Monroe Township Board of Education 01.16.13 Regular Meeting

001good evening the meeting of the Monroe Township Board of Education will come to order please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for [Music] allbody may we have a roll call Mr Gorski Mrs kapano here Mr tesler here M antelis Mr Braverman here Mr Chella here Mr calman here Mr Masters here Mr poy here Mr proso here Mr zareski here Madame board president you have a quorum thank you in accordance with the provisions of the New Jersey open public meetings law the monen board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted January 11th 2013 one at

002all schools two the home News Tribune three cranberry press and four filed with the clerk of the municipality at this time we will have a reports from our student board members or member thank you um good evening ladies and gentlemen the E uh the events that will take this PL will take place this month are the DECA Regional Conference meeting was on January 8th there's a winter band concert tonight that started at 6 there will be a half day on January 18th due to staff and service and school will be closed on January 21st because of mar Martin Luther King Junior Day and College Planning night for seniors is January 30th thank you thank you very much at this time we will go to the public forum anyone from the public wishing to speak to

003the agenda please come to the microphone and give your name and address for the record good evening my name is Joe calucho 20 Ashley Court Monro Township oops sorry about that that's a cool income see instead of giving me the Bell they gave me the they gave me the said did say turn turn cell phones off anyway apologize for that I I did want to just congratulate the new members I wasn't here last time when the new members came in so I want to congratulate uh Mr Po and um Anthony and and the others for their uh welcome their service but I I I did want to say that it's very important to remember who elected you and it's the township residents that elected you the taxpayers pay uh pay your salaries they want you

004to do the right thing for them spend what we have to spend on not what we'd like to spend on keep the taxes low that's the goal make sure you ab ab absolutely maintain and increase the education for the children when it's necessary but don't just spend for the sake of spending and I would hope that that would be the pledge that you would all make those are newly elected ones and certainly the ones that have been on the board thank you thank you anyone else from the public was that to the agenda Robert roach at mfield Boulevard Monroe um on page 11 board action item number uh G it looks like you're instituting a new um Club at the uh high school and I would like to know whether that what is what the

005cost of that is to the U for the board at this time there is no cost to implement that that um that new club uh no cost at what time this time for this year there is no cost this year to the to the board is this a trial type of uh program um it it was Dr Hamilton do you want to talk take this yeah this went through the committee process and uh essentially what happens is when teachers um or students have an activity or a club that they are interested in just seeing if there's enough interest in they volunteer for a year to see how it goes and if it goes well if it's if it's uh well received by students then there could be a recommendation next year to implement the program

006or not and at that time always voluntary and next next year will there not be a cost or will there be a cost there will be a cost for whatever stien the association has negotiated or will negotiate on behalf of that activity well this is just a situation where you know if it is continued I just think that the continual adding of more programs and more clubs is just U just beyond believe um my next question deals with uh H the um I may have the wrong but it was a sidebar agreement and uh that's H that's H that's is that H yes can you explain what that uh agreement is yes that agreement uh revolves around uh clubs and activities that are already in place um but the association has requested that we revisit

007the stiens associated with those positions because the composition and scope of those duties have changed as a result of the district reconfiguration so the inclusion of sixth grade students at the middle school for example has increased the number of performances the number of auditions and the amount of time that teachers are being asked to put into um supervising those activities so the association in conjunction with the board have negotiated this sidebar agreement the sidebar agreement is essentially an agreement that has been reached after the negotiated agreement has been signed and and and what is that agreement how much is that going to cost um there are three different activities involved one increases the stien by probably $3,000 over the course of the year um the second activity uh refers to an hourly rate it limits

008it up to 20 hours and the third one I don't recall off the top of my head but I can look that up and get back to you on it so that that's 3,000 total it's not 3,000 per per uh individual who's monitoring it it the answer is yes to both of those questions but it it's in total but for that particular Club thank you you're welcome anyone else from the public sh l09 ethaniel Street um in in terms of stiens stiens can be given to just about any employee in the district is that correct it's not just it's not just for teachers is that correct generally speaking most often however the stiens are negotiated by the certificated uh the association that represents the certificated staff people okay there are very few exceptions can you

009sort of just give a quick definition of what a stipend is a stipend is a calculated additional rate of compensation for duties that are above and beyond the ordinary teaching or uh supervisory duties okay and where is stiped in the budget what would it be called as a budget item is it in salaries is it a separate miscellaneous it's in salaries is it not it yes what is it personal salar now is there a way for the public to break down a salary and a stiping so in other words if I came to the board office and asked for a list of all the stiens in the district would I be able to get that do that I know if you came in and you said uh Ken Hamilton's salary is $50,000 how much of

010that is um his annual contractual salary and how much of that is typen that I know we could give you but I don't know about the specificity you just described if you ask for a particular position's um total compensation we could easily give you a report of their regular compensation as Dr Hamilton explained and the additional stien would also show up in there if you wanted stiens in aggregate that would require some analytical work to go through the budget determine what the stiens were because the the state of New Jersey chart of accounts does not designate a account nor a sub account just for stiens they want them charged to the individual's regular line item um such as high school teacher salaries elementary teacher salaries so somebody could essentially be making 50,000 or 75,000 let's

011say as a regular salary but somehow make a 100 based on stiens it's possible conceivably possible I'll answer yes okay so what percentage of the budget do you have a sense of that would be given out in in stiens fraction of 1% a fraction of 1% on a $86 million budget yes okay all right thank you anyone else from the public good evening Tom notein 15 Nathaniel Street um with regard to under board action um uh Charlie C what uh what's the cost of the field trips and because we don't OB obviously have that attached description uh of the field trips I just wonder what the cost of those are and uh what is the description of the uh field trips you want to speak to that yeah that comes out of the curriculum office

012I have um I don't have I'd have to look to see um what the total is I don't do mathematical calculations we we base it on trip requests that go through the schools then to me and then to Transportation generally speaking if they're internal field trips so kids going to other schools within the district we are able to um use our own buses for so it's a minimal cost um some of them are tied into the curricular programs at the high school like the DECA um that we that that the students uh re based on those some of them are National competitions they also include um sporting events um at teams that go to um different competitions debate clubs all of those in aggregate a lot of our field trips are um paid by local

013school ptas and PTO because we um we we cut back a number of years on our ago on our field trips um for the sake of field trips so we're tying into a nice strong curricular reasoning for that um and so it it varies um but I could get you that information I I'm just wondering the list must be here right because it's it says heard the attached list so I imagine the board members would have that list correct so we could do that research and get for you okay um also with regard to the uh Public Service uh Energy Efficiency improvements could you just elaborate a little on uh what that entails and what's the approximate cost of of our 20% yes yes our facilities director um solicits different grants to help um supplement

014the budget or offset costs that otherwise would be budgeted for and um in the past we've had this is relevant to your question but we applied for a safety grant that was on the last meeting I talked about that that's where um they were able to put those kiosks and all the school where you put in your license and make sure you're not an offender to come into the school building and you know secure that the psng Grant in particular deals with a grant that PNG received from the federal government to come in and install energy efficient lighting fixtures in the schools and school facilities um no upfront cost to the district and there'll be a I believe a 20% portion that's passed through in your monthly bills going forward but the savings reaped from

015the reduced energy costs will more than outweigh that and there's an estimate of $1,000 a year that that will save net on energy costs so it's a real win-win for um for the environment and for the school district and the budget okay so it's nothing to do with solar uh or anything okay no sir okay thank you very much I if I me yeah I just wanted to address uh Mr nin's Question on I'm sorry I just wanted to address the uh question on the um field trips we did we the board members are in possession of a supplemental document that just lists the uh the various field trips and there are three that have costs associated with them for rough total $ 6,736 44 to get back to you on your question but there's

016about 20 of them in that combination the big one for the month was the DECA trip which is a national convers uh competition which required chartered buses down in Cherry Hill okay is there anyone else from the public wishes to speak to the agenda good evening Nelson 10 for Ashley Court uh I'm sorry Mr gski I I may have missed it what's the recapture period on the psng The District's cost of uh the the infrastructure is about 20% and it's pushed forward in the monthly bill uh W including with an interest free loan for say for that so over the next uh you know several months there'll be an additional amount due for the lighting but that will more than be offset by the reduced Energy savings and it will retrofit all of the schools

017and uh the these other facilities with new energy efficient lighting so over the next several months you're saying we'll recapture the I mean we'll be making $188,000 on an annual basis on an annual basis okay and we've had this before many years ago it's nice that they reintroduced it again okay uh and as far as uh the board action items be the staff professional development I'd like to know uh what type of courses and the cost and I have some other questions so I'm just going to Len the questions and then you folks can can speak to them uh as far as the uh uh police expense for the special events I wanted to know what those events are and what the cost what last year's cost was and what the projected cost is for

