001uh we are going to open up the meeting with a reading of the open public meeting statement so that goes uh New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which time any business affecting their interest is discussed and acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act in Board of Education policy 0162 the Board of Education of the Bureau of Bound Brook has caused notice of this meeting to be posted in the board office and at Bound Brook High School and mailed their facts to The Courier News the Bound Brook BAU clerk South Bound Brook Board of Education and any person who has requested individual notice and pay the required fee at this
002time please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I 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 Justice for All Mr secretary a roll call please yes sir Mr Bal here Mr Dawson miss gazino here Mr in calcatera here Mr zupco here miss musen here Mr minhas miss high here Mr vulmer here and Mr Januzzi here Mr board president you have a quarum present this evening thank you sir at this time we would normally do president's comments but but tonight's version will be vice president's comments Mr Bal well thank you um as the Bound Brook PTO is currently in my basement putting baskets together they have asked me to promote their upcoming Tricky Tray on
003Saturday March 29th uh information can be found at boundbrook pto.com um I'm there is a lot going on right now there are there women in and out of my basement every night of the week they are working super hard on this and they would really appreciate all the support that you can give them agreed thank you Mr Bal and thank you again to all the volunteers of our PTO uh at this time we will uh welcome Dr Freeman for his superintendence report please Dr Freeman well good evening everybody and welcome to our March board meeting it's great to see so many smiling faces so many students in the audience in addition to our students of the month at this time I will call Mr Ross up to recognize our students of the month for Lamont
004and LaMont Annex this is for our littlest and our best Little Learners so we have for the prek it is Jeffrey mlan come on down Jeffrey [Applause] mlan congratulations so Jeffrey has a two siblings and loves math activities yes and learning numbers you want to play baseball fortnite you like monster trucks yeah and playing with Dinosaurs good and when you grow up you don't want to be a superhero you're gonna be a superhero all right come on up a picture yeah nice [Applause] okay so it is kindgarten dual language it is Theon cor Coro Diaz come on [Applause] down so beon does not have siblings but is into physical education because you like to exercise which is great and your favorite activities are coloring and playing video games and when you get older you're going
005to be a firefighter wow no what are you going to be you can't change we're still figuring it out but that's okay firefighter first and then something else congratulations sir you're welcome [Applause] here we go and it's first grade now it is Angelina aretta albera I'm not sure if Angelina was able to make it tonight but I do want to mention has three uh siblings loves to read and write and practices all the time in first grade enjoys playing with her friends and is a creative artist and in the future and thinking about potentially being an artist when she grows up thank thank you and next up from Lafayette school we have Miss [Applause] cahas okay our second grade student of the month is Briana Hern and is [Applause] cook Brianna is from Mrs Patel
006and Miss Reese's class Miss Reese is here today uh she has two siblings Isaac and Amy Brianna says my favorite subject is science because you can make a volcano baking soda and vinegar can make a volcano her favorite hobbies are art and PE and she wants to be a Chef because she she really likes to cook good like Amy who's Amy Amy's her sister okay we're going to take a picture over here okay hone [Applause] our third grade student of the month is Pera roses oh let me try that again pea roses amzak peara is from Miss Fitzgerald's class she has one sister her favorite school subject is math come paa she likes to draw the Powerpuff Girls and play at the park and she wants to be a police officer congratulations paa going to
007take a picture okay [Applause] and next up from Miss from SMY school we have Mrs [Applause] Winters so from SMY School our fourth grade nom is Ashley Marquez Rivera Ashley has one brother her favorite subjects are math science and art she likes to draw play volleyball and play soccer and she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up [Applause] our fifth grade student of the month is Helen monio Hernandez Helen is has three sisters and one brother she loves art loves to draw she want she loves to play tag with her friends and she also either wants to be a veterinarian or a voiceover actor thank you [Applause] our sixth grade student of the month is Juliana Rosina tles Juliana is here from Miss petus sixth grade class and Miss petrius is here to
008celebrate her as well she has two siblings two brothers her favorite subject is math come here we'll have everybody come up she likes to play volleyball and soccer and she's still deciding what what she wants to do when she grows up congratulations next up from Community Middle School Dr Santa [Applause] surma hello everyone the Community Middle School is proud to announce ethano as student of the [Applause] month Ethan was nominated by his teacher Miss gold Rosen I'm sorry nominated by his teacher Miss gold Rosen as an older brother Christopher who I see here in attendance chop um favorite subject to science because he loves to learn about space and how the world Works our favorite hobbies is making YouTube videos we kind of look at every day in this missile right using your phone and
009doing science related things and hanging out with family when he grows up wants to be an astronaut or [Applause] next up for the Community Middle School student of the month yinas Perez nominated by her teer Bennett brother [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and last but not least we have Mr Smith from boundbrook high school [Applause] school good evening our first Crusader citizen of the month is Alder Guerrero Espinosa out there has two siblings his favorite subject in school is math he enjoys to cook and play soccer and when he graduates from high school and hopefully entering a culinary program to become a chef so congratulations [Applause] our next recipient is Justin Jimenez Justin is an only child and has no siblings Justin's favorite subject in school is English he enjoys fishing hanging out with friends and going
010on walks his future career plans include going to a trade school to work on collision repair and refinishing technology programs and hopefully own his own shop one day so congratulations [Applause] next we have Madison Huffman Madison has seven siblings her favorite subject in school is physical education Madison enjoys playing soccer drawing sleeping talking to her friends and going out with her sisters and when she grows up she wants to become a traveling nurse so congratulations good job [Applause] and last but certainly not least beatric [Music] [Applause] arudo beatus has one sibling Cal k uh her favorite subject in school is French because she loves learning a new language you also speak Spanish as well and then uh she enjoys going to the gym going out running and shopping in the future she plans on going
011to TCNJ for a career and early childhood education to become a teacher yes so [Applause] okay at this time we have uh let's first let's have another round of applause for our students of the month at this time we have uh one additional student not a student of the month for the district but she was recently given award by the Somerset County School boards Association a special award for unsung hero I am going to turn it over to our president Mr Januzzi who is the vice president of the Somerset County School boards Association to present tell talk a little bit about it and present uh a gift Mr Smith you want to come on up sure thank you Dr Freeman uh as Dr Freeman said each year Somerset County School uh School Board Association recognizes
012one student from each School District based on the following criteria it's a student who makes your school a better place simply because they're a part of it and who may often be overlooked or un uh under more traditional recognition criteria so these are really the students who make boundbrook the community that it is right represent our culture for have all of the qualities that we look for in terms of U making your way and finding success and so I'm really excited to be able to recognize Doris tonight and Mr Smith hoping you can say a few words about why she was nominated uh for this award absolutely please listen carefully uh to our story it's it's very unique and it it really exemplifies uh the epitome of hard work perseverance to achieve a goal overcoming
013and and overcoming odds all right it's it's two pages but I'll tell you it's worth every second because this young lady deserves all the recognition that she is receiving last week and tonight as well so there we go the ARs Nicole Amaya in est's Journey began in a small poor and sparsely populated town called tab in Honduras however her childhood truly unfolded in an even smaller and more deprived Village and received little to no attention from the government in this remote place ambulances and buses were nearly impossible to locate unless specifically summoned medical emergencies and police visits were rare often occurring only once a month and usually to collect a dead body like any other child darus clung tightly to her mother's hand on her first day of kindergarten but unlike many others she feared
