the February 18th meeting of the sa board of education is called to order please rise with pledge to the flag pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation
under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Miss Hill roll call Mr Callahan here Mrs chowski Mr Fernandez here Fernandez here Mrs
Maldonado here Mrs napalitano here Mrs Pabon here Mr Smith and Mrs Bloom here miss Hill will you summarize executive session please the board discussed Personnel including but not limited to agenda items SCA grievance
2024-25 colon one negotiations related to the teamsters and matters following attorney Cent under attorney client privilege any correspondence Miss Hill no okay thank you uh we need a motion to approve the minutes of the
February 4th meeting so moved second so is Mrs napalitano Mr Callahan uh Mr Callahan yes Mrs chowski yes Mr Fernandez yes Mrs Hernandez yes Mrs
Maldonado yes Mrs napalitano yes Mrs Pabon yes and Mrs Bloom yes and now to my favorite part of the meeting our student council Representatives uh Morgan from the high school good evening Board of Education
members and administrators my name is Morgan C swmhs student council Board of Education representative I would like to begin with clubs and activities students in the future Business Leaders of America Club collected over 400 toys that they will donate to children in
need as part of their Statewide community service project called whiskers and wishes in honor of Black History Month students from the black student union created and posted a periodic table of influential black people in history congratulations to miss Donnelly
and Mr Hall for being named our January and February teachers of the month in the counseling department the counselors and Miss aola director of School counseling services provided a workshop to help parents and guardians of Juniors jumpstart their College and
Career planning key topics included the college application process Naviance letters of recommendation standardized testing financial aid the new FASA requirement post High School options important dates and counseling support the counselors also visited the Middle
School Social Studies classes and provided the eighth grade students with information about choosing electives for next year as well as presenting a mini High School Orientation which included available courses graduation requirements high school policies and
procedures and more for jrc students also joined the classes to provide course and program information in addition the school counselors conducted College and Career planning presentations in all US History 2 classes for all Juniors the students
were provided with a great deal of information from them to begin their college application start writing their college essay create a FSA ID for their fastf application and more finally the school counselors conducted helpful hints for high school students in all of
the semester two freshman foundations classes each semester the counselors visit the elective class as part of the Freshman foundations curriculum in a few more weeks the students will complete a career interest inventory with the school
counselors Grammy nominated morba and director of percussion studies at Jersey City University Greg gianis scoli demonstrated Mallet playing for Dr kuso's band students he also performed a selection of percussion music by a composer named Claire Omar muser and
made many suggestions for students to improve their technique in Mr gon's wood shop classes students worked on a cart to help the high school Brew Crew deliver coffee and other hot beverages to the staff during the school day they're also working on
serving trades for the bombers Beyond Cafe members of the peer leadership Club worked with unified PE to make to make and share Valentine's Day crafts moving on to sports we would like to congratulate chii chukur from the boys
basketball team who scored his 1000th career point last week in the teams win over Ferris High School which after also defeating South Playfield High School earli in the week was their 18th win of the season the boys basketball team continued to dominate during their
amazing season with an overtime win over mouen High School in the greater middle sex Conference tournament to improve their record to impressive 20 wins to three losses and they Advanced to the semi-finals on Wednesday evening in Monroe we also congratulate twin sisters
Natalia and Veronica gluski from the girls basketball team for being named tap into raron Bay athletes of the week they led the girls basketball team to a win over South Amboy High School to end their season with an 1115 record the wrestling team beat West
Windsor Plainsboro South High School to extend their season record to 168 from the track team we congratulate Angelia Lei and Molly Logan for medling in the varsity classic meet at the New York City Armory Angelia plays second in the two mile race while ma Molly
finished fourth in both the 800 and mile races likewise Chase Rogers from the boys team finished second in the 400 meter we also congratulate the following members of the girls indoor track and field team who placed in the top six during the New Jersey state inter
Scholastic Athletic Association sectional meet and we'll be moving on to the njs AA group meet next weekend Lea Stevenson plays third in the 400 Molly Logan plays fourth in the mile and fifth in the 800 Angelia lapri plays sixth in
the two mile loisy Anning plays sixth in the 400 zaa Khan plays fourth in the shotput and the 4x400 meter relay team of J Rook Jenny then Lea Stevenson and Loy Anning placed fourth lastly we congratulate the cheer
team for winning first place and being crowned grand champion in the game day Division and first place in the varsity all music Mega division during the Howell High School cheer competition thank you for your time and support thank you very much great job
Morgan did anybody see a picture of the cart that Mr glint class made for the uh Brew Crew it was amazing you should send it to us I it's in t soup oh I don't pull up the pictures I just read Morgan nobody reads it I
don't know why I spend hours and nobody reads it I read it you who said thank you very much I just you read it thank you thank you very [Laughter] much and I I'm so thrilled first of all I'm thrilled for our boys basketball
team I I think that this is a magical season I I don't remember the last time our boys basketball team was 20 and three um the last two wins were overtime wins which was simply incredible and I can't wish them enough luck uh for Wednesday although I don't think they're
going to need it I think they're that great of a team but I'm also so inspired by our girls team um you know with the fact that the twin sisters um you know they in fact they just received all conference honors as well um that'll be
in my soon talk soup but uh what an inspiring season they had as well they had a difficult time at first but then they went on a roll and I tell you what they are so young and I'm looking forward to um what's in store for them in the years to come and who can say
enough about our indoor girls track and field team my goodness gracious they just continue to power on I'm so impressed and that leads us into the spring and you're all ready for the spring right morg and there's gonna be more people joining the team in the spring I know I can't wait to hear how
you your sister's running track again too right Y how she does and and all of our track stars uh from the high school I'm excited great work Bud thank you thank you Morgan okay yes the Nanos
yes all righty and now from the Middle School Alana good evening Board of Education members and administrators my name is Alana SES sville Middle School student council Board of Education representative here's what is going on
at sville Middle School the PTO will be co-hosting a movie night on Friday February 28th with the SMS cheerleaders the featured Fe film will be Wicked the Odyssey of the M currently has three teams preparing for the regional round
of competition in February now on to the stal Middle School athletics the bombers blue girls team ended their successful season with their final record 15 to1 coach Vasquez is extremely proud of
their efforts and the hard work they have all put in this season long the middle school cheerleading team is preparing for the njcdc state championships while attending basketball games to support