018this year and I also wanted to know what the uh uh item I What circus Minimus was and also uh no that's it go ahead do you want to take the let M take the police because I know he's got that right at his fingertips yes the the police item is on the business administrative report letter F and it's it's an annual professional appointment that's made this is not new right and it's approving the hourly use of Monroe Township's Police Department for special services um most of which are at our athletic events football games basketball games um we reimburse the township for the cost of the officer providing security at those games um I don't have an estimate of what that is on an annual basis but um you know if you press me I

019would say probably in a vicinity of under 105,000 are those the only two sporting uh events that require the monce it's the large volume from the public events uh I recall s sign off on bills for football um basketball dror do you think of any other events that we have police for I think that's it in the um you mentioned the sporting events the national state or national competitions yes if we were hosting a state or national competition we'll ask for their assistance also okay regarding circus Minimus that is an activity that uh Barkley Brook School has been putting on for several years every year since I've been here anyway um and it's essentially a cultural experience for students um that is generally funded through a grant from uh through MEF um so there's there's

020essentially no cost to the board on that one half of it is half of it through the grant half of it through general b funding okay so half of it is through the Grant and the other half is through the general funding thank you and what's the cost of that I'm sorry um do you look at believe the whole thing is $5,500 2,000 of it comes from 2,000 of it comes from the grant $3,500 is in the general budget it's an interdisciplinary um major unit that focuses in on the the Arts I could show you standards and the educational resources that connect it um so it's it's right in line with our curriculum um and it deals uh primarily with uh the per Performing Arts language arts literacy social studies content integration okay and regarding

021professional development it's a pretty lengthy list um if you'd like to review it you can oper it but just to give you a quick summary um it identifies any professional development request that a teach a staff member not necessarily a teacher has requested or has been uh directed to to take and there are probably about 50 such requests on this month's uh agenda item most of them have no cost the other cost range from $92 to the most expensive one is the ASC Conference of 2900 um some of these are contractual obligations and I'll just give you a bird's eye view of what some of them are Project Lead the Way uh conference for our food director relative to USDA food conference uh principles of professional learning um but you can you can open this

022if you if you like a detailed list of it are all of those approved or are some of them uh uh not allowed at times no they before they get the agend to get to the agenda we've either decided which ones are appropriate based on the staff member and or his or her assignment or it won't get approved until tonight okay okay thank you anyone else from the public in regard to the agenda I think it's permissible but I'd like to talk about the DECA trip that was discussed as field trip yeah okay uh Joanne Cardone Gravel Hill Spotswood Road I happen to have been at the DECA competition last Tuesday at middle sex County College and I'm proud to say that we had 52 I think it was 52 finalists so 41% of our

023students that attended the competition are going to be uh going to Cherry Hill the end of February so our students did a wonderful job as usual and I hope the board will continue to cover the expenses for these trips because Deca is an excellent uh group for the students who are pursuing careers in business marketing Entertainment Sports Marketing the courses which our school now offers so I just thought it would be a good thing for the public to know that our students do Excel and we had 29 of the 52 uh get overall ranks so we're good thank you thank you Jo anyone else from the public okay um before we go to number seven I just want to remind all the board members that um if you have not signed your acknowledgement of receipt

024for your code of ethics to please do so and either hand them to Mr Gorski or to Joyce this evening you and you and Joyce has extras if we need them okay um the revised public meeting schedule the meeting schedule has been revised due to a change in the date that state aid numbers will be released after they change their dates we had to change their dates on our calendar so I need a motion and a second to approve that so move second Mr Chella Mr uh Kaufman is there any comments or questions then we'll have a roll call Mr Braverman yes Mr Chella yes Mr zareski this is on the moving the yes Mr calman yes Mr Masters yes Mr Po yes Mr proso yes Mr tesler yes M K Pano Madam board president

025agenda item passes thank you and now we will go to the superintendent report Dr Hamilton thank you good evening all um before I get into the enroll M report Etc just want to share with the board and members of the public that our administrative body will be going through a pretty intense training uh next week with board counsel regarding um Our obligation to implement the new tenure reform laws um you've also heard me speak in reference to an analysis I had asked the Monroe Township Police Department to do in conjunction with our security Personnel they have completed their assessment and will be providing me with their recommendations we're actually scheduled to meet tomorrow and I'll be sharing them with you shortly thereafter also on February 14th um it has been officially designated as Monroe cares

026day this was an idea that kind of spearheaded as a result of trying to unify our efforts to raise funds for Hurricane Sandy relief we did not want to have every school doing something different so we came up with the idea of uh doing one big day for Monroe cares um I've asked the mayor to prepare a proc Proclamation declaring uh febru AR 14th as Monroe cares day and we'll be giving you more information about that regarding what those activities will entail but we will engage the entire community in an effort to raise funds to provide relief for those families most affected by Hurricane sanding uh moving on to the superintendent's full report the enrollment report is enclosed for the month of showing the difference between our November and December enrollment and the out of

027school placement along with those students who are currently on homebound instruction uh our fire drills and safety drills are listed in your agenda as well moving on to the Personnel items Madam board president and members of the public it is rep recommended by the superintendent of schools that Personnel items act Personnel items a through T be approved by roll call vote move Mr Chella second by Mr Tesla are there any comments or questions for the superintendent Mr poy uh I I just like some information about a couple of items uh item Q uh some of the bus drivers there's quite a list there they're uh getting additional time they're being approved for additional time uh I I'd appreciate an explanation as to uh why that was necessary sure there's several reasons for that um one

028is um we've been getting quite a few complaints on some of our routes that are are currently being handled by subcontractors so some of this will replace those those runs other runs would include um just increasing the load to cover some of the absentee rates that we have in amongst our bus drivers and there was a third Mike do you remember what the third category was I think the absentee part was was the big one okay um we found our staff um absent more than we had liked and uh that usually leads to a um dispatcher or the director driving in certain instances which leaves the telephone on man and other problems in the office so this will ensure um adequate driving staff and um someone to feel the calls that may come in from

029parents and item uh R uh there's a person being approved as an i AQ coordinator uh I did find out that that's an internal air quality coordinator I'd like more information about what that person does um and because I understand that each building has one yes and indoor air quality Indo internal is indoor indoor air quality coordinator right Dr Hamilton yes these um these are members of the teaching staff and their responsibilities are to help filter any concerns raised by staff relative to air quality in the building and they act as a Le is on between the board the administration and the teaching body so they are given up to 10 hours a month um most often they they don't actualize that much because in most instances we don't have any issues but if there

030are issues protocol is for teachers or staff members to go to the IQ person to register any concerns they have and then that person filters them to the appropriate administrators is there a reason why they're going to uh a member of the staff as opposed to the building principal for that report there's some history associated with that that goes back some time Jeff you want to speak to that it's a comprehensive um it's called Tools for Schools it's a it's a program that that um helps facilitate um the Endo air quality in the schools because there have been um there was some history about over 10 years ago and that protocol was put in place um as a communication method to um to um Jerry tag and his team and um it's been a very

031productive partnership and the tool which I could um point you in the right direction to get the extent of the work that's being done um I believe is very beneficial to the entire School Community but it's hard to get into and explain to you right now and I believe those people have been trained in are they quality um the reason uh it caught my attention was one I didn't know what an IAQ coordinator was so I appreciate that information but also when I looked at uh the amount of hours per month and the rate of pay uh it calculates out that if if each building did go up to the 10 hours per month for every month of the school year even though you say that doesn't happen but if they did that would uh

032that would eat up uh almost $336,000 of budget money which seemed like an awful lot of money that we are providing even though it's a maximum and and likely not being spent but it seemed like an awful lot of money for for for that particular activity and I was wondering when does the person do this that they need to have the extra compensation those hours again any additional compensation those hours are done outside of the structure of their contractual day um since I have been here I have not known of an a single instance where anyone has where we've had a situation where every IAQ has exhausted their 10 hours and it is also a contractual negotiated um stiped position I think this goes back to like 2001 if I believe um Dr Gorman early

033uh yeah it was based off of the um High School yeah right are any other questions Mr Po uh no I believe that's it thank you does anyone else have any questions comments Mr tesler yeah just a question on S uh the uh the one on the bottom uh could you just explain uh the new position and why that needs to be created s like Sam S is and Sam yes the very last one oh that is a one on one okay anyone else okay seeing no one we'll have a roll call Mr Gorski Mr Braverman yes Mr Chella yes Mr zareski yes yes Mr calman yes Mr Masters yes Mr poy uh yes except for item r no so noted Mr proso Yes except for item R so noted Mr tesler uh yes Mrs

034kapano yes madame board president Personnel items a through T passes moving on to board action item uh it is recommended Madam board president members of board that board action items a through H be approved by roll call vote move second Mr Mr chera Mr Masters any comments or questions on the board action items seeing none do you have I have where you going information okay okay uh in item e that deals with the student suspension report I realize that that information is confidential uh but when I reviewed it uh I saw that uh there was a student suspended for theft uh there were also some students suspended for vandalism and uh a student uh suspended for possession of drugs and and drug paraphernalia uh and I think it would be to the benefit of all

