Good evening. It's Thursday, May 21st, 2026, and I'd like to welcome you to the meeting of the South Brunswick Board of Education and to call the meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> I'd like to read a statement of advanced notice. The New Jersey Open Public
Meeting Act, NJSA 104-6, also known as the Sunshine Law, was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have any advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of the public bodies at which any business affecting the interest is discussed or acted upon.
The primary purpose is for the board members to discuss and vote on board business. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the board secretary has caused notice to this meeting 48 hours prior, including date, time, and location to be posted in the
South Bundle public library, the board office, filed with the township clerk, communicated with the home news in the star ledger, and it is also posted on the district website. Mr. Palowski, roll call, please. >> Miss Laura Hernandez, >> here. >> Miss Deepik,
>> here. >> Miss Alicia Khan. Mr. Mr. Raja Krishna >> here >> Mr. Mike Mitchell >> present >> Mr. Barry Nathansson Mr. Devin Patel Dr. Smith Raj Mr. Mr. Rajes Shony, we do
not have a quorum. >> Okay. >> So, moving forward, we will um move forward with the current agenda and we will approve minutes because those aren't act uh voting items. We will not be able to at this time uh pull any uh
actual items on the consent agenda. >> Okay. Um so may I have a motion and a second to approve tonight's minute uh agenda. Miss Carick and then um Raja.
>> There is there is an addition an addend an addendum to the uh agenda. >> We are removing the SBHS athletic year in review. Uh that will be postponed to a different to a future meeting. >> Okay.
Um, next up, our student rep is not here. Oh, there we go. We have a quorum. >> Mr. Roess Sony. >> So, good. >> Here. Take that back. We have a quorum.
>> Okay, good. All right. Well, then next up is the report of the superintendent. >> All right, >> Dr. >> Thank you, ma'am. Appreciate that. Um, just want to give a couple updates. One is about our health center uh transition. Uh Dr. Mahares and Doc and
Mrs. Monahan from Family First Physicians met with our staff on Tuesday, May 19th at Crossroads North Middle School to introduce themselves and engage in a dialogue with our employees. This involved two productive meet and greet sessions which lasted almost three hours. It provided an
opportunity for our staff to get to know Dr. Mahores and his team and have their questions answered about this transition. As a district, we rem we remain fully committed to supporting the health and well-being of our staff and look forward to the opportunities this new partnership will continue to pro to provide.
On a redistricting update, um that process is continuous and ongoing. On Tuesday on May 12th, we held a redistricting support meeting at Crossroads South Middle School. Families affected by this change were invited to attend and ask questions and share their thoughts and concerns. Approximately 50
families attended and took part in this discussion. We explained the transition process and assured families that all our students will receive support to help them adjust as smoothly as possible. We are also committed to supporting families during this change and our goal is to make this transition
as positive for everyone as we can. Primary election day is June 2nd, 2026, and voting will be open from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. This matters because our schools are in session and the South Brunswick has 1, two, three, four, five
schools that are polling locations. We'll have an increased police presence to provide security proposals security patrols at all schools used as polling locations and additional security personnel will also be stationed at each site to ensure public access is limited
to designated voting areas and does not extend inside our school buildings. The polling locations are South Brunswick High School, Crossroads South, Brunswick Acres, Indian Fields, um, and Constable School. And lastly, just a reminder, and I'm sure our board
president will do as well, our June 18th board of education meeting. Um, we will proudly celebrate our retirees and honor the lasting impact of their years of service and dedication to South Brunswick. We invite all of you to join us in person. That's all I have, Mr. N. >> Oh, thank you, Dr. Braan. Okay, next up
is the best part of the meeting. Um, I'd like to bring up Mr. Thomas Decker. Good evening. The New Jersey Department of Education adopted the New Jersey CEO biiteracy for graduating high school students to
recognize their proficiency in more than one language. I'm here to say that the students with us this evening as well as others who couldn't make it have shown proficiency in another language than English. We have students who shown their
proficiency in French, Spanish, Latin which are the language we excuse me we offer here in the district as well as Arabic, Hindi, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Kanda and Tamil. Each student will receive a certificate
from the state of New Jersey as well as a pin to wear at graduation. We use languages to communicate, but it's also a tool for learning, for sharing knowledge. It's part of our
cultural celebrations and our values. It's not just about words. It's about the cultural practices, the beliefs of an individual, of a family, and a diverse community.
