001Good evening everyone. Evening. In in accordance with the Open Public Meeting Act, NJSA 10:4-6, adequate notification of this meeting has been provided by advertising in the record and the Herald News, posting notice in the board of education administration building, and filing notice with the city clerk to ensure accessibility interpreter services are available upon request. Please submit your written request at least 24 hours prior to the board meeting to the school business administrator to Dr. Steven A. Lewis at stephven lewishacksackschools.org. I hereby call to order the special meeting on Wednesday, May 6, 2026 in the Hackasak High School Media Center at >> 6:16 p.m. Dr. Lewis, can you please do a roll call? >> Trustee Austin Balaputra, >> present. >> Trustee Amazon, >> present. >> Trustee Carol, >> present. >> Trustee Gilden, >> here. Trustee Jones.
002>> Trustee Pringle >> present. >> Trustee Stein >> here. >> Vice President Martin >> present. >> President Harris >> present. >> We have forum. >> Thank you. Please rise for the flag salute to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Great. Good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us tonight. Um we are going to start first with our budget presentation from our central office and then we'll go into public comments and then after public comments the board will go into executive session and then after that we do have some resolutions to vote on this evening. Okay. So without further ado um I hand it off to Miss Andrea O Parchman and the central office
003team. Thank you. Good evening, Board of Education public. Uh, tonight we present to you our revised budget for your approval. Uh but before we begin, I would just like to acknowledge our board of education members, board president, Mrs. Jennifer Harris, board vice president, Mr. Kenneth Martin, and our trustees, uh Miss Melanie Austin Balaputra, Miss Laya Amahanza, Mr. Demetrius Carol, Miss Eugenia Gilmore, Mr. Mike Jones, Miss Shiovani Pringle, and Mr. uh Mark Stein. I would also like to acknowledge our central office cabinet members in her absence. Mrs. Rosemary Marx, assistant superintendent, uh Mrs. Danielle Diaz, executive director of human resources. Dr. Steven Lewis, business administrator, board secretary, Miss Lendita Agastra, assistant business administrator, and Mr. Alex Blender, executive director of technology. And finally, why we are here. Uh, most importantly, we're here to ensure that in
004school year 2026 2027, our students receive a thorough and efficient education. Uh so at this time we are going to invite our curriculum director and our director of bilingual ESL and world language uh Mrs. Jennifer Laneski and Miss Marcella Monla to come forward and present uh the curriculum information pertaining to our 2026 2027 budget. Good evening everyone. Thank you for having us. We're here to present uh curriculum budget priorities as we've revisited everything and thought about carefully what it takes to support students. Um given the constraints we're working with at this time, we will continue to purchase instructional resources for K12 ESL uh with the Vista Higher Learning. Um we will continue to support teachers from um K12 at the building level at the elementarymentaries, but from our department level from fifth and 12th grade.
005Um, we will purchase access test supplies to support our annual state testing. We support annual NJSLA testing with bilingual dictionary. So that that must stay in the in the budget. We support our graduates if the graduates in need if they need assistance um with their dues. And uh per state guidance, we are allowed to uh use the WEDA model to exit students in the middle of the year. We will of course um be purchasing those tests as well. In the summer, we do a lot of work after we get our access scores. We screen students and place students. So, we have budgeted for that. and uh leveraging um title funding to continue our professional conferences for for bilingual and ESL staff and also for our Vista Higher Learning that is our ESL curricular platform in
006the world language department. Again with um a keen lens on supporting curriculum we will purchase 8K to 12 Spanish instructional licenses, seventh and eighth grade French instructional licenses. Um, we will support classroom supplies in teachers classrooms and of course our seal of biliterate biiteracy language testing licenses. Also, we have allocated funds to support and sponsor ceremonies to honor those students that um are achieving the seal of biiteracy. Uh we also sponsor French, Italian, Spanish, and national honor society memberships and ceremonies. Uh we continue to support the two AP um language teachers that teach those courses and uh Vista higher learning world language platform fulfilling our professional development needs as well as in-house professional development that we deliver monthly to our teachers. Thank you. Um here is Miss Jen Lineski, director of curriculum. Thanks so much,
007Miss Monla. Okay, so there we go. So the next two slides, we have two slides for um general curriculum and instruction. The first slide is for the K4 world. The second slide is for the 512 world within our district. You'll notice that both slides are going to be organized in the same way. first presenting instructional resources, some areas of curriculum development we'll be focusing on over the summer, and then also our professional development focus for um both levels, the elementary and secondary. So, we'll start off with the elementary world. We have K4 curriculum instruction, instructional resources. We are in our last year of our commitment to HMH. We are honoring that contract. So, those materials will be purchased and that contract will be paid as per those guidelines. our cursive handwriting mandate that the state
008has put forward. We are infusing cursive handwriting in grades K, excuse me, in grades three through five. So, we will be purchasing a cursive handwriting resource for our teachers to utilize with our students. We are going to continue our implementation of a universal early literacy skills screener in grades K through three. And this is also statemandated. and we will continue to provide Wilson reading resources through foundations and funhub subscriptions for our teachers. This upcoming school year, we are mandated by the state to um implement the new K through2 science standards. So, we will be purchasing additional instructional materials to support any curricular revisions that we make in accordance to those new um in accordance with those new standards. So that leads us into curriculum development for our K4 um world. So again, like I stated,
009science will be a focus for us because all of those standards will be new. So we will be working on that over the summer. We will be revising our K4 health curriculum. And as I said before, in grades three and four, and we'll also see on the next slide, in grade five, we will be infusing cursive handwriting into the ELA curriculum to meet that mandate. The K4 media curriculum will be updated and the K5 gifted and talented curriculum will also be updated. In terms of PD, what we're going to be focusing on in both in K K through 12 is of course we're going to be leveraging our Title 2 funds um to help support our teachers. Um but then also in the K4 world, we are going to be leaning into our impact grant
010funds to help provide um sustain high quality professional learning for K4 teachers in the area of um the science of reading. We are going to be provided targeted PD in the areas of math particularly focusing on algebraic thinking and reasoning at the lower level. And then we are of course going to be focusing on science instruction that aligns with the new um the new standards in grades 5 through 12. Very similar. You'll notice we are again um HMH is a is a learning resource or excuse me instructional resource that we use um at the middle school level. So we again will be honoring that last part of our contract. Cursive handwriting like I said will be seen in grade five and materials will be purchased. Universal skill screeners for math and ELA will be purchased
011for the secondary level along with high interest decodable texts in ELA and then replenishing all consumable instructional materials in all subject areas. In terms of curriculum development, that science, the science updates carry all the way through to grade 12. Again, that cursive handwriting we'll see in grade five, but then we'll also be taking a really close look at math, visual performing arts, social studies, and health to make any updates as needed. As I said before, we're going to lean into our title two funds, of course, to support our teachers, but we will be providing PD. We have money and funds allocated to help support AP leadership workshops and AP the AP summer institute, evidence-based literacy practices, of course, open sed and ambitious science teaching practices, and then also um working with the New Jersey Amastad
012Commission. And now I'm going to hand things over to our wonderful director of human resources, Miss Danielle Diaz. Thank you, directors. Good evening everyone, every members of the uh public and members of the board. Uh, one of the things that first let me excuse excuse me for my allergies and my sinusitis. So, excuse me for sounding a little a little off than than I normally sound. Um, when we spoke at our our last um meeting, one of the things that we talked about was what does HR do? And tonight we're going to go a little bit of how we are supporting our staff through this budget transition um as we move forward into 2627. So um our role as a strategic resource we are providing indiv individualized employee support um in that includes employee transition
013assistance and again for those of you who have emailed me over the course of the last couple of weeks I am working my way through my email. So, I thank you for your patience as I uh navigate my seas sea of emails that that I that I do have. Um I will I will definitely get get to you for sure. Of course, we continue to support our staff through their leaves, maternity, paternity, other medical related leaves. Um one of the most things I'm really excited about that um we started talking about uh in the winter is some employee wellness and support partnerships that we have. And that's one of the things that Dr. Louis and I um have been very passionate about. So, Sil Wellness came to us uh last week to central office and
014did a little wellness program for our staff. And this week um Evergreen Medical Group is with us um at our schools and they'll be at another school at the middle school on on Monday. And another agency has has reached out for employee wellness programs. So, we're looking to support our our staff with with with um everything that that comes along with with wellness as we again navigate through this this challenging time and of course continuing to be a thought partner um with my colleagues and the board um as we navigate through these critical decisions that that we've been making. So, some key actionable strategies that we've actually really been trying to support our staff through is personalized guidance on next steps. Everyone has a story. I have to acknowledge that. Um and what available options
015there are for for staff. Um we have job search support. Um Director Blender and I um have been also trying to be very present and available for staff if they need assistance with resumeé guidance. Some people have not had to do a resume, you know, in 5 10 in some cases 20 years. So we're trying to provide them assistance with that. um as well as application assistance. Gone are the days where you mail, you know, your cover letter and resume and transcripts to a board of education. Most districts now are utilizing um uh Apatra or Red Rover or other electronic applications. Um coordination coord coordin coordination with neighboring districts. Um I am a member of the New Jersey Association of School Personnel Administrators. I'm very close with with a lot of those. my HR colleagues
016and one of the things that I I did was I shared our not no names but just the positions and I said listen if there are staff that um happened to apply from Hackinack these are the positions um please give them a look and I'm very proud to say that several of our staff um have been offered positions in in other districts so we're looking to continue to support them through that that challenge and of course our ongoing collaboration with our union leadership, really trying to work um with all of our um our presidents and and vice presidents on supporting them and their staff of course through this challenging challenging time and of course looking to serve as an asset to assist in our fiscal recovery as we get to 26 2027. I will now
017turn it over to Dr. Steven A. Lewis, our business administrator. Good evening all. So, as we go through the budget overview, we'll go through a couple of explanations as to what is the budget and why does it matter. The budget is a balancing act between revenues and expenses. It helps schools districts avoid excessive spending and allows them to focus funds on specific areas that require them the most, such as curriculum, facilities, and programming. Some of the revenue fund sources are broken up into five categories. You have your local tax levy. Your local tax levy is derived from the property taxes to support the school district. Your state aid is a weighted student formula um that's used to calculate and distribute state aid to public school districts. Entitlement grants are formuli based funds and restricted funds
018that are dictated by the school's enrollment, population, student needs, and socioeconomic statuses. Your fund balance is the difference between the school district's assets and liabilities. So between the revenues, the difference between the revenues and expenses is the fund balance, which is also considered a savings account. And your capital reserve. Your capital reserve is a specific restricted asset account within a within a school district's general fund that accumulates funds for future capital projects. So what do we spend our money on? Regular instruction. This is in regards to general education classrooms. That's your salaries for teachers in K through 12. is special education funds specifically allocated for students with individualized education programs, special schools, and co-curricular activities. In addition to that, funds that are also allocated are tuition payments that are made outside the district to other
019schools that our students attend, instructional and support, the maintenance and operations as well as transportation of the students. The school funding reform act breakdown. The district received approximately 6% increase this year and that was broken up between equalization aid, special education, categorical aid, security aid, and transportation aid to the amount of approximately $43 million. Outside of that, the biggest lump sum of revenue is inclusive of our tax reax levy. The tax levy for 2627, as you can see on the screen, is a base of 90 approximately $97 million. A 2% allowable adjustment, the 2% increase that the state allows districts to increase the tax levy of $1.9 million. The state also gives another allowable adjustment of increase in health care as all districts, school districts, municipalities, uh, all entities that utilize the the state health
020benefits plan, the insurance went up approximately 37%. And that was unprecedented. So the state allows us to raise the taxes add additional tax raises of approximately $5.1 million that increase yes it does increase taxes but that helps us offset the healthcare increase as well as our bank cap from prior years. Bank hat if the school is if a school district does not go up to 2% each year the remaining funds get holds held in a fictional bank account called bank cap. Those funds you have three years to use it or you lose it. It does increase the district's um tax aotment and now we will be standing at approximately $106 million going forward. This will be our base for the future years. Now, how does this affect our average home assessed um value? Hackers for
021this your tax levy is is accumulated from a calendar year, not school year. So, when you get that white card in the mail, that's your tax levy. It's broken up between your township, your school district, your county. So according to the school district side, your average home assess the average home assessment for 26 2026 is $322,35. This is an increase of the prior year of $830. Now your school tax per average household would be increased approximately $396 and 98 and that is again for the average home assessed value. So if we look at a couple of examples of other evaluations if your home is assessed at 275,000 then your average monthly increase would be approximately $28.25. 25. Now, I will say that your average home assessed value is different from your market value. For a
022house in Hackinac that is as assessed at 275,000, you're probably looking at anal a market valuation of anywhere between 350,000 to 400,000. So, you're usually your home assessed value is lower than your market value. is lower than what people would actually pay for your house. Um, so if your house is valued at 450,000, your monthly increase would be approximately $46.23. And again, uh, if your house is valued at 775,000, which your market value might be $1.2 million, your your monthly increase would be approximately $7961. This is a year-over-year tax levy comparison and the differences from 2020 to 2021 up until this um upcoming budget of 2627. As you can see, the district in previous years did not go up to the 2% allowable max on the tax levy, which created bank cap that we're able
023to use now. uh as well as the healthc care adjustment as well as the 2% which got us to a 8.9% increase for this uh upcoming year of 2627. At this time, I'll turn the mic over to Mr. Aastra to go over our general revenue funds and expenses. >> Thank you, Dr. Lewis. As part of the 202627 budget presentation, the following table will state the district's revenue in comparison from the prior year. The district received an additional 6% in state aid compared to last year, which was about 2.4 million. Like Dr. um Steven Lewis stated, the tax levy was increased for the 2026 2027 school year, which includes a 2% cap and the healthcare adjustment. Although the revenues did increase for state aid, it was not sufficient to clear the shortbow to have the revenues
024and expenses balance. The following table indicates a comparison from the prior year from and the current year in regards to the expenses for the 202526 budget. The district faced an estimated $17 million operating shortfall that relied on a $7 million in fund balance for the current year, which we no longer have available for the next school year budget. As a result, the district um entered the 2026 27 budget cycle with an estimated 24 million projected shortfall. Although a budget um through a budget freeze in 202526 mid-year reductions and staffing modifications, the projected shortfall has been reduced. Our total budget for the 202627 school year is about $166 million. We now uh give it back to acting superintendent Miss Andrea Oats Parchment. Thank you. Thank you everyone. Um tonight I want to begin with this slide
025again. The last time we presented the preliminary budget I began with this slide because it's very appropriate today was appropriate yesterday and it will be appropriate in the future. And I just want to to read this. Some days doing the best we can may still fall short of what we would like to be able to do. But life isn't perfect on any front. And doing what we can with what we have is the most we should expect of ourselves or of anyone else. And I want to say through this budget process, I just want to thank each and everyone who was involved with doing the best that you could do in light of the circumstances. So thank each and every one of you uh for your efforts. The next slide, the next few slides will
026give you a clear understanding of the budget cuts that we had to make in order to present to you a balanced budget and especially in light of our deficit. But first, I want to just call to your attention why I said in the beginning that it is a revised budget. Uh the budget was not approved uh for the three reasons that we needed to include the $1.8 million loan repayment. We had to remove any revenue that was not guaranteed. And sadly, we had to make more aggressive reductions, cuts to offset rising costs. So when we went back, we had to examine again the budget. We reviewed first all the non salary spending which is about 20 which is 25% of this budget or 2627 and we had to identify costsaving opportunities there. It was tedious.