035members of the board as well as the public to know whether or not in the cases of uh theft and and drug possession uh is a report filed with the police and in the case of vandalism uh is the cost of repair or damages paid for by the parents um the short answer to that is yes um but it is also outlined in the high school student code of conduct manual and in the board policies relative to um how those Protocols are handled um so if if at any time you you want to cross reference that with the suspension reports that information is there but yes if a youngster is suspended for drugs um if they're suspended for suspicious suspicion of use or possession they're required to have a drug test before they're admitted back

036and it is reported to the police if they are um if they vandalize the building or board property parents are expected to make retribution thank you or restitution Mr proso Item B uh is that also for the administration correct uh yes okay is that uh give them a higher pay scale once they complete their development uh in this instance no in some instances it does though if it speaks to tuition reimbursement um if an if an administrator is going to acquire an advanced degree above what they currently have then or teacher for that matter um then there is additional compensation associated with that Mr yes I do have one additional comment about Item B uh it was something that I learned today uh and I think it's important for the for the public to know

037this in many districts when a teacher requests to go on a one or two day workshop uh professional development whether it's a seminar anything of that nature uh it is often uh the expense of that both mileage and the cost of the workshop uh or any other cost uh and particularly if it's involves overnight uh those cost are usually paid for by the Board of Education of course that's under whatever contract has been negotiated but I think it's important uh for people to realize that many districts uh completely pick up that cost but I learned uh today uh through questioning the administration as well as looking at the uh the teacher contract that that is not the case here in Monroe and I think it is commendable when a teacher request professional development uh be

038it one day or uh be it for several days where it involves travel and and lodging and they're willing to pick up that expense out of their own pocket I think that's quite commendable thank you anyone else have a comment or question okay seeing n we'll have a roll call Mr Bo just for clarification that's in not in all situations but the ones that you looked at today it did it applied to the ones that we interacted with back and forth oh okay thank you Mr Braverman yes Mr cherella yes Mr zareski yes Mr cman yes to all Rec recuse on H so noted Mr Masters yes Mr POI yes Mr proso yes on everything but BG and H no on BG and H so noted Mr tesler yes Mrs K Pano Madame board president

039board action items a through AG passes thank you that concludes the superintendent's report okay at this time we'll move to the business and administrator's report Mr Gorski yes madame board president and members of the Monroe Township Board of Education it is recommended that board action items a through K be approved by consent roll call so move second second by Mr Masters any comments or questions for Mr gorsky on the business administrators report seeing none we'll have a roll call Mr Braverman yes Mr cherella yes Mr zareski yes Mr calman yes Mr Masters yes Mr Po uh yes but I have a question on item K since I'm involved in that do I legally have to refuse myself yes that would be yes okay yes well yes except for item K so noted Mr proso yes

040Mr tesler yes Mrs kapano Yes except for item K I'd like to recuse myself so noted Madame board president board action items a through K passes thank you that concludes the business administrative ask a question I'm sorry uh didn't have a question about on the police officers is there any way is there a difference if they're hired uh off duty out of curiosity the question was regarding police officers letter F professional appointments for police officers if there's any opportunity to ask the police to perform those services off duty they wear it they could wear the uniform and carry their gun off duty and if we're talking about $155,000 a year we could save 5,000 we could put in some lockers into the high school I'll be happy to check uh with the Police Department and

041ask them if that ex okay at this time we will go to the board president's report and um just a couple of things um the first is the committee lists have been finalized and distributed to all the board members in the administration so we can now start to schedule our committee meetings and it is up to each chair of each committee to schedule their meetings and um with regard to those people who are sitting on your particular committee and some of those people will be working some of them won't so um hopefully we can have a time and a place um that would be conducive to everybody on the on the committee and um it worked last year where we had a specific date and time like the second Tuesday of the month at 6

042o' for each committee um so maybe we can do that again so that we know as we build the calendar where every committee meeting is going to fit in um and as we schedule our meetings we will try to get those dates up on the website as long as as along with the agenda wherever possible um all committee meetings are open to the public to observe their working workshops for the board um we make many decisions that will be on our agenda or that have implications to the budget and uh the only um committee that the public is not allowed to attend is Personnel uh the second thing is New Jersey school scho boards Association will be holding a free forum to address school safety this Friday January 18th at 8:30 a.m. at the College

043of New Jersey uh this forum will include two panel discussions the first one is looking forward skate school security procedures and requirements the second is looking forward Safety and Security at the school building level uh this forum is open to the staff to the parents and to any Community member who feel that they might like to attend but online registration is required uh both myself and Mr Po will be attending this uh Forum I don't know if there's anybody else at this time that will and that include concludes my president's report uh this time committee reports is there any committee that has a report today I didn't think there would be but seeing none other board of education business is there any other business by any member of the Board of Education okay Mr tesler

044thank you Kathy just a few things um I know a lot of uh board members and have children or grandchildren that uh are in the school and uh I know the administration doesn't have always a lot of time to report on uh all the good things that go on like deck and things like that so i' would like to encourage uh the board members maybe during this time to uh talk to their children grandchildren friends neighbors whatever and if they note something that happened in the past month uh you know positive that went in the school uh just to to mention it um so I'll start um last uh week um the um High School drama club had their annual um murder mystery comedy dinner uh was U my whole family attended I was uh

045very well received it was a lot of fun the kids did a great job and I'd just like to um commend the kids on a great performance it was funny it was uh uh just a well uh well put on show and it's a great evening uh second thing that happened last week is the uh Monroe Township competition cheerleading team kicked off their uh annual uh competition season uh they performed or they competed both in uh Howell and Jackson last weekend and uh not only did they take first place in their division they won uh Grand Champs both days and which means that uh they won first place in their division obviously but Grand Champs means they were the higher scoring team among all the other 20 or 30 teams that participated uh in those

046competitions so I'd like to commend them on that um one other thing I would like to do is uh Kathy mentioned uh all the board members uh each year at the um uh reorg meeting after sign the code of code of ethics and I requested that that can be uh put up on the website and I believe it's also um being handed out here uh during the meeting uh but also for the people at home I would like to kind of just take a few minutes I know it's not the most entertaining thing in the world but I'll just kind of go over them and and read read those so uh as a public service so when uh people come to the board members and ask them questions and maybe we can answer something or

047can't and we just uh it'll be giv the public a little more information on what rules the Board of Education uh members abide by so this will only take a a few moments uh number one is I will uphold and enforce all laws rules and regulations of the State Board of Education and court orders pertaining to schools desired changes shall be brought only about through legal and ethical procedures number two a board member or I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain Public public schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standing number three I will confine my board action to policymaking planning and appraisal and I will help to frame policies and plan

048plans only after the board has consulted consulted those who will be affected by them number four I will behave toward I will behave toward my fellow board members with respect due to their office demonstrating courtesy decorum and fair play at all public meetings and in public statements number five I will refrain from inappropriate conduct at public meetings when making public statements I will refrain from disparaging my fellow board members or any or or others on a personal social racial or religious bias basis number six I will carry out my responsibility not to administer the schools but together with my fellow board members to see that they run well and uh when um every new board member uh is elected we are required to take a class uh that goes over these but uh basically um

049uh we are not are told or part of our responsibility is not to micromanage um the board and the day-to-day activity but to make sure they run well by supporting the administration number seven I will recognize that Authority rests with the Board of Education and I will make no personal promises nor take any private action that may compromise the board which basically means that the board only can make decisions as a whole in in a public meeting I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or for gain of friends number nine I will hold confidential all matters pertaining to the schools which if disclosed would needlessly in into needlessly in injure individuals or the schools in all other manners I

050will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its School number 10 I will vote to appoint the best qualified Personnel available after consideration of of the recommendation of the treat Chief administrator officer administrative officer or the superintendent number 11 I will support and protect School per personal I will support and protect School Personnel in proper performance of their duties and finally number 11 I will refer all complaints to the chief administrative officer and it will act on complaints at complaints at public meetings only after a failure of an administrative solution which basically means there's a certain procedure that board members are required to follow um and uh that if a if a friend or somebody comes to us uh

051with an issue um they should if it's a issue about a teacher or something like that they should go through the chain of command they should talk to the teacher first if that get doesn't get a resolve they should talk to the build building principal and move up the chain of command to the superintendent so you know it's not that if somebody has a complaint that a board member not want to want does not want to help them directly but if it's their job and and we're Bound by the code of ethics to to uh direct them to that chain of command and uh that's it thank you for your time thank you Mr Chella yes I'd like to take a moment and read warn peace to everyone thanks s um I just wanted to

052quickly I'm I'm the liaison from the board to the rec board we had a meeting on Monday so I just wanted to um quickly go over uh the house decorating contest that that we had which was Wonder f um and I just want to remind everyone that there's there there are a lot of great people at the W board they have a lot of good programs um for children and for adults uh there's a lot of lot of different things that go on there that can occupy everyone's time if you have the time or if you want to go play but uh I just wanted to I don't often report on the uh wck board activities so I just wanted to bring that up and I'm going to do that more the other thing I

