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uh Doolittle was projected at 546 it's already at 5 24. Chapman was projected at 377 and is at 362. Norton was projected at three at 421 and is at 433 already so our enrollment uh in that 1K succeeds the projection not capacity but projection uh Highland is already at capacity which has led us to really look at some of the new projects coming online and how do we accommodate our students in the best way possible so uh Mr macciano myself uh Mr Miller are as well as our town uh planner got together we were looking at these new sites that were coming online if you're familiar with dickerman Road those are condo units that are almost ready to be occupied and will be certainly by the summer that area is slated on our map to attend Highland Elementary which uh is not good so you know we've looked at that and will likely be kind of redistricting that new development to Chapman to try and better balance the numbers after the new school has built those students would go to the North End school anyway so they wouldn't be switching schools at that point they'd be moving with their peers from Chapman to the new building so we're trying to be creative in about and and really scrutinize how we make these sort of decisions and support our students so they're not making new transitions we're not going to redistrict students that are already in our buildings to new buildings and uh even if we tried there's not a lot of room to do that anyway so we're trying to be sensitive to how these new developments come online and where the kids go they just wanted to share that with with everybody and the community uh some really good news uh the new niche.com rankings around I I don't put a boatload of uh you know weight into these uh it's just interesting and uh basically uh as much as I don't know that they're the most uh credible measure of District success they are something that a lot of folks look to and probably drive people to those new places in dickerman and other around town so just to give you a sense in 2021 uh Cheshire was ranked number 516 in of all school systems in America which is you know arguably very good um this year where 330 up from 345 last year so uh we continue to climb uh the the rankings and we're proud of that success uh and I want you to stay tuned because very soon there's another uh National acknowledgment that we're going to receive uh for some of the work that we're doing in our ahr department uh we'll look forward to sharing that but we've been told we can't share it publicly yet until the National Organization makes their announcement so soon uh tomorrow is a super big day uh and I you know being of Irish descent Irish citizen myself you might think that uh I'm talking about St Patrick's Day but uh it's actually Marlene Solano day we have professional development and I have to give Marlene and Kevin Hanlon and Marlene's team an incredible amount of credit you heard tonight from The Dodd teachers who talked about choice and the Power of Choice we have so many incredible workshops for teachers tomorrow uh and Marlene has spent in it in an inordinate amount of time not just securing great presenters for our staff and really leveraging you know this opportunity to provide professional development but providing the opportunity for 400 teachers across the district to find something that's meaningful for them and you don't ever see this level of differentiation in professional development across a district and so kudos to Marlene for me to forgo St Patrick's Day is a big deal it speaks to really what she's put together here it's really incredible we can't wait for tomorrow right down to numerous food trucks here for staff to take advantage of during lunch it should be fun and exciting day of learning for our our team and uh congratulations to Marlene and Kevin like I said her team for putting that together great work uh another incredible acknowledgment if you follow me on Instagram or Twitter uh I think it's super Cheshire or something but uh I posted earlier today uh last night was the YMCA uh even the awards dinner the annual Awards dinner and it was really an awesome event in part because one of our seniors Aidan McCauley was recognized for use youth leadership and to hear him get up and articulate how Community Service uh and then how that how that fostered leadership within him was really you know at the core of what we talk about for SEL and that pure personal growth and you know we've always said we don't graduate transcripts with people and Aiden was the perfect example of that last night very proud of him uh and then of course uh a dear friend and colleague Steve trephone our outgoing athletic director was the first person in the history of the Cheshire YMCA 30-year history to be named their person of the year and Steve was himself very gracious humble uh and and genuine and responding receiving that award and talked a lot about uh the honor it's been for him to be able to work with our students and have that experience and and hopefully somehow shape them uh to be more successful in life uh certainly Athletics but uh congratulations to Steve and and to Aiden uh on their recognitions last night that's all that I have for my report thank you Dr Solon uh any questions for Dr Phil just have a question about like I love the choice board idea did you solicit via survey of interest um and then obviously finalize what pieces just trying to see how many people are going to go to certain you know areas too yeah a lot of this came from conversations with teachers so all of the systems and structures that we have in place for two-way communication through grade level meetings right down to building level Representatives meetings hearing what the goals are for each of the Departments and and working with everyone on our definition of high quality instruction and okay so what's everyone working on to get there and that's really how we came up with all the offerings thanks for asking any other questions yes I was sort of more moved by the food truck choices so I'm wondering can the public go to Cheshire public schools and and partake of yeah so we have over 400 teachers and um we wanted to make this a fun and exciting day filled with learning experiences and you can't learn if you're not well fed so part of our conundrum there is 400 people and getting people back and forth you know out into the community is is tough are there different trucks at different schools no we're all at Cheshire high school so K through 12 we're going to be together so um all of the sessions are broken out so that you have representation from K through four from five through eight and then from nine through twelve so they're mixed together and we have six food trucks coming in some including some that are representative of our local community so the blender bar will be there and Jersey Mike's and and a couple of others so we're hoping to get everybody fed in pretty short order thank you so to just put a cap on this tonight uh I appreciate I wish that our full board was here uh for the recognition but uh March represents board member appreciation month uh and for people in the community who hopefully will watch this later or don't know perhaps that the amount of time and energy that members of the Board of Education as volunteers put in I had no idea before I came up became a superintendent uh the commitment that they make because of the passion they have to support our students and education and make sure that our community continues to thrive and be successful is really amazing and uh we have some small token gifts for you guys from the Cheshire public schools for the time that you put in uh could never be tantamount to the amount of time and energy you put into it nobody could ever afford that but we do want to just say thank you and appreciate everything that you do for our kids for us up here on this day I said uh for our community so thank you and happy board member appreciation month foreign wanted the food more than anything though and you could come to the food truck okay you know that's what you want for board member appreciation month thank you Dr Solon um next so that concludes uh your report okay thank you um see we have no old business um but um my agenda says we have new business and I will call on Mr maciano thank you again so tonight we have a new business item called healthy food certification and this is an annual uh requirement for Boards of Ed Under Connecticut General statute 10-215f those school districts that participate in the national school lunch program each year must certify whether the food items sold to students will meet or not meet the Connecticut nutrition standards so I'm going to give you just some quick backdrop because there are three very lengthy motions that all relate to healthy food certification renewal and in a nutshell what these motions enable us to continue to do through our food service operation is one continue to comply with the healthy food options that are required if we maintain healthy food certification and this applies not only to the reimbursable meals but anything that we sell snacks and a la carte items to students during the day so the first motion just essentially states that we will comply when we are selling food to students during the school day including a la carte items and then the next two motions allow exemptions those exemptions are for food in the second motion and for beverages in the third item so why do we need those exemptions those exemptions allow us to sell items at the concession stand at and other events that occur after the school day so that if there's a bake sale that's being conducted by the PTA that can be allowed to happen so that's the purpose of the three motions the language that's in the Motions are the exact is the exact wording that is required by the State Health Nutrition family services and adult education division and just two more important points one is by participating in healthy food certification we do get another 10 cents per meal added to the reimbursement for a reimbursable breakfast and lunch meals and also I wanted to let you know that 96 of districts in Connecticut um are taking advantage of the healthy food certification that's 184 out of the 192.
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okay okay um in that case I actually think that we should keep going and as this goes on we can always choose to take a break later if um uh if we still have Quorum okay but if you if you need to stand up and go to the bathroom or get a glass of water feel free to just turn your camera off and we'll assume that you're uh if you don't respond that you're doing something important and you know you can just come back after okay so let's see that was 6-a now we can go to uh six dash B which is a discussion of the memorandum regarding enforcement processes and challenges for right to renew and early leasing ordinances there's an attachment here I can pull this up um here we go um so was everyone able to take a look at this memorandum it was it's been out since February 15th uh we didn't really have a whole lot of time we didn't have any time last uh the last meeting to discuss it but was everyone able to read it and you know what are your initial thoughts do you have any questions concerns about it Hannah yeah um I read it I had I just one question because I know this has come up um multiple times and maybe it's already been clarified but this um this memo I believe is where it made clear that like Lisa's before the right to renew ordinance will not like Lisa's that weren't um adjusted or changed before that ordinance it will not apply to and I remember that being a question at a few meetings like whether existing leases whether right to renew would apply to them so is this like taking for the word that leases entered into before the ordinance date right to renew does not apply to I'm looking through here I can't remember if that was included here I know that that is to the best my knowledge that's the position of the city um but I'm not sure if anyone remembers if that was expressly stated in the it's in there like right when the when the section titled right to renew ordinance it's the first line of that section right here okay yeah yeah the ordinance applies to leases entered into renewed or renegotiated after that date so yes uh thank you Hannah for pointing that out that um that is part of the memorandum okay thank you anything else either con uh comments or concerns Lucy yeah I wanted to talk about the bullet point on page two where it's talking where it identifies the reasons why some ELO complaints aren't founded so there's three reasons identified there that um the landlord contacted them about renewing and that was also they felt pressure and they might have renewed but it doesn't actually violate the language itself the second thing that they were placed on a waiting list and the third thing that the the tenant found new housing so I think this is a part this section to me is the most interesting that we need to discuss because it reveals the ways in which the ordinance itself is not addressing the problem that it's intended to address and I'm wondering um I guess if people have thoughts about what we should do there I mean maybe that's amending the language to address multiple situations I mean the the waitlist situation I guess we're dealing with independently though we haven't come up with the remedies for that the third one I think um that that one was a little bit puzzling to me because the you could still go through a complaint even if you found new housing right it would still have been violated so I was wondering if um those tenants were being encouraged to drop the complaint or if they had just chosen to do that um yeah just you know there's a lot of interesting interesting stuff here yeah wondering if people had any thoughts about how we could make the ordinance stronger if um maybe attorney Riser if that's what you think is needed here is an amendment to the language or how you think you could best get to a point where we're addressing the problem that the ordinance was set out to address number three wouldn't bullet point three wouldn't necessarily be that it's unfounded but it's just that it's closed out it's like you kind of need a complainant to proceed you need someone to call to the stand and say what happened and when did this community that communication and some tenants just say you know what I don't like this landlord I just want to move on I want to be done with it so that's closed out would be a more appropriate way to describe uh bullet point three really you know we're not going to force somebody who doesn't want to deal with a landlord anymore to come to court and talk about a relationship they just want away from so some have moved on and just to clarify it's a direct response there um this is not saying that tenants who do move on cannot pursue a complaint of course not no but some just say the hell with it I just want to get this new place I've got a better place I've got you know better space and they just don't want to they you know that's kind of what that's for okay thanks John uh the move on to Nick you're uh muted sorry I'm gonna pass for now and lower my hand gotcha thanks Tony but uh I might have a comment later okay Hannah yeah just a quick note since um let's see I'm glad you said that just like pointing out the section I I feel like um in the waitlist discussion this is just helpful if this commission brings forth something in terms of regulating fees this is I think this resource is great to have to point to that bullet point about waiting list in particular to show that it's unfounded here because it was actually a waitlist ask therefore it doesn't violate the thing I just think it's good that now we have the language to point to that as evidence for any future thing so um it's not fun to look at but at least we have it instead of just saying that's what we've heard yeah definitely and to know that tenants see the waitlist fees and are confused and they think this is the same as renewing or they think that uh it's affected by early leasing ordinance which is my understanding here um that's interesting um it's good to know Jamie um just wondering if this is information that we could um if we would continue to have access to as complaints come in um just thinking in terms of like changing language um it might be helpful to have a little more information um as things kind of progress so I I suppose that would be a question for either Kristen or John I know that we've had access to some previous ELO complaints uh will we continue to have access and if so how will that be achieved we can request them from rental housing and then they would go through the same reduction process as foia to uh before we could provide them to you do you think you want those um maybe quarterly or how I missed the beginning of the question um you want me to do like a quarterly request was rental housing or um well and I wasn't even thinking exactly like I don't feel like we would at least from my perspective I wasn't thinking like drilling into the details um just like that little um summary of like this was unfounded and this was why like and and maybe just seeing how many complaints are coming in quarterly would probably be appropriate that would be my opinion but yeah I can follow up about it um I'd ask them often I did it before this meeting if there's anything relevant going on that they'd like to share and they don't oh they they haven't shared um so far but if we ask specifically they would likely be able to give it to us in advance of a meeting so I'll ask them let you know I do want to say I um I'm very happy to have Clarity on how these complaints are supposed to be dealt with I know it's been said verbally a couple times but having it in writing is great and I think that um informing tenants that this is the process that you access the complaint online on the website then you email it to Janet Farrell that's good to know so we can pass that on to tenants and if there's an issue with that process as we go along and we realize that this is not working at least we we know what the process is so we can propose changes so this is a great so I know that I think Travis and Cynthia you both met with the administrator on this so thank you for doing that um Lucy yeah I wanted to bring up one more issue from the memo which is the last portion about um the difficulties on the staff side in terms of managing the camp complaints and investigating them so one issue that's named in the memo is that Janet Farrell who had been Fielding the complaints uh her her salary is from the housing budget not not the budget that should be used so she can't keep Fielding these complaints so the city staff is looking for other avenues for processing these complaints that's that's a really interesting part of the memo to me because on the attendance organizing side one of the things that we have and we did a huge push back when um yellow was first pushed is we try to get people to systematically file complaints see like here the city is set up we just pass this ordinance the city set up to do this and you know we fly around a lot we have conversations with people and we say you can file this complaint so now with this background information being like okay that might actually not be the most effective way of filing complaints there's a little bit of um the the tenants movement in the city are a bit out of sync so I just want to flag this as a as a problem that I think is really important and worth continuing to think about maybe in staff in the renter's commission together I I don't know a lot about where a budget would come for this but it seems worth spending some money on to me yeah I mean and also with what the staff was saying about how their um their focus is more on the structural inspection than it is with the contractual and relational stuff it seems like we maybe need to think about um creating a new department for something like that and allocating some funds for that yeah thank you Lucy I appreciate that and yeah I I realized I I don't think I really recognize how much work um members of Geo had done trying to get people to file complaints in the first place I totally forgot about that so thank you for your work and the work of others on that um when some of the council members uh would either of you like to uh respond about what you think might help the situation if um Janet's uh a bit constrained here and we it sound sounds like for mental Housing Services that there might be a need for people to work on enforcement for the contractual uh or the regulation of contracts and how those are observed do you have any ideas for how to make the situation better um we would love to hear yeah so we are um heading into a budget process here a budget cycle here um and so I know that we have been in conversations with the city administrator about um whether or not we need to allocate for an additional staff member um what what that looks like what those needs are obviously um Staffing the the day-to-day Staffing decisions are administrators purview the budgeting portion is our purview and so we're basically asking him um what support is needed in order to make sure that this enforcement um process can continue um and and frankly to probably be improved because as as Lucy noted um this is is not really what Janet was initially intended to be doing um and so um so we're looking at that I know budgets are very tight this year but this is something that that we have consistently been asking for and so we're continuing to work with with the administrator as we go into this this next cycle so hopefully we'll have have some clarity here soon [Music] gotcha thank you let us know how we can be helpful in that process foreign okay any other comments on this memorandum I know that there will I can't remember who I was going to be at this meeting but there's going to be a meeting is it later this month regarding this memorandum among a few Commissioners to discuss it more so in in depth I know Nick I think Nick and Lucy and I don't remember who else are intending to be there okay well if anyone else is interested in getting into the uh the details of this memorandum and trying to understand exactly what the uh was meant um in here and you know what what how we all feel about it just send an email I suppose to Kristen sorry Kristen said everything your way but uh I'm I think Kristen can help uh connect you with this small group that's meeting about the memorandum yes and Thursday next week at 5 30.
