001[Music] good evening members of the Board of Education Dr Hamilton and members of the public the Monro Township Board of Education reorganization meeting is now called to order would you please join me with a pledge of allegiance to the United States of America pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with li and justice for [Music] all I will now proceed with a roll call M anelis here Mr bra here Mr Chella here Mr calman here m co page here Mr Master here Mr P here Mr proso here Mr tesler here Mr zareski here members of the Board of Education we have a quorum present this evening in accordance with the provisions of the New Jersey open public meetings
002law the Monroe Township Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof posted December 28th 2012 at all schools the home News Tribune the cranberry press and filed with the clerk of the municipality the official election results and the agenda for this meeting are available at the table at the doorway and it is my duty now to administer the oath of office to the following individuals who should please join me at the table in front Mr Braverman Mr poy Mr proso and Mr zareski [Applause] [Music] good my glasses please raise your right hand and repeat after me I I Anthony do Solly swear or affirm doly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States I support the Constitution of
003the United States and the constitution of the state of newers J and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the government established in the United States and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I I anony do solemnly swear or affirm do Sol swear that I possess the qualifications that I possess qualifications prescribed by law prescribed by law for the office of member of board of education for the office of member of Board of Education and that I will faithfully and that
004I will faithfully and partially partially partially and justly and justly perform all duties of that office all according to the best of my ability ACC to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God I I Bo swear or affirm do swear or affirm and declare and declare that I am not disqualified that I am not disqualified as a voter as a voter pursuant to rs1 19 col 4-1 pursu to r491 and that I am not disqualified and that I am not disqualified to hold this office to hold this office due to a conviction of a crime due to conviction crime or offense or offense listed in mjsa 18812 one so help me God so help me God help me God please sign and congratulations [Applause] number seven on the agenda
005is the election of board president at this particular time we will take nominations for the office of board president is there anyone that wishes to make a nomination at this point Mr proso I'd like to speak before we vote on President am I allowed uh I I believe we take nominations first and then and then we could discuss once we have nominations okay there's this thing about the Jamesburg vote and uh for years they've been voting and for the first time their vote is not counted this law has been into effect since 2008 and evidently uh somebody pursued this I would like to know whose idea was to investigate and proceed in removing the Jamesburg vote before I nominate a president or vote for president regarding the sending Representatives right to vote in uh the
006officer's position for the Monroe Township receiving Board of Education um Dr Hamilton and I discussed the nuances of the new election law um about a month ago and we had forecasted um to try to alleviate any problems ahead of time some issues that may arise from uh the postponement of the election to November the board members taken over in January um and um we did some hypothetical scenarios of issues that could arise and out of those issues were two items that we requested legal assistance in gaining an answer uh one of them in particular was the sending District's right to vote in the officers of the Monroe Township Board of Education and it was determined by a board attorney who's present this evening as well as um the legal ad advising team from New Jersey
007school boards that since the 2008 law of Evans versus the Atlantic City Board of Education that sending District does not have a right to vote in the receiving District's officer um selection and that the sending District additionally has limited voting power in the receiving District there's four specific items that this sending district is titled to vote on in the receiving District's meetings and um the election of officers was not one of them and it was deemed by the board attorney not to be permissible okay um was curious because uh this law has been into in effect for eight years now and someone pursued this in order to gain something and since we're voting for president I can accept that we need to follow the rules in this instant but we need to follow all of
008our policy rules we have an nepotism policy whose intent is to avoid conflict of interest with members of the board who have paid salary family members employed by the school district we need to follow the intent of our nepotism policy and prevent a conflict of interest with board members and their ability to perform all duties I have a point of order Mr Mr braan point of order is such a member would not have the best interest of the children or the citizens of Monro that's it right um are there any nominations for president at this time Mr Masters like to nominate Marvin Braverman second okay when we have a second are there any other nominations for board president Mr calman I'd like to nominate Kathy k is there a second I [Music] second are there
