Board of Education Voting Meeting - 9/26/18: Tony Perry Tries and Fails To Make A Deal And Shows How Little He Understands

I just finished watching the video from this past Wednesday night’s Middletown Board of Education (BOE) Meeting. What started out as a nice night of recognition for teachers and administrators involved in the school district being awarded 'Future Ready Silver Certification' (a distinction, given to only 35 schools in NJ, 17 of which Middletown is one), ended in what can only be characterize as a desperate attempt to gain some recognition as a candidate for Township Committee by the school community, from Middletown Committeeman Tony Perry, who is up for election this November.

It seems Middletown’s Board of Education isn’t the only entity in our community not immune to political stunts this election season.

When the meeting was opened for Public Comments, the unelected Committeeman and Candidate, Tony Perry (who, by the way was appointed by his Father In Law, Gerry Scharfenburger to the Township Committee), took to the microphone 'On Behalf of the Township Committee' to address the BOE regarding a possible agreement to take over the maintenance of 'Bayshore Elementary'.

A couple of quick notes before moving on; First, wasn't there just a conference held by Mayor Kevin Settembrino, where he proclaimed that he alone spoke for the TC, which would mean that either Settembrino sanctioned Mr. Perry's visit to speak on behalf of the committee and make an offer or Tony Perry was going rogue,  trying to make deals on his own, even though he is not a member of the joint Shared Services Committee. Later in his comments, he seems to back away from this statement and declared he 'doesn't speak on behalf of anyone, but himself'. Secondly, there is no 'Bayshore Elementary ', he would know that if he lived in Middletown for more than 5 minutes before becoming a Township Committeeman and not attempting an obvious political stunt, so I will assume he is referring to Bayview Elementary School.

Moving on ... Perry made reference to the potential Stevenson's Park Sports Complex, which in his words, 'is a political football' and 'not an honest discussion of how many fields would be placed there.' He goes on to accuse others (presumably, his opponents, one of which is Board Member Danielle Walsh) of 'intentionally misleading the residents of Shady Oaks and Shadow Lake'. Honestly, I'm not sure what these statements were meant to accomplish at a BOE meeting other than an attempt to garner votes by driving a wedge between the BOE and the parents of a few sports kids.

You can call me crazy if you want, but according to the plans for the sports complex that I and others have seen, they clearly show a plan to create a total of 9 multi-purpose sports fields beginning with a Phase 1 start of 2 fields.... Again, call me crazy, but how does informing residents living adjacent to Stevenson Park of plans for a potential Sports Complex by others 'intentionally misleading' or relevant in any way to the BOE?

He then offered to propose on 'behalf of the Township Committee' to take over control and maintenance responsibilities for Bayview Elementary Fields. In return, the Township Committee would decide which entities are entitled to use of the fields, with the school events getting priority. Not a bad deal for the BOE, right? Except, Board President Joan Minnuies pointed out, the Township Committee already decides who gets priority over these fields. He went on to refer to Bayview as an 'unknown and treasured part of Middletown.' Unknown? Really? I’m sure thousands of Belford residents would be shocked to know their elementary school was unknown to a candidate for the Township Committee.

Committeeman Perry also asserted that in the arrangement, the 2 baseball fields presently there (albeit without pitchers mounds because they are multi-purpose fields) , would be torn down to make room for the maintenance of soccer, flag football and lacrosse fields. When BOE member Michael Donlon questioned this, Perry inferred that it would be fine because there were no issues with lack of field time for baseball in Middletown.

BOE member, Danielle Walsh questioned his political motivations for addressing the BOE, since he 'had never been to a Board of Education Meeting before tonight' and 'suggested what would amount to an agenda item for Shared Services'. And further took issue with Mr. Perry's accusation that the BOE 'ignored' their fields. It was at this point that Mr. Perry changed his tune and insisted he was there speaking 'on behalf of himself', then went on to say 'I don't have the ability to have my voice heard to the School Board on my opinions about Shared Services decisions that occur. Unfortunately, that is why I have to come to these meetings.'.

BOE member Nick DiFranco also took issue with some of Mr. Perry's assertions regarding Shared Services and the extent to which the BOE was involved in addressing issues with field usage.

The bottom line here is that Mr. Perry, accompanied by another unelected Committeeman, Rick Hibell (who did not speak) seemed out of his depth of knowledge when it came to not only how the BOE works, but how to effectively communicate within the boundaries of his own Township Committee. But this is what you get when you have a Township Committee where there is no accountability to the point of blatant nepotism. Watch the exchange in the video for yourself and decide (I’ve queued it to the start of Perry’s comments).

Other than what I’ve mentioned above, the Voting Meeting was relatively uneventful (with the exception of Board Member Leonora Caminitti referring to another BOE member as a 'sissy'), but you should still take the time to watch the entire meeting, which you can access …. HERE

And while you’re at it do me a favor, consider asking the BOE to work on their video sound quality. I appreciate the transparency of the taped meetings, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

April 17, 2018 BOE Workshop Meeting & April 25, 2018 BOE Voting Meeting

I'm slowly working my way through these videos, it's tough when there are two meeting within 7 days that you need to get through. However, for the April 17th Workshop meeting, we have the luxury of having the Meeting Minutes available to cheat a little. 


April 17, 2018 BOE Workshop Meeting



At the April 25th meeting, a final budget presentation was given (which I recommend watching) and the budget for 2018/2019 school year was voted on. The budget for the 2018/2019 school year contains a 1.24% increase over last years school budget which means an increase of  $131 per year for the average Middletown home.

The budget passed on a 5-4 vote and you can read more about it HERE


April 25, 2018 BOE Voting Meeting


You can find the various agendas for these meetings ... HERE

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 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

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

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

Middletown BOE Meetings: April 19th & April 25th

I'm really getting backed-up with all the videos I need to watch and comment on. I only recently finished watching the BOE videos from March.  Life happens sometimes I suppose...

I know that the capital budget was discussed and that teacher contract talks are pending. If anyone has anything to comment on from these two videos, let me know and I'll put it on top of my priority list for this weekend.


BOE Workshop Meeting - April 19, 2017

BOE Voting Meeting - April 25, 2017

For this that like to follow a long 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 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.