the budgeted estimates were this year on some of those things we looked at some after school activities and some summer programs and again based on what was budgeted versus um what was actually spent on those we're able to create some
savings um and then also looking at um some of our retirements and res resignations um technology again there was a request for certain items uh putting new projectors into
cafeterias uh changing radios uh um and again some of that will be shifted to this year in terms of radios and communication devices uh putting projectors into the cafeteria and some of the multi-purpose rooms uh will not be addressed in next year's budget um we
also looked at positions that are currently vacant and whether or not we needed to refill those and again we're able to create savings there um again I sort of touched on the summer program adjustments in terms of actual versus budgeted uh to again create savings uh
the district is allowed to take money out of our maintenance reserve and reallocate that into the budget so we currently have about 2.7 in our maintenance Reserve so we're looking at increasing our Revenue line by about 250
by making withdrawal there which would still leave us with just over 2.4 in our maintenance Reserve uh the adjustment the other way you see here is our healthc care waiver so as we look at our Healthcare waiver that's driven by current costs
versus next year's estimated costs so as we look at positions and we look at perhaps not backfilling some retirements or resignations those benefits costs estimated for next year would then come down because we don't have as many people on benefits that we would have
otherwise so uh between the last estimate that we gave you uh which was in the $400,000 range uh to our current number based on what we're looking at with again not backfilling some positions we had to reduce our healthc
care waiver by $138,000 so looking at those various uh savings we're able to reduce 3.6 down to 1.7 so I just want to ask the board real quick does anybody have a question about does everyone understand that Healthcare
waiver comment there go ahead well I understand your comment but that that means the healthcare benefits are fixed uh for the period of time so they don't go off like in normal like healthare Insurance part so when we estimate the cost of health care for the
district going forward we look to the broker we look to the state because we're in the state health benefits program to give us uh an estimate of what those costs could be um the costs are also running contrary to our budget so they're running January through
December we're budgeting July through June so half of those costs are already known and we're already paying those this the second half of this year um what the state says is we will look at your estimated cost for next year versus your actual cost for this year it will
allow you a 2% um increase if it's above that 2% we then start generating this uh waiver that allows us to uh increase our Levy by an additional cost because our health care is increasing more than the 2% so that's
what generates that number and as we adjust the number of employees that then adjusts the forecast on our benefits and that's why we're looking at a slightly less number I appreciate that absolutely sorry to interrupt that's
okay uh next slide please miss Conway so uh just when you thought the news um and the deficit was looking better uh we received last week a memo from the state uh Department of Education uh basically saying uh that
they've looked at funding and the memo says that school districts can anticipate that the K to 12 State a will not decrease by an amount greater than 3% of this year's Aid uh towards next year's Aid so um they're saying the
fixed state aid categories which are Equalization Aid special a security and transportation Aid will not be decreased anymore than 3% uh so our current deficit was 1.7 if I apply that 3% potential loss uh
that would be another $167,000 less of state aid so that pushes us back up to 1.9 million in a deficit uh the governor gave his address today at 3 o' um he is now on the clock in terms of releasing Aid to school
districts it's 48 hours after the governor's budget address that those are then released so Thursday we should have an idea well we will have an idea we'll have the numbers in terms of um what those uh eight numbers will look like
for us so we're hopeful that they'll be flat or or perhaps more but uh we don't know until we actually get the numbers so uh we'll have to wait and Thursday will be the magic day that we get that notification will you email the board um
like Friday sometime just let us know what the number you know is is that something that the old board would like okay great thank you um M Conway the next SL have a question um
historically how often has the budget conflicted with the memo received from the state like this know warning of a 3% this is the the first time that this memo this guidance has been given to school districts so so this is the first time in your your history as a school
district minator that you receed a memo from the state saying that you can expect to receive a loss or no that's not what I'm saying yeah but so the governor was giving his budget address today yeah so he's now releasing his numbers right Department
of Ed has said all along that Aid will be based on enrollment strictly on enrollment the state has now said while that's still true in some categories of Aid uh these basic uh four areas will not be
reduced any more than 3% so we're making potential that we can lose that a potential yes okay thank you so we're being conservative saying if we get this full 3% loss this is what it would look like and informing you that the state put in this safeguard that is never really been there before as a a tool of
predictability for dist okay thank you that's wonderful thank you thank you m Conway so what we're asking the board uh to consider and we'll ask the board to approve an increase because we have to approve our tenative budget at March
11 um the budget must be approved by Boards by March 19th so we have a meeting on the 11th so the Ten of budget will be approved at that point um we're looking at the 2025 Levy which was