009any other nominations for president all right seeing none we'll close the nominating process for president and we will have a roll call and because we have two candidates being selected for president please express the name of the candidate you wish to vote vote for for president and the choices are Marvin Braverman and Kathy kapano miss antelis Mr Braverman Mr Braverman Braverman Mr Chella Mr Mr calman M kpano Mrs kpano myself Mr Masters Mr braveman Mr Po uh Mrs kapano Mr precioso miss capano Mr tesler Kathy k five votes for Kathy K four votes for Mr Braverman Kathy colano which has been elected board president [Applause] prepare the agenda to take you through the election of a vice president [Music] the chair will now be turned over to Mrs kapano thank you I'd just like to
010say before before I um go for nominations for vice president that it's always been a a privilege to serve as a member of the Board of Education and especially as board president um I truly believe that I'm here for the community and especially for our staff and our students so I um know the last couple of years have been kind of difficult so I hope that um that this board can put aside their differences start working together and know that we're all here just for educational reasons so thank you um at this time we will open the floor for nominations for the position of Vice President are there any nominations Mr Kaufman I would like to nominate Mr Ira Tesla for vice president thank you anyone else seeing no one can we have a motion
011to close nominations don't we have to do that yes is there a motion to close nominations some second second second by Mr Po uh I'd like to move one one unanimous vote for Ira Kesler tesler I'm sorry tesler it doesn't matter well I'm just trying to trying tooll trying do protocol so um all in favor of closing nominations opposed extensions then we will have a roll call for the um election of Miss Ira tesler to the position of board vice president miss anelis yes Mr Braverman yes Mr Chella yes Mr zareski I I be your pardon Mr calman Mr calman oh sorry yes Mrs kpano yes Mr Masters absolutely yes Mr Po yes Mr proso yes Mr tesler thank you very much yes and board president IRA tesler has been elected board Vice President congratulations
012Ira conations would you like to would you like to say anything [Applause] or well as I approach my end of my second term I just like to thank everybody for their support tonight I'm humbled and I appreciate the support and um that I can do this job thank you and before we go on to the organizational items I'd just like to welcome Mr Rob zareski as our new representative to um Monroe Board of Education from the Jamesburg Board of Education um he has small feet to fill well well small shoes to fill um following Patrice who has been here for 17 years and um she was a really important part of Monro and we look forward to working with you and having the same kind of relationship we have with Patrice so welcome do we
013have to vote on all of these um at this time we will have a uh go to number nine our organizational items and meeting dates be resolved that the regular meetings of the Board of Education of the township of Monro shall be held as per the attached schedule at 7:00 p.m. at which time formal action may be taken you need a motion and a second second um moved by Mr Kaufman and second by Mr Masters this is a okay all in favor I I abstention or opposed extensions then number a has been pass passed and we will go to B policy be it resolved by the Board of Education of the township of Monroe that all policies of the previous board are hereby adopted until such time as the board decides to revise or otherwise
014alter policies I need a motion and a second Mr Kaufman second second by Mr tesler all in favor I I opposed exstension then the motion passes number c the designation of banks or depos depositories be it resolved that the Board of Education designates the following Banks or depositories for school district funds TD Bank Commerce Bank PNC Bank the depository Trust Company state of New Jersey Cash management fund Wells Fargo previously wacovia New Jersey asset and rebate management Provident Bank JC Morgan and um Provident Bank provides most of the banking services be it further resolved that the business administrator is authorized to establish accounts and wire transfer funds among the accounts as needed and approve the payment of bills between board meetings is there a motion in a second so moved second Mr poy and Mr
015Kaufman all in favor I opposed exstension then the motion passes D newspapers for legal advertisements be it resolved that the board of educ a designates the cranberry press home News Tribune or the asbery Park Press all of which circulate in the school district as official newspapers for legal advertisement motion and a second so moved second Mr Po Mr Kaufman all in favor I opposed abstentions then the uh number D has passed and at this time we will go to number 10 our student board members reports [Music] good evening ladies and gentlemen hope everybody had a wonderful break and happy holidays and new year um the following the events that will take this place are uh the DECA Regional Conference meeting is on January 8th good evening ladies and gentlemen there will also be a winter
016band concert on January 16th 6 p.m. there will be a half day on January 18th due to staff and service and school will be closed on January 21st because of Martin Luther King Jr Day College Planning night for seniors is January 30th thank you thank you for your reports um at this time we will go to our public forum anyone from the public wishing to come and speak to the agenda please state your name and record your name and address for the record this is for the agenda you don't know this agenda agenda three minutes I thought we voted 10 minutes don't start counting yet name and address please name and address for the record Mar Klein 53 turnbury Drive Monroe Township number one I want to congratulate Kathy and Ira on their election I
