Monroe Township Board of Education 08.13.12 Special Meeting

001please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice Mr Gorski could we have roll call please Mrs kapano here let it be noted that Mrs Kap Pano is participating via teleconference thank you Mr Chella here miss antelis Mr Braverman pres Mr calman here Mr Klein here Mr Larry here Mr Masters here Mr tesler here M Fon here Mr acting board president you have a quorum thank you in accord in accordance with the provisions of the New Jersey open public meetings law the Monro Township Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time in place thereof posted August 11th 2012 number one at all schools number two

002at the home news and Tribune number three Asbury Park Press and number four file with the clerk in the municipality now I'm going to move on to number five and open it up to the public forum for anything that is on this agenda a point of order sir uh a few years ago when we developed a policy for using the phone for people that couldn't get to the meetings at that time we used it quite some quite a few times since then I thought there was a ruling from the Attorney General's office that it couldn't be used unless the individuals sick or there was some kind of an emergency now can somebody clear that up for me you take it I'm G take it sure um Mr Braverman Dr Hamilton solicited advice from board attorney

003on that matter and she has replied in a format that went home to the board members um weekly confidential on Friday indicating that it was allowable per the statute for a board member to participate in a board meeting via teleconference and also to vote correction that that writing did not go home board attorney will be here this this evening uh well she'll discuss that in Greater detail she did give a written opinion but asked that she be allowed to articulate that opinion in the Clos session this evening I I would like to see a copy of the statute and her written opinion thank you Mr Braverman I'd like to uh move on to the public forum uh just on any top any anything that anyone has related to this agenda well seeing none will move

004on to number six which is a review of courtesy busing and the feasibility study Mr Gorski can you yes thank you um last week at the board subcommittee uh finance committee level Dr Hamilton and I presented a feasibility study where we reviewed the 2012 through 2013 budget revenues to make sure that the revenues um were properly matching what was budgeted and that there were no over no overestimated revenues um actualizing that could be provided for this $80,000 Transportation um question and we also reviewed the Appropriations in the 2012 2013 budget to make sure that there were no Appropriations that were overestimated that could be um leaving a available balance that could be transferred to the same cause of the 430 bus reinstatement um as we provided to the committee there were no revenues above what

005was estimated in the budget and there were no Appropriations that were overestimated leaving an available balance to be transferred to um the 430 bus issue you may recall that as part of the budget process there was a great refine refinement of the budget nearing the end where um all of the Appropriations in the budget had to be defended in a defense round by the schools and met the board goals and um therefore remained in the budget and they were carefully matched to the revenues creating a balanced budget so the only way that the 430 busing could be instated was to remove otherwise budgeted Appropriations from the 1213 budget and that would thus cause hardship in some other area I believe I'm reflecting the notes from the committee when it was decided that it was unanimous

006that the committee decided to not uh consider removing any 1213 Appropriations and leave the budget as is with the resolution that passed at the last board meeting creating the supervision centers at the middle school and the high school one final note that it was discussed and recommended by the committee that in the um 1314 budget process which begins in October that one of the items that be considered would be um the um 430 bus run on a subscription service meaning that the cost of the Run would be shared to the parents the board would would work collaboratively with the parents with Administration to intelligently design a method to provide the service if it makes it past the um the board at that time any questions or comments by the board I think you can summarize

007this is that we have no slack in this budget it's a zero sum gain if you want something now you're going to have to take it from some other place so you're Rob and Peter the pay uh if I remember in our discussion um I don't know whether we're going to do it now or we're going to do it in the next budget session for the uh the students who are on sports teams and clubs where uh we did discuss possibly charging for bus service late bus service is that still in discussion or is that something we put off until the next budget the finance committee as I mentioned decided uh not to consider that at this time but would recommend it for the 1314 budget process which begins in October November that would be

008one of the first items discussed for possible inclusion in the 1314 budget whereas a uh collaborative effort with the parents and with Administration would hopefully produce a subscription bus service that would satisfy uh parents needs and also the uh fiscal needs within the budget and um that that assumes that it has support by the board at that time okay thank you Mr gorsy can you elab can you elaborate on some of the other issues that you were looking at REM I guess removing if we had to put this back in some of the other programs not all of them but if you have an example yes previously submitted to the board in 201122 where we were facing an unknown um cut from the municipality um we Dr Hamilton and I presented to the finance committee

009and the board a schedule of three different phases of potential cuts um the first phase was not very um severe in nature and the severity of the cuts increased in phase two and phase three along with the dollar amounts of the Appropriations um some of the phase one cuts that were shared with the finance committee for their consideration if they wanted to bring back the 430 run were items such as um advanced placement testing supplies um some of the last added sports teams such as lacrosse and um other courtesy busing where the district provides busing services to students who are not legally required to have such services but whereas the district has determined the routes to be on safe safe and therefore we we spend a great deal of money providing transportation services these are

010not considered hazardous routes where they're defined by uh policy for us to mandatory pick them up these are an extension of what we feel is safe those were some of the ones that I recall that were in the phase one category that would be those two Mile bus routs correct yes thank you anyone else if not move on to number seven the superintendent report and recommendations okay um acting board president and members of the Board of Education it is recommended by the superintendent that Personnel items a through n be moved by roll call vote uh one modification to item I um and that is for the Department coordinator for the science position um that position would need to be posted and refilled at and uh and filled at another time so the report would be

011for a through n and modification to item to letter I uh just removing the science department chair don't moov second Mr Braverman and Miss anelis open for questions yeah well all those in favor any questions first disc just on I is that um new positions or is this something that we do every year this is something we do every year okay thank you questions roll call yes Mr calman yes say yes yes you have to recuse yourself uh recuse on um letter m m yes is Mary recuse on M is the Mary recuse on M so noted Mr Klein yes Mr ly yes Mr Masters yes Mr tesler yes Mrs Fon yes Miss antelis yes Mr Braverman yes Mr Chella yes Mrs kapano yes Mr acting board president motion passes Mr director board president and

012members of the board of education is recommended by the superintendent that board action items a through e be moved by roll call vote so moved second Mr braver Mr tesler and miss anel any discussions comments questions Mr calman yes Mr Klein yes Mr ly yes Mr Masters yes Mr tesler yes Mrs Fon yes M anelis yes Mr Braverman yes Mr Cher yes Mrs K panowich yes Mr aor President motion passes thank you that concludes the superintendent report I we move on now to number eight committee reports Mr F okay I was uh part of the finance committee this last finance committee a lot of what we discussed was handled by Mr gersi gski but what I do want to bring up is something that was brought up by uh one of the members in order

013for us to to achieve adequacy or should I say step down to adequacy which is what is requested by the State Department of Education um we discussed making large reductions in expenditures during the next three years not to affect the students I want that uh upfront anything we do is not to affect the students education but we're going to um research and find out better ways of doing things uh perhaps um changing some of the curriculum and just something that has will be ongoing for the next three years um and try to control loss spending and try to get the property taxes down um one of the members brought up a suggestion and that was that we move band and chorus into a regular period as compared to zero period in this way we don't

014need zero period busing and it'll be part of the school day so that's under discussion this we discussed and that's basically it the rest was covered by Mr gski thank you any other committee reports no then I'll move on to number nine Other Board of Education business okay then uh I'll move on to number 10 Close session resolution be resolved that the Board of Education of the township of Monroe hereby moves into closed session in accordance with Sunshine Law chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 njsa 10 you know what if I if I may since Mike the board attorney is not here we want to suggest we go on to public forum and then come back to close session is that okay okay board attorney's expected at 7:30 okay then I'm going to