our athletes they hosted a craft night at the bomber Beyond Cafe on Thursday February 13th the seral middle school cheerleading teams along with the w swmhs jur leading teams will be hosting
their show off before States on February 19th tomorrow at 700 p.m. in the swmhs main gym we will also be celebrating our eighth grade cheerleaders that evening all are
invited to attend thank you very much for this opportunity to speak on behalf of the students at saille middle school thank you great job Alana and and I have I must say I went to the craft show last week and uh Lana
was there um didn't say hi to me I didn't say say hi but she didn't say hi to me first well you were W you were you were over there and my friend surprised me and came so I was talking to her and you were talking to people so now I have to make it up to Alana so I'm going to the Showcase tomorrow okay thank so I
can make it up to her but what a great night uh it was a fantastic night tons of crafts made and I believe the proceeds from that night went to sami's Hope yes it's the animal shelter for like dog wonderful wonderful charity great job by
all okay very good thank you ladies great job [Applause] ladies Okie joke uh I will have no president's comments tonight since Mr Smith is not here I'm going to do the
highlights good night ladies okay District highlights congratulations to the sville War Memorial High School senior rishy sha who was honored with the life time presidential Achievement Award signed by former President Joe
Biden and presented by seille mayor Kennedy O'Brien in recognition of over 4,000 hours of community service where he supported 672 plus small businesses with marketing and growth
resources congratulations to sa War Memorial High School musicians Christopher Guth Miller Cadence Kar Nick Vera and Nick addicts for their phenomenal performance during the Kane University Music Department's High
School honors band performance congratulations to sville Middle School 8th grader Austin U who performed magnificently during the regional band and orchestra concert for the second year in a row congratulations
to sville War Memorial High School girls indoor track and field team on winning their ninth consecutive greater middle sex conference white division Champion congratulations to the sville War Memorial High School boys basketball
team for winning the greater middle sex conference white division championship congratulations to chiy chuara from the seral War Memorial High School boys basketball team for scoring his 1,000th career point during the
team's victory over Ferris High School congratulations to co W coach woic from sea War Memorial High School basketball team for being named the greater middle sex conference Coach of the Year congratulations to sville War
Memorial High School competition cheer team for winning first place in the game day Division and second place in the variety all music division at the David beerley High School cheer competition as well as for winning first place and
being crowned grand champion in the game day Division and first place in the varsity all music Mega division vision during the Howell High School cheer competition and that's it for highlights okay moving right along Dr lbby
presentations yes we are going to resume publicly reviewing the 2025 2026 budget with both our transportation and our buildings grounds and capital projects presentations and
to begin let's go with Mr ciglia who is our director of Transportation he will be providing you with the proposed 2025 2026 Transportation budget Mr snigle good
evening uh I want to oh hit the button there you go are we working now all right we're good I'm going to uh open up my budget presentation as I do with all of my um
safety and training uh sessions with my drivers and AIDS with a safety message uh if you guys remember my safety messages last year there's a lot of new faces here but the ones that you were here I did presented a message on uh walking on ice in Slippery weather walk
like a penguin uh kind of sticks with everybody when they see somebody like me up here and actually show you the walk with penguin so this one uh as as like the the other one I try to keep my message relevant to the audience so I think that the one that I have here
today uh is uh going to really hit home with a lot of people uh and hopefully it sinks in and I get to take advantage of the technology with this new uh digital board that we have here maybe there we go
[Music] someone had fun today hey sweetheart everything okay yeah everything's fine how's our little guy now I me down to sleep
l oh that's okay I've got a longer look out I pray the Lord my soul to yeah he did great we if I die before IIT
[Music] so that's an ad that was put out a few years back from the National Highway Traffic and safety board um very impactful um and I just uh like to put that out there because it gets everybody's attention it's something
that we all can relate to so uh distracted driving what is distracted driving um basically everything that you see going on here um for the past decade disted driving has taken uh us roadways
by storm endangering not only disted drivers but their passengers pedestrians and others using the road when you're behind the wheel we must focus on tasks safe driving anytime and you shift your attention from driving you are distracted distracted driving comes in
many forms adjusting the radio GPS applying makeup eating and drinking uh but cell phone use uh specifically texting and talking and social media use is the most common raction um I'm sure that we're all
probably guilty of that uh I know that you know I often check my texts while I'm driving uh not proud of it you know and I always try to think of you know what the outcome could be um so we don't want to really do
it um 21% of teen drivers involved in car accidents were distracted by cell phones a teen driver with one additional passenger is twice as likely to be involved in a fatal car accident texting or reading texts makes a driver takes a driver's eyes off the road for at least
5 seconds once a driver has been distracted it only takes three seconds for a car crash to occur in some States deted driving citations can raise insurance from 25 to 44% um you know 660 drivers use
electronic devices while driving men are four times more likely to drink and drive while women are more likely to text and drive reaching for an object increases the chance of car crash by eight times parents with young children are more likely to be distracted behind the wheel than adult kids uh adults
without kids in the car and in the United States about nine people are killed every day more than 1,000 injured due to car crashes involving distracted drivve with that we move on to the budget presentation um it's going to go
pretty quick uh I don't have a lot um this year we've done a lot over the past two or three years adding a lot of Technology um and it's time to try and digest most of it so last year we
approved this is just go through you know things that we did from last year's budget uh last year when I was up here we approved um an an app called um wayfinder um so so we wound
up um not going with wayfinder but going with where's the bus which is the same principle except it saved us a lot of money uh when we went down to it and and we needed uh additional bids it came across this company and the biggest difference was in the equipment and it
was about $100,000 cheaper um so um this is what we're going with now uh it's the same principle same thing these are like some of the items that um they see the drivers have a tablet and a swipe on the students can
swipe in and out or punch in their ID numbers to get on the bus the tablet will check them into the bus um check them off the bus and um if it's a driver a substitute driver or somebody's new to the area or a new kid was added it will
give them turn BYT directions that get to their stop when the uh student swipes on this is uh basically what they see if a kid comes uh belongs on the bus they swipe in with a green uh it gives a picture of the student and it gives their
information their address and tells them that bus is supposed to be on if they're at a wrong stop it alerts us that this child does not belong at that stop he belongs at another stop we'll try and redirect them and convince them that they need to go to the bus stop that is assigned to them and if a student gets