The community of South Brunswick, our community, is a diverse community with represents many languages, and our students here show us that. Within the high school, our world language teachers are local experts of language and culture. In their
classrooms, they model and teach the value of acceptance and appreciation of a culture other than our own. This extends beyond the classroom in many ways. The high school world language club, and many of you are members of that club, is another
opportunity for our students to highlight their language, their culture, and their experiences. This evening I asked the current student leaders of the world language club to help me with this presentation. So at this point I would like to welcome
Marjan Arano who will assist us with the distribution of the certificates. Good evening. My name is Marjan Malikhi and I am the vice president of the South Brunswick High School World Language Club. >> And I am Arana Da, the secretary of the World Language Club.
>> We would like to begin by sincerely thanking Mr. Decker and the board of education for giving us the opportunity to share this moment with you. It is truly a privilege to be standing before all of you today. The World Language Club works closely with the SBHS World Language Department
to celebrate and promote cultural understanding, language learning, and build a strong inclusive community within our school. >> This partnership is a cornerstone of our mission and we are proud of the work we've accomplished together. Tonight, we
are especially excited to recognize and celebrate the students who have earned the New Jersey State Seal of Biiteracy. These students have demonstrated remarkable dedication to mastering multiple languages and their achievements are a testament to the
strength of our language programs and the support of our educators. Miss Hernandez, would you like to join us at the podium to present the awards students? We will now call you up to receive your certificates.
>> Okay. Now to start, we have Isil Abdul Rahman receiving the seal for Arabic. >> And next is Surya Shubra Chhaterji receiving the seal for French. Next we have Aditi Choule receiving the
seal in French. Then we have Dariana Cruz Flores receiving the seal in Spanish. >> She's not here. She's not here. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Next is Elil Erasio Sanchez
receiving the seal for Spanish. Next we have Shiovani Gapali receiving the seal in Latin. Thank you so much. >> Next is Nakul Gupta receiving the seal for Spanish. >> Next we have Fedur Jane receiving the
seal in Hindi. And next is Matalie Meta receiving the seal for French. Next we have Sarthic Ralph receiving this the seal in Canada. And next is Muhammad Raza receiving the
seal for Spanish. >> Next we have Jenna Shakir receiving the seal in Latin. Congratulations. >> And next we have Harini Venut Kumar receiving the seal for THEML. Next we have Tala Abdul Tarif receiving
the seal in Spanish. And next we have Melanie Tan receiving the seal for Chinese. >> Next sir, next we have Dennis Arsenov receiving the seal in Russian. And next we have Shruthy Ayar receiving
the seal for Spanish. Next we have Arya Nyak receiving the seal in Spanish. And next we have Christian Pelin receiving the seal for French. Next we have Emiliano Rea Padilla
receiving the seal in Spanish. And next we have Chandra Kumari Valuri receiving the seal for Spanish. Next we have Nha Manisean receiving the seal in Latin and Tamil. >> And next we have Amriita Rama
Sububramanionan receiving the seal for both French and Tamilo. Next, we have Sebastian Huang receiving the seal in Chinese and Spanish. And finally, we have Marjan Malikhi receiving the seal in French.