017ask Kathy to continue the work that you did last year and not drop it and just continue doing the great job that you did and I was very happy to see that you're reelected to the post and I'm very happy to see Ira as your vice president one thing that really really disturbs me is the fact Jamesburg has always been able to vote for the presidency and I believe if you check the lore I don't I wonder if it's more of a mandate than a lore because we've always allowed Patrice to vote for the presidency I think they have a right to vote and for that to be checked into at this point for whatever reason is definitely wrong and I feel unprofessional last thing I made a motion three months ago to look into
018filing a lawsuit against New Jersey Department of Education for our funding and the only excuse that I got is it's going to be very costly well I'll tell you something as a taxpayer that is taxed through my nose we should do everything in our power to file a lawsuit if we have school districts to join us fine I'm worried about Monroe Township and its taxpayers we can no longer afford to pay what we're paying and I say that you follow through with filing a lawsuit against the state I spoke to a judge we have all the right to do it and probably would Prevail because they are in violation of the State Constitution thank you thank you Mr Klein anyone else would like to speak to the agenda okay this time we'll go to the
019board president's report didn't I didn't have anything planned um I just like to tell the board members that um I'd like to get the committee list out if it's um works with Mr Gorski by maybe Friday so that and have them back as soon as possible so that maybe we can have the Committees um established by our next meeting on January 16th so if we send them out with the confidential on Friday and get them back as soon as possible I hope to get this done within a week to 10 days and that concludes my report today are there any committee reports that need to have U nothing that's because we were all on a holiday um is there any other business by member any member of the Board of Education Mr tiarella yes I
020just want to I just want to bring up and I don't know if this needs a motion or or what but I think that we need to have our policy committee look at maybe going to uh implementing a road presidency something that would be less intrusive into the into the lives of board members and I think into you I think that year after year what we've seen are divisions and fights along you know back back room deals and fights and things going on to try to to Garner support for the presidency and the vice presidency and I think that it would uh do us all well to maybe create something where we could where we could create a method so that we could pick a vote have a nominating committee or something like that vote
021for a president and then and then move that along um year after year with uh say we went alphabetically that the vice president you know the president would be chosen that way and then the vice president becomes the this way each board member uh Bears the burden and the responsibility of of being uh President and Vice President and um and that and also has a chance to um affect change and and maybe have their have their views heard and maybe impact the direction of the board on you know but I I just I I just don't think that this is this is helping us and I can tell you that the different divisions that have gone on go well beyond just today um you know you'll have you and I'm not I'm not picking on
022any one person there are many people that aren't here anymore but things like uh committee committee responsibilities and and things like that I mean I've seen board members who have been stripped of and I'm not saying I'm not saying this about you know our current president that she did any of this but I have seen board members in the past stripped of committees and and you know basically relegated to Sidelines and stuff like that and I just think that I just think that if we had a had a better way of doing this we would be able to spend more time worrying about the children and worrying about education and less time worrying about who has power and how we're going to get power and and and personal power and things like that so what
023we'll do is um we'll send this to the policy committee I don't think I think we have to vote on that and um we'll look into the legalities of this and to see if this is something that the policy committee can come up with something okay is would that be okay thank you yeah it's fine okay anyone else Mr tessla just to build on one what Ken said uh I find this meeting pretty stressful for myself I'm the type of guy who really wants to get along with everybody and um and you know back when I was a back when I was a kid and a teenager for me to be at a meeting and being public um I was kind of a shy nerdy kid and would I would never see myself in this
024spot so I always was the type who wanted to always get along and and uh you know be friends and get along with everybody and do our job here for the children of Monroe um and our taxpayers and everybody in in the community so maybe it's time to research something else to take the little stress off and hopefully every make everybody's job a little easier and let's focus on what really matters thank you anyone else Mr Master just to reiterate that the weight of this I agree with Ken um in my opinion the reorg meeting is the most uncomfortable meeting I've ever been at in my life and including the weeks and months leading up to it there's a lot of what exactly what Ken said so I'm 100 a th% for what Ken was
025saying of some other process or even to smooth this process I'd be 100% for it thank you anyone else uh Madam president like to uh speak on a different topic sure uh I'd like to use this opportunity really to uh express my desire and my optimism to work with all the members of the board uh to help make the schools in Monroe better each and every year uh to help reduce cost wherever possible and also to work on improving Communications between the school district our parents our teachers our students and the other residents of the community uh I think that we can do a better job in all three of those categories and I look forward to working with my fellow board members in doing that I'd also like to thank uh since this will
