BRICK – The district’s budget for next school year and reports of bullying incidents were the main topics of discussion at the most recent Board of Education meeting.
Nelson Ribon, the district’s HIB (Harassment, Bullying, Intimidation) coordinator for the Brick Township School District, gave his mid-year HIB prevention update. The requirement for such an update comes from the New Jersey Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act, which is a state law that is designed to ensure that all students learn in a safe, supportive, and respectful environment.
According to Ribon’s report, there were 12 total reported incidents of harassment, bullying, and intimidation across all of Brick’s schools for the first half of the school year, spanning from August of 2025 to January of 2026. Half of the districts’ recorded incidents came from one school, Lake Riviera Middle School. LRMS was the only school to have more than three total incidents. Brick Township High School had the second-most incidents, with three, while Brick Memorial High School, Veterans Memorial High School, and Osbornville Elementary School each had one incident apiece. The district’s preschools reported no incidents in either building.
The fact that there were 12 total recorded incidents is a steep drop-off from the session 1 incidents in years prior and reflects an overall improving trend across the school board. In the 2023-2024 school year, 30 HIB incidents were reported during the time period of August to January. That number dropped by nine cases the following year for a total of 21 before dropping by nine cases again for a total of 12, meaning that the total of session 1 HIB incidents has dropped by a total of 18 in two years.
Anyone looking to find this presentation on the district’s marked drop in HIB incidents can do so online through the district’s website.
Time was also taken during the meeting to approve the district’s tentative budget for the 2026-2027 school year using the state aid figures that were given out a couple of weeks ago.
This budget is not the district’s final budget for the 2026-2027 school year; rather, it is the budget that they are required to submit to the Ocean County superintendent. The board will have a public hearing on the budget during its April 30 meeting, which will be hosted at the Brick Professional Development Center at 6 p.m. It is at this meeting that the district will hear public comments on the budget before most likely adopting it.
James Edwards, the business administrator for the district, went into detail about how the tentative budget was created. During his time to speak at the meeting, he reminded the public that the process for creating the budget is still ongoing. He said that due to the various cost increases and the fact that the budget needs to be balanced before it is submitted, there will ultimately be a reduction of staff to some degree.
Edwards also mentioned that Superintendent Dr. Thomas Farrell has provided their attorney with a list of students and parents names so that they can discuss them being added to the state aid litigation on behalf of the district. The district has been engaged in a lengthy litigation process for some years now, where they have been suing the state over budget cuts to the district that total around $42 million.
