001Okay, let's go ahead and get started. Uh, item number one, uh, in accordance with, uh, open public meetings NJSA 104-6, excuse [clears throat] me. Adequate notification of this meeting has been provided by advertising in the Courier News and posting notice in the Board of Education Administration building and district schools and filing notice with the Burough Clerk. I hereby call to order the regular public meeting Tuesday, February 24th, 2026 in the Lincoln Middle School Cafetum, 400 Denellan Avenue at 7:02 p.m. This meeting is broadcast live. For details, check www.denellonsschools.org. Moving on to item number two. Mr. Pepe, can you please call the role? >> Mr. Anderson, >> present. >> Excuse [clears throat] me. Mrs. Condit, >> not here. Uh, Miss Zybeck, >> present. >> Dr. Gendrono, >> present. >> Mr. Mitchell, >> present. >> Mrs. Moore,
002>> present. >> Mr. Satanoi, >> present. >> Miss Shyf, >> present. >> Thank you. and Mrs. Shep >> present. >> We have a quorum. >> Okay. Wonderful. Moving on to item number three, executive session. The Denellan Board of Education will now adjourn into executive session to discuss items that fall within the specific exceptions to the Open Public Beatings Act CJSA 104-12B. The confidential matters uh discussed by the board during this executive session include items related to individual privacy, collective bargaining agreements, uh pending or anticipated litigation, attorney client privilege, as well as personnel. Any discussion that does not need to remain confidential will be made public as soon as it is practical. Minutes of the executive session will not be disclosed until the need for confidentiality no longer exists. All individuals who may be discussed in
003executive session have been adequately notified. Action will take place after the conclusion of the executive session. May I have a motion to move into executive session, please? >> Move to exe. >> Seconded. >> All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Okay, we'll be back around 7:30. Uh looking for a motion to return to public. >> Move to go back public. >> Seconded. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Okay. Uh we are going to uh skip item number five uh student recognition um and move on to uh item number six president's remarks. So if you would >> Oh sorry we did do the pledge. I missed that. Sorry. So will you all please stand for the pledge of allegiance and moment of silence. to the flag of America nation indivisible with liberty and
004justice for all. Will you all please remain standing for a moment of reflection and respect for our troops serving throughout the world, our troops who have served and our troops who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of our United States of America. Thank you. >> Okay, that's Roman numeral four. Okay, they do do that. Yeah. So moving on to so again uh skipping number five student recognition and moving on to item number six president's remarks. So good evening everyone welcome to the February 24th 2026 Denellan board of education meeting. Um I will keep my remarks brief. So uh just to mention a couple things that have happened uh recently. DHS and LMS held their honoral assemblies on February 10th and February 18th recognizing students on the honor role and high honor role. Um,
005the auditorium was packed at both ceremonies with students and families celebrating the great, excuse me, accomplishments of our kids. Uh, we also had recently the PTO talent show that occurred on January 30th and it was a rousing success. Thank you to PTO, our drama and music arts departments, our technical staff, the judges, our custodial staff, the student volunteers, MC's, the AV lights and stage crews, the supportive parents, the engaged audience, and of course the Denellan students who shared their talents with us to make the event a great success. Uh, thank you. Um, and just to make a quick plug for the upcoming, uh, musical Annie, which will be here at the high school on March 6th, 7th, and 6th, 7th. 567 fifth six7th. Um, all right, moving on. Uh, staying healthy. So, as the weather
006has been fluctuating and being kind of crazy, it is important to underscore that healthy kids means healthy schools, which means a healthy community. Bottom line, we encourage you to take the common sense precautions to minimize the spread of infectious diseases that can really impact our school year. As I do at uh at all of these board meetings, I mention monthly celebrations. Uh, February is Black History Month. Uh we also celebrate uh Lunar New Year's as well as National Freedom Day which is on February the 1st. Um and that commemorates the signing of the 13th amendment which abolished slavery in 1865. February is also schoolboard recognition month which was announced via proclamation signed by former governor Murphy back on December 2020 20 December 2022 to recognize the work that um school boards around the state of
