Board of Education Meeting - March 16, 2026

001Okay. Need to open the meeting before we can do that. I need an assist. Excellent. All right. Wonderful. Okay. So, um, hello everyone. I need to begin by reading the statement of adequate notice. The New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Mountain Lakes Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date, time, and place thereof posted in the Mountain Lakes Municipal Building and sent to the following newspapers. the daily the daily record, the citizen and the district website. Can we please rise for the pledge of allegiance? I

002>> 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 liberty and justice for all. >> And now I get to turn the meeting over to Secretary. All right. We're going to get to swear in our newest member, which we're so excited about. Is there anything you'd like to say before we begin? Anyone? >> Let's get going. >> All right. We're very excited to welcome Julie Mc. Please come up and take the oath of office. >> It's already Julie. >> Okay. raise your right hand and the afternoon. >> I, Julia McVey, >> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> and the

003Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. >> And that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. and to the governments established in the United States and this state. >> and to the governments established in the United States and this state >> under the authority of the people. So help me God. >> under the authority of the people. So help me God. >> Okay. I, Julia McVey, >> I, Julia McVey, >> do solemnly swear >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of me of a member of the board of education. >> that I possess the qualifications prescribed by law for the office of a member of

004a board of education >> and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS194-1. and that I am not disqualified as a voter pursuant to RS19 col4-1. >> Nor disqualified due to conviction of a crime or offense listed in NJ New Jersey statutes 18A col2-1. >> nor disqualified due to a conviction of a crime or offense listed in NJ statute 18A 12-1. and that I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability. So help me God. >> And that I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of that office according to the best of my ability. So help me God. >> Congratulations. >> Should we? >> Yes. Should we pause for a minute so you can take a

005picture with your family? Would you like that? >> All right. There we go. Let's pause for just a moment. Okay. >> Roll call, please. >> Okay. Dr. Don, >> here. >> Miss Foreman. >> Dr. Hersville. >> Mr. Johnson here. >> Mrs. Cole Carney >> here. >> Mrs. McVey >> here. >> Ms. Parker >> here. >> Dr. Sheth >> here. >> Dr. Silva Silva McIntyre >> here. >> And Mrs. Borcowskis >> here. >> We do have executive session tonight. So, I'll read the motion. Be it resolved by the Mountain Lakes Board of Education needs to enter into executive session. We need a first and a second, please. We have Dr. Silva McIntyre. And how about Mrs. McBay down there? All right. All in favor say I. >> Thank you very much. Um, be held by Mount

006Lakes Board of Education on the 16th day of March, 2026 at 6:39 p.m. as follows. The board shall recess into close session in accordance with the open public meeting law NJSA 104-12B1267 and 8. the general nature of the discussion including matters of personal confidentiality rights including to but not limited to staff and or student discipline matters and specifically legal matters. These matters will be disclosed to the public as soon as the need for confidentiality no longer applies. Although the board cannot guarantee it the length of the executive session is estimated to be 60 minutes after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and receive business action may take place and this resolution will take effect immediately. So we'll see you in about an hour. All right. Okay. We have um we need a

007motion to leave executive session. Looking for Mrs. Foreman and Mr. Johnson. Thank you very much. All in favor say I. >> I. And we return to public session at 7:34. I know we're four minutes late, but we're really happy you're here and I promise we were doing good work for the community and the district back there and exec. So, thank you for being patient, but we're very glad you're here tonight. Um, we get to jump right in with a few things. Um, why don't we start with the student government report, which is always one of our favorite things. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Um, okay. So, for today, I'm going to be discussing the middle school update. Um so here are just a few updates for the middle school Brier Cliff. Um we

008start with the student achievements. They had the math counts competition for the Brier Cliff team who which plays fifth out of 22 schools with Aiden Zhao earning the top score for the school. In music students auditioned for the North Jersey Junior Regional Band. Mason May was accepted on both battery and mallet percussion, placing seventh out of 60 students in the battery and third out of 42 in the mallet percussion. So that's great. Um, next, community service and school spirit. So, the Upstanders Club organized a schoolwide food drive that collected over 800 items for the Denver Food Pantry. And the club also continues to promote kindness in the building through positive messaging and community activities. With that being said, now we will move on to school events. The club also continues um oh my apologies. Um,

009with that being said, students will be also attending uh the Frozen. Many students from the high school production um had the Frozen musical and many M middle school students from the high school also uh viewed that through the per performing arts. Um, in addition, there will be the uh performance for theater in the middle school. So, please buy tickets there. Um, and for some school operations, the construction is beginning again with the new turf behind the field in Briar Cliff, which may temporarily increase truck traffic near the school. Um, for the new upcoming weeks, the district is also implement has already implemented a new vid visitor management software requiring visitors to scan identification before entering the building, improving security procedures as well. Um, and that should be all for Brower Cliff, but as I said

010earlier, um, the middle school continues to excel in their academic achievement, community service, and students engaged amongst all fields. Um, I want to also briefly talk about the junior class as well. Um, but first I want to apologize that last time I didn't mention anything about the hockey team. Um they had won the house cup this past I believe it was January and that was great. I was there. I attended it was insane. It was epic. I loved it. Um yeah it was it was thrilling. Um I also want to talk briefly about the junior class who also are starting me being president. I'm beginning to do a couple things with fundraising for our class for next year's senior activities. Um we want to do a lot this year especially because up we noticed how

011years prior they didn't really do much um with fundraising beforehand and then there were some money problems before. So this year we really want to um implement that sooner than later. We are discussing on doing a bunch of different um fundraisers with different food companies um like restaurants. We talked about and um we're bringing it up to the board today um the Buffalo Wild Wings um fundraiser which should be on March 20th and we're also talking about doing one in May with Chipotle which is another great thing. Um, we also briefly discussed different activities that we will be doing throughout the year if we do enough fundraising like a junior sunset activity for the juniors just like they do the senior sunrise. We thought that that would be a great thing to implement into this

012year, especially bringing the class together um before the summer. I think it's just a great way to bond our class. Um, in addition to that, we also mentioned doing merchandise that we will be fundraising. the junior class will be um making the merchandise and then we'll begin to pass through it for the classes. But our point with this merchandise is to do a high school Mountain Lakes High School merchandise because we tend to not have that. We only have sports apparel and we want something to be for all students um collective and for the most part that's it on the junior class and what we have been doing. other than that's it. Thank you. >> Well, that's pretty fantastic. Anybody have any questions or comments from the board? >> I have a question. >> Mrs.

013Gorman, how much money are you guys looking to raise? Because most of the senior activities are paid for from the student activities fees. So, what are you guys looking to do? So for the most like I don't I have um I'm just the president so I don't really have all the you know stuff that the treasurer usually does but also Miss Blood and Miss Alano they take care of all the expenses as well. We've already come to ask them and to bring us information about like the expenses how much we've already raised and how much your class already has because I think that's a really important thing to have. um especially knowing how much we need to raise for next year and what extra cash we'll have to be able to do activities like for

014the junior class the junior sunset. Um so that's a great question and next time if I have more information I'll let you know. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> All right. Well, thank you so much for being here. You know, you are always welcome to stay, but you also are allowed to leave. So, whatever works for you. >> I actually have the MJ GPA. >> All right. You go get that done. All right. Thank you again for coming. Thank you. >> All right. Then we will move on to any Mountain Lake School uh district student comment. Okay. Then we will move on to comments and requests from the MLEA co-presidents. But we're still always glad when you're here. So, thank you. All right. Then we get to move on to a great part of the

015evening. I'll turn it over to Dr. Seagull for presentations. >> Yes. Uh we're going to do a little skipping but I want to this is tonight a big celebration uh in terms of our presentation of the achievements and work that Lake Drive program does. We have uh Miss Lazaration and Musuli here to do a presentation on specific areas of community engagement. One of the things that um people might not know about um despite the fact that our Lake Drive community comes uh from all over the state, how much Lake Drive is actually involved outside of Mountain Lakes to be an ambassador for deaf education to uh seek out more resources and to also share the amazing things that we're doing here. So, tonight you're going to hear um the various ways in which the Lake

016Drive program connects outside of Mountain Lakes um in terms of community engagement. Before that we are going to skip the agenda. Um we do have um a c another celebration tonight that I would ask especially since we have a student in the audience who is going to be who was a recipient of an award. Um and that is uh Bo Morgan. So if you go to the agenda under miscellaneous it's the Morris County unsung heroes award. Um, I'm going to ask to I will read the resolution um and do a separate motion uh for approval. Just as a matter of background, New Jersey school boards every year has an award given to one student from each school district who is recognized for being able to go above and beyond in the area of um doing

017things that are right and good for the school and the community. um extraordinary things and having had the chance not this year but in previous years to go see that it's incredible to see you know what students are doing and my understanding about Bo who is going to be uh recognized tonight is that um what he has contributed here at the high school uh through the lake drive program but to the Mount Lakes community is incredible. I understand that Bo is also I think a resident of Aboot Township and um Miss Lazeration just happens to be here tonight. So after I do the resolution I will let her share a little bit more of Bo's story. We could take a quick picture but uh being that this is a board uh award for the county