Thank you to our helpers. Just want to one more time to congratulate you all. AND ON a personal note, I hope that you all continue your studies of a second language because for me personally has brought me many opportunities in life to
meet new people, to travel, to see new places, to share a snack with someone who I meet along the road. But learning your language will all provide you opportunities and hopefully new adventures. With that, I'm going to turn this over
to Mr. Hernandez and the board. And thank you all very much for your support of our program. >> Thank you. >> So, most of you know that um when I go to work in the morning time, I go and teach English as a second language. So, I work with students that come from all
over the world and speak all different languages. Yet, I only speak English and some American Sign Language. And I am in awe of the talent of these kids that can speak more than one language. And I work
with the little kids. So you can physically see them, especially with my little Spanish babies, when they're they're translating Spanish into English in their brains because the words are opposite when they
they speak them. And sometimes they apologize to me and I'm like, are you kidding? You are so much smarter than I am. I can't speak two languages. I tried, but I couldn't. So, I get to teach you how to, you know, work with us
in English. So, I am in awe of all of you kids that came out here and mastered that. Congratulations. Next up, I'd like to bring down Mr. Morales. Good evening everyone. Thank you, Board
of Education, Dr. Braan. Uh good evening, uh central office colleagues. I'm thankful for the opportunity to highlight with the board and our school community, these wonderful student athletes. Tonight, you're going to hear from our coaches, our teachers, our
special education leaders, uh, and get to see student athletes who participated in Special Olympic games and unified sports events during this past year. In addition to celebrating these fantastic students, we're going to recognize the student partners in our unified sports program for their
mentoring, their mentorship during this sports uh, season. The inclusion of students with disabilities in general education programming is a district priority. Finally, I'd like to thank our special education supervisors that are here, uh
Michelle Santa Maria and uh um I'm sorry, uh Joshua Carlani, uh who are here and will uh be part of the celebration tonight. Thank you for the opportunity and I'm
excited to see our uh athletes tonight. We'll start with the middle school. I just want to say thank you to the board of ed for giving us this opportunity to showcase our amazing athletes. Uh we have a little slideshow presentation, show some pictures of our athletes and give out their
certificates. Uh athletes, when your name is called, you could stand up and come get your certificate. This this is our pictures of our unified bowling team. If everyone could give a round of applause for all the athletes and unified partners. >> That's right. Two gold. Yeah, we got
gold medals. Uh, this is our Special Olympic track and field team. Give a round of applause. Wow. >> This is our unified after school club. Let's give a round of applause, everybody. All right, let's start with our
athletes. We have Aan. Can you please stand up? Congratulations. >> Squeeze my hands. It's going to hurt. >> We have a such cheer. We have Davin. We had Arjun.
We had Fresh. We have Quincy. We have Dominic. >> Come on, Dominic. Out. We have Uvarrage. We had Ana. We had Hosna. >> We had Dashika.
We had Ryan both great. >> We had Anish. We had Arav. We had Reva. Come on up. >> Congratulations. >> They're not in order. >> Good job, Reva.
We had Nevon. >> We had Shasi. >> We had Arnov. We have Dylan. We have Vhas. We had Adve And these were our unified bowling partners. >> Uh
Kevin, can you stand up? Come grab your certificate. Everyone, round of applause, please. and these. Let's give a round of applause for our unified club partners. >> If you hear your name, can you please come up? Uh Camila Brillin
Sophia uh Junior a mishita. Aroy Patel and Zachary. Uh let's also give a round of applause for our lunch buddy partners as well. And a special thanks to all of our
coaches, our par professional helpers, and every other support. >> Sorry, I forgot one more. Emily Monday, please come on up. Congratulations. >> Thank you for the middle school. uh thinks there's a Knicks game on tonight. That's probably why a lot of
people aren't here tonight. Um that's my hope as a Knicks fan. Uh but we uh are excited to announce our high school uh athletes next. >> Good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us.
Here's a photo of our unified tennis team at South Brunswick High School. our Special Olympics bowling team, our unified basketball team, and our unified track team. Uh student athletes, if you are here and you see your name and your photo on the
screen, please join us up here for your certificate. in recognition tonight. First we have Faison Larry Aban. Come up. Congratulations. You're welcome.
Thank you. You're welcome. PHOENIX, good job >> RYAN ANDREW. Subal Cara. >> Oh, sorry. I can't go back. Wait. >> No,
>> I'm so sorry. It's >> Emma's best friend. >> It's good to be nice. There we go. Abby, >> Ava, Shrenic, Emma, Nira Raja Callie,
come up, Callie. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Ethan Caric David, >> come up. David,
>> I love Emma so much. The best girl ever. >> Rishi and VITA Ricky Keith Advita Sha >> and EMTT. Here are our unified tennis, track, and
basketball partners. If Rnado and Raheem are here, please come up for your certificates. If we have any other high school unified partners joining us this evening, you can please come up now and receive your certificate.
