Good evening. It's Thursday, October 9th, 2025, and I'd like to welcome you to the meeting of the South Brunswick Board of Education, and the 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. The statement of advanced notice. The New Jersey Open Public Meeting Act, NJS10-4-6, also known as the Sunshine Law, was
enacted to ensure the right of the public to have 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 provision 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 Brunswick public library and board office, filed with the township clerk, communicated to the home
news, and it is also posted on our district website. Roll call. Mr. Palowski. Miss Julie Ferrara. Miss Alicia Khan here. Mr. Raja Krishna here. Mr. Mr. Barry Nathansson here. Mr. Mike Mitchell present.
Dr. Smith Raj here. Mr. Rajes Sony present. Miss Deeparthik here. Miss Laura Hernandez here. We have a qu for quum. Can I have a motion to approve the meeting agenda? Miss Caric. Second. Mr. Mitchell. All in
favor? I. Approval of the board minutes of September 18th and exe for executive session and our board uh meeting. Uh can I have a motion? Mr. Nathansson second. Miss Khan.
All in favor? Okay. Does anybody have any questions on the board minutes? Okay. Motion to uh We're not going into executive session yet. Nope. I put that in the wrong spot. Sorry. Um,
now we will have the report of our student representative. Good evening everyone. Let's start off with some school news. On Tuesday, our student council attended the NJ Association of Student Council's fall conference. Our assistant principal,
Miss Nancy Dukos Sweeney, also attended with us. She believed she was there to support one of our students, but to her surprise, she was honored as the NJASC administrator of the year for the entire state of New Jersey. We were so excited for her to exceed and accept this award
as it is an honor she truly deserves. Our annual club fairs, where Teal spin the wheel event, back to school night, and freshman parent night were all great successes. We also had our blackout football game which had an amazing turnout, but unfortunately our team
lost. Luckily, our Vikings have a chance to bounce back soon. The homecoming football game is coming up on October 16th, and this year's theme is Disney/Pixar. Our class and student councils will be showing off their spirit with themed floats. The homecoming game is also the
pink out football game this year. Earlier in that day, we will be having our think pink lunch event in support of breast cancer awareness. To build up excitement, we'll also be having a spirit week leading up to homecoming. On Monday, we'll have Sleeping Beauty. Tuesday will be tack tacky tourist day.
Wednesday will be fairy godmother fiasco, also known as class color day. And Thursday will be pink out in support of breast cancer awareness. Moving on to athletics, it is with great pride that we recognize Olivia Shaw and Joselyn Anbu for their recent dominance as main
goal scorers and MVPs and they secured crucial wins against GMC field hockey opponents. Our girls soccer team also participated in the GMC's annual soccer for a cause festival. Our team along with several others in the county helped
to donate over $8,000 for the go for the goal foundation which is a foundation that helps children with pediatric cancer. The girls tennis team is currently 72 receiving the third seed. The team had a recent win in the first round of the Central Jersey 4 group
state tournament. That's all I have for you today. Thank you so much for listening and enjoy your evening. Thank you so much. Great report, honey. Thank you so much. Um, okay. Next up is the report of the president. That's me.
So, as everybody knows, uh, we have put extensive time, effort, search into finding the right candidate to, um, head up our district after Mr. Federer has left us. And I am happy to
announce that we have found our viable candidate and we are now in um negotiations with contracts. Um and we will be holding a special board meeting on October 27th. It is a Monday night
here at 7 o'clock um to vote this person in and to introduce him. So please come and join us then and celebrate. And that's all I have. So now Mr. Palowski.
Um just real quick. So uh October is National Principles Month. Uh every day I believe should be uh principal uh day. Uh I cannot thank them enough for all that they do for the students, the staff on a daily basis. uh principal uh job is
just an a heck of a job and they should be commended every day. So October uh national principal month, let's make sure if you haven't already, reach out to your principal and thank them for the the work they do. Our student rep took a little bit of my thunder this evening.
