Can't Get To The Brick School Board Meeting Tonight? Get Live Updates Here

With members of the Brick Township School District’s Transportation Workers of America union calling for a packed house to protest plans to cut 31 full-time bus driver positions tonight, the Board of Education meeting is likely to be a busy one.

I will be posting live updates from the meeting both here, in this story, and via Twitter, where you can follow me @Karenwall1966.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. Check back here for updates.

The school board’s agenda for tonight can be found here.

7:20 p.m. The current discussion is about possible return of John Talty to the Board of Ed.

Board is leaning toward a special election.

Board is accepting resumes to replace him through June 1.

Larry Reid, board member who just lost his seat in the last election, speaking at the microphone as a member of the the public, says Talty is an honorable man and should be reappointed.

John Barton, board member, is saying the process already moving and should be followed. He voted no to reappointing Talty right now.

Michael Conti and Frank Pannucci voted no as well, expressing concerns about legal challenges. They say he should reapply for the position like anyone else interested in the position.

Karen Cusanelli and Sharon Cantillo are voting to reappoint him based on the fact that he was voted into the position by a wide margin.

“I don’t believe Mr. Talty should have to run again in November for his seat” in a special election, Cantillo said.

Susan Suter voted yes.

The vote on the motion was a tie, 3-3, so the motion to reappoint Talty to the seat he resigned has failed.

7:45 p.m. Student representatives of Brick Memorial and Brick High School are updating on various events including the upcoming Senior Balls.

7:50 p.m.: Winter Sports Recognition.

8:20 p.m.: Support Staff and Teacher Recognition now.

8:40 p.m.: Support staff recognitions completed, teachers being honored now.

9:10 p.m.: Entering the main part of the agenda now.

• Susan Suter giving curriculum committee report. Plan to implement A/B schedule for freshmen only is disappointing. She feels students need more especially in math.
• Facilities: Frank Pannucci giving report. Replacement of entire electrical system at Brick High School will be done this summer so the school will be closed.
• Finance. Karen Cusanelli -- cafeteria services are making money this year -- as opposed to deficit it ran last year.
• Human resources -- Sharon Cantillo said it will be addressed in agenda.
• Policies: Michael Conti. Policy on first reading will allow superintendent to sign off on change orders under $20,000, to keep work moving along, especially at Brick High School. Such a policy is allowed under state school boards association rules.

Caldes reporting on awards ceremonies for seniors. Brick High School seniors received $80,000 in scholarships, he said, and Brick Memorial students will receive a similar amount.

Susan McNamara gave the Curriculum and Instruction section of the agenda.

9:25 p.m.: Discussion of whether the board needs a formal policy to allow superintendent to sign off on change orders. Cusanelli is questioning whether it’s needed because she could find no other districts that have one. Board Attorney Jack Sahradnik said he first saw it when it was on the agenda. He said the board has operated without a formal policy in the past.

Conti said the only thought was to avoid a problem like what happened at Brick Memorial where a delayed change order held up work. Brick High School work is on a very tight timeframe this summer and any delay could jeopardize the September opening, he said.

Cusanelli also is concerned about the language would allow superintendent to designate anyone else to sign off. Sahradnik said that usually applies to the purchasing agent -- who would be business administrator James Edwards.

Sahradnik says a policy may not be a bad idea for the short-term project to have a framework for how to handle these situations in the future.

Cusanelli: “I’m just more comfortable not taking away the board vote.”

Edwards: There have been no change orders that have been put forth for ratification. They have all come before the board for approval. We were told we were not allowed to present to the board of education for ratification.

Ratification means you can’t vote no retroactively on something that’s already done.

Conti is open to changing the wording to limit the timeframe and make the wording specific to the superintendent and qualified purchasing agent.

9:45 p.m.: Public comment the operations agenda.

Vic Fanelli asked about the solar power purchase agreement.

George Scott question about the solar panels. What would the savings be? Edwards: It’s a very detailed report I can provide me with a copy. The board has a report.

Edwards says the savings changes annually. “I can’t just throw a number at you and say this is the savings.”

”I just gave the report to the board this week.”

Scott says logically there should be a number on what that savings is, an estimate.

Pannucci: There was a percentage we discussed, 50 to 60 percent of the electric costs. Edwards is looking through the report to find the number. Edwards says there is a breakdown of the percentage for each of the schools. There’s $160,547 total savings per year estimated, with a total of more than $2 million in savings over the life of the project.

9:56 p.m.: Walt Campbell. The policy for the change order -- it should have been a clerk of the works not a carte blanche.

Voting: Suter abstains on the solar, as does Cusanelli and Cantillo.

Megan Osborn, head of human resources, had a car accident and was not able to be here tonight.

10 p.m.: Doctrine of necessity is being invoked, because of the following conflicts: Barton’s wife is a teacher in the school district; Conti’s wife is a teacher in the school district; and Pannucci’s sister is a teacher in the school district. Without them there is no majority to vote on Human Resources agenda.

Board questions on human resources agenda:

Suter wants to know how many people are being interviewed for each position. and whether Brick residents are being considered. She thanked Osborn and Caldes for allowing her to go through all the applications to review them.

She also strongly objects to transferring nontenured teachers between schools.

10:25 p.m.: Discussion of contract for Caldes to allow him to carry over vacation days he accumulated as an administrator. Sahradnik: “You want him on the job.” He has three weeks roughly that would carry over.