026be the one opportunity uh and I think it's appropriate I would like to thank all of those that worked uh for my election uh I particularly want to thank those who were willing to uh have a sign a campaign sign on their property because they took a visible uh statements saying that they supported my candidacy I'd like to thank all the various people who distributed Flyers at either the back to school nights or helped in getting them out to the homes uh so that people would know what my position was and what my thoughts were about being a member of the board and I particularly want to thank all the people who voted for me because without those people I wouldn't be sitting here tonight and last and clearly not uh least uh I want
027to thank the support of my wife philli who is here tonight and other members of my family uh they were all very supportive during this period of time and I hope to uh all the voters and to my fellow board members and to my family that uh you will look with pride upon my uh tenure as a member of the Board of Education of Monroe thank you thank you Mr Po anyone else Mr Trella yes and this is another topic going although I am wearing my Doug po t-shirt under this um Mr Gorski if you could I know we had a conversation about the opt outs and stuff we're you know I've been asking about um how many opt outs we had and how that's working out because I know we're about to go through
028negotiations again how fast how how quickly did that go um but if you could please elaborate on you know how many opt outs we've had how many how much cost savings that has been for us and and uh what you foresee as you know any further gains that we can get out of that certainly do you have that information with you yes [Music] okay um in the last round of negotiations that the board entered into with the uh mtea Monro Township Education Association there was an agreement um which was part and parcel of the salary increases as a percentage to offer uh a unique program that hadn't been introduced in this District before and that was an opt out from health benefits all health benefits so if an individual was to opt out of health
029benefits it would get a prated part for the first year but it would equivalate to a $4,000 family stien to that individual or a $2,500 single person um and what that saves the district is about $18,000 for a family plan so far we've had 92 people that have opted out of health insurance that has uh reduced the appropriation for health insurance by over $1.5 million that amount over the term of the contract exceeds the incremental salary raises that the teachers got in aggregate so in other words the cost of this incremental contract to the board is negative you're actually saving money with this teacher's contract thanks to the um the bargaining of the MTA and the board so in addition to that there are mandatory health insurance contributions uh dictated by the state of New
030Jersey and I check with our payroll department recently and we had exceeded $1.3 million in the last year for health insurance deductions from employees pay to help contribute towards health insurance so the two of those combined uh are about $2.8 million that's a significant dent in the health insurance um Bill and has afforded the Board of Education a luxury of um a good negotiation round with the teachers thank you Mr Masters just just on that who was involved in the negotiations who was who was involved in that um Mr Chella was I was and Mr lar from the board then um you were and Dr Hamilton and I don't think there was anybody else and our attorney and and we have a board negotiator who is present uh V lordy yeah anything else okay then
031we will go to number 15 the public forum anyone from the public wishing to speak please come to the microphone state your name and address for the record and you have three minutes want to make a motion time left for the first time it Mark Klein 53 turnbury um something we're all um we have knowledge of is that marborough has put a police officer and we spoke about it at one of the committee meetings put a police officer in every school and an armed police officer and something that was brought up by somebody in my development when I said that that's what we would hope to do here the excuse I got was well it would scare the kids well they interviewed some of the kids at Marboro and I would guesstimate that these kids
032were probably six or seven years old maybe 8 years old basically the two children that they spoke to said that they feel safer with the presence of a police officer at the school another deterrent is having a mark police car outside the school so I don't know what you're going to plan to do but I definitely definitely would look into that um it's a tough decision but they had somebody else at another school today I believe it was also in Connecticut walked into the school with a gun he was a security guard so and was able to get into the school so it's something that we should look at and I just you know do what you can but these kids have to be protected thanks thank you good evening Tom not Stein 15 at
033Daniel Street um a couple comments with regards to the lack of the Jamesburg vote um I I think if we go back on some of the other organiz reorg meetings uh we're going to see that this issue this is not the first time this issue has come up I know for a fact that uh that law that uh Mr kski mentioned uh has been brought up before uh and it's always been my contention that uh legally the Mon Mon the Jamesburg rep is only allowed to vote on items that pertain to the high school is that is that an accurate assessment do you [Music] have um that that's part partially correct the there's four criteria that the um Jamesburg Board of Education representative has a right to vote on bear with me one second I'll
