001[Music] all right hello welcome and thank you for joining us this evening we called our meeting to order earlier in our closed executive session so we are now ready to begin the public portion of tonight's meeting um I will turn it over to Dr aderhold if he has any comments quick comments good evening everyone um just one brief comment uh to start before I do the budget presentation um after a couple other speakers um just want to note that earlier this week um we sent out an update regarding the school calendar for the 2425 school year with respect to emergency closings um as you know we haven't had to close due to um weather this year as such we still have three emergency closing days built in the first um scheduled one is on April
0021st however on the calendar it's uh labeled uh the second closing day we're reordering and we're going to we're going to reopen um or or release the April 1st date so the district will continue to reserve April 21st and May 23rd just in case of a late uh late season storm but um with respect to um all wwp schools will be closed on April 1st and um all wwp schools will be um excuse me close on Monday the 31st Tuesday April 1st and will reopen on ail April 2nd so we'll be getting will'll be closed on Monday the 31st Tuesday the 1st and we reopen on the 2 right thank you everyone all right thanks Dr ader hold and now I'd like to turn the floor over to our student representatives from High School South
003uh tonight we have Anna Chen and Rachel Joseph thank you good evening uh thank you all for having us so after the busy month of February a South students have gone to breathe and relax for a little bit as we transition from Winter to spring so as winter sport came to a close many South students were eager and excited for spring Sports to begin and this past week tryouts for all spring Sports concluded and we want to wish all of our teams best of luck for the season ahead especially since many programs have their first scrimmages this week however before we completely move forward we would like to highlight our girls track team specifically our 4x400 Sprint team which is made up of South seniors and they placed 25th at New Balance Nationals this past
004weekend setting an indoor School record for the girls team of 3879 so we're very proud of all of our athletes and we know we know they'll see great success during their outdoor season uh lastly North and South's United program held yet another basketball game hosted at the North gym on February 26th uh where students from both high schools and students from the track program got to participate in a little friendly competition in terms of club and Council activities South student council and North student council held an annual Dodge ball tournament um we saw great participation from both schools and everyone had a good time with the winning team even getting a courtesy prize and picture and during the past month uh our AVID program also held a successful parent night where they were able to
005introduce the AVID program to incoming ninth graders and generate a lot of interest as rising freshmen begin to schedule their classes for high school and I'll pass the it off to Anna thank you Rachel this month our upper classman were able to partake in some very exciting trips from March 7th to 11th the senior class flew down to Florida for a couple fun-filled days at Disney World under warmer weather the seniors got to experience all four Parks over the course of 4 days with all the wonderful sights and attractions meanwhile the junior class went to Washington DC and had a great time they explored the city visiting the capital of memorials and met with government officials one of them who is a South alumni after returning back from Washington seminar Juniors completed the NJ GPA
006as their final state test for the graduation requirement looking forward spring calls from some exciting events this Friday evening Sasa our South American South Asian American Student Association plans to hold a celebration for Holy that will be filled with food and fun and next month our junior class will attend prom at the aquarium we can't wait for the events that our second semester will bring and now we will hand it off to North hello everyone to start off winter sports have formally ended with n's basketball team making it to central four finals where they unfortunately lost against Montgomery High School ending their season with the final record of 23 wins and six losses going down as the greatest team in North history congrats to coach Beasley for being named Colonial Valley Conference coach the Year
007and congrats to Malachi for being the name for being to named Colonial Valley Conference player for the year spring sports are up and running with tryouts ending last week North students are also really excited for belonging day formerly known as Dei day students had the opportunity to choose which session they would like to participate in earlier this month and this day will take place tomorrow in school looking towards our clubs North fpla attended their state leadership conference last week they were able to present and win many awards most nobly North student Alana tiagi who became a state officer for the 2025 2026 year Juniors completed NG NJ GPA testing last week while our freshman sophomores and seniors enjoyed the delayed opening which was very refreshing High School North held its own musical from February 27th
008to March 2 and the musical was a huge success with almost every show selling out and the show featured a little shop of hars one of my personal favorites North Mall Congress will attend PMC next week from the 27th to the 30th where they will compete against schools from across the nation and we wish them good luck and a great time and moving on to some student council events High School North student council held dodgeball with South as many kids from both schools got together for a lot of fun and High School North student council will also be sticking to the kind of sports theme and hosting March Madness this Friday for teams to play for the trophy at our school and finally High School North is looking to host its annual Tonight Show which
009is a talent show for all of its seniors and we wish all of our seniors good luck which will be held next Saturday on March 29th at p.m. awesome thank you thank you Ana Johnson uh Anna and Rachel always a pleasure to hear about all the going on go ongoing events in high school from Sports to academics to Arts culture and belongings so thank you guys so much um have a good rest of your evening unless you want to stick around for our next very exciting topic uh which I am proud introduce Dr aderhold Who will give us our tentative budget presentation good evening uh members of the Board of Education members of the public administration PTA Representatives uh students members of the community um my name's Dave adal proud superintendent uh for the school
010district for the past 12 years um and I'm proud tonight to present the tenative budget for the 2526 school year as we enter this uh particular budget build it is uh not a normal year um for lots of different reasons and tonight I'm going to talk about some of the factors influencing uh the budget we start of course with our mission statement where we talk about building building upon our tradition of Excellence the mission of West wisor Plainsboro Regional School District is to empower all Learners to thoughtfully contribute to a diverse and changing world with confidence strength of character and love of learning and we're going to circle back uh during tonight's presentation and talk about this mission statement um because as a component of our District's budget presentation we'll also be exploring the explicit
011connection to the mission statement our strategic goals and the last 15 years of explicit focus on creating a community of belonging in which all students um feel a part of our community and all staff members so unfortunately this budget arrives at a moment in history where there's um some challenges about how we're going to be funded and I'm going to speak to that um this evening we have four adopted strategic goals and each one of these strategic goals we'll be speaking about as the evening goes on so I'm going to um move past this quickly but we're going to spend some in-depth focus on it as we go on our 2526 budget like all the others in front of us in the past um it's important to remember that a budget is a planning Tool
012uh budgets consider contingencies so we we don't have a credit card we don't have a a a line where we can reach reach out for additional Aid um so we must figure out how to manage risk uh whether it's a rampant inflation whether it's energy spikes whether it's an out of District placement we weren't anticipating we have to manage risk we have to be fiscally responsible to our taxpayers and there's a lot of rules of the road with respect to what we can and cannot do with respect to raising taxes most importantly budgets a reflection of our values so as we talk about the budget this evening we're going to be talking a lot about how budget is should be and is a reflection of what we value as a school district and as I
013referenced um safeguards and buffers um and what happens in a in a budget any funds that are not spent in the budget year go back to the taxpayers in a future budget so being that's the part of being fiscally responsible at the highest of levels a school budget in theory is about priorities know what do we want for our students what do we want for their our goals what we want for their future but it's so much more more than that um so we have to we have to make decisions with finances in mind but we have to be ground to what our Mission Vision Values and goals are and so we operate on a fiscal year of July 1 through June 30th townships of course are on an annual year so a budget also
014overlaps two budget years for a Township um so sometimes when we talk about like what's impact the impact sometimes difficult because it's spread across two fiscal years um for for a Township um with the tax base so whatever is done there's two simple rules that we always have to follow as a school district our tax revenue must be within cap or cap plus allowances and there's a handful of allowances were allowed under code and most of them fall under two major areas there's four but really two only really apply one is on enrollment and the other is on a spending growth limitation adjustment for healthcare and the second part is that revenues must equal expenses so we can't we can't have our revenues that exceed um uh expenses and when we we fall into this
015budget cycle a calendars created by the Department of Education we're within that cycle right now um by tomorrow the Board of Education must adopt and file a preliminary budget submitted to the county superintendent so we will do that this evening we'll submit to the county tomorrow they go through a review period provide feedback ask for clarifications and then by uh our April 29th board meeting we have an official hearing for the adoption of the official budget now I want to pause and just uh recognize uh the business department Dr Russo Derek me Bonnie Cheney the finance committee all of our administrative team that's here in the audience this evening um because thanks to all their hard work and hard work over time um our district has achieved 16 consecutive years of certificate of Excellence by
016the asbo asbo which is the association of school business officials and we've also eight consecutive years received the meritorious budget award also by asbo International this is not common across the state and it's a real tribute and credit to Dr Russo and his team so where does the money come from well it comes from our taxpayers and it comes in different buckets it comes from our local taxes our state aid our federal aid but at the end of the day that's tax spare money uh grants that come from the federal government uh there is interest that can be um achieved uh on on funds uh we can have tuition dollars and surplus surpluses and and withdrawals from Reserve accounts um so when I said money goes back to the taxpayer in a in a subsequent
017budget that's budgeting Surplus so something important to think about with revenue is while expenses can and do change during a year revenues for the school district often do not in a normal year but we're not in a normal year um so one of the big bucket categories is federal aid and I'll speak to that uh in a few moments so as a district we can't ask for more money if expenses begin to rise during the year so if if we have rise in transportation cost we have additional out of District routes we have additional athletic routes we need additional staff because we have moving um you might notice all the construction happening in the town if the residents we don't know how many kids are coming into those new residents so if all of a
018sudden we get hit with a spike in children and we need to add additional staff in programs we can't go back to the taxpayers and say hey we didn't know we need to we need to get additional money from you that's not how it works we have to make due from within the the budget gets adopted uh today as well as on the 29th for the formal budget with Revenue there's again that law that says we're 2% from year to year but it's not just 2% and that's on the general fund tax levy that's on the local share but it's 2% in allowances and the way the allowances work you earn them in a year and then you get two subsequent years to spend it as well and when you don't spend it in one
019year but you had tax Authority it's called Bank cap so you'll see later on in in what we're what we're projecting for this year that we will be um requesting the utilization to the board to use the bank cap now our our district uh again has additional tax authority to collect debt um our district has done bond referendums in the past in which we have the legal authority to collect the debt as of right now um we pay the majority of our debt out of general fund we do not collect the debt above and beyond for the TA to the taxpayers it's built within the general fund or it's built out of our capital reserve accounts so it really comes from those two funds which at the end of the day was money collected from
