Good evening. The Sparta Board of Education meeting is called to order at 5:30 p.m. Emily, would you mind reading us the meeting notice announcement? The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at
which any business affecting their interest is discussed and acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Sparta Board of Education has caused notice of the time and place of this meeting to be published in the New Jersey Herald, the Star Ledger, Tap into Sparta, and notice of the meeting has been posted on the Sparta Township
School District website. >> Thank you very much. We may may we have a roll call, please? Dr. Hinkle, Mr. Lacaruba, >> present. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Lowry, >> Dr. Martinez, >> present, >> Miss Null, >> here.
>> Miss Williams, >> present. >> Mr. Wood, >> Miss Saraphino, >> here. >> And Miss Gagn >> present. >> Quorum confirmed. >> Thank you. Please join us for the pledge. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stand
with liberty and justice for all. Okay. At this time we will be convening into close session. Whereas section 8 of the open public meetings act chapter 231 public law 1975 provides for the exclusion of the public from a meeting in certain circumstances. And whereas
the Sparta Township Board of Education is of the opinion that such circumstances exist to discuss private uh excuse me attorney client privilege matters and a hip appeal which are exempt from public participation pursuant to New Jersey public law 1975
chapter 231 open public meetings act. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Sparta Township Board of Education shall enter executive session on July 16th at Thank you, 5:32 PM. The board will reconvene in public session at the conclusion of the executive session. We
estimate starting on time for the regular portion of the meeting at 7 p.m. The information discussed during executive the executive session, excuse me, will be disclosed to the public as soon as it is determined by the board that the information is no longer confidential. May I have a motion to convene and close?
>> Motion. >> Thank you, Rocky. Second. >> Thank you, Rebecca. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Any discussion? See you shortly. Thank you. Hello again. Resolve that the Sparta Board of Education closes executive session and enters back into the public
portion of the meeting at >> 7:01. >> 7:01 p.m. May we have a roll call, please? >> Dr. Hinkle. >> Mr. Laceruba, >> present. >> Mr. Lowry, >> yes. >> Dr. Mr. Martinez >> present. >> Miss Null >> here. >> Miss Williams >> present. >> Mr. Wood.
>> Miss Saraphino >> here. >> And Miss Gagnum >> present. >> Forum confirmed. Thank you. We don't have anything on the agenda for district recognition, presentations, or student representatives this evening. So, may I please have a motion to approve the minutes?
>> Motion. >> Thank you, Dom. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Rebecca. >> All in favor? >> I. Any oppose? Any abstensions? Okay. And with that, we'll move on to our superintendent report.
>> Thank you. Um, no retirements on this evening's agenda. I usually start with that. Um, so that is blank. Just following up from my message last evening. Unfortunately, my email message last evening did not reach everyone in
Sparta Township. So, I want to take a moment to restate the message I send to the community for those in the audience and those watching at home. While I typically do not engage in the practice of dispelling false social media information, there are rare occasions when it becomes necessary. I wrote to
the community last evening under the unfortunate circumstance in which I needed to dispel a fabricated job posting that has been circulating on social media. For reasons only known to the creator or creators, a fake job posting was created that falsely listed the position of gay straight alliance
advisor available in our new preschool building located at Milton School. I hope I am abundantly clear when I state no such position exists, nor are there plans for any such position to exist in the future. Our actual job postings can be found on our website.
Unfortunately, there are people within and outside of Sparta Township who have the goal of tearing down our wonderful school district and community. We must not let those people achieve that goal as we continue to remain united with the common objective of ensuring the success of all of our students.