THANK YOU ZAYN AND SEAN for joining us this evening as well. >> Thank you again everyone for joining us for our unified celebration. THANK YOU. BACK TO YOU. >> WELL, congratulations to all of our athletes out there, right? Yes, we're
done. Are we done at the podium? Okay. I just want to make sure I wasn't starting too early. >> Yes. Are we done? Okay, congratulations to all our athletes out there. Job well done.
Thanks to their partners out there. And I think that we should all live by the example of what just happened here and listen to these kids cheer each other on. Not when they got their certificate, but when their friends
said, "Yay! That's great. Yay! Good job. Way to go. Awesome. Congratulations. Keep the hard work up and you make us very proud. At this
time, I know the rest of our board meeting is so interesting, but you are all welcome to leave if you like. We're going to take a couple minute break here. Thank you so much. and liaison and the only
uh committee we had was education and in the absence of Mr. Nathansson, Miss Suzanne Luckornne, would you like to read the minutes? >> I can. Thank you. >> Can she have a mic? Hi, good evening. On behalf of Mr.
Nathansson, our chair, the education committee met on May 7th. Present at the meeting were Barry Nathansson, Alicia Khan, Mike Mitchell, Laura Hernandez, Dr. Bragan, Dr. Takis, Miss Luckornne, and guest
presenters that evening included Mr. Varela, our high school principal, and Mr. Sweeney, our supervisor of grades 912, art, business, family, and consumer sciences. At this meeting, we heard about the three elementary reading programs that
will be piloted in the 2627 school year with a goal to select one for adoption in the 2728 school year. We reviewed responses to questions related to program and instruction from our most
recent QAC report for 2425. We discussed the plan for expanding options for our high school students to enroll in college courses to graduate with their associates degree. We received an overview of Connect for
Freedom, which is a free curriculum that will be used to address the human trafficking curricular mandate in K12 classrooms next year. We also reviewed chronic absenteeism action plans for two
schools, Mammoth Junction and Cambridge, which had a chronic absenteeism rate greater than 10%. The minutes, supporting documents, and the QAC responses have been posted to
the board portal for board members to review. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Luckorn. Um, do I have any liaison reports? >> Um, excuse me.
>> Ronno. Okay, go ahead. Go ahead. Raja, >> just one quick one. Um, I did attend uh one of the spring concerts in Crossroads South uh for the orchestra. Just amazing. Uh, great job to all the students and especially the music teachers. I think it was fantastic.
Okay, I just want to um say that I went I attended the super night of jazz at Crossroads South um on Friday, February Friday uh May 8th and it was a once again it was a wonderful event um
featuring a variety of soup and even dessert and live jazz music which I love jazz. Um, so kudos to the musical staff, to uh, Principal Capes, and to the the uh, students on a fine job on that
night. It was so good that we actually went over time, which I didn't mind because it was just so great. Um, I would also like to um, give special recognition to our boys lacrosse team, which recently made the Greater Middle
Conference uh, championship game a couple nights ago. Unfortunately, they fell short, but I'm so proud of how um how they battled um how they worked together, how they pushed each other, and despite the score um is no
indication of their effort. So, to the coaches, to this, uh staff, to the athletic director, Mr. Knap, congratulations uh on this feat. >> Okay, thank you. Any more? Okay, good. We will move on.