018for the state. Um we wanted to invite Bo and his family here to get recognized in this achievement and I will read the resolution. We will approve it and then u Miss Lazaration I will turn it over to you and then we can take a picture then you can say go right into your presentation. It gives me time to set it up um to the screen. How's that sound? Sound. So number 22 under miscellaneous 2020 I need to get stronger glasses. 2026 Mars County unsung hero. Whereas the Mars County School Boards Association in collaboration with the New Jersey School Boards Association recognizes unsung hero from each high school and school district in Mars County to celebrate those whose character and impact define the heart and soul of our schools. And whereas the Unsung Hero Award

019honors students who make outstanding contributions to their schools and communities, but are often overlooked by traditional recognition programs, students who have modeled good citizenship, a spirit of quiet strength, and the heart of a hero that inspires others. And whereas these unsung heroes may have organized community programs, selfishly supported their peers, or achieved significant academic success while overcoming difficult personal challenges, disabilities or language barriers. And whereas Bao M Bao Yang Morgan has overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles to reach their full potential serving both the school community and the community at large as a beacon of resilience and integrity. And whereas on Thursday, March 5th, Balier Morgan was formerly recognized for these achievements at the 2026 Mars County Unsung Hero Awards ceremony held at Hanover Park High School. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Mountain Lakes Board

020of Education officially recognizes Baang Morgan as an unsung hero of the Mars County and the Mountain Lake School District. And be it further resolved that the resolution is presented to Ba Young Morgan as a sincere token of the Mountain Lakes Board of Education's congratulations and best wishes wishes for continued success as they continue to lead by example and recommended by the superintendent. So that is the resolution that is in the agenda. We can >> uh so I if in case anyone would like to make a comment, we have to first move this motion so we can vote on this motion. So is there a first? We have Mr. Johnson and second. We have Miss Colarnney. Thank you very much. Um are there any comments at this time on this motion? >> You certainly can make

021a comment. Yes. Thank you. All right. Thank you for letting me speak a moment. I was not at the ceremony where he was recognized, but I do have what was read about him, and I can't rewrite it. It's perfect. So, I want to take a moment to read what was read about him at the ceremony a few weeks ago. Mountain Lakes High School is privileged to honor Bo Morgan, a student whose character and integrity have left a lasting mark on our community. Since arriving in United States from China at the age of 11, Bo has grown into a confident young man with a true passion for learning and a deep curiosity about the world. Known as the mayor of our school, Bo is one of the most positive and happiest people to be around. Despite

022the many challenges he has faced in his life, he remains kind-hearted and is always the first to help someone in need. Bo excels academically in sports and through regular volunteer work, pro proving that a heart of gold and an infectious laugh can bridge any gap. Please join me in recognizing Bo Morgan for his courage, his unwavering spirit, and his exceptional contribution as our unsung hero. Thank you. >> So I just uh one quick comment to add uh when I I happened to be in the room uh Mr. Surles who is the uh counseling supervisor director uh was meeting jointly with the all the the high school counselors and the late drive staff uh counselors and also the child study team and they uh discussed um who would be the potential recipient of this award and

023there is a criteria but obviously it is subjective um once Bose's name was brought up it was unanimous among the group Lake Drive Mount Lakes special Gened um that this individual should be recognized for this award. So you have the full support of the entire counseling staff at Mount Lakes High School. >> So thank you. >> Any any other board members? >> Well, it's so wonderful that you came to our meeting tonight. I say all the time, it takes a little more to be a Laker and you are certainly an example of a little more. So, thank you for being here and giving us an opportunity to celebrate you. So, it's really wonderful that you're here. Thank you. >> All right. >> Okay. >> Just do a quick picture. >> I'm talking. He's talking. He

024was just I think you should let him say it. >> I just want to say thank you very much for >> I heard that. We we actually need to vote. We move into this motion. So I get to say roll call, please. >> Okay. Uh Dr. Don, >> yes. >> Miss Warren, >> yes. >> Mr. Johnson, >> yes. >> MC Carney, >> yes. 100%. Miss McVey. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Parker. >> Absolutely. Yes. >> Dr. Sheth. >> Yes. >> Dr. Silva McIntyre. >> Yes. >> And Miss Barouch. Yes. >> Yes. And And I think I want to add Miss Was that your first official vote? What a great first official vote. We got to vote for you. So, let's do that. Could we could we take a quick break to take some pictures? A motion

025for a fivem minute break. We have Mrs. Foreman and we have Dr. Chef. Thank you very much. Let's take a quick break for some >> Okay, we're going to move right. Here we go. >> We're going to move right into our presentation. As I said before, uh the theme for tonight for Lake Drive is community connections. all the different ways in which the Lake Drive staff and students are engaged in community events outside of Mount Lakes, uh, virtual career days, uh, other programs and events, professional learning. So, we are going to turn over to Miss Lazaration and Miss Tulie to give us their update. >> So, I'm vertically challenged. I've lowered this. >> Hi everyone. and thank you for giving us an opportunity to speak about the great things that Lake Dry program does not

026only in Mountain Lakes but throughout the state. So, we're just going to take a few minutes to share information. I believe a picture tells a thousand words. So, there's a lot of pictures in this presentation, not so many words, but we're going to explain what's going on. So, we kind of did this in chronological order. Um, one of the first events we did is Death Opia. Death Opia is a regional event held throughout the United States. It's held in different clusters. So, the tri-state area one happens to be held at American Dream in New Jersey, which is great for us because it's local enough. Um, there it's I think they have about seven events throughout the country throughout the year. So, it's a great opportunity. There are vendors from across the tri-state area who all

027represent deaf um deaf businesses, deaf agencies, deaf support services, all the different kind of things that our children and families need or don't know about. They're there at this event teaching and sharing information. We are one of the few schools that actually sign up to be there. And we're there to make sure they know about who we are, what we do. in case a parent is there with a young child, they have a deaf child, they go to Deaf Opia, we want to make sure they know we exist. So, we spend a Saturday there. Uh this is the third year in a row we've gone and we will go again this next year coming up in September. Um if you've ever been to American Dream Mall in the ice ring above the ice ring on

028the second floor, there's a big round area. That whole floor is full of a uh agencies and vendors. So, it's a really great event. So, fire prevention week is great because it is a national uh event that is celebrated in many schools and towns and communities around. And we have the opportunity of inviting the Mountain Lakes Volunteer Fire Department in to do a little uh presentation with our students. And the great thing about them coming to us is they also bring the junior firefighters, which are high school students uh from Mountain Lakes that come to pre uh present to our students different things about fire safety. And um through this event, the kids get to go on the fire trucks. They get to learn that the firefighters are safe people. They're not there. They're not

029scary people. They get to touch their equipment and and practice what it's like if you're in a fire. what should you do? What should you say? And it's an interactive experience that they have together. We do like to communicate on our social media that we have, you know, we invite the town in to do different things in our building or we like to invite them in if we can. Uh on our social media, you'll find more things that we're not necessarily talking about today that uh involve the community or outreach that we do within our school. Uh so you can check us out. Um, but here's more just some more pictures of our firefighters. >> So, I'm gonna give a little bit more of a shout out to uh Miss Chisulli about our social media.

030We have a really great social media presence because Miss Chisulli has been overseeing that for almost the past 5 years or so. Um, we are second behind this athletics in Mountain Lakes High School. Then it's ours that gets to most of hostings and that. So we try to stay very current because we want people to know about us, know what we're doing, and we want the other parents in deaf programs across the state to see what Lake Drive does. We I am a member of a state a few state committees and one of the state level committee that I'm on is a state committee about transitional services for deaf students transitioning to adulthood and it's a um there's a committee of us who work in conjunction with the uh division of vocational rehab because we

031want to make sure that our students have a a plan to go on at 14 years old. Our students start with a paths program which is pre-employment transition services that we provide at the high school for our students. We have outside agency working with our high school students. But we also participate in a um weekend deaf virtual career day. We started this uh four years ago. This our fourth time we've done it and again it's at the state level. We had over a 100 dev students from across the state and it was students who were freshman through high school seniors and they were able to participate. The reason we do it virtually is number one, even though our state isn't that big, it is big. When you try to get everyone to get to one

032location, to get to um the middle of the state, it takes two hours for the furthest ones. They're losing half the day driving. So the virtual day gave us an opportunity for our students to learn about adults from their own school. It saved on bus costs for everybody. But we also because it's virtual, we had presenters from across the country. We had people from California, from Texas, from um various states talking about their career. And it's not only careers of college graduates, but it's careers of people who didn't go to college who are in the trades. They spoke about what they did so that our deaf students know they can do anything they want. It doesn't matter they that they are deaf or heart of hearing. So trick-or-treating is something that we started a couple

033years ago. I believe it was right after COVID happened. And this was a way to bring in social language for our students and a way for them to experience um you know the trick-or-treating in general. A lot of our kids don't get to do that at their home. Um and or they do it and they don't really know what's behind it. They don't know the language that comes out of it. So the idea when we first started it was staff members who got together and bought candy and I think the first year we actually did it as the classroom was the door of the house and we actually knocked on the door and they open the door and we did things where we had little glow sticks and if the lights on you can knock.