It is my hope that this message, which contains true and accurate information, attracts as much attention as the fabricated job posting. Moving on, our administration vacancies are nearly all filled as I am happy to
congratulate Mr. Michael Petraelli, who's in the audience tonight, who is on this evening's agenda for approval as the Sparta Middle School principal. Mr. Petraelli was one of 29 applicants for the position and successfully completed two rounds of interviews with district administration. I would also like to
thank Miss Jennings who was part of the first round interviews. As a Sparta graduate and current SMS vice principal, we are excited and confident that Mr. Petraelli will continue the upward trajectory of Sparta Middle School. Also, as part of the movement in administration, I am happy
to announce that Ryan Schaefer, who is currently the Sparta High School vice principal, will move over to Sparta Middle School as vice principal and be an asset to the administrative team. With all the movement in administration over the past few months, we will be left with one final vacancy to fill,
which will be the Sparta High School vice principal position, which was posted today. Once all the positions are filled, I am certain that we will have great leaders in all of our administrative positions, and we will continue to I'm sorry, we will continue the great collaboration and teamwork
that we have engaged in during my time as superintendent. An update on Milton School. The process for preparing Milton School early childhood center is progressing nicely. Now that the Genesis rollover is complete, we can finalize the bus stops
for the preschool students. The plan will be to utilize the same bus stop locations that we use for our Pope John students as they are spread across our township in safe locations. As I mentioned previously, these stops will be in addition to our community provider stops if and when our parents
choose to use these providers for before care and or afterare. Our preschool registration process is also progressing as all of our previously weight listed families that selected our district preschool program are now enrolled. As was stated in principal Cassa's
introduction letter, we are looking at August 12th as our preschool openhouse date. This will allow our custodial and maintenance teams to prepare the building and allow our preschool teachers some time to prepare their classrooms for open house.
Milton School is not the only building getting attention this summer. Although summer is a break for our students and many of our staff members, that doesn't mean the work stops. Regular building maintenance, painting, and cleaning has been happening in all of our buildings and will continue right up until we welcome our students back at the end of
August. In addition to our maintenance and custodial teams, our 12-month administration, building secretaries, central office staff, and IT staff have been working hard to close out the 2526 school year and prepare for the opening of the 2627 school year. Our ESY program
has also been running successfully and I thank all the staff and administrators involved in extended school year. And that is my report. >> Thank you, Dr. Beck. Moving on to the board president's report. making sure I'm following along. Um, to piggyback on the Milton School update, members of the
board had the pleasure of visiting Milton Milton School early childhood center this week. We're all beyond excited to see the progress taking place. I wish to commend the efforts of all parties involved from those painting classrooms Sparta Blue to the teachers and staff who are preparing their new
learning spaces. We appreciate your hard work during the summer heat and we're very excited for the upcoming open house and for preschool classes to begin in September. I'd also like to thank all preschool parents and guardians who have reached out to us over the last several weeks. We've received incredible
feedback, particularly from formerly weight listed families who will now be sending their children to preschool in Sparta. Your genuine engagement and your patience throughout this process are recognized, and we are proud to see this initiative come to fruition for all families. I'd now like to take the time to address
the serious issue that arose yesterday, which Dr. Beck also covered. Dr. Beck, I must first acknowledge the fact that you handled this matter as the leader of our district swiftly and appropriately. And for that, this board applauds you and
supports you. As unfortunate as it is that we must dedicate time during our board meetings to dispelling myths and deliberate myths and disinformation, it is necessary that the public is made aware of the truth. to the person or
people who crafted a fabricated job listing. And to again reiterate, this was regarding a preschool position that never existed, a fabrication that has been picked up by outlets and social media pages across the state and well beyond. You managed to take our most
vulnerable youngest student population, our preschool students, and a fractionalized or excuse me, a fractional marginalized student population as well and weaponize them. This behavior doesn't hurt our administration or our board anywhere
near as much as it hurts the fabric and the integrity of our district. It hurts our students. It hurts our staff. It hurts our teachers who are watching and listening. And what's especially troubling, this
was accomplished through lies, through willful fabrication. I'm a firm believer in the fact that you cannot reason with something you are not capable of. And still, this begs the question, why? What was accomplished in
doing this? Sadly, this is not new. We have seen time and time again that inaccurate information with the assumed intent of farming, social media engagement and manufacturing outrage and hate spreads quickly.
And after months of choosing not to engage, not to fan these flames, I apologize, but I can no longer remain silent. I denounce the behavior that we've seen and the associated rhetoric, at times
violent rhetoric that resulted from this behavior wholeheartedly. And I want the Sparta public to know exactly where I stand as the president of this board of education. I implore Sparta residents to seek the truth, to fact check the information you
see, and consider the source, especially when you know in your gut something sounds off or unreliable. Reach out to us as board members or to the administration if you ever have a question or need clarification on any matter.