Old business, there is none at this time. New business, there is none at this time. Um, the first public comments are on agenda items only. The board recognizes the value of public
comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interests. Complete copies of policy 0167, which govern this portion of the meeting, are available to the public at
the auditorium entrance online or by contacting the board office. To permit the fair and orderly expression of comments, we ask that the participants be recognized by the presiding officer and preface comments by announcing his or her name, place of residence, and
group affiliation if applicable. And by complete Is there a signup sheet there? Completing the signup sheet. Okay. Um please uh blah blah even say that uh each statement made by the participant shall be limited to three minutes. No participant may speak more than once on
the same topic. Mr. Palowski will indicate when you have 15 seconds remaining. All statements shall be directed to the presiding officer. No participant may address or question board members. No discussion between a participant and respondent shall exceed
the threeminut time limit with a total time of one hour. It is our plan to listen to each member of the public. Once all questions and comments from all members of the public are made, the board of education may respond or respond via email in the most timely and
efficient manner available. All questions and comments made will be noted. Please note differences of opinions are welcome. Disrespect is not. Mr. Palowski, has anyone ple
pre-registered? >> We have no pre-registrations. >> Okay. Is there anyone in the audience who wish to make a public comment on agenda items only? Okay. We have no one in the audience. So, moving on. As there are no comments,
we will close that portion of the public comments consent agenda walkth through. Mr. Palowski, we have a pretty concise uh consent agenda this evening. We're approving some transfers. We have a our typical business uh board business. Approving
some financials, a bills list. We're approving the cancellation of some outstanding checks. Accepting donations. We're approving the acceptance of some funds uh from the Department of Agriculture. We have a trans uh some transportation
contracts for extended school year. We're approving a lease purchase to purchase some uh laptops for students and staff. Uh we're approving an increase in a not to exceed amount for our fuel oil for our buses for the remainder of the school year. We're
recording and awarding a bid for our garbage waste management or garbage um hauling. We're approving the renewal of our food service contract. We have some displaced student tuition contracts, some out of district placement contracts
and some out of district placement contracts for the 2627 school year. Those are those 113 and 114 are both for uh 2526 and 2627. Uh motion 115, we have uh the approval of some
professional services, some extensions on those. We have uh 116 and a memorandum of understanding between the South Brunswick School District and College of New Jersey for some district um courses uh and the TCJ course name
and the credits students will earn. We're approving our harassment, intimidation, bullying reports, approving a registr a resolution for travel related expenses. We have a settlement and release of claims agreement. And 120, we're approving some administrative uh
employment contracts. And other than your personnel, that's your consent agenda for this evening. >> Do I have any questions? >> Rees, Mr. Sony. >> Yeah, a couple of them. For first, can I make a motion to table 1.2? two for
further discussion. >> Motion second. >> Second. >> Michael seconding. >> Okay. Michael second. Okay. >> Thank you. >> So, we're tableabling that. >> Yeah. And uh couple more I have. First of all, just give a a shout out to to
the curriculum group and the administration in general for including AI. I think it's a very forwardlooking approach that we are taking on how we start introducing AI in our courses. So that's a very good step. So so great. And I also believe the collaboration
that you're proposing with TCJ is going to really benefit the high school students. So I don't know if everybody knew but it is something great that many kids can leverage and can benefit them financially and from a credit perspective. So it's it's a great one. I
just have one more question regarding 1.8 and I know we went back and forth but u I guess we ran out of time. the the MacBooks that we are releasing. Are we leasing MacBook Air or Neo? Do do we know
>> they're Neos okay? >> Good. Thank you. Anyone else? Any other question? >> Yeah, I I do have a question. So, we are tableabling 1.8. Yeah. >> So, the purchase of the of the MacBooks and the >> the Chromebooks. No, we're not p. We're
not tableling 1.20 >> 1.20 which is >> the contracts the administration contracts. >> Okay. So I did have a question on the uh you know the approval of the of the
MacBook. So I think that was 1.8 right? Sorry I got confused with the numbers. Okay the lease purchase. So uh I know we are purchasing 7 we are doing a lease purchase of 750 MacBooks. Correct. And um which is for a period of 5 years,
right? So this 500,000 is going to be appropriated over 5 years. >> It's a 5-year lease purchase. So it's a it's a financing mechanism that allows you to uh act uh to purchase the
equipment over a 5-year period. So at the end of five years we get we have the option of either purchasing these uh >> we will have purchased them. >> Oh we would have purchased it. >> At least purchase. >> Okay. Okay. And um just help me out
