e e e e e e e e e e we're going to call the meeting to
order pursuant to the New Jersey open public meetings Act njsa 10 4 through1 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by advertising such notice in the home News Tribune the asur Park Press the board office the schools on
cable channel on cable vision channel8 Verizon F FiOS channel 24 and by filing such notice with the Township Clerk the meeting was scheduled for Tuesday March 11th 2025 the board will take formal action on payment of bills and other agenda items Mr
wow the Oldbridge 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 provid that the act of recording does not interfere with the business at 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
dun Francisco here gordano here Jodi here maone here Slade here solowski here vas here danant tuno here we have a chome thank you pledge please I pledge allegiance to the flag
thank you as of now there is no moment of silence next week um volunteer to read the code of ethics next week I'll read it okay thank you our goals are listed um can I have a motion to approve the addendum do you down on motion M second
roll call any discussion Amazon roll call please done is absent Francisco yes gardano yes JRE yes maone yes Slade yes solowski yes
Von yes danant tuno yes resolution to accept the addendum passes it will be on for Action at the agend on and supplies equipment and services that will be an action item for tonight thank you uh so we have the minutes next week
and we'll have the student rep next week uh we have three retirements next week superintendent report anything for tonight or wait till next week you'll have it next week thank you anything for progress towards goals
any correspondence I do have correspondents but I just want to confirm with Mr paron if they are for Dave's contract should I read them now or should I wait until the public hearing portion no if they are for Mr cino's contract let's wait till the second public portion the hearing
there there going to be three public portions tonight so the one that's coming up in a couple minutes is for public uh points on agenda items other than the superintendent's contract then during certified staff we'll do a public hearing which is another public portion
for comments on the superintendent's contract specifically and then at the end we'll do the Normal public comment on any school matter so David let's add that to the second portion we'll do thank you no other correspondents so is there hearing of residents on any
agenda item only with the exception of Dave's contract okay seeing none policy we don't have anything any discussion on the curriculum and professional
development Pages yes I have a question so I have two things I that I would like to say about this this portion so I want to thank Administration for um listening to our concerns from last year about um not having a lot of time we felt we didn't have a lot of time to
review the curriculum so getting the curriculum writing done um a little earlier this year so that the board has ample time to review before voting so I just wanted to say uh thank you for that this the next part is more of a question probably for you Dr tuy um so I quickly just you know went through these when we
had gotten the agenda and and tonight and I think there's about like 99 courses that need to be revised Rewritten um so my question is do they all have to be at this time I know that the courses are on a five-year rotation
some we do we try to like space them out um so there's equal courses being done each year um are we required to write um for every single one of these the only reason I'm asking is financial purposes obviously I know the importance I'm fully aware of the importance of making
sure our students are getting the most up-to-date information using the most up-to-date materials but um just curious because if you really do the math it's like you know $100,000 at least so just wanted to ask no they don't all have to be updated due to new standards it's on
the fiveyear rotation and typically with the qac um review we do rewrite every five years there are some new courses in here um again obviously those are upped for um review depending on what happens over the course of the next few
weeks thank you any another discussion moving on multiple pages to finance any questions yeah uh J Jano motion M second any
discussion roll call please okay okay JRE yes mazone yes Slade yes soli yes b t yes D is absent uh Francisco yes and jordano yes Dan tuno
yes resolution one for finance passes okay any question or discussion on items two through nine I apologize there's a bonus Section 3 through 15 any questions on
that okay Athletics right now is empty non certificate I add one question now so the item number four in finance right um which says we provide Educational Services uh and that's related to security type and uh these are
non-public schools just like to understand uh what is the scope of our activity from our public funds going into the non-public schools I can answer that one so uh with the idea Grant um we receive non-public
and public funds on average we get about $2 million in idea money many of that those dollars go to at a district tuition a percentage of that is provided to non-public schools such as Calvary Christian St Ambrose St Thomas um and
that's allotted by the federal government it's not a number that we have any ability to change or adjust and the services that are provided include related Services additional support from a special education teacher or something along those lines for students in nonpublic
schools okay so that comes from the federal it's not from the public tax levy yes thank correct any other questions or comments on items two through 15 okay uh non-certificated personnel
office any questions okay non-certificated Personnel operational any comments questions okay non-certificated Personnel other items one through
seven okay can I have a motion for certificated Personnel items one through three oh items two and three uh that's that should be two and three number one is just something we're going to do okay J down a
motion Jo second conversation and discussion can I just CL can I just clarify that in number two the board policy is the incorrect number I believe it's 3150 okay we'll make an administrative
correction for item number two to reflect policy 3150 thank you seeing no discussion roll call please I just have a quick are we are we just approving to have a public hearing no we skipped that we're going to approve
numbers two and three just because there's the V and then we're going to go back to one okay yes yep so this will just be on resolutions two and three the Roll Call roll call please D is absent Francisco
yes Gano yes J yes maone yes Slade yes solowski yes Ben T yes danant tuno yes and resolutions two and three pass for certificate Personnel okay so now we're going back to items number one have do a motion
again or just hear okay you just it's a public comment public hearing so you just open the floor to the public on Mr cino's proposed 2526 extension contract okay so at this point I open um hearing of residents on
item one for Mr sedad Dino's contract is there anyone that would like to speak just a reminder if you're going to speak at the mic please sign in at the binder that's inside the vesu and Chris just to confirm that it's still the five minute time limit correct yes five minute time