$74,500 if we look at a 2% increase which is the cap that's another $1.49 million we take the current healthc care waiver which is 314,000 almost 315
that's another 042 and we do have cap banking money available to us of $200,000 so the cap banking money money is money that's available to districts over the course of three years and it's money that could have been taken in a
prior budget year but was not taken by the board so we would look to the board to approve a 2.69 increase in the tax levy uh there was a question about last year's Levy um and last year was a bit more
complicated because we went through the tenative budget in March the board approved it we went through the final budget presentation at the end of April and the board approved it and at that time the board approved uh the 2% raise in the local
Levy which is the cap and at that time we had a healthc care waiver which represented 86 so we got a $1.4 million increase based on the 2% we had a $63,000 healthcare waiver that was
available to us that we took so when the board approved the budget last April the board approved a 2.86 increase in our Levy the legislature got together and their budget year ends in June so they got together and they discussed school
funding and looked at the various issues that were across the state in terms of funding and they uh issued a regulation that basically said two things one districts could look at the L
of aid from 2025 to 2021 and take up to that full amount of the difference or districts could take 99.99% they could raise their Levy up to 99.9% um we looked at what was the
difference between our 2025 state aid and our 2021 state aid and that difference was $1.17 Million that was the maximum available to us so that's all that we could take that was a difference of
1.65% so in July the board approved in total of 4.51% increase in the levy 4.5 4.51% was at the end of the end of the day for 2025 and I would note that the
Department of Education has said multiple times to us the superintendent they've said our midyear budget reviews they've said it my visit administrative County meetings that the state is looking to the local municipality the local districts to take
advantage the tools that the state are providing so the state is saying to us basically we're not going to necessarily allocate more funds to you we're not going to say you know we're going to give you a million now we're going to give you a million plus they're saying you're allowed to take a million we're
going to give you these tools that you can utilize or not utilize but the state is no longer going to hand out the money they're going to look to the Local District to take advantage of those tools if we don't take those advantage of those tools don't expect any help from them so they're saying look inward
first uh and if you don't look Inward and take advantage of of what's been offered don't look outward so we are looking to propose on March 11th a 2.69 tax levy increase that does not balance our budget in terms of
revenues versus expenditures as you saw on the previous slides we're still about 1.7 to $ 1.9 million short in terms of our revenues versus our expenditures and we'll continue to work on those numbers
to bring that down into a balance so that we can move forward with a balanced budget on the 11 m t I just have one question about the one . 65% just to jog my memory is there a list of what we use that extra money for
yes so I can provide the board with the resolution that was approved um in July it was either might have been the first uh June meeting I believe that the resolution was on the agenda and part of taking
that 1.1 million for us and for any District that took additional funding was to show where you were going to allocate those funds um did we use it all we're in the process this year of using it so part of it was allocated to
um I'm sorry boilers no to boilers correct the boilers I just mentioned earlier at Tois part of it was allocated to new bleachers at U ocean Elementary that's been that's being ordered and in process
as well as some other projects there were buses there as well I believe were there lights too lights no no m m do you have answer to your question govern um how much cap is of the 200,000 expires this year and if you
don't know that you can get I believe we have nothing expiring this year the 200,000 will expire next year thank you Mr Schneider just um clarify that so the tools that they're given us to use is the ability to raise taxes and the
and we're using them in the in the area of healthcare Weaver and C bank that's correct just note that last year's tools at July or June were different from this year's tools different in that they were allowing you to exceed that 2% cap in
different ways so typically uh we can exceed the 2% cap with a healthcare waiver or with bank cap or in special cases an enrollment adjustment um those would be typically the three ways that we could exceed 2% U last year they
threw out this additional one time only ability to make up the difference in aid from those those years that I mentioned M Gilman one time only so you don't anticipate this happening again in June I'm not anticipating it we're being
conservative in our approach however as you saw last year when the legislature gets together and starts talking about this uh you know we're not we're not sure uh what the outcome will be thank you Mrs Dan um real quick question on slide
two with the nonb backfield positions um is that affecting class size I know that they're not being used now but is that going to affect class size moving forward so the ones that are here were
positions that people left their roles after we approved the budget last year so from J August to now um and because of our financial situation we have not filled
them because we were concerned and when you don't have a person in a role it's it's it's a preferred way to cut a position rather than have to tell a person that they don't have a job um but as you can see we're still even in best case scenario 1.7 away even if we don't
have that potential law so we're waiting for our state 8 numbers and then we will more than likely have to make other cuts to supply Cuts Personnel Cuts what you know whatever else we can do which we are scouring the budget lines and looking for ways to reduce but yes it