053wanted to bring up is that uh I'm on the historic preservation Commission also and on the 24th of February that's Monroe's 175th birthday so we've been around a long time and you know we our uh our our you know Jamesburg is been around even longer than we've been around so you know we we we have a common history but I think it's very important that our children we're we're a very diverse Community we have a lot of people coming in uh who don't know their local history I think it's important for us to Foster that in some way so that they get a sense of uh their their roots and I think that's a good way for us to build our community and to and to break down barriers and and and create Bridges to

054different communities by having everyone understand their shared Heritage so what I'm what I'd like to ask is that we uh segregate some space maybe at the high school or at a couple different schools for displays picture displays uh the historic preservation commission is willing to bring that bring the pictures and create the displays if that would be something that we can do so that we could have the kids be able to come out and look at the displays and get a sense of you know the history each picture they're great pictures but each one has a uh story a little story it tells you know what let's say for instance there's a picture of a potato farm and it'll give the history on potato f farming and the families that farmed and the different activities

055that went on during that time but I think that's a I think it's a good way for uh our our children to just get that sense of a shared Bond so we Dr Hamilton look into yeah that'll be great if we we can actually coordinate that with um Bob melee he can um be the contact person on that all right I appreciate that thank you Mr Masters two things uh one since you've been on Rec board I haven't won or even come runner up so I think there's a correlation with that I'm not sure um just peeky back what Ira said couple years ago when we had that big flooding and uh a bunch of us were down there um cleaning up houses and throwing out people's belongings um the one thing I remember coming

056out of the houses and outside was the cheerleaders and I believe it was also the band with pizza for everybody anybody it was hungry and it was a very was a very emotional thing to see somebody come out Bally kids I call them kids um and try to help out with their neighbors and also the people helping out so you brought it up so I'm piggybacking on it I noticed anyone else just if I may Dr Hamilton uh just want I forgot to mention this in the superintendent's report um just wanted to share with the board that we did officially file um the lawsuit today against Jamesburg regarding the debt uh the interest on The Debt Service that uh we've been debating for the last year year and a half so those papers have been

057filed we don't have one we do we do on Hib okay yeah I didn't have it on my okay any other um business from many member of the Board of Education Mr zareski we're going into Clos session I guess according to the the agenda next yes I'd like to bring to everybody's attention a few board members here and Dr Hamilton I brought it to earlier there is a state ruling on public meetings I have some other handouts for other board members if they so like to see that back in August of 2012 Jamesburg started doing this before they go into public session it's a courtesy given to the public that we give an approximate time on how long we're going to be so the Public's not hang Hing out 20 minutes an hour while we're

058in Clos session wondering what's going on and again this is only approximate time that is given say it's 10 minutes we go five we come out in 5 if we go 10 minutes and we're in closed session we see it's going a little bit longer somebody would come out and then proceed to tell the public we're going to be about another 5 10 minutes or a half hour whatever would be and I like to make a motion that we Institute something like that starting tonight I check it I oh okay hey uh a motion made by Mr zareski second by Mr proso is there any um conversation or comments or questions Mr tessla no I think it's a great idea thank you okay um do we need a roll call on this okay we'll have

059a roll call Mr Braverman no Mr Chella yes Mr zareski yes Mr calman yes Mr Masters sure yes record that as a yes Mr py uh I abstain so noted Mr proso yes Mr tesler yes Mrs kapano yes madame board president motion to provide an estimate of Clos session time passes yeah usually I would say that this would be very quick or that this could take a long time but we we were never specific in the amount of time again it's just an estimate we kind of have an idea I know we do on the Jamesburg board about how long we're going to be there you have to understand too that sometimes there are many questions like you see out here several board members have questions and that's where you would come back out whether

060it be a designated person say we need another 5 10 minutes to discuss and we'll be back shortly so it really is simple as that yeah thank you thank you okay anyone else okay then this time we will go to close session resolution be it resolved that the Board of Education of the township of Monroe hereby moves to go into closed session in accordance with Sunshine Law chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 njsa 10 col 4-6 through 10 col 4-21 to discuss the following subjects Hib report the discussion conducted in Clos section can be disclosed to the public at such time as the matters have been resolved second um Mr Chella and Mr Kaufman all in favor opposed abstentions then we will move into Clos session and this should only take about 10

061minutes what did you say you made some at this time the board will move back into public session and we will go to the number 14 the public forum and again anyone from the public wishing to speak please come to the microphone and state your name and address to the record and we will adhere to our 3 minute time limit it's not going to be long Nelson Chen for Ashley Court I just want to say that uh the township has at least given us the impression that they're trying to kind of put a dent in the budget and forego any type of tax increases and I would just like to ask the board that you be cognizant of that fact when you vote in the budget I know know the budget is coming soon and

062just be cognizant of the fact who has to pay the bill we understand safety for the kids we understand education for the kids believe me I have two kids we understand that but at what price if things keep going up the way they are nobody will be able to afford the homes we live in thank you thank you good evening Gary busman SN Monarch Road Stonebridge Adult Community um I don't know if what I'm about to say uh is correct under state law nor do I realize if you folks have ever made had this item as cons for consideration and it deals with this lovely room that we're in this is a library this library has staff it has books it has a lot of space there's a huge amount of square footage in here

063I would guess there's seven or 8,000 maybe more square footage in this room so as a suggestion and again I say I don't know if you've considered this or if it's required or allowed under state law there have communities in other states that I have seen libraries attached to high schools or high or libraries being very close to a high school and it becomes interchangeable with the residents of the town and the students within the high school so think about that just think of how much money could be saved if there was no library in this building and the library across the street was used to allow the children within this building to facilitate that particular facility no Library no librarian no assistant librarian no research librarian just delve on that because that could be

064a possible tremendous savings for the municipality and the board thank you thank you anyone else from the public hi my name is Leah gross and I live on Valencia Drive in Monroe and I'd like to address the closed session that you just had I would like to try to understand why that closed session cannot be done before this meeting or after we are all gone since you don't share with us at the present time and that's all I have to say thank you there are there are things or recommendations that come out of closed session that we put on the agenda when we come out and there are people in the audience that that um would like to respond to the to the um to the discussion that we have after close session so because

065there are things in close session sometimes they're not finished in close session sometimes they go on um but if there's any um any matters that have been resolved we bring them back to the to the board for resolution and um discussion and a vote so can you do that after G and then bring it to our attention consideration thank well we'll take that under consideration but there have been just as many people that have asked us to have it at this time there have been people have who have asked to have it at the beginning of the board meeting so after doing this we've just felt that this is the best place to keep our closed session so we will take that under consideration thank you anyone else from the public I'm Maryann Sullivan I

066live at 12 shle Court in the Renaissance at cranberry Crossing first of all I have a a question where do we stand on the legislation for Senate Bill 2307 at this point in time I spoke with Senator Greenstein um late last week on Friday as uh Mr Masters can ATT test because he was uh on the phone call also and uh the the Senate bill now is being introduced to the uh education uh Committee of the Senate and um I'm glad you brought it up because the district is trying um to solicit all of the Public's participation in a letter writing campaign or even if you don't have the time to write a letter please visit our website on the top right hand section there's areas in red you can get the phone numbers for

067your local rep representatives and that's what's going to get this legislation passed it's the it's the voice of the people um that will put the pressure on the legislators to pass this much needed tax relief for our community and as I mentioned before the board has dedicated this money for tax relief uh we have done that in our community I know that several others have also done that and we have received uh response letters from Mr Benson and also Mr D'Angelo and they in these letters have stated what their legislation also is but I would like to bring something to your attention that maybe hasn't been brought to your attention before and that is in the Senior Communities um we are assessed monthly fees those monthly fees are used to pay the bills of the

068community at large and basically if there are foreclosures or people who move do not pay those monthly fees they're passed on to the rest of us who are members of the community and more and more it's becoming a reality that there are foreclosures and there are people who are not able for whatever reason to maintain those monthly fees and therefore those expenses are being passed on to us um I think everyone here probably needs to know that if more and more people begin moving out of these communities and more and more of those fees gets passed on to the rest of us living there we're just not going to be able to sustain higher school taxes higher monthly fees and we be moving out of our homes too so please take that into [Applause] consideration

069ma'am when Dr Hamilton and I responded to um the state aid crisis that we have here in our community we wanted to develop legislation that put that very issue that you just ill uh discussed at the um uh Paramount of importance for this address and Senator Greenstein um Wayne D'Angelo Senator Benson were all very uh sympathetic and very understanding of the hardships that are being uh felt throughout the retirement community communities these are populations of individuals who have put their own kids through school already and many times are helping out with their grandkids and are on fixed income Social Security and everything is is very tight so we wanted your face to be on this bill and and we believe it is and it properly um represents your need for tax relief in the community

