Hate Group Endorses Middletown BOE Member for Re-election

 Before casting your ballot this year for the Middletown Board of Education(BOE), you should be aware that a long time member of the BOE who is seeking reelection, Joan Minnuies, has been endorsed by the New Jersey Project.  This should raise a few red flags and give pause to anyone looking to cast a vote for Minnuies.

Why?

 The Southern Poverty Law Center(SPLC) has labeled the antigovernment organization New Jersey Project as a hate group, defining the New Jersey Project as, "Antigovernment groups are part of the antidemocratic hard-right movement. They believe the federal government is tyrannical, and they traffic in conspiracy theories about an illegitimate government of leftist elites seeking a “New World Order.” In addition to groups that generally espouse these ideas, the movement is composed of sovereign citizens, militias, overt conspiracy propagandists and constitutional sheriff groups. In the past, this movement was referred to as the “Patriot” movement by adherents and critics."

Can you imagine being endorsed for office by a hate group and supporting that person? I guess you could if you're a Republican that supports Donald Trump.

Another reason why people should have second thoughts about supporting Joan Minnuies for re-election is the troubling accusations brought against her by a Township resident, accusing Minnuies of bullying and berating the resident's intellectually disabled son.  According to an online petition that has been signed by over 1500 people, seeking Minnuiess' removal from the BOE and General Election ballot, "Minnuies' intolerable behavior towards vulnerable individuals raises serious concerns about her suitability to sit on the Middletown Board of Education. Those entrusted with such influential positions have the responsibility to advocate for the wellbeing of all students, including those with intellectual and developmental differences. Individuals like Minnuies who display blatant disregard for the feelings and welfare of others, arguably are not fit for these positions. This matter has been brought to all members of the Board of Education with no responses..." 

It should be noted as it pertains her the accusations of bullying, Joan Minnuies is on record, both recently and in the past, of voting against or abstaining from various bullying measure that the BOE has tried to enact. It's really disgraceful.

Joan Minnuies has been a member of the Middletown Board of Education for longer than I can remember. During her tenure she has been nothing but controversial. There is not one former BOE member that I know (and I know over a dozen) that has anything constructive to say about her. She has been described as hard to work with, untrustworthy and only out for herself. She has also had a number of ethical complaints filed against her by fellow BOE members in the past.  

Joan's time has come and gone, she doesn't deserve another term as a member of the Middletown Board of Education, we don't need more hate! It's time to move on.

I for one will not be supporting her and I hope others feel the same.

Board of Education Regular Meeting 1/2/18: Is The Township Committee Planning To Return BOE Elections To April?

Last night the Middletown Board of Education held it's annual Reorganization meeting, which I watched via the YouTube live stream and heard an interesting bit of information being introduced.

It appears that the Middletown Township Committee will be introducing a resolution within the next few weeks that would reinstate the April elections for the Middletown Board of Education. This would mean that in November, residents would no longer vote for BOE candidates on the ballot.

If the election were to be moved back to April there would be a significant cost to residents for holding such an election, as well as a potential issue with the school budget.

I've taken the liberty to Que the video from last night's meeting to the portion in which the resolution was discussed.

I wasn't a fan of the Christie Administration moving the Board of Education election to November in the first place due to the politics that would naturally be involved as a result of the move. But to move it back to April and have residents tax dollars spent for such and election is senseless. Chris Christie had the elections moved to save taxpayer money  to cost it.

In my opinion, this is just a ploy by the Township Committee to get a say in future Board of Education budgets, by getting the spending approved by voters who will need to approve of it first, just like the old days, if the budget isn't approved, the Township Committee can make cuts to the failed budget. It's also a way for the Township Committee to have a bigger influence over who is elected to the Board of Education. Fewer voters participating in an election means better odds for Township Committee chosen candidates.

Middletown Board of Education (BOE) Voting Meeting - 3/28/18

Due to the Spring break, it took a while for this video to be posted. The video of the meeting is only 33 minutes long so it's a breeze to watch. Not much happened other than a tentative vote on approving the FY 2018/19 budget; two board members voted against the budget due to cuts being made to school improvements that are badly needed. A final vote on the budget is expected to take place at the April 17th meeting.

There was also a discussion on tentative dates for district promotion and  graduation  ceremonies. Since the district lost several days to inclement weather this winter, days needed to be added to the school calendar which has an impact on where and when these ceremonies can take place.