And before you engage with or perpetuate any information or dubious social media posts or deliberately manipulated screenshots or rumors in general related to this school district, make sure the
information you have is legitimate. We warn our children through literature and history books and personal anecdotes about the dangers of propaganda. Do not become a victim. To any Sparta residents who may have been involved in
this fabrication plot as a board, we welcome all criticism and encourage you to question our logic in a respectful manner at any time, but tell the truth. Debate the facts. Know Excuse me. And
while your efforts may have temporarily taken us away through time, energy, effort, fiscal resources, and again, in some cases have even threatened violence. I want everyone to know this. No amount of lying or intimidation from
any individual, outside actor, organization, or even Facebook group will detract this board from the incredible work that we are doing every single day. We will continue to ensure the Sparta public is equipped with the truth and we
encourage all district stakeholders to join us in this effort because it takes a village to protect our township and public education. As long as I sit in this seat in any capacity, I will ethically protect this board, this administration, and every student, teacher, and staff member in
this district to the best of my ability. And I'm confident confident that every single colleague sitting at this deis will do the exact same. But with that said, it's time for us to move on to real business by moving on to our agenda items for this evening. So I kindly request an approval of the HIP report
from this month. >> Yes. >> Thank you, Rebecca. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Rocky. Uh, roll call, please. >> Yes. >> Martinez. >> Yes. Yes. >> Williams. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Anything from communications that we'd like to cover from a newsletter perspective? I think we're okay. Um, still hope everyone's enjoying it. I know we say that every month. Delegate and liaison reports. Anyone have anything they'd like to report out on for this month?
>> Just a reminder that we'll be meeting with the town council members. Isn't it on? >> Is it on? >> It was just me not being close enough. will be reading with the town council on July 28th at 5:30. Anyone else?
>> I'm sorry, one more thing. >> Oh, go for it. >> Sparta Education Foundation is holding their tournament on September 29th. Uh, sorry, August 29th, and it's at nine o'clock in the morning. So, if you are into cornhole or throwing uh bags, you
can win a prize. Um, please join them. Excellent. Thank you. Anyone else? Any Okay. Uh, New Jersey School Boards Associate Association is always a little bit light around this time of year. Uh, but I do know there was a planning meeting this evening which I
unfortunately could not attend. So, we should have more to update next month. Uh, again, we look forward to the fall where we'll celebrate our board certification. And with that ideas, ideas committee, we have to schedule that for the summer. So that's priority number one for next
month. And with that, we'll move on to public comment number one. Public comments are invited on matters pertaining only to action items at this time. Please state the action item number as well as your name, municipality, and group affiliation if appropriate for the record. Each participant will receive three minutes
to speak. Once you have had your allotted three minutes to speak, you will not be permitted to speak again until public comment number two. All statements should be directed to me as the presiding officer. The board or administration may or may not respond to any questions or comments after the
conclusion of the public participation. Oh, >> should be on. >> I'm good. Okay, there we go. Again, good evening, Madam President. Dr. Beck, thank you very much for your opening comments regarding that. I'm not involved in any of this social media
stuff. And if I end up finding out about it, you it had to be very very deep with very long tentacles reaching out. I think you guys handled it perfectly again tonight and what you said. This kind of nonsense has to stop. Your jobs
are hard enough without this kind of garbage being generated and it's despicable. I hope you have some type of vehicle that you can use that addresses this and brings this kind of garbage, you know, forward into the
light of day and burns it out because it has no place to waste anybody's time in this community. in a state. So, thank you again. I hope there's something you can do. If you have an answer to that, that's great. Other than what you're doing now, which is quickly addressing
it and making sure that the facts speak for themselves. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else for public comment? Number one. Going once, going twice. Seeing no one. Motion to close, please.
Thank you, Emily. Second. Thank you, Andrew. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? >> Okay. At this time, I will ask for a motion to move personnel and policy items 15.1 through 15.34. >> Motion.
>> I think she beat you to it. Sorry, Emily. Thank you. Second. Thank you, Dom. Discussion. >> Okay. So, reporting out on our personnel and policy meeting this month. Um, you will notice on the agenda there are a lot of appointments. The summer's very
busy with appointments in uh hiring new staff to fill in openings that we have in all our buildings. So, welcome again to many of the professionals that that will be joining our district or taking on a new role in our district. We're always so excited to see that. And I'm going to echo Dr. Beck's sentiments.