027It took several days uh and we identified some cost savings. Then in terms of staffing and programs, we had to review staffing, programs and services which constitutes 75% of our budget. And unfortunately, this resulted in the reduction in force. And I would be remiss, and I know I've said this several times, but even with this last budget presentation, I would be remiss and insensitive if I didn't say right now that we had no choice. And I know some are here, some are. I can't bring you comfort. I can't mend the anger that people may feel. I can't fix the impact that it's had on our entire community, our families, this board of education, our teachers, our staff. I can't. But I had to take the time to just say this again before I present to
028you the next slide to show you because we have a responsibility to show you uh what we had to do in terms of the reduction. So these are the actions that have been taken over several weeks and this is the result results. These are the results. The first section you will see the instructional and educational service staff. We had 548 wonderful professionals. And due to this budget, we now have and will have going into the 2026 2027 school year 440 staff. We had to reduce 18 positions. central office. We had 49 before reductions. We had 37 after reductions and we eliminated 12 positions. District administrators, we had 39 before reductions. We have 30 after the reductions. We had to eliminate nine positions. administrative assistance. We had 35 before reductions. We have 20 after reductions and
029we had to eliminate 15 positions. Custodial maintenance, we had 54 before reductions, 42 after reductions, and 13 positions reduced. A lot of thought Just a lot went into making these decisions. And I want to just honor those who will not be with us next year and say thank you for your service. Again, we had to look at every area, which is the equitable thing to do. And so the extracurricular will have an impact on our students. Field trips, all field trips have been eliminated. Middle school athletics, the program has been eliminated. Middle school camp, the program has been eliminated. And back up to high school athletics, we reduce the number of coaches in every sport for a total savings. As you see programs, middle school wood shop, middle school television production, high school wood shop,
030high school television production, and grade four instrumental music. So now it's time to rebuild. It's time to restore. And these three bullets are just the beginning of what we want to share with you of what we are going to do. We're going to look at staffing levels, student enrollment, and ensure that we have the appropriate support and resources in light of the cuts. We're going to prepare and do what we can with the resources we have left to maintain stability for our students and staff. And we're going to explore additional funding sources and long-term financial adjustments. And we're also going to work with the community. We are going to overcome this. I know that I don't want to be insensitive by painting a picture that everything is rosy, but I nor can I stand here
031and not say that there's hope. Because if we don't have hope that things are going to get better, we all might as well pack up our bags and leave. There is hope going forward that we will be restored and we will be the Hackinack public school district that we are we still are but we have issues and we will overcome those issues. Um so want to just thank you for your time and that is it. Thank you. Okay. Um so first things first again thank you to central office for this extremely extremely difficult task that has really taken everyone everyone to to put this together. Um many moving parts. It is a budget of $166 million with a 24 million deficit for the upcoming school year for September. Um it is unheard of. It was
032extremely painful. Every decision that was made was not taken lightly at all. Um a lot of consideration was put into it. But we all have a fiduciary responsibility. We all have to make responsible decisions and unfortunately those decisions do impact a lot of people, a lot of our staff. One of the biggest things that this board said when we when we came into office was to communicate with the public. We have communicated as much as we legally can with the public by having as many meetings as possible. Normally a board has one meeting a month. We have had on average three meetings a month, sometimes even four meetings a month to make sure that you are getting as much information as possible. Unfortunately, some information is being spread on social media misinformation. And what I
033would like for the public to do is please read our agendas, look at our meetings on YouTube, look at our meetings are also posted on our websites. Come to our meetings. We encourage you to come to our meetings. We do not close our doors. We even accommodate in the auditorium. If we have to go to the gym, we will go to the gym to accommodate our community. Please get the information from us. We are being as transparent as we can to give you all the information that we can at once. Special education. I know that's a very um big and most recent topic especially with related services. Um I will say one I I am pleased to know that our human resources department is helping our staff to transition. Um, as she had mentioned to
034us in our committee, she does have her HR cousins, as she called them, her HR cousins who she communicates within the area, and our our hope is that there will be a home there for you. Um, and that the transition is smooth. Um, I myself am a parent of a child with special needs who does receive those related services and I am equally affected and upset about these decisions. But unfortunately, these are the decisions that we have to now eat. Um, and what I will say is that for this school year, nothing is changing. This is all again for September. And for September, there will be a plan. Um, for June, um, Miss Andrea Oats Parchman and her team, they will give us what the next steps will look like and what the next school
035year will be like. Um, and please remember as your child has an IEP, all of their services are mandated. So, it might not be with the same person, but your child will still receive your speech, their PT, their OT, um, their behaviorist services, anything that they need, uh, they will still be getting. I also want to thank my board members, my fellow board members for also participating in many many committee meetings and being heavily involved in this process. Remember that we are the liaison to the community. We hear you and we ask these same questions in the committee meetings so that way you are informed just as well as we are for I I also want to thank Miss Barton and her team for these slides that were very clear and it was able to
036show us exactly because people were concerned um is this um area being impacted is that area being impacted. As you can see, every area is being impacted and the slides I feel were were very concise and visually they were they were very simple to to read and thank you for that. Um the slides with the extracurriculars and programs that was posted because the community gave us feedback. The community has been asking how much what does this cost? How can we help? Now it's there. These are the things that we need. These are the things that we need help with. I'm not sure how the community will come together, but I know my town. I know that Hackinack is very strong, and I know that we will find a way to rebuild and we will find
037a way to make these things come back again. As I had mentioned before, this is temporary. This is not a forever thing. So for this school year, maybe the maybe the next, we need to be creative and we need to find ways to give these programs and extracurriculars back to our children. Um, and again, uh, Miss Andrea O's parchment ended with that there is hope and I do believe that there is hope right now. the pieces are are at the bottom, but we will put them back together. And and thank you for that. I know this is not easy. This is not easy for any one of us here. Um many of us have lost sleep and have been worried, concerned for this day, if this day was even going to come. And I'm just
038very thankful that we were able to find a solution to get here. And thank you. Thank you for all your hard work. Um so at this time I will open the floor to the board to ask any questions related to the budget. Um just please remember that these questions have to be um said out in public. Any um budget questions related to personnel will be handled in executive session. But this is the time to ask any financial or presentation questions on the budget. So I will open the floor to my board members. Any questions or comments? >> I do. I do. Just give me one moment. So sure. >> Um I just had a question. You guys hear me? >> Yes. >> Um um for Andrea, um the central office staff that was cut. Um,
039I'm just a little confused on so central office is everybody that's actually in central office like so the administrators don't count towards that or like how many people sit in central office the building. >> I'm going to have um Miss Diaz answer that question but there are central office staff who are in our building not considered central office staff because they're >> um administrators part of the administrators the 39 administrators that you saw. >> Thank you. >> Right. So Mr. Cman is correct. Is this >> better? Ah, there we go. So, our central office staff is made up of not only people who actually sit in central office, but we have several non-bargaining unit staff members, including many of our tech staff. We include our former uh parent coordinators in that in that number as
040well as our school monitors are considered central office staff member because they're non-bargaining unit uh staff members. >> Okay. So, how many people are actually in the building after these cuts? >> We can get you the exact number. >> Okay. >> Sure. >> I had a follow-up question as well. Um, I don't know if this for Dr. Lewis with the revenue. Um, and I I just got this last night. Sorry. I just got this last night, so I'm you was kind of up late last night going through this. Um, and I know a lot has been changing um over the last couple like hours, days, minutes. Um, but I just noticed some discrepancies uh on the revenue page. Um, some of the percentages, the percentage of change looks off. Like if you look at, for
041example, tuition and miscellaneous. You know, it went from a 2526 to 4.5 million to 26 27 4.6 million. And it says that's a 48.7% change. That's definitely not a 48 unless I'm missing something. I'm reading it wrong. I'm sorry. Revenues says revenues on top of the general expenses. The page before revenues. I think it's the only one that says revenues. >> Revenues. >> So if you look at tuition miscellaneous and you see that it's a 48.7% change. Well, that's definitely not a 48.7% change. It's actually apologies. That's a typo. Should be 4.87. >> 4.87. Okay. And then I was just kind of comparing everything to the budget that was submitted and it seems all of these percentages of change are are are a little bit different. So, except for the tax levy, which is accurate
042at 8.94, um they're kind of all off. So the the the total revenue um actually total revenue is is a little bit more different than that. But so for example the grants um where we have it here is a 12.4% increase. That's actually a 2.4% increase. Is that a that was a typo too? Grant special revenues. Yeah. state and extraordinary uh says it's 6.4. It's actually 5.7. >> Yeah, that information was actually provided directly from the state. So that if you're looking at the state extraordinary aid that change was directly from the state of 6.41 or one there's additional so some went up some went down but the total was that >> okay so the the difference in change isn't the difference between 2526 and >> it was from the state information >> okay so
043this isn't reflective of what's in our actual budget that we submitted to home room or to the state >> no this is in home room >> because that's where I caught the discrepy maybe maybe we just offline maybe take a if you don't mind. >> Yeah, let's look at it cuz I want to see you might something might not be included on that. So, if you're looking from home room, the extraordinary aid might not be. I like look at it together. That's fine. >> So, maybe and maybe I'm again I'm I'm not familiar with all this stuff. This is my first time going over budget, so pardon me if I'm if I'm >> out of line with some of this stuff. Um I also looked at the total revenue. So here we have there's a
0443.9% increase in revenue between 2526 and 2627. Is that right >> from what was presented? >> Okay. Um, I just want I want to make sure that the public and everybody listening sees what we're presenting and because um when I looked in um the budget that was submitted um and this was on 54 at 6:20 p.m. So I think that was the that was the budget that was submitted. It had our total revenue from 2526 as 174 million not 163. >> That was the adjusted. >> So what we what this is this is submitted this what was submitted last year. So when we put in every year you go back in and you put their adjusted budget, right? So that's a difference. We are comparing from what was submitted versus the adjusted budget. >> Okay.
045So we're looking at our adjusted. So this number from 2526 is adjusted or submitted. >> No, this number right here is not your adjusted budget. This >> that's your submitted. >> This is the submitted budget. >> Okay. So, I think what's confusing me is the 3.9% increase isn't really the adjusted budget is the money we actually spent, right? No. So, the adjusted budget is when the district when the district submits their budget, right, wrong or different, they submit it to the county for approval. The adjusted budget is the next year you go back in and then you put in the the actuals and the projected to get you through the year. Just like it's part of the cash flow, right? >> So when that's how you see that you're in a deficit, that's how we
046saw because you're putting in the information that shows that >> that that that the changes were made from what was actually submitted. So when you're comparing, you're comparing off of information that you know from the complete 197 page document, right? This is a snapshot of what was presented. Okay. Versus what was actually >> presented again. >> So it's comparing projected to projected. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Because you can't you you can't compare the actuals that haven't happened as of yet. You can't compare. >> No, no, no. I I understand that. I'm just I when I again I'm new to looking at this but when I looked at the actual budget >> they gave a bunch of columns and then they gave the column three difference. Is that what it is? The uh >> what
047it did though 2526 projected 2526 adjusted 2627 projected. So I didn't know because it's actually a decrease right if we spent 173 million in 2526 and we're projecting lower. >> That was the Yes. So that that's where the situation came in. Yes. So your adjusted budget is different. That's how you got the deficit. That's how the district got into the deficit position because when you're putting in your actuals, when you're putting in your cash flow, that's and now you're comparing it to what was projected. So it's apples. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um in that same light, so I was looking and now this isn't from your presentation. It's just my last thing. I'm not going to go crazy, but um I was looking at the budget and looking at uh charter school tuition and they
048had the adjusted charter school tuition in 25 was 8 million. The adjusted in 26 was 7.7 million. And then the future 27 budget um we have in there as 8.8 million which is a 14.7% increase. Is that because we're expecting to lose students to charter school? Is that is that what it is? I mean I just I want to know the thinking behind it. >> Yes. Okay. >> Well, the the state actually gives us the charter school numbers. >> Okay. >> That is a direct poll from the the state actually gives us that information. They have a poll on New Jersey home room and that's what we're inputting. And so you also project >> So you also project forward. So the state takes the enrollment numbers and gives us the specific what you have to
049pay the um the charter school. Then we have to take the projected enrollment over the the last three years to see what has been the increase in enrollment and you project forward. >> So it's enrollment and tuition combined that give you that number. >> Yeah, it's it's how you you project forward. >> Did did charter school tuition go up a lot or is the state saying you're going to have more people going to charter school? >> No, it's the projection of additional students going as well as there is an increase every year on how much we have to pay charter school. >> Okay. It just seems significant because the prior year there was a decrease from 8 million to 7.7 million. Now we're jumping up to 8.8. I just was curious. >> I just wanted
050to go back to one of um Trusty Jones point. Um his first point about the tuition and miscellaneous on revenues. Um I mean I'm not a math wizard, but I know you said it's 4.87, but I've been getting 4.05. >> Yeah, it's not. >> You got 4.05. >> Um tuition. I got 4.2 >> 4.23. Okay. So, you divided it by the 2526. >> Yeah. >> Got it. Okay. >> Still not 4.87. >> Yeah. It says it's 48.7. Yeah. Right. It's lower than 4.87 also. >> 4.23, >> but it's way lower than 48.7. Okay. >> Yeah. >> I got 4.2. Yeah. But I mean, it's kind of >> um Are there any more questions from the board? Yeah, >> I have a question about revenue and I don't know if this is business office or curriculum
051office or both. The programs that we're losing at the middle school and the high school. I know that we don't have uh TV studio 1, 2, and three. We don't have the full range of courses to have students that would be considered completers under Perkins. But it's my understanding that I would hope that we would fully explore whether or not any of this programming is eligible for federal funding under Perkins 5. um especially because Perkins 5 was expanded to include middle schools that if not now because clearly we're not in a position to do it at this moment but to fully explore revenue options to restore these programs because these are critical life skills. media literacy, the ability to communicate and create media, to understand how we um consume media, the ability to work with
052our hands, to build things, to put things together. Those are critical life skills and lucrative career opportunities for our students. And while we may not be able to afford these programs at this particular moment, I'd like to know where we are in terms of exploring options to bring in the revenue to help us fund these programs in the future. >> Uh Trusty Baluchio, can you explain what Perkins is? The Carl's Perkins Act is uh federal funds that are set aside for career and technical education, plumbing, electric, carpentry. Those are more traditional trades, auto, cosmetology. But then you have some we've expanded Perkins to cover things like computer programming and cyber security and biomed engineering. um districts that there are a lot of rules and the way the courses have to be ordered and how many
053students participate in order to be eligible for the funds. But I feel like these are such critical programs and it's heartbreaking to see them um temporarily be put on hold, but how quickly can we put together a plan to get more revenue so that we can afford these programs? >> I I know you mentioned that to me about a week ago. uh trustee Balaputra and as soon as we um finish and complete this we're going to uh focus on that. I thought that was a good idea when you brought that up and we had taken notes about that. So we will be looking into that with the curriculum director and um also with the science CTE supervisor. >> Thank you. Trusty Jones, I just had an answer to to your question about the staffing that's
054going to be remaining at central office. Uh we are going to have 19 staff members remaining as of July 1 members in the building. >> And that may fluctuate that may fluctuate not by not by much. >> Uh but I anticipate July 1st we'll be at 19. >> 19 out of how many can that building hold? You know, I'm going that next question. I mean I I'll be I'll I'll do a little bit more research for or for that for you. >> Okay. Um, Dr. Lewis, just to verify, uh, because tonight we're supposed to be, um, what what was this something funny? Oh, okay. No, I have a serious question. Um, so tonight we're supposed to be approving the budget. Um, so these numbers are accurate. It's just the percentages is that is not correct.
055I just want to make sure that these numbers that are here are the true numbers that we're looking at. There's just maybe a miscalculation on the percentages. >> The numbers are the correct numbers. I'll work with Mr. Greer to check the percentages and make sure it's updated. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? >> Yes. Um Dr. Lewis, do you um know if we are going to receive any federal funding this year? Uh from what I understand, the report is put out by the president that New Jersey will not receive any federal funding because we're a sanctuary state. Is that you know any Zane or have any information on that? >> I do not. Uh we were told to estimate 75% of the previous budget >> for federal funding. >> Yep. >> But uh for the
056future that is that still stand that that report is out that New Jersey not going to have you heard that report? >> I have not heard that the that schools in New Jersey would not receive any federal fund. >> Uh not well school just the state itself as well. So I assume Yeah. >> Yeah. I I have not heard that >> because I was trying to figure out that will affect us if the state of New Jersey is not receiving any federal funding because we a sanctuary state. Would that affect us as a school district or do I New Jersey? >> Yeah. Well, I would assume if the state doesn't receive federal funding, the districts would receive the federal funding. Um, but I haven't heard anything that the state wouldn't receive any of the federal
057funding. >> Mr. Watchman, have you had >> I was just going to say, Trusty Martin, that at my last county superintendence meeting, um, we were told that the SEA application will be coming forward on June 15th. So, I would imagine um, Mrs. Laneski that uh we would be getting some kind of federal funds and that uh they would be due back uh in July the application. Title one and these are my notes I had taken on a little postit at the meeting. Title one and IDA as well are probably good title one. I didn't hear about title three or anything else. Title two, three, and four. And I have a date here of April 29th, 2026, but I have to look into that a little more, but that's >> okay. Thank you to both of
058you. >> You're welcome. >> Have just a couple of questions. Um I think one question just to um just to try and reassure folks um you know as was raised at our January uh January meeting um with our auditor um you know there were several um findings by the auditor regarding um financial controls and processes and I was just wondering if you could speak to that in terms of how those things have been addressed. Um the district has been um putting in different uh internal controls um in in regards to the budget um specifically uh financial management and uh overseeing the with the PCR with this the first thing um to give a lot of credit to the assistant business administrator Masher with her work on PCR that she did an exemplary job on that
059to get it um corrected and updated. So that was the first and foremost thing is to have an accurate account for um the staffing and how that affects the budget as well as in in those um in those um in that PCR is it also accountable for the extra pays and all of the additional costs that are associated. So that stuff has been addressed as well as the district has already we've been meeting on top of meetings on top of meetings internally. So um the addressing to make sure that there's meetings with the different departments and so on have been happening as well. So let's see. >> Yeah, there are a few things that we're going to do. uh I think it was the February 11th meeting uh that we shared with administrative council that
060consist of principles and directors and our program overseer at ECDC. I think in the past um that we didn't have that type of collaboration where uh we become more budget conscious all of us. I can think about when I was a principal uh it wasn't as we weren't as budget conscious but our team now is I know we've shared one good document that we uh obtained from New York a very good document about a how a well-run fiscally healthy district runs and uh we have a list of things um that we need to do similar to that align to what uh Will Cox um the Will Cox um company addressed in their presentation um special services. And this is no reflection on special services at all, but because it's such a huge part of our
061budget, um Mr. Pimton and I, we're going to be meeting every two weeks, you know, um we're going to make sure that purchase orders are done correctly. We're going to make sure that things are encumbered when they should be. L uh Mrs. a gastra. There are a list of things and we can um share that with you again because the the corrective action plan pretty much gives an overview but it doesn't go into details uh some of the things I'm going to I want to see every time sheet that falls under my that I have to sign. I want to make sure there's checks and balances that what what things were done. Um, so it it may look like a little micromanaging, but we are going to make sure we're going to follow uh what
062is the gentleman's name? Mrs. Aastra. Uh, Mr. Shups. Everyone knows that. Everyone's been uh involved with that training and making sure everyone's trained. Uh, Mrs. Zagastra is really really good with that to make sure each and every person if they didn't get trained the first time they will the second time and we're really on top of that but uh we can provide you know a detailed list of um of the things if if one thing it's not good what has happened but it has made more all of us more aware even at the superintendent level um as a superintendent It's it's about instruction and student learning too, but it's also about looking at budgets, knowing what is going on and paying very close attention uh to that. So, um we'll bring that information to you.
063>> Thank you so much. I think um it's very important especially given the circumstances that we're in that we can reassure the public that there are those controls in place so that these mistakes um and and worse the mismanagement that has led up to this point um you know are not repeated um and uh you know I think everybody would like to know that and I I can say from a board perspective you know with under President Harris's leadership you know this board has really taken on, you know, a very hands-on role with regard to its responsibility for budget and financial oversight and everyone whether they are in the finance committee or not has been very active and and really been participating with questions and so I appreciate you know everyone you know in central
064office um you know being so accessible to answer those questions and I was wondering um Miss Oats Parchman if you can also just share um some of the feedback that you received from the county superintendent, Mr. Fletcher, you know, in just in working with him to prepare the budget, you know, for tonight's meeting. >> Okay. Oh, I'll be really happy to do that because every time he has come to visit us and I think it's been about 10 times the most uh recent time on Friday >> and you know one of the things he always begins with is all of you are doing a great job and the last thing he said was I'm I'm really proud of you. Um but we also have to make sure that we do everything that we can and
065those conversations he said he'll have with us at another time but right now we had to do it and it's pretty much based on uh the word he used internal controls which is what we're talking about. >> Uh and I will say just to acknowledge my late dad he says did you learn your lesson? Yes, there are lessons to be learned from all of us. There are lessons. So, that's I guess the good thing coming out of that that now we know what we didn't know and we will definitely um address the lessons that need to be learned. >> Yeah. And and I think um it also just bears repeating you know we've said this before at other meetings but you know there have been losses of revenue that you know we've had traditionally for
066many many years that are no longer captured on the revenue sheet that we see. You know obviously h it's not unique to Hackinack. We're seeing every day you open the paper and you see a new district that is having to go through similar cuts. This morning's record talked about Ridgewood. you know, we see everything that's happening, the devastation happening in Patterson. Um, you know, and you could go, the list goes on and on, but a lot of districts were struggling with the loss of COVID related funding um that was being improperly used to um fund fixed expenses um you know, instead of just using it for its temporary purpose. Um and you know, and we've said before there was a loss of revenue of I think Dr. Lewis, you had said previously approximately $6 to8
067million annually with the loss of our our sending district Maywood. Um, you know, and that has definitely added up since um, you know, since they they left back in 2020. Um, also a loss of of tax revenue that comes to the district um when you get these um uh pilot agreements, you know, that um take away tax revenue from our schools. Um and that obviously was a decision made by former, you know, mayor and council. Um, and of course, you know, I think to Trusty Jones's comment, you know, just seeing the difference of what was the original proposed budget for 2526 compared to what was actually spent. And that was just a clear example of the greatest mismanagement, you know, um um including things that were, you know, paying for things that were never in
068the original budget, um and that we did not have the revenue to support um including positions that were newly created and you know, so all of those things unfortunately it has come to this crisis level and and I think also um you know, with regard to that that um bank cap, you know, that those funds that were basically left on the table when prior boards didn't go up to the full 2%. So, I think, you know, that just contributes to, you know, the the dramatic loss of revenue that we have and then why you're seeing increases on the on the tax side. But um you know we we do know and you know greatly appreciate all of the time that has really gone in you know by by you um acting superintendent oats parchment and
069your team. Um, it's very easy to kind of condense it all into one PowerPoint presentation, but it has really kind of started since you took on the position back in in June and and had to peel away all of this information of things you didn't know, things that were not organized, things that were not budgeted, things that were not included in any financial management systems. Um, our HR director, Miss Diaz, basically had to create all of our financial records from scratch along with the amazing work of our assistant VA, Miss Aostra. And, you know, we know that it's taken so much time to get here. And, um, I just want to, you know, thank you for for that leadership and making sure that we get a budget that can be presented to the state. And
070that, you know, obviously does not take away from the devastation that that was in those slides that we saw. >> I have a question. >> Sure. >> Um, and this might not be um ready yet, but I do want to ask with the loss of the programs to the students, what is the communication plan to let the students know that these programs will not be available next year? We've spoken I've spoken to the principles at the last meeting to see the most effective and appropriate way to communicate with our students and we are still uh working on that. I'll say it again as you know I don't know whether you would consider this a strength or weakness. I am not one to do something in haste and quickly, but I like to do it in
071collaboration and it needs to be well thought out because what I think is right and effective. So, I'm going to use my team and we're going to determine how we communicate to the students, whether we even communicate to kindergarten students or second grade students. We really have to think this out. And that was our discussion at our last administrative council meeting. Um, and I'm not sure with the sports and the coaches if they will even see an impact. So, we have to just really look at how that looks. Uh, but that'll be the next step of our our work. Thank you. >> Um, another question, Dr. Lewis. Um, so just trying to um wrap my head around like after next year, right? So, I know you always said that there was a three-year plan, right?
