THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

METUCHEN, NEW JERSEY

TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2022

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, The Criterion Sentinel, The Star Ledger, and by filing a copy with the Borough Clerk as prescribed by this law.

4. Roll Call

5. Showcase of Success

❖    MHS Spring Musical

The MHS Footlighters are proud to announce their spring production of the musical Working.

"Based on Studs Terkel's best-selling book of interviews with American workers, Working paints a vivid portrait of the workers that the world so often takes for granted.... Nominated for six Tony Awards, this classic has been updated for a modern age...," featuring new songs by Tony Award-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, Encanto), as well as favorites by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked), and many more!                                                                             

Metuchen High School Footlighters Senior Michele Tang will be singing "Cleaning Women" from our spring musical Working. 

Performances:                                                                                                

Thursday April 7, Friday April 8, and Saturday April 9                                              7:00 pm - Metuchen High School Auditorium                                                                       Ticket Info will be posted on the Footlighters' website:

https://www.mhsfootlighters.com/

❖    Winter Sports Champions

Girls Winter Track Team 

Central Jersey Group 1 State Champions

Group 1 State Champions

Marina Armour

Merin Boucher

Zoey Brown

Rachel Chen

Aarohi Desai

Ameyaa Desai

Audrey Feng

Alea Gnaly

Kaya Gredzinski

Sarah Hausser

Gianna Hernandez

Sarah Hyman

Johanna Indyk

Rebecca Isler

Sally Kelton

Lilly Kupersmit

Sara Lignell

Nelagh Matthews

Lilia Ould-Hammou

Maggie Rivera

Caitlyn Sanger

Caroline Schleif

Eva Szap

1600 Meter and 3200 First Place Champion

Caroline Schleif

55 Meter Dash Sectional Champion

Nelagh Matthews

4x400 Relay Champions

Marina Armour

Zoey Brown

Sara Lignell

Caroline Schleif

Girls Winter Swim Team White Division Champions

Priya Aggarwal

MaryKate Cummings

Mia De Cerbo

Jenna DeVizio

Caitlin Edwards

Victoria Espinosa

Erin Eustace

Abby Hogan

Ryleigh Lamela

Swetangeli Patel

Liliana Petro

Gaby Sagona

Chloe Shen

Paxton Sullivan

Dina Vechnyak

Anna Weissblum

Gina Yip

Anya Zhang

Boys Winter Swim Team White Division Champions

Daniel Afkhami

Mason Chavez

Chris DeVizio

Evan Djeu

Elloitt Girin

Cedric Lee

Mason Liu

Jayden Londono

Jason Ma

Sam Mushailov

Harrison O’Reilly

Devon Pell

Thomas Piovoso

Jace Rivera

Steven Samame

Eric Schleif

Tim Whittington

Brandon Zhu

Wrestling District Champion 138 Weight Class

Francesco Rossiter

Girls Wrestling GMC Champion 152 Weight Class

Alex Osborn-Jones

EMS Winter Swim Team- Undefeated Season

Ella Andersen

Chiara    Baldi

Colin Chan

Ashley    Chen

Katie Chen

Isabella Cosenza

Andreas Dascalu

Ben DeAngelis

Katy Donohue

Julien Dupuis

Kai Englert

Julia Hajjar

Callie Hanbridge

Emma    Hogan

Praket    Jha

Mira Karwowski

Eloise    Koscs

Elizabeth Lau

Chelsea Lu

Kathryn McMahan

Harshith Pasam

Ayaan    Saha

Oliver Sydor

Manali    Weller

Janice    Yip

Jessie    Zhang

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

7. Presentations 

❖    Budget Presentation, Line Item Budget, Tax Levy Analysis, Separate Proposal – Mr. Harvier

8. Reports

• President’s Report

• Superintendent's Report

• Committee Reports

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)

Often times 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. Family Leave - Central Office Staff

Move to approve the family leave of absence of Jeff Ruhnke, Network Administrator, effective May 2, 2022 through June 20, 2022.

2.    Appointment – Substitute

    Move to approve the additional substitute teacher for the 2021-2022 school year, effective March 23, 2022 (Agenda 8/24/2021, Section 13 A5):

3.    Appointment – Additional Substitute Secretary

    Move to approve the appointment of the following additional substitute secretary for the 2021-2022 school year at a rate of $14.38/hour, effective March 23, 2022, pending criminal background clearance (Agenda 8/24/2021, Section 13 A8):

4.    Appointment - Leave Replacement

    Move to approve the appointment of Anne Marie Healey, Leave Replacement for Ellissa Cadel, Special Education Teacher at Campbell School, at a rate of $278.38/day, effective March 8, 2022 through approximately April 28, 2022.

5.    Appointment - Certificated Staff

    Move to approve the appointment of Isabella Massaro, District Behaviorist, for the 2022-2023 school year, at a salary of $84,590/year, effective September 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023. 

----------------------------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 January 31, 2022.

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 March 22, 2022 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 January 31, 2022.

