001the public meeting of the Monro Township Board of Education is now called to order please turn off all cell phones and pagers during the meeting and please rise for the pledge of [Music] allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to we can stand one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you Mike can you please do a roll call certainly Mrs kapano is absent Mr Chella here Mrs anelis here Mr Braverman here Mrs Ferron here Mr calman here Mr Klein is absent Mr lirry here Mr Masters here Mr tesler is absent uh Mr Vice President you have a forum quum thank you Mr Gorski in accordance with the provisions of the New Jersey open public meetings law the Monro Township Board of Education has caus notice of this
002meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted July 15th 2011 and number one all uh at all schools number two at the home newon Tribune number three in the Cranberry press and number four file with the clerk of the municipality uh moving on to number five presentation by Mr Man of savings uh bond to groupal San is that right for uh winning the American Legion or roral contest [Music] good evening every year the American Legion runs an oratorical contest for uh students in high school and every year the students at Monroe High School make us proud we can all be proud of them and they reflect the training that they receive in a Monro Township school system this year we're especially proud of gerp pal San who's won awards for
003the second year in a row he won't be winning him for next year because he's going on to college but uh we're proud of him and I know his family is and Jean Price commander of bonro Township Post of the American Legion will present the check and the award Gerel like to say a few words first the American Legion is proud to sponsor high school oratorical competition and boy stand State camps throughout the state and Country we're in these activities Expose and encourage the youth and future of our nation to become knowledgeable in the way our government has been established by firsthand experiences students learn the processes by which the government at all levels works for the greatest nation on Earth we in the American Legion strongly encourage that our middle and high school place
004a major emphasis on this student studies of how our government is meant to function including the reading of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution with all its amendments by all students prior to graduation this year we had three contestants from Monroe Township High School in the Constitutional Amendment or rhetorical contest and all were awarded prices prizes next year we would hope to have many more participants the first place winner went on to compete in the regional district level and in behalf of our sponsoring uh Monroe Township Post 522 I am proud to present to Gerel Saran the second place award [Music] that's great now move on to number six Mr Gorski uh thank you on June 17th I had the pleasure of meeting with Leonard far and William Scott of the American Legion Clearbrook
005Post Number 519 these gentlemen informed me that John Manders had bequeathed $2,000 to the Monro Township Board of Education for a scholarship Grant the purpose of the grant is to help offset higher education costs for a Monroe 12th grade student with an award of $11,000 to be granted in school year 201122 and the final $11,000 to be granted in year 2012 2013 the criteria for determining the award is left solely to the discretion of the principal as long as it is used for higher education costs um I'd like to [Music] introduce Mr far and Mr Scott good evening John Mandy uh really had no family except us and as as through us he bequeathed the $2,000 to go on to another part of the family which are the students in this school and we hope
006that it will encourage those students to Excel and to do well and we thank you for the effort motion AC I'd like to uh make a motion to accept the Grant have to do a roll call all in favor I any opposed any commentary yeah I'd just like to I'd just like to thank the American Legion I think that's wonderful and I'm I'm really proud of you I think that uh I think that's great you know I'm just so happy to see that our community comes together you know and we have our our senior citizens on the one hand and and our students on the other I think that's what makes really strong great community and and and I think you guys are all doing a great job and you know I could you know
007I know you're going to go on to do great things and hopefully come back back and you know become a stay in Monroe you know what I'm saying just help us build this community thank you thank you thank you thank you motion passes motion passes uh the next item is the public forum anyone uh from the public wishing to speak on any agenda item please come to the mic and state your name address for the record Anthony preso O8 equestrian way I spoke to Michael about the the lights are in now on the on the roads and the crosswalk is in and everything is perfect but uh today passing by the kids from the football field were crossing on the corner and they weren using the crosswalk they were going around the fence through the
008parking lot the short way I think there should be a recommendation that they put a fence there because the whole idea to crosswalk is that they use it from the field into the high school and right now they're not doing that and this morning I saw it there was about 50 kids crossing that road on the corner around that turn and they were going through the parking lot there's a little opening with a gate that doesn't close the parking lot from the road so that was my first question uh my second one is there's a resolution here on youu on page 30 uh B Bond proceedings proceeds uh proceeds this is extra money left over from the bond or could somebody answer that Mr Gorski um do you want to take that one first it
009says 2008 the bond yes and uh there's a resolution to use the bond proceeds is that extra money uh uh partially um as presented to to the district's curriculum committee uh last week and as recommended by the curriculum committee to the Board of Education this evening um part of the use of the technology budget proceeds with the bond referendum were to be determined at a later time because of the evolution of Technology products on the market and um the committee has decided it such that it it is an appropriate time to utilize those funds for $2.3 million of technology equipment um as identified on lists presented to the curriculum committee um part of the money is also a use of surplus which is uh available balance in the bond referendum fund that's my question part
010of the Surplus can it be used for the upkeep of the school I know there's going to be a lot more up upkeep of the school you need maintenance there's some hidden cost in the high school that's that's opening up we all know that sooner or later you're going to get hit with a bill shouldn't this go back into that fund that in case there's something that you need that the taxpayers won't have to pay more money to fund this high school well maintenance costs um cannot be paid for nor can operational cost from the bond referendum money uh technology equipment is allow is an allowable purchase and uh we did take this purchase to our bond counselor who deemed it to be an appropriate P purchase and use of the bond referendum money there
011are contingencies built into the bond referendum money uh for any unforeseen events like you had mentioned and uh before it's closed out um those monies will be addressed and Mr presos early early on we had we had deferred the choice of purchase or deferred purchasing technology because of because of like Mr Gori said technological advances we didn't even know what would exist today so at at uh at that time we deferred it to the Future so that we so it was part of that we just never purchased anything we don't have any Tech it's just found money that there's extra money yeah no no no and and your your your first question I think is very valid and I think that we we'll we'll have to take that up and and look at that at
012do you know what I'm talking about where a light is I mean because there's multiple Crossings where they come they and these kids the kids I mean they're they're laughing they're not paying attention and there's some people out there that can't drive so and it's one of the things that we were afraid of you know okay thank you thank you anyone [Music] else Robert roach 18 mfield Boulevard Monroe uh in looking at the uh agenda on the website the other day I noticed uh I'm pretty sure I saw that the uh closed session was after the public session item 14 and 15 were reversed um now I didn't look at your the web site today for the agenda and I noticed I noticed that was unusual because it normally is in this this type of
