The adequate notice of this regular meeting as required by the open public meetings act was provided on January 6, 2026. This notice was on that date posted on the bulletin board in the township office and the board of education administrative office posted on the board of education district
website and filed with the township clerk of the township of Warren. All in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings act. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. 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. >> Right. I'll now call the role. Mr. Brozby's >> here. >> Mrs. Dalton >> here. >> Mrs. Granholm >> here. >> Miss Keller
>> here. >> Mr. Malfetta. >> Mr. Tor >> here. >> Mr. Valentino. >> Mr. Weinstein here. >> Mrs. Zan >> here. We have a quorum. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. Hegel and Miss Keller. >> Resolve that the board of education
approves the public and private session minutes of the March 23rd, 2026 board meeting. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Right. I will call the role on the minutes. Mr. Brosby's, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dalton, >> yes. >> Mrs. Granholm, >> yes. >> Miss Keller,
>> yes. >> Mr. MFetta, oh, he's not here. Mr. Tor, >> yes. >> Mr. Weinstein, >> yes. >> And Mrs. Yes. >> Motions pass. >> Um, thank you. Correspondence and information, Dr. Mingle. >> Thank you, Mrs. Z. Uh, no correspondence
to report here. On the suspension report, there were two inschool suspensions at Central and on the HIV report, there was one investigation not confirmed at Central and two investigations, one confirmed at Mount Horv School. >> Thank you, Dr. Mingle. Good evening and
welcome to the April 22nd 7th sorry meeting of the Warren Board of Education. Appearing on tonight's agenda as item C5 for approval is the retirement of Carmela Mis Madisca who has been with the district
for 25 years and Elspieta Dumala who's been with the district for 18 years. My apologies on the pronunciation there. On behalf of the board of education, thank you both for your many years of service to the Warren community and we wish you all the best in your retirement.
On April 16th, Dr. Mingle, Mr. Hegel, and I were pleased to attend the public meeting of the township committee to present an overview of the district's 2627 school budget. I want to again extend our thanks to Mayor Fine and the township committee members for their invitation, attention, and questions
regarding the budget. We are grateful for the continued communication between our respective public bodies. On April 21, I was pleased to attend the one-year anniversary of Feeding Hands Warren, which operates out of Stone Crest Church here in town, which serves
our northern Somerset community. Present at the event were many local residents, dignitaries, local food partners, and volunteers, including our own vice president, Laura Keller, who regularly donate their time, talents to address food insecurity in our own
neighborhoods. As Feeding Hands noted, in just one year, we've seen how powerful it is when neighbors come together to meet needs with compassion and care. We've seen local scout troops, schools, grocery stores, and local small businesses come alongside us to serve,
support, and make a difference. Um, and I'll just remind everyone of the uh effort that was made in our own schools with the Halloween food drive that we conducted in the fall and um uh the gratitude that Feeding Hands expressed for that effort. Um, with that, Dr.
Mingle. >> Thank you, Mrs. Zan. Just uh two things here for me. First, a quick update on the central school principal search. Uh, obviously I've been updating the board as we go, but for the public's benefit as well, we have gone through, we were very pleased with the applicant pool. We
started with nearly 70 complete applications, which is more than either of the last two times that we had an opening for our principles. So, we're happy with uh the quality and uh the quantity of our applicant pool. We did a screening round and then a first round of interviews which included many members of our administrative team,
including all of our elementary school principles. In th from those two rounds we have narrowed down to a small number of finalists who will be uh spending a portion of the day at central school tomorrow. Uh I'm really excited about one particular aspect of the day which
is we will have students at central leading the candidates on a tour of the building. Uh and that will help us observe how the candidates interact with our students but also allows our students to explain to the candidates what they're looking for out of a leader and what they value about their central
school experience. We will obviously also have a more traditional panel interview as well. Uh but we hope and we expect to be on on track for a recommendation for the board's next meeting on May 11th. Uh the other area I just want to highlight is the Warner Middle School History Club which is
under the advisement of Dave Arnold Middle School social studies teacher was selected by the Somerset County Cultural and Heritage Commission as the recipient of the Young Historian Award. uh the students in that group that's for the work they do around local history uh with the fourth grade trip and and other
efforts they've been making and uh they'll be recognized at a countywide celebration in the near future. So we're very excited to congratulations to Mr. Arnold and all the students there. >> Thank you Dr. Mingle. We do not have a presentation or discussion scheduled for
this evening. So moving to uh board members appointed to external assignments. I just want to draw the board's attention to the New Jersey School Board Association delegate assembly will be taking place May 16th. Mr. Tour and I will be attending. The
handbook for the assembly is available online at the New Jersey School Board Association's njsba.org. Um if you want to take a look at the resolutions that are being proposed. Um Miss Keller I believe has an update as well. >> Thank you. Uh the Warren Township
Mayor's Wellness Committee met on March 24th. Uh we discussed the wellness walks that have been heavily promoted online. I'm sure many of you have seen them. Uh there have been three total since that meeting in March and one is planned for tomorrow the 28th at 10 a.m. Uh Mrs. ZH,
Mrs. Granhome, myself have been able to attend. I don't know if any other board members were able to go. um they take place at East County Park and the committee is trying different times a day to accommodate different schedules. Uh the committee has also organized different virtual events such as
