001And then thank you all for coming. We'll start with the pledge of allegiance. 152 the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Aren't your beautiful I want to scare everybody. Um, thank you. I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Mucci for the superintendent's report. Good evening. Welcome. We're thrilled to have you here this evening for an important recognition of uh, Miss Connie Ethel C. Montgomery. To lead our presentation this evening, I'd like to begin by introducing Mr. Warren Kersy from Freeling Heisen Middle School. Mr. Kersy. Good evening, Dr. Mucci, members of the board of education, central office administrators. My name is Warren Kersy, a proud third generation Marcel native, dean of students at Fen Heisen
002Middle School. It is an honor to stand here tonight before you to pay tribute to an extraordinary woman who played a meaningful role in shaping my journey. There's an African proverb that says, "When an elder passes away, a library burns to the ground." Miss Connie lived a vibrant 93 years on this earth and was a pillar of the Marstown community. She and my late grandmother were not only dear friends, but also fierce activists, especially within the second ward. I'll never forget how former superintendent Dr. Cara once shared that when he first was appointed, the very first people he met were Connie Montgomery and Julia Kersy. They welcomed him into Miss Conniey's living room and put him to the ultimate flip test. The two of them had the greatest influence on my desire to become civically
003involved. We all lived just a block away from Lafayette Learning Center. I grew up on Lynen Street and Miss Connie lived on Liberty Street. Our neighborhood watch association was called the Lafayette Neighborhood Watch Association and I would pass out flyers doortodoor for the upcoming meetings which were held at LLC. It was a vibrant black neighborhood full of teachers, guidance counselors, principles, all from the Mar school district. Growing up there shaped the person I am today. Miss Connie was a driving force in organizing parents in the second ward to advocate for a more inclusive school system. In 1957, she was elected president of Lafayette PTA. even though she didn't have school age children at that time. A true testament to her commitment to the community. In 1959, she co-founded Caretses, a black women social club that
004provided scholarship and social activities for African-American high school juniors. My grandmother was also a proud member of Caretses, and I was honored to be one of its scholarship recipients. She was a pivotal force behind the district merger, a cause which she had been championing since the 1950s. Her commitment to public service continued when she was elected to the Marstown Council. But her dedication didn't end when her time in office did. I have countless memories of attending Marstown town council meetings with her and my grandmother, watching the elected officials lower their heads the moment they walked into the room because they knew they were in for it. Turning her focus to the next generation, Miss Connie founded the 4 club in 1997, growing it from 21 to over 72 members in just two years. And I
005was a proud and I was proud to be one of the original 21. She was also deeply involved in neighborhood preservation, organizing annual cleanups that I participated in year after year that brought the second ward together and allowed us to take pride in our community. As you can see, she was a trailblazer in Marstown, a force of nature whose impact will never be forgotten. I will always be deeply grateful for the role she played in my life as I grew up. We stayed in touch often and in every conversation, she would remind me, "Stay in the Mars School District. They need people with homegrown roots and a real connection to the community. Her words still echo in my heart and I carry her spirit with me in all that I do. It is now my
006honor to introduce one of my lifelong mentors, someone I've admired since my middle school days at Filling Heisen when he was a teacher there. Uh, please welcome Miss Conniey's nephew, Kevin Stansbury, or as we know him, Mr. Stans. I'm extremely proud to be here. I too am a graduate of Marca High School and um just being back walking in the halls brought back a lot of great memories and I was sharing uh with Dr. much that um when my aunt was involved with the whole desegregation and trying to really kind of move Marstown to be a very inclusive community um we had the riots um but they never came to Marstown and honestly here's a story I I usually tell everybody so I see my godmother's here Janet Winston so her husband and my dad
007and a bunch of the other men and Marstown went down in the section we used to call the hollow and refused to allow the Black Panthers to come to Marstown to burn down anything. And those men took a stand down where we lived to say, "No, no, no, not here. Maybe somewhere else." Well, what I shared with Dr. much was the fact that in a lot of other districts where the riots did run rampant, the districts disconnected and a lot of the white community left the schools. That didn't happen in Marshtown because of the dedication of the people that really wanted to see a better town. My aunt was one of those folks. It's a little difficult for me because I'm still not really cool. my aunt passed and it's still kind of hitting me.