limit applies yes this is just this is just about the extension the proposed extension of Mr cino's contract as superintendent okay can you hear me yeah okay uh my name is Brook Richards Patterson I
already emailed this whole thing to the um uh non-conflicted Board of Ed members um so I'm just going to read it until I guess I run out of time um I wanted to email this because it was too long to read uh although you may be considering uh extending the contract for the
superintendent the possibility of hiring someone new means there are things that people should be mindful of I apolog oliz but not everything is positive but these things need to be said uh here's some observations and recent conversations brought to light after pulling parents
Mr citadino shut down schools ignoring parent surveys and surrounding Town success in staying open admin has been trying to Gaslight and convince us that all the kids are caught up to speed on their academics but that is simply untrue uh to deflect accountability
Board of Ed member Matt silakowski wrote emails to parents about a controversial Health curriculum to be implemented including teaching teaching elementary-aged children about masturbation anal and oral sex and the Oba suggested Planned
Parenthood talk to middle school children about abortion there are about 200 parents in attendance who were opposed to it Mr citadino mocked Matt silakowski for doing this when questioning uh why the state is implementing sex ed to Children young enough to believe in the tooth fairy um
why not be TR transparent with families and allow them to be involved in something like this I've watched the administration disrespect Board of Ed members multiple times over the years this conduct is unprofessional and embarrassing these people were elected by stakeholders to be your supervisor uh
Mr citadino claimed that Cheesequake a blue rimen school had structural issues in order to close it it didn't and now it's being rented to another school district because no one read the deed that states they can't sell the school to be another school school administrators recruit qualified family
members uh Mr citadino agreed to get a doctorate as a term of his employment it's been 12 years and your agenda says we're now talking a 15% pay increase summer school is paid for by the taxpayers instead of the responsible parent Mr citadino was unsure of this
when I recently brought this up I discovered it at a committee meeting uh that isn't recorded other districts don't do this uh we also don't require students to test out of summer school setting the child up for ship again all they have to do now is show up for summer school to pass it's a waste and
an opportunity to be dishonest about scores um I we still don't know I guess what happened to the extra money uh given to us during covid uh allegedly not every child was test forl again being dishonest every child should be
tested for an accurate overview I personally asked about my own child's learning law and was dismissed for two years um from the school and also Dr Tui allegedly Dr Tui had no special ed degree when hired to oversee the department EXC quiet Miss Patterson I
pause your time um please limit this to Mr cino's performance specifically this is about his contract uh at least this is all under his supervision at least at least tie your comments into why it has to do with his contract if you can absolutely because it all is under his watch He's responsible for every
employee in the school um so again um alleged not every child was tested forl I personally asked about learning loss and was dismissed um allegedly uh the assistant superintendent uh created a position for
his relative and who was promoted two years prematurely allegedly the other assistant superintendent um has family members that also work for the school allegedly the um High School principles handed out stiens to unqualified members uh to his
boys club including an Olympic um including rejecting an Olympic uh person for a varsity track position um allegedly no one in the high schools could report the misconduct because the super assistant superintendent's family member was once
their union rep our other relatives doing this as well um uh my family has fallen victim to retaliation so I would imagine that you know other people would be afraid of this as well and
um the Administration has access to the board of emails that would probably also I'm pause you Brook it at this point like you said I think this portion of your your email because I have it here can be read at the the latter portion the any District issue you can continue
going because at this point I think the beginning was about Dave's and to uh Mr Parton's Point while you did uh give your a rebuttal I think maybe that second portion if you can can save it to any District issue and you can go through your the test scores and uh the
thing about Dr sassa perhaps that would be best suited for uh any District issue at the end of that is that okay Mr porin yeah I mean it's up to Mr Patterson you have 48 seconds left well you didn't mention this Mr widell when I emailed you this entire thing already um hours
ago um excuse me right I'm I'm not the legal counsel so I shared it with with Chris right before the meeting and I just got that that information so again we're still giving you the opportunity to read the rest of the email at another portion of meeting it's just this has to specifically pertain to to Mr cino's
contract and again that all F falls under his watch so um again there's just been a lot of Secrets uh in this Township in this District it starts from the top it's you know made its way down funneled its way down to the other administrative members and so I'd like
for the board of AD members to please consider this and um look into this a little bit more before making um another decision about this thank you hi I'm scottman Zella public relations coordinator for the district I wasn't going to say
anything but sorry all the vital um but you guys know what we do here if you add up the negatives and then put them next to the immense amount of positives that happened in this District I think you guys would know what the score would be at the very end and it would blow any
negative out of the water hundreds and hundreds of people work every day to bring really good things to our schools um every organization has issues here and there I I don't think uh Mr citadino
should be judged by uh any any person or group's agendas or negative comments you Mr citadino does really great things you've heard us all talk about it at length I'm not going to go through it but um you know when you make your
decision tonight I hope it's a really good one for the district because I've seen how other districts operate with bad leadership and we are not in that category I wish I could send my kids to Oldbridge public schools and that's because of Mr CAD thank you
Scott just make sure you sign the binder when you're done I'll sign when I'm done excuse me my name is salvator De PR I'm a Community member and former board member excuse my voice I have a little iritis um if I remember a couple of meetings ago Mr the the board offered Mr
sudo a oneye extension but I think he asked for two if I'm correct it was kind of discussed semi and told we would be put off until later on um a lot of people have spoken in the past few months about why he should or shouldn't stay why he should or shouldn't be
