001Thank you all for coming. Uh we will start with the pledge of allegiance. Please stand to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and all. Uh we will first hear uh from our student representative. All right. Um good evening everyone. I hope you all had a relaxing winter break. My name is Daisy and I'm one of the senior board reps. My partner Garrett unfortunately cannot make it today, so I will be delivering tonight's report. Winter sports are officially picking up speed with hockey, basketball, fencing, wrestling, swimming, and bowling matches matches happening every week. Unified track and golf are also starting and their interest meetings are being held this week. We want to take a moment to congratulate the girls
002wrestling team for participating in and winning Morristown High School's first ever girl only wrestling match. Our boys ice hockey team is also having a great season, currently riding a six-game winning streak and coming off a victory against Bridgerwater, who ranks at number 10. The production of Thriller on the Roof is going well with Pit auditions completed in practices in cycle. As of now, there have only been two official rehearsals, leaving eight more to go before the show. The crew, cast, and pit have yet to meet for a full rehearsal. Progress is moving along smoothly. The Pit Orchestra has already practiced many of the songs, including the famous If I Were a Rich Man. All right. Uh, the Social Studies Honor Society is entering the final days of their winter clothing drive. In partnership with Homeless
003Solutions, they are collecting winter apparel from shoes and handbags to small toys. Moreover, the National Art Honor Society recently held a winter ornament stale. Their collection featured handcrafted ornaments and holiday card bundles showcasing St. Hubert's animals, helping shine light on those still waiting to be adopted. The student government concluded the gift drive by writing thank you notes to all the families that donated. Aside from that, there are no new efforts until further notice. Finally, the 19th annual Morristown on Stage scheduled for Tuesday, February 24th, revealed its finalists on December 22nd. We are incredibly proud to have several of our own students participating, including Cella, Raphael, Jackson Miller, and the three cheer sex. Since it is only the second week back after break, students, including myself, are still getting used to the schedule changes with hallways
004already buzzing about the 3-day weekend, seniors can breathe a sigh of relief now that regular decision deadlines have passed, but scholarship season is rapidly approaching. >> That concludes the report. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Thank you so much. And next we have our uh superintendence report. >> Thank you, Dr. Rodriguez. >> Good evening. Thank you everyone for joining us this evening. It's always a pleasure to have you here at our board of education meetings. I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the events in our community over this past weekend. We are aware that recent ICE activity in town has deeply impacted members of our school community. We know that some of our students and families are experiencing fear, confusion, and distress. Tonight, our emotions are understandably high. And I want to
005begin by grounding us in our shared responsibility, the care, safety, and well-being of our students. Our schools remain places of learning, stability, and routine. For children, especially in moments of uncertainty, predictability, and trusted adults matter. Our focus as a district is to keep our schools calm, welcoming, and centered on instruction while ensuring students who are struggling emotionally are supported. Counselors, social workers, and administrators are available. And we ask staff and families to continue referring students in distress to the appropriate supports available in our schools. I also need to be clear about our role. School districts do not engage in immigration enforcement, nor do we collect or share information related to an individual's immigration status. At the same time, there are limits to what we can discuss publicly this evening regarding security measures or law enforcement
006practices. What I can say is that we work continuously with our community partners to ensure our schools operate safely and responsibly within the law to protect all of our students. Importantly, we are not alone in supporting families. Through our participation in the Morris Area Clergy Council, we have established a community-based pathway for families who need assistance. For those who wish to help or are seeking to support our community members who need it, Nourish NJ is working in partnership with area churches and faith organizations, including Assemblies of God. Together they are providing food access and family support resources. Since this is an evolving initiative, information about these resources and how our community can help is available through the NourishN website and should be updated within two days. We are so proud as a group and as
007a board of education to serve our outstanding school district. Uh the Morris School District is one that is filled with compassion, empathy, and strong community partnerships. We sincerely thank you for your concern for all of our students. We appreciate your offers of help and we look forward uh to offering these opportunities uh to you and working together to help all of our students and families. Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much, Dr. Mushi. Um for the president's report, I am grateful for the opportunity to help our district growth. Little acts can produce large effects. A few people can have enormous impact. As board of education members, we can act as advocates for the betterment of the Morris School District. Thank you. Okay. So next we have um our presentation from the auditors at