014not only the uncertainties of school but also the dangers Beyond terrified that one day in her pursuit of a better life she might disappear and never return most of dar's childhood memories centered around school she could often be found under the tree trees swaying in a hammock while immersed in books or playing with dirt and Clay to create pretend pots in her Village libraries were non-existent and books were a rare privilege more luxurious than a phone phones though were Soom used as Internet access was almost unattainable despite the technological limitations The Village thrived on community most people knew one another the village had one church and religion was a Cornerstone of life it was safe to assume that nearly everyone was Christian as that was the only denomination represented Daris had many responsibilities growing up
015she cared for pigs cats dogs horses chickens and the family farm she learned invaluable skills from her grandparents making milk yogurt harvesting crops and preparing coffee and other foods from scratch for Doris these tasks were more than chores they were a legacy passed down through generations even the simplest activities like buying a school a book for school or traveling to purchase a dress became Monumental missions trips to the city whether by bus or car were fre infrequent and could take three to four hours depending on traffic on these Journeys Doris witnessed the struggles of others parents working tirelessly shanting AWA D Coco at every stop while their children Stood Beside them Barefoot and teary eyed she always asked her mother to buy her coconut water from them even if it wasn't sanitized simply because she
016wanted to share a piece of her blessings with those with the those less fortunate returning to school after these trips Doris felt immense gratitude she had teachers and most importantly the opportunity to attend school with her uniform neatly pressed and her supplies ready she wasn't just a student she was a determined child thriving to achieve greatness for those who couldn't Doris was an honored scholar for as long as she can remember excelling in her studies with unwavering dedication everything changed when she moved to America adjusting to a new school where she couldn't communicate with anyone besides her parents and her ESL teacher was a daunting challenge Doris often felt isolated her fear of speaking because of her accent keeping her quiet in many conversations but she persevered driven by the sacrifices she and her parents
017had made she braved harsh winners Long Summers filled with extra lessons and Autumn days where she mostly listened in class determined to overcome the language barrier and improve herself since becoming a scholar at Bal Brook High School Doris's High School experience is a testament to her passion for academics leadership and service with a perfect 4.0 GPA she has challenged herself with rigorous coursework including AP and honors classes in English Spanish biology and history as well as dual credit courses in anatomy and law beyond the classroom she has excelled in athletics earning Varsity letters in track and field soccer and cross country while also contributing to a range of extracurricular activities such as The Debate Club National Honor societies and student Le initiatives like uh the founding of the life skills Exchange Club that empowers students
018by fostering creativity knowledge and practical life skills to en enrich their lives and positively impact the community furthermore Doris helped coordinate the yellow tool project through Middle Earth which is a youth-driven initiative focused on smashing the stigma surrounding mental health and promoting hope and community Through initiatives like planning yellow tulip Gardens her leadership roles including serving as president of the rppa social studies Honor Society and Secretary of The Debate Club reflect her ability to inspire and gu others deeply committed to community committed to community service Doris has actively participated in volunteer work through interact roaa and the national English Honor Society supporting causes like food pantries shelter assistance and town cleanups a creative and empathetic scholar she balances her academic and extracurricular Pursuits with a love for art nature and creative writing all while staying
019on her dream of a career in Pediatrics to serve and uplift others Doris exemplifies dedication resilience and a commitment to making a meaningful a meaningful impact in her community and Beyond currently Doris claims she isn't entirely sure where God will guide her next but she remains confident in what she will achieve just that little girl in the village once did with so little she she holds fast to the wisdom of Matthew 6:34 do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will have enough worries of its own Doris cherishes cherishes her Roots recognizing that her culture and The Humbling often harsh experiences of her past have shaped her into the person she is today through trials and tribulations she has learned to remain grateful knowing that it is this gratitude and perseverance that make her an unsung
020hero let's here for Doris woo look at that Doris Doris would you and your family please come forward so can present you with a little token of uh recognition from our Board of Education [Applause] okay at this time we want to recognize some of our outstanding staff our District employees of the month I would like to call Miss Winter forward to recognize our employee of the month from February from February [Applause] let's have a round of applause for Miss [Applause] Malon it's an honor to recognize an outstanding educator leader and Mentor Diane M as our district teacher of the month for February Diane is the heart of our school Community bringing dedication warmth and expertise to everything she does as a teacher leader Diane takes on the immense respons responsibility of running the win program
021ensuring that students receive the targeted support they need to succeed she carefully reviews data schedules students and provides guidance always striving to meet each student's individual needs her attention to detail and deep understanding of her students allow her to make TR decisions that truly impact their learning and growth Beyond her leadership Diana is a nurturing and kind presence in our school she is not only a support system for her students St but also for her colleagues affectionately referred to as Mom by many Diane fost is an environment where everyone students and staff alike feel valued supported and cared for she is always willing to lend a helping hand whether it be in the lunchroom covering a class or pushing into the classroom to support her students her selflessness and dedication make her a true team
022player who always puts the needs of others first when I asked her colleagues to share something about her that share something about how she has impacted them personally or professionally here is some of what they said as a leader within the ASI team Diane sets a wonderful example of kindness and professionalism when I started as an ASI teacher last year the transition was a significant change for me and Diane's guidance and support made all the difference she welcomed me warmly always took the time to ensure that I felt included and stepped in whenever she noticed I was struggling her ability to up uplift those around her truly separates her from other teachers another colleague shared she has the innate ability to be present for those who need her whether it's offering a hand on a
023challenging lesson or simply listening a ear when things get tough no matter who it is or what the situation if anyone in the building is in need of Assistance or support Diane will always be there without hesitation ready to offer help in any way she can as you can see Miss malan's hard work and commitment to education are evident in everything she does she not only teaches but understands the needs of her students ensuring that they feel seen heard and empowered her passion patience and dedication have made her an invaluable part of our school Community miss malan m thank you for all you do your impact reaches far beyond the classroom and we are so grateful to have you at small congratulations on this well-deserved [Applause] recognition very well deserved very well deserved keep me
024honest come on [Applause] and next up for March we have Mr Smith will come up and uh say a few words about our co-employees of the month from Bound Brook High School [Applause] I made a joke to our staff um you know Dr Stewart Mr schaffner's like peanut butter and jelly or like ham and cheese you know kind of like a package deal they go together so you know when deciding on um you know who our staff member of the month would be it was only fair and warranted to give it to the both of you so I know was kind of a a little break from tradition just selecting one candidate but you both deserve this so it's a co- award okay so that being said we're proud to recognize Dr Marian Stewart and
025Mr Chris Schaffner as our staff members of the month for their outstanding dedication to the band program and their exceptional leadership and assisting with the coordination of the most recent band concert the band concert was a true reflection of their hard work meticulous planning and commitment to Excellence from selecting engaging pieces to ensuring seamless Co event coordination they executed every detail flawlessly the result was a remarkable performance that showcased the students talent and dedication while bringing the school Community together to enjoy the musical pieces they practiced during their first semester in addition to their commitment to the band program Dr Stewart and Mr Schaffner have taken on the challenge of teaching brand new courses this year including keyboard guitar Latin music and dance music exploration music music production and music in American culture not only