here. So I wasn't very sure. Were we using MacBooks before? Is this a renewal of the old instruments that we are going for? Uh I think Rajes you as the same question on MacBooks right? >> Right now we have >> um I believe we have the MacBook Airs for staff. We're replacing those that
have I think been around since when we uh when COVID hit. So they're replacing them with the Mac Neos which are as powerful as the older MacBook Airs but a much less cost. >> Okay. So if I understand this correctly, we were earlier paying a much higher
amount for the for the same 750 MacBooks. Are we increasing the amount of MacBooks we taking? >> No, we're getting the same number. Those are replacements basically for staff members. um the 750R and they are replacing what were MacBook Airs those
were purchased I believe around the co era times >> um so the Mac Neos that are recently came out within the year are as powerful as those machines um and can do the needs that we want to serve for our school and they're a fraction of the what that cost was
>> okay so I'm hearing this for the first time so please bear with me so earlier we had MacBook Air for the staff >> uh which ran from COVID period till now. So that's about a six-year period. So we ran out of that lease >> and so we are now
>> those were those were purchased outright with co those were purchased one time. So those were not leased. >> Oh and what was that quantity? Was it 750? >> I >> off the top of my head I couldn't have that number for you. It's >> probably in that ballpark. I mean that's the number of staff we had. Might have
been some more I would imagine at that time. >> Okay. Okay. and the these uh the 1500 Chromebooks that we are now going to do a lease purchase for because this whole I mean the whole ticket item is close to a million dollars. Right. So I I'm just
being cognizant and I >> I'm sorry uh Dr. Bernie that we didn't I missed speaking about this when you and I spoke earlier uh during the day but I just had a question on the fact that so 750 uh so we are we are looking at about
uh what uh about more than 2,000 sort of uh you know pieces here devices 750 plus 1500 and these 1500 Chromebooks so are the students being going to give they are they getting MacBooks or no >> those would be for the students the
Chromebooks >> the Chromebooks also for the students the magic >> for those that don't bring their own device. Yes. >> Okay. Because see I mean you know at at work we use either Lenovos or Dells etc and they work as as efficiently as uh my only consideration is the cost part of it
>> and because my you know usually at work the statisticians or people are use large databases are using MacBooks. So is there a particular reason that we want to use MacBooks for for the staff? It seems to me that's what they would
prefer. And you know, I I do hear what you're saying. The IBMs and the Lenovo type machines are what's often used in industry and business, but the educational purposes is pretty much been dominated by Max for the last 20 years. Um, and that's what we feel is the best for educational purposes as opposed to
like if you were doing accounting or other stuff in the business world. I know in that environment, people use Microsoft more often than we use Google. they often use those devices for accounting and stuff and they use more IBMs as opposed to max is my understanding.
>> Yeah. And then the follow-up question to that I don't know if other board members have this question. My qu uh the only question I have is the costbenefit analysis if we were to buy non MacBooks and go with like the Dells the IBM machines etc. what would that look like
versus what would uh MacBooks look like in terms of cost and you know and and the benefit because if something happens to I have uh MacBooks at home if something happens to them then you know that's a whole another thing that we have to deal with >> my understanding and you know I bought a
Lenovo ThinkPad probably two years ago it was about $1,200 I don't know comparing the chips and everything to the Neos but I know the Neos that we're getting purchased right now are $500 with um about $100 for the three-year insurance on them. So, they're about 600. So, they seem cheaper. I don't know
the exact price today for a Lenovo ThinkPad or what that would cost. >> Can Can you speak into the mic? I can't hear you. >> Speak in the mic. >> So, no, since we switched to Neos, it is comparable to Windows laptops. If we
continue with Air or or something else, then MacBooks tend to be very expensive. So, and that's why I my only question was if it is Neos, it's compatible and it's fair. Uh but if you do anything but Neos because Neos is the the cheaper but
powerful version for m from Apple to to get some market share but it's comparable to to Windows laptops. Okay. >> And uh the life cycle of this assets are usually like six years cuz I've been
with stuck with the same they at work for the longest amount of time. Nobody cares to refresh my instruments. I was just wondering. >> Yeah, it's around four or five years like you said and at the end of that cycle um the MACs tend to retain their value. So, we hope there'd be some resale value and if we were continuing
to to use that same device moving forward, that there'd be a purchase back we would get from Apple, if we kept with Apple or if we want to sell them on the open market. There would be, I would imagine, in five years some residual value for those. >> Okay. All right. Thank you for answering all those questions. >> Absolutely.