034If the lights off you can't knock. So, it kind of started as a whole social lesson for our students and we decided a couple years later, we like that idea, but we also wanted to bring the community in. So, because we have the Ivy Hall program, we have town parents that are involved um and we open up our parking lot for trunk-or-treating and they can volunteer to decorate a trunk. And we had lots of parents um over the years that have volunteered to decorate their trunk and bring candy um and kind of celebrate with our students that tradition of trunk or treating. So this year Lake Try program hosted a deaf education professional day. So during the teachers convention um Thursday and Friday everyone went to Lake City. No, all the deaf professionals came to

035Lake Drive on that Thursday. We ran a full day event. We had Galedet University doing a presentation and we had many other little workshops happening. We had a nice number of people show up. We were shy of a hundred people showing up for the event. Um and they came from all over the state. There were different teachers that are deaf therapists. There were case managers who have students who are deaf or heart of hearing. So it was a really great event run at our building. These are the pictures. These are some of the small workshops we offer. So in the morning we had keynote speakers and in the afternoon we had workshops in various classrooms throughout the building. Oh yes it's my turn. So Wingman, you all have heard of Wingman before because that was

036a push several years ago in all the schools. Lake Drive really took that and we have stayed with it and we changed up Wingman a little bit. Wingman is that social emotional interaction. And usually the older students in the school are the ones working with the younger students. But what we did um whenever we rolled it out at Lake Drive, we had students who are Wingman champions at both Briercliffe and the high school and they participate in their wingman at their building, but they also are the ones the Lake Drive deaf students in those buildings are the ones who come to our building to interact with our students. So, it gives our students the opportunity to work with role models who are older than them, but they are like them. They it it's great for

037them to see an older child. Oh, they have a coar implant like I have or they have hearing aids. Um, and it's so wonderful. The students run the activities. The teachers and staff are sitting back letting the students run it all. What we do is we have it four times a year in our building. So typically at the end of each marking period, we have a wingman event and the kids enjoy the time. The older kids enjoy the time coming over to work with the younger students and the younger students enjoy working with their older peers. Oh, you see B in some of the pictures. Okay. So, National Death Youth Day. It's a tongue twister trying to say that the right way. Uh so this was started by the National Association for the Deaf, the

038NAD and this was a way it started in 2017 so it's fairly newer uh holiday that they put on the calendar but this is a way to promote um deaf pride um and you know some of the different things that it celebrates death you use youth and encourages inclusion in the classrooms um and empowers leaders who are deaf and heart of hearing. So this is one of the holidays we've started to recognize at our school and bring in different things that we we do and one of the things you see bow again uh very involved in different things that we do. Um so we this happens to be most of the time during read across America. So we tie it into one of our spirit days and we make a lake drive pride day and

039we bring the ASL classes over. a certain amount of students will participate in this. Um, so these might be ASL 2 or ASL 3 students that came over along with some of our uh deaf and hearty hearing English classes will also come over and the deaf and hearty hearing uh classes usually go into the Ivy Hall to expose them to deaf culture. Uh, teach them a little bit about deafness and kindness. And you'll see that this is our Ivy Hall that they're in right now. Um, they'll read a book and they'll do an activity with them. So very cute interactions. It's really nice to see them. Um and also it's empowering our deaf students to be role models in general and and feel some pride in that their ability to communicate and help uh the

040students in Lake Drive. This is one of the ASL uh three students that's in our one of our preschool So, lots of little groups that go in each one of the classes. At the end, we gathered them all together. These are all the students that presented at that time, and they presented a couple books to our library as well at the end of their session. This is also something that we're trying to promote deaf awareness within even our school because we do have the Ivy Hall which consists of hearing students. So to promote uh you know deaf culture within those classes one of the things I did is I reached out to this author called uh the book is called Mighty Ma and it's a book about um a student her daughter who is the

041author's daughter who is hearing impaired and she wears coar implants and her goal was to represent deaf and hearty hearing students in literature. So when I went on her website, I saw that you could donate and I emailed her and said, "If I donated for 14 books, would you make sure they come to Lake Drive School?" So she did. And she also donated bookmarks for free for us and paid for the shipping. And so now each classroom in the Lake Drive building has one of these books in it to represent the deckness. So the Ivy Hall has them along with our Lake Drive classes as well. So the last thing that we're sharing with you is we had uh future music educators from William Patterson University come to observe our music teacher and to watch

042how you work with special needs students to teach music class. This has been something we've done a few years going. The professor constantly reaches out to me and asks if she could bring a class. So, this is the students and the full class of college students. They're watching the music class. Um, and it's it's a great experience. It's a great experience for our students to always have people come and want to see what we do, but it's also a great experience for these future teachers to see that it isn't what they think it's always going to be. They could end up being a music teacher in a special needs building. And how do you meet the needs of the students? So, this is our last slide. Thank you so much for giving us an opportunity

043to share with you the opport um the community outreach that we do throughout the community and the state and I appreciate the time. Thank you. >> May I ask if any board member has a comment or question? Dr. Sheriff, >> is this the first time you've presented or you've done more? I just feel like I've sat on that side for years and maybe because I'm on this side like I don't think I've ever seen this before. It was a great presentation either way and I love it. >> So my in years past when I presented it's usually on different topics. Yeah, this is the first time I'm presenting on this kind of stuff. >> Okay. Great. So it was great though. Thank you, >> Mrs. Parker. So I have sat for the presentations and this

044was my favorite one. Good. It's great like we know some of the stuff that goes on obviously when you sit on the board you you know some of it but I'm a very visual person so it was really nice to see it and not just hear about it and so I just it was a great presentation. Thank you both of you. >> Really amazing. >> Mrs. Borman, >> I am really impressed by the student teachers the teachers of tomorrow coming to see. Is this something that could be more regular where there's more opportunity to partner with other educa other schools of education or you know even value of debt or just whatever. So we do uh TCJ is coming out in two weeks with their future teachers at deaf. They're coming to spend the morning

045in our program. So yes, I have a lot of outreach in different universities. I just think that's just such a slam dunk because there's so few >> there first of all our program is very unique as we all know but there's so few opportunities I think just to even because some of these teachers are going to future teachers are going to be in mainstream classrooms with >> with deaf or heart of hearing students and not have the you know experience of seeing what it looks like and what it looks like from the other side. So, I think that's fascinating and very interesting to see this and I would I'd love updates more on >> Thank you. >> what you guys are doing with that. I think that's a great idea. >> Thank you. >> I

046just I just wanted to add I mean this was a fantastic presentation and you know it kind of like I loved every slide and just all of the different things that you're how you're engaging your students into so many different things. I love the career day and like letting kids sort of realize that they can do whatever they set their mind to. But I think just anecdotally um someone from Brooklyn, New York who was looking for a good school for her hearing impaired kid actually asked me about drive and so it's not just in the state like you're being recognized in the tri-state which is I was pretty shocked because I really didn't realize and it's a real credit to both of you that this is this program is what it's at. It's fantastic. The

047truth is there are there aren't many weeks that go by that I don't have phone discussions with parents calling me asking me questions about our program from across the state. Um people are asking great >> well thank you for coming sincerely. It's it's um it was a wonderful reminder that in Mountain Lakes excellence comes in many forms and you gave us so many examples of the way your students are learning, the way your faculty is teaching and the way you both are leading. So thank you for that sincerely. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. >> And the clicker worked to me. Like that's the that's the surprising. >> Usually those things are technology. It's not our friend. >> Um is it all right if I keep going? >> Yes. All right. I'm going to

048um move on to the president report. I just want to remind everybody that it was a year ago, almost a year ago, that I know we're supposed to talk about the luck of the Irish, but I talked about the luck of the Laker. That was almost a year ago. And I said on that day that one of the reasons we're lucky is we are inheriting we are receiving the good work of our faculty, the good work of our staff members, the support of our families, our community partners, and of course our students. Even though I I call it the luck of the Laker, there's nothing lucky about it. That's a lot of good hard work. Maybe we're lucky all to be together. I'll take that. But it's a good reminder of of this community and

049what we have. So, with that in mind, I I celebrate um lots of things tomorrow, I'm sure, but for me, it'll be the luck of the week. So, thank you for that. Um then we get to move on to Oh my gosh, this is a big one. Superintendent assistant, superintendent update. You want to jump in? All right, here we go. It's a little bit of out of an order tonight, but uh yes, so in terms of the superintendent update, I am going to um avoid getting into anything too big other to say. Um one of the things that we are looking at are our policies around the ebike situation. So, just to be for everybody to be aware of the fact that the governor did pass a law uh governor Murphy did right before leaving