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this is great news but we need to project for the future when state aid will be flat a huge majority of our budget increases year to year will have to come from the tax levy to maintain or grow our staff staff in operations the administration was anticipating coming to the board and asking for up to a six percent tax labor increase along with the assumed seven seven million dollar increase in state aid that was just to maintain current operations and to balance the 14.5 million dollar increase from current year to next year also for about five years now the budget has been balanced with increasing state aid with no tax levy increase so looking forward to 24.25 it will be very difficult to balance budgets with flat state aid and only a two percent tax levy increase if we don't start building our tax base now now after knowing the state aid numbers a comprehensive needs assessment that our team did indicates that we need to hire 93 staff the rest of the additional state aid increase from this year so we need to build our Revenue base so the following year we we're not looking at Letting Go staff we just hired because of the state aid increase that we got this year like looking at other districts state aid I've seen large districts comparable to us lose tens of millions of dollars a year such Jersey City and after 24.25 the soccer formula is actually sun setting so depending on what the legislatures do whether they're keeping this after formula or changing it we we don't know that that's a that's a we we won't know what future formulas hold for us it could be more generous to us or it could be less generous to us the only thing we know is what our tax base is that can't be taken away from us the district's fist costs to maintain operations from the current school year next school year we keep saying is that 14 million dollars this number represents current Staffing instruction on support programs maintaining facilities everything Etc transportation so thinking ahead to 2425 with a flat state will need to come up with a revenue source to maintain next year's operations with the staff who are looking to hire on the next slide I'll break down with the 14 million means going into the next school year and how going into the following school year that just salary and benefit obligations alone represent much larger than a two percent Levy increase which is which would be about seven to ten million dollars just benefits and salary alone it's probably seven to ten million dollars and a tax levy increase of two percent is only 2.7 million dollars on our current tax base our assistant superintendents will go into the vital staff we're looking forward to hiring next year later in the presentation first contraction salary obligations would increase by four million dollars current protections for health benefit premium increases three million dollars Charter School tuition which is a projected and mandated and mandated by the state 2.5 million dollar increase this projection is a 21.5 percent increase and an enrollment increase of 85.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
and all of those participate in the national school lunch program so there's really only a handful of communities that don't participate in the national school lunch program at all but we do and and certainly this is something that we do every year we think it's a good thing we we like to you know follow the regulations and make sure that we are providing our students the most nutritious and delicious meals that we could possibly provide so that's the backdrop there's questions before you read the Motions that we certainly happy to entertain them but you don't have to ask anything if you don't want to uh do we have any questions for Mr maciano before yeah go ahead then is there an I mean there's 98 like you said but is there a negative if a district doesn't want to participate pros and cons well it in the national school lunch program yeah it would cost parents yeah yeah that's that's really what it comes down to to our benefit to participate basically in all aspects any other questions from Mr massiana um I guess I'll get the ball rolling I I don't think I talked too much this evening so I'll start um move that uh percent let's see a good start move that pursuant to CGS section 10-215f the Cheshire Board of Education certifies that all food items offered for sale to students in the schools in the schools under its jurisdiction and not Exempted from the Connecticut nutrition standard standards published by the Connecticut State Department of Education will comply with the Connecticut nutrition standards During the period of July 1 2023 through June 30 2024 this certification shall include all food offered for sale to students separately from reimbursable meals at all times and from all sources including but not limited to school stores vending machines School cafeterias culinary programs and any fundraising activities on school premises sponsored by the school or by non-school organizations and groups is there a second it's Harrigan uh is there any discussion on the motion seeing none oh yeah sure track I mean you say they try to provide the best lunches nutritious and delicious are they well I think so yeah come to the food truck but you could come to school okay okay I mean do we ever track how much gets tossed or how much gets left out of that tray so that is a loaded question do we track it there is you know there's certainly items that are disposed of and not eaten and you know this this the reason I say it's a loaded questions because it is a Hot Topic right now one of the things that is a requirement if it's a reimbursable meal it has to include you know for breakfast that has to include a grain of fruit and a milk and if the child does not want to take the fruit it's no longer reimbursable it's not a reimbursable meal and right now we're in a period where all meals are free to students but reimbursable so we have to have that student take that fruit even if they don't want it and so that sometimes gets disposed of so we try and do things to counter so that students eat their fruit so instead of giving a whole apple as an example we would give fruits fruit sliced apples as in a baggie if we can and so this is a a dilemma that we're all having in school districts across the state it's gotten worse since the free lunches have been made available so yes there is waste do we we don't track it by pound but you know there's no school district that's happy about you know food that isn't eaten by the child but they are nutritious in the sense that they meet very stringent requirements that are put forth you know by the state through the USDA so low sodium low fat um has to have protein and very technical in nature and participating in in healthy food certification does obligate us to make sure that what we're serving meets all those standards I would just add that students children have been rejecting food for long before healthy food was um mandated and um I applaud our efforts at looking into composting said food and I know that it has it is being looked into has been looked into and um I continue to support the efforts on composting food items so thank you welcome any other comments or discussion seeing none um all in favor of the motion red unanimous of those present thank you um what the heck am I I'm warmed up now um motion two for food exemptions moved that the Cheshire Board of Education will allow the sale of students that was pretty good uh let me start again um move that the Cheshire Board of Education will allow the state the sale to students of food items that do not meet the Connecticut nutrition standards provided that the following conditions are met one the sale is in connection with an event occurring after the end of the regular school day or on the weekend two the sale is at the location of the event and three the food items are not sold from a vending machine or school store an event is An Occurrence that involves more than just a regularly scheduled practice practice meeting or extracurricular activity for example soccer games school plays in interscholastic debates are events but soccer practices play rehearsals and debate team meetings are not the regular school day is the period from Midnight before to 30 minutes after the end of the official school day location means where the event is being held and must be the same place as the food sales it's their second and um any discussion yeah I'll just say I appreciate the specificity of that motion yes exactly very specific uh any other um comments or discussion seeing none all in favor unanimous of those present thank you and uh motion number three for beverage exemptions uh move that the Cheshire Board of Education will allow the sale to students of beverages not listed in section 10-21q of the Connecticut General State statutes provided that the following conditions are met one the sale is in connection with an event occurring after the end of regular school day or on the weekend to the sales at the location of the event and through the beverages are not sold from a vending machine or school store an event is An Occurrence that involves more than just regularly scheduled practice meeting or extracurricular activity the school day is the period from Midnight before to 30 minutes after the end of the official school day location means where the event is being held and must be the same place as the beverage sales is there a second and seconds any discussion or questions on the motion seeing none all in favor unanimous of those present thank you thank you yeah I told you I got better as I went on it looks I got that word oh yeah um okay that concludes new business or whatnot doesn't include new business there is the chairs update uh chairman peregini is not here this evening that's all I'll say right um but there are upcoming meetings uh Tuesday April 4th it says here there will be a policy committee meeting it says virtual um I'm going to change that to TBD that might be in person um Monday April 17 7 P.M correct uh curriculum committee hummus and boardroom Thursday April 27 30 is Board of Education business meeting Town council chambers um April 7 April 7 through 14 uh is Spring Break um and May 31st is Memorial Day so those are upcoming holidays and vacations also says Good Friday in there says that means spring break starts on Good Friday April 7th is that what that means no late eat late Easter this year lent continues [Laughter] um Okay so that things um is there I have no other items on this yet on this agenda um I would like a motion to adjourn into executive session to include Dr Solon and Mr maciano um with no action to follow and I just want to see if I had to say anything about the contract negotiation ah okay let me just I'll try that again adjournment uh move that the meeting be adjourned into executive session including Dr soul and Mr maciano to discuss bargaining unit negotiations with no action to follow all in favor or excuse me is there a second Mrs okay there we go and all in favor all right we are adjourned thank you have a great evening
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
thank you Kristen very impressive that you know that on hand okay anything else to be said about this memorandum before I move on it's really useful to have it so thanks to whoever wrote it foreign yes Mr riser I wrote some of it I didn't know it it's got Milton's name on it and Milton wrote it as far as everybody knows great uh we are appreciative so we can move on to the next item which is 6-c uh resolution in support of an ordinance two band natural gas connections that's uh new construction um I can pull that up here now I apologize for for having this put on the agenda sort of late um but I wasn't intending to introduce this until you know not not too long before this meeting can everyone see the resolution great now I do have a couple amendments that I'm going to propose to it um but the basic outline is that there's um I think a zoning change that's uh was proposed in the Planning Commission I think there's members of the Planning Commission who are very frustrated that lots of new developments are being proposed that contain natural gas instead of all electric uh we had some call-ins earlier about the benefits of having all electric and you know that isn't that is part of the eight to zero plan to make sure that buildings I think it's starting in 2022 were going to be built without natural gas so that's that was the Assumption in our carbon neutrality plan um so and that hasn't happened yet we still have quite a few buildings I think 30 buildings was mentioned by one of the um the the callers um that are either being constructed or in the advanced stages of planning um that will have natural gas in them so I think one of the major issues obviously you have the the climate aspect where where we're investing as a community and more fossil fuel infrastructure which is very problematic as we know we're supposed to be leaving that uh you know departing from that uh there's also the public health aspect which was mentioned by by some of the commenters uh I did not realize fully how serious that was um until I started reading some of these research papers I read that up to um up to 14 there's an estimate of of what percent of asthma cases in children um are the result of uh of natural gas Appliance Natural Gas Appliances in their homes and that was about 14 percent I mean that's staggering um absolutely staggering on top of that we have a lot of carcinate known carcinogenic chemicals that are coming from uh just leaking natural gas that hasn't been combusted or what's especially dangerous is the results of combustion or incomplete combustion um there's a if you go down the list and you start reading about it it's very shocking um that we've allowed this poor level of air quality in our homes so for those reasons for the climate reason for public health and uh yeah I think that we should seriously consider this I think we should take a vote on it if we can reach consensus tonight um and also that there is I know there were concerns about the economics of it we don't want to be sticking renters with a higher utility bill however um I'll point out that this is only for new constructions and I know it's mentioned that for major Renovations and I did look into what was meant by that in the Planning Commission and I believe if I understand it correctly it's for uh natural gas would not be allowed in renovations that cost more than 50 of the assessed value of the property so that's a huge renovation that's like rebuilding a significant section of of the building so that's going to be pretty rare it's going to be mostly in new constructions and uh I know that there's a particular concern about sticking lower income tenants with maybe an increased electric bill um and just to respond to that um you know I don't think that lower income tenants will be the ones who are living in some of these new constructions they're generally not aimed towards lower income tenants so I I don't think it's as big of a concern as um as some as I'm I personally thought it might be uh that being said you know I hope you can read through it if you have any questions about it um I guess I'll open up for questions first and then we can talk about the pre-minor amendments oh wow okay Nick before before you get into questions Zachariah is are you planning to take a vote on this and if so do you want to move and second it before opening discussion sorry yeah I I would like to take a vote on it tonight and I would like to to move uh to introduce it or I guess to start a discussion rather right um so I I'll make the motion do we have a second to just to open up discussion on this resolution seconded by Lucy I think okay all those in favor say aye you don't want to vote on it yet you need to move it second it and then you can open discussion and when and then you can take a vote Oh I thought that we had to vote to open discussion just moving in and seconding it opens that up excuse me okay thank you um so discussion is open thank you Lucy and thank you Travis so now we'll go through the list um Nick I'm ready uh so I just want to clarify and first of all thank you this was a meticulously researched and drafted resolution um Kudos uh to the drafter it's um really well done my question though is kind of like a process when you go down to the end it's a resolution to urge the Planning Commission to urge counsel to pass an ordinance and the Planning Commission already seems like they're just they're predisposed to do that so we're just kind of lending our voice through this proposal it doesn't sort of carry it's symbolic right yeah it's mostly symbolic but its effects don't necessarily need to be symbolic I think that showing that there's um uh large public support from different angles from environmental angle from you know thinking in the best and interest of tenants I think it might have an effect on getting this through our city government more quickly and my second question is maybe kind of Off the Wall maybe for the landlords here is there any kind of are you perceiving that tenants care one way or the other about the choice of natural gas as opposed to Electric in other words so they look at an apartment and say great Electric or blue gas or something like that do you see anything like that that's a good question so I frankly I think most tenants haven't thought about it very thoroughly but what I do know is that a lot of tenants are concerned about the climate crisis and when they find out about the public health implications of natural gas they're also concerned about that um so I think that once it's explained to them I think that they're generally supportive I know we had a caller who is um who is a tenant who is supportive of trying to do anything we can to make rental units more environmentally friendly more efficient and I think this is this is part of it that's why electrification was included in the 8-0 plan um I think that there are a couple issues I know I spoke with Jordan about this um like electric dryers aren't that great that might frustrate some people um I know I I don't even use a dryer personally I just hang my clothes even in the winter but on the inside of my apartment um so I think there might be some behavioral changes that would be necessary but in all in terms of heating I think there wouldn't be a significant difference in the lives of tenants um uh in terms of cooking so long as the appliances that are installed are good ones and that's a that is an if um uh there wouldn't be a major difference induction cooking is very efficient I have never used induction like I've never had in my home I've used it before but it's been pretty fantastic it's actually better in my opinion than gas so in all I don't think a lot of times have really thoroughly considered this but when it's laid out for tenants especially younger ones I think that they can see that major action and climate change is required so I think they are supportive does that answer your question Nick great okay Jordan yeah I guess I mean I think there are some things that I I question uh from a renter's perspective okay so we the costs of operation can be up to 30 percent higher um and I think most of the people in the city and on Planning Commission will admit that and I'm worried that that ends up becoming a poor tax right so I as the landlord will likely get some sort of tax incentive from the city from the state from DTE to purchase this electric thing um but I'm worried that then for my tenants that pay utilities they're going to be paying higher so I think that's a valid concern and I I don't feel comfortable endorsing something like this without more substantial information on what the city plans to do to mitigate those costs for the most vulnerable tenants um so that's my biggest thing but a couple of other things are I mean like you mentioned the dryers you know we have houses that have you know lots of people that live in them and use dryers um and so having to like increase our number of dryers for if if we do do a large remodel which we do I mean a lot of landlords got houses and do big remodels um for an example today we actually just found out one of our large steam boilers died it is probably going to be about 25 000 to replace for gas uh and they told us well over a hundred thousand for electric so I I I hear that it's new construction um I do think that if we are pushing so I guess for me I think most of us folks are the same people pushing for affordable housing if we're pushing for affordable housing and we're building it that tax can be on these tenants over the next 10 years so that's the part I'm a little bit um most concerned about I'm a little unconvinced about the the actual will health risk I guess as a clinician who's looked through the research as a mom of two asthmatic kids I'm still doing more research there but but most stuff says we really need to be if we're concerned about lungs to be focusing on cars and other other sources of pollution um so I guess I I understand that we can put barriers up but it just feels like in a city where we just went multiple days without power and people literally survived in their homes because of gas appliances and this is a hard sell for me because we were you know without power um I told Zachariah that all home generators that are like the Generac generators that cut on when your power goes out which we have a fair amount of people that do have those are all natural gas so um I guess for me two things would make me feel better about this a having a plan knowing what the city is going to do to help our our most vulnerable renters because that I think is our job and what we've um committed to by being on the commission and the second piece being I wonder if there's a way to kind of piecemeal this together in the beginning because you know it sounds like stoves and furnaces are the big concerns but water heaters and dryers have the most potential to affect renters so the other thing is the recovery time so the time for a water heater to heat up is almost double so if I have a house that has six girls in it right now I have a gas water heater they can shower um they can all get ready before they go out if we switch to Electric I either need to add a second one or there's some trouble getting the water heated and so I I haven't resolved those issues I'm open to it um you know we I think are the first landlords in town with an e-bike to carry all of our Tools around so this is is a an important thing to our family but I am worried about renters for those those reasons and I'm open to learning more but just wanted to make sure that we're thinking about our most vulnerable renters absolutely and just to respond to a couple of those concerns which some of which I I have shared in a few I I still do share um I think that you know this is not going to affect the majority it's only the fact a sliver of the rental units for a while you know that's liver will grow as more units are constructed um so I think that this really will not have a huge impact for a while but I don't think it makes sense as a city to allow major investments in fossil fuel infrastructure that we know we're not going to keep because eventually I I really strongly believe that natural gas is going to be phased out um and when that happens we will be switching over to Electric so you will have invested in um in natural gas connections and also Natural Gas Appliances that we don't even know how long we're going to be able to continue to use those that doesn't make a lot of sense to me um and of course the emissions that are associated with are very high um uh the there are technical details I'm not positive about about the recovery time you know I've heard that you can have larger water tanks to allow a larger amount of water to be warmed uh which would you know although the recovery time would continue to stay long it would still have more water warm water on hand I will point out that um that most gas appliances don't function during an outage um and that those with gas generators would be able to continue to have those gas generation use them just in newer houses um you wouldn't be able to obviously have the the hook up there you would have to rely either on a gasoline generator I'm not sure what the alternatives are I mean I maybe once you have an seu perhaps we could hook up to that um and the last thing is that I think that there are things that the city could do I'll let you know eventually obviously Travis you want to ask some questions about this but uh I know that there are some uh climate like resiliency centers that are being opened by uh the by OSI and by the city so that there are other alternatives to keep people safe even when our power fails and that's important not only for people with totally 100 electric but for everybody because a lot of natural gas appliances don't work during um uh power outages yeah I'll pass it over to Lucy thanks yeah I I don't understand the technicalities of all this of course and it's not really my place to comment on that is the renters commission but I do think that this is a really great uh resolution I think that we should vote for it insofar as it would have a negative impact on renters I want to comment on that point specifically because I think things like this come up a lot when we're trying to pass Progressive legislation around climate change or anything else that uh there's kind of like a boogeyman that it's gonna hurt people who are marginalized these kinds of things help people that are marginalized marginalized people are the people who are um most severely impacted by the climate crisis and with respect to um housing affordability the best thing that we can do for housing affordability is to pass proactive legislation that protects renters not by not passing um climate climate based um policies so I wouldn't put those two things together I don't think that's fair and I don't think that that's effective um this this is something that would help renters as would things like rent control much more affordable housing um and and as Zachariah was saying this is going to be a lot of development so it's important that we make sure that it's done sustainably in terms of the power outage stuff what we need is is better infrastructure and and probably um Municipal Power on on that level if we want to get through our power outages not not passing um [Music] encouraging more natural gas and gas-based power that's just my perspective on it I think this is great in spirit again I can't comment on the details but I wouldn't say like renters and um High rents is the thing that should get away in the way of this we already have incredibly High rents they're already not any protections for us my rent I just found out a couple days ago my rent is going up 200 a month and though we need to tackle that directly not indirectly by this so I would say this is a great resolution I think it's yeah really well written really exciting and important thank you Lucy um I will point out that I I didn't do 100 of this resolution there were I got a lot of information from different sources including from the draft draft letter from OSI it was very helpful um and some community members also pitched in and I also got some feedback from um some energy commission members which was really great I know that I didn't mention this but the energy commission is considering a very similar resolution as in support and I'm not sure if the environmental commission is officially going to be considering this and during this month's meeting but I heard from a commissioner that they're interested in doing that um yeah I think that the the cost of inaction are quite large and uh in terms of the cost of electric appliances I know that there's there's the inflation reduction act which I know uh is going to offer rebates for heat pumps I think both for air and water heater heat pumps which is really exciting and I'm expecting more of that kind of legislation on the federal level probably the state level maybe even the city level which would be fantastic uh but I'll move it over to Travis thank you um I am uh not gonna weigh in too much because I I don't want to to skew conversational and I actually was just gonna love the commission for taking this up because this is a pretty Hot Topic in the city right now and I think it's really important to add a rental voice to that conversation and so um because it is being discussed in an energy commission where where I am and uh I will certainly have the ability to weigh in at the council table on the content itself um I want you guys to be able to kind of work out what what makes the most sense for for your perspective um the one request that I will make is um in the final resolved clause and and Nick kind of alluded to this already um from kind of more of a process standpoint I would request that that you guys consider making a modification to to urge and direct or to urge and and advise counsel rather than the Planning Commission just because um that That Should Be Your Role is really to to make your recommendations and your advice to council and similarly I would not ask I would ask other commissions not to to tell you guys what you guys should be working on and doing and so um so I think potentially if you want to make sure that there's Planning Commission visibility on it I think you could make that change where you're actually asking Council to take action um and then potentially an additional resolved Clause asking for the resolution to be distributed to members of Planning Commission as well um but that way your official request is to counsel it makes perfect sense I'd support changing it in that way and the only reason you know I was talking to energy commission members just to make sure that all the details were correct and I know there's discussion at the last commission meeting I don't want to imply that they were saying you should do this you should do that and I think they were making the same change or at least that was requested of them as well okay yeah I'll um propose an amendment in that way thanks Robert yeah so um I just wanted to say uh I do support this and um even though we have two existing old houses we're still making plans to partially Electrify them uh I want to point out a couple of things um I've done a lot of research heat pumps uh and uh heat pump uh water heaters are very slow to react so certain use cases fail pretty badly uh in in these situations um so I wanted to point that out the other thing is I'd like everybody to go into this Eyes Wide Open that it is highly likely in my opinion to raise uh raise rates here's why we're going to get new buildings with that are all electric and they're going to be the shiny new green thing and they're going to have higher rents because they are a preferred commodity to be honest the rest of us are going to be dragged Kicking and Screaming whether we want to or not into the prevailing rent situation that that that happens if your rent is real low then nobody wants you know everybody kind of looks at it says God what is this a dump or something so you're kind of dragged along so just be aware that while I think this is a very good thing it it has a it it will it will create conditions where I think uh rents are going to go up and and I just have to point that out um uh like I said I support it but let's go in without too many Rosy assumptions thanks Robert I uh certainly would not like that outcome I'm not convinced that that is exactly what will happen given what's uh what's occurred in some other cities but I I could see I can imagine what you're putting forward I certainly hope that doesn't happen and I uh to respond to something that Jordan mentioned I I wonder if it would be possible to I wonder if you know we should include something about calling on city council or um I guess since yeah we have to give directly to city council to explore the idea of rebates and that sort of thing to see if I think that I mean that what he's my like I'm I'm generally in with these principles I do worry about the small things