Uh we had Nancy Duck uh Duko Sweeney. She like uh our our student rep um talked about she attended the New Jersey Association of Student Councils in the fall conference at TCJ alongside our student council. She did believe she was there for uh to support one of our
students, but to her surprise, she was honored as the NJASC administrator of the year for the entire state of New Jersey. Uh wonderful recognition of NY's dedication, creativity, and tireless support for our amazing student council at the high school. uh her enthusiasm and leadership
inspire our students and colleagues alike um every day. So, please join me in congratulating Nancy on this well-deserved and prestigious state honor. Another high school uh congratulations goes out to Miss Yoshi Donado. Uh she is
the recipient of a 2025 civic engagement award presented by our NAACP New Jersey State Conference. Um, she's we're thrilled to share that Yoshi Donado, our assistant principal at the high school, has been selected as the recipient of a
2025 civic engagement award by the NAACP in the state of New Jersey. Um, the prestigious honor celebrates her exceptional leadership, tireless advocacy for civil rights, and unwavering commitment to our community um and its empowerment. Uh, Miss
Donado's impact felt is not only felt uh in our school, but throughout the broader community. She serves with passion and purpose. And uh we thank you, Miss Donado, for embodying what it means to lead with integrity, courage, and heart. Your South Brunswick School District uh community and family is
proud beyond words and inspired by your example every day. So, congratulations to Donado. This week uh the week of respect uh in New Jersey will be observed from Monday October 6th to Friday October 10th held annually during the first week of
October. This week is dedicated to promoting a positive school climate teaching students how to prevent harassment, intimidation, bullying designated to promote positive school climate and provide instruction on preventing harassment, intimidation, bullying or HIV. So be sure um everybody
the week of respect uh across the district. And lastly, October is National Dyslexia Awareness Month. The South Brunswick School District, we are working to become a dyslexia friendly district. Means we support our students with dyslexia and help them uh use their
unique strengths to succeed. This month we uh raised awareness to show support for all of our students with dyslexia and together we can build a community that understands, includes, and empowers every learner. Uh, real quick, uh, hats off to Dr. Jod Mahoney. I know she spearheads this and, um, is something
that she's passionate about. So, um, again, October National Dyslexia Awareness Month. And I do have a finally a finally u, the Education Foundation of South Brunswick's 14th annual Taste for Education fundraiser will take place on
Thursday, October 16th from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Pierre of South Brunswick. Please make sure we can all get there. It's a wonderful event. good food, um, great fundraiser, and lots of opportunity for you to win some really cool prizes. So, that's my superintendent report.
Awesome. Thank you, Mr. Palowski. So, next order of business is uh board committee meetings and leaison reports. We're just getting our committees up and running uh in September. So, um, Miss Con, I'm just going to steal your thunder a little second and just say we we met today, so
she will be reporting out at the next, uh, board meeting and we're just getting them up and rolling. So, there is no committee meeting um, minutes to report any liaison. So, on 25th September, uh, the high school had its back to school night.
Uh, I attended that uh, that and Dr. Raj was in attendance as well. Uh I don't know if uh my colleague Mike Mitchell here. Okay, you didn't make it. Sorry. Sorry, I didn't see you there, so I wasn't very sure. So, you know, the high school is a big place. Uh overall, it was a wonderful event, managed very
well. Um I'm very pleased to see that a lot of teachers are providing all of the information, the ones that I attended as a parent. I got a firsthand view of uh you know of the discipline uh discipline in in classrooms as well as it uh as it
relates to focus in classroom. Many of the teachers are implementing keeping the cell phones away in like little pockets and making sure that the kids are focused during lesson time. Uh they provided all the information on curriculum uh what's being taught uh the
reference material that they're utilizing etc. So overall, I think it was a very successful back to school night and run very very smoothly. So kudos to all of the staff in the high school as well as to our interim superintendent, Mr. Paloski for a very
uh job very well done. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Mr. Nathansson. Yeah. So, I was able to attend uh Crossroads South uh back to school night
and uh it was really well attended. I got to hang with Bonnie Capes uh outside as people came in. I saw a lot of familiar faces. Uh then I after
everybody went in, I walked around. I spoke to the PTO. Uh, I spoke to a lot of teachers I haven't seen in a while and it was a really good night. So awesome. Thank you, Mr. Nathansson.
