001getting ready to start. Yep, we're live. So 7 and 7 7 p.m. >> I told this long 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. >> All right, Mr. Davis >> here. >> Um, Mr. Phillips >> here. >> Mr. Golden >> here. Miss Juliano >> here and Miss R here. >> Thank you. >> All right. May I have a motion and a second to approve the action meeting minutes from the February 26, 2026 meeting? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Opposed or abstain? >> All right. Perfect. Mr. Lee, you're good for presentation. >> All right. Welcome everyone. Thanks for coming. Best part of our meeting here is giving out our student
002of the month awards. And these awards have been these students have been nominated by their teachers uh for being great kids um great uh great students in school and also great scholars, right? Doing all the right things they need to do in class. So, we're going to go through JFK. I notice we're missing a few too, so I'm going to read some of the ones that aren't here anyway, so take me a little longer. Okay. Uh, our student of the month for prek is MTZ Na'vi. All right. I believe MTZ deserves to be student of the month for demonstrating personal growth each day at school. MTS comes to school every day wanting to learn and happy to be with his teachers and friends. So, congratulations to Mtias. Our kindergarten student of the month is Todrick
003Garris. >> That is for you. >> Say thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good job. >> Todd is an extremely bright student. He is happy, friendly, and silly. He has done a wonderful job this marking period embarking on new classroom experiences with his kindergarten peers. He has shown growth as a learner by actively engaging in spelling lessons and activities. He is very deserving of this recognition. Congratulations to Tiger. >> Our first grade student of the month is Rita Adam. Rita is a great role model in the classroom. She's always following our classroom rules and expectations. When needed, other students can look to Rita for help and guidance. Rita works well with others and is a kind friend. So, congratulations to Rita. Our second grade student of the month is Santino Durr. Santino is a kind
004and respectful student that always focuses and gives his best. Having him as a part of our group has been a pleasure. Congratulations to Santino. Our third grade student of the month is Kaden Santos. Kaden has come up. There you go. Congratulations. Can you stand here with me? Kaden has demonstrated perseverance and good character. He is always willing to help a classmate and has a positive attitude toward learning. Keep up the great work, Kayen. And our fourth, you can stay up here. You can stay when you're done. >> Yep. >> And our fourth grade student of the month is Nathan Russell. Nathan has demonstrated exceptional progress this school year. Through consistent hard work and dedication, he has shown remarkable growth both academically and personally. Congratulations to Nathan. All right, Todder and Kayen, you guys want to
005come back here with me to get a picture? Hold back. >> The green sign. >> I'll stand over here if you want to stand over the side. There we go. >> Good job. Okay, on to our middle school students of the month from DDE. Our first student is from fifth grade, Kaylee Coons. We are pleased to recommend Kaylee as the fifth grade student of the month. She consistently tries her best in everything she does and truly strives for excellence in all areas of her learning. She asks thoughtful and engaging questions that deepen class discussions and demonstrate her genuine curiosity. Her attentive listening skills and close attention to instruction allow her to produce high quality work and continuously continuously grow as a learner. She exemplifies what it means to be a dedicated, responsible, and hardworking student.
006And she is a she's very deserving of this recognition. So, congratulations to Kaylee. Our sixth grade student of the month is Morgan Adams. >> Morgan, congratulations. >> The sixth grade team is nominating Morgan Adams for student of the month. Morgan is a kind and considerate young lady who always tries her best. Morgan works hard and engages in meaningful conversations. She is always considerate and works well with all of her peers. Congratulations. >> You guys stay up here. Yeah, that's awkward. Embarrassing. Our seventh grade student of the month is Colton Kmar. Colton is a standout student in seventh grade. He is engaged, conscientious, and thoughtful. In ELA and his other classes, Colton is one of the first students to raise his hand to participate. He asks great questions and offers thoughtful reflections during class discussions. He
007is also conscientious about completing his work. He is not satisfied with just getting the work done. He strives to turn in his best work, often going back to revise before submitting it. Colton's leadership, dedication to doing his best, and eagerness to engage in the learning process assure him a bright future. Congratulations to Colton. And our eighth grade student of the month is Sumaya Nabi. The eighth grade team is proud to re recommend Somaya for student of the month. Somaya is a student who shows up every day, ready to make the best of what comes in front of her. She is very respectful and kind to everyone. Somaya brings the seven habits to life each day, both in school, at home, and in the community. She's an active member of the DDE family participating in NJHS
008and SGA and actively works to make both the school and her world a better place. So congratulations to Somay. All right, you get to get the picture with me. One Yeah, have fun. >> All right, guys. Thank you so much for coming out. I appreciate you. Um, and students, I appreciate you. Certainly to stay for the rest of the meeting, but you don't have to. So, have a have a great night. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Oh, really? >> Yeah. For a little bit. >> All right. So, the district commission statement, our goals, board goals, um, all there for review. Uh we're going to open up the meeting to the public for the discussion of agenda items only. Um at this point, can I have a motion and a second? >> Motion. >> Second.