026did they develop the curriculum for these courses from the ground up but they also carefully selected and ordered the necess necessary supplies to ensure students have the best possible learning experience with music their Innovation and dedication have expanded our music program providing students with exciting new opportunities to explore and develop their musical talents with the Inception of these new courses Dr Stewart and Mr Schaffner have gone above and beyond to inspire and guide their students fostering not only musical Excellence but also teamwork discipline and a deep appreciation for the musical arts their passion for music education is evident in the way they challenge students to reach their full potential while cultivating an inclusive and supportive learning environment Marian Stewart and Chris Schaffner are invaluable members of the Bal Brook High School community and their contributions
027to their students and the music program deserve the highest recognition their dedication not not only enriches our schools Arts culture but leaves a lasting impact on the Young Musicians they Mentor please join us and congratulating Marian and Chris on this well-deserved honor and [Applause] recognition I didn't think a bouquet was approp rate for Mr shner so I got him a nice Cactus looking [Music] plant well deserved congratulations I guess they're off to practice okay at this time we would like to ask all of the students of the month and their parents to come up to take a group picture let congratulations I'm very proud of you J for our largest recog maybe to the back or down so we can see everybody but otherwise I think we're pretty good I'm not going Mike can you
028see everybody [Music] no photograph this one first bir Game Changer how are you good [Music] you guys can go down I'll just Nick somebody come take a picture I haven't seen yet I haven't seen him yet waiting that was a beautiful speech and it was so fitting it was so fittting that's who you are this young right see you I'm awesome how are you I'm I'm I'm fantastic yeah you're look look thank you very can I get absolutely abolutely no with you yeah please thank thank you so what are you doing tell me real quick I'm teaching in North planfield yeah what are you teaching uh fourth grade starting next week congratul Math Science Social Studies I know you love yeah I'm a middle school or the intermediate right now um Dr Kino she's amazing
029I decided a teacher yeah it's been a lot more natural than I expected it would be but the transition I know something all right good see good to see you too thank you I appreciate it [Music] all right everybody at this time we are up to agenda item 2.4 this is a presentation of our tentative budget as loyal as a public hearing on the same uh at this time I'd like to turn the microphone over to Mr Gorski our business administrator to walk us through the particulars Mr Gorski thank you Mr board president just a reminder on the procedure for the tenative budget adoption it's a little little unique the administration is going to provide a presentation with a few PowerPoint slides and information that then I will read a resolution to adopt the budget
030hopefully we get a first and a second then we will have a public forum where any members of the public who wish to come at on the budget have a right to do so but only on the budget then we will have a board discussion once they hear from the members of the public and then we will have a vote and hopefully an adoption of the school tentative budget [Music] thank you good evening everyone and welcome to the 2526 uh school budget presentation uh we're very happy to present to you for the third year a very well-developed fiscally responsible comprehensive budget that really covers the district's needs in terms of the classroom I'm very proud to say that 66% of the funds will go into the classroom in the form of coaching supplies technology professional
031development one of the signs of a great budget is the fact that the money is goes into the classroom and this budget does exactly that we have to thank a lot of people for that before I turn it over to Mike to explain the details first I want to thank our governor Murphy for those of you know for many years S2 we weren't properly funded he committed to funding fully funding the formula he did so over the last two years years we've received the benefit and this year as well so we're able to catch up and give our students our staff our community what they need in order to be the most successful also I want to thank our Administration our team put a lot of hardwork a lot of conversations collaborated back and forth
032looked at data in order to make the right decisions about what was to be purchased what services were to be provided so I want to congratulate them for that and thank them also our Michelangelo of money right our Michelangelo of money Mr Gorski who worked tires tirelessly and this is kind of his uh I I would talk more but this is kind of his baby you know so I want to give him the opportunity to talk about it because he put so much hard work and I can tell you uh I've seen several Bas I don't know if I've ever seen one as thorough uh with a deep understanding of what needs to go in the classroom and the ability to save money as well as to make money through uh CDs bonds very savvy
033so I want to thank him for that uh also our Board of Education work with Boards of education for many years I've never seen a more supportive when we talk about budget many times people go to their boards and they talk about the idea of cutting our budget our board says what else do you need let's figure out a way to get it if it if it's needed to meet the needs of the students so I want to thank the board of education for that and these thanks these this gratefulness is not obligatory I really mean what I say we have one of the best teams I've ever been a part of I feel blessed to be a part of it and I'm going to now turn it over to the Michelangelo of money Mr
034Mike Gorski [Applause] doc do you have the clicker thanks thanks [Music] thanks I'm old school I like to hold on to the podium all right welcome to the 2526 school budget presentation and I want to most importantly thank Dr Freeman he is the Visionary behind the budget for the last three years we have infused a lot of additional revenues into the budget and provided a lot of additional Firepower into the classrooms to meet the board and the district goals this is the third year of that installment process where millions of dollars of additional funds have been deployed to the classrooms to the teachers to the professional developments as Dr Freeman said uh textbooks training ESL special ed the two biggest areas that we have need in in this District we've focused the majority of the
035funds on in the last three years and of course course thanks to Governor Murphy the the funds didn't stop we picked up 1.8 additional million dollars of state aid this year when most of our colleagues lost three to four per. so we're very fortunate the formula was run Equalization Aid formula was run and boundbrook um is becoming more adequate in terms of the funding definition of that word every year also like to thank uh miss Robin Griffin a chief academic officer she was involved in nearly every education decision of what type or what what uh what widget should go into the budget and she's an expert on curriculum and staff training and I would be RIS if I didn't thank a very talented Miss Christine Lee who is not only the assistant business administrator but
036also has the most important task of being our grant manager and she does a very fine job with both this year Christine entered every single number into the state's budget software and and I think she has a Mastery understanding of the budget from start to finish so thank you very much Christine members of the Board of Education as Dr Freeman said we have an All-Star Board of Ed and and I don't mean to just say that Mr januzi Mr Bal uh from a leadership standpoint of the board Mr zupco um chair of the operations committee which sees all of the financial activities of the school district Miss Lisa gazino Miss Joanna musen Mr Danny Minos Mr Sydney Dawson Miss Teresa suai Mr Donald vulmer and our most recent Edition our southbound Brook representative Mr Nicholas
037incal Cera and we're very happy to also welcome our student board representative Mr Harrison musen operations committee as I mentioned is chaired by Mr zupco and served by These Fine members of the Board of Education the board's mission statement is important balber board Public Schools is a supportive Multicultural community that provides an Innovative and academically challenging educational program while offering a variety of extracurricular and social opportunities that en encourage lifelong learning and citizenship the vision you could read it um this is how we accomplish the mission and the the School District budget has two important goal areas in mind the board goals and these are those that the Board of Education works hard with New Jersey school boards Association to develop and the district goals which are those belonging to administration every consideration in this
038budget was around the board and District goals otherwise we would just be wandering through the process the executive summary to prepare a comprehensive budget what does that mean it serves all areas of the district especially those in most needs special education ESL bilingual meet the need of projected additional students we're going to get to a slide in a little bit that's going to show you all of the increased enrollment over the last several years B Brook is unusual and that we are still growing at a very solid and consistent pace and that was recognized by the state of New Jersey this year with an enrollment adjustment to our cap if we needed it expansion of curriculum programs and Staffing to broadly improve student performance budget for capital outlay projects seems like every school building in