007New Jersey uh do. I mentioned these recognitions to underscore how important diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are to our lives and the world around us. Open, honest, and genuine communication that is respectful, positive, supportive, fair, and most of all kind goes a long way in strengthening a community. Uh I just want to make another note here that I'm delighted to share that on tonight's agenda we have a number and I think it's 53 I think we're like 53 entries for approval for travel related to professional development. Uh this encompasses staff, teachers, administrators, and even board members, myself included. Um, I'm I'm uncertain if this is a new record, but it certainly underscores continued learning, continued development of our folks in the district, which in turn impacts better outcomes for our students. I do also want
008to commend board members who are by definition volunteers for making the time to participate in professional development courses. These efforts make our board better so we are better able to tackle the challenges we face. And so in one last note, we are at about four months until our DHS seniors walk the 2026 graduation stage. There are a great many wonderful things happening in our district and our community between now and then. I would encourage you to be act be an active part of that. Thank you everyone for your time and listening. Moving on to the superintendent's report. Mr. Ross, >> thank you Dr. Gendrono. Um we are going to begin with the student representative report. So I will turn it over to Lisa Marie. So on the high school's behalf, we have already mentioned uh
009the Denellan's Got Talent that already passed a very successful night. The NHS had a dine to donate for Chipotle. They're also planning a bake sale that is also coming up in uh the next month. Uh during the the Black History Month, we've had multiple uh essences where students were encouraged to participate with celebrating Black History Month. So, we've had Black uh history month spirit week uh that was run by the Black Student Union. Uh they were very successful. The students loved it so much. It was one of the best uh spirit weeks they had said. Um Black History Month uh painting competition winners. First place goes to Joshua Osborne, second Amina Black, third Khloe Downing. um and that they were paint they painted uh acrylic paintings for art class and it was to commemorate the
010historical figures for Black History Month and also the MLK uh essay contest winners for DHS, LMS and Faber. Uh they also commodated uh King and what he did for uh the country. Um, also already previously mentioned, uh, any the musical will be coming up and so we are looking forward to a great performance. Because of the weather, uh, the schedule has been pushed back, but we are looking forward to a great show regardless. Thank you. >> Thank you, Lisa Murray. Um, all right, moving on. We're going to uh we're skipping the SSDS report that will be presented in March. Um, and other items for discussion, I'm going to pass it over to Mr. Pepe to provide the fourth construction update. [clears throat] >> All right. Since we last met, um the construction update is online
011um currently. So, anyone who is watching, you can go to the district website and see this um full update. I'm not going to read it word for word. I'm just going to give you some highlights. Um, since the last time we met, there have been two construction meetings where the district met with the construction company, the um construction management company and the architect to go over progress and discuss any issues that were um needing to be addressed. Um, we also had since the last time since the last report s the start of excavation for footings and as the excavation began there were some things that were discovered that had to be um addressed and this is part of what we discussed in the meetings. Um we also had in uh Underwood engineering come out and
012do some soil testing um which is basically testing the soil at different levels below the surface to see um exactly what type of design for the footings is required to ensure that the building will be safe. And so they are um they did the testing last Monday, provided the report a couple of days later and now our architect is working with the uh contractor on finalizing the design for the footings and then the next step after that will be to start putting in the columns, the posts that will hold up the steel. Um in addition to that, uh we had an update on the construction schedule. Uh the contractor is projecting about an 8 day um being behind about eight days currently on the total con uh construction schedule. We feel this is a uh
013kind of a non-issue because when we've reviewed the full construction schedule, there is a large amount of time for the installation of the columns. And we believe that they'll be able to make those eight days up and get us back on track. But worst case scenario, we're about a week behind. Um, for those of you who have never been through a construction um, project, there's I don't know if there's ever been a construction project that ended on time. So, this is pretty common. It's a little early to be a week behind, but we feel they're going to be able to pick that back up. And, uh, finally, there are two items on the agenda tonight. One is called one is a change order and the other is called an allowance authorization. uh for this board.
