Sayreville BOE lists grants, donations and a $156,000 contract; student’s fundraiser covers part of playground cost

The Sayreville Board of Education’s finance report included grant awards, a vendor contract and multiple community donations, board members said at a meeting where those items were placed on the consent agenda and approved.

Board presenter Missus Bloom described a $33,493.50 playground project at Wilson School and said 12‑year‑old Elijah Young "actually raised $12,000 on his own" toward the cost. Bloom said the district and others had agreed to cover the remaining balance.

Bloom also listed grant awards on the agenda: a Perkins Secondary Consolidated Grant award for $13,705 and an Elementary and Secondary Act consolidated grant award of $1,210,892. She told the board the district was asking for approval of those award allocations.

On contracts, Bloom said the district sought approval for a virtual remote teacher coaching services contract with EdConnective for the period Sept. 1 through April 30 in the total amount of $156,000. "Because of the high amount, we had to go out and bid for that and they were the lowest responsible bidder for bids opened on August 6," she said.

The agenda also included several donations: Bloom asked the board to accept furniture donated by Diane Shirley of the Spinoso Real Estate Group — "10 wood tables, 6 garment racks valued at $5,000" — for the Bombers Beyond apparel and community hub adjacent to the Bombers Beyond cafe. Bloom said the district also received donated racks and furniture from a closing The Limited retail store.

Bloom noted one community support item on Oct. 5: the district would provide a board bus for a "touch a truck" festival raising money for pediatric cancer; Bloom said the event cost of the bus was being paid by Missus Bobo.

Board members later moved to approve the superintendent’s recommended consent agenda items. During the roll call, Board member Missus Blum said she would abstain on governance item number 8 and on personnel addendum number 37 but otherwise voted yes on the agenda items, indicating the listed grants, contract and donations were approved as presented.

Why it matters: grant awards fund curricular and instructional programs; the remote coaching contract is a multi‑month service that the district competitively procured; community donations support school programs and a new apparel hub serving students and families.

The board did not provide a full line‑item spending plan for the $1.2 million ESEA award at the meeting.