013a sequence but what I'm really wondering is there a necessity is there any reason to have the public session for after that closed session yes who judge W I'm sorry judge W we're under court order well then put it another way is there any is there we have two public forums is there any reason we can't have three because a lot of people after you have these agenda these many agenda items people have question may have come up and quite frankly they don't want to wait around for an hour or whatever it takes you in the uh in the uh closed session and uh if you need a public if you have to by law have a a public forum after the Clos session you could have one there may not be anybody here to
014answer ask any question but you would comply with the law and I mean just gives I feel that we just give the public more of opportunity to ask pertinent questions as the issues were being discussed I think it's a good point that's something to consider yeah uh the uh I know you mentioned about just questions based on the agenda items I have a question question that it's not really on the agenda item and it deals with the additional monies that were that came in from the uh the state the additional $800 and some thousand since I mentioned it I'll ask my question uh what is the plan for that money is it going to be used for expenses this year or is it going to go into Reserve to offset any uh real estate taxes
015next year as was the intent of the State uh due if I due to the timeliness of when we receive that notification the board will have that discussion this evening um and the administration will be making a a recommendation but the entire board has not had the opportunity to be a part of that discussion so that'll happen this evening so it's conceivable there is a procedure where the the budget could be increased for 201112 by $800 some thousand more dollars you mean the the revenue portion of the budget yes that is a possibility okay but but how about the expense expenditure portion of it that could happen as well thank you Mr hor Mr Ro if I if I may elaborate on that uh the state had clearly defined options on how to handle the
016money uh number one you could use it for tax relief in 201122 um by revising your 1112 budget and that was the one we just had approved right uh resubmitting to the county revising the form a4f which is the tax collection form with the municipality in the county you had a very short window to do that um I could tell you that after talking to the county executive superintendent uh and business administrator a few public school districts chose that option um the other number two which you could do with the money is you could appropriate the money in 2011 20 2 as an additional Revenue Source thus you could spend it in 201122 or you could use the money for tax relief in 2012 2013 or you could even appropriate it for 2012 2013 or
017even appropriate it for tax relief in 2013 2014 so there are numerous options yes and because of the complexity of all this as Dr hon mentioned could reserves for next next fiscal Year's budget and be used off at taxes yes I'd recommend that thank you thank you anyone else yes sir GE five Kelly Court Monroe uh on page five home instruction uh the the categories are not labeled um I'm sort of curious about the third column and the last column what they represent that refers to the date the home instruction began and the date that it ends and the number of sessions that children were allowed to have so the number eight in the third stands for what the number I'm sorry repeat your question the third oh I'm sorry the third column that's the
018grade that the student what's the last column the number of sessions that students are allowed to have based on either their doctor's recommendation their 504 or what other whatever other authorization there is for them to be placed on home instruction what constitutes a session if a youngster is classified they are entitled to two double sessions and that that depends on the it varies it's going to really depend on whether or not they're classified or general ed student um but it's generally an [Music] hour one session constitutes this is per day it could be per day or depending on whom the whom the who the home instructor is or what arrangements are made with a parent if they're eligible for 10 hours for example it could happen over the course of one week two hours a
019day it could happen on the Saturday any combination thereof thank you you're welcome anyone else seeing no one we'll move on to the approval of the [Music] minutes we want to uh approve the public yep I uh yeah the for uh the meeting of uh we want to I want to see if I can get a motion for the approval of the June 15 2011 meeting so move second anyone second thank you L who is that yes favor all in favor I I opposed extensions Iain as I wasn't at the meeting so noted motion passes thank you [Music] close session June 15 oh okay I'm sorry I'm sorry uh the board received the copy of the Clos session minutes uh for June 15 2011 but it was inadvertently left off of the agenda can I
020get a please get a motion to uh approve those minutes so much thank you second anybody second thank you Mr Masters comments hope comments yes um all on the list of board members present you have Mr calman and Miss Kathy Leonard and I don't believe either one of them were in that meeting no very good that's good catch know out of me thank [Music] you now we'll move on to item number nine I think we have to oh I'm I'm I'm new my first time with this have to forgive me let's all in favor I I opposed I extensions they're wrong you got a you need a roll call no we should entertain a motion to revise the minutes oh we have this or to reflect the changes that Mrs anel has just mentioned Roberts
021Rules of Order make a motion to revise the minutes to reflect that Miss Leonard and Mr calman were not in the meeting thank you second thank you all in favor of the motion I all opposed any extensions Iain thank you motion to revise passes thank you sir now we'll move on to item number nine superintendent's report in closing your agenda is the enrollment report um which smizes our student enrollment data for the close of school in June 2011 with 5,719 students representing an increase from the previous year of 157 students for essentially the same period enrollment for outof district placements and home instruction is also included in your agenda as well as the number of fire drills listed as number three on the agenda fire drills and lockdown procedures as required by law moving on
022to Personnel items Mr Bard vice president it is recommended by the superintendent that Personnel items a through DD be approved by roll call consent vote okay any well were there any questions comment who made the motion I did Luke help second I noticed on the uh enrollment figures uh we have a slowed down increase in growth rate of the high school and where do we stand with Jamesburg and what will let do to our profile as we look forward uh currently we are as you know there is a recommendation and an agreement that seeks to sever that relationship however um if that agreement was to be fully implemented that would affect our enrollment for the 2012 2013 school year however we are still entertaining conversations with Jamesburg uh through Council and through Administration on ways
023that we may be able to separ that relationship but no definitive recommendation has been presented that we could present to this board for consideration I've done a back the envelope calculation and the departure of Jamesburg could give us six years of additional capacity that's probably very true over the course of two three probably four years that would result in 225 students times that period of time that's probably correct any other questions or comments M Mr Gorski we take a roll call please miss antelis yes Mr Braverman yes Mrs Fon yes Mr calman yes Mr Larry yes Mr Masters yes Mr cherella yes Mr board vice president Personnel items a through Double D passes thank you moving on to board action items uh represented as Roman num 5 on your agenda Mr board vice president is
024recommended by the superintendent that members of the Board of Education approve items a through n by roll call vote are there any questions or comments Motion in a second can I have a motion so moved in a second very second thank you any [Music] questions like to make a comment you want to would you like to make a comment now before we vote it it really gets to the whole question of what is a policy and what is a regulation when you take a look at I thought I had a loud enough voice I guess I'm going to have to get more can you hear me now yes okay if you take a look at policy 5512 it runs for 25 pages and it details unbelievably nuia this is an example of unbelievable nitpicking and
025we know who's responsible for it because a couple of days ago in the home News Tribune in a laudatory article talking about the former superintendent of muten and her state senator Barbara Bono they put this monstrosity in into the law and now we got 25 pages of policy policy should be two or three pages better yet maybe only be three paragraphs but the idea of 25 pages of policy statement is unbelievable she just wants well we can't do anything about because it's mandatory it's law correct I just wanted to get that off my chest thank you Mr Larry roll call Mr Gori please um this is board action items a through N Miss antelis yes Mr Braverman yes Mrs Ferron yes Mr calman yes Mr liry yes Mr Masters yes Mr cherella yes Mr board