008Um, she was a person that you would just think would live forever. Um, she was invincible to us as kids growing up. My aunt was before her time. She embodied all of the qualities that we speak of today, especially when we see women now at the forefront. My aunt was there before it became popular. And I remember when there was always something going on in the community, there'd be these meetings and she would be the only woman there. And um I I can't say that it's just um within the black community, but uh a lot of times uh men kind of call the shots back in the 60s and 50s. And so for a black woman to be in a meeting with all of the black men pushing forward an agenda was different. And uh
009she just continued uh in that vein all her life. Uh my aunt was one of the first she was the first African-American female to be appointed to the state board of education. Yeah. She was a trailblazer. But better than that, my aunt kind of showed the way for all of us. So when I see young Jeffrey, I I remember him when he was a little guy, you know, he used to come by the house. And to see him now in education and doing the wonderful things that he's doing just further illustrates, you know, the importance of each one reaching one. Uh my aunt did a lot of things in Mars Santa and I'm not here to to speak to those because it's everywhere and people have been writing about it and what have you. I'm
010just here to thank you for uh thinking about my aunt. Um she made an impact in in Marstown and she always was about education and uh one of the things that has stuck with me on my life is that we have embodied her, all of her children, all of her nieces and nephews. Education was paramount in our lives. And uh I'm going to end with with a quotation that's really I carried all my life and that is education is the practice of freedom said by bell hooks another just formidable woman who was always at the forefront in education but more about in being inclusive more about equity and so um when I spoke at my aunt's uh memorial in Arizona I shared that um she was DEI before there was DEI. Um but I would
011just like we have a lot of family here. I wish that um our family would stand please just so I'd appreciate it guys and again uh we really appreciate this. Um my uh aunt's daughter could not make it. She's out in Arizona. She's still teaching. She's in education out there and she's running a um alternative school now in Arizona. So again, best wishes. We thank you very very much and um go Mars down. Yeah. Uh we also had another individual from the community who sent in something that uh we can read into the public records. So yes, if you could absolutely um my friend and former board member Leonard Posey has asked me to read uh a statement that he has shared. Members of the board of education of the Morris School District and Dr.
012Ann Mucci, thank you for allowing a resident of I haven't read this yet, by the way. I know we're going to be laughing and maybe crying, too. Um, thank you for allowing a resident of the state of Florida to come before you this evening and speak in support of the resolution that is in front of you tonight honoring my friend Ethel Montgomery who we finally knew as Connie. I moved to Marstown November 19th, 1993, having moved from my home state of Michigan after accepting a job promotion. During my first four years in Michigan, I had the honor of being first appointed, then elected to the board of education of a suburban Detroit school district that was about twice the size of the Morris School District. In 1996, I was approached by a few members of
013the community and asked to run for a seat on the Morris School District Board of Education. I reluctantly accepted the calling and was defeated in the general election. Two months after the election, there was a vacancy on the board representing the town of Marstown, and the board appointed me to fill that vacancy. During that period of time, I first met Connie. I was told that if I wanted to get votes from residents in of the second ward, and if I really wanted to get an education about the issues that concern the largest black ward, I needed to meet Connie Montgomery and William Butch Barber. I re reached out to both Connie and Butch and found them to be very informative and welcoming to a somewhat new member of the community. I wound up serving 10
014years on the board of education as a resident of Marstown and almost 10 years as a resident of Mars Township. During my tenure as a member of the board of board of education for both the town and the township, I had the pleasure to work with three talented superintendent as serve as both both board president representing the town and the township. Throughout the whole period of time, Connie Montgomery was always a source of sound advice and counsel. She exemplified the meaning of community service. She would bring her 4 group to our board meetings often and give a report about the work that her group was doing in town. She was a political trailblazer trailblazer, a social activist and a woman who believed in quality education partic particularly for disenfranchised members of our community. Connie grew
015up in Marstown and was a graduate of Marstown High School. She shared with me on a few occasions how the practice of segregation and racism left an impact on her that inspired her to do what she can to re eradicate both. While Connie Montgomery was soft-spoken, make no mistake, she spoke truth to power with respect to equality and justice in education. I learned so much from Connie about the Marstown community and other trail blazers like her. I consider Connie Montgomery a mentor and a positive influence on my life, and I'm so happy to have met her and experience her greatness and commitment to community. Thank you very much for this time and for your recognition and support of this outstanding community servant and former citizen of Marstown. Sincerely, Leonard Posey. Thank you. We'd like to
016share with you uh the resolution that the board of education has written to commemorate Miss Connie and we ask that Miss Perry begin our reading of the resolution. Sure. Resolution honoring the life and contributions of Ethel C. Montgomery. Whereas Ethel C Montgomery, affectionately known as Connie, was a distinguished alumni of the Morristown High School, class of 1949, and further her education at the College of St. Elizabeth, majoring in business administration. And whereas she dedicated 13 years of service to the Morristown Neighborhood House, positively impacting the lives of many community members. And whereas in 1966, Ethel Montgomery made history as the first African-American elected to the Morristown School District Board of Education, serving as president in 1968 and president in 1972. And whereas she played a pivotal role during the merger of the Marstown and Mars