070and again like Mr Gorski said the more people that come out in support of this the better off we will be um we have a better chance of getting this passed if everybody will go on the website and just email your your representatives or and send your your call your neighbors and have them support this too because the more people out there that do that the better off we are if you if I make Kathy if you aren't so inclined to u mail in a letter you can call and simply say my name is is John Doe I live in such and such a place in Monroe please support uh Senate Bill 2307 and that information is recorded as well Kath Mr Coffman for those of you that don't know the Monroe Township website address

071is monroe. K12 nj. us thank you sure thank you Mr Kaufman hello um gu Del re Ashley Court um just to follow up on that when you go ahead and prepare the budget are you keeping in mind that we may not get that money from the state and or is your budget going to be your budget and who pays for it whether it's the state aid or the people going it doesn't matter I'll have Mr Gorski respond historically the budget's uh built on um expecting Flat state aid from the preceding year um that's worked in uh many years except for the one year where we lost 95% of our Aid we were caught quite short there by $4.6 million um the 1314 budget will be based on an estimate of the 1213 state aid that

072we received it will not include um an anticipation of additional Aid through s237 as it's improbable that that Aid would be passed in time for the state to include it in their award which comes out in early March but it would affect the following year for 1415 if it's successful so any Aid that we're getting will be really for the following year most likely that's correct okay I mean just as a comment because you know we were basically having a budget up until 3 four years ago I don't know when exactly the state aid stopped uh that took into account the state aid I just get the feeling I think most of us do that once that Aid stopped you looked at us to compensate for that budget and it's in the past and so

073forth and it's fine but going forward you know let's not just say assume that if the state or doesn't give us the money where we have all the cash that that we need to to do St stuff thank you thank you anyone else from the public Robert roach 18 mfield Boulevard uh two items one as far as the closed session goes a couple years ago I suggested that you have a public forum before the close session and if you uh also have a public for after the Clos session if you felt there was something that needed to be done at that second Clos session uh now I don't think anything I know nothing's ever been done on that I would like you to uh reconsider that whole thing if you feel you have to have

074the public session after the closed session uh from what I understand there's no prohibition against having a closed having a multiple Clos uh public forums uh the second thing is um that uh from my understanding the Township is working very diligently to try to keep their tax rate uh the same and uh for next year as uh as it was last year in other words they don't want any raise they don't want any increase in the tax rate now I know you have directed Dr Hamilton to uh the board has directed Dr Hamilton to uh prepare a budget to the maximum of the allowable by the law with the 2% cap and the exceptions to this 2% cap I wish the uh the board would reconsider that decision and uh try to keep the tax

075rate uh as U you know consistent with last year so that we don't have this another tax increase thank you well go ahead no um I in um December 13 2012 the board held a special meeting and it was in regard to the budget Philosophy for the upcoming budget and um I I think there was only one person from the public that attended that meeting um we were here must have been here for a couple of hours discussing what what um we should and should not put in the budget what we could and could not put in the budget and it was the recommendation of the um superintendent and the business administrator to go up to cap and some of the reasons why were um the addition of the 200 plus students that we're expecting

076next year the necessity the necessity to do some much needed capital projects in our district that would normally we would need a referendum from but it it's getting to the point where if we don't do it now we're going to be in big trouble and one of them is to repair the roof at the middle school which very badly needs to be repaired um we H we have been requested to address our busing situation because of problems that we have with the Outsource buses to make it 100% in-house buses and um mandatory bus and Van Replacements that we have to do this year um Mike I don't know if you have lease purchase do if you have anything to add to that um to what we we said we would put in the budget I

077would just like to emphasize that you know it's clear that there's a lot of public sentiment that there's a disconnect between those who prepare the budget and and the taxpayers who who um support the budget there's a great appreciation for everyone who pays taxes in this community there's a great respect for everybody who pays taxes in this community I believe waste has been eliminated from our budget however with 225 new students next year and at least six facilities that need serious roof repairs with a new instructional um technology lease that comes into the next two years as uh required payments with with contractual um salary increases that are defined for the next two years for our four bargaining groups as well as some higher than anticipated health insurance increases it would be extraordinarily difficult this

078year to prepare a budget that didn't utilize the state of New Jersey's already conservative approach to minimize the tax consequences on the communities and that is by going to the the uh 2% tax levy cap and again by going to the tax levy cap that looks back at your preceding Year's general fund tax levy and with some minor adjustments increases it by 2% that number is estimated to be $2 million as we discussed before just the cost of educating 225 new students is above $3.4 million the Middle School roof was $1.25 million as an estimate for the budget the instructional iPad Le Le is $500,000 the new Vans and buses that are required by the state are a $100,000 lease obligation for next year's budget so I hope that better explains the need in administration's

079opinion to go to cap well the these roof problems have been from what I understand at least a 10-year problem they should have been handled during the normal budget process and over all the over all those years rather than trying to hit us now and though you may have have some expenses that uh you feel that you have to pay and as increasing the budget uh the taxpayers also have expenses we have to pay and it's not it's not where we can just uh chip into our go into our pocket and ask somebody to give us more money we're not getting any more money you do because you just ask keep asking us and I think you got to look at all your expenses and say okay it's not permiss we can't do this anymore

080and until you take that philosophy there's be big problems between the the public and the and the Board of Education thank you Joe calucho 20 Ashley Court there was an interesting statistic that came out the other day you could look it up they uh they looked into the US government and said what do you think waste you actually have waste every year they admitted to five % they said 5% of our budget comes out to like $250 billion they it's just an obscene amount of money that's wasted because when you really look into what you're doing on an annual basis easily you can get five or 10% and that's without affecting the education of children I think it's disingenuous when everybody talks about cutting wasteful expenses uh spending and the first thing people do to

081come down and say well you know we have to educate our children is using that as sort sort of like a defense that we're we're even insinuating that we're telling you not to educate the children of course we are but I can guarantee you and I'm not an accountant and anybody else in this room can if we looked at what you're spending you could find five or 10% of that budget and you could cut it and you could cut it very easily you choose to go to a 2% cap if it were a 3% cap guess what you'd go to a 3% cap that's the way it works it always works that way because if you have the money you'll spend it you have to look at the budget as if it were your own

082home budget you spend what you can afford to spend on if you max out your credit card the whole thing you just don't spend anymore you just don't get another credit card say okay well you I Max that one now let me go get another one the people in this town and and and this is really a mathematical issue for every one of you that woman just talked about the expenses on her uh in her community where they have to pay their fees it goes even deeper than that when we have forclosures in the township and we have appeals in the township when those people win appeals guess who pays the rest of the tax that they're not paying we do so our taxes go up you know that that's what happened last time you

083have to figure out that every year that's going to happen we have a crummy economy it's not getting any better A lot of people out of work you know the underemployment rate and the employment rate are close to 14% that's how many people out of work and and when you have the retirees in this particular Town it just magn magnifies it dramatically uh I don't even understand and and I I know you can probably say because the law laws are man-made by the way and they're made because numbers don't lie but Liars make numbers that's the way it works we have we somebody would have to explain to me why Oldbridge gets $4,400 back for each student why East Brunswick gets about $2,000 these approximate numbers why Monroe only gets 500 and and no one

084has has even attempted to look at the equal protection law the 14th amendment that says everyone gets equal protection under the law why are the children in Monroe Township looked at in a different way why isn't every child in New Jersey given the same amount of money back from the state rather than look at as a community and look at some mathematical formula man-made formula somebody put together to suit their election results not to look at the real issue that's there that money should be coming back we should be getting certainly as much as East Brunswick and I know you're going to talk about how these mathematical formulas are fabricated it's nonsense we should be fighting for the rights of those kids to get the right amount of money back to this town and not

085go after the taxpayers every time you need to get a nickel and dime you're going to bury this town one other thing it was it was an interesting thing there was a u when they built the high school they wanted to put a corner Cornerstone on each building want to know what to put on that Cornerstone what names they should put on the cornerstone what you're going to wind up putting there is ripip rest in peace thank you sh AR min9 ethaniel Street um can we go back to the I AQ and um do the teachers submit a report when they submit their hours that they worked is there any anything in writing that follows their their workload yes ma'am okay they do so what do they can you explain that a little bit what

086they submit um whatever they if they are submitting uh up to their 10 hours or portion of their 10 hours they have to submit a log that demonstrates what they did on such and such a day and how much time they spent doing it in order for that time sheet to be approved and processed and really it's just passing along information from right from one party to another where do they report who do they report to they building principles so why can't the teacher or whoever has an issue just go to the building principles that would or the the facilitator the the head custodian of that building I can't answer that well it may be some you know I think I think you're really not I think you're hearing us but not listening there are

087things that maybe don't work or are or or exceed what is necessary that seems like fluff if you if you don't mind me saying so mat finish surely and there are things that maybe we can eliminate albeit not a whole lot of money on an $86 million budget but L but things like that that really don't seem to mean anything I mean if if I had if there were a problem with air quality I would think either the principal or the head custodian and then we also have a facilities director for the whole Community I mean for the whole school system so how many layers of bureaucracy do we have to go to to say there's an odor problem or there's a air quality problem it it's really that is like the perfect example of

