The Board will also act on extra-period pay for teachers, a revised list of student clubs and a grant-funded trip to Washington.
The East Brunswick Board of Education meets tonight, Oct. 8. Although the meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., the Board typically starts with a closed session; tonight’s agenda lists “Security – Transportation” and one personnel matter. Members of the public are usually admitted shortly before 7:30 p.m., when the public portion of the meeting begins. The exact timing may vary.
Residents can review the Board’s official agenda packet (PDF), which includes the supporting documents referenced below.
For most residents, the items to watch are the high school update, a set of short-term school bus contracts and the state-required public hearing on bullying and school safety data.
The high school: capacity, options and a planned committee
“East Brunswick High School” is listed again under presentations, as it was on Sept. 24, with no memo or slides attached.
On Sept. 24, Business Administrator Joseph Crotchfelt told the Board the high school is “over capacity by 463 students” and Churchill Junior High School is over “by about 650,” under the state’s space-planning calculation. He said the high school meets fire code. Eyes on EB reported on those remarks, including the cost estimates in district records.
In August, the district’s architect presented options for adding space, from moving Churchill’s temporary classroom units to the high school ($9 million to $11 million) to a ninth-grade academy addition ($66 million to $74 million) to a new high school ($385 million to $425 million), each an estimate of construction cost plus contingency. The architect put the cost of maintaining the existing building at up to $312.5 million.
According to the Sept. 24 minutes, Crotchfelt “briefly reported the current status of the East Brunswick High School discussion which involved bond referendum.” He said the Board had met in closed session with bond counsel about “high school project potentials.” Board President Marianne Tanious said the Board will form an ad hoc high school committee to gather community input. “No decisions have been taken at this time,” she said.
The architect’s August presentation listed the next steps as direction from the Board, further project development, state approvals and, finally, a community vote.
Residents may hear tonight whether the ad hoc committee has been formed, how members of the public can take part, and what the next steps will be.
Short-term bus routes, already running
The Board is being asked to approve three student transportation contracts that the district arranged through quotes, not a formal bid. According to the agenda, quote requests went to “multiple vendors,” and “the district will issue a formal bid solicitation in the near future for these routes.”
| Company | Route | Serves | Daily rate | Start |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Three Brothers | CLL003 (includes a bus aide) | Center for Lifelong Learning | $299 | Sept. 22 |
| Three Brothers | HSCH01 | East Brunswick High School and Churchill Junior High | $200 | Sept. 2 |
| Trio Trans | HSCH02 | East Brunswick High School and Churchill Junior High | $255 | Sept. 18 |
Together the three routes cost $754 per school day, or roughly $15,000 in a typical 20-school-day month.
All three routes began before tonight’s vote. That has happened before: on July 23 the Board approved quoted routes that had started in late June and early July, and on Sept. 10 five more that started Sept. 2 to Sept. 8. Both items also said a formal bid would come “in the near future.” Eyes on EB did not find a new transportation bid award in Board records since June, and the agenda doesn’t give a date for the solicitation.
One route code has a history. In June the Board awarded a route labeled HSCH02 to a different company at $190.74 a day. In July it rescinded that contract, in an item that said some routes were no longer necessary “due to a student no longer attending the schools.” The route quoted tonight under the same code is $255 a day. The agenda doesn’t say whether it covers the same stops or students.
Residents may hear why these routes were needed, how long they will run and when the bid will be issued.
The Board will also vote to add a one-to-one aide, “required to meet student needs,” to a Kero Trans route for $100 a day from Sept. 9 through June 30, and to cancel an extended-school-year route to Lake Drive School that the agenda says is no longer necessary.
Bullying and school safety: a public hearing
State law requires an annual public hearing on how each school graded itself under New Jersey’s Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights and on incidents of violence, vandalism, harassment, intimidation and bullying, this time for January through June 2026.
A self-assessment chart included on page 18 of the Board’s official agenda packet (view the chart) rates schools in eight areas, including programs, staff training and how cases are reported and investigated. Every school, from Bowne-Munro to the high school, scored the maximum 78 of 78 in both 2024-25 and 2025-26.
That score reflects whether the required programs and procedures are in place. It isn’t a count of incidents. The incident numbers for the spring are not in the agenda packet and are expected in tonight’s presentation.
The hearing is a formal opportunity for public comment. The agenda labels that comment period “Budget Public Hearing,” but no budget item is on tonight’s agenda.
Extra-period pay for teachers
The personnel report would approve a sixth teaching period for 174 assignments, 80 at Churchill and 94 at the high school, at $4,314 per semester. The listed amounts total about $1.16 million. That is close to last year: in September 2025 the Board approved 176 such assignments at the same rate, totaling about $1.25 million.
New this year is a “seventh teaching period,” paid at $2,500 per quarter, for six assignments totaling about $11,300. Most cover short, fixed stretches of the fall. Eyes on EB did not find a seventh-period item in the Board records it reviewed going back to 2022.
Revised list of student clubs
The Board is scheduled to approve a revised 2026-27 list of clubs, teams and participation fees. Fees are unchanged from the version on the Sept. 10 agenda, generally $45 per club and $200 per sport. The high school list adds a Latin American Student Alliance.
The list also includes the high school’s non-sponsored, student-initiated clubs. Under a federal law, the Equal Access Act, schools must give such clubs equal access regardless of their religious or political viewpoint. The revised list has 10: Arab Student Union, Club America, Coptic Club, EBEFSA, Eastern European Orthodox Club, Fellowship Christian Athletes (FCA), Gender and Sexuality Partnership, Hindu Club, Jewish Student Union and Muslim Student Association. Six clubs on the Sept. 10 version do not appear: A2J: According to Jesus, American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Gay & Straight Peers, Jewish Culture Club and Political Club.
AP Government students head to Washington
Twenty-five seniors in AP Government and Politics are scheduled to travel to Washington, D.C., Oct. 12 to 15 to meet with government officials. Students pay nothing. The trip application credits the funding to the “Seibel Grant.” In 2025 the Board accepted a $100,000 gift from alumnus Michael Seibel, through the East Brunswick Education Foundation, to support the high school’s IPLE program, robotics and e-gaming.
The two cost documents in the packet list different figures. The trip application shows a total cost of $13,403, with $3,939 listed as Board funded and $10,208 from the grant. A separate cost worksheet totals $14,485.01 and notes that “there is no board funding, all expenses for this trip are grant funded.”
Also on the agenda
- Foster placements: two students placed in East Brunswick resource family homes by the state Department of Children and Families will attend Churchill and Chittick. The State pays their tuition and transportation, $68,270.20 in total.
- School nurses: the annual Nursing Service Plan keeps one full-time nurse in every elementary school and two each at the upper elementary school, Churchill and the high school.
- A PTA gift: $5,434.03 from the Lawrence Brook PTA for a Gaga Pit with rubber safety flooring.
- Special education: an amended settlement agreement with one family. No terms are included in the public agenda.
The Board will also accept the minutes of Sept. 24. Items approved at that meeting, including the new energy broker and the advertising-sales procurement process, are not up for a vote again tonight.
