e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e went to the New Jersey open public
meetings Act njsa 10 4-10 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by advertising such notice in the home News Tribune the Asbury Park Press the board office the schools and on cable vision channel 118 and Verizon FiOS channel 24 and by filing such notice
with the Township Clerk this meeting was scheduled for Tuesday February 11th wait no it's the 18th well we'll fix that one the 18th 2025 the board will take formal action on payment of bills and other agenda
items Mr row the overd Township Board of Education acknowledges that the law of the state establishes that members of the public including members of the board have the right to record public board meetings using audio or video recording devices provide that the actor recording does not interfere with the business of this public board meeting
therefore the board makes it known that any such recording is to be considered the private recording of the individual and in no manner represents the official record of this board the board therefore takes no responsibility for such private recording and completely disavows any future use roll call please done
here uh Francisco here gardano here jod here Mone here Slade here solowski here V T here Dan tuno present we have a Chum thank you uh can we stand for the pledge and everyone remain standing for a
moment of silence I pledge allegiance move the Board of Education acknowledge the death of I should have done this first Lia Liza someone help me with that I don't want Liza Chanley retired District
secretary Josephine Martinelli retired District par professional and Alice Newman District substitute teacher and expresses the deepest deepest sympathy to their families and friends thank you can all be seated Christina can you do the code of
ethics please the board members will confine his or her board actions to policymaking planning and appraisal and help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them thank you uh we're going to discuss
and hopefully approve the district goals and board goals this later on in the meeting can I have a motion for the approval of minutes please there a motion second J Daniel second thank you any
discussion roll call please done yes Francisco yes Jano yes jri yes maone yes s yes solowski yes vka T yes danant tuno yes resolution one for
approval of minutes passes report from the student representative hi everyone the students of Oldbridge High School had a busy and exciting month winter sports are finishing up and most teams are competing in the GMC and state tournaments Miss O'Reilly and the drama Department are working hard on the
spring spring musical 42nd Street which will open on March 20th the black student union hosted a teachers versus students basketball tournament which was a great way to bring the faculty and students together outside of the classroom the people first program hosted a sweetheart Suare to raise money
for the orridge pet shelter this past week Oldbridge High School celebrated celebrated its first ever hope week hope Squad is a peer-to-peer suicide prevention program it aims to Foster human connection community and hope within our school throughout the week students
participated in activities focused on growth mindset self-care inclusion all hosted by The Hope Squad members ranging from 9th through 12th grade on Thursday February 13th mayor Walker officially proclaimed a day of Hope which we
commemorated with a yellow out students and staff wore yellow shirts to symbolize the light we can shine during difficult times it was was an inspiring and impactful experience and help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health within our school's Community the Asian-American Club will
host their annual mock shotty this Friday February 21st and this Saturday is indoor percussions first competition of the season the final meeting for the senior trip to Disney will be February 26th and the class of 2027 will be hosting a volleyball tournament on March
10th to raise money for our sophomore class finally almost 300 students enjoyed a very successful and fun nights out on February 7th it was only possible with the leadership of Mrs obdc Mrs borell and the many faculty and student volunteers we would also like to thank
the entire High School administration who were there throughout that night the student Senate would also like to extend our gratitude to anyone who who donated to support our event we are looking forward to another great m month at oldridge high school thank you and have a great
night thank you very much thank you for recognition items one through three can I have a motion Francis I will motion Miss second any discussion roll call please Francisco yes
Jano is is it Mr Cino gonna do the presentation first or sorry okay okay but yes ji yes maone yes Slade yes
solowski yes bason yes dun yes Dan tuno yes resolutions 1 through three for recognition passes and we'll have Mr sadino up at the podium to present I do apologize when I was walking over did did you do the retirements yet okay so why don't we do
start off with uh Mr solow you usually do the retirements correct what traditionally you have done the retirements oh the retirees I was working with the student over here okay two retired uh kellyan Kelly
and Stephanie chin 26 years and 25 years a total of 51 years thank you for your service [Applause]
thank you Mr Sakowski at this time can I have Amira come can she come up with her family me off come onam behind me we go promise you promise you I will not uh
come come CL closer I I showered for the occasion all right so move the board to recognize Amira DEA angess good Goldwin off from Vorhees elementary school as a student she was selected for as the fourth grade
winner for the Oldbridge Elks drug awareness poster competition amir's poster will now be entered uh into the district competition I also think it's a state competition as well as she gets entered uh wider so uh I'm going to present her with the certificate of recognition we're also proud of you as
the board in the district of oldridge for your ongoing campaign to bring about um education and Enlightenment about drug issues and awareness so we can save our peers and Wren our future so thank you so very much anything you want to say about
this all right you're more of the artist and not really so much the talker at this point right okay I could see a future leader in you though so congratul ations can you go to the front while I take a little picture go right over
there family go with on the stage thank you so very much now one of the the most challenging and I would say rewarding applications we do as a district is the state school of character recognition uh through
character.org this recognition um requires a lot of data collection but that data collec is Rich and valuable in the fact that it lets us look at what we do well and what we could do better and I know that Dr hoker really championed this uh first is principal at Shepard
school and then as the principal at Madison Park school and then um as assistant superintendent has brought us with this position districtwide and one of the things that I as a superintendent get challenged on a lot of times is when
things don't go well when a student um doesn't behave to the level with a peer that doesn't reflect Great Character a lot of times people will say but this is a national school of character National District how can this happen well that's the valuable thing about this
application process it doesn't mean we're perfect it doesn't mean we do everything right but we recognize that and we have programs in place that this nation recognizes and the state recognizes that we try to make things
better and we don't put character education as a as a background curriculum that doesn't get looked at we put it to the Forefront and we find ways to make our schools better recognizing
that we're not perfect but we have we have programs in place to grow and to develop and make this a safe learning environment for everyone faculty students and staff and something that I hope this board and the community can be very proud of so I'm going to hand it
over now to Dr hoker and she's going to take us through the process and tell us a little bit more about our recognized Awards tonight thank you Dr hoker stay here thank you um I'm honored to share with you today the summary details from
the applications for State recognition from Oldbridge High School Memorial Miller Shara Southwood Elementary School and Oldbridge Township Public School schools as a district in its entirety the following comments were cited by the
state reviewers as ex exemplary elements of our district applications our district has committed to creating a unified vision for social emotional learning and character development through the implementation of the 11 principles these principles guide our approach and ensure that all
students from prek through 12th grade are supported in developing essential life skills reviewers recognize that we take pride in the fact that our district exemplifies shared shared leadership collaborating not just within our schools but also with parents support
staff and the community this approach has allowed us to weave seal into the very fabric of our students experiences during the challenging times of the co pandemic our Focus remains un remained unwavering on the whole child our commitment to this approach enabled us
to close learning gaps increase AP course participation and continue to reduce absenteeism as students return to school at Oldbridge High School we've integrated the 11 principles by offering workshops that emphasize seal and restorative practices these workshops
are not just about discipline they focus on improving student morale and emphasized service learning programs such as project unified the lollipop shop Heritage Month recognition and mock conventions create opportunities for students and staff to engage in meaningful experiences that extend
beyond the classroom and build a stronger more inclusive School community at the elementary school level reviewers noted that we engage students in cross-grade level discussions role playing and service activities all designed to nurture character
development our youngest students learn from their older peers fostering leadership and responsibility teachers are Role Models encouraging self-reflection and emphasizing seal practices restorative circles create a sense of community empowering students
to reflect on their actions grow from their mistakes and feel supported by trusted adults as a district our efforts reflected the academic achievements of our students and the positive inclusive climate we have fostered across our schools we've made character development
a key component of both administrative and teaching evaluations ensuring that our values are upheld and integrated into every classroom throughout our school communities through consistent and focused work we've empowered students to become leaders emphasizing the importance of self-reflection
teamwork and personal growth for all of these reasons our district exemplifies the ideals that achieve the honor of State recognition we are developing High achieving students who are responsible empathetic and engaged citizens ready to contribute to the world
those are all comments and feedback that were part of the applications the um the strengths noted in our applications I'm proud of the work that we're doing and look forward to the next part of this process where we will for the third time be considered for
National recognition this is 15 years running um it is something that is not awarded lightly and there were over 200 schools that went through the process and 98 that were re that received the recognition so it is a lot of work but something that I think that for 15 years
we've really valued and as we move into the next process we will have site reviewers that come and meet with our schools that are participating um and they bring the level of expectation to the next status um and make sure that everything that is in our application is actually in place
and working so that will be in May thank you thank you thank you for the continuing great work of all of our staff and families that students that participate in this endeavor Madam president goad I would
like to say a few words um I want to say from the bottom of my heart that the character education program here in Oldbridge is fantastic I've been lucky enough to be part of the process for over 10 years when I served on the board when we first originated this program
and uh Dr Hoka has done a extraordinary job and and to teach character to our students um who may lack that sometimes in schools goes a long way and the 11 pillars are are so rewarding and uh quite frankly I was very blessed and
honored to be able to spend time in Washington DC at the national Press Club when we first received our first national school of character or District of character and it was such a humbling experience to see Mr cadino and Dr hoker up on the stage with peers throughout