039this District needs some upgrade some improvement and we've been responsibly doing that every year and budget is no different we have a lot of inflation as everybody's familiar with hitting the budget particularly in transportation maintenance contracted janitorial services and we've had some horrific projected increases in our commodity prices for next year up to 25% that's very hard to meet when you have a 2% cap and what is the timeline for the budget how does all this come together first we establish a budget philosophy what do we want to accomplish this year do we want to reduce taxes do we want to increase our facility um wherewithal do we want a um a budget for increased um resources for Staffing do we want to develop our staff further all of this is met and then tonight
040is the adoption of the tenative budget and we will have one more step after tonight hopefully and that's the public hearing and the final adoption next month where does the money come from 61% of the budget revenues come from state aid and that's a very good and also a very concerning statistic because when the well is Flowing it's wonderful as it's been for the last three years but it it is it's showing signs of starting to dry up we went from $6 million of additional state aid to 5 million to 1.8 million this year and we're fortunate to have received that because there are a lot of districts who lost money this year more lost than than gained tuition and miscellaneous Revenue we've had very amicable um discussions with southbound Brook Administration and the board
041to um come to a resolution on tuition because we had a large adjustment come due from two years ago and it was a lot to fit in a 2% budget cap as we recognized uh we also from a board and administrative standpoint did not want to impose too harsh of a bill on southbound Brook which could impair their ability to meet their goals and and um um Elementary and um Middle School needs local taxes to this community taxes are High um comparatively but there are only 24% of all revenues and we've worked diligently to try to suppress that and we'll talk more about that in a minute and one area that Dr Freeman and I do control is the fund balance every year we ask the board and the public to adopt the budget and
042we do our best not to spend it to its Fidelity we engage in all kind of saving activities from purchasing consortiums to making money on any additional uh areas such as U certificates of deposit we're now earning over $400,000 a year on our our CD portfolio which um helps and transfers into the general fund to meet our appropriation needs federal aid you've heard a lot about uh threats coming from the federal side fortunately that's only 4.65% of our PI and miscellaneous and transfers some mother fund are a fraction of a percent but the majority of the funds come from state aid and that's something to just keep an eye on and and read and understand what's coming there's a handout for the comparative Revenue schedule most noteworthy there is the increases in state aid the
043slight increases of about $280,000 for the tax levy increase um tuition revenue is increasing miscellaneous income is increasing grant money from the state is not increasing um we just digested all of the covid grants and U we were told by the county department of education to budget 15 % less for all federal and state grants here is a calculation if anybody is interested in how the general fund tax levy is calculated basically it takes last year's general fund Levy adjusts it for enrollment and we had a significant enrollment adjustment based on our Assa student count as of October 15th of the last few years the state does a trend line based on that and they afford US an adjustment for enrollment $1.5 million we could have taken that and gone above the 2% cap by
044that amount of money we also received an adjustment for Health Care our health care costs have increased 7 and a half% on average for the last three years and that made us um eligible for an adjustment to cap for health care so you could see between the two adjustments to cap that's $2 million we could have went above the tax levy cap but we chose to defer that resource to Future years if needed because we met all of our obligations within the general fund 2% standard growth and all of the other Revenue areas that we're able to achieve in the budget so we did not impose any more upon the taxpayers but that money is not lost if there is a future need if state aid dries up in the future this district will have
045the ability to raise the general fund Levy by as much as $2.4 million over a three-year phaseout period no prior years Bank cap has been appropriated the healthc care adjustment to cap and the enrollment adjustment to cap also have not been appropriated and are carrying over as banked cap key facts on state aid Equalization Aid is our biggest form of state aid BL you Equalization Aid is designed to help a district support their adequacy budget and then there is a local fair share calculation where the state looks at a District's incomes from your New Jersey 1040s as well as your property wealth and they determine if you need State assistance in meeting your adequacy budget boundbrook has always needed such and we qualify and we get $ 33.4 million our largest state aid award for
046that category and then the next one is categorical Aid and that's as the definition implies based on the different categories of aid for extra items such as special education security transportation and a lot of these are reward type AIDS the more efficient a district is in running a transportation department the more Transportation Aid you will receive um based on an eligibility of State revenues of course our state aid grew almost $1.8 million that's a 4.7% increase above last year one area of state aid that we were very disappointed and surprised with is the preschool education Aid which we have received notification thanks to Dr Freeman's contacts at the uh New Jersey Department of Education that the state is looking at the preschool Aid formula because a lot of districts got severe cuts of of double
047digit decreases to the preschool program and without similar Aid funding from last year cuts to those programs would have to happen and as most educators will share that is one of the most important areas to meet the needs of students right off the bat or you'll lose them for years where does the money go as Dr Freeman said when you take the instructional classifications and you allocate benefits directly for the teachers and and uh and staff two-thirds of our budget goes directly in the classroom that's extraordinarily High this District's Debt Service is is extraordinarily low at 2.6% and we satisfied the SMY commissioner approved lease purchase in the 2425 budget so we no longer have $700,000 a year approximately of debt service for that amortization schedule administrations under 8% capital projects are 4% 5% and
048they're growing we're spending more on Transportation because our contracted special education transportation services have had extraordinary inflation and Athletics and um curriculum development and all those are represented there there's a schedule comparatively showing every line item of Appropriations for all funds from last year to the 2526 budget and budget spending is directly driven by enrollment and this is your enrollment in Bal Brook board of education for the last uh five years and you could see there's significant steady increase in enrollment however our facilities are at capacity for the most part so in this budget we will show you in a minute that we are tactically meeting our needs for student enrollment with a modular classroom addition of four to five classrooms at Lamont that will help the preschool program and could be used for anything
049that the district chooses to reallocate that b uh the building for in the future Miss [Music] Griffin as you've reviewed all of these Appropriations before they were decided upon it would be most appropriate for you to talk about these okay thanks okay so I'm going to go over um what we added in for curriculum and instruction and programming uh this is just kind of an overview and then I'll break it down a little bit in more depth on the next slide so we're going to be enhancing our curriculum and programs for the 25 26 school year getting new and updating materials for history and math courses in Middle School level um aligning our Curriculum maps to the standards the new standards updating um Ela ESL World languages and High School cour courses such as science
050math social studies Ela hiring new bilingual teachers hiring new special education teachers um enhancing our summer and before and after school enrichment opportunities and then that's the bottom one if you can see it um expanding special programs for families um and Community connections okay so if it's so broken down we have uh seven additional staff members that we would like to have in this budget we have a bilingual math teacher for our middle school so this is to support our programming that we put into place in the elementary school with a dual language program where the students are getting instruction in English and Spanish we would like to continue the programming for these students in the Middle School school and have a bilingual math teacher to continue with the math support then at the high