with the the practicality for large large units but you're right I mean the a large remodel like that is probably relatively few and far between but I think just making sure that we are that we are not and largely that comes from like an you know I know Cynthia also works with you know like black and brown communities I just worry that we we also passed this legislation without directly addressing those things and in the communities that I work with I don't want it to be another thing that we are doing in Ann Arbor that doesn't explicitly speak to the potential um that potential harm I guess and so that would make me feel better if we if we put something in there like that yeah most definitely I I think that that will you know some of these climate adaptation measures um and mitigation measures I think it's like it's very important to to make it easiest for the people who need it the most uh to make those adaptations to make to change over to being more sustainable because I I mean throughout on so many issues it is clear that we can't allow the bill to be footed by the people who are going to be most impacted by by climate change it doesn't make any sense so I I would support including um some kind of resolve Clause suggesting to city council that they investigate rebates on electric appliances for rental units okay to be clear I don't think that we should put the rebate on the unit because then I'm gonna get the rebate as a landlord which I think we're already going to get anyways but I think that we need to specifically investigate rebates for increased utility costs I see the renters who pay utilities does that make sense it does make sense um yeah we need to have a whole discussion on that I I like that a lot more actually uh but the details there's a lot of ways I could go so I yeah I would love to talk to you about that more uh Jamie thank you yeah um kind of building off the discussion of the rebates um that was kind of my first thought was that um this is awesome and this is great and everyone deserves to live in a clean environment with clean air um but I agree with Bob that I could see this I could see landlords using this as a justification to raise rents just across the board um because I'm assuming kind of as Jordan mentioned the cost for this is about stoves specifically um like the or are we talking furnaces foreign I'm sure the cost is a lot more um you know so therefore that's going to translate into increased rent cost um which is going to drive up the average rent price um I think for everyone um so I would just be interested to kind of look more into the unintended consequences um just in terms of like how much is this going to increase costs for landlords in which is therefore going to be translated down to writers um I'm also wondering about availability of some of these and again I don't know enough about like this technology um technology appliances whatever we're talking about um to speak to like the supply side but I would wonder if they're I would hate to have something like this slow production of new units where I think that is what's most important in Ann Arbor that's my personal opinion but I think we just need more units um so I I would just be curious as to the unintended consequences of um something like this investigating that a little bit more yeah thanks Jamie um to my knowledge there isn't a shortage of uh electric heat pumps either for air or water and I think that the Market's only going to grow as the technology is becoming a lot more popular and there's going to be more and more requirements that I think there are already I can't remember how many cities that that do require this I think there are some counties as well most of them are in the west coast I think uh but to also just to respond to the cost element there was a report that I linked here from the Rocky Mountain Institute and they claimed that they ran the numbers and it was actually cheaper in terms of upfront costs and over 15 years to build a new construction this is I think so specifically for houses so that is a little bit different but for a house um in seven different Municipal like municipalities in around the country it was cheaper both in terms of upfront costs and over 15 years to build all electric rather than natural gas and on top of that there's also the externalities the other costs that we don't account for including the the health cost and the environmental cost Etc that we would hopefully be that we would be removing by no longer having Natural Gas but I appreciate your comments yeah thank you Jeff sorry my mute button was hidden there um I I do kind of want to would like to do a little bit more research um you know as you know I'm a chemist um I like this is a big thing I agree with this 100 I wish we were already all electric but the the concerns I have are you know shorter term if the electricity is coming from fossil fuels how much will it offset and at least in the short term right um but in addition to that I do have concerns about you know uh the bill that is going to be coming in I know that a lot of our electric companies have um uh programs to help those that are lower income I do think that being for newer newer construction that wouldn't be as big of an issue I do agree with that um because the the nice shiny new apartments are not things that you know the average um person just in general I think can afford um you know so I I I question the the impact at least you know globally at least in the short term um so I'm really kind of torn on that um and of course just market value of rents you know um I live in um Pheasant Run which was that that complex that made the the daily the Michigan Daily a couple I don't know a couple months ago about them raising the rents by 30 percent right okay that's me um and and I went through that right and um you know do they find that you know their their claim was that this was about you know the the rent increases were about the market value meeting the market value um and do they find that market values in general increase as these kinds of places which are going to be more expensive anyway um come online yeah thanks Jeff um I've never read anything that indicates that that would increase rents for an area um I can I can look more into that and do some more reading on that but again I think if if there's a decent chance that that units are or buildings are going to have to switch over to all electric in the next decade or decade and a half I think that there's a pretty good chance that we're gonna at least phase that phase natural gas out you know there is going to be a cost in switching over I just think it's either now or later and I prefer that we do it now so we don't have to make investments in infrastructure we're not going to need for much longer um but yeah I I totally understand your concerns there and in terms of the utility help I've heard some pretty negative things about the uh the low income help at least from DTE um so I not I don't have a lot of confidence in that that is a serious problem Lucy yeah I wanted to follow up on this is like a spin on what Jeff was saying I think but one reason that the rents go up is precisely because the new building projects are catered towards a wealthier audience so they're building more expensive Apartments the rents are higher then they're paying more in all of our rents are going it doesn't have anything to do with utilities so yeah this is the same point I made before but what we need in the city are protections around affordable housing the city does not have any ordinances that say you have to build this much affordable this many affordable units we don't have rent control here obviously so those are the things that we need to be doing to counteract all rent increases uh not not these workarounds that have to do with other other people's policies I did also want to mention that I spoke to a couple of people on the renters commission about the gas and electricity and all of them could not give me a straight answer on if they thought if if it was clear that electricity was more expensive so I don't know if there's a some research or a report or some kind of resource that kind of explains the the cost differences in these kinds of energy but I would like to know a little bit more about that if it's available yeah and I will also mention that you know our Energy Mix right now is Pretty Dirty in this area of Michigan it's notoriously bad actually but I don't think it's going to stay that way you know and I know that it's going to con you know energy from our buildings is going to continue to be dirty if we invest in natural gas but if we if we switch to Electric there's at least the possibility to make things better um on top of that natural gas cost could fluctuate quite a bit going forward I don't know Jeff I'm sorry I forgot to put my hands on the after I was done no worries done done yes I uh um first off I think Jordan's ideas were really good to get the rebate for the tenant but I don't think it will have any conflicts if we could do try to have the rebate if it is really a good high cost for both the the landlord and the tenant but next the question is that um because we were all talking about the the cost of the um the the electronic electrics cities so is it possible I'm just thinking for the long runs like you mentioned maybe it's even cheaper uh it might be even cheap like we really don't know I think it's possible so maybe for the long run it might be even cheaper or whatever we really don't have any really solid status will show that it's not going to be even price wise will be a lot better so maybe we need more informations like that to learn a little bit the things about the price and the cost of the things from the in a Futures perspective thank you thanks London Robert and do you prefer Bob I'm sorry normally I go by Bob it either way is just fine um just wanted to make a really quick comment since I I do have anecdotal uh information that uh heat pumps that work well in this cold climate are only recently available and they may change this answer but the geothermal systems that were installed prior to that also require electric resistance Heating in the coldest days and so January and December uh heat bills tend to be very high uh for a pure Electric System so again I think ultimately we'll get there but short to medium term I do not think that that the Assumption should be the cost will go down thanks Bob Nick thanks um so I am not an energy or a climate expert uh many people here know more about that than I do and I know that you are very involved as Zachariah with um citizens Ann Arbor citizens for Public Power I don't trust DTE as far as I can throw them you know I think that we are heading and and I am troubled by promoting Electric power when we're not even talking about solar or other uh Alternative forms of energy and I would I and while I like many things about what we're doing here I would probably normally say this is something I don't want to have brought on you know a day before and vote on it's something normally that I would want to really think about how we can have an impact not just and I think Lucy was kind of making this point not just an isolation of a good climate policy and how it ties in with affordable affordability and what we're really trying to do here on the runners Commission and um you know and I'm also Jordan raised some really excellent points as well I mean I just we were without power five days in August and we are on a well um so we had no water during that so we just got a Generac whole house system installed and you're not going to run that on gasoline you know you got you need a gas line to run for a whole house and I want to be prepared or a world that is we're already living in where we cannot rely on DTE to serve our energy now those are my those are my points and what I think you know when we just say gas or electric I guess they control both rights because there's a monopoly now so I I just I don't know it's it's to me it's a much broader issue there's a lot of things at play here I really appreciate the discussion so many people are so well informed and so thoughtful about this and I really appreciate you bringing this to the table so thank you for that course um I have a quick question for Travis or Cynthia do you do you know when Council might consider this issue I I do not have a date at the top of my mind okay but you know first you see this coming up on an agenda before I mean it usually goes through two reads right so if we were to postpone this P this piece of business uh to continue this discussion in our next meeting that probably I I just don't want this to hold up any decisions from city council expecting you know so the there is not a an introduced ordinance on our upcoming meeting um on Monday and and yes any ordinance requires at least two remix great yes okay thank you um any other questions about this thank you Zechariah is there a chance that we can get like there's I I talked to Donnell earlier and I forgot the guy's name like somebody came if somebody said the name I would recognize it but there's like a guy that does all the math and explains his work um and I'm wondering like maybe we could get that guy um who gave commentary yeah the guy who called in oh okay okay I mean maybe yeah something like that can help those of us who are a little skeptical I mean we're research nerds in this town right so um maybe that would be a helpful Connection in the short term yeah I I think so um I think we can maybe text about how to get that done but I I will just say uh I had um I was in a a pharmacology uh class at U of M and the teacher made us read an article by Ken Garber he's very meticulous he does science research um I I very much value his opinion so yeah I I think um I guess we'll talk about what the best way would be to do that um okay any other questions Jeff just inhering what some of the other the folks have talked about um you know some of the solutions to these problems would be things like Public Utilities you know uh Jordan you you're you know you would mention the power outage right I mean that was huge for so many people um would it be appropriate to include uh uh endorsement of something along those lines into something like this to alleviate some of those concerns well I know that um you know I I'm personally open to it I'm open to uh talking about I think later on the agenda we'll be talking about some Statewide bills they're introduced to try to increase reliability of DTE I think introduction of a public power utility on any level is going to take a lot of time so I'm I'm totally open to the discussion of that solution or you know talking about maybe in publicly supporting sustainable energy utility Etc and some of these bills that are in this on the state level also there's some county-wide statements and actions but in all I think supporting measures that will increase reliability would increase and sustainability of our fuel mix would definitely make this a more convincing proposal overall so I think that's something we could maybe discuss at the next meeting um okay anything else I'm just fogging that I have to jump off to meet a deadline but I like this discussion too I'd love to hear more thanks Hannah good luck yeah all right um in which case you know I I do have some proposed amendments um and I've written them out including the ones suggested by you Travis I'm wondering oh yeah go ahead I was just gonna say I I guess I am hearing from a couple of folks that maybe they would like some additional time with this and if that is the case you may not actually have to go through the process of making formal amendments you could come with a proposed substitute at the next meeting as well if you wanted to do that if if you wanted to entertain a motion to postpone to the next meeting yeah that works and that's exactly what I was going to uh to propose so perfect okay um do we need to take a vote on postponing this okay so I I suppose I I can motion to postpone it to our next meeting uh do we have a second second Ed by Jamie uh all those in favor say aye all right all those opposed to the um postponement say nay no nay no so excuse me it's been a long night I I every time we go through eyes or yays or no's or Nays I think my mind just kind of checks out for a second so excuse me uh with that it will be postponed to the next meeting in April okay thank you everyone for the discussion oh go ahead and I was just gonna say uh this has been a great discussion but I think I'm gonna have to drop off as well um but looking forward to continuing the discussion uh next month thank you Patrick and were you cc'd on that email about the meeting tomorrow morning yes yes I'll be there at 10 A.M okay and no pressure If you that's not um convenient but we'd love to have you yeah see you Patrick take care okay um all right uh so with that we can uh Lucy go ahead yeah I have to hop off I wanted to make a suggestion about the agenda uh which would be to table the discussion of the remedies for apartment waitlist until next week because Gail isn't here and then I also have to leave and I like I put some things together so if people don't mind waiting until next month I do have some I do have some substance to provide on that and I'm sure Gail does too yeah uh yes I I would definitely support that and Kristen I'll let you speak before we take any action quarrel yes so I believe that we um current so Quorum is half of the current members we have three vacancies so I believe that quorum is um five members um present voting members present um then we are at one two three four five is Lucy were you um Nick counts in the count though right yeah so you still have Quorum okay um yes um and then to vote on items after that we would need majority of that Quorum so we would need three yeses um yeah okay all right action great uh now before uh would it be possible before we uh I I think we're gonna have to uh uh and end the meeting pretty soon here then but I would I would like to vote on or at least discuss that quickly the resolution endorsing the carbon monoxide uh requirement since that was asked of us by councilmember Cornell and if possible before we lose quorum do you think that that would be possible for all of you who have to leave I can stay until we do that yeah okay thank you very much all right so um I think that we should discuss that and have an early um I guess just end a bit early after that business item considering that it seems like everyone is good going uh so thumbs up on that plan thumbs down if you think that's a bad plan it's good okay great yeah Kristen um please follow public comment for this item since it's um an action item so we'll just um in a moment briefly read it in case anyone is watching the YouTube stream or on their TV at home who would like to call in of course sorry I forgot to do that with the last item um I just didn't see anyone in The Spectators list so I just neglected it okay so we can move on to six dash D which is uh discussion of or excuse me an action item which is a resolution let me pull it up excuse me it's very short here it is resolution in support of carbon monoxide ordinance revisions to housing code 105 which is um the ordinance amendment that was brought forth by council member Cornell has been slightly amended um since the last time we saw it but nothing really significant I think I think that she changed she that she did uh respond to some of the concerns um that she heard about specifically placement I believe um Jeff just as a as a point of curiosity uh specific especially because it came up today um you know this is referencing the the 105 housing code and the you know we had the the people earlier had mentioned talking about moving over to the international code is this similar to what is in that code I believe so yeah that's my understanding that might be a question best for Chris McFarland um so if could I just have the 30 seconds of course so so uh the changes um were in large part because of the feedback that you folks provided us so thanks like the landlords and some of the the tenant reps wanted clarity as to where they should go and we initially had a version that incorporated by reference various sections of either the fire code or the building code but here we just went to those and directly embedded into the ordinance where they go we tell you where they go so there's more clarity now rather than the reference also there was discussion about the batteries and who should Supply the batteries and the conditions so um that's why these changes came about to give it some clarity yeah thank you John and I will um I have to quickly find I I can show you all the amended version I think this is it which is this is the amended version of the ordinance Amendment it's the most updated ordinance Amendment for this uh so it does talk about the batteries um there's just really some slight changes I think to increase clarity and this is introduced it's on the agenda for the city council meeting uh for first reading later this month on the 20th is that right upcoming Monday and 1B is the big change yeah I'd also be happy to share the old version if you all would like that just to see what changed but I don't think that's necessary okay so um I will make a motion to open up discussion on this do we have a second second thank you downtown okay so would anyone like to make any comments questions about the resolution I'll I'll show it once again okay very short just mentions part of our our mission as a commission uh talks about how council member Cornell came to present there are some minor changes um it's on this you know next meetings agenda for City Council this is a really serious Public Health concern which is why we're talking about it since public health is in our mission and we think it's a good idea that to make this requirement any questions concerns comments [Music] all right well thank you I apologize for introducing two pieces of business at the last minute I wasn't expecting to introduce this uh until I heard from councilman Cornell last night but without further Ado I'd like to move to to move to vote on this um yeah do we need a second to move into voting at Kristen so has someone moved that you passed the res a move that we adopt the resolution put forward and second it has that occurred yes that that happened yeah you you and Dan did that yeah so okay so motioning to introduce the is it to introduce it it's already it's already been moved and supported if discussion is done you can take a vote let's um quickly hold public hearing since we said or public comment since we said we would um just be really quick excuse me if there is anyone watching who would like to call in you can call 877-853-5247 -488-788-0099 and enter meeting ID 935-8080-1941 or you can go to the zoom link a2gov.org renters commission meeting and then we'll give that just um like 30 seconds just in case anyone's calling in um you can discuss during this time if you need to one thing I just want to point out about this is that the old version did reference the international fire code I know there were some concerns about that the new version does not um yeah with respect to carbon monoxide we still do for smoke detectors thank you gotcha met the recommendation of the fire marshal that's right yeah I'll start with public comment no uh no attendees have indicated thank you okay thank you so we'll move into voting uh all those in favor of adopting this resolution and recommending to city council that they they pass this ordinance Amendment say I I all those opposed to adoption of the resolution say no okay with that this resolution is adopted and we will make the recommendation to city council thank you everyone um I can feel that people are so sorry tired yeah bye Lucy um okay let me just look back [Music] excuse me notes Here well I can feel that we're all getting kind of tired so I'm wondering if we should just move it into adjournment um I guess do we have to vote first on post uh tablings are our items or postponing them to the next meeting Kristen we did just have a caller join um she doesn't answer your question but if you would like to uh they likely called in because they were listening or watching um if you'd like to open public comment briefly for three minutes for this caller um before we do that um I think that you would need to move to postpone the items to a future meeting but I would ask Riser or a councilmember Medina if you don't think that's true I think we can just go ahead and do that quickly and then adjourn just to cover our bases sound good okay um one three four um you can address the renters commission for up to three minutes um yes thank you this is Ken Garber again um I wanted to make General Public comment at the end of the meeting I don't know if this is the correct time I think that's fine yeah it's fine to go now um otherwise it would be in about one minute so you can go ahead and um use this time that's okay I can't wait okay all right thank you so excuse me I'll motion to postpone the remainder of our business to our next meeting uh so that we can adjourn early it's not early but we can adjourn and then read you know discuss these other points of business I know we all have things to do and that's removed yes thank you Jeff second thank you Jamie second by Jamie uh all those in favor of postponing the remainder of our business say aye all those opposed say no okay with that we postpone the remainder of our business and we can open up public comment all right so um anyone watching can call 877-853-5247-488-788-0099 and enter the meeting ID 935-8080-1941 or you can join the zoom link and that is a2gov.org renters commission meeting anyone who would like to address the reference commission can press star 9 to raise the hand of your calling or you can use the raise hand feature from the zoom meeting um so if there is anyone watching or listening you can raise your hand now you can undress the renter's commission for up to three minutes all are ending in one three four you will have three minutes to address the rent restriction um thank you Kristen this is Ken Garber again um yeah I actually want to point out that I am not an expert on any of this stuff um I'm just a person who respects data over opinion um and I think that's probably what commissioner Planet commissioner Donnell weish was communicating to the one Planning Commission who mentioned that um so I'm flattered but um really I'm just a layperson who's um somewhat um anal about this material anyway um a few comments great discussion tonight commissioner Elsa's statement and everyone knows that utility costs for electric are 30 higher than for gas needs data verification and I believe it is incorrect at least at current gas prices uh Robertson Brothers the developers are doing the big Pontiac Trail project made that exact 30 claim uh but their consultant used dte's October 21 gas rate is 67 cents per therm rather than the current rate of 90 cents per therm which is 33 percent higher take that into consideration and the lower expense of heat pump air conditioning I mentioned earlier plus the very tight building envelopes required by the coming State energy code and we're talking a negligible difference if any um I'm not opposed to tenant utility rebates from the city but the whole premise is wrong um regarding upfront costs remember that heat pumps double as air conditioners so again essentially negligible upfront difference in cost especially in the context of overall new construction regarding the concern about coping with power outages without gas um yeah uh it's a legitimate given recent circumstances but remember that these new buildings will hold their heat much better than most current buildings uh local Builder Doug Selby has spoken at Planning Commission about several of his high efficiency homes that he's built and as I remember that during he said that during our previous multi-day winter outage they never went below 61 degrees and new projects like the proposed 79 apartment building on North Maple are including battery storage and 90 kilowatts of solar panels you don't need much battery storage to run space heaters for long enough to get you through even an extended outage um regarding commissioner droppleman's comments they had heat pumps even geothermal require electric resistance backup for very cold periods so that's only true if you have a ducted system which is typically a retrofit not if you have a non-ducted system such as a mini split or vrf system the current airsource heat pump systems do not need electric resistance backup at all finally the notion that all electric is more expensive than will raise rents just by themselves um requires evidence um I find that impossible the Maple Road development I just mentioned will include 15 of all units they had 60 Ami um so it's including affordable housing as I mentioned they have substantial rooftop solar battery storage all electrics um and um and they're including affordable housing I mean this developer obviously crunched the numbers and they they came out fine um so all these concerns are legitimate I don't want to um poo-poo them but um you know I do think we have to be guided by data rather than unfounded assumptions and I'm happy to help in that regard to the extent I can so thank you commission for discussing this and taking it into consideration have a great night thank you for the comment um so I think we're gonna have to do some work before the next meeting I'm more than happy to do some of the research and if anyone's interested in doing some fact finding um let's send me an email and we'll work on it together I'd love that I really appreciate the discussion on that on that issue though uh okay so that moves us to adjournment so I I this is is there a motion to adjourn from anybody okay I saw Nick for a second Ed seconded by Jeff thank you very much all those in favor of adjourning say I all right that's it interesting way to yeah thank you Jordan um although as opposed say no okay great thank you everyone um sorry that this meeting went on kind of long uh there was a lot of good discussion though I was very happy with um everything I learned and all of your points I thought a lot of really solid concerns and questions were brought up see you next month thank you thanks everybody not everyone thanks good night thank you so much Kristen thank you John that's him right
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pcti will have an increase of 171 thousand dollars uh with a projection of 17 more students County Special Services tuition and state facilities have an increase of 621 000 and this also comes directly from the Department of there is an anticipated increase of almost 1.4 million for contracted Transportation this is in line with our prior year increases current year increases Transportation costs have been increasing dramatically and are projected to continue to instructional technology of an increase of around seven hundred thousand dollars this is to maintain our one-to-one Chromebook initiative to retire and replace Chromebooks along with other district-wide technology needs which is currently being funded through Sr funds that are expired and finally to retain the staff the district has hired using pbsas Grant funds and sr2 Grant funds that are expiring so looking at all these figures even if we had the ability to eliminate increases in all Department areas except salary salaries and benefits which is always going to be around seven ten million dollars year to year we would be short with only utilizing a two percent tax levy of 2.7 million dollars next staff retention in the future is a huge concern for us our Administration based on staff salary and benefit increase projections we have come up with how much staff we would be able to retain in future budgets with different current tax levy situations increased situations versus how much new staff positions we'd be able to fill next year of the 93 needed new staff for next year A two percent increase equates to retaining 36 new staff in the following year a four percent would be 56 staff in the New Year following year and a six percent the full 93.