extended so far some community members have expressed their displeasure but a lot of community members have expressed their pleasure um I don't think we've heard from any board member why they don't want Mr cadino here longer or at all
or I I just like some clarity on that I mean I know the man through my years on the board and he did an exemp job in the school district I mean so many behind the scen things that with all due respect a lot of the newer people might not even be aware of um
just give me your reason why you don't want them that's all I'm asking thank you is anyone else looking to speak after s if there's no no okay in the essence of time can we just have anyone that's going to speak kind of
line up so that we can make meeting quicker go ahead I'm Ron varel uh parent and resident of town also a graduate of uh what was Madison Central Albridge High School uh so I've got a long history in the town uh I did I got up here a few
months ago when we started this conversation and I kind of hoped that I didn't need to stand up again tonight but I just couldn't let what we heard for the last five eight minutes stand without reiterating how I as a a father
a parent of a middle schooler have really had the chance to sit in this room for a couple years now and watch Mr citadino set an example for both everybody that's that's here but his teachers his employees his
administration the board itself we're supposed to judge people by not how good of a cheerleader they are when they're able to celebrate good news we want that but we need to judge people by how they deal with controversy
crisis U attacks on themselves taxs on their staff and the people that they care about and I have to say that that time and time again I've been impressed with the way Mr cadino has has
fought for what he thinks is right you might not all think the same way but what he thinks is right he's willing to fight for he's willing to fight for the kids and do the things that he think is right for the kids he's willing to fight for himself the ugliest meeting that I
saw up here over the last couple years was when he was attacked and innuendo was thrown out and he did not shrink if he's able to defend himself and be able to represent his own professionalism the work he's done on
behalf of the students and the schools to me that said a lot it said a lot about his confidence and his ability to run this District moving forward uh fortunately it's temporarily I you know it sounds like maybe two years I must have missed the meeting when we when the discussion of
two versus one but I'll just say that any more years we have Mr cadino would be welcome would be you I'd encourage you to vote for um lastly I'll I'll I'll say one other thing on that same theme about
really in tough times personally my wife and I spent one meeting with Mr City Dino and it was not a good situation and instead of it wasn't a bad situation because of him
but because of the situation and he rose to the occasion made us feel heard made us feel understood made us feel like we have a champion on our side and just like he's able to fight for
himself and for the kids in general he fought for our son he fought and said I want to help him I want to make sure that he's on the right track we ran into him a few months later at a football game the first thing he did was was say this must be your son
and he came over introduced himself chatted him up he's got thousands of students to look out for and he was able to single recognize me recognize my son and that meant so much and it's it's not
all sunshine and Roses but you got to judge people how they react when times are tough and between the crisises and what's been allowed to happen on this stage due to some you know different agendas and and and the
divisiveness I I said it last time he should be you should be begging him to stay not him begging you to to uh extend him and I still feel the same way so thank you [Applause]
oh okay now can you hear me all right my name is mar MX I've been a resident of O since 1979 so full product of the school system sex cousin two kids already graduated current one's still in middle school I previously have spoken about sedino
cried so most people know how I feel about him but take sedino the picture of knowing him so as a superintendent for our district of what we need and what we require what has continued to make me stay here some 45 years to raise my kids
when you look at percentages for graduation for the full state of New Jersey it is what is it 85% we were at 91% when sedino started you made us go up one point every year so we have over
the average state level when it comes to graduation when it ter of proficiency tests reading tests math tests we are above the state average at least by 7 to 8% versus what is it 642 districts throughout New Jersey now I know the
conversation has come up about him not having a doctorate I have time unfortunately even though a single mom with three kids and a grandom of one and I work full-time did a nice little spreadsheet so we have 23 superintendant in Middle sex County nine do not have a
a doctorate degree yes sedino is one of the what is he number six the five in front of him that are getting paid more one does not have a doctorate we have three more schools than he does we have a thousand more plus than them the other schools that
are getting paid more actually have way less students and way less schools then as you continue down the list and look at the other schools I'm seeing superintendant at 200,000 with 1300 kids we have like what close to 8,000 kids so
when you look at an HR aspect we're going to want a superintendent that wants to stay here he has won how many awards he's going to be highly sought after whoever comes after him is not going to be able to fill his shoes because once they see
it's a hostile environment when it comes to certain things that go on during this Porta Ed they're not going to want the position and if they do they're going to ask way more than he does the whole point of our superintendent make sure our kids graduate make sure our kids are safe won an award for security system
that we have throughout our school do you know how many of my employees co-workers friends I talk to do not have the same security system we have especially me as a single mom I don't have to worry about anybody walking in school even though they do all these drills our schools are on lockdown with all the cops that we have for a program
that he put in place the fact that he won a superintendent of the Year 642 districts like this man should be on a pedestal it shouldn't be anything personal something about somebody not letting them them Teach as a substitute but you're a Bard Ed member certain
things should not apply it should be based on his performance completely and if we don't keep a super attendant that has a high performance anybody that comes Underneath Him is not going to meet the standards and then I'm going have a major problem with that you need to keep and protect the schools protect the teachers protect the students that's
what border ed is that's what education is that's what old bridge is we're old bridg indans we protect each other thank you [Applause] um my name's Carolyn Mack and resident of old
