[Music] The August 28th, 2025 meeting of the Woodward Township Board of Education will please come to order. Roll call. Mr. Secretary. Miss Anderson here. Mr. Coughlin here. Mr. Delipro here. Mr. Lai
here. Mr. Mohamd here. Mr. Sedana here. Mr. Tribis here. And Miss Bordan here. Mr. Secretary, as required by the Sunshine Law, please read the notice of meetings. Thank you, Madam President. The New 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 or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place
thereof posted as follows. January 21st, 2025, emailed to the Home News Tribune, the Star Ledger, and the Mun M municipal clerk's office posted in Ros Street School number 11 and the board of education administration building, also published on the school district website. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Mr. Treeboser,
please read the closed notice session statement. Thank you, Madam President. In compliance with the sunshine law, the board must go into close session in order to discuss subjects exempted from the public portion of our meeting. The discussion to be held in closed session will be regarding personnel matters and privacy interests. Any information
regarding close session discussion will be released to the public when the reason for discussing these matters in closed session no longer exists. I have a motion by Mr. Treeboser. Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion by Mr. Treeer, second by Miss Anderson. All in favor? I.
Any opposed? carried. Board retires close session. Please rise for a salute to the flag and a moment of silence. 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. Feels like so I have a motion to reconvene. So motion. I have a second. Second. Motion by Mr. True Bosser. Second by Mr.
Sadana. All in favor? Any opposed? Carried. Roll call. Mr. Secretary. Ms. Anderson here. Mr. Coughlin here. Mr. Mr. Delipro here, Mr. Lai here, Mr. Muhammad here, Miss Perez here, Mr. Sidana here, Mr. Triboser here,
and Miss Bordan here. Will someone make a motion to approve the minutes of the previous meeting? Second. I have a motion by Mr. Del Petro and a second by Mr. Treeer. All in favor? Any opposed?
Mr. Secretary, please state for the record any notice of bids received by the board. Thank you. We received IFB 26-08 for student transportation. The bid was read on August 19th, 2025. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. The Woodbridge Township Board of Education welcomes and
encourages active, productive, and respectful participation by members of the public and seeks to protect the First Amendment rights of those who engage in the exercise of free speech. At this board of education meeting, members of the public are requested to express themselves in a civil manner with due respect for the dignity and
privacy for those whose legal rights may be impacted. The public is now invited to speak regarding the agendas being pre presented this evening. When you come up to the microphone, please provide your name and the section of township in which you reside along with the specific agenda item you wish to discuss. As per
regulation 1100D, comments must be limited to no more than five minutes. No responses will be given until you have completed your opportunity to speak. Anybody wishing to speak on the agenda? No. Okay. Mr. Maris,
moving on. Superintendent's agenda. Dr. Masamino, do you have any recommendations? Thank you, Madam President. I have 20 items to present to the board this evening. Do I I I move for the adoption of the superintendent's agenda. Do I have a second? Second. Second.
I have a motion by Mr. Tree Bosser, second by Miss Perez. Are there any comments or questions for the board? Roll call. Mr. Secretary, Miss Anderson, yes. Mr. Coughlin, yes. Mr. Delipopra, yes. Mr. Lai, yes. Mr. Muhammad, yes. Miss Perez, yes. Mr. Savannah,
yes. Mr. Triboser, yes. Miss Bourdain, yes. Communication policy and planning, Mr. Muhammad. Madame President, the communication policy and planning committee on recommendation of the superintendent of schools presents the following four recommendations. I move
for the adoption of the foregoing. I have a motion by Mr. Muhammad. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Mr. Sadana. Are there any comments or questions from the board? Roll call. Mr. Wolferman. Miss Anderson? Yes. Mr. Coughlin? Yes. Mr. Delaped? Yes. Mr. Lai? Yes.