on uh and he doesn't belong there um it'll tell us that right away and tell where that student does does belong and on the other side is the parent side of what they see they'll see uh the bus as it approaches their
stop and they get a record of when the child got on and off and where on and off uh as indicated in the the uh card all the way to the right uh this is what uh the parents were notified uh getting the app
just went out to all the parents uh letting them know basically how it works and that was what we did with the app the other things that we added is uh we we did add one bus mechanic and then we
lost one bus mechanic and then we added another bus mechanic and then we lost another bus mechanic so um we're we're back to uh trying to hire another one uh we did get our Fleet Service vehicle uh you guys may have seen it riding around down town There's a picture of it in the
corner and uh we picked up um five new large buses and two new Mini buses and a wheelchair bus moving forward this year this is where it gets short and sweet um last
year's budget uh presentation um I requested seven uh new uh big buses we got five I requested one new Mini Bus we got that new Mini Bus we got the two mini buses uh replacement buses they were approved couple of shop items um
and um was approved for to sustaining and maintaining uh all of our technology and um driver uh uniforms driver and bus a uniforms um so that was all approved that year
this year I am uh requesting to get four new passenger buses there are two Replacements and the other two on there are for uh spare buses basically the two that weren't approved last year I'm
asking for them again this year and uh I need in there I put in for one mini spare bus um you know hopefully you know we can make that work because we really do need the spare buses to go through couple of shop items and just uh again sustaining
the existing the uniforms the training programs the Transportation Route and video Management Systems um again sustaining these are the items that we're doing there's a picture of our our crew our team and just basically snapshots of what I just uh presented to
you uh my plan versus actual um again just a summary last year um we planed for 74 buses 5618 mini we got the 54 big and the 17 mini uh we
plan to run 68 in-house routes we wound up running 67 there is one vocational school that's all the way out in Sandy Hook um that we wanted to take back in but we just couldn't we couldn't handle that one so that did go back out the b uh bid we
are 100% uh inhouse of all of our district uh in District school bus routes and uh last year subscription buses we planned for 436 and 165 free that's what we did the
previous year we wound up this year with 436 with uh 236 free so um we did have more people applying for the free or reduced lunch which gave them the free U um transportation if they live within
the two miles and the 2 and a half miles of the high school or middle school uh we transported the same amount of uh people students riding buses 5,365 um last year two uh two years ago we had 38 aen Lou we actually W up with
322 uh this year uh that's an increase of 14 out of District sped students uh we plan for 55 with 29 routes we actually have 56 and 35 routes um the reason that there's more routes
and really only one more child is they can end up however if they go to separate schools or different schools or whatever it just that dictates how many buses we need to transport those kids um we got the four uh four office
staff uh last year we had uh approved for four mechanics we actually um only were able to hire three we held off on the fourth one because we were hoping that we would have had our new complex built at that time and since we did not we just didn't
really have the room for that extra mechanic so we did not hire that person uh our goal was to get to 67 drivers and two subs and we did get that we are at there right now we have our full complement of
drivers our one of our two subs just graduated got her license on Friday and the last one uh will be graduating hopefully within a next week or two so that will give us a full compliment of drivers bus aides um we need 35 we've
only been able to get up to 29 um so basically this year we took what we're actually doing this year and looking to match that for this uh 25 26 school year and
um I think that's about it so our goals are to sustain our safety culture maintain 100% in District routes continue to drive our safety training uh through uh safety through training and monitoring and expand our utilization capabilities of the new transportation
software that's the big thing that we're really going to focus on um the the student tracking app is a bear um it's a lot you know we're tracking over 5,000 kids four times a day um so it it's you
know there a lot of little bugs and stuff that we need to just get in line with you know I'm working with the app manufacturer daily um throughout the night sometimes too just trying to work through all the little bugs to get everything situated was a little rough start we rolled it out in pieces hoping
that it wouldn't blow up in our face um so doing that we we did pretty good with it but some people got uh frustrated with it parents because we weren't doing the way you know everything it was supposed to do and you know if it wasn't working right and drivers weren't really
knowing how to work it that right so some people just like gave up on it um and we've been introducing them it back to them uh pretty much every day you know somebody calls where's the bus are you using the app well it doesn't work I said well you know let's give it a shot now let me help you walk you through it
I'm able to spend more time with them um and it's starting to to really get better um you know you know that's kind kind of like why I don't really don't want to introduce any other technology I got some great ideas um and some great things that we could really do we're going to put it on hold for a while and
we're going to get this all ironed out um and then just replace my aging out buses and hopefully get some spares but uh the challenges as always every year uh is time time is our biggest challenge uh it's very difficult for us to get from our second tier to our third tier
in the afternoons um because of the traffic uh in the area it's just uh it's a constant struggle we're doing pretty good with it um you know some schools you know really it's kind of like a like a blessing for them a little
bit because they really can't handle all of our buses if we pull in at the same time depending on the elementary school um you know if we pull into arith you know if we're running 10 12 buses or whatever at the arth school we're backed out um all the way out on the Cherry Street so um you know
uh so but we'll continue to work on that uh lack of space as it's been for several years now hopefully you know we have something in it works where we'll be able to get our location um and uh Keeping Up With The Daily day-to-day
with the new technology and the data entries and fixing has been a challenge for us and that's it okay wow I think I I think I probably shade 10 15 minutes off than last year right
at least at least okay all right any any questions for Mr senig I have I don't have a question but I do have a comment um I do have to say that I was asking Eloy when did you get hired because I remember listening to your Dr Labby talking about and everything it was going to be and I'm going to tell you I
was one of those people from when the buses were all lost and kids then nobody knew where they were so you know you had made a big promise to come in and get this ship right and the public has forgotten those other problems because that those kids are you know bigger now so the bus trouble's over but I haven't
forgotten them and I make sure that when I'm on Facebook and people are complaining that I remind them of those days but I can tell you that the comments that I have witnessed are very positive and even from my own you know view of what you've done you really have done a great job even though you might
have a little things here and there you have really done a great job turning this whole bus program around thank you appreciate that the kids really they don't even know how lucky they are that they are not on the buses like before where they're all over the state and town and we have no idea where they are