the country advocating and supporting and showing that the Oldbridge public schools have a program which benefits our children's benefits our children and our programs through character education so I want to say sincerely thank you from the bot of my heart for advocating such a precious
and very inspirational program because it is making a difference in our children's education and their well-being thank you Dr Hoka actually I was going to Echo that also um talking to many of the the whole Community cuz it was a community effort
you had students you had families you had staff you guys had Administration so thank you you know for the dedication to this program and thank you to all the the community that helped make this happen anyone else would you like to continue with
superintendent report sure I would love to continue with superintendent report okay so um we have two items today with two two presenters under superintendent report and and kind of like dribling into progress towards goals even though we're we're adopting the goals but um
before we do that I do want to um recognize the students we had 17 students who uh recently post uh participated and uh two of our teaching staff members participated uh in the Costa Rica trip now the trip of Costa to
Costa Rica based upon our our student uh Spanish language uh development program is truly amazing um the globe program kind of spread its wings in 2009 after uh a group of Educators from this District uh went to China to kind of
broaden and widen our our learning platform uh for World languages because one we saw the writing on the wall that in 2025 and beyond that our students are going to be competing you'll probably see this if you have young people competing for jobs out of your household you're not competing against people from
Oldbridge you're not competing against people from New Jersey when you go on a job interview anymore you're competing with people from around the world and because many of the the careers that are out there are can be done remotely can be done internationally and it's a
global um competition that you're in so the more experience you have on a global front uh makes you uh more of a better competition in in that area so this was the first Endeavor in with our Spanish
language program and uh the the the teachers that that put this together and uh um um Miss Keeler uh had it all set very well very well planned out program um and the it was it was truly amazing
um one of the things I I would say is that in in all the planning you plan for everything and then um Miss Keeler had a family emergency that she wasn't able to go the week before the trip um I was Fortune enough to be able to go and witness what the students are doing and
most people say like oh students probably went to Costa Rica hanging out the beach and you know that's far from what actually we didn't even see the beach we did drive past one at 55 miles hour as my face was against the glass looking like can't we just stop for a minute but we weren't able to because um
of the learning that was going on um these students uh visited uh the rainforest um cloud forest um my most rewarding experience in in working with the students is everyone um participated in it as well uh um was the working at
an animal sanctuary where they had sloths parrots monkeys that were either abused taken in as illegal pets or injured um Crossing roadways and they had to be re rehabilitated and our students did everything from feed them bathe them um clean their cages mend
their mend their cages and coming away with it that it was a service learning as well as uh learning about languages and so forth um there's a lot of ecology that goes on there and I think the student students did an amazing job with that and hopefully have experiences that
will be very rewarding for a lifetime in the next few months our students will be going uh in the exchange program with Germany our German students were already here our students will be going back our students will be going to Germany um we've already had a France trip that took place and I believe Italy is in the
works for this school year as well so again our students are learning on a global platform and um the only District I know that around around that does that um with with with all the the languages that we present we do we do have a China program as well with mandarin so thank
you to everyone who makes that possible and uh thank to our students who really were great ambassadors to our school district um first I'm going to go to Susan naath um she's a wonderful teacher at the high school um architectural design is the program that she heads up
and a lot of people think okay so you you have these World Language programs you have these academic programs but what about the CTE programs how are we preparing our students to go out and do Hands-On work and work within the trades and work within AR architecture and Susan has done a great job in as an
ambassador to that program she recently did a presentation and wanted to share with the board some of the work that her and her students doing so this is the great opportunity for those board members and members of public to want to know what programs do we have to make
reach the needs of students um beyond the TR traditional language arts math social studies and science so miss thank you very much okay my name is Susan aad um I've been here at Oldbridge for over 15 years I graduated from the University of
Cincinnati in design art and architecture and then practiced in the field for 12 years had a family three kids very close together and that's when I got into teaching and um so I think that that the strength that I bring to the program is the fact that I was in
industry and I try to bring that outside world into the classroom as much as I possibly can um we have three levels of the course um the first level we first of all we use uh professional software it's the same
software it's not a school version it is the professional software of AutoCAD and rivet are the two programs that we we use mostly the um um AutoCAD is a 2d drafting program and rivet is a three-dimensional
modeling program so the first year we just start out and the kids learn the most important thing about design is how to see things how to imagine things how to get your um ideas down on paper so that you can hand them to somebody else to have them built or maybe you're part
of that building process as well so we sketch I still I have drafting tables in my room and I still make the kids draft even though in industry it's mostly digital now like probably 95% if not higher digital still those
skills of drafting are so important and really help the kids than when they go onto the computers um so the first year I have boards over there that I created for the um um elect Affair that we had a couple
weeks ago and I also the package that I presented to you I've also given this to all the uh guidance counselors so that they can help their students understand what's in the program and Spark see if there's any spark of Interest with the
kids um the the paper on the right that folds out it's 11 by 17 that's really focusing on the first year program that's when their kids are learning this the specific skills um they first we
start out with sketching and then Drafting and then we have a unit and they actually um then design their own Bridges and I have big design Bridges if you come into the school I have a lot of the bridges up in the walls and the and the quarters
so kids can see but they designed their own Bridges they draft them um in AutoCAD printed out and this year we made them out of Basswood and then we test them and see how strong they are and this year I had the strongest brid we we've just started testing
so just one of the classes has tested so far but I had a bridge that a design that i' never had before and it's in your program it's the one on the bottom right and it's a it looks like a very solid it's hard for you guys to see but in in um on the
sheet it's the one it's only on the board I guess it's up on the board anyway the bridges weigh less than a pound right and the bridge tester that I have on this bridge couldn't even break it so first I had one of the smaller boys in the class
stand on it he weighed about 150 lbs did not break and then I had a kid that was 260 lb and he stood on it and it held up for a little bit and then it did break but that was quite impressive that's the most usually we don't get over 75 pounds
of of load on the bridge so that was pretty exciting um I've been trying to with the fair it's interesting um I'll run into students that are seniors or that have even graduated and they're in
um engineering or architecture or design of some sort and I why didn't you take my class and they said I didn't know it existed so I've really been trying this year I think um the first impression people have of the class is that maybe it's hard or you need to have some sort
a background to take this class and you do not I teach you everything um I'll tell the kids if you're not very good at sketching and drawing okay I'm not going to make you excellent at that unless you really you know have an interest in it
but you will be better than when you were coming in because the idea is to see something to be able to see it to see your environment and even if this isn't a career path I think it's um it's very much life skills because
one day you're going to live in a house you're going to live in an apartment and it's going to be important for you to understand the space that you're walking into can you change it can you make it to to the way you really want it to be how do you envision that how do you get your ideas down on paper and then give them to somebody to build um so we've
created this is my intern Jack machete I just started with interns last year it's the best thing going he is amazing in fact on the front of your thing and then on the is from Jack as well as from a student's point of view what he felt
about the class but also those drawings on the top are drawings that Jack did himself he sketched those out this year and they have now become my classroom logo but um also he's projected them on the wall in the classroom and he's
painting them on the wall right now so he has been a tremendous um asset to the classroom this year and he he loves design of my strongest students that that I've ever had and it's really not his career path right now but he has a
great interest in it he might come around I'm working on them so um I I've also created we've created a um QR code so that the kids can get an idea and that's what this um
PowerPoint is it's just to give them an idea of what the program is about this um first slide shows the bridges it shows a kid actually building the bridges they love I'll tell you the kids
as much as they like to be on their phones and computers they love the Hands-On activities um so the top drawing is a three View and that's the typical way that you would draw something to hand it to somebody
else to build it it's the same for a block of wood like that is or a house you have ation and floor plans it's the same concept all the way through so again these are the skills that we um work on the first year you can read
through this these are just some of the skills um that are involved and plus the 21st century skills and the stem um classes are you know this is very much a part of that we're getting into um now had the
level two and three class classes and you can see the floor plans that we're drawing and then those two um photos on the left are renderings that the kids did these are from the programs that from
Rivet and um this is a project we did Mr cino's house a few years ago last year we did the project again and I have the kids I assign them a client and the client is usually an administrator or guidance counselor and um it's not my real house everyone so but thank you
but they design um the vacation house for the client they have to go in get dressed up interview the client create a program have sign offs on the program then go with preliminary designs get sign offs on the preliminary designs and then we accumulate the I um
the final project um in a presentation where all the clients come in all the work is up on the board and and um they're handed a booklet of it's not really working drawing it's more like a set of design drawings with floor plans elevations sections and
renderings um and this was a student this was U Miss fao's house last year and this student again it's a it's a great story because he again was a kid that didn't want this as their career path and he he was so strong in design
and he was going into some sort of tech direction for his his career and then at Christmas time I got an email from on your right I'm going back into architecture so that was that was a thrill for
me um no sketching it's a relaxed um environment I love uh field trips I love to get the kids out I've been taking kids down to the World Trade Center for the last 20 some years it's been that's an amazing job site to see it grow up
and um we've had some great trips I always try with my trips to get into places that the kids couldn't get in on their own and one year we got into uh world trade tower one right before the observation deck opened and they took us up to one of the transfer floors which
