001the meeting of the Monroe tanip Board of Education will come to order please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United United States of America and and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for [Music] all may we have a roll call Mr Gorski m Kono here Mr Chella here miss anelis here Mr Braverman here Mr calman here Mr Klein Mr Larry here Mr Masters here Mr tesler here Mrs Fon here Madame board president you have a quorum thank you in accordance with the provisions of the New Jersey open public meetings law the Monroe Township Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted February 10th 2012
002one at all schools two home to home News Tribune three cranberry press and four filed with the clerk of the municipality uh we would normally go to our student board members reports but I do not see student board members today so we will go to number six the second reading public hearing and Adoption of the refunding bond ordinance Mr Gorski thanks good evening this is the second reading and public hearing for the refunding bond ordinance which was initially introduced at the January 18th public meeting anyone from the public is invited to ask questions or make comments at this time again this is for the bond refunding all right seeing no questions um the public hearing is now closed and I will now read the resolution refunding Bond ordinance of the Board of Education it is
003recommended that the members of the Board of Education approve the following resolution refunding Bond ordinance of the Board of Education of the township of Monroe in the county of middle sex New Jersey providing for the refunding of a portion of the board's outstanding School District bonds series 2004 dated February 15 200 for appropriating not to exceed $7,500,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of not to exceed $7,500,000 School District refunding bonds of the board of education for the financing the cost thereof be it resolved by the Board of Education of the township of Monroe and the county of middlex New Jersey where not less than two-thirds of all the members thereof affirming affirmatively concurring as follows section one pursuant to njsa 18a colon 2461 of the school board school bond law of the state of New
004Jersey the state the Board of Education of the township of Monroe and the county of middle sex New Jersey the board is hereby authorized to refund a portion of the board's outstanding $65 M54 th000 School District refunding bond series 2004 dated February 15 2004 originally issued in the aggregate principal amount of 67,69 th000 section two in order to finance the cost of the purpose described in section one hereof and the cost of issuance Associated therewith negotiable refunding bonds of the board are hereby authorized to be issued in the aggregate principal amount of not to exceed $67,500 th000 pursuant to njsa 18a colon 2461 of the school bond law of the state section three an aggregate amount not to exceed $675,000 for cost issuing the refunding bonds including without limitation Underwriters discount original issue discount and
005if any bond insurance if any and all legal accounting Printing and fiduciary expenses has been included in the aggregate principal amount of the refunding bonds authorized herein section four the purpose of the refunding is to reduce the annual Debt Service expenses of the board section five the board hereby acknowledges and agrees that in accordance with njsa 18a colon 24-16 and 18a col 24-17 a supplemental debt statement will be prepared as of the date of this refunding Bond ordinance by the Chief Financial Officer of the township of Monroe being every municipality comprised within the school district giving effect to the proposed author authorization of the bonds of the school district in the aggregant amount not to exceed 4,651 th000 which represents the amount of the refunding debt in excess of the debt to be refunded and
006that the supplemental debt statement has been filed in the office of the clerk of the township of Monroe and in the office of the secretary of the board prior to the introduction of this refunding Bond ordinance the board hereby directs the secretary of the board to have the supplemental debt statements filed and the office of the division of local government service and the Department of Community Affairs prior to the final adoption of this refunding Bond ordinance section six a certified copy of this refunding Bond ordinance as adopted on the first reading has been filed with the director of the division of local government services and the Department of Community Affairs of the state prior to final adoption section seven this refunding Bond ordinance shall take effect immediately upon the final adoption provided that the consent
007of the local Finance board has has been endorsed upon a certified copy of this refunding Bond ordinance as finally adopted make the motion second I will make the motion to accept that Mr Chella and second by Mr ly any comments or questions from members of the board okay seeing none Mr Gorski will have a roll call Miss antelis yes Mr Braverman yes Mr Chella yes Mrs Fon yes Mr calman yes Mr Larry yes Mr Masters yes Mr tesler yes Mrs kapano yes Madam board president motion passes thank you at this time we will go to the public forum anyone wishing to speak to the agenda please come to the microphone and give your name and address for the record and I just like to ask any board members to hold out any comments or questions
008or responses that you have for other board business anyone from the public uh Robert roach 18 mfield Boulevard Monroe Township um see if I get my note I think it's now page 23 on the agenda it's the dealing with the um or 21 it's deals with the uh uh the UN unspent funds with for the budget uh let me see resolution I uh 21 I'm sorry it indicates that um there's apparently two issue two bonds that have unspent funds in the and $2 million is being placed in a a fund 40 which is apparently a reserve fund and my question is what is going to happen with that $2 million I'll have Mr Gorski answer that um Mr Roos there's two Bond referendum funds in um discussion here the first one is fund 34 where
009we just introduced uh the final resolution for the refunding and the second one is fund 36 which was known as the additional cost referendum due to the diligent efforts of administration and the board to control costs within the high school construction project and to limit change orders according to the auditor report dated January 31st 2012 which was an interim update there is in excess of 7 and a qu million dollar of surplus money left in these two Series in aggregate by law we can spend the money in accordance with the questions that were approved by the voters or if the construction's complete and we don't have the utility for the money we could return such to the residents in the form of tax relief offsetting The Debt Service Levy in fund 40 fund 40 is
010The Debt Service fund which is a self um balancing chart of accounts within its own series intended to pay the principal and interest on the bonds over their duration annually it also raises an ual tax levy to pay for those principal and interest payments on an annual basis this $2 million will reduce that fund 40 tax levy by $2 million reducing taxes for the community we have more in the obvious question but we could you refund more and I just want to point out that we have just under a $3 million receivable from the state of New Jersey under the section 15 Grant where we're making final application for payment as we just received the certificate of occupancy on this building the section 15 Grant um is payable an installments of completion of the building