034pull those [Music] out these are the four criteria uh established by 18a 38-8 point1 [Music] any additional member of a receiving District Board of Education shall be a member of the Board of Education of a sending District designated annually by the board of that district and shall be eligible to vote on The Following matters before the receiving District Board of Education a tuition to be charged to the sending District by the receiving district and the monthly bill lists or contracts for the purchase operation and maintenance of facilities equipment and instructional materials to be used in the education of pupils of the sending District that would that would be an example would be the monthly bill list that's part of the business administrator report or professional contracts that are part of the business administrator report um
035they would be able to vote on those items that uh pertain to the high school B New Capital Construction to be utilized by the sending District pupils again for the high school yes yes exactly correct C appointment transfer or removal of teaching staff members providing services to pupils of the sending District including any teaching staff member who is a member of the receiving District central administrative staff example of that would be the high school uh teaching staff for our district as well as any administrator holding a teaching certificate who um touches that child in any way for the high school and D addition or deletion of curricular and extracurricular programs involving pupils of the sending District those are the four and again guidance from our board attorney as well as New Jersey school board's legal
036guidance team uh was such that the vote would not be permissible and therefore um it was Dr Hamilton and my recommendation to the board not to allow the James Burke representative to vote on the election of officers this evening okay well I thank you for that because I said I know that's come up in the past and it's always been my contention that they shouldn't be voted on it because it's not uh it doesn't pertain strictly to the high school the board president at this point so I I appreciate whoever decided to look into it I appreciate you looking into it um secondly you also mentioned about the uh the opt out uh monetary gains that we have seen uh based on those 92 some OD teachers that have opted out or or uh employees
037that have opted out um my big concern here and I think you've unfortunately you've already said it that you've had a productive uh contract negotiation meeting um what we don't want is we don't want to just turn around and give this money back as raises because that is not the spirit of what we're doing here uh we need to make um people more uh personally responsible uh for their health care and in order to do that it doesn't mean having we uh having them pay it on one hand and then we give it back to them as a pay raise so I hope that that's not what we're intending on doing as we've seen so often in the past any money we get here we tend to like to spend it right away that has
038got to stop in this environment so I urge this board to please look very closely at that because that is not uh what this give back or this opt out was meant to do thank you very much for your time anyone else from the public Robert roach a team your field Boulevard I have three items maybe I'll just comment on them and then you can respond because of the three limit three minute limit uh early in December you had a meeting where you were discussing the budget for 1314 and I was disappointed to see that the um the the the school board directed the uh superintendent of schools Dr Hamilton to prepare a budget that was up to the cap I hope that they um you the board would had a little more uh common
039sense and say hey look we're we're in a time where we should be saving some money I I did some rough calculations and I'm sure Mike's going to tell me I'm all wet and I probably am but um uh my my uh calculation indicates that if you go up to the cap it's going to cost about 3.5 million and then you have the issue with the debt service which $2 million was used from surplus funds uh I don't know what's going to happen with that this year I don't know whether we ever got all the money from the state where we can use it um but if we have to then pay additional $2 million in debt service funds then that's going to be like 5.5 million which means the taxpayers portion of the school
040budget would go up almost 6% which I think is is just a shame I think that the at least the the municipal has taken some effort to try to reduce their budget recognizing that uh the township cannot pay any more it's like the um the federal government all the federal government wants to do is get more revenue from the people and forget about expenses that's sort of the philosophy of this school board let's get all more of the revenue from the taxpayers and for and pay and spend more money another issue is that in last last year you're talk at the last monthly meeting you were talking about the need to repair roofs and various other structures last year uh's budget the state gave you almost $900 million additional from what was uh initially uh
041designated what the school board decided to do is replace programs that the council had cut out had you use that $900 million to repair make some of these repairs that to the to the structures maybe we wouldn't be in the same situation we're in today the uh third thing that my third issue is that uh I thought the bill that uh was put out by the Board of Education that was sent down to Senator Greenstein was was a great idea uh but I was sad to see that one of the issues that uh was in the the uh the letter what I'm glad I didn't wait for responses was that the the bill as you were proposing it was that the any additional revenue from that new procedure would just go for taxpayer relief that