050office that had uh more severe restrictions on the use of ebikes, specifically an age range that this is something that we're going to continue to discuss uh as a district and work with uh our shared services committee to come uh look at our own policy. But um it you know with the springtime coming just wanted to make sure that you know that is on the radar and I understand a lot of families are aware of the changes uh to the ebikes and the safety issues that um we have started to address through education. also um our turf field which is uh being really wrapping up in the final stages. Uh for anybody in the public who's listening um the last few weeks could be a little disruptive in terms of the path uh trying to

051get through the turf has been delivered and will be installed in the next few weeks weather permitting. Seems like we're on a decent weather stretch that would allow us uh to get this done. So, it's uh exciting news and um starting in the spring, but I will turn over I'll switch like positions here. Um tonight's feature is really our preliminary budget which is uh being uh approved tonight or on um the agenda for approval. Uh we have a lot of people who are involved with the budget price process. Um there's always a lot of people involved with the budget process but this year is unique. We have a lot a lot of people um who are some of which are here today. So want to thank uh Mr. Brennan who has just started as the

052interim VA uh has really come in at the tail end but has helped us to really execute all the final things that we need to get done and has jumped in and really been a great support uh for all of our staff in in terms of the budget. We have Mr. Robinson here who is going to do the speaking part on it. Um he was hired as a independent consultant uh when our BA uh resigned and um we were in a position where we're looking for an interim or full-time. Uh Mr. Robinson came in with a lot of experience and has really in a very short amount of time been able to help guide the business and and financial planning with our finance committee. And then with that I will say our finance committee uh

053led by Dr. McIntyre who is our chair um really has um given us the support uh the detailed attention and guidance uh to get to us where we are tonight and what we are going to present tonight and it is going to be a team effort. I'm going to have uh Dr. McIntyre open actually then Mr. Robinson is going to go over some of the details of the budget and then I'm going to do the conclusion just to give an overview of where we are and it is a unique position and that um most all if not all districts in the state are facing right now. We will do a more developed presentation at our official hearing. After this is done uh we will upload it into the county software, seek county approval uh and

054and take action from there. So I will pass it off to Dr. McIntyre is just going to talk a little bit about the process. >> Okay. Thank you. So, the 2627 budget is fully balanced at 49.6 million, up from 47.3 for the 2526 school year. The most significant challenge this year is navigating the substantial increase in employee benefits. This challenge was also presented by Steve Robinson at our last uh public um board meeting. Employee benefits are estimated to be 9.7 million, up from 6.9 that was estimated for the 2520 2425 uh school year at this time last year. So that's close to a 40% increase in employee benefits. Um I wanted to give a quick review of the budget process that got us to this tentative budget for the board's approval tonight. The process began

055in October with a review of the budget calendar and several administration budget meetings. Uh Steve Robinson stepped in in December to steer the budgeting process. Thank you, Steve. The finance committee has met regularly as the budget was being developed. Um, in this challenging budgeting environment, our priorities have been to support our full staff, support all students by maintaining the current high-quality programs, academic and extracurricular, fund the facilities, projects, and capital improvements considered highest priority in the long-range facilities plan. Thank you, facilities committee, by using capital and maintenance reserves, and prioritizing uh security updates that have been the focus of many in the community, the administration, and the board. So good. Thank you. Okay. >> So, I'm gonna turn over to Mr. Robinson. We have two slides uh just to give a general review of our

056revenue sources and our appropriations. And Mr. Robinson could add in uh anything about the process that has gotten us to this point. >> Okay. So, um let me get the pies. So, the biggest part of the pie, as you can see, is a general fund tax levy. And that's what they're saying to you. the state sanctu you are soio economically in good shape that you can afford to pay for most of the education of your students in other districts you would see a higher state aid portion but here you see general fund tax levy is the biggest part of this thing um you you're lucky to have here um which is good and you heard some great things about it is the tuition program with lake drive that is a um benefit for school uh

057schools throughout the eight, we're projecting 115 students to be in the Lake Drive program next year. Um, again, that's a tuition money that you bring in that helps offset some of the cost that you have with special education, which we'll get to the next slide. Um, state aid, um, you are not one of the lucky ones. You had a slight reduction in SL state aid. We just received the information a couple days ago. you went down approximately $40,000 on the general fund and six uh $7,000 in debt service aid. Um so again um other districts saw some slight increases. There was a slight increase in total state aid throughout the state. Unfortunately Lakes was not one of the participants in that increase in the state aid. Next slide. Um, as you see here, the biggest

058piece of the pie is teacher salaries and child study teams, which which is a good thing. It should be in the classroom. Um, which is good. The employee benefits was talked about before, $9.7 million. That number has risen to a much bigger piece of the pie over the last two years. As I said last time, this is not sustainable. I don't know where it's going to go, but that piece is taken over the pie and and it can't continue like that. It's $9.7 million is is usually it's about 15% of a budget. You can see it's a much higher number compared to what it used to be. Um special education, it's it's uh again a big piece of that is offset by the tuition revenue you receive from other school districts for the Lake Drive

059program. So, it's not only uh Mountain Lakes cost for special education, it's it's educating the Lake Drive students. Um, and all other other expenses again and the operation maintenance, those are pretty consistent what they've been in the prior years. Any questions on those two slides? Be glad to make a link. >> I just have a question. The tuition, the revenue tuition, does that include Township and Lake Drive? >> Yes. Thank you. >> I should have said that. Yes, we have the talking to the business administrator of Luben Township. We're projecting 185 students that are going to be coming from Luben to uh to Mount Lakes. >> It also includes uh any non-resident tuition. >> Okay. >> So, it's all tition. >> So, the two biggest pieces are the Lake Drive school and the township. >>

060Yeah. >> Okay. So I I think this is the uh key message for tonight and and really across the state and across the nation is this uh primary cost driver. And really what we're seeing here is over a 2-year period uh 202425 Dr. McIntyre mentioned $6.8 million in u employee benefits which is primarily healthcare and now we're at 9.73. So over two cycles um it's over 40% structural increase. So that is um you know in the condition that we are under which is a 2% cap um that the state has employed uh not possible not sustainable for any school district to maintain these healthcare costs. Now the health care costs that we have are comparable not lakes is not just being charged these rates. This is across the state across the state health benefit program

061all private plans small group plans. So this is uh we are you know definitely high but so are all the districts and as a result of that the state has allowed for a healthcare adjustment waiver that is much more uh significant than they have in the past. So last year it was about less than 3% rather than a 2% cap but it was still in the twos. This year uh we're uh our available amount of uh waiver is up to 8%. Um and the budget that you see that is balanced reflects a significant increase in the budget. Um but it it definitely does not in accommodate for the full uh adjustment. So we are not taking the full health care adjustment. It's because we're able to sustain our current budget um this year with um

062an increase but not taking the full amount. And those are things that we will get into more detail at um our our full hearing. Let me let me add to that because what you just said is correct. Most school districts are not only using up the full amount of money in their health adjustment, they're also making cuts to positions because it can't even with that can't absorb the uh impact of how big the health insurance is. So you are you could have raised his budget $519,000 more with the health insurance adjustment. We did not use it all. And you are able to have a budget that you're not going to have staff cuts. So, I would say you are in much better shape than you're going to hear some of the neighboring districts throughout the

063county and the state. And that's a result of the work of uh years of of good fiscal planning uh by the committee, by the administration. Um I think that we have our programs are in a in a really good place and efficient use of resources. I think when you look at our priorities and needs, which Dr. McIntyre outlined before of what is utmost importance is to preserve the excellence and the highquality education extracurricular. This budget allows for that to take place for our students. So there are no cuts. Um we are not adding more though. I think that being very conscious of the fact of what the budget climate is like and and the challenges that we face. uh we are not adding positions or programs with the exception of in the area of safety

064and security. So we we have put forward um a request to hire an additional officer for the next school year which we were talking to the bureau about. Um that is the only added position. We also um which is separate from our operating budget through what uh Dr. McIntyre referenced our capital reserves and our longrange facilities project. We are prioritizing several cap projects next uh over the course of the summer that are dealing with safety and security which include upgrading our phone system across the district. Uh and includes um best of lake drive, moving the office location at Brier Cliff. Those are not part of the operating budget that gets accounted for in that um budget number and the increases. that is um due to a lot of good planning for the long term and

065capital reserves and they're allocated uh for next year. So what I will tell you here the term that you know we have discussed as a county uh and this is a topic that is very um the superintendents and business administrators and boards are are talking about these unsustainable cost increases. You saw this last number here of 41% over two years. um who knows what next year is going to bring. So if we were to be at a similar place next year where we're seeing 20 to 30% increases that is unsustainable and there will be a period of time where you know every district even you know having the stability that we have are not going to be able to sustain things. So for it's really critically important um and I'm thankful for the support to

066be able to extend our budget to utilize the healthcare uh uh arrangement the uh waiver this year because if that is not able to be utilized that has a significant impact on the future of future budgets um because the healthcare costs are always going to be rising. So it's really critical um that we make this investment now uh but also look ahead in the future and hope that um there are substantial changes to the structure of healthcare not just in education but to the industry that the state comes up with a better funding formula model um and I know there's a lot of um stories and advocacy around that uh but we are in the group now with the rest of the of the district to face this this um whole challenge together. So I

067think that's you know where we lead off. It's a very positive uh ending of where we are and and it really is due to the work of our finance committee and these great uh business adviserss who've come in and our administrators for for really planning um but also you know knowing that we have to be prepared for a challenging you know future with regard to healthcare and you know the other thing that I I'll just tuck in here is it's not just healthcare so I can give you a little quick example like we budget for things like Chromebooks And Chromebooks are not expensive. They're not compared to other devices. But because of inflation and computer chips, like the price that we estimated for Chromebooks two months ago is different now, much different now and with

068you know other things like globally that are happening with the economy. Um it's not just going to be healthcare. So we have to be prepared um for you know other costs that we have to make sure that we can control that. So, not I think that's giving sort of a a global picture here. Want to thank everybody uh for getting this involved that not having a full-time BA is certainly um not the the best arrangement, but what we have here we've made the most of. So, I want to thank you both for the work that you've done. Um and any questions? >> Can I sorry something? And I just really want the board to be to emphasize the the last bullet of these unsustainable cost increases. Like we're very proud of where we've landed here.