026vice president board action items a through n passes thank you um and moving on to another item not listed on the agenda but presented during our public forum i' like to entertain a conversation with the board regarding the utilization of the additional state aid money that um has been allocated to our district um Mr Gorski will will sum summarize again what those options are that are available to us and what actions we've taken at this point regarding Our obligation to report back to the state and then after hearing your discussions but like to share with you uh some of our recommendations for the utilization of those funds Mr borski thank you Doctor um last week our district was notified uh via the state's um public address system known as New Jersey home room that we
027had received an additional state aid Award of [Music] the guidance again includes the following um the first option known as option number one is to use the money for tax relief in 201122 by not appropriating the money and by revising your 201122 budget resubmitting the budget to the state after executive County Superintendent approval um and uh that appropriate and or spend the money in 201122 that would also require a revised budget to be resubmitted to the county executive superintendent of schools where uh said person would do an efficiency review and uh make sure it was an appropriate and efficient use of the funds if approved the budget would come back to the board of education for final approval and you could spend those monies in 201122 12 if you did not spend those monies after
028appropriating them they would uh flow to excess Surplus the other item uh the other option you could do with the money is apply it for 2012 2013 for tax relief or you could appropriate the money in 2012 2013 which is next year's budget of course if you appropriated the money in 2012 2013 and did not spend it it would flow for excess Surplus for tax relief in year 2013 2014 there was a very short window for Boards of Education to decide if they were going to use the money for tax relief in 2011 and 2012 and pursuant to my discussions with Dr Hamilton and Mr lirry chairperson of the finance committee um we did not have enough time time to address this at the finance committee meeting yesterday it had to go out on July
02915th so it was determined uh by Administration and the finance chair that we would not use the money for tax relief in 2011 20102 and instead we notified uh John neemo executive County business administrator that we would be holding a finance committee meeting um the very next day July 16th and its administrations recommend recommendation to the committee to either choose option number two which is appropriations of the money in the 201122 school year or option number three 2012 2013 tax relief or some combination of those two um after the finance committee meeting had met it was determined that the issue should come to the board for further discussion so based on that information um there are a couple of of items that as you know um where we do removed from our our budget um
030one in particular is the science program that we have been trying to implement for the last two years and each year it has been removed um and we also removed several other services to our students among them the zero period um I also recognize the political um sensitivity of this matter as it relates to the governor's position that these funds should be utilized for tax relief the recommendation from the administration is that we consider combination of those two so that our children benefit from these additional funds in some capacity and so I would recommend to this committee to this board and and certainly um be directed by by your ultimate decision that we consider implementing our science program that has been deferred for the last two years or some part of that science program and
031reinstate the zero period transportation and then take the reserve whatever is left beyond that to offset tax relief for the 2013 2014 school year or 2012 2013 school year yes I'm sorry yes I'd like to make a motion before the board that we accept the superintendent's recommendation second discussion discussion yeah any any are there any questions or comments anyone have I'd like to speak a little bit about it um yes spoke to Mr Gorski today about it and asked him um exactly the same thing that he said today about what would be the refund to the taxpayers um when you think about $20 um going back on somebody's tax bill that they're really never even going to notice um I think that the money is well spent to bring back programs that were eliminated because
032of the funding so therefore I'd like to um recommend and hopefully the board will too that we bring these programs back I second it Mr motion would that include the uh pay for extracurricular programs it would not that would be a a separate initiative altogether the zero period would be primarily to provide transportation for those students who attend music instruction course ban um before the day begins it would not impact the paay to participate in initiative do we have a dollar amount that's associated with this yet because we're going to prove something without knowing a dollar amount Yes actually the science program in full implementation would cost $397,000 the zero period Transportation um this is about 250 um if the and those two items together are about for about $600,000 600 close to $650,000 um
033we could also look at a gradual implementation of the science program that would um not utilize so much if the board's desire was to return more in terms of ta tax relief so there there are a couple of combinations of those options we could consider this personally I think if we can get closer to a 5050 split I think it would be you know a little bit more palatable as much as I don't want to see the microphone please I'm sorry um I'd like to see us try and manage closer to a 50/50 split because if you know Tech paays are going to get back some money the school districts get something and everybody's got a little skin in a game right so um at least that's my personal opinion if we can get closer
034to a 50/50 split um I think that would work out a little bit better 60/40 kind of i' I'd go for the science program because I think the uh when you look at where we are in the United States and the need for science technology engineering and Mathematics the faster we can get our children involved in that the better off we are I agree what does that mean I'll have $10 relief yes Mr bman that means I'm going to have $10 relief instead of $20 yes well what do you what shall I do with it spend it wisely you can buy me donuts or may I make a a remark yes this is an example I used to live in New York and we used to have these guys who played the three uh in
035the Monty game you know had three shells in front on a little stands they had the pee in their pocket and they go juggling around and hey they say we're going to give you 800,000 wow but you got to go this this this way the reality is we should be getting $42 million all we're getting is2 million we're getting very very bad treatment Mr chiro just want to make another comment um I know that in the past and I believe it's actually gone on forever we've never gotten the last payment so therefore we probably won't get the full 88 $887,000 so therefore I I don't even see how it could end up being a 5050 split because more than likely it's going to happen again so like I said I I support going for both
036programs I think it's great that we did get a little bit of money and we can bring some things back that for our students and I think for $20 on everybody's tax bill it's well worth it I think uh I'm GNA I'm going to let myself speak for a second I think that um I think that I agree I think you know we have to be mindful of of the situation The Plight that our taxpayers are in but to I think to to go and say here we're look we're giving you $20 you back each for for for your all your hard work I I really think that it's not we're we're not we're not really doing anything by doing that I think that you could also make the argument that by giving it to
037the students we are giving it back because we're we're helping to reinstate some programs much needed programs I think the science program is probably uh well overdue being mentation of that and I think that that'll benefit all you know our students and and our citizens overall by having that so that's my two sons I have a question what's the implication of of removing the pay to play how much is is I think I remember like 160,000 or something like that pay pay to participate um was an additional Revenue source to the budget of 180,000 approximately okay with a $115,000 reserve for um students out free and r reduced lunch would not be charged so it's somewhere about A6 so so just looking at the numbers if we were to bring back the science and eliminate