>> Okay. >> Yeah. Sorry, I had one more question. Can I go? >> Okay. So, um Dr. Dr. Bernie, I did have a question on the TCJ uh the AP credit uh you know the the credits that uh uh that kids would receive because I know I
noticed that the cost has perhaps gone up because I recall when uh I had to do it for my daughter. It was I think about $400 per uh per unit of credit. So or those four credits. So So the cost has has risen, right?
I I don't remember what it was in the past and I could find that for exactly how much it increased by it was 400 something >> I believe it and um I know that that amount though is set by TCJ and we really either we our kids are going to sign up and get the credit for those classes or they're not and they set that
what that cost is so it's really not we can negotiate and say hey give it to us for cheaper that's the the price that they set. >> So it's a ticket or a leave it >> pretty much if you want to get the credits from TCJ. Yep. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> But I I will find out and email the
whole board what the increase was over last couple years. >> If my memory serves me right, I I I think we I paid um $400 per AP uh dual credit. >> Okay, >> that's right. >> Yeah, good.
>> Yeah, I'm good. Thanks. >> Can I get a motion for the consent agenda? Oh, >> Mike second. Uh Vesh. >> So roll call vote. Miss Lord Hernandez. >> Yes. >> Miss D. McCarthik. >> Yes. >> Mr. Raja Krishna.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Mike Mitchell. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Rajes Sony. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. I'm also real quick going to ask for a motion for the minutes. I think Rajes came in. Got
>> you know when I'm looking at I was thinking the exact same thing. That's okay. That's okay. because we have on our agenda um some minutes from the board meeting, >> April 23rd. >> Y >> can I get a motion for those minutes? >> So moved,
>> Mr. Mitchell and uh >> second >> second. >> Raja. >> Yeah, I I noticed the exact same thing. >> All right. >> Okay, moving on. This is our second
public comment. This is for any items at all, but please keep in mind um my little spiel I gave you before. My biggest part of that little spiel is differences of opinions are welcome.
Disrespect is not. With that being said, do we have anybody in the audience that would like to come to the podium to ask any questions on anything? Public comments. Public comment. Come on up. You could just go right to the podium.
I guess not questions, public comments. All right. Hello. My name is Rachel Young. Um I'm from Mammoth Junction. I have one child at Crossroads North and one at Mama Junction Elementary. Um, I wanted to share an experience I
had recently. Um, last week I received a phone call from the counselor from here from um, Crossroads North about my daughter using her Chromebook. Um, she was emailing a friend and some of her she was flagged for using concerning
language. So, the counselor called me to assure me that nothing was wrong and that she was obligated to contact me, obligated to follow up on this flagging that came from a third party called Gaggle, which I had never heard of before. Um, I had seen the email
regarding the the um uh light uh what is it called? The light speeded stop it app. Um, but I had not heard of Gaggle yet. Um I was informed she told me that there was nothing to worry about that 90% of the thing that the emails that
have been flagged um came out to be nothing and we ended that phone call um with without really anything actually happening. Um, since then I've done a little bit of research on Gaggle and it looks like it's a third party that then
hires other third parties to filter everything that they put on their Chromebooks through AI. And this is what concerns me because not just their homework assignments, um, tests and quizzes, emails, internet
searches, personal files, um, everything is going, it would seem to to AI. Um the the idea is to search for hints of bullying and self harm or violence. And I applaud the attempt to prevent those
tragedies from happening, but I don't feel that it is safe for us to be sending our children's personal information and and putting it through this AI system. Um, for anyone who's not familiar with everything with AI, I
mean, it basically sucks up everything, all intellectual property, um, ideas, thoughts, feelings, experiences, images, faces, creative works, opinions, inside jokes, all of that is going into the system and then anyone can access it by
putting in the right prompt for any reason. People use AI to make art, write novels, they make jokes, they make memes, they make they use it to cheat on their homework. Um, it's used to make pornography.