072So, the three-year plan was to get us back on our footing where we could potentially bring back these extracurriculars, bring back these programs, reduce class size. That's like the what the three-year plan is. Um I'm trying to think out like what what are we looking at? So, your first 256 is your zero year zero. So, your first year is really >> almost four years, right? Right. >> Yeah. But you're finding the issue was found in 25 26. >> Right. >> So three years from there. So 26 27 is your first year which we stated from the start would hurt. >> Um then as you start managing your expenses and closing the budget, you know, you'll the district will start to recognize that that you'll start seeing a fund balance that will be healthy again. Once
073you start seeing a a healthy fund balance and you which is your savings account, you can and you start shifting other places, you'll >> we can start to bring the things back slowly, not to the point where they were, but slowly bring back the things that you can afford as a whole and then, you know, budgeted appropriately. So, let's say the sixth grade camp, right? If if if that's something that in those by the end of that three-year period that the district is looking to bring back, we would now start to work that into the budget appropriately to see what areas, hey, are we saving money here? Are we saving money in this area? Have we saved because we did a budget freeze in October instead of February? Can we afford this? Then you could
074start looking at doing the extra things once you start building your surplus back up. So we could be I mean we're we're we're a sick patient getting healthy, right? That's that's the plan, right? So we could be So 26 27 we're still hurting. 27 28 we're getting a little bit better. 28 29 hopefully we're getting to the point where we can start to bring back I I mean and I asked too because our kids don't have field trips, right? And and I know nobody wants to do this. No, nobody. It's the worst thing. I mean, whatever we're doing should be whatever affects children the least, right? So, I'm just I'm just saying. So, realistically, if we we would have to as a group say, "Hey, we're valuing field trips over I'm making this up over
075shop." I think we should have shop, too. I'm not saying like that. But what I'm saying is then we would slowly reintroduce some of these programs, right? Based on what we wanted to prioritize. So you would look to see what's the reoccurring expenses that come from bringing things back. >> Right. Is there staffing? >> Exactly. >> Right. >> What what's the cost that you don't see? What's the hidden cost? Not just staffing, but benefits. >> So not just salaries. I mean you're thinking benefits as well. >> Transportation. Thinking all of them, >> right? So once again once you start once we start to build up an appropriate fund balance once we pay off the loans the that the state allowed us to use and cover all of our debt to make sure that we're whole.
076Then we could start to look forward to saying okay any excess surplus in a given year what can we now utilize that for after we have a sufficient fund balance available to us. Then you can start to say okay can we utilize if we want to bring back $500,000 worth of things that was taken out. How do we budget appropriately for that in the next five years? Maybe it's not doing all let's not let's say it's five things not doing all five things at once. See what happens with one. So if it's camp that slowly bring that back maybe not at the full two weeks maybe at a half you know half you know half one one you know half a week >> they still get the camp experience. Exactly. Maybe it's two days per
077group. So you start there. You start bringing it in gradually and start thinking, okay, can we afford this? You want to see what other external funds are being brought to the district as well. So being that it's removed from the budget doesn't mean that it's completely gone forever. >> Right. So >> land on community chest. we could bring something back. >> Correct. So, I was going to say the community, this is where the community can come in and fund raise >> to have this happen for their 60th year. This year, why this is important because we could see what >> field trips need $122,000, right? >> Well, the district cannot solicit donations. >> Okay, good point. >> Sorry. Go ahead, Dr. Williams. I didn't mean to cut you off. He said in today's dollar >>
078in today's dollar Yeah. so it could increase or depended on the economy. >> So So to that to that point, right? So and and President Harris I think said it well with we have to find ways to be creative, right? So I know um the reason I'm I I think some people know why I'm asking some of these questions. Um um we're about between all these extracurriculars and all of these programs that we're cutting that's about 1.2 1.3 million a year. Um, again, I I I've mentioned this a couple times um offline, and I don't know if it's gained any traction, but have we looked into uh potentially uh getting an assessment on central office um that we have a whole building that's going to be housing 19 people that right now is assessed at
079$1.7 million and in this market could probably go to lower twos, mid twos, that can bring back all these programs, all these extracurriculars for two years as we get healthy. And in addition, if a and and if you wanted to, you don't even have to just do all the programs. You can say, "Hey, let's make our class sizes a little smaller or something." I again, I'm you know, not I don't mean to be speaking out of school, but but no pun, but I mean, it's it's, you know, are we looking at that? Like I I know I've brought it up a couple times and I don't think it's gained any traction, but I I kind of wanted to put it out there for everybody because there's a lot of people listening too that might have
080better ideas about the real estate market or or something. Is that something that maybe we can move forward with getting an assessment on that? That might not fix this year, right? But this all this stuff, this all hits our kids. This hits our kids. I mean, you get to go to school once. I'm not This ain't your guys's fault. I mean, we're all in this situation. I'm not If it sounds like I'm coming off at you guys, I'm not. U I'm But this is You only get one chance to go to school and have field trips and have sports and have shop. I mean, like music. I mean, this is this is it's crazy what we're dealing with here. And if we're sitting there and we have a building that we can get over $2
081million for potentially. I'm also not a real estate agent, but I've talked to some people today. Um, we're also utilities. There's gas and electric going to that building. Water going to that building. We have custodians that are going there. We have our maintenance staff that's plowing that could I mean, these are resources that we now have less people. And not for nothing, look at all the people we're cutting. There's definitely room to absorb central office staff somewhere else. I'm not doing it for that. But serious, I'm not and I'm not fanf fairing it. I'm being serious. Like can is that something we can look at? Is that >> uh Trustee um Jones? Uh that was already brought up by one of our administrators uh to me maybe last week. >> Okay. Um >> I've been
082mentioning a couple months. That's why I Oh yeah. I I wasn't aware of that, but that that idea, the first time I've heard it, was from one of our administrators who brought that up to me. Um, and I said, "That's something we can consider." Um, everything is on the table about being creative. We also have another office at at 355 State Street. We thought about thought about you know could we accommodate all of us over there or vice versa or what could we so that that has been brought brought up. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> If maybe we could try to get the ball rolling or at least get again through the president. I mean maybe just see living cost >> and also just just to let folks know you know there have been >>
083because we said the revenues the state said we could only include revenues that were guaranteed. there have been other areas that I know um you have been exploring and I'm just wondering if there's anything that you can kind of talk about in terms of >> I don't think I could talk about that right now but there there is I can I can mention that we've explored because I did speak to one of our parents recently um we've explored uh moving our students and um that looks like it's about to happen um out of ECD DC U back into the classrooms. However, I However, and this is one of these best practices, that's not going into the budget as a revenue because that is not guaranteed. We'll be back in the same situation as we were
084putting ungaranteed revenue um back into the budget. And remember, that'll be a one-time savings. It's not going to be a savings every time. Um, but putting our students back into uh it will Yeah, the amount of rent that we are paying is >> just terrible. So, there are other things. Um, >> yeah, I think that the idea just to Trusty Jones's point is just all ideas on the table, be as creative as we can be. you know that I know there's other cost-saving things that, you know, hopefully we'll be able to continue to take action on and that can help us bring back some of these programs that are so critical to our students because clearly we don't want them to be impacted. >> No, we don't. Um Dr. Lewis, you were going to say
085something about reoccurring. >> The only thing um is great ideas. not stopping, not saying that that's not a way forward. And as the superintendent said, all options are being, you know, reviewed. I do want to just put caution out there because a lot of times one time one-time um solutions don't take care of reoccurring cost. >> Right. That's why that's why I asked if you felt we were getting healthier. That's why I led up to that question for that. >> Cuz if we're getting to the point where we can work this stuff back, but then we're going to have three years of these kids not having any of this stuff, >> I'll sell that office tomorrow to give these kids that stuff for the next two years. Maybe not next year because of the budget
086and it's it's already submitted. So, what? No, no, no. Yeah, you're right. Again, again, I I know it can't be included in the budget. Like, I get that, but some of the stuff probably could. I mean, the building could move tomorrow. We don't know. >> So, >> I I know it's a onetime thing, but it's it's it's >> I got you. >> It's these kids experience for their life. They're going to remember this for the rest of their life if they went to sixth grade camp or not. I didn't grow up in Hackinack, but talking to everybody that did. People love sixth grade camp. Like, sixth grade camp is everything, right? You guys all went I Yeah, I'm just saying. Again, I'm not No. So I do want to also remember remind the board that
087when we were looking at this year 2526th grade camp was up to being cancelled but after review of the budget a review of with the superintendent um and the assistant BA when she was acting BA put a hard freeze on the budget. It allowed the district to see that f see the available funds that they could make the camp happen. >> Okay. >> This year for 25 26. >> Oh, gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. >> It's happening. >> Right. Right. Right. It's happening next week, right? Or is it >> this right now? They're at the camp right now. So, >> time in their lives. >> But it's important to >> remember when I said that a lot of it depends on like, okay, is the budget closed at this time? I get it. versus that is it
088closed. >> We closed it this year. I think we closed it in October versus the normal close which could have been in February or March. >> So what that allowed to do it freed up money to say okay we can make this happen. >> Right. >> I'm just thinking about future years now for all this stuff. >> Agreed. But we have to this was part of the reason that the budget got sent back is because you can't anticipate anything. We we can't put in any >> Yeah. I'm not suggesting it's for this next budget. So, I get it. But it's it's the same thing for any future budget, right? We have to see and that's why I said that if you have to budget accordingly, see what surpluses are available, see if funds trickle down
089in the year to say, "Okay, we can make this happen." Hey, superintendent, um we we recognize that after closing the budget in November, um we see that we see a savings of $400,000. Can you talk to the board to see if they would like to bring back sixth grade camp? >> Right. >> That that's the process that happens throughout the year. >> I I understand all of that. I'm just saying the sale of that building can expedite that incredibly. So, I know it's a one-time thing, but we can find 19 seats. That's all. >> Any other concerns, comments? Is your mic on? >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Um, excuse me. Uh, high school athletics. This 113,000 that's from just reducing coaching staff. >> No. >> Is that correct? That's just reducing the coaching staff. >>
090No. >> Yes. >> Okay. Is there any >> um sports programs being cut? >> Any sports programs being cut from the high school? No, >> I think um golf was on. Um >> can I speak to that? >> I know I know from lasting >> crew crew >> crew is a not a athletic. It's not part of NJ. It's a it's a club. >> I thought I saw JV tennis on that list. Was JV and freshman sports. Is that accurate? No, we looked at coaching and thank you. >> You can speak to it. Thank you. >> Right. So, this is just from coaching that number >> uh >> and supplies and supplies. >> That's a different line though. The supplies are different line. Uh Miss Diaz will speak to that. The 113,000 included assistant coaches
091from baseball, softball, girls soccer, football, basketball, girls tennis, fall cheer, boys and girls swimming, boys tennis, basketball, wrestling, outdoor track, and golf. >> The coaches. >> All right. My my next question is um the funding for those programs, are those going to be cut? The funding. So I'm I'm just saying wouldn't that bring that if the funding is going to be cut, wouldn't that bring that number higher? >> I'm not sure of your question. >> The each year they get a like each each sport gets a budget. Is that budget being cut? >> Yeah, that's that's part of >> that. Is that part of that 113? >> No. So my point is >> operational, >> right? >> It's a line that number higher, >> right? >> That number was specifically on staffing >> the purchase
092order side. >> Okay. Is that because um the budgeting for each program is done every year, right? So So my my question is that's going to be cut then, right? the budgeting for these programs. >> The the athletic department has already went through and cut their budget. Yes. >> Okay, that's my question. >> So, so just cuz I I just said some sports out loud. I don't want anything to be misconstrued. So, I remember there and I want everybody to understand there's been so many different proposals and there's been so many different things. So, just to be clear, so the stuff that I mentioned, J uh freshman sports is not going anywhere. JV tennis is not going anywhere. I think we'll have um like a better explanation for you uh when we meet with the
093now kind of athletic director who's who's taken over uh because it really doesn't work like that with JV sports versus freshman sports. That's the way they explained it to me. So I think getting a better explanation uh from the athletic department. Uh >> so um being at one of the um well the last flag football game um that happened um there was talk and my question is uh the flag football team the girls flag football team from my understanding is not yet a sport for a hacken sack. um going forward in the future, I guess starting um the next flag football season, is there going to be flag football being that it is not a sport? And then two, um I believe um they're they're not their coach is not going to be here. Their
094coach right now, I don't know if I can say the name or not, but their coach is not Yeah. So So that was a a question that I was asked. So, I didn't know. >> I can't speak to the position or personnel. Um, but as I said, we will, especially with the amount of questions being asked about the sports program. We're just going to give you all the information and and meet with the department again. Uh, we just met with them. They went through their budget. So, there are two items that we shared with you. you saw the salary line for it and you also saw transportation and um expenses and so that's what they cut. But in terms of the program and how it looks and in terms of freshman versus um JV sports,
095it's not exactly going to to be like that. So, I'm going to um instead of standing here trying to answer sitting here trying to answer your questions about how it looks, either going to see it in my present in our presentation in June because we have to iron all of that out. So, we'll come back with more details for you. >> Anyone else? >> Yes. >> Just a general comment. Um, I come from a government finance background. Three years ago, uh, when I was elected to this board, I was asking very candid questions to our then BA and our superintendent schools and never got direct answer to any of my questions. I brought it up in public to our then president and when I asked the as an elected official asking these questions in public
096I was ruled out of order and um I proceeded to remind him that I'm a state as we all are state elected officials we have a right to ask the questions the important certain questions. It's wonderful to note that we have an a school board that has a direction and we have an administration now that has given us a firm direction on how we need to proceed. Um, nobody ever expected to see this district the way it is. My mother graduated this district. I graduated this district. My two very successful kids graduated this district. And nowhere, nowhere did I ever expect to see us where we are. Um there are some close friends. >> Yes, I am. Thank you. >> Um I have some very close friends who are losing their jobs and does it
097hurt me here? Yeah. We're making unfortunately those very hard decisions, but we have a very firm roadwork of where we need to go next year for the next three to four years. And yes, I'm paying. I think we all are. when we meet three and four times a week, not a month, a week, this and we are all here 100% of the time. It shows that we really care. Thank you very Thank you. Um any other questions, comments, concerns? All right. Thank you all for your participation. Uh so at this time we will now move into public comments. Public participation shall be governed by the following rules. One, if in person, a participant must sign the sign-in sheet and be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface comments by an announcement of his or
098her name, municipality of residence, and group affiliation if applicable. Two, each statement made by a participant shall be limited to a threeminut duration during the public session. Three, all statements, questions or inquiries shall be directed to the presiding officer and any questions or inquiries directed by participant to another board member shall be redirected to the presiding officer who shall determine if such statement, question or inquiry shall be addressed by the presiding officer on behalf of the board or by the individual board member. And four, all board and or acting superintendent responses to questions or inquiries shall be held until the end of public participation. Um, as a reminder to the public, we will adhere to our three minute cap. Um, once you hear that buzzer, please finish your thoughts, not a paragraph. Um, and we
099will begin with anyone here in person. If anyone in person that would like to speak, please come up. >> Sure. Um, okay. So, someone is walking up right now, but go ahead. As a board trustee, I am fully interested and engaged and want to hear from from our community and to hear the concerns that we all have. I never want to cut that off. I want to know so we can make informed decisions because we represent you. I ask though as people a part of this conversation to consider that we put public comment ahead of executive session so that we can hear what people have to say but then at 3:15 in the morning we're here by ourselves when it's our turn to talk. I I would like to for people to be mindful of
100it's a conversation and I know that logistics don't allow for people to stay here all night but I I want you to understand just like Trusty SC said how much work goes into us being here to serve our community and that the longer public comment goes, the later we start to deal with the business at hand and the later we are here. Like I I don't know how many what 3:15 in the morning. And it's not because I don't love my community, but I have a child to raise and a job to keep. And I just want us to all be considerate of of how what we're what we're doing here. And I don't want to I'm not commenting not to censor anybody, but if some of your sentiments have already been relayed to us
101and we're getting to that late hour, maybe you can some things can be emailed to us as a board or just to be cognizant of what it takes for us to do this work. Um, it it's it's significant and we don't we want to hear what you have to say, but at the same time, we can't do 3:00 a.m. And I I just I can't I'd be remiss in saying that because I know we're in unprecedented times, even more devastating news hit this week. A lot of people have a lot to say about it and we're all feeling it as parents, as alumni, as members of this community ourselves and we're with you. Like if I could switch and go to the podium and do my thing over there, I would. But I just want
102us to kind of be mindful of how it all we all it's a relationship and it's a back and forth. And I just ask that you consider that. Thank you. >> Okay. Anyone in person would like to speak? Uh, my name is Lauren Alberta and I'm a speech therapist at Hack Techch Middle School. So, yesterday while eating my lunch at 11:00 a.m. I was informed that all of the related service providers were losing their jobs and our positions were being outsourced to South Berg and Joiner. I'm here to express serious concern about the proposal to eliminate our entire related service team, 30 dedicated professionals, and replace them with subcontracted services through SBJC. At first glance, subcontracting may appear to offer a short-term financial relief. However, this approach often introduces hidden and escalating costs. Contracted services
103typically come with higher hourly rates, administrative fees, and less flexibility. Over time, districts frequently find themselves paying more for less continuity, less collaboration, and less accountability. What may look like savings on paper can quickly become a more expensive, less efficient system in practice. But the greater concern is the impact on student outcome outcomes. Our related service team is not interchangeable service providers. They are integral members of our school community. They know our students, our curriculum, our staff, and our families. They collaborate daily with teachers and child study teams. They provide push-in and pull out services, attend IE IEP meetings, adjust interventions in real time, and build relationships that support student growth. We've tried this before. When services are outsourced, continuity is disrupted. Students may see different providers throughout the year. Therapists come and go. There's
104no accountability. Communication between providers and school staff can become fragmented. Therapy may become more isolated, less integrated into the classroom, and less responsive to student needs. This is especially concerning for our most val v vulnerable learners, students with disabilities who rely on consistency, trust, and coordinated support to succeed. There is also a legal and compliance risk. IDA requires that services be delivered as outlined in each student's IEP. Inconsistent staffing, scheduling gaps, or miscommunication with outside providers can lead to missed services, compensatory educational claims, and potential litigation costs that far exceed any projected savings. Additionally, district providers drive revenue for the district by billing Medicaid for services provided. There is a definite possibility that this revenue will significantly decrease as there will be no system of checks and balances to ensure these contracted providers are submitting
105their bel semi-billing. Beyond finances and compliance, we must consider the human impact. Eliminating 30 skilled professionals means learning institutional knowledge, relationships, and a culture of collaboration that has taken years to build. It sends a message to staff and families that our district is willing to sacrifice stability and quality for uncertain costcutting measures. This is not simply a staffing decision. It is a decision about the kind of district we want to be. Do we want a system where we are student- centered and collaborative or one where services are trans transactional, fragmented and violate the students right to a free appropriate education? I urge the board to carefully reconsider this proposal. While I would love to believe that a full cost benefit analysis was completed, I fear that this was a fire sale, a quick lastminute decision
106to cut costs quickly without knowing the true outcome. I urge you to consider retaining the 11 tenure therapists that currently work in the special services department. Engage with these professionals. They are your strongest re source for understanding what works and what students truly need. We understand the inner workings of each building and district as a whole. Our students deserve consistency. They deserve relationships and they deserve a team that is fully invested in their success. Hi, my name is Cindy Roman. I'm an advocate for my kids. So, by my understanding in your budget, you guys discussed everything else but the Department of Special Services in this budget. I don't know if anyone knows what an IEP meeting is. I don't know if anybody attended to one, but my services for my son has been cut. And
107for my daughter, my son is five. He doesn't do well with change. None at all. So, if we have cut those services for the special need kids, what happened to Department of Special Services? So, your director still has a job. Does that office still exist? What are we doing to fix this? I'm not saying another kids are important, but these IEPs and 504s are highly extremely important as much as the rest of these kids in this community. We're discussing extended school year. My son got an email for that. How much is that costing for extended school year? What school we going to? What transportation is being provided? Because if I don't live in in a 2 mile radius, my son can't get on the bus. But I work. So what you gonna do for me,
108for my son, when my mileage is a 1.9. And if I tell you I can't bring my son, then I'm going to get push back on that as well. The same way it goes with my high schooler. She goes to Pam's Tech. You all talk about transportation. What's going to happen to that? Do I have to take her to school? How's she going to come back to Hackasack when it's midday? School starts over there the 31st. How do I know my kids going to be taken there on the 31st until we open here school on the 3rd? None of these people have seen the calendar yet for the upcoming school year and I already seen and I don't like it at all. Completely at all. I don't like it. I don't like the way you
109guys have the the days put on there. I don't like the fact that you guys are not in line with another school like Paramis Tech to make sure everybody is is is in cahoot with everything completely cutting cutting the athletics cutting sister camp. If that's the case, then cut your director's your director's budget. Cut his salary. MATTER OF FACT, how about we cut your salary? Again, the BOE has completely forgotten their position and their position is to supervise the superintendent, oversee your policy, and approve the budget. So, we if we are approving budget, that means we've been approving budgets since 2019 and not seeing the bottom line of all the money spending that's been going on. How can we help? How can the community help? Where is the Where are you guys taking your donation?