009>> All those in favor? >> Opposed or abstain? Public comments at this moment regarding agenda items. So at this point, we'll close the um public comment section. I have a motion and a second. >> Ryan, you're a little slow. >> I was I was I was ready. >> All those in favor? I opposed or abstained. All right, let's run into the superintendent report. Go ahead, Mr. >> All right, starting as we normally do with our safety and security drills for both JFK and DDA. All were completed last month. Uh item C is monthly reports uploaded to the portal for the board's review. Item D, we had two reports of um HIB at DDE. Both were not confirmed. Um E, we have the board affirmation of our HIB report that was first reported to the board
010last month. F we have some new policies. These are updated policies in response to the federal audit that we had. I I kind of let everybody know that I was going to be updating some policies shortly and so this is the first reading for those. Number two on the next page is fundraisers. Number three is uh guest speaker approval for um for our parents who are coming to speak to our students for career day um at down at JFK uh next month. Uh item number four is approval of the 2027 uh 2026 27 district school calendar. Item five is to approve uh yet more advanced approved volunteers. We have so many every month. >> Uh G1 is the approval of a field trip. This field trip actually already happened. It kind of came up pretty
011quick, but some of our students went to see um some of the Little Mermaid at Overbrook. He said it was a a great preview of the show. Uh H1 is to approve two stipen positions. Uh and uh um one of those site positions you'll see is the volleyball club advisor and that's actually replacing our um our track that we used to do because it's we didn't have as many students who were interested. Um there's no local uh competitions like it's it's a very difficult it's hard to get staff to do it because it's a difficult. So we came up with a volleyball club and Miss Bick said that she would run the volleyball club after school. So we're looking forward to that. Uh, H2. >> Okay. >> H2 is the hiring um of one new
012staff member. >> And that's it for my section. >> I'm going to do the quick motion and we'll do any questions and then we'll go ahead and have our award for M2. Can I have a motion, a second for superintendent items um A through H? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All right. Um, any questions on any of those items? Uh, I do have one for the parent volunteers for career day. Are they only advance approved already? I presume? >> Yeah. >> Oh, yes. >> Um, all right. I'm going to do roll call then. Mr. Golden. >> Yes. >> Mr. Phillips >> here. Yes. >> Sorry. >> Miss Juliano. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Davis. >> Yes. >> Thank you. All right. So we have into and you're calling me. >> All right. >> There. >>
013Welcome guys. Um uh we will first introduce uh into Nabi our prek student of the month. Come up here. Come up here for being such an awesome student. All bundled up. You look great. >> Yeah, she can stand up here. Mommy will come. >> This is for you. That's for you. >> Want your paper? >> You want that? >> That's your award. >> Thank you. Good job, bud. Great job. M2's teacher wrote, "I believe M2 deserves to be student of the month for demonstrating personal growth each day at school. M2 comes to school every day wanting to learn and happy to be with his teachers and friends." >> All right. And our eighth grade student of the month, Somaya Na'vi. There you go. Congratulations. Can you stay up here while I read about you? The
014eighth grade team is proud to recommend Sumaya Na'vi for student of the month. Sumaya is a student who shows up every day, ready to make the best of what comes in front of her. She is very respectful and kind to everyone. Sumaya brings the seven habits to life each day, both in school, at home, and in the community. She's an active member of the DVE family, participating in NJHS and SGA, and actively works to make both the school and her world a better place. Congratulations. >> You're welcome. Should we try another picture? All right, come on up. >> M2, can you get a picture? >> This is going to be a tough one. >> You want to get a picture? >> I don't have no mirror. Dad's got it. >> Good job, buddy. >> Big
015cheese. >> Good job, bud. >> Great job. >> Thank you. Great job, guys. Have a good night. >> See you, honey. >> I love that outfit. He is rocking. He's stirable. >> All right, on to business and finance. Um um all right. So A through D is just the financial report for the month of February. Uh no line item has been overextended. There are sufficient funds available uh to meet the financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year. The treasurer and secretary's reports are in agreement for the month of February. Um there are no anticipated changes in our revenue amounts or sources. Um, E is to approve payment of the bills, which I think you all got lucky because I think Matt and Scott tag team that and got all the bills signed before
