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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=BaRyphlyCK4

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[bell] [music] Hello. Welcome to tonight's board of education meeting. I'll call the meeting to order. In accordance with the state sunshine law, adequate notice of this meeting was provided by sending a notice of the time, date, location, and to the extent known, the agenda of this meeting

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on January 16, 2026 and June 5th, 2026 to the Home News Tribune and the Times, posted on the district website, placed in the board office, and in each of the district schools, and sent to Plansboro and West Windsor public libraries and Plainsboro and West Windsor township

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clerks. I'll now ask for a roll call. Dr. Russo. Okay, we'll start with Miss Bonsel >> here. >> Miss D. Sebastian >> here. >> Miss Chenniera >> here. >> Miss Krue >> present. >> Miss Mcuan >> here. >> Miss Maliga

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>> here. >> Mr. O'Brien >> present. >> Miss Sha >> here. >> Miss Shetty >> here. >> Good. Okay. Well, thank you for joining us. We uh thank you for your patience as we have a bit of a late start. just had our

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district celebration um hosted by our administrative staff and and notably uh Miss uh Charity Camela who um organized a fantastic uh honor and tribute to our educators of the year, support staff of the year um and our retirees. Um

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hopefully you are I'm sure you're counting down the days till the uh start of summer break. And I'm going to ask Dr. at our hold if he has any comments to start off with or if we can move on. Good. Okay. >> I'd just like to echo those comments and

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and congratulate our retirees, our um support staff members of the year, educators of the year. Um as we just celebrated 34 uh retiring graduates with serving 866 uh collective years of service to WWP. Again, we send our

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thanks uh and appreciation to them for their service. Also want to thank uh Charity Camlo and the HR staff for all the work they did in preparing this evening's uh event and deep appreciation for their their work in celebration of all our award winners. And just an

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upcoming congratulations to our um eighth graders that'll be graduating and saluting to the high school on June 23rd and our high school south and north uh graduates that um will be celebrated on the 24th of June.

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Thank you, Dr. Ederhold. And that takes us to our first opportunity for public comments. The board invites thoughts and reactions on agenda items and items of concern from members of our community who are present. Each participant is asked to give his or her name and address prior to making a statement, which will be limited to three minutes

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in accordance with board policy 0167. All statements shall be directed to the presiding officer. This public comment period shall be limited to 60 minutes. Uh, we do have a microphone up front if anybody would like to make a public comment. Good evening everyone. My name is Thea

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Burke and I live at 78 Parker Road in Plansboro and I've been a resident of Plainsboro for 30 years. I am the proud I proudly serve as the president of the West Windsor Plainsboro Service Association representing the dedicated educational support

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professionals who help make that school district function every single day. Today I am here to discuss an issue that is both practical and moral. Fair compensation for the educational support professional members who serve our students, families and community. When

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people think about education, they often picture classrooms, teachers, and principles. What is less visible but equally essential are the support professionals who keep our schools operating safely, efficiently, and effectively. They are the instructional assistants who work to provide our

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students with additional support. They are the secretaries who manage the countless responsibilities that keep our schools organized. They are the bus drivers who bring the students safely to and from school. They are the cafeteria and lunch

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aids who make the children of food and play and and play safely at recess, ensure that they play safely at recess. They are the dedicated members of the West Windsor Plainsboro staff who contribute to student success every day. These employees are often the first

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people students see in the morning and the last people to see before they go home. They build relationships, provide stability, solve problems, and frequently go beyond the responsibilities outlined in their job description because they care so deeply

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about our students. Yet, despite their importance, many ST support staff professionals members struggle to earn wages that reflect the value of their work. Rising costs of housing, health care, transportation, and other daily

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necessities have placed increasingly financial pressure on working families. Many of our members are working s second jobs, taking taking on additional responsibilities or making difficult financial decisions simply to support

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their families. Fair compensation is not simply about increasing pay. It is about recognizing professional contributions, retaining experienced employees, and ensuring that our district remains an attractive place to work. When wages fail to keep pace with the market,

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districts could face increased turnover, staffing shortages, and the loss of valuable instructional knowledge. These challenges ultimately impact students and the quality of service they receive. Investing in the educational support

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professionals is an investment in student success. Stable, experienced employees create stronger schools. They provide consistency for students, improve operation efficiency, and contribute to

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a positive educational environment. We understand that the board the board must balance many competing priorities and steward taxpayers resources responsibly. We respect that. up. Um, we have a second opportunity for public comment. You can um, come back then.