020the taxpayers put into different buckets and then we're not collecting in addition to that and where does this go we all this money that's collected and and you know we have 9,000 students we have about arguably half a billion dollars of depreciable assets salaries and benefits is the number one driver we're a people business those people get Healthcare benefits health care is ex is increased at an extraordinary rate um we have utility costs we've worked to mitigate those utility costs by doing Eeps or energy saving Improvement programs three of our schools are energy neutral right now when we're done with esep 2 will be up to five we have repairs and maintenance no different than a homeowner you have a replacement cycle on boilers and roofs and sidewalk repairs and and um you know maintenance
021on your yards and and paint that needs to be done schools are no different we're just a much bigger footprint and then it comes to Professional Services these are contracted Services everything from photocopy companies to um to Food Services and uh building and grounds support we have our technology and our transportation departments out of District tuitions uh Support Services special education costs out of District tuitions out of District transportation and then and then we get to spend some money on Supply textbooks materials Student Activities a very small percentage of our budget is actually spent on stuff for students right it's a lot of people stuff and but actually direct supplies textbooks materials uh stiens is actually a very small portion of the budget and of course capital projects and that's going back to that idea
022of fiscal uh management of the facilities so some of the considerations for the 25 26 year um for us this year is just special education out of District tuition increases and program expansion so out of District providers are not held to a 2% cap so they often will exceed 10% on an annual basis um and then when we talk about program expansion you know I'm proud of our special services team we've constantly looked to build programs in-house um we have three or really 2.6 growth positions all are based on mitigating costs or expansion of programs to mitigate costs and to keep students in house speak to those three positions momentarily um we are going out for bid for custodial contract renewal we're in year five of a five so we we have just received approval
023from the state for our contract or for our bid documents to go out I believe it closes on the 7th or 8th of April and then we'll go through the process of interviewing and looking at new contract providers for custodial now we did bring back maintenance inh house um and we did bring Back Ops for men or um for positions so we do have some control with our building and grounds department on site at each of our buildings and with our maintenance staff U but that wasn't always the case um when we when I first got to District in the district outsourced my second year first end of my first year um we also know this there's some staffing needs both in our special education department our multilingual Learners uh we've had a rise of
024need in our M Stu with our MLL students specifically at some of our lower grades and so we've had to to look at numbers year to year as students move into the community and this is our it's formerly known as English as a second language or English language Learners now the state term is multilingual Learners recognizing our students come to us with with knowledge of another language and they're acquiring language a second language so they're multilingual Learners then of course with transportation we have uh cost of routes and we talk about CPI CPI the Consumer Price Index um transportation routes are based um on CPI but the CPI is determined with the Local transportation CPI between New York and Philadelphia in an 18mth an 18-month look back or it's really a 24mon look back with
025a six-month Gap so it's over an 18-month period of course other challenges are things like driver shortages and fuel increases in costs Insurance costs as well for transportation I've mentioned facilities I'll share some of those in a few moments um we have negotiated contracts so we have salary increases just by nature of moving individuals within the nature of their contracts um and those are negotiated in good faith with our with our partner associations and of course insurance and insurance is a is always a challenge in a time period where um cyber security threats and natural disasters remember insurances are in pools so it's not just what happens at wwp but fires and floods Across the Nation could Impact Insurance pools um there's also theft in uh we've talked about catalytic converter theft we've talked about
026um impacts to covid we talked about some of the medications for covid that came off the state that used to be paid by the federal government or by the state um now not being covered by them anymore so it falls to our health insurances um but we've done um some things in the healthc care side to try to again decrease costs over time I referenced staff increases in special ed and and there's three positions built in uh another board certified behavior analyst um this will be our fifth uh in District with special services um these are services that when students need them we have to contract out at a very high rate and we've we've done an analysis of the amount of money we've paid in addition to our existing staff and it more than
027warrants an additional growth staff U by offsetting our our contract um Services same thing with speech therapist when we have speech therapy needs and we do not have enough staff to provide the services we ultimately Contract Services out same thing we looked at the costs how much we're spending versus how much it would cost to increase a staff member and we can offset those costs uh the teacher is specific to a postgraduate um location we at 72 Grovers Road we're at the old monori at the left side of North there um with that particular building we have our postgrad 18 to 21 year old program um for students with multiple disabilities um and we do have a large number of students exiting High School North and going over to 72 that will exceed our current
028Staffing but once again if we weren't to have another staff the amount of money to provide for students to receive the services that they deserve and that they're entitled to would far exceed far exceed the to the cost of a staff position so once again all three of these positions while increased positions are offset or they offset other costs and then of course I I just referen this but it's worth warranting again we we get hit with tuition increases again well in in excess of 10% from out a district um when I first came to district 16 years ago we had over 120 students out of District we now have just over 80 and that's a real credit to our special services team and the amount of programming that they've built in House of credit
029to our staff and all the support services and providers that work with them on the cni side um curriculum instruction side there's just a bunch of programs and things that I I'll talk through the alphabet soup up there uh Tech platforms and subscription um so this is just you know in a postco world as we had online provider programs these these some of these programs have stayed um to provide additional supports uh for students OG is or Gillingham training um it's just it's something that we're committed to uh DLI as you know we have a k6 program currently for dual language immersion in both Mandarin and Spanish and as we phase that program forward forward um we're always working on training providing support to that new staff that comes in as well as any turn
030over that occurs throughout the program our mtss and intervention programs that's our multiple tiered systems of support um and that again um is is needs needs some dedicated focus with respect to um support materials intervention um with respect to training uh materials sometimes uh in uh Tech platform subscriptions but at the end of the day it's Direct Services to students that need help and have been identified either in tier one two or three and Dr G will speak a little bit to that later and then of course responsive classroom which is really just a like a a program to work with students at the K5 level around culture and climate um and in a specific program that we provide at that K5 level in the healthcare um as I referenced uh We've made some changes
031over the last couple years to try to um again offset costs and try to contain costs there's really no controlling Healthcare cost it's merely can you control it contain it and beat it down for a year so that you don't have a 20% increase maybe you get a 10 we just completed our fourth year of being self-insured in December um but due to two catastrophic claims that occurred um in the last year as self-insured we did have stop gap insurance thank thank goodness that we had stop gap insurance because they laser you at at the time is 250 or 275 275,000 per claim but those two claims alone came in at over 1.5 and 1.2 million each now this is why we have health insurance and those were catastrophic claims and those individuals deserved all
032the treatments that they received but what it did in our renewal was put the renewal over 30% um so if we didn't go out to Bid And if we didn't work with our Brokers and we didn't make those steps we would have seen a 30% increase for January instead we moved over to a state health insurance fund uh we went gone out to bid in this in the fall I mean as of January 1 we were able to maintain um aspects uh well the plan itself is the same the provider is different um so January 1st we moved over to the shift um we've been able to uh get a 10.6% increase now here's the scariest part is that equates to $4.7 million our 2% on the general fund is 3.7 so on one category
033of cost we're a million dollars over right we're million dollars over just in one category of cost and that's the current challenge in building a budget in 25 2425 25 for the 25 26 school year as well as here we are in transportation the Consumer Price Index is was 3.57 for the route renewals and again we only have a 2% there's no allowances Above and Beyond on Transportation so we have to find ways to to incre to cover the costs on anything above the two reference capital projects there's two big ones here that just drive the majority of that 11.9 um and those I'll just point out is the uh the acquisition of it says High School North Annex on the left side second from the bottom purchase of Pathways property that's the old monu
034we're in a lease purchase or we have a 5-year lease with the option to purchase in year four or five uh already previously negotiated and the top left is the roof placement at Town Center and for that particular um roof we have 4.5 budgeted in and so those two alone are over 9 million but that roof replacement has what's called a rod Grant or regular operating District uh Grant associated with it and we're fighting for the funding of that due to a paperwork error that occurred through the architect in the state as as such that project did not make the list even though it was ineligible round one project and so we have the money allocated but we will not authorize it unless we receive the rod Grant because the rod grants over a million
035dollars so we're not going to leave a million dollars on the table but if that money comes through we have to have it budgeted in order for us if we don't do the project the money just goes right back into the capital reserve accounts uh it never gets pulled right um then we do have some additional projects that you can see up there everything from rooftop units the rtus and Mini Splits and culinary arts and esep which is Energy savings Improvement projects that we're about to enter our second one U we'll actually be taking five resolutions this evening uh on the bonding of that money but we've already authorized the PPA agreements and we've already authorized Schneider Electric as the project manager so the district has always put explicit emphasis on our facilities um from
036a purpose point of Pride but also from a point of um what you don't take care of um gets destroyed over time so we're doing floors we're doing carpets we're doing foyers we're we're looking at making sure that we're constantly investing in the the property um of this community because it's the community's property and there's value to that and as I said it's over half a billion dollars of depreciable assets so it's it's significant it's a significant responsibility and honestly if we were truly putting the right amount towards that that would be multiple multiples of 11 million the reality is that's not possible within our budget parameters uh from appropriation standpoint these are the some of the increases that we're seeing again in healthcare we're at the 47 because of um some work by transportation
037department to consolidate some routes use our in-house drivers differently to offset some of our special ed route costs by using our IND District drivers differently we actually are able to De and prior budgeting here in transportation we're actually able to do a slight decrease on the transportation line we did add dollars on the building and grounds line uh Administration um line is a lot of different categories custodial renewals pensions FICA um insurance and other um so you see a big dollar there uh technology isn't a constant expenditure that we have to put money towards because everything we do is has a tech has a a tech component now um whether it's for technology replacement cycle or whether it's for additional switches switches and blades and wiring uh bottom line is we have to continually invest
038there uh special education you have tuition costs you have Staffing costs you have outside programming cost um and then salaries and these are negotiated salaries um and this is moving you know 1,500 people um that M that work in this community over 900 teachers and um another 80 or so certified staff and then all the non-affiliate staff and uh the the members of the wpaa um so it's it's a large organization with lots of moving Parts um but that's where the salary lines come Athletics is everything from increase in stiping costs to a scoreboard to um you know to so you get slight increases we do have some f families that have uh elected to send their children to Charter uh primarily the hatikva up in East Windsor um so we get hit with uh
