THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

METUCHEN, NEW JERSEY

 

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2024

 

MEETING AGENDA

of the Metuchen Board of Education

Metuchen High School

400 Grove Avenue

Metuchen, NJ  08840

1. Call to Order

 

2. Flag Salute

 

3. Notice of Meeting

 

I hereby make this statement to indicate compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act known as Chapter 231 of the Public Laws of New Jersey, 1975, which became effective 90 days after enactment, January 19, 1976.

 

Notice of this meeting was given by providing the location, time and date of this meeting, and posting of the same on the front door of the Board of Education offices, by delivering copies to the Borough Hall and the Metuchen Public Library, The Home News and Tribune, and by filing a copy with the Borough Clerk as prescribed by this law.

 

4. Roll Call

 

5. Showcase of Success

❖    MHS Jazz Ensemble

 

We are excited to share the outstanding achievements of the Metuchen High School Jazz Ensemble, a 12-time NJAJE Finalist and the 2024 Gold Medalist, having earned a prestigious 3rd place at last year’s state finals. This remarkable ensemble has been selected to perform at the National Jazz Festival in Philadelphia this spring, adding another milestone to their impressive history. In 2022, the group was honored with the “Best Big Band” award at the same festival. The Jazz Ensemble has consistently demonstrated excellence, performing across the state, including at the Middlesex County Jazz Festival, and collaborating with renowned jazz artists such as Terrell Stafford, Nathan Eckland, Mariel Bildsten, Julius Tolentino, and the One More Once Big Band.

 

The ensemble will feature Sammy Nestico’s arrangement of Jingle Bells at their upcoming winter concert. The concert, also showcasing the MHS Jazz Band and MHS Concert Band, will take place on Wednesday, December 11 at 7:00 p.m. We invite everyone to join us in supporting these talented students as they continue to make our community proud.

 

❖    MHS Marching Band

TOURNAMENT OF THE BANDS CHAPTER VII GROUP IV OPEN CHAMPIONS

 

2024-2025

Pride of Metuchen Marching Band

* = Section Leader

Flute and Piccolo

Jackson Cruz

Angela Ho

Abigail Hogan*

Mirabella Hom

Moira Hwang

Violet Osborn-Jones

Bella Staal*

Nate Villanueva

 

Clarinet

Ashley Chen

Daniel Choi*

Ada Dolan

Amira Elsayed

Emma Huber

Neela Myers

Anushree Sutradhar

 

Low Reeds

Daniel Afkhami*

Ayaan Saha

Ishaan Sarkar

 

Alto Saxophone

Sara Haq*

Eileen He

Eliman Kassogue

Kiko Li

Shinnosuke Murao

Ryan Stein*

Shiyuan Wang

Victoria Zaniecki

Melody Zetino*

 

Tenor Saxophone

Caleb Han*

Habib Kassogue

Harshith Pasam

Daniel Ruiz

Nicholas Timko

 

 

Trumpet

Tariq Alisammond*

Sean Blaze

Julia Diaz*

Julia Difano

Alistair Fawcett*

Elizabeth Fineman

Connor Gaughan

Jackson Gould*

Aidan McPherson

Barnav Mitra

Arianna Samame

Laura Tso

 

Mellophone

Alyson Chan*

Nicholas Cosenza

Ethan De La Garza

Gianna Hernandez*

Johannes Staal

 

Baritone

Nate Borut

Avner Chaplin*

Nell Massey

Siddhant Naik*

Nicholas Reuter

Gage Rodey

Bowen Zhang

 

Tuba

Chamber Lam*

Jonah Lopez

Rose Michaels-LaMorte

Oliver Sydor

 

Drumline

Madeleine Cook

Peter Coreschi

Milo Haviland

Emma Hogan

Praket Jha

 

Arturs Krumins

Janhavi Malik

Riva Nagvekar

Aidan Ogborn*

Ripley Wong*

Allen Zheng

 

Front Ensemble

Jackson Blaze

Katy Donohue*

Eli Duhme

Joshua Feldmann

Shailen Gandhi

Alexandra Ho

Lindsey Kang

Peter Kukuruza

Emily Lanton*

Karmindy Lee

Gavin Moorman

Tej Naresh

Ronan Sequeira

Daniel Stone

 

Guard

Jocelyn Branch

Faith Cordova*

Evelyn Hand*

Beni Harrington

Zora Haviland

Reine He

Yuting He

Adrienne Lee

Melinda Li

Lucienne Lin

Nicholas Makar

Cecilia Ng

Gwendolyn Osmond

Rhiannon Perez

Caelum Ritzdorf*

 

❖ Sports Champions

 