015uh then we're going to just have a change here we're going to move on to number 11 which is the public forum and then I guess we we'd have to open it up to a public forum again when we come back yes yes so anyone having anything not not related to the agenda I mean it could be about the agenda or not related to the agenda it's up to you so if you have anything please come forward state your name and and your uh add address and we're going to stick with the three minute Rule and Mr bski is going to gatekeep the time hi Karen rap 44 elado way um it was my understanding you guys are not doing assistant principles for this school year but you just hired one what no that was

016that position is in in the budget it's a replacement um of a someone who moved to another position so it is a replacement is not a new position that is in the I thought all assistant principles were being eliminated for there there was some discussion about that but that was not that was not a final decision that was not finalized okay one of if I may one of the things that we we talked about one of the reasons for that is that what we wanted to do our last couple of hires or promotions have come internally you know so we've had a good bench strength and we've had good qualified people that we've been able to to bring up to the principal level and with the growth of the district and we we keep as

017you know from Oak Tree we keep mhm increasing our student population that the thought process here was that if we kept a couple Vice principles we at least have that that conduit we we at least have that way to build a and train our own internal candidates so that we have that pool to choose from and they are shared um there each the few Vice principles that we have at the elementary level are shared with schools now right okay just want to clarify thank you MH Robert Road J mfield Boulevard Monroe um I see here with a um there's a Devin Kaufman I assume that's a relative and it says new position is this person a new hire or has he been on on the roles previously this person has been on the rols previously

018as one of our summer tech people um and this is a position that was in the 123 budget um and he was a successful candidate in that process um you say he was in a a prior position when when did he become a board of educ education employee uh he was hired in 2007 I believe 20072 2008 which was before Mr coffin became on the board no Mr coffin was on the board but the nepotism policy um requires that the if there is a district employee hired if there is someone who is hired who is a member of a board of education P member they have to have been hired prior to the enactment of that policy the policy was adopted in September of 2008 this individual wasn't our employee prior to that okay um

019the uh the videos of the council Council Board of Education meetings uh are on the a website but only the last meeting from what I can find are the prior meetings on the website I'm not entirely sure of what the archival capacity is on on on the website I'd have to ask one of the tech people that um but there has been some concern about our ability to maintain all of them on and so there is a cycle by which we follow in terms of loading and up download removing old ones and adding new ones but I don't want to give you the wrong information the U I was searching today and the only thing I found was the current one now I may have not found the particular area that it's on but maybe

020there could be another website that could house some of the the past uh the meetings if since the uh the the minutes of the meeting are just are not verbatim they're just a transcript of a employee and they may or may not be accurate I think the public has a right to know what actually transpired during these uh these meetings I'll I'll look at that and give you a more intelligent answer sir okay uh is here the one other issue is the this meeting which has been set up for probably since the last meeting or at least a couple weeks uh has not was not posted under the meeting section of the on the board of directors uh meetings or special meetings until today and now I understand that it was on the front page

021someone told me tonight that it was on the front page down the bottom right but I wonder why it would not be posted under the meeting section like every other meeting that I'm not sure that's completely accurate um do you I can assure you it is because I've been checking every day it it should have been up if it wasn't because it was certainly do you know when it went up Mike I know the Personnel Comm agenda wasn't posted until today no the agenda was posted before the notice of the meeting gotcha the the the meeting went up Friday being that it was a special meeting it um did not follow the usual chain of command for the posting and so on it was on the high school bulletin board for much longer I think

022that was up there for at least um 10 days or two weeks but there was a a slip where it didn't make make it to the website and well I I'd look at the Board of Education website and I go on the look for the uh the board meetings and special meetings and it was not up in that top left hand corner where you can drop down and it wasn't on there but I did stumble across it the other day where it had the agenda on but no notice of the meeting so I think that once a meeting is identified I think the public has the right to know what it is and I would think it should be posted in a timely basis thank you thanks thank you there's by okay anyone else from

023the public wishing to speak evening Lisa weinthal teic Farland Circle Monroe um just a couple questions regarding not just the I guess the finance committee vote but the process that would be implemented under the last agreed upon um meeting that we had regarding courtesy busing and the temporary or Band-Aid formula that's in place can you give me a little detail about how that's going to work you mean regarding the supervised Center specifically for the Middle School okay um what we're doing is we are preparing a posting that will go out that will identify the need for um folks who would be approved by the board to supervise that Center um then we'll be meeting with the principal at the of the middle school and she actually has has already started thinking about this um and

024then we'll come up with a process to identify how children will be signed in so we know who's in there and how they will be signed out the one thing that that um Mrs chandley has already indicated is that there will be a process where parents will need to come in and identify that they are signing you know who they are signing out and who that who that person is of course as the staff there becomes more familiar with the parents it'll get smoother as the time goes on but initially it's it's probably going to be a little cumbersome we anticipate there may be as many as 3 350 kids at the middle school who may who may need this service well actually what Miss chandley had said during a meeting that Mr Gorski had

025sponsored was if she redistributes the clubs from six to 6 7th and 8th to individual days it's not going to be 3 to 400 she say it's more likely a total number so that's just clarification of that um let me go back to the process for a second so right now in order for my daughter to be signed out I have to sign I don't know however many people I think are going to pick her up on some form how's that going to work um you'll have a pro a form that you will need to fill out and whoever these people are they will need to show identification and they will match those forms those folks who are responsible for supervising the center we'll have to match the identification with the individuals on there what

026happens if they're not available but my neighbor is you would have to make sure that the school knows who you are sending in their stad so let me understand this I'm stuck in the Holland Tunnel I can't get out I can't communicate with anyone I'm stuck my I know my neighbor's there I'm able to text her pick up my my daughter I'm not sure I can give you the kind of answer you're looking for but I want any whatever answer you have the answer is that somebody would have you would have to let us know let the school know who you are sending instead of you otherwise we would be it it would be a big concern to have someone that we don't know or that you haven't identify as someone you've given permission to

027to pick your your youngster up so if if I can't get in touch with you in a timely way 9 to4 um because I'm stuck in a place where I can't communicate I'm on a plane I travel a bit my husband travels what do they do at 5:15 generally what happens and we do have instances where there are children who sometimes get parents are in accidents or things of that sort we make every effort we contact and if if we are not able to reach someone they the principal either remains with the youngster or or sometimes they come over to Central office where the youngsters are supervised until somebody is picked up and in some extreme cases sometimes we have to take the kids kids to the police department okay so that's the fallback to

028take them potentially via bus to some other place correct okay some courtesy bus I'm just looking for clarification not trying to trick you up I take ADV to that I I don't even know what that means I'm just asking a question I can't answer that because I don't know what that means okay so then flash forward to the message that was left on our machines um there was some indication that there would be some committee formed to look at subscription busing which I applaud by the way I'm glad the committee was that that idea finally resonated a germ as opposed to what happened six months ago that we could have been planning so going forward though what's the plan for that we'll establish those committees through the board structure the board president has the opport

029opportunity has the power to establish ad hoc committees and once she gives that authorization to do so we will reach out to the various buildings and put a committee together and we will begin to to look at what that courtesy that pay for pay to ride program will look like we'll also do some research and see if there are other districts who are doing it as well um and look at what the procedures would be for how that would be paid how much it would cost um how we would identify those youngsters who had paid and what do we do for those youngsters who haven't what the protocol will be we've talked about some sort of identification card that youngsters or designation on their ID card um that would show that they've paid so when

030would you anticipate that process starting because it I mean to be fair you can't possibly have implemented it in three weeks that was an unfair request to have done that if was subscription right but now we are in August and your budget cycle starts September October September October so when would those commit be formed and how is I a as a parent how can I participate um the Committees will more than likely start as soon as we get direction from the full board because that was just a committee discussion the full board would need to authorize that process and if the full board authorized that process when we started our budget reviews and preparation in most likely October then we would begin that that process and putting our committees together at that point is there