039requests for tuition um because the tuition dollars follow the students when they go to charter school so we have had a slight increase but it that that's essentially like a family so it's it's it looks bigger than it is um some of the unknowns and this is going to get us into um I think some of our some of our next part of the presentation but um the prescription increases in December the healthcare increases in December are are just drivers that we can't control because it's again from January 1 to June of 27 26 we don't know what those increases are going to be at at that point um Staffing challenges due to Statewide shortages um as you may know there's it's if you have a teaching certifi certification chances are you're employed or you're
040bouncing uh from one District to another for a higher salary guide um there's no there's a about we used to graduate over 6,000 students a year from teaching now we're at about 2200 and teaching prep programs across the state and that's that's a 13 14 year Glide path of that of that data um so we're we're Bleeding Out staff but it's not wwp it's the industry um and it's every state so um you know parents if you want your children to have a job right out of college send them be teachers have to work 43 years due to the pension but that's a different conversation um the the potential loss of federal is where we need to spend some time uh because uh the potential loss of Federal Aid is something that's plaguing all school
041districts and it's it's plaguing all school districts in all states it's also plaguing All State agencies um and it's quite frankly creating Havoc across the federal government so for public Ed we we get our money in a couple different buckets uh the title grants right that's Title 1 two 34A Ida which is the individuals disability and Education Act Medicaid which um is is um a relatively small amount of money for for districts a large amount of money for the state but for the for wwp we had a 90% reduction on our state aid notification for Medicaid that translated to about 135,000 of unexpected lost um Revenue coming in and where that comes from is the projection that there could be massive changes to the Medicaid Program at the federal level which impacts reimbursement so for
042us the kind of things you'd see reimbursement for is occupational therapy Physical Therapy speech therapy services those get paperwork gets completed sent to the state they submit on our behalf they keep 70% we keep 30% well we get 30% that's sort of how it works um but they sent an allocation that we only are get to get 10% of what we received this year as a projection because the expect expected changes at the federal level and nslp is the national school lunch program um and and so that's that's a dollar that we receive as a reimbursement for students that receive free and reduced lunch services and we they qualify through a process they get fed and then we submit on their behalf for the the reimbursement of the dollars and then the district gets reimbursed
043for making sure students eat um that that's also potentially in Jeopardy right now well they're going to eat it's just they might we not might not get reimbursed so what's this money look like for us um it's 3.1 million now that's outside of Medicaid I'm keeping Medicaid separate because Medicaid is a reimbursable um so so it's 600 and change in title grants and where's that money come from from or what's it for it's for struggling Learners professional development staff targeting students that need support um and and so then we have Ida primarily again students uh with with with uh disabilities and special needs it's for Staffing but majority of it goes to tuition for students tuition and then about just under half a million dollars for food reimbursement so those are three big categories and
044then I mentioned Medicaid about 135 it's a much bigger deal at the state level because it's 24 billion for the state um and they're predicting a 2.2 to 5.2 billion reduction potentially based on recommended changes to Medicaid at the federal level so so I we're gonna now talk about this is at why is it at risk and I need to set the context of why it's at risk and it's at risk because there's been a slew of executive orders and dear colleague letters and others that come out of the federal government um over the last several weeks just weeks um around a multitude of to topics from immigration to diversity equity inclusivity and gender sexuality and others so because in wwp this is not only it's not only what we do but it's who we
045are and it's been at the epicenter and the focus of all our work over the last 16 years that I've been in this community and for the board you can see in the audience the amount of individuals that have come out in support of this work um this this is what our community is been grounded in and but we're going to spend a little time defining it because this is what's at risk because we've arrived at a moment in history where there appears that there's no consensus views on what these words mean other from the perspective of um Dei equals affirmative action and it equals quotas and restrictions and that's not what Dei means in wwp and as a leadership team as a board of education we can't give away the words to diversity Equity
046inclusivity because we're arrived at a moment where we have interchangeable terms being used that mean different things even though they have the same initials so what's happening at the federal level is all Dei programs are being painted over with a broad brush so if it's Dei it needs to go away so the Department of Defense schools have eliminated girls that code because girls that code k to girls in stem therefore it's restrictive to males therefore it's discriminatory so it's now been eliminated I'll withhold personal opinion but I think you can tell our governor in his budget address made some very specific statements in defense of fundamental rights and freedoms for every new jerseyan from voting rights to lgbtq plus rights to Reproductive Rights and everything in between he emphatically said he'll never back down from
047defending civil rights or the rights of Educators to teach full truth of our history and rather than succumbing to politics and Division and fear we consider an honor that generations of immigrants have chosen to pursue the American dream here in the gon state so one of the first things that happened you know when the new Administration came in was around immigration um but then very quickly Federal funding started being threatened by executive order with respect to gender ideologies and discriminatory Equity ideologies and saying like if you kept certain programs uh and you had two we periods or you lose your federal funding or or like comply or else there's a process for the other or else um which which we can talk to and then we also know our attorney general Matt plen um ha
048has worked with um as part of a 15 State plus the District of Columbia attorney generals to come together in a response document to the dear colleague letters that I'll reference in a moment um about Federal funding and really just saying like the law even federal laws support us continuing the work of diversity equity inclus even laws we have to comply with that are federal laws we support us continuing this work but I think it's also important to note that because this is my my um American history one former self right when you teach the Constitution and you talk about Article 1 Section 8 you talk about enumerated powers in the Constitution Powers afforded to Congress right education's not one of them education therefore under the 10th Amendment is a state's right right and then
049in New Jersey state constitution it specifically talks about the importance of having an education thorough and efficient education and the standard of thorough and efficient ends in New Jersey's definition in state law under our state constitution so Article 1 Section 8 of The Constitution does not Grant the federal government the authority to over education however that doesn't mean they don't have guard rails that doesn't mean they can't do certain things but I'm going to say it's equivalent to the Federal Highway money back in the day when we started a Federal Highway and they wanted the speed limit to be 55 if you wanted the money you had to have the highway speed limit to be 55 so the government can the federal government can give us money with restrictions like 55 miles per hour on
050the highway Montana thwarted that they were the only state that didn't accept it because they like to drive fast out there but besides besides Montana everyone else complied including New Jersey and over time those things changed well we've arrived in a moment of time where we're not sure what's going to happen next but is it is it going to be that to accept Federal money you have to agree to certain things and those certain things might be in opposition of Our Community Values so one of the first things that happened was the removal of sensitive locations and protections and the concerns of ice enforcement we started working on this as a district with some of the Statewide associations in November knowing that this was being talked about as a potential removal of sensitive sites sensitive
051sites are six locations around around um the communities around the unit the Nations but it's they places Schools bus stops places of worship um ceremonies public demonstrations churches Health Care Facilities those protections have all been stripped back that does not mean that ice can just come into our schools okay so I don't want to leave anyone without impression we have every right to stop officials from entering our schools unless they come with a Judicial warrant an executed judicial warrant and even there there's always been partnership we've never had a warrant served on a student qualify that on a student and in in school district but there are there are then legal protections that fall around this as well right in New Jersey to attend school you have to be a resident of the community we
052cannot ask for we it's not it's not legal for me to ask for Visa status or immigration status in New Jersey you just live in the community you provide a utility bill and a lease utility bill and some two things that show an address and we enroll you because we can't ask under New Jersey Code that question even at the federal level P vau upheld that students that are immigrant or non-citizens had every right to attend the local public schools as others that lived in that community that were citizens so that's been determined at the Supreme Court level expect that to be challenged in future court cases we also have furpa rights right that's the freedom of Education rights protections right so student privacy and confidentiality and then the big caveat is lad New Jersey
053law against discrimination so there's a lot of legal protections here around non-citizens students and immigrants and for those of you that aren't keeping the scorecard on executive orders these are the six that have been issued specific to public aded and schools and some of them def redefined gender to um to be men and women only for the federal government um some talked about elimination of Dei um some talked about the restrictions of um funds some promoted um ending indoctrination in schools some talked about the elimination of uh Title 9 the 2024 version and rolled it back to the 2020 um some are about um basically school choice and vouchers and privatization of public education and others interestingly only for Trans um women um but no concern for Trans men in in in men's sports um
054but then we had two dear colleague letters dear colleague letters are in quote because they come from the US doe they have no legal Authority but they signal what's going to happen if you don't comply and the first one was issued on February 4th is basically changed the Title Nine rules and rolled back um and eliminated uh gender ideology um I was defending women from gender ideology so it roll back gender identity and gender expression uh back to the 2020 definitions of Title 9 UM and then on February 14th the love letter of Valentine's Day from the US doe um was that U saying that American schools have toxically indoctrinated students with false uh premise that United States is built from systemic instructural racism and then goes on to say the Dei smuggles racial stereotypes
055and explicit race Consciousness into everyday training programming and disciplining discipline so what are the impacts so far um so far we know that 50% of the United States Department of Ed has been terminated including all the national Center for Education statistics all the members of office of public policy at for oap that's the office of special education programming uh the office of civil rights eliminated um but I believe it's been moved over to Health and Human Services as of the main decision yesterday U because it was the OCR for Health and Human Services on the main decision and the office of educational Tech so in the time of AI the entire office of educational tech ed Tech has been eliminated and if you don't want to follow the laws the best thing you do is
056fire the attorneys so all the attorneys from the office of general counsel were eliminated your days are numbered Mark um so the the the next uh thing they did was they withdrew 600 million we're in our greatest shortage of teachers in in in history in at least current history and we've just eliminated 600 million from teacher prep now our attorney general led the lawsuit against that and that's currently been stayed as of the other day but we'll see where that ends up the cancellation of 660 million so if you don't think food's on the table 660 million for local food for school programs that money goes to Farmers to then grow product for local schools for school programs to feed um at risk um uh families that qualify for free and reduced lunch I'll speak