Okay. No one else? Yes. Oh, Mr. Mitchell. Uh, some of you are wondering why this panda sitting here. Um, it's here because I'm representing another school that I'm a liazison to, which is the preschool. They are the preschool pandas. and they
had their um bat school night last night and I was able to attend and support the staff and and parents there and it was a wonderful event. Um fortunately our principal was not able unable to make it due to a family emergency. So our assistant principal stepped in, Miss
Rente, and she did a fantastic job. You would have think she was she would have thought she was there for years the way she carried on and and and did what was necessary. Um, so I thank her for the hospitality and all the ones that were there. And um, that's it. Thank you.
Kudos. Uh, uh, shout out to the pandas and and go pandas. That's awesome. Thank you. Thank you. That's so awesome being around those little kids. I we in the building I used to work in, we used to house a preschool in my in my school.
So anytime I was having a bad day, I would just go down to the preschool and hang out with the kids. Best thing best thing to make you smile. Um, okay. So, this is like really quick. Old uh business, we have none at this time. New business, we have none at this time. Um,
we are going to go on to the consent agenda review and walk through with Mr. Palowski. I just want to make the statement to everybody. Um, please note that the board gets um all of the consent agenda ahead of time. We have the opportunity to review it. we have
the opportunity to question it and we do and we question Mr. Palowski. We throw it over to HR if need be. We throw it to curriculum and instruction I if need be. But when by the time we come up here, we
already have gone over this consent agenda, have asked questions about this uh agenda, have asked questions again when we don't understand about the agenda. So when we get up here, we're pretty well informed. So with saying that, Mr. Powski.
All right. So there you have it. There's your consent agenda with you. No need for any further discussion. Uh real quick, uh an easygoing agenda this evening. We have a bill's list. We're accepting some New Jersey quality assurance accountability uh continuum uh
results. Uh all of our results were passing if not exceptional. Um, I'll just point out we had everything pretty much in the 90s and above. Um, couple things we can work on. Uh, we'll get those uh with our committees. We have an
approved um unified champion school goals grant or schools grant. We're approving a purchase over the bid limit um for a national cooperative contract. We have those are Chromebooks for uh state
testing. We're approving transportation contract. We have a statement of assurance for the use of our paraprofessional staff. Our security plan review is another statement of assurance. We're approving a master collaborative educational services agreement with the New Jersey um ESCJ.
Uh we have an approved out of district uh placements and tuition students with special needs. And we have a resolution for travel and related expense reimbursements. all of our travel. We're approving our student field trips and we
have on our agenda lastly, we're approving some uh we're approving our HIV and uh intimidation bullying report and we're approving a resolution for um what's the last one?
Oh, and we're approving a a resolution for uh resignation. I would note that um in our um backup or in our agenda for uh personnel, we are going to remove item A21-
C. That's the assistant BA job description. I want to talk more about that during our operations committee and what that looks like and why that's that showed up this month without any prior conversation. That wasn't good thing to do. So, we're going to pull that off. We have a meeting on Tuesday, October 14th.
Yeah. Uh, and I'll put that on um our agenda so that we can talk about it and and why we're doing that move. Okay. All righty. And that's your consent agenda. Okay. Do I have any questions for Mr. Palowski? Okay.
Yeah. Sorry. I just had one one uh question for Mr. Powski. Just on the interest of providing clarification, if you could just explain to uh the members here uh who are attending as well as to the ones who are watching the NJQAC and what that really means for us.