031any reason not to start the process earlier I mean it's it's a Review Committee it's a fact finding committee right well we just had the meeting last week and it would have to go before this full board for consideration and who's making that motion is there a motion to do that there is no motion on the table to do that oh so this could theoretically drag on till October November December theoretically theoretically I suppose it could and what would prompt the board to make that somebody on the board making that motion to do that I understand so then the process to join as a parent would be what do I submit an application a resume no you wouldn't need to do that on the building generally when we ask for parent participation it's by way

032of the the pto's um but you know the building principles would have some input in that process okay so as a general parent interested in being involved in general can't participate because if I'm not signed on to being I don't understand I didn't say that you can let your building principal know if you like to do that if if you're not if you're not actively engaged with the PTL just let your building principal know when that committee is established that You' like to be on it okay and are there going to be project Milestones associated with this that are targeted we haven't processed the committee structure yet or how that will work okay and when would we how would we know about this I mean the last process clearly I know that there were efforts

033made to amend the current process by sending out that Global connected alert Now message what would the process be to alert others via whatever mechanism you're going to use that it's going to start that the committee structure is going to start that more like we use alert now as well okay all right thank you sh arm min9 Nathaniel Street um I know that part of an education is learning to um teaching people the rules and and playing by the rules and being fair and uh deliberative about doing the right thing um so it is and I'm not uncomfortable speaking usually but it's uncomfortable because now I have to point out one thing that makes me uncomfortable this has nothing to do with this nice young man Devin Kaufman but I think the new position um

034we have nepotism policies that should be taken very seriously in this community and I know that there was a whole bunch of stories about how he was hired prior to the nepotism policy but was he hired for this position prior to the nepotism policy no he was not was it a part-time position yes it was okay so that's skirting the intent of the nepotism policy I think it is inappropriate to appoint this young man I'm sorry for that I don't mean to be pointing him out but if we have a nepotism policy we should have a nepotism policy the board should not find ways around it it's disrespectful to the public it is I don't think I think it's unored to do and I would object to creating a new position after the nepotism policy

035is in in place I would also ask have there been other people that were interviewed for this position yes there were other people and I want to go back to your ear your earlier statement um we have vetted this process with a board counsel and we are clear that the in this particular case the decision is within the confines of the law and the nepotism policy adopted by the board well it was the the policy speaks to uh employees someone who has been impr approved by the board prior to the adoption of the nepotism policy this this would be no different than someone who was a substitute in our district for example which is considered part-time or non-permanent position um this young man was in a similar such position and therefore met the criteria outlined

036in that adopted policy so that any board member who gets hired as a part-timer from now any board member's family who gets hired as a parttime or from now on or a substitute position or any position that's not full-time can ultimately work their way through under the confines of this law is that what you're saying if they were hired prior to 2008 they would be eligible for any full-time position that the board created after that time I think it's I think while it may be legal because you are the same people creating the policy that are benefiting by it so while it may be legal because that would seem you would have worked that out already and of course you're the council that you pay for is going to tell you that it's fine so

037I I think again the intent of the policy is being diluted and I think it's shameful and unethical that this kind of thing goes on I don't care who it is if you're a board member the nepotism policy should be across the board and again I'm very very sorry to this young man he may be very qualified but the the policies are pro to protect the public from the abuse of power and I would think that this is under the abuse of power and again it's unethical and it just flies in the face of all of your proclamations about how wonderful that and and and playing by the rules and keeping everything above board this is going under the radar and it is a bad precedent and I'm really sorry that you feel that it's

038it's an appropriate thing to do thank you go esto Gregory to Kelly Court uh it was mentioned at the last Board of Ed meeting about the water issue from Applegarth that the building was closed for a year and a half um due to workers that were there I believe they had running water and bathroom use so will the board be taking any recommendations from the Department Environmental Protection on running their water because there is lead that is 20 parts per billion is there any recommendation that they're going to stand by Mr yes uh Miss Gregory Dr Hamilton and U members of our staff met today with Dr Richard Lynch to go over some of the commentary uh which we believe to be false that uh came up at the last public meeting and I would

039just like to summarize um today's meeting if You' uh bear with me is that from Mr kiski from the Department that's from yes he's also included in all things just bear with me a moment sure um the Applegarth renovation project began after last school year and the school's water system was completely closed it was completely shut off so that the heating element in the school could be reduced and with the water shut off there would not be any breakages of pipes or with things freezing over to winter so on on May 23d we took our initial water sample after turning on the main valve allowing water to flow into the school immediately upon turning on the water this stagnant water was tested and sampled and 12 locations within the building were tested five locations exceeded

040the higher than 15 parts per billion that's allowable by the D the next week we attempted to run the water to get some of this stagnant and in Dr Lynch's Words sedimentary Brown water out of the building system we encountered a blockage in one of the outgoing sanitary pipes and had to have Roto rder remove the blockage we still took sampling during this time and the results tested at three locations higher than 15 parts per billion then on June 4th after properly flushing the building I'm sorry that was June 4th when the three samples were high on June 8th after properly flushing the building and allowing to water the run and clear out this sedentary brown Water excuse me is that May 23rd 2012 yes and when was the asbesto done please let me finish

041on when the asbesto done excuse me when was the asbestos done if you be polite enough to allow me to finish I address your question I did up until the point you said May 23rd May 23rd 2012 so how long has the building been closed officially it was closed for over a year I said that in my opening statement when was the asbesto done on June 8th all the tested areas passed no parts exceeded the higher than 15 parts per billion Dr Lynch stated that no further testing is required no remediation actions are required um to go over the top Mr tag replaced all the bubblers in the school School bubbler is uh identified as a water fountain all of those were replaced they cosmetically look better we're operating on Township water and again all

042pass the um D limits of 15 parts per billion I'm glad you're sharing it when was the last asbestos test done was it this year or last year the asbestos testing was done after the project was completed it was tested by the D what year was that deosha 20 12 and since 2012 till May 23rd the building has been closed nobody else has been working in that building main all all of the asbest has been removed from the building there is no further testing required for asbes last board meeting it was mentioned by the board that the building has been closed for a year and a half and this is why this was coming up with the water issue so there's now work being done dirt being pulled up is that related to the pipes

043that you're looking into the the work getting done is cosmetic it has nothing at all to do with asbestos the ground work nothing to do with asbestos I'm not asking if it's doing with asbestos does it have to do with the pipes that you're pulling up no no what is the work that's being done cosmetic Landscaping is being done digging up the dirt behind the basketball courts yep that you may be referring to some of the soil sampling where we were testing for lead in The Soil how far deep did you go as required by uh the the officials doing the test they went uh I don't recall exactly this wasn't addressed today but I they went to a satisfactory amount that it was determined that there was no lead in The Soil issues at

044all at Applegarth so there's no additional parking lot that you would be digging up back there there's no other reason that you should be digging dirt testing lead no okay okay so when is the next building and grounds meeeting because the last one is July 23rd do we have that date Dr do you recall when it was scheduled um we have a conflict we're going to it's actually scheduled right now for the 22nd I believe but we're going to need to change that because we have to have a curriculum meeting at that so that date will be sometime next week and then everybody could go back to the buildings and grounds and check your work when there was work done and you're claiming that the building has been closed for a year and a half

045officially the water will not be closed Ed it will not be turned off so you shouldn't have that reason look at the work that you've been doing for the year and a half the water the water has been on since May 23rd 2012 you just said that it was closed it was closed for the year preceding that when school let out up until May 23rd 2012 okay thank you I I think what she was referring to cuz I live over there there has been a lot of dirt being moved around in the back of the building and maybe that's what she was referring to I don't know what that's for maybe a playground it's a lot of dirt there's there's a there's Landscaping going on there's a cement that's being poured in the front of