051school we have three a need for three teachers in one in the math department one in the science department and one in the social studies department and these are to um provide more opportunities for expansion of courses and to um you know work on adjusting the schedule and making sure that we have enough staff to cover all of the courses that we need to teach we have two special education teachers that we're adding in we need a section in the Middle School to address uh a population of students that is coming up from small into the middle school and making sure that they have a class and program that's appropriate and then we have um a special education teacher at the high school and um that is also to support our students and our programs
052um and then we also have an assistant superintendent position in in this as well which replaces a retired superint assistant superintendent position um our textbooks programs and resources we have uh expansion of our text novels Mentor text classroom libraries in K to 12 uh providing resources for our students for um you know to expand on what what we already have we have um a variety of texts and we just would like to uh get some more and get some more um books in students hands then in grades one and two we have a need for document cameras so the teachers can use that to uh display examples for students and we have it at the um we have it at grades two and three or we have it at one of the schools it's positive
053so the other Elementary School would like to have that we have science kits and materials for our sixth grade students right now um they need a revamping of our programs that we have at the middle school to support our science so more Hands-On materials so they can do experiments and things like that Middle School social studies getting new materials for that and middle school math uh the Middle School teachers have been asking for extra support in what resources they have because they're they're different than the elementary and the high school so we want to make sure that we give them a voice and they have their own lens on curriculum um Middle High School social studies DBQ Project so this is a writing project that is infused into the history classes and this uh focuses
054on critical thinking it focuses on um using um using research to write and then uh we're language textbook so it's been a while since we've updated our World Language programs for French and Spanish so we are getting some new textbooks some new resources and refreshing our textbooks in that area isn't that's it right okay so now when you add in all those new textbooks and those new programs we have to write our curriculum to match so we have a lot of curriculum writing so a lot of people are going to be really busy this summer writing curriculum and making sure they're ready for everyone so in the elementary school working on our uh writing programs our ESL our math and science and our Spanish in the middle school we have different levels of ESL we
055also are U working on our integrated language arts which is also for our ESL students Spanish one and two our Ela 7 and8 and our social studies s and eight and then at the high school we have um we're working on our AP Chemistry special education math courses our math 912 ESL integrated language arts Our World Language programs are need a lot of um curriculum revisions and rewriting so we've got all our levels of Spanish including some of our new courses that we have like our Spanish Heritage language courses and then our French courses um two new English courses our folklore course and our film course um all four of our English courses and then US History one two and world history I think is that the end of it yeah okay so lots of
056work especially at the high school and then this is kind of just a review of what the first slide said and everything else um one of the um one of the big things is our student learning standards so we've had updates in student learning standards um specifically over the past couple of years from two uh 2020 till now with um Math and Science being our most recent one so we just want to make sure that our curriculum addresses the most current um standards that are out there and then we want to make sure that our curriculum writing and our maps are supporting um our teachers our teachers are part of writing The Curriculum maps in the program we want to make sure that they're updated and that they make sense for what we're teaching um
057our multi-tiered systems of supports so that would be our academic Support also our gifted our um ESL programs our special education um our in school before and after school and summer programs obviously the textbooks the technology um as you know we got our new computer so we still have to keep on making sure we update the technology with promethium boards things like that um continue increasing our gifted and talented opportunities to make sure that we are providing these opportunities for all of our students um continuing our multilingual learner supports and then some of our assessments and our assessment tools that we use to um make sure that you know what we're teaching is actually um what what we're addressing is actually the students are actually learning so we have our data warehouse link it which
058houses all of our testing results and then we use some of these different types of test testings then professional development so whenever you change things you add new things you want um your staff to know the newest um strategies and best practices you have to provide professional development it's important development it's important for teachers to continue to learn so we need to invest a lot of money in that and then we also have professional memberships not only for our Administration but for some of our teachers who are specifically members of organizations throughout the state and then now it's back to Mike okay this slide shows that we are spending a little over $2 million to address Capital needs in the district and that doesn't tell the whole story because the preschool modular classroom is actually
059a $4 million expenditure and from that $4 million we are least purchasing the actual modular unit which means we're financing that over a 5-year period to better match the lifespan of the asset and with interest rates where they are that made a lot of sense the foundation part of the $4 million which is about a million dollars where we had to budget for directly because the leasing company cannot come collateralize the foundation if they had to we didn't pay the debt but um the rest of it is going to be leas purchased over five years we are going to address sealing and striping at all parking Lots catch Basin at the football field and asphalt at the high school Fieldhouse roof drainage issues at the high school all the remaining schools are getting new signs
060um the annex bathrooms and basement ceiling is going to be redone gym wall padding at Lafayette and bathroom Renovations uh to a small extent at Small E School we're spending about $900,000 on various equipment that you could see including coffee machine sensory wall kits that we're most proud of um musical equipment stage lighting and a lot of those Promethean interactive panels we save a lot of money in this district from shared services and this list is growing each year we're working with the municipality we're working with um County consortiums to share any cost that we can we reach out to other school districts for transportation joint ches if we're both going the same way might as well just share the route and we are very proud that we are at the Inception of working on
061a shared services committee with southbound Brook and we're we're scheduling the next meeting as we speak so that the two districts can collaborate on saving money next we'll talk about the tax rate what influences the tax rate number one state aid obviously if we didn't receive the amount of state aid that we received this year and we weren't blessed with that and we had to go into the tax levy that's going to affect the tax rate fund balance applied uh Dr Freeman and I through the management of the budget ending June 3024 we're able to increase excess Surplus by about $300,000 which is a revenue by Statute in the 2526 budget Township ratables are what shares the levy and the value of everybody's property through town um uh shares the the rate of uh the
062text Levy and finally student enrollment as we mentioned that is the biggest driving factor in why we have to budget for so much and the we are very pleased to say that the culmination of this budget which is infusing millions of dollars into the classroom is resulting in a school tax rate decrease of 3.9 cents the average assessed home of $447,000 will experience a school tax decrease of approximately $170,000 this this metric um is very dependent on the specifics of the property um not everybody is going to see a school tax decrease this is looking at the community on average as the property values grow each year everybody shares in more of the levy and everybody's rate goes down and uh Dr Freeman and I would like to sincerely thank everybody who had a hand
063in this budget which started in November um notably the principals the vice principls the supervisors the directors um Miss Griffin Miss Lee and U certainly the board of education for for all your patience at all the committee meetings going over all of this information and data which we've um provided before we have a 4.5 four to five classroom addition to Lamont that's coming we're most pleased with that that's going to be open January 1st of 26 which is very fast it's a it's a pre-made unit in in Georgia and aside from the construction for the foundation they just drop it down it's it's outfitted already and ready to go uh seven new staff we talked about health insurance rates are a big challenge for a lot of school districts the school health um State Health