could absolutely result in different class sizes than we have right now and I just add after S2 through the six years of S2 we've been scouring lines and cutting for a number of years
so there is no more yeah easy cuts they're never easy but yeah I commend you guys for already having all this down and showing this before we even get our final numbers and having a start of a game plan it's not easy thank
you for all this information y on slide two was uh so the capital requests that we reduced those those are just essentially kicking the can down the road right there's something that we're not going to eliminate forever well they are sorry go ahead um so so we're looking those
individually in terms of what those requests are we'll make decisions on them based on what they are the importance of getting them done and and what we can afford so if any of those can be squeezed into this year's budget we'll take a look at that some of them
such as the field which is a major expense um you know we don't feel like that's necessary for next year or that was always a down the road expense it's just that that time frame is now closing in terms of how far we are
Road it's getting shorter yes and that's why we put money into the reserves as well so that when these major expenses do come up that there is a way to accommodate those large expenses any other comments or questions
on this presentation more slides no sir okay all right thank you um instruction education and Student Activities I'm sorry let me puse some do we have any other questions on
finance yep go ahead so next meeting based on the state aid that you're going to send us then we're going to know exactly what the further cuts are and then the bottom line of the tax that we is that
correct yes at the next meeting we have to present a balanced budget so we'll know what our revenues are so we going to have to know what our expenditures are going to be okay and we're that doesn't mean that down you know in the next two months we're going to have another resignation or retirement or
whatever happens um you know on those lines so I couldn't tell you that position a versus position B will be in the budget or not just based on that information that we don't know but we'll have an idea before we vote what the
cuts will be is that what you're saying I mean we've addressed some of them now and talk briefly about them at the last meeting but do you expect the state aid to be significantly decreased from last
year um based on I always expect it to yes I always expect it to be less because it's it's safer to plan for less and then be surprised and we can add things back but okay we're sort of looking at worst case and want to prepare you worst
Cas so there's no surprises yeah just trying to bra do we have any other questions okay so now we are going to move on to instruction education yes president McCarthy we'll be voting on items 9.1 to 9.3 in our regular session thank you any questions
on 9.1 and 9.3 any comments thank you policy yes 10.1 is the second reading of the revised or new policies and regulations and 10.2 is our first
reading of the revised bylaw any comments or questions on the revised bylaw or any of the policies that are up for second reading I do you um I just have a comment honestly
so obviously everyone knows I'm not in support of this that I do believe that there should be two and should remain um but I also am not in favor of this because just last week the SEC reviewed
the second of complaint against sitting board members and the first ethics complaint is about to be heard at the AOL and you know the silencing of the second public comment you know to me is obvious attempt to limit the negative
exposure um regarding these two ethics complaints so I do ask that it be voted down that we still have two uh Mrs Dan not really following the ethics the ethics complain
was heard last week okay so the timing of this is just very to me Beyond coincidental that we're asking to decrease public comment to one session instead of two when these events are
occurring M Gman first of all the ethics complaint should not be discussed uh according to the attorney and nothing will be known for several months regarding the outcome and and an example of
how the first public comment session would be successful was found at last week's meeting Mrs Todd uh waited till the very end of our meeting to discuss a wonderful program that our school students were involved
in with mental health I believe it was red bag School District uh if we had had the first public comment she would have been able to tell everyone who was still online and still listening uh about this wonderful program that our students
participated in rather than wait till 9:00 at night to tell a limited audience many people had signed off by then and that's the purpose of this meeting there's nothing uh nefarious about it or the timing or The Coincidence of it uh
that's all there is to it so we voted on any other comments or questions about any of the policies or bylaws that are up I just have a question because I didn't see a lot of red lines in which are you referring to 10.1 or 10 sorry 10.1 10.1 10.1 that is the
second reading so generally we remove the red lines second reading and we present a policy as as R okay this is all being voted on tonight downstairs uh 10.2 10.2 is not going to be voted on we're
goingon to have a second reading of that in our next meeting okay all right uh moving on to Old business does any member of the board have any old business for discussion moving on to new business does any member of the board have any new business for
discussion wonderful public comment the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest public comment is not a question and answer session specific questions to be
directed to the administration and the superintendent's contact information is Avail available on our Podium downstairs and on our website we encourage you to contact her with any questions public participation shall be governed by the following rules each statement made by a participant shall be limited to five
minutes in duration no participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others who to speak on that topic have been heard the presiding officer May request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum would anyone from the public like to comment on any