110Where's the funding coming in? I don't see no talk of that. happening. When is it going to happen? When school ends, when September comes, when you guys sit here and talk about last minute, oh, we need funding for sixth grade camp. We need funding for this. When parents are struggling around here, when is this going to end? Cuz this has been going on since 2019. So, I don't want to hear this nonsense about the budget. The budget is approved every year with the BOE. Again, we forgotten our position. Give me a second, Miss Harris. We give me a second. Let me finish by here. >> We've forgotten our position. Supervise the superintendent. Oversee our policies and approve the budget. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else from the public? >> Everyone, my name is Sean Varin
111and I'm a parent at >> Could you say your name again? >> Sean Waverine. I'm a parent at um Fanny Hillard and I wasn't even addressed that anything was going to change for my child. My daughter is a third grader inside of Fanny Hillard and she's been going there and she's had all these wonderful speech therapists. Yesterday I walked up to bring her lunch and how I found out was by seeing teachers walk out the building crying. And for me that's that's a hard nut to swallow especially because I know my daughter does not know that change is about to happen for her. And for me as a parent, it's horrible that I didn't even get notified at all. I don't even know that this change is happening until I walk up into a building
112and like the principal hasn't said anything. No other pe no other parents even know. I was the one who was saying we need to be there tonight because nobody knew. Nobody knew that this was going to change our lives for the rest of our lives. It's y'all might see that this is just a change for the year and oh for a couple of months but for these kids that we actually that they serve that these teachers that's back here serve they actually are important to our children. My daughter has had them now for like at least four years since I've moved here. And to be honest with you the consistency that they have come to the classroom. They don't just come in and just give us oh they come once a couple of hours to
113give these kids. They give these kids consistency every day. Every day they have something to feed back to us. They tell us exactly how our kids are performing. Nobody actually talked about special ed. Just like she said, nobody said nothing about the special education, the physical therapy, the occupational therapy, and the speech therapy that's going to be cut for these kids for next year. It's really a heartbreaking thing to know that my kid is going to regress because that's a that's a given. That's a given. If your kid comes into class every day to see somebody that's not there. And these kids that that I'm talking about have autism, they have speech needs. They don't have those things that most kids that are normal that we would consider to be normal. They don't have that.
114And I understand that sports are important. But we got to get there first. We have to learn how to speak, how to walk, how to talk, how to cut with scissors. We don't have none of that at this point. Nobody knows anything. And we didn't talk about it as parents. We don't even know as parents how we can help. We don't even know that because we don't even we wasn't even addressed. We wasn't talked to. We wasn't spoken to. Nobody told us like, "Oh, you know what? We're going to need you right now to do these things. Nobody knows what we doing." My daughter just had a time when she had like she needed physical therapy herself and she had a surgery. The crazy part is nobody couldn't even figure out how to give her
115regular classes during the time she was out of school. The whole time she was out, she didn't have no no teaching. But now we get to this and I get back to the school the school to find out that she's not going to even get her services now. That's just heartbreaking. As a parent, I I wish that y'all would reiterate and actually pay attention to what y'all are taking away. Please do. I thank you for listening. Good evening. >> Good evening. My name is Anna Lubis and I am an occupational therapist at ECDC. Just two days uh just two days ago, I became one of the many related service providers who were laid off by this district. I'm here tonight not only to speak for myself but for the other OT's, speech therapists, physical therapists,
116and behaviorists whose jobs were eliminated overnight. Many of these professionals have dedicated their lives, decades of their lives to serving the students and families of Hackinac public schools. What has happened is devastating, not only for staff, but of course for the students and parents as well. Since January, we have been repeatedly told that our jobs were on the line, then reassured we were safe again, then again told our jobs were on the line, and then reassured again. We spent months living under this constant uncertainty and anxiety about our futures and about our careers. Then on May 1st, many of us received official uh renewal letters signed by the superintendent stating that we would be renewed for the 2627 school year. 4 days later, we were all laid off. So, I just wanted to ask the
117board, why were renewal letters sent before the budget situation was even finalized? Why were employees given false hope regarding their livelihoods? Um, these are not just jobs to us. Like, these are careers people built their whole lives around. These are people with families, mortgages, health care costs, student loans, and some of these people have invested decades of their lives into this into this district and more importantly into the students and children of this district. And it it's it's very disappointing that we're just going to be thrown away just like that. Um some staff members are now being forced out only a few years before they would have been eligible to collect their full pensions. Um and this decision not just affects their livelihoods but also their retirement security. And as lot a lot of my
118fellow therapists know it's now very difficult to receive a district position because so many districts are switching over to contract work. Um and I just want to say that for parents related services, they're not just extras. They're very integral parts of of the school environment and of students lives. Um it takes a long time, a lot of patience, a lot of love to build rapport with the students and we really really love your kids. Um, and you know, contractors, they have way higher turnover rates. Um, and overall are just much less emotionally invested in the success of the students. Um, so we're not just employees. We deeply, deeply care about the students. We celebrate their progress. We support their struggles and we have fought for their success every single day that we have been here.
119So, I I really really just would like to urge the board and and this whole community to please like seriously seriously consider what is being being lost here. Um, I know field trips are important. I know sports are important. I totally get that. But, you know, special special ed kids are also very very important. Thank you. Good evening everyone. My name is Andrea Guzman and this is Alex Alexis Walling. I'm sorry. My name is Andrea Guzman and this is Miss Alexis Walling and we are both speech language pathologists at Hiller's School. Some of you may know us as we have treated some of your own children at Parker, Fairmont, Hillers, and ECDC. We stand here today honestly struggling to find the words with what happened in Hackinack yesterday to the entire related service team. There
120was no warning, no union representation, just someone delivering life-changing news with no regard for the people on the other end receiving this information. Not even a simple thank you for your years that you have dedicated to this district or the children whose lives you have shaped. Miss Parchman, we want to thank you for at least acknowledging that tonight for us. Some of you are sitting on this day as know us personally. Why? Because we were your children's speech language pathologists. And as speech language pathologists, we work our work is never just a job. It's giving your child a voice. Sometimes literally giving your child a voice. It is helping your child say mom or dad or a simple I love you. Sometimes it means using communication needs that are not familiar such as sign language
121or giving them a device instead of crying out of frustration and building the foundations for reading, learning, socializing and their independence. We have I'm sorry three um there are um for milestones that have changed the trajectory of their lives. We have worked with many of the families during the most vulnerable moments advocating to ensure that your children receive the services they deserve including out of district placements that some of your children that are continuing to the district is continuing to fund today. This work is personal. It matters and the last it has a lasting impact. And yet here we stand completely disregarded. We were told in just simple six words that our roles are being ours. That was it. No followup, no guidance, no explanation of what's to come next. Just silence. We have spent
122these last few hours like you scampering to get information and trying to help one another. Meanwhile, individuals who basic who failed to meet basic responsibility of their own jobs remain in positions while those of us who have dedicated our careers to supporting your children. The children of Hackinac with special needs and their families with are left without answers, without support, and without some dignity. We work through a very tenuous time. We showed up for our jobs through COVID. And I could tell you that Miss Walling and myself created the green screen effect so that we can assist your children to speak and continue to give them services even over and outside of our service hours that we know some of our colleagues have at 4:00 6:00 to help our parents. And in that time both
123Miss Walling and myself lost our mothers and we didn't even take our entire bereavement time for that. We made sure we were there and present for your children. Our tenure has been ignored. Our health benefits are gone. Our retirement is now unsecure. And when you remove people from roles like ours, it's not just the position you're cutting. It's the relationships, the trust, critical support for children who depend on consistency, care, and love. No one deserves to be discarded like this. We thank you for your time. Okay. I never did this before. Um, so I don't know. Do can I just ask questions or are we just doing a speech? >> Questions are answered at the end, but please state your name. >> Oh, Felicia D'Angelo. >> Thank you. >> Um, so basically I have I
124have a daughter that was at Hillers and had to get removed. I had to hire a lawyer for that for her to get moved because she was placed um in a classroom that she shouldn't be placed in. And um when we had the IEP, my lawyer and the board attorney Jason here um knows about the IEP and my daughter was supposed to have a individual par. Um it is now May 6th and that was implemented on June 5th and she still does not have one. um that is highly unacceptable. I understand that you guys are going through budget cuts and a lot of things, but my daughter is now being affected by that. My um another thing is my daughter is supposed to be doing um occupational therapy that wasn't done either. Um that was
125delayed and now she's not receiving it at all because of the situation with the cuts. My daughter also has a speech delay that causes her to have problems trying to um speak and have a lot of other things. She has a neurological development delay. She cannot get herself dressed, brush her teeth, even remind to do proper hygiene. And now these are things that are getting taken away from my daughter. And it's not fair. Um it's just hard. I'll be honest. I'm tired and it's hard. I don't want to cry, but it's it's it's hard. and dealing with a lot. And like I feel like when she's in school, she's doing good. Then when she comes home, it's nothing. So taking this away from her is a big problem because I can't do everything. And I
126really try to have to make sure that everything is done properly. But you guys say that you guys are here for her and you guys are here for your students. But how are you here for your students if you're not even sitting here trying to help them? You're taking away the people that are helping them in school. How to cut, how to tie their shoe, how to do things. Like, h like, how is that possible? Like, it's it's honestly sickening that my daughter is going to be six and she can't even do things the way she's supposed to do things. And now you guys are taking it away that that she was improving. So now it's like, okay, we gave you this and now what? Nobody take it away. So then now she's going to
127fail. That's not fair. That's not fair at all. And I'm tired of having these meetings and Jason knows. Like I'm tired of this. It's not fair for a child to not even know how to write her name on a piece of paper and she's six, going to be six. Like it's not acceptable. It's just not acceptable for this to happen. And now with the cuts with the teachers and everything like that. Now since she's in a LLD class now does that mean that the LLD class is going to go up when it comes to the students how does that work with the paras now you know the PE my other daughter she's in a in-class support class is that going to go up are those classes going to go up to 30 kids instead of
12820 kids how is that going to help kids that have disabilities like how is that going to help them that's all I need to know how is that going to help them because I need to know cuz if I have to get my child transferred out and that's going to be more money for you guys to take out of your budget, then I'm going to do that and that's going to be two kids. I don't want to do that. Hackinack is great. You guys take care of, you know what I mean? But I understand the situation, but this is not fair. This is not fair when it comes to kids that have disabilities. We're supposed to be here for the kids with disabilities, not take stuff away from them. That's all. Thank you. Um, good
129evening everybody. Thank you for taking the time to listen to everybody. Um, boy, I wasn't going to do this and I wasn't prepared to come up here, but I was like, I listened to all of you. I heard you. Um, my name is Marina Cherbuff and I'm the physical therapist for this district. When I started here, there were five of us and we were down to one and and that's the way it kind of the attrition went. It it's a perfectly appropriate. I have had the privilege to be able to be in every single building in this entire district. So, I've met so many wonderful people and so many people have touched my life. Um I am one of the people that also did receive here's your attachment for you have been rehired. Uh and
130that was last Monday um a week ago this past Monday for the 2026 2027 and I was like yes. Um and then I got a letter an email the following day saying oops sorry mistake sorry for the miscommunication. I don't know how, you know, I I I it it just baffles my mind um that this can happen. And I thought, oh well, somebody must have hit a send button by mistake and there's a pile of electronic letters because it had my name. It wasn't dear tenur um tenur staff. Um and then lo and behold, come in um into the office and and and we're sorry. Well, I I just stood there and they said, "So, you heard?" And they said, "Of course I heard." you know, it goes like wildfire. Um, each superintendent and not
131Miss Parchment Oats, um, I have asked when they have come over to ECDC, and there's probably been three of them, and I said I would raise my hand and say, "Do you guys have like a five-year plan?" You know, the rest of the United States, whether it's IBM or Amazon or whatever, there's a one-year plan, there's a five-year plan, there's a 10-year plan. And I kind of would get a nebulous answer, not a yes, not a no, and yes, we're working on it, and this type of a thing. And it's sort of like, you know, this is a business. I understand that. Um, and driving all around this city, I see a little cities popping up. These are not communities of 55 and older and senior citizens. These are going to be families that have
132moved in, are going to move in. And unbeknownst to you, because we're down there in the trenches with the families, you will hear stories of people saying, "You know what? I came to Hackinack because they've got a great special education department. You guys have a great reputation here." And it's sort of like, wow. Um, and it's wonderful to hear that. Um, but again, you got families coming in. Where are you going to put these kids? And when you bring up, listen, there's buildings. You had the Z building. You had the library that was torn down. There's a lot of buildings that perhaps could have been considered that we could have utilized, purchased, whatever. ECD is an arterial bleed. We're putting a band-aid on it. Um, and I love that's my home school. I love it
133over there. I absolutely do. But who would rent an apartment and and you have to pay for the plumbing to come in? You have to pay for the electrician. You got a leak in your roof, you have to pay for the roof. Who would sign a lease like that? It makes no sense. And this goes way back. You know, this is 10 years that it's been going. Um lastly, um one of the things that we really could have done, and I have verbalized this, is we could have really made this an outstanding special education department by properly training people. And instead of being ascending school district with proper training and proper um not materials, space and equipment and staff most importantly, we could have been a receiving school district because they are out there and
134we could have been maybe even breaking even with what we could offer to to Burken County and and and we have kids that go out of the county. you could have reached out there. Um, and lastly, I want to thank you brought up you brought up some great things about um, you know, do research, do everything. I happen to go out of town and I have a cousin that is a principal and she's going to be going into a program that has to do with uh, STEM and and this type of thing. There's a ton of stuff out there. Ford has a program and they will come in and it doesn't cost you a nickel. You talk about the athletic programs. I was speaking with one of the gym teachers because I push into a
135specialed gym teacher and I said, "You know what? Who's a golfer?" Nobody. Oh, okay. You know the one that Waste Management did in Phoenix uh last month there was a there was a there was a big golf tournament. Everybody in the whole world went, "Okay, it's out in Phoenix." Anyway, waste management. It's www. And all I can think of, this is Jersey. We we put golf clubs on all our landfills. I was going to reach out and say, you know what, there's a golf program. It's sponsored by PGA. There's a lot out there. You got to ask us. We can help and we can help to bring these numbers down, but nobody is asking us and they're not listening. You know, we got resources here, valuable resources. You got to use them. And then my
136last question is with this cut across the board cut and maybe you can't answer it. I am curious to see how much money was that quote unquote in savings with this across the board cut for related service providers in every single school building. And I'm curious how that comes into um what the numbers are that you you had put up there. And thank you so much. I really appreciate it. This has been a joy for me and as I said I have met so many wonderful people and they have just touched my life. Kids, staff, parents, it's beautiful. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Quinny Bert, resident, lifelong comment, and all the other hats that I wear. Um, I got to be honest. Um, I feel more confused now than I did when I
137got here this evening. So much so that I Googled the difference between extensive and detailed because I found out that extensive means that I give a large scope and I explain things on a huge scale but it may not be detailed. And so tonight we got extensive and we didn't get details about um we talked about the number of people that were cut, what positions were cut and why those decisions were made. Um, we didn't ask you for the people's names, but we do need some details about why were these positions cut and how is that going to help our district moving forward. Um, I've listened to my colleagues come in my room as a being a union rep. I've listened to just colleagues period throughout the building and one thing that's been a reoccurring
138theme during this whole process has been the way we've approached it. um people are not approached properly. I like to think that since I have personnel background that I've learned a little bit about how you approach people who you are going to terminate their employment and so there is a way of doing it. I think all of the parties need to be brought to the table so they know nobody should be walking into a building and admins in the building don't know that it's getting ready to happen. That should not happen. they should at least be made aware of ahead of time so that they can prepare or are prepared to deal with what's going to happen. And so, not only did people lose their jobs this week, but we put admins in a position
139where they were not prepared for what came down the pike. They didn't seem to know what was going to happen. and you don't give them that time so that they're ready to receive those staff members that are hearing the news. This is by all means, we understand it's difficult and we're not blaming anybody, but we need to learn how to handle things a little bit differently. There are a lot of resources in this district, but I understand we're being very private because of the decisions that we have to make. We can be private about the decisions being made and we can continue to hurt people or we can humble ourselves and say we don't know how to do this. Is there anybody that can offer some suggestions that might make a difference so that we
140are actually providing the services that our staff needs if they have to look elsewhere. Thank you to human resources for letting other people know that we have staff members that might be looking for positions, but we've got to do things a little bit differently. Everybody's got to understand that you two are on the chopping block and it just didn't become your turn yet. Kimberly King. Um, I'm here to speak as um a parent and a teacher and a resident. Um, I'm going to apologize if some of the things I've said are things that you've heard before, but I think they bear repeating. Um, some of what I say comes because or I say them because I'm speaking on behalf of people that aren't comfortable speaking. They feel like they can't speak because of their years
141in the district. Some of them are new. And so I feel like I'm using my voice to speak for people who feel like they can't speak. Um, this is my 26th year in the district. I grew up here. I went to school here. And so, um, and I've got four kids that go to this school. One of them is at sixth grade camp. I have an eighth grader who's going to be a freshman at the high school next year and a daughter who is taking her her uh AP exams and a sophomore who is working hard to stay healthy for outdoor track. Um, so bear with me while I go through some things. Um, I'm a little upset that we have programs that have been cut. We have two programs that are going to be
142impacting, I want to say, 200 of our students. Um, at the very least, it looks like 200 students are going to be losing courses. It looks like we're losing uh our our wood shop. Um that teacher, his classes are full and it looks like we're losing our TV studio again. His classes are full. Um these classes impact I would I think I if I'm understanding correctly at the very least 100 students each. So my concern is what's going to happen to these student schedules next year? um if there's grant money or aid that can assist the reinstatement of these classes, why didn't we have somebody do the research so that we could keep these classes? We have a director of curriculum. We have central office administrators filling the position of assistant superintendent. We have a
143superintendent. We have a human resources director. We have an assistant superintendent. I don't understand why the research wasn't done prior to the budget being um put forth to the county. Um I feel like we're building the plane as we're as we're flying it, but we've known for several months where we were headed. So I feel like we should have done our due or you should have done your due diligence before putting this budget together. Um, Trusty Pringle, I I understand your concern with flag football. Um, it's gone from a club to a sport. So, I don't know if taking into account where we're headed next year if how that is going to be impacted. But again, um, I don't know if tonight's budget presentation included all of the information about sports and our athletic programs.