parents today don't have any idea of how that was and that's all because of you so thank you very much yeah thank you yeah I did see you know try not to look at uh the social media sites but you know curiosity figure out what's going on and there there have been um a lot of
people out there uh that were in support of us rather than bashing us yep um so it there has been a big difference with that and thank you yeah and that's CU of you so thank you very much thank you thank you excellent job I'm also going to back up that the app has been working
great for my family I tell you we love it so we we see where the kids are I get the notifications when my daughter gets on the bus off the bus it's fantastic so oh great you're you're one of the lucky ones but keep up the great work as well thank you
anymore um I will second that I mean I think it's it's I'm a consumer of that app so I see get the notifications the only thing I would ask is you know to your point that not many parents you know some parents got frustrated with it I was one of those parents in the beginning but I you know just with my own curiosity pressing the buttons I
figured out how to get the notifications not all parents know how to do that so maybe Dr Labby in one of your um Talk soups maybe we can integrate our you know uh how to or Point them somewhere so they can just know how to get those notifications turn them on it's a great idea but apparently nobody reads it so I
read it I read it definitely I can have Patrick send me some directions there I I think I put a link on the uh website um under the transportation portion that you could click on and it'll send you to some YouTube videos on on step toep how to do
it I believe it's on the website if you could send me a blurb I can put that in next week's I think that would be great great thank you and and I just want if you don't mind Echo the same thing that everyone else has been saying having lived through past um what a profound difference and
and I agree Patrick that um you're the person that has taken us out of that um we're not perfect but I can certainly see us striving to be as perfect as we possibly can be especially in a field like Transportation where it's very
imperfect um but you and your team do a tremendous job of being detail oriented customer oriented and dedicating yourselves to our students which I greatly appreciate and the final thing I'll say is I love
the fact that like in other areas of the district we're head of the curve like because of you I don't know many districts that are using the where's the bus app uh I go to my superintendent Roundtable meetings and they all asking what the heck is that um
and the fact that we're now checking kids as they get on our buses so that we know where they are at all times and and allowing parents in a time where everybody's not feeling very safe feel safe to know that their child's on the bus and so forth I think that is a great
credit to your Visionary leadership um and the fact that um you know you're doing other things with regard to trying to improve the efficiency of the district um with transportation again speaks to how well
you are in terms of seeing ahead of that curve and taking the district in that direction so I commend you for that and I thank you for it thank you one quick add okay I want everybody listening in the world that's uh you know paying attention on Facebook or via the web the
web this is only possible because we own the buses if we rented these buses we would have nothing of the sort so thank Dr Labby for having the vision to and and um Erin for making the money available saving that money and putting
it aside to make this a reality so thank you and that's what I was going to say because I remember all the years ago cuz I live where a lot of buses come up and down and the Outsource busing was horrible speeding up and down the streets and they were lost all over because I live by you know up by Truman so when when we have all the buses with
us it's just so much better and I noticed them even driving CU I drive my child in the morning she's not a buser so you I see how the buses drive so much differently now safer they're not you know I mean cars are still going around them like they don't exist but still
it's just a different morning a different afternoon too with the buses yeah I I agree with that and that's what I was going to come back with when Dr Lobby said that it really is if we didn't have all of our own Fleet the things that we've been rolling out
wouldn't be possible um and and that's that's the biggest thing right there so as long as as we're able to control that that and and we have probably you know I'm going to say some of the best if not all of the best best drivers that uh I've had you know working together in my
career uh they are um always willing to jump in and help and and help out and and just cover people's routes you know if we're we're short drivers we we had a few days even just last week where we had five or six drivers out uh with the flu at the same time uh which would have
been virtually impossible you know for us to cover any other way than the way that the drivers were able to um just go out and and just pick up these extra stops uh which is too something that the app does for us is that we have the ability
to split stops up so we can actually have a driver out there uh say if bus 100 um the driver's out and you know no one other bus could fit all the kits in that bus on we can actually in the
office split up and assign that stop to their bus that and to each other to like three or four different buses and it will'll send it right to their on their bus and uh show them those stops that they're going to be picking up so that's a great that too I was going to say when you change the stops so I think you've
been here for a couple years when you changed us where I was there was a stop on this street and then was stop on this street it was it was every two seconds of a stop now that you spread them out like well we're going to go on Garfield you had like one up here one not you but now that there's one here and one like
down this way it also it it seems to be quicker you know yeah I made a few enemies with that as well too you know again like a lot of things that we went in we were sending big buses down um into dead end streets and there's just no way to turn a bus around in those
dead end streets to do it safely you know I think the first year I was here when we were sending him in the crest you know we had a lot of feedback people didn't want us to you know to do different things or whatever but Alternatives but I mean we were taken out a stop sign there like one a week
with the bag of a bus you know and a stop sign today you know child tomorrow you know so you know a lot of those things stop we don't we don't bring any big buses into any um Cola saacs uh or down to uh areas with narrow streets where we don't know I think we we may be
able to get down there today but tomorrow somebody double parked or or is blocking the road we can't down it so we just don't go down those streets anymore you know we we had a lot of fighting going over it but everybody you know eventually came around it is what it is you know I mean we're providing them
transportation that they need and they're going to have to walk a little bit to get to them so and not to be labor another area in which you saw ahead of the curve and again many of my colleagues are still in search of bus drivers and we seem to figure that out
and I think that's because of the work that you and Dr aules did with your training program and if you're not familiar with that some of our board members we actually hire bus drivers as AIDS and then they go through the training program which we pay for for
them and then they work for us for two more years um to make sure that they they they pay that off to us but that's how we've been able to recruit and find and keep bus drivers homegrown bus drivers that are part of the community that care about the community care about
the kids and again that's just another example of how you saw in front of the curve yeah that's a great when you know organically getting our bus drivers and they I think we we've trained over 20 20 would say so yeah uh we I counted so