item at this time um my name is Keith Chapman as you recognized uh I've been uh online before making use of the online system thank you for being here this evening Mr Chapman thank you pleasure meeting everybody in person finally but you know when I first heard
that you were eliminating the second um public comment session I was very curious as to why and regardless of whether somebody logs off or logs on that's their problem that they're not going to stay on and listen to the entire meeting that is their choice
that's not your choice they made that choice and when you bring up that you're ending that public comment it doesn't look good on a public standpoint from my standpoint at all it says one thing you are limiting and making it more
difficult to hear from the public why not opening it up and keep it there why why knock it off so what someone comes up someone thinks it's something towards the end I've spoken at both I've spoken in the middle and then towards the end and yes it's difficult waiting those
couple hours or whatever that it is but I think it's still needed and if you're voting that out you're making it more difficult for the public and it just tells people you don't want to hear from them thank you thank you Mr Chapman thank you for being here um I'm just
going to stand up so my voice carries so that it can be picked up downstairs Alex Hayes um Oakhurst um as I mentioned last week the cancelling of the second public comment is preposterous it is ridiculous that this public body of
elected officials wants to tell the C the customers the residents that you don't want to hear from them after you are making decisions that affect them it's one thing if you want to make the public comment in the beginning available to any comment you know on the
agenda or not but you must keep this end one so that people can comment on what the heck you have decided not decided moved canceled had a new motion whatever at the end I will bring up the SEC ethics complaint actually and anybody in
this room can you can't tell anybody what they can't talk about um the SC complaint the second one that names Mr McCarthy Miss McGovern Miss Gilman uh Miss Denise Paramus Natalie tarella and Jeff Weinstein was heard
this past Tuesday and it will come out next month what the decision is not months you might be thinking of your own case that has been yet to be heard in front of the oal that still hasn't been heard in front of the judge so perhaps you're confusing the two SEC ethics
complaints that are in front of this board um but it is absolutely as teenagers would say redonkulous that you are even considering canceling a second public
comment so I'm going to continue with some other comments that I have while I still can because there's two more public comments um got to find my change my comments here [Music]
um the 12-day soccer tournament you all I'm sorry that's for the 8:00 um oh I forgot I'm wearing my africanamerican African-American history is American history t-shirt um I've yet to hear thank you for updating us on what's happening at the high school and the virtual assembly I still have yet to
hear um in African-American support um motion or Declaration from this District would be nice if dur in Black History Month you do that I know Miss Gilman told me not to wear this t-shirt two years ago because it was political but maybe you all could see it in your
hearts to do a pride month an African-American month and a Latino Heritage Month celebration the governor's budget today said he would also include millions of dollars to those schools who applied for free um
phone free zones I know we are you know leading the area in that and that should be celebrated but the governor specifically said there will be millions of dollar for those districts to apply for that so I'm hoping if that's anything that we are eligible for that we would use that maybe that's one of
the tools um let's see I'm also wondering when the public will get the one sheeter about the budget these budget discussions used to be like 10 pages maybe it was a little too much money and you know um
graphs and stuff but it's almost too little right now it's like too um uh presentation PowerPoint Pages it's a little hard for the public to understand that basically it's ending up 1.9 million and then what are we going up to
2.9 and then 3 point something if basically I'm asking when will the budget friendly public document be posted online um how much time do I got you have a
minute and 15 seconds okay thank you because I know you're keeping track of my minutes maybe not everybody else's but my minutes you keep track of um I can't wait to see who the new Schoolboard member is that you all are going to elect or I mean I'm sorry predetermined before you probably
interviewed them but I'm wondering when that is going to be announced when the new person is um also am asking about um the attorney vote of five to
zero I'm sorry four to zero two um months two weeks ago I'm wondering if anyone from the school board took it upon themselves to ask the New Jersey Schoolboard Association um how the vote should be interpreted when it was four votes for I
think it was a bush Law Firm four extensions and one person wasn't here I still contend that that was not a legal vote I also contend in my final seconds here that when you have a conflict of interest and you're voting
it's not an exstension folks you're supposed to recuse yourself and by recusing you're supposed to also State why you're recusing so an abstention two weeks ago I don't believe was appropriate thank you thank you Mrs Ace appreciate Mrs come do we have any
comments in in the que no um Mr President there are no commenters in the virtual queue and there are no commenters in the auditorium either thank you so much for cash I appreciate that uh motion thank you wonderful see
you all down Part: 2
R upstairs during our work session that of adequate notice provides we're okay thank you uh the meeting will come to order Mr hings would you please take the RO Mr Dalton here Mr Dam here Gilman
here M McGovern Mr Schneider here Mr Stevens Mr T Rico here Mr M McCarthy here would you please all join me in the flag salute 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 liberty and justice for all president's report so um we have a lot of recognitions to make tonight and that is absolutely wonderful thing uh we
