October 2016 BOE Workshop Meetings

I spent this past Saturday and Sunday I spent 4 hours watching the videos of the October 19th & October 24th Middletown Board of Education meetings.  The time spent sitting there watching 4 hours of video was mind numbing but there were a few things that stood out and should be discussed.

BOE Workshop Meeting - October 19, 2016


During the Workshop meeting the BOE discussed:

• The proposed new Civility Policy (59:08-1:02:38).
• An update on the ongoing security upgrades in the Middletown schools was discussed along with which groups (Tier I, Tier II, Tier III) using the schools need to provide security and how it would be paid for (1:09:03-1:33:38).
• And proposing a joint resolution with area towns affected by the JCP&L proposal for the Monmouth County Reliability Project (MCRP). (1:33:43-2:04:26 ). During the discussion, it was suggested that school funds be used to join the legal action against JCP&L, which may or may not be legal.

During Public Comments Jamie Curcio (2:31:30-2:40:24) and Dorothy Ginda (2:40:26-2:57:12) spoke about their ongoing concerns about school security, whether or not Tier III groups can be banned from school buildings and questioned the BOE whether or not they are taking seriously the risks to students, a charge that Dr, George took extreme exception to.

Here are the links to the Meeting Agenda and Meeting Minutes

BOE Voting Meeting - October 24, 2016


At this meeting it was officially announced that the BOE will be spending school dollars joining the legal challenge against the JCP&L's Monmouth County Reliability Project (15:45-16:30). Two members of the public them spoke on the issue.

When the time came for the adoption of the resolution to join the fight against JCP&L (26:25-29:26), it was adopted unanimously, which is troubling to me. Two board members are directly impacted by the power lines that JCP&L are proposing to erect and they chose to vote in favor of using an unspecified about of money from the education funds to fight the proposal. These two board members should have abstained. Especially since the legality of using school funds for such an endeavor, is murky at best.

During a discussion of old business pertaining the Facilities Committee (42:57-46:30), a discussion about field upgrades/improvements at Thorne Middle School was reintroduced and decided to place it on the agenda for December.

The meeting ended once again with resident  Dorothy Ginda, discussing school safety and where the issue stands after the last meeting.

Here is the link to the Meeting Agenda