011and now that we're finished we're sending in the final request for payment of $3 million um I recommended to the finance committee that we do not appropriate more than $2 million at this time until we receed those monies from the state um when it goes into that fund and it's reduces the um the debt levy on the for the that's raised on taxes uh is it is that a one time does do you pay off what do you do with it do you pay off the bonds or some other bonds or is it just in there and it's just used periodically on an annual basis to repay some of the principal and interest well by law we have to produce an annual budget for fund 40 to pay the principal and interest that come due
012each year and the Vues from from for fund 40 to fund those principal and interest payments come from fund balance they come from taxes and they come from state aid the majority of Monro come from taxes and this $2 million appropriation from the bond referendum accounts will act dollar per dollar reduce the amount of money that has to be raised in the annual Levy to pay for these principal and interest payments it's a it's a one-time shot but the good news is there's more remaining Surplus so not to cause a spike with one year's reduction of the levy to face an increase the next year this will be advertised um over two or perhaps threee period until all those monies are returned the the 2 million or whatever eventually becomes will be advertised over that
013period of time the 2 million will be um all recognized in the 1213 school year do you have the option to just make a a principal payment on uh one of the bonds so that it's you don't get this uh big shot up you know no no you do not the bond holders have that instrument and they're entitled to principal and interest during the term issued on those bonds apprciate some payment up front and uh that's how that works thank you very much my pleasure anyone else from the public yes good evening Doug boy for tamarak Road a couple of items in the agenda that uh I was n quite certain what they were all about uh it's under board action it was item G excuse me it dealt with a career development program um
014and the dates looked a little confusing of course I was looking at the agenda that was uh from the website and I real realized that the agenda printed up tonight may have different dates uh but the dates were a little confusing but my real question is what is the purpose of that career development program because it appears that we're going to be spending somewhere over $3,000 for each month uh for possibly 10 months so that's $330,000 for some kind of career development program if you could just elaborate on what that's all about what page on your I I don't know the page all I know it was it was labeled item g under the superintendent report of board under board action she saying 20 that's a um that's not boort yeah that's under the business
015administrative report JFK rehabil that's to JFK I got it is that on Mike's report that's on Mike's on your report um on page 20 I have you said letter g g G1 um that is JFK Rehab Institute that is a career development program uh to provide services for um Transitional services for students to help them uh graduate from the educational programs here in the district to um their ultimate career goal and this uh Institute helps acclimate them with that transition and this is an annual amount um for this year only okay am I correct in a in reading that that's over 3,000 a month is that correct am I interpreting that correctly uh yes that that's for the students participating in that for this year okay and is that for each of 10 months then
016according to those dates that's i' I found that a little confusing yes that's correct okay now are are these are these students that are in a program with JFK are are these all of the students here in the high school that's no these These are classified students okay students with IEPs oh okay when they get 21 years old they're out I understand I understand okay and I did have a question about K item K uh it's just yeah flip a few more pages over maybe uh if you could just explain that in layman terms because I didn't understand what that was about I was afraid that was going to come up um this um resolution was prepared by our board attorney uh specifically our Construction specialist and for the high school project we had a
017main contractor SE Co construction they had a subcontractor named strober and strober had a supplier of supplies three different entities the supplier filed suit against strober for not payment of U accounts receivable um the board of education has paid our commitment to se Coast a general contractor in full and according to our bond or sorry our attorney this resolution uh will protect the board's interest if the supplier was ultimately to file a claim against the Board of Education and will hold us harmless I see okay thank you thank you and I just want to check my understanding on item I just preceding that uh because Mr roach addressed this question and in answering it I believe I understood you to say that presently ly at the present time there's about 7 and A4 million of
018the uh referendum funds not yet spent is that correct that's correct and uh you know keep in mind that is a moving Target those those figures do change I've asked the Auditors to um keep on top of this and update it on an interim monthly um method so that uh we could properly manage how much is remaining left U but that is correct $3 million included in that 7 and a qu million is still owed to us in the state where we did not get the full Grant proceeds yet if that should be jeopardized in any way could dramatically reduce that fund balance available that's why at this time it was my recommendation and and recommended by the finance committee to um appropriate $2 million Against The Debt Service relief and it'll also allow for
019the installment method of uh adding stability to the tax levy for the next couple of years okay thank you is there anyone else from the public wishing to speak to the agenda good evening uh Christy scurby 8 seminal Court I just had a question on uh page 24 item n the long range facilities plan Amendment um could you just explain what that project is and how much uh that will cost yes Mr Gorski the long range facility plan Amendment pertains to um the redesign of one of the rooms in this high school for an Autistic Program the Autistic Program uh this was just presented by the way to the building grounds Transportation committee at uh the last meeting this will provide autistic services on a continuous basis for up to six students which is limited
020by the amount of space in the facility uh by code and will dramatically reduce the amount of tuition payment pents that we paid to the autistic programs out of District the cost for this will be in the vicinity of $40,000 for the renovations and that's an approximate number um however the cost savings recognized by having these students inh house could be as much as $600,000 a year and would provide better for the students because of the um continuous environment which is beneficial for autistic students thank you anyone else from the public okay seeing no one um number eight close session resolution be it resolved that the Board of Education of the township of Monroe hereby moves to go into close session in accordance with Sunshine Law chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 njsa