we did conclude the interviews for a candidate to replace former board member Jeffrey Weinstein tonight uh the amount of before anything is done in in any business tonight I would like to say that all of the candidates that we had were wonderful candidates this District
was fortunate enough that we had 11 people asked to be members of the Board of Education they said that they cared enough about the students of this town that they put their names in for that fortunately for us we believe that this board has come to a conclusion this evening and we're going to be able to announce that in tonight's meeting which I think is also a wonderful thing that
this board was able to conclude business so quickly and come together and have a vote that will be announced in our in our new business section but I would like to on behalf of the board thank every member of this town who put their name in to be considered as a candidate to be selected for this board of
education to refl replace Mr Weinstein's position that's all I have Mrs W actually I believe the student report is oh sorry yes student report thank you for C report just so excited about everything I'm see student report please okay so first in sports all spring
Sports will be starting March 10th um the boys basketball team face Mana Squan this Thursday at five for the state tournament for wrestling this weekend 10 members qualified for region qualifiers and out of those 10 four of them plays first last week the Esports team had
tryouts and practices begun this week for indoor track the Garden State Invitational was February 14th and there was a lot of PRS this past weekend Leo starky became the group two champion in the 3200 making her second in the state and seventh in the country the girls 4
by 800 set a new school record the hockey team yesterday faced Colonia and beat them two- Z this Advanced them to the second round of states and their next game will be Thursday vers Marboro and for swim the boys are currently the new be North
champions in activities and clubs the THS band just got back from their trip to Disney where they performed on Main Street USA and had an amazing trip in Key Club freshman and new members were recognized this month for their effort and a popcorn sale was held at school to benefit the pop popcorn Zoo HOSA
attended their Regional Conference at Kane earlier this month next week Deca is traveling to Atlantic City for the state competition where 40 students are competing in written and roleplay events it was announced today that the winner of the mental health mural contest was M bport her design was voted on and chosen
by the whole student body and finally this Thursday at the high school will be a Black History Month assembly that all students get to attend thank you ladies appreciate that this is welcome okay thank you very much I'm going to repeat a few of those but
that's okay um it's so wonderful to see such a packed house this evening I will tell you that we when we started to invite people uh teams just kept winning records and staff members kept reaching achievements and the room uh you know is is packed like this and it's wonderful
to see so a room full of Spartan legacies we are going to I am going to recognize a variety of people this evening I am going to say this up front parent you are welcome to stand up stand in the aisle take pictures because of the crowd this evening we will take
pictures in front of this deis here instead of over uh on the side I think we we need the we need the space here so I will start by asking the principales to come on up I'm going to start with our swimming achievements this year so I'm going to ask the principal I believe
our a a letic director is here coach Todd and any swimming coaches that are here coach coach goldar coach Dela PESA or coach Sor if you're here you can join us as well up front and I want to start by congratulating you on such a
wonderful season under your leadership okay okay up first when I call your name just come on up and parents like I said you're welcome to stand up and take photos as well first up I'd like to
introduce Cecilia flamia who broke her who broke her school record in the 100 backstroke with a time of one minute one and 12 H hundredths of a second right I think I'm saying that right
102 congratulations next up we have Matthew siliato who set a new school record in the 200 pryle with a time of 14 6.99
congratulations Colin zimmerer volunteer come on up set a new school record in the 100 freestyle with a time of 4885 congratulations and now I'd like to
introduce the entire everybody stay up here the entire boy swimming team who earned B North Division Champions this year congratulation boys come on up read their names J J Farine Adam
Johnson Ken John Kelly Nicholas Kelly Logan Lai Avery o' Gorman Luke rousell Matthew siliato Jake Stewart Matthew Stewart Owen tongren Amir Waldman Aiden waffle Colin Zimmer
Zimmer and the coaches again congratulations everyone if you moving closer please hey congratulations swimmers okay now I'd like to recognize the achievements of the indoor track team our principal and athletic director
will stay up and I'd like to invite up our coaches if you're here coach Lynch coach DOA and Coach derone please come on up and congratulations to you as well for leading this wonderful team okay first up is our boys shuttle
hurdle team vase Andrew vigano Michael M and Dylan Marshall these these Runners have they set a new school record in indoor track shuttle hurdle for with a time of 3189 and are the group two state
champions congratulations to you all right right here Andrew who's already up here also set a new school record he broke his own record in the 55 meter hurdles with a time of 769 and he's a group two state champion in
this event as well congratulations okay I'd like to ask the following students to join them Aiden Winters please come on up nickol leie please come on up these gentlemen set a new school
record in IND for the sh relay scoring 88 ft and 11.75 in in addition Aiden winter set a new school record in indoor track he broke his own School record with a 56
scoring 56 feet in the shop Hut congratulationses if you want to join them for a picture and then we'll move on to the next event guys can stay up here too but um okay great job wonderful now I'd like to invite up