057to the local impact on the future slide um and then I mentioned Medicaid but it's a big deal for New Jersey if the if Medicaid it's a big deal for every state but that's 10 to 20% of the Medicaid allocation is 24 billion for New Jersey um so want to then also say like there's a lot of laws in New Jersey a lot of laws and we went through the policy manual and started looking to say like what words would would trigger issues what are the bandw um right and what are the words that so we looked up diversity we looked up Equity we look at inclusivity inclusion and just these are anything with an m is mandatory right so there's mandatory State policy that we have to be in compliance with and you can
058see there's M on all of them and then and and then here we go again uh with inclusion with regulations but we have code of conduct policies we have other policies regarding uh our transgender uh students we we're the second district in New Jersey after hopwell that passed a transgender student policy before Governor Christie signed it into law before he was even a thing um so our district has a long history of supporting our students um all students in our community so you know at a very high level our district mission statement talks about embracing diversity right and when we talk about embracing diversity diversity and and I'm going have some colleagues come up and and build upon this but diversity is embracing differences that everyone brings to the table right at a very high
059level Equity is treating everyone in accordance to meeting their unique individual needs and inclusions respecting everyone's voice and creating a culture in which people from all backgrounds feel encouraged to express their ideas and their perspectives our mission upholds all this and so do our strategic goals when I say it's not just what we do it's who we are those are our strategic goals that's our mission statement that is the body of our work if our budget's a reflection of our Mission Vision Values and goals and we're going to uphold those that's why this matters in a budget presentation tonight's presentation is less about money and more about who we are as a school community and for our kids for our students it's imperative that K12 schools continue to maintain and strengthen the efforts to prepare
060our students for a world outside of wwp for college and career to a place where they're going to work with individuals across all backgrounds spectrums diversities that's some of our charge so we must continue to take steps to make sure we're supporting our strategic goals and our mission statement to create and maintain a positive School climate we're all students feel safe supported respected and are ready to learn so at this time it's my privilege to welcome our chief Equity officer suaro to take us through a couple couple talking points and slides thank you Dr aderhold what we want to do over the next few slides is really put you in a place of understanding where our community shows up within the context of our strategic goals our mission our vision as Dr aderhold said the
061words included in all of those things could put us at a loss of federal funding my title as the chief Equity officer could put us at a loss for federal funding it's important that you understand where you are within the context of diversity equity and inclusivity in wwp our first strategic goal really centers around making sure that we are meeting the diverse needs backgrounds and approaches to learning of all of our students utilizing tools and structures that challenge them and enable them to reach their full potential those tools might be adaptive technology the hot spots that we provided for families during the pandemic structures like our award-winning music program that our students participate in our robotics team is a structure that lets our students move forward and Excel and explore their passions just last year
062we opened our inclusive playground at Town Center so that every child in that building and in that Community can play together on a playground our second strategic goal was adopted in 2015 2016 and when we think about our strategic goals we're thinking about how we Empower our students the action plan for goal two which is our strategic goal around Global competence included initiatives like the expansion of the Dual language immersion program you can see Governor Murphy there he is greeting our kindergarteners in Mandarin it's at Maurice Hawk we also made a commitment to allowing our students and providing our students opportunities to Advocate not just for their own Community but for Global challenges students across the district advocate for and support multiple Community Partners including Homefront rise the Trenton area soup kitchen providing students with
063opportunities to investigate Global challenges and support local organizations is critical social emotional learning encompasses belonging it is a Cornerstone of what it is our district does recognizing that children need to balance physical social emotional and academic needs we have committed to maintaining a supportive culture and building structures for the health safety and well-being of the whole child from our United teams there's our cheer team they came in first place to our staff and student basketball game at Grover Spirit day at mstone River School therapy dogs this is something that we committed to quite a long time ago because if students don't feel safe they cannot learn if students don't feel as though they belong they cannot [Music] learn our Equity goal was adopted in the spring 2021 and I had the privilege of serving as
064a co-chair for that committee and presenting to this board the work that we wanted to do and it was developed in collaboration with the Community West windser Plainsboro Regional School District will cultivate a diverse and inclusive community where members of every race sexual orientation gender gender identity ability religion socioeconomic class ethnicity and national origin are welcomed valued and celebrated as Dr aderhold said this isn't just what we do this is who we are our students have embraced this these are the Affinity groups at both of our high schools an affinity group is a group of students that have the same interest in exploring their own identities and they welcome students of other identities all of these Affinity groups are for our students run by our students and welcome all students and you can see the
065diversity of perspectives and culture and religion and gender identity right here these are our kids these are our kids celebrating their culture these are our kids working together to provide programs for our students with disabilities these are our kids going together High School North our black student union proud of their identity and sharing it with the rest of the students again there are different ways that we do this one of the ways that belonging and representation are reflected is in our programs and in our curricular changes we added our AP African-American studies course we added our American Pacific Islander course representing all of our families we added inclusive text to our K12 curriculum so that every student could see their family represented in the books that we use in the resources that we use our
066students our students Embrace who they are they embrace the fact that they get to go to a school wherever it is K12 where they don't expect everyone to be like them where the differences are celebrated so in thinking about this and thinking about why why do we need a diverse and inclusive community besides the fact that it is the right thing to do when students see themselves in curriculum in programs in staff it increases their feelings of belonging if I do not feel as though I can belong I do not feel safe and if I do not feel safe I cannot learn social emotional and cognitive skills are deeply intertwined this is brain science it leads to more effective learning and longer term academic achievement in K12 schools and Beyond it's not just about the
067students times here and when we think about the world that we live in right now if our students can recognize and respect the perspectives of other others we have developed the foundational capacity for civic engagement that's the core goal of Education in the United States students also learn to address differences in direct and respectful ways increasing their ability to engage in and facilitate difficult conversations and handle conflict and we're not that good at that right now in our country that is something that we need and it's only by being in a space where you are surrounded by the perspectives of others who are not like you that you can learn to see that there are opposing views and that differences are normal and that we can still come to consensus and make strong decisions when
068we first started looking at the executive order and we we talked about what might be at risk because of what we do these are just other places where our staff our students our families our community are represented our school calendar celebrates all of the holidays of our community our Sports programs reflect our community when we as we continue to do this and as we continue to support our teachers in taking through and working through professional development their goals and working through the community we also when we adopted go four decided that we needed to have a diversity equity and inclusivity coordinator that role Padang who I'm going to pull up right now also could cause us to lose Federal funding hello everyone so what does a diversity equity and inclusivity coordinator do it is my
069honor to support our families students staff and community community groups through various programs such as our new parent link program which we have updated this orientation of new newly registered families with an awareness that many are not only new to the district but also new to the American school system through these events we connect families with Community Resources such as our local libraries our ptas ptsas special ed PTSA and our African-American parent support group through my collaboration with Debbie bear um Grant sorry one second um chair of our Teachers Union Grants I've been able to support existing programs like our workshops that support our special education and Title One families families who may be struggling economically as well as design events such as our support for English language learner family nights in working with our
070admin and staff we have developed and Implement implemented initiatives such as our TC buddy meetings our multilingual Camp created to provide opportunities to practice and sustain English language over the summer vacation months we've expanded the prom shop to now be run by both High School interact clubs and their ptsas this year they provided over 200 free articles of clothing to Juniors and seniors to reduce the economic burden of this Milestone High School event we've developed resources and events for various Heritage Month celebrations such as the High School South Muslim Student Association sharing their experiences of Ramadan as guest readers at Village Elementary in my work with the Affinity clubs which Sue listed earlier I support opportunities that build a sense of belonging such as this high this High School North potluck and basketball tournament initiated
071by by our Jewish Community youth club and Muslim Student Association it was hosted by our affinity group Alliance and was open to the entire student body each month I curate a staff newsletter highlighting holidays programs and events to strengthen our understanding of our WWB wwp Community this month focused on women's history and shared the success of town centers inclusive assemblies which were designed to Foster social engagement and mutual understanding between our general education and autism program students through this role I have also been able to lean into my connections with our Affinity clubs and local Interfaith religious leaders to curate professional development that builds our understanding of different aspects of our students identities the relationships I've been able to build with these different Community groups have led to our ability to better serve the needs
072of our community on April 2nd we will host our first event to connect our local police department programs with the families of students with special needs with the support of our PTA PTA PTSA and sepsa and Interfaith religious leadership we were able to get the word out about New Jersey's increased income eligibility for free and reduced meals raising the number of our students who have access to free and reduced meals and better improving the chance of our schools to access Title One Federal funding which is now at risk in partnership with our African am American parent support group and with the support of our pride Grant and both of our high school black student unions we were able to host our second successful black history family night event for our k k to3 families the
073heart of my work and our work our di work is best conveyed by our students when asked to express what dii meant to him for the belonging matters student conference High School North Junior Aon was inspired to write this poem it is my hope that every student feels as sophomore student bavia Illustrated here that West Windsor Plainsboro School District drives to be a place where every student feels welcomed supported known included respected and recognized this is a community where belonging matters and now our assistant superintendent of for personnel charity CA good evening so I've been up here before speaking to you about diversity and hiring and I I'm always happy to talk about this topic um especially when we look around the room I mean this is one diverse room wouldn't you say just take