144Um, I feel like if you were going to talk about sports, you should have known a little bit more about what you were going to say about sports. It and I feel like wait to have us wait until June 30th. Um, it's just another couple of months where we're we're going to live in limbo. Um, I don't know why we have to wait until June 30th to have those questions answered. Um, my time is up, so thank you. And I just want to say without Miss Guzman, my son, that was one of the first educators that he threw his arms around and was able to have a very positive impact. um that is one of Sebastian's favorite favorite educators and he's thriving. He was at Parker, too. We loved him. Just calling out names. Got
145to make it a little light in here, right? Okay. Oops. If I'm doing this wrong. Okay. Uh, I wasn't going to speak, but um, so I'm going to come at this from a couple of different ways. Um, Donna West, um, employee uh, minister, uh, employee, uh, what I say employee, minister, community worker, um, a couple of different hats. So as I read this, please know that there'll be different parts that are going to to come up. Okay. I want to start with saying that God will not help Hackin Sack until God heals Hackinack. Almost everyone in some way or another has taken advantage or benefited from their position here in this district. And now we're outraged. Bear with me because I want to ask where was the outrage before from colleagues, from admins, from parents
146because now that we're trying to find ways to stop the bleeding, everybody's outraged. But I remember standing here and there's a few of us that would always come so much so that the previous board president called us, I think, troublemakers or something and felt like we weren't speaking for everybody. I'm not against all of you. I just want to wonder I'm just wondering where the outrage was before this because good people are losing their jobs. But like I said about healing Hackinack, that happens when we don't do things the right way and we haven't for a long time. The previous administration was able to do so much of what they did because it's the Hackinack way. Turn a blind eye because we don't want people to sue us. Well, look where that's gotten us. More
147lawsuits than I can count and more coming, I'm sure. And these folks continue to work here, which boggles my mind. I will tell you, the late Lilian K. Whitaker would never hire a person, she said, if she didn't feel he or she was the right fit. She said she would rather wait and use a sub until she found just who she was looking for. May she rest in peace. So going forward, number one, let's all together stop passing blame because what's done is done no matter how painful it is. And let's show our young people how we rebuild after disaster. Community meetings would be great so we can share ideas. I heard that a couple of times tonight. Number three, let the decisions being made make sense for the betterment of the district and not
148because we feel a certain way about someone or some people. This is not the time for nepotism that doesn't equate to good workers. And lastly, we must vet better. We don't vet well at all in Hackinack. So many of us saw the writing on the wall with several of our former leaders. Some of it was even online and yet we still hired them. Why? Because we're known to take what other districts discard. Sorry, it sounds harsh, but it's true. So, let's put more time and effort into finding out who we're employing, especially in key positions around the district, even if it means waiting. We all deserve to do better going forward. And our children deserve the best. One more thing here. Successful I saw this this morning. Successful people accept responsibility for their mistakes and
149learn from their experiences. And most importantly, they never give up. No man or woman will succeed unless he or she is ready to face and overcome difficulties and prepared to assume responsibilities. Amen. Thanks, My name is Laura Martin. I'm a teacher and a parent. Um, first I just want to stand in solidarity with all the related services people who have been told that they are no longer going to be with us next year. Um, you do the Lord's work. You work miracles. I don't know how we're going to do it without you. I don't know how my child is going to do it without you. Um, whoever gets to stat you up is going to be so lucky. I wish it was still us. I really, really do. Um, but that's not why I'm up
150here tonight. Um, I work at the middle school. Uh, we were told a few weeks ago that 43 members of our staff were rifted. Um, and that number is not inclusive of the related services to people who were recently notified that they were eliminated and it doesn't include the shift in status of our our full-time parents. Um, my building, as far as I know, had the single largest number of staffing cuts of any facility in this district. These cuts are people and these people are those who interface with our kids on a daily basis. They're not in an office hiding anywhere. They are here and they are present and they are working for the benefit of our kids. And now in this budget presentation, you're noted that the district has decided to cut wood shop
151and TV studio. And those are popular electives. And you're talking about cutting field trips and sports in sixth grade camp. And we just got sports. We just got that. We were so proud of that. We've been begging for that for years to give our kids an outlet, a physical outlet to provide a feeder program for the high school to fill a gap that our city hasn't been able to fill. so that when they came to the high school, the kids who couldn't afford wreck programs and travel programs would have a basis, a foundation to build on when they got here in this building. And that brings me to my point. What do my kids, my middle school kids, my babies who look at me every day and ask me, "Miss Martin, what do we got
152on the horizon? What do they have to look forward to next year? What do they have to be excited about? I don't know what they have to be excited about. It's such a special and delicate and challenging time in their developmental lives, right? Middle schools are a tough age. We love them, but it is tough, right? And now the teachers that they're used to, the support personnel that they rely on, the activities they like, these are gone. So, what are we doing? You talk about revealing a plan in June, and that's great. Um, but I hope that when you unveil that plan, there is some special consideration for the middle school. Um, some very serious consideration about the traumatic level of change we are inflicting upon these kids. Um, I really would like to see
153not just my building principal and my building admin and us as teachers coming in to talk to the kids about what to expect next year, but the central office board even coming in and telling them what they can look forward to because I really would like you to find something for them to look forward to. And please don't put it on my shoulders or the shoulders of my colleagues because we are all going to be trying to figure it out next year. There is so much that we're going to have to adjust and adapt and make work. Don't say, "Well, we're going to make them do a program for them." No, please. Can you guys do that for us? We can give you ideas and we can talk to the community and we can find
154things for them to do, but can you please come in with something good for them? Cuz my babies, they deserve it. My middle school kids deserve it. So, please come in with some solutions so that we can give them something to look forward to next year. Thank you. Good evening. I stand before you tonight as the proud president of the HA representing well over a hundred members whose lives are being forever changed through no fault of their own. Over the past several months, I've spent almost every free moment in my day, including my workday, listening to my colleagues during their hour of need and in many cases the worst moment of their lives. And when people's lives are upended, I don't look at the clock. I have endless threeinut intervals for my members to speak
155their truth, to share their fears, and to grieve their careers. And when I took on this role, that's what I signed up for. I signed up to hear their voices even when the weight of that voice is heavy and even when I am very tired. We understand the budgetary reality, but a spreadsheet cannot quantify the human impact of these decisions. Let's be clear about who is bearing the weight of this budgetary crisis. 20% of our teaching staff is slated for a riff, but that accounts for 69% of the total riffs. When you add in our secretaries, 78% of the staff being cut are HA members. I want to be very clear about who these people are. These are some of the finest educators and people that I've ever had the privilege of knowing. They are
156the heart of our buildings. And while these are extraordinary times, this stings specifically because our members have become accustomed to having their lives upended by this district through no fault of their own. For too long, we have felt like we are in the backseat of this moving car, watching the landscape of our careers change while other people hold the wheel. The atmosphere in our buildings has already shifted. You can feel the weight of this loss in the offices and the anxiety in our classrooms today. It is untenable and it is not sustainable. It cannot be up to the remaining staff to carry the burden of rebuilding this district alone while they are grieving the loss of their friends and partners that they have shared a classroom with and building with for years. What makes this
157especially painful is that our members are constantly nickeled and dimed over every time sheet and every graduate credit approval. Yet over the last 5 years, we were told there was no money or limited money for things like substitutes and trips and PD. And we didn't walk away. We were creative. We volunteered even though I told them not to. We sought donations and we created magic out of thin air because that is what we do. We cannot talk about rebuilding this district without acknowledging that we need to rebuild trust. The scars are deep. As Donna referenced, we remember being declared the problem with this district in this very room while a suspended superintendent stood and applauded. Those memories are long lasting. Regardless of fault, every cut cuts. You cannot take for granted that our parents will
158donate, that our staff will go above and beyond, and that our students will simply stay resilient unless you bring them into the process. So when you are planning for teachers, ask yourselves, are teachers at the table 78% of the time? If we are 78% of the loss, we must be 100% of the conversation because respectfully instruction is our expertise. Do not simply impose a plan upon us. And I want to say one last thing. There's a lot of talk about this is the end of the Hackinack public school system. This is it. And I will say as a student here, I'm used to that. I'm used to people counting out Hackinack and people always have a lot of things to say about Hackinack. Never count Hackin Sack out. But what I will also say is
159that in these times while we are resilient, we must bring people together to be a part of a shared solution. Otherwise, all those things people have said about Hackinack for years may become true. Thank you. Anyone else in person that would like to speak? Okay, seeing that there are none, in person is closed, we're going to move to online. Uh hello, Anthony Ziza. I am a parent of a Parker School student. I am also the first vice president of the HA. Um I called in tonight because, you know, last week we heard um the plan's coming. The plan is coming in June. And then tonight we've we've heard that again that we we'll know in June. One of the frustrations of hearing that is, you know, the public was informed of these uh of the
160deficit. You know, maybe not the full extent, but of the significance of it at the turn of the year, you know, in January. Um the idea that these cuts are being made without a plan, without knowing what things are going to look like in September and saying, "Well, we'll figure that out in June." Well, allow me to spoil the reveal. Like everything, and as Mr. Gains has alluded to, the burden is going to fall on the staff, on the people most directly affected, the people who in the largest proportions of those numbers have sustained the greatest loss is going to fall on the children who are going to, as we've heard tonight, lose so many programs, you know, both academic curricular and extracurricular. And so let us not be confused about what next year is
161going to look like. All of the burdens are going to fall on the people who have the least power here. And I am very frustrated as a parent too by the absolute lack of opacity that we've seen in a lot of these decisions. the idea that my colleagues are informed, that they're losing their jobs with no real idea that it was happening. In fact, many of them had been explicitly told that they were being renewed. There's an element here that feels and and I am sorry to say this because I do not believe is intentional but which feels cruel and I think that that needs to be remembered. You know, as has been said so many times, the human element I feel sometimes is being lost here. You know, people can't live the way that
162we've been living, you know, and until this trust is rebuilt, until everybody's brought back into the conversation and listened to, this is going to continue. Thank you. Hello. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes. Good evening. >> Hi. Good evening. My name is Alvana Martinez Boss, former PTA president, Hackinazak resident and taxpayer. Um, are you guys can hear me? Okay. >> Yes. Okay. What is happening to the special education department in this district is devastating. And for many families, this has been a heartbreaking week. There's nothing more painful than watching the people who have truly helped your child, the people who who worked with them every single day through their struggles, challenges, and victories being pushed out of this district. My son was a beneficiary of those services until I decided to pull him out
163of school and enroll him in a charter school where he's thri thriving and receiving all the services he needs. Even though many people advised me not to do it because, and I quote, "Charter schools are not good for students with IEPs." I went ahead with it and I'm very happy to say he's doing excellent. The occupational therapists, speech therapists, behaviorists and other team members and support staff are the backbone of special education. These are the people who do their real work. These are the people who build relationships with our children, calm their fears, teach them life skills, help them communicate, help them regulate their behavior, and make progress that many people would never fully understand. Some of these professionals have dedicated 20 to 25 years or their lives to this district and this is how
164they are repaid. Meanwhile, the district continues protecting high paid admin administrative positions with inflated salaries and titles while dismantling the very team they are supposed to oversee. So my question tonight is simple. If there is effectively no special education department left to supervise, what exactly would the director of special services and his assistant be doing? Why are the people furthest from the children being protected while the people closest to the children are being sacrificed? You speak about equity. You speak about priorities, but equity starts with protecting the students who need the most support and protecting the professionals who directly serve them. If this district truly wanted to address waste, it would start by examining the excessive administrative salaries and benefits that cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, not by eliminating the people who actually
165change children's lives every single day. How will these administrators now justify their positions when the therapist, specialists, and support staff they supervise are gone? How does this decision improve services for children with disabilities? How does this help families? And most importantly, who is going to answer when our children suffer because the people they trusted and depended on are no longer here? Because from where we where many of us are standing, this does not look like responsible leadership. It looks like the dismantling of special education at the expense of the most vulnerable students in this district. Thank you. Have a good evening. Good evening. Hi, Sue Avalone, Clinton Place. I think everybody knows me by now. Okay. So, I'm kind of going in a different direction. Following up on what Trustee Jones had to say and
166also what Superintendent Parchman said, I'm just wondering in terms of all the posi the newly created positions that were established in the last two years that were not listed on the PCR if they have in fact now been eliminated because it seemed to be rather nebulous as to whether we needed them before given the fact that our student population was dropping but our staff numbers were rising. Also following up on what uh Superintendent Parchman said in terms of the ECDC possibly closing that because of the cost. I recently uh came across the a fact that in 2024 uh the Hackinstack Board of Education went into a contractual situation with Bright Adventures uh housing our three and four-year-old prek because we didn't have the space and therefore we were unable to collect the state aid that
167uh Governor Murphy had put aside particularly for full-time preK. So, I'm wondering if you can move the if you're thinking of moving out of ECDC, would there also be additional space in some of the schools to provide this full-time prek so that Hackinack can take advantage directly of the aid money that has been established uh at the state level. I also hope that when you say you're going to answer the questions at the end, I hope you mean before you go to executive session because again, Miss Bellra, I understand even though retired, I'm still up at 6:00 in the morning to take a grandson to to TLE. So, if we could get that done sooner rather than later, I'd appreciate it. Thank you. Hello everyone. Can you hear me? >> Yes. Good evening. >> Good
168evening. My name is Jessica Cruz. I'm a Nelly K. Parker uh P the PTA president of Nelly K. Parker as well as the parent of a child with an IEP. Um tonight I want to talk about some facts because I know that there is some misunderstandings of what's going on and I just want to make sure my understanding is correct. So fact last week many of the related service providers received renewal letters from central renewing their employment ne next school year. Fact yesterday the entire district related service was reduced and will not be eliminated but outsourced to tber and joint commission. Fact these transitions will result in a loss of continuity replacing Prada level providers with Sheen alternatives to check off a box. They won't be my son's SLP, Miss Caligari, and Miss Susie, his
169OT, who spent hours of their personal time, not only raising money last week and the prior weeks for Nelly K. Parker's first ever autism acceptance walk so that they could showcase and support the stu the autistic students of the district, but also have poured their heart into my son. These individuals are responsible for helping my son find his voice and be able to regulate himself in situations that gened parents take for granted. Fact. Last Thursday, I had my son's annual IEP meeting where I had to prioritize my son's safety by choosing to put him into an LLD class next year because despite his success this year in an inclusive setting, crowds and loud noises are his triggers for alopment. And Parker has walls and and with the in has no walls and with the incl
170the increased class sizes will increase to 30 plus. I need to choose to protect his safety over his appropriate placement where he flourished this year in a class of 21 kids. Fact. When talking about hope, we're talking about bringing back field trips and programs and coaches, which are amazing things. However, special education has been affected by full-time paras being eliminated, related services being outsourced, and the effects of increased class sizes. And our most vulnerable learners are already starting out with less in life bring and bringing in the most federal federal funding, yet are only considered when trying to avoid being sued and breaking the law. Fact, the related service providers were told that receiving renewal letters was a glitch or an error and that people didn't know. But at the August 22nd board meeting, we
171approved joining South Berg and joiner and we were accepted into the joyer at their board meeting on April 28th. At a previous board meeting, Trustee Alston Balucha talked about being aware of how the medicine goes down, but the sequence of events and how we are treating others. And Miss Alison Balucha, I'm not blaming you, I'm just quoting you. Um, but the sequence of events and how these are treating the people who pour their hearts into our children tastes like poison. I ask that we do everything in our power to help these amazing professionals secure employment and at least have the option give them the option to choose to be observed by absorbed by the joy and hopefully they will still want to consider serving our community and the children they love so that we can
172still have these amazing professionals in some capacity. Fact, one of the few things Mr. Mc Dr. McBride did right. Please bring back the special ed task force so that when changes are negatively impacting our IEP and 504 babies, we can work together to give them free and appropriate public education they deserve and hopefully bring back our in-house providers when we are more stable. In fact, maybe just maybe with with Mr. Jones said, bringing Central back to State Street will help us to keep perspective as we rebuild. Thank you. Uh good evening. Uh Tom Trzano. I work at Hackinack High School. I'm also the executive committee of the HA and a proud uh graduate class of 1993. Um I don't even really know where to start with a lot of the things that I was listening
173tonight. I think uh what resonates quite a bit is the incredible uh loss that we end up facing since the last few months. We've been watching some of our colleagues get cut. Our membership has been hit uh percentage- wise the highest that's been covered. Um but I'm thinking about also the programs that end up being cut. The therapists are solid people, do good work, do the heavy lifting that the general education teachers don't do. But then the general education teachers a bit cut too and they do a lot of the heavy lifting and end up um being the face that the administration generally can't be or chooses not to be. Um, it's frustrating. And then the administration ends up having to bear a brave face walking into a meeting while they end up issuing cut
174after cut after cut because some people end up being behind closed doors um making decisions that um that don't seem to be delivered or the results of those decisions don't seem to be delivered in a proper way. Um, you know, we've been asking for timelines and we end up saying just wait a little longer. Just wait a little longer. Just wait a little longer. We've been asking for uh versions of transparency and accountability and we don't see that kind of accountability other than in uh conversations about benefits and the reduction in payroll uh and increase in taxes in the community. Um, in the conversations about institutional memory, you know, you have to kind of take into account with the hundred or so people that end up more than 100 people who end up end up
175having their um their employment situation adjusted, changed, terminated, rift. uh you're losing thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of years of experience uh in the classroom that um isn't something that you can simply rebuild or get back thousands of years. Uh and then if you end up thinking about uh you know honoring the traditions of the district, I mean you end up going back to uh name like Charlie Tuppence as an example. You can end up going back to Acriman as an example. Those people who end up holding positions as teachers in the wood shop before our current rostered employees ended up um receiving the terrible news. you can end up going back to the George Leo season, the Rich Rouse, you know, who ended up holding down those positions in the
176TV studios, at the middle school, and at the high school, uh, for years and years and years before our current employees end up, uh, you know, receiving the terrible news of a of a change in their position. Um, it's uh, it's devastating. And when you end up thinking about what's happening to students, particularly young people, they internalize this messaging as though they don't deserve it. Like it takes very little time for a student to take a look at what their opportunities are and realize doors have been closed on them uh for the foreseeable future. If a high school student as a freshman, as an example, this is last point, I understand the rules here. The freshman is, you know, as an example, is finishing their freshman year and looking for an opportunity to be working