Transportation employees are getting restless waiting for their opportunity to talk.

“Let’s go!” one person said.

BOARD COMMENT

10:33 p.m.: Conti would like to institute a moratorium to review recommendations that came from Dr. Uszenski because I have no faith in them.

Conti makes motion to institute more time to give the board more time to look at this, after what we’ve been thrust into in the last few weeks. We should re-evaluate all the recommendations made by Dr. Uszenski. Pannucci says he seconds that thought.

Caldes says the report recommending those consolidations came from an outside company.

Sahradnik says it will be 30 to 60 days minimum before notices go out so there’s time to review those things and look at efficiencies.

The plan has not been submitted to Civil Service yet but is expected to be submitted Friday morning. Civil Service then has 30 days to look at it

Caldes: “I see a sign about here about privatization, let’s explain that.”

Edwards says there is a state requirement that routes for vocational and non-public school students be sent to our coordinated transportation services provider to see if the commission can provide the transportation at a less costly amount.

Sahradnik suggests a motion deferring any action for 30 days or pending the next meeting. Conti makes the motion and Pannucci seconds it.

Caldes: Because of the timelines with Civil Service, we’re talking about being into the school year and the actual savings won’t be realized.

Audience members are yelling out.

Caldes said to the board, “You can stop this at any time.”

“STOP IT NOW,” audience members are saying.

Barton was unhappy that he didn’t know about the plan to lay off bus drivers until he read it in the Patch.

Suter: “I didn’t vote for the budget because I didn’t know what was in it.” She too was blindsided about the plan to lay off bus drivers.

Suter: “Can we delay this two weeks?”

Cusanelli: Is there any detriment to the district to delaying action?

Edwards: “There’s a savings cost. Because the layoff plan hasn’t been submitted to Civil Service yet, it delays when that can be effectuated.” Edwards said the savings were budgeted and the district will have to find that money elsewhere.

Cantillo said the information used to determine the layoffs came from the transportation department.

She says there’s a meeting with the TWU on Monday.

Vote to delay action is unanimous.

11 p.m.: Pannucci says they have asked legislators to give public bodies to allow to suspend someone accused of a crime without pay.

Cantillo said there was nothing the board could have done to prevent Andrew Morgan from working in the district. The FBI and NJ State Police database was used.

“We did not intentionally hire a criminal,” she said.

PUBLIC COMMENT -- 11:05 p.m.

John Paredes: Why not a spreadsheet on those who interview. What’s our transportation efficiency factor?

Couldn’t we use surplus to bring back some of these drivers?

Edwards: I would be reluctant to recommend to the board because that would require an appropriations transfer.

Transportation Advisory Service out of New York did the study. Paredes asked for the cost of the study.

“Who’s head of the transportation department and how much does this individual get paid? This should have been done years ago.”

One of the drivers is speaking: We are the lowest paid drivers in Ocean County.

Kim Bray, 46, of Arc Lane: This has been for the entire school year. Yesterday my daughter (an eighth grader at Lake Riviera) walked in my door at 2:53 p.m., she gets out at 2:10.

It’s not fair to my child who wants to come home and get her homework done and do an extracurricular activity.

Coverage has been a mess. This was the worst year I have ever had. The other day I had three different buses pick up my second-grader. How do you know what bus she’s on if something happens?

Madeline Iannarone, mother of a special needs student: There’s lots more parents beyond those who are here who are upset about this.

John Menshon, TWU president: We were blindsided by this. There were no other proposals. no alternative plans presented.

Another driver: Is there any plan to outsource any of the routes of the drivers being laid off? Caldes: No. We are not outsourcing any routes.

In the letter we received was signed by you, Dr. Caldes.

Caldes: Yes. I felt we had to let you know. It unfortunately was one of the first things I had to do.

Driver: What about our children, because every child is my child. Who is going to take care of them?

Another driver: I have been here 20 years and this is the worst it’s ever been.

Gregory Cohen, Brick TWU chairman. Part of the plan affects 20 part timers too.

This is affecting hundreds of people.

It is not a requirement to send these out routes (vo-tech, nonpublic school), you have the right to but are not required to.

There are 11 runs currently not staffed. The board has repeatedly failed to hire staff to fill full-time positions.

The board has not hired substitutes. We have four who have buried children this year.

Cantillo: I want you to know that the information that was given to this board of education was that there is a chronic absentee problem. These are decisions that I take very seriously.

“It’s not that we want to hurt people. The information we were given was that 73 people were absent on the first day of school. We can only make decisions based on the information we were given.”

This -- cutting the 31 positions -- was a recommendation from the transportation department, Cantillo said.

Conti: ”We are in this mess because somewhere leadership failed.”

Cantillo said the finance committee was told that if every driver came to work, the district could cut at least 29 drivers.

Cohen: “If there is an absenteeism problem why aren’t those drivers getting in trouble?”

Another parent sought clarification on the issue of Morgan’s hiring in the district and his criminal background. Cantillo said she spoke with an investigator in the state Department of Education’s criminal investigation unit who said the criminal information is in the FBI database, but there also is a record in Morgan’s file that states the commissioner of education at that time -- in 1987 -- gave approval to Morgan going back to work in a school district.

“We were not duped. We were not deceived,” Cantillo said. ”That information (about Morgan’s criminal record) was not allowed to be given to us.”

At 12:23 a.m. the meeting is still going on.