Mr. Mohammed? Yes. Miss Perez? Yes. Mr. Sidana? Yes. Mr. Trib? Yes, Miss Bourdan. Yes. Curriculum extracurricular activities and technology. Mr. Sadonna. Thank you, Madam President. The curriculum extracurricular activities and technology committee on the
recommendation of the superintendent of schools and the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction presents the following 38 items. I move for the adoption of the foregoing. I have a motion by Mr. Sadonna. Do I have a second? Second. Motion by Mr. Sadana. Second by Miss Anderson. Are there any comments or
questions from the board? Roll call. Mr. Wolferman. Miss Anderson, yes. Mr. Coughlin, yes. Mr. Delipro, yes. Mr. Lai, yes. Mr. Muhammad, yes. Miss Perez, yes. Mr. Savannah, yes. Mr. Treeboser, yes. Miss Bordan, yes. Finance and insurance agenda. Mr.
Treeboser. Thank you, Madam President. The finance and insurance committee on recommendation of the superintendent of schools and the business administrator board secretary presents the following 12 items. I move for the adoption of the foregoing. I have a motion by Mr. Truster. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Miss Perez. Are there any
comments or questions from the board? Roll call. Mr. Wolferman. Miss Anderson. Yes. Mr. Coughlin. Yes. Mr. Delpitro. Yes. Mr. Lai. Yes. Mr. Muhammad. Yes. Miss. Perez. Yes. Mr. Sidana? Yes. Mr. Tribos? Yes. Miss Bordan? Yes. Dining and transportation. Miss Perez.
Thank you, Madam President. The dining and transportation committee on recommendation of the superintendent of schools and the business administrator board secretary present the following nine items. I move for the adoption of Porgulli. Motion by Miss Perez. Do I have a second? Second. Motion by Miss Perez, second by Mr.
Sadana. Any comments or questions from the board? Roll call. Mr. Wolferman. Miss Anderson. Yes. Mr. Coughlin? Yes. Mr. Delapro? Yes. Mr. Lai? Yes. Mr. Muhammad? Yes. Miss Perez? Yes. Mr. Sadana? Yes. Mr. Tibboser? Yes. Miss Bordan?
Yes. Personnel, Mr. Delipro. Thank you, Madam President. The personnel committee on recommendation of the superintendent of schools and the assistant superintendent for human resources pres presents the following 22 items. I move for the adoption of the foregoing. I have a motion by Mr. Delipro. Do I have a second? Have a second by Mr.
Treeboser. Are there any comments or questions from the board? Roll call. Mr. Wolferman. M. Anderson. Yes. Mr. Coughlin. Yes. Mr. Delipro. Yes. Mr. Lai. Yes. Mr. Mohammed. U. Madam President, just one clarification.
Uh, is it 24 or is it 22 items? 22 items, right? Yes. To correct the record there. Yes, Miss Perez. Yes, Mr. Sudana. Yes, Mr. Triboser. Yes, Miss Bordan. Yes, Miss Odella.
Odella. Do you have any recommendations? No, I don't. Okay. Is there any old business that should be brought to the attention of the board? Is there any new business that should be brought to the attention of the board? Madame President, uh just two quick
items. One, with the first day of school coming up next week, I just want to welcome everybody back. Um parents, please, you know, check your the parent portal. Uh as always, we recommend do everything a little earlier, get to the bus stop a little earlier, get to school a little earlier. It it's a long first
day, a lot of nerves, a lot of jitters. Uh the time just gives us some wiggle room as we navigate the first day of everything. Uh the second item, and she's probably going to not be happy with me. I want to send a happy birthday wish to my daughter, Juliana. Um he's 15
today. When she sees this, uh I'm sure I'll pay for it when I get home, but happy birthday, sweetheart. Thank you, Dr. Masamino. Um I want to I would I would like to uh also wish everybody a happy first day of school. Happy good school year.