177with their hands or in a TV studio working about like media and film and they don't have those opportunities for three years. They will have completely lost that opportunity. They'll have to kind of pick up uh and be competitive against schools, against other students who already have that opportunity in their back pockets. Again, the building part of this is really, really difficult. We talked before or I spoke before about the body becoming whole and I still haven't heard a convincing word out of anybody's mouth about when that actually will be. U dismayed and frustrated uh as as just about everybody is and uh incredibly saddened that it's come to this state. Um yeah, it's you guys have to do better. Thank you. Can you hear me? >> Yes. Yes. Good evening. >> Good evening. My
178name is Susie Adamelli and I'm an occupational therapist at Nellie K. Parker, the greatest school in the world. While I understand the district is facing a budget deficit and difficult decisions must be made. I was deeply saddened that after receiving my reinstatement letter on Friday that I was informed just yesterday that all related service providers would be let go and replaced through contracted services. While I certainly have personal concerns regarding the loss of benefits and of course my job, my greatest concern is for our students and the quality and consistency of services they receive. Having previously worked as a contracted related service provider in several districts, I have firsthand experience with the limitations that often come with contracted services. District employed therapists contribute far beyond district direct therapy sessions. We are present at parent teacher
179conferences, back to school nights, staff meetings, continuing education programs, school events such as field day, morning duties, and most importantly, we maintain regular collaboration with staff, consistent participation in IEP meetings, and we are present daily within the schools. These are all events and services that contractors are not going to be involved in or invested in. The board stated that these staffing changes would not take effect until the start of the next school year and that students would continue receiving services through the end of this academic year. However, I would like clarification regarding how services will be continued um how service continuity will be maintained in the coming weeks. I'm currently 19 weeks pregnant and out of fear that disclosing my pregnancy would negatively impact my employment status, I had not yet informed the district. Over
180the course of several several years, I have accumulated 21 unused days with the intention of using some of them during my turn my maternity leave in the 26 27th school year. Given recent staffing decisions, I now understand that if I do not use those days before the end of this school year, I will lose them. As a result, I intend to use the time that I'm legally entitled to. So, my question is this. If related service providers in similar situations begin utilizing their acred leave before the end of the school year, who will be responsible for providing compensatory services to the students who will miss sessions during that time? Thank you for your time and for your consideration. >> Good evening, Daniel Jackson Hackinac resident, parent and uh ECDC teacher and building leader. Um earlier
181it was mentioned um that there is potential for ECDC to be dissolved, potentially moving staff and students back into the elementary school buildings. Um I'm just curious when these decisions will be finalized and when staff will be notified and or become a part of the conversation. There's a lot of rumors going around. It's really difficult to come into work every single day as the building leader and field questions and concerns and not have legitimate answers to give to folks who are in desperate need of them. So, if we could get some answers on what's going to happen to ECDC, we are a family. Um, we're losing some great people. Um, it's very sad. I love Mary. I love all of the OT's, PTS, um, speech therapists that I've had a chance to work with and
182we're desperately going to miss them all. So, yes, please consider ECDC. We are kind of an island left to ourselves. Um, we deserve respect um, and care and your consideration in this very difficult time. Thank you. Hello. Can you hear me? >> Yes. Good evening. >> Good evening. My name is Heather Corey. I am a former parent and resident of Hackinack. I'm not quite sure who said it, but I'd like to address the trustee who asked all of us to not repeat things that people are saying and, you know, doesn't want to be there till 3:15 in the morning and all of that. Well, I definitely respect that because nobody wants to be up until 3:15 in the morning. You ran for this position. You asked the residents of Hackinack to vote for you to
183do this position. So, this is your job right now. and to ask all of these teachers and OT's and speech therapists and everyone who just found out yesterday that they've lost their jobs to not express how they're feeling. I find it's very rude and disrespectful to the residents and to all of the people of Hackinack. So can we please be a little bit more considerate of the teachers and everyone and the parents and the kids who are losing their jobs and let them speak their peace for a position that you asked and for a job that you asked to do. Thank you. >> Hello. >> Yes. Good evening. >> Hi. Good evening. Um, I'm fairly new to Hackinac and I've been disappointed since day one, especially with I have two kids who have IEPs, one
184in the high school and one at Fanny Hillers. Uh, my experience with Hackinack has been a hot mess since day one and their accommodations had always been a struggle since I became a resident here. So I unfortunately I had to move here due to health reasons for one of my children and we needed to be near the hospital. But as far as I see hack from the top to the even the smallest position is extremely unorganized. And then to hear some board members trying to rush the public into not wanting to be here all night is it's really disappointing because coming from Hudson County where I grew up, you know, it's an urban urbanized zone. So it's we don't really have a lot of much money. But the experiences that we have, we actually have
185experiences. You know, my daughter recently joined softball and unfortunately the kids don't even have socks. They don't even have belts to match their uniforms. The field is very unkempt. Like I don't understand. There's no accountability for all the money that's missing there. I don't hear no remorse, no, hey, this is where we felt short at. This is where the money went. This is where it's missing. It's just like everyone's just trying to cover everything up. But who's taking accountability? Where's the money that's missing? Where where did it go? Where are these false positions? Who's taking responsibility for everything going south? Like it's just there's no accountability. Everyone's just, oh, taking this position. No, I'm going to do this position now. Interimm positions. Like, we need a fix. We need to know what the problem is.
186We don't need anyone masking what the issues have been. We don't need to hear it on social media or on Facebook. We don't need to hear rumors. We want to hear it from the source. We need to come up with solutions, valid solutions, an actual plan that's going to work because our kids are suffering. You know, I had to tell my daughter that her par professional, the only one who's actually put effort into her teaching and she's been learning that she won't be here next year. And then and because of that, they offered for her to switch to Parker School, which luckily she has that ability to be switched over there. But at the same time, I'm also concerned as a parent because what if more things fall short and what if this budget is
187agreed upon, but then more things start happening. It's like we we need a clear clearcut plan of what's going to happen. Everything from resources, even Bergen's promise is like you get sources from them, but then all of a sudden the therapist is not there no more or it's like we we need to come up with a solution. Everything is all confusing. We don't have anything clear and it's unfortunately everyone's suffering because of this. >> Ma'am, can we have your name, please? >> My name's Angela. >> Thank you. >> Hello. Good evening. Um, my name is Chris Azar. Can everybody hear me? >> Yes. Good evening. >> Good evening. Um well a lot of people have already touched on a lot of the the subjects and um while I agree with many of you I agree
188that um you know while we don't want to place blame we do need to have accountability. So it's um you know we can't have this administration pointing at the last one and blaming them for the problems and and and we can't have now that the that the cuts are happening which I'll get to. Um, we can't have that as an excuse now for the remaining staff to say, "Oh, you know, everything's too hard now and and use it as an excuse basically to lower the standard of education." The number one priority of the board of education is to serve the children. I understand that there's many people losing their jobs and it's it's sad that the most important people are losing their jobs, the people who actually deal with the children every single day. Okay?
189the people who have invested interest in this community and we're talking about bringing in contracted hires who who basically we don't know who they're from if they're going to be here regularly if they're going to create uh relationships with our children. I'm a parent and a and a fourth generation resident. I'm a parent. I'm a student in the school and a fourth generation resident of Hackinack. I've gone through Hackinack schools. Okay. And I've watched it deteriorate over the decades. Okay. I'm hearing things about how uh you know you guys don't want to spend the time. We're supposed to we're not getting any details about the criteria used on on why are our our instruction instructors being cut and we have a a large uh uh the the people the people who are doing the cuts
190apparently have job security but what criteria is being measured? What qualifications do the people have when you can't even give us a plan? Okay. We can't even get accurate numbers and percentages about the numbers you're presenting tonight. Okay. Like it was put together this morning. It's a shame. Pardon my French. That's all I have to say. >> Hi, I'm Erin Msia. Um, and I want to speak, I guess, as a taxpayer. Um, I want to know if the district will advocate for and negotiate freezes on tuition and services with the administrations and the agencies and districts and schools we pay out to. As demand goes up and the rising costs of everything dictate what will inevitably be higher costs for tuition and services, will these tuitions and fees keep going up and will we keep
191paying? Will the county and state support Hackinack public schools in our contracts with commissions and jointers and special services districts and put the same demands on these sending districts that they are putting on you all right now? Are we going to be demanding the same accountability expected of us from the jointers districts and charters who cash our checks? I'll pause for maybe size eye rolls and laughter because I think for those of you who understand the politics at play here. We kind of know the answer to this. Um but we need to ensure that the state funds its mandate to us for extraordinary aid and this is what you must do as an administration and board and what we all as a community want to see and assist with um through transparency and information. We
192need to hold these partners who we write these big fat checks to accountable to the taxpayers of Hackinack. And this matters more now than ever that you take this on as an administration and board because these dollars are now going out of the Hackinack community. And as I say this, I'm thinking about so many of the stories we've heard over these past several months. The social worker and alum from Railroad Avenue. I'm thinking of Mner Gatrell and the rowing team. I'm thinking of Miss Service. And of course, I'm thinking of all of our students um with love and hope in my heart and heartbreak. Um but please, we need to hold these partners accountable. The same accountability that you are facing right now as board and administrators staying up till 3 in the morning doing
193these hard things. It shouldn't just be you all feeling this hurt. Thank you to all. Hello. >> Yes. Good evening. >> Hi. Uh my name's Brianna Fischer. Um my kids are three and five. Uh they're both on the spectrum. Um they are about to well my oldest is about to get evaluated by Hackinack uh school district to see what um you know where he'll be next year starting school. Um so all this is very new to me. Um but I just want you to know that um it's really sad what's going on and it's scary for any parent to put their kids in school with the way this world is. But my kid can't talk. Well, he talks, but he can't tell me if something's happened or whatever the case may be. Um, so putting
194him in a school district with all this going on is really unsettling. Um, it honestly makes me not even want to get him evaluated by you guys cuz I don't even know who will be qualified to make the decisions that need to be made for his future. Um, and as you know, uh, physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, ABA, all of that stuff is so detrimental to these special education needs kids and what you guys are doing is just really upsetting. Um I understand that sports is absolutely important for kids for college for just to get you know start friendships and it it's very important but my babies don't have weren't born with all the things that most kids have just something that you take for granted just by you know going to the bathroom.
195My 5-year-old still can't go to the bathroom by himself and it's really really scary. So, I really hope that you reconsider all these wonderful people that have been helping all these other generational other generations of kids. I've been told before any of this has happened how well um how good Hackinack is for special ed and it's all down the drain. And I really, really hope that you guys could get this fixed before my son starts school in September, cuz I'm in tears hearing these poor parents and these poor teachers going through all this. And I'm really sorry. And I just hope that there's something that could be fixed for my son uh before September or else I need to figure out what else I could do and take him somewhere else that's more qualified. Thank
196you. Good evening. Can you hear me? Hello. >> Yes. >> Oh, good evening. My name is Michelle Tvarez. I am a long-standing resident of Hackinack, your PETSA president for the high school, long-term PTA president throughout every school in my kids' careers, and I oversee the PTA for the entire district as the president's council president. And first and foremost, before I address why I raised my hand, I just want to say to the gentleman who was just on before, our education system has not declined over the past many years. Let's be very clear about that. Our kids have had phenomenal educations from phenomenal educators. So to hear anyone ever say decline over the past many, many years, that is a false statement. and let me let people who are new to this district know that and
197know that it is not true. Now, I want to address why I'm here. I wasn't going to speak this evening because I've already said what I needed to say. My opinion on many of these issues is already clearly known for many people. However, tonight I want to address the board directly, not just for myself, but on behalf of educators, parents, and this entire community. I do want to acknowledge that I understand how hard many of you have been working. I understand the long nights, the difficult conversations, the pressure and the amount of time that goes into these decisions. That effort is seen and it is appreciated. But as I stand here and say this, I appreciate your time and commitment. Asking this community to be mindful of your time sends a message that you are
198not appreciative of ours. It sends the message that the voices of parents, educators, and community members are somehow an inconvenience. To ask us to limit our voices because of your late nights or to ask us to be considerate of your time while there has been little to no consideration shown for our extraordinary or educators is deeply disappointing. During teacher appreciation week, no less, to hear the phrase, I don't want to be disrespectful, but that matters. Words matter. You choose to run for the board. You choose to become an elected official and take the responsibilities that become with these positions. These educators did not choose to lose their jobs. They did not choose this uncertainty, this heartbreak, or this disruption of their lives and classrooms. So to ask the community to be considerate of your time
199while our teachers are facing life-changing consequences feels incredibly out of touch. And I want it to be on record that while I understand the direction and intent behind your statement, I stand firmly with our educators, our parents, and everyone in this community who feels unheard. To every single one of them, I say this clearly. Please speak your mind. Use your voice. Advocate for what you believe is right. And I'm sorry I could not be there in person tonight, but to all of our educators educators, you have my support always. Thank you. Good evening. >> Yes, good evening. >> Good evening. Um, my name is Christian Tanowway. Um, I'm a parent of two students at Jackson Avenue School and um, we're here once again. Once again, we're here. Um I've been to several meetings now and
200um we are even though the board always every meeting has claimed it will give us transparency, we do not get that. Instead, we are finding out decisions like cutting paras, like cutting um special needs um special needs teachers and um and all the necessary people to help our kids being cut through social media and even students themselves whom they they don't even understand what's going on. a lot of them like especially in the elementary level they don't understand what's going on and there's no consideration from the board and it's crazy how you are like in this I know there's a crisis going on there's a budget crisis uh a lot of us parents get it but we we can't tolerate that you are targeting first the most vulnerable of all which has the special needs
201I got a kid with IP and you know this is concerning I wish I could get up and I wish I could send my child to private school, but I can't because they don't offer what public schools are supposed to offer. And every time we come here, whether we go to the meeting in person or we talk um through online um all we get is the lousy I'm sorry and we it's going to take some time yet we just later on weeks pass and we find out that you guys have made decisions behind closed doors that affect our kids without even addressing this in meetings. So there is no transparency there is nothing and the ones who get affected is people is uh the workers which are paras and the and the teachers whom like
202you know they rely in these jobs this how they make a living and then our kids you know there's no consideration our kids who are you know counting on on the system the system is letting us down right now and there's nobody to being held accountable and you know people don't even go to the meetings no more because every time we go we just get a lousy sorry and we're going to address it next time and that next time never comes and we are tired of hearing that lousy sorry. So hopefully you know there's going to be more transparency going on um from now on and hopefully you guys make the right decision and you know think about our students actually you know do your job which is think about our students first. Thank you.
203Hello. >> Yes. Good evening. >> Hello. >> Yes. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> My name is uh Asia Drakeford. I'm a taxpayer and a par profofessional in the district with 16 years of dedicated service empowering students in special education. It is with profound dismay that I address the recent treatment of myself and 56 fellow par profofessionals and support staff particularly the announcement of our positions being cut due to budget constraints. The recent meeting in the auditorium offered no clear answers regarding our future or recognition to our steadfast dedication to this district. It is unacceptable to dismiss our roles without providing any substantial support or concrete plans beyond a vague promise of potential part-time rehire in September. There is no guarantee provided for this rehire and is insens and and the insensitiv insensitivity of correlating
204these cuts with the potential loss of sports program programs overlooks the significance personal impact these decisions have on our lives and livelihoods. My colleagues and I are deeply concerned. Our ages, years of service to the district, and the profound connections we share with our valued students exuberate our worries during the uncert this uncertain time. We urge you to reconsider the human cause of these uh budget decisions and provide clearer, more supportive solutions. Good evening. Can you hear me? >> Yes. Good evening. >> Hi, Anna Garcia. Um, I have a question and please, I would like an answer. Did the state grant Hackinack permission to circumvent certain state laws temporarily? And the reason why I asked that question is if that is the case, I do not understand why student why charter schools are still on
205the table. One would think that to save all that money that's being sent to charter schools that these students would have to come back to district and we can use our own money in our own city in our own public school systems. Not once did anyone say anything about students coming being redistricted and coming back to their home schools. That should be what we should be focusing on. And maybe if we did that and I if I saw the agenda correctly, I'm thinking it was like $8 million or something to that, that could really help the budget, the current budget in Hackinack. And the other thing is if we are allowing students to go to charter school, what's going to stop parents from now wanting to send their kids to charter schools because these schools
206are intact while we're falling apart here? Please answer my questions. Hello. >> Yes. Good evening. >> Good evening. My name is Michelle Azar. I'm a mother of a kindergarten student at Fanny Meyer Hillers. Um, I wanted to ask the board, what studies of the long-term effect of the students were taken into account when these cuts were made? How in good faith can we abide by what you guys are pushing down on us when we have not had a conversation? Well, I'm sorry, the principal has not been allowed by central office to talk to the parents at the school level um about the impact and what it will have and what it will look like. That um that's question one. I also want to ask what are we building in Hackinack other than apartments if our
207children it's almost like we need to stop talking to ourselves and talk to other school districts because I want to tell you in Tennifly sports is not an option. It's important that we are building the foundation for what these people are going to what these children are going to be as adults. Children are not a different species. They're just smaller adults. This is where we have the time and the energy to pour into them so that we can get a result out of them. I want to push back on anyone who thinks that a field trip is just a day off from school. This is what opens you up to what is outside of the four walls. We're It seems to me like even in I wanted to say that we're building prisons, but even
208in prison there's other electives or things to help stimulate the brain. What is the impact of taking these things away? How can our kids then compete with kids from other towns? It's shameful and a disgrace. I had a lot of faith in putting my child into the public school system. But every single one of my concerns has been proven correct. I want to know where I get my refund. I want to know how I get my kid into a private school so that she can compete with AI and everything else. You need imagination. You need to be poured into. You need electives in order to do that. There are some kids that are coming to school who can't wait to get their hand on video equipment. Creativity matters. What are you building here? Real question.