02110 column 4-6 through 10 column 4-21 to discuss the following subjects Personnel matter employee number 2966 student matters harassment intimidation and bullying incidents number 932 through 101 the discussion conducted in closed session can be discussed to the public at such time as the matters have been resolved Motion in a second motion motion second Mr Chella and Mr ly all in favor I opposed what happened okay at this time the board will move into Clos session but before we do they'd like to take our picture for the yearbook Mr L is back we will the board will reconvene into public session Mr Larry order of personal privilege okay thank you I have one kidney and I have to take care of it very carefully thank you for that information yeah yeah we will go to number
022nine on the agenda the approval of the minutes for the public board meeting of December 14th 2011 Mr tesler second Mr Masters any questions or comments all in favor I opposed extensions myself Mr cherella abstains okay the Clos session of December 14 2001 Miss santalis second m Mr tesler comments or questions all in favor opposed extensions Mr cha okay at this time we will go to the superintendent's Report with Dr Hamilton thank you good evening everyone um the enrollment report for um January is included in your report showing an increase of plus 14 students a a net of 14 students the out of District placement and home instruction reports are also included for your information along with the fire drill and lockdown information moving on to Personnel items I will add item CC at the
023end of the report and that item is as follows and then I will read um the full Personnel report item CC will read it is recommended that the members of the Monroe Township Board of Education authorize and approve the salary adjustment for employee number 66 to an annual salary of 82,2 194,000 74 retroactive to January 1st with that said Madame board president and members of the Board of Education it is recommended by the superintendent that Personnel items a through CC be approved by roll call vote so moved miss anelis Mr Chella Mr bman is there any comments or questions for the superintendent that last item was CC CC seeing none we'll have a roll call Mr Gorski Miss antelis yes Mr Braverman yes Mr Chella yes Mrs Ferron uh yes on all items no to
024CC so noted Mr calman yes to all noce CC you to do it again Mr Larry yes Mr Masters yes Mr tesler yes Mrs kapano yes to all items no on CC Madam board president Personnel items a through CC passes thank you moving on to board action items Madam board president and members of the board of education is recommended by the superintendent that board action items a through F be approved by roll call vote so moved second and Tellis Mr tiella any comments or questions for the superintendent seeing none we will have a roll call Miss anelis yes Mr Braverman yes Mr Chella yes Mrs Ferron yes Mr calman yes Mr Larry yes Mr Masters yes Mr tesler yes Mrs kapano yes madame board president board action items a through F passes thank you does
025that conclude your report that concludes the superintendent's report thank you okay at this time we will go to the business administrator's Report with Mr [Music] Gorski before I give my report uh the budget calendar requires that the preliminary budget must be submitted to the executive county superintendent of schools by Monday March 5th therefore the March 7th meeting that is scheduled must be moved to an earlier date I would like to recommend that the March 7th public Board of Education meeting be moved to Thursday March 1st at 7 p.m is there a motion in second motion second Mr ly miss anelis any comments or questions then we will have a roll call in moving the March 7th Board of Education meeting to Third Thursday March 1st at 7 p.m. Miss antelis yes Mr Braverman yes Mr
026Chella yes Mrs Fon I'm just saying no Mike because I'll be out of town so I want to act responsibly that I would have wanted to be here for that so that's a no no Mr calman yes Mr ly yes Mr Masters yes Mr tesler yes Mrs col yes Madam board president motion to move March 7th board meeting to March 1st is approved also the scheduled March 21st public meeting needs to move to March 22nd as March 22nd is now the earliest date to have a public hearing on the budget therefore I would like to recommend that the March 21st public meeting be moved to Thursday March 22nd as a public meeting and budget hearing so move Tellis Mr Chella any questions question uh 7 o'clock both of them yes sir anyone else that would
027just be a conflict because I believe it's Jamesburg meeting so again you can't be at both at the same time um we have roll call Mike Miss antelis yes Mr Braverman yes Mr Chella yes Mrs Fon no Mr calman yes Mr Larry yes Mr Masters yes Mr tesler Mrs kapano yes madame board president motion to move the March 21st public meeting to Thursday March 22nd at 7 p.m passes okay thank you we'll have the business administrator report Madame board president and members of the Monro Township Board of Education it is recommended that board action items a through n be approved by consent roll call move second Mr Chella Mr Braverman are there any comments or questions for Mr gski seeing none we'll have a roll call Miss anelis yes Mr Braverman yes Mr cherell Mrs
028Fon yes Mr calman yes Mr Larry yes Mr Masters yes Mr tesler yes M panowich yes Madam board president board action items a through n passes thank you very much at this time we will go to the board president's report and um in regard to the um reopening of alpor school I'd just like to read just a statement and hopefully we can um put this whole um situation to rest um Abarth elementary school is on schedule to reopen in September 2012 and welcome in approximately 304th and fifth grade students who are currently third and fourth graders at Oak Tree Elementary School at the November 17th 2010 Monroe Township School District Board of Education meeting the board approved an action to close the former Applegarth Middle School for the 201122 school year so that Renovations which
029included asbest abatement new flooring painting lighting ceilings and signage could be completed with no students or staff in the building the mono Township Board of Education and District administration believe that these Renovations will help make the facility more conducive to an elementary school facility to and the elementary school student population as part of the renovation project the board authorized an updated demographic study to be prepared by Ross habber Associates to provide insight about projective enrollments in the oak tree and appleg Gart School communities our architect of record design ideas group architecture was authorized by the Board of Education to to work with Dr Hamilton and the administrative team to develop an educational specification for Applegarth using the new demographic data received from Ross hav mccab environmental was also hired by the board to design the