017Township schools, serving as vice president of the interim Mars school district board, demonstrating unwavering commitment to educational excellence and unity. And whereas her dedication to public service extended to her appointment by Governor Burn of the New Jersey State Board of Education from 1975 to 1981 and her election as councilwoman at large for Morristown from 1982 to 1990 where she also held the positions of president and vice president. And whereas Ethel Montgomery was a trailblazer in fostering inclusivity evidenced by organizing Morris County's first integrated Girl Scout troop in 1952 and co-founding Caretses in 1959, an organization providing scholarships and social activities for African-American high school juniors. And whereas her lifelong commitment to the youth of Morristown was further exemplified by establishing the Lafayette 4 club in 1997, offering positive outlets and mentorship to children aged 6
018to 14. And whereas Apple Montgomery's extensive community involvement included active participation in organizations such as Morris County Urban League, Morris County Fair Housing Council, NAACP, League of Women Voters, and numerous others reflecting her dedication to civil rights, fair housing and community betterment. And whereas her exemplary service and contributions have left an indelible mark on the Morris School District and the broader Morristown community, inspiring generations through her leadership, advocacy, and unwavering commitment to equality and education. And now therefore, be it resolved that the Morris School District Board of Education hereby honors the memory of Ethos C. Montgomery expressing pro profound gratitude for her outstanding contributions to our schools and community and extends her her heartfelt condolences to her family, friends, and all who were touched by her remarkable life. Be it further resolved that this resolution
019be recorded in the official minutes of the Morris School District Board of Education and that a copy be forwarded to the family of Ethosc Montgomery as an expression of the board's deepest sympathies and highest esteem. All in favor? I. Thank you for your kind words. Before we break for a brief reception, I was very touched by everyone's words and Mr. Stansbury when you said each one reaches one. Uh our next presentation is in the spirit of Miss Montgomery's work and we are recognizing two of our employees who are working to reach students and did some exceptional work. uh following their recognition, we'll have a brief reception so that we can uh greet your family. And I would ask Mr. Sumsky uh who is our director of transportation to speak to us about some of our
020outstanding employees here in the district. Mr. Sumsky. Good evening everybody. My name is Greg Sumsky. I'm the person who oversees our transportation department. So, I'm here tonight to recognize two of our exemplary employees. Um, Mr. Ezrubal Kros sitting in the back. You want to stand up? And Miss Glattis Escobar Soda for their heroic actions on one of our school buses in helping during an emergency situation. So on the Friday before spring break, one of our Freeland Heisen buses was traveling right here on Early Street and one of the students jumped up to notify them that their friend was choking. So Miss Escobar was seated close by, quickly assessed the situation and sprung into action by performing the Heimlick remover maneuver. At the same time, she notified Mr. Koss that there was an emergency in the
021back. He quickly pulled the bus over, radioed us at the dispatch office, and then called 911. All at the same time of keeping the other 40 students on the bus calm and seated uh during the situation. After several attempts of performing the Heimlick maneuver, the candy that was lodged in the student's throat did come out. Um during this time, the police arrived as well as emergency personnel. Miss Escobar stayed with the student until his mom arrived um to make sure that he was okay and thanks to her heroic actions um he made a full recovery. So after watching the bus video footage of this situation and understanding the full um picture of it, I just want to say how incredibly proud I am of both of them for not only keeping the students safe, but
022all the students safe on the bus. So these two are exactly who you want every day driving your children uh to and from school. Uh so on behalf of myself, Dr. Mucci, and the whole board, I have a a certificate of recognition for both of you, and I'd just like to express our gratitude and say thank you um for a job well done. and they're humble. They won't even come forward. We are very grateful. Um so we'll just take a moment to pause and enjoy some refreshments just outside um and celebrate um these items and then we'll return. Oh, the number class. No, I've always read all about Yes. Thank you. Exactly. Reinforce. They will make it. Yeah. Thank you so much. We're going to get started. Um and because we are in the thick
023of AP exams, we are going to give um our student a chance to to jump in and then feel free to go and do what you need. Everyone, I hope everyone's been enjoying these beautiful and the fact that the year is only I think about 35 full school days away from being home. Um to reintroduce myself, my name is Derek Greger. Yeah. Um and I will be delivering junior board on report tonight. Starting off with sports, spring sports are well underway as the boys baseball team currently sits at an 8 and5 record with a 12-0 win in the preliminary round of the Morris County tournament. Additionally, the boys golf season has been highlighted by senior and Nordame commit Liam Pernac who placed first in their wins against Wall and Chattam High School. Uh, boys volleyball
024has progressed to a 7-5 record after a 5-0 start with competitive sets against undefeated and ranked opponents in local tournaments and matches. And the girls lacrosse team uh won at home against Mendum and looks to defeat Morris Nolles at home this Wednesday. The boys lacrosse team sits a 4-4 record with five games left. And lastly, the girls softball team is excelling with a seven and three record, uh, looking to repeat as section one group four state champions, which they were last year. As far as music, Morristown's music department is working on concerts set for May with Morristown's annual jazz night taking place on May 8th. Uh, additionally, the MHS band and orchestra uh, concerts both fall on the same week taking place on the 20th and 22nd, respectively. Looking back, the spring musical in March