There were also a few members of the public to speak before the meeting was adjourned.



To view the Meeting Agenda and it's various amendments, you can find them on the BOE Website.

Middletown Board of Education Meetings; 2/20/18 & 2/28/18

I'm not going to lie, I've been trying to get through these videos for quite awhile. But, with 7 hours of video to watch, I've given up. I hope that some of you have better luck.

BOE Voting Meeting - 2/28/18



BOE Workshop Meeting - 2/20/18


To view the Agendas for these meeting you can click >>>> HERE

If you'd like to get caught up by reading the latest Minutes from the 1/16/18 & 1/24/18 meetings, you can do so >>>> HERE

BOE Workshop Meeting - 1/16/18

I'll be honest, I haven't really watched this video from the January 16th meeting of the Middletown Board of Education. at a little over 4 hours, I just wasn't able to get through it. I thought it important to post however since there was another meeting of the BOE last night and people should get caught up on what's happening before the next video is posted.




For the Agenda and its various attachments you can click .... HERE

BOE Reorganization Meeting 1-3-18

I'm a little late in posting this, since Christmas i've been feeling under the weather and dealing with a lot of weather related issues at work, I am literally and physically exhausted, but it's never too late watch.

Here is the 38 minute video of the Middletown Board of Education Reorganization meeting. I recommend watching, it's very interesting.

It was at this meeting that 3 new board members, Pam Rogers, Robin Stella and Nick DeFranco were sworn in as members of the Middletown Board of Education.

Joan Minnuies was appointed Board President and Pam Rodgers as Vice-President.



You can find the Meeting Agenda and attachments .... HERE

Middletown BOE Students & Staff Recognition and Voting Meeting 12-13-17

I'll be honest, it's the holiday season and I haven't had time to watch this video from last week's Middletown Board of Education meeting. The video is 3 1/2 hours long and was posted to the BOE's website a short while ago. The first 26 minutes and 30 seconds of the video contains the monthly Student and Staff recognition ceremony then jumps right into the beginning of the December 13th BOE meeting, which was the last scheduled meeting of the year.





You can find a copy of the Meeting Agenda and other attachments to for the agenda .... HERE

Thought's on School Redistricting

If you haven't heard by now about the Middletown Board of Education's plan to redistrict the school system to alleviate over crowding in Nut Swamp Elementary School, Thompson Middle School and Middletown High School South, where have you been?

All over Facebook, parents of kids that attend Middletown Village School, as well as the above mentioned schools are freaking out because, God forbid, their kids might have to attend Thorne Middle School or Middletown High School North and what will it mean when it comes to the value of their homes. After all, they say, they moved to current Middletown locations with the schools that their children would attend in mind. These parents say they are worried about their children's well being and state of mind, how will their kids cope if they are made to attend a different school in town? What will happen to their friends and the relationships that they've made while attending their current schools? .....

I say poppycock to it!

The reality off the situation is that overall student enrollment throughout the district is down and there is excess classroom space that needs to be filled. There is absolutely no good reason why there needs to be school overcrowding in a handful of schools, when classroom space is available elsewhere. 

What's the alternative? Everyone is concerned a property taxes, should we spend more money to built  a new school or expand the current schools that are overcrowded to alleviate the problems? NO, of course not. Is it right that some students can't attend class inside their current schools and must go outside to a trailer just to appease some parents ? I don't think so.

The bottomline is that redistricting the Middletown school system has been spoken about for years, it's been a long time coming and needs to be done so that the overall quality of education that our students receive doesn't suffer.  

Kids are resilient, they'll get over it. They may miss their old friend for a week or so, but guess what? They'll make new ones and all will be well. If a child is afraid or showing some anxiety about the potential change, maybe it's because the parents are making it so by their actions and behavior during this period of uncertainty. Don't fan the flames and the fire will won't start. After all, we're all one Middletown aren't we?

There will be a special 6pm Middletown Board of Education meeting Monday night Oct 30th, at Middletown High School North where public hearing on the draft proposal for boundary realignment (redistricting) will be held. Anyone upset by this should attend so that your opinions and concerns will be part of the public record before the board of education votes on the issue later that evening.