is where the elevators transfer you walk out oh my gosh it's spectacular Windows Flor a ceiling and we got this great tour and then she said come on kids and we went to the back of the building which wasn't completed yet and the kids all got to sign their names in the building so that year our name my
name is in that building which was great um these are some of the trips um that we've gone on uh you when we go to the World Trade Center a lot of times I'll walk over the Brooklyn Bridge because that's something that we study in our
Bridge unit and then we have pizza in Brooklyn uh but again it's so much fun sometimes I'm taking kids that have never been into New York into New York and I'm I haven't lost any yet um this the photo on the left it
Richard Meyer who is a a very famous architect and did the Getty museum out in La which actually was very much um in the the line of fire but but it survived anyway we went and saw his um
model Museum it was in Mana up in Jersey City and it was so exciting builds these incredible models and and the kids were very interested we had a lot of fun and as we're walking out he pulls up in the car and I just just I thought I was you
know I was so excited he got out of the car he was in a wheelchair I said could you please talk to the kids for a few minutes he insisted on standing up and he talked to the kids so they got to hear from a world-renowned architect and the timing was just perfect um last year
we went to the Natural History Museum which there was a new uh renovate a new addition um from a woman architect that was just spectacular so I haven't planned the field trips yet for this year another field trip we do we work I
work with the architect that does work for um the school and um he in the spring he'll bring the kids down to his office we'll get so the kids will get to see um his office and the the way they do the work he's he's won all sorts of
awards and he has a really nice about 20 person firm down in wall and then he'll take us on three job sites so again I think uh field trips are just we we live so close to so many people come from all over the world to come to New York City
to see the buildings and um I but then we we took a field trip to the roof when they put in this uh solar panels and you can see the the crane that got the kids up on the roof and we walked around the roof and and got to see that and these are just more projects
that the kids have done so um Jack I don't know if you want to stand up and say anything on that's a lot to ask him he's great hello so as Miss nazat said I am Jack machette I'm a student that's currently in the program I am a
junior um this program is great it's very Hands-On it teaches students a lot about a career path that they could be interested in but they may not know much about and Miss Naza is great at making it a comfortable environment but you definitely
learn more than you think it's not just like Studio architecture and drawings you don't have to have a lot of knowledge but it definitely creates an interest if there wasn't one so I always recommend it to students even if it's
not a career path that they're looking into I'm not looking into going into architecture but I love this class I'm extremely interested in it and I spend every moment that I can in that room working on whatever I can I love Miss nazat I love all the students in there I
love the environment in the room and I really think more people should consider it as a class it adds more than you [Applause] think so thank you so much if there's any questions um come by my room sometime
take a look at the boards at your leisure and thank you very much for the opportunity uh if I can make a comment uh thanks Mrs nazad and Jack you're truly inspiring right the last few words uh Jack that you mentioned I'm
not trying to make this as a career path but still you want to do it that's exactly how I think we should think right because these are life skills in in my opinion right I'm a technologist 25 years experience I don't know how to nail properly right so these are really
great skills to have as you are so young and you know you're really inspiring for the rest of the community and the rest of the students and uh thanks Mr Cino for such programs you know we should encourage a lot like this thank you I would like to good okay thank you
so I'm obviously all the board business that we conduct is super important but this is awesome like I would love to come to our our board meetings and hear about what our teachers and our students are doing in the classroom every board meeting um you're clearly very passionate about what you do and obviously very good at it and and a
great mentor um so I just wanted to say thank you for enlightening us for everything that you do daytoday um and I will say um personally I had my first experience with an architect as we put an addition on our home had no Foundation whatsoever had no idea what
to expect and I was blown away by the time the energy and the knowledge that went into planning for our home um so what a great uh opportunity that you're under budget so well that's what I was going to say next actually when I got the bill for the architect I almost fell
over because I'm like okay um so clearly a very lucrative job for our future students as well um so thank you for presenting all of that oh you're very welcome yeah thank you appreciate it I was impressed that your interns a junior
so congratulations that's awesome great job with your public speaking as well um I was going to ask about the bridges so was this newest this year's Bridge like one of your stronger ones or is there one design that's stronger than the other um you know it it comes down to
the craftsmanship and the amount of glue that they can get in there um in real life and in class we play around with it it's a West Point bridge builder program where they can test Bridges out online just to kind of get an idea for their designs and
then they they sit and they create their own but that bridge um and it's on it's on the first board on the left in the middle on the bottom right was so different any design that I've ever had before and I was so she couldn't even
draw it because of the way it was constructed it was hard for her to draw um and her father is in construction I'm not really sure what he do if it's in the field somehow or other and I think he was helping her and I I couldn't believe how strong it was we couldn't
break it with the tester and then when Jordan got on it 260 lbs and it helped for a second or two but you know um so it it just so depends I have um two bridges that are exactly the same design
because one kid came into the class late so he used this other uh girl's design and they both built the same bridge and I can't wait to see how they compare when we test them thank you very much any other board members have comments thank you for working with us okay it's been my
pleasure I really appreciate it it's been my pleasure I think you were in the department yeah yes he was M Mr Sakowski was in the department yes um a mechanical drawing teacher old
school okay I was too for a while the computers came along thank you again we need people like you thank you Miss nazat and um it just sum it up just like yourself and uh Miss Hower and Miss Weber who were on the uh
Costa Rica trip same kind of passion and that's what we're very wealth with in this District we have passionate Educators who take their passion and uh Inspire passionate students like Jack and that's that's the amazing thing and the reward we could have um in having a comprehensive School District that
provides our students with a wealth of opportunities not just the basics uh in education so we're very blessed to to have that and I'm blessed to uh benefit from having such great Educators to work alongside with um speaking of great
Educators Mr sentano uh is now going to lead us into uh the celebration of black Black History Month um this is something that has been celebrated and recognized at school board meetings going back I know many years and um something that we
will continue here and Mr sentano please let us know as a board and a community what our students are doing and um learning thank you Mr cadino uh good evening as you know um February is Black History Month it is a nationally
recognized holiday uh I should say month of um that was recognized by Gerald Ford in 1976 uh as a celebration of achievements by African-Americans and a time for recognizing their Central role in US history as with other holidays and obser
observances we use the teachable moments of Black History Month to continue building the skills and knowledge students need to prepare for them for their future so these are some examples of what our schools around the district are doing to commemorate uh the month uh in our elementary schools
students learn about African-American figures in history and then complete projects demonstrating what they have learned these here are from carpenter school done by Mrs Lynch's fifth grade students uh students read multiple biographies to conduct research and the final projects include maps and
timelines and final copies of their essays uh the fifth graders at Cooper School are working on a on creating PowerPoint presentations for Black History Month they choose a person of interest and are working in groups uh these biographies
require students to conduct research and each slide they create focuses on important biographical information when all groups are finished they will share what they've learned about the The Chosen person by showing their presentations to the class using the Smartboard in front of the classroom and
you can see each of these areas have a little tab so it goes into not just a basic biography but into specific areas um such as their achievements their legacy and even their personal life uh at Memorial School kindergarteners learned various um
African-American about various African Americans and their contributions to history uh these first graders and kindergarteners created um mini Ruby Bridges booklets and completed math pages fourth graders at
Memorial uh were each assigned a leader in black history to learn they made flip book projects to share what they've learned and here are fifth grade students uh creating the front page of a newspaper uh with interview questions
quotes and other facts about historical figures uh for this uh second grade um actually that's there okay for this second grade activity in celebration of Black History Month Madison Park students learned about May gemson the first African-American woman to travel into
space they read books about her life and achievements exploring her journey and inspiring accomplishments to complete the activity students created a craft and a writing piece to visually represent what they learned about May and her groundbreaking achievements their finished work is on display in the
hallway so that other Madison Park students can learn about this important figure in history third grade Madison students explored the Life and Legacy of Dr Martin Luther King Jr and delt into his into his teachings inspired by his message each student created a vibrant
and imaginative arm and hand to represent their individuality and the importance of learning together these colorful hands were proudly displayed on a bulletin board alongside portraits of notable black Americans they've been studying throughout February celebrating both their uniqueness and the shared
journey of learning and fourth graders of Madison Parker diving into an inspiring research project learning about influential black leaders who have made significant impacts on History uh through their studies they are exploring the lives and Legacies of these leaders gaining deeper understanding of their contributions to
society this project encourages students to appreciate the power of leadership resilience and Community while inspiring them to make a difference in their own lives and there it is on the Bolton board in Madison Park uh and the Oldbridge High School's
black student union collaborated with fifth graders to celebrate Black Black History Month through engaging in interactive experiences uh things like they shared were a kid president video on Martin Luther King Day showing uh a Black History Month video and playing Black History Bingo and creating
PowerPoints highlighting their contributions in academics Athletics and the Arts and as we move into our middle schools you can see the projects and presentations become more complex in their research and writing uh these projects by Mrs Greenwood and Mrs Simon at sulk school who infus historical
figures in black history with in uh informational text and literature uh students wrote open-ended responses comparing different themes and ideas and sulk school also infuses Black History Month with their schoolwide Battle of the blocks competition uh in