016everyone got here. >> Um, so yeah, so that's all done. >> Um, F is to approve our source for teachers listing for the month of February. The pay rates and the bill rates are listed accordingly on the agenda. G is to approve the um, cafeteria dispersements for the month of February, which we had none. Um H is to approve the care dispersements for the month of February in the amount of $22,720.76. I is to approve some travel and professional development for some of our staff members. J is to approve our tenative budget for um 2627. Um you'll see the the general fund, the special revenue. Special revenue is our grants. um general fund is is all of our in-house or special revenue is um ESA, IDA, Title One, all of those. Um as well as
017the preschool expansion grant is under there as well. Um debt service is I think we only have three more years of our debt service payment. So, um that's kind of nice. Um if you all remember me saying initially when I created the budget, we were about $2.2 million in a deficit. um healthc care increases really hit us hard. Initially the initial proposal was for 19% um for a health was a 30% increase for prescription costs and we put in about a 6% um for for dental. Um our brokers kind of went back and forth. We're going to kind of explore another option for prescription that falls under our health care. Um, so we ended up at 16 for health, 10 for prescription, and zero for dental because we're going into a two-year um, contract. That
018being said, that still landed me that only took about $270,000 off of um, that $2.2 million um, deficit. So, we did have a slight our state aid we did get an overall increase of about 377,000 I think it was. Um I have it written down here. Um I think it was around 3 I wrote it on here $397,788. Um we did lose a little bit of money for the preschool expansion, but we're kind of leveling out at the five classrooms right now. So, we kind of expected uh we've also had a little bit of carryover the past couple years for preschool funding. So, we kind of expected them to kind of level that out and figure that out. >> Um >> overall, our tuition increases amongst all of our different tuitions that we pay for
019the high school for um special ed >> for the vocational school and for all of our private schools that went up $920,000. So, that's a huge increase. um it's kind of hard to to come back from that. Salaries about 260. Um and then the benefits overall were about $450,000 increase. In the initial budget, we had um an additional staff member for student needs. We had uh another member in our custodial department and we had some uh construction, so some new flooring, um some waterline replacements. Everything except for the additional position which we need for staffing has been removed for the budget. Again, that only saved me about $175 to $200,000. So, um what we're getting at is that we had to go towards um some of we had to go use some of the adjustments
020that the budget system puts in there. Unfortunately, the budget system says you can spend this additional money over your 2%, but it's going to have tax implications. Um where do I find $1.4 million? We don't have a frivolous budget. Um it's pretty bare bones other than the essentials. Um you know I see some districts and you know they're buying food and breakfast for their staff and having all these like monthly things. We don't do any of that. We don't have those types of things in our budget. We have just what we need um to provide an education for our kids. So, we are going to utilize the healthcare adjustment. Um, essentially, like I said, the budget software kind of comes out and says, well, you cap your bud your tax levy increase at 2%, but
021you can utilize all of these other monies. Um, unfortunately, like I said, there's tax implications. Um, like I had said to you guys, we are currently our school tax rate, we are currently $700 and some dollars lower than the county average. Um, I kind of did a little comparison at some other schools similar in size. So, um, Audabon is a $684 above the county average. The Burrow is $356 above the county average. Pineh Hill is $500 below the county average, but they receive um they receive $30 million in state aid. >> We only receive eight. And I know they're a high school, but I can't help but feel a little slightly there. >> We pay a lot of money in tuition there. Send a little our way. >> Um, Magnolia is $80 below the county
022average. Gibbsboro was $2,000 over the county average. Um, so again, some of these have different demographics and obviously some of these places have the ability to pay more. So they're paying more from their local share. Uh, Laurel Springs was $71 above county average. county from was $97 below. Um, like I said, we're coming in $771 below the county average in our spending. Um, I think that's a testament to how we've tried to be so conservative, but I mean, how do I how do I make up $920,000 in tuitions? I don't have a we don't have a choice. I don't have a money tree out there. Um, this pains me. Um I I'm not happy to have to raise taxes, but I don't >> I mean there's nowhere to cut. Um >> there is nowhere to