  

Middletown Board of Education Meeting 7-26-2017

I'll admit, since the school year ended I haven't paid much attention to what's happened at the Board of Education, so I haven't watched this video. That however, doesn't mean you shouldn't. And since the Board of Education recently held August's meeting, we should get caught up before the new school year begins in 2 weeks.

You can find the Meeting Agenda... HERE and the Meeting Minutes... HERE

June 21, 2017 BOE Workshop Meeting & June 27, 2017 BOE Voting Meeting

This month's meeting videos of the Middletown Board of Education have just recently been made uploaded and available for viewing. I am posting them here but I haven't watched them yet. Between the two there is over 5 hours worth of video to watch.

If anyone wishes to discuss what's been going on down at the BOE leave your comments below and we'll talk about it.


Voting Meeting

Workshop Meeting

The Agendas for each meeting can be found Here

May 17th & 23rd Middletown Board of Education Meeting Vidoes

I'll admit I've been a little remiss lately with following the goings on at the Middletown Board of Education. I've finally got a change to look at the videos of last month's meetings and have posted both below. For viewing, the video of the workshop meeting runs 2 1/2 hours, while the voting meeting is a more manageable 42 minutes in length. Be warned however, the audio for the voting meeting is the best. It sounds like the proceedings were under water.


BOE Workshop Meeting - May 17, 2017

BOE Voting Meeting 5 23 17

For those that like to follow along the Meeting Agenda's can be found HERE and the latest available posting of Meeting Minutes of the Middletown Board of Education can be found HERE

BOE Workshop Meeting - March 22, 2017 & BOE Voting Meeting - March 28, 2017

I'll admit, I haven't watched these videos yet but it will.

You can find the Agenda for the meetings HERE and the Minutes to the March 22nd meeting HERE

BOE Special Voting Meeting - March 15, 2017: The Budget

The last 10 days have been pretty hectic. I wanted to post this video from the March 17th, Middletown Board of Education meeting last week but wasn't able to get around to it. This meeting was important because the proposed budget for the upcoming 2017/2018 school year was presented to the board.

I watched just the first 20 minutes of the video and wanted to get back to it before posting. However, the Asbury Park Press published an article "Pension ruling blows hole in Middletown school budget", a few days ago and listed all the juicy details that I hadn't got around to viewing. The article was enlightening . If you haven't read it, I think you should. It's not good news for homeowners.

MIDDLETOWN - Annual school taxes for homeowners would jump by $217 on average under a new budget that was forced to account for a multimillion dollar mistake made by the school board 10 years ago.

For the first time, the school board is circumventing the 2 percent cap on property tax increases — nearly doubling it in fact — as the district attempts to move ahead with a $160 million spending plan that includes the equivalent of seven new full-time employees as well as $1.4 million for new turf field and track at High School South.

Also tucked into the budget is an unanticipated $763,000 payment for the Teachers' Pension and Annuity Fund. The money, which represents the first of five annual payments, is a longtime district fear that has now become reality....

Continue Reading

All I'll say at the moment is, I'm not happy. I think some of the frills need to be placed aside for the time being until the pension payments that the BOE has to repay are completed, then they can look at replacing the turf field and track at High School South, along with some of their other proposed capital projects.

A $217 tax increase, on average, for homeowners is a very tough nut to crack. I think this is going to be a big deal!  

BOE Voting Meeting - February 21, 2017

I will admit, I haven't really seen this video of the February 21st meeting of the Middletown Board of Education (BOE) meeting. I've attempted to watch the video a few time over the past week and keep being taken away from it by circumstances beyond my control. I'm several minutes into it and hope to finish it over the weekend and be able to comment if necessary. This was a Voting meeting so there should be a full good details to look out for.

A list of Agendas and Attachments items for this meeting can be found ... HERE

BOE Voting Meeting - January 24, 2017

I can't believe that I haven't posted this video yet. It was really quite entertaining.

During the meeting, the Board of Education voted to reverse it's controversial December decision to provide personal legal counsel to 5 board members in the on going battle over ethics charges filed against fellow board member, Joan Minnuies. The fireworks begin at the 51 minute mark of the video and proceed from there. It really is a must watch.