014You may not be familiar with that because in in prior um construction projects, we didn't use that terminology, allowance authorization. Uh basically, a change order just means that there's something new, additional, or something that was in the bid that doesn't need to happen, and it documents the change in the contract price. Um part of a construction contract is what's called an allowance, and our allowance for this project was $250,000. What that means is the two first $250,000 of change order work um doesn't increase the cost of the contract because it was built in. So what our architects are using is a form that's called an allowance authorization that identifies that we're not adding to the contract but rather take we're um taking drawing down from the allowance that's already built in. And that's the distinction
015between the allowance authorization and a change order which actually impacts the total contract cost u for this agenda. The allowance authorization um is for the additional asbestous work that when we started the project or when we started the asbestous abatement back in December we had some extra testing and determined there was additional work that wasn't in the base bid. So this is the adjustment uh allowance drawdown for that amount for uh that work which was completed during the abatement that happened and was finished by December 30th. Um the second thing is the change order. Um typically you wouldn't get a change order until you've finished drawing down your allowances. However, this change order is the good kind because it's actually a decrease in the contract price. So there were two things that were in the
016base bid that we're when they started the work were determined not to be needed. One was um scaffolding that was going to be in the front of Faber Elementary School. Uh we determined that we are not going to do that at this time and we only have the scaffolding on the side and the second was some of the asbestous work that was listed in the base bid when they got on the uh got into the work they realized there were certain things they didn't need to do. So meaning there was an asbestous that needed to be abated. So um 13,760 total dollars is coming off of the contract uh total. So that decreases the total amount that it's going to cost for this project. General updates. Um as I said, we're pretty much through or
017halfway through the excavating. We're at the point where we're starting to design to finalize the design for the footings. So we can then start moving on putting in columns and um I that's about it for >> great. Thank you Mr. Pepe. Um that's items C5 and C6 in the operation section for approval. Um and we'll try to I think we we tried to make those as transparent as possible so they're sort of readable. Obviously it's pretty dense um technical stuff but um I think the resolution sort of you know does it justice. So uh moving on to snow. Um, today we had our third snow day of the year. Um, I want to thank uh Ronnie Haynes and his incredible team, Matt Olivy, uh, Javon Ferrer, William Castro, and Kyle Peralca. Um, if you've been
018around the uh, school sites, you'll see that the sidewalks are really clear, the driveways are clear, the parking lots are cleared. Um, and I do want to thank Alex Miller and the DPW who did an incredible job also on the streets and the crosswalks um, and the sidewalks as well. So, regular school day tomorrow. Um, we're, you know, anticipating everybody will be able to make it on time. Um, everything is passable and, um, you know, those guys come out in the middle of the storm and they get started while we're all kind of sitting inside waiting to see whether we should shovel or not and they're out in the trucks and everything like that. So, really wonderful work. Um, I really thank them. Uh this being the third snow day of the school year, uh
019we will uh be making a calendar change that'll appear on the March agenda. Um the calendar does um indicate that if uh more than two snow days are used, April 29th, which is a Wednesday, will become a school day as well. Right now, it's a full professional day, so it will become a school day for students. And so, uh we'll notify folks about that, send a message out. That change will be, um uh shown on the the March agenda. Um and assuming that we have no more snow, then that should be the end of the changes that we have to make. Um on the agenda items, we have the district calendar for 2627. Um that's item A6. Um we have a number of PD approvals and I do want to just draw uh everyone's attention
020to a couple of them in particular. We have um seven people who are approved to attend Manville Insight. This is on March 6th. Um this is actually not just as attendees, but this is as presenters. Um so uh we have two presentations that the district has put together. Um I want to thank Dr. Santaneloo and Miss Trapkin for their leadership working with staff um on sort of developing these um strengthening systems and structures through MTSS. We have Miss Brutder, Miss Jordano, Miss Healey, Miss Krauss and Miss Penissi. So interventionists at Faber. uh that presentation will be about strategic changes to the intervention schedule and MTS's framework at uh Faber which have created stronger systems and structures to support both students and staff. So very excited that that our folks are going to be um leading