yeah and we're actually now we have the same guy training some of the bombers Beyond uh Team so they could drive the bombers Beyond van so uh yep we're working J thank you so much the only thing left to make it
perfect is for us to get you that bus compound and we're working on it oh that would be uh that's a dream hopefully it comes true I agree me too okay so moving along Mr comberger is here obviously Miss Hill is to my right
and they will be presenting to you the buildings grounds and capital projects presentation and Mr comberger is making his way to the podium take it away buddy all right hello um I'm James comberger I'm the
director of facilities I like to start off like I always do thanking all my heart hardw working men and women for everything they do because honestly without them the referendum work that gets done over the summer just a day-to-day operations would not be
possible without them they do a tremendous job I mean if some people do know what the schools look like at the end of the summer when they're doing the referendums and the way they pull it together is amazing to me they all pitch together and make
it make it so we can have the first day of school and move on all right so couple of the achievements that we did um this is not everything that we do um it's just highlighting certain things um slow school we got the new hallway installed
all the new tile the ramps it looks beautiful um it was definitely a a project uh we had to do it in two phases because of uh some things that we found with the school when the tiles for the ramps they had as bestus tiles underneath so we had to do a little work
over Christmas break and we uh finished it and now all the hallways are complete there arlot school we're done with all the bathroom upgrades um we redid two well four technically uh bathrooms boys and girls and the long ha Hall and the short Hall they are complete um there's
minor touch-ups that we got to do um but they're back in operation and the kids are hopefully enjoying them uh Truman school we repaved the uh parking lot plus we also did in the back of the school they did um inter active map and some games and stuff like that it looks
really nice um came out very well um samsel school we uh added a French drain system down below um in the door at door 14 what used to happen in heavy rains the water would not stay outside the building it would go underneath the door
and flood out the entire first floor there where we have our stock room um and a lot of stuff would get wet and unfortunately if it wasn't on a pallet we have to throw it out and now we don't have that it's working great we've had a few storms and it's worked very well um
over at the middle school um we redid uh one of the classrooms it was a science total science lab we created it into um a stem lab which means we took out all the old science tables we've repaired all the flooring and made it more like a
stem room that the principal want it with uh new furniture and everything it it did come out very well um the bathroom upgrades we should be starting around March hopefully we didn't we fell behind with all the other work that we had to do CU we do that in house um we
should be starting in March to finish the two faculty room uh bathrooms in the uh office area and then finally the last two student bathrooms that were not done yet and they'll be done hopefully march to June soon as we finish we'll be done
um at the high school we started doing the um new sign out on the front lawn um purchase orders have been out um we're getting the electricians together to overlook all the uh light the power because we need an extra line to run this new sign we'll be working on that
I'm meeting people out Thursday morning and weather again unfortunately is not working with us with all the snow and now we're back down to Subzero so you can't really dig up a lawn when it's that cold but whether it's our team or
if we have an outside electrician will be ready for when this sign is finally complete and ready to be installed um and of course it's the districtwide referendum work which has been a lot of fun
um between Windows Doors roofs electrical upgrades new HVAC units air conditioning everything that's been going on um we are complete at truman school and the upstairs at the high school is complete with all the HVAC work work and
um the air conditioning that everybody was looking forward to have and it wasn't always about with the referendum it wasn't always about the just the getting air conditioned the buildings have never been up maintained and thank God we finally put out a referendum because the units that were in all these
buildings were original and everything was failing so at some point you do have to upgrade your facilities and thank God we started to do that and it's moving very well um every school was under some some kind of work and we're moving forward and trying to get it done as
soon as possible um for next year um even though everything seems to bleed on year to year um we're going to put a new we're hoping to get a new sign on the front of the high school
um to make it look better because we have other signs that were recently installed and this one will have some lighting so it'll emphas size that it is the high school war memorial and uh we're getting the quotes together and as long as the the budget passes for that
item we'll move forward um Eisenhower school um same thing of every other school that we have as we go through every school um this won't be our last but the bathrooms there need to be renovated um they're original um this one though it's not going to be like the
last unfortunately it's come to a time where I'm going to have to ask to bid the bathrooms instead of in-house staff works on it um so I'd appreciate if we could get the money together to do this this way because I'd like to start doing
more with my men with work orders and other projects that we've been letting go through the years of not being able to because we're doing the major projects but and then districtwide referendums I got to admit this this
coming summer is probably going to be the most tense summer for me Dr lbby Aaron and probably everybody in this room um we are be shutting down power in just about every school um for long periods of times and plus we're
going to be ripping apart the schools to put in the new HVAC unit so it's not going to work without our team and hopefully everybody sticks together everybody be patient um and just think of what you're going to have once it's all done and that's all I ask
on a daily basis I know at times your room might not look the cleanest when you they walk in but you got to remember we're doing major construction that's usually done when the building ain't even occupied and we're able to do it at night with the help of all of our construction and our custodians that do
the best they can in a short period of time to have the building presentable for everyone when they come in the next day and we actually saw them while we were in close session yes working on the Windows yeah yeah hysterical uh the window should be done here today or
tomorrow and we already started Wilson so that's good I mean and all the roofs are pretty much complete um we just have some breake metal we got to do on the um I mean Edge meow up at the UE middle school and that'll be complete so a lot
of the stuff is getting completed and we're just moving forward I just have one question Jimmy how many bathrooms are there at Eisenhower that we had one uh boys and girls well we're going to start with just the student bathrooms um so there's
one two two three four and faculty bathrooms as well there's two faculty bathrooms so half it do it all depends on what it comes in that okay uh it's all about money um yeah in this process I didn't really think of the the the one in the
office the two bathrooms in the office but the other ones that are constantly being used from the public and they're the ones that mainly want I just got to interject here the fact that we have 11 schools and you're you ask him that question and he's able to answer that
question I knew he would demonstrates how well he knows these schools and that's a tribute to himk he's been here longer than me I've been here a little bit um so moving on with our capital projects Eisenhower school I don't know if