which they hold a poster contest uh which you can see on the right hand side uh students researched and created posters about famous african- Americans that will be displayed later this month they will then vote on which ones were the most interesting and the winners will earn points for the team in the battle of the blocks competition uh on
the other side you have at Samberg School Mrs bracken's 8th grade civics class uh it is intentionally set up that the Civil Rights unit uh happens during black history month and they learn about the major events of the Civil Rights Movement uh along with other civil
rights movements throughout American history and as we move into high school we recognized black Black History Month across the curriculum from English to history even business and personal finance uh the month is also recognized in schoolwide activities and social studies courses do
deep uh research Dives on black history topics and must site on sources on the research they do uh here is uh Mrs hessen's us2 class where students created mock Instagram posts on black Americans such as Jennifer Bryant howy
the founder and CEO of act one uh the English Honor Society created an interactive bulletin board of famous African American Authors uh each poster has a QR code that students can scan and it will go into further details about the individuals that they were looking
into and in the high school we also have in our English four CP students uh they explored the Harlem Renaissance uh focing on focusing on the impact of theater during that era after watching a series of videos and defining key terms and collaborating in small groups uh to
create a timeline students designed canva uh posters chating showcasing displays that debuted during the Harlem Renaissance uh each poster highlighted the play significance and its impact on the time period and then these students then presented their work uh into the
class sharing their ideas and their insights and their analysis and finally we have uh Mrs Mondo's AP language and composition class uh students are participating in a synthesis dinner party uh in this creative project students research and take on the role of famous civil rights
leaders some students will portray guests at the party others are going to be the hosts uh the hosts read and annotate texts that highlight rhetorical choices and purpose of the authors they then use information to drive dinner conversations that they have with their
guests so the topics focus on the success of the civil rights movement and how much progress uh we have made as a toward equality all students will write onepage essays on their experience and the dinner party is scheduled for later this week but uh these are some pictures from last year's
party uh with some of our students uh you can see them with their uh with their projects that they work done wrote on their own uh Mrs mandano actually springs for a little food in there to make it a real dinner party situation uh in which they all sit at tables and have these dinner
conversations so in closing I'd like to recognize two things first the creativity and hard work of our teachers and the work that they put into our their lessons we are very lucky to have a staff that we have secondly you can see the pattern of student learning in these projects from kindergarten to
grade 12 students are learning how to research write and read about topics as they move from grade level to grade level they learn more about skills and techniques to help them better understand the world around them skills that are important as they move into their college and careers and also
become strong American citizens who can think independently so thank you very much and have a great [Applause] night thank you Mr solatano um just before I conclude the
superintendent's report uh just in the recognition I'd like to really um congratulate uh Miss Kelly and Miss chin both of which were teachers when I was an administrator at s school and our math department is going to be
uh really push to try to find find Educators to replace them uh and they didn't just give to math they they were also very involved in the Arts and Student Life there so excellent teachers who really benefited our students so congratulations on your retirement thank you very
much um progress towards goals the progress is we have goals um we're hoping to do them have them approved later on this evening um it was a great meeting with the public to develop the goals does any
other board member want to discuss that meeting cool all right so any correspondence none to report okay special committee reports just as a reminder we have a committee of the whole meeting for finance shared service long range
planning it'll be th Thursday February 20th at 6:00 p.m. and we'll be discussing the budget and other school Financial operations thank you uh food service or do you want to give report to the public on the Food
Service meeting again just swing it we had a food service meeting um I forgot when it was last week two weeks ago whatever um we had the Aramark team there um they
provided us with some food uh we went over the um now every school in our district is now receiving breakfast Services um we we talked about um what we would like on our RFP for the new
Food Service uh um company coming I think our RFP comes out this month in Spring spring um that's really we didn't set a new date yet right we didn't set a new date I think we're going to wait until I don't know when we're going to
wait but yeah that was really it it was a really productive meeting uh if I can add a point to that uh I wasn't there personally but I did get some feedback uh we have increased our vegetarian options because that's something which you know I requested for and some of the
community members requested for earlier so now we have increased our vegetarian options for the kids and also importantly during the month of Ramadan you know where the Muslim Community uh undergo fasting uh through the day I think I saw some options to take home
you know the food so these are really fantastic uh options you know provided by the schools so I just want the public to be aware of them yes our Mark is coming out with um during the month of March I believe it is yeah um students will have the opportunity to pick what
they would like for launch that day and at the end of the day before they go home they'll be able to pick up their meal and take it home and be able to eat it after which is I me me personally think it's a great thing I think that's something new too I don't think they've ever done that before um I I think that's a state initiative
but oh is it but it's brand new this year it's it's yeah the state the state did put a waiver out there but it's the first time it's ever been done so um every fsmc which is a Food Service Company across the state can opt in if you choose to do so but again it's it's
coordinating with arar so they have to put the work in into uh you know get it all together so yeah right n Mark was working towards fulfilling any opening and vacancies Staffing wise so I know that's an ongoing thing margerie do you
have nothing right anyone else Madam president I would like to ask David wiell to plan on having a buildings grounds transportation and Technology committee meeting uh for the second or third week of March I understand there's a lot of coordination because there's going to be a lot of different people in
the room so I'd like to put that request in and we can V it out um please schedule for Tuesday or Thursday so that we stay consistent with trying to keep the nights the same thank you sir uh Den do you want me to do the the
middle County now or in okay don't know okay so um Elena and I share the position of being the delegates to the middle sex County um School Board Association and they had a virtual meeting on um Friday um um I'm sorry on
the 6th which was Thursday and um it was a long meeting it was a little over an hour a lot of speakers um I'm just going to give you some of the highlights um one of the the main guest for this meeting it was a virtual meeting um was Senator Vin
gopal but they opened the meeting um just welcoming everybody and then um talking about first of all uh reminding people that on March 26th unsung heroes event is going to be here at Oldbridge high school it's the 39 39th anniversary
of the event it's a student recognition dinner um all districts were invited and any questions um people can re reach out to Karen Callahan or Sharon Miller at the middle sex County SBA uh they also reminded all new school board school board members that they
have 90 days to attend the new board member orientation and this year the new board member onsite weekend orientation program is going to be from February 21st to the 23rd at the Crown Plaza Conference Center in Princeton they're going to have uh large and small group
sessions and they're going to include topics such as school law policy student achievement School Finance Labor Relations advocacy School Board ethics board superintendent relationships and responsibilities of a board member you
can also do them virt do it virtually but this is the um the weekend that they have scheduled also on January 30th the assembly in state honored the New Jersey Schoolboard Association and New Jersey local school boards of Education through a joint
legisl legislative resolution commemorating the school board recognition month um basically the res resolution um reads in part New Jersey school local Boards of Education plan play an essential role in improving the
quality of life for all students overseeing some 580 districts operating two 2500 public schools to provide a robust array of services to nearly 1.4 million young people and the tremendous work accomplished by local Boards of
education has helped make New Jersey a national leader in student achievement and the selfless men and women who serve on these boards further appreciated for the countless hours they devote without REM remuneration to the oversight of school operations then our Schoolboard
rep marann Friedman spoke and she talked about facilitating goal setting um sessions with school boards ethics superintendent search information and superintendent searches uh she talked about the newly
um the newly revised board member self-evaluation also she encouraged everyone to attend the unsung heroes award night at overd high school and also she reminded us that um the equity Expo conference is coming up on on April
11th she encouraged went to attend then Senator Vin gopal talked about a few things but the the thing he talked about mostly was um the bill he's introduced um into the state senate 3917 and it's related to the school funding formula
which I know is important to us we went to Trenton to try to advocate for um things that are in his bill and the bill makes several changes to school funding law it modifies the method of determining the tax levy growth limitation for school districts and it
revises components of educational adequacy report and the bill also makes changes to the scho to school aid including the local tax levy cap extraordinary special education Aid and Vocational expansion stabilization Aid and establishes reduction of adjustment
Aid the bill also includes certain additional requirements for the issuance of the educational ad adequacy report um he talked a lot about the different aspects of the bill that he's trying to um introduce and he also
discussed oh they were also looking at improving upon existing preschool funding methodology uh many school he talked about that many school districts are spending upwards of 150,000 to 200,000 on students for out of District placement or sometimes even more if they
have to settle like litigation or lawsuits and this bill would also um make it imperative to start the process of getting funding from about 68% reimbursements to 100% trying to take it out of local school districts the bill also provides for uh gradual phasing of
funding of extraordinary special education aid over the span of five years um one major part of the bill that I know that we're all interested in is pushing back the calendar so the districts aren't scrambling at the end of February to try to make their budget Works work because currently the
governor puts out the numbers at the end of February and the bill pushes the deadline back to May to give districts time to put budgets together um the Bill's working its way through um the Senate and that's there other things that he talked about but
that's the bulk of it um he took questions from um participants and it was a it was a long meeting but it had a lot of information and it was very very good for board members thank you David could you imagine if you had till May to do the
budget you might get some sleep at night um the Student Life meeting which is Athletics extracurricular care and Dei is going to be on the 27th um since the Athletics extracurricular weren't touched as much
last year we're going to start with those and then depending on time go into that go into the care and Dei uh so that meeting is the 27th anything else on special committee reports um yeah on February 25th there's going to be um an
online cpeg meeting the topic is going to be preparing for an IEP meeting that's Tuesday the 25th at 7 pm via zoom and then on March 20th sep is going to have a meeting and they're going to be in the Oldbridge high school learning lab and the topic of that meeting is