069Um it's been because of very good financial planning, but we are going to be raising the tax levy more than we have before because we were allowed to with this waiver, but it is the highest rate that we have in a while. And that's not sustainable either. we can't be going back to the to the taxpayer to um you know fund this imbalance even if there is the waiver that these are constraints that you know not like in the next mid midterm or or or even sooner that we're going to have to really address. So I think we can be very proud of this budget and where we are now but um I don't want to gloss over the the challenging structural um constraints that we're going to have on our budget until this is

070resolved. And there's also things last year energy costs was a big part of our budget and that's something that's going to be uncertain going forward and our reserves are in a good place. Um but we also have to keep in mind that those reserves are legally you can only be used for capital and maintenance projects. They can't be used for a shortfall in our budget or some sort of shock to our district. Um, so I just I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but I also don't want to gloss over the significant challenges that that we're going to continue to face. >> Okay, we had a couple more. We had Dr. John. >> Um, yeah, I'm actually more curious about at the county or state level, what that conversation is around how to address

071this on sustainability. I mean is there any solutions being thrown out um just a plan for the next couple years? >> I mean nothing that is um very I'm optimistic about there's there's a lot of people who were like um galvanizing to whether it's different associations but like in terms of this I it's bigger than just the state health care plan for the educators it's the healthcare industry. I think the biggest um question regarding the schools is the state funding formula like and how that's determined whether it's for state aid and then also you know what the uh budget constraints are with the cap. I think that's the most um where you might see the most and then also looking at uh chapter 44 with um withholdings from employee benefits and things like that. I

072mean, those are are definitely conversations that are happening, >> but I I'm not very optimistic that there's like um a plan. >> Anyone else? >> I just want to say one thing. >> I just want to compliment um Lauren McIntyre >> because she's been an amazing and I'm speaking for Aru and James right now. She's been amazing um on the committee. >> Thank you for the committee's break. But you are very very she really knows her stuff and so this is you know the third budget I've worked on and I feel like there were a lot of really difficult conversations around especially because we don't want to go back to the taxpayer for every to compensate for failures of government like we don't want to do that but unfortunately this is the situation that we've

073been placed in um and you know I'll also just say that There hasn't really been discussion at the state level from a political perspective to fix this. It's mostly does it's it's it's conversations by lobbyists. It's not actual lawmakers who are putting their heads down and trying to figure out how to do a long-term fix for something like this. But, you know, I mean, as Steve would tell you, like this is not um we're not in a situation like other neighboring districts that have, you know, a 14 or 15 million dollar hole that they have no idea how they're going to plug or fix. We anticipated for this and really like have been planning for this unfortunately because we saw it on the horizon for the last couple of years. So, >> I just want

074to add one thing. I want to second um Lauren's stewardship of this whole process with Steve. Steve, you've been awesome too. >> But honestly, I mean, I think the way the communication has been throughout has been phenomenal. Um I just want the board to understand that yes, while while the state allowed for as much as 8%. I think there was so much good discussion because we really did not want to burden the taxpayer any more than we already were going to. And and it was sort of this fine balance of saying how much do we really need to increase without cutting like I think I think we were all aligned on wanted to keep all of our like curriculum options all of our teachers you know we didn't want to have to cut expenses as

075much as possible and so I think there was really really good dialogue and discussion and and Steve I know did a lot of work on the back end like making sure and you know checking all of that um and I also think the revenue projections are realistic. I mean, they're they're smart. It's it's, you know, but I think Lauren, you make an excellent point because I think that's this year and I think we'll walk out of this okay and the questions will be about how do we have this in the future. So, it's going to just continue to be confounding. And I I have to say I get a chance sometimes to talk to um boards in other districts and and board presidents and and and I get to um I get to brag at

076a time when no one's bragging that the the philosophy that drove this process is so different than in other districts. There was a real commitment here to to our staff and our students to to security procedures to upkeep of our facilities. That is a balance that no one is able to do right now. and and yet that that philosophy drove your work and it was a real commitment and I think it's important that we we acknowledge that that is a a a small needle you you thread and and honestly I don't hear other boards raving about their their finance committees the way we all do we do I don't hear other boards celebrating their BAS whether they're they're full-time whether consultants or interims this is what we get to do here. We acknowledge that we

077don't want to keep going back to our community. We're grateful for that support. Nobody says we're not, but this is a a a difficult conversation that we're going to keep having, but I really like the philosophy that guides us. I think it speaks to who we are and what we believe. And that's that's no easy task. So to our finance experts, to our finance committee, to our superintendent and our assistant superintendent and all the people who participated, this is a an incredible process we're at, but a job that's not done. I feel like this is certainly work that's never finished. So, thank you for where we are. Thank you for how we're going to keep going. And we look for whatever updates you have because this is going to get hard harder even. So, thank

078you really for this hard work. Thank you. >> Thank you, Steve. Thank you. >> Again, I also again been around a lot of finance committees. We do have our A1 finance committee. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. Then we will carry on here. Um we do not have minutes to approve. Are there any comments or requests from the public? Then we will have carry on. Are there any communications to share at this time Dr. Zingle? Okay, then we move on to the boot township report. >> We have not met since last. So I have a report. >> Okay. Thank you very much. We can move on then to committee and liaison reports. Are there any committee reports? Let's begin. Mrs. Foreman. Um I'm going to just go through our last

079two facilities committee meetings because I saved them all up for this time. Um so we met most recently um last Friday where we met virtually every per person was present on the committee. Um we have been discussing a couple of things that are longstanding projects such as the turf and the snow that was on the turf when we talked last Friday that is no longer there. So can everyone please be excited because this is a huge thing. Um we are we were as of last Friday approximately four weeks and I'm saying approximate because we don't know what acts of God can occur with the weather. We're hoping knocking wood being very conscious of all the things that the terrape will be good to go. Um, and I say that very late. Oh my have to

080take a breath. But, um, we will have the construction um, wrapping up the construction phase of that. Um, with the heavy equipment and stuff um, not for too much longer, there shouldn't be too many more disruptions to people using the path. But in the in the time that the construction equipment is still out there before the actual green is laid down, please just try to avoid the area. This is for the public. Please just try to avoid the area. Don't mess around over there. Stay away from it. We have one more layer that's going in. Um, and then the green part will go on it. Um, and also another just kind of message to the public. When you see the green on it, it doesn't mean you can go on it. So, please don't go

081on it. Just wait until the okay, the clear, everything is established before you or your children or, you know, and definitely never any dogs on it or any kind of pets. But just please make sure to not go on it. I I can't say that stress that enough until everything is complete. Um we have a couple other projects. Um three main projects being the window replacement project. The the next phase of the window replacement project here at the high school um will be taking place. Um we can't use the co-op for window replacement. It's just not allowed. It's really unfortunate. So we're going to have to bid on that. So, we're going to wait for that to come back. It's part of the existing budget. This isn't something new or crazy. This is just what

082we have to do. Um, we also um are going out to bid for all the vestibules at the same time. Um, so hopefully we can condense all of the things into one giant project that's just phased, which would be really nice. Um, we will, um, we have a, we've had a lot of snow this year, which I mean, I don't have to tell everybody that, but, we've had snow removal issues. I'm sure I don't have to tell everybody that either. Um, we've spent a comparable amount on snow removal this year to other years. So, nothing surprising, nothing crazy. Our amazing facilities director, Mr. Dunn, has been incredible. I mean, he's been at the helm of many a plow, but we have to move away from the idea of Mr. Dunn being the one plowing everything.