and ditto to everything he said and happy birthday to Julia. Wish everybody good luck. We Anybody else? We will now open the meeting for public comment. If you wish to say something, please come to the microphone. Provide your name and section of the township in
which you reside for the record. Again, members of the public are requested to express themselves in a civil manner with due respect for the dignity and privacy privacy of those whose legal rights may be impacted. Please limit your comments to no more than 5 minutes. In accordance to with regulation 1100D,
no response will be given until you have fully completed your comments so as to not interrupt your fiveminut opportunity to speak. I see you're ready. Good evening. Thank you. Paul London Hoplan. Um I read an article recently about uh the standardized testing
company is no longer Pearson and somewhat last minute the state uh introduced another company and I I heard that some superintendents were caught off guard. a lot of school districts were caught off guard. I just want to see if you had a chance to speak to
that. The second item I want to refer to is a statement, a written statement here. Um it's entitled selective fiscal responsibility is not responsibility. Our board of education justified for the longest time passing transgender
guidance policy, widely known as 5756, but I know the number is a little bit different in Woodbridge, by citing fiscal responsibility to avert the risk of a lawsuit from the state through the general attorney general Platkin, who
already sued several districts for not complying completely with the um suggested guidance. But now they're playing word games. Last time I was here, I suggested that perhaps we still have DEI even though it's now called uh director of student
access and engagement. And that might been might have been um inaccurate. Maybe maybe you have done away with DEI so that we don't risk a lawsuit from the feds. Um, word games renaming DEI directors
director of student access and engagement while keeping the same equitydriven job description through an Oprah request. We have the job description before and the job description after of Mr. Ali and it really is largely unchanged. Now, it may
satisfy Trenton to maintain DEI, but it puts $13 million in federal funding at risk. You can't claim fiscal responsibility in one breath. reason for keeping policy 5756 and ignore federal compliance in the next. If you feared a lawsuit from the
state of New Jersey, why are you now willing to risk non-compliance with federal directives and lose millions in education funding? This isn't the whole budget, but it's not pocket change either. Federal dollars support vital programs, especially for atrisisk
students. That money could disappear because the district wants to preserve DEI under a cosmetic name change. That's not fiscal responsibility. That's willful defiance and reckless budgeting. If this board will bend to ideological
pressure but ignore families and jeopardize federal support in the process, it's time to question who you really serve. And that's all my comments for today. Okay, Dr. Mino.
Uh, yes, Mr. Long. We are all waiting to hear information on the new testing company and what that test is going to look like at this point. Um I haven't been given or received any information. I imagine when school starts when we start our county meetings that information should be forthcoming or and if it's not I certainly hope it is.
Okay. And I think the question in the second part was is DEI still being funded here and if so to what amount? No. Okay. Thank you. Good evening, Tom Maris forge, New Jersey. And I guess it's the time of
year when you say, "Welcome back, Mr. Carter." For those of us old enough to remember the show, I hope somebody does. Anyway, um, moving on. I want to apologize. The last time I was here and it was pointed out to me that I wore a cap. I was not trying to offend anybody,
be discourteous or advertise any political agenda. I think I don't know whether I had a Trump cap on, a Marine Corps cap, whatever it was, but I had something on my scalp and I was just trying to cover it up. But again, my apologize I apologize if it offended anyone. Getting into what I want to talk about
tonight. Last week also, I'm sorry, the last meeting, um I did reach out to the board and to the superintendent to discuss the township's new ordinance which is going to be reg is does regard bicycles, uh scooters, other electric vehicles. Collectively, I call them here
and after um vehicles and Woodbridge has uh the other night at town council adopted the new resolution which will really start cracking down on those that are using the vehicles inappropriately such as driving on the wrong side of the