074a look look at our Board of Education members our Administration look at our community just on its surface this looks like a pretty diverse group and as I was sitting at the table I was thinking I know that person or I don't know that person but they seem very interesting to me and I bet you if you look around you'll probably find someone who reminds you of yourself maybe and how they look or perhaps there's something about them that you think oh that's my neighbor or there's someone I think that I played a certain Sport with so when we think about well why do you love diversity so much charity I'll tell you why I love diversity so much I've Loved diversity um way before it was a thing before we had Dei hires as
075far as I'm concerned all of our hires are Dei hires I personally chose to come work in this District because of the values that I saw that were implemented here but before we go into the word diversity and what it means to me let's make sure that I remind you of some definitions of diversity because diversity is a very Dynamic and Broad term there there's like 34 different types of definitions that can go with it and here's just a few you know the ones that we can see are demographic diversity and that's what I was referring to when I said take a look around we notice differences in age we notice differences in gender race you can see that usually and that's in ethnicity physical abilities those are usually the first things that we look
076for when we're new and we're not sure where we're going to sit and if we're going to like it here or if we want to go to a particular event a lot of times that's what we do we take a look at what we can see and we try to find somebody who's like us but it's not just limited to our gender or our race or ethnicity it's also our cultural diversity there's a lot of difference even in this room in our beliefs our values our customs traditions and you know we love traditions and I'm sure if we compared south to North we would hearing lot of different different traditions and how we do things we love to have our own sorts of traditions and to carry them on that's just who we are as
077people but there's also cognitive diversity there's differences in perspectives problem solving the way we the ways that we approach how we do things we very much value that about our staff because we have great variance in cognitive diversity there's always a different way of doing things and because our teachers have such cognitive diversity they're able to recognize our students cognitive diversity as well there's functional diversity differences in roles skills areas of expertise so not everybody functions best as the superintendent there really is only one Dave oule wouldn't you agree but it really depends on our position right so each of us has a special role each of us knows our roles we try to make sure that when we hire that we hire the best person for that role because they excel at it they're
078good at it it's what they love to do and functional diversity is very important because you know there's a great difference in watching a somebody who's working with our kindergarten students versus who's directing our buildings and ground staff although depending on the day you might change your mind on that there's experiential diversity too there's differences in life experiences educational backgrounds professional experiences many of our staff are are um have worked somewhere else in a different district and they can bring in perspectives from another place but we also have many staff members who were students within our district or they've only worked in our district and they have an interesting um perspective as well that they can contribute and share and grow together from and there's also neurodiversity that I wanted to point out because when
079we think of um students and staff with special needs there's great variance in skills skills and abilities and some of the most brilliant artists musicians Engineers are very much neurodiverse so we want to think about them all the all that they can bring as far as talents when we think about different types of neurodiversity that you could find and that's not always seen immediately on the surface so again and again our diversity is what makes us great in w w p so we have we you know we're a Regional School District we have two different counties we have West Windsor and we have Plainsboro but we're two towns we are united we have representation on the board from both we have representation in our audience from both but altogether you wouldn't know you wouldn't you
080wouldn't be able to tell which which town you were from it's really not easy to tell we have our school communities we have very very involved and strong PTA groups that bring in mult M perspectives from the homes from for the families we have local supports different vendors our Educators and our administrators many of our administrators you even seen in our audience they are leaders of leaders we have many of not only are they principal supervisors directors but they are also in charge of organizations for their content area or specific fields that they are out leading and promoting and educating others in other districts across the state more than anywhere that I have seen and I've worked across districts on trainings for my own for my for um NJ stride as as you're aware um
081West Windsor Plainsboro is is constantly called upon and our administrators are asked to share our teachers are asked to share and talk about what's happening in our district and um our recruitment efforts we don't just sit and wait for our people to apply to us although we do tend to be spoiled we have a long history of having lots of applicants for our district but as Dr aderhold mentioned we don't have that long line of applicants anymore simply due to the Staffing shortage so um one thing that we've always done really well is not just wait for applicants to apply to us we go and find the applicants and we look for diverse hes we don't just bend um we don't just look for hires that meet a difference in their ethnicity or their gender
082but we're looking for all the different types of diversity that I had mentioned when we ask our questions when we interview when we do our demo lessons we are looking for the full range of diversity that each of our teachers bring and so we look in multiple universities we look in different communities we look to our educator pipelines we have grow your own programs like our Pathways to teaching programs for our support staff we have a teacher apprenticeship Network now we are doing all we can to look within our own community and also to grow our own and because of that we have great rewards in retention we have our staff usually comes in and they stay there's a lot of professional development there's lots of learning and support there's lots of great value on
083all the contributions that our staff members give and also share and we're very very proud that we don't have a mass Exodus like some districts do for leaving our staff leaving to go to other districts most of the time when our staff do leave to move to another District it's for a promotion or it's to advance their career but by and large we have have um many of our retirees some you will see on tonight's Personnel agenda are longtime staff members that have really grown and contributed to our district and have brought their own individual perspectives and we are therefore very very proud and I'm always proud of the diversity that we're able to cultivate and grow and bring forward and very much um in appreciation for the board of support for our our efforts
084in hiring diversity so next we going to be talking about our multi-tiered levels of support from Dr um G is not able to be here this evening so Su you want to come on back up so as Charity said um some of us have been here a long time uh this is my 35th year in the district I have been a teacher I have been an interventionist I have been a supervisor and now I am the chief Equity officer and it is the first time in 35 years that we are in a position of having to choose between doing the things that define who we are and providing services to students because of the loss of federal funding one of the things that is funded through federal dollars is our multi-tiered systems of support multi-tiered
085systems of support promote Equity we work with Rucker's disproportionality project like Dr aderhold said disproportionality is one of those words you're not allowed to use anymore but as is equity but it promotes Equity by ensuring that every student regardless of their background their ability their need receives the necessary support to succeed because we Define equity as being every student regardless of their identities has access to the same education as everyone else and their identity when they start school shouldn't determine their path or their success multi-tiered systems of support reflects three different levels of support that's why they're called tiers tier one is just our high quality culturally respons mons of instruction for all students is what all of our amazing teachers do students that need more have tier two supports they're small group interventions for
086students who might need additional help and we find them through Universal screeners Universal screeners are the assessments that we use to figure out which students need what and it's also a way to promote Equity tier three is that intensive support for students with greater needs multi-tiered supports are supported by federal funds our Orton Gillingham training K5 is supported by title funds Dr adah talked about those before the Orton Gillingham training provides all of our K5 teachers with strategies for teaching foundational literacy skills sheltered instruction observation protocol or scop supports multilingual Learners also funded by federal dollars air American Institute for research professional development which we learned about at Ruckers with working with Dr Fergus with the Ruckers disproportionality project and that they have supported us in our district implementation of multi-tiered systems of support and
087school-based teams so that we can use the data that we collect effectively to Target students needs our multilingual learner summer camp supports students with financial barriers it helps hundreds of students strengthen their language and literacy skills hundreds dual enrollment which is byproduct of goal 2 it was something that we was an action step that we wanted to take for those of you that don't know what dual enrollment is it's the ability for students to take college level courses while they are in high school title funds support students who have Financial barriers in accessing those courses we have technology that we utilize that is also part of our title funding it supports students who need credit recovery in order to graduate and our title one after school tutoring program it provides extra academic help for students
088who read addition need additional support after school these Investments ensure that teachers have the tools the resources the skills that they need to help every student succeed so let's think about where where are my students remember we said when we were talking about the Strategic goals and when Dr aderhold was talking about the mission and vision that we are represented in this work everyone in the audience everyone watching all of our students all of our staff these are students the number of students receiving intervention districtwide some students require additional intervention supports in reading and math in a supplemental way in order to continue to make progress currently at K8 we provide intervention services for 504 students in reading and 374 students in math Federal funding helps by covering specialized training for our intervention teams and
089supports two full-time intervention positions Federal funding also supports our learning assistance program at the high school learning assistance work with students in supportive study halls to provide additional academic help these supports are essential to ensuring that all students have Equitable access to the resources and programs they need to grow and succeed and again because of our strategic goals because of our work around diversity equity and inclusion because we value diversity in hiring this is what the federal government is saying they will not fund Dr aderhold is going to talk about some other impacts and changes today I just want to pause for a minute and just recognize um Sue and charity and pemma for their outstanding contributions this evening it's a privilege to work with them so I I did say that I'd come back
090to this slide because Billet 3 um hits home cuz the cancellation of the 660 million for local food for school programs um will have a direct impact to our weekend Bridge meals here in wwp as some of you know we partnered with a local organization called sen hunger packing and what sen hunger packing has done is provides a a backpack full of meals for our families that choose that are title sorry that are free and reduced um qualified for for meals that opt in to a weekend uh program in which breakfast lunch and dinner for kids goes home s home packing Works directly with Mercer Street friends Mercer Street friends is at risk of losing contributions as a result of this cut if Mercer Street friends is impacted then our our kids here in wwp
091that participate in the weekend Bridge Meal program are at risk so the federal decisions are going to have direct impacts to our families here in West wisor Plainsboro now it's real important that that we really think about this slide and what we know as a district we know as administrators as teachers as members of the Board of Education what we've seen is that when decisions are made that we're making at all levels reflect that deep commitment to equity diversity and belonging when we open our curriculum up so that all students have access to rigorous learning experience aligned to their strengths when curricular and extracurricular opportunities and programs support inclusion rather than inclusion exclusion reflecting neurodiversity and physical diversity as strengths and when each student is visible in terms of resources and opportunities regardless of their