025was a massive success with multiple nights selling out our 100 or 800 person theater. Um, in addition to this, in March, students from FMS, the Burough School, and the high school all worked together to put together uh combined band and orchestra concerts, which were also very successful, and uh, everyone had a great time. um to report on SGO. SGO has been hard at work for our end of year events, which is usually our busiest time of the year. Uh we actually have a new opportunity that we're working on this year um through our 5K fundraiser. This fundraiser encourages students and teachers to sign up as representatives for clubs and then they run at FMS. I believe it's sometime in May on a Saturday morning. And so the team that performs the best will earn the
026funding from the event and it'll go directly back into the high school hoping to fund club events. With teacher appreciation week coming up, the student government is planning to fund students to thank teachers through cards and notes as uh genuine tokens of appreciation for all the staff's hard work to make the school a welcoming learning environment. I would like to personally thank uh the entire board for all they do to secure funding and invest in sports, the arts, extracurriculars, and our academics overall. It's greatly appreciated as well as to any faculty or staff in the audience. You make a great welcoming school environment, and it is appreciated by me and all of my peers. Um lastly, our largest event for SGL coming up is our spring and end of year pep rally. Um where we
027see the classes compete to earn the most spirit points. uh through fun activities such as decorating poles in the atrium, a potential schoolwide scavenger hunt, and our spirit days, which we encourage students to participate in fun dress up themes such as dress up as a senior, as in a a student who's a senior or a senior senior citizen, uh USA Day, and Hawaiian Day. Lastly, as far as the school environment goes, students are in a good mood getting back into school last week after a later spring break in the calendar year. Last Saturday, the junior class hosted their prom, which was a great success and a great event to help fund raise for senior prom next year as well. Additionally, AP exams are coming up and many hardworking students are finishing up their review and
028prep for the exams, which will take place during all of May. With only around 31 full days of school left and great weather, students are looking forward to finishing their years out strong into the summer. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. I just thank you very much Garrett and I really appreciate your kind words for the faculty and staff. That was how I was going to lead off my comments. So uh this is the wonderful type of appreciation that our students and the HSA show for teachers at all of our buildings. So thank you for saying that and for your wonderful update and uh we appreciate it and we know you have to go study. Thank you very much. And uh we're looking forward to celebrating our teachers on teacher appreciation week next
029week uh May 5th to the 9th. And I want to thank all of the members uh and I see many of you here who have contributed to uh the home of school recognition for the teachers at each of our schools. It's greatly appreciated and um it's a pleasure to be in the building on those days this week uh next week rather and have the teachers recognized and acknowledged for all of their hard work in a special way. So we appreciate your efforts on their behalf. I don't want to cut into anyone's uh committee reports, but I am extremely excited always to bring motions that move our district forward. Um but in the spirit of appreciation, our teachers always working together um for the best for our students. Uh we have a wonderful relationship with team
030our collective bargaining agreement and they work tirelessly in partnership with the administration to bring forth the motion tonight for a sidebar that will allow us to have some flexible scheduling at our middle school by teachers so that we can offer mathematics every single day. We're very excited for the new schedule at FMS and it was a partnership uh between the association, the administration and the faculty. Um so a wonderful way to show that not only do we uh appreciate all those that we work with, but we also work extremely well together and keep the students as our primary focus. I don't know how I feel about it. The last day of school is now Friday, uh June 13th. Uh ending on a Friday the 13th. It could be a little bit of a curse. All
031of our K8 students, uh, last day of school is Friday, June 13th. Uh, you'll note a motion on tonight that changes the end of the year to return the unused emergency days. Unfortunately, for our high school students, they had uh a day off, which was a Friday, uh, in the dead of winter when we lost power only here at the high school. So, our high school students will be back on Monday the 16th. So, that is their last day of school and um you can vote for those motions and we can have the students have a different end of the year. I also uh know that Mr. Borgo is presenting the final version uh of the budget for the board's approval this evening. I'd like to thank Mr. Borggo. I'd also like to thank Miss
032Joan Frederick, our assistant business administrator. Miss Michelle Ferrara who's always hiding in the back and getting everything done for us and the outstanding business office and a special thanks to the finance committee uh and chaired by Linda and I know Miss Murphy will give us more details this evening um but that again is a collaborative effort with the oversight of the board and the finance committee and the exceptional work of the business office. Um so Mr. Borgo, you have some information to share about that motion. Thank you. Tonight, we are adopting our state and county approved 2526 annual school budget. Our full presentation and userfriendly budget, which is our abbreviated version of the budget is available on our website as well as the voiceover that we presented at our last board of education meeting on
033March 10th. Our state and county budget approved. Our state and county approved budget is $150 million spending plan, which includes a 3.69 tax levy increase, bringing our total tax levy to $107 million. It is important to note that 73% of our budget goes to funding salaries and benefits for our staff. We are also investing in our facilities. We have approximately $1 million in maintenance reserve for improvements districtwide to maintain all our facilities and equipment along with our ongoing capital outlay projects planned this summer which include partial roof replacement at Marstown High School and Hillrest. HVAC and boiler improvements at Morstown High School FMS and Woodland. new security vestibules at Marstown High School, FMS, and Woodland. Thank you. And thank you especially to the finance committee, to the board of education, and to our admin team.