088waste it may appear that way now but 10 years ago when this was negotiated and this was discussed there was Rel relevant information that led the board to see that as a viable option to resolve a significant problem that existed in the district at that time okay well maybe it's one of the things that you can re-evaluate just like for 10 years you were paying to take students to a private school facility after after classes so that that was terminated I mean these are the kinds of things that the Public's asking no one wants a teacher not to teach the children no one wants to have you know uh large school but these little things can add up and you can help the public understand that you're really doing some due diligence just because it's

089been going on for 10 years one may say well we've wasted all that money for 10 years and you might have been able to put busing back or you might have been able to put a a a a needed club for children that doesn't seem like it's about the children it's for the kids I mean if a teacher has a problem can't why can't she communicate directly with a principal it just seems a perfect example of re-evaluating some of the things that are in the school system that should be eliminated um next I would I would like your consideration to a few more minutes few more minutes just one more minute okay for one more what was done in the resolution uh did you did you finalize anything in in the close session it's just

090a an HIV bullying report that that is mandated that the board look at every month okay so there's no need for a resolution or something voted on so so you just have the board is aware of what's going on in other words based on it has to do with um with students okay and just again I know the state aid is a big issue but it's a small portion of our total budget and regardless of whether we get state aid back or not this Administration and some members of the board for years another like 10 years we could talk about it in decades that the administration always goes to the maximum allowable and I know the reason for that I know that means if you go to the maximum amount allowable this year when you

091go to the maximum allowable next year that's that much more money you'll be getting I get that but it doesn't mean that it's really the right thing to do there needs to be some considering I know that's the administration's job but please let's consider what's important for the children not just spending thank you um you mentioned the 200 name and address for the record please uh gu Del re Ashley Court um you mentioned the 225 new kids I've been coming to these meetings since late last year I guess and I keep hearing that but one thing is bothering me about that and maybe you could answer the qu the my the issue I have in my mind why is it that I only hear the cost aspect of the township expanding and the new 225

092kids um I know for a fact that a lot of adult communities new new construction Adult Community are still being sold and we have income coming in from those those homes that don't have any children so why is it that we and and there's also new construction still going on that we're bringing in new people and out of that 225 people I don't think it's existing pregnant Monroe townships that got pregnant I'm sure there's new people that came in that are paying taxes so why is it that we only hear the cost aspect of the 225 kids but not the revenue generating part of it the revenue generating part of people moving in into the community creating the uh new enrollment figures would be reflected in the ratables that share the tax levy um mostly

093due to the appeals the last two years the ratables have dropped 71 million and 78 million respectively what that drop last year has meant to the tax increase is for an average home that went up $146 last year $100 of it was attributable to the decreasing rateable base so although we have new people coming in and every year this district is um accommodating 225 approximate new students the the um the amount of folks in the community sharing the burden for that is is shrinking and that's why everybody's rate is increasing it's shrinking how it's shrinking because the overall aggregate valuation of ratables is decreasing every year which causes everybody's rate to increase okay but again you keep increasing this per student cost every year to 200 plus student but some of that cost is fixed

094correct some of that cost is fixed um so why why why are 225 new students I and I really just want to understand this why is it that every uh 225 250 new students are all calculated at the $314,000 a year cost that it costs to to educate a child because that average the average is about $15,500 per pupil when you take it across all grade levels that's calculated by the state it's included in our budget documents that's on average what it cost this District to educate every pupil annually and is that a true cost of course you can receive 225 students and cram them in one year and try to hold your breath on these costs but next year when it turns into 450 that's another school that's a small school by itself and

095that's why this compounds and the average is true and it is $155,000 to the point of going to cap I want to make this abundantly clear by going to cap we increase the tax levy $2 million the cost in accommodating those 225 students is about 3.4 m million so we're not by going to cap we're not even meeting the needs of the new students coming in the true problem here that's affecting everybody's taxes is the abandonment of state aid in the township of Monroe we receive no Equalization Aid and it's because the state of New Jersey determines that you are too wealthy and your property values are higher than the most communities in the state but that's understood and we've known we've been hearing that for for as long as I remember so isn't putting

096together a budget take doesn't that take that into account unless if you're going to put a padlock on the front door and turn those 225 kids away it's like Joe said what Michelle said there's stuff that we probably do that are 10 before anyone of you came here that it seems to me old stuff does not get Revisited we only we only talk about what you want to do next year okay maybe we need to revisit somebody all maybe half of you should be on a committee that that's all they do is revisit old stuff and get get rid of the stuff that isn't necessary and maybe use that money to put into something that's more necessary as opposed to just keep going and then raising the taxes are you going to say something no

097no just taking the mic okay thank you anyone else from the [Applause] public there is another issue that I just like pleas your oh sorry marann Sullivan Renaissance at cranberry Crossing off Applegarth basically um if the government our present government decides that they're going to shut down we and the Senior Communities are facing a major issue Social Security checks will not be on time neither will some pensions be on time and I think that's going to become a real hardship so you folks may not get your money anyone else from the public Raj pwani uh Primrose Acres U if I have two questions if you had only 90% of the money available that you're budgeting and you had a mandate to educate all the kids that you have what would you [Music] do would you

098repeat that if you had 90 kids if you only had 90% of the money that is budgeted now with the% 90% only 90% of the money so 10% less than what you have or expecting yes and you had the same mandate to educate all the kids in the town what would you do well as the as the board of education has done each year when we put together the budget it's always under D dire circumstances and estimates of state aid you look at programs you make every um principal produce a budget that passes what we termed as principal defense rounds showing that each expenditure corresponds with District goals and objectives and um you operate as efficiently as as you possibly can and so why why can't you do that I believe we have sir I

099believe we have then then why is it going to the 2% cap why not 10% below the previous year's budget if we had no new students coming in then it might be plausible to have a no appropriation increase in the budget if you had a 0% increase contracted with the teachers and the administrators and the and the custodians then it might be possible to put forth a budget that that has no appropriation increase if you had roofs that were in a condition that did not immediately have to be addressed then you wouldn't have to increase Appropriations for roofs and if the state didn't require you to do mandates and replace buses according to his schedule then you wouldn't have to expend monies in those areas but every year they layer on and and I believe

100the board efficiently operates with your tax money why can we not uh give the teachers a 10% cut because that's that's that's contractual we we just can't mandate that they would have a cut who who signs the contracts who writes the contracts the the contracts are signed by the union and the Board of Education okay we agreed to the increases right to the raises well like it it's negotiated yeah but why did we agree to the raise when you know that we are you know short of money because the contract was negotiated two years ago a year and a half ago so you had you had Surplus money back then or you were expecting more money from the taxpayers well well we we we negotiated a a contract with the unions where there was no

101additional cost to the Board of Education was there any any representative from the taxpayer side who negotiated this or was it only Union negotiating against the union Board of Ed members are representative of taxpayers I live here I pay taxes the board of education is is is elected by the community to negotiate the contracts right but did the Board of Education negotiate the contracts in the best interest of the taxpayer I believe we did um let me talk about that Mr cherella you were on the the um Kathy yeah I I I believe we did I think we we we had a number of give backs but you have to understand the whole situation and how this works you could you could you could be adversarial to the teachers union you could say hey teachers

102we're not going to give you anything and we're going to we want to cut you by 10% or 20% or whatever we could come to the table with that but you know what what's going to happen is it's going to go to arbitration and and at the end of the day whether that's the right thing or the wrong thing there the there's going to be ruling and that ruling could even be against us at that point so we could end up even having a worse situation so when you negotiate the art of negotiation is give and take and that's what we did and if you look at what we did as far as uh give backs with health insurance and stuff like that it pretty much negated the raise that they received and Mr Gorski

103could explain that better than I can but there are a lot of things that go into this you know and just so you understand also we're talking about 225 new students well it and I understand what people think well you have people buying houses and they're bringing the students in that's not necessarily the case you have you have renters in some cases you also have multiple families in one house now you know people are suffering granted and I get that um but when you have people living in a house with two or three families in a house with multiple children in each family and they all come to the schools we still have to we still have to pay for that and uh and that is a new trend and that's been happening for the

104last couple years so all of those things have to be looked at and brought in and you know I don't think there's anybody on this board who said who's saying oh let's you know let's just screw the taxpayers and let's just take them to the cleaners we're all taxpayers I mean there are people here on this board that pay 15 $2,000 a year in property taxes I mean that's and that's ridiculous the problem is with the way we f our schools and and that's a fundamental systemic issue that has to be addressed absolutely but we can't just defund our schools and make our teachers the enemy and sit here and say you know let's just go to war yeah we have to draw the line on on spending we have to do the right things