030as bestus abatement project and administer testing as an added precaution Dr Richard Lynch a certified industrial hygienist of environmental Safety Management and the district's lead environmental cons consultant for many years provided another layer of oversight and monitoring well exceeding the ahara guidelines Dr Lynch stated air quality is monitored regularly during the abatement project and will continue to be monitored for IAQ parameters Beyond Justice best leading up to the opening of the school in September 2012 recently at the January 2012 Board of Education meeting veteran District principal Mr Dennis vello was approved for a transfer to become Applegarth Elementary School's new building principal Mr ventell has a 40-year career in Monroe Township School District and is currently the principal of Oak Tree Elementary School he was the principal who opened Oak uh Brookside School in 1991
031and most recently opened oak tree School in 2008 and at that meeting I said that I felt that Dennis villo was Absol absolutely the right person to open Applegarth Elementary School and turn it into an excellent educational facility the Monroe Board of Education Dr Hamilton and Mr ventrillo will continue to provide regular project updates to the Monro Township community about the progress of Applegarth Elementary School the asbest abatement project from now until the opening of the school in September during the past 20 plus years our district has seen an enormous growth in student population the board of education has addressed the growth of the school district through referendum construction projects and capital projects absorbed in the general operating budget referendum projects for a total of added building space equaling 746,000 million include the construction of
032Brookside Elementary School an academic pod Edition at Brookside School a two classroom Edition at Brookside School the construction of the morasco Performing Arts Center additions and Renovations at the former High School building which is now the Monro Township Middle School the addition and renovation at Barkley Brook School the addition and renovation at Woodland School the construction of the new mil Lake School construction of oak tree School the construction of the new Monro Township High School converting appleg garth's school to sewer and water the Board of Education also addressed the increase of school district growth through the trailer or temporary classroom units project between the years of 2003 and 2011 the trailer projects equated to approximately 6 to7 million of the general operating budget funds additionally approximately $540,000 of the general operating funds was used during
033the school budget years of 2010 2011 and 201122 to address the Monro Township Middle School conversion in closing there has been a rapid increase in Monroe student population over the last 20 plus years as evidenced by the data shown in this statement the Monro Township Board of Education has worked d ently to address this student population growth by being proactive and fiscally responsible in all decisions related to building projects the board of education has committed itself to continuing to address the needs of our growing student population while making sure that the safety security and health of our students and staff remains a priority and finally I'd just like to say that I believe that this board takes all the concerns of the whole Community seriously the Applegarth Elementary School is the last piece of the
034district buildings that needs to be upgraded it has been a project that has been on our radar since December of 2003 when the community overwhelmingly supported the referendum to build a new high school and keep the sister School Concept in the north the Central and the southern part of Monroe the plan to turn Applegarth into an elementary school was also thought about when the referend to build oak tree was passed and in 2008 when we changed Applegarth and put put it on Water and Sewer so to put all this in a nutshell the Board of Education plans to open Applegarth Elementary School in September 2012 for all fourth and fifth grades in oak tree School currently at Oak Tree school um at this time that that will conclude my board president's report and we will
035go on to the committee reports from any board member who has a committee to report on Mr cherella thank you we had a uh buildings grounds and transportation committee meeting earlier this week uh on February uh February 9th I don't even remember what day it was I'm sorry I'm I'm I'm confused from uh after yesterday all the all the love and sugar has me a little little wobbly but anyway we had a uh buildings grounds and transportation committee meeting and I just want to discuss quickly what we discussed at the meeting it was a it was an open meeting a large it was a a well attended meeting we discussed the Applegarth update uh we had a we had a very good um turnout but also a great opportunity to to look at and uh
036and hear U Dr Lynch give a overview of uh the precautions that were taken and the projects that were uh that uh he he led with the spus abatement and the extra samplings and the air quality and that sort of thing so um I think it was about he gave us 150 page report uh detailing out even when they took breaks and uh you know basically everything that they did and how often he was on the site and the things that were going on so I I think that that was uh that was great to be able to see all that and hear from you know to hear from him um we also had a uh a proposal or request with which would result in a request for renovation which we uh talked about a
037little bit earlier to convert our computer repair room to an autistic uh in-house living facility for our autistic children um and that would offer us the ability to keep our uh autistic children in in our school which would also which will also result in a sizable savings to the district because uh the renovation of that room will cost approximately 40,00 to outfit with sinks and and bathrooms and the things that we need uh in order to uh to give them the proper learning environment but uh we save $100,000 per student in uh the in Outsource or out outplacement services so uh overall I think that that's going to be a big win for us every year considering that we have about six children in the program uh so that's $600,000 a year in potential savings
038so I think that that'll be a great thing if we could do that and uh the other the other thing that we that we talked about was additional security at the high school so uh adding swipe machines to some doors and some additional coverage so that we could uh uh add some security especially to a couple of our a couple of the rooms that now don't have that so uh Mr Gorski went through a a pretty lengthy report as to why we needed it and where we needed it and and so uh our committee recommended that we go ahead and put that security in so that we just up the safety in the high school the the openings as we go forward as we see those kind of uh openings or potentials for potential for
039issues that we we're going to continue to address those the last thing that I have and I just want to quickly thank Woodland School for uh sending this they didn't they didn't have to do this what's that uh Mid Lake School I'm sorry um we we had a fence I don't know if you could everybody could see this but we had a fence put up they requested uh that a fence be put up behind the school in the Woodline area we had some incidents where we had unknown adults in the woods there uh we had some security concerns and some things that came up uh the the uh the the principal and the some of the parents thought that it it was ons safe and they and they they as they asked for some additional