So, the fact that the school is giving our children's words to a machine that will allow anyone to access and profit off of them is very alarming to me. Um, in even in Gaggle's own terms and services, it says that it takes no responsibility for the actions or
security of the third parties that it's sending our children's information to. Um, and if um, in addition to that, um, the the fact that this system doesn't seem to be very accurate, it's very faulty.
Um, it would seem that it's it's wasting our counselors time that they could be spending with children that need counseling instead following up on all of these non-issues that the faulty AI is flagging. Um
yeah, the the and in addition to whatever um what my question is why aren't we why weren't the parents informed that this is happening and why why I I only just today saw it on the district newsletter. It was very small.
It was supporting student safety. It had a traffic sign on it. It looked like it was road safety. Um, I had to dig deep. And even when I dig deep into this newsletter for more information, nothing said anything about AI.
It why why why aren't the parents being notified that that that their students personal information, their ideas, and their thoughts are being uploaded into AI. >> Thank you for your we can make sure we get back to you. Superintendent can can
uh communicate with you on on Gaggle. Thank you. >> Three minutes we have. So, so we are going to be I mean it was sent out in um the monthly newsletters,
but it was brought to our attention that that a lot of parents felt like they were just told this and and they weren't given a lot of information. So, we are in the process of having information meetings at every school with um the uh
the principles and the vice principles and the tech department to go through all of this. You're also welcome to uh make an appointment with Dr. Bragan and have a one-on-one. Do you have an appointment with him? Perfect. So, you can have an appointment with him already set up and he'll go over that. But, but I'm glad you brought it up so everybody
out there in television land uh knows that we are in the process of having anformational meeting for all their parents to go deeper into this. Do I have anybody else that has a comment? Public comment. Okay, with that we're
going to end this portion of the meeting. Can I have um a motion in a second to Oh, wait. Before I say that, please note the next scheduled board of education meeting is set for Thursday, June 18th, 2026 at 7 o'clock. And like
Dr. Oh, >> sorry. >> Sure. Sure. Sure, sure, sure. Yeah. Hi board members. Uh thank you for giving me opportunity to speak. Uh my name is Shriant. uh my daughter goes to the Brooks crossing and uh those are my
fellow community members. So what happened is like uh students from Brooks crossings were moved to the Manbo junction elementary and uh it impact impacted the bus transportation. So now the we came to know that there is no bus facility. So as you know uh there
is a space constraint over there. If you want to do the carpool also it takes a lot of time because because of the space little space cars were jammed. So we are due to consider like uh any substitution transportation we are we are ready to pay just like high school if you can uh
consider and help us it will be very helpful because uh dropping them as you know like my son goes to this school like whenever I drop him by the orchestra in the morning as you know like jam from the signal so just getting
into there especially in the winter if it is summer I drop him at the front for the winter he cannot walk. So if I drop drop over back of the school, it will take at least 15 to 20 minutes. So now that school the
the time is limited uh because at the same time many cars will come and get jammed. So it will take lot of time. It will a big hassle. Yeah. If you can help us it will be very grateful. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you so much. Okay. Any other comments? Yes. No. Okay. >> Same com. Okay. Same same. Okay. All about the transportation. I mean, you are more than willing to call central
office, set up a meeting with Dr. Bragan. I know that he's already talked to several people about the busing and he's looking into different options right now. Okay. So, feel free to call over there. You can meet individually or you guys can come and meet together with him whichever works for you guys. Okay.
But he we are well aware not only does this um we don't take it lightly that this is affecting your kids going from one school to another >> but then also there's that transportation issue. So we're not just saying too bad so sad. We are absolutely
looking into it. But please feel free to call and set up a meeting. Okay. Okay. You're very welcome. All right. With that, can I have a motion and a second to adjourn the meeting? Motion. Mr. Sony. Second.
Mr. Mitchell. Um, a note that our next board meeting is set for Thursday, June 18, 2026 at 7:00. Meeting is adjourned. Good night, South Brunswick.