105with regards to spending too much or on frivolous spending and where we see that happening we try to root it out I know I do and I know several other board members do the same thing also so I just want you to understand it there's a whole there's a big picture here and to just enter the picture at some point point and say Hey you know cut 10% and uh or you know what would you do if you have 90% And just why don't you just do it yeah it might make a lot of sense coming in from the outside for the first time and attending a board meeting and and feeling that but when you really look at the the there's a whole bunch of things that go into this and a lot of

106constraints that are put on not not only the board but the but the administration also too is is our our um budget is probably 85% fixed where there are contracted costs there are costs that we pay every every year such as gas electric and things like that where there's only about 15% of the budget that we can really look and and and um and cut and a lot of that has to do with um our kids and the and the um the offerings we give them and and the um the courses they take and things like that so in in regard to negotiations um it's not like we sit around for a weekend and negotiate we spent 10 months negotiating a contract uh the four bargaining units and that was just the one bargaining unit

107it it it was something that we asked them to pay for more and you know we we negotiated um I'll let uh Mike talk about the opt out where we were able to not cost the district any more money while still giving them a raise and I I think if anybody can do that that's a great negotiating negotiations in simple terms what do you think the aggregate cost of the increases of two two and 2.25 are over the three-year period to the to the district what is the two 2.5 total cost total cost of all those increases the answer is zero there is zero budgetary impact of offering teachers 2 two and 2.25 % increases and raises because of the give backs that the unions have have engaged in and also the opt out of

108health insurance where they forgone coverage and um reduced the health insurance cost what is the average compensation for a teacher in New Jersey or in our school district versus the rest of the country did you say the average compensation for a teacher in our district about 60 to 65,000 versus the rest of the country for the country yeah it varies is in for Mid County even if I can just jump in for middlex County our teachers are nowhere near the the top of of the pay scale but um Ken Chella kind of alluded to something I want to talk to you a little bit about um let's just say the board took a position we're going to go in and we're going to we're going to be hardlines we're going to give uh we're going

109to try to negotiate a zero uh% increase or 10% reduction as you propose essentially what would happen in that scenario is an arbitrator would come in cost money and that arbitrator is going to say we're going to look at what the average increases are across the county and across the state and they are going to then impose what they believe to be a fair and average settlement whether we like it or not so there's a risk in doing so the risk is you may go in thinking that a two or two and a half or two 2.25 is a lot of money but when you look at other districts and you risk going to a mediator um who may come back and say well other districts are getting three and three and a half there's

110a risk that that could be imposed on you as well so all those things have to be calculated when you're negotiating because there is a risk in drawing a heart nose line against any sort of increase or decrease even because the potential for us to have negotiated the kind of deal that we did where there was a 0% impact on the budget gets smaller and smaller when we take when we go in with those kinds of tactics okay one more question so the average uh price to build a house is about1 to $120 a square foot what what uh was the cost to build this uh High School per square foot I can't answer that question because I'd have to check with our facilities director I'm not prepared to answer that question at this meeting

111okay thank you is there anyone else from the public yes there is Showtime Stewart Block 17 Vineyard Court in Cranberry Crossing 155 no communities don't don't the school system have some sort of Reserve fund to pay for the roofs and things like that and the school buses to replacement because our communities have things has has Reserve funds with these things in the past school districts could put money that was excess at the end of each school year into Reserve accounts um one of them is the maintenance Reserve when um when the budget crisis hit in 2008 the states went in and took all the school district's maintenance reserves Jamesburg School District lost an incredible amount of money when the state came in and pirated their maintenance Reserve now the Monroe Township Board of Education had

112money in what's called a capital reserve that was designed for roof Replacements years ago and due to efficient uh ficient bidding and so on we had some excess in there that the Board of Education dedicated toward the repairs at Applegarth school so the balance in our capital reserve account now is low because of the address at Applegarth school last year so we did have Reserve fund yes and it's been utilized and you is part of the money in the budget now for Reserve fund for the future um you could you could allocate money into Reserve that comes from from um either budgeting for it or undere expending what you budgeted for those are two ways of doing it I just want to make a statement one of my neighbors recently put the house up for

113sale because they can't afford the taxes here another one just sold their house to closing this month moving to Florida where the taxes going to be about 20% of what what it cost to live in this town more and more people are putting their houses up for sale because they can't afford to live here I understand what you're saying teachers I'm not saying teachers shouldn't get raises especially when you when you're offsetting with other the course I'm nothing against the teachers but there are other things like this IQ thing which is ridiculous there's got to be ways of cutting money someplace not against the teachers but these the other fluff thank you anyone else from the public I my agenda good point my name is mirror ribbon I live at um 16d James banon drw

114Concordia um I really just want to reiterate the need to cut the fluff to fine to really dig dig dig and find whatever waste can be cut and I'd like to make a simple analogy the people of the country have asked the federal government to look at their budget like each of us as individual households look at our budget and when we cannot meet our budgetary requirements we tighten our belts because none of us here can simply go to our bosses and ask for more money if for instance our grandchildren come to move in with us which would be equivalent to the 225 new students coming into the school if we had the same percentage of new mouths to feed in our family and medical costs Etc that would we we'd be required to spend

115if new family members moved in with us we can't just go to our bosses and ask for a raise we cannot go to Social Security and ask for a raise we can't go to our pensions and ask for a raise so when we have additional expenses of people moving in or if we need a new roof on our homes we simply have to tighten our belts and cut back elsewhere and that is what we are asking you to do we're asking asking you to act responsibly as you would in your own personal home budgets cut back find some Cuts you know even if it is that tiny amount of $45 an hour for the air quality control if nothing else it would give us the impression that you are hearing us listening to us and

116making some effort to do what we are begging you to do thank [Applause] you is there anyone else from the public Paul fedus for Laurel iway um I have a question for Dr Hamilton that report that you're getting tomorrow from the police department will that be shared with the public on safety um excuse me I'm not sure because I don't know what the report entails and I'm not sure that if that is something or not that can be shared publicly so I'm not really at Liberty to make a commitment to that okay thank you you're welcome Nelson Chen for Ashley Court I I I think for the last 20 minutes or half hour you've heard people in the audience begging you and asking you to do the right thing as far as the budget is

117concerned but I have not heard any feedback from any of you as far as that is concerned will you at least commit to the public here and you know and tell us that you're going to look at the waste that's out there and try to cut some of it like the air quality controller are you going to do some of that for us I understand that there's Capital Improvements that have to be made we all understand that but as that lady so eloquently stated we all have to tighten our belts because we can't get the money from any anywhere else it's just us we're not like you and we're the ones who put you in place these are the people that voted for you folks that is sitting there and you're the folks that approved

118the budget not the people out here you folks do we'd like to know what you're going to do thank you Mr tesler oh I'm sorry ift goe um what the public may not know is that we have already started that process that's what the tenure defense the tenure the budget defense rounds are designed to do so the budgets have we have already eliminated that and what what what you have to understand is when you look at those fixed costs the number of students the roof Etc if the budget was going up um what do those costs come out to mik I guys I'm guessing about four mil it's over four million it's about 4.5 million for the student costs alone and the roof and we have um instructional lease off obligations that are committed to

119and bus Replacements it's about 4 5 $4.7 million of costs so we are not allowed legally to grow our budget by those the amount that those costs would actualize correct that's correct none of those costs give you any adjustment in the budget you have to live within your cap to fit them so in order to create a budget that meets the mustard from the state level we have to therefore identify cuts that make the difference between what those additions would cost and what we are allowed to increase our budget and that difference amounts to what there'll be cuts to the budget of about 2 and a half to$ 2.75 million and to to be to reinforce that point if your fixed costs and the demands of the new students that are beyond our control add

120up to $4.75 million and by going to cap you're allowed to you have to go cut into bone for the difference and that's the efficiencies that this board has had to recognize over the last several years so my point is when the public comes and says cut cut cut that is exactly what we've been doing in order to meet the demands and their limitations imposed upon us um by the 2% cap so if we did not have to plan for these additional um fixed costs that are beyond our control uh we can't tell the kids they can't come here we can't not replace the buses those are things that we have to do so in order to do that we automatically before we even come to the public have identified two in excess of $2

121million in reductions to the budget so it's not that your your concerns are not being heard it's that we have anticipated these concerns and in our due diligence have already addressed those kinds of reductions in our preliminary budget preparation steps okay um Mr coffin yeah just to piggyback on what Dr Hamilton had just said I know a lot of you have been coming to recent board meetings starting probably around October November uh coming to the board meetings religiously it's interesting and those of you that have been coming like almost to all the board meetings right before everyone started coming to the board to talk about taxes and where you're going to look to cut just the meeting before that the board defended their position to eliminate the late bus runs because of budgetary constraints and

122the interesting thing that happened on that evening is we had three times as many parents here that night asking us to reconsider that to put it back on the general operating budget to to to not do away with it because of the the issues that were going to be um affecting all of the parents in the district uh the board I think did the right thing uh at first we were going to vote on it right there that night but decided to take it back to the finance committee take a second look at it and we upheld the decision that we made prior that at that time for the reasons we articulated at that point we would not be reinstating the late run buses because of the cost in involved uh we did also commit