uh when I came I was unsure if I would say anything or not um we we admittedly haven't lived here very long but we've been to quite a few uh school board meetings and um um I know that um for David citadino
a condition for his employment was um he said that he would get the advanced degree and that hasn't happened so whether other superintendents have a doctorate or a masters I don't think that I think we should set that aside um
there there was um um his employment was in part based on that promise that he made and um he I think he's been in this position now for 11 years and hasn't followed through on that so I just want
to raise that as a point um also I want to say that um we were here as um the policy 5756 was being discussed and um um I fall on the side
of um believing that that was not a good policy and many school districts have dropped it over the last several years or the last two years especially and our own attorney general Matt platkin
admitted in court that while the uh policy originally written by stuss Esme was supposedly a mandatory policy uh turned out in in court um uh when he gave testimony it was not mandatory so a
lot of districts adopted it believing falsely that they had to they had to have this policy I know that David citadino was very much in favor of the policy and he did defend it here um in Oldbridge and I and I know he's also a
cheerleader for Dei and um uh we all know um that uh in the last election the person who won is dismantling Dei and lgbtq policies and
for good reason um a lot of money has been burned up um in uh many school districts and even um around the world to push uh diversity Equity inclusion which sounds
real good but um to guarantee outcomes which is what Dei does um it's not um not not very doable and I don't think it belongs in public schools I've I've said before I'd like to see our district
getting back to uh academics um Reading Writing arithmetic and um I think he's been on the wrong side with uh his his support for Dei and
um uh policy 5 756 uh of course we did it was voted out thank goodness by our school board but um I I just want to say I think uh Oldbridge um could do better
um I think that um um you know I know there are people who like David citadino this isn't personal I have nothing personal against David citadino um I just from what I've seen when I come to Schoolboard meeting meetings I think
he's on the wrong side when it comes to um certain policies the Dei policy and the trans 5756 policy and I think that does speak to his character and to what we could expect to see from him in the future and that is why I would be
opposed to renewing his policy thank you um Karen Foley uh proud principal of Southwood Elementary School um I have been a Community member uh for 31 years um I did proudly send my three children
uh through Oldbridge Township Public Schools um I'm a taxpayer I'm an active Community member I served as a teacher and as I mentioned I am presently um a principal um politics aside
um Mr citadino has been a champion for students number one staff and does respect the diversity the equity and the inclusion of all of the children in our
very diverse School District um I couldn't be prouder to serve on his team I know one of the former speakers uh mentioned also Dr Dr Tui and Dr hoker um I work proudly under
this team um and I have to say I believe there is a lot of false information among members of the public who don't have children in the schools who don't work act who don't work
actively in the schools um and I support Mr citadino um and I think about the challenges that we faced starting at the very beginning um when we had the tragic
Pathmark shooting that was at the very beginning when Dave started um guiding us through covid um may not have been a very popular stand but if your family was impacted by covid um as my family was uh you would appreciate having a
district that worked very hard administrators teachers supporting our children our our parents and our our family members um and doing the very best that we could during a difficult time so um I do hope that the Board of Education will consider Mr
cino's uh renewal of his contract thank you okay seeing no one else we're going to close the portion I just have two correspondents so we're not going to close it just yet that's right we'll close that that part we'll close the public portion but I have correspondence
in regards to Mr cino's contract from um residents or individuals that did agree to name themselves um for the correspondence so correspondence number one is from Carl Von stetton who couldn't be here tonight hello Mr wiell
please see the below email below that I would like to have read at the Boe meeting tonight during public comment thank you good evening I reaching out to express my position regarding the renewal of Mr C's contract as superintendent I appreciate the things he has done for our schools and the personal stories I have heard from Other
Board of Ed meetings but I believe it is time for a change yes schools have improved under Mr cido cino's tenure but I believe new leadership is needed to drive our district forward in the direction that best serves our students staff and the taxpaying community while
I do not support a full 2 to 5e Renewal I do believe Mr citadino should be afforded time to gather proper evalu ations from the Board of Ed that were not given to him in recent years from attending the previous Meeting those evaluations are needed for him to secure other employment I feel it would be
unfair of the Board of Ed to just not renew and expect him to find another job without those proper evaluations I believe a one-year extension to his contract is warranted this will also give the Boe time to find a suitable successor I appreciate Mr cito's years of service to our schools and community
and wish him the best thank you Carl Von ston uh the second correspondence I have that agreed to be read was from roxan aasta Dear Mr wiell I am writing to express my strong support for the
renewal of Mr cino's contract Oldbridge has been fortunate to have such a dedicated and effective leader and I believe it is in the best interest of our community to begin the process of renewing his contract now in my six years living in Oldbridge I have seen how the children and Community has benefited under his leadership the facts
are there and for the people who want to see him go their statements are based on opinions and not facts losing a superintendent of his caliber would be a major setback for Oldbridge and the children I urge you to take Swift action to renew his contract ensuring that our town continues to benefit from his
leadership and expertise sincerely a concerned p parent Roxanna aosta that concludes the correspondence portion thank you okay so the public portion is now closed
for the hearing of Mr s's contract do you want to come you want maybe I'll wait till the does any of the board members want to make comments I I have a question we're not voting on this contract next week next
week so today is just a hear on the Clutter okay yes no other board okay okay thank you all right Madam president I'm sorry I was a little delayed and I apologize for my chared this evening and I know that a lot of
people understand that I'm conflicted here on this vote that's going to happen next week but I'm allowed to speak my mind and to explain some about David cadino that you should know about uh quite frankly I know that politics drives a lot of things and we have audience members shaking their head