042is not part of the bill and I would like a commitment from the board that if that bill does pass and we do get additional funds that that money's whatever they are will be go to taxpayer relief Mr G would you like to respond yes Mr Ro I've I've found over the years that your calculations are always right on um you one of the few people that I've gone through the budget with that has actually calculated the tax rate so um I give you credit for that but in in the instance of going to cap um our estimate is 1.8 million of additional Revenue that would bring in because it's last year's pre preceding U general fund tax levy plus adjustments for health care and enrollment inflated by 2% and uh consistent with last year
043it's about $1.8 million of additional money now be bear with me for one second um at the December meeting to establish a budget philosophy we went through a great deal of of um issues that are affecting the 1314 budget most costly is 225 additional students that we expect and we can demonstrate will be um Upon Us in that school year to educate those kids on average and granted you can absorb them for one year but after you accumulate 225 every year you're going to have a major expenditure for additional facilities and so on 225 new students on average is $3.1 million of expense to the district we also have $1.4 million less of of excess Surplus carrying over due to Appropriations for Applegarth schools refurbishing we also have a new instructional lease obligation and there's
044also a need to replace three buses and two Vans which are aging out according to the State's schedule um so all of that combined far exceeds the 1.8 million cost uh raised from the taxpayers by going to cap now additionally what the board had um instructed Dr Hamilton and I to look at was addressing some of the roofs in this District that are in severe uh need of repair I have a photograph here I'd like you to take a look at of the Monro Township Middle School roof and you could see the condition that that roof is in and that is a prime example of about six other facilities in the district that are about 10 or 15 years beyond their expected life warranty that need immediate help so in the next year's budget Jerry
045T is working on the budget sheets now but he has given me preliminary numbers that there's going to be about a 1.25 to $1.5 million cost associated with engineering and construction for replacements for sections of this Monro Township Middle School roof last year we took the additional Debt Service I mean additional state aid that we received and we replaced the Brookside roof so what what the board has chosen to do is replace roofs and capital projects that are not designed to be incorporated in a school budget because of the very restrictive cap this is an extraordinary accomplishment to have done the Brookside roof and possibly do the Monroe Township Middle School roof in a general fund operating budget with 225 new children less fund balance carrying over from the prior year um and and one
046final good word on the tax out look for next year is that 5 cents of the 8 cent increase last year was due to the decrease in ratables ratea bues is the base that shares the tax levy and as that rateable base decreases everybody's rate increases this year we've got some preliminary good news that we are not expecting another decrease of $78 million to the rable base so that's five of eight cents last year was due to the rable base we expect to put a budget together this year addressing 225 new children fixing a roof which is usually a bond referendum uh item absorbing $1.4 million less of surplus and to have a an increase of less than five cents I hate to throw a number out preliminarily because we don't know what state aid
047is going to be we we have issues with Jamesburg on the tuition that's not resolved at this time but um that's a lengthy explanation of some of the items that you brought up excl excuse me mik excluding the debt portion 900 um it's 9 million 900 and what was that pretending to yeah just the wasn't million that we got back 900,000 yeah we would be jumping for joy hey what's a zero here in there zero here there no 900,000 and one fin one final thing with the bill s237 we work closely with Dr Hamilton and I work closely with Senator Greenstein in the development of that bill which was our initiative uh through the board's recommendation and um in the format that doc uh that Senator Greenstein transcribed it with her uh her legislative team
048it does not have in there provision that the additional Aid be directed to tax relief but I believe the board has stated at the budget philosophy meeting that that is the intention thank you okay anyone else from the public my name is Lisa deore and I live at 3way in Monroe Township um I am uh shifting gears here a little bit from the um uh money and tax cut issues um however I do feel that hopefully there's a way that we can find to sort of move um resources around to allow for additional uh services for our children and with that being said the first one I would like to bring out there that uh being that I have a high schooler um at this high school and another child at the Applegarth Elementary School
049I have already seen the difference in having remove live teaching of Spanish at the elementary levels the level at which my son was at at that point in time compared to the level at which um Madison is at in the grade at this point in time is um significantly different and uh quite frankly I don't feel it's anything other than just the way in which it's being taught currently they're using and I will tell you I commend uh Madison is very fortunate to have uh Miss Shaw as her fourth grade uh teacher at Applegarth uh I asked the board to find more teachers like her she's fabulous and uh uh anything we can do to bring more of her on board is definitely an asset to our children uh but with that being said she