MHS Girls Cross Country 

GMC Champions

GMC Red Division Champions

Central Jersey Group 1 Sectional Champions

Group 1 State Champions

 

Ella Andersen

Gianna Hernandez

 

Kaitlyn Hsueh

Sabrina Kandel

 

Sally Kelton

Amber Murray

 

Individual 

GMC Champion

GMC Red Division Champion

 

Gianna Hernandez

 

MHS Boys Cross Country 

Central Jersey Group 1 State Sectional Champions

Group 1 State Champions

 

Brady Allen

Myles Bourne

 

Kai Englert

Asher Greenbaum

Arturs Krumins

 

Eric Schleif

James Vissichelli

 

Individual

Central Jersey Group 1 State Sectional Champion

 

Eric Schleif

 

MHS Girls Soccer

GMC White Division Champions

 

Emma Ballantine

Olivia Barry

Makenna Bruns

Juliana Castellanos

Julia Chinchar

Kaitlyn Connors

 

Maria DiFino

Julia Hajjar

Leah Honig

Sarah Hyman

Kathryn Morano

Charlotte Murphy

Lucie Pallotta

Samantha Powers

Rose Surgan

Kylie Trolaro

Grace Van Leeuwen

Isabella Vanegas

Victoria Zaniecki

 

6. Meeting Open to the Public (for any topic)

 

7. Presentations 

❖    Safe Return Plan Update - Dr. Caputo

 

8. Reports

• President’s Report

• Superintendent's Report

• Committee Reports

• Student Board Member Report

 

9. Old Business

 

10. New Business

 

11. Approval of Minutes of the Board of Education Meetings

 

 

 

12. Meeting Open to the Public (for any topic)

 

13. Recommendations of the Superintendent of Schools

(at this time the Board will take formal action on the following items – see attachments)

Oftentimes it may appear to members of our audience that the Board of Education takes action with very little comment and in many cases a unanimous vote. Before a matter is placed on the agenda at a public meeting, the administration has thoroughly reviewed the matter with the Superintendent of Schools. If the Superintendent is satisfied that the matter is ready to be presented to the Board of Education, it is then referred to the appropriate board committee. The members of the board committee work with administration and the Superintendent to assure that the members fully understand the matter. When the committee is satisfied with the matter, it is presented to the Board of Education for discussion before any final action is taken. Only then, is it placed on the agenda for action at a public meeting.

 

1. PERSONNEL

Motion/Second/Comments/Roll Call

 

1. Supplemental Instruction

Move to approve the following certificated staff to provide Supplemental Instruction as needed for the 2024-2025 school year at the rate of $61/hour (IDEA grant funded): 

 

 

2.    Leave Replacement Extension

    Move to extend the appointment of Michael Mazzola, Leave Replacement for Sofia Lopes, 4th Grade Teacher at Campbell School, through June 13, 2025, at a salary of $311.76/day (Agenda 8/27/24, Section 13 A24).

 

3.    Leave of Absence - Certificate Staff

    Move to approve the leave of absence of Sarah Karger, Special Education Teacher at Metuchen High School, effective approximately January 21, 2025 through approximately January 31, 2025.  

 

4.    Home Instruction

    Move to approve Davida Rosenblum to work Home Instruction for the 2024-2025 school year, as needed, at a rate of $61/hour.

 

5.    Leave of Absence - Certificated Staff

    Move to approve the leave of absence of Michele Gouveia, Special Education Teacher at Edgar School, from approximately January 29, 2025 through approximately March 26, 2025. 

 

6.    Clubs and Co-Curricular Activities - Rescind

    Move to rescind and approve the following co-curricular activities for the 2024-2025 school year as listed (Agenda 09/10/2024, Section13, A7):

 

 

7.    Appointment - Metuchen High School Volunteer Coaches/Advisors

    Move to approve the following Metuchen High School volunteer coaches/advisors for the 2024-2025 school year as listed, pending criminal history clearance (Agenda 5/28/2024, Section 13, A5):

 

 

*Represents Adjunct Coach

 

8.    Appointment of Substitutes

    Move to approve the appointment of substitutes for the 2024-2025 school year as listed on the chart below, effective December 9, 2024, pending completion of substitute training and criminal history clearance: 

 

 

9.    Parent Academy

    Move to approve Samantha Palermo to prepare and provide parent academy sessions for Lifelines program, for the 2024-2025 school year at the rate of $50/hour, not to exceed 4 hrs.

 

10.    High Impact Tutoring for 2024-2025

    Move to approve the following staff members for the High Impact Tutoring Grant for the 2024-2025 School Year. Staff members will be compensated $50/hour.  Tutors will receive .5 hours of planning for every hour of tutoring, not to exceed $40,000

 

 

11.    Transfer - Certificated Staff

    Move to approve the transfer of Lindsey Omark, from Special Education Teacher at Campbell School, to Reading Intervention Teacher at Campbell School, effective January 8, 2025 or when a replacement is hired.