going to be planning for transition to adulthood and that's going to be presented by The Arc of New Jersey thank you okay we'll open the mic up for hearing of residents on any agenda item only okay seeing none we'll close the
mic uh there's nothing in policy uh we'll go move to curriculum and professional development can I have a motion Francisco we'll move Donald second any I had a question go for it um
I noticed that the the list and the writer list was pulled I got a few inquiries and I reached out to Mr wiell um if you could just publicly let I mean I know it's going to come back on the agenda but some people confused while I was pulled I know I think it was a timing issue you mentioned refer the Dr
Tu there yes uh so the postings for those positions closed on Friday uh due to the fact they weren't in school on Monday to get the names that's why it was pulled it will be on in March with including all the names for all the curriculum writing uh for the remainder of the school year thank
you any other discussion roll call please jeno yes J yes maone um yes for one two and four no one
three s yes solowski yes Bena T yes Dunn yes Francisco yes Dan tuno yes resolutions 1 through four for curriculum and professional development passes
Finance items 1 through 11 can I have a motion please jri will move it second Francisco second any discussion Madame President I'd like to separate
item five for discussion and vote please okay so any discussions on items 1 through 11 with the exception a five can we have a roll call on items 1
through 4 and 6 through 11 please okay ji yes maone yes Slade yes solowski yes b t yes dun yes Francisco yes jodano yes
danant tuno yes resolutions 1 through four and 6 through 11 pass okay Mr Dunn item five yes I just want to bring to light that uh this board of education is a $160 million Corporation um and that
uh you know keeping its book straight is a very very difficult Endeavor uh and quite frankly I like to just highlight the facts that this Board of Ed over the years uh especially in 2024 did a remarkable job with balancing their
books and making sure things were spent wisely and that there were no discrepancies within the audit process and all often people are out there you know saying that the Board of Ed knows where the money is they're hiding money they're doing this they're doing that they're doing things scrupulously and I just wanted to highlight the fact that
our auditor was here and he made it very clear that David cadino and David weell and the entire Administration are doing a fantastic job in managing our money and books so all too often people are out there criticizing about the Board of Ed spending money and not spending it
wisely um this audit does take uh precedence it it does go through the process it goes through the numbers goes through the books goes through expenditures it goes through every aspect of of our financial aspect and uh I'm happy to say that we were presented
with a very clean and appropriate audit and I just want the public to understand that there is no misuse of funds there is no issues that are concerning because the audit which is dictated by the State Department of Education was done and it's been done in a way where it
dissected and looked at the entire process very closely so I want to say thank you to David and David for ensuring that our books were clean and that things were done appropriately and people should feel rest assured that our team is doing a fantastic job in
managing the money obviously we know what we were confronted with last year with sequestration and needed to raise taxes but we're spending money wisely and it's being done correctly so I just wanted to highlight that to the public so they understood because all too often people out there pointing fingers saying
things are being done inappropriately so congratulations to the team who worked very hard on that and I appreciate the hard fiduciary responsibility that you show thank you thank any other discussion on item five uh just want to add a few more
comments uh like uh Mr dun mentioned right last week I wasn't here but I heard the you I was watching online uh I saw the gentleman come up to the stage and then he very thoroughly you know uh get gave a feedback and he did highlight uh that there are no findings so that's
very important I think I'm not sure if the same audience are watching today they should clearly know if they want to go back to last week's uh recording uh that is a very good um uh you know um speech by the gentleman highlighting the process itself and then you know there
are no findings Etc and I'm not sure Mr Vel if uh any of that report will be available online so anybody who's curious can once it gets approved it does have to get posted to our website so um and all our audits are on there all our um budgets are on there under the finance I can get the specific
location but they do have to get posted online okay thank you and you know again bringing up to the public uh I was just asking Mr s you know how long it's been so he said as long as he's been superintendent there's been a clean uh audit so that's to be
congratulated to the whole Administration office uh as a whole I just want to you know add that Mr Mara and Mr White play a huge part in that you know but we have not yeah I know we have not had any findings um since the change in administration um that was the last
time thank you very much um last call for a discussion on that topic all right roll call please JRE yes maone yes Slade yes solowski yes van ton yes dun yes
Francisco yes Jano yes Dan tuno yes resolution number five for finance passes one thing I do was just add on that because many people think it's just um financials they look at they also look at enrollment and when there was concerns about uh the district funds and
finances there was concerns about was the enrollment accurate and was the district doing its part to report accurate enrollment um something the orders do look at is our enrollment to make sure that it's accurately being reported as well and once you become on and you become board members if you're accurate in you work in education realm
you see there's no really any way to fudge enrollment um every student in New Jersey is assigned one number like a social security number the number can't show up in two districts at the same time if a student leaves Oldbridge and goes to Monroe on arrival at Monroe that
number goes into the system and Monroe gets credit funding wise for that number I can't keep that number here and say well he the student is still here here because it sets off a red light a red flag within the student audit process and says well student can't be in two
places at one time one of you is not being accurate so that's a a check and balance that's in there but it's also done through the audit process as well the audit process is is very thorough time consuming um but ultimately what it does
is it gives the snapshot in the overall picture of how you're doing financially and while we wish we had all the income coming in um the revenue coming in we can only spend the money that comes in and we have to be smart with smart with those expenditures as Mr Dunn spoke to
um of course we we want more state aid and and more you know all the revenue sources we can get but we can only do what what we're limited to do and um and with that money we have to there's chart of accounts which I'll go over uh coming up in our finance meeting there's
certain things that we have to follow the state makes it pretty um you know structured as far as what to follow and what to do so it's a timec consuming process it is a lot of work it's very thorough um but ultimately when you get a find a audit clean audit no with no findings it's it's pretty rewarding at
the end so thank you to everyone for the kind words okay as we move on to Athletics item number one can I have a motion please Gano motion Jo second any discussion roll call
please mazone yes Slade yes solowski yes vka T yes dun yes Francisco yes gardano yes ji yes danant tuno yes resolution one for athletics passes we don't have anything for
non-certificated personnel this office um non-certificated Personnel operational item one can I have a motion please Francisco will Mo Miss almost second thank you any discussion
roll call please SOI yes V uh sorry I had one question on this um I just came up to my mind right now I'm sorry um so I see this is a kind of a long duration right how did we manage the absence of
the particular staff because this seems to be medical condition right so we're having a temporary staff to defer to Dr hoker it's covered by the remaining staff that we have in the district okay thank you are you okay to cond your vote yeah
yeah yes right V yes dun yes Francisco yes jodano yes ji yes Mone yes Slade yes Dan tuno yes resolution one for non-certificated personnel operational passes okay for non-certificated
personnel other items 1 through four can I have a motion please D will second who moved any discussion roll call please FK T yes
Dunn yes Francisco yes Jano yes jri yes maone yes Slade yes solowski yes Dan tuno resolution 1 through four for his non ctivity Personnel other passes for certificated Personnel we
have items 1 through 20 can I have a motion please done will make a motion Madam president there second any discussion yes go for it I would like to welcome to the Oldbridge uh family Stephanie Parson um
orbridge High School long-term sub guidance counselor Debbie fretti long-term sub Carl Samberg nurse and Rachel Maza Shephard physical education teacher and we have Miss Parson here today so um do you want to go through the vote first and then we'll have her
up for our obligatory picture or do you w to okay so you get to come up for a picture thank you for joining the orridge team thank you take a picture of Scott right that's
fine right in front of me yes thank you welcome [Applause] aboard any other discussions on items one through 20 yes Madam president I like to discuss number 10 um this grant money is is fantastic uh
it's going to help um fill a void uh play unified and uh it's it's something that's very close to to my heart and others on the board and uh you know it's something that uh I just want to highlight because it helps children who
have um challenges and the socialization that this grant money provides is so indispensable and uh you know it's something that uh is is going to benefit you know our children and it's going to go uh very far and this program of play
unified is going to really lead to the next step of enhancing next year and the year after it's something that you know we feel is appropriate to give children of of of of that nature a a an Avenue to to Really socialize and and be involved
in a sport or a club that being involved in a practical environment being involved in simulation goes a long way in molding and helping these children and I am very help uh very happy that you know the Oba and everyone is working together to to to make this happen so
with that said you know I'm I'm very grateful for the grant and I'm hoping that we can build on this grant money for uh 25 26 and then 26 to 27 because it does make a difference and and um you know I just wanted to say this is a great thing for Oldbridge and and there are board members here who are going to make sure that this gets done year after
year provide the money is there and we know that uh the benefits outweigh um the the the situation that we're at so thank you any other discussion yeah I just wanted to kind of build on what he said um if you haven't been to a unified game go I
know that Christina's gone Elena's gone I've gone and they're great games so if you haven't been to a game it's a great experience so I would say go and support them any other discussion on any of the items roll call
please D yes absolutely Francisco yes Jano yes jri maone yes slay yes solowski yes Benet T yes Stant tuno yes resolutions 1 through
20 for certificated Personnel passes non-certificated Personnel transportations items one and two can I have a motion please Jo move Francisco will second any discussion roll call please D yes
Francisco yes jar Dano yes jry yes Mone yes Slade yes solowski yes Bena T yes Dan tuno yes resolutions one and two for noner personnel Transportation passes for transportations we have items one
through three can I have a motion please miss a motion and a second Joe deal second any discussion roll call please Francisco yes Jano yes jod yes
maone yes Slade yes solowski yes vka T yes dun yes Dan tuno yes resolutions 1 through three for transportation passes for supplies equipment and services we have items 1 through four
can I have a motion please Francisco will move K any discussion yes Madam president number three this is a question to David weell
um do we have a cost on the bridge replacement or the bridge repairs we are working on the cost of the architect still where these um came from is this was on a agenda previously and when we submitted the application to the doe um