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also the district has five collective bargaining agreements to be negotiated next year which is another variable to salary projections in addition to already skyrocketing health benefit premiums having said that let me quickly explain what bandcat means and whether Dr robertosie demonstrated earlier Clifton is now not Dr robertosie demonstrated earlier Clifton is now not meeting budget adequacy because of the local tax levy when in the past it was because of the underfunded State eight if a board just decides to not go to the legally allowable two percent tax levy increase in any given year future boards are either recoup those funds by raising taxes the amount of the difference in the prior years that they didn't go to two percent by Statute Bank cap is allowed to be recovered by the next three budget Cycles or it expires Forever at this point in time nine million dollars has expired and can never be reproved under the current formula two percent will expire from the zero percent tax levy in the 2021 year in this coming budget excuse me and another two percent will expire from the zero percent tax Liberty in the 21-22 year in the following Year's budget in the 24-25 budget the board went to two percent in 2223 therefore there's no Bank capped in the 2223 budget also the board must meet its current two percent tax levy in the 23-24 year in order to use Bank cap funds so you so you you must go to the current allow two percent before using any past Bank cap therefore if the district does not go to four percent this year we will lose two percent or 2.7 million dollars forever just on top of that 9 million from the past as you can see Clifton is at a fiscal Crossroads with this budget in maintaining instructional priorities in future years and respecting the needs of taxpayers um I'm now going to give it off to our assistant superintendent so we're going to go into uh the Staffing details the specific Staffing that we're talking about good evening good evening it's always a pleasure to be here um even when we're at a fiscal Crossroads every year when we build the budget we really look closely at our instructional priorities and student needs we always do a comprehensive needs assessment this past year we did a scheduling Deep dive and we've been really looking at our evolving student population and as a result of all of that we see that in an Ideal World we need 93 additional staff members most of which are instructional instructional needs of our students are really based on the evolving population we have had huge unprecedented growth in my entire history in Clifton in ESL we've had an increase in special ed also not seen really ever our students are coming in with increasing social emotional needs behavioral needs communication and counseling needs however Although our needs assessment tells us that we need all of these positions we know we can't have all of them and that's what this conversation is about depending on what choices the board makes in terms of a budgetary increase will drive how many of these positions may be filled because of our evolving needs when we looked at our schedule we know that we do need two additional High School elective teachers because many of our elective classes are overfilled and the many new students coming in don't have a choice in many cases because they wind up in whatever section is available but it's that increase in ESL and special ed that is really driving the vast majority of these requests as Dr Robert Posey shared we went from 652 Ells to now today almost 1200 were oh well over 1100 that's in less than a year that's nearly doubling the size of the program that's never happened before and we still have English language learners registering weekly these are not our typical English language learners many of the students coming in are coming in with interrupted formal education they're coming in with trauma and stresses and need additional counseling many of them are Asylum Seekers and refugees which we have not seen in this District in quite a number of years just to address the needs we see today despite what we've done in with creative scheduling this year we need somewhere in the vicinity of five or six ESL teachers again depending on what this board decides in terms of a percentage increase so any numbers I say can be adjusted based on the decisions made with nearly doubling of that program our ESL supervisor just can't keep up we need another supervisor for that program our special education increases are continuing in a typical school year we test somewhere in the vicinity of 400 students a year and a certain percentage of them qualify in a certain percentage won't qualify for special education we have already exceeded the number of tests or assessments completed to date exceeding what was the total assessment of all of last year so there are more special needs students coming who will need additional services we're looking at somewhere in the vicinity of six or seven special education classroom increases and but that also goes with related services and child study team members where we'll need several therapeutic staff and team members including psychologists speech therapists and behaviorists paraprofessionals you hear about the paraprofessionals at many of our board meetings we have well over 200 locally funded paraprofessionals and about 47 that are currently being funded through agencies the reason for the agency Paris is because most of our paraprofessional positions are part-time instructionally we need at least some of our Paras to be full-time this year we were in the process of adding a few more thanks to Savings in other areas but we have 76 self-contained special needs classrooms each one of those classrooms has multiple part-time paraprofessionals here and there there might be a full-time in an Ideal World all 76 of those special needs self-contained classrooms should have one full-time Para now we know we won't be able to increase by 76 in one school year and we also have increasing needs for part-time paraprofessionals as well as trying to pull back some of those agency Paras and have them be funded by the district because agency papers do cost more than a local District paraprofessional so our overall need is approximately 40 part-time Paras and trying to get that self-contained classroom Paris slowly to become full-time our instructional needs in general education also continue to grow because all of these new students are causing a ripple effect needs in the classroom we're looking at multiple reading Specialists and intervention teachers many of whom are currently funded in Esser funding and with the increasingly complex classroom structure our teachers need support so we're asking for some additional instructional coaches to support our teachers K-12 and as Dr Robert Posey shared we are below administrative adequacy some of our schools our elementary schools are very complex our school certain School sizes that you would not expect are now our larger schools so we are also putting in a request for some additional administrative interns and an assistant principal or two again depending on the choice that the board makes and finally we have an additional layer that we don't oh forgive me I've completely forgotten about moving my slides um this kind of summarizes the positions that I talked about but we do have an additional layer and that layer is maintaining and attracting new instructional staff keeping the staff we have and attracting new staff in this job market has become very difficult the teaching educational field has become very volatile teachers are moving to other districts because many districts including neighboring Patterson are paying bonuses and Bounty and premiums for teachers and they're luring away staff from districts where they may be very happy but with Incredible size increases in their salaries that they would not get otherwise there is a nationwide teacher educator problem and that is impacting our bottom line and how much it costs to attract a new teacher who is highly qualified I think shared the full-time pet need for the full-time power professionals our students deserve a paraprofessional in a in a self-contained classroom who can be there from the time they arrive until the end of the day it's just instructionally better the students are able to bond with and be with the same person from when they come in till when they go home assisting who's assisting their teacher in meeting their specialized needs and the final piece of all of this is space all of our elementary schools as of September will be out of rooms there are no more classrooms to be had to increase these special education classes which although the class might be smaller still needs a full-size room by code we need additional classrooms for preschool we are required because we accept preschool funding to continually increase preschool until we meet what's called our universe we're out of rooms for that as of September once we open up the last two classrooms and the ESL increases have really stressed our middle schools as well as our elementaries the Inn is full once September hits I'd like to thank you for taking the time to listen to our instructional needs and hopefully we'll have a positive and fruitful conversation moving forward um thank you I'm going to turn this over to Mr pangaro oh miss Goose levage before you leave I think Dr Danny has a question and Mr Rose wants to check something on the zoom I'm glad Mr Rose she's concerned that my time out idle for too long it times out and I don't want anyone to be deprived of public comments thank you um I I do have a question um in regard to um the the supervisor do you have lead teachers in the district uh we have in the department of ESL we do have resource teachers and there a lot of their role is testing students as well as following up with exited students because the number I shared about ESL does not include the recently exited students who we are still required to follow up with for two to four years after exit as well as refusals who we still have to follow up and test and and the special ed students so although we have What's called the quote unquote Lead Teacher or a resource teacher in ESL um their role is not a supervisory role um okay just curious because um you know if you have lead teachers I mean um just to give you an example in my district they pay them a stipend and um all the lead teachers run the Departments and pretty much I I think I have seen my supervisor once this whole year and it and I'm not saying that in a negative way just saying that the stipend is wanted by those lead teachers they apply for the position and it really takes a lot off the um the supervisor so that they can do their role and people within the department the lead teachers they kind of have an idea with what's going on and they do sit with the principals and they sit with the supervisors they'll meet with them like once a month or something but in terms of looking if you know looking at percentages and maybe if the money doesn't come to where you're saying or needed I mean maybe possibly a stipend which would be like ten thousand dollars for for maybe you know two lead teachers or something one could be they they can't obviously do evaluations yes but they do a lot in terms of like putting together book orders doing things that really sort of takes a lot off the plate of the supervisor um just and again I don't know how it would work in Clifton or how I'm just throwing the idea out of the out there um so I don't know if it's helpful or not it's definitely something we can consider and and it is potentially a possibility to expand the role or the increase the resource teachers as well but at the same time the stipend cost you know for two such persons May kind of equate to turning a current teacher into a supervisor as well okay but it's definitely something to look at okay and then uh the other the other thing was the instructional coaches um do you know how many full-time instructional coaches there are right now right now the majority of our instructional coaches are in the elementary schools and middle school so we have one each middle school for language arts and math we have two at the elementary schools for language arts and math including special ed um and we have none at the high school and we have no one supporting our increasingly Hands-On Science Program uh which is the fight we're now finally fully implementing the Next Generation science standards um so that's kind of the direction that we're looking at with those and again I just and again I don't know how work in Clifton because we have instructional coaches um but they have their their full time and we do have some that are full-time but we also have who teach full-time and then they want a stipend and that can be worked out and they they for that stipend they act as instructional coaches again I don't know how it would fit in with that but I know that you know just when looking at if you have to think about numbers um you know possibly something like that because I know again they pay a stipend like ten thousand and so the teacher has the regular teaching load and then you know they have this stipend so they help out and they they make their times with the teachers and help I don't know how it would work again in Clifton but just to propose since we're you know in critical moments so I figured well if if the numbers aren't there maybe something to look at thank you foreign if there are no further questions oh sorry um you mentioned September the need for some additional classrooms for special ed and Pre-K um do we have those classrooms available already or are they being provided for it maybe it says Mr Uchi question are they provided for in the budget that we're seeing here right now we're filling the few classrooms that we're able to create for example we're making some changes um with where um cafeterias are in certain schools to open up a classroom and move the cafeteria into the gym um I believe there are only one or two schools left but that's a possibility and we're making our final modifications that we can to squeeze out some additional space in Sela B but after that there's really no more room as of September we'll have to become creative if we're not addressing another site I know there had been some exploration of looking at John Paul as a rental for for a bigger ability to expand over the next few years but I don't think that that's necessarily a viable option at this time so there's no money in the budget we're looking at here appropriated for additional space uh there can be depending on how much goes for a staff and how much would not I just tried Perfect all right ladies and gentlemen for those at home my name is Martin Garrick I'm our assistant superintendent of schools to talk about some of the priority positions that are needed in other areas not including curriculum and instruction two years ago our one Clifton Community came together that support the passing of what at the time was the single largest Bond referendum in the state of New Jersey and one of the many highlights we had from that passing the bond referendum was the installation of HVAC systems throughout all of our buildings and the time has now come to adequately staff the positions needed to drive some of these budget projects so in this case we're going to need at some point to a point HVAC experts to maintain and repair our new systems while at the same time be part of the installation process so they learn the intricacies of the equipment that's being implemented installed excuse me in our buildings in addition to this we're going to need to improve the Manpower that currently does exist in our custodial maintenance staff these are the individuals who are responsible for the overall cleanliness of our buildings as well as the upkeep of grounds currently our maintenance team consists of 14 members that service 24 buildings three Pre-K buildings 14 elementary schools one NX two middle schools one high school One Transportation building one Administrative Building and our Stadium Field House for 14 individuals comprised of one drain specialist four groundskeepers one electrician one plumber two painters one Mason one locksmith and three what referred to as general maintenance I need to applaud the efforts of our 14 maintenance Personnel who go above and beyond on a daily basis to provide the the necessary TLC of our old buildings but this is a almost impossible task and the need to grow this team significantly exists in addition specifics of the custodial side of buildings and grounds we currently operate on What's called the square footage formula that is recommended by the state pretty much what that means is based on the square footage of the building this formula tells you how many custodians you need adequately adequately clean a building unfortunately that formula just does not exist here for Clifton and again why I applaud the efforts of our team and oftentimes our teachers our secretaries and our administrators who go above and beyond and put no job beneath them to assist our team in keeping our buildings clean but that responsibility doesn't belong to those groups and the increase of custodial Manpower will help us keep a safer cleaner learning environment for our students and staff in addition the hiring of some of our new Personnel will allow us to complete what we call evening hour projects right now our custodians operate on three ships I'm just going to describe it as a morning afternoon and evening shift with a slight overlap between many of them but what does not exist for us are evening maintenance shifts and I'm going to use the example of painting and we have two painters in our district and the most opportune time to get some of the painting projects done are during the summer hours but in 24 buildings two painters over the summer it's an impossibility so what we're forced to do oftentimes is how our painters work in buildings during the instructional day well the impact there falls directly in our teaching staff most importantly our students who are displaced for a period of time as our painters whether it's for Aesthetics whether it's complete a project after the sheetrock and spackle have been properly applied again not ideal for our students simply put adding these these positions and having that in-house staff will significantly reduce the cost to our district it will alleviate the cost of what we do for our outside vendors as well as the costs for overtime and then last but certainly not least is the single most important thing we do for our students and staff is keeping them safe through our security and safety measures and we always say that ensuring the safety of our students and staff continues to be the top priority of the Board of Education over the past several years our district has worked diligently to implement best practices and responses to a whole host of emergency situations our hard work has paid off as we have provided to the best of our ability for our students and staff a safe learning and working environment as a district we are now better prepared we have increased knowledge and understanding of school safety we have better response times and better communication or just safer today but as always we still need to improve we need to continue to add to our commitment of school safety because as I often say security is always seen as too much until day it's not enough because the reality is we read about some heinous incident that occurs on a weekly and sometimes a daily basis and often times when these incidents occur our natural human reaction is to defend which is often referred to as the hardening of schools now examples of the Harding of schools that were made possible from our bond render and rendering referendum excuse me projects are protecting our school entrances with security vestibules ensuring a school perimeter with the installation of locked Access Control Systems because of secure perimeter is a single greatest defense against the threat installing security cameras and lockdown systems help us better prepare and communicate the law enforcement in the events of emergency however Staffing was not part of the referendum we are pleased to announce the success of our school security specialist initiative that was launched this year and what this is are 12 individuals who have been stationed what we call affectionately our big three our middle schools and our high school these individuals play an integral port in emergency response it may ensure the safety and security measures are adhered to they serve as an outlet for students to report incidents of violence vandalism and even harassment intimation bullying before the incidents occur we have seen a tremendous decrease in the amount of vvsa violence vandalism and substance abuse data that occurs in school in the big three with their presence they assist with enforcing school policies they provide increased Supervision in hallways stairwells cafeterias and at arrival dismissal times they provide additional Presence at evening events such as athletic events plays musicals and even here tonight at our Board of Education buildings an increase in the budget will allow for us to not only grow the team at the big three but also afford US the opportunity to have a trained school security specialist in every single one of our buildings and depending on the size hopefully more but while improving a physical building security and the hardening of schools is important successfully implementing a robust prevention strategy is crucial and we do this What's called the softening of schools as we leverage our pbsis multi-tiered system of support here we focus on strengthening relationships between students and staff we build upon the social emotional skills of students and staff we teach positive and pro-social behaviors and of course create a positive School climate for stakeholders each month at our Board of Ed meetings we present and highly uh the student the staff the supervisor the team that successfully implements some capacity or function of our PBIS program whether it be other students of the month our teams who are who are using PBIS to leverage curriculum and of course to recognize the state and National recognition that our district has had as Janina had said earlier we currently fund the majority of this pbsis program through the school climate transformation Grant which expires at the end of next year and again an increase in the budget will allow for us to continue driving this multi-tiered system of support and right now we're finally getting to What's called the meat and potatoes as we see the fun and the incentives and the universal tier we are finally in the training and implementation phases of What's called the secondary and eventually the tertiary Teeter and why that's so important specific to school security the Secret Service analysis of plots and schools report from 2021 specifically refers to preventative approaches that can be implemented to foster a positive School climate I'd like to read just a quick quote from that report positive behavioral interventions and supports PBIS models are one such approach that provides a primary intervention for all students with secondary and tertiary interventions to support students who may be experiencing distress these collaborative approaches Foster positive School climates and student emotional and physical well-being thereby decreasing the impact of adverse experiences approaches that promote successful outcomes for all students will decrease the risk of harm to a school community and we drive this to show the relationship that exists between PBIS and keeping our students and staff safe it are these secondary and tertiary tiers that will provide the necessary interventions that could perhaps be that that small window of opportunity that we have to intervene before a student heads down that what's considered to be the pathway to violence and one final component specific to School Safety and Security and the softening of schools deals with the mental health and focusing on the emotional and psychologically safe safety of our students the sheer numbers of referrals for our Counseling Services psychological evaluations and behavior plans have almost doubled since pre-pandemic psychological evaluations from Justice September to March time frame in 2018 and 19 pre-pandemic 82.