Olivia pudus Skyla Willams Catherine calib and Leah starky stand right in front here these ladies scored set a new school record in indoor track for the 4X 800 meters with a time of
10341 congratulations like to recognize Olivia pudus for setting a new school record in indoor track for the 800 meters with a time of 2 minutes 19 seconds 19 congratulations on there okay and then I would like to
recognize Leah starky for setting new school records in the one mile the 1500 meters the 1600 meters and the 3,200 meters where she broke her own School record and earned great great group two
state champion status and is now number two overall in New Jersey and number seven in the nation like join in for a photo parents again you're welcome to take pictures we want to congratulate the entire indoor track team for these
unbelievable accomplishments this season good job spans okay we're moving on now to some staff recognition I'd like to recognize the following staff members who have earned tenure this year so we do this twice a year there are teachers who earn it at
the end of a at the beginning of a school year and then others who earn it somewhat uh mid midy year so this is our group of uh faculty who have earned tenure midy year this year I'd like to introduce Christin zidan Jenna Boker
clyn Bardo T Lee Amy hover Mel Mattis Alexander Lynch and Aron ladyy
please and then please come right here to the middle now is the time we escape come on in now I'd like to recognize two of our staff members who have earned their doctoral degrees first I'd like to introduce Mrs Lisa Hannah who completed
her degree at Indiana University and Mrs da Schulz who earned her degree from liol position up front here principles as well TOA is here as well to recognize let's take a photo everybody can get in
there this is quite an accomplishment for both of these fine teachers very nice very nice no no certificate which I think do you have the certificate okay
wonderful okay and now finally but certainly not least I would like to recognize my partner Dr Kalisha Morgan I'm going to ask her to come forward Dr Morgan is being recognized during Black History Month by the Puerto
Rican Association for human development with the uro Alonso shamberg award for her impactful contributions to education equity and Community advancement we couldn't be more proud of Dr Morgan for
all she has done for us here in Ocean and Beyond in her career for Education equity and Community advancement congratulations Dr take a picture with your family Mrs will grab that as well nice to meet you thank you
congratulations congratulations I don't think I have to say that at this point if you'd like to step out to get home to do your homework it seems like everybody knows the routine by now but um I just want to say it gives giv me great pride to recognize so many outstanding achievements something is in
the water this year we're setting new school records left and right it's wonderful to see um such th thriving programs under our athletic director coach Todd and such wonderful coaches who are really helping our Spartans build their legacy so um thank you for
giving me that time to do so and that concludes my report there's something in the water and ocean T every year this is welcome every year but yes especially this here wonderful thank you very much uh Mr hting School business administrator's report I have nothing additional thank
you thank you very much for the comprehensive report you're providing the work session public comment uh the following are a series of motions to be read by the committee chairpersons all motions have been discussed at a recent public work session and some motions have been approved at a public work session and
the minutes for the approved items are posted on the district website at this point in the meeting we will now conduct the first of two public comment sessions the first session will be open for public comments on agenda items only the second session will be at the end of the meeting and it can be on any topic board
of education byall is 0167 public participation in board meetings the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest public comment is not a question and
answer session specific questions can be directed to the ad Administration and the superintendent's contact information is on the podium we encourage you to contact her with any questions that you may have public participation shall be governed by the following rules each statement made by a participant shall be
limited to five minutes in duration no participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard the presiding officer May request that any person leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum and I would like to add while
any member of the public is allowed to say whatever they want in in that pertains to their First Amendment right and we cannot restrict that I do ask any members of the public who are addressing this board to respect Robert's Rules of Order to address the chair directly and
direct their comments to the board of the whole although I cannot limit that and I do remind them that we do request that they conduct themselves with a appropriate decorum when addressing this board do I have anyone from the public who would like to comment
I'll go up m s welcome uh thank you hey Alex hay is O Cur um I don't think the average person knows about the Robert's Rules of Order so that would be interesting if somebody steps outside of line of the Rules of Order and says something out of turn I I'd be curious
to see how you would react um I did not see an agenda in the back for the work session I only saw an agenda for the primary work meeting I mean regular meeting um I bring this up for the second time now uh second meeting in a
row where there hasn't been all the documents that generally are supposed to be publicly available on the back table um Miss Welden I don't unless I missed I checked my phone before I came I didn't see a missed call from you or Mr Hastings about my comments and
questions rather questions from the last meeting um and I know I would just as a point of order just remind you that this is pertaining to agenda items on this only so I just ask that you refrain from all questions for agenda items only please respectfully I think I still am though okay wonderful and the first