023cut. >> There's nowhere I literally on Thursday night I just stared at the budget again. It no I had my county VA meeting yesterday >> and um so many of them are raising taxes but their board is like frustrating them because they're like we're raising taxes and you're cutting positions like >> where are we getting the balance? So there's like a lot of frustration. Um and it's frustrating because the state obviously just keeps putting it back on us. So one of the things our county BA said yesterday is that um the the budget this year maintained a 3% cap on losses. So no district lost more than 3% um of their funding, but no district received more than 6% um of an increase. um next year or in future years they are going to look
024to modernize the current formula which I think will be a benefit um to a lot of districts. There has to be a lot more consideration taken into um special ed costs and things that nature like I said things that are out of our control um that it's hard to sustain these these changes and these increases without some additional help from the state. Um, so the DOE is also trying to look to clearly explain like what drives state aid. I guess then they can get a little more creative. Um, and then I did I'm going to send you guys this article. This is from a um superintendent. He's been around for a long time, but his name is Tony Tone um on March 13th, which was right after the budget numbers came out. He's kind of
025talked about um you know districts adequacy and how they factor things out and how so many things are hurting um you know local school districts and things of that nature and how he thinks some things could change. So I won't read it over to you but I thought it was really interesting. I just saw it the other day. Um so I'm going to send that. So again everything's outlaid here. Um I'm not happy um it doesn't make me feel happy that other districts are in the same boat. I know they are. It still doesn't help because this is >> personal to me. Um but I it is what it is and um that's just where we stand. I did have a fat finger moment. This is supposed to be um a four instead of a
026five. So it's 22,324,250. So I mean my fat finger couldn't have been somewhere else. But so this is just all of um this is all required in this massive resolution. We have to approve that we are going to have our public hearing on May 7th, 2026 at 7 p.m. Um we have to say we have to put in travel expenses. Now most of our travel expenses you'll see um the amount is you know 30ome thousand that all comes pretty much from title 2 grant. Um so that is good. that's still in the budget and it looks like a high number for professional development for our staff and in service days, but all of that is being paid for through the federal grant. Um, we have the enrollment adjustment in the amount of $264,180. They had
027an additional I think 10 or 20 students that we were allowed to use an adjustment for. Then the health cost adjustment um which said if you're between the amount of 2% which is your tax levy cap all the way up to 31% if you had increases between there that's how much they allow you to increase your budget by obviously like I said we had a 16% and a 10% um so we definitely had more than 2% increase and then the rest is bank cap um which again is money that we were permitted to use we hadn't used it's going to be lost um the county also said at our um annual efficiency review that there's a huge push in the state coming for regionalization again. Um and if districts can't necessarily provide that they can
028sustain themselves um there's going to be a lot of scrutiny and a lot of eyeballs um looking you know to kind of make some of those changes. So, um, >> and we're in a weird spot when it comes to that because >> when they talk about regionalization a lot, they talk about districts that are that are less than 600 students because there's a lot of districts in the state of New Jersey. There are some districts that have like three students, believe it or not. >> There's some districts that have zero >> or have zero students. Um, and so we're we're weird because we're we are we have more than that obviously. >> Um, but we're still small, right? And so we're kind of in the middle. We're stuck, >> you know, um just trying to
029survive with what with what monies that, you know, we we get. So, um >> yeah, it's a topic of conversation for sure among the >> it's been everywhere. It's not just been in the BAS. I mean, I know that Adam's association has had um a lot of conversations and they're trying to, you know, pull together information to be able to go up to the state um levels and kind of say, hey, like this is not working and this is why it's not working. um you know, kind of get those people at those levels that are making those decisions without really understanding the um dynamics of each district to kind of maybe take some things into consideration that we're seeing. Um yeah, it's it's a frustrating time and like I said, everybody in my county VA