046the building it it's this in the back though it's cosmetic uh in the back of the building it has to be for the playground okay and I have a question too about something you said just clarification I'm I'm confused they open up the water you took 12 samples right of this dirty water May 23rd only five had issues yes on May 23rd in 12 locations in the building strategically tested by Dr Lynch five locations tested higher than 15 parts per billion on June 4th after partially running the water three samples tested high within the building were they from the same location of the different locations different locations and on on June 8th once we had the um sanitary block cleared and we were allowed to remove this sedentary water that has sat in the building

047pipes for over a year all 12 locations passed below the 15 parts per billion with no further testing being required by the D or recommended by Dr Lynch there is no issue with the water I'm I'm a little confused I'm Nancy L mono um Mr K Kinski ma'am could you please uh say your name and address Nancy Lano 45 Narrows Way Monroe Township Mr naginsky had emailed Chrissy scurby who could not be here tonight saying that they were going to have to retest and have to replace water spouts and and um fountains throughout the building and otherwise you guys would be fined for that no um that's false and they were going to retest leaving it closed for over the weekend and testing it again on Monday so is this a a bad email because

048this came right from him that's false um if I can contact him he'll he'll uh tell me that it's a false email um I I spoke to Jerry T who he had conversations with and met with during the day he made this impromptu visit and um when Mr T furnished him with the water testing results um he said you know there's no issue here the water tests are fine but perhaps you could replace some of the bubblers in the building and as I mentioned Mr T went to the extreme of cosmetically changing all bubblers or water fountains throughout the building they look nicer now Mr and Dr Lynch's opinion they have no bearing on the water because it's coming from uh the municipal so was the system flushed and then tested or was it the

049system was properly flushed by June 4th and as I mentioned all 12 locations within the building tested far below the 15 parts per billion and so now this email's coming in August from this man Mr kinsky from the Department of Health and he's saying that we have to test again are we testing again or we're done he did not make any demands that we have to test again okay thank you Mr chair all yes sir uh I see something that needs to be corrected we have citizens running to Trenton to get information and Trenton shares it exclusively with them that's expart proceedings Trenton has the obligation to give all parties the information we are being blindsided we've had this happen before about eight years ago when we were in the midst of trying to get

050this school building and our attorney went down to Trenton and had a talk with the commissioner and after that all information would go to all parties and I want to see that we start something in a very similar Manner and quit this nonsense of expart information seeking thank you Mr Larry dear Dr Win 16 Brandon Avenue Monroe okay I don't know if I'm allowed to bring this up or not busing okay I just have two points to make zero busing which is wonderful but it seems to me parents are going to be home at that time to drop their children off at school versus is picking their children up at 4:30 um most people have double you know both parents are working nowadays to meet our new tax bills that we just received in the

051mail um another thing I don't want it to come down to where the seniors at high school are getting pressured by their friends come on you can fit me in your car just drive me home my mom doesn't get home and I'm going to have to walk or I'm going to have to sit here until 6 o'clock until she gets home then you're having high schoolers driving a bunch of kids home which is not allowed and we know what happens when a bunch of them get in a car that's why this law was passed yes um ma'am with regard to the zero period transportation that was actually eliminated from the 1112 budget it was only through um an additional state aid Award of about $887,000 that came late in July that that was reinstated it

052was clear at the time that that could only be a revenue source for one Year and that it would be a future eliminated again so consequently it was not in the 1213 budget and with regard to your second comment the the collaborative design of the supervision centers both at the middle school and the high school hopefully would alleviate any pressures from students having to drive home from someone who's not their safe choice to make it home a 17-year-old boy with three cute girls wanting to ride home I mean you know I mean you're not going to have somebody walking these children to a car saying you have you and one passenger third person go and sit on the curb and wait for your mom to come and get you it's not going to happen you

053have to be realistic they do that without busing they don't need no busing to I mean unfortun I understand that but don't you think it's going to be a greater thing now when you have all these sports or these children aren't going to be able to play sports because they don't have a ride home I think it's you know I mean I think there's other and believe me my children all went to Catholic grammar school my kids wanted to be on Sports we had to drive I drove half of the team I mean I purposely got a Suburban knowing that I could fit eight children in my car and take them around because people were working unfortunately I don't have that luxury anymore I had to go back to work full-time so now that my

054children are in high school when you should be able to go back to work fulltime you can't because now I'm going to have to be picking up my kids cuz I do not want my children sitting here and I'm not saying unsupervised but when you get kids that are released from practice are done taking a test their Club is done and they're just hanging around the school that's when you know that's when trouble happens so I think that really has to be taken into consideration thank you thank you hi I apologize if I repeat anything because I was in the football meeting so my name is Barbara Pascal 253 Fern head Avenue um quick question I know it came up about the Middle School the parents have to park and go in and sign their

055kid out what about here what's the process because I don't think that used to have to happen we just showed up the kid wandered out is that going to be the process at the high school um Mr Goodall and I have not pro completed the process for the high school so I I don't want to misinform you I'm not sure of what protocols he thinks are best for that building for this building okay because like for example right now they walk out of practice and they just walk out and we are there and we pick them up so probably be will be similar I can't imagine that um high schoolers would take kindly to Heaven mom or dad have to come in and sign them out I know they wouldn't okay uh last month at

056the Board of Education meeting I asked a question um I don't know if it was researched in looking at the financial aspect of courtesy busing you also had brought up the fact that the county superintendent or someone from that office had suggested that liability reasons we should not do it uh and I was wondering I suggested is there a way to get a waiver to get around that issue and I was wondering if that was looked into yes I I want to make a point on that because it seems to be um misunderstanding to my point the county business administrator recommend ation was not so much an Insurance liability as it was a liability in safeguarding the children from an administrative standpoint we have insurance on the children um above and beyond what the parents

057health insurance would provide um but the liability I was referring to is simply not knowing from an administrative standpoint who gets on the bus who has got off the bus where they got off the bus Etc um I got a call last year from a parent hysterical about their their child not being home on time and I dropped everything and and called the bus driver on the on the bus phone and uh the microphone and the bus driver said uh you know I don't remember that child being on the bus we had to go all the way back to trace it to their last period at school where it was determined that um they made other their arrangements to get home with a friend or something but it was a terrifying 45 minutes for everybody

058that's what I'm referring to you just don't know and and as the county executive business administrator is a former School business administrator himself and had these issues occur um that was his recommendation to eliminate it because there's just no like a regular bus route has a roster of students who are to be on there and you know exactly where you're dropping them off you don't have that with a late run bus you literally have kids yelling over the bus seat I'm next I go on this street and um that's the problem we face okay I suspect that'll be the problem with the supervision area too but I guess we'll see what happens um in regards to the comment that was just made about citizens going to Trenton um I think the point was that you

059guys weren't getting the same information that citizens were getting when they went to Trenton not that you didn't want citizens to go to Trenton because in fact last month we were strongly encouraged to go to Trenton vehemently so I hope that was the point was actually that you guys get the same same information that we do not that we shouldn't be writing the trend I I was using a term of art I said expart proceedings that means you're only giving it to one party in a dispute all parties in a dispute should be treated equally and have equal treatment and if it's only going to one party and other parties are isolated that's unfair I'm sorry I didn't realize we were in a dispute I thought we were a partnership of parents and board you

060and your friends are adversarial mean Mr Larry I'm sorry I think that at least in my case and in the case of most of my friends that we speak very respectfully and I take huge insult to that comment and I think some of your friends do too I have a thick eye all right Mr Le thank you my last point and this is a great segue thank you was that we were strongly encouraged sort of last month to to be more involved we're here to be more involved last month for the first time I came to a board meeting because I hadn't known about the busing issue and I came and I spoke for the first time since I was like 13 then last month during the board meeting we get chastised for our lack

061of involvement with all due respect and perhaps this was not the intent of Dr Hamilton's Global Connect message on Frid or whatever day that was a couple days ago we were given information that led many parents to assume that there was no point in coming because the issue is dead and that we should all just move on and wait for the process I'm not you look at me funny no I'm gonna I'll respond to that got one second because he's showing me the clock so my point is it's all over the website the district the school principls are telling us the teachers are telling us get involved with your kids education and that's what we're trying to do and this is part of it but comments like that and comments like Mr clein's last month