they asked that it' be in this specific language with this specific State numbering so these are just we're still in the middle of that process we're still working on the estimates but again it was at submitted to the state they wanted our our resolution that we had prior uh has changed a little bit it was a model resolution in the past that they
wanted in this format um so we will get back to you on on the estimates once we have them do you think that uh you'll have the estimates in place before the next buildings grounds transportation and Technology meeting so they they can be discussed or um we can we can try let me talk to the architect see where they
are on their end um and we'll go from there terrific thank you sir we should have Mrs nazareth's team uh build out a bridge for us I was thinking that as I watched the these amazing Bridges actually so any other
discussion roll call please jedo yes ji yes Mone yes Slade yes solowski yes FAS yes Dunn yes Francisco yes danant tuno yes resolutions 1 through four supplies equipments and
services passes okay we have misscellaneous items one through seven can I have a motion please miss motion Joel Second any discussion uh I would like to discuss number seven go for
it so I just wanted to thank these high school students who who uh who worked the TV studio uh throughout the year you know for us and I'm sure you know throughout the year just for other uh events um I think you guys do an amazing job
and yeah so thank you any other discussions on actually maybe we should recognize them you know they've been doing this behind the scenes all through the year maybe know whenever time yeah yeah we do at the uh at the final meeting they all they all
come out when they're all here so they plan ahead and Mr gusi takes over the cameras and they all come out thank you any other discussion roll call please sure J yes Mone yes Slade yes solowski yes b t yes
Dunn yes Francisco yes jordano yes Dan tuno yes resolutions 1 through seven for miscellaneous passes board secretary and board business items one two and three can I have a motion
then we'll make a motion Madam president and a second separating number three for voting purposes okay J Daniel second thank you okay um I'm going to read the goals because I
think they're important for the public to to see and hear them um the board sat together with the public and our district goals for the remainder of the 242 5 school year and as well as 2526 is excellence in education to
ensure B benchmarks are in place for all students to raise the bar to improve education and academic growth for all students fiscal resilience continue to investigate ways to optimize educational op efficiencies and the whole child investigate making facilities more
inclusive for all students and develop measurements and progress in performance for all students the board goals for the remainder of this school year and all of next school year non-conflicted board members of the board will complete the CSA evaluation within the statutory time
frame which is annually July 1st review and revise by bylaws and policies throughout the development of the schedule for review to improve board Synergy IE team building professional development and possibly a board retreat engage in professional development to achieve board certification through NG
SBA board member Academy and work to understand the district's budget through professional development from the business administrator and possibly through the njsba margerie would you like to read item number three
Absol absolutely uh move the Board of Education reaffirm and approve the following resolution and this is the inclusion resolution from March 2022 whereas it is a primary goal of the Oldbridge School District to create schools that are inclusive of all students and the diversity of needs that
exist in our region and we give particular Focus to the inclusion of students with disabilities and whereas our school district believes there is a need for students to have maximum opportunity for access to general education settings now therefore be it
resolved that the Oldbridge school system hereby endorses the following inclusive School practices for every child all students are first and foremost general education students who may require additional supports and services in order to access the school
district's programs all students will have the opportunity to participate with same age typical peers to the maxim maximum extent that they're able opportunities to participate in all school programs including extracurricular activities and interventions and the opportunity to
apply try out audition for selection-based programs and activities shall be accessible to all students regardless of supports and services they receive School staff will make every effort to use language that describes the person first people first language
when referring to students families and programs inclusive practices are not a separate component of education but rather a core ideal that will be present in all of our schools and old District programs we hold high expectations for growth and development and honor the
requirement that students serve in the least restrictive environment we also hold high expectations for staff and are committed to providing the support and resources needed to help staff uphold these high expectations the diversity of our community makes everyone better we
celebrate the differences and the ways in which every child adds to the fabric of our school communities with these inclusive education practices in mind be it further resolved that the Oldbridge School District celebrates all students and strives to model professionalism
respect empathy and high expectations for every student in every setting any discussions on any of those yeah it sounds like fake news to me a lot of it I'm going to vote no on this point w any other
discussion uh I just want to add a few comments on the district goals and the board goals that we said so this is something you know which we as a board has been working very hard since the beginning of this year we have been you know discussing about it uh J slit came
up with a few you know thoughts around some of it and I shared you know some of it uh so this is I think to Mr dun's point you know coming together and having a good plan in place right so that's I think we're really achieving this as we are getting started um
especially these are smart goals meaning they're specific they're measurable and they're actionable Etc right so I know whatever the read out and whatever the documentation does not say those measures but I think in the discussion it was about 3-hour discussion and uh thanks to you know uh Mr sadino joining
us even when he was away in that field trip uh so it was very productive session those 3 hours and uh Dr ruker I think you are taking us forward by defining the what's the measure going to look like Etc so there's really a lot behind you know uh these goals that we were able to collectively come together
and um I'm very happy to all of us see we having the board goals as well it's not only for the district we as board members also need to be accountable responsible and how do we collectively together work on certain goals so this is all very encouraging uh um I'm not sure how we should probably communicate
this beond these meetings we should probably see if we have to send us some kind of a uh notes or whatever to the school you know the kids or whatever I don't know we have to find more ways to disseminate this information Beyond this setting actually that would be my comment thank
you any other discussion conversation um I just Mr silasi you said it sounded like fake news can you give us a little want to get into it tonight I got two years to discuss this problem okay with this
situation thank you okay Madame President um as 4.3 um you know we're in the business of education and all children need to be respected and they need to be honored in a way where
they're get given the proper education and services and we cannot uh differentiate um between children we need to understand that all children need the services and we need to do it in a compassionate manner this is not politics this is not you know um you
know the state or federal government this is education and we need to make sure that we recognize that every child has the opportunity to be successful and to to receive a proper education so with that said I will be voting for number three because it's the right thing to do
for our children and I will continue fighting for every child regardless of who you are are and what you are any other discussion okay I'm going to respectfully disagree with your opinion um I've seen in the schools
the the kids with that requires extra Services be you know integrated in the classrooms and how they Thrive and you know the kids don't realize that there's any difference it you know it's just another friend or or classmate and stuff like that so um I do think Oldbridge you
know does as well so all right roll call please well we're going to do a roll call on one right one and call one and two so this is for Resolutions one and two mazone yes Slade yes
solowski yes vanet T yes Dunn yes Francisco yes Jano yes jri yes Dan tuno yes resolutions one and two for board secretary and board business passes roll call on item three please well we'll go
to voting on number three there was a right sorry Mone yes Slade yes solowski no vas yes dun yes Francisco yes Jano
yes J yes Dan tuno yes resolution number three for board secretary and board business passes hearing of residents on any School District item the the microphone is open um if you're going to speak there's a binder just make sure you sign
it okay the binder I forgot to put there but it's okay it's there is it okay you can sign it after your team members took care of you who can sign it afterwards I forget who put it out there okay can you hear me can you hear
me okay I took notes because there's just not always time to come to these meetings with youth sports and I have a lot um going on so you just introduce yourself I'm sorry my name is Brooke Richards Patterson I am a parent
of a middle school child in the district so um uh Mr widell spoke at the agenda meeting um about the February 25th um um budget meeting being
a closed meeting um and so I did want to just bring up some things as a parent as a taxpayer um and just whether it's been you know from my own observations or um topics that have been BR you know
brought to my attention by other parents and you know um stakeholders so a couple things what uh one was um uh I'm sorry I want to know about summer school in terms of the budget I did go to a
committee meeting for the curriculum um and uh from my understanding taxpayers are paying for children to attend summer school rather than their parents um and it was explained it's due to possible uh parents uh experiencing hardships and
although that is unfortunate I do think ultimately a child you know that is the adult's responsibility um and I think what was most disappointing to be honest was to learn that there is no particular thing that needs to be done in order to pass summer
school it almost seems like a waste of time and money on all parts because they just have to you know show up and complete it and call it a day I don't know that that's really um you know something that we should be considering
uh in terms of our budget um I also was curious why there hasn't been any further discussion about uh a contingency plan in lie of the loss of late buses um I also wanted to know if
we've considered raising the rent over where the Cheesequake school is uh to make up a little bit of funding um are qualified supervisors who are already on the payroll writing the curriculums or are we Outsourcing and
paying somebody else to do it and if so how much does that cost um I also and this is you know um these are just allegedly but I would like to know
if Dr Tui um promoted himself quietly and family members without going through due process um and allowing others the opportunity to interview for the same positions Andor promotions uh as well as uh Dr
Sasso um are is there any vetting processes far as these coaches that are getting stiens or are they just you know happen to be unqualified friends of his um and so these are things that you know I would love to hear from more than the
same Board of Ed member talking over and over and over again um because uh you know we're just paid a lot of money and I care obviously very much about my my child and everybody's children their education the quality of
it and I'd like to you know be more transparent as far as the um where the funds are going and what they're being used for so that is all thank you talk about fake news Angelo is
Oba um in regards to uh some comments regarding the last resolution under board secretary and board business I don't think the inclusion of students with disabilities in our district is fake news I think someone's
attempt to care about students in the district is uh what's fake here last month's comments about a food service committee this month's comments now uh so I believe one board member owes an apology to the students and staff of this district for that comment