right now but I can tell you unequivocally that I'm as conservatives as as conservative as many of these people in this room are and politics does not have any role on the board of ed okay we have to serve all children we have to serve all children regardless of
who they are and what they are and I've always said that and quite frankly we're in the business of doing that now to be quite honest I don't have a vote here because I'm conflicted and I'm being honest okay I know David for many many years I've been on this board since 2011 there's only one other person on this
board that's been here as long as I have and that's Mr silkowski sitting across from me okay I know the stories I know the background I know the truth and a lot of the stuff that's been spewed here tonight is inaccurate by very far and quite honestly I think people should educate themselves before they open
their mouths because you know what when you sp when you're spewing and talking nonsense that untruthful that's hurtful and that's slander so you better understand what you're saying is accurate before you come to this stage and say things that are inappropriate
and not correct I have the institutional knowledge I know the backgrounds I know the situation and quite frankly there were speakers up here who had issue with the Board of Education because of a vote that we had on a request so when you come up here please know your facts know that people have some issues with David
because of issues that they had personal with him so I'm going to just say this one thing and I'm going to appeal to my colleagues on the board this evening and I'm going to do it again next week and if I'm out a place Mr Parton please tell me I know I'm conflicted my wife is an employee here in the district she's been
employed here for 16 years as a first grade teacher at Koopa elementary school but I need to speak clearly and from my heart because David has been a very important piece of where we are today and no man is perfect I can tell you that there's not anyone out there is
perfect look at yourself in the mirror people so if you're going to criticize someone for a decision or two that he's made over his 11 years or 12 years of tenure here that's inappropriate and that's not being wise now this District
as you may know we have a financial issue and if we're going to start changing leadership during our most trying times for our financial health and stability you must be dreaming and I know we all want to effectuate
change in somehow some way that's why here on the board we want change yeah change is good empower the superintendent to make recommendations for change he has the power to do that and the board has the power to ask him to do that it NE not
necessarily always the person at the top that needs to change so with all this said I'm just hoping that my colleagues on the board have an open mind I would like to see David retire here and if it's one year or two years he
deserves it and I I I I am asking the public to please get the truth get the facts don't listen to hearsay because you know what what I heard here this evening a lot of it's hearsay and I know the facts and Truth I've been on this board for 11 years
serving and I was here when David was just an assistant principal then the principal of s school then the assistant superintendent I seen this man grow I know what's in his heart and you know what we all benefited our children have benefited from his love his stewardship
his guidance and everything he does care about this District so I'm just appealing to everyone give the man the consideration that he deserves because you know what this district has come a long way since the days of bosow and some people in this room have no idea
who Mr Simon BOS was but I do so please just use your heart get the truth get the facts and I believe this board should give him the opportunity to finish out his his tenure
here as superintendent he can effectuate change that we're looking for give him the opportunity thank you last call anyone else goad so I wrote something that I just wanted to say we were presenting with two options for voting a two-year
contract with a 2.5% increase and by the way Dave agreed to let me say this so um contract with 2.5% increase each year or a one-year contract with a 6% increase I supported the two-year contract with a reasonable 2.5 increase to ensure that
we had sufficient time to conduct a thorough superintendent search and address any unforeseen challenges that may arise a proper superintendent search as confirmed by our New Jersey Schoolboard Association field representative Maryann fredman takes at least nine months to a year and that is
without providing extra time for any unforeseen problems and as a board we have a responsibility to carry out this process diligently to best serve the students of and staff of Oldbridge I was unwilling to compromise the Integrity of this search simply to expedite
superintendent cino's departure at has been as has been Su suggested during public board meetings in the past however the majority of the board ultimately voted in favor of the one-year contract with the 6% raise Beyond ensuring a comprehensive and quality sh search I also considered the
district's financial situation despite raising taxes by 99.9% we still could not provide even busing services at previous levels given that this year's budget which was made public yesterday will be further reduced um that was from the state the the 3% and we will soon be
looking to see add make additional cuts to the budget I do not believe it is fiscally responsible to approve a 6% increase at this time when we have the option for a 2.5% and two additional years as members of the Board of Education our duty is to prioritize the
needs of our students above any personal disagreements it is imperative that our decisions reflect the best interest of the district as a whole therefore as I mentioned above I was in favor of the two-year contract with the 2.5% annual increase for that reason anyone else yeah I'll jump on the
bandwagon since since it's out there um since they got Mr cadel's approval to discuss his two options uh it's important that that the public knows that what's on the agenda tonight was a majority vote to get the one year
to be voted upon there was a two-year option which I was also in favor of the two-year uh contract uh fiscally responsible uh it's a smaller increase per year as opposed to a one-year increase of 6% um so when we vote next week it
doesn't necessarily mean that everyone agrees upon what was put on the agenda this agenda was based on the majority vote um because he did give us two options a one-ear with these numbers and a two-year with a two and a half% increase uh per year so uh but I'll
discuss that further next week before I vote thank you okay last call right so the Public's last chance to speak will be the hearing of the residents at next week's beginning of next week's meeting right so moving
on we still have hearing of the residents later for any issue true but after yeah but it never mind yes all right so items number four through 14 any questions
discussion okay non-certificated Personnel Transportation can I have a motion for one and two jordano motion Francisco will second any discussion roll