062and then a I I don't think this was your intent but it led parents to assume that they didn't need to come lead us to not want to participate and you need to think about what do you want you either want it or you don't and if you don't then don't say you do the purpose of that voice message that sent out was not at all to discourage parents from coming out I have no problem with parents in fact I enjoy respectful discourse it's the disrespectful discourse that I'm concerned about but the purpose of that message was to inform parents about meeting that they had asked that the board directed us to have in response to the parent concern it was an effort to increase communication so it was clearly Mis misinterpreted or the intent

063of that was misinterpreted so it had every intent to be a effort to improve communication keep parents surprised of the process and the message never said don't come the message started out by saying for those of you who may not be able to attend the meeting the special meeting so I was also putting on your radar for those who may not have known about the special meeting that there was a meeting scheduled for this evening in response to the concerns raised by the parents so I I I know I feel like this is a lose lose situation when the effort was there to respond to parents and and I was made aware of the communication that was going on on Facebook about the message and how the message was misinterpreted and how dare I try

064to discourage parents that was never the intent okay thank you um I I wanted to um say on behalf of the board and administration um we we very much value the community's input we want to collaboratively serve you as best we can this is your school district and we want to um tailor it to your needs the way we can introduce you to that as best as possible to get involved with the budget is to look on the district website once the the Board of Education approves the budget calendar this is an essential document that has the complete time table of the budget process and it delineates everything from the very first committee meetings where some of these strategies like we discussed tonight about uh pay to participate busing are are born throughout the mandatory

065preliminary budget adoption to the final adoption um and you know keep in mind too it once a budget is finally adopted that you know Administration has a directive to put it in place to be discussing some of these topics like this in August the month before school starts is not really the most efficient or productive way to do it so please we welcome you to participate with us in the budget process this year join the budget steering committee give us any input you can show us what you value and we'll we'll work with the resources we have to serve you best great you can count on [Music] it uh good evening it's Doug boy for tamarak Road um I'm wondering Mr Gorski if you could tell tell us what the cost of doing those water

066tests at the Applegarth School run you know uh Mr P I researched today the actual um expenditures to environmental Safety Management who has performed the test so far and I have the aggregant amount uh committed to memory but I don't know the specifics for those individual test that you're seeking uh if you'd like to give me a call tomorrow I'll be happy to pull those itemized bills out and go over those with you it it's not so much that I'm interested in the particular cost I I just know from earlier comments this evening uh that you've talked about there's no Surplus in the budget uh there's no Surplus in terms of Appropriations nor Revenue uh but based on the comments and the concerns that I have heard from parents for the past several months about

067the uh safety uh of their children in the Applegarth School uh I think that it might be prudent if the administ rtion could somehow reassure the parents going forward with additional testing from time to time throughout the course of next year I know uh it was said that Dr Lynch indicated that there was no need for further testing but I think that the parents uh would find themselves reassured if some additional testing were to occur uh once their children are in the building so I simply offer that as a suggestion for the board or the administration to consider uh there is a question for clarification on the agenda item n uh there are quite a few staff members listed here that are being approved to provide out uh assistance outside of normal work hours uh

068can you can you simply clarify what kind of assistance what kind of work are they doing prior to the opening of the school year um we have a matter the pending legal matter um re involving uh challenges in the court with regard to special education um so there are specific artifacts that the attorney will need in order to present um the attorneys will need in order to present their cases before the appropriate people and there are some documents we need prior to the opening of school in order to meet the deadline the courts have set all right so this relates to the special education program okay thank you hi I'm P sha just pull it down 28 Magnolia Court um the budget was approved when for this year in 2012 [Applause] 2013 and depart the

069preliminary of budget uh was approved by the board of education on March uh okay now me public hearing and approval of the preliminary budget okay um my property taxes went up I think as did everyone else is did the board I mean did the school system get additional funding from that increase or the coming year um yes to that specific question not enough uh the Board of Education Rec recognized a um $678,000 increase in state aid after deductions from the prior year that was applied uh within the budget and the increase in the school taxes was 3.68% from the preceding year's tax levy for the 2012 2013 yes tax 2011 2012 compared to 2012 13 okay so are we getting additional funding from very slightly and I'll emphasize insignificantly 84% of the revenues are um

070from local tax levy we are grossly underfunded in in state aid and that is reflected in uh the local tax levy okay so the property tax we pay is considered not local it's considered State also I'm confused your local property taxes are certainly local okay it's fair to say that they would be decreased if the school district received its fair share of state aid funding which you've heard a lot about if you've been watching the board meetings probably for the last year and a half to two years um I would like also like to add that the municipality has also received a cut in uh state aid funding which has compounded the problem that you fac in your tax bill because it's County Municipal and school taxes um in addition to that Dr Hamilton and

071I were talking with Municipal officials who um Define that there has been over the last two years an extreme amount of tax appeals about onethird of the of the assessed local property taxes have been appealed successfully and uh that has caused an extreme burden on their tax rate 11.4 million thank you last year okay um and also you know the entire rateable base has declined as a result of the economy but there are some signs as of recent from the municipality that um there's some green shoots appearing with regard to the um ratables can I add something to that you asked about your property taxers roughly 65% goes to the board of ed then you have Municipal Taxes then you have County taxes then you have the fire district taxes and of course library right

072fees and that makes up your property taxes right um what we get and there's going to be a report probably within the next couple of weeks from the municipal government that uh when you see the way we are underfunded versus on neighbor oldrid who's getting Oldbridge who's getting they have 9400 students they're getting something like $95 million excuse me $45 million a year towards their schools and we're getting now what less than3 million less than $3 million for 5,900 students which probably equates to under $500 a student versus $4,900 a student that's where we're getting hurt we took a cut here the municipal government took a cut how do you make it up and then you lose $1.4 million through in rables you your taxes went up but you're at least you have kids in

073the schools yeah the adults the people over 55 my taxes went up in one shot $900 I'm in an adult community so I feel for you but feel for me of course yeah okay but that's what makes up your property taxes okay I just didn't know if this increase was already taken into the budget or if it was additional money and how much did addition okay yeah um how much did the busing after school busing cost last year there was $450,000 of cuts to the transportation courtesy busing that includes the zero period um busing and also the late run busing okay thank you thank you [Music] pull it back up Shanny Henley a bridal Court um I wanted to ask because it seems like this entire conversation about the busing had started with over adequacy

074from the county they were saying that we were over adequate in what we were providing to students so my question to you and maybe you've already covered this is what makes us over adequate I mean obviously it's the budget I know that you've T um the busing you've talked about AP courses that we had too many what else makes us over adequate there there are several things that go into that that equation um over adequacy has to do with those things that are provided that are above and beyond what the state refers to is thorough and used to we call thorough and efficient now it's this this adequacy formula okay so a middle school sports programs for example many of our high school sports and clubs that occur after school um that we pay teachers

075and stiens for and things of that sort um although class size is not mandated one could argue that the if we increase class size we would be able to reduce our our number of teachers that we that we employ for example par professional so there's there are a lot of things that go into that equation um what we spend on supplies and materials you know one would say well you don't have to replace textbooks as often as you do you don't have to have the amount of Technology available that you do so these things get F figured into those things that are are defined as adequacy or thorough and efficient so they're appropriate things well it kind of seems like those are the very things though that are starting to set our district apart from

076other districts around us absolutely so it seems like we're cross purposes because we're trying to move forward and become um an elite school district for lack of better word but yet we're pulling back on the things that are going to get us to that point and my fear is that this year we're talking about busing and I completely understand the challenges that you're facing with that however I'm also thinking about next year and what the topic is going to be then because we're going to continue to be over adquate if we continue to move forward in the direction that I'm seeing from your Administration and the goals that you have for us so we're taking away really what's making us special at this point I think you raised a very good point and um it