038pay to play does that bring us around 500 to 400,000 State your question again Mr Coffman yeah the question is is if bringing back the science and eliminating the pay to play get us closer to the $400,000 Mark that's correct science by itself no be a 50/50 split what was the science number 397 out of 4 out of 800 and zero period was 250 but Mr Kaufman's question wasn't about zero period it was about pay to participate those are two different initiatives we got a whole flock of things in front of us that would be chopped up right um this personally because I'm I'm thinking about like money coming out of people's pockets right um Science Program is definitely a benefit to the entire uh school system the pay to pay to participate issue would
039actually not cause an additional burden to the taxpayers so we're able to offset that cost in addition we're able to bring back a little bit more tax money to the taxpayers so I think in in totality when everything is all said and done um everybody gets something out of it we're able to bring back programs you know add more services and uh you know I hate saying win-win but you know I think everybody comes out with a with a piece of [Music] something so is there a motion some yes I I she made it Mr second it was the motion was to accept your recommendation the way you so we move to roll call you want to make your final yes the recommendation is to use the re recent allocation of state aid to implement
040the science program at $397,000 restore the zero period transportation that was removed from the budget at $250,000 and ret take the reserve the difference between that and the amount of Aid and return return it to the taxpayers by way of tax relief in the next budget cycle we already have a motion in a second welome did you want to question well if if I may add to that um I should also incorporate in a motion uh the acceptance of the state aid uh if I may read it um incorporating some uh uh statutory requirements for the superintendent assistant uh executive superintendent of schools um board vice president and members of the Board of Education it is recommended that the additional state aid amount in the amount of 800 8 7,122 be accepted and appropriated for
041use in the 201122 fiscal school year pending approval of the revised budget by the executive county superintendent of schools in the fashion restoring and appropriating 300 approximately $397,000 for the science program $250,000 for zero period transportation and the remainder for tax relief in 201 11 2012 2013 do you want me to ask for a roll call roll call now because we we already have the motion Mr antelis yes Mr Braverman yes Mrs Fon yes Mr calman yes Mr Klein absent Mr ly yes Mr Masters no Mr tesler is absent Mrs kapano is absent Mr cherella yes Mr board vice president motion passes okay and that concludes the superintendent's report the board president is not here but oh we're going to move on to the business administrator's report now I'm sorry thank you I realize I've
042had a lot to say yeah I thought you already having your report I'm I apologize um um the business administrator's report is going to be broken into let letters a through t and u and v will be read as a separate roll call board vice president and members of the Board of Education it is recommended that board action items a through T be approved by consent roll call items u and v will each be done as a separate roll call so moved second any questions or comments second Mr [Music] bra no roll call Mrs anelis yes Mr Braverman yes yes Mrs Fon yes Mr calman yes Mr Larry yes Mr Masters yes Mr cherella yes Mr board vice president board action items a through t under the business administrator report passes Mr board vice president
043and members of the board of education is recommended that board action item U be approved by consent roll call so moved second yes Mr Le uh I have serious problems with this uh use of bond proceeds because first it's an example of stove pipe management we have a variety of standing committees and this only went to the curriculum committee and I chair the finance committee and I only learned about this by happen stance I don't think that's right second of all the timing of this is at the 11th Hour of the 59th minute I think this should be tabled and have a Crosscut fully staffed out study that involves all members of the board um m i I've been attend even though I'm not on the various committees I do attend the meetings and I
044did sit and listen um at the curriculum meeting about these iPads and I saw data that showed that there was a significant Improvement in student uh learning and scores by using these and um I'm not an educator that's not my profession so when uh Dr Hamilton and Dr Gorman come to me and tell me that this is something that is really going to benefit our students I'm going to support it Mr as a chairman of the curriculum committee I just want to let the members of the public know a few things um I've been on the school board for quite a few years and when it came up to this particular item I I'd have to say that we for lack of a better term drilled the administration pretty good on this one and you
045could probably see they're all smiling um they come they came before the board uh to present their proposal uh all the members at the committee uh had some very serious questions about the use the Appropriations and all of those types of things and it was deemed at the meeting that we would have to have a follow-up meeting uh before our meeting tonight so that we can get all the information that we could possibly get to make sure that we're spending the uh money that had been appropriated in the bond referendum appropriately um I think a lot of us board members have been around long enough to know that we don't want to see anything uh go to waste and if we can get a do 10 out of any every dollar that we collect that's
046that's that's a home run for the district um in in this particular case you know we understand the political ramifications here because the message may go forth that you know iPads are coming you know where's this money coming from this is all money that was part of the original Bond referendum this is not new money this is not clearly State money this is money that was all part of the PO when we approved this years ago so I want to make that Crystal Clear uh we have gone through the due diligence uh in today's market you know I can buy three iPads for the course of one laptop so in a sense you know we're getting much bigger bang for the buck in in all sense of the word so I feel the uh committee
047has done everything we possibly can uh we're looking to be very aggressive with the administration to try and move to a textbook free environment in the very near future uh now that we'll be able to have all of this state-of-the-art technology ology in a very small confined space um and we're going to challenge this Administration to get us there textbooks cost a lot of money a lot of money and just the Savings in the district of not having to buy textbooks long term uh is clearly a cost benefit uh across the board uh so um I feel confident that we've done all that we can possibly do uh and we're stag we're staging the proper setting for the new high school when it opens up Mr cherella yes Mr L uh I am not contesting
048the technical feasibility and we have some very very good technology people in this board of education I am contesting the management processes and that's where my concern is and the timing this is coming in at the 11th Hour in the 59th minute it should have been looked at two years ago and gone through the normal Staffing out processes thank you Mr Larry Mr caufman may may I just just ask you a question uh from what I understand and this the same I'm kind of mirroring what M Mr analis is saying that you know I've been aware that um there have been a number of things that the technology committee has been looking at as far as being able to uh outfit the new high school with technology um can you kind can you tell us
049you know basically what what technology exists now let's say we put this off what would happen to uh to to what kind of Technology would our students be you know using what what would happen to the to our to to our district and the students without that well this this is a this is a total this is a complete change in in education you have to understand that the Paradigm is Shifting and by us delaying the appropriations of the money that are already in the it's already in the budget kind of anyway uh by delaying this in any way uh we are pushing back the deliverable from when this equipment will be ready uh for the students come day one we're already planning that the equipment won't be ready on the first day of school
050that's clear uh we need there's a lot of equipment there's a lot of paperwork there's a lot of signing that people will have to do uh before they will be handed a piece of Schoolboard equipment so there's a lot of logistical things that have to happen even before that stuff happens but we will be delaying by at least a minimally a month because we would have to discuss this and not make another board action until the next Board of Education meeting unless you determine you want to set up another meeting um that that we will be delaying again what you know the question isn't whether or not the technology is good or bad the funding is there in the school um in the budget so it's not a question of are we reappropriate or reassigning