road, particularly going up on sidewalks with them where they put pedestrians at risk and put themselves at risk too, whether they be on the road or on the sidewalks. But it's my understanding that the um the school, the district has
communicated with the township PD. I think Sergeant, and you can correct me if I'm wrong on this, the Sergeant Angelo will be coming to the school at some time early in the new season uh to head up a program with the schools. And I don't know which particular classes or
schools are going to go to to talk about bike safety and the consequences that the new ordinance will bring upon those that make an offense. And it's my understanding that they've probably issued and some odd summones now and confiscated probably about 60 uh of the
offending vehicles. Further to that, I believe uh somewhere around September 1st, the Colonia Corner will be running a whole article on that ordinance. And following that, the police director Joe Niski will also be commentary on social
media about his entire plan in regard to that. So again, I just want to say kudos uh on working and I hope this really does help because I believe teaching the kids to do it the safe way is the way to get them off the streets and let them know there are consequences and they
will be enforced. Uh right now I believe there's a differentiation between 17 year olds and older, but they're looking at that too. This thing may be revised within 20 or 30 days down the road once they see how it's working. But I'm glad it's working and I'm glad the school is cooperating and we're going to educate
the kids on this for their safety and for the safety of everybody else on the public. Um, my next item is recently there was an article in the patch which cited the US News and US News and World
Report on Woodbridge high school ratings. Are you familiar with it? Have you seen it? Okay. Um, I'd like you to comment on it. Do you think that was a fair assessment um by US News and World Report? And how do you feel that you can
improve um the rankings in the school? What has to be done? Is it a matter of more money? Um different curriculum exactly how do you attend? So bring our scores up. So, I don't even want to get into naming where we sit because I don't I'm not really happy with two late high
200s and 300 type rankings or low I should say, not high. Um, but I'm sure you're working on it and I'd like you to as best you can this evening address that what your plans are to change those scorings. Thirdly, um, I know we're all
horrified by the recent events at the Catholic school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It's horrific. It's it's tragic. um those will run to the blame the gun first, but I think we really have to look at the person that was using the tool if you want to look at
that way. Um that individual is 23 years old. He was no longer a child. Uh his participation in the school is I think still not totally settled although his mother allegedly had worked for the uh the Catholic school.
But one of the things that concerned me is they are saying that there is concerns that the individual who is a transgender was under medication and I'm wondering too how the school treats that. Do you
as Mr. pointed out there are limitations about what you can say to a parent if their child comes to you and says, "I want to change my name from Robert to Robin." And I know you can't tell the parents, but are you made aware or do
you are you aware somehow that that child that is looking to transition is on some type of medication? And if so, how do you monitor that child's behavior? All right, Mr. Maris, I'm sorry that's your time. Okay, it's five. Okay, it is five minutes. Okay, five minutes.
Well, that'll do it. We're good. Uh, I'll start at the top. Mr. Maris, uh, with the ebikes, Wbridge PD, as I said before, is always welcome in our schools to educate our children on uh, relevant matters. So, when that time comes where the ordinance is final and and they have a presentation, they have
someone that will do it, I'm happy to partner with them and they're always more than welcome. Um, the US News and World Report is is a report. Everybody has different criteria. I'm sure you know everybody looks at it and says, "Oh, the numbers are what they are." And and that's true in the sense of there are what they are when you're looking at
what variables are considered. And I say that because there are hundreds of variables you could consider when doing research. Um I did look at it because I'm I was curious as to what their measures were and their measures put a lot of weight on advanced placement testing.