call done yes Francisco yes Jano yes jri yes maone yes Slade yes solowski yes Bas yes Dan tuno yes resolutions one through two for noner personnel Transportation passes okay there's nothing for
transportation um we just added the addendum so uh can I have a motion for item one for supplies equipment and services done we make a motion Madam president second Francis go second any
discussion roll call please done yes Francisco yes jordano yes ji yes maone yes Slade yes solowski yes F
yes danant tuno yes resolution one for supplies equipment and serves passes okay items two and three any questions conversations okay miscellaneous items one through six any
discussion board secretary and board business okay hearing of the residents on any school district item so if there's anyone who'd like to speak push the button my name's Kim Linley I grew up in Oldbridge and I'm a former school
teacher and I live in Balin New Jersey right now I wasn't going to speak tonight but I just want to talk about the truth I am a former teacher my children went to this school I grew up in here in this District I had no problems my one child I did have a problem and so I just want you to know that you don't see
everything you don't get the whole picture as far as Mr citadino as far as what's going on so um I just wanted to say you don't always get where you see you have to look in I am speaking the truth so just want to let you know thank
you very much good night anyone else Andrew Andrew Lewis Oba uh I am not afraid of retaliation so I'm going to speak the truth uh and dispel any fake news that might have been uh heard here this evening uh so I have been a member of the Oba executive board vice
president for six years president for four years uh at least in my 10 years and I'm sure before that the Oba has not invited Planned Parenthood to speak in the district nor do we have plans to I don't know where that came from uh fake news uh all staff are qualified and
certified um I don't know where that's you know but there's laws and regulations to teach in a public school or to work in a public school uh so all my members have gone through the required coursework or certification whatever they need in order to work in our school
district uh stiens have regulations about how they're paid fake news uh there are no relatives of administration as Union reps uh in fact one wanted to be and I turned them down so that is fake news uh just addressing
learning loss uh for a moment uh $15,000 is different than 15% just want to clarify that uh and Dave I just want to thank you I know that we don't always agree uh but we have a good working relationship uh and I know that you always do what's best for the students and staff uh and I couldn't ask for uh
more from a superintendent so thank you anyone else for hearing of the residents any old business from the board I'm going to close a public session old business yeah I want to talk about old business yes I want to clear the air over here let me get a pair of scissors
last week I voted or last month I voted on I voted no on something let me read something all students will have the opportunities to participate in all school programs including extracurricular activities and the opportunity to apply try out addition
for uh selection based programs and activities she'll be accessible to all students all students regardless of the supports and the services they receed in and out of District I want to clear something now in my opinion my no vote
last last month was against the people that put this on paper because they're fake I'm not nobody's been right so it's very general what I'm going to say here what what they put on paper is not accurate they took a young girl at the
age of 14 years old okay and really destroyed her life what they did is they took her out of the district they had many paths that they could have crossed but they took the wrong
path they took the path to flee resistance you know what that is out of sight out of mind that's this Administration Mr sedino hasn't been RIS so I don't want to talk about him but I would like some people rise for next meeting thank you fake
news any other board members they destroyed a young girl's life think about it all right you know I have something so I wasn't going to say anything but I will getting old I'm getting Sly it's funny when we come to these meetings I
could look out into the audience and I know it's going to be a show and I could just tell by the attendance of who shows up what I mean by that is whenever there's controversial topics you get to same five or six allegedly
Oldbridge residents who come to the mic and just to stir stuff up and I'm only speaking for myself your opinions do not resonate with me your opinions or your whatever facts you think it might have don't resonate with
me because you have no credibility and I'll tell you why you don't come here for the good I never see you come here to clap I never see you come here to congratulate a teacher or a professional when we have good things and the stage is lined up with
pictures you're not here for that you're here just for controversy you're here just for I hate to use the word it's a show so it's important to know that when you get to the mic or you send us an email it doesn't resonate to me at all when it comes to my vote my vote's
based on my facts my own due diligence I just don't I don't get moved by your your little speeches up there I mean my car is probably the last one out of there but I got to believe there's a clown car out there that 10 people prior of this car whenever topics like the Hot
Topics come out is when these people show up so I don't know if it's right or wrong but it's important for you to know that your opinion doesn't count to me I make my decisions based on my own due diligence so thank you and and don't
thank you I have one more comment this is just a tip of the iceberg that I spoke tonight okay there's a lot more coming down let me tell you it's coming out I'm going to Madam president go for it thank you um Mr saden um I'm sorry Mr
silkowski you know how threats are not going to be tolerated I suggest you come out with your facts and share with everyone I'm not threatening anybody I'm telling these are facts okay these are facts bring them out and you have you have to rise a lot of people when it comes to this one bring them out and bring them to the board let us
understand what you're coming from because we don't know these facts and I've been on this board they have been hiding so many things from the general public and the board Matt thank you for uh interrupting
yeah I just want to say one thing I just want to clarify that students um can't be sent out of District without parental permission I'm going to touch upon um something I've heard repeatedly since before I got on the board whatever it
happens to be the doctorate um as someone who grew up went through the alridge school system I thought I would have you know definitely finished through college but my profession I do hair for a living has something I wanted to do since I was a kid but if you told me as an honor student that I was never going to finish college I would have
laughed at you but my life didn't take that way that does not make me any less eligible or credible to have a conversation and know what I'm talking about and things like that so a doctorate or a degree or something might be nice when you're trying to decide between two candidates but I don't think