008this time. Thank you. >> Good evening everyone. >> Thank you for having me tonight. I'm Rob Provos partner of PKF Conor Davies. Along with me is Sarah Kim. She's the lead supervisor on the engagement. So I like to start with the audit report. So it's a small little report but this is where we uh report any audit findings if there are any. So very happy to report that there's no auto findings in this year's uh audit and you know we don't take that too lightly. We really do a lot of in-depth testing. I would say our testing spans what two three months given kind of throughout the year. Uh we do a lot of testing. is really really a testament to Anthony June the entire finance team really really doing a solid job. Um you
009know internal controls are outstanding you know we we definitely do a thorough review of that. So again Anthony really really nice job on that. So again no findings to report. Obviously with that the opinion is an unmodified opinion. So in a school district that's the best opinion a school district can get. And that's not only on the financial statements. We also do an audit on the federal and state grants. Same opinion, unmodified opinion, same result, no findings on the grant. So again, Anthony, great job to that and the entire finance team. So I was going to keep this pretty brief, but obviously I'm going to answer any questions that board members, superintendent Anthony may have, and obviously anything that anyone is behind me. I just going to go over a couple of the um highlights
010[clears throat] mainly the general fund and uh you know briefly on the enterprise fund. So at June 30th 2025 the budgetary fund balance is 32 million approximately that is down from approximately 35.5 million in the prior year. I can tell you there there's amongst every school district in the state. I always go to two lines because I mean the increases are just literally astronomical. [clears throat] Health benefits, [snorts] transportation. So your health benefits went up just over a million dollars which that is pretty significant obviously. Um but I you know you guys are in Horizon plan. A lot of school districts are in the state health benefit plan and those rates are going up like 25 to 35%. like literally each year it's crazy crazy jumps in in that and you know a lot of
011school districts have a tough time kind of sustaining that that increase. So you guys are are in pretty good shape there. Transportation you know same thing across the board you guys are up about $1.2 million from last year. So those two lines alone pretty much account for the decrease in a budgetary fund balance. And you know just a quick note on that too. Yes, there's 32 million, but you got to keep in mind there's only about 5.3 million that's available. About 27 million is restricted for capital reserve, future use, maintenance reserve, future use, and about 13 million that has to be dedicated to future budgets. So, it's not that's $32 million that's just available to be spent. It's way more strict than that. So, the available balance is actually 5.3. That's probably more of a
012real number to discuss than the 32 million quite frankly because the other money is already already restricted and near for other purposes. So that's all I really had on the general funds which is just a a quick snapshot of overall operations. I'll move on to enterprise funds unless anyone has any questions. Nope. Okay. So, I mean, the enterprise funds pretty much remained relatively flat from year to year. Um, small decreases, which I'll I'll briefly discuss. Food service went from 1,550 to 1,371. Uh, the community school program went from 950,000 approximately to approximately 750,000. So, they're both down about 200,000. A couple of things to note with that, you know, from COVID 19, uh, a lot of the schools, every school quite frankly was getting COVID funding in the food service program. I think this is
013the first year where it's like completely gone aside from maybe very very very trivial amounts. So, you know, the fact that food service still kind of remained relatively flat is is pretty good. Uh, same thing, the expenditures are out across the board. Now, look at community ed. I mean at the exact decrease in the net position was an increase in expenditures. It went from 1.4 to to 1.6. So I mean I think the enterprise funds are in pretty good shape but you know across the board as we all in this room can attest to costs are definitely going up and so school district it's really no different. That's all I really had and so I just want to keep it brief and open up for any questions if you have any. None. >> Thank you
014so much. Thanks so much. >> Good job, Anthony. >> Okay. Uh since uh we have not had committee meetings uh this year yet. There will be no committee meetings report uh as of today. Next uh we have the public uh section of the meeting where the public may speak. Uh please uh listen carefully to uh the following. Before we open the meeting to public comment, we wish to remind you that our meeting is now video recorded and publicly aired. While the board welcomes and encourage public comment, we ask that you be respectful, including any comments that you may you might make about staff. The board does not endorse any comments made by a speaker. Nor will the board be held liable for any comments made by members of the public. The law prevents the board