Yes. Uh so I take it obviously seriously because it does you know I am the superintendent of the district so obviously I take ownership of that uh what it doesn't include which I there's no way for any one report to include every variable
right if if I was I when I did my research at Ruckers for my doctoral degree and we looked at administratively mutable characteristics you start to look at things of collective efficacy um trust academic press, right? Those are things that you can control
as a as an administrator or super superintendent. What you can't control is socioeconomic status, right? The highest degree level of your parents. Um, and those are also things that researchers take into consideration when they're looking at it. I say that the idea of
there's a whole realm that you can pick from in terms of what you're going to use to measure academic success in an area in this particular one. And I don't think anybody would question the credibility of the US News and World Report. Um they focused on certain items which we have given a lot of attention
to specifically in in the realm of AP testing. U the reality is when you offer it to more it's a rigorous course. We want the kids to take it because it's a rigorous course. They measure who gets a four and a five. So if you take an AP test and you get an A in every cate A in every semester but
you don't get a four or five Mhm. you're not getting credit for that student's success because the measure of success isn't the grade, it's a score on the AP test. So, I would say like any other report or or survey, it's going to be subjective dependent on what variables they looked at and what
variables they gave the the greatest weight to. Obviously, any report that reflects our district is something I'm going to look at. You know, I I spoke to Mr. Perino about it to just look at some of the things that, you know, we have touched. We we have gone over a lot of curriculum. We have really tried to focus on lowering the absentee, you
know, chronic absenteeism. There's a million things that we're trying to look at that aren't going to be included in this. I believe it also speaks to income by the schools, too. The levels Yeah. They're going to include a whole lot of things. And listen, the reality is that's that's the nature of schools.
You know, I I would be hardressed to say because the score isn't um where we would like it to be, that the teachers aren't working hard, that the students aren't working hard, that the parents aren't working hard. I I think they are. I think it's always going to be one of those things that you're always striving to get better. You're always looking for improvement and and depending on, you
know, what variables that report looks at is going to give you a better idea of of what the measurement looks like. Um, regarding your last question, you know, I I appreciate that we're we're trying to tie in the, you know, the transgender policy to financial
responsibility and and I'm not um I'm not sure I'm in agreement with that, but you know, everybody's entitled to their own opinion. that's okay. The reality is we we handle each student on an individual basis. If they're going through something that requires them being on medicine, that is going to be a
conversation that the parent has with the school nurse. Um because we do have students that that take medication for a whole myriad of reasons other than the the one that you're suggesting. So I I would be hardressed to say this is what we do
every time. Um you know, we have students that have insulin pumps. We have students that have to take an oral medication because they they may have um a diagnosis or or something that they need to monitor and that medication helps. The reality is we we have the school nurse, the administration
speaking with the parents to make sure that we're aware of it. Anytime there's a student on a controlled substance, whether they they have been diagnosed with something, they have an illness, a disorder, what have you. Um you know, we want to work with the parents the best we can. Their their physician, you know, information is important.
say you can't say anything to the parents if the student is doing this and that student uh however you may learn about the medication they're on. You can't go to the parents and and say to them unless the parents simply told you that my son or daughter is on this
medication for whatever reason. Um well do they normally divulge it to you? I'm not understanding. Okay, listen. I'm going to say this. We we've gone through enough meetings where I've heard about puberty blockers. I don't we don't give out puberty blockers. Okay.
We don't we don't perform surgeries. No, I let you I hear you. But I I listen to it every meeting, right? P We don't We don't prescribe anything. I I've never written a prescription on my life. I don't do surgery. I I have never done a surgery in my life. Those things don't happen in the context of our schools. If
a student is taking medication that we're that we are aware of, then the parent has to be aware of that with the physician that that this isn't something where we're playing an I gota we're looking out for a student's well-being. I I think would be disingenuous to
suggest that we know something that a student's doing and we're not telling the parent that deals with medicine that we didn't prescribe that we think a student is taking. We don't differentiate the the priority of of student well-being. We want all of our students to be okay
regardless of they're on a medication that is now turning out to do harm potentially. Mr. Mayor, you have five minutes, right? And I and when you talk, I don't interrupt you at all. I don't interrupt you at all. I let you talk. Thank you. And um Okay. Look, I know the school is well taken care of as far as security is concerned. I don't think anybody has to worry about