021that presentation. The second presentation is uh Shanija Curtis and uh Dr. uh Ava Dolivera and it is insight on establishing an in-house school-based wellness program. And this is a presentation about the district's transition from Thrive, which was a contracted mental health services provider that we used that was funded through the federal funds to a more sustainable in-house wellness program uh aligned with the DOE comprehensive school-based mental health framework. And the the the architecture for that program was really put together by Misty Olivivera and Dr. Santaneloo. Um it's worked really really well. Um we have one 612 uh uh specialist and we have one who's uh prek5. They have uh increase the case load and the the tiered supports for our students that really need additional support. Um and I'm very excited as well for them
022to be able to present. Uh you'll also see 14 staff members who are approved for um Orton Gillingham Plus certification. Um and again this is an email that came in. We had some brief conversation and Dr. Dr. Santella and Mr. Travkin put together an afterchool information session where they talked about the the sessions. So this is uh put together by uh the group that runs Orton Gillingham. Uh we have it's a five session um professional development. One is in Chadam, one is at MUJC in New Providence. Um we have we have uh established a very strong dyslexia process uh in the district. Dyslexia identification process. What this does is it brings other um specialists, other teachers into the work and the understanding of what Orton Gillingham what the the the model uh actually sort of
023how it looks in a regular classroom. So OG is a research-based approach designed to support educators in effectively teaching reading, spelling, and writing particularly for students with dyslexia or those who struggle with foundational literacy skills. Um, so this supports the materials that we're using and um allows the teachers to really get some expertise just to build again staff competency and um and push all of that skills back. So really wonderful the I'm so thankful to the staff members who are uh taking their time to do it. It's going to be a huge boon for the district in terms of getting um the knowledge and the skills out there. And then these folks will become staff um you know they'll be able to lead staff professional development in house so we can you know continue to
024push those uh those learnings out. Also on the agenda we have a donation um to uh the uh Denellan uh high school choir by Mr. Moore. So I want to thank Mrs. Moore and Mr. Moore for that. Um there was some commentary uh Lisa Marie provided about the Denellan Arts Inclusion and Cultural Commission's uh Black History Month opportunities. So uh DAIC put together two opportunities for students and the winners were recognized at last Tuesday's Burough Council meeting. So you heard the winners from the visual arts contest. Um and there's information about that on the website as well as a presentation that Mr. Royal put together for all of the incredible artwork that's that that was done by students. And then the essay contest is a K12 um contest. And um we were told that there
025were 362 submissions um from students across the district. Um and so they had the recognition at the Burough Council meeting, but they also received cash prizes. And so Faber, first place was Gianna Hughes and second place was Paulo Tran. At the middle school, first place was Sophia Maldonado Sanchez. and second place was Ganna Apis DHS. First place was Samar Mangaroo and second place was Elizabeth Serrano. And so I'm very thankful to DICC especially to uh Mrs. Shyf um who serves as the vice chair of the organization uh and really coordinated all these activities and we were told although we don't have proof that she read all 362 of the essays. So [laughter] so thank you Miss Shim for your leadership on that. Really wonderful. Um we had title one stakeholder meetings. This is the second
026meeting of the year. These occurred uh the 17th, the 19th, and the 25th. These are meetings that are led by the principles. Uh once the school becomes a title one schoolwide uh program, DHS is in the process of transitioning. So Miss Drapkin uh who's the director of curriculum is leading those meetings uh with Mr. Lynch and and Miss Powell as support. Um there's a tremendous amount of improvement and information that's shown uh about academic performance growth uh behavior interventions and other work that's happening at the building. All of the presentations, the first meetings and the second meetings are now available online. Um if you go to curriculum and instruction and look at title one, you can see the presentations that have been provided. Also, the buildings are always looking for stakeholders and so if anyone