051money no it's it was earmarked for technology anyway so uh we're not going out a normal course of business where other things that we've done if that was the case every time we approve a textbook it has to go through you know Finance or a new you know science curriculum just that type of thing you know uh so talking several millions of dollars here and I think that should have a a review by the finance committee and we're also talking about potential for other sources of funding by looking at leasing and other arrang um Mr board vice president if I may if I could ask Dr Gorman to kind of reiterate for for the board the process that we've gone through um it is while this recommendation is coming at a time when it the
052items need to be ordered it certainly is not a process that has been taken lightly halfhazard or has been rushed Dr Gorman thank you that's seven or eight months ago we started looking at what type of technology is going to be appropriate for our new high schol school um 10 or five or even two years ago the technology is would be vastly different than what it looks like today and um that's a little scary but it's it's also exciting and it's a reality of this type of learning environment and the economy we live in um the technology has ramped up um and is efficient and works and is very easily accessible and um to all students in a global Society for lack of using um the buzzwords global Society in 21st century so um over
053the last seven or eight months we we conducted site visits we invited the entire Board of Education to go see a onetoone um laptop initiative at paac Valley High School uh we we took that visit with our Central Administration um and anybody that wanted to go and we we questioned and evaluated uh their process including looking at their acceptable use policies and their implementation plan um after that we um asked um we conducted a strategic planning day for what technology would look like um for our community and again board members were asked to attend that whole process and I do believe uh Mr calman Mr Masters and Mr Braverman attended um that full day uh strategic planning process uh in addition to going and making presentations to the curriculum committee we then had different vendors
054um basically sell their product and propose their product to us through a um a about a two thre hour meeting where we had Dell um HP and apple and made extensive recommendations on why their product would best meet meet the needs um of our student Learners um and lastly we went through several curriculum committee discussions research uh and conversations bantering and talking and having professional discourse on what the best um medium for our students would be as we go forward and that is how we arrived at this at this um recommendation um so we are incredibly excited about uh the potential to ramp up student achievement and learning um to extending the school day past the confines of a six-hour school day by having kids access learning and Tech technology and having a device where
055they could um be totally vested in the learning process and be meaningful to themselves and what interests them um to be responsible for their own learning and that's basically an overview of the process of the last seven or eight months Mr cheerl thank yes Mr this is a perfect example of stove pipe management again and again curriculum committee we need to have cross currence across all the Committees and Mr Le I I I do understand what you're saying but we were all extended that invitation um to to uh to go to you know to go on that on that day that full day event um you know I I know you I know you you may have been away you may have had some things going on but I know the the imitations were extended
056and I do know that I'm not on the curriculum committee but I had been you know I've been apprised of what was going on step byep this came to me as a complete surprise a week ago both out of the blue okay I just uh I just the only thing that I want to get across is that it may have been a surprise to you but I know that for for most of us here it wasn't a surprise for us that we have been apprised I mean I know I've been in communication with a couple of the members of the curriculum committee as well as the administration on uh on this you know I know we were all invited and that's all I'm saying so I I just I I think that that tabling this
057uh to go through other committe at this point we'll just do nothing but V that's all I say we have your motion on the table anyone is there anyone that wants a second Mr Larry's motion I think we had a motion no he he made a motion oh to table it I don't think he made a motion I think he made a comment he didn't make a initially a comment I'll make a motion that item you be table for further discussion and Crosscut across the Committees and get the full committee up to speed I rest is there a second for Mr [Music] lares none okay so now back to the oral we back to the original a motion to accept the business administrator's report item you item you roll call again this is item U
058resolution U use of bond proceeds for technology equipment Mrs anelis yes Mr Braverman yes Mrs Ferron yes Mr calman yes Mr liry no Mr Masters uh yes Mr cherella yes Mr board vice president item u under board action under the business administrative report has passed leading to report action item v board vice president and members of the Board of Education it is recommended that board action item v be approved by consent roll call so moved second second any questions or comments Mr B Miss antelis yes Mr Braverman yes Mrs Fon yes Mr calman yes Mr Larry yes Mr Masters yes Mr cherella yes Mr bord vice president board action item v under business administrator report passes thank you that concludes the business administrative report thank you sir move on to the board president report the
059board president is away but I would like to just just make a couple comments if I may that uh the high school transition Mr Goodall is here uh is underway and I just I just want to thank the you know the the teachers the administrators everyone all of our uh support staff everyone who's really is really stepping up and doing a lot of work and I I see these any of you have seen the uh all the piles of stuff in the high school and the trucks going back and forth you know everybody's really doing their part and uh painting and cleaning and and everything's underway and I just want to I just want to thank all of them for their for their efforts and and uh I think this is going to be a
060great transition and a smooth transition I I hope um I was going to knock on wood but I don't I'll knock on this but um again just thank you very much and that's all I had committee reports move on any anyone having any committee reports was this committee reports yes yes sir Mr Braverman I'd like to say the uh policy committee reviewed all of the policies that were on tonight's agenda and the length sometimes depends on our living in a litigious society and all the knees have to be crossed and the eyes have to be dotted thank you sir any other committee reports I have uh I do have a couple we had the buildings grounds and transportation committee meeting um and I'll I'll be quick we we did go over a lot of things
061here but the last piece of our CFO for the for the new High School uh is we're waiting for that so we have to stay out of the kitchen for now until until that's complete but other than that we're we're rolling forward which I which I think is wonderful um one of the big things with uh with the with the high school is that we're looking at implementing uh solar panels on the roof which I think in the long term will will uh help us not only go green but see a significant uh Savings in our in our uh in our power rates or our electrical rates um we're looking at we're looking at a couple different options now and uh and uh we're we're looking to just right now we're just exploring our options
062and and looking to go forward and looking to see what what uh would best benefit you know the our taxpayers and uh and the overall just the district um our the renovation of of this of this school our new our new Middle School uh the approval is here for that so uh that's underway the renovations are underway as you could as as you can see if you took a walk around uh we talked about painting the uh Board office which is in much need of uh of paint and repair if you ever if you go up close to that thing it's uh it's peeling and it's doing all kinds of things we we uh we promised not to paint it purple but but uh we we are going to paint it um we haven't picked
063the color yet we were uh Jerry T showed us his uh IPM report the that's integrated Pest Management report that's uh that by law we have to comply with and and uh produce it's a couple inches thick and basically what it does is it it just talks about all the different uh Pest Management strategies and and some of the things that we have in use uh thankfully we haven't had much to have to uh much in the way of chemicals to have to use but some of the things that we talked about I think are pretty good we talked about uh in the future limiting some of the uh some of the things like fertilizer and chemicals on the uh on the Lawns of the of the schools on the on the playing fields and