that. And I just want to wish everybody thank you for I hope you all had a great summer and best of luck in the new school year. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Gerald Magio from the Dolores Turo Foundation. I've been here a few times so you already
know we um protect children from abuse and neglect and we do not discriminate against anyone for any reason. Um and I also have been here enough times and attended enough meetings to know that uh this board really appears to care about the students and um to you serve and to
make decisions based on the facts that are presented to you as best as possible and I do believe you earnestly try to make decisions based on what's in the best interest of the children and their families. Uh but that's why I'm compelled to share with you two decisions that came down from the Supreme Court over the past couple of
week excuse me weeks that affect parental rights. Um the court upheld a Tennessee ban on transgender protocols for children because one the protocols are still experimental. Two they sterilize children. And three children
should not be subjected to something that's irreversible. And I just heard um it's not that the school is doing that. It's just that students are referred to professionals and these are the protocols of the professionals in the state of New Jersey. Um in the another
decision, the Mammu decision versus Taylor, the Supreme Court ruled that schools cannot shut parents out of or disregard their religious obligations for their children. Parents have the right to know what a child is being taught at school and to opt out of
divisive or ideological lessons that go against their values and religious beliefs. Families, not bureaucrats, raise their children according to their sincerely held religious beliefs. And parents have the right to protect children uh from certain content,
particularly the LGBT content for sincerely held religious beliefs uh because these can harm and influence vulnerable children. These decisions reinforce our constitutional rights of American citizens to freedom of religion, freedom
of speech, and freedom for parents to raise their children according to their values. Um, you may have made decisions in the past because you may have felt compelled based on information you were given or threats of loss of funding, but the Supreme Court has changed all that.
So you're no longer bound to choices that are inconsistent with every American's right to freedom and that shake the very pillars of our nation's foundation which is faith, family, and freedom. Um I'd like to talk a moment
about freedom being that July 4th was uh 4th of July and our independence day. Um we celebrate our freedom the inalienable right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. the freedom of as I mentioned freedom of speech and religion and to raise our children according to our
beliefs. Um but also uh choices and also choices to seed succeed or fail based on our own initiatives not limited government limited by government. The government does not grant these rights nor can the government take them away because
they're god-given and freedom does not mean doing whatever we want but the freedom to do what we ought. And the ultimate use of freedom is to love God and love neighbor because love helps us use freedom to say yes to what's right and good and no to what's evil and
destructive. Um the uh what I wanted to mention also one last thing is there's a million youth that traveled to Rome just a few weeks ago to attend mass with the pope pope Leo the 13th. They came seeking the truth, the true meaning of life and what happiness really is. It's
God that put that desire in their hearts um for wholeness and to fill the longing for love in their lives and that of their peers and he led them there. They were led to the example of Carlo Akudis, the first millennial saint. He's an ordinary kid with an extraordinary
faith. Um as you can tell from some of his quotes, everyone is born an original but most diearbon copy. Sadness is looking at ourselves. Happiness is looking toward God. and he died at 15. And he said, "I'm happy to die because I've lived my life without wasting a
minute on things which do not please God." Well, they found their answer in the example of Carlo Audis, and they're ready to share it with the world, and they're on fire. And you'll soon discover that it was never about gender ideology or sexual uh how to use uh
sexual gratification. what it is about is love because God is love and with his love all things are possible. So, thank you for allowing me to address this board. Um, and I do thank you for your service and um, I do believe that you
are trying to do the right thing and please consider some of these when you consider um, transgender policy. One last thing I wanted to mention is I did send to um, the superintendent a letter. We provide uh the optimal sexual education. Um and
I'm sorry that's your time. I'm so sorry. Okay. Thank you, Miss Magu. I just wanted to follow up. I did get you did get my response, correct? Sorry. I I had emailed you back a response. Okay, I'll take a second. I know you said you were looking at or someone was going to be reviewing it and I don't
know if there was another response. No, no, no. I just wanted to make sure that you had gotten my initial response that we were looking at and if there was a spot for it that we would uh happy to talk to Mr. Posino. Thank you very much. Just wanted to make sure you got it. Yep. No problem. And yes, uh I can speak for the board, I
think, and say we do care for the students of this district very much. The chair will entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion by Mr. Tree, second by Mr. Delipro. All in favor? Any opposed? Carried. Meetings adjourned.
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