anybody has students that go to Eisenhower but if you want to have a good time go there in the morning um but drop off it's a real fun time um so we're we got a proc together to figure out the best way to configure the parking maybe add on to the side for
visitor parking and hopefully with the money that be um with Aaron the way she does comes up with money all the time for us it's pretty amazing um hopefully that'll get done um and of course as every Pat I mean I'm sure if this
happens Pat's going to do Heart Wheels and um that's the trans the construction of the transportation complex I hear there's good things coming um so hopefully once that's resolved we we can move forward go out for bid and hopefully it'll be done within a year maybe two my prediction and then last
the stadium refurbishments and upgrades um it's to redo the uh front of the where you walk into the football stadium it's not like the prettiest thing to walk into um they want to put some brick and then redo our concession stands and maybe some Press Box work but uh once we
get through the the complex for the transportation we'll work on that so if I could just add um with the referendum work being done this has freed us up in our general fund budget to do kind of those lower hanging fruit
type of projects like the bathroom Renovations but it's also enabled us to use our capital reserve funds for these larger projects like the transportation complex when we're not having to replace windows year after year in a new school because we had already done several window projects we're not having to do
that that does leave us our Reserve to do something bigger um specifically the transportation complex and as Jim mentioned the much needed Eisenhower parking lot reconfiguration um the stadium is something that we're hoping we can do down the road uh there are some more immediate needs there with drainage and
things like that um but hopefully we can get that done sooner rather than later yeah like I said there's a lot of stuff that we've that as I'm sitting here I'm remembering that we did but I didn't put everything together I remember we re configured um the bombers Beyond Cafe we
you know there's so many things Plus to Bon jov's thing we that dedication we did a lot of work for that too and that was a nice pick me up for the whole District when he came and visit us and any questions if I could just say
one thing jamy um our District's been very fortunate to have you for the past 35 years 50 years depending on if we count all your years you've been in the building um but especially with the complexity and the scope of this referendum project you've really gone
well above and beyond I think any facility uh director in in the state so really wanted to thank you for that and everything you've done over the years and I just got one question what's this Transportation complex something new I don't think I've heard this before
somebody mute his mic um I would like to add on to um what Eloy was saying you took the words almost out of my mouth but um what I would like to remind the public that's listening and will listen and watch us another time if they're not watching us
today is that Jimmy is doing this for a very small stti stiping what do you call it stien that we had approved many a long time ago um we would have actually had to pay a real project manager um big money to do what Jimmy is doing and the
difference between Jimmy doing it and paying somebody a project manager to do it is Jimmy actually loves the school he loves the people that work here he loves the students so he gives it a lot more of a personal touch and caring about our money and that's why Erin's able to
stretch those dollars because Jimmy's right doing a great job so I just want to make sure the public understands that Jimmy is saving you money and so is Aaron and thank you so much Jimmy you're welcome anyone
else question for the for the stadium refurbishments and upgrades is there any plan or any appetite to put bathrooms that we did that's part of the that's part of it yeah okay that would be the front front entr yeah P potties have to go
want we want to create what looks like a real entrance to almost like a a small scale Stadium where you have a real ticket booth with bathrooms for people that need the bathrooms rather than having to use Portage on and it also would include the
pathway and then some work on the concession stand and so forth the big thing that we have to make sure that we have figured out before we do any of this is the drainage issue and again Jimmy mentioned it earlier we're fighting Mother Nature right now because every time you get somebody to come out
and take a look at it you know it's it's it's zero degrees outside and you can't get underneath the Earth to figure out what it is that's stopping the the the the water from draining where it should be so we'll hopefully have that figured out by March um that's what I'm if we
know so and I also want to say too you can't I can't overstate how much this man and his team Kenny Sadowski behind him have been doing in terms of these referendum projects I mean they're
non-stop whether it's getting out to the buildings to oversee what the contractors are doing whether it's going into these schedule meetings where they're figuring out the schedule for things working with jcpnl I'm doing everything behind the
scenes that none of us see which are a good 12 to 16 hours a day of work and then you put Snow on top of it the the past snow storms the two of them pull all nighters plowing and then come to work he won't even take a nap um and
come to work and again dig right back in with the referendum project and then managing the day-to-day of the building and ground department um I don't know how you do it buddy and Kenny the same um you guys we owe you an immense amount of gratitude for all that you've done
for this entire school district and we are all going to reap the rewards of it um come I think December of of this year I think will be done punch list and everything done by December big portion of it like he said will be will probably
be finished in the summer um but we're we're getting there now I mean if you if I could use a a you know a race analogy we're on the final lab we're approaching the final lab so we're getting there so great job buddy thank
[Applause] you well don't talk to him because we do have a retirement tonight so he's gonna be upset at that okay and that's it for our presentations um we will now move on to
uh board discussion Miss Pabon do you have a report for us on finance and infrastructure uh I'm going to provide the report tonight M okay go right ahead um so the committee met last week and we just discuss a lot of the referendum updates a big item that we discussed was
several change orders that are needed for the electrical work and those are on the agenda tonight um they are large dollar amounts and unfortunately they are necessary so that we can get that work completed um we also discussed that the renovations at arith are complete for the bathrooms and that the Middle
School bathroom Renovations are going to begin uh and regarding the budget we discussed the federal uh reduction of special education Medicaid initi revenue and how it's going to adversely impact our budget for next year okay any questions for Miss
hill Oh Al righty Personnel Mr Callahan the Personnel committee met earlier this evening with Dr Dr aguiles we discussed the very few openings that are still left in the district because he's doing a tremendous job him and his staff and then we did uh discuss the
recently filled positions that will be on the agenda for tonight's approval and uh the last thing we discussed was the district job fair which will be occurring in May which has always been highly Su successful in filling positions throughout the district including teachers that will be recently
graduating in the May time frame as well so our next meeting is scheduled for uh next uh board meeting next month thank you okay any questions from Mr Calahan no all righty uh school boards I
have nothing new from time so we will uh move on to unless Dr Lobby has a question we do have um I I i' let you know earlier we do have our unsung heroes we won't announce them now but I did send you that email so you'll know who our unsung heroes are okay yes that