027is interested in serving uh on as part of the stakeholder committee, um you know, I'm sure they would be very happy to uh to have you. So, thank you to the principles for leading this work, Miss Drapkin for leading this work as well, all of the team members, the teachers who have taken their time to um to do this incredible stuff for our students. We held our ENL midyear exit breakfasts uh one in January, one this month. Um the ENL team has done an incredible job. Um and uh being able to celebrate students who have placed out of uh shown proficiency in order to place out of the ENL uh programming is amazing. So um congratulations to those folks. We have uh state assessment happening uh now with the access testing access for L's. Um
028NJGPA will occur March 16th through the 20th. That's the 11th grade assessment. It's the graduation requirement. And then the NJSLA window is April 27th through May 22nd and schedules uh based on the schools will come out when available. So with that, I just want to turn it back over to Mr. Pepe to provide a little bit of an update on fiscal year 27 budget. >> Thank you. So this is a um a preview of what we'll be talking about next month and in the operations committee um in the coming month. Uh next month we'll be voting on the tentative budget after we receive our state aid notice which um which we expect to receive approximately March 12th although an exact date hasn't been given yet. So just as a general understanding of how the budget
029process works um every year we go through all of our budget lines. There's about 500 of them. And um through with different budget managers, we talk about what we need for the following year and we put down um prices and we put our whole budget together. There's two sides to every budget. There's the where is the money coming from or the revenue side and then there's the what are we spending it on or the appropriation side. And so for the appropriation side, there are as I said 500 budget lines each of which has multiple different things that are put into it. So there's thousands of decisions that have to be made as far as um how much money we believe we need for the next year for um if you were to keep everything the
030same. There are certain things that automatically increase and that's your salaries and your benefits which are negotiated and the the benefits especially health benefits. Um we have no control over the rising costs with health benefits. Unfortunately, in the upcoming year, we were projected to get approximately a 25% increase, which is a huge increase, although it is significantly less of an increase than people in the state health benefits program who are in the 30s. Um, so with that said, understand the balance between the revenues and the appropriations. We have major appropriation increases that we uh that are um automatic with salary and benefits that are approximately $2 million of additional um expenses we'll have next year. In addition to that, when we did our analysis of tuition and transportation and went through all of the um
031out of district placements or vocational placements and any other possible transportation and tuition, um we're seeing that our estimate for next year is approximately $250,000 more than what we budgeted this year. And then in all of the other everything else combined, um if we were to keep all of our programs and and supply orders and our facilities and everything else the same, um there are some new things that have come up that equal about $500,000. Um those are um cell phone storage, which is a new bill that was just passed. We're going to have to find some We have to budget some money because we don't yet uh know exactly how we're going to address that bill. That's something the board will be talking about over the coming months. Um we need to put some
032money aside uh for textbooks because of um standard ch you know changes in standards and things that are required for adoption in the next year or two. um additional Chromebooks um to keep our students with, you know, good working technology and um certain programs that we are coming up to our like we have a three-year renewal and we're coming up to the third year, so it wasn't in last year's budget has to go into this year's budget. So with all of that said, we're looking at without making any changes um about two and a half million a little more than $2 and a half million dollars of additional costs. On the other side in the revenue side um our revenue comes from three sources. One is state aid, two is the local taxes and three