thank you anyone else okay we go close the mic for um for hearing of residents um I'll start the summer the summer school piece I'm not aware of uh the
summer school piece being financed by the taxpayers but um I allow Dr Tu to speak to that and anything new on that Dr Ste so there's no Elementary summer school program in the past there was a summer school program through the Esser funds which is used from The
Fairly um acquired funds by the district my time's up uh in Middle School we've had a summer school program for since I think Mr sedino has been you know was the principal at sulk um that program runs every summer uh for the
past few years it ran at both Sal and Sandberg uh there are qualifications um uh so a student has to attend a certain amount of the days there are grades that are allotted is Project based um it is during the summer so obviously most of the students don't want to be there so
we try to make it as interesting as possible um the teachers do a great job and uh they should be commended for that high school they do uh uh online programs so if you're going to do course advancement you go through edere or
Rucker prep um there's also for the seniors who are in danger of not graduating Apex uh those are district funded programs that we have all year round thank you Dr Tu um as far as late buses we did have that conversation we look at that as we look every uh week we
just we get together as an administra of team and go over the district finances the positions we're at as we talked about last week um you know the administration works at the will of the board as when it comes to the budget so as we put together a budget uh for this year the current year
that we're in the 2425 school year we had a very public meeting about what was included in the budget what was not included in the budget while it is not an administrative prior um prerogative to just add things to that budget once it's been adopted by the board we have
talked as a board and as Administration that if funds in the second half of our fiscal year become available that that is something we would examine now funds to become available would be relying upon under spending in certain areas and budget lines one of the budget lines is
like in maintenance and one of the things that we're seeing a lot of this year while we haven't had into the Chagrin of many of our students a dumping storm we have had a lot of pesky storms and the no and so the pesky
storms do up into Plan B which would be to fund that um each storm is over $30,000 whether it is an inch or it is six inches because we still have to treat move the snow and put salt and uh
pre-treatment down so those other things so those are some of the things we look at as part of a plan B and alternative to fiscally funding funding that um the Cheesequake rental piece that is a 10year um agreement at least we can't
it's like anything else if you sign a lease agreement for a car or an apartment you can't in the middle of it say I'm raising your rent it have to wait until that agreement is up but at the end of the 10 years that piece of property which at that time was valued by Realtors at 3.5 million but we're
renting for 5 million and we still own it um will we come back to us um uh will we rent we rent it for $5 million over 10 years um we that will come back to us um as our own District
property at the conclusion of those 10 years uh curriculum writing is done by our staff our very qualified educational staff and it is overseen and supported through the supervisors and directors uh there and then it comes back to our board to review and to vote upon um I
won't go into specifics of names because any of our administrative staff members go through the same vetting process and the same any recommendations that come out of their office go through the same vetting process where the where the recommendations go to a panel of board
members who sit on the Personnel committee and only after those board members agree that those names should go forward onto this here agenda that at that point do nine independent people then vote for them so it's not an administrative decision made by a doctor
of Randomness that was brought up that could just say hey I want that person hired and that person just gets hired it doesn't get done until this party of nine votes upon it um so that would be my answer to those questions and closing
public okay so for any of the board any old business yes okay you want to go first um I have a couple things one I wanted to um say that on January 30th we
went to the Chinese honor we were invited to the Chinese Honor Society um their New Year celebration it was we had great food um the students put on some great performances and um all in celebration of the Lunar New Year 2025 the year the snake so thanks for
inviting us um on Thursday 2:13 board members and administration were invited to join a town hall hosted by Al High School sulk and Samberg peer leaders as well as Elementary character ambassadors to discuss their school experiences and engage in discussions
around improving uh policies and protocols in schools we shared lunch with them and afterward we had the opportunity to chat with the students it was amazing experience to hear directly from the students about things that are important to them and we're going to meet again in March to continue the conversation but I wanted to say thank
you to the teachers who work with um our student peer leaders in the high school it's Mrs fantino um at sulk Mrs Riley and Mrs Whitman Samberg Mrs Faron and Miss Rivera and Elementary is Miss P
puki I also wanted to um say congratulations to all the students in Southwood who competed in the third annual Jeopardy Tournament especially to the first and second second Runners up Luke and Ryan
and the Jeopardy champ Lucas uh the students will demonstrated their impressive depth of knowledge and facts in a broad range of character categories and it was a lot of fun um I know a few of us went and um we the students were
excited to uh cheer on their peers and I wanted to thank principal Foley and the judges for inviting us and that's all I have oh also congratulations again to Amia and that's all I have to say well I let you go first but you said a lot of things I was going to say but
okay we should have done it together so okay I'll I'll be quick I I won't uh harp on anything so um I just want to say that again I kind of said this before but like yes this is of course our board business and what's most important but my favorite part is being inside the schools with our students and
with our staff um definitely the most fun so on January 29th I um went with Christina to the unify game at the high school which was awesome and a lot of these things that I'm attending are the first time that I'm attending them so I don't know what to expect um and it was filled with not only basketball it was a
basketball game um with our students interacting and supporting each other and cheering each other on um there was dancing the mascot was there the cheerleaders were cheering and dancing Stella Stella picked up the pom poms I mean their next uh two-year-old obhs cheerleader on the way
um it was it was awesome it was very uplifting um so I'm going to try to get to as many of those games as possible and like Miss J had said before um I encourage all of you to go as well I also had the opportunity to attend the town hall with um very many of our board
members also a really neat experience seeing our students um really speak up for what they believe is best for the student body after you know discussing what concerns they wanted to bring to us and I think that a lot of them were were actually reasonable and and some even doable so I was pleasantly surprised so
I know that all of us are definitely going to work on that I sent an email to all of the teachers that you named just to say thank you um awesome awesome job bringing our students together to speak up um Southwood Jeopardy was awesome I did know a lot of those answers Miss Foley but I'm not as quick as your
students like they were fast um so that was super fun to watch too was like um are you smarter than a fifth grader and I don't know think they had me beat um and then tomorrow I will get to attend the obhs trip around the world that'll be my first time so I'll let you know how that goes so thank you for inviting me and all the other board members into
your buildings and your classrooms because that's like I said my favorite part so thank you anyone else for old business good yes uh so as we discussed last week I was ready to vote no on the curriculum
writing and I'm prepared to do that next month I know those brought up and uh we just don't have the money last year we were going to see if we did have the money to do it and that's why we were questioning it but we definitely don't have the money so I won't be voting on that next month only because I only mentioned that because it was brought up in the public
comments thank you any other I have something to say yep um so going back to the state school of character um I would like to personally congratulate each of the schools who received that that award
board um I would like to uh congratulate Dr Payton over at Memorial Dr Giles at Miller Dr Sasso at Oldbridge High School Dr Lowry at Shera Dr Foley at Southwood and Mr reses at sulk
um every administrator in our district they really do such a great job um with all the students and to receive this award from the state and I know they go out National now it's it's it's a really it's a it's a very accomplishing award
for them um and I think a lot of the times their job goes unnoticed um so I just wanted to congratulate all of them and just all the schools who received it so thank you to all the administrators in our buildings for um
making our schools great for our kids thank you thank you uh for the old business as far as the student Town Hall uh we have all the questions it's in our uh board folder I I'd like to each committee to kind of break down what of
students questions apply to them and so that can also be part of our committee discussions um and as was said during the event the students were asking questions not only for them but for their their peers which was really great um you know the vegetarian options during lunch and even just like the
snack bar at lunch like they don't want just chips they want fresh fruit and things like that you know healthier snacks so that was really cool to say um on that note any new business I have one thing um before I said that the um SEPTA meeting was going to be in the obage
high school learning lab but it's been it's now um going to be virtual um The Arc of Mammoth is presenting it but it will be a virtual presentation and information on that will be available soon yes I have something go ahead um the Oldbridge Education Foundation is
back at it again um for those of you who don't know it's a local Foundation uh it's been around a lot of years I've been a part of it for last four years uh we raised money to give grant money back to teachers and staff last two years we gave out about $115,000 worth of grant
money uh so the recipients were very happy it applies to supplies and things that they don't have to put their hands in the pocket for um an email is going to go out to parents we're we did this two years ago was a Lucky Charms
campaign um raised about $1,000 two years ago um I'll read a little snippet of the that's going to go out um is there a teacher a parah a noon hour supervisor a nurse secretary any school staff member that goes above and beyond for your child then tell the Oldbridge
um Public School staff member how lucky you are to feel you have them in your child's life um the teacher or staff's going to get a digital certificate with the child's name that nominated him um so again it's a Lucky Charms campaign it's a great way for parents to
recognize the teachers um little name little little bonding between the student and the staff and again those funds will go towards the foundation which will go back to the staff and teachers uh in the form of a grant uh so look out for that email thank
you my I new business sure yes uh so as I said earlier we'll be having our budget meeting on Thursday everyone keep your eyes open uh I'm glad to hear that state senator Gull is introducing a bill that Miss J mentioned during the special committee reports I'll be keeping an eye on that and I'll be sending them um my
opinions and what I like what I don't like and but I'm glad something's being introduced so thank you for bringing it up and thank you for Mr goal for introducing it thank you hopefully it'll get pasted or discussed quickly 3917 Senate so s
3917 thank you any other new business I'm not sure if this is new business but it was spoken about I believe last week about having a charity sporting event and uh you know I'm looking um very much for it
I think it's going to be a great team building event and I think whatever monies we can raise we can put towards the uh senior scholarships um so I just want to make sure that you don't want it to fall off the edge make happen correct that's correct so I'm not sure if I don't remember when it was spoken about