209Thank you. Hello. Um, I am a representative for Nelly K. Parker School. I am My name is Victor. I am 9 years old and it makes me very disappointed that we have to lay off these teachers. It's sad. Miss I have a parro her name is Miss Chris. She has built my world for two years. She was she is the best. It makes me very sad that people are getting laid off. I don't know how many people, but a lot of people might get laid off from this. These these budget cuts I play sports. These budget cuts are not very good. I feel like there are a lot of alternate ways that that we can fund raise. Like, do you want the city to fund raise? Because we're here for you, but we're not here
210for special people to get laid off for kids who have special needs. We're people. Some people need paras. Some people need these things. So it makes me very very disappointed that these people are just getting laid off and then these people just get laid off and sent to different schools and then they decide to just put a temporary contract. People matter. Kids matter. We are the future. Everything that you do is shaping us. Every action is shaping us. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. >> Good evening. Can you hear me? >> Yes. Good evening. >> Yes, my name is Norin Bati and I'm a par in ECDC. I would like to listen all the people on the websites listening or the board members especially and my co-workers my colleagues everyone the whole
211hackin sack I worked 16 years as an ABA parah I did not leave the district when the covid hit us it was a storm for everybody right but now I feel like this storm is just for the chosen on just the people that are been chosen. We paras we work directly to the students. We change their diapers. We put the straws in their milk cans. We open their their lunch bags. We are directly working six, seven hours with them. And they they are our own family. I consider them my family. And when I was given the notice that I am becoming a part-time para I asked them if you consider us a family you didn't do this right with us 16 years is a it's a long time and now I'm on a path to
212become a teacher and you know my whole morale is going down what I just two semester left and I will be a teacher my my administrators my co-workers my colleagues my teachers they said norine you have so much potential why don't you go back and get your degree and I took a step in the age of and this is what I get my my my I will be graduating with my daughter and when I tell my daughter that you know I'm a part-time again they say mama why did you choose this teaching profession I said this is my life all my life I did just teaching back home I was eight years I was working as a teacher working here 16 year hacken sack as a para profofessional especially in an ABA please from the
213offices come to the ABA classroom you will see how we work hard with these kids and we have built a bond with them these are our kids and we have so much you know love for them but all of a sudden we are we are becoming nothing we are we are at the ocean we are the bottom level we are just the whale poop like we are considered nothing. We spend our time with these kids and these special special ed services. All the cuts that you made, they need that. Please consider it again. I request you all the benefit that has been taken from our parents there from 16 24 years. My colleagues, please consider to bring them back to full-time. We are giving you 100%. I want somebody please visit the ECDC that 3
214years old. Please visit them. You will see and you will see what we do. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Hello everybody. My name is Tracy Pontiska. I'm a lifelong resident, a Hackinack alumni, a teacher, an HA rep, a PTA president at Fairmount School, a taxpayer. Um, I just have a few things to say. First of all, Victor, amazing job. Every teacher at Parker School is so so proud of you. All the paras, all the support staff, everybody's listening and we are so so proud of you. you are the future and you are we are shaping your future. So, thank you for sharing your perspective. Um, if we could please get an answer. I know a lot of people spoke on the letter that was sent to ECDC and Fairmount staff last week confirming
215their employment for the 2006 2007 school year and then it was replied to them that it was a mistake. On Friday, they received their second approval letter for the 20 26 277 school year. And then Tuesday, they were notified that they were all being rifted. All of our special ed support services, related services. If you've never seen what these people do, they are in the trenches. They are on the ground. They are with the kids. same as our full-time powers. These are the people that I don't know how our school with the level of special ed students that we have at Nelly Kate. Barker School, how we're going to survive come September. There are so many of our paras that feel devalued because they were demoted to part-time. They're not staying around to be taken
216advantage of. They're going to find an employer that's going to value what they can offer, their training, their skill, their empathy, their devotion. Um, on to the next thing. I really don't know how September is going to work. I'm seeing it from the PTA perspective, from the parent perspective, from the teacher perspective. Um, I'm proposing hopefully maybe since we've been reduced at the elementary school by one admin if a central office admin can come and spend the first marking period in each elementary building to provide support to the office staff which in each building has been cut in half. We've gone from two admin and two secretaries to one admin and one secretary. Um, secondly, if we can get an answer on ECDC, rumors keep floating. Everybody knows about stuff before it's announced at the
217board meeting. So, the transparency is not coming from the board, but it's coming from the community. And it would be much better if we hear from the board first. Um, June is way too late for a plan. Most teachers have boxes and boxes of stuff that's going to have to get moved. And considering that we've cut custodians and that extended school year is going to be in Parker, summer's not going to be enough time. Um, if there are extra rooms in the elementary schools and if as far as I'm considering there's going to be several extra classrooms in the high school, can those rooms be used in lie of the ECDC rooms? compensatory services for special ed IEPs in order for them to be in compliance with all of our related service providers. We are
218all encouraging them to take the time that they are owed. They weren't given much time to make decisions and plans. Um so if the board can please provide a plan for the compens compensatory services for our students in need. Secretaries in central office are non-union secretaries. Is there a reason that our union secretaries were not given the opportunity to take on those confidential secretary positions? Are tenur secretaries that were rifted? Um, if our per pupil rate is going down, is the amount that we're sending per pupil to the charter school also going to go down? Also, middle school is scary as it is. I've had faith in the middle school up until this point, but our district is not putting the middle school in a place for success. I know everybody there is going to
219do their absolute best, but I think it might be prudent for the district to survey parents of who plans on returning in September and who doesn't because that might change how you plan for September's enrollment. Thank you. Hello, my name is Danielle Davis. Um, I have a son in Fairmont Elementary School. His teacher has now left for the now he's in second grade. So, he's gone through three teachers in kindergarten, two teachers in first grade, and now one of his favorite teachers is leaving um due to pregnancy, but now not coming back because of the issues in Hackinac. It's devastating to me that my son has had to suffer all these different teachers. I love this community. I love the teachers. I love the staff. I love the PTAs. They're they're all amazing and they
220put so much work into everything. Why is it so disorganized in this town from the wreck to the board of education? Why are these schools getting letters saying that they're going to be reinstated in September and then getting other letters saying that they're not they're losing their jobs? You got to be kidding me. Get, excuse my language, but get your together. That's all I got to say. >> Watch your language. The First Amendment is live and well, but we can't have abusive language. I'm sorry. Hello, this is Pedra Delvecio, a teacher at Fairmont, a parent of graduates and an alumni myself. And I'm here again because again we have heartbreaking news that we've lost our occupational therapists, speech therapists, behavioral therapists, physical therapists, and we've heard a lot about special needs students and we know
221that they are essential to those children thriving, but I want to add to what a prior uh speaker said. They support all of our kids through us, the other teachers. We go to them with all kinds of questions. We lean on them for strategies and support. Children who don't have IEPs, children who have a awkward pencil grip, children who are having trouble with the stairs, children who are having trouble with their articulation, with behaviors, for sure. We all lean on them. They are for everyone. Outsource providers are not going to be there for us like that. Um, they will bill for those hours. That's just the way it works. It's a, you know, maybe not for profofit, it's a public school, but it's not the same as being a part of our community and there
222for all of our kids. So really, before that happened, I was hoping to just come on here and remind you of what I said the last time, and I will say it as many times as I need to. Everything that has been cut is essential. The paras, the secretaries, the custodians, the assistant principles, the guidance counselors, and of course, the teachers. and now our support staff. So, I'm reminding you today what you agreed to at the last meeting and I'll remind you as many times for as many years as is necessary that all of these things have to be brought back when the crisis is over. They're not disposable. I don't want to hear that. Well, we are saving money with this outsourcing situation or we're saving money with part-time Paris. Like, we need a
223promise. We need to know that if and when we get through this crisis, and I believe we can these things will be restored. I I ask you for your promise. Thank you. Good night. Before we go to our next caller, >> thank you. Um, can we have a motion to extend the meeting past 10 o'clock, please? Motion by Trustee Jones, second by Vice President Martin. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Anyone opposed? Any abstensions? Okay, thank you. Let's go back to our public comments. >> Hi, good evening. >> Good evening. >> Um I uh just wanted to um first say I know that this is I've said it before. My name is Carmen Bren Morton, proud parent of Nelly K. Parker student. Uh, I've said it before, I don't ever want to
224be on the other side of the table that you guys are. I know that that the decisions that you make, you do not make them lightly. Um, and as the person said before, I do hope that when the time comes to bring these positions back that you do. Um my question is more um towards when we do move towards um moving towards a provider if there's a way of having them possibly pick up some of the um positions that we've dropped some of the um um physical therapists, speech pathologists and occupational therapists. Um if I know that uh at the beginning in the presentation the HR said that you know working towards help helping them find uh permanent positions but if we could maybe get them positions working for that provider company so then maybe
225they could prioritize putting them back into Hackinac that way I mean it's not you know having them back in our family and having them there as a part of the staff as you know our teachers have been saying, you know, they do way more than just provide services when they work for the district, but at least then they can still be um there for the kids and still pick up where they left off um in terms of working with them for those of them who, you know, choose to um because it's for our community and it's for our kids and it's the right thing to do. Um, and I mean for those therapists who would want to work for whatever provider company it is that we're working for, just as suggested. That's all. Okay. At
226this time, public comment section is closed. Um, we will try our best to address as many questions as we can this evening. Um, but I will first start and Miss Andrea O Parchment, you let us know if whether or not you're able to address some of these questions uh this evening. Um, but the biggest question that most staff have mentioned was that they received renewals one day and then four days later they received a rift notice after. Can you speak to that? It was an error. Um, and it's unfortunate and it does feel cruel, but it was an error and that did happen. And I believe our um human resources director sent an email out to the staff with an apology. I know um that one of the callers didn't want to hear another apology
227from me, but I'm going to always take the blame or whatever because I'm the acting superintendent and it was a mistake. I can't undo the mistake. And yes, it was cruel and I apologize and we will try to avoid having any more mistakes like that. And I'm not sure what else to say. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, another question was, did we look into grants to fund wood shop and other programs that are being eliminated? >> So, or were they considered? >> I I I think that I need to just maybe set the time frame of what has happened within the last two weeks. We have met with uh the county superintendent several times. We have looked at the budget, revenue, expenditures, and we still could not balance the budget. And our priority, and it's
228not that no one else is a priority, our priority was to balance the budget and also do it expediently, but also with thought. And within the time frame, we could not research, you know, grants for wood shop or grants for television studio when we were trying to cut our appropriations, our expenses so that we would not have a monitor come into this school who would have done a a lot more without the care and thought that we're trying to put into this in a very limited amount of time and we have spent hours and this is not excuse I just need to paint the picture that none of this is being done without thought. Uh one of the callers uh mentioned when we went to the provider the Southberg and joiner did we ask about
229prioritizing our staff? Absolutely. That was the first uh thing that we asked. Um, and I I'm sitting here saying to myself, they're so talented, our staff, that another district may pick them up. Like, but of course, selfishly, we would like to prioritize and hope that they would come back to us, but they could find something more lucrative, as talented as they are. The last time we had $7 million left to find cuts. We had to look at every area. I know the question was did we can't we reconsider we can't consider reconsider anything. We were at the point where we had to consider everything and that's what we did and we balanced it with thought. Now, yes, we have to have a plan. But if I'm in the room with all of the people that
230have helped us come to this decision and also do research, the priority was taking care of this the budget. And it was a lot of time to do this up until Friday. Friday, uh, Mr. Gastra, we still had to find how many million this Friday? 3.5 million. And Mr. Gastra came up with I think 1.2 without affecting staffing, but that still didn't help. And that was over the weekend. So, I'm not trying to be insensitive, but there's a lot that has gone into this. So, when you ask me for a plan, when I say we're going to have a plan, it was that someone said, "How would how does 2026 2027, how does it look in September look differently?" and you're going to get a highlevel plan but not with all the details in June.
231It's going to be in phases because yes, we plan to meet with teachers. We plan to meet HA. We plan to meet but we can't do all of this simultaneously. We just can't do simultaneous. the priority getting this budget balance to zero and we just was able to do that. So, I just I just really wanted to make that clear and I know that it was absolutely I could see why you're saying it was cruel what happened to our related services people and again discussions were had but things could not be finalized and I can't go into personnel now until late Monday and into Tuesday the announcement made. I personally will take responsibility. I've met with my administrators so there was consideration. Administrators cannot say that there was not consideration. The issue was that I'm
232taking responsibility. I sent an email to the principles. The message had to be shared with the related services before today so that they be made aware. and the principles were not told that the related services staff was going to be spoken to. It happened that quickly. When I found out by one of our administrators, we were able to quickly inform the rest of the principles. And that that did happen. and it was terrible. And um we apologize. And that's why I I really want to talk about when we're doing things and we're doing it quickly and then we have to go back and and rethink and you tell people one thing and then you have to go back and tell them another thing. So then it doesn't happen. Why can we do this earlier but
233we couldn't? And I can't share too much without going into personnel, but um you know people's sentiments are I I validate the sentiments. >> Thank you. Um there was another question regarding the new positions that were created within the past two years. Were those eliminated? Yeah, I can't speak to every one of those new positions, but um I don't have that list in front of me. Um >> I just want to make sure that people understand that the reason why we can't is because they are personnel related. >> Um I so we had mentioned ECDC and there's that uh rumor going around um about ECDC. Um, I know we can't get into full details about it. >> So, yeah, we we really can't. But I have made a call every single day, including today and
234I finally, you know, we come to the conclusion that something can happen. But now I'm expected to say this at a public meeting when I haven't even spoken to the ECDC teachers. I haven't spoken to the staff and I spoke to the supervisor and we wanted to plan a meeting. So this is happening quickly and there's so many different things that we have to do. But since the question came up and I apologize ECDC staff that I haven't been able to confirm this but we are moving out of ECDC and I even a parent approached me and I said it's not we were very happy that this might be able to happen but we're moving out and our students are going to be back into their elementary schools and 26 and um and some of
235my administrators did the groundwork. Thank you um Director Peton. Thank you um acting principal um Donna Petron Wall. Thank you uh Mrs. Miss Sinette. Um, and if I'm leaving other people out, thank you. Um, they're doing the groundwork and we have the 18, 17, 18 classrooms to make that happen throughout our district. >> Okay. Um last but not least, um the concern regarding our related services for our students in terms of service continuity um or compensatory um time for our students that are going to be missing out. I know this is a special ed department um concern, but how will parents be notified? When will parents be notified if that is something that needs to be addressed? >> Uh we we will work with the special ed um department. I also want to have want
236to have a special ed parent meeting just in general because of the concern and because this was just announced. Um I wanted to go back to students are not losing services required as their um IEP for next year. Now whether teachers are going to be or related staff will be looking for employment they may be absent. That's what we talk about the compensatory time. I have to meet with the director. I mean that that's uh a point that we have to recognize and discuss. Also the Southberg and Jointure um we uh know about the services they provide. Um, I'm also and I'm I have been writing down things and just, you know, brainstorming when we do have the staff that we will be using, meeting the staff, vetting the staff, and I I would really
237hope that maybe some of our staff will be a part of them. There won't be different vendors from different places. It's one place. it will be uh manageable and um the staff, the special services staff will have work to do. The director and the supervisor, they still will have work to do. Um, I'm going down my list to see what I haven't some schools have lost. Oh, if you don't mind, I wanted to mention the fact uh that it was mentioned that the middle school lost more staff than other schools. when staffing decisions are made. Unfortunately, if one school has hired new teachers and they have a lot of new teachers, that means that the teachers are non-tenured. So, you could have schools like maybe Fair and the middle school who over the past two
238or three years have hired a lot of new talented staff. And when you're non-tenured, unfortunately, the staff member are the first to that is the law. And so middle school had a lot of non-tenured staff. I think that's about all I can say. Yeah. Um missing money. The money is not missing. And I know that at W channel 8, ABC News had said that months ago. The money is missing. Where did it go? The money is not missing. And and perhaps President Harris, maybe we can just re rerun the clip from Will Cox where he clearly outlines what happened over the last four years. I I I think that that would be very very helpful because the money >> management >> the money >> mismanagement >> right it's not missing >> right >> it's the
239other end mismanagement >> mismanagement and overspending correct >> and >> but so so I'm sorry so the public we cannot interact back and forth with the public but but yes so it is a mismanagement of funds and overspending throughout the years. >> Yes. >> From what U Mr. Wilcox has said, >> uh accountability. I I heard someone say that there should be more accountability on our part. Yes. And we will continue to hold ourselves accountable. It's uh funny that I heard a caller say today not to lower our standard of education. We are not going to lower our standard of education. And just recently I said but there are a lot of things going on and and you know the worst thing is this teacher appreciation week and the point that we had to do
240this but our deadline was March 7th. >> May 7th >> and May I'm sorry. Yes. Thank you Jason. May 7th that was our deadline for this budget hearing and to get this done. And unfortunately, some of these things had to happen during teacher appreciation week. It's it's terrible. But we will not lower our standards for education. And I still have expectations for all of us. And that will not be lowered. Whether they're 30 people, 30 students in a class, 26 students in a class, that's not going to be lowered. And we're going to figure it out with everyone. Consider reestablishing the special education task force. Um the task force was done for a reason and then it was dismantled and there were three or three outcomes, three things, three goals um that we were to
241address and we have those goals. It's dismantled. But should we consider reestablishing a special education task force? I'm not sure if it's a task force. I think it's more of a a special ed parent meeting and we already have that in place but I I think it should be more than that. Task force is there to address the issue and then it's temporary. It's a temporary thing. So yes uh we will consider um special ed parent meetings consider uh for sports. I and I'm sorry if I if you misunderstood me, but the sports we can have that information for you at the May 13th meeting. We sat down with um Mr. Monttoano and with Miss Canestrino and they did an excellent job because it's not left to me. So when we say collaboration, I didn't
242know a lot about sports so I'm not going to. I made some suggestions and it was said no you need to look at this and what we did and this is what we know and we relied on that um so we did meet with them but they they would be Mr. Martasana would be the better person to really explain the details about freshman sports JV how it looks because the way they explained to me you have coaches that work with both so I think it would be it would be better coming from them and it's it's that could be shared at the May 13th uh meeting para educators um I I'm sorry that you feel felt that it was insensitive, but once again, that was another thing that um pretty much happened quickly and you
243were informed and a parent letter went out immediately uh after that to try to notify our community why charter schools are not on the table. Well, I have felt the same way. I actually asked the county superintendent Friday when he was in our conference room. Charter schools can take as many of our students as they want. There's no limit. It's the law and I can't we can't ask for them. That's the law. And I I'm really, you know, very concerned about that. But that is the law and there's no limit to the amount of students they can recruit. And Victor, I'm sad as well and I I want to thank you. I know you mentioned fundraising and um Victor, we may be able to fund raise for a few field trips, but we can't fund
244raise for the millions and millions and millions of dollars that would be needed and it and it would not sustain us. But you matter. People matter. Our students matter and so do our paris. They matter. And I know that everyone feels like they don't matter because the the cuts affected you, but this is something we had to do. The other thing that was mentioned is having administrators move back into the buildings. Uh we have a list of ongoing every time that we hear suggestions. We actually have a Google doc with all of the information that we need to address. I received from the PTA president's council through uh Mrs. Ponttoaseeka a list of questions. There were must be about 34 questions. I would say a lot of them are excellent. All of those things are
245being considered. So if you think we're not listening, we're listening to you and we're trying to pull the information together. And now that this budget gets voted on, we can now move to the next phase. But I'm telling you, this could not be done simultaneously with what we had to do with this budget. We really had to work on the numbers and and maybe even now you you pointed out some errors that were were on because we're proofreading at the last minute. I'm just trying to paint the picture of of what happens. We're not sitting here. We're not twiddling our thumbs and nor am I trying to provide excuses. This is just the way it is. Um and yes, in terms of bringing services back, restoring Hack is act to where we need to be.