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today 168 specific to behavioral referrals in 2018-20 and we are rapidly approaching 40 at this point students have had to relearn multiple skills like social skills that are usually taught while in school as a result there has been a large uptick in maladaptive behaviors resulting from the lack of coping skills usually acquired in a normal classroom setting we currently take advantage and utilize a partnership with Tri-County clinicians we currently have one and a half members on staff but would absolutely benefit from more what they do is provide individual and group counseling but more importantly they conduct in-house psychiatric evaluations in school so that students do not have to leave our campus be sent to a hospital and at no cost to our parents or Guardians and of course would you benefit from additional school counselors general education behavior behaviorists and general general education social workers could provide social emotional lessons assist with implementing positive behavior supports like our PBIS program assist in implementing Behavior plans for our challenging and struggling students provide social skills group support staff with the implementation of class-wide systems and finally conduct clinical observations in the students academic and social environments as I previously stated security that we've seen is too much until the day it's not enough and we do this all for the success and safety of our students and success for us is the absence of an event while the same time always being prepared this time before I turn it back over to Dr robitosi The Final Answer presentation do any Commissioners have any questions specific to facilities and security yeah Mr gengaro before I speak we're going to do questions and then after the questions the team can just come back in and sit down we're gonna then get into our informal conversation thank you Mr franciac thank you Mr gengaro how long is the pbsis program been around for uh pleased to announce that we have been implementing in Clifton for 10 years that has not been the case in all buildings it's not been until two years ago that we have had district-wide implementation that does not include our pre-k program they do follow a model called pyramid which is just the Pre-K Pre-K age-appropriate version of PBIS and how long have we been providing in-house Mental Health uh counseling this Tri-County initiative is relatively new just within this last year Now isn't pbsis supposed to help with the mindset of of our students absolutely one one done correctly it's about fostering those positive relationships referring students to building specific expectations uh encouraging and training our staff to have positive interactions with with our students at what we consider a four to one positive to negative ratio this is something that we're definitely driving unfortunately during the pandemic it definitely did derailed progress that was made but at this point our PBS ice team led by our director Paula Ray goza and her growing team have been on track to get us in the direction that we need to be thank you you're welcome any other questions from our commissioners yes Danny well just to like you know piggyback off of what you were um sort of talking about I know that even in the district um that I'm in I mean we've noticed a lot more with children I think that's just part of you know I think I feel like maybe it'll normalize but it's just the you know post pandemic but what I did want to address was um the maintenance team I do want to say you know 14 maintenance members you know to congratulate them on what they do do um but you mentioned like this evening hours project and um I I don't know if you had at all you know again just thinking about because sometimes it's it's good to even look at different districts and see what they do but in the summer um you know many teachers work the 10 months and they are looking for something additional work somewhere and to have them working on painting they do you know painting the rooms our school was painted beautifully and it was done by our teachers it was done during the the summer it was they they actually put in an application through Apple tracks and you know and get hired in that way and it there's no additional you know again I'm not saying we don't need need maintenance people just bear me that's not but maybe to take something off the plate of the maintenance people that maybe the teachers working 10 months would say hey you know what I would like to do that and there are you know my district there were a group of like you know teachers there was a few girls guys they got together they painted the rooms um got into it they were all psyched you know they got paid so just thinking outside of the box and something that would then take off so there's not these evening hour projects with these people 14 people are trying but maybe there are things like I said and and there are others that do other things so maybe even just like I said like reaching out to other districts to see you know you know what do you do if you if you don't have Staffing or something just sort of that I think eventually everybody's going to feel the pinch everywhere and so kind of networking and talking and finding out what do people do so I can only offer from my perspective and you know our school is beautifully painted and you know and then we had students do their artwork and they painted some artwork in the classrooms and so just I think like you know and I know um Miss bassford we've always talked about it for as many years as we've been on like sometimes just sort of thinking outside of the box so again I don't know if that'll help but you know in our district um we do hire teachers and you know it's totally voluntary a lot of them pick it up because they want the extra hours and they're already coming there to the building and so this way takes a lot off for the from the maintenance and they just help out with the general whatever it is I definitely appreciate that outside the box thinking it's a wonderful idea that we will look into it's just my general understanding that we would just have to make sure that by doing so we would not be in a violation of the contract for the portfolio maintenance or maybe like a new contract moving forward find out the wording so and it's just totally optional that's a great idea sharing some of them want that work didn't we discussed one time doing what wine and paint give the teachers wine and everybody comes in and paints I apologize counselor no yeah no wine counsel no no one and uh it's not the teacher's contract who would be violating it's the custodians contract because you're taking wave work from the custodian maintenance if if there's you know like if if um it's too much work for them I'm saying you know what I mean and let's say you don't get the magical number and you you know you hire one it's still a lot of work for them I mean I again it's just putting that in there to just say it's not that they would be doing their job the whole year because obviously the teachers have their jobs but it's just in the summer to sort of help out and you know maybe the custodians could have a saying hey look you know this is stuff that's like the painting something like that where you know whatever it is like I mean that would have to be worked out but I'm gonna get something will bring up and next year they are one of the five groups who are up for uh renegotiations for the contract so perhaps that's something we can explore at that time any other questions from our commissioners Ms basford yeah um I'm just curious so I'm gonna bounce off you on this one how did we work it out when we uh during covid when we gave other people that were going to be furloughed we gave them other positions to do how did that work out regards to the contract we repurposed in that case more specifically we were able to repurpose members of our transportation department and what they really did were not any of the roles and responsibilities outlines in any of the collective bargaining groups contract what they primarily helped us do was help better secure the school we went to every building during that time and actually took tape at the time and measured What's called the line of sight and what that is in the security world is the area of a classroom that is not visible to a Potential Threat from the hallway so we repurposed them in such a way to improve upon security so it did not violate any of the contracts for or any of the collective bargaining groups Dr Danny has another idea no I I've actually heard about this I can't take credit for this idea but they were saying um that you know they meant mentioned you know if if there were I'm saying teachers but it could be anybody that is in the district if um in the morning because of the bus driver shortage and I can't take credit for this idea I was reading about this and um I think the the um Jersey school boards or something that there are some districts that are actually what they're doing because of the shortage they're allowing like whoever wants they can be the bus driver the the school pay for the CDL they could be the bus driver in the morning and then whatever like I'm just using example teacher and then you know bus driver in the evening so you know for the so you would be bus driver morning that and then bus driver in the evening and in the meantime do your teaching or whatever it is or administrator in your you know bus driver in the morning minute you know and the schools are paying for just as a way because they were saying that they can't get um you know bus drivers so and I don't know the the logistics on that at all but that I can't take credit for that that was something that I was um reading about again another wonderful idea yeah we have to confirm with that group that's not a violation of their contract as well and if that is a possibility please know I'd probably be the first one to sign up I've always wanted to be able to drive a bus so sign me up you already want to coach a sport so drive the team to the game bus and uh you know I just know our teachers just do a tremendous job you know all day long but their job doesn't end when they leave the building um so I just personally can't see a teacher wanting to come in the morning and drive a bus teach a class drive a bus in the afternoon go home and do lesson plans take care of their kids you know what I'll tell you what Mr Smith they do it in my school there's and it's again there's a lot of people you know uh and a lot of them are people without children who don't have children and they they find it you know fun to to be with their co-workers and to you know I do have a question on um so we talked about uh I had asked her if she was just yes and that's our reality to go before me I think if we have bargaining units coming up we need to start thinking outside the box okay because I I have to tell you I never knew that I was a painter until covet hit I I have produced some really nice pieces of furniture I never knew I had that talent and if I was offered giving extra work at night I'd go for it I I think we have to start thinking else I have a lot of questions on the budget I actually while you guys were presenting because my ADHD has to do two things at once I actually have I have questions but you you with the proposed of what we got you only said one maintenance person across the board no no no but didn't give a specific number here about maintenance the one position I was specific I mean was the HVAC export if you will no under maintenance only has one so that's what my question is because you want to cross the board right that's what I'm questioning I I presume I was told that we're short maintenance as of today we haven't filled positions correct so I don't understand how we're only asking for that was mine that was my question so in the two percent we're only asking for two but I think we're three not sorry we're only asking for one right in each scenario and my understanding is we're at least two or three down already when we return back to our seats I'll make sure I speak with Mr Osteen Mr shahada just for clarification with the numbers so as the district grows I your maintenance staff has to grow and you're grown by one I I don't see it so that that is a definite question on my mind um custodians as well I mean people don't understand but as we add more buildings with the Pre-K and all that that has to be staffed with custodians unless the teachers want to come at night and paint and do custodian work at the same time too it's in the summer you could think about that out of the box um but uh we have two custodians only in the in the two percent and only three custodians in the three percent I mean in the six percent so I'm a little concerned about that number as well um and keep in mind misters just to remind me this is just a rough draft that we won't understand that um and just if you could administrations idea so um security wise so we're increasing we want to increase security could you just give us an idea of where you want to increase that security um is it additional to the to the three spots that we have the three pla the buildings that we have right now um or is it just adding more into those buildings or just it's a little bit of everything president Smith in fact uh after conferring with the principles from The Big Three Mr Hamden Mr Jager muskega uh all Ransom Rave about the successes of this initiative and would absolutely benefit from more Personnel especially just to make sure that we're compliant for their individual contracts like lunchtime this will allow us the the ability to have a little bit more overlap so when an individual happens to be at lunch we're still at full force but undoubtedly the goal is to have a minimum of One Security personalities of our buildings with the understanding that we would hope to have additional larger elementaries such as School 17 school 12 school five things of that nature whereas a building like school four which is significantly smaller for the time being would be able to make do with one okay so in in the seven and ten number that would be expanding to the elementaries yeah the initial implementation phase was to ensure that all of our buildings have at least one specialist before we start to add more in the uh The Big Three anyone else we're gonna sorry not my microphone on um Mr gengaro thank you so much uh Mr Crucible thank you so much let me just uh wrap up the last slide there thanks Mr Junior ladies and gentlemen tonight um talked about the history of state aid in New Jersey we talked about Clifton and local fair share uh talked about our major concern of the the fixed costs just to maintain just to stay where we're at um and then the needs security requirements bilingual ESL explosion special education increases the need for space for uh preschool and others teacher paraprofessional retention Plus um you know we've seen paraprofessionals come here to our to this board asking um for us to do something about their salaries and and benefits and things like that so we also have five expiring contracts to worry about next year uh Mr Lucy explained the idea of bang cap or expiring federal grants um and what what we what we don't want to do is because we got extra money this year hire people that we're not going to be able to retain at the end of next year so if at the end of the day we have a discussion and this board feels you know what um we really aren't you know interested in in raising taxes then that that pretty much will will stay I want to use the word stagnant that has a negative connotation but we would just keep things the way they the way they are to try to do our best to to maintain but in order to move this District forward um I think the administration is hoping that the board will consider you utilizing some of the bank cap so that's what we have for discussion I would ask my team to come back to their seats um and uh what we need tonight ladies and gentlemen from the board is Direction so Mr UC can submit can have a budget to be prepared for next board meeting that we can submit to the county that is not a final budget we could say tonight that we want four percent and we could change our mind right but we'd have to send the budget to the county we could say tonight that we want zero percent I'd rather err on the side of saying more now and reducing it later but we want to make sure that we answer all your questions um on the budget from the presentation and anything else you might have in mind so [Music] yeah are we gonna go to the public or we'll do we'll do the board member uh questions first okay and then we'll go to the public all right so to keep some uh some water here uh we'll start uh and give everyone equal time to answer your question to ask your questions um so Mr Santiago if you have anything that you'd like to address we'll start with you and work this way foreign thank you um so we have a a request for for Paris and then we have Paris make full-time benefits and there's no um close to that so is that go ahead I could answer that so they are included on the bottom line so when you see that five there that's included on the lower number 36 so it's 36 times the projected benefits but they're not included in the salary line because they are they're already on staff they just don't get benefits okay thank you Mr Paris thank you Mr Smith um just just to clarify on the bank cap so if if we do not go to minimum four percent this year we lose two percent possibility that we lose that possibility it's gone it will be expired because it was done three years ago that zero percent year of the band cap that we splinted to it was the 2021 school year three years ago once three years passed you it expires okay um the other is I mean we you have some scenarios here these are all and I realize it's not finalized yet but these are additional positions um some of which I think are very critical uh this is coming from any tax increase right on this sheet these sheet the scenarios are tax increase and we're proposing the tax increase so when the 24-25 budget comes the staff we hire with this data this year we can retain them with the tax with the tax levy increase this year um because once that money expires it can't be recouped and then um we won't be able to raise our tax base enough to retain the staff in the 24-25 school year um and my last question it's just just basic math and I'm sure it's probably a simple answer for it um we're getting 22 million in state aid more than we had last year 14 of it goes to just our contractual obligations expenses for um for benefits Etc that leaves eight million dollars where is that where do I find that so to try to say it simply that would be to hire the people on the sheet or as many people on the sheet like I said it is a work in progress like we can move people around but the money is what it is it's to hire these people with that difference that eight million but be able to retain them because of the tax increase because we wouldn't spend this money we would have it set it aside so we wouldn't we could retain them in the following year so so if we did not uh have the tax levy increase we would some of these positions would be Jeopardy if we didn't that's CR unless yes they would be in if we hired them knowing we weren't be able to retain them then yes if that is the vision of the the board then we probably wouldn't hire up to that eight million you're talking about we could just retain and maintain in 24 25.
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understood thank you just just to piggy bank real quick the two the two percent that he asked you about that we would lose how much does that equate to in money just short of 2.7 million so I want to mention what probably everyone at home is stinking um obviously by the presentation we're going to need more stuff um with ell going up more students come in we're obviously without a doubt we're getting more stuff no matter what um last week the chairman for the Federal Reserve said in um interest is going to go up no matter what let's say we do decide to do that four percent now all of our taxes are going up plus the interest we get our state money because including ell um students who meet below the poverty line all this what about when all those people decide Clifton's too expensive now now I need to move out we're gonna lose the money from those people who are already here then what what happens after all those people move out because I've heard people oh I'm leaving Clifton is too expensive now oh my taxes are going up so much now all those people are leaving we do this again they leave and then what are we going to get back for stay date does it get less and less if enrollment goes I'm sorry if enrollment goes down significantly state aid would go down with it but um our state our state has been based around 10 900 to 11 000 students for the last probably eight years um and our preschool is ballooning too yeah Mr Mejia I think um this is a balance this is a difficult the difficulty of our jobs to balance the needs of the taxpayers who believe me they don't want to see their tax bills go up with the needs of the district and to try to find that that balance where the cost of everything has gone up so even if we didn't do anything right people's costs are going up and I know it's hard to say okay and on top of that we're going to raise your taxes but it's a balance between that and the needs of our children and I would say that you may have some people leave but the quality of your school system is the most important factor on whether people move to your town and stay in your town so I think the higher the better that we do um might might negate some of those people uh that leave but it's a justifiable and and reasonable concern and this is all assuming that we're just gonna keep increasing enrollment right what our current state aid is yeah well if we if our state if our enrollment stayed the same and with the same specialized population same ill population and all that it would still be the 90 million we're showing if it if we increase to 12 000 students next year our state aid would go up significantly thank you but that's we're we're not expecting any additional Aid we we believe we've reached the the fiscal cliff for first day we believe we're fully funded now there was a bonus next year or something that would be a nice surprise um we don't anticipate it okay opinion well um you know I I have to say like with um Mr Mejia I mean you know I have heard things um you know the referendum is is something that the taxpayers you know obviously have to pay yes everything's going up and then you know some people say you know who knows where we could be headed into a depression or something and then we might you know I think that um I'm not saying that not to hire people or anything but I I really do think that we really have to look to get creative and think outside of the box like I I hate to say it but you know maybe look around to see what other districts are doing and and be a little more creative because if you think about it and and you know I at home I mean I have a budget and you know it's not like if I want more in that budget that means I have to go look for it okay and just because you could doesn't mean you should and I mean they are the taxpayers um I get it with the school system but you know I'm going to tell you I mean I see a lot of waste in schools not saying it's here but I do see it and I have other friends that are in other districts and the amount of waste so like you know again there's things just have to be looked at differently I mean it's like when if there was a depression and you're in your household and you have your budget you're not going to go well I always spend on this I always spend on my nails and I always spend on my hair that's how we do it and that's how we're going to continue to do it like you know what you have to get creative and again I'm not saying you know you're not going to hire this or maintenance or something but you do have to start thinking and getting a little more creative because if we do go down that slope I mean there will be people that you know we won't be able to um hire or you know we'll have to let go or something like that I mean we've Miss bassford and I have been here when when that happened and there was a bunch you know and and that could happen and so it's like you know you say okay let's just say hypothetically okay we'll do the six percent and then everything goes into a recession and now people are you know hit hard I mean you know it is a difficult decision there are a lot of difficult and I think that one thing is that there has to be some thinking outside of the box and certain things aren't negotiable I get it in a school district I get it certain things aren't negotiable okay like security or something well I think that that that's a that's a fair point but I also think thinking outside the box doesn't get me you know 10 security guards in each school and I said that some things are non-negotiable I'd like to think that we have been thinking outside of the box we have been creative when I uh one of the reasons why I showed you those uh administrative costs we spend less on Administration than the vast majority of school districts in this state so we have thought outside of the box we've had to because our district has been consistently underfunded so we've had to think out of the box um so it's not that we haven't and um but we can always again it's not always and you know you've done a great job yes yes we have thank you and at the helm you've done a great job in your staff and you know the teachers and everybody has and but I'm just saying that you don't know where it could go and and you do have to look um and think again like well you know what more could we do because you don't know where anything could go I mean it could be you know I don't agree with you we don't know what the future holds you know so I just I I again you know we did get a referendum passed and it was very large and and it is you know taxpayers you know said okay and so I think when you say you know school districts and school districts will bring in people and you know it will be you know very the things that we will do will showcase the school and you know it it will be good but again you know you can't um there's only so much you can stretch somebody we might not have needed that referendum had we been properly funded though right so going back it it it it builds up over time we have been underfunded so long that's why maintenance wasn't done in our buildings that's why there could be no long long range uh planning in regards to facilities um and then when we started getting a little extra money from the state then we did zero percent which I understand we didn't want to burden the taxpayers but that zero percent three years in a row has compounded itself where are the base of our budget um is it wasn't built up if we had just gone to two percent we'd be in so much better shape today that's why the state says we are 18 million under adequacy right that I'm not please don't get me wrong a local Clifton taxpayer pays a lot of money I pay a lot of money where I live but the state of New Jersey says that our schools have not taxed enough now I everybody could disagree with that I'm telling you with the state of New Jersey says so that's why I know it's a balance I know it's a balance and I and I do agree I mean I do the you know the zero percent and I see that you know what I mean but then in the same way we might not have gotten the referendum if we went up to two percent two percent two percent we might not have gotten the referendum you know what I mean as that's touche okay so I mean and I know um you know Mr abadrabo and miss bassford you know you were on with me when you know we did talk to legislators about funding and things like that I mean maybe we can have discussion I know you said it wasn't much but like pcti and all the other counties I mean I don't know that's something viable with legislative committee or something I don't know but maybe you know what what we do need guys and I I will answer all the questions and we can have philosophical debates all night what we need is some direction right do you want us to go to zero percent do you want us to go to two percent four percent six so let's let's finish asking the question we're gonna move on some direction uh Mr Brunson you have any other questions yes thank you Mr President sorry about that so the positions themselves I know we've you see by the quantity over there and I think there's some that are absolutely necessary over here but some of the other ones that were referenced before I don't think there are some issues over here uh I just want to confirm I believe it was mentioned two times already so I apologize if it is not raised if we don't raise it by minimum four percent millions of dollars will be lost in perpetuity of funding that's 100 correct 2.7 million will be lost sure as I said during the presentation the if a board doesn't go to two percent the legally allowable limit of two percent future boards can recoup those funds by raising their legally allowed two percent plus what wasn't raised in Prior years up to three years two percent is on that cusp of the third year next year is the third year it so it would that the sorry two percent from the 20 21 school year would be expired yes can you please explain to the citizens to everybody in this room and to the citizens of our city what total one funding is and what title IV funding is please if possible sure Title One funding is funding that follows our students based on poverty level so we have certain schools that fall below the average poverty level of the city of the city those schools that are below the average poverty level receive a small amount of additional funding that covers the additional basic skills teachers in those buildings they also cover summer school for students in those programs as well as some of our a lot of our after-school tutoring but only in those schools that are designated as Title One this current school year that is schools 4 11 12.
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14 15 and 17 as well as Columbus the remaining of our schools are not Title One title IV funding is another small amount of money that comes in for specific purposes um a tiny percentage of that has to go to technology but by tiny I mean like five percent so it's like I don't know thirty thousand dollars um the rest of it is targeted to Advanced programs such as training for our teachers in AP in high school as well as for things like mental health and counseling I believe we're paying I'd have to look if it's a counselor and a behaviorist for Gen Ed um or if it's a counselor and a social worker I have to take a look but it's it's for a specific mental health needs is that idea basic no idea basic is special education okay there's significant reductions in the 23 to 24 school year we know what the big disparity is based on the estimated Revenue I can answer that question it's sound um budgeting practice at its in compliance with the county the Department of Education to budget 85 percent of what you got in the current year just in case now that is not what we think is going to happen we should get at minimum what we have been getting and potentially more depending on how if there's more 101 students or not but that is just a budget compliance thing that you budget 85 less than current year yes and in the federal grants the the Essa titles and Ida so the only way to increase these items essentially is if there are more residents or more students that hit this pin you know to hit a poverty level is that correct yes title one would only go up if we have increases in students who meet that criteria it's also based on federal formulas so um sometimes the FED does increase that formula um Esser is another large federally funded component which is some of which is specifically tied to some of these improvements and it's based on our Title One ratios also just to throw in there Title One title money is supposed to and Janina could probably explain this I'm sorry Miss casual love is good explain this much better than me above and beyond our own education it can't supplement our own education it's above and beyond yeah it's it's extremely restricted and it is subject to something called supplement not supplant so let's say you want to put um after school tutoring at all of your non-title one schools you would have to put an equal amount in your title one schools before even touching your title one money thank you special education it was described earlier there's a big increase and I've I think there is a big Need You also mentioned a significant increase in social emotional needs uh I'd like to know if if it's amongst all the grades or is it a grade school middle school high school is it a blend of all three of those um of those categories and is there has there been root cause analysis done for for some of the for some of these issues the increase in special education requirements and needs um so our special education needs and our counseling needs I think some of that is directly related to students coming out of the pandemic as well as the um just a shifting demographic the ESL students that are coming in are not just coming in needing English language support they're coming in needed needing academic and counseling support for traumatic events our own existing students have gone through a lot and it is this is a pre-k through 12.