Also be sure to check out minutes between 1:12:00 to 1:28:00 of the video. Former board president Jim Cody, who was one of the board members looking for free legal representation against Joan Minnuies, decided to vote against the advise of the BOE lawyer, who advised that there may be a conflict of interest if he voted on the proposal to table the legal representation. He voted anyway and when the vote passed to reverse the BOE's December action, he accuses other board members of collusion and conspiracy!  Ain't that a case of the kettle calling the pot black?!




You can find the Meeting Agendas, Committee Report and  all other Attachments HERE.

BOE Workshop Meeting - January 18, 2017

I meant to post this video of the January 18th Workshop meeting of the Middletown Board of Education last week, when it was first published, before last night's scheduled BOE meeting, but just didn't get around to it. I suppose that was because the meeting was routine and filled with Committee Reports from the various ad-hoc committees that actually do the heavy lifting for the school district.

On a brief side note, I just wanted to mentioned that for her very first meeting as BOE president, Danielle Walsh, though obviously nervous, did a fine job at conducting the meeting.



You can find the Meeting Agendas, Committee Report and the program for the Student Recognition HERE.  If you'd like to watch the video of the Student Recognition from earlier that evening, you can do so HERE.

BOE Reorganization Meeting - January 4, 2017

This past Wednesday night the Middletown Board of Education(BOE) held it's annual Reorganization meeting. By BOE standards the meeting was relatively short, just 32 minutes.

The real highlight of the meeting was the swearing in of  Board members Lenora Caminiti, John Little, Jr. and Mike Donlon along with the appointments of a new Board president, Danielle Walsh and Board vice-president John Little, Jr.

The meeting ended with the Board breaking for Executive session to discuss pending litigation. The Asbury Park Press reporter, Russ Zimmer attended the meeting and wrote about the meeting. For a little more information you can read about it ... HERE




You can find the Meeting Agendas ...  HERE

BOE Voting Meeting - November 16, 2016

I just finished watching the meeting of the Middletown Board of Education (BOE) that took place on November 16th. It was pretty standard stuff, nothing exactly stood out as earth shattering business wise.

Always interesting however are the public comments, which start at the 1:43 mark of the video and continue on for the final 40 minutes or so of the meeting. During the comments, another lengthy discussion pertaining to school security and procedures was raised by two members of the public, who have been spearheading an attempt to eliminate Tier 3 groups (less than 20% Middletown residents) from renting space in the schools for meetings or other activities.

These two individuals have been attending meetings and presenting their concerns to Superintendent George for a year or so now. To it's credit, the BOE has taken the concerns of these people very seriously and have addressed nearly every concern legally possible, these people have presented but it isn't enough. You give them a foot, they want the yard.

I'm all for safety and thinks it's somewhat important to have our schools secure in the event of something terrible and unforeseen, but at what cost? Are we really trying to protect the children or sooth the psyche of a few "Nanny State" parents.

Kids shouldn't have to be afraid to go to school. They shouldn't have to see armed guards in the hallways and the schools shouldn't have to be always seem to be in "lock-down". It's detrimental to the students and the overall learning environment.

If you have other thoughts feel free to leave them in the comments, I'd like to read them.    





You can find the Agenda for the meeting ... HERE

BOE Voting Meeting - September 27, 2016

I haven't had the time to review this latest video of the Middletown Board of Education's September 27th meeting as of yet. The video is nearly 2 1/2 hours long and I just haven't had time to look at it without interruption. If there is anything to truly comment on, I'll do so later after viewing the complete video.




Here is the link to the Meeting Agenda

For a list of attachments to the Meeting Agenda click HERE

BOE Workshop Meeting - September 21, 2016

Last Wednesday night's Middletown Board of Education Workshop meeting lasted 2 hours and to be honest, I haven't had time to review it completely, I'm about halfway through but I thought it important to post nevertheless for others to view.

One of the items discussed last week that I'm interested in, is the policy revision to the regulation regarding security for groups who rent our school with more than 75 people in attendance. The revised regulation would require Tier 2 and Tier 3 users to incur costs for a security guard to be present at events.

What this means is groups such as the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, BYAA, MYAA, sports or day camps, St Mary Soccer or other types of community groups, that use Middletown Board of Education facilities may not be able to do so due to the added costs to their programs.

This discussion item will be voted on at the next Board of Education meeting which just so happens to be this evening Tuesday, September 27th.

I would implore those concerned about this change of policy to attend the meeting and speak out against it.