083And so, we have moved into um Mr. Dunn has now moved into contracting out some of the snow removal, which is very important because we have many parking lots and buildings to open and all the things. And Dr. Seagull never wants a snow day. So, he's always going to be supportive of the efforts to remove the snow as quickly as possible. So, we have the contractors. Um, >> we also have, um, the ongoing projects with the security. Um, I'm sure people have noticed the license readers, which is a very exciting um, new change. >> I think that's been really well received, right? Overall, >> I I hope so, too. I haven't heard any complaints about it. You >> want me to start? Have you not complaining, but I haven't heard any public complaints. >> You

084can finish and I'll comment later. the public has complained about it, but it is good that it is online and um I know Mr. Santos has been working very hard to try to ease any of the um software and other concerns just to make sure things can move smoothly. Um we're also going to be as Dr. Seagull noted um engaging in embarking in a pro another security project with our telephone system this summer which is also a very big project that the all of the facilities of our entire school district are going to benefit from. Um and then finally the um last thing you know we're aiming for um the minim most minimal disruption possible for the vestibule construction projects. Um, but you know, we just want to make sure people are aware ahead of

085time that there will be these construction projects in Wildwood Lake Drive and Brier Cliff, you know, coming down the pike. And so there may be disruptions to normal flow of traffic and flow of business and just the way things that the way that people are used to way things are being done. I just want to, you know, at least alert the public to just put it on your radar and just be aware. And um we will go as quickly as possible to get all of these projects completed. Um so yeah, we don't really have we don't really have to if once these three vestibial projects are completed and the phone system is completed, we will have um answered a lot of the security concerns that the facilities committee has been working on, you know, for

086over a year now. So in school district terms guys, this is like really moving at lightning speed. Things don't usually move this quickly. So um I just want to thank Dr. Seagull and um you know our finance committee also because we've been working very closely with the facilities and finance have been working very closely together all year to make sure that the budget and the project are aligned so that this way everybody is on the same page. So, um, oh, one last thing, too. We discussed, um, our architect of record and so we, um, you know, we had some fees that were imposed for some redesigns and some redraws that, um, made us pause because it was a little surprising the the size of the fee that we saw. So, we are um going to

087talk to them about the fee per item idea, whether it's a percentage of the total cost of the project or whether it's like our fee for service that we're supposed to be paying. So, we're going to get more information about that and we'll be able to talk about that further um at our next um committee meeting before the next board meeting. So, that was two meetings. This is a lot of stops. >> Terrific. >> Sorry, guys. Any comments or questions about that report? Mrs. Berker Brad already knows my comments on this. The machines at the high school are not working and they're like I cannot pick up my kid because it it tells me I'm not allowed to. So did every single person who was in there that day and every person I have spoken

088to. So don't tell me that it's all like, "Oh, it's working wonderfully. You just go in, you scan." No, it kicks you out if your names don't match perfectly. and go ask the lady at the front desk at the high school. She'll I'm sure she would come in here and have some because it drives her crazy. She has that it it's not working. So, are we fixing this? >> Yes. So, it is Dr. Seagull. It's not a question you can answer at the >> It's not a surprise. I've already told him. >> Well, maybe it is working. >> Maybe it time I came like just go. >> No, no, no. Um and it Yeah, you're right. and and it's not true at all the schools but um what has happened what's happened is that Genesis

089has not synced totally with single wire but what is what some of the things that Miss Parker explained too I think we also just need to have better training for the people who were who are uh running the stations so for example some people might have multiple names or you know might on one license on your license you might have one name but might be called by a different name. Clearly, that's not a violation, but we need to do a little bit more training to make sure people understand that the name that's exactly on your license might not match the name that's on your Genesis. So, when you as a parent, you put the information on Genesis that you want to put in, your license might not match. So, that is more of like a

090training and that we go through. But there are also technical issues with Genesis syncing with Sigma. has not been totally corrected. It is the high school iss definitely the hardest place. It has to get fixed. You know, I I agree with that. It is a hassle and people at the front desk are, you know, it is a little bit of a headache and it is causing delays. Um we do our our goal is to make sure that we don't represent we're not uh the same as like the TSA pre-check like our easier just to be clear. It should be like it should be like clear and not like it should be like clear and not like the non pre-check mark is what you're trying to say. >> I was happy with all the other responses

091but Miss Parker is right and we are addressing it. Yes. >> I had to pick my child up and it wasn't working but the front desk was fantastic in helping me out. My question on the name >> my license my state license cuts off two characters at the end of my first name. >> Will that be a problem? Will match? >> It it might be a problem. It might have been a problem, but we're addressing that. That's training >> the software thing that >> they're like and people need to the person who's receiving the information needs to be able to make and say this even though the button says red, they still agree. >> Okay. >> And that's not like that's the issue. And for people I see you're over there like, well, it shouldn't

092be a problem. Well, my name on my license is my name. It's Jennifer Parker. It just happens to have my middle name as my main name, which I didn't put my middle name in Genesis because who would? So, I don't want people to think that like my name's really Barbara. No one knows and that's what's on my license. It's not. My name is Jennifer Parker and it is on my license. So, I don't want like it's not. And yes, I got kicked out. I could not pick up I mean I could obviously pick up my kid. They didn't kick me out. And she did recognize that. But you scan it. You scan it and you watch everyone do it and it's not wasn't just 30 seconds. It was >> I had no problem of my

093time and I but I watched you know several pe I was in there and I actually took my license in to check it to see if it was working. Um after hearing like I was like I just want to try it because mine was pretty simple. >> I have to admit when I heard this I went over there and tried it. >> I did. Thank you. The good news is you've been alerted to that and we're working on it. What I just want everyone who's out there going I got kicked out and they're all like the board thinks it's great. No, I'm just I was responding to what I did. So because I'm on one of these um on the leazison for um friends of the theater arts and the first time when they had

094to do it I did hear some noise about how long it took and the question really was oh my god you have to do this every time it's going to and I'm like no no no you don't have to do it every time I confirmed that with Julie Lavine and since and then I checked back in with them and they were like oh it's working fine it's great like >> subjective yeah so because I haven't been accepted I'm not aware of when it actually works. So when you come, so if I get accepted, when I come again, I should be able to you shouldn't have to do it again. >> But you have to show your What do you mean you should have to do? You have to scan your license and it should just

095be green, right? >> Yeah. >> Right. It But it it's not going to the processing. >> Oh, wait. No, it takes your face. Okay. Like I haven't yet, so I don't know. >> Are we good here? Yeah. >> Can we move on to another committee? >> Dr. John. >> Excellent. >> Um I have the co-curricular committee meeting um notes from Monday, March 9th. Uh we had the entire committee present um and we talked about extracurricular um review um and uh an evaluation criteria that Dr. Seagull put together. In our very first meeting, we reviewed a list of clubs at the high school and this time around um what he put together was a very robust um list of criteria um for evaluation and um you know that really touches on indicators focused on broad issues

096um that the committee kind of really looked through it at first pass and provided input um and we have opportunity to provide further input on that. Um and the committee um agreed that the purpose of this is to focus on providing extracurricular activities that are high quality and well-rounded across different interests, fields, and programs. And the evaluation criteria will be used across all four schools. Um and that's going to be a cyclical review. So that's comprehensive. Um and we also wanted to make sure that this is not intended to cut any clubs or you know um reduce any resources in any way based on stipens etc. But the idea is to really um evaluate you know are we offering the best clubs um based on the needs of the students and what is of interest.

097Um so that's the real um reason and so in terms of the the cycles right Dr. Seagull is going to start to put together focus group um it'll be a small group of high school seniors as part of a exit focus groups if they've had an experience being part of these clubs and can provide input there. um as well as you know um the comparison to other school districts that are similar um both public and private. So that's going to be part of the assessment. Um and then um we were asked as board members um to kind of um offer um additional like is there clubs that are not included thus far? Um what do we not have? So that's another reason going externally to see what other districts are offering. Um and Dr. Seagull

098will work with the school administration over the summertime um to launch this cyclic review. So that was really the the bulk of the conversation. Um in addition to that I believe you have also faculty focus group, the student focus group, faculty focus group and uh a student survey in the fall. So it's going to be a very comprehensive evaluation um you know kind of robust to take a look at that. So that was the clubs and we'll do the same for athletics for the performing arts. Um so a lot of um review over over the next year. Um what else? Yeah. Um so that was um the bulk of that conversation. Um and really for um the advisors I think the intent is to see participation of students um you know where there is gaps

099concerns etc. Not intended as a personnel evaluation of the advisors that's outside of the scope of this committee. Just want to point that out. Um, we also as a second topic looked at the the data that was provided for the student retention. I know this is a topic that's going to be covered in several different committees likely. Um, but what we did was look at it from the lens of extracurricular activities. you know, are there students that are leaving the district because we're not offering particular program like the theater program. There may be cases where students are leaving because other districts offer performing arts or theater opportunities. So, um so we looked at it from that lens. Um and that was it. We will meet again in uh end of April. >> Thank you. Any

100comments or questions there? Terrific. Have another committee. Anyone else? Think >> that's it. >> How about any liaison reports? Okay, we'll start with Mrs. We'll go right along. >> Um, I have the recreation committee report. Unfortunately, I was out of town for the meeting, but Miss Stepper so kindly emailed me her report, so I'm just going to read it into the record. Um, the summer recreation program, sailor and sailing, not sailor, excuse me, sailing and teen adventure camps opened for registration on March 2nd. Always gang busters for that. Um, very glad my kids go to sleep away camp because that seems very stressful to me to have to wake up that early and have to do that. Um, rising kindergarten has seen a huge increase from previous years. Um, and so they've added another rising