092race sexual orientation gender gender identity ability religion socioeconomic class ethnicity and National or national origin that we as a school Community shift outcomes for all students and in wwp what we have done is we you we've adopted a definition from an article in the Harvard Business review about the belonging so we believe in anchoring our work in certain texts and we Define belonging as being seen connected supported and proud We want our students and our staff to be seen for their unique cont contributions we want them to be connected to our greater School Community to their school to our school district and to have pride in our Greater wwp Community we want them to feel supported in their experiences at school and we want them to be proud of our School District's values and our
093purpose so tonight we bring forward a budget that mitigates the risk of the potential loss of Federal Aid and I talked about sgas before the spending growth limitation adjustments in healthcare and you can see I mentioned the existing year and then two back years so for the 25 26 year line four there we have 3.7 million that we've generated based on the extraordinary costs of Healthcare in 2425 we used a portion and we banked 800,000 for a subsequent budget and expiring is the 24 2324 allotment of 1.4 so when you take those pots of money together with our 2% that means as a district we can raise 9.7 million in Revenue we did have a state aid decrease because there's some shifts in the formula and how they categor Al counted um special education pupil
094costs so we had a loss of 484000 there and I mentioned the Medicaid reimbursement slice of 90% so that leaves us with $9.1 million um due to um our cost increases on the other slide for our allocations was at 11 in change almost 115 116 um we made the difference up through budgeting addition additional Surplus dollars that came through tax relief in the subsequent year to close the gap so tonight we bring forward the 2% general fund tax increase plus the three sgas the cap Reserve allocation of 11.9 for a budget recommendation of 5.22 3% while that is a large percentage increase um we also built within that protects the district in all the programs that you heard tonight for the potential loss of federal funds so the budget brings forward an addition within built
095within this is 2.6 million to offset the loss of federal dollars should that happen so that every single thing we're doing every single thing we believe in every service that we provide every tuition we pay every after school tuition every every every extracurricular program tutoring program professional development training and staff member salary that's supported including the chief Equity officer and the diversity equity inclusion coordinators positions all stand regardless of what the federal government chooses to do whether that's an action at wwp or an action to New Jersey so our Administration proudly brings forward this recommendation and when we have the defined ratables right and and and the costs for um the assessments by April 29th meeting we'll be able to talk about the impact the individual average assessed homes as we do every April we
096don't have that yet to speak to just know that as home values go up and as more housing stock comes on due to the construction in the community that's going to shift some things um and could help offset some of this but until we have those we don't know but again we bring forward the recommendation to support our District's Mission and our strategic goals with the adoption of tonight's preliminary budget but we also bring forward a res resolution this evening um as a member of the administration in partnership with the Board of Education a resolution to adopt a statement on diversity equity and inclusivity and this time I'm going to ask our board president and our board vice president to join me in um sharing the statement I'm going to go uh to the to
097sit with them um and then I'll can take questions afterwards from there thank you Dr ader hold so I'll read the statement now this is West Windsor Plainsboro Board of Education statement on diversity equity and inclusivity the West Windsor Plains Bor Regional School District cultivates a diverse inclusive and welcoming Community where every individual is valued respected celebrated and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of race ethnicity nationality immigr ation or citizen status religion gender sexual orientation gender identity or expression ability or disability socioeconomic status or other protected characteristics we recognize that every child residing in West Windsor and Plainsboro has the right to receive a free and appropriate public K to2 education these values are upheld in our district mission statement to empower all Learners to thoughtfully contribute to a diverse and
098changing world with confidence strength of character and love of learning we believe that every individual has intrinsic worth that embracing diversity enriches and empowers our community and people reach their full potential when encouraged to believe it is possible as a school Community we will guide and support our students growth empowering them to Value their individual learning Journeys by upholding our adopted strategic goals our district upholds the New Jersey law against discrimination lad New Jersey statutes annotated 10.5.1 at seek which prohibits discrimination and bias-based harassment based upon Act ual or perceived characteristics and recognizes the guidance issued by the New Jersey attorney general Matthew platkin the issued guidance affirmed the legality and importance of diversity Equity inclusion and accessibility policies in K12 schools longstanding legal precedents support these efforts we recognize diversity is not just a
099collect of differences but an important asset that enriches our classrooms School communities and Beyond we believe every student has equal right to access a high quality education and the West Windsor Plainsboro Regional School District is dedicated to removing all barriers that impede that access Equity is not simply L treating everyone the same but rather consciously providing each student with the opportunities resources and encouragement they need to succeed and feel empowered we will Foster inclusive classrooms where all voices are valued and contributions are celebrated we will Empower students to be their authentic selves and create a more open Community where differences are embraced not just tolerated we will continue to actively listen to and learn from our students families and Educators to create a truly inclusive and respectful environment in wwp every student has a right
100to a learning environment where all students belong and feel safe seen connected supported valued and empowered to reach their full potential we recognize the work of diversity equity and inclusion demands an ongoing process of continual learning we are committed to creating a culture of continuous learning and reflection in our practices continuous learning includes supporting Educators students and members of our community as they employ evidence-based practices in working with and supporting a diverse student body and Community we understand students de deserve to have inspiring Educators recruited from a variety of backgrounds and experiences able to promote the aspiration of Learners through example and varied perspectives while committed to professional growth we are dedicated to fostering an inclusive and Equitable learning environment that celebrates the rich diversity of our students and the world we commit to employing
101engaging and relevant teaching methods that value all students promoting critical analysis of perspectives and challenging stereotypes prejudice and discrimination we strive to ensure that all students have equital access to resources opportunities and support services we actively advocate for policies and practices that Advance diversity equity and inclusion within our schools and our communities the westmanor plsb Regional School District believes that by embracing diversity striving for equity and Foster inclusivity we can create a more just and more Equitable educational environment for our school Community this is not just our responsibility but our privilege I will open up to the rest of theard any questions or comments on the presentation good evening everyone thank you so much to all of the presenters today I excuse me I um as some of you might know I graduated from The
102District in the early 2000s and I remember my friends and I creating a petition to work towards getting the valali as a school holiday um and for me to see kind of where the district has come through this wonderful presentation um has been really inspiring and really grounded to see the progress the district you know has made and continues to make so I just very much appreciate the presentation from everyone tonight thanks for sharing that aant um anyone else go ahead tra thank you grayan um I just want to say thank you for giving an opportunity to speak on such an important um statement I speak as someone who has been an educator myself for over 20 years as a resident of this beautiful diverse Community um and as a proud board member who is
103honored to work with these thoughtful intelligent women and with the strong leadership of Dr aderhold and his administrative team I hope that um our commitment to this statement really ensures that every member of this school Community feels seen valued supported and um that they belong here thank you thank you so much Rea and Liz I know you had your hand up I also want to thank the uh superintendent The District staff members the administration and everyone who has worked so hard for so long to ensure that this is a community where people do feel safe and respected and valued and if there's anything that we can do to support that focus and the continued efforts this is the time um I view personally I view that this uh proposed budget is actually very strategic and
104important necessary Safeguard to Ure sure that we continue to do this important work and I stand by it thanks Liz and Louisa um so stay tuned uh for when they give us more information about what this actually will feel like um just know that the 5% is a lot that's a lot for all of us um a remember that most of that is to keep the lights on um inflation things have been catching up with us so most of it is that um but there is a component of that that's ensuring our protection if we lose federal funds and um you know sometimes you have to stand for what you believe in and I think this is one of those times that was really well said Louisa I wish we could just like end on
105that but if anybody um if anybody else uh has any questions or comments go ahead L I was going to Echo what excuse me Liz and Louisa said thank you um really well put I mean when I listen to this presentation and I think about the federal funding the three things I takeway is feeding kids helping kids who are struggling and supporting teachers or who are helping our kids who are struggling um and helping our the students who are are special needs students to some Sometimes some of our most vulnerable um groups and when I think of it that way like those are the three areas of funding that would be um that the federal funding supports and if that goes away I mean that breaks my heart to be honest and I um I'm
106thankful for the presentation to give a a a better like overview of um where that money goes and how we support our students so I'm very proud of that work and would love to support continue supporting our students that would get that funding and our teachers as well thank you Lo um anybody else from questions or comments okay well um I just want to thank the Administration staff and my fellow board members for your strategic thinking hours of deliberation and Agility in the face of tremendous uncertainty um I just wanted to kind of recap um some of my key takeaways that I noted so please feel free to jump in if I I miss Aken um that was a really long presentation so um I guess just to kind of take it back that the
107school budget is a planning tool that considers contingencies manages risks to um to List's point and is an investment in our values so these increased expenses um are to Louise this point to ensure that the schools are operating properly and the lights are are on um but also to um but also the needs of uh and to ensure that the needs of all our students are being met um so we have to count for that and the potential loss of Federal Aid um and considering that wwp has been working on diversity equity and inclusion for years before it was an acronym um which we obviously see interwoven in all of our student programming and um and support services uh we have to remember that the school budget is also a reflection of our values as
108a community um so thank you again for all of you for trying to connect that the dots to help us better understand um the thinking and strategy behind this tentative budget proposal so um so with that uh unless there are other questions or comments no I thought I saw hand um go for it D I actually have a question well thank you all for your presentations I appreciate that um and all the time that went into it um I just had a question a couple of questions actually about the about the budget um so um how does this increase compare to like some other maybe um similar or like districts across the state I know most haven't voted on anything yet but just from a sense of how you think that might pan out um
109I thought that would be something that might be helpful to people and then also I know we go over this in the in the in on April 29th but how is the um but the tax levy um dealt with across the townships like how to okay well I'll take the second first second first it's the region is appropriated by the number of students in which as sends it's a two uh region Regional uh to Community Regional um you know when the new the new the new tax amount is created obviously we need the new Financial uh the net taxable values of of the community which we won't get until proximately the middle of April uh just prior to the meeting and be able to calculate that so we have a lot of residences coming on