4.    Resolution – Food Service 2022-2023

Metuchen Board of Education

Food Service 2022-2023

Management Fee Language

Be it resolved that the Metuchen Board of Education “SFA” approves the renewal of the Food Service Management contract with The Pomptonian, Inc. “FSMC” for the food service operation for 2022-2023.  

The FSMC shall receive, in addition to the costs of operation, an administrative/management fee of $25,270.00 to compensate the FSMC for administrative and management costs.  This fee shall be billed in 10 monthly installments of $2,527.00 per month as a cost of operation.  The SFA guarantees the payment of such costs and fee to the FSMC. 

5.    Nonpublic Technology Aid

    Move to approve the following nonpublic technology aid for the 2021-2022 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:

6.    Adoption of the 2022-2023 Tentative School Budget

WHEREAS, the Board of Education must adopt and submit a tentative 2022-2023 school district budget for the New Jersey Department of Education review and approval.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Metuchen Board of Education adopt the tentative 2022-2023 school district budget as follows:

The supporting documentation of the budget included an itemization of certain expenditures required under administrative regulations.  Maximum travel budget is established at $75,000.  Travel includes professional development that takes place outside the District.

 7. Resolution Authorizing Submission of an additional spending proposal to the legally qualified voters of the school district at the annual school election

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE BOROUGH OF METUCHEN IN THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, NEW JERSEY (with not less than a majority of the full membership of the Board concurring) AS FOLLOWS:

    1.    It is hereby determined that an additional spending proposal will be submitted for voter approval at the Annual School Election scheduled for November 8, 2022. The form of the proposal will read substantially as follows with such adjustments as provided by bond counsel in accordance with guidelines or requirements of the Department of Education:

PROPOSAL FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDS

RESOLVED that there shall be raised an additional $800,000 for General Funds in the 2022-2023 School Year.  These taxes will be used exclusively for additional costs required for the School District Grade Level Reconfiguration including Full Day Kindergarten, additional costs for salaries, benefits and/or other compensation or expense as required for teachers, specials, basic skills, special education, counselors, paraprofessionals and lunch room aids, curriculum, technology, facilities operating costs, utilities, transportation and related costs.  Approval of these taxes will result in a permanent increase in the district’s tax levy.  These proposed additional expenditures are in addition to those necessary to achieve the New Jersey Student Learning Standards.  This proposal will take effect only if the school bond proposal to finance the reconfiguration facilities improvements is also approved at this Annual Election.

2.    This Board of Education hereby approves and adopts the proposal set forth above and, subject to the approval of the legal voters of the school district as set forth therein, hereby determines to carry out the purposes described therein.  

3.    The Business Administrator/Board Secretary is hereby authorized and directed to send a certified copy of the proposal to the County Clerk as required by N.J.S.A. 19:60-2 and to request the County Clerk to arrange for it to be voted on at the Annual School Election once approved as set forth herein.

4.    The Business Administrator/Board Secretary is hereby further authorized and directed to send a certified copy of the proposal to the Executive County Superintendent of Schools for approval as required by N.J.S.A. 18A:7F-5(d) (9), 18A:7F-39  and N.J.A.C. 6A:23A-12.1.

5.      The Board shall include a copy of the approved proposal as part of the legal notice of public hearing on the budget required pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:22-28, shall post it at the public hearing held on the budget pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:22-29 and shall request that the County Clerk have a copy printed on the sample ballot pursuant to N.J.S.A. 19:60-10 as may be necessary. 

6.    The Board President, the Superintendent of Schools, the Business Administrator/Board Secretary, Bond Counsel and other appropriate representatives of the Board are hereby authorized to take all steps necessary to implement this resolution.

7.    The reference to officers of the Board of Education herein includes any interim, acting or successor officer holding such position. 

8.    This resolution shall take effect immediately.  

8.    Medical and Prescription Insurance

    Move to approve School Employees' Health Benefits Program (SEHBP) as the district's medical and prescription insurance carrier for the 2022-2023 school year.

4.     Professional Development

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

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

3. POLICY

Motion/Second/Comments/Roll Call

1.    Suspensions

The Board hereby acknowledges receipt of the suspension report summary for March 7, 2022- March 18, 2022.

2.    Second Reading of Policies and Regulations

    Move to approve the second readings of the following policies and regulations:

❖    P 2415.05           Student Surveys, Analysis, Evaluations, Examinations, 

                         Testing, or Treatment 

❖    P & R 2431.4       Prevention and Treatment of Sports-Related Concussions 

                         and Head Injuries 

❖    P 2451            Adult High School 

❖    R 2460.30            Additional/Compensatory Special Education and Related 

                        Services (New)

❖    P 2622            Student Assessment 

❖    R 2622            Student Assessment (New)

❖    P 3233            Political Activities  

❖    P 5460            High School Graduation 

❖    P 5541           Anti-Hazing (New)

❖    P & R 8465          Bias Crimes and Bias-Related Acts 

❖    P 9560            Administration of School Surveys 

3.     Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying

    Move to affirm the findings of the previously reported case:

• CES021822001

----------------------------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: 

----------------------------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