101kindergarten group which is also quite exciting like that the little ones are so involved. Like I love that. Um, as of March 11th, there are a few weight lists. Um, the teen adventure week 1, the teen adventure week two, those are always very like just crazy overs subscribed, really good, fun programs that the kids want to do. Um, and also the week three of the teen adventure, there's a lot of interest, so they may be adding another bus either to week two or week three. They were talking about that. um continuing to they're planning for all of the um wreck programs for the summer, including facility reservations here using our facilities, which is always nice to know that they're thinking about that in advance. Um they created um the summer recreation extended day and teen

102adventure program um in addition to the regular program. So for working parents, this is like a new change um which I think is awesome so that you can pick your kid up, you know, at a more reasonable time. Um there the trout derby committee met um regarding the logistics including ordering the fish, which if people haven't done this before, this is such a spectacle. Like you just take buckets of fish and throw them in the lake. I mean it's okay. Anyway, um so they're also coordinating volunteers to take the buckets of fish. I mean, it just seems so strange to me that like there aren't fish in there already, but okay. Um it's it's a it's a deep lake, you know. Um also, um they're booking bands for the summer concert series. Um there's going

103to be a spring clinic for Junior Lake wrestling. Um check out the website for more details about signing up for that. Um and there may be also there was discussion about um exploring the idea for offering a youth golf program for the community which is also probably something very exciting considering the explosion of both boys and girls golf especially here it's nice I speak from experience if you have the feeder program at the wreck level we restarted the hockey program at the wreck level which fed to our high school program which has been a tremendous success because then constantly have the kids playing together from an early age. So I think that's very exciting. Um yeah, and the final thing is they are um developing the logistics for the 250th birthday of America which is

104going to be very exciting. Um so just so everyone knows a couple of key dates coming up. Um March 29th is the egg hunt. Um, April 7th, you can renew your rack and rings. Um, April 17th is Dump the Fish in the Lake Trout Derby Stocking Day. So, mark your calendar for that. Um, and then April 18th will be the 63rd Trout Derby where you can actually go and catch the fish that you threw in the day before. And then, um, the July 2nd is going to be the 250th anniversary event here in town. There's going to be a community barbecue and band at Highland Beach and our fireworks are going to be on July 3rd and uh July 5th being the rain day for that. So, um yeah. Oh, and just one other quick

105plug. On July 23rd, like one of the best bands in our entire community, two local guys, one's a lawyer, one's a vet. They're called the Block Toms because he's a vet. I always think that's very funny. But they are a fantastically spectacular duo. Um they're going to be playing at Island Beach. So mark your calendars for that because it's gonna be a good time. >> Awesome. Yeah. Comments or questions there. >> All right. Any other liaison on that side? We got Dr. McIntyre. What you got? >> Um Mountain Lakes Education Foundation. They are going to host um a second bingo night, spring o bingo on April 30th, a Thursday at 7 p.m. at Rockway uh River Country Club. So come out and support. It was a lot of fun last time. >> Questions there. All

106right, this side of the table, any leazison? We have this go. >> So um I'm going to just give you a quick update because it's so exciting. We did not have our meeting on Friday. This is the um Friends of the Arts um because Mr. Henry was on the drill. However, they're so excited with the spring musicals because they've been phenomenal. So, Frozen was a success on all fronts. Um, the auditorium was jam-packed with happy audiences. Um, I I actually went to one of them. There were more Elsa's and I was running around you could count. Um, so cute. >> And it was it was it was really well done and and especially when Elsa changes her dress changes like magically in the middle of the performance like the gas. So that was that was

107a success. I think from Mr. Henry the next time we meet we'll have more information about you know the amount of money and all of that. Um 101 Dalmatians at Wildwood was also a great success. Um a huge percentage of the fifth fifth graders participated. Um apparently almost 73 students were coraled into this production and um participated in some way in the show which is awesome. And then if you don't know this Willy Wonka is coming to Briar Cliff on March 27th at 6 o'clock. And then on the 28th at 1:00, um, and last but not least, um, FOD always gives out scholarships, um, that they grant anywhere from $1,000 to,500 for really students who have done who've kind of gone over and above, right? Um, and related to the arts or not, but done

108work in the community. So, um, if you know any deserving senior that would who you would like to nominate, um, they're open for applications. >> Thank you so much. All right. Comments or questions there? Okay. Dr. Chef, did you have one? >> Yes, I do. No. >> Uh, HSA had a meeting on March 6th. Um, they talked about their biggest fundraiser that they a new one that they had launched called Lakers Care. The goal their goal was met. They did have some issues just launching the program, but it was um pretty wellreceived as well. And then uh coffee talk was supposed to happen. I don't know if you have a new date on >> It's uh the 23rd. >> Oh, 23rd. Okay. because there was a lot of discussion that day about it. So, it'll

109be on the 23rd. I'm sure they'll send out more information. The high school uh band and choir had their trip to Florida and everybody made it to especially early this morning. There's a lot of sleep people out there. Um uh the high school's uh class scheduling is still ongoing. Uh spring testing includes SAT, NJPA, and ACT. Uh wellness summit is scheduled for uh April 2nd. Brier Cliff had their mixer a week and a half ago. There was comment made about seeing less bikes, ebikes at Brier Cliff. So, that was really um nice to hear, but I think people were happy to hear it. Could just be the weather. I wasn't sure. I'm like, was it that day? I couldn't remember. Um but they did notice my ebikes and that I don't know if it was

110because law or whatnot, but that's what it was happening. Uh Pops Pops Cafe is upcoming. Uh Wildwood has a few March activities including Hip Hop for Health uh for kindergarten first graders. Family fun night will have Rizzo's Reptiles. Uh Bash the Trash is upcoming and that big indoor planetarium um is scheduled also in March. Uh the author talk was a really big success at Wildwood. Kids were pretty happy. Um, April and May has teacher appreciation upcoming by rodeo and the cultural art show in second grade. And the next meeting is April 17th, which is a little later than they usually have, but uh we have our um spring break. Comments or questions there? All right. Thank you everyone. We get to move on now to the report recommendation of the school business administrator, please. >>

111Okay. So under this section under finance we have a lot of uh motions that are related to the tentative budget including the resolution to approve the tenative budget that you see here under number one. Um also you see related to that the withdrawal for capital reserves based upon the projects that we discussed withdrawal from the maintenance reserves for other maintenance related projects uh and tuition reserves that are anticipated for adjustments. We have the health cost uh care cost uh adjustment in the number of $1.264 million. As noted earlier, uh we were allocated up to $1.7 million or or more for the healthcare waiver adjustment. And then we have the acknowledgement here for the resolution for the tax rates and the total budget. So that's 1 through six. And then the advertising uh for the tenative

112budget hearing which will be to be approved for April 27th. So that's our next uh board meeting. Number eight, we have the presentation of the bills. Uh the the budget transfers, treasury reports, board secretary reports which have been reviewed now um by Mr. Brennan. We have a few adjustments for tuition. Um nothing significant. Uh these are the tuition rate approvals. I'm sorry, that's 12. This is for next year for our itinerary uh hourly, our late drive auditory impairment tuitions which is 85,500. And then we have our non-resident tuition rates for um Mount Weights High School, Brier Cliff and Wildwood. You see those numbers there. Number 13 are the changes to uh Lake Drive tuition. the one that's here. It's just a a change in the home district that the child goes to. It's not an

113additional or reduction in this student. It just officially needs to be approved. We have uh travel conference expenditures. Um few of those here under number 14. Um we have one um grant here uh which is the gains grant uh for a business education teacher. We have two fundraising um uh activities here that are up for approval. We have several or few facilities use uh two facilities use um resolutions that are up or requests that are up and then that concludes the finance side of the budget of the uh agenda. >> Thank you very much. Um we need a first and a second. We have Mrs. Foreman over there and we have Dr. Sheek. Thank you very much. Any objections to hearing these motions together? Any comments or questions at this time? Mrs. Foreman, >> I

114thought for number 17 for the um in case of rain for RBS that there would also be a class one fee for that for the custodial usage. >> Yeah, that so it's class one. So there's always a custodian. >> Okay, there is say fee. Just want to double check. any Mrs. uh I'm sorry, Dr. McIntyre. >> Um the withdrawal from tuition reserve, I just wanted to make a comment and please feel free to correct me if I'm incorrect. Um so the the withdrawal from the tuition reserve is um a little bit of like a mechanism um that we can't hold tuition we can't hold money in tuition reserve over a year or two. So we have to draw it down and then typically we draw it back up. So it's not like this is being