wellness Wednesdays on healthy eating and emotional support groups for new moms. Uh the committee is also partnering with Feeding Hands which u Mrs. also alluded to which is that local food pantry located in Stone Crest Church. Uh, the committee recently worked with ALT's PTO to do a book drive
and the Friends of the Library organization secured shelves for families to look through while they are picking up the food at the pantry. Uh, the mayor's wellness committee is planning many other events for the year with ideas including a blood drive, self-defense classes, CPR classes,
emergency preparedness for seniors, and various events for the autism community. >> Thank you, Miss Keller. Uh do we have any other external assignment reports from anybody? Okay, moving on to our standing committee reports. Curriculum
technology committee, Mr. Tour. Okay, so we excuse me, we met on the 23rd of March and there's two areas really need to to quickly update you on. One is winter ready results and the other is uh sixth grade writing followup. So we
looked at the I Ready results. Uh I think the the interesting thing is that there was no real difference between the schools which is kind of reassuring. So between the four elementary schools everything was pretty consistent in terms of results. There was no no standouts or red flags. Uh couple of things to be aware of. So students took
the I Ready exam or tests three weeks earlier this year than they did previously and that has led to a slight dip in results as you might expect but nothing that raised any concerns with the curriculum committee. Um we also discussed and got an overview of um the
dip in seventh grade math performance in 2425 and how that was addressed and addressed successfully. So again no long-term or ongoing concerns there. And then there was a much longer discussion about the middle school ELA um where a concern was raised that
typically you may see a dip in performance with the transition from fifth to sixth grade but then it rebounds in the seventh and eth hasn't rebounded. So there is an ongoing discussion and more work being done to ascertain a the cause and b what the interventions should be in the short
term but then potentially over the longer term. And then the second discussion was around sixth grade writing. Now that's probably a broader discussion. It seems that there's a dip again from fifth to sixth. Um and then there's a question mark over well what
do you really do to address that? and there were some pretty drastic in terms of impacts across the broader curriculum changes that may have to be made. So the administration is now going back and reooking at okay well what would we do for the long term would we want to add in more ELA instructional time and this
backs from the last report I gave and if we do what would the be the tradeoffs and the consequences either intended or so that's a work in progress and uh the the administration will come back to the curriculum committee and they will come to you with recommendations if there are going to be significant shifts
>> thank you Mr. tour. The finance operations and security committee met Monday, April 20th here live and in person in the middle school. Um this was our open meeting where we invite the public to come and interact with the finance committee with regard
to the budget and no members of the public were present. Um we did move on from that to discuss um the security vestibule design sketches for the middle school and um the architects walked us through the the proposal and are going
back with feedback from the committee for additional scenarios and drafting for a proposed um security vestibule. We also discussed and moved to um the agenda for this evening for approval as item B7 and B8. Both the commercial
vendor contract renewal for the national school lunch program and the 2627 breakfast and lunch prices. Again, those appear this evening for approval as item B7 and B8 with the recommendation of the committee. And then finally, there was a
a conversation with regard to the school policy on the um accommodating outside um organizations in the use of our facilities and there will be follow-up information on that in the future. So um
with that, moving on, um personnel negotiations and communications, Miss Keller, >> we met on April 17th. We discussed the non-aligned salary recommendations and adjustments to the assistant
superintendent contract. Both will be on the May agenda for approval. Uh we also spent time on reviewing the recommendations from the substitute teacher compensation and experience committee. This committee was comprised of members of administration and staff to review current substitute practices
in the schools. Uh as a result of this committee's research over the course of this school year, they determined that the experience of subs working in Warren is very positive and that our recruitment efforts are effective with many choosing to be a sub because of Warren's reputation, but that the
compensation for being a sub is really the only thing that surfaced as being a consistent weakness. Um, so Warren's uh sub rate currently is $138 a day and the regional range is between 150 and 175.
Uh, so we are recommending that our sub rate go from 138 to 160 kind of putting right in the middle of that market range. Um and then the long-term sub rate is going from $192 to $210 with the range as a result of this committee's
research showing that uh the market was between 2002 285. Um so this is item uh C14 on agenda for approval today. Uh we also did annual job description review which is in accordance with our five-year review plan. Every year we
review job descriptions and everything's on a five-year cycle. and lastly reviewed the district org charts which are approved annually at the May meeting. >> Thank you, Miss Keller. That concludes committee reports. Um this evening as
item 12 on the agenda is the budget hearing. Um the budget for the 26 27th school year appears tonight as item B9 for approval. It is unchanged from the full presentation that was made publicly in March and um has been approved at the
county level. Uh so as is required uh at this time we will be opening up a special uh public opportunity for public commentary specifically on the budget. Um, if you have an interest in making a public comment with regard to the 2627
school budget, I'll ask that you raise your hand or use the raise your hand um feature in Zoom. And we do ask that each speaker limit their comments to 3 minutes. Please state your name and address before beginning your comments. And at this time, I'm looking to the
audience to see we don't have an audience. So, going to Zoom. Do we have anyone in our Zoom audience that would like to address the budget specifically going once? Seeing nothing. Do I have a motion to close public commentary on the budget?