015from speaking about specific students or about personal matters. For this reason, the board will not answer any questions on these subjects. Finally, the board's policy limits each speaker to three minutes. We ask that you respect this policy and the time of your fellow community members by concluding your comments once you reach three minutes. Public comment is now open for an hour or until public comments are complete, whichever comes first. At this point, I would like to invite any members of the public to come forward and provide your full name and address. Evening. My name is Nicole Della. Uh I live on FiveStar Life Drive Township. Um Today I wrote and uh shared a a letter through many other parents in the in the community which uh read um we are parents and caretakers of students
016enrolled in Morris school district schools. We are deeply concerned about the ICE um operations that occurred yesterday that you addressed um the possibility of additional eminent activity. Our foremost concern is the safety and well-being of our school district students, families, and staff. We respectfully urge the district to promptly communicate um what additional services, protocols, and safeguards are currently available or will be swiftly implemented to ensure that school district remains safe and supportive spaces for all members of our community. We strongly encourage the district to in to consider emergency security and support measures including uh enhanced transportation or additional busing uh additional security personnel or monitoring preparedness training for staff and students and expanded social and emotional support services. Finally, we believe our school community extends beyond school's buildings. We encourage uh the district to communicate
017clearly and promptly how uh the broader community can prepare for future possible uh uh operations and what supports are available. Um there were about a little over 300 um people who signed since this afternoon and um and so you know appreciate uh the the comment that was made today and um at least for me that was the first time I've heard of some of those supports. So um um I just like to comment that I' I'd hope again that the district could be more communicative to the district to the parents at large about some of those resources. you know, not only for those of us who want to help, but also to many of those that might need them. Thanks. >> Thank you very much. Anyone else? If none, I would like to close the
018this portion of the public uh comment section of the board meeting. Okay. Next, uh, now we, uh, going into business matters and I would like to pass this over to the vice president, Miss Miss Linda Murphy. >> Thank you. Um, so we're going to go through each of our business matters. As was mentioned before, we actually have not met in committee uh recently, so we don't have any new committee reports, but we do have always something going on in the district. Um, so I'll move minutes motions one and three. We need a second. I second that. >> Wait, I think there's one above it. >> I'm sorry. Oh, excuse me. >> Oh, I'm excuse me. I missed it. It's covered by my paper clip. I'm so sorry. So, uh, it's school board recognition motion one.
019I'll move that. >> I second that. >> All those in favor? >> I call. >> Oh, >> are there any questions? Sorry, new president. >> Uh, no. >> If not, >> okay, so we we can do call now. Thank you, Anthony. >> If it's >> Yes. Mr. Davidson, >> yes. >> Miss Pala, >> yes. >> Mrs. Wolf, >> yes. >> Miss Merin, >> yes. >> Rodriguez, >> yes. >> Now we'll move to minutes. Motions one and three. And I moved my paper clip so I can >> I'll second. >> Any qu any questions or any discussion? If none Anthony, please call the vote. >> Mrs. G, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cole, >> yes. >> Mr. Davidson, >> yes. >> Miss Kimcha, >> I'll abstain on one and two. Yes to three. >> Mrs. Wall, >>
020yes. >> Miss Murphy, >> yes. >> Dr. Rodriguez, >> yes. >> Moving motions uh one and two under policy. >> A second. Uh, any discussion? If none, Anthony, please call the role. >> Mrs. Aum, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cole, >> yes. >> Mrs. Davidson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Miss Blipchuk, >> abstain on one. Yes. On motion two. >> Mrs. Mo, >> yes. >> Miss Murphy, >> yes. >> Dr. Rodriguez, >> yes. >> Moving motions. Uh, educational matters motions one through three. >> I'll second. >> Uh, >> any discussions? >> I have a comment if I may. >> Um, first uh uh under motion uh educational matters motion three. Uh we are accepting a number of MEF grants. I'd just like to take a moment and comment first to say thank you to our wonderful MEF
021partners and the generous donors that work within the school community who make this support possible from our Morris Educational Foundation. Uh the grants are fairly substantial. Uh one is going to our schools who um are instructing third graders in the amount of $8,000 to create a intermediate unit writer circle workshop. Uh this will give all third graders in our district the same writing experience. Uh so they'll jump into the fun of some creative writing with group interaction, drawing, role playing and so forth. And this is intended to help foster a love of writing and build independent writing skills among those young students. So that's a wonderful thing and uh we thank you very much. We have some smaller donations in that are donor designated in support of the high school for both chemistry and math.