040security so we s we we heard that on uh January 21st we had a fence put in uh ruus fence did it at that time it was a $7,200 cost to the board which was approved by this board and then the fence was installed but then the students and and again they did this on their own but they they just uh they wrote a thank you to uh Mr tag Mr Gorski and the M mon renal board of education for the fence because enables them not to play an area where they couldn't play before so they all the kids signed it so uh thank you Mil Lake that was uh very nice very nice oh yeah hang it up in the board office going to go up in Mike's office any questions for Ken okay
041is there any other the committee reports Mr ly uh we had a very good finance committee meeting and uh the questions that were raised by Mr roach and Mr Po were fully addressed there and Michael has given the responses so that uh was uh thank you I think fully explained to the audience here and uh what is really being done is trying very hard to stay within that 2% cap go forward and have an orderly financing of this district and I think with Michael's guidance we're going to do a good job that conclude your report that's my report thank you okay going on to number four oh is there any other committee reports okay seeing none any other board of education business from members of the Board of Education Mr Tesla real quick just a
042public service announcement for the board and the public the Monroe uh Township Education Foundation is having its second annual uh teacher versus police basketball game on uh March 23rd here at the gym 700 p.m. with a $5 donation at the door we'll be giving off some prizes and things like that and uh just come have a good time and support your favorite teacher or police officer oh we're we're going to be raffling off an iPad too thank you you anyone else Mr Masters I just wanted to recognize the oak tree student council and the oak tree PTA uh they collected over 280 new and gently used uh videos and uh 65 video games for donation to The Bristol Meers squib Children's Hospital it's a very nice thing they did very good any other board business
043One More Mr Masters I don't know how many board members got to read this enrollment study yet but if 19 is the best page is the conclusion and there's some scary numbers in here about the growth in the district so just wanted to bring that up Mr ly I stand again we in this board of education need to start negotiations with the township of Monroe to get 30 more Acres just exactly on the point that Mr Masters was talking about when you look at some of the housing projects that are on the books now we are in a sort of queasy Economic Times But ultimately we'll work our way through that and we're going to have a title wave of people and we need to start getting ready for two more elementary schools a lower
044elementary school and an upper elementary school in the southwest quadrant of Monroe Township thank you Mr lirry anyone else okay and on number 15 that issue we had discussed in um the first Clos session and we voted on that that was number CC on the uh superintendent report so we will go to the public forum and again anyone wishing to speak please come to the microphone state your name and address for the record and we since we have such a big crowd tonight we're going to adhere to our 3 minute limitation and again I'm going to ask all the board members to please hold any comments or I will try thank you till after public session is closed anyone wishing to speak good evening my name is Cam Kayla my address is for Keswick Circle
045um I'm part of well I'm soon part of the human Relations Committee for the Monroe Township and we recently lost our Board of Ed member on the human relations commission so we were looking for a replacement from the Board of Ed to be on the rep on the human relations commission committee sorry and also we were looking for two student two students hopefully a junior and a senior boy and girl to be on that committee as well and I was asked to bring it to your attention to see if we would be getting a replacement anytime soon okay we will have a discussion and see if we can um appoint somebody and then um she would like she's from the human Relations Committee would like to have a junior and a senior to and a
046boy and a girl so one of each you know that we could have on the committee meet once a month okay we'll take care of that perfect thank you you know what would you do me a favor sure come here I and just make sure I give you my um if you would just shoot me an email so I can have your contact information and I can send it to you okay thank you anyone else from the public min9 Nathaniel Street um the matters that were resolved in close session the earlier closed session um what were were any were there any incidents that Reon well what was the resolve let's put it that way in today in the earlier Clos session um the the board at um Clos session every month has to look at
047the incident and bullying report so we get that from the um the Hib coordinator and we have to look at that and then there was a um a discussion on a um that was in the second one a Personnel item and that was um number CC on the agenda and let me just I think that was it okay what was the position of the of the Personnel item um it was I you don't have to tell me the person what was the position in this case the position there's only one person that holds that position so disclosing that would disclose the person okay so why was there an increase what was the you've resolved it you've given them an increase what was the discussion about why an increase was in order because it was an
048increase that should have occurred uh earlier but during my absence the board had questions about the recommendation so it was tabled until until now it was part of it was a part of um increases that were decided last year that have just had not happened okay and the reason for it last year what was the reason for the increase last year it was the it was during the discussion where all the raises for non-affiliate employees were discussed for the current school year was on a scale that was would be normal for the is it specific to this person or is it something that everybody got across the board no it it's it's not but the raises generally aren't like that for non-affiliated people it's not what specific to this person or it's not across the
049it's not specific to a a particular group in this particular case the group of people who are represented as or not represented actually they are constitute the non- Affiliates there's no contractual obligation to raise us so they range from zero to wherever so what was the difference between the salary and the raise uh $4,000 $3,731 74 and that's for the year yes that's for the balance of the year I'd like to read a letter I sent to Mr Gorski and members of the Board of Education today um Dear Mr Gorski as prev at a previous public meeting uh Ed uh Board of Education meeting I requested that the Monroe High School need on sign advertise the Board of Education meeting time and location the next Board of Education public meeting is scheduled for today Wednesday