064stuff like that though that might result in a few more dandelions and that sort of thing but it'll you know would also result in less chemical exposure to our students which I think is probably the best way to go and maybe you'll help uh you know keep few extra bees alive in the process so we're taking a look at that um and then we're we also talked about our transportation service contract uh our director of Transportation as everyone knows um has has uh left you know or is in the process of leaving our district and what we're going to do in the interim is uh retain her on a perdm basis uh to retain her expertise as we make a transition to a new director uh so that we could so that we have a
065smooth flow going into our the start of our school year so that that's going to be a very short shortterm uh you know window for that but it'll give us some time to to find the right candidate so that so that uh we're we're we we're sure that we have the right person uh TR you know leading the transportation of our children which is you know obviously could be a nightmare if we don't do the right thing so we're going to be very careful and cautious with uh how we go with that and and this is probably or I believe it's the right step to take um and that's it for my report that uh anybody else that's wrong does that mean other board business anything else yeah uh no now it means the board
066business Mr Braverman thank you I move that the High School auditorium be named the Monroe Performing Arts Center second is there any anyone have any questions or comments discussion about that um Mr rman is that in L of naming it after somebody is that what your fear is well that's something that can happen in the future certainly but I've heard the uh mayor quoted as saying that our high school is the Keystone of the community and I think it should be named for the community Monroe Performing Arts Center second am could lead to one problem monoe we have two of them in uh the state of New Jersey one down in gler which has got very shabby uh academic credentials and and uh here in Middle sex we're got pretty good credentials and we're getting
067better and so I I'd say Monro Township parents middle sex Mr T I I just want to give a reason why I agree with Mr braveman on this after being on the board 18 years I know there was a lot of controversy when this bill this part uh Auditorium was named after um Dr Richard morasco there was quite a bit of um discussion on the board for a long time and I know that in the past while we've tried to do good things by naming um certain areas After People unfortunately in the end somebody usually ends up getting hurt by it because they feel left out so um I do believe in the future Having learned that lesson that we should just keep things generic not [Music] okay can I I would like to see
068can I get clarity on that is it Monroe or Monroe Township Performing Art Center Monroe thank you wait just clarify this again this is the new high school's what Auditorium Auditorium okay the okay my question is I understand partially what Amy and Mr and Mar are saying but if we're not going to name it after anyone does it have to be named specifically Monroe Township and is it Monroe Township High School Performing Art Center or Monroe Township Performing Art Center yeah that's what that's the question that's what I was that's what I just asked too more clarification I I'm I'm not really comfortable supporting like I agree need to no I agree with you I don't know I I mean I you know maybe discuss that in the future I I I will discuss that
069with that with them but as of right now I wouldn't not I wouldn't be comfortable naming it anything till [Music] we I don't know well there's a motion in a second [Music] yes V okay um this is a motion to name the auditorium at the new Monroe Township High School the following Monroe performing Arts Center motion was made by Mr Braverman and seconded by Mrs antelis roll call on Mrs anelis yes Mr Braverman yes Mrs Ferron no Mr calman no Mr Larry no Mr Masters no Mr cherella no Mr board vice president motion to name the new Monroe CH High School auditorium the Monroe Performing Arts Center has not passed thank you uh now we'll there any other board [Music] business there will be no closed session tonight so we will move on to item
07015 the public for again anyone wishing to speak please come to the mic give your name and address Mr Gman George mman 5 Kelly Court Monroe made me Monroe Township middle SE County too yeah not to be confused with uh since I started with that as a joke I'll go on with um my wife was involved with the cultureal Arts committee for a number of years and has booked a number of the things that the cultural arts has done in this facility and um it brings out large numbers not as large as we'd like always but often large numbers of the community to the facility and I think it's one of the ways the school gains support of the larger Community by having these activities and while we may be Monroe Township ship um having
071a simple clear title without somebody's name attached to it which makes it harder to direct people to it by the way uh would be an asset uh something that think about in the future uh it really does make a difference it makes a an impact on the uh citizen of the Township's perception of of its involvement with the school particularly those who do not have children active in the school oh upet pay to participate uh I apologize for not being at the meeting where that was explained could someone explain it to me briefly sure than you want to take yes um as as part of the budget process um we were faced with a shortfall in uh state aid uh we were faced with uh a 2% tax levy cap we put uh very significant
072constrictions on the budget also included in there as the cost with opening the new high school the operating costs conversion of the mono Township old high school to the middle school and the closure of Apple forest for mediation for a period of one year um some difficult budget decisions had to be made by the um committee and the board and uh one of the items um proposed was a payto participate program to generate additional revenue of an estimated $180,000 with a reserve for um children who can't afford it on the free and reduced lunch program who would be exempt and any other special circumstances as deemed appropriate by the superintendent the cost would be $100 per student per athletic venue and $25 for um Club participation and there was a significant consideration of the list
073of clubs by uh Dr Gorman Dr Hamilton and myself um and also the policy committee to determine uh which which clubs should be exempt certainly something that you're elected to like the National Honor Society or those clubs that have a school service oriented ation or a social or societal benefit um we're we exempt and uh the list of items is included in the policy up front uh as well as the policy that was designed around this pay to participate program okay so if you're a um a fourl athlete your the family's burden on that is minimally $400 Plus what other clubs they belong to yes sir okay um zero period Transportation what is that currently the district provides transportation to students who have Coral or instrumental music instruction band and chorus specifically before the traditional
074school day begins okay is that a club no so there's no pay to participate in that no but we're paying a te teachers to be here yes okay now when you figure out that budget it's just transportation is that 100% I I think the item was 158,000 if I recall zero period uh Transportation was one of the last transportation service items that were offered by uh Board of Education it's a $250,000 appropriation um to deliver students uh to school for the purposes previously mentioned by Dr Hamilton um again because of the budget constraints uh the finance committee and the Board of Education recommended elimination of the zero period Transportation the programs themselves will still be offered and uh previously programs were offered without transportation and I understand they were still successful at that time so
075that service of transporting the students for that was eliminated for the 201122 budget but the the vote tonight was to put it back in with the uh additional monies correct correct so it's not eliminated not okay now what's in the 250 the uh is it that's well you say Transportation but is it is it fuel is it drivers it's all that is it um depreciation yes um yes it is yes it's it's it's consideration of depreciation on the buses fuel driver salaries driver's benefits um and and uh that's what went into and those depreciation funds go into a reserve fund appreciation on the vehicles goes into to a government-wide fund on the annual financial report uh the conclusion of the school year which is June 30 so it's is it a reserve fund is it