064Benefit fund is going up 15% we are at 13.5 and our average over the last three years has been seven and a half um we have new curriculum new special ed new bilingual new professional development new technology $2 million of capital projects $900,000 of equipment in summary without much additional cont contribution from the local taxpayers the Bound Brook Board of Education in this 2526 budget is providing for the third year a very comprehensive budget with significant additional educational uh increases to support our teachers and Educators with additional staff professional development coaching technology specially deployed to the areas of bilingual and special education we're adding new sections we're growing and we are most confident that we we we will meet or exceed the board and District District goals with the resources that we are thankful to
065the community for providing in this budget thank [Applause] [Music] you e Mr Gorski are we going to address item 2.5 tonight yes sir all right uh if it pleases the board I would like to recommend a resolution to adopt the 2526 tentative budget and then we will open it up for public forum so the public can comment specifically and only on the budget and after hearing that the board can deliberate and then we will take a vote on the adoption of the budget may I proceed please thank you as recommended by the superintendent of schools be it resolved by the balbrook Board of Education that the 2526 tenative general fund budget be adopted in the amount of 58 m232 182 and a tenant of general fund local tax levy in the amount of 4,244 1882
066and a tenative special Revenue Fund in the amount of 3,745 33 and a tenative Debt Service budget in the amount of 1,633 $263 and a tenative Debt Service local tax levy in the amount of 7627 73 whereby the tenative 2526 budget total 62 m731 th074 and whereas the balber board of education has been notified of state aid amounts and whereas such state aid amounts are for the 2526 Equalization Aid is 33,43 a,2 23 and the 2526 school choice Aid is $3,835 and the 2526 categorical special education Aid is 2,5 11,744 and the 2526 categorical security Aid is 83,1 194 and the 2526 categorical Transportation Aid is 137,953 preschool education Aid is 1,768 1877 and the 2526 Debt Service Aid is $87,400 and whereas the Bound Brook board of education has estimated a state aid amount
067pursuant to application and for the 2526 the estimated extraordinary Aid amount is $200,000 and whereas policy 6471 and NJ Administrative Code 6A 23A 7.3 provides that the Board of Education shall establish in the annual school budget a maximum expenditure amount that may be allotted for travel and expense reimbursement for the 25 26 school year now therefore be it resolved that the Bound Brook Board of Education hereby establishes the school district annual Travel maximum for the 2526 school year at a total of $57,500 and be a further resolve that the school business administrator shall track and record these costs to ensure that the maximum amount is not exceeded and whereas due to consistent student enrollment enrollment growth instructional Staffing and program needs facility needs and other priorities set forth by the superintendent of schools the board
068of education is budgeting to maximum spending Authority which does not include an automatic enrollment adjustment to cap of 1 million 55241 and it also does not include a health care cost adjustment of $555 both of which will instead be added to the district's Bank cap the district is not applying any previous year's Bank cap now therefore let it be resolved that the superintendent of schools and the business administrator board secretary file all required documents with the executive County of superintendent of schools may we have a motion and a second please motion Mr zupco and who is the second Mr calcatera thank you Mr Januzzi motions on the floor you may now open it up to public forum please any questions or comments at this time sounds like you did a very good and thorough job
069Mike there are no questions shall we move to what's the next item then board discussion sure board discussion I think if the board were going to discuss anything we probably would have heard that by now too so you're you're in the clear Mike what's next uh the vote sir sure why don't we do a roll call please thank you Mr Bal yes Miss gazino yes Mr incal Cera Mr zupco yes Miss musen Mr minhas miss high yes Mr vulmer Mr board president yes Mr board president motion passes and on behalf of Dr Freeman and the administrative team thank you for your support of the 2526 school budget thank you round of applause for Mike and the team really [Applause] job all right at this time we are up to our student board member report Harrison
070your hot takes for this month please so starting off with our sports news with the end of the winter sports season lots of spring Sports hosted their first practice on Monday March 10th including girls softball Spring Track Boys Tennis volleyball and baseball two wrestlers on the high school team Junior Kobe Morgan and freshman Briana sandal will compete at the njsiaa state championships at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City Briana sandal secured her ticket for winning the njsiaa girls North second region she went four to zero with three pins and one techall Kobe Morgan secured his ticket by placing third at the region for tournament going four to one on the weekend middle schooler Brian Hernandez on the middle school wrestling team qualified for kids states which took place on March 2nd moving on to our cheer
071team they ended their season placing second in the co-ed intermediate cheer Dan competition the winter track team will have three individuals going to Adidas indoor Nationals in Virginia Beach including Dylan John Baptist in the long jump Dolson John Baptist in the triple jump and ogur Malik in pval they will also have one individual doson John Baptist who is also going to New Balance Nationals in Boston for triple jump he set the new School record for triple jump in the high in the high school at 45 feet and 7 Ines congratulations to all the winter uh athletes across all sports for their amazing accomplishments and contributions to the high school moving on to school news on March 4th 20 sorry on March 4th The Freshman avoc Class planned and hosted a tour of the high school
072for RMS middle school students the RMS students came from the high uh came to the high school at 9 o' and did many activities with the high schoolers including tours of the school ice breakers scavenger hunts sample assignments and shadowing students in their classes there were a total of 44 of the middle school students who came to visit all giving very positive feedback on on the Avid class and bomberg high school the junior class is currently in the middle of NJ GPA testing which started on Monday March 10th and will end tomorrow March 13th the senior class continues to be accepted into colleges with many people committing to the univers to universities such as Ryder Monmouth University and more National Honor Society presented an anti-racism and anti-bullying presentation to the fifth graders in SMY Elementary
073School with lots of fun activities teaching them why bullying is wrong on March 3rd for read Across America the national English Honor Society went on uh went to lont and the annex to read to the younger students there on March 6 the high school hosted its second blood drive of the year with over 100 people registered to donate blood on March 7th the national computer Honor Society took a trip to SMY to have a presentation on coding and they did an activity on the platform scratch with the students finally on March 8th and 99th the boundbrook robotics team competed at Mount Olive in the first Mid-Atlantic District competition going against 34 other teams they placed 14th individually and seventh in teams they also won the Don Donald Bowers inspiration award this award recognizes a person
074that instills values of first and stem teaching and inspiring their community and that's all great report any questions for Mr musen nicely done all right we are up to our committee reports uh Mr Dawson isn't here but Mr Bal it looks like you're ready to go oh sure would you like to do the education committee report I wasn't sure if it was going to be me so I love you being prepared I brought up his notes so uh Mr Dawson this morning sent me notes so I'm just going to read them um I was obviously at the committee meeting so if you have questions I can answer them for you um the education committee met on Monday our Focus was to review the midyear achievement data with several of our district supervisors the data overall
075indicates strong growth as well as some opportunities for further growth in prek and K students are working on pheic awareness letter and number identification and problem solving which by the way I can add in is a shift in our uh in our curriculum uh in fact our prek curriculum has changed completely in the last year so we're looking for big big gains there a focus on Phonics and different differentiated reading is generating gains at the primary level we are seeing benefits from our academic support staff pushing into rooms to assist with small group instruction students in grades 2 through six are working to solidify their skills and it appears that work to departmentalize subject teaching has also been beneficial a common indicator in the low grades the lower grades excuse me was was a need