 

12.    Clubs and Co-Curricular Activities - Rescind

    Move to rescind the following co-curricular stipends for the co-curricular activities for the 2024-2025 school year as listed (Agenda 8/27/2024, Section 13, A2):

 

 

13.    Appointment - Additional Event Staff

    Move to approve the additional event staff for the 2024-2025 school year, at the rate of $55 per event (Agenda 8/13/2024, Section 13, A3):

 

 

14.    Leave Replacement Extension 

    Move to extend the appointment of Sue Fackler, leave replacement for Michele Brinkerhoff, School Nurse at Metuchen High School, through approximately January 31, 2025, at a salary of $311.76/day (Agenda 11/26/24, Section 13 A2).

 

----------------------------end of personnel section--------------------------

 

2. FINANCE

Motion/Second/Comments/Roll Call

 

1. Treasurer of School Monies and Board Secretary’s Reports

Move to approve the Treasurer of School Monies’ Report, and Board Secretary’s Report as of October 31, 2024.

 

2.   Payment of Bills

a)  Board Secretary’s Certification

Pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6:20-2A.10(d), the Board Secretary has certified that as of December 10, 2024 no budgetary line item accounts have obligations and payments which exceed the amount appropriated by the Board of Education.

         ________________________________________                  _______________

Michael A. Harvier, Board Secretary                         Date

 

b)  Approve the Following Items Submitted by the Board Secretary

Payment of bills and claims, as shown on the attached list(s) that have been certified by the Board of Education and filed in the Business Office.

 

3.   Budget Transfers

Move to approve budget transfers effective October 31, 2024.

 

4.     Nonpublic Security Aid

    Move to approve the following nonpublic security aid for the 2024-2025 school year. These expenditures are required for the district to fulfill certain legal obligations under state legislation to administer federal or state funds provided to nonpublic schools within our jurisdiction.

 

 

5.    Resolution - Amended

 

WHEREAS, at its regular meeting on February 13, 2024, the Metuchen Board of Education (“Board”) awarded a contract in connection with the Additions and Alterations at Campbell Elementary School and Metuchen High School project (“Project”); and

 

WHEREAS, the lowest responsible bidder for the Project was M&M Construction, which was noted in the prior resolution; and

 

WHEREAS, the resolution inadvertently listed EPIC Management, Inc. as the company to whom the contract was awarded even though the resolution clearly meant to award the contract to M&M Construction; and

 

WHEREAS, the Board wishes to clarify that the Project contract was awarded to M&M Construction and amend the prior resolution.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board hereby amends Resolution 10 from the Board’s February 13, 2024 Meeting and deletes any references to “EPIC Management, Inc.” and replacing such references with “M&M Construction”.

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board hereby clarifies that the Project contract was awarded to M&M Construction.

 

(Agenda 2/13/2024, Section 13, B10).

 

6.  Professional Development

Move to approve the following professional development activities as shown on the following chart:

 

 

7.    Change Order M&M Construction 

Move to approve the change order as listed below:

 

 

----------------------------end of finance section--------------------------

 

3. POLICY

Motion/Second/Comments/Roll Call

    

1. Suspensions

The Board hereby acknowledges receipt of the suspension report summary for November 25, 2024 - December 6, 2024. 

 

 ----------------------------end of policy section--------------------------

 

4. CURRICULUM

Motion/Second/Comments/Roll Call

 

1.    Field Trips

Move to approve the following field trips for students in the Metuchen School District  as shown: 

 

2.    Student Observer

    Move to approve the placement of the following student observer from Quinnipiac University in the Metuchen Public School District for the 2024-2025 school year. 

 

 

3.    Student Extern

    Move to approve the placement of the following student extern from Lafayette College in the Metuchen Public School District for the 2024-2025 school year:

 

 

4.    Student Observer

    Move to approve the placement of the following student observer from Manhattan College in the Metuchen Public School District for the 2024-2025 school year:

 

 

----------------------------end of curriculum section--------------------------

 

14. Meeting Open to Public (for any topic)

 

15. Announcements

 

16. Motion to Go Into Executive Session (when applicable)

 

Resolution to Close Meeting

 

BE IT RESOLVED, pursuant to the Sunshine Act, N.J.S. 10:4-12 and 13, that the Board of Education will now meet in executive session to discuss _____________________________________ and that matters discussed will be disclosed to the public as soon as the reason for confidentiality no longer exist.

 

17. Adjournment