034Being a new kid on the block with a little experience, it was a smooth transition. And I echo and Dr. Mucci's sentiments. Joan, thank you. Michelle, thank you. Anthony, if you're watching, thank you for having about 80% completed. So, thank you very much. Anything else? Okay, thank you. Um, I just wish to um echo Garrett's sentiments and share the gratitude of the entire board for the work um going into teacher appreciation week um that all of the teachers do day in and day out. Um, everybody can remember their favorite teacher or a teacher that made an impact on them. So, I just remind everybody that if you still know where they are, maybe drop them a line and say thank you. Um, and certainly encouraging all of our kiddos and students to say thank you.
035And you know, a handwritten note goes a really long way. So, thank you to all the teachers and administrators who pour into our students all the time. Uh, one little teacher appreciation hopefully goes a long way as well. So, um, and then with that, we will go into committee reports. Um, and since we heard from our student already, um, Susan, can you share a curriculum update for us? Sure. The curriculum committee met on April 8th and we approved the following items. The February 26th meeting minutes, various K to2 field trips. A full list can be found under educational matters motion number two. Lifeguard training at the Marstown High School pool offered through the community school. This is educational matters motion number three. a memorandum of agreement for the Big Brothers and Big Sisters school-based mentoring
036program at Alexander Hamilton and Marstown High School. This is educational matters motion number four. The committee also approved curriculum writing to revise the AP English language and composition course for the 202526 school year. This is educational matters motion number five. author visits with Ross Bureak visiting our second graders throughout the district as well as John Patrick Green visiting with our fifth graders was approved. However, there is no motion for this on tonight's agenda. The community school summer plus summer activity guide was approved and is under educational matters motion number seven. Lastly, the final approvals for this year's summer curriculum writing process. This can be found under educational matters motion number six. Dr. Dr. Mucci informed the committee that Marstown High School hosted members of the New Jersey manufacturing extension program NJMEP as part of their
037maker makers and creators tour on April 23rd. This was an opportunity an exciting opportunity for students to learn about the sustainable and high demand career pathways in manufacturing right here in our local area. The curriculum committee also welcomed Mr. Dr. Vinnie Maresy, Freeland Heisen Middle School's sixth grade principal, and Dr. Leah Lendus, FMS's seventh and eighth grade principal. We discussed the upcoming Bell schedule changes at FMS for the 2526 school year. This was certainly no small feat, and I truly appreciate the considerable thought and effort that has gone into shaping these proposed changes. Additionally, Katherine Tepadino, ESL teacher at Normandy Park, and Matt Kryley, director of elementary education, presented more information on the new Amplify CKLA program. We enjoyed learning more about CKLA's intervention and assessment components. And speaking of assessments, the committee also discussed
038mid-year data and expressed interest in reviewing it moving forward. I sincerely appreciate all of our presenters coming to our meeting and sharing their valuable insights with the committee. Our next meeting is this Wednesday, April 30th. And for committee members, please note the time change to 3:30 p.m. Um, that's about it. Thank you. Thank you. Um, Linda, can you give us a finance update, please? Uh, so for the finance committee, we met on Monday the 21st. Um, couple of things on the agenda. Motion 21, uh, is the approval of a professional services contract with Laura Bishop Communications. We heard from Miss Laura Bishop and Renee Janowitz who gave us an overview of a communications plan that would be related to potential bond referendum. This is a activity that will take place probably over the next 18
039or so months which includes uh surveys, focus groups, and whatnot to ensure that we have support in the event that we do decide to go uh with a bond referendum. So, we're looking for approval for that uh motion. We also heard from Dr. Richard Grip from Statistical Forecasting LLC. He uh joined us and went through in some great detail all of the aspects of a demographic study which updates uh the information regarding expectations for student body growth um in the MAR school district. And um basically the takeaway for that was we're going to be relatively flat. there will be some small amount of growth but it's not we're not anticipating um a lot of student body uh additions according to that demographic study um we did ask uh Mr. Borggo to take a look at
040the cap capacity numbers at each of our schools to verify that they were accurate because they were used from the prior study. Uh, so there may be another tweak that comes as a result of that, but right now we're relatively expecting a a flat um uh student body growth. Um, I have some good news. Mr. Sumski is not still in the audience, I don't think. I don't see him, but I want to give him all kinds of credit for uh helping us with the sale of uh school vehicles. We sold four 54 person buses. Um and uh in each case we receive bids in the 35 to excuse me 32 to 37% range. Average bids on this vehicle in other instances have been in the 15 to $18,000 range. So we actually uh were very