033is everything else which is a very small um percentage of the total revenue for uh our budget. We always start with an assumption that state aid is going to be flat because we don't know what our state aid's going to be. And that forces us to figure out a way to make a balanced budget where we're not relying on getting money from the state, additional money from the state. We've been very fortunate in this district for about 10 years now, we've been getting increases from the state and we hope that continues, but we don't know if it will. So assuming a flat state aid, the only other um place where we can increase would be local taxes. And the as everyone is familiar with the 2% tax increase uh tax levy increase cap. There's some
034caveats to that cap that are adjustments that are allowed um for things like increased enrollment, increased health care costs, and increased tuition. And there's some other things. Tuition doesn't really apply to us because that's not about out of district special services comm um tuition. that's more about a um send receive with another district. So this year we don't have an adjustment for enrollment. Our enrollment projection is not going is is flat. So it's not going to increase. So we don't have an available adjustment there. Um we do however have an available adjustment of about one and a half million for our h uh our projected health care costs. Um $1.5 million is approximately 11% on a tax levy. So, um, let me be clear. I'm not saying that taxes are going up 11%. I'm saying
035that the district has the ability to raise those. It doesn't mean we're going to, but this is how the law is structured. Um, we can we can go up to 2% plus the adjustments. In addition to that, over the past three years, we have not used all the adjustments or any of the adjustments that we were eligible for. And those all get banked into what's called banked cap. So, for the upcoming year, if you were to add the healthc care adjustment plus all of the banked cap from the past three years, um the district has the ability to raise local taxes up to 29%. That's not going to happen. Okay? Just so you understand the structure of how the law works. So, the board's going to have to, you know, we're going to work together
036to kind of decide what is the right number. Is it 2%? Is that can we make this all work with just the 2% and not tapping into that enroll uh healthcare adjustment and not tapping into the banked cap or do we need to increase some portion of that? You don't have uh >> Oh, >> I broke the mic. >> Check check >> everything >> one. >> Test test. >> Maybe it's just >> Okay, I'm gonna continue. I'll just speak loud. So, >> how about now? >> Okay. Sorry about that. I actually turned it off. So, all right. So, what I'm saying is that the board is going to engage in discussions about what is the right number and that right number might be 2% with no adjustments at all or it might be 2% plus
037some portion of the adjustment. What I was about to say when this we lost the speakers was um that adjustment of 1.5 million for health care, the board does not have to use all of it. The board can just say, "Well, let's use half of it or let's use a certain dollar amount um because we need that to really balance the budget and maybe to put in some new things that um we have, you know, in the works for next year." So, um that's pretty much the whole story. Mr. um Mr. Ross, anything >> else you'd like to talk about? >> Uh board members, any questions at this point? Obviously, we still have the tentative budget presentation, March 17th. We'll have committees before that, but please feel free to uh ask any questions that you
038might have at this moment. >> So, sorry, one question. What's the anticipated date we're supposed to get stated? >> March the number. Sorry, >> March 12th. Yeah, >> 12th. 12th. Okay. And then we vote on the 14th >> 17th. >> They actually just put out a broadcast at about 6:15. >> Rich, did you see it? They they changed the budget calendar. They moved the approval date to March 27th, which doesn't help us because we have a board meeting March 17th. So, the governor's budget address is usually it's supposed to be at the end of January and then it's been the end of February for the last couple of years and this year it's March 10th. um which puts every school district in the state in this position of having to come up with a budget
039in basically two days um which is crazy. So um >> Oh yeah, please. >> Are there any uh grants that we're aware of for cell phone storage? Were we looking into one already? >> Yeah, so there was a grant that had a very small uh amount allocated. It was like a maximum of $5,000 or something like that that was put that was put out in the >> October >> in October in the fall, right? Um we've heard and there's been some conversation thanks to some great work by the board members that there is additional funding that might be available but there's been no grant released, no competitive grant released. >> Yep. Um so the last item for me is um the enrollment report. Um we have since last month pretty flat enrollment. Um, Faber is