110uh line um so to and you're not asking me to answer this part but I'm going to say is a reason in past years I may have been able to give a oh it's it's going to be close to this I'm not going to can't even come close to that this year because we know we have many residences coming on we often do the calculation based on last year's net taxable value or the current Year's net tax bill value and next year's possible tax levy um but this number is not even going to be close probably because the values have changed we know there's the the uh more hars coming on the value the community is going to go up the impact per home goes down I think is what the question that you're actually
111asking I'll stop I could go on and weave even tighter but I won't um the what was the first part I'm sorry oh other districts from uh polling the communities I mean I'm not going to give any specific numbers um one community that received tens of millions of dollars in additional Aid will be at 2% uh the other communities that did not receive tens of millions of dollars of aid are anywhere between four uh between uh low threes and low fours mid fours um one Community has a a new um a referendum that they need to uh fund and they're at over 7% um again they probably don't have their exact numbers but they're close estimates um but they're not seeing the growth that we're seeing right now so again that's why they're probably more
112closely guesstimated thanks Dana uh any other ones before we move on to public comment okay well that takes us to our first opportunity for public comment which I think you've been anxiously awaiting the board invites thoughts and reactions on agenda items and items of concern from members of our community who are present each participant is asked to give his or her name an address prior to making a statement which will be limited to 3 minutes in accordance with board policy 01 67 all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer this public comment period shall be limited to 60 minutes so I'll invite you all to come up to the podium make sure you say your name and address and you have three minutes uh Carl Cooper District employee Madam president uh I have been
113proud to be an employee of wwp schools for many many years I cannot think of a moment when I've been prder to be a member of this community tonight I heard that that diversity Equity inclusion it it's not just what we do it's who we are we are a diverse Community we are a community that that strives for Equity we are an inclusive community Madam president uh we stand with you the admin ministrative team the employees of the district we are so proud to be a part of wwp we stand with do Dr aderhold his central office team thank you for what you're doing for the kids and for the community members of wwp wonderful work thank you [Applause] good evening everyone thank you so much for this opportunity to speak I stand before you
114tonight as an educator uh director in the district and administrator don't forget your name oh Christine capassi 28 Kinglet Drive North I live in the community I'm a proud Community member I see my neighbors and friends here thank you for coming out I'm also the proud parent of six children who have all come through the district and benefited from the many things you've heard here tonight I carry with me so many moments that remind me why standing up for every student matters the all-gender bathrooms that have affirmed my child's ID identity the curriculum that didn't just teach history but affirmed wholeness that race was not a wound to heal but a strength to embrace the specialized programs my children participated in as exceptional learners both gifted and differently abled became the bedrocks the seeds of
115who they are today and not just my own children but I see those seeds beginning to bloom in so many students I get to see every single day in my role so for me this this resolution is not just words on a page it's a promise it's a promise that every student in our district no matter their identity their ability their background has a place where they belong it's a declaration that we do not move backwards that we do not erase and that we do not bow to fear I have witnessed the power of inclusion the transformation that happens when a child feels seen when a teacher feels empowered when a School commits to the work of equity belonging and truth I have also seen what happens when inclusion is called into question and when
116fear dictates policy when quiet battles of our most vulnerable students go unnoticed and that is why I'm here tonight to talk about that it is these moments that matter most these moments that we can't put a pricee tag on moments that help us to remember that every child has a cost far greater than money and resistance doesn't divide us but resistance builds it protects and it upholds integrity this is called our positive resistance and I am so proud to stand among you tonight as you have built that case for us so beautifully for our students this represents the safety dignity and promise that they are welcome here that they have always been and that they always well I am so proud of my colleagues Dr aderhold suero Charity all of you board members thank you
117for the ways that you're upholding our Justice and planting those seeds that will Contin continue to BL so as we move forward let's do so not with fear but with courage not with retreat but with resolve our North Star remains and all of us and all of you let's continue together to move forward thank you thank you so much um my name is Sam Hendrickson and I am the proud husband of Christine capacity so I too live at 28 King let Drive North I'm also a retired School administrator uh this is an important moment for our district one in which our mission and values have been tested and affirmed tonight as the Board of Education passes this di e Dei resolution I want to express my gratitude for your commitment to ensuring our schools are
118spaces of belonging longing for all students staff and families i' like to share with you a personal experience that shaped my understanding of why this work matters our daughter came to us and shared that they are non-binary identify with the lgbtq plus community and we're planning to change their name and pronouns my wife and I listened and we said we love you in the days that followed I reflected on that moment and came to two important realizations first I don't have to fully understand something to accept it second that as a human being it's my responsibility to protect the truth of others and create safe spaces where everybody can live authentically I would later understand this as protecting someone's Birthright their inherent and moral right to live as their true self birth rights birth rights
119much like air conditioning in modern cars comes standard not as an optional upgrade as my friend and colleague Sally hair wisely said the purpose of education at its best is to create space for each of us to recognize and deepen our unique Birthright gifts that is what this District's mission statement is all about so tonight I want to thank you for passing this Dei resolution your decision affirms that we don't need to fully understand every aspect of diversity Equity inclusion to support it what we do need is a school community that is committed to being safe welcoming place for everyone to fully live as themselves this is how we live our mission with Integrity where our values on the inside match the actions we take on the outside thank you thank you uh is there
120any other public comment hi shandria Stevenson um District employee I am the wwpa President I'm also a graduate of the district um I just want to commend The District administration and the board of education for its commitment for fostering a diverse Equitable and inclusive learning environment our educators are often on the front lines ensuring that every student feels valued supported and empowered to reach their full potential sorry it this chokes me up obviously because I came from this district and I'm so proud of How Far We've Come looks very differently um the priorities of what I grew up with and I'm so glad that people are being able to be seen and heard um so it's emotional for me we support the principles outlined in this resolution in the statement on diversity Equity inclusivity it's
121essential that our schools remain places where all students all of them can learn and Thrive without any stipulations as we move forward our Union looks forward to continuing our collaboration with the district to turn these commitments into meaningful action as we've always done we appreciate the board and the district's leadership in reaffirming these principles and stand ready to work together to make our our schools stronger safer and more inclusive for all thank you thank you thank you uh any other public comments good evening Daniel Weiss uh 15 Cano Brook Drive here in West Windsor for those in the audience who don't know me I am a council member here in West Windsor and also the uh West Windsor lay is on to the school board um I was actually going to make a few comments
122about belonging matters day tomorrow not realizing about the content today so um I just want to um thank everybody um for their commitment for their compassion for their kindness and for their courage to do the right thing because you are doing the right thing and while I cannot speak for the entire Council um I have a pretty strong feeling that you have the entire Council and West Windor um supporting you um I um personally am the first member of the LGBT community to serve on the West Windsor Council and uh I'm honored to have been invited by the high school North GSA to participate in tomorrow's belonging day I'm doing two sessions with them and I've been told that actually both sessions are already completely full um which just uh means so much to me
123um not just as a public servant but as somebody who has firsthand experience about the power of community and acceptance um I hope to be able to um continue my i u work with the GSA perhaps we'll do some repeat sessions um at other times to to help more people participate and I'm not sure if the folks from High School South are still here I think they probably have gone home but I would love to um figure out how I can engage with High High School South in the same similar capacity I've uh also been invited uh at Grover for the um the gleon day of no silence some I think it's beginning of April um in some capacity I'll be participating with that and soort of on the other side of the coin this
124past weekend I spent about seven hours at the First Tech Challenge robotics um State Championship where there were um at least three teams from the greater West Windsor Plainsboro uh Community um with one of those teams um by the name of Don't Blink who I'm a mentor for um Advanced to the world championships in in uh in Houston next month so the diversity in this community is just off the scale in the context of not just what we look like but the way we think and the way we use our life's experiences to guide us so thank you so much again for all all your all your support and commitment thank [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you any other comments for this first opportunity seeing none uh I will close this uh opportunity for a public comment
125and move on to our Board of Education committee reports and I'll ask Dana to give us a report on Administration and facilities hello good evening um um hi we um the administration and Facilities committee met on Tuesday March 11th and the committee reviewed several policies which are recommended for a first reading at tonight's meeting and um and they're all on the back table there um I get to clear the house I guess everyone's going to get the policies I'm sure um policy 5512 which is harassment intimidation or bullying and policy 9163 is The Spectator code of conduct for inner Scholastic events and policy 511 which is eligibility of Resident and non-resident students um the committee next reviewed several um policies for second reading and approval at tonight's meeting one is policy 5460 which is high
126school graduation and policy 8500 which is Food Services um and some of what I'm going to say about Athletics was already um stated by our um High School reps but they some of them are so um wonderful that they should be repeated so I will repeat them um congratulations to the um High School North boys basketball team for their central New Jersey group F group for runner up finish um some of us um a couple of our board members um went and it was a very exciting game with lots of our students there um the girls winter track team for winning the CVC um conference meet and to wrestling coach Bill Furlong for being named CVC coach of the year and to High School North boys basketball coach um Luke Beasley for being named CVC
127coach of the year and also as mentioned by um the student CVC boys basketball player of the year was um Malachi Jeff Jeffers um Vieira um and a job well done to the high school South's boys swimming team for their Central a finals appearance boys and girls swimming coach Jessica Bidwell for earning her 200 overall team win and to several indoor track and field student athletes for their outstanding sectional performance um Julius Kinsler first place in the um 400 and uh Claire I hope I say the names right CLA D mortier Adama T Anastasia kudin and Saria Hoover for their 4 by their 4x400 um first place finish we also um next discuss the draft resolution which we've um we've now approved um the committee reviewed and discussed this um the resolution on diversity equity
128and in inclusivity and the committee will next meet on April 22nd thank you actually I don't think we've approved it yet we're about to thanks Dana good catch right there any questions or comments for administration or facilities all right perfect okay then we can move on to LY for curriculum thank you grayan uh the curriculum committee met on March 11th uh we began with a discussion about summer camps Dr ghoul described the plan for summer camp which will support our multilingual Learners and students receiving uh intervention support for reading uh we next discuss summer curriculum writing process and Dr G uh previewed the curriculum writing process and some of the courses being written and um or revised and we also discussed the uh B the board's draft resolution draft um uh at the meeting as