Congratulations to Michael Petraelli for taking on the role as Sparta Middle School principal and congratulations to Ryan Schaefer taking on the new role at the middle school as well. Also on the agenda, we have the approval of fall coaches. it's already getting ready for the fall season. So, you'll see all of
that listed as well. Um, and looking forward to an excellent fall season. And then when it comes to a policy audit update, uh, we have a lot going on here, but it's actually not that big of changes even though there's a lot of policies listed. So, we [snorts] are abolishing several different um,
regulations. There are all regulations that were either irrelevant to our district or just repetitive and repeated in another section. we are amending and adopting a bunch of policies but really they are just picking up the Strauss template or better matching the template that Strauss Esme gave us. Um so they
were all relatively for the most part like minor edits. It was like changing board of education to the board you know 25 times throughout a policy. Um and the biggest change we really see is that we are abolishing regulation 6115.01 which is federal awards and allowable
cost and we are also readopting it later. under the agenda. Basically, that was just such a big difference that Strauss pointed out to us in what our pol what our regulation was and what it should be that we decided to just scrap it and adopt what they have. Um, overall, nothing really changing within
our district and how the running of our district, but more of just the wording of everything. >> Excellent, Emily. And I want to reiterate, these were Strauss uh Esme updates prompted by Strauss, so nothing outside of that. And I also have to commend uh the personnel and and policy
committee because you guys did a fantastic job in that process and thank you to me Melanie for her ongoing support as well. And any additional discussion? >> Okay, may we have a roll call, please? >> Dr. Hinkle, >> Mr. Lacarba.
>> Yes, >> Mr. Lowry. >> Yes, >> Dr. Mr. Martinez, >> yes. >> Miss Null, >> yes. >> Miss Williams, >> yes. >> Miss Saraphino, >> yes. >> And Miss Gagman, >> yes. >> Motions carry. >> Thank you. May I have a motion to move curriculum instruction and special
services items 16.1 through 16.5? >> Motion. >> Thank you, Dominic. Second. Thank you, Emily. Discussion. So, I believe because Chad and Tara are both away unfortunately, Dom, would you mind giving us a brief update? Not to
put you on the spot. Sure thing. I wasn't expecting to give this update, but here we go. Uh, yes. So, we talked at our meeting um last week uh mostly about the um the math program um that is being uh chosen. The process has kind of
been elongated due to uh an issue in with um one of the programs that was unforeseen. Um so, what I was able to do was uh offline talk to uh Dr. Rossi about some of the other options that
I've um come across in my experience as a math teacher and uh working with um many different programs over the last 15 years and going through that process. So that is still ongoing. Um we also discuss
um if I could uh one second uh just yeah we had also discussed um how the transition in um the summer uh programs
uh is very heavy for next month's meeting. So, a lot of the things that are kind of in flux right now will be covered in next month's meeting. So, it was a week. It was a very u a very uh small agenda. >> Light one. Thank you so much and for
letting me put you on the spot. Uh any additional discussion? Okay. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Mr. Lakaruba. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lowry. >> Yes. >> Dr. Martinez. >> Yes. >> Miss Null. >> Yes. >> Miss Williams.
>> Yes. >> Miss Saraphino. >> Yes. >> And Miss Gagnum. >> Yes. >> Motions carry. >> Thank you. May I have a motion to move finance items 17.1 through 17.16. >> Motion. >> Thank you, Rocky. Second. >> Thank you, Rebecca. Discussion.
>> Yeah. So, um, some of this stuff is between Dr. Rebecca, Madame President, this is a kind of repeat. So, the bus routes, we are waiting for the software. I guess it's completed. They're they've made a decision on the bus routes, which is great for um preK. I'm going to The
Milton School is on track. We went there as we were told or was mentioned earlier. As a non preK teacher, it looks like an amazing environment. Um an amazing playground. It looks like it's going to be an
amazing place once it happens. So, I'm very excited for all the students and the staff that are going to be there. Um, bear of bad news in every meeting. We had another maintenance problem in the sewer with the Alpine. I keep putting that out there because we're getting nickeled and dimed on these
things instead of fixing them wholesale. We're going to pay double or triple because we're not taking the the appropriate referendums to fix things completely. So, as you patch things, you pay more for them. And then, um, as Dr. Beck said, there's a lot of movement in the
personnel in the district office through the restructuring. And, um, that's it. >> Thank you, Rocky. Any additional discussion? May we have a roll call, please? >> Yes. Mr.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you. May I have a motion to move operations items 18.1 through 18.3. >> Motion.