077it's it's an awkward uh balance that that we work to create in fact one of the things that um the budget task force was tasked with was that very question what do we want what is our vision for Monroe because if we on the oneand we want to become those one of those the West Windsor and the Princeton of the world and that requires that we think outside the box and be creative and offer our youngsters those things that will make us competitive with those districts but the other side of the equation we know that there's an enormous burden on the local taxpayer to support those initiatives so we have to decide as a community what are the things we value what are the things that are most important to us as a community and

078then that becomes our driving force but we cannot walk with one foot on One path and one foot on the other path and think we're going to reach Excellence at the same time it's not going to happen that way right but um I would just want to say that I think that Sports and clubs are really important to kids especially at this age because they're beginning to try to figure out who they are and what their interests are and I'm afraid that without with so many parents having problems obviously with this issue and maybe being afraid they're not going to be able to pick up their children maybe those children won't be able to participate anymore that we really we're taking that away from them something that's really important during their formative years so I'm

079hoping that well let me let me back up we had talked last month about not knowing really what the Fallout is going to be from this what what kind of financial incentive are we going to see from the county and the state for doing away with this courtesy busing and you'd also mention that we really don't know when we're going to find that out but when we do is it possible that maybe this can this discussion can come back and we can see well you know what maybe this wasn't worth it and maybe this is important enough to our district that maybe we need to talk about this again I think that's a very valid point and certainly something that that I would suggest the board consider okay Mr gella Mr Mr we're going to

080hold all comment I'm just one comment that's well your last comment didn't go over too well so we're going to hold I'm okay with Mr line with our Direction Mr L we're going to let the public have their say and then we're and then we're going to move on thank you all right well thank you for your time Robert Road J team y field uh I've heard forever about the fact that we're not getting the uh what we should be getting from the state as part of the revenue process uh the state distributes 80% 80% of what the state distributes is for Equalization Aid Monroe Township gets zero in Equalization Aid so either what what you're saying either that the equalization Aid is not being properly computed or that we don't deserve Equalization Aid what

081is it and which is it is it not being computed properly or don't we deserve it and can you explain what the equalization Aid is I know Mike I don't want to is you with because we've talked about that Equalization Aid the equalization Aid is um state aid that's based on uh students that are at risk and uh LEP students uh Monroe has very little in that category and Dr Hamilton and the finance uh chair and our board attorney met with y Thomas from the Department of Education as well as other state officials who defined that Monroe's lack of state aid is due to two important metrics one is income per pupil and the other one more uh specifically that's the problem is property wealth per pupil as you know Monroe is unique and has

08260% of the community residing in planed retirement communities some of them are new and have valuations up in the $400,000 range these units don't submit any students to the school school so in the aggregate it makes it appear like we're living in very expensive homes per pupil and that's what's hurting our uh state aid allocation we've we've uh pointed out this flaw in the formula to we're blue in the face but we we just can't seem to gain any traction on that matter do you ever do you think that Equalization Aid will ever not be a factor in the distribution of the state aid probably not okay thank you and and one last thing on that the state of uh New Jersey distributes state aid to districts and this was apparent in 2008 with the

083Extreme Cuts that were recognized um on an as need basis districts that are under adequacy and and have needs needs for resources needs for programs need for Need for adequacy are given more state aid districts that are above state aid above adequacy uh are believed to be able to take care of themselves and that's the philosophy that the state has shared uh with the distribution of funds other than the Abbott District right yes am I allow or no yes no um let's we're just going to we're keep moving out with the public forum thank you eyes on the clock you want to Lara Leos gets five Scott Drive I just have a question if the state aid well not the state the State caps us at 2% and where you said where budget is going

084is 3.68 how do you get around that without having to salar what's and what's the difference that that's easy to answer um you're allowing to grow your tax levy 2% plus adjustments um the adjustments are for health care costs pension costs and um enrollment growth um we took advantage of those to a slight degree but the main reason is because the school district is on a split year basis with the municipality our school year ends June 30th so our tax rate is picking up half of last year's effect which was higher than this current year and that's why you're seeing an average of 3.68% increase that seems higher but it's got a lagging part from last year and then um I heard at the last board meeting you're saying that this year with the new

085iPads that are being purchased um we're not going to see any increase in our budget this year because the money you're getting back but year two and year three you said $425,000 so how's that going to affect are you looking long term towards the budget then I mean it's going to have a definite impact if we're we lost money now we're going to this year we don't seem to have the effect because you don't you're not costing you anything this year but near two and three it's going up what you said 425,000 roughly yes um what's important to note there as Dr Gorman pointed out is that by um putting out the bid the current units and entering into a three-year lease purchase it makes the uh future much more sustainable for this type of

086initiative when you buy a unit like this from Bond referendum money it depreciates quickly and a technology component like that probably will last three four five years um the lease purchase which will fit in the general operating budget um again as you correctly pointed out not in the 1314 budget but in the 1415 um recognizes savings from the trade in and sale of those units so it it it continues the initiative it continues the investment um at the most efficient way deem possible okay and they're looking to purchase them at the end of the year three or you don't is that been you said leas purchase so we're leasing them now to purchase them year two and year three yes not necessarily not necessarily not necessarily we would we would have to explore options on

087um on where we are as a board of education and and where the initiative is continuing to go it gives us an option and that's the most important piece to stay on top of the most important of the most current technology out there so at the end of the second year or third year payment then we would have an option to either enter into a new lease where possibly purchase okay thank you um I see our board attorney is here if I can get a board member to make a motion for Clos session since she's on the clock pardon who who made the motion I'm going to read can I second right I'm going to read the Clos session resolution be it resolved that the Board of Education monor Township hereby moves into closed session

088in accordance with Sunshine Law chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 njssa 10 colon 4-6 through 10 col 4-21 to discuss the following subjects receive attorney advice regarding a complaint received from an employee and to discuss Council advice regarding Boe members participating in meetings via telephone this discussion conducted in closed session can be disclosed to the public at such time as the matters have been resolved make move I second do you want to let them know that there'll be an open session yes then that's and that's a good point we're going to have an an open Forum again after we come out of closed session so that you could ask questions and discuss thank you we get the motion in favor thank Kathy I'm going to discontinue phone call now and I'll start again

089close session okay pleas okay we're going to uh resume our meeting and we're going to go into public forum again to discuss any new uh issues or and not to reiterate rehash what we already talked about if possible thank you the number you have dialed is not anyone I oh um Christen Liam Maro 101 Applegate um you talked about Facebook and how there was lots of rumors and whatnot going around Facebook I if we could clarify some of that I'd really appreciate that because there's a lot of people who have a lot of questions about a lot of things and we'd like some of them clarify that'd be really if you could do that I really appreciate it um okay you're back okay I'm here okay continue okay um some of the issues are with

090the busing of course um and not finding the money in the budget and all this stuff and these are the questions that we're going around um the Apple Guard School repairs the asbest repairs all that stuff there was money Ed for the asbest remediation all that different stuff how about these new cosmetically nicer looking fountains was that budgeted and like where's the money for that coming from stuff like that like you know uh the playground that they're putting in there now where's that money coming from you know answer yes mrki with regard to uh your specific questions there was approximately $397,000 budgeted in the 1112 budget for Applegarth asbest remediation lighting and floor tiling um because of the efficient manner that Administration scheduled the asbestos remediation over the summer we were able to make significant