050tries in every way shape and form to utilize the online Spanish uh learning it through the laptops but it's still not the same and knowing the growth of Spanish in um the American society and the need to know that language I think it would be um of our good interest and the second thing I would like the board to look at um attempting to do and I hear this from multiple parents um but I myself am sort of very passionate about the school calendar I don't know I probably should know but but I don't know when school calendars are made um but what I can tell you is that um and I'm sure there's research out there have I done it no but we all know ourselves that when there is a week where we
051have a very consistent week and not broken up broken up with a lot of half a days or days off um that those weeks tend to be more productive in our own lives and I I I think that that would we'd find the same as well so if there's something we can do to have more consistency and less time off if you will in the school calendar I think again too that would be value added to our children thank you okay thank you sounding my wife anyone else from the public Sher min9 Ethel Street I have a few comments first of all welcome to the new board members I look forward to more mature and deliberative body um and I wasn't going to say this but um since we're talking about the raise in taxes
052I would hope that as we raise taxes consistently every year that we do a little bit more to raise the performance of our education uh the the students need to perform better um we need to you know it's not just about raising taxes it's about raising our educational standards so uh I think we'd all feel a lot better if those were raised in conjunction with the taxes but we need to get a good result from the taxes that are being spent I don't think there's anybody here that begrudges the payment of taxes I don't have children in the school system but I'm glad to pay for education but I want good education I think that that has been really the purpose of the outcry uh about uh the increase in taxes um so please I
053hope that that works also uh we with the consistency of new students coming in uh we go down and B the state to contribute and to take care of us but maybe you can also encourage the teachers and the parents and the taxpayers to go to the township Council in Monroe and the planning board that is where the students are coming from essentially the type of future planning in the next few years is going to highly impact our school system so please don't go just down to Trenton just go across the street to the township Council and the planning board because that's where all that activity is happening and I'd also like to make a comment about some of the trepidation some board members have about being um making tough decisions um there's a difference
054between disagreeing with colleagues on matters of education issues and mean-spirited uncivil Behavior toward those who disagree with you mature discussion and civil disagreements are essential to Bringing new ideas and compromise and deliberation and uh in making decisions so I hope the members of this board should not not participate in sophomore popularity contests but uh respon but responsible um but take the responsibility to make uncomfortable decisions if you have to because that's what gets us forward if everybody's just holding hands we're not going to get anywhere um unanimous decisions aren't always the best decision so I hope to see more Del Liberation and I hope that people will respect each other respect the public and take a mature attitude about making tough decisions that's what you're voted that's what you're here for the the the tough
055decisions thank you thank you Michelle anyone else from the public Maryann Lester 44 Avenue I uh I'd like to address the cost of the replacement of the classroom Wing roof of the Monro Township Middle School at 1.25 million since this is only a partial roof replacement the estimate seems very high for One Wing I was just wondering the name of the construction or roofing company that gave you the estimate and their credentials and also does the board rely solely on the Integrity of the estimator or do you consult with someone else in the district as to the reasonable of the estimate the reason reason I'm asking is that I Came Upon a 115 page report done in 2000 by the state of New Jersey Commission of Investigation entitled waste and abuse in public school Roofing
056projects apparently New Jersey school Roofing projects which are one of the most costly projects in school districts have been riddled with conflicts of interest and deceptions the abuses uncovered by the commission and public school Roofing projects were at times eded by the action and inaction of school district officials and by the oversight and guidance uh at the state and local levels some bullet points that caught my attention in particular were the roofing material suppliers for example a leading supplier of roofing materials routinely was presented as a manufacturer of projects bearing its own label for which no other product could be substituted in reality The Firm produced few materials and instead chiefly relabeled products made by others and sold them at inflated prices two Design Consultants working in secret partnership with manufacturers and suppliers of roofing
057materials routinely crafted proprietary project specifications that favor a given set of products thus eliminating competition and the award of contracts three technical quote hurdles were inserted throughout the project specifications to foreclose the possible substitution of less expensive materials of similar or equal quality uh so in conclusion I'd like to submit this investigative report to the board for their review you and maybe in particular to Mr proso as he used to work in construction thank you we'll have Mr Gorski respond I hand this we'll bring it up here we'll we'll take it thank you thank you ma'am for your interest in the uh construction process and I hope to alleviate some of your concerns with my answer if not um I I'd like to invite you in to meet with Jerry T our facilities director who's