030meeting yesterday was just like they were like, "This is the worst it's been in a very long time." Um and they're not they're not wrong. Again, I've been I've been in I've been working for a business administrator since 1997. >> Here since 2001, took this job in 2011 in this position. And this is this is one of the worst times um that I've seen for sure. So, um that's where we stand. That's the last of my section. Does anyone have any questions for me? All right. Can I have a motion and a second to approve business and finance items A through J? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All right. No questions. Uh, Mr. Golden. >> Yes. >> Mr. Phillips. >> Yes. >> M. >> Yes. >> Miss. Juliano? >> Yes. >> And Mr. Davis? >>
031Yes. >> All right. Thank you guys. I do appreciate the support. I know it's not easy. I know it just stinks. Um, all right. Committee. >> Yeah. Old business. I don't think we have any old business. Uh, new business negotiations. Uh, we have another meeting coming up next week >> with the um Burland Township Education Association. So, we're moving along with that. We're We've met a couple times already. Nothing right now for BTPSA, which is our principal and supervisors association. Uh, finance committee. We didn't have it tonight. So, I thank the committee members for allowing me to um hold off on that till next month since I was working on budget. Um school boards association, nothing there. 8th grade dialogue happened uh earlier this month. March. It wasn't March. >> It was March. >> Um
032so, yeah. So, we had that. Um Ed Services Commission, that's usually Michelle. Um they were the first district to have their budget in, by the way. We found that at our county table, but they're a different district, so it's a little different. They fall under different things. So, um, Ed services was their first budget in uh, Pine Hill any what did you have anything? >> Yeah. Well, um, so because I wasn't here last month at our meeting. So, February 10th, we had just a regular board meeting there. Um, not too much um, going on with that one. They just went over the results from the state testing um, similar to kind of what we did. And then they did have the board retreat on uh, I think it was this 20 I don't remember what
033day it was. We had our board retreat um board of ed retreat where everybody from the board came and they gave us breakfast and we went over um let's see we went over HIP process and ethics review student data financial over review and setting board goals for um for Pineh Hill and they pushed back their March meeting until next week because of the budget stuff. So >> okay >> yeah it seems like Pine Hill is in the same boat as us pretty much. though they are pretty. Yeah, I I was telling my >> they got a did get a nice increase, but not con I mean, when you look at the size of their budget, it wasn't a big increase considering. >> Yeah. So, they're doing the same things we are just trying to figure
034out the budget and and move forward. So, >> Yeah, it's not fun. Um and then school boards association. I haven't seen anything. I haven't seen anything for them in a little while. >> Um did anyone else have any new business? >> All right. Um, so now we're going to open the public uh comments for anything agenda items or not. And I believe we do have an executive session as well this evening. So motion a second to open the meeting to the public for the discussion of um agenda or non-aggenda items. >> Motion >> second. All those in favor? >> Oppos. Hearing none. Can I have a motion, a second to close the public portion of the meeting? >> Motion. >> Second. All >> those in favor? Opposed or abstain? >> All right. And we do
035have an executive session this evening. So, Miss Bradley, you're free to go if you'd like. Um, I'm going to tell Tom so he can shut us down for the moment. And then we'll actually go into we'll make our motion second to go into executive. Um, >> I already as soon as he shuts us down, we'll make that motion. I'm going to go lock that door. and I know I know five abstained from that meeting. >> I forgot this on the end of presentation and then you'll be >> perfect. >> But we're we're live audio right now, right? >> Yes, live audio. right now. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. >> It changed. >> I did see something. >> I don't know what's going on back there. >> Oh, I think somewhere. >> Yes. on air. >>
036All good. Is that all good? All right. Um, so we just came out of executive session. We do have one action item that uh took place. I need a motion and a second to resolve that the board of education, having considered the parent appeal presented in executive session, hereby affirms the administration's disciplinary determination regarding the one-day suspension of uh SID number as discussed in executive session. Can I have a motion and a second to affirm um those determinations? I'm going to do a roll call. Uh Mr. Golden, >> yes. >> Mr. Phillips, >> yes. >> Miss Row, >> yes. >> Miss Juliano, >> yes. >> And Mr. Davis, >> yes. >> All right. Thank you. All right. I don't think we have anything else to discuss. So, at this point, um can I do a
037motion, a second to adjurnn the meeting? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Um all those in favor? Oppose or abstain. All right, guys. Thank you. Keep everything, right? Just snot these in.