Well, the uh New Jersey uh continuum or the quality assurance that's that's uh this the Department of Education, State of New Jersey coming in and looking at all of our uh procedures, processes, curriculum, financials, how we govern the district, how we how our operations
and our personnel, how all of our board policies, and how all everything that we do. Um the state comes in, it's kind of like a monitoring. And what they do is they we self-score ourselves and then the state comes in takes our self score and then they look at that and they do a
scoring of their own and they come up with a a percentage pass rate. Um we we exceeded in um fiscal management government operations personnel instruction and program was at an 80 86 which is still an amazing score. We just
um the piece with the uh instructional um program is that they use our state assessments and if you looked at state assessments um across the state they were down. So there's some assessment questions going on with with assessments um and that had a little bit of an
impact on our instructional program but that would have been down across the state because of the way they use those scores to have that impact QAC. So it's kind of like a it's an external audit of all of all of our procedures and operations as a school district that is done in all school districts and it's done yeah it's done in every
school district across the state. Thank you. Uh the reason I asked of course I know it is I just wanted to I asked it in the in the interest of everybody's uh you know clarification and and understanding. So thank you so much. Yeah. So just continuing on on uh
Deeper's point and I think what Laura said um the QAC result again um very commendable we have been designated as a high performing school district uh by by DOE. So again excellent but there are certain certain areas we can we can
consider working on and improving further. So we have exchanged a lot of notes and if you want to elaborate on how we are going to address it because there are certain areas which I believe we can and I believe you had the recommendation of doing it in committee. So just for again interest of public
just kind of expand on it any any area that we were designated in in an area that we did not meet in a standard or the rubric score was low um that that specific area would be addressed in our committees. So for example, we have our our education
committee. Our education committee can look at instruction and program and determine a course of action uh to address some of the issues that they may have that that they may have not escort scored as well in in that particular area. So operations uh we really deal
with governance um personnel and and fin fiscal management. They kind of fall under operations with the way that that works. Um, so you know, we'll we'll push it off to committee, have the committees review, and when the committees come up with opportunities for improvement, they
can come back to the board and share out. Perfect. Thank you. Okay. Anything else? Roll call. Mr. Powski. Roll call. Miss Alicia Khan. Yes. Mr. Raja Krishna. Yes.
Mr. Barry Nathansson. Yes. Mr. Mike Mitchell. Yes. Dr. Smith Raj. Yes. Mr. for Rajes Sony. Yes, with an exception of only one uh which is um the travel related expense um especially one which is out of state
uh for a conference. Again, very supportive in in our staff going to conferences but I'm not sure um out of state travel related which requires air travel on that. So what number is it? What number it is? He knows we have exchanged notes. So I I
there is no number. It's uh and I don't want to say the name. So, you're going to abain. It's 1.11. 1.11. So, he's going to Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That that number correct. Got it. Miss 1.11.
Miss Deeparthik. Yes. Miss Lauren. Yes. All right. Motion carries. Okay. So, next up is public comment on any topic. The board of education recognizes the value of public comment
on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest. Complete copies of policy 0167 which govern this portion of the meetings are available to the public at the auditorium entrance online or by
co 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 re residence, group affiliation if
appropriate, and by signing the sign-in sheet that's um up at the podium. Please print legibly or we may not we may be unable to document your name for the permanent record. Each statement made by a 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 participants may address or question board members. No discussion between a
participant and respondent shall exceed the three minute time limit with a total time limit 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 always welcome. Disrespect is not. Mr. Palowski, do we have anybody
pre-registered? We do not. Okay. Is there anyone in the audience who wish to make a public comment? I need to sign up somewhere here. There's not a signin sheet there. Uh I don't see one. How do you get there? Okay. You can just state state your name, sir. And we'll get it.