041successful thanks to uh Greg's work and made a total of $139,000 on four buses. Uh just so you know, we replace our buses on a regular basis. So we always have newer equipment running our children uh around town and we're uh that also helps us with reduction in maintenance costs uh making sure that we have safe vehicles. Um also from a transportation standpoint, uh we're seeing some uh increased writership at Morristown High School. Uh the writership is coming on buses that are going on Franklin Street which runs behind the hospital and also in the Walnut Street, Highland Avenue, Martin Luther King area. So we'd be making some adjustments to the busing schedule as a result of that. We also are looking at potentially expanding busing to students on Abbott Avenue and Hazel Street, which is
042the area where our um uh central office is located. And uh Greg works magic in scheduling. So he was able to add two or three bus routes within the current structure at no additional costs by tiering routes with frilling houses. So I want to give him a round of applause even though he's not here right now. Greg is he's a rock star. Um yes uh we are accepting a number of donations and grants. That's on uh the agenda page 44 uh under business matters. So, uh, we're taking, uh, a free assembly for ah fourth graders on Afrouban percussion from Young Audiences of America. That's motion six. We also received, uh, a grant award from FM Kirby uh, towards a young audiences workshop on Superheroes Among Us for Hillrest School. That's motion seven. Um there is
043a Rotary Club U amount of $800 motion eight that we'll be accepting. The Jets who are very generous to us on an ongoing basis has given us a grant another grant for $2,500 for our unified flag football program. That's motion 9. And uh a grant for $19,400 from Eric West Safety uh goes toward additional cameras and security vessels to eliminate black uh blind spots districtwide. So, thank you to the our very generous community. Uh we so appreciate all this support. Uh additionally, uh on this agenda, we're going to be approving a number of agreements. Uh one econtracting uh which uh is motion 12 that's looking at cable vision, light path, Aspire Technology Partners, Dinex Services, which is a wireless cloud and so forth. We also are approving Alpha Fi Alpha, an ongoing partnership that provides
044mentorship, academic enrichment, and college readiness resources to students within the district. Um, this is to help support student success in post-secary planning opportunities. Uh, so we're appreciative of that. We, uh, also have a CCM emergency evacuation plan. We're working that in collaboration with County College of Morris and the Morris County Sheriff's Office. Uh so in the event something happens that we need to evacuate students from our buildings, we have a safe place that they could go. Um that's motion 15. Um Apple Services is a 4-year 0% lease agreement. Thank you, Dan. Um in the amount of $124,000 for the purchase of Mac Labs. Those Mac Labs are going to go into FMS Graphic Design. uh the high school graphics department and the high school photography area. Uh Palmonian Food Service, who is our new food
045service provider, is uh renewing the agreement for 2526. And this time around, we're going to include in the in an addendum snacks for our Sunrise and Sunset uh students. Uh all these agreements are on the agenda. Um also, there's an HSA event that's being approved. Normandy Park is having an ice skating event at Menoria on May 16th. I'm sure all the kids will enjoy that. And um there's a number of payments under motion 19 for architect expenses and there's also a payment for open systems integrators for the Alfred Vale fire alarm system. Um uh we already talked about the adoption of the budget. I don't think I need to go over that again. Thank you Dan for covering that. Um, the only thing I will add is that we did have an adjustment for health
046care costs in the amount of $1.7 million. Um, our transportation department is going to see salaries increase year-over-year uh due to they're coming in actually under budget by $250,000 in the current year. So, um, so we're giving them a cola adjustment, which is great for all of our drivers and, uh, bus aids. Um and on the agenda we also have motion 18 um an approval for a new architect of record Gian Forcaro architects engineers and planners uh and uh our arch our new architect of record will be working closely with Laura Bishop communications which I mentioned previously and helping us prepare for potential referendum. Um as usual we looked at school counts by school and subgroup. We looked at our K5 section counts and um you know generally just informed ourselves with lots of data.
047Our next uh finance meeting is going to be May 5th. Thank you. Um Melissa, can you give us an update on Sure. So HR met on April 22nd and it was a lengthy meeting, lots of hiring going on and mentioned an important motion and a sidebar that um we're going to be approving the typical comingings and going field trips um graduation coverage for security summer programs. Um I'm excited to share that one of the motions we have um Harry Ruiz who's in the audience who's going to be our new director of safe safety and operations which is an important part of our district. So we're excited to have you here. Um and the last thing I would like to highlight is just because of the organization that Laura and Mark have brought year over year.