that extra piece of paper would have made Mr cadino any better or or more qualified to continue to do his job we knew what we were getting when the previous board hired him whether you voted for or against that's beyond my purview as a board now because I have to
work with the board and the school district that I was handed upon you know being elected and sworn in so any vote that I've made from you know swearing into now is dealing with the information that I've had so yes a doctorate might have been nice it might
have been promised but I don't think covid was on the schedule I don't think you know other you know financial crisis so if I have to choose between my superintendent being in a classroom to get a piece of paper versus him being
you know at the the board meetings or having like these Financial conversations or or trying to read the non-existent Playbook of of a pandemic I'm sorry I'd rather have him in District than in a classroom you know
for a piece of paper so that's my personal feelings on the do doctor part anyone else before we go into executive wait yes so um there's really no segue into what I had planned on sharing tonight so
it's it's a little awkward but it still deserves um to be shared so I'm going to go ahead and do that um for those of you that don't know or maybe on social media or don't have kids in the school um and for all of you that do um I do want to mention that SEPTA our special education
PTA U which by the way is the only PTA in our district that Services all of our schools because we have special needs students in all of our schools um are um sorry losing my words here they are uh raising funds for a multic
classroom renovation at the high school uh working in conjunction with Dr tuy Dr Dary Miss adinolfi and Dr Sasso at the high school and their goal is to upgrade these classrooms in order to provide our exceptional students with not only academics but the vocational and life
skills they will need to succeed as adults with your help and with the help of the entire Oldbridge Community we can provide them with a supplies and materials to make this happen their goal is to raise $20,000 um so if if you can um if you
can personally if you can if you own a small business if you know other people who are small business owners big business owners um have organizations that can help um they do have sponsored levels so um Platinum would be $1,000 gold 750 silver 500 and bronze 250 but
any amount helps so um if you have questions about that you can contact them directly their email is SEPTA Oldbridge NJ gmail.com you can ask me I can connect you um so just something good that's that's happening that I wanted to share and I'll share again next week
too thank you yes okay I guess something yeah in regards to the contract um was being discussed I was in favor of the one-year extension to allow Mr Sido one more year and we'll be able to do a proper evaluation of him so when we send
him off he'll have the credentials and the reputation that he deserves on paper I I know the Comm likes him and so that's why I was in favor of the one-year extension and doing a swift search to find the new replacement and um I'll be accepting your emails I've
had emails from both sides and we will have a week to decide uh we're going to go into executive session not for this but I think it's still good to discuss it one more time before we vote next week and we got to see how the rest of the board votes I know if we don't have
a decisive majority it will be rolled over to the current contracts which which would be 3 years so that also has to be considered with the timing if we do not have a majority of five either way that it's going to be rolling over to a three-year contract so that's
something that we have to consider and that's what I'll be considering when I make my votes thank you Jay do you want to bring up the teacher March is that done the Education Foundation I think tomorrow the oldge
education what the lucky charm thing the oh charms uh the orridge Education Foundation if you guys haven't seen we have a Lucky Charms promotion that's going out there that the parent can name a teacher on behalf of their student and give whatever you want to give and the
teachers would get a digital certificate um we've raised about I think 700 bucks already for this um the deadline's tomorrow as Jen's alluding to so you have until tomorrow to you know give money to Lucky Charms
what you're doing is we give grant money back to teachers so you're recognizing your your your teachers the student gets a little thank you from their teacher and it's a good cause everything goes back to the district so um the deadline's tomorrow to give a lucky charm it's magically
delicious last call for comments go ahead I just want to share that the district participated in their National site visit today we had about 30 people people over the course of a few hours that met virtually with um two site
visitors and honestly you know it was a great thing to be a participant in I started the the meeting and ended the meeting but I was able to sit through and hear the comments that were made from all the participants there were administrators there were teachers there
were parents there were board members there were students from every level elementary middle and high school and they really did not have preparation to go into this other than an email inviting them to be a participant and saying that here's some questions that
the reviewers might ask um what I heard throughout um the conference was students feel a part of a family in Oldbridge they feel that they have so many opportunities that their endless
that if there is something here for every student that um teachers and actually some of them were parents and also teachers who um spoke from the high school that said that they've been in different roles throughout the district that you know when they go into our high
school it is it is unlike anything that they talk to when they talk to friends in other districts and that it is a special place that everyone has something to go to and if there isn't and a student has a desire or something they're interested in they can start a
club they can 's always a teacher or staff member that is available to them the other piece that I think our middle school students said that was just very powerful was that they felt that their teachers take the time to get to know them it's not just about oh you're here
you're in my class and you're a name and a number that you know they really spend time to learn about their families and learn about them um so to hear that over and over again um it's really disheartening to come tonight and and hear hear so many negative things but I
can tell you that all of these positive things are going on in the district um and again didn't prep them didn't tell them what to say but was able to sit and listen to multiple people um even community members that do not have any students in the district that were able
to talk about some of the things and the Partnerships that we have throughout the community so that was a a a good positive part of the day today um we won't find out until May whether we received the national recognition but the site viewers were you know very