076to increase understanding of measurement and data analysis in math so staff are working to embed these skills more frequently and I can say as a math teacher that is common throughout districts everywhere measurement and data analysis is always challenging at the middle and high school level staff have implemented common assessments within their departments in some areas like eighth grade language arts we are seeing strong growth we are working with students to build their stamina to read longer passages in Math building fact fluency is a priority data meetings between administrators and teachers have been productive and planning next steps and then just parenthetically as a board uh we always ask at the end of our education meeting what we can do to help them and uh we can support them we were told by working to
077fund curricular revisions and additional books uh in our upcoming budget which you saw in tonight's Bud budget presentation so it looks like we are aiming to meet those same needs that we were asked for and that's what I have here any questions for Education all right then very good rolling right into governance come on it's a different tab hold on what are we doing govern okay so at governance we spent the majority of our time talking about the rotating drop schedule and the sidebar agreement that we are working on with the Union at this time um they went over all the details I'm sure we've all heard them before but just in case here are some of the highlights the uh work day for teachers would actually end up being five minutes less uh there
078would be time at the beginning of the day at and at the end of the day which we would be calling unassigned time about 15 minutes each at the beginning and end of the day so they can prepare a little bit more and and not have something where they somewhere where they have to be um teachers will teach five classes instead of which by the way I'm sure you heard in the presentation of the budget is why we will be looking to hire a few more teachers so that we can fill some of those spots um we also will be changing well if this were to go through we would change the amount that is paid when uh when teachers teach an extra class this happens once in a while when we we don't have
079a leave replacement this often happens and a teacher who has five classes has to take on a sixth to cover that teacher who's out and um on a maternity leave uh for instance so we right now obviously would pay one sixth of their salary because they're teaching five classes that would go to one fifth of their salary the math makes sense there and they would also if I have these numbers right we would now have 360 minutes of planning time with 60 Minutes being common planning time okay just making sure that was right that's what we did there I do have one other question but does anybody have any questions about that about the rotating drop schedule that I can throw over to Mr Ross he's he's the answer man there no okay I did
080have one question for you uh Mr President I was on the email I believe that you sent to miss ree about our progress and I just want to see if you got any response from her because I did not I wasn't on it if if you did it's a great question so I have not received a response yet but uh just to acknowledge the last item that we needed to complete as a board before we attained Master certification was um uh self-evaluation uh of the board so uh hopefully everybody has done that if you haven't the njsba website is not currently up to date so I can't tell you who has and who has not um but as soon as that's available we'll download those results synthesize them the same way we do the chief
081School administrators evaluation at the end of each year and then discuss them before we accept and move on so uh sadly that's not ready yet but hopefully by the time we meet next we will have the results and we can check that off our to-do list okay and one other thing while we're on the topic of Miss ree also I realized that we had not for this year 2025 done our ethics training I know that now we have uh a full board again with Mr in calcatera we can uh move forward with that so I'm going to reach out to miss Ree and see when she's available and then so just keep keep an eye on your emails because I'll be sending out dates hopefully we can coordinate with our regular board meeting but if
082we can't and we have to come in for an extra night then I'll give you hopefully a bunch of options of dates that we can do that that's the plan as of now good point and then last comment I guess on training Mr Gorski obviously everybody is due to uh complete their manual a manual required training um depending on where they are in their tenure so um just encouraging everybody to get in touch with uh Mr Gorski and his team to make sure that you get registered for that as soon as possible okay all right any other questions for Mr Bon governance what's can I do that you wish miss high up to you for human resources it's going to be very brief for uh Human Resources we every meeting we start our agenda with
083just the new hires looking at what positions we need to fill what have been filled it's an ongoing process which is always updated so that we know what we're looking for and you can look on personnel and see what you know has come up this month the only other thing um was the sidebar update with the strength and conditioning coach and that is also an item that is on this month's agenda that is all thank you Mrs High any questions all right we're up to operation Mr zco this should be brief which it should be because the budget was phenomenally presented um basically there was a budget update um I'm kind of gonna uh revamp not revamp but go over everything a little bit um for the notes uh Mr Gorski and Dr Freeman updated
084the operations committee where the currently the budget revenues balance the budgeted Appropriations with no fatal errors and the uh njd Oe budget software members were presented a print out of the two-year comparative revenues and Appropriations Dr Freeman reminded members that the district has prioritized and concentrated most new revenues mainly from increases in state aid over the past three years too much needed curriculum Staffing professional development and faculty needs the additional 1.7 million of the 2526 state aid is no exception Miss Griffin highlighted all the new program instructional enhancements to the 2526 budget along with the need for seven additional full-time staff which we saw tonight uh Mr Gorski indicated that the budget was at 2% tax levy cap but an effort to continue to suppress local taxes the district was not budgeting available adjustments to
085cap for enrollment and health health care costs these unused Levy uh tax levy adjustments will carry over to the next three years budgets as Bank caps of the district was to encounter a shortfall on revenues in the next three years budgets they can uh basically tap into that Mr Gorski I just want if you can comment on that a little bit um in relation to going forward for what we would be looking at certainly the um the unused tax levy cap adjustments from this year were total of $2.4 million and the district has a limited time in the future before the expire of a graduated schedule up to three years so for example if God forbid the district was to lose state aid next year of a significant number the program needs here would still
086be met unfortunately the burden would be shifted from the state's obligation to that of the taxpayer which we are able to avoid this year thank you Mr Gorski um district is planning a completely outfitting uh outfitted modular addition to Lamont pre- School program with bathrooms staff workrooms and more uh there are other facility upgrades in and Equipment budgeted and that was discussed tonight as well tax consequence of 2526 budget is a school tax reduction of approximately 3.9 cents which calculates to a school tax decrease to the average zest home in book was 170,000 per year members recommended the budget to the board of ed for was that 170 170 I'm sorry I I I put in a thousand just for my uh I got excited for a second 170 $7 per year members recommended the
087budget to the board of education for tenative adoption on a personal not Mr Gorski I've been in education for 30 years and uh I have to say and Dr Freeman and um Miss Griffin the the job that you've done is not just spectacular but in being in a number of different districts um it's it's incredible and I think that we are honored and I'm humbled to work with you guys I know the board of education is as well so from the bottom of our heart and from the bottom of the taxpayer's heart we we want to thank you and I want to give you another round of applause very much good job that's all I have for operations if there's any questions uh you can ask Mike thank you Mr zco maybe just two quick
088updates on some of the projects that we have in process um I think really for no better reason than we have a good idea of getting excited about them so I know in the middle school we just recently uh started or hopefully are completing at this point uh renovations to the gym that uh have been long anticipated and overdue so that's done that's great um and then the work in the high school that we've deferred because of winter sports season hopefully is going to be getting underway soon as well so um as we continue uh as we continue to see upgrades to these facilities uh which are overdue and and needed um I think it gives us reason to be proud of the community and the the events that we're hosting as well as inviting
089uh not only our students into each building on every day but uh people from outside the community and within the community inm so uh I hope uh the members of our uh staff and administration are as excited about that as I am and uh you board members are as well any final comments about operations [Laughter] I'm adding a demerit to your record uh Mrs High uh can you just give a brief comment about SCC please um Somerset County Ed Services Commission meets um every other month so they it would be a meeting for the executive committing and then a meeting for all of the districts involved so this past meeting was an executive meeting so there are no um minutes to report from that so next month will be the report on what the what