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>> Sure. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else for a public comment? >> Sorry. [gasps and snorts] Um, anybody else for a public comment? Okay, seeing none, I'll close this public comment period and then there'll

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be a second one later. Um, uh, the committees have not met since the last board meeting, so we don't have any committee reports, which means we can move on to the voting portion of our meeting. So, can I get a motion for administration items numbers 1 through 15 plus the peach addendum?

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Uh, Liz and Pua. Um, any questions or comments for administration? No. >> Okay, we'll start with Miss Chenniera. >> Yes. >> Miss Sha, >> yes. Miss D. Sebastian, >> yes.

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>> Miss Krug, >> yes. >> Miss Maliga, >> yes. >> Mr. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Miss Shetty, >> yes. >> Miss Bonsel, >> yes. >> Miss Mcuan, >> yes. Can I get a motion for curriculum and instruction items numbers one and

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two plus the purple addendum? Uh, Schwatha and Ly. Any questions or comments for curriculum and instruction? Okay, we'll start with Miss Shetty. >> Yes. >> Miss Maliga, >> yes. >> Miss Dbastian, >> yes.

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>> Miss Chenniera, >> yes. >> Miss Krug, >> yes. >> Mr. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Miss Sha, >> yes. >> Miss Bonsel, >> yes. >> Miss Mcuan, >> yes. Can I get a motion for finance items numbers 1 through eight plus the blue addendum? Dana and Paul, any

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questions for finance? >> Okay, we'll start with Miss Krug. >> Yes, >> Mr. Mr. O'Brien, >> yes. >> Miss Dispatch, >> yes. >> Miss Chenierra, >> yes. >> Miss Maliga, >> yes. >> Miss Shaw, >> yes. >> Miss Shetty, >> yes. >> Miss Bonsel, >> yes. >> Miss Mchuan,

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>> yes. Uh, can I get a motion for personal items numbers one and two plus the green addendum? Uh, Ajonta and Dana. Um, any questions or comments about personnel?

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Okay, we'll start with Miss Sha. >> Yes. >> Miss Krug, >> yes. >> Miss D. Sebastian. >> Yes. But I abain from number two. >> A on two. >> Miss Cheniera. >> Yes. >> Miss Moliga. >> Yes. >> Mr. O'Brien.

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>> Yes. >> Miss Shetty. >> Yes. >> Miss Bonsel. >> Yes. >> Miss Mchuan. >> Yes. Um Oh, before we move on, uh Dr. Dr. did you want to mention anything

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on Yes. So on the HR agenda this evening um approved and in the audience there are several changes that I just want to recognize. So let's start with um Village Elementary School. Uh two years

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ago, we were very fortunate and graced with the addition of Azure Diggs um from Hillside to join us at Village Elementary School as the assistant principal. And I'm extraordinarily thrilled to welcome her as the new principal of Village Elementary School

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for the 2627 school year. Azure and family are in the audience. We want to recognize and congratulate her this evening. [applause] >> [applause] >> It was a heartwarming standing ovation at Village the other morning. So, congratulations, Azure. Um, also um we

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have the recognition of a new 612 uh language arts supervisor, Stephanie Jiari. Stephanie's joining us um after spending time as the supervisor of humanities and ESL um and Manville School District, formerly uh an academy

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leader and language arts teacher at Lawrence High School. And we're thrilled to welcome Stephanie to WWP as the new 612 supervisor of language arts. [applause] I believe still joining us in the audience is Dr. Dober and uh didn't get

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to congratulate him publicly in a prior meeting, but we'll thank John for his service at both North and and Grover as principal as John is making his way over to East Windsor as the principal of um East Windsor or Heightstown High School. So, John, congratulations on the

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upcoming move. [applause] And with that, we've made uh two other principal transitions with uh Dr. Tulp going over to Wyoff and Moren Cook going over to Grover, former assistant principal um there. But you know, we weren't done with making some shifts. Uh