Just state your name. Yeah. Hello everyone. My name is uh Abesh Roaswa and I'm a resident of uh Monma Junction. I'm referring to the article in the patch published on September 30th which says
his enrollment surge South Brunswick schools superintendent provides latest updates. So yeah, I mean as uh we read the article, you know, hey, it looks like uh it's kind of an emergency situation, you
know, and uh as the superintendent has cited, you know, it's like uh uh very much building what I would call a plane while it's already flying. So you know uh I'm sure you know as the uh
enrollments uh are rising I hope uh the school district is well funded to address such a situation right and uh I hope this doesn't uh result you know an increased tax bill
you know for the taxpayers for the next season you know so that is where you know I wanted to comment cuz you know generally what we see that is that you know if emergencies arise you know generally it's a call for like you know hey how do you fund those situations
right so either you have the provisions today or you are looking to like you know hey fund it sometime in the future you know so only on behalf of the current taxpayers you know hey I'm just like you know making this comment that I
hope you know uh this uh doesn't result in an increased uh taxes you know in the coming season it is what what what it is but uh yeah I mean that is where you know I will rest my comment thank you
thank you okay anyone else oh yeah okay you snuck up there bring it down for my level hi everyone Um my name is Akancha and I'm a resident of South Brunswick as well. Um I think Brahmanad Boulevard 522
area. Um so I just wanted to commend the board again today um and the superintendent for your commitment to the district and inclusivity. I was impressed to hear that we have a program uh or initiatives around uh dyslexia awareness week of respect recognizing
outstanding educators principles. It was nice to hear some of that including educators like Nancy Sweeney and Yoshi Donado. Um these efforts truly um you know show that we are respecting our students, teachers and staff as well like along with some of the conversation
from what the student committees and activities are. uh this ongoing work to create an inclusive environment supporting learning environment is truly commendable and I hope we continue to work towards these um especially I feel in the areas around hibs that um the
school monitors and tracks to I just want to make sure there's a more harder stand towards some of those initiatives uh just based on some of the things my children have experienced in the school as well particularly around social media etc and the children may not be as open
to speaking about those. Um, as parents, we don't feel comfortable. I wish the school and the board took a stand around some of those initiatives where bullying should not be tolerated aloud, but social media is is a rough space in today's times. And we just need to be
very cognizant about that. Figure out what kind of controls and monitoring that can the school and the board do. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Anyone else? Okay. Well, no further comment. Oh, we
do. Oh, okay. Uh, hi, my name is Om Bosker. I'm a junior at South Brunswick High School. Uh, and I just want to ask uh just a few questions about policy regarding the uh the governor debate uh or sorry, the governor election that we're going to
have in November. Um, so I was watching the debate yesterday and there was um, uh, Jack Chidarelli, the Republican nominee, he had some, uh, ideas about like how he would, uh, change how, uh,
how the funding formula works. And I just wanted to know if uh anybody here knows as of yet if this new or or if this different funding formula that uh Chidarelli wants to put in place was actually put in place, would it uh would
it necessarily positively or negatively affect our district? Because he has said that, you know, suburban districts like ours would be uh helped, but I'm not entirely sure what that means. Do you want to answer? I haven't I haven't been completely
briefed on his funding formula, but I can tell you that any funding formula that uh the next governor puts in place is not going to be um implemented in time for to address our current S2 funding formula that we're currently
under. So his changes would be for next budget year, not our current budget, not this coming budget year. So 2026 to 7, right? Okay. 20 20 26 27 27 28 2728.
So, whoever gets in office, we're stuck with what we have right now. Um, okay. Until somebody else, you know, comes in. So, okay. Thank you. I just wanted to clarify. Good job watching the debate,
being informed voter. I love that. I love that. That's awesome. Um, okay. So, anybody else? You're the only one left. You're coming up. Um, okay. So, uh, I'm going to Do I note the next
board meeting or the adjournment to You're going to do You're moving into executive session? Okay. So, I'm going to make a motion to adjourn into executive session right now. Miss Caric and Mr. Mitchell. Um, the board of education of the township
of South Brunswick hereby moves into an executive session in the accordance with Sunshine Law Chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 NJSA 104-6 through 104-21 for the discussion of personnel. Be it
further resolved that the discussion conducted in executive session can be disclosed to the public at such time as the matters have been resolved. Formal action may be taken at any meeting. Um, can I have a motion to go into second to
who said that? Mr. Raja said Oh, I did that. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. I had it twice. Okay. Okay. All right. All right. Good night. Okay. Wait. No. Please note the next scheduled board of education meeting because we put that special one in there is for Monday, October 27th, 2025 at
7:00, followed by the one on Thursday, October 30th again here at 7 o'clock. Good night, South Brunswick.