090the commission is doing perfect thank you very much I always forget the schedule and last but not least Mr in calcatera anything you'd like to report for southbound Brook well on top of the excellent report that was given by the student board member good job about the RMS students that came for their introduction which I hear went well uh we've been concentrating a lot lately on the facilities on getting maintenance schedules correct and starting to plan out for our um repair of things like the roof the gutter systems things of that nature other than that does anybody have any questions just maybe in terms of uh your own budget presentation and adoption is that something that has been presented or 18th very good all right any other questions from Mr inalca all right as always
091excellent work in the Committees the reports are always very thorough thank you to our staff partners uh who are really doing the heavy lifting in terms of uh all of the agenda items and everything else and uh for our board members for continuing to participate I think uh we actually had a few meetings where we reached Quorum and and needed to ask people to step out of the room so that we could um abide by the appropriate laws and regulations so great to see all of the interest and participation at this point we are up to item 5.1 which is public participation and uh comments regarding agenda items so this is in accordance with District policy 0167 which governs public participation in board meetings members of the public are required to sign uh at the
092podium and provide their name address and group affiliation if applicable when addressing the board please state your name and address and limit comments to agenda items only directed to the presiding officer each participant is allowed three to five minutes to speak and no individual May address the same topic more than once until all others wishing to speak have had an opportunity to do so so at this time is there anybody who wants to address US regarding agenda items okay so we're on to item 6.1 uh be it resolved that the Bound Brook Board of Education upon recommendation of the superintendent approves the minutes for the following meeting this is regular and executive meeting minutes for February 19th 2025 I have a motion motion thank you Mrs High a second thank you Mr inalca any questions
093or comments hearing none Mr Gorski a roll call please Mr Bal yes m cazino yes Mr in calcatera Mr zco yes Miss musen Mr minhas miss high yes Mr bumer yes and Mr Januzzi yes motion passes thank you item 7.1 be it resolved that the superintendent recommends for approval the resolutions as outlined in District Personnel resolutions these are items 7.2 through 7.39 I have a motion thank you Miss Muson a second thank you Mr minhas any discussion okay uh before we get to a vote just for Mr incal catara uh's benefit we merged multiple sections together in the agenda probably last year or the year before so just keep in mind that the items that have the double asterisk are the ones that uh are applicable for middle and elementary schools you got it all
094right Mr Gorski a roll call please certainly Mr Bell yes Miss kazino yes Mr incal Cera yes Mr zupco yes Miss musen Mr Minos miss high yes Mr vulmer yes and Mr januzi yes motion passes thank you item 8.1 be it resolved that the Bound Brook Board of Education approves the resolutions as outlined in District education resolutions this is 8.2 through 8.19 I have a motion motion thank you Mr Bal a second second thank you Mr zepco any discussion uh hearing none Mr gorsky a roll call please Mr Bal yes Mr Mr Dawson I beg a pardon Miss gazino yes Mr in calcatera Mr zupco miss musen Mr minhas miss high yes Mr vulmer yes and Mr Januzzi yes motion passes item 9.1 be it resolved that the Bound Brook Board of Education approves the
095resolutions as outlined in board action resolutions these are items 9.2 through 9.21 I have a motion motion thank you Mr B a second giving it to Mrs guzo any discussion yeah just a a quick thank you on 9.11 to CCO for the backpacks absolutely any other comments or questions all right hearing none can we have a roll call please Mr Bell yes Miss cazino yes Mr in calcatera yes Mr zco yes Miss musen Mr minhas miss high yes Mr vulmer yes and Mr Januzzi yes motion passes thank you we are now up to other matters to come before the board which I have not received any which leades us to new business from any of the committee members if there's items that you would like to raise or address that were not on tonight's agenda
096Mrs High please wait a minute okay we don't have to hold it anymore we don't have to hold it anymore CH yeah as long as the lights thank you and here I in my finger is exhausted sorry to steal your ther but also it guys no more red flashing light so I don't know what you you figured it out good job thank you thank you well what I wanted to say is you know March is a busy month in the schools with and I have to say as a board member just be so proud to go into the schools and in the community and see what's going on um attended the unsung hero at NJ SBA what a wonderful experience reading to so going from that and then reading to the preschoolers over for at
097um the annex for read Across America and I love how I just love their questions because of some of them have so much to do with what you read and some have nothing whatsoever so it just was fun to be there and also just attending um robotics they had a wonderful program and the kids were so articulate and so involved in it and so happy to see too that their mission statement the first thing is to teach to learn to inspire wow and that really kind of goes with our whole thing you know enter to learn go forth to serve they presented themselves so well I actually asked if I could see their Report with the next day I received that they also did the um subst I just want to the award that they
098got was the substainability award which was formerly the Chairman's award which is a really big thing with robotics it's really big and they've received it for the past two or three years is it it two years that's huge so these kids are so involved the time that they put in but again I just you know as an educator myself I just was so proud of what I was seeing thank you awesome thank you Mrs High uh any other new business all right at this time we are open to the public for discussion I will save my breath and just note that the same Provisions apply as uh back on agenda item number five um with the exception now that the full formoor is open for anybody who would like to address us about any topic
099yeah yeah your turn yeah would you like to you want to talk your time to shine you've been so patient don't apologize you've waited for hours for us we might as well wait yeah if you want sure why don't I grab those while you start talking it's green no not yet we're going we're going handheld test test there you go Plan B okay all right so I'm just gonna make this pretty much as quick as I could um because I do I am on the time limit um I'm going to start by introducing myself I am Andrew Townson uh I work with a company called document Solutions um at the moment we are teaming up with West Winder Plainsboro Regional School District as well as Lawrence Township School District uh helping them with water coolers
100uh to provide a healthier drinking water solution for the schools uh for the staff students um with the reports that I just handed out to you guys uh it is a report for Bound Brook Township of the water uh systems um and with that being said this is everything that's in the water for this Township of boundbrook um and if you flip you can just flip through you can see everything um on one of the pages is a customer uh list for the school districts that we actually do a lot of work for um as you guys mentioned uh earlier in the presentation you are looking for two copers for uh you know the newer classrooms we handle copers as well so that would be something we'll be able to help out with um and
101then if you flip to the last two pages these are the systems that we Implement in the schools to ensure the Purity and the healthiness of the water itself to ensure that the children are getting the best water possible uh to eliminate everything that you've seen on the first few pages so let me just say thank you on behalf of the board for coming out and addressing us tonight we really appreciate you sharing the information as well I stay two minutes away so it's not it's great so you've given us something to consider which we'll do and uh we'll let you know if there's anything we'd like to follow up thank you so much awesome thank you thank you I don't know how to work this I'm not gonna touch it you're good all right
102at this time we are up to item 13.1 move to go into executive session so resolved that the Bound Brook Board of Education enter executive session as Allowed by njsa 10 colen 4-11 for the purposes listed below including 1 s and8 may I have a motion motion thank you Mr B a second thank you Mr incalcaterra all in favor I we are adjourned to Executive we got your numbers tday e e e okay everybody we ready to get going awesome so if I'm reading this correctly keep me honest go ahead we have nothing to move in 14 correct awesome so we are right to number 15.1 be it resolved that the Bound Brook Board of Education approves the resolutions as outlined in approval of Hib cases under Mill and Elementary schools this is just item
10315.2 I have a motion thank you Mrs High a second thank you Miss musen uh roll call please yes yes yes thank you item 16. run resolve the balberg Board of Education adjourned a motion motion thank you Mr Bal second thank you Mrs guzo all in favor hi have a good evening