123that we would look into a pay as you go type of scenario moving forward potentially for next year I'm hoping that the buildings and grounds meeting uh committee continues to look for that so that you know if you're going to use the busing then you pay for the busing um the idea here is there are a lot of things that we've fought as this board to put into our schools to benefit them when they move for postgraduate work and to you know put a lot of programs in place a lot of them are optional right but everything has a cost one of the things that we had done in the finance committee at the time was to look at things of if you want to participate in these things then parents would need to cover

124the cost that's kind of unique to a school system because schools usually don't work that way but you know we are trying to do our very best to uh offset the general cost across the board and for folks that need to use certain things like late run buses or AP classes or other these uh I I want to put them in the category of what do we call them the the things for the the budget considerations when we're over adequacy that's a term you're going to hear all the time if you come to board meetings it's a it we're we're hammered with it because we have a lot of things in this District that the state says you you don't need to have busing right you don't need to have to you don't have to

125have busing if we didn't bus our kids this District would be in in chaos and if you don't believe me look at some of the schools in the way they're situated next to each other and you have two schools barkly Brook and Brookside where you have I don't know 1,200 students between the two schools if parents had to bring their kids in the morning you would have to close 5:22 just for parents so it's a level of efficiency and safety and things that we do keep in mind we we are also as mentioned before we live here we pay taxes here um and we are also committed to looking at everything that we possibly can to make this school system run as efficiently as possible and as was articulated earlier there is only a certain

126percentage of the things that we can even look at as far as targeting for consideration because of fixed cost so just as an FYI of the things that we've been doing because a lot of people I see are new faces and haven't been to a lot of board meetings and we don't actually have any of the Legacy videos of some of the other board meetings so um you know just isn't just so you know um you've been talking about cuts to the budget and I just want to give you an idea of what has been cut from the budget in the past two years and um they probably will go into this year um the removal of 71 out of 89 portable class rooms all late runs except for the basic skills and tag zero

127period Transportation s pars five bus runs have been Consolidated the keyboarding position and benefits general education poers we've cut 10 of them energy rate reductions new Monro Township Middle School teachers and benefits we've cut staff out of the budget health insurance claims reduction a mechanic and benefits uh Saturday Academy custodial staff we've cut six positions permanent substitutes Plus benefits we've cut that out pensionable substitutes staff development and this this equals over $3 million we've also had District cost savings initiatives um which includes Insurance opt out insurance carrier change which has uh lowered our our insurance uh refunding the 20 2002 series bonds interest savings over the life of the bonds and also refunding the 2003 series bonds we are entered into a purchasing Consortium that will save us money on all District supplies the Apple

128GTH as bestus remediation by not doing it in the summer and doing it last winter um we saved our district money the Brookside roof asphalt instead of budgeted metal has saved us money the application of of high school bond Surplus against taxes the Asus energy Consortium Transportation jintur where we join with other districts to save money on Transportation voice over IP savings from Verizon aidear for two less expensive health plans that we negotiated with our bargaining units Grant tuition Grant tuition reallocation instead of salaries banking RFP and change of primary relationships autistic and down syndrome in-house program instead of sending our children out of district and renegotiated health insurance rates and this equals 9,850 th000 and it's almost $13 million of cuts and savings that we have implemented in our budget the last two years

129and we are trying to do the same thing this year with looking at our programs looking where we have both Dr Hamilton and Dr Morman and Mr Gorski do an excellent job of of seeing where we can cut our our our budget and still add 250 students to our district every single year in I think 10 years we've added 2200 students to our district that that's a a big cost um my name is Joe Cuchi I wanted to talk just mention one thing about Revenue you um my time can't be up already um the interesting thing the numbers that you were talking about that's about 10% of the budget $9 million something like that $13 million 13 okay because because in the same period of time our taxes have gone up between 20 and 40%

130just so you know so 10% of the budget 20 to 40% have gone to the taxpayers and we have been coming to meetings sir I'm not sure what your name is but we have been coming to meetings and you know I spent 10 years on the zoning board been in Township 35 years I've been paying attention but again you were all elected to do the job not me I just have to go to work every day and pay for the taxes that we keep getting increases on but on another point I would like somebody from the finance committee or or whatever ad hoc committee you put together to look at revenues uh we had talked about it with Mr Gorski uh one time what about Outsourcing some of the things to bring in revenues some

131of the things might be small uh as far as uh maybe uniforms that children get perhaps that could be a form of advertising that some private individuals might do we talked about the possibility of putting signs on buses I know that we talked about a safety issue but again I I don't think that was that clear because if you look at buses and cabs in New York City there are plenty of advertising and that's another way to bring in Revenue the the the point I'm trying to make is maybe not these specific ones but why are we looking at ways that we could bring Revenue in the town Revenue into the school system them that would bring funds in that could meet these demands and not necessarily have to go back to the taxpayers and

132and that's one thing I never very I never ever hear about how to bring Revenue in and the different ways we could do it for instance if you're Outsourcing where you get toilet paper or where you get you know other supplies from that could be a bidding process matter of fact the city of New York is doing that right now and that's probably one of the reasons why they have a strike going on because they're Outsourcing or or putting a bidding out for uh handicapped uh children and and those buses and how much that might cost these are types of things that there are two sides to all these accounting equations and although we talk about 225 kids and we know that next year there's going to be more kids and you know people keep

133coming into the town or hopefully they will uh but we we should be looking or at least have you take a look at how we can get Revenue that could off some of the taxes thank you anyone else from the public please come thank you Maran Lester 44 Avenue y um first was how much in legal fees have we accumulated date concerning the Jamesburg tuition situation because I believe this has gone back as far as 2011 and also at the October board meeting you said you had like a list of 124 uh like capital projects some you were going to bring forward some you weren't but it was estimated to cost uh $8 million and under that it said that the district may be eligible for State Debt Service or Eda Grant funds for those

134projects in the amount of I looks like almost $2 million did that ever go anywhere and last on teachers contracts um how much in pension liabilities do we have for teachers accumulated vacation and sick time because you know accumulated vacation and sick time towards pension does not even exist in the private sector Mr gski you have any of those answers with you would you mind repeating the first question the first one just how much have we accumulated in legal fees for Jamesburg I know the all the way back to 2011 when they were discussing um tuition fees plus the uh what do you call it the um what am I trying to say thank you on that it went back to all the way back to two that they were playing phone tag and everything

135so there must have been legal fees going back as far as 2011 so I was just wondering to date how much have we've spent I'd have to do an analysis on the billing um in order to compile that information because it's not segregated in the accounting system for the particular cause that the legal uh time was incurred but if you want to fill out an Oprah request form I'll be happy to compile that information for you tell me that every time all you have to do is come in the office and put your request in writing and that's all and then I'll get it for you um number two that was the the capital projects it was almost 8 million you said we might get some 2 million in funding it was right below that

136did we ever get that or where did that go the the way that works and I explained this uh previously the long range facility plan requires that you project your five-year capital projects that are needed throughout the district right uh it helps districts organize what they need so that they're not overrun by projects that they never planned for right um included in that you have to estimate what the cost of the projects are and the estimated State share of Aid that you would receive based upon those projects um the ones that have been addressed we have received state aid on the roofing project the roofing Pro we have received state aid on the construction of this school we have received uh Debt Service Aid on prior Roofing projects right now I want to inform you

137that the state of New Jersey is not approving any aid for any school projects the valve is closed and there is no Aid being provided 2 million coming in if well yes that's correct and if you're told that you want a budget for projects the state's directive is is to pick it up on your own okay and the last is about pension liabilities for teachers accumulated vacation and sick time because I I don't know if they're I assume they have that because because um the governor is trying to do away with that at the state level so um accumulated vacation and sick time towards pension doesn't even exist in the private sector is that in the teachers Union's contracts it is in every um bargaining group's contract and that figure is estimated and disclosed in

138the annual comprehensive financial report in the government-wide um financial statement and that would be what figure I don't know off hand I don't know if hand can you get me that for the next meeting the liability of that yes and keep in mind that liability that's disclosed in the caffer is a snapshot as of last June 30 if everybody in the district was to pack it in what that liability would be it's an unrealistic number because that's but don't you have to um put aside a certain amount per year to that and suppose that did happen like if you had to put that don't you have to put a certain amount per year yes to that question we do put aside a certain amount every year in an account called other employee benefits and it

139does estimate the amount that's going to come due in the next year and we do budget for that and what was it for last year then that figure I could tell you what we spent last year just should give them two squares about $176,000 all right thank you is there anyone is there anyone else from the public wishing to speak okay seeing no one we will close public forum our next scheduled public Board of Education meeting will be Wednesday February 13 2013 7:00 p.m. at the high school motion to adjourn second a you did that on Pur all in favor who was that again um Mr cherella did you did you who made the motion you made the motion and Mr our meeting adjourned IRA