positive and um obviously can't tell us but um they were impressed as was I so I thank all the participants that were out there if they're listening tonight um and I'd love to share that video if I can get a copy of it because they recorded the meeting it was pretty
powerful Dr hooker I popped on a few minutes before my time slot as board president and it was cool to hear the kids like the inclusivity isn't just a word on a on a piece of paper it's not just a word painted on the wall to look
nice the kids talked about how they saw a student that might have felt less comfortable in say gym class we all have been there right like middle school and high school gym class it's intimidating at some point in your life no matter what and these kids knew to go and be friend or or welcome or surround the
student that felt uncomfortable felt less able you know whatever and just made that comfortable feel that student feel comfortable and feel welcome so it wasn't just being inclusive because they're told to it's part of the culture and that's where you
know that character building that's the atmosphere you want them to be as successful adults is you know see everyone and hope that you know we see people where they are now you know meet people where they are and include them you know whichever way we can so that
was really cool so kudos to the district for raising these amazing students so thank you CH I have go ahead one as uh probably everyone knows we are actively working on the budget Mr Videl
helped us in the last couple of weeks to catch up on what are the income or the inflow and uh what is the expenditures we are discussion last week and we came to also know the state location so there a lot of active work this board this entire team is doing we have meeting in
executive sessions the last couple of weeks but um next week I think Mr W will be introducing this in this forum but beyond that I think one thing we all should really understand and participate in is understand the financial situation uh I know Mr SOS contract is
the odd topic but to me that's not the odd topic the OD topic is how are we going to run the schools for the future so I would like to encourage parents staff and other members come forward participate in these discussions come and talk about how we can resolve some of the issues that we going to see
because moving forward that will be the most critical part of it because there is a deficit and this deficit has not been solved for the last 7 years we were classified as a S2 District like 7 years ago or 8 years ago and all along we have not solved this financial problem right
we have been trying to work it out right Gap fills right but now we are in serious problem we need to come out and talk about ideas and the decisions that this table will make should be based on the community's uh support and community's ideas and you know how we can evolve you know from here so I would
encourage from next week please participate in these discussions I think uh this is going to be submitted to the county uh executive if I if I remember rightly and then we have time for them to review and then we will get some feedback and we have to still continue the discussions how we are going to
mitigate if we have a deficit and we need to arrive at a final budget by probably in early April or June I may okay may so I would encourage people to come out this is the most critical part if you ask me because this is going to lead us forward into the next year and later on
somebody should not say hey my taxes increased right I don't want to hear that personally right I want people to come out here and talk about it and discuss about the solutions that we all together can come up with thank you I just wanted to last week was read Across America week and I just wanted to
thank all the principles and um teachers um who invited us into their schools to read to their classes it was a great experience the kids were really really excited and it was nice to um go around and visit everybody so thank you for inviting us uh I do want to sh some good news
that happened today too was it was a nice selection news um myself uh and Dr kandria were selected by the Joint Committee of legislator um on education and they were looking for ways to support uh chronic absentees reduce
chronic absentees in schools which has really become an epidemic since covid uh I think one of the reasons why we're recognized is this the undeniable statistics that postco uh we were around 18% uh chronically absent students on a
on a daily basis and now just in this short period of time we've reduced it to 9% which is well above the state average um there's districts out there that were on um they were talking about that are are seeing you know you know double digit
22% um still absentees since Co um some of the things that we we've done with the estra funds have supported that putting in um attendance liaison mental health coordinators U mental health coaches these are the things that assist
us so we can look at data we can have Outreach and we can engage students and families because a lot of times it's the parents that need the support into getting their children into school and they don't always have the tool boxes um to do that so it just a real great Accolade um that myself and Dr clander
were invited I I I don't think there was more than 12 school districts on the on the committee uh on the Forum today so it was nice to represent Albridge once again for something positive so thank you very much can I just say one thing I just want to clear something up um and this
has nothing to do with um I know a lot of the comments were was Miss City you know not having a doctor or whatnot um just because you have a doctor doesn't mean you're the smartest person in the room but to call a doctor at just a piece of paper is a little discrediting um these people work hard and you know
they dedicate and they give up a lot of their time to earn that degree so I just wanted to clear that up to to just call a doctor degree a piece of paper is a little discrediting to our principles and admin who have that degree and multiple degrees in that so I just wanted to clear that up it has nothing
to do with Mr citadino you're right and I fully apologize if you know I I didn't mean it that it wasn't worked hard but when I was talking about to me it doesn't necessarily defined so I apologize to anyone if I offended you calling it just a a paper and not giving credit to the
hard work that you did for that so thank you and I for that anyone else yes one more announcement go for so um our high school and our two middle schools are um putting on their Productions their musicals and they're all coming up so the high school is March 20th 21st and
22nd Samberg is March 27th 28th and 29th and Sal is April 3rd 4th and 5th so if you go on to our website or if you want to reach out to one of us we can get you some more information on how to get tickets and support our students because I know they've been working hard wait the one at the middle school
do you know the name of it um so Samberg is susal and the high school is 42nd street and sulk I'm not sure I went on today to figure it out and then I no I was talking about Legally Blonde Legally Blonde there you go okay Junior oh fun okay
okay M motion Jo deal second thank youone thank you everyone for coming out have a safe ride home enjoy the nice day tomorrow it's supposed to be nice weather what