050February 15th is there any reason why the sign does not reflect this public notice the sign is used as a public service announcement board it is essential that the public service is it is an essential public service to announce the Board of Education meeting on that sign at least one week in advance then I go on to ask for a response I notice that it has been put on this afternoon however um I think that I would like to see a board policy or board commitment or a board resolution saying that it's something that should occur on a regular basis and it should be at least seven days in advance is there any reason why it wasn't done sooner what had happened was I think if you noticed that the sign said congratulation Giants New
051York Giants and it was there for weeks or two weeks um apparently they point exactly they had trouble getting input to the sign so that they can put things on the sign I know that Dr Hamilton and I had talked about getting this information on the sign and um so it finally got there today okay so my my question is it will be going to the policy committee we will bring it to the policy committee for their um discussion and input why does it need to go to a policy committee it's really a simple very simple the board can agree or disagree to do it it's a public it's it's a public service didn't you request that in your letter that this go to the policy committee no I did not I just said that
052it should be res it should I said it should be policy it doesn't have to have a policy commit committee I mean I think the board can just say we think that's a idea we had told you last month or I I said that that we would put it on the sign and and it wasn't done until my letter today well we had discussed that before today and unfortunately we were congratulating the Giants okay well all right and um I missed this the earlier meeting this morning uh this earlier uh but I know there's some discussion about the potential for the state to increase funding to Monroe is that correct I mean if it happens it may or may not happen we're hopeful okay so for years the board members have complained that we have
053not gotten enough for our fair share from the state um and that has been really the reason why most people have uh the board members have suggest I think I'd like to you could finish your your comment um that the board members have said that the increases and the burden on the taxpayer is so high so I would like another pledge from the board uh members that if we do get an increase in taxes next year the difference between what we've received this year and the excess would be put on as tax relief it would be given to as a tax relief to the taxpayers I think that would have to be discussed under the finance committee and with Mr G well I mean all the board members would I mean it's the idea that
054since since it's been a complaint for years and years and years that wouldn't it be the right thing to do to to use that funding as tax relief to the we will take that under consideration anyone else from the public good evening Tom not Stein 15 Nathaniel Street um where do we stand with the send receive agreement between James Berg and Monroe have we come up with a dollar amount the send received relationship with Monroe and Jamesburg had a legal agreement established last year whereas Monro Township Board of Education committed that they would not stand in the way or block Jamesburg from their efforts to seek an alternative educational um High School um those efforts did not become fruitful and hence the Jamesburg students are welcome back in Monroe uh indefinitely and uh there is
055a matter of tuition for the 101 school year whereas again the tuition is based ahead of the year on an estimated number of students and an estimated tuition rate when the actual is calculated there is either a due to or due from two districts and we have always settled amicably uh for the 10-1 school year the Jamesburg Board of Education under budgeted by $153,400 which according to the budget laws they are going to incorporate in their 1213 budget as additional tuition owed to Monroe consequently we we pick it up as a tuition revenue for the 1112 school year there was an agreement that the Jamesburg Board of Education would begin to recognize and reimburse Monroe for their portion of the bond interest as related to the construction of the school based upon the percentage of
056enrollment and that money will come due in 1314 so Jamesburg is current with all of their monies owed to Monroe uh with the inclusion of that $153,000 in the 1213 budget f furthermore Jamesburg um is is user using some banked cap pursuing to recommendation from the county office which allows Jamesburg to expand their budget to incorporate a estimated number of students and a rate commensurate with Monroe's anticipated costs for the 1213 school year so that we do not expect any aages to um accumulate so the only they are in AAR for the 153,000 roughly that and now there's all they're also in aers for the interest on the high school is that accurate AAR is as defined that there was a shortfall from the estimated to the actual and it's Incorporated in the 1213 budget
057so it will be satisfied at that time the interest from the 1112 school year will be due in 1314 so so that didn't affect their cap because I thought this whole situation was that this was going to mess them up for uh the 2% cap that they would have to go above that in order to meet our tuition requirements under the current budget law it would be very difficult for Jamesburg to incorporate that interest portion in their budget cap that money does not come due until 1314 we don't know what the legislation will be at that time uh we'll have to address that later so we did come up with a dollar number number and they did meet that uh per student um yes Jamesburg is current with All the Monies as due per the
058schedule for the a41 1842 tuition calculator how much what is that dollar amount per student that Jamesburg is currently uh paying for for the uh 11 I'm sorry for the 1213 budget it's $1 15,264 per student excluding interest excluding the interest how much will that be does that come out to with the interest it approximately $22,900 per student and again it depends on the actual percentage of their students to the fixed amount of interest that we will recognize on the bonds did Jamesburg move their elections uh like Monroe did I believe they did also I noticed on the first closed session that they were going in for the uh this The Bullying situation uh it's my understanding that that's been uh deemed in the reports as an un unfunded mandate so that we no longer
059have to follow that is that is that accurate um that is accurate however we have not been given direction from um our commissioner or county superintendent in terms of how um we should adjust those programs that are non-funded um I'll have that information next Friday when we meet with the county suit excellent thank you once again Doug poy for tamarak Road excuse me uh this evening you passed a tuition assistance uh policy um and I I have a question basically or a suggestion that the board consider because I believe uh looking at the last paragraph you're not prohibited from doing this that the board consider uh possibly uh having requirements for anyone who receives tuition reimbursement uh from leaving the district shortly after getting that without having to pay that tuition back to the district