>> Thank you, Emily. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Dom. Uh, we don't need to dis cover discussion, right? You just did. Roll call, please. >> Dr. Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lowry. >> Yes. >> Martinez. Yes. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Moving on to old business. I have a I believe we have a resolution on this evening's agenda. >> Right. >> Yes. The motion will read, resolve that the board of education affirms the superintendent's finding that HIP number
HMS6102026 was founded. Madam President, if I might just add just to clarify for anybody who may be watching, this is a hand carry resolution following a hip appeal that was conducted in an executive session. >> Thank you, Jackie. And do we need a a roll call to be clear?
>> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Roll call, please. >> Dr. Hinkle, >> yes. >> Mr. Laruba? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lowry? >> Yes. >> Dr. Martinez? >> Yes. >> Miss Null? >> Yes. >> Miss Williams? >> Yes. >> Miss Saraphino? Yes.
>> And Miss Gagman. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Anyone else for old business? >> Car to discuss new business. >> Okay. Moving right along. Public comment number two. Excuse me. I got to find my statement.
The board uses the second public comment period to invite comments on all matters pertaining to the school district. Please state your name, municipality, and group affiliation if appropriate for the record. Each participant will receive three minutes to speak. Once you have had your allotted three minutes to speak, you will not be permitted to
speak again. All statements should be directed to me as the presiding officer. The board or administration may or may not respond to any questions or comments after the conclusion of the public participation. Anyone for public comment number two wish to speak?
It's going to see no one. Okay. Motion to close. >> Thank you, Rebecca. Second. Thank you, Andrew. All in favor? >> I. Any oppose? Any abstensions? And I just realized in closing public comment number two, we did not address your first comment in public comment number one. So, I just wanted to assure you
that we are certainly exploring all options available to the district. Thank you. And moving on to the good of the order. Anyone have anything for the good of the order that they wish to explore? I I actually would like to say uh one positive thing is that and uh Dr. Beck,
correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the entire weight list for prek was was handled. >> Uh yes, for those there were a couple that declined, but it was definitely open to everybody that was on the wait list. >> So, I just want to make sure that everybody who's listening out here,
internet land, that this was definitely a positive thing. the weight list is gone and we have a wonderful building which I just saw and that's going to be a wonderful experience for all of those children and there's no wait list so there's that.
>> Well said. Anyone else for good of the order? >> Yes. I just want to say when I toured Milton earlier this week I was so impressed with the progress that our district has made to all our summer workers to all our administration for all their planning. Um, and I'm really
excited for our preschoolers because it's such a small, tight-knit school that like they can have this whole domain to themselves and it's easily accessible and I'll be build this like little community and I hope it's around my little one is a in preschool
>> and and we have a back a playground, right? >> Yeah. >> And we have a playground. >> There is a playground, that's for sure. I I'm also really excited to see what changes it brings to Alpine because I think in the commotion of the preschool, we're so focused on Milton, which is a beautiful amazing thing to know how much change is going to come to Alpine and
how many issues we're going to resolve with this art returning to an actual classroom. All of these are very excited. So, well said. Anyone else? >> Bring back the pinch pots in the in the art rooms. >> We're going to have a board retreat with pinch pots for Emily. Anyone else have anything they'd like to say?
>> Yeah, I was just remembering one of my favorite quotes. I used to put up a quote uh every day or every week and one of [clears throat] my favorite quotes for my kids was um when a person lies he murders some part of the world and I think truth should prevail.
Thank you Andrew. Anyone else? Okay. Uh this evening we will not be convening into close session. So may I have a motion to adjourn? >> Thank you Rebecca. Second. >> Second. Thank you, Dom. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any absentions?
>> Good night, everyone.