246Yes. But I I I will also be honest with you in terms of enrollment. You're going to hear you're going to hear if we play back the message from our accountants. Enrollment went down but staffing went up. So that's something we have to look at. We also um are looking forward to a five-year strategic plan. And with a strategic plan, that's where you identify priorities. So what's going to be the priority and everything cannot be a priority. So it's just like you do your home budget. I want this. I want that. I want this to happen. But we have to be more strategic about where we're going to put our money, why we're going to put our money, and what's most important. And that's not going to be decided today and tomorrow. It's going to
247take time. Um, and I just I I just want to um once again thank everyone for uh your comments. I may not have addressed everything, but guaranteed when I leave here, I have my administrative assistant. She has an ongoing list of every single person's comments, where they go to, how they're going to be addressed. So, we are taking everything seriously and um so that's all I can address right now. >> Thank you. Um, so before we wrap up this section, I just wanted to thank our parents, our students, our staff for coming out this evening and speaking. A very emotional evening um tonight and I just want to encourage you to continue to advocate for your children, for other children. Um that is how many of our children, my own children, um got their services
248is through your advocacy and your support. And I appreciate you. I hear you. We all understand the difficulties that that are happening. Um in regards to hearing more from the community, this this board has mentioned and has wanted to do a town hall. Um, but instead of just calling it a town hall, we want it to be purposeful and we want it to be more of an informational session where we can have a specific topic and talk about that topic so it's more organized. Um, I believe uh, Trusty Gilmore will probably talk more about that with the community relations committee um, where we can get the um, the ideas and the system of how that's going to work and look like. So, please keep a lookout for that because that possibly might even happen during
249the summer months if we need to. We're we're also still working here and we would definitely appreciate lots of input from the community. Um, as Miss Andrea Oats Parchman had mentioned, we will be starting our new 5-year strategic planning and within that strategic planning also involves the community. So, what the community input, what do they want to see? what do we how do we want to see our school looking like in the next 5 years, three years? Um, and also to remind folks that next week we have our regular board meeting on Wednesday. So, please come out where more information will be um available to you and hopefully if your questions weren't answered this evening like Miss Andrea O Parchman had mentioned she does have a running list of those questions and hopefully we can
250answer some of those at next week's meeting. Did you want to say something? Sure. >> Thank you. >> Welcome. >> Isn't it Harris? Um, self-expression comes with risks. And when you express yourself, sometimes you run the risk of being misunderstood. And I I appreciate the chair for letting me make a comment before we went to public comment. Um, I recognize that some people may not have received my comments in the spirit in which they were given. Um and for that I apologize if people felt that my comments came across as rude or disrespectful. We are here to serve. We are here to listen because my intention is to stay till the end of every meeting and to be present as as you will see that all my fellow board trustees are are doing the same.
251Um, we were advocates of changing the agenda so public comments came before executive session in some of these more um difficult conversations, more difficult meetings so that the public would have an opportunity to make their comments and not have to wait until executive session was completed. But in doing that, I thought I was highlighting that that there are additional challenges that come with that. Um, I did run for this office. I was appointed and I ran for it. I am here to serve in that capacity till you know we hours ours but I was trying to highlight a challenge. Not to say that we begrudge the public that challenge and my expression how I feel about something does not necessarily reflect management. So I wanted to be clear that I was speaking on my own
252behalf and how I see things. I'm grateful that Trusty Gilmore and the community relations committee are putting together more town hall opportunities because one of the challenges of this is that we're expected to make sound decisions at 2 3:00 in the morning when because we're combining hearing everything that has occurred at the same time in the same evening that we have to make important decisions and that's the challenge that I was trying to get the public to see. Um, I hope that the people who were most impacted this week by some of the things that we've heard tonight didn't think that my comments were directed toward them. As a parent of a child with special needs, of a parent of a non-con conversational child, what language my child has, Miss Guzman, Miss Wallen gave him.
253Miss N taught my son how to walk when I couldn't. So hearing from them is important, is essential. The parents who are most frustrated because their children are not getting the services that they're depending on for their survival, those are the people that we're here to hear from. So I don't want anyone to think that my comments were directed to we don't want to hear that. We want to hear everybody. I was just highlighting the logistics of we still have to do two three hours worth of business after we hear and at times it's been 45 42 unique speakers. So I just close out to say I did not intend to offend anyone um but in self-expression that that can that can occur. So, I thank you for um your consideration of of my comments
254and I'm looking forward to the town hall meetings where we can just focus on hearing and having a dialogue. Thank you. Thank you. And I don't want to call it town hall information sessions. Information sessions. Um okay. Okay. So, before we go into executive session, I just want to let the public know that when we do come back, we do have a resolution uh resolutions to to vote on. And there will be board comments at the end if board members do choose to have board comments. And that will be all for this evening. Okay. Um, be it resolved that the Hackac Board of Education determines it necessary to meet an in executive session on Wednesday, May 6, 2026 to discuss legal personnel, student related matters, HIV reports, negotiations, and other confidential matters and be a
255further resolve that these matters will be made public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists. Can I have a motion to go into executive, please? >> A motion. >> Motion by Trusty Stein, second by Trusty Pringle. All those in favor say I. Anyone opposed? Any abstensions? Thank you all. Have a great evening. Um I do not know what time we will be back, but we do have a pretty heavy um executive session. Thank you. We have to meet now. >> All right. Good evening everyone. Thank you. Welcome back. Um, can I have a motion to reopen to the public, please? >> Motion by Trusty Sty. Second by Trusty Jones. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Anyone opposed? Any abstensions? All right, it is 11:38 p.m. and we are going to move
256on to our resolutions and committee reports and we're going to start with personnel and the trustee for personnel or the chair of personnel is trusty. >> Thank you madame president. Um I h the personnel committee m uh met this week and we have items uh personnel items A1 and A2 uh to offer for consideration. >> Okay, thank you. So, we have a motion from Trusty Amaramsa. Can I have a second? >> I second. >> Second by Trusty Gilmore. Uh, Dr. Lewis, can you please do a roll call? >> Trusty Austin Balakra, >> yes. >> Trusty Amrahamza, >> yes. >> Trustee Carol, >> yes. >> Trusty Gilmore, >> yes. >> Trustee Jones, >> I. >> Trusty Pringle, >> yes. >> Trusty Stein, >> yes. >> Vice President Martin, >> yes. >> President Harris, >> yes. >>
257Motion carries. >> Thank you. Moving on to finance and the chair of the finance committee is Trusty Stein. >> No, thank you. Um I'm offering B1 B1A to B1G. >> Thank you. Okay, so we have a motion from Trusty Stein. Can I have a second? A second. >> Second by trustee Pringle. Dr. Lewis, can you please do a roll call? >> Trusty Alson Balapucha. >> Abstain. >> Trusty Amarza. >> Yes. >> Trusty Carol, >> yes. >> Trusty Gilmore, >> yes. >> Trusty Jones, >> yes. >> Trusty Pringle, >> yes. >> Trusty Stein, >> yes. >> Vice President Martin, >> yes. >> President Harris, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. And that is your queue. Um, Miss Andrea O Parchment, you can call Patrick. >> Thank you. And for those who don't know, that
258is our executive county superintendent to let him know that the budget has just passed. >> Thank you. >> Preliminate. >> final. It is our final >> final final budget. Final >> the final budget. Okay. Um, moving on to our community relations. Do we have a report? Um, we were we had a meeting on the schedule for tomorrow, but um I didn't get a response from the committee that it was um good. So, I'm going to email tomorrow to get a new date so we could begin working on the information sessions. >> Excellent. Thank you. Um nothing for new any other committees. New business. >> Okay, we don't have any new business. Moving on to our second public comment section where individuals may address the board on agenda and school matters of community interest for one
259minute. Is there anyone in the public that would like to speak? I see that there are none. Moving on to online. Okay, I see that there are none online. So public comment section is now closed. Moving on to board comments and I will begin with Trusty Stein. >> Thank you very quickly. Um, I attended the uh spring instrumental concert on April 21st. Kids are amazing. A number of them are going to college um to specialize somewhere in the performing arts. Um whether it's production, music, production, music instrumental. One of the students actually wants to become a music teacher. Um, I tried to talk him out of it. Joking, joking. Um, so it does pay off. On April 23rd, the uh Spanish National Honor Society had their induction. It's wonderful to see not only the from
260the instrumental side but to the intellectual side. Um they they inducted over 40 students into the national Spanish side and on the 28th was the spring chorus concert again. Our kids are so talented and what voices they have. And with that, I'd like to say good night. >> Thank you. All right, Trusty Austin Balutra. I just wanted to thank all of the different uh schools that have sent us invitations for events coming up. Um month May is a a very busy month with a lot of activities. Unfortunately, um I'm really excited about them, but a lot of them I can't make because of end of year activities at my own school. So, I just wanted to let you know we we're receiving the information and we are excited about all of the events. Have a
261good night. >> You uh Trusty Jones. >> Um I'll keep it kind of short because I was ultra longwinded earlier in the meeting. Um I just thanking everybody for their participation and people for showing up, calling in. Um again that Victor with that call that was that was a powerful uh call just I've been blown away by um since I've been here the the participation of kids and I know it's like a I came at a particularly rough time but it's uh it's it's amazing um you know the kids that speak up and I think that's that speaks a lot. It's it's it means a lot for the future of our town u if we could continue to again not for reasons like this hopefully ever again but have have the children be engaged like
262that. Um, I also just wanted to clarify the comments that I made regarding uh putting central office up for sale. And uh and I'm not backing off of that. I'm just saying um I I the example I was using was the the price that you can get for it was very similar to all the cuts that we were doing on programs and uh sports. But I was not saying that that's the only way that that money should be used. like, you know, I mean, obviously there's a lot smaller people than me out there that if we did have a couple million dollars, I'm sure there's other ways you can spend it or mix it up and save one program. So, um, obviously a lot of people are being affected and and, uh, and, uh, so
263it was just really trying to show an example of what that money could do, but, uh, I think if if I still think we should do it or at least try to do it. And I think, uh, I think after that, it's a conversation on on if if that goes to how we would spend that. And uh as long as we keep the kids first all the time and that could be used in a lot of different ways. So uh that's all. >> Thank you. Uh Trusty Carol uh just left. Uh Trusty Amrazza, thank you so much. Um you know, it's hard to know what exactly to say um after another very difficult meeting. Um I think we can all agree that um you know there's there's really you know no good choice that that
264we are left with when we are in this type of a position financially. Um and every decision impacts staff and programs and you know and number one impacts our students. Uh and so that you know it really hurts all of us um when we're making those decisions. Um and I also want to acknowledge you know as as many people highlighted and as you know acting superintendent Oats Parchment mentioned um you know there there have been mistakes that have that have been made. I think it's safe to say there's no blueprint of how you go through such a massive deficit. Um, and you know, I think we all are committed to to making sure that we can continue to try and operate, you know, um, in as transparent a way as we can um, you know,
265legally. Um, and um, and I think it's it's really important that we continue to get everyone's feedback. You know, theseformational sessions, I think, will be really helpful. And so, we want to continue to hear everyone. you know, doesn't matter if they're good, bad, you know, negative comments, you know, we are here to listen. Um, and you know, and I do, you know, despite all of the challenges and the problems along the way, you know, I I really do want to acknowledge all of the hard work um that um Andrea has put in with her team. Um, and it really has been around the clock. Um, and up to the wire, you know, not because that's how we want to do it, but because we were forced to make adjustments, you know, on a very to
266short timeline. Um, and um, you know, it's really a complicated, you know, and kind of disappointing time that all of this is happening as was mentioned during teacher appreciation week. Um, and you know, it's I I think, you know, at times like this that are so hard, these are when it's most important to acknowledge um with gratitude all of the the hard work that our teachers are putting in day in and day out, you know, especially in uncertain times like this. and they still show up and they still put a smile on their faces despite the personal adversity and things that are happening whether they're personally impacted or see their colleagues impacted. Um, we are a very unique district and that we are a tight-knit family. Um, and I think we all feel that collective
267pain. Um, but I was encouraged by some of the comments, you know, especially by one of our youngest commenters, Victor. um just hearing how poised he was um and really advocating on behalf of his teachers and and fellow students um and you know just echoing what some folks said in their comments. We are committed, we have all said here, we are committed to rebuilding, you know, um to rebuilding and restoring the the programs and services and people that matter so much to us. Um and uh you know please just continue to tell us what you think. We need to hear that. That has to you know help guide us um through these decisions. Um but again you know thank you to everyone for coming and um providing your feedback. We do really appreciate that. Okay.
268Trusty Gilmore. Um, just wanted to thank everyone for coming out and sharing your concerns, your frustrations. Um, we accept the good, the bad, and the ugly. Um, I'm also looking forward to um meeting with the community relations committee to map out how we're going to communicate with the with the community because this has to be a group effort. We want the community involved. We want your input. So we hope that once we get the uh details of when these information sessions will start, we hope that um everyone will come out and share your feedback, your input so that we can all work together to rebuild um the Hackasack School District. Okay. >> Just check it. >> Is it possible to um because we're talking about town hall or you call it something? >> Informational session.
269>> The oldformational session. Um >> community gathering, >> right? >> That as well. Um is it possible that we can put out like a what do they call survey chimp or something? What's the >> that goes to to the teachers as well? Like because we've had a lot of teachers call up saying nobody's asking us for feedback. And then this way what that'll do is since you guys have so much coming at you at once then we could kind of filter through it and and build a list of FAQs. So now when it's time for the community relations committee to meet with people it's like well we have answers. I mean this question was asked 30 times. Here's an answer like you know. So I don't know. I think if it could go to the
270teachers and it could go to somehow I don't how the entire general public but you know if if and then I'll help sip through it you know whatever. It's a lot. I don't know because I guarantee you there's gonna be a lot of good ideas that come. >> We formed a a survey committee. So, um there are some ideas out there. We just have to formalize them and determine how we're going to execute the survey. >> Right. I think it should hit the whole staff, too. I mean, everybody I think >> it's true. The staff input is >> Yeah. They know more than we do when it comes to >> hearing all of that today. I think it's critical. >> That's all. Thank you. Good night. Um, sure. >> So, when we met with the
271community relations committee and I did follow up with them, we already pay a service and it's called thought exchange. So, we have the information to do the survey. I just want to so we're not recre. Uh so it's thought exchange. That's I have already followed up with uh with uh the teacher. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> Uh Trusty Pringle. >> Um I don't want to be long-winded and be repetitive also too. So I want to say hopefully um Victor's already sleeping so but good night um to Victor. Um, thank you. Um, my fellow schoolboard members, um, our attorney, our president, vice president, um, our acting superintendent, Dr. Lewis, uh, Landita, um, our human resource director, Danielle. Um, and yes, everyone, have a blessed night and we will be able to rebuild Hackard's life. Thank you.
272Thank you, Vice President Martin. >> Yes. Um, I too uh uh attended the uh spring concert on the behalf of the Hacksac Rotary Club and as president um we donated two um donations, one to the chorus and the other one to the band. We gave a donation to each of one of them for the uh uh the appreciation of um the work they do. And um as a tradition, Hexac Rotary, we usually have them uh the chorus come to our meetings and uh do the Christmas carols for us, but uh there was some conflict so we was unable to do it. So they invited us to the spring concert and that's where we uh presented the uh donations to the both of them. Um also um uh the rest my rest of my comments will
273be on the 13th but we do appreciate everybody uh coming out. Uh as I always say every uh uh meeting in my um board comments, we uh do encourage you to come out. We like to see you sitting in your seats and come up to the mic and speak. And um regardless if it's good or bad, we want to hear from you. Uh so please continue on coming out. Don't get discouraged. Uh and um we're always looking forward to seeing you. That's it. Have a good night. >> All right. Thank you. Um in case you missed it, we just passed our budget for the 2627 school year. Um that is one of our biggest uh uh fiduciary responsibilities or actually only fiduciary responsibility that we have is to pass the budget. And you know um
274again thank you to the board members for asking the right questions. Thank you to central office for all the work and time you put into um making this happen even in these very um hard circumstances that we've been in. Um, I also just want to quickly acknowledge again teacher appreciation. Um, you know, as a teacher, you know, you do it for the kids. You do it for the love of um, educating to continue that spark. And when you hear students like Victor who call in, and that's the reason why you wake up so early, you stay late doing lesson plans, making copies, um, is for students like like Victor who show you that they're going to be future leaders one day. Um, and I look forward to seeing him grow into that future leader of
275Hackinack. Um, and I also want to give a big thanks and appreciation to our building administrators and leaders who have done so many wonderful things for our staff to show that they acknowledge them and that they care um for them. Thank you for doing that. It is truly um it is seen and uh just like what trustee Alsapucha has said, you know, thank you for the invitations. continue to invite us. Just because we all can't go doesn't mean that one of us can't show face. Um and we will try our best to be there and to go to as many events as we can. Um also shout out to Fairmont who will be having uh soon a new playground um opening very soon. And we do plan as a board to have some sort of
276ribbon cutting uh ceremony for that new playground. And we'll keep the community informed about that. Um yes, it's very very nice. Um, all right. So, that is it for my comments this evening. Can I have a motion to you have something to say? >> Just principal appreciation and principal appreciation. Yes, today. No, it was it was last week. Yes, it was. Yes. Um, yes. And happy appreciation day to our administrators, our principles. Thank you. Um, so can I have a motion to adjourn our meeting? Motion from Trusty Pringle, second by Trustee Stein. All those in favor say I. I. >> Anyone opposed? >> Any abstensions? All right, it is 11:56 p.m. Thank you and have a good night. One more.