048um our list of openings is created sooner. So, we're able to hire sooner. So, there's quite a bit of hiring that's happening and as opposed to it happening, a lot of it in August, it's happening now, which is really great, which means we get a better chance um to get really great candidates. And our next meeting is on May 6th. Thank you. Um Beth, can you give us a policy update, please? Yes, absolutely. So, the policy committee last met on April 11th. We had about a handful of motions uh for continued discussion. Um you know, some necessary uh edits and reworking of certain things. Um for instance, we had uh policy 511 which was uh approved already for first read. Um at the March 10th meeting we had to just revisit some language with regard
049to the regulation. Um this evening we are approving the same policy only for second read. We also looked at policy 3214 conflict of interest and 9163 spectator code of conduct for intercolastic events. Uh made any necessary tweaks to those and they have been reviewed and approved for first read. This evening we had um looks like three um somewhat mandatory slash required uh reviews of policies. One of which is the 2024 actually oh yes sorry I was getting confused 2024 2025 revised calendar that Dr. Mucci has already um touched upon. We reviewed and approved that for this evening's agenda. Uh the committee had also requested that a message go out to our community highlighting the two separate last days um just because it could be confusing with our P uh PK8 getting out earlier than our
050high school students. So that communication will certainly go out to make it as clear as possible for parents and guardians. Then we had um reviewed and approved um policies 4217 and 7422 as you'll see on the uh policy minutes. They have been reviewed and approved for first read this evening. Then we had let's see in our um endeavor to continue our review of policies in different categories um continuously we reviewed about 13 policies um for district review. all of which have been approved for first read this evening. As always, we review our district and individual school count reports as of March 31st, 2025, as well as our K5 section counts. We will meet again this Friday, actually May 2nd. So, thank you. Um, Meredith, do you have anything for governance? Uh we we haven't met
051since the last meeting, but we do meet on Wednesday at 10:30 and we will be finalizing when the August retreat will be. There's a tie, so we have to figure out how to break the tie thing. It's either going to be August 11th and 12th. So I um Great. Thank you. Um okay. Um, with that we will go into public comment. Um, oh, oh, I forgot. I'm so sorry. I I was like, I know I'm missing something and in fact I was. You're right there and I apologize. No problem. Um, how's everything going in Morris Plane? Good. Good. Uh, just a couple highlights. Uh, we met earlier this month. Uh, we recognized the Morris Plains Education Association. They held a successful fundraiser. Every year the eighth grade students play the faculty in volleyball and they
052also present their friend of education award at the ceremony and they they uh recognized one of our crossing guards in the community. Uh we recognized an eighth grade student who um was named the Morris Plane School District unsung hero and was also recognized at the county ceremony. We congratulated cast crew and the drama club for the production of Alice in Wonderland Jr. Uh we thank the HSA who recently brought in a visiting author and illustrator into both of our school districts. It was well school buildings that was wellreceived. Um and and then we just recognized the preliminary budget was recognized by the county and our budget presentation is tomorrow night. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Now we're going to go into public comment. Um, before we open the meeting to public comment, we wish
053to remind you that our meeting is now video recorded and publicly aired. While the board welcomes and encourages public comment, we ask that you be respectful, including in any comments 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 from speaking about specific students and about personnel 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 3 minutes. Public comment is open for an hour or until public comments are complete, whichever comes first.
054At this point, I would invite I would like to invite any members of the public to come forward and to provide your full name and address. Good evening everyone. Thank you for doing all the great work for our community and Morristown. Um I'm here mostly when I can and I Sorry, could you just say your name and My name is Elana Nagui 71 Madison Street. Thank you. Sorry to interrupt you. Once again, thanks for all the work you guys doing. The reason I stood up, it's um because in my interfere with parents and community, I found very difficult for parents that have the kids between the 13 and the 1st of uh June, July actually. And I know you guys have great programs from July 1st to August or July 31st. But a lot of
055parents, they are actually worried what kids will do between 13 and July 5th when they will return to school. And I know when it comes to planning, it's very important for our parents that had a place to go or have the skills to be, I will say, more um supporting them. You know, either is a play, either is, you know, a place the kids that will go and engage because there are kids they have nowhere to go or maybe they struggle. So as a parent of myself as well that I have to work. So um it is a struggle and for our kiddo we want them to keep socially to keep them engaged. So we want them to go somewhere you know or be in a community. So we wanted to know my question is