060uh I mean occasionally you may find that there is a an employee who is ACR these credits at The Graduate level uh the board is paying the uh tuition and then as soon as they let's say they have their masters or whatever uh they Market themselves and they move to another district and I believe in investing in the employee but I think there should be something held over the heads of those employees that get that tuition reimbursement and I would simply suggest that the board uh consider what could be added to that policy or regulation developed to address that issue okay um also uh just a a a point uh if you look at the second paragraph of that policy uh it's not properly worded uh there's a sentence in there that's not a sentence
061so I just ask you to take a look at that uh I don't know what you paragraph It's a second paragraph of the policy on tuition uh assistance uh there's a sentence that's not a sentence uh okay and and so it's you know just doesn't read quite right um you mentioned that the uh the board uh passed the uh resolution that the uh meeting in March will be on March the 1st now if my understanding is that that is the preliminary budget hearing uh so that means that that is the Public's opportunity to have input into the budget for next year and even though they're not going to vote on that budget they will have an opportunity for input uh and then that budget would be adopted if I'm correct on March the 22nd so
062uh I would just encourage the board to do whatever they can to publicize the fact that the meeting on March 1st is the one time that the public can come out and have input on the budget for the 2012 2013 school year once again it's just a strong recommendation to the board to do whatever they can uh to do that um this it was at the January meeting uh you voted to move the School elections to November uh I would appreciate it if the board could share with the public the pros and cons that went into making that decision because clearly there are pros and cons to it I know the decision's been made I know we're stuck with it for 4 years years regardless of what we may find from experience after the first
063year or two but if the board could uh share with the public the pros and cons that went into making that decision I think the public would appreciate it thank you okay that's up to U each board member has their own reasons for for voting the way they wanted to vote and if you wish to respond okay um at this time anyone else from the public wishing to speak 44 Eldorado way um a special meeting you guys had October 27th 2010 um to discuss Applegarth and Asus was also discussed that there's a possible Grant out there for the roof and HVAC for Brookside and Applegarth I just wanted to see what was going on with that if that was filed or status you have an update on that Jerry chose to go with the referendum
064you could app for money for until the referendum is pursued could go okay and would a referendum be pursued or um I I think we we're getting the Democratic studies and um some things that we need to look at before we even think about doing a referendum at this time so there's a lot of discussion that needs to go on okay okay thank you Robert Road J te mfield just a follow up on a previous uh speaker the $1 15,264 um that the Jamesburg students are playing uh excludes interest of 29 two 2,900 now that's interest on the bonding I presume um do they do they participate in paying the principal down Mike no according to the state law for sending receiving districts and determining tuition um the asset being the school is owned by
065the Monro Township Board of Education and consequently the repayment of all principle would be the responsibility of the Monro Board of Education the financing costs can be shared between the districts on a uh percentage of enrollment basis exclud I'm sorry goad and historically the districts have always operated under that Prem that one figure is is um Jamesburg students paying their portion through at a share of every other expense per year in other words we have 102 our budget for 1112 was like 102 million excl knockout the cost of principal comes down to I don't know 94 million or something like that 95 million are the Jamesburg students paying their divide our total students in the school into that and is Jamesburg paying uh their portion of that if it comes out to 16,000 14,000 whatever
066it may be the the a41 a42 tuition calculator is about a 30 page sheet amortising different costs to grade levels and programs and it picks up um almost all of the cost some are excluded Transportation excluded and I believe uh costs for resource room Resource Center are excluded um James is invoiced separately for tuition charges which they have voice paid in our current on so the 15,264 is a figure that's um calculated within the state program and it does incorporate all the costs with the exception of transportation and bond interest and um resource room Resource Center cost thank you anyone else from the public Jody Desai to North Wind Court um we learned at the buildings and grounds meeting that we are no longer bound by the three-year con threeyear year whatever law um to
067keep Applegarth closed does it make sense to keep the school closed to ACR some of the money of some of the concerns that the parents are having such as the fire safety issues the Ada compliancy since again I'll go back to to having the trailers now that we know that this boom of people are going to come in shouldn't we be thinking long longer term and making that school better for the next 20 years versus just the next two or three since we know all these children are coming and do we have the money right now to really make that school or can we wait thank you uh again I I'll just say that this is a decision that's probably the board has been discussing at least for the the past 9 to 10 years
068um we have the money to do the renovations that we need to do this year either in the current budget or in the in the next budget that's uh 2013 and we plan to continue to open Applegarth Elementary School in September this year anyone else from the public [Music] my name is Christine Lester I live at 261 cranberry Halfacre Road um my question is is we heard that there may be asbestos in the roof tiles at Applegarth has this been addressed and I also heard that they did soil samples and there was lead paint found in the playground area um one what is your plan to rectify this and two have the parents of the children that have previously left Applegarth have they been notified because this is something that they should be aware of
069um also um I know they they want to get the school open in a April for the teachers to tour the children to tour but are all the safety the air quality reports all that stuff going to be completed before the teachers move into their classrooms um and one last thing if we don't have to rush this now because there's not a law govering us to open it immediately or we have to bring everything up to code can we please get an ADA Compliant can we bring it up to Fire Safety Code can we address the lead paint that possibly is there the as best as the boiler any of those other concerns so that's where I am okay um my my main thing is if there's lead paint in the in the playground area