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so we also have um welcomed a transfer of Paul Hamnet, current assistant principal at community, longtime assistant principal at High School South to join Miss Cook over at Grover Middle School. So Paul will be joining Moren um

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over there starting July 1. Um and then we're fortunate that Mr. Malicus, a longtime fourth grade teacher at Milstone and then last six years at Grover, will be going back to the upper elementary school where he started and will be joining Azure as the new assistant principal at Village

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Elementary School. So uh keep keep the uh bingo card out there. uh maybe more to come, but um very excited about all the moves and the new teams. Um and we welcome all our new administrators to the new positions. So, thank you. [applause]

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>> Thank you, Dr. Adhold. Um next, we're going to uh uh motion to approve the board of education minutes. And just a quick reminder to anyone to uh abstain if needed. Um, a motion to approve the board of education minutes from May 12th

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and May 26th. Uh, Schwatha and Liz. Any questions or comments? Okay. All in uh all in favor say I. >> I. I. Uh. Any abstensions? >> I abstain from the May 26 minutes.

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Any other abstensions? I abstain from I think May 12th I believe. Do we have any board leazison reports? >> Go ahead, Liz. Um I just wanted to mention that we held the last PTSA uh

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meeting with the uh central staff um just last week. It was a very productive discussion and just highlighted various um recent activities and things to look forward to for the coming year. So just thanking all the PTSA executive board members um who had come and given up

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their time and throughout the year. Thanks Liz. Uh any other reports? No. Uh any new business? Nope. Uh that takes us to our second opportunity for public comments. The board invites comments from members of our community who are present. Each

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participant is asked to give his or her name and address prior to making a statement which will be limited to three minutes in accordance with board policy 0167. All statements shall be directed to the presiding officer. This public comment period shall be limited to 15 minutes. Hello again. Once again, Thea Burke, 78

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Parker Road in Plainsboro. We understand that the board must balance competing priorities and and steward taxpayer resources responsibly. We respect that. We are not requesting special treatment. We're asking that compensation reflect the

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essential role support staff play in fulfilling the district's mission. A fair contract and fair compensation send a clean me a clear message that every employee matters, every contribution is valued, and every member of the educational team deserves respect. Words

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of appreciation are meaningful, but meaningful compensation is a tangible demonstration of that appreciation. In our district, the issue of fair compensation is especially urgent for our instructional assistance. These dedicated professionals work directly with some of the most vulnerable

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students, providing academic assistance, behavioral support, personal care, and individual attention that help students succeed both inside and outside the classroom. They are trusted partners in the educational process. Yet, despite

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the importance of their work, our instructional assistants remain among the lowest paid in the county. The compensation offered in our district simply does not reflect the responsibilities they carry or the values they bring to the students every day. No employee who dedicates their

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career to serving our students should discover that their years of experience are worth less in the district than their first day on the job in a neighboring one. I urge the board to recognize the extraordinary comp um contributions of the educational support

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staff and to support compensation that reflects their value, their professionalism and dedication to our students. Thank you all very much. Thank you. >> [applause] [applause] >> Do we have any other comments for this

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period? Nope. Seeing none, I'll close this public comment period. Uh and that takes us into um adjourning for uh into our closed session. So I I have to read this statement. Whereas the open public

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meetings act authorizes boards of education to meet in executive session under certain circumstances. Whereas the open public meetings act requires the board to adopt a resolution at a public meeting to go into private session. Now therefore, be it resolved by the West Windsor Plains Board Regional School Bo District Board of Education that it is

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necessary to meet in executive session to discuss certain items involving matters of personal confidentiality rights uh specifically personnel matters matters concerning negotiations, specifically WWPs negotiations update uh matters involving personnel issues,

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specifically superintendent evaluation. Be it further resolved that any discussion held by the board which need not remain confidential will be made public as soon as feasible. The minutes of the executive session will not be disclosed until the need for confidentiality no longer exists. Be it further resolved that the board will not

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return to open session to conduct business at the conclusion of the executive session. That takes us to adjourn. So can I get a motion to adjourn into closed executive session? >> Recess into exe. >> To recess into Thank you. um recess into

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closed executive session. Got the right words there. Uh Puja and Loy. All in favor say I. >> I. Thank you. Have a good night. [music] [bell]