129well we reviewed and discussed uh the res resolution on diversity equity and inclusivity uh on the agenda tonight for voting we have uh fil trips the first one uh the committee recommends approval for the following overnight field trips the first for High School North uh the science Bowl team to the National Conference in Washington DC from April uh 24th to the 28th of this year the cost of the trip is covered by the department of energy hopefully um next uh High School South The Debate Club to Lexington Kentucky from April 25th through April 28th the cost of that trip is approximately $1,000 per student the curriculum committee will next meet on Tuesday April 22nd thanks thanks ly any questions about curriculum okay so I'm going to invite Louisa for a finance report great um the
130finance um committee also met on March 11th the committee reviewed the monthly Financial reports the administration affirmed that no major accounts are overexpanded and that sufficient funds are available to complete the year the committee reviewed the following motions on the agenda for approval to approve the submittal of the tentative budget for the 2526 school year to approve a Professional Services agreement for services related to The Energy savings obligation refunding School bonds for the Energy savings Improvement project to approve Cooperative purchases over the bid limit for technology and maintenance to approve the disposal of obsolete equipment to approve Transportation quotes to and from school and activities routs to approve staff professional development travel and expenses the administration shared its progress in developing the 2526 budget concerns remain that school districts that do not agree to eliminate
131all Dei references in policies and programs may lose federal aid increases in healthcare and salaries exceed the 2% tax Liv the increase by more than double the district will need to utilize the allowable spending growth limitation adjustments in Bank cap to balance next year's budget the final budget calendar was provided to committee members regarding the energy Sav savings Improvement program the first preconstruction meeting was held to review the summer construction schedule which includes installation of a new HVAC system at morce Hawk replacement of four rooftop units and installation of a new combined heat and power unit at Grover installation of two new boil ERS at Village building envelope improvements throughout the district and optimization of ventilation systems districtwide due the due to the late end of this school year the summer construction window is compressed
132additionally delays in finalizing the contract for the power purchase agreement and the Energy savings Improvement program have postponed the sale of bonds until July as a result funds will need to be withdrawn from the capital reserve to cover expenses incurred before the bond sale motions related to project financing will be included in upcoming agendas for the cafeteria the number of meals served in February remains consistent with previous months this year year-over-year the number of breakfasts served has increased while the number of lunches served has declined among breakfasts served at the elementary schools 81% are provided to students who qualify for free reduced or New Jersey income eligible meals notably the number of lunches served to students who qualify for free reduced NJ income eligible meals has risen by 4 31% compared to last year indicating
133that efforts to reach these students are proving effective parent feedback will be solicited at upcoming PTA meetings and marketing events including flavor Fest at High School North and a roving Chef event at the elementary schools in the month of May Southwest Food Service excellent continues to face Staffing challenges they currently have five vacant positions um we discussed Transportation earlier for other business the district's contract with the Cornerstone Church for the additional parking at woff is now in its Fifth and final year the pastor has submitted a proposal for Renewal which the committee reviewed and discussed the committee will next meet on Tuesday April 22nd thanks Louisa any questions for finance Liz I actually had a question for a curriculum instruction if I may go for it okay uh just about that field trip the one
134uh by North for the science Bowl team to the National Conference uh the cost of the trip is covered by the US Department of energy at this time or if it still exists if it still exists and and is a followup question is there is is there any indication that there it may not at this point at this moment thank you right thanks Liz any other questions oh go ahead Robin is it a bad assumption that we would find funding to support that if that gets it may be a bad assumption I I have no uh information on cost so we would have to review that should that be a case thank you other questions okay then that takes us to the voting portion of our meeting so can I get a motion for administration
135items numbers 1 through 7 uh Dana and Liz any questions or comments all of a sudden I'm going to stutter for no reason okay we'll start Miss Krug yes Miss Chenier yes Miss ho yes Miss maliga yes Miss sha yes Miss Shetty yes Miss zich yes Miss B yes M mck yes can I get a motion for curriculum and instruction item number one uh ly and scha any questions or comments okay we we'll start with Miss migga yes Miss Shetty yes Miss chenera yes Miss ho yes Miss Krug yes Miss sha yes Miss zich yes Miss bonsel yes Miss M yes and can I get a motion for finance items numbers 1 through 14 plus the blue agenda items number 1 through five uh Lisa and agenta any questions or comments okay we'll start with
136Miss ho yes Miss sha yes I'm off my I'm off my [Laughter] timing Miss sovich yes Miss Chenier yes Miss Krug yes Miss Mala yes Miss Shetty yes Miss bonsel yes M McAn yes and before we move on to the next item uh I'd like to turn it over to Dave before the person items thank you graylin um this evening we're accepting uh the resignation of one of our colleagues at the table and I'd be remiss if we didn't just recognize Dr Lee McDonald um as um as as many of you know in the audience uh Lee has been appointed as the next Superintendent at rson Fair Haven High School school district um we're extremely proud of Lee and his accomplishments um in in securing the new role but more so for the 15 years
137of dedicated service partnership friendship commitment to this District as director of counseling um well director of guidance then director of counseling director of counseling health and wellness assistant superintendent pupil Services planning and now Deputy superintendent um I've also had the opportunity to work with Lee 18 over the past 22 years in another District when I was a second year assistant principal and he was a uh second or thirdy year uh counselor um so so um Liam incredibly proud of you we're going to miss you from the district but we're um thrilled for your opportunity and we wish you all the best in Rumson Fair Haven um first of all uh thank you Dr arold for your leadership it's um it's the model for superintendence here in New Jersey and Nationwide as far as I'm concerned
138uh and I couldn't be more proud to have served in this community for the last 15 years uh tonight's not a testament to that I don't know what is uh I have just been completely honored uh to have this opportunity I wouldn't be here otherwise if it weren't for my many amazing colleagues uh between teachers counselors administrators uh staff support staff the list goes on and on uh this community is so fortunate to have your leadership to have this board of education uh to have what was displayed tonight is just truly remarkable and what makes wwp so special um and it's uh it's bittersweet for me having served here for so many years and I I just uh I can't be more proud of the work that's been done here and and just so thankful
139for the opportunity to serve this community so thank you very much congratulations Dr McDonald um and now uh can I get a motion for personal items number one and two plus the green and pink denda uh Robin and Liz any questions or comments okay we'll we'll start we'll start we'll start with Miss zich yes Miss chenera yes Miss ho yes Miss KRW yes Miss malga yes Miss sha yes Miss Shetty yes Miss bonsel yes Miss M yes and uh speaking of Staff who stay um in Charity's words earlier in the presentation um I'd like to recognize a whole lot of retirements from our wwp community um so there's there's there's a list um uh minaki bachara our High School South biology teacher uh is retiring after 25 years of service to the district uh Patricia
140Boyce is Our Town Center Elementary School teacher retiring after 36 years in the district uh Stephanie Bernett Dutch neck Elementary School teacher retiring after 15 years Amy coffee from Millstone Rivers an elementary school teacher there is retiring after 33 years in the district Ellen in Kingo um is our whiteoff school counselor retiring after 37 years in District marisel Martin is our Grover middle school Spanish teacher retiring after 26 years in District Cheryl Smith is our High School South school counselor retiring after 20 years in wwp Michelle Walsh is also our High School South school counselor retiring after 25 years in the district um weinman is our community middle school science teacher retiring after 21 years in the district um Karen winterstein is our midstone River Elementary School teacher who is retiring after 12 years at
141wwp Elsa lepus is our High School South instructional assistant retiring after 26 years in wwp Rosemary weiner is our Dutch neck Elementary School secretary uh reti ing after seven years in District and Deborah wosi is our Dutch neck Elementary School secretary as well also retiring after 7 years serving wwp in our school Community um so congratulations to everyone and thank you so much for all of your years of service and dedication to this very special school community and we wish you well and uh the best of luck in all your future Adventures [Applause] okay a few more items um can I get a motion to approve the Board of Education minutes from the 20 uh February 25th meeting uh Pua and Dana all in favor say I I H any exensions Rob yes I'd like
142to obain please okay um scha are you abstaining from the February 25th no okay sorry on the minutes um perfect okay moving on um any do we have any bard of uh Bardon reports Dana does just to make the meeting a little longer but it's an important one so um um and it goes along the lines of tonight's um topics so um we are thrilled and honored to be hosting the second annual Mercer County Schoolboard Association unsung heroes event um this Thursday March 20th at High School South um if you're not familiar with this event it's um an event where we celebrate a remarkable group of students one from each High School in the county who may not always be um a who may not always seek the spotlight but whose contributions laid up their
143schools and communities in profound ways and and um I'd like to um thank the wwpa for their support of the um two unsung hero AES from um wwp so we look forward to that event um in two days awesome thanks Dana any other Le on reports any new business uh well then that takes us for um to our second opportunity for public comments the board invites comments from members of our community who are Pres each participant is asked to give his or her name an address prior to making a statement which will be limited to 3 minutes in accordance with board policy 0167 all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer this public comment period shall be limited to 15 minutes so if anyone would like to come up to the podium going once
144going twice we have a comment I got here in time aome uh hi my name is Kathleen morard I live at 8 Taunton Court in West Windsor um I I've represented the special education PTSA for a number of years still do this year um we commend the um you know the the uh promoting of a diversity and Equity inclusion inclusivity uh statement um we appreciate the fact that um disability inability is included in that statement um but we do want to reinforce course that the constraints that are going on now will continue likely for a number of years and as it's been stated the dismantling of many of these agencies even if they were going to be brought back in a new Administration in a number of years will likely not come back to the
145full fruition of what we have now so as with anything when resources get constrained conflicts ensue and the special education families have struggled and still fac day-to-day challenges for their children for their students in the district we hope that as those struggles for resources as they continue and they likely will that the Board of Education and the other people here will continue to remember those families that are struggling every day um probably right now with a child who's struggling to remember that vocabulary test into 11 12:00 at night the child who doesn't want to go school the next day because they don't really feel supported so we hope that this these aspirations to support everyone um will be a part of a continuous Improvement initiatives um but it will be hard and it will be
146strained and we hope that taxpayers will continue to remember these families um because at some point in our lives in our Arc of Our Lives we were all be disabled we are all going to face an Affliction and whether that's when we're 6 seven years old or whether we're 60 66 76 years old um to have compassion and to put our money where our mouth is and if that means a 1 2 3% increase um and it spread over hopefully an increase in units um that families and the community will remember these families and remember that they're paying forward for a new generation that will hopefully not allow this type of dismantling of such important agencies and funding thank you very [Music] [Applause] much thank you any other comments for this last opportunity for tonight
147seeing none I will close this public comment period and uh ask for a motion to adjourn this this evening's meeting um a motion to adjourn fora and Liz all in favor say I I I thank you everyone for coming out good night [Music]