091savings there which we apply to other needs recommended by the building grounds Transportation committee for Applegarth also the district entered into a lease purchase for playground equipment and cealing projection monitors used for instruction within appleg guard the total of that lease purchase is approximately $300,000 and includes a copier for about 177,000 that's not involved with Applegarth um those are the most noteworthy items that come to mind some of the other items like You' mentioned probably have been handled through um internal transfers okay but I'd have to I'd have to go back and research those to give you the exact answer because um there's a lot of little things that I you understand what I'm saying I'm just saying like these things were like money was found for these things quote unquote why can't we find

092money for other things like the bus difference is with these items that I discussed the asbest remediation lighting the floor tiling the expansion of that scope the money the only money that was found there was through the savings on the asbest where we were able to knock off about $80,000 from the um estimate for the work because we did it over the summer um the district entered into a lease purchase for the playground equipment and the projection monitors which is not going to be um a a obligation to the district until 1314 okay so there you know as far as you know Finding money I can assure you that within this budget there is no Oasis of money to be found okay um thank you another question another thing that was raised was um the

093board has not added to the budget the amount of money they plan to get his revenue for the daycare center did is that added into the budget oh yeah the the daycare center is a separate proprietary fund and as such the money could be uh transferred over into the general fund by the board but it was recommended by the district attorney not to have that happen until a net income is established enough to number one pay back the loan and number two sustain the program that probably won't happen till two three years out okay so where did the money come from to build this meca it came from a loan from the general fund approved by the Board of Education okay the building was the building was already a established it was really just um

094cosmetic painting uh the signage a new playground um playground my the kids the playground my kids played on was not nearly as nice as what the one that the Educators or the staff's kids are going to play at cuz my you know that that's what a little bothering me I have six kids in the school system and what they play on is not nearly as nice as what the the staff's kids are going to play on that's just a little that was a little shot to all of us parents we were really upset about that ma'am well it's noteworthy there is again it's a loan and that's going to be paid back to the general fund having no impact on the taxpayers through the profits of the program which will be raised by revenues from

095the staff so it didn't touch anything to do with our kids education is not projected to touch any um budget tax money okay public funds all right um uh there was a question about not renewing Sharon Big's contract and there was she was her position was was filled again is that what the thing was is that true person El committee is uh looking at now um reappointing someone to that position that position has not been eliminated by the Board of Education okay is it because that that was a question that was uh coming up along the thing too and um another question was um raises for the Board of Education members and stuff like that is that necessary thing that that everyone has to get a raise every year I know um that was get

096paid you don't get paid no no the the not you know um District Personnel like you know did they have to get raises every year I mean is that necessary I mean when we have things like extra busing and stuff coming out and you know that each individual contract that you're referring to an aggregate is specifically negotiated very hard over a period of long period of time and there's give and takes from both sides there so uh to look at uh a potential increase there not seeing the offsetting give Backs from these organizations uh is truly unfair I'm just I'm just this is are General topics that were talked about by everybody I'm trying to get clarification so you know it's um also is it true that there are clothing allowances allowed for uh District

097members that they get personal clothing allowances no I bought the suit myself that's that's what these are these are these are questions that are being raised by people that we like ANW only certain maintenance staff we provide uniforms for because of the nature of the work that they're doing okay I'm just and these are like said qu questions that people just want to answer that was a one of them and um sorry the three minutes is up oh okay all right thank you I feel like I got to talk on hi AUD audre deiro 39 lower matchaponix um I know that we did this because of our lack of State funding and we had to get rid of some over adequacy items so like you spoke before Dr Hamilton you said there's two paths we

098can either start doing this or keep moving up like we've been doing it looks to me like we did this this year and we probably won't get any more State funding just for one item is this what we're going to be doing next year and the year after and if we do and we do get more State funding back because of that we're not going to be able to buy those things with that money anyways though right well the budget process is zerob based so once we figure out what our state aid is going to be what impact ratables have on on the the tax levy then we can make appropriate decisions regarding what comes in and what comes out there are some non-negotiables you got to pay people you got to have benefits there

099are some things that get built into the budget those are considered our fixed costs and those things that are above and beyond that like courtesy busing like whatever other other things may fit in that category the board through the budget and finance committee and through the full board by by an action item will have to make some decisions about what those things are could the board reinstate next year could the board say well you know what we saw a decrease in the number of children who participated in in these after school programs as a as a result of the elimination of busing is that something we need to reconsider well if the board adds Back in X number of dollars to support that in full or in part than something else again assuming that there's

100an equal an imbalance between the state aid and what we put in the budget then we'll have to make some other decisions we may be next year we may be here talking about something else we could be talking about LaCrosse or we could be talking about class size it could be a number of things exactly um and you know how we have the new rule if it's below the 2% we don't have to go to a public vote correct but this was 3.6 more or am I did I get that wrong uh the the 3.68 that was discussed before was the increase in the tax levy uh the budget that was put together was below the tax levy cap that was available by actually $1.5 million all right we could have used excess Surplus and

101actually had a budget that was under the requirement of an election uh by adding up to $1.5 million okay I just one more thing though if we still continue on this path and we keep cutting things the over adequacy and they give us the state funding back will we be able to bring back over adequacy items with that money yes we could yes but then the next year they could probably pull it again because we're over adequacy exactly all right thank you but again let me let me just qualif clarify something the over adequacy issue is one that the state is not going to tell us you have to bring your budget under adequacy in one budget cycle based on the laws as I know and understand them today that doesn't mean that there can't

102be some legislative action at another time but that's not likely to happen like that generally there's a plan in place over the course of several years that would look to bring those bring the district down to an adequacy level thank you something yes um in response to that young lady and the young lady who was here before who I think left um it seems that Trenton is that you in the back she's there stand up no that's not her no that I'm talking about the one in the green before now she was here earlier but anyway it seems that what they you would think that the State Department of Education would want every District to strive to give the best education the more Advanced education to every student no matter what level they're at if

103they're able to reach into AP courses all the power to you give us more money we're using the money properly instead they want you to be average of mediocrity right so it brings the the poor performing school districts up they're the ones who are getting well over what they can spend and as I've said 100 times Newark New Jersey as of two years ago received 800 million dollar between the state and the federal government we're here nitpicking busing that we should have I've said that all along most of us said that all along we can't afford it it's as simple as that that's the part that hurts you have people up here want to do the best for you want to do the best for the students the bit about the 4:30 busing it'll probably

104come back but we have to at this point because of what's happened in taxes this year year we have to concentrate and I hope that once I'm off the board that the others will follow start to cut expenses start to do away with things that we don't need to use the money for what we need and start to as we're cutting back allow property taxes to come down or at least stabilize without hurting the kids and I truly believe I'm not an educator I'm a businessman but I do want I have no kids in this District I have no grandchildren in this District but I look at every one of your children as my children I wouldn't want anything less for them than I expect for my grandchildren I ask that you been with us

105we're getting blamed for things that we have no control over the young lady who spoke earlier in the green she everything is Offa when I said and I I said it from the almost the day I started and I'll do it until January or December I have asked the parents to get angry and write letters the last meeting uh woman said well I didn't know about it but if you went on the website there was all the information as to who to send the letter to nobody did anything I've asked here at least the last three months how many people are angry enough that that sent letters to Trenton Chrissy skir did no one else did the woman who spoke up earlier her own admission was the fact that the last meeting was the first

106meeting she ever came to where was she all these other meetings why don't we have a 100 people here at every meeting tell us what we're doing wrong make suggestions nobody's here unless it's something that affects them after the fact I'm not putting the blame on all of you getting involved thank you Mr for that very Prett good anyone else from the public acting I I Shanny Henley a rdle court again feelings no no no I'm not actually I want to address what you said because I think you brought up something really important is that districts like Newark and Camden those are all Abbot districts and those are Court mandated funding that they receive and we don't have those privileges so we met with Linda Greenstein I mean she's aware of these issues the legislators