070I think our children um I'm looking for the uh Dr Lynch or a certified industrial hygienist he's going to continue to work on the project he has been with their with with the um mcabe environmental every day that they were doing asbes abatement he's going to continue to look for the lead paint he's going to do soil remediation he he mentioned this the other day um we're going to make sure that all the health and safety issues are and and the air quality and everything is 100% normal or fine before we do move staff or students in that building okay because it's just a it's a concern when you come up here as a concerned parent and you have board members that roll their eyes talk under their breath or talk into their microphone against
071you when we're just asking the questions that all the other parents are asking too and a lot of them have children and work schedules and honestly I don't have time to be here either but I have to because someone has to speak up and these are legitimate concerns and to be dismissed by the board or if we send emails and we feel like they're not being addressed or we're being labeled as just being extremist about not opening the school we're not against opening the school but if we have a time frame now that's not three years pushing us to open the doors and send children there then my only concern is let let's fix it and let's get it right so all the kids that are coming in there that if we have children that
072um have issues with disabilities they can be accommodated that's my biggest concern but you know if there's lead paint in the soil if there's lead paint it's an older building but older buildings have charm we're not opposed to that we just want it to be safe and there's no rush now they said that at the last meeting so I don't understand why we're still pushing so much I don't want us to look back in hindsight and say I wish we didn't rush this I wish we would have our time that's the only concern CU it's our children that's I just I appreciate that everybody's paying attention tonight um previous meetings it hasn't been that way and it makes parents very resistant to come up to the board and talk to you because we feel like
073whatever we say we're not going to be heard anyway and it's just legitimate concerns I have a child with a compromised immune system and these are real concerns so okay thank you [Applause] Gregory to Kelly court and I'm calling out the people who have their arms crossed as a closed discussion on this Mr Larry um my dated email that was sent out to the board February 13th is labeled common errors excuse me common errors and omissions in public schools and just wondering if anybody did see that email if they did happen to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and if you know if this is applied to Applegarth and what it says is in the educated de decision for all staff and students and the future Applegarth facility ADA Compliant this is what I'm regarding so
074although facilities built before January 26 1992 are existing facilities under title two if anybody's familiar with it if they were built on or after June 3rd 1977 they should have been accessible under the Department of Education Section 504 excuse me new construction standards so did we or anybody look into that and if that applies to Applegarth Mr T can can respond to that our director of facilities good evening Jerry T uh I did look into that and what I found that section 504 is actually um falls under the jurisdiction of the office of civil rights and basically what it pertains to uh what I could extract and I reviewed this with Rich Aliso it more applies to children with disabilities and making sure that they receive services that they need not so much the physical
075structure of the building um as far as Applegarth School the most recent construction there was 1983 the adaa laws were not in effect at that time the 83 Edition though that was done we went through the district's archives we found the plans and the submissions so the plans were reviewed and approved by the Department of Education in 198 83 for that addition so it meets the standards at that time I can tell you that back then school projects were solely reviewed and approved by Department of Education for educational adequacy as well as for construction code review uh that has since changed and Facilities such as this are now under jurisdiction of both the Department of Education as well as the um Department of Community Affairs when a school project moves forward it first goes to
076the Department of Education for an educational adequacy review which really uh pertains more so to program uh we mentioned earlier some of the Ed specs that are being done an educational specification would get submitted to Department of Education they would look at schematic plans uh for building not code specific items not something like ADA compliance and they would Grant approval for educational adequacy it then would go over to the Department of Community Affairs and they would review for the construction codes U so the most recent portion of Apple School the 83 piece I can tell you was reviewed and approved at the time by the Department of Education and the Section 504 that you referen really refers to uh the office of civil rights and as the board had stated previously uh the board's approach
077has always been if there is a special need student or a student who's in need they adjust programs and do what is ever necessary to accommodate that student thank you Jerry anyone else from the public uh Nancy sheeta 12 region drive i' just like to say that I did email Mr chasser on Thursday night and I received a very timely response so thank you very much um I would like to thank the board for sticking to their decision to open appleg gar school as the entire town decided to do in the referendum when we passed the additional funds to build this High School while I do respect and applaud the O Tre parents who are concerned for their children's safety um their energy and their dedication is something to be said but I think it's
078time that we need to take our efforts and our energy and put them together instead of um being arguing or conflicting with one another I think our energies can better be directed if we have a common goal perhaps pursuing the state legislators to change the funding formula so the township can receive more funds that our children would be entitled to thank you thank you anyone else from the public okay seeing none I'm going to close public forum Mr Chella did you want to wish yeah I just wanted to address Mr Po quickly because I know it seemed like sorry uh I just wanted to address uh Mr poy quickly because I know it seemed that we it just no one responded to you what I was telling uh M K panovich though is that we
079had discussed in length um why we were voting yes or no for moving the election to November at you know at the last meeting and um you know everybody had their had their say and we we talked about why we were why we were voting that way and so you know that's uh that's why I didn't speak up but I just wanted to let you know I mean it's all it is all there and when the uh when you know when the yeah when the minutes come out in the video I mean you'll be able to see that but that's we had three no votes and and the rest of the board voted to move it so that was it thank you okay at this time um number 17 um with our next scheduled public
080Board of Education meeting which we changed at the very beginning will now be on Thursday March 1st 2012 at 7:00 p.m. at the high school is there a motion to adjourn so second Mr Kaufman and second by Mr Tesla all in favor post extensions meeting adjourned