>> Motion to close public commentary. >> Do we have a second? >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstain. Thank you. This closes the public hearing with regard to the budget. Uh we will now be moving on to um the first official public commentary
that we generally have in our budget. This is for agenda items only. Again, this um please use the raise your hand feature on Zoom and limit your comments to 3 minutes. Do we have anyone on Zoom that would like to address the board on any item at all that appears on
tonight's agenda? Seeing none, do I have a motion to close this opportunity for public commentary? >> Motion. Second. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Abstain. This opportunity for public commentary on agenda items has
now closed. Dr. Mingle, do you have any item on for um on items for board consideration? >> I do have a few comments here about the business agenda. So, item A2, which is the 2526 revised calendar. This is our annual process where once we get through spring break, the first meeting after
spring break, the board uh addresses wherever we wound up with emergency closing days, snow days. Uh the last day for students will be Friday, June 19th with half days on Thursday, June 18th and Friday, June 19th. We've communicated that out already, but that officially doesn't happen until the
board acts this evening. And just for everybody's uh as a reminder for everyone, the calendar adopted moving forward for 2627 and I would assume thereafter builds into the calendar itself a different mechanism for addressing unused days. That way we
don't have to wait for a board meeting for this action to take place. And I think that'll be very helpful. That was uh based on feedback from the community. We we worked really hard to build that in so that in the future we don't have to wait for a board meeting for this to happen. So this is the last time uh that that will have to happen. Item B9 which
is the 2627 budget. I just want to once again thank the finance committee. Uh Mrs. Zan is the chair, Mr. Mfetta, Mr. Valentino, Mr. Bratzby's and our school business administrator, Mr. Hegel and his entire team. It's a huge amount of work to get to a budget. Uh and
obviously this is a challenging year for public entities all over. I appreciate the work of everybody on getting us to the place where the budget is on for approval this evening. And then finally, items C15 and C16, which are adding and abolishing positions. This always looks
a little bit funny on the agenda. It's always on the same agenda as the budget adoption because we are required to have a position control roster that matches our budget. And so this is the adjustment that reflects the budgetary changes. Uh as we've talked about in our
presentation, there's a net reduction of six teaching positions. That was all through attrition. there is no reduction in force or any kind of uh employment actions of any kind. These are through attrition. Um but that is why there's pluses and minuses and some of them are because of changes in student needs. So
we always have different students needing for example multilingual language services or English as a second language. Uh and we make adjustments every year so that when we make the appointments into positions in May, we have the right positions in the right places for the right people. So, I just wanted to point that out because it
always is a is a long list here on this agenda. That's all on the business agenda. >> Thank you, Dr. Mingle. Does any board member have any item for board consideration they'd like to pull for separate voter conversation? >> Seeing none, Miss Keller, motion to approve items for board consideration A1
through A3, B1 through B10, and C1 through C17. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. Right. I will call the role on the consent agenda. Mr. Bratz, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dalton, >> yes.
>> Mrs. Granholm, >> yes. >> Miss Keller, >> yes. >> Mr. Tor, >> yes. >> Mr. Valentino, >> yes. >> Mr. Weinstein, >> yes. >> Mrs. Z, >> yes. >> Motions pass 800. >> Um, thank you. We do not have any unfinished or new business on tonight's
agenda, so we are moving on to the last opportunity for public commentary. Uh, this opportunity is open to any topic you wish to raise to the board's attention. Again, I ask that you raise your hand or use the raise your hand feature on Zoom. Remember to limit comments to three minutes and please state your name and address before
beginning. Seeing nobody present in the room, we're moving directly to Zoom. Do we have anyone at in our Zoom audience that would like to address the board on any topic? Ms. Andrews. Hi there. This is Nancy Andrews and I am the proud president of the Warren
Township Education Association. Good evening, members of the board of ed. On behalf of our local association, we would like to express our sincere appreciation for your continued commitment to supporting our staff and upholding the high standards that define our district. Your dedication to
excellence in education is evident in the decisions you make and the priorities you set. We are grateful for your partnership and creating an environment where both educators and students can thrive. Thank you for your ongoing support. >> Thank you, Miss Andrew.
Do we have any other member of the public that would like to address the board on any topic? Going once. May I have a motion to close public commentary? >> Second. >> All in favor? opposed.
Abstain. This second opportunity for public comment is now closed. Miss Keller, >> whereas the open public meetings act NJSA 104-11 permits the board of education to meet in close session to discuss certain matters. Now, therefore, be it resolved, the board of education
adjourns to close session to discuss specific, prospective, or current employees unless all who could be adversely affected request an open session. Action will not be taken upon return to public session. The length of the meeting is anticipated to be approximately 20 minutes and be it further resolved the minutes of this
closed session be made public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Abstain. The board is now in executive session. Okay, Miss Keller, we have a motion. Motion to return to public session.
>> Second. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstain. We are now in public session. Miss Keller. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Abstain. We are adjourned. Thank you very much everyone.
>> Everybody