076a reserve fund no it's a contra asset of fund the uh the bus itself is the asset and the depreciation charge is an expense and accumulated depreciation is a contra asset can held by held by the the fixed asset ass fund of the board yes sir thank you that's all I had thank you very much thank you Robert roach J te new Yorkfield Boulevard um during the uh course of the U after the budget Was Defeated um Dr Hamilton and Mr Kaufman appeared before uh uh council president uh Jerry Tambor and this and this item was discussed the zero um period busing and it was eliminated during the course of that I don't want to say testimony but conversation I guess and question and answer uh either I can't remember which one but uh one
077of either Dr Hamilton or Mr Kaufman indicated that the elimination of that item would not have any impact on the uh quality of the education for the students something along that lines uh council president Tor asked that that type of question every time something was being eliminated so since the board at that time uh indicated that it was not going to have an impact I think it is inappropriate now because you have additional Monies to come back and put that uh item back into the budget that's one comment that I have second comment is I'm somewhat disappointed in the uh in the jovial manner which you the board some members of the board were discussing uh the savings to taxpayers $20 can be important to other people and there's not many people in this town
078that has a house assessed at $169,000 uh many to many people it would be more I think the uh this last election when the the main budget Was Defeated as it had been in Prior years and when the budget the request for U the item for uh full day kindergarten was defeated in every District in the town I think it tells you that the people are concerned with the amount of taxes that they're paying yes $10 probably would not hurt anybody but you add this item it's $10 here it's $20 there $30 all of a sudden it becomes money and I I think that you should be a little more professional in when you're discussing the use of taxpayers money thank you uh good evening Doug py for tamarak Road uh from the sounds of
079it we're going to be spending $2.4 million to purchase iPads for the high school uh is that essentially correct no no no oh okay cuz I thought I heard the mention of iPads being the new technology iPads will be a part of the technology order um but this that number represents all the technology equipment that would be going into the new facility okay now in terms of the iPads I would like to hear some uh further elaboration on how the curriculum committee or the board uh sees those sees that particular type of Technology being uh implemented within the first year of the high school uh I heard Mr Coffman say something about uh the iPad replacing textbooks and yes there is a movement in that direction but that that does not uh come cost free
080because you have to purchase the licenses and I'm just wondering has the curriculum committee looked at those cost uh in terms of how it will uh compare to the cost of textbooks so I would just appreciate it as a member of the the public to hear some further elaboration on that thank you okay um the iPad is considered a learning device so uh first and foremost the connection and sharing of content is probably the most powerful um outcome based on it and what I'll do is I'll I will leave and now that we're now that it's it's been approved we have a a very extensive master plan that'll talk about um curriculum instruction assessment deployment infrastructure communication Vision um goals um but I will leave this um this for you as as we leave this
081is basically um a Content ecosystem and describes the main vision of a onetoone learning device besides the fact that kids will be able to access their work um past the school day the sharing of content and the creating of new content and sharing that and getting input is probably the most powerful component of learning um when you give each person a onetoone learning device you're individualizing the learning experience for the individual there are two studies specifically that talk about when student achievement goes up and they're not the only two studies but having the most impact are structured Choice having Choice as a learner and engagement as a learner and the this type of Technology um ramps up instantly level of Engagement and um making your own choices for learning as as an individual learning with
082this type of tool um next month as soon as next month I'll give you a comprehensive roll out of the type of extensive professional development that's involved with the use of wikis the use of um certain applications the use of um individual electronic portfolios the use of sharing content um and differentiating and so one of the major um shifts will be teacher centeredness to student centeredness and to me that is a big transition from your Traditional High School which we've research study after research study has shown that society and our community have changed over the last 50 years but the high school remains a traditional Road experience of giving content out so this onetoone learning device initiative really begins to and will shift the Paradigm we have evaluative tools parent surveys teacher student surveys student
083surveys of what the classroom environment looks now Baseline data and then what it will look six months from now after deployment and professional development what all look one year from now and we'll be using all of those tools um the inclusion of blogs and um leadership to communicate with the community with the students with the parents um will really in my opinion ramp up the learning experience I also have um many um qualitative and quantitative research studies already um that have been published on onetoone initiatives from different states whether it comes from the first big one um coming out of Maine to um to different studies that are now being deployed and and um and used currently and so while there's a foundation already there we're also going to be able to create our own
084data and and analyze that but the driving force is student achievement and learning um for each individualized learner so um I can't give you that all right now but um but I will we will do a for lack of better term a marketing Blitz to educate you very much like we've been doing with the AVID program over the last two years you will see very similar outcomes from students from parents from teachers from administrators um but this this if you this is the major grasp of the of the content um sharing and I'll just leave you with one more um even though I can talk about this forever um he can the concept of YouTube uh and and that's that's a a a change in our society over the last 10 years why do people
085post videos on YouTube and the reason is one of the primary reasons is to get feedback so people can view it and then comment and get feedback on it Anthony Weiner of course whatever it is but it is it is the the shaping and sharing of the world instantly um at instant access so in the 20th century it was all about getting the content um and accessing it now it's about sharing it and creating new content and uh that's his philosophical I think I should get into it now but um I will you'll hear a lot from us very soon on this Dr Gorman's very passionate about this topic Mr cman uh yeah just to add a little bit to what Dr Gorman said a little bit earlier um I'm a little more practical I
086need to see something right um especially in your question what are we going to see for in the first year right um the real since this is a paradigm shift in education I look at this and this is just loose speaking as the real money is going to be in the content I know that there are going to be Publishers that are going to be publishing books that are going to be making ebooks more appropriate but I'm challenging this District to go beyond that there are websites in the thousands that teach American Revolution right they're they're all over the place they're real videos real time videos they're all over the place and it's part of the public domain we we need to start thinking differently about how we're going to collect this content store it
087and move forward Beyond Publishers that produce stuff that we have to buy um there's plenty of stuff out there we have to be smarter about leveraging what's already been done by somebody else somewhere else that teaches you know a a mathematical process it's math or it's history it happened already right so there's a lot of things out there that we have to be smarter about how we're going to collect this information store it and use it as part of the public domain so we don't have to pay for it anymore um because it's out there I mean they brought up YouTube a true story the other day I tried to get a rotor off my son's car wouldn't come off it was rusted on I'm not kidding you I pulled out my phone pulled out
088YouTube there was some guy that created this really little trick with using a bolt and a nut did it came off in a heartbeat my problem solved in 10 minutes I'm not I can't make it up so we need to embrace this type of Technology this first year is going to a ShakeOut year no doubt when the equipment comes in there may be a little bit about you know how we're going to refresh them you know it's it's a new paradigm shift we the first year is a buyin but rest assured we are being very aggressive and we've spoken about this a couple of times that we are going to be pushing the curriculum Brain Trust if you will uh to make best possible use of the technology and not just be something you know