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the behaviors that we're seeing in our classrooms it's as if all of our students were behind two years in terms of behavior and communication academically they're slowly catching up but the behaviors and the counseling needs and the way they it they interact with each other um definitely need is I think one of the big root causes increase in transportation costs about 1.5 mil is the estimate can we please give an explanation to everyone in this room and to the General Public why it's increased 1.5 million dollars is it just due to increases or there actually be a more services provided to District students it's both the it's it's more it's all it's our own staff as well as contracted routes um our our contracted routes a route three years ago that was thirty four thousand is now 80 100 000. um we had one student in another County that's uh mckinney-vento student that popped up this year we have to transport them 88 000.
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we it's it's the the commission who we get the contracted services from they bid it out and it's just the nature of the industry the the we have more routes for more students I need to be transported and we also the costs are also ballooning out of control it's a it's a Statewide issue for districts lastly we it was described before the 14 million dollars of the increase just for fixed costs and benefits so I want to let everybody know over here and to let the general public know that just the increase for something like benefits which is usually included in somebody's salary you could do that as a formula as part of a salary at least that's what I've seen fifty thousand dollars per family plan so I want to let everybody know what the costs are associated with these fixed costs and the increases I want to let everybody know what they are okay and uh that's essentially it these are the big ticket items that I went through when I sorted through these items and uh thank you very much everybody for answering all the questions thank you I think that we need more of these meetings because there's information being put back and forth and I'm grateful to everyone for doing this and if we need another one I'm more than willing to give you my time I think that's what our role era the list that we got was two percent four percent and six percent that was your wish list correct or is this what's needed to run the district at the two percent level perspective excuse me in order to where we want this District to be I I recommend that we use Bank cap and go to three or four percent so in order to get the bank cap we have to do four percent don't we or is it just yeah that is correct has to be four percent the reason it's four percent is because legally we can't use Bank cap until we go to next year's already um allow two percent so we have to raise taxes by the two percent that we're it's allowable and then you're allowed to use Bank cap because do Mike could you do three percent yes so then then one percent would expire and we're budgeting one percent of Bank cap I I I went through this and I a couple of things but uh I'm gonna I'm gonna email I have a lot of questions and they're they're minute so I'm gonna email that to me I'll copy um the superintendent at a courtesy um but um something that's sticking a couple of things Mr Brunswick that's your Forte your numbers guy things sticking out on me were increases in some of the um the things that we give the students but there's a four hundred and twenty five thousand dollar increase on the special education instruction for um related to purchase Professional Services uh it's um this account if that looks familiar too can you explain to me what that is because it was 175 000 last year it's going up to six hundred thousand dollars like it's the little things that get to me you're looking at the bigger ticket items I'm looking at I have a bunch of little things that are like me so I I really think we're gonna need another meeting because we're gonna as Lucy said we're gonna have to be really creative and think outside the box because if anybody's been watching channel 77 or 40 the last on Monday evening the city's talking about eight percent uh and we we really need a uni Alliance meeting ASAP like emergencies stat and we need to have conversation on both sides of the street because this is you're talking that's 12 if we go just two percent that's ten percent if we go four percent that's twelve percent I have to look at my budget as well and I have to look at the people that live around me and they're mostly senior citizens some of them are locked in some of them aren't we're going to price people right out of the box but we have to scratch our pencils I'm sorry doctor I promised you I wouldn't say that phrase what are you sorry about we have to scratch out pencils a little bit sorry I'm just trying to find that we do have a municipal uh Alliance meeting scheduled I'm just trying to we do I think it's at the end yeah too yeah okay good and so I think this needs to be discussed with a bunch of other stuff that I'll be sending um so send you anything you have right yeah absolutely um uh because what happened this week with some of the students around some of the schools we really need to be mindful but Mr Lucy can you explain that and then I have one other question and then I want to say something else sure so if you see the approved budget was 175 right we had to find the difference which mostly came from not being able to find staffed Paras okay um this is agency Paris okay dollars would be what when first step objection of agency Powers okay so I'm just saying to my colleagues that this is a red flag to me if we can pay 600 000 for an outside earnings agency why can't we give the power professionals more money to work here and give them incentives like this is ridiculous I know some people that really work their tails off in this District as the power professionals and they need to I'm sorry I I have to say this they need to stop being respected I personally have seen the benefit in my own home from a paraprofessional I have a success story because somebody took the time so you know what this is this that struck me crazy there's a one that it's on the budget for facilities a allowable maintenance for schools now it caught my eye because we're doing all the bathrooms over right we went from 65 000 in last year's budget to a hundred and five thousand dollars for plumbing can you explain why we need forty thousand dollars more aren't we gonna have new Plumbing so sure Mr shot uh thank you guys so for that for the bathroom renovation we're only renovating these fixtures the pipes are still the 100 year old pipes that are here so regardless of what happens unfortunately the pipes of Wells flood or they will um back up and we're going to have to maintain that somehow and as we've seen throughout this past year we have spent an exorbitant amount of money on piping with United Plumbing so that's something that we're going to have to just budget for next I'm just curious because you know there's no explanations to style incense if I gave my husband and my family the budget like this without like what I really needed underneath it I would be um branded at the stake um I have a question and what I'd really like to see is what the actuals were what we actually spent on some of this stuff like you know we have the approved budget but I'd like to see what the actual I I I'm not trying to give you extra work Mr UC but there's some things for athletics you know like uh my pet peeve is when when's the last time we replaced any of the gymnastic equipment because I know in 2008 it was there in my and you're still using the same equipment now in 2022-23 um like I see that the budget and and the kids need what they need and I see the like for conditioning of the the helmets I get all that stuff but I don't see where there's Equity there with that bothers me the other question I have for you is on your wish list on the bottom line you have a remaining negative balance okay so where's that money going to come from now all across the board yes I mean it's close to it's essentially close to zero I know it looks negative but it's essentially balanced the only one that isn't is the two percent so the four the four percent and the six percent one it's only I don't want to say only but it's only negative fifty six thousand it's we're also projecting obviously you have to project because you don't know but we are projecting everyone would take a family plan commissioner best for this common to have left over because it's a budget that that's why so is it left over it would it would balance eventually it's a working yeah so you get it I think I answer one question please just want to clarify Mrs Bachelor there will be at next week's board meeting the preliminary budget you vote on so that you're just voting that Mr UC can submit it then there's another meeting where we have a budget hearing so you we have at least two more meetings on budget alone just so you know I know but I think that we need as a board to come home and have just dedicated time because I don't want no five minutes we got to do that and get to the other sections I think everybody has to have got this last week but you know we all have busy lives there was a lot of functions going on this weekend I really think that for the new board members with all due respect that we need to have this back and forth dialogue because now I brought some things to your attention all three of you you'll probably go back and take a a different look at it now and really start to see a different and with every one of the colleagues that are talking here tonight you see things in a different light no problem at all I just wanted to make it a little clearer if if I'm if I are if the columns aren't clear on the budget sheets there's a there's a column called the approved budget 2223.
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that that's what was actually approved by the county and that was the advertised budget the user-friendly budget the next column that says revised budget we need to make budget transfers it's it's not only common it's 100 necessary in any District to make budget transfers the revised budget while it's not exactly an actual cost it's very close to an actual cost because it's where we are in February it's as of February 1st so when you look at the approved budget you also look at the revised budget and you see if it goes up or down and if it goes dramatically up and then the 2324 ask is closer to the revised budget that's because of current year projections we need to recurrent your expenses that we need to project that we might not have seen prior to doing the 2223 budget is there an actual document that we can see the actual cost that was spent on that line on them on all the line items that we were given I have some Curiosities that I want to see where there's money left over listen you all bring good insight to the table regardless and nobody can say otherwise I want to thank the administration for putting this putting this together uh and Mike it's it's not easy to put this together and I get it and I want to appreciate you and your team I appreciate the fact that after the 22 million we're not going to six percent because in my head that was definitely no way uh me four percent is still in no way okay Mr uji and I've learned to live in the moment and not too much go moving forward I'll tell you what I mean by that by looking at this you're probably saying what are you talking about but how much have we raised taxes percentage-wise in the past three years last year uh current year and and then I'm gonna interrupt you given the referendum as well and I know people voted on that but I want that included so to answer not including the referendum right this second in the 2223 budget we raise taxes two percent two percent in the prior two years and even three years we raised it zero percent then the last fourth and fifth year we went under one percent okay and that's why there's Bank cap available okay having said that too there's all to go into the six percent band cap would recoup close to 10 million of the 18 million Danny was talking about Dr robertosie was talking about eight to nine Millions lost expired forever so what I'm what I'm trying to get at nicely is that there's percentages we should have gone up in the past we I think we all agree on that but right now and as others have said across the street is looking to go eight points and I am not comfortable enough to say four percent and eight to go to 12 this year is a slap face to our to our taxpayers to our residents and I'm not looking just at you this is the administration because as others have said we've seen the Paris the nurses have complained we've seen others who who are saying things are unjust and would like to see I want to see this money being take care of people live a lot of people live check the check all right imagine living Check to Check and yet your PCG bill is going up your food supermarket is going up as Dr Robert tells you mentioned earlier but yet you're getting your nails done you sign up for clubs you do when taking up golf you're doing this pretty soon your lights are going to be off because you're not taking care of the house now and that's what I mean by live in the moment I get what Mr Brunswick was saying and I I in terms of the budgetary options points of it and why things are increasing and why we need more money to keep up with the increases and I get and I see it if I'm mistaken that's what you're going with let me know but things are always going to go up we're always going to be underfunded regardless and we're never going to catch up because we have been underfunded essentially we need to make sure that I personally would like to see three three percent you talk about recommendations where to go I would like see three percent I think that's fair enough I think at minimum two no four and at least for the preliminary where C where three goes and then take it from there and then we can either shave it down if we still say no because again make pairs full time yes that's that's that's a given the ESL aspect yes that's given and I'm just looking at two percent column and we need to start Crossing off what we think is maybe just not right now you know my my daughter's a spoiled little girl and because you know what she's my baby but I have tell her no at times and right now Dr Robert tozi is like my baby and I'm gonna tell and I'm gonna tell him at some points no because we can't and this is I'm speaking for myself you know what I mean I respect the way I treat my own families the way I I would always treat this District our residents and sometimes we have to look at this wish list and just say no cut down that two percent or even give us something in between that two and F4 see what that three looks like you know and again it's this is my second budget I'm looking at today because I from where I from where I am looked at another budget and it's nowhere near what our budget is for this District uh and you both know where I'm coming from um but I think we need to settle down not think out to the Box because you guys have been thinking outside the box and you really have and this district has been doing very well but I think rather than looking outside the box let's look at what we have in-house and who we need to take care of first before we go outside and in terms of facilities it's not easy and and in terms of facilities Mr gingero Dr Robert tozi the administration and to our 14 employees from from the facility staff it's not easy to spread 14 across District because I'm dealing with work now where I have to call certain Plumbing certain whatever every single day to take care of and it's adding up more and more and more and more and thankfully in this District we don't have to deal with that because we have Specialists in-house that are doing it and and it's cost effective but again going back to the Paras and I don't want to sound like a broken record but going back to the Paris going back to the nurses going back to we need to take care of to make sure that they're settled they're looked at they're respected yes I agree with that and then look at the extras look at that wish list between that between that three at three percent between the two and the four so that's all I have to say thank you thank you excuse me Mr Smith thank you uh thank you for saying that I apologize um I I just wanna I just want to remind the board if we if we didn't say the reason why there's even a six percent on here wasn't because the administration was asking for it but the the finance committee asked for a two four to six so realistically that wasn't something that we were actually ever expected to get right so we just tonight we wanted to give you a comprehensive picture of the history where we've been how we got to where we are now and most importantly what do we have to do to to maintain and make our district better so but thank you for you know giving um your opinion on what a percentage a number because at the end of the day we do need some some guidance on a number I'm not going to prolong the the conversation just a few things that I I have to say um unfortunately this board is taking the Brunt of previous boards going to a zero increase today when I met with students at the high school and our student liaison committee met today with students and they said to us you know what we don't have the best of everything at Clifton High School there's a lot more we could have a lot more they deserve to have but we understand we have a budgetary obligation as well but we heard from students today that said to us you know a kid going to another school in the county you know they're not getting nearly what we get here in Clifton but should our kids should our staff should our buildings look at our just take a look at our buildings our school buildings we are now replacing bathrooms bathrooms a necessity we all have bathrooms that are over a hundred years old maybe down the line some other years in the past 25 years 30 years ago they should have replaced the bathrooms of course the bathrooms to replace would have been a lot cheaper back 30 years ago but this board is faced with 100 year old bathrooms we're not saying our kids are going to the bathroom in the Taj Mahal but they should have a respectable bathroom to go to and you know what I understand we we have we have so many aspects to look here and I know we all have budgets in our homes and we have budgets everywhere and Mr Mejia I know where you're coming from but I kind of I'm kind of the opposite I think people come to Clifton because we have darn good schools not leaving but because we have darn schools and they want their kids even if they have to bite the bullet a little bit they want their kids to have a great education I don't want to start naming other towns where people could go to that's not as good as Clifton and they could do that and they could pay a little less in taxes but that's what you're saying to the future of America that's what we're saying to our kids I don't think people are going to move out of Clifton because Clifton's building housing like crazy so and there's going to be people filling those houses I just think which people have to understand education is not cheap nor should it be I ran for this board because I wanted to be a voice for our students again do I think our kids deserve the best of everything absolutely but if we could get them the good of everything I think that's a goal that this board should try to achieve are there many things in and we didn't even tell the public and I don't want to prolong it but we can even tell the public some of the positions that are are asked to be added here it's just going to give you a few so we're looking for an occupational therapist one our kids don't deserve an occupational therapist a reading specialist a science coach a speech therapist one ESL and bilingual bilingual supervisor another guidance counselor for the high school administrative interns which Dr robustosi can talk about how beneficial that program has been it's not like you're at here a reading specialists that's not important for our kids reading specialists science coach should we not be proficient in in the area of science as a math I could see if we're making a budget that says not only do we want one principle in every building but you know what put two other Vice principles in each building could they probably use them in the in the schools absolutely but some things we have to look at and cut I don't think cutting an occupational therapist is something that I want to do and I know you all have said or some people have said about the eight percent the city is going to be that you know what what they do they didn't care about you have to be careful here yes we're all one city but we are elected commissioners to get the most thorough and efficient education that we can possibly offer our kids because a student today came to us and said you know what I don't know where I'm going to go to college I'm waiting to see what financial aid or what I can do but I worked so hard this year and I worked great with my teachers and and just now Dr robitosi just said that she got accepted to MIT full right full ride to MIT that's because Clifton gave that kid a good education and she worked hard at it not because we gave her come a real comfortable with you know these nice comfy chairs that we put in all the school no kids sitting in hard chairs would we like to give them comfy chairs absolutely but they still could get educated on on my point being is that's my ultimate goal to see our graduation rate to be in the high 90 percent to see kids succeed and move on and be successful whether they're in the workforce whether they're in the uh the trade business or where they go on to a college that is what we are elected to do and I just can't stand being punished for what previous people didn't do the right thing didn't do it and again I don't want to Batten out the city but their eight percent is eight percent because they didn't do some things right so they got to correct them now I understand we have to look out for the taxpayer as well and yes most certainly but those taxpayers came out for the referendum and said you know what we'll take a little bite we'll take a little hit we'll give up our nails or whatever you want to say they give up because it was important enough that kids are secure in school and safe with security it was important enough to change 100 year old bathrooms it was important enough for our kids and our staff to have a ventilation system and an air conditioning system where they don't have to sweat while they're trying to learn those are the important things we have to remember so as Dr robitosi said the the finance committee asked for these that's the only reason you have them I had asked Administration and we hire Administration to do this job they recommend to us this is what we need to run a thorough and efficient educational system here in Clifton and if they can come to us and say you know what at four percent increase we could do that at a three percent whatever that number is they're the Professionals in the area they're the ones that we hire to do the work yes UC has it a little tougher this year because he's got Mr brunsiac Right up his uh ear and that's a good thing so again I think we just need to give Administration Direction and if they're telling us so Mr Lucy I just want to clarify one thing at three percent we do not lose that 2.7 million so if we went to three percent we would lose half of the 2.5 the two percent okay president Smith would you like me to say how much a tax plan is yeah please um so increasing according to the tax assessor's report from last year the average assessed home is 178 thousand five hundred dollars now remember that's your tax assessed value not your market value one percent on the average home is 44 approximately forty four dollars or three dollars and sixty cents a month 44 a year that's one tax point so that would equate to a four percent uh tax levy increase would equate to approximately 176 dollars a year or just short of fifteen dollars a month uh correct 85 where we have one in Clifton that's correct I've never seen one yeah school year for those looking for their assessed values you could go to on the NJ parcels NJ parcels and they'll give you the amount of your assessed home Mr Russi uh okay so 44 dollars per year on a one percent with the referendum how many years is that referendum being paid over the reference it was a 25 year referendum which they board chose to go with 25 instead of 20 to lower it a little further and it was a the first year was actually going to be higher than any other year but it was at a an average over the course of 25 years of 205 dollars a year on that same assessed average that's correct okay so just so I'm hearing correctly we had a request for a three percent that's different that's on the sheet here is there anyone in objection to for administration to prepare something for three percent and and if I may that's when I said three percent doesn't mean I'm gonna vote for three percent it just means three percent I just want to see three percent and then we can shave it down for preliminary if we want to it gives another set of eyes rather look at two and four this way you're not playing with numbers in your head and again just Administration Dr robertosie if you could just which is what I asked in finance you are the people that we hire you are the people that put this together you are the people that are involved so and I understand all that you presented in the front in the beginning and Clifton has been uh underfunded um for many years we're under the state we're under all that and people should take that into effect but if you're making a presentation to this board right now for a thorough and efficient education for this district for the 2020 324 school year I hate to put you on the spot could you give us no I don't mind being put on the spot Mr Smith um my recommendation would be that we go to two percent and use an additional two percent of Bank cap which would be four percent I believe that we can give a thorough and efficient education um with just two percent however I'm afraid that we won't be able to continue that without using that we'll lose that 2.7 million forever and I'm worried that that's going to hurt us down the line so it's not just for next year it's for future budgets that I'm concerned about is that fair to say that's very good um and and just one other thing Miss kousalevich talked about the um the answer funds Mr Uzi can you tell us as her funds are going away when so um the sr2 funds are going away this June or technically September but the fiscal year is June and then the sr3 funds are next June um because it's such a short time frame that's why we're looking on doing a lot of capital projects with the with those funds because they have to be spent so fast and they and they if you if you spent them on salaries obviously that's not sustainable so just quickly and it shouldn't be quickly because it's very important but quickly can you tell the public some of the things that this District did with those Sr funds I mean Windows was a major project correct in our in our schools go ahead I'm sorry Miss cousalevi could probably help me with this but when it came comes to the original cares funding it was PPE equipment now the original corresponding