last week but I just want to keep it fresh in everyone's mind because I'm looking forward to to it and I think it'll be a very admirable thing to do to raise money for scholarship based upon the nine board members are here that that would be a terrific thing have we picked a sport as a board so yeah so that was my idea um we I'm thinking
volleyball I think it's maybe the least um um well the least I guess yeah um contact um not kickball what not kickball I mean I would love to do dodgeball but I mean I don't know if we're allowed to do that um
they might pay to be spectated more so um I'm going to I want to actually work with Adam and to start planning that out and seeing who we can get involved with that um the proceeds that we rais from that um I would like it for for it to go to a student that's currently in the
school um because we have the senior Awards night and so many of the seniors who are leaving do receive scholarships I like to keep it someone you know who's in you know in District in school see how we can help uh help somebody so that will I will be reaching out to Dave and
Dave squared um not that's not going to fall to the Wayside there's a few people I need to spike so we're gonna be good same same I just want to thank you know board member maone for coming up with a great idea because I can tell you about back in 2015 we had a softball game against
the uh Town Council and it was very gratifying when we beat them pretty good and um you know so we'll have some sort of event uh to to put towards your suggestion of helping uh a student within the system currently which is a a very admirable thing to do so I appreciate the the good J there Mr Mone
thank you okay I had something for new business um the equity and education came across uh our emails from the School Board Association so I worked with some of the administration and uh Miss do and I just wanted to share with
the public what I wrote as far as our essay to be considered one of the uh Award winners and it was like I think it was just on what is you know equity and education for you know for your District so for Oldbridge Township Public Schools equity
and education is not a project it's a culture by having a comprehensive culture oldridge Township Public Schools strives to give every student a reason to come to school by addressing diverse learning needs fostering an inclusive environment for all students and providing course offerings from special
education to trades to college level courses we have something for everyone the oldridge Township Public Schools special education provides a continu continuation of services and prioritizes inclusion throughout the 15 buildings from prek through 12th grade students
ensuring that they all receive the supports they need in a least restrictive environment including the inclusing classrooms icr RP lld MD and ABA Oldbridge CH public schools have the opportunities available such as play unified life skills lab a transition
program which includes a shop right in our high school for the students to work and other students and staff to purchase from The District's mtss framework uh multi-tiered support systems sorry there was like a limit on character so we were doing as much as we
could in one thing um framework implemented K through 12 employs data analysis at various levels District school grade and individuals to identify and address student groups the data is discussed and analyzed monthly at every school and administration levels this
data driven decision-making process encompasses academic performance social emotional wellbeing mental health discipline and attendance the title one programs provide supplemental instruction outside of the traditional school day classroom the district Embraces
technology to support low-income families by providing hot spots for students without internet access and lower insurance rate for devices mental health initiatives are ongoing including CBT and DBT training for counselors to address anxiety based issues and emotional regulations for students
including ESS provides therapeutic services for students with intensive psychiatric needs attendance coordinators are in place to Foster positive interactions with families of students exhibiting chronic absente absenteeism and prioritizing School
homeschool collaboration the students are connected to the world through our various culture-driven programs Ruden in culture a program that connects High School culture clubs with the elementary schools district partici participation in the New Jersey stride which focuses on hiring diverse staff representing the
demographics of our students multiple World languages taught to students from K through 12 grades and study abroad opportunities the district Insurance pocket translators are available at all schools for the multilanguage Learners while the title 3 and title 3 immigrant
programs offer public um professional development and training for staffs with over 8,000 students every student needs a reason to walk in the door at elementary level there are 10 clubs middle school has 30 clubs and 38 different sports teams while high school offers 80 clubs and 70 sports teams all
levels have inclusive instrumental and music programs the course offering book at the high school is another example of how every student is pro is supported there are CTE classes such as autoshop woodworking cosmetology TV production culture classes such as minority
literature conscious of humanity ear early college and dual enrollment programs these programs challenge our students ensuring that they are not bored in the classroom giving their a chance to expand their education while earning credits while they use Beyond High School whether it's a trade license
a few college credits or full associates degree we partner with organizations such as middlex County College Fairley Dickinson Ruckers and the YMCA shopright and Oldbridge Township libraries Oldbridge Township public school provides the students with the services that are beyond the state mandated
classroom experience by hosting parent workshops including incl including for those who are not fluent in English we reach the students home support system and gather parents input in the decision-making Pro process equity and education is not just about the students that need help to
mainstream it's about meeting the students where they are and giving them the best chance to excel we believe the culture in alridge Township Public School does exactly that so I want to share with the public something that we wrote about the township and it's not just for their eyes but for you guys to
hear as well okay um just a few items one I do want to speak to the character education piece again I didn't really know if that was new business or old business because it was new tonight um I want to thank everyone from the I believe six schools
that participated in it and the district itself that participated in it it's an arduous task a lot of data collection and it wouldn't be possible without the staff and the princip administrators in there um again wouldn't be possible without the work of Dr hooker who's
championed this throughout uh the years um you're an inspiration you're a friend you're like a cousin you're not a cousin genetically or by name but great job and it's a pleasure to be inspired by you um this just in like this as I'm going back
and forth on my phone um going talk talking to other superintendents and other legislators that I've been talking to about this um a broadcast came out right before the meeting and it dates hold on please the notification is to
provide local education agencies with information regarding the K to2 school aid allocations for the upcoming school year to assist local education agencies in planning their fiscal year for 2026 I'm so glad that they're put it out on
February 18th um budgets the new New Jersey Department meducation intends to limit the amount of money in which a district school district of Aid may be red decreased in a single year so it's a limit on how much decre how much you can be decreased in a year we've been decreased by up to I think our highest
was 7 million in one year maybe um so specifically school districts can anticipate a total of a K to2 State Aid will not be decreased by an amount greater than three % of their state aid
of their K12 state aid so our K12 state aid rough math 24 million I think we got last year so 24 million 3% of that math people in the room about $750,000 okay so that's a good thing I mean it doesn't
fix all our problems but when you never know if you're going to lose up to six6 to S million to know that there's a hard cap on a 3% hard cap on how much we can lose um so I will send this this out to uh Dave for your team to digest Chris for your team to digest and um it's good
information to get just as we're closing up new uh information so David you might be able to get a little bit of sleep your budget might be a little easier to do well if inflation CRA inflation comes down and PR gas price comes down
Transportation comes down Healthcare comes down um all of that comes down we'll be in a good place think how happy everyone will be be yeah well that we canceled the snow for Thursday like you know what I think the biggest report I saw so was like 24
you know something just not down to zero snow again now it's gone any other old or new business yes good so back to the district of character just one more time so maybe this is silly I don't know we're all talking about how this is such um an in-depth process and an arduous
task and so I know it it's on the agenda and I see that Mrs Foley is here um can we invite the principles of those schools to come what yes okay because I want well can we do it
twice I don't know just like get them up here principles were told that it would be on the agenda and that we were acknowledging it tonight um it is a little bit of a not wanting to Jin so right now everybody who has received the state level is kind of in flux waiting
to find out who their National Reviewer is when that will take place um what specifically they're going to ask for when they come it's almost like a qac but looking at that um the character programs and they'll give a list of you know I already talked to Miss Foley this
morning and she was you know asking me about you know how to prepare and what else to do um and they're getting ready for that it you know back the first time that we did it we actually had site visitors that came in for two days stayed
overnight um and really spent a lot of time in the schools that's been since Co gone to the Wayside a little bit now they do it virtually um but there is a series of steps that they have to go to go through um once that comes out then
we've done a couple of things we will make that announcement and have everyone come to the board meeting and we also um as part of the going through the national process what the schools are looking at now too is um submitting promising practices so then that information actually doesn't come out
until November um and even the na schools the national schools are not actually they're announced but they're not officially recognized until October or November so this kind of goes along between now and all the way until October November okay sorry for jumping
the gun I just it's a big deal we're excited I like your excitement okay and um excellent two things that are going on tomorrow that I just want to bring up um one is Cooper School um has the New Jersey Court School presentation on Civics and
careers um the fourth and fifth graders will participate they will have General Civics lessons they will talk about the general positions within the court system they'll have court employee employees present their career journey and role in the judici judici
Judiciary uh system um and they'll be visiting Cooper at the same time we have the rooted in culture trip around the world which is at the high school where our the heads of all of our cultural clubs will come together and our character ambassadors from the
elementary schools will be visiting and meeting with them and then those clubs take it to the next level and go visit our elementary schools not every Club because we have so many but they're strategically going out to all of the elementary schools as a field trip and
visiting them so that our students are exposed to all the different thing all the different opportunities that our high school offers and I think it's a great thing with the uh the inclusion uh Proclamation that was passed tonight that that could be included in the
district application process and Mr s know that information you got can you send this to the board as well should have just came in yes we will make sure it gets to you perfect all thank you it's also already on the NJ do web page like the main page okay
thank you any other old or new business okay we are going into executive session so thank you all for coming and hope you stay warm because it is a blessy week and uh can I have a
motion to go into close session got it g Francisco thank you hi all in favor I good oh my gosh