058been with the district about 24 years and um you know bring further satisfaction if needed um the specifications for the roofs are designed by an architect that the board has a Professional Services contract and represents the Board of Education that person develops the um specifications for the very intricate roof repair or replacement that's needed and it delineates in those specs the the very detailed degree of all the materials to be used um right down to the finest detail then public procurement laws require that the project is put out to bid and the Board of Education by law must then review the bids and award the project to the lowest qualified bidder we've been very fortunate with our last couple roof repairs and uh with the roofer who bid and won the award for this uh
059High School construction because we've received very favorable um outcomes from all of those but that's not always the case the lowest qualified bidder sometimes undercuts by such a degree that a lot of school districts face an on unsatisfactory product at the end have to go after bid bonds and uh have have disasters with that the Board of Education here is also very fortunate and that the board invested in a u qualified District facilities manager who has done a wonderful job not only managing this project and keeping change orders to under half a dozen through this project but manages all of the other District facilities in a very um dedicated manner the facilities director would also be involved in the roof replacement process he's up on roofs weekly and um he would be also very much
060engaged in that furthermore as the business administrator I have a qualified purchasing agent certification from the state that would be revoked if any impropriety some of which you alluded into um was committed by any members of the Board of Education or Administration in in the project not only that we I have a professional license as does Dr Hamilton that could also be revoked and um prohibit us from continuing to work in our chosen profession so you know we take these projects very seriously they're very carefully planned the building grounds Transportation committee and the full board is engaged in the project from start to finish every week Dr Hamilton sends to every board member a weekly confidential that contains a facilities update section that apprises them of emergent facility projects that are going on through the
061district and their current status including photographs and um uh percentages of completion so I believe I touched on all your points and if not please don't hesitate to give me a call is there anyone else from the public wishing to speak I just wanted to follow up can you please give your name and address Bob Zari 162 Tournament Drive I just want to follow up on uh something that Bob roach mentioned in terms of Debt Service I know that and and taxes I know that last year you used Bond proceeds I believe you had about five billion left over from Bond proceeds of the high school bonds and you were able to use about two two million of that uh for tax relief basically in last year's budget are you going to how long do
062you have to run that out is that a threeyear or a 5-year process and are you going to be able to to uh affect some Rel using those funds this year um the way that that works and I'm deviating from your question a bit the state of New Jersey allows you to bond for specific uh project needs and um we had project estimators involved in the cost of the high school we had Architects and through the efficient management of the project and some fortunate price decreases uh particularly with roving shingles and steel that the board took advantage of we were actually we finished the project substantially under budget last year we appropriate the board of educ excuse me the Board of Education appropriated $2 million um Against The Debt Service tax levy to return that
063Surplus to the taxpayers the requirement by law is that you either spend the money on the project as related to the question for which it was raised or you return it back in the fashion that we did last year by offsetting The Debt Service tax levy specifically related to that project we have a $3 million receivable owed from the section 15 Grant from the school construction Corp Mr T and I and Dr Hamilton are very actively engaged in shaking down this uh state agency for lack of a better term to get our money because what we would hate to do is appropriate this money for tax relief before we actually have it in hand it's a receivable right now on our book books it's it's included in the Surplus number but we don't have the
064money yet without receiving that money which I was promised I'll have by the end of January um I would still recommend to the board of education to appropriate $25 million this year which we actually have against The Debt Service tax levy and uh if we're fortunate enough that that money comes in by the end of January the Board of Education could opt to appropriate more against the Debt Service tax levy and reduce taxes even further one complication to consider of this is if you if you uh use all of the Surplus in one year you are going to have a major tax spike in the next year so you want to amortize the application of the Surplus in a fashion that it allows you to um wean off and the way we're anticipating it should
065also correspond with the rable base in town not only um stabilizing which it is expected to do next year but hopefully increasing in the future so that would help the weaning off process so anyone else from the public wishing to speak seeing no one our next scheduled Board of Education meeting will be on Wednesday the January 16th 2003 7:00 here at the high school motion to adjourn Mr Kaufman second by Mr Masters all in favor uh Mo meeting meeting adjourned