that is in progress um I think I mentioned it at the last meeting it's going to be on March 26 uh at Oldbridge high school and Dr lbby will tell us who our choices are this is um students from all districts
in Middle sex County that are honored for achievements above and beyond not necessarily the smarter students it could be a student who's challenged to accomplish something so um and middle sex county is one of the I
believe the only county in the state that does a dinner for this and the superintendence association has been gracious enough to sponsor that for us so uh we will continue to have the dinner we'll look looking at our options moving forward but it's a a lovely
evening and of course limited attendance because the kids get to bring family and each superintendent gets invited and so on so um we'll keep you informed on that once we have more information okay and now we need to open
to public for agenda items only anyone on agenda items only okay seeing none we will close public and Dr lbby it's all yours okay i' like to bring your attention to finance and
infrastructure and I'll repeat some of the things that Miss Hill already said earlier but um first of all I'd like you to uh look at number 15 which you can find on page three thanks to the hard work by Miss Burns we are asking to approve an award from grow New Jersey
kids and I will say that her staff worked tirelessly uh for this money there's a great deal of assessment that goes into this um with a great deal of evidence that they have to provide in order for us to receive um this award but it's for $10,000 and it's for
project before par professionals and it's on uh tools of the Mind staff development so we thank Miss Burns for that number 16 which you can find on page three and four Miss Hill spoke about the change orders that are going to cost us money and I'll talk about those a little bit later but we do have a change order that we're going to
receive a credit for for $ 23,7200 change order that to replace the existing leaking hot water pump at the high school we have another one for 145,00 $42 to provide exterior current
transer Transformer enclosure at the uh Harry S Truman school so jcpnl basically we have to construct an electrical current Transformer cabinet um because there's so much electricity going in to the that's going to be needed for the
Truman school because of the HVAC that the current CT or again electrical current Transformer cabinet can't can it can't handle that capacity so a new one has to be installed there at the cost of
$145,000 similarly we also have to construct another one at the Eisenhower school for $76,000 uh and 500 $ 76,5 35 our architect did try to negotiate and plead with
jcpnl um but they told us there's nothing we could do we have to construct these additional electrical current Transformer cabins there with the existing ones because the electrical capacity one cabinet wouldn't be able to handle it and then finally in the amount
to $2,051 um we we do need to relocate some solar equipment here at the stampo upper elementary school and again that's a change order all of which again will be paid for out of the bond referendum number 21 which you can find
in page four we're asking to approve a purchase a purchase agreement with JL ja Hill Corporation in the amount of $1 16,7 for the removal uh and replacement of the walk-in cooler at the Truman Elementary School and of course that's
to be paid for through the Food Services account Miss Hill has been publicly commenting many many meetings that we have that Surplus that we have to continue to spend down uh and this is going toward the spending down of that Surplus and we definitely need to replace that walk-in cooler there
similarly um actually not similarly um but we're also asking you to approve finally number 22 which is on page four a contract with Crossroads pavement maintenance for the repair of a broken storm drain inlet at the high school in the amount of
$4,988 are there any questions on those items in finance and infrastructure or anything else just a question about the solar panels what why do we need to relocate them uh it's it's not the solar panels it's the equipment inside the building
that needs to be relocated because of the new electrical equipment that's going in in there any other questions um I had a question on number 23 um I see there's a cap why is there a cap it's required when we have a Professional Services agreement okay
thank you any more question yes that and now with the um litigation with green Skies there's also another factor to it too we've been able to use Bush for some um legal matters that will
be covered by insurance so their fee is also going towards our deductible for that so we have a couple of legal cases out and we have to pay them out and then get reimbursed good good questions anym okay if I can bring your attention
now to student achievement numbers 1 through three which you can find on page 11 we're asking you to approve our summer programs this year which is of course Camp Excel the extended school year program and that's at at samel um Sol and Sol School similarly
learning acceleration which works in tandem with Camp Excel and that's at again samel and the cover school both run from June 30th through July 31st obviously this year and then we're asking you to prove the middle Middle School Credit completion summer school
program which is a week longer um and that program begins also on June 30th but because it's a week longer it ends on August 7th 2000 of this year so our Three core summer programs Camp Excel learning acceleration and our Middle
School Credit completion summer school any questions on those not on those specifically but on letter H on page 10 uh we have the high school students are going to be doing mural paintings at the preschool what are the paintings of I'm not familiar with that do you are
familiar with that Miss Burns I don't know what they're painting but I know it's a partnership between the preschool and the middle school students yeah um hopefully it's the green hallway oh this is the Slover school
they are oh that's right they are oh gosh Mrs o just told me what they were going to be painting ah now I can't remember the definitely a mural in the green wing and then they're going to be doing another mural in in the um upper wing and she did tell me
I'll find out for Mrs chze and get you the information but um yeah I wish I remembered any others all right moving to governance uh we're asking you to approve number two on page 14 new and revised policy regulations for a second reading and
adoption any questions on any of those I have a question with regard to 5533 I believe it was when I was reading into that one it's just a change of verbage from you know using the word will to using the word shall and it was a curious change
um you know looking into it there's really not much distinction except that sometimes shall can be used as a way to express May so instead of saying will it does change the policy to say that instead of will in case of a student um
I think the example given in the policy is if they're suspected to be under the influence you know of an illegal substance that you know then you know here are the steps you know that will be taken as far as Discerning whether that it is an illegal substance and maybe
contacting the family or such changing that word to shall could mean that we may then it's just discretion no actually legal language shall is stronger than will um shall means you have to do it okay yeah it so I guess the the point is that will is not as
strong in this particular case as shall and Mr Glock M I don't know if you want to add anything to that no I shall is equivalent to must within legal language now why will isn't I I don't know um if Jonathan was still here he could speak
to that but will is considered the weaker of the two all right I was just I remember when I was looking into this I did come across a superior court case where it was uh decided by the court that the word shall in in the contract that was in dispute that the word shall could be construed as may you know in
the language and so I was curious whether we were using using that type of rationale or whether truly it was to kind of uh be more it's been a slow update throughout policies and regulations as they're otherwise revised um it hasn't come out usually as its own