040at 608 students. Uh, middle school is at 315 students and high school is at 409 students. We also have 86 students at private prek providers. And so now we are uh at a total of 1,418 students um in the district, which is again at the this is the about the most that we've had um ever. So that's my report. >> Okay. Check. Yep. Thank you, Mr. draws. So, um moving on to uh item number eight. So, we have uh public comments on agenda action items to be voted on only. So, the board invites public comment from members of our community in accordance with board policy 0167 on agenda action items to be voted on. Only p public comment sections are intended to provide an opportunity for members of the public to express themselves on school
041matters of community interest. The board and administration will take notes during public comment but will not provide substantive responses to questions or concerns raised by individual speakers. If necessary, the superintendent may provide a brief response after the entire public comment period is completed. The board appreciates and welcomes feedback from the community, but is not at liberty to engage in a back and forth dialogue with members of the public during this portion of the meeting. Prior to making your public comment, please state your name and municipality. Please also note that all statements must be directed to the presiding officer. Please come to the microphone at this time if you would like to make comments on agenda action items only to be voted on. Prior to beginning your comment, please state the action item to be voted
042on that you would like to comment on. Last call. Okay, moving on to item number nine, uh, committee reports. In the section, we'll review um the reports from each of the individual committees. First, we'll go to 9A, education, and I will turn the floor over to Miss Ibach, the chair of the education committee. Thank you. Uh the education committee uh met on February 17th at 6:00 pm. Those present were myself, Miss Moore, Miss Cheff, Dr. Gendrono, Miss Jopkin, and Mr. Ross. Uh the committee discussed a number of act a number of items including a wide range of staff professional development and coaching activities occurring throughout the district. Information related to the grant-f funded work currently in operation across the three schools. Schoolwide title one stakeholder meetings that occurred this month at each school. The 2627
043district calendar which is recommended for approval tonight. the preschool registration process for the 2627 school year, which is ongoing. Discussion of the cell phone ban legislation going into effect next year. Policies and regulations on tonight's agenda. Having curriculum presentations potentially provided at board meetings, uh the student protests that took place on February 12th, and a variety of other items of and confidential matters. Thank you, Miss Ibach. Moving on to 9B, personnel. I will turn the floor over to the personnel chair, uh, the chair of the personnel committee, uh, Michep. Thank you. Uh, the personnel committee met on February 17th. Uh, present were myself, Mr. Anderson, Mrs. Condit, and Mr. Ross. The personnel committee discussed a number of items, including staff information for the current year, including some recommendations on tonight's agenda, the district's ongoing work
044with the labor management collaborative, details about the evaluation process for non-tenured staff members, the district calendar parameters for the 2026 2027 school year, the student protests that took place on February 12th, and a number of confidential items. Thank you, Miss Shep. And um moving on [clears throat] to uh 9C uh operations. And if it's okay, um Rich, can we just make a note for notes for 9B? I did also attend the personnel committee meeting as well. Thank you. Um so 9C uh operations um I'll take that as um the chair of that committee. So the um the operations the operations committee met on February 17th uh in attendance were uh myself, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Pepe, and Mr. Ross. Uh, a number of items were discussed, uh, including a number of items on tonight's agenda for
045approval, including a donation to the DHS choir program, detailed preliminary information about the 2026 to 2027 school budget, updates related to the universal preschool family expansion project at Faber, information about the 2026 2027 district calendar, a change to the board meeting, legal notice requirements related to advertising in a print newspaper which will require minor changes to two bylaws and a variety of confidential matters. Moving on to 9D policy uh we've already discussed so we will move on to 9E negotiations which we've already uh discussed as well. Um, so moving on to item number 10, approval of minutes. Looking for a motion to approve the recommendation, sorry, to approve the minutes from the January 27th, uh, 2026 board meeting. >> Motion to approve the minutes from the 27 2026 meeting. Second. Open for questions or comments.
