By Mark Rosman
Staff Writer
The Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District Board of Education, at its meeting on Dec. 20, approved several grants on behalf of the Foundation for the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional Schools. Board members thanked the foundation for its generosity and continued support.
The following grants were approved: teacher David Geltch, project, ManalaPans, $7,625; teacher Stephanie Walden (Pine Brook School), project, MakerSpace, $5,100; teachers Sari Laurence and Lisa Garnett, (Wemrock Brook School), project, One School, One Book, $700; teacher Sharyn Fisher (Taylor Mills School), project, PARCC breakfast, $267; teacher Catherine Grimm (Taylor Mills School), project, MakerSpace, $3,200; teacher Lori Watkins (Taylor Mills School), project, Alternative Classroom Seating to Support Young Learners, $300; and teacher Melissa Sharar (Lafayette Mills School), project, NCTM’s Meeting and Exposition, $395.
And, the board accepted a donation from the Clark Mills School PTA for the purchase of a Smartboard and books for the book room totaling $3,359. The board thanked the PTA for its generosity and continued support.
In other business:
• The board approved the acceptance of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016 and noted that the auditor’s Management Report on Administrative Findings contained no findings or recommendations which required any type of corrective action plan.
• The board granted Sportika Soccer Evolution, LLC, the use of the softball
field behind the Wemrock Brook School from March 15 through Oct. 31, 2017, subject to the following conditions: Sportika Soccer Evolution will be the only sports group given permission to use the field and Sportika Soccer Evolution will be solely responsible to make sure all repairs and reconditioning of the field are done, and that the field will be maintained in such a way that the field will be in the same condition as when the season began.
• The board authorized $790,000 to be withdrawn from the Capital Reserve Account to fund upgrades to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system at the Milford Brook School for the addition of air conditioning in certain areas of the school.
• The board approved up to five teachers to be paid for up to eight hours at the rate of $34.50 to create and facilitate English Language Learners and Immigrant
Family Nights. Funding is from No Child Left Behind Title III funds.
Finally, district officials reported the results of the Nov. 8 school board election. Four seats on the board, all representing Manalapan, were on the ballot.
Three-year terms were won by Christine Parisi, who received 11,013 votes, Gerald Bruno, 10,841 votes, and Joseph Tringali, 9,980 votes. A one-year unexpired term was won by Brian Graime, who received 11,554 votes.
The school board has nine members; eight residents of Manalapan and one resident of Englishtown.
The board will hold its annual reorganization meeting at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 3 at the district’s administrative offices at 54 Main St., Englishtown. The newly elected members of the board will be sworn in at that time. The meeting is open to the public.