item it's usually when something else is being revised in the policy of Regulation but that has been a continuous flow for at least the last two years it's in in our cases it's always meant must good questions anything
else okay so let's move to personnel number one we do have we do have a retirement that we're asking you to accept we're asking you to accept the retirement of Colleen mazina and she's a par professional at the middle school that would be effective July 1st with over 40 years in the profession
Colleen mazina is the embodiment of an exemplary educator she possesses time tested wisdom and applicable educational strategies Mrs mazina is able to reach every student at their level while spurring them along to achieve their individual goals her methodology is
awesome in her students love her Colleen has dedicated her life to helping educate students and adults alike her colleagues seek her out for insight as well as Direction Colleen started a career at Our Lady of Victory School in sville where she taught Reading Writing
and arithmetic she subsequently made the switch from parochial to the Public Schools starting at the sville middle school where she's been ever since she joined the district Colleen worked with various administrators and staff at the middle school in her tenure there she
has spent the past 20 years working with students facing deep emotional challenges she put she puts her multifaceted skills to work every minute of every day while helping to educate these students with special needs she is one of the most dedicated people as
demonstrated by her incredible consumate work ethic as two Middle School teachers recently stated working alongside Colleen for 20 years has truly been a blessing we enjoy coming to work and facing difficult and rewarding days
alongside such an empathetic kind and patient person she will forever be our family and that was from Mrs Ryner and Mr lampin um who are teachers in our emotion regulation program and uh by the
way amazing teachers too so that Trio has been an amazing tandem for well over a decade yeah and uh we're we're sorry to see her go because she's going to leave a hole um but we're incredibly happy for
her in her well-deserved retirement and we wish her and her family all the best in this next very fun chapter of her life so congratulations to Mrs mazina numbers 11 through 12 and number 34 which you can find on pages 17 and 18
in the addendum of course we're asking you to hire new certificated and non-certificated staff for this school year similarly numbers 13 through 15 which you can find on page 19 we're asking you to approve the temporary as well as permanent transfers of certificated and non-certificated staff
for this school year and finally numbers 20 and 21 which you can find on page 21 we're asking to appoint paid coaches with their stiens as well as volunteer coaches for the upcoming spring season and any questions on Personnel all right seeing none Mrs
Bloom that concludes my superintendent report be still my heart that was great I think he deserves Applause for getting through that quickly Okie do any questions on anything for the uh superintendent
uh we need to have our vote make a motion to uh approve the uh can can I just make a comment and again when when um Miss Hill ask for roll call that's time when you want if you want to abstain from anything um you just got to mention those abstentions and of course
if you want to say no to something um you would then indicate what it is that you're saying no to okay so we need a motion to approve the superintendent's report so moved okay we have a second second you okay Mr
Callahan yes Mrs chowski uh I'm abstaining from Finance number 24 yes to all remaining items Mr Fernandez yes Mrs Hernandez abstaining for uh item number six and
item 24 on finance and yes for the rest Mrs Maldonado abstaining from item number 24 under finance and yes to everything else Mrs napalitano yes Mrs pone and Mrs Bloom uh yes I'm abstaining
on personnel number three of the resentments the first candidate and that was yes on everything else yes on everything else good thank you okay and now we need to open again to public anyone from the public who would
like to speak on anything at all please good evening Dr Lobby board members and staff um this year has been a tough one for us sir you need to say your name and your address for the record Anthony spado Washington Road in sville um you recently completed review
of a bullying investigation at my son's school where a student with two dads was told he was not a good person that because he had two dads he did not belong and that it would be better if he had not been born that boy is my son that was Gabe and so I'm here with
Gabe's permission to talk to you as gab's dad not to ask you to do more because you can't you are doing everything for Gabe that you can his teachers and counselor and principal are doing everything that they can um but as a community we have to do more our kids are learning by example they are hearing
the things that we as parents say behind closed doors they see the example when the public comes out to speak against protections for the lgbtq community they hear us talking about removing inclusive programming they see celebrating on Facebook when marriage is threatened and
they internalize it they make our thoughts their own it is unavoidable and then when they meet a nine-year-old who loves geography who draws pictures for his elderly neighbor's refrigerator and who spends his allowance on a child-sized shovel to help dig out his
neighbors in a snowstorm and who has two dads they repeat what they have heard that he isn't a good person that he doesn't belong that it would be better if he had not been born there are families like mine in our community whether they have two dads or two moms whether they live with grandmas or
grandpas or aunts and uncles whether their family immigrated here for a better life where they've lived in sville for generations and together we spend a lot of time all of us worrying about our future about how long we will be able to stay in this place a place that was promised for all of us together
and we owe it to our kids to empower them to feel as hopeful and magical about the future as we can having to talk to your 9-year-old about self harm about loneliness about not allowing others to Define who you are it is a job we thought we might be able to delay for
a few years we cannot and so I'm asking our community to try to tone down the rhetoric whether it be anti-immigrant anti-trans anti-establishment anti-democratic anti-republican because while my son knows how supported he is at home and at school not all kids know
it as deep down as Gabe has to and I worry about the outcomes for our kids without as visible a support system as we are blessed to have for our kids in conflict and for the parents who hear my voice and don't know the resources you have at your disposal please know how supportive everyone in this room is
including our district its administrators its teachers counselors and its staff reach out there is help there for you we are all going through a really really rough time the likes of which we haven't seen in the US in quite a bit and Gabe and his dads want you to know that it is okay to not be okay I
just need 10 seconds so again to those on the dasas thank you for putting actions behind your words of support while we may sometimes disagree on policy and procedure we will never disagree on the intrinsic and inherent value that every student in this District brings to our
classrooms every day and we will always be aligned that every student in this District ought to have equal access to a public education that is safe supportive and affirming of who they are inside so from this Dad thank you thank you okay any closing comments from board
[Music] members um I'll say something about what we just heard um I just want the public to know that as a board member regard of what is being said on a federal level of about anything to do with um Dei or uh
two genders um there are people in this country and there are children in our district who do believe they are homosexual they could be a homosexual they could be a lesbian and they may even think they're transgendered and I will still defend those children till my
last D in breath so have a great day anyone else NOP okay we need a motion to close so moved we are adjourned our next meeting is Monday
March 3D