056how can we address this part of time that a lot of parents they are concerned and I would love to get that question or you guys taking consideration or how going to support them and as us thank you and thank you for your continued support on the different committees that you have served um and your service to our parent groups. We appreciate that. Uh so there are strict rules about extended school year and the length of extended school year by IEP. So regardless of how we position it, there is still going to be a large chunk of the summer that would not be covered. And the reason that we establish the routine that we do is because we also do a tremendous amount of um building maintenance. So to get a run at cleaning right
057after and be able to move the student groups around and still complete all the work that we do in the summer. That's why our ESY program which is funded um from July as you said 5th to the 31st exists in those terms. Uh but as an initial thought and reaction to your question, I believe that we can also work with other parent organizations and sunrise and sunset to offer um safe and educationally sound options for parents during the time when school is not in session. And I'll reach out to you or Diana will uh directly to give you a list of those options for the times where the district is not providing ESY. If there's anybody else, okay, then we will um close public comment um and move into business matters. And if you could
058read your statement, please. As appointed representative of the sending Morris Plains School District to the Morris School District Board of Education, I'd like to clarify that my votes on tonight's business agenda items relate only to those items that are identified as applicable districtwide to grades preK to 12 or to the high school, grades 9 through 12. I am abstaining from voting on agenda items pertaining solely to the elementary and middle schools grades preK to 8. Thank you. Uh, okay. Moving minutes, motions one through three. Second. Thank you. Any discussion? Okay, please call the role. Mr. Lloyd, yes. Miss Murphy, yes. Mrs. Pedalino, yes. Mrs. Perry, yes. Dr. Rodriguez, yes. Mr. Smith, yes. Mrs. Spota, yes. Mrs. Wall, um, abstain on motions one and two. Yes. To number three, Mrs. Davidson, yes. Mrs. Cole. Yes. Moving
059policy motions one through five with new motion number five. A second. Thank you. Any discussion? Okay. Please call the role. Mr. Lloyd, yes. Miss Murphy, yes. Mrs. Pedalino, yes. Mrs. Perry, yes. Dr. Rodriguez, yes. Mr. Smith, yes. Mrs. Spota, yes. Mrs. Wall, yes. Mrs. Davidson, yes. Mrs. Cole, yes. Moving educational matters motions 1 through eight. Second. Thank you. Any discussion? Okay. Please call the role. Mr. Lloyd? Yes. Miss Murphy? Yes. Mrs. Pedalino? Yes. Mrs. Perry? Yes. Dr. Rodriguez? Yes. Mr. Smith? Yes. Mrs. Spota? Yes. Mrs. Wall? Yes. Mrs. Davidson? Yes. Mrs. Cole. Uh, abstain on number eight. Yes. To all others. Moving pupil services motions one and two. I'll second. Yeah. Thank you. Any discussion? Okay. Mr. Lloyd? Yes. Miss Murphy? Yes. Mrs. Pedalino? Yes. Mrs. Perry? Yes. Dr. Rodriguez? Yes. Mr. Smith? Yes. Mrs.
060Pota? Yes. Mrs. Wall? Yes. Mrs. Davidson? Yes. Mrs. Cole. Um, abstain on number one and yes to number two. moving human resources motions 1 through 42 with revised motions 1 3 9 12 and 41. I'll second. Thank you. Any discussion? Uh yeah, I just want to share I'm I'm going to be voting no on motion number eight and just wanted to share why. Um although I think the responsibilities for the role as they're described for the athletic academic counselor are important in the guidance office. I think our student athletes need some additional guidance and some additional help as they look to leverage their athletics for the future. I just don't feel it needs to be a full-time guidance position. um particularly after adding an assistant AD um a year and a half, two years ago,
061I just don't think it needs to be a full-time professional role. So, thank you. Thank you. Um I'd just like to add that for me, I will be voting yes on all the matters because from my vantage point, our job as board members is not to run the district, but to make sure that the district is run well. And from my vantage point, the recommendation of all of the matters, including the matters in matter number motion number eight, fall clearly in I believe the dis the superintendent's role. So for me, I will be voting. Yeah. Thank you. Any additional discussion? Well, I'll just say it's also our responsibility to be prudent with the funds that our taxpayers put into the district. Totally agree. Thank you. Okay. Please call the RO. Mr. Lloyd, no. On motion
062eight, yes to all the others. Miss Murphy, yes. Mrs. Pedalino, yes. Mrs. Perry, yes. Dr. Rodriguez, yes. Mr. Smith, yes. Mrs. Pota, yes. Mrs. Wall, um, abstain to motion number 41. Yes. To all others. Mrs. Davidson, yes. Mrs. Cole, yes. Moving business matters motions 1 through 30. I'll second. Thank you. Any discussion? Okay. Please call the role. Mr. Lloyd, yes. Miss Murphy, yes. Mrs. Pedalino, yes. Mrs. Perry, yes. Dr. Rodriguez, yes. Mr. Smith, yes. Mrs. Pota, yes. Mrs. Wall, yes. Mrs. Davidson, yes. Mrs. Cole, um, abstain on number five and yes to all others. Okay. Um, is there any new business? Okay. And I would like to get um a motion to enter again into close session to discuss personnel matters. No action will be taken. I'll move it. Second. Okay. Thank you. All in
063favor? Thank you. We'll go back to executive same space. Um, and just so you guys know, these are your graduation tickets. Thank you everyone. Council members, board of ed members. Thank you so much. That's it. Just the time. Make sense of you.