022Um, and we also in the high school have another advanced creative writing opportunity that is focused on the craft of uh script writing with a professional script writer and professional actors. Here the students will be creating three minute scripts with two people in dialogue sitting at a table. um and after they are able to explore and build um their script, the professional actors will actually act out the final script. So, this is another wonderful opportunity. This was in the amount of $3,200. And finally, um uh a d another donor designated um award of $50,000, which is an astronomical amount of money, uh to the high school in support of the artisan academy. Those of you who have come to our meetings before heard to speak about that I think it was in the November meeting
023we had a presentation about the artisan academy. Um this is intended to give students um the skills resources and support um to uh design and produce marketable products. If they have a passion for art in any way be it ceramics or drawing or painting or any or photography anything else. um they'll uh build the necessary marketing skills to help them develop an enterprise. Uh this is not intended to be targeted at the top of the class. It's any student who has a passion and who wants to learn how to uh make and sell products and potentially have the work ethic to start a business of their own. So this is another pathway that we're offering to students. Um the funds are provided by the Lauren and Emily Fail Foundation. They will be split over a
024two-year period to jumpst start this economy and we're expecting the academy to go live in September of 2026. So, we're just thrilled about this opportunity and I wanted to make sure that we gave credit where credit is due to the donors and to MEF. We thank you so much. Uh lastly, I just want to mention under HR, we also um received another $3,600 from MEF, which is a grant to be paid in two installments in December and June. And this is for um an FMS tutoring grant. So this is for u you know some personnel to actually help monitor and mentor the distribution of these monies. So uh again we can't be more thankful for MEF support. >> Thank you. Um so uh we had a motion. >> Yes. I move motions one and three
025>> and was it second? >> Yes. So then any discussions other than what I just said? [laughter] >> No. Then uh if none uh Anthony please call the role. >> Mrs. Aon. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cole >> abstain on number three. Yes. To all others. >> Mrs. Davidson. >> Yes. >> Miss Pipshuk. >> Yes. >> Mrs. W. >> Yes. >> Miss Murphy. >> Yes. >> Dr. Rodriguez. >> Yes. >> Okay. Moving uh pupil services motion one. Any second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? If none, Anthony, please call the role. >> Mrs. Aun, >> abstain. >> Mrs. Cole, >> abstain. >> Mrs. Davidson, >> yes. >> Miss Pipchuk, >> yes. >> Mrs. Bull, >> yes. >> Miss Murphy, >> yes. >> Dr. Rodriguez, >> yes. Moving human resources motions 1 through 13. I'll second >> discussion.
026>> If not, Anthony, please uh hold the role. >> Mrs. Aoo, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cole, >> yes. >> Mrs. Davidson, >> yes. >> Miss Pipchuk, >> yes. >> Mrs. W. >> Yes. >> Miss Murphy, >> yes. >> Dr. Rodriguez, >> yes. Moving business matters motions 1 through 10. >> Any second? Second. >> I'll second. >> Miss Cole. Uh, any discussion? If none, Anthony, please call the role. >> Mrs. Agu, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cole, >> yes. >> Mrs. Davidson, >> yes. >> Miss Kipchuk, >> yes. >> Mrs. B. >> Yes. >> M. Murphy. >> Yes. >> Dr. Rodriguez. >> Yes. Okay. Next. Uh, new business. Is there any new business or tonight? If none, I would like the motion to adjurnn. >> I'll move it. >> I'll second it by and second by by
027Miss Hall. Um, and then all in favor I just want to say thank you to everybody for coming out. We appreciate your presence and good night to all.