comment was about the agenda thank you the second one is going to be asking for a call back thank you thank you um made me lose my train of thought here the second one that I started to bring
up upstairs I'm sorry third um point the soccer tournament that Township United of which I'm a paying parent and have been for many years I spent thousands of dollars on my daughter's club sports you have um ocean
United several times on the agenda one of them is for the two-day soccer tournament for $2,000 loving that it's not the usual $500 fee um but I don't understand why that's $2,000 and then the deal little
league for 15 days is $1,900 whereas the ocean United tournament was two days for 2000 then the Little League wants 15 days for 1900 and then for four months of basically unlimited days six out of
seven days of the week weekends like 700 a.m. to 9900 p.m I believe you're only charging um sports teams $150 so as seems ad nauseum over the years I wish this board would consider raising the rates
to even if they are Town groups even if they benefit our children it costs a ton of money to send our kids to the soccer club if every parent who does ocean United Soccer had to pay an additional $ five dollar $10 if I'm already spending
$2,000 um to pay for increased um field fees I think that would be something that we could swallow when this district is trying to find an extra $1.9 million I think that's all I have right now and I'll save the rest for
the possibly second to last second public comment ever thank you miss all Keith Chapman um welcome back Mr CH good evening when we uh discussed this last year it was about uh the same tax
increases and every year it seems like it's an excuse as to why our increases taxes could keep on going up I I have to honestly ask myself how many more increases can my family afford or many others afford before it's just too much
and it concerns me because our our district is relatively small compared to maybe some of the other larger districts are we being that competitive are we using our money you know wisely enough and you know there was a question about the building here last year that
you were going to be looking at how we're going to use the building better and or sell it or how we can make money I didn't hear anything tonight about it I don't know if it was discussed previously um there was also a question I Believe Miss is bringing up about you
know how much are we charging for use of our facilities for non school events and we sh we should be using our our I think our facilities better I I live very close to the high school I see you know it being used a lot but are we using it
well enough to make money off of our resources that we have I believe one of you mentioned that we're going to look into be more creative with our money and how to make more money I didn't hear that tonight during that meeting so I think we need to look at it more thank
you thank you Mr Chapman do I have any other members of the public who would like to comment this evening on any agenda item at this time Mrs Conway do we have anyone in the queue who would like to comment on any agenda item at this time no Mr President there are no commenters in the C thank
you thank you very much uh Mr do thank you Mr President um motion to approve item 5.1 approval of minutes do I hear a second second thank you excuse me for approval of 5.1 Mr
doton yes Mrs Dam yes Mr skilman yes Mr McGovern yes Mr Schneider obain you T Rico yes Mr McCarthy yes motion carries Personnel Mrs McGovern I move to
approve item 6.1 through 6.8 may I have a second second second thank you all items 61 through 68 Mr Dalton yes Mrs Dam yes Gilman yes M McGovern yes Schneider yes
m t Rico yes M McCarthy yes motions carry Financial Management and Resources Mr Dolan yes Mr McCarthy uh motion to approve items 7.1 through 7.7 do we have a second second Mr all items 71 through 77 Mr
Dalton yes Mrs Dam yes Mrs Gilman yes M mcgoverin yes Mr Schneider yes but no on 7.4 thank you m Taro yes uh Mr McCarthy yes all items carry instruction
education Student Activity Mrs Gilman as president McCarthy move to approve items 8.1 to 8.5 and just a comment that 8.5 is resolution by Miss Welden for youth art month and endorsement by our board and that's well
deserved second Mr hings all items 81 through 85 Mr doton yes Mrs Dam yes M Gilman yes M McGovern yes Mr Schneider yes Mr T Rico yes Mr McCarthy yes motion
carries and Mrs Gilman 9.1 resolve that the board approv the third and final reading in 9.1 of our policies and regulation do I hear a second second thank you this is item 9.1 Mr Dalton yes M
Stam yes M Gilman yes Mr McGovern yes Mr Schneider yes Mr Taro yes M McCarthy yes motion carries do I have any old business from the board any old business nothing do I have any new
business from the board Mr do Mr McCarthy uh I'd like to make make a motion to approve Mr Scott Brady as our new school board member to replace Mr Weinstein do I hear a second second Mr Rings would you call the
role still app Point Mr Scott Brady uh as our new board member Mr Dalton yes Mrs Dam yes Mrs Gilman yes Mr McGovern yes Mr Schneider yes Mr elico yes Mr McCarthy yes motion
carries any other new business I will just comment I think it's a a wonderful thing that this board not only selected someone so quickly uh but that we did so unanimously with all members present tonight uh you know one absent vote one absent member so uh
absolutely wonderful thing uh and uh I would like to congratulate Mr Brady on behalf of the board and I look forward to seeing him up here uh on the days with us absolutely any other new business
wonderful public comment the Board of Education recognizes the value of public Comon on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest this is not a question and answer session specific questions can be directed to the
administration and the superintendent's contact information is on the podium we encourage you to contact her with any questions public participation shall be governed by the following rules each statement May may be made by by a participant and shall be limited to 5 minutes in duration no participant may
speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard and the presiding officer May request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable deorum would anyone from the public like to comment on any item at this time Mr Chapman
please couple months ago I went with my daughter to a parent advisory group it was at for the Spartan schools and she who will be entering her first year in high school next year was very surprised to hear that we do not have a Health
Sciences program for Spartan schools I was also surprised to hear that and I think you're missing out on a good bulk of students that could be entering a program such as that and brought it up as to why we don't there's not a clear answer as to why yet I
believe which I don't remember exactly but we've had Spartan School for a good number of years five seven years and they're excellent programs or focus on key points where whether it's business or whatever why don't we have a Health Sciences Health Sciences should be number one major concern with all the
different viruses and problems in society what are those students that are not able to do that you take a chance of lose going into Health Sciences as a Spartan School you take a chance of losing those students they're going to Allied Health programs they going to
biotech programs they're out of your school system we need to keep students here and we are looking at Allied Health in other schools because you don't have a Spartan Health Sciences yes we have AP
programs yes we're looking at how how to push it through that way but where's that Health Science Program where are the EMR certifications my district has one many others do students love it they make valuable um um
doorways that open for them that maybe wouldn't open for a student not inm so I think we really need to look at that and I'd like to hear from somebody back as why we don't because at that parent advisory group I never got a clear
answer thank you thank you Mr Chapman anyone else from the public who would like to comment on any item at this time Alex say o again um couple of comments and a couple of
questions um I'm encouraged to hear that New Jersey school boards Association is going to be doing the ethics training for this District the last couple years it's been the attorney um might be a smart idea to hear from the njsba since listening to the
attorney has been uh a defense in several of the ethics complaints facing this District this these board members several of the board members I don't know if it's a mistake um because normally the suspension lists aren't in the agendas but the suspension
report for January was publicly available um in I think the work session I haven't seen that in a while um but it did reveal that in January there were six fights one assault so seven
incidences resulting in 22 days of miss school so that concerns me a little bit a that's a lot of schooling that kids are using or I mean are losing um and most of that was at the high school so I'm wondering if this is
a new thing you g you're going to start publishing the suspension um reports that would be awesome so parents get to know or maybe it was a mistake what do they call that on Facebook when there's like an accidental Amazon sale I forget
um while I do believe Amy does a nice job taking photos at all these monthly meetings you all pay for a Communications person I don't know why you don't have your PR person here taking photos I stopped doing it after the first year or so when I was on the
board because you're not paying me to do that so while it's nice that she offers to do it if you're paying a staff member it would be nice if you did that or if they came here and took photos um you started off the the public
comments tonight all three times saying we value public input um we recognize and value public comment I I gotta say I don't believe that I think it's ironic that you say that as you're about ready to eliminate
one of the two public comment sessions um and to to dismiss one board member saying it's not coincidental when there's like lawsuits facing this District ethics complaints facing this District
um previously fired employes suing this District I find it curious that now is the time that you're going to take away a public comment I find it anything but
coincidental um I'm looking forward to hearing about Mr Brady I think I got that right um it' be nice to to see him at a at a Schoolboard meeting I've never seen him at one um so that'll be nice um I understand we have I think it's a half day from the high school
because they're going over the um the new if if I'm wrong um it's the new schedule like the dry run of the new um schedule at the high school um this week so that made me think when are we going to get rid of that awful 85 minute block
schedule at Tois no offense to Mr rato but he knows I hate the block schedule for sixth seventh and eighth graders um so I'm wondering on the timetable uh when is that going to happen if you're making it happen for the high school when's it going to happen for
Tois I'm almost done following up on two weeks ago or whenever the last meeting was like to know where we stand on selling this building you're $ three and a half million dollars in the hole and now you have to find 1.9 million right before a
March 11th sell this building sell property everybody doing it I don't know if you've seen the papers but all these districts are selling property and selling land um I think that's it um I did want to
reiterate though I think I got a little distracted by my tiny handwriting from earlier tonight um when I mentioned about the attorney being uh the motion was approved at a four to zero vote I still contend that that's not legal and as I
wrote in my letter to all of last week um I did file a complaint with the Department of Education Office of Financial accountability the investigations unit um and they are quote unquote investigating it I've already spoken with them several times I
I think it's highly improper that you all um appointed a new attorney on four yes votes and four exensions so that's about it under my five minutes thanks thank you Mrs Z anyone else from the public who would
like to make a comment on any item at this time thank you uh Mrs Conway do we have any comment in the queue no Mr President there are no commenters in the queue thank you very much can I have a motion to adjourn motion second meeting is
ajour