The Board of Education (BOE) meeting on February 24th, 2025 kicked off with the swearing in of Mrs. Claudia Gray, the newest member of the board who will only be serving until December 31, 2025. Mrs. Gray was one of 3 candidates interviewed to fill in the seat vacated by the resignation of Mr. Jerry Rymar. The newly selected candidate is a past booster club treasurer at Hunterdon Central and former PTO member for Robert Hunter Elementary, which she cites has proven her “abilities to be open-minded and work with various opinions and beliefs, as well as manage a fiscal budget.” Additionally, she can be found as a “pro-parent, pro-child candidate” according to the New Jersey Project (an organization which opposes the state’s sex education standards and the support for LGBTQ+ student confidentiality), as she supports parental rights. This selection of Mrs. Gray was certainly met with its fair share of controversy, with some expressing that she was not as qualified as other candidates.
Following the swearing in, the board convened into a 45 minute executive session (time for the BOE to discuss matters not open to the public, such as HIB cases, litigation, and personnel). After the board re-appeared, they entered into Ethics Training, conducted by the district’s new attorney, Matthew Giacobbe (Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri, Jacobs, LLC). The training, which is required to be conducted in public, reviewed the School Ethics Act, the importance of BOE transparency and confidentiality, etc. More principally, the attorney outlined the importance of knowing when not to vote on matters that may create a conflict of interest (i.e. a vote that may affect a family member of the BOE), and to seek the opinion of advisors prior to voting if there were any doubt.
Next, came the President’s Report, a new item, where the President of the Board (Mrs. Lisa Santangelo) reports on the BOE committees: operations, transportation, student life, and program. These committees are specialized sub-parts of the board where they focus on a specific issue/sector, and is where most of the work gets done (similar to that of committees in the US Government). Their size, however, is limited to just 4 (just short of the necessary threshold of 5 to act on items), preventing one committee from acting on behalf of the entire board.
Following this report, came the Superintendent’s (Ms. Jessica Cangelosi-Hade). Here she discussed the review of QSAC (Quality Single Accountability Continuum), in which the school is reviewed based on 3 categories: Program, fiscal/governance, and operations/personnel. More optimistically, she also discussed that if (at the time of the meeting) the district did not use up its emergency closing days for February, they would likely modify the end of the year to end on June 18th before the Juneteenth observance. (As of the time of writing this, the district did not use its emergency closing days before the end of February, and will likely move the last day of school to the 18th.) Ms. Cangelosi-Hade also took the time to recognize outstanding achievements made by staff and students alike – most notably Hunterdon Central’s Strength Coach, Paul Kolody, on being selected as the National High School Strength Coach of the Year by the National High School Strength Coach’s Association, students selected to the New Jersey High School All-State Choir, as well as Fencing and Wrestling championships.
The third report of the night came from Dr. Matthew Hall (Director of Curriculum & Instruction), Mr. Brandt, and Dr. Robert Hastings (Supervisor of Special Projects) to present how Hunterdon Central’s Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) program has been implemented. As the name suggests, MTSS is the program of having a leveled system of support across 4 pillars. The bottom level, Tier 1, is the universal support that all students receive, such as class by class adaptations. The next level, Tier 2, is targeted support for specific students who may require additional intervention (typically 5-15% of students need this level). Finally, Tier 3 is the most intensive level of intervention, which typically requires the most individualized support (1-5% of students). Overall, the presentation reported support for child development.
The final report came from a much younger demographic; Bronwyn Downey and Erin Johnston, the Student Board of Education Representative and Alternate, are students selected to represent and report on behalf of the student body. Aligning with this, their report focused on student life happenings – including the Tri-M All That Jazz Concert, The Lamp and Society of Young Authors’ collaboration for a creative writing segment, conversations about AI use in the classroom, and much more. The new position has been a great opportunity for students’ voices to be heard by the board. If students have any ideas, concerns, questions, suggestions, or other inquiries, they may fill out the anonymous google form.
Overall, the Board of Education meetings are the board’s main avenue of transparency to the public and allow them to hear public concerns. Attending meetings is a great way to stay informed about Hunterdon Central happenings for students and broader community members alike.