046Last call. >> Okay. Mr. Pepe, can you please call the role? >> Mr. Anderson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Condit? >> Yes. >> Miss Ibeck? >> Yes. >> Dr. Ginger? >> Yes. >> Mr. Mitchell? >> Yes. Mrs. Moore, >> yes. >> Mr. Sautanoi, >> yes. >> Miss Shimp, >> yes. >> And Mrs. Shep, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Great. Thank you, Mr. Pepe. So, moving on to item 11, uh, board action items. So, at this point, we're going to go through action items 11 A, B, and C. But before um going to um the raising the motion for that, I do want to add uh one more item to that list. Um and I'll go this will be um 11 B 12. Uh and I'll just read it out um what that resolution is. Be
047it resolved, the Denellan Board of Education accepts the resignation of Daniel J. Ross, J Daniel J. Ross, superintendent effective June 30, 2026. So, moving on, I'm looking for a motion to approve 11 as a block. Oh, I'm sorry. >> There's also a D. >> Yeah, sorry. Approval. Uh, looking for motion to approve 11 A through D as a block. >> Was forget about the policies. >> Motion to approve 11 A through D as a block. >> Second. >> Open for questions or comments. I'll just say uh uh just my deepest thanks to the board um the administrative team, the DEA, and the the incredible staff. This is a uh this has been a really amazing time uh for me and the district and those of you who have been on the board for my entire
048time and really were part of the growth of the district during this time and the support that you've provided me. I really am uh incredibly grateful for it. Um this district is in incredibly good shape. Um staff is has just done a really wonderful job. Um and uh the administrative team is very strong with the work that they're doing. I wish the district the best of luck. I will be here obviously through June 30th and um and serving to ensure a smooth transition to the best extent that I can. Um and uh I wish all of you uh uh the best of luck as well. Thank you to the community for the incredible support that's been provided. I know that there have been uh a lot of uh attempts and uh initiatives to to bring
049you in to the school district and I do hope that that continues um as uh as you bring in your next superintendent. So, thank you. >> Any other any other questions, comments? >> Last call. Okay, Mr. Pepe, can you please call the role? >> Mr. Anderson. >> Yes, except for 11 A6, I say no. And 11 B1 line 7. No, excuse me, line 32, I abstain. Thank you, >> Mrs. Condit. >> Yes, >> Miss Ibeck. >> Yes, >> Dr. Gendrono. >> Yes, >> Mr. Mitchell. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Moore. >> Uh, yes, except I abstain on 11 C4. Dr. Gentrono, I have to abstain. >> Yes, I have to abstain from 11B 117. >> Got it. >> Mr. Mitchell, can you just repeat that please? >> Yes, for all except for 11B 11 line seven
050abstain. Okay. Uh, Mr. Suoi. >> Yes. >> He's right under me. >> Miss Shyf. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Shep. >> Yes. Uh, but abstaining from section A number one, lines one and two. Okay. Uh with the abstensions, all of the uh motions do pass. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Pepe. All right. So, moving on. Moving on to item number 12, old business. Um, is there any old business that you would like to uh bring up business from previous meetings to um talk about again? Okay, moving on to item number 13. Uh, new business. >> All right, so we have uh these are the two um bylaws that were mentioned in the operations committee report. This is the change to public. >> It's not me. It's not just Oh, >> well, put your hand over the >>
051Oh, yeah. Matteo, I am. This is a little hot. Hello. Hello. Hello. There you go. There's something. Matteo, how's that? Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. For the people at whom we are having technical difficulties. >> Matteo, can you hear us on the recording? Can you hear us on the recording? >> Is the recording working or the the live stream? >> Live's fine. >> Okay. So, should we'll just uh Dave, >> yeah, nothing's nothing's Do you want to just leave it? We'll just >> Okay. >> Are you uh members of the public? Are you Can you hear us if we uh just kind of go like this? >> You have to project. Is that what you're saying? >> All right. No, that's the answer is no. >> Okay. Oh, okay. We're Okay, we're we're back. Hello. Hello.
052>> Hello. >> Yes. Yes. Are we good? Yeah. Dave, can you >> Yeah. Dave, can you kill the uh AC also or heat or whatever that is? Blower noise. All right. Nothing. Okay. >> Hello. Hello. Hello. >> Yeah. Yeah. We lost the speaker. just coming up to the front. I think the speaker might be for >> on that on that wooden bench. [laughter] You could actually sit with the back over here. You know, Matteo, we'll keep we'll we'll keep this this on so that the people who are streaming can hear, but we'll just be a little noisier. Uh thank you for turning the air off. All right. So, just just briefly, uh the items in new business relate to the two bylaws that we're going to need to make a modification for. Uh there was
053a change in the law to the requirement of uh advertising in a uh news in a paper uh newspaper. Um and so the there are some minor changes. We'll bring the changes to the board and committee. We may also make the recommendation to um uh to uh by bystep sidestep the requirement for two readings for the bylaw so that we can just approve the changes in one meeting so that uh it's in effect for uh the the time that it it needs to be which I think is April 1st. So, in any case, it's not particularly interesting, but there'll be some changes that um will be required to keep us in line with the the change in the law. >> Thank you, Mr. Russ. Any other new business