089you you will need without your iPad you won't be able to function in the school that that's when I think of it being optimally used because you know you're submitting homework that way you're communicating with students you're Blackboard technology that students will be using when they get to college that they're kind of challenged with today these Concepts aren't being done at the high school level I think we need to bring it down to the high school level so rest assured now that we have these things uh every which way possible that we can leverage this technology will be done I guarantee it thank you Mr preso Anthony preso had a question way is there a plan in place when the laws stolen or broken yes it's part of the usage policy what you're going to
090let the parents pay for that it's going to be part of the usage policy and if they can't pay for it how will you collect the money well we have situations in place where students lose books today and we have you know they're responsible for repaying them right but this is a $300 item isn't it no that's going to be it's going to be tough okay well I want to know if you had a plan and another question is is there anything happening with the trailers is the they're going down the turnpike there's a few left in in the district there's work that has to be done in terms of dismantling them discol disconnecting electricity and plumbing that sort of thing but um they're supposed to be some funds left over after they were dismantled
091do we know what the where they go where that fund is going we won't actualize full savings this year there will be some but we won't actualize full savings until next year because the contract for removing those trailers also included breakdown fees and I don't know those numbers off the top of my head but there will be some savings this year but bigger Savings in the next budget is that money here marked no it is not okay thank you thank you anyone else Karen R 44 Al Dorado I just have a couple questions about the clubs that are exempt versus those that are not some clarification like course exempt but drama drama's exempt but like dance jazz is not what the differences in those are are you referring to the last page yes okay um
092conceptually anything with a $25 fee um is required to help offset the costs of the numerous clubs that we offer here I challenge you to find any other school district that offers this magnitude of clubs and we want to keep the clubs as part of the budget so we we initiated the fee uh certain clubs are exempt and again like I mentioned before anything that you're uh right I understand the Honor Society and all that stuff but like between CH You Know Drama verse dance jazz dance what's the difference between that that one would be exempt and one's not if if it performs at a school function and and represents the school Dr Gorman and I uh deemed it to be exempt okay we look at we looked at the curriculum okay um so we
093looked at course offerings in the school so there wasn't a jazz um course and that was the foundation so it was curriculum based but we still wanted exposure for those kids to be part of those experiences but it was basically it the foundation was curriculum okay also Applegarth what is going on with construction is that going to be starting soon and and since it hasn't started is that going to offset when it open reopens um it hasn't started yet um and part of the reason why it hasn't started yet is because we're being very aggressive with moving there's a lot of transition going on as I'm sure you're aware in the district um it will start as soon as we get the move completed and it will not delay the initial plan to reopen the
094a contractor and all that pardon there's a contractor the uh aestus management company has been identified and most of our in-house crew will do some of the other remediations that are scheduled to take place thank you thank you else sure apologize for being up so many times George gunman 5 kill Court uh just a brief word in defense of of music you know it was sort of talked about as kind of an uh wouldn't it be nice music is a lot more important than that and I'm I'm not going to say that it's equal to science but it's complimentary in a way and all the studies show that it is you advance your higher learning in programs that include support for the music effort which the school always has but in terms of looking at
095that activ funding activity that was discussed this evening I think it's important to keep its parity where it belongs it's very key thank you thank you yeah I just want to make one thing clear about the restoration of the transportation for zero period um the zero period as was mentioned earlier was never off the books it was really just the transportation component and we did have uh parents transporting their students prior to the introduction of transportation for a zero period so that was going well and it was very well received so that had been going on and then we brought in the transportation to to make things a little bit better so I just want to make sure everybody's clear it wasn't that we pulled the zero period off the table it was only the
096transportation for the zero period that was pulled off and then reinstated tonight so I just want to make sure that that that was kind of clear thank chair uh in the early 1960s uh the Bell System was starting the development of electronic switching systems that involved tens of billions of dollars and initially they thought we get our uh software programmers from math departments and they came to realize that one of the untapped resources was the music departments that you're learning music you learn a new language and that helps immensely when you're designing software thank you Jody Desai I'm currently building a home in Monroe I lived in Monroe for 5 years prior um my question is about the high school um program I'm just curious I'm very excited to see um new things happening and
097things like that but I'm curious to see how we looked into what our competitive districts have been doing Princeton West Windsor Plainsboro East Windsor I'm just curious um if that was part of the initial study are you go ahead doctor are you referring specifically to the technology initiative or in general in general like any kind of improvements that we do are we doing that absolutely absolutely what what generally happens is we solicit uh research from either graduate interns or folks who are working in our district who are pursuing Advance studies and we identify like districts or similar districts or districts we may want to Aspire to to emulate in some fashion and then based on those recommendations or that research then we make informed decisions of course as we access our own data student achievement
098data Personnel data and all those other kinds of things so by the time the public hears the discourse at this table there's been several kinds of conversations in superintendent's cabinet advisory Etc okay wonderful thank you Mr yes Mr uh the State Department of Education uh has a uh gradation system a through J for socioeconomic measures a districts are per Amboy and du Brunswick lots of poverty you got the our next door neighbor cranberry it's a Jay it's the high it's the upper half of the top range we are a middle middle class school district when you look at who are we comparable to you don't look at Princeton or other schools those are GH top of the middle class or East Brunswick bottom half of the top when you want to talk about comparables talk
099about North Brunswick Oldbridge South planfield and then you got light to light comparisons and when you do academic studies even more importantly when you do financial studies our next door neighbor Oldbridge same middle class middle middle class their students get $433 to per student we get 198 I don't know what the hell is going on in the state but man something's rotten thank you Mr Larry anyone else from the public um I just wanted to make a comment with the um pay to play and the zero period busing um just as apparent in Monroe I'm just disappointed that you opted to um put back in the um zero period busing rather than the pay to play the pay to play I think you said costed approximately $180,000 was going to be the revenue where the
100busing costed over $2,000 the busing taking away the busing doesn't cost the parents anything it makes them accountable to drive their child to the school it doesn't cost them any money however a parent in Monroe that has three children that may want to pay a sport has to incur the cost now of $300 where it would have been less if you implement it to pay to play tonight so it's just it's very disappointing as a parent anyone else no seeing none then our next scheduled Board of Ed meeting will be Wednesday August 17th at 7 p.m. at the high school can I get a motion to adjourn second the all in favor oos meeting