115spent on anything related to tuition. It's just a matter of doing like the right procedure. >> It's giving us the capacity to use to spend the money if we need to. >> Any other comments or questions? >> Thanks for that explanation. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Roll call, please. >> Dr. Don, >> yes. >> M. Foreman. >> Yes. >> Mr. Johnson. >> Yes. For high school related items. >> M. Carney. >> Yes. >> M. Mrs. M. Bay. Yes, >> Mrs. Parker. >> Yes, >> Dr. Sheth. >> Yes, >> Dr. Silvin McIntyre. >> Yes. >> And Miss Barowskus. >> Yes. >> Thank you very much. We move on to the important recommendation of the superintendent, please. >> All right. So, I'm going to have to toggle back and forth between the original agenda and we have

116a significant number of hand carries, so try to stay with me. Number 18 is appointments, uh, amendments, resignations, and retirements. So we have here under 18 under the regular agenda uh the appointment of additional class coverage. Um want to you know say thank you again publicly to the Brier Cliff staff. Uh we have an a teacher that was in extended leave and um the teacher who was currently in that assignment uh was not able to fulfill the rest of the year. Um we did post for the position. Uh getting a full-time teacher at this time would be very difficult. So, we have four uh teachers as well as Mr. Henry um who contractually has the ability to do that. We will have to teach a section of an ELA class. So, want to thank the

117staff uh for their continued extra support and um and I know that we're trying to um eliminate the overages as much as possible. Staying on 18 on the hand carry, we have a Lake Drive teacher who is not new, but uh had just completed all of her uh necessary requirements for um certification. So, she was currently operating as a um under like a substitute license and now we can move her into and she's an itinerate teacher. So, we move her into the full-time rate. We have the resignation of a par professional. Uh and then we have two other resations. Um one uh we have one adjustment, one resignation. We have the resignation of the Wildwood principal uh that was communicated to staff today that is effective um that is effective. It should be uh June

11830th. And then we have a revision here uh for a leave replacement counselor. our um full-time counselor went on leave early uh and therefore we are making a revision to have the leave replacement move in um tomorrow. Going back to the original agenda, we have several revisions to um grade level team co-leerships um additions uh for people who fulfill that role contractually, their stipens. number 20 additional uh compensation. We have a number of people who are serving as proctors and working at the college fair counselors. So that is number 20. Number on the hand carry for number 20. Um and I do think it's it's really important that has been referenced several times tonight. We did make in a revision to the additional compensation for the uh chaperones who attended the trip uh to Orlando

119that were scheduled to come back on March 15th but came back on March 16th well into March 16th. So we appropriately for their services um give them that extra day and extended that time and let me tell you that's nothing compared to what they put in for that. Um and that also is reflected in an edit part 345 and and you know whether it's right or or wrong I I have to say the attendance today of staff and students after that trip was was still very high. I think there was an obligation that some people felt to be here. Um, we had a professional day at with RVs at 8 o'clock. The the music teachers there at 8 o'clock. >> Um, to for and and I think that >> takes a little more. >> Well,

120it does. Um, I I was I said, you know, you're welcome to go home. Like I really >> So great. >> And I and I think that um but they they they held that standard for the students. >> Wow. and uh therefore the least that we could do is adjust the um compensation on the on the time that was there. So that was um number 20. Number 21, we have some field trips um that are some exciting ones that are happening at the high school. One at Wildwood, which is just the teaser that that's back retro, that's an internal field trip. 21. We also have um the revision to the music field trip because it wasn't until March 15th, it was to March 16th. So that has to be formally approved. We had people in

121our office who are very meticulous about all the details. They have to be done, right? Um we have uh and then we have be nothing under curriculum services. We went over the Morris County unsung hero recognized um both. And then number 23 and 24 we have the district calendars which are up for approval. The 2627 was approved last year. We make we made a few amendments. They are going to be included in in the minutes. Um so they are being reapproved. Our interest is to have two years of district calendars approved to give people an idea of um what the school calendar looks like. Um the school calendar is always a challenge and I understand that you know not everybody's needs can be met because there's a lot of them are competing but a lot

122of work and collaboration that goes into this. So the the calendars are up for approval. And then finally we have um HIV incidents that were discussed in executive session from the last meeting that is um MLHS 34 and 5. And then just on the hand carries there are 25 and 26. We have the school counselor whose leave started early. And then we have um a few substitutes involved here that were adjusted with that includes the superintendent side of the agenda. >> Thank you very much. We need a first and a second order to hear these. We have Dr. Chef and Mrs. Parker. Thank you very much. Any objections to hearing these motions together? Any comments or questions at this time? Um I just have one comment. Um I I it's truly um I think this

123board, this district deserves to offer Mr. Hibbons just thanks for what he did at Wildwood, the service to students and to staff and um you know there's a reason we say Wildwood is a great place to grow. People come there and that's what they help our kids do. So um just a sincere thank you as he moves on to to great things and we wish him well. All right. So then roll call, please. >> Dr. Dot. Yes, >> Mrs. Foreman. >> Yes, >> Mr. Johnson. >> Yes. To the high school related event, >> Mrs. Colclarney. >> Yes, >> M. M. >> Yes. But abstain from number 24. I wasn't in session. >> Okay. >> She hung out. I'm not that good. Yes. Uh, Dr. Sheth. >> Yes. >> Dr. Silva McIntyre. >> Yes. >> Mrs.

124>> Yes. >> Thank you very much. Any unfinished business at this time? Any new business at this time? >> Yeah, I actually have something and I know I didn't say it, but don't worry, it's not a bad thing. Um she they brought it up Lake Drive and it's something that I've actually been meaning to sort of question and we've actually talked about it before so it could fall on unfinished business the social media and I get for example I'm on Bridgewood's social media and they put out stuff all the time and it's it's just singing praises of of the school and I see Lake Drive and they're like I loved their Instagram and stuff and I know we put out our sports Well, like we don't even do it really. >> Laker Sports Club does

125>> and they put out some things, but they actually don't even put out everything. They put out some things. And I just think there's so much to yell about here. And we have, you know, a tech guide and it could even be an internship because there's people who want to do that. And I just think there's a real opportunity here that we we talk about bringing people in. That's how you do it and it's one of the I I just think it's really important. And then on the un definitely unfinished business. We talked about updating our website and I feel like there are pictures on there yet again from just years years ago. So it's just it's something I just keep meaning to mention and we don't >> it all goes together >> to it

126and kind of want to like throw that out there. >> Yeah. No. So you're I think those are both good points. I think the first effort towards the the internet um the website >> internship >> the website I think it was revamped to be more streamlined and efficient and I think that has happened but it still needs to be timely and um maybe more graphically you know visually u more pictures the posting it's very inconsistent um and I even though Mr. Albvis is here. I can see. Not to call you out, but I like Bri Cliff has like someone who who like specializes and is really focused on it. We don't have a uniform approach or a concerted coordinated approach to social media. Um, late drive is the exception and that Mr. Sulie um I

127mean she assumed a new role but she has always been that's been something she's really strong at and has put a lot into and I think you know we and I mean it's good to have it for a lot of reasons to promote you know and even when we talk about retention but just to celebrate our kids and our achievements and all the great work that's happening. It's it's just something that needs to be coordinated and prioritized and I think you know I I agree with that totally. Um, we do need like like I can tell you Ridge Ridgewood has like a communications director. So, it's a much bigger district. They have probably staff that are doing these types of things as well. Like I know Ridgewood has a communication director, like someone whose job

128is to oversee all the communications for the district and for, you know, we we don't have that level of support. Um, but we still can with a, you know, whether it's a summer internship or through stipens. Um, I think some of our clubs do include part of the stipen does include social media, but you know, that's something that we could really focus on better. >> So, good that we brought it up. Maybe we can talk a little co-curricular and you guys can report back. I think something like that. >> Yeah, that sounds good. I have one other thing if I forgot to mention it for um um Soundstart babies. Does anyone have the date of their fundraiser? I know it's upcoming. Yeah, he did. I I sent something out something. >> Is it true? >>

129I feel like it's really >> I feel like it's May May 27th is coming to mind, but I could be totally >> wrong. Responsible. >> I feel like it's May 27th. >> Let's go. I did. I forwarded it to everybody. >> No, it was an email. >> Wednesday, May 27th. >> Check that out, people. Just saying. Check that out. All right. Are we are we good? All right, then we um any other comments or questions from the public? Nope. Then we do have an second executive session. Uh we need a motion to enter into executive session. We have Mrs. For me. We have Mrs. Parker. Thank you very much. All in favor say I. I. I will read this. Be resolved by the Mountain Lake Board of Education on the 16th day of March at

130what do we got? 921 as follows. The board will be recessed into close session in accordance with the open public meeting law and DSA 10 colon 4-12B12678. The general nature of the discussion including matters of personal company rights including but not related to stop matters and specifically matters is not to disclose public company no one applies although the board cannot guarantee it the rest of the executive sessions of Iowa 16 um after which the public meeting will the board will reconvene and present the business action may take place which will take effect immediately thank you everyone here we go let's Dr. Chef and MCO Carney, thank you very much. All in favor say I to leave executive session. I we leave executive session at 10:12. Then we can have a motion to adjourn. We need

131a first and a second for that. We have Dr. um Don and we have Dr. McIntyre. All in favor of adjourning say I. Journ at 10:12. Thank you everyone.