107are aware of these issues but unfortunately the school funding formula is so Arcane that nobody can understand how to even begin to untangle it to help us understand but I I guess my point is is that the people who were able to arrange for the funding that they have was through leg was through a class action suit so are you advocating that we bring a class action suit against the state and sue for more funding where do you start I made that motion three months ago to look into filing a lawsuit against the New Jersey State Department of Education for our fair share but but know board does or that the parents do like where do we go from here um Dr Hamilton and um and I met with uh David skiera from the educational

108law Center and our attorney V lordy who was here earlier and a representative from an organization called save our schools yes and uh we're looking at possibly a lawsuit it seems from first blush that that may be cost prohibitive for a district to enter into a lawsuit by ourselves or even in some kind of arrangement with other District sharing the cost but what was the focus of the recommendation from David skier and also save our schools was for the district uh residents to aggregate their voices and argue for full funding of the state's funding formula right now they have in place a funding formula which should satisfy all the needs of all the schools but it's not funded anywhere to its its capacity and because of that our state aid is is consequently reduced if

109the state was to fully fund and commit resources to fund the funding formula we wouldn't have this problem they're saying that they can't afford it though I mean isn't that the case so we're sort of at a catch 22 with our budget it's a matter of priorities and education should be the paramont responsibility true but but in lie of that you know I mean the reality of the situation is that is that they're not funding the formula and it doesn't look like they're going to be funding it anytime soon so you know we can send letters until we're blue in the face but I don't think they're really being received or or paid any attention to in Trenton I mean it's wonderful that people are doing that but I guess what I'm really looking for

110is what what can we do that's going to have some sort of an effect if I may I just want to add something if it's brief Mr CL very brief thank you David skiera is the head of the newk Law Center who brought the lawsuits the Abbott versus Burke lawsuit which started the Abbott districts yes and then he filed suit to get more money for the Abbott districts so when when the governor made that big cut when he first got in they sued yes to get their money back and instead of the Supreme Court doing the proper thing was either reinstate everybody's they only reinstated for the 31 districts and we're left hanging out to draw you well yeah we're not Urban District so we're completely excluded from that lawsuit and I think we just

111I honestly I think we just need to live with what we have and do with what we I me we We complain and we can complain and we could write letters and we can do all these things but the bottom line is we have what we have and we have and I think we have to deal with it in my mind if we're we're going to spend millions of dollars to have a lawsuit to get more funding I'd rather just reinstitute busing and and save the money and and let the lawyers eat a little less that's my opinion but um and but I thank you for you have anything else on we be well no I guess just I keep coming back to we're still across purposes though because we're still going to be underfunded

112next year so we're we keep saying we're talking about buzzing now we we're going to be under the same budgeting constraints for next year if not worse not optimistic that it's going to be better so we're going to you're you're going to still be in the in the position where you're going to have to keep cutting and cutting I'm sorry I know I'm I'm over but I I I just don't want to keep having this I don't want to keep having this conversation over and over again so at some point it's going the funding is going to be need to be addressed so I'm not saying that you should sue if that's not cost-effective for us but I guess as parents it's frustrating it's very frustrating to see the board constantly putting position long long

113and short I assure you the we are very actively engaged in this and I think um as as Mike alluded to our most presumed effective uh course of action is to really get the state to fully fund the existing formula and the way to make that happen is to voice your concerns to the people who you elect who sit at those tables and make those decisions that is where you're going to get the biggest bang for your buck um yes we're underfunded and yes it's inequitable and and we can have those philosophical debates the fact of the matter is if the state fully funds the formula Monroe would receive approximately $5 million if they just funded the existing fully funded the existing formula the argument has been that there is a proposal to change the

114state funding formula because the current formula is flawed yes but if you haven't fully funded the form you don't know whether or not it works or not so fully funded first see where the parody is and then if it doesn't work then let's come together and talk about what a a stable logical school funding formula will be that serves the needs of kids all across the state not just in certain pockets of the state I see that's what I wanted to know thank you sh min9 at anel Street first have you uh finished your res your closed session are things resolved were they resolved and voted no no ma'am so they cannot be discussed yet no ma'am okay get feedback okay number one uh a while ago we were talking about people uh uh union

115members opting out of some of the health benefits how many people have done that um the most recent analysis that we did was about a month ago and there were 60 employees who had opted out but keep in mind I'm not sure if you're going there with this yet but those opt outs were already projected with the settlement of the Union um well you had predicted 128 members would oped out no I believe we were we were estimating 75 uh I think it was over a 100 I was the chairman of the negotiating committee with 75 you know we we might have said we hope it gets to that number said that you were hoping that the potential that could have been 128 I believe I'm sure you're correct thank you Mr lry forgets who

116pays taxes um okay second the general fund that is a taxpayer funded fund isn't it doesn't the doesn't don't taxpayers go put their money into the general fund % of it okay 84% of it so when you talk about it not costing anything because it's coming out of the general fund that's not really accurate when you were talking about Contex lo you were talking about the loan right and and the yeah the loan is not costing anything if it's repaid and we have every uh if it's repaid are we getting interest on it no because it's an interfund loan it's not required so there's no interest so it's just a pure loan to put this in place and what are the projections of how long it's going to take that for that loan to be

117repaid two years so we're not going to make any money on it not initially like any new business venture there's time for it to get up to speed well is it a business venture is it supposed to be a profit making this is most certainly a business venture it's a for-profit uh fund and um we are very confident that once the image of our program gets out to the public and they understand uh how good of a service that we can provide that the attendance will actualize what we're but when you're talking about the public you're talking about the teachers public yes teacher as the so we're doing this okay but the general fund there is money from the general fund is a taxpayer funded for 84% is yeah so please don't say that it's

118not from taxpayers okay let me let me just clarify it's a loan it's a loan from taxpayers uh 84% uh Surplus in the general fund now do we bond for that or is that coming out we're actually giving them funds that are there we're giving them funds that exist there okay so we couldn't use those funds for anything else like all the things that have been taken away no there's excess Surplus calculations and required fund balance um this is all incorporated into there for this loan okay third I think there uh the young lady who was who was asking about some of the salary reimbursements um there are administrators is that not correct who in their salary in their contracts do have allowances or reimbursements for car and travel and for clothing allowance that's absolutely

119false with regard to clothing allowance uh and the only way an administrator would get reimbursed for meals and travel would be if it's board approved for a specific event in advance delineating uh the professional development Venture that they were going to so if we if we get a contract from one of the administrators and there's no additional funds other than what they're being paid as a salary there there's nothing else built in that no okay somehow I I definitely no close for anybody other than the maintenance staff to protect them with safety wear fine that that works we keep talking about the Abbot districts and um funding let me talk about districts who spend less for their students per student and get higher scores I think there are there are municipalities and school districts in

120in New Jersey who pay less for their students without getting funded from the state and their scores and the accomplishments of the kids are much better I would like to start talking about that we are paying what approximately 16,000 a student in the high school we should really have exceptional scores and uh quality of Education I don't care where the money is coming from that's a lot of money to be spent per student so that's the stuff we should be talking about instead of arguing about where the money is coming from we're spending a significant amount of money per student the student should be getting Optimum scores period thank you thank you anyone else from the public didn't seeing none get a motion anxious L Masters and Amy and tell didn't you go first give

121it to the next schedule public Board of Education meeting Wednesday oh I'm sorry that's changing I'm sorry um point of order we need a motion for the goal setting meeting on August 25th if that time will work for everyone August 25th August 25th Saturday from 8: to noon I think we already closed the meeting I know we closed the meeting that's why I say point of order what time is that going to be pleas 8: a.m. to noon on a Saturday morning you're out of order I'm out of order in confidential go saw District goals Che yeah may my calendar I may be busy I'll be outside watching us and the point of order it come up watch it come the German is a privileged motion nothing comes in here yes this is true we

122do have an opportunity to call a special meeting for that okay very well yes thanks Kathy have a good night that was my fault I should have reminded you bye good night