remember it was only 2 million it was PPE equipment it was overtime for custodians it was the air scrubbers that you see in every room that that was like oh and the um and more um Chromebook for the digital divide that was basically the cares funding the sr2 funding that was also that was the initial one to one because we were not one-to-one at all when that funding came in um that brought us to one to one and that initial funding also helped reduce class size for that um covid year so these are two just just I'm sorry just just explain that a little bit one to one means we put a Chromebook in the hands of every student correct correct prior to the pandemic shutdown the high school students had just received a Chromebook per child but K-8 did not have one-to-one Chromebooks at all um had it not been this is the only Silver Lining to the pandemic is that had it not been for this infusion of funds we still would not be one-to-one correct and it would be coming out of the regular budget that's correct and it's going to have to be in the that's correct and in the future after this funding is a not there it needs to be built in the budget and that's what we are actually proposing in this budget that's that 700 000 number I was throwing you correct in the technology section of the budget everybody could see that there's an increase for allocations for that no I I just wanted the public to see how we utilized that funding um instead of putting it in the general budget that was my my point to that Okay so so administration's recommendation um so we have a board member wants to see a three percent so we'll show a three percent uh Administration feels at two percent and using two percent cap bringing us to four percent um that that you could run a thorough on efficient education in the city or flipped them with that okay is there any other recommendations from the board on percentages so can we can we say here that wild and I know Mr Paris and I spoke about this but can we say here that the six percent is not something that this board wants to pursue can we take it off the table do you want to leave it on the table just so we can get them Direction please okay let's have a roll call on that or it doesn't be a roll call just a poll please story Mr abajava was six percent can we get off the table bye-bye adios off the list please uh Mr uh um I wanted to say something um when you guys came in you guys said you wanted six percent um before the additional funding came in right what would have been the recommended percentage if it wasn't for the additional funding it I think we did that after the after we knew that funding after we knew the financial committee it got we knew the funding at the finance committee no I couldn't think what he meant is that Dr robertosie said if it wasn't for the 22 million or before the 22 million they were looking at six to maintain to maintain correct it could have been higher than correct no that that's I think that's what he's asking yeah so and before you asked um what would be the recommended in order to maintain it the way we were doing it now which would be four percent so it would have been five or six before before the all the state funding you know four times without additional staff okay minimally so yeah I like to get her off too Mr Paris yep I agree yes and and myself um six percent was off the table Okay so we've we've had a recommendation for the two percent and two percent in a bank cap would that eliminate your three percent request say that one more time so Dr robitosi just said he would recommend the two percent and then using two percent of Bank cap to bring it to four percent would that eliminate your three percent or okay so his two and if I may yeah I'm still at three because at the end of the day if I can't afford something I'm not buying it I can Window Shop all I want no but what is what he's saying is is using two percent of it as the bank cap correct so if I'm so if I'm hearing correctly you want to go two percent and plus the two percent Bank cap correct so that would go four right I'm still stuck at three three plus the two percent Bank no two plus the one okay two plus one I got you well I gotta be sure you know why can't we have both and then I also would like a list of what was actually spent I want to see that I have to I have a lot more questions than I was asking today so we will email those Etc to Mr robotozy to you to the chair as well so you know um uh we're not trying to decide I understand what we're trying to do the direction that's right so I have a lot more questions before okay I can show confirm anything today so we we took this so just to give them a little direction we took the six percent off is the does anyone want to take the four percent off Mr Speaker can I just clarify with Mr Uzi what do you need to know tonight so that you can for for next there because we have a board meeting next Thursday what do you need to know tonight it would be appreciated if I knew what percentage to put in the budget book for the preliminary budget so I can get the loads of documents I need to prepare for the county now remember it's preliminary if we if we put four percent and you you guys ask questions from next week all the way to May 4th and you want it to go to three or two five it's uh it's totally allowed so if we put four in in I make a budget book we put four on the preliminary budget submitted to the county it's come it's preliminary it's changeable till May 4th okay we were zero last year and then there was a motion from the floor during the last the last minute 12th hour 11th hour right so so why don't we do this why don't we ask you to prepare two percent three I have a suggestion Jim sorry why don't we let the public speak before we make our decision we're not making a decision tonight we're just giving no but maybe they may have insight about which direction we should go well understandable this is a board working committee okay we need to work first okay then we'll hear from the public we're not not asking the public but this is the board working it didn't happen this way last year the finance committee agreed to do it this way so the board has to work first okay so again just so we can give some direction to to our administrators we want to keep the two percent on the table we've asked for a three percent and the four percent and we'll get rid of the six percent okay so can you get that information out to the board uh of course I could do anything I'm just I I need one number to prepare for the county I I I can't make three budgets so he's got to submit something so so we got a basic number I'm hearing you might as well go to the maximum and then we can always cut from that well um since the board is not interested in six I would oh that's what I mean I would I would suggest six is good leaving the four percent four and if we want to cut from the four down to three or lower I think that would that I would recommend that's a good idea of hearing everybody is there any objection to that you want to vote today Okay so there's no we're not going to vote I'm just doing a uh straw poll um so to have Mr UC prepare for the county uh budget the four percent this is not Final in any which way just so we're giving direction to administration at this point um on a four percent on the four no to prepare the for the no no no no Mr Mejia [Music] Mr Paris yes because well and Mr abujabo all due respect part of the reason why we're even having this discussion is because there hasn't been any foresight in the past as to the repercussions of the actions of very low to zero increases and in fact this is preliminary um and it's also what administration is recommending and it can't be adjusted yet I don't want to take it off the table at this point in time so I'm going to say uh yes to four [Music] Mr Santiago I would say yes to start and obviously we have to review um and it definitely needs to be open to further belt tightening Etc or wherever there are costs uh being cost effective and efficiencies okay Dr Danny no for uh to to preliminate to send to the county four percent yes so I like to make a recommendation that we go to three percent as a preliminary let me just see where my short pole was oh I got one okay five to three okay so I like them I would like to go to three percent yes straw poll Mr abadravo yes because the three percent which we haven't seen on paper all due respect uh allows us to see three percent to the four or three percent to the two and I think three percent gives us something on paper since not majority agrees with four and then we can cut it down to two or we can go back up to four uh but at least three would be a middle ground to see where we're gonna be password Mr um yes Mr Mejia no I wanted to see five because originally you guys said you wanted to come in with six I wanna see what five would look like in order looking ahead only because let's say we would have done six the next four probably would have voted zero what if um and then the year after one maybe then you're after zero zero zero zero zero again then it keeps going and going and going I just want to see what it would look like with five not saying that that's the ultimate goal I just want to see you know where it could lead us past the two years three years you want to look down the road because honestly many of us here we're going to be here for a while so we want to see what's gonna happen so we'll come back to your fine but minimally would you be okay with the three yeah okay uh just to give Mr hoochie some guidance [Music] yes vice president Danny yes and uh yes Mr Lucy um so Mr Mejia is making a suggestion for a five percent again straw poll to the board Mr Robbo to the five that's what he's asking yes no whoa no way no no thank you nice to meet you yes yes yes Mr Powers no Mr Santiago Dr Danny no okay so and I'm no so we uh have a direction for three percent please please prepare your books for uh three percent for next board meeting okay now we're going to open it up to the public thank you to the board for giving us some guidance I anticipate excuse me thank you to the board for giving us uh the guidance and I anticipate we'll have more discussions any questions you have we'll be happy to answer you can send them Mr Smith wants them to go to the chair right and then the board will get the question so that oh the whole board will get the questions and Mr UC or myself or whoever best is to answer the question we'll get we'll get the answers but we wanna so in case people have the same question as you or so we're not answering multiple different people we want to share your questions with the whole board that's okay I'm sorry I'll put the three together and then as time goes on next finance committee or as questions come into Mr Brunswick we'll need it for bye for next board yeah yeah and then I'll distribute any questions from everybody so then I can contribute it to the board so that we're on the same page but that won't affect you for doing yourself thank you thank you okay uh public recognition uh so the public knows the only subject matter that you are talking about tonight is concerning the budget presentation this portion of the meeting is open to the residents and non-residents of the city of Clifton for the purpose of addressing this particular subject matter pertinent to and directly related to the um 2023-24 uh budget of the Clinton School District did I do that wrong no no I'm sorry residents and non-residents are requested if they're in person to sign the registered provider for this purpose all speakers are asked to say state state their names municipality in which they live before speaking comments are limited to five minutes per person issues raised by member of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and responsible be forthcoming if and when appropriate your questions may or may not be answered by the board members the board asked the members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when they are speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of the state of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will be liable for any comments made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments uh so if you have a question um you'll address it to the chair and board members are not going to respond to those questions about the budget tonight okay you're just going to give them some thought all right so we'll do our virtual first do we have uh I see something I see Mr Canova we can't hear them Mr Canova can you hear us yeah I hear you okay Joe Mr Canova you're you're up all right so um first of all thank everyone for the bucket and the conversation basically what Dr Robertson said is what happened I mean we had an underfunding was the issue um we had our hsas buying digital signage Chromebooks and other or items related to continue about proper education because um so all those things turned around once we get our fun things back um and it was supposed to I think it was supposed to be even last year that we were supposed to have them before back up a little bit but when I was on the board my initial thought also was to say let's use this as a way to offset the facts increases why why any higher than zero and it wasn't until the last meat eating and we started bringing up things like our teacher ratio is being higher than most schools and how we had 30 kids in a class who were teacher and well over our total spend per student was lower than most and once I looked started learning these things in that in that meeting why I did a complete 180 and I want to take a whole bandcat and I still feel that way um so what's happening now is we have a 76 million dollar fund from the state that's where we're supposed to be that just keeps us inside this quote so all the people that we had let go in the past and all the positions that were cut now we could be even with other schools because we're literally in a one billion dollar deficit over 10 years so you don't just come back overnight um so at least at least that's gonna allow us to operate as an as a school like others and our comparisons were being drawn between us and Paramus Paramus according to U.S news says 8 600 more per pupil than Clifton so for us there'll be a 95 million dollars more entire budget or a 38 increase so let's keep apples to apples here the Passaic is 5 000 more per student Patterson 3 000 more Garfield 5000 more Montclair four thousand Nutley 1000.
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now remember we we passed a historic referendum where people would normally uh wouldn't want to come out of pocket but they came out of pockets they paid for many capital projects overwhelmingly almost 70 percent said yes now in my mind it's time for an academic record now you do that well you can't the catch is there is none but the way you can retack it and academics is to create the programs and buy the items and fund the staff needed to teach them so keeping Talent from District creating maker spaces for kids adding steam free country new condos over here on policy right many new kids living here are growing Pre-K we need to get those grants from those things with AI and the cost of changing the world we need to teach these kids these things how do we do that what does that mean that means that we need to adapt and be able to adhere to our mission so our mission is to provide all students with a quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate lifelong Learners in an ever-changing world by not at least going to four percent and keeping our bank cap are we acting responsibly are we achieving that in that mission I think it's Justified to push forward I don't think it's Justified to push forward a budget that doesn't at least put into positions it can begin to turn around and uh academics and turn the tide for our students um I think people voted for the referendum because they believe in our schools and the staff I think they they feel these were like they wanted to improve them they want great schools for the kids in our town they want to invest in school safety they want High graduation rates and high academic scores seniors in town folks on fixed budgets and budgets and take advantage of a tax freeze so they won't feel any increase and if we have great schools they can almost guarantee the homes here will be in a high demand since that's a top selling game anybody's buying a home you're always talking about schools so we need to invest in the future of our children so to do that I think at least four percent is what we need to do become competitive to become a competitive school when when families are looking to build their family in the towns so I would request let's do some homework see how we compare financially when I first student spend on a ratio to school to school ratio and then let's come back to the table and talk about it because I don't think we have all the facts right now now as for this virtual meeting this is the first time I'm connecting in this way I tried the last time um you need to keep YouTube mobile rather than in the zoom waiting room last tech meeting I was at we agreed to Levy let everyone out at the beginning this way they were ended the whole time since we have that that issue um two meetings ago I didn't realize the delay was so bad close to a minute actually so one significant reading the public Fortune I tried to connect and then it said ended by host after two seconds I think that delay is screwed things up because sometimes with people in person you may want to get up and see which they have the right to do and online you can only do that so I think to fix all that um people should in the zoom should be let in in the beginning and also Zoom should be going last you should be doing this in person first so while they know thank you public person is ready well that's just my two cents everyone have a good night thank you definitely there was definitely an audio issue there yeah and it has been like that before right so I'm not sure what has changed yeah yeah but it's different than it has been before right I don't remember a band like that okay let's let's skip to we'll work on the technology end of it later uh do we have anyone else virtually okay uh seeing that there's no one uh motion motion to caused by Miss basford second by Mr abujavo okay we'll now open uh in person if there's anyone wishes to address the board on the budget only and only that topic please good evening my name is Lori LOL I'm and I'm the president of the Teachers Association the idea of the four percent would be an excellent idea and the reason is the following investing in public education through tax revenue is crucial for the growth and development of a community here are some reasons why taxing while raising taxes for public schools in Clifton is important improved education quality by increasing funding for Public Schools teachers can be hired and trained resources and materials can be updated and modernized and Facilities can be improved this will lead to an overall Improvement in the quality of Education offered by our school district better student outcomes with an increase in funding schools can provide more individualized attention to students as well as additional programs and services to support student learning this can lead to better academic outcomes higher graduation rates and increase college readiness economic benefits improving the quality of public schools can lead to economic benefits for the community well-educated students are more likely to secure higher paying jobs which lead to increased economic growth and stability social benefits Public Schools play an important role in The Social Development of children by investing in public education we are investing in the future of our community creating a more cohesive and supportive environment for everyone without adequate funding it becomes challenging for public schools to provide a high quality education that meets the needs of all students the lack of resources can lead to overcrowded classrooms which we do have outdated materials and inadequate facilities which can negatively impact student achievement and well-being overall investing in public education through increased tax revenue is a long-term investment in the future of our community and our students it can lead to improved educational outcomes economic benefits and social cohesion making it a vital investment for the well-being of Clifton New Jersey thank you thank you anyone else wish to address the board Joanne Macbeth Clifton New Jersey I agree with everything that was just said however I just like and I know your job is to look out for the students and the educational system I know that's your job but just be mindful that the city council is looking at a major tax increase for Clifton this year which is going to be on top of what you guys are doing and there's a lot of us seniors out there that have a fixed income that it's going to be a hardship although we agree and want to support all of this without having children in the system it doesn't matter we know that this is the right thing but just be mindful of what's Happening on the council end thank you okay anyone else we should address the board seeing on motion to close motion to close by Miss basford second by Mr abadrabo okay just so the uh public is aware that the board will be meeting at our regular uh board meeting next Thursday at 7 pm and the preliminary budget uh will be presented or will be voted on and uh presented to the county um and it's only a preliminary budget there will be continued work to be done uh board members any uh questions uh about the budget to uh please send them to me and I will forward them on to each of you and administration so that we're all on the same page with uh questions okay uh seeing no other business motion to close by Mr abadravo second by Mr Paris seeing no objection thank you all right thank you commissioner
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well into six o'clock but I call the immediate order with the Pledge of Allegiance please [Music] one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all good evening and welcome to the regular March meeting of the Greencastle score first item on the agenda is adjustments to the agendas unit yep I do not have any adjustments to the agenda for this month okay next item public comments regarding agenda items tonight do you want to have any comments next item on the the agenda is organization organization of the board and we need to elect the vice president due to the departure of Russell Harvey from the board um so we we have two eligible members I move to nominate Dale Pierce Iowa second okay we have a motion and a second to elect Dale Pierce to the office of Vice President all in favor all right all opposed motion passes next is the approval of the consent agenda which consists of meeting minutes next one is Jim is recognitions yeah uh Mr McHugh or Mr Robert someone care to go first okay I'd like to introduce you to Eli Combs Eli is a second grader in Mrs Allen's class and she writes I like to nominate elac Holmes for their Meadows student of the month Eli exemplifies star Behavior at their Meadow he is kind responsible respectful polite and a leader in our classroom Eli has a positive attitude takes on challenges and enjoys learning he gives his best effort and doesn't give up when something is challenging instead he takes on the challenge he learns from it and grows Eli is a good friend and helps others when they're struggling whether that is explaining to a classmate how to do something or helping them solve a problem I can always count on Eli to set a good example for others and they follow his lead he also knows how to have fun and has a good sense of humor and we're grateful to have Eli in our class you like homes [Applause] foreign hello I would like to introduce ridpath's student of the month nataline yeagley she was nominated by her second grade teacher Miss Ward so I will read a few things that she wrote about her nataline was selected as student of the month because she is such a hard worker and tries her best every day no matter what is asked of her she models taking responsibility when something has gone wrong and is a great friend to others I'm so proud to have her in my classroom Natalie [Applause] so as you can see this is a very confident young lady she's she is not a fair weather fan loves them win or lose right yeah all right I've taught her well so this is Samantha Morgan Samantha is a fifth grader in Mrs Courtney Dickey's class and Mrs Dickey has written I nominate Samantha Morgan for our student of the month she is so precious she works hard all day every day and is very responsible and mature she works hard to get good grades and always has a polite and always has the most polite manners I'm going to add to that also that Samantha is an excellent role model for our fifth grade students as well as the younger kids in our building and she always has this beautiful smile on her face Samantha Morgan [Applause] foreign so unfortunately our student of the month was not able to attend tonight but it was Fischer barcus so I'll go ahead and read a little bit about him he is an eighth grader and an exemplary student he is soft-spoken and always kind to others when it answers questions he is detailed and eager to share his thoughts he always adds much to classroom discussions and is a leader amongst his peers Fisher is a talented student musician and athlete who is a wonderful example for his classmates all right [Applause] this is Andrew Adams our character Ed trait was kindness and Andrew is a true example of kindness he is polite friendly considerate and thoughtful Andrew always has a smile on his face happily happily helps others whether it's simple something simple or something much more large scale Andrew is an excellent role model for all kind or for all kindness radiates from him as you can feel is just simply just by being around him Andrew should be a proud person of who he is and we can all learn from his kindness and wraps okay moving on next item is now improval of good substitute which consists of meeting minutes from the regular meeting of July or February 27th executive session meeting minutes from March 1st and March 7th the allows the claims the financial report and Personnel reports Parts one and two which are posted on the website in the door Mr Gibney yeah so um I was just going to make note of one item um that's listed on uh listed as item number one on the Personnel uh part two report uh this month and that is the uh transfer of uh Becky McPherson as Middle School principal to become the new assistant superintendent um of Greencastle Community School Corporation and just quickly within that process um we we had a good amount of applicants conducted um two rounds of interviews um so on the March 1st and March 7th and um we've identified Becky McPherson and so she is listed on the Personnel report part two for approval tonight so I just wanted to point that out foreign [Applause] okay first in your Finance packet we've got a couple payrolls we want to look at for the month of February first was dated February 3rd 2023 for a total payroll of 474 459.35 and along with that payroll came the um uh federal taxes uh Social Security retirement total for that payroll was 143 869.71 and then our second full payroll in February was dated February 17th uh total payroll 516 115.29 then we've got um some federal taxes and FICA total on that for that payroll was 115 682 92 and then the retirement for the February 17th payroll was 44 501 42.
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foreign president Dr Smith and members of the board this evening we are pleased to bring you David Bruce Nelson above and beyond award he is our robotics and design teacher at Indian Creek Elementary Mr Nelson began teaching Vex robotics in 2016 at Indian Creek Elementary in 2018 he approached his principal with a plan to expand Equitable access to the program to all 11 Elementary buildings the plan was approved and the district League was then born in 2019 with every school having at least three teams three robots and two Playing Fields now we see over 200 elementary students each year participate in the program with teams qualifying for our state and worlds this is Mr Nelson's last year as lead manager and we want to honor him for his vision and contributions I'm honored to present Mr David Bruce Nelson with the above and beyond award thank you [Applause] thank you and everybody is this weekend congratulations [Applause] and Mr Nelson has someone here with him Mrs Nelson [Applause] no thank you Madam president members aboard Dr Smith we continue a lot of construction going on the west side we're almost done with the concrete out there and hopefully next week a new asphalt again on the west side it's a new senior Cafe going in from the inside looking out New Media Center continues to form and all the drywall is almost up Ln as the weather breaks we are moving some dirt out there getting ready to put in some retainage walls and bring up the fill and eventually all those valleys will be filled in uh LC pool a lot of the metal work is up and getting ready to put up some more concrete walls phase two continues on at Lawrence North Sixth classroom and small LGI area demo and also reconstruction taking place already LM pool entrance almost fully enclosed and we are doing some hydronic testing right now it's full of water that's letting us set and they'll drain it again this week and start the tile work knowing that we don't have any leaks and also the concrete around the outside just more of the equipment that was tested outside site work around the pool continues on to allow us to this summer to really do a lot of site work for the parking lot areas we continue with our middle school projects uh again tonight uh with another bid coming in for Fall Creek Valley uh just a reminder those projects delzer and Fall Creek Valley in lecc this building will start construction come June so first of all Mr Smith just amazing work as always it is so exciting to see the progress that is being made I have a quick question about Elsie as I Traverse on 56th Street every morning to my job at Broad Ripple and I'm seeing a lot and I've talked to superintendent Smith about this a lot of children that are not adhering to the drop off and pickup what is being done I heard you say that you're doing a lot of site work with regards to the exterior can you explain a little bit how that parent pick up and drop off is going to look like actually on the Southeast side that parking lot will grow so we'll be able to get a lot more parent drop-off inside there once it pulls up and the walls are up we can open up that front drive and full parking so that'll eliminate some of the congestion there as well we continue to work with our parents and our students about the proper drop off and pick up and we'll continue to do that and Lawrence Police is also helping us out as well Madam president members board Dr Smith at the February 6 Workshop the board approved the use of CMC is a construction method for the new lecc project with that approval rfps were sent to companies wishing to bid and others and on March the 10th we introdu interviewed five excellent contractors who had the potential of working with us on this project we are excited to bring to the board tonight approval for core and Garcia to be the CMC for the Lawrence education and Community Center Cora and Garcia has demonstrated a high performance of services to this District if you remember on Forest Glen Elementary and oaklandon Elementary so we're excited to bring to you core and Garcia CMC and we do have a couple of core and Garcia present here tonight Charlie Garcia if you would please stand guys uh van baren and uh Bryce Johnson with the core group also Lisa Gumpert uh this completes our team with Schmidt uh core and Garcia working on the new lecc building thank you for being if there are no questions Mr Smith we'll move on to the request for approval um of construction bids for Fall Creek Valley that item anyway Madam president members board Dr Smith again we did another bid opening this time it was for all Creek Valley uh recalling we had 10 different bid areas with 23 separate bidders that were submitted their bids for the project again very competitive again we were approximately a million dollars under our estimations of what we thought we would come in and we are pleased to announce tonight that uh approving a GMP with powers and Sons on this project for just a little over 33 million dollars good work any questions board uh I'd also like to introduce of course Dennis Bain with uh Fanny and Halle who's part of that team and uh Dustin or yeah Dustin Thurman and mayman Powers uh putting this work together for us to renovate Fall Creek Valley yes sorry I had a question about the previous item fine is that okay that's fine so the I just I guess I'm I'm new so I apologize but I had to ask Marta because I was and then thank you for the confirmation this is for this current building for the lecc correct and do we know specifically what we are going to be utilizing this building for this is for the the new lecc right so the new lecc that's scheduled to be built at Fort Harrison correct that's what this is that's what this one is that's what this is okay not what is okay what happened at this building it's coming up okay perfect okay I just want to make sure that presentation okay that's okay it's kind of a timing issue you have to have this one built so you can move out so you can yes no I completely understand I thought it was what was happening to this building and that's why and we haven't talked about that so that would be weird yeah okay thank you no we're good thank you you're not what happens when you get elected mid-year of a school year so thank you very much good point that would be weird Okay um oh and I'm very excited about this too um Miss Stephanie Laplante could you give us an update on the high ability program yes I'd be happy to thank you madam president Dr Smith members of the board tonight I'm happy to bring to you the work of our highability Review Committee before I begin I would like to recognize some members in our audience of our committee that joined us if you don't mind if you were part of the high ability Review Committee would you please stand up thank you very much I wanted to thank them for all of the time that they put in for this process um I want to start tonight as we did with every High ability Review Committee with our board policy and with our definition of educational Equity as these two pieces really provided the vision for what we were doing with the work just to give you a review of the process we had over 100 participants that were invited to attend our attendance for each evening was around 40 to 50 people we did have five meetings that met throughout the school year we conducted a review of national and State research and we're fortunate to have 11 of our members be able to attend the National Association for gifted children conference which was held in Indianapolis based on the research from the National Association for gifted children we split our group into four subcommittees culturally sensitive identification protocols early and continuous access to Advanced curriculum essential supports for culturally and linguistically diverse gifted students an effective Home and Community School connections this process led us to four recommendations that I'm going to share with you this evening recommendation number one is to revise the identification process to add more data points and consider both High ability and high achieving characteristics for culturally and linguistically diverse students recommendation number two is to increase options for our families by allowing not only for the choice of a self-contained High ability program but also the ability to have enriched curriculum at a student's home school for families recommendation number three is to identify consistent curriculum to support Advanced learning for all high ability and high achieving students at every school and recommendation four is to build communication tools to allow for district-wide messaging about highability and high achieving supports for students and to ensure that this is available in the preferred language for All Families I'd be happy to take any questions um well I'm seeing the word revised so I'm going to presume that it's in process first let me just say thank you this is something near and dear to my heart so thank you for the work I sincerely appreciate it as do all of our students um I'm seeing the wording revised so this question may be a little bit presumptuous but is it possible to lean in a little more concerning recommendation one um what what is being added to what's currently there so our current process we do have a high ability measure with the cogap testing and we have a high achievement measure with our district fast bridge data but the the team really felt that we've got to look at some other additional characteristics so we did talk about different checklists that will be a part of the process next year where the team will really sit down a smaller team to look at what we could add to the identification process specifically with keeping in mind culturally and linguistically diverse students because those students don't always do as well on the cogat as some of our other students do and I want to ask also um because just from some of the things that I observe and I don't even tell you how many years I've been parenting and helping the classroom Lord Jesus um but in the classroom I'll just summarize it with this has it been leaned in concerning behaviors and and that being markers for high ability um and how sometimes the focus can be so much on the behavior that the student may lose out on being actually challenged with it which is linked to the actual Behavior we did discuss that and specifically with this recommendation making sure that we will be considering items that could not be biased in any way because sometimes if you're doing a checklist that can be biased and so how do we make sure that we have enough data points that gives that well-rounded picture and and okay um my other question would be um similar to our ESL Learners um I'll wait on that I'm sorry let me pause on that I'll come back to that one okay thank you I actually have a question about that very that very thing um so first of all Mr Plant this is so exciting I um lead High ability work in District where I work and I just would like to make a suggestion that one of the things that we looked at was access testing data especially for our English Learners who might be progressing along the language language acquisition Continuum faster and more rapidly than some of their native English-speaking peers so I'd be happy to share that absolutely found great success in actually being able to identify far more English Learners as high ability wonderful because to your point there's a lot of subjectivity with checklist as well as biases that exist yes and then the other question that I have in terms of I love the idea of having more Equitable programming across the district and folks being able to opt in at their home school are you thinking cluster grouping or have you gotten down that road of what might look like we haven't gotten that specific yet the the goal would be if all of this is approved that for next school year um when we get to the beginning of March that is when we send out our letters to all of our families that in those letters we would be able to not only offer the opportunity to attend one of our self-contained programs but also let families know that they have the option to stay at their schools and be able to outline what those Services would be for them and then one final question of the high ability teachers I know one of the things that we face is a lack of having the appropriate credentials so would it be required for those cluster groups or however you choose to do it at the school level to be actually have that certification and liability one thing we talked about as a committee was actually doing more overall High ability training for all teachers so that if we are going to expand and as we look at expanding the identification process ensuring that all teachers have an understanding of what high ability characteristics could look like so that to Ms Puckett's Point sometimes those behaviors you see actually are a sign that a child is high ability please ask Miss Laplante was there any consideration given to changing the name from high ability to something else because as a parent of two high ability kids it's very awkward to say that my child is high ability we didn't actually discuss the specific name we did talk about branching out to have it just not be only High ability but to also be high achieving and that's the name we give for the lower grade levels that changes yes yes she will know and and I also have a question we're talking about a common curriculum for our high ability students how many languages do we get that common curriculum in because as you know we have our one-way immersion classes absolutely we always with any new curriculum that we look at look at the accessibility to be able to have it in Spanish but with this what we would have to do as well is ensure that we have the EL support that would be going into all classrooms that's wonderful and then I would I would just like to add um as as a as a personal note that we did Advocate today with the leadership of our vice president Miss Amy Norman we advocated for full funding for high ability on this current budget and it received um a warm welcome good but we still face an uphill battle yeah we did advocate for 18 million versus the 12 million I believe was given to this program Statewide in so it's a long time sitting at the same place so we did advocate for that today for you thank you thank you other questions having a child that can be too as far as we did discuss that that was a part specifically for the cultural and linguistically diverse supports that those students need we had some wonderful high school students that were a part of the process who spoke very openly about ensuring that that would be a part of the consistent curriculum [Music] wonderful wonderful news thank you so much you're you're still up and you can you present to the board the curriculum advisory committee recommendation yes Dr Smith Madam president members of the board tonight Mr Andrew Harsha our director of secondary education we'll share some curriculum recommendations that we are bringing forth thank you good evening Madam president Dr Smith members of the board I bring to you this evening are curriculum advisory Council recommendations for spring of 2023.
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did anyone have any questions about payrolls no okay we'll go ahead and move on then to the prepays that we entered for the month of February um kind of looking through here quickly to see if there's anything unusual I don't believe so did anyone have any questions about the Precast case for February no okay total um prepay is 299 000 89.70 and then we've got some claims that are dated today March 20th the only thing that you may see that's a little unusual um is our first payment to Chartwells for school lunch you'll see that on the first page there were there any other questions about the claims dated today March 20th no okay we've got a total then for claims data today March 20th 2023 191.15 and if we're ready to go ahead and move on to the uh Finance report next in your packet is the fund report uh balance in education the end of February 2023 through 3 million three hundred thousand three hundred sixty dollars and 17 cents balance and operations fund the end of February 2023 is at 990 excuse me 949 607 and 10 cents if you want to go ahead and head to the back page or the very last page and that would be page 10 total for all funds 8 million one fifteen seven fifty one ninety one and then next in your packet you're going to see that bank to fund balance report which is our depository statement you'll see the balance in all funds matches our fund report and then you're also going to see that our totals for all banks that matches the fund report that's good that means that we are balanced that's exactly where we need to be did anyone have any questions about that no okay next in your package you're going to see the transfers that I do for the month you're going to see the school lunch transfer and then the education Ops transfer and once again you'll see that bank transfer again is from One bank to another okay so your total on fund transfers for the month of February 511 996.80 and then finally in your uh Finance package you're going to see um Bond expenditures for 2021 at the top you'll have the balance that we've paid out through January 31st 2023 and then you'll see what I paid during the month of February 2023.
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as you can see there this is a process that we utilize each semester where we give our schools an opportunity to bring forth any new proposals for our curricular offerings those are reviewed at the building level by Department chairs and principals and then brought to the council for consideration as you can see on the next few slides we have great representation from our high school buildings our middle schools and here at central office uh just as a reminder all of our offerings Must Fall within the list of courses that are approved annually by the state so anything we would bring to you would also be state approved in our continued efforts to develop and maintain our Pathways we also ensure that any elective offerings that we're bringing forward at this time align with our pathway offerings and uh just as a point anything that would be recommended here tonight could be offered as soon as the fall of 2023.
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our total expenditures at a bond 2021 is 15 million 801 172.98 [Music] and then below that you're going to see the expenditures out of bond 2022 which is predominantly the middle school project the total expenditures the end of January forward is was uh 695 529.89 total expenditures for February was 375 307.20 for total expenditure at a bond 22 excuse me 2022 one million seventy thousand eight thirty seven and nine cents pending any questions I'd like to submit for approval I do not I'll make a motion to approve cassette you have a motion in a second to approve the consent agenda any questions comments you can carry not all in favor bye all opposed motion passes next on the agenda reports yeah so congratulations Becky um hope we come in the new uh assistant superintendent glad to have her on board and working with our administrators and teachers and our staff um just to continue moving Greencastle forward and continuing the great things and um maybe looking at some of those challenging areas and turning those into strengths and opportunities um so just have a couple of brief items this month um it's uh it's in our social media accounts and it'll be in the paper um but the most important day of the year Kindergarten roundup um take place at Deer Meadow on April 18th from 1 to 6 30 P.M and then again at Red path um on April 20th from 1 to 6 30 p.m and we just need parents to bring their kid a copy of certified copy of students birth certificate proof of immunizations and then two proofs of residency dated within 60 days of registration so items such as the phone bill utility bill rental lease agreement tax return make statement something like that so just wanted to make note of that we've fighted in the area of Fine Arts our schools have been relatively busy lately we had a performance at TZ and then again at the musical so our kids are um you know they're shining on the athletic fields in the court but also on the stage in the classroom a lot of a lot of great things uh in that area um with the building project things are moving forwards um there um when students and staff return after spring break we're gonna notice uh some of the updates at the middle school right around the front entrance and in the New Media Center so a lot of the flooring that finishes are going in there it's been a hotbed of activity over there the last few weeks and they delivered a lot of the furniture today and so they're installing that so that way staff can can make the move over spring break and when we return and we can start to occupy some of those new spaces and then we'll transition and give up the middle school science labs and begin to continue with that work and then just briefly on the high school obviously you just kind of continue to move forwards there as well we'll start to see some some steel uh flying through the air this month so we'll start to see kind of the structure skeleton of a building but everything is moving forwards well the high school as well so just a few updates okay thank you next item is old business we have no old business brings us to new business the first item is an approval request for 2023 summer school yeah so uh have a couple of different things going on uh this summer so with our high school it's more of a traditional summer school um based in in June offered some classes through Edgenuity and offering some classes with a live instructor you know such as Government econ English math band we want to uh as with all of our summer school programs we're seeking approval tonight so we can get the word out um and then based on uh interest and participation we might have to make updates or make changes or deletions or additions just based on numbers because we do submit these to uh the doe for reimbursement um and then so that's high school with Middle School we're seeking to actually do it prior to the start of the school year so similar to kind of what we've done in the past with the jump start so we're looking at offering a summer summer school Fab Lab Camp essentially to where students can these STEM related tasks in our lab and use the 3D printers which is a really cool opportunity and experience um and then at the same time looking to offer summer uh School beginner band that will take place in June so kind of a combination of sorts there and then moving down into the elementary that would all be prior to the start of school through jump start essentially I think it's 10 10 days so July 17th through the 28th and then we'll work with staff to to identify kids that might be beneficial for and see whether or not we need to you know make any adjustments from there so overall uh summer is a very busy time um still and uh I would like to uh recommend approval of the summer school programs I'll make a motion to be approved in a second okay we have a motion and a second to approve the summer school program any discussion and questions carry none all in favor aye all opposed motion passes next item is an approval request for the 2023-2024 speech language pathology Services contract and is silver speech services real quick so just again customary time of year um to uh contract with our speech language uh pathologist and provide services for our students it's just a typical I think we actually approved a contract a different contract um last month and then um we also take it like to take advantage of the opportunity to provide similar speech services to students kind of at this similar time period um during the summer so it would be my recommendation that the board approved those two items as requested I'm a commotional accept a second cool Motion in a second any questions very not all in favor all right all opposed motion passes the next item is an approval request for the Greencastle Middle School back on track alternative education program so this is Mcpherson submitted a proposal to start a a new program uh it's new to the middle school but not new to uh gcsc we actually have an alternative school program at the high school it's very successful and it's a good alternative and meet some students where they are provide some options and some great benefits and so we're seeking to start very similar program at the middle school and we'll submit an application to the doe for alternative ahead grant funding for that as well um you know not every student's successful in the traditional setting um well if the program will be facilitated by a licensed teacher and um you know it it once a student is on an alternative track it doesn't mean that they're necessarily stuck in that track the goal would be to be to get them back on track and back to a traditional day if possible and obviously prepare them for the high school um we think that we have some students that would greatly benefit from this program and so obviously I appreciate the staff taking the time to uh to put this together and it would be my recommendation that the board approve us moving boards with the alternative education program for the Middle School someone second okay we have a motion in a second any questions discussion this program is one where people can choose to do it they're not asked to do it exactly right it could be a combination of both um you know it can be an alternative to a nope okay um okay just another tool in the toolbox thanks any further questions hearing that all in favor aye all opposed motion passes next item on the agenda is an approval request with McGraw Hill Indiana reveal math math adoption grades six through nine yeah so I can't remember exactly the exact time period but for the dating back probably at least five or more school years um are uh Middle School and High School Math teachers have been using uh open source curriculum and supports for Math and um we believe our administrators and staff in grade six through nine believe it's time to have some additional supports or curriculum in place and there is a map um we've you know we've noted that our math scores are below State average we don't we haven't had consistent growth in that area um we've had some turnover amongst staff it's difficult enough to come in and step in and be a teacher from day one but it's even more difficult when you're building your own curriculum and so we believe some additional supports or tools in the toolbox are necessary to move us forward they worked with Mr Bill Reed who actually used to be the math specialist at the Department of Education and now works for encompassing education he met with our middle school math team to kind of review some of the different curriculums that are out there and they narrowed it down through evaluation to two they piloted some lessons attended some training and essentially they would like to move forwards with McGraw-Hill uh Indiana uh red Bill math for grade so uh Chad and Becky this is what you guys want this is the curriculum you think will be best I would make a motion to approve sorry I have a motion in a second any other questions you're hearing that all in favor this is an approval request for an overnight out of state Deca competition to Florida yeah so we've had some students do really well uh in the deck of competitions uh once again when I say we Excel at Greencastle we Excel and that's in in all areas and so there's a neat opportunity for students to attend the international competition um in Orlando from April 22nd to April 26th since this is overnight and out of state it requires board approval the itinerary and and the other information was provided to the board in the board packet obviously there will be chaperones they'll be supervised we'll make sure to obviously check all of those boxes so it would be my recommendation to the board approved our students attending this awesome event an opportunity foreign any questions discussion good job very cool yeah very none all in favor all opposed motion passes next item on the agenda is an approval request for about six donations so we can all roll together um first being from Michael Keane to zonicas intermediate the amount of one thousand dollars Greencastle Christian Church to tezonic is intermediate in the amount of 500.
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so the first course uh there is an offering through our AP which is sponsored by college board AP pre-calculus as you can see the target population would be Juniors and seniors that would uh have taken honors geometry and be preparing to take calculus It prepares students for other high-level Math and Science courses and follows of course the AP framework that course being an AP offering would carry a 1.0 weight our second one is ACP intro to Public Health this is part of the advanced College project that we have a partnership through Indiana University this course would be for students that are interested in our health services pathway and this does meet the social and historical studies requirement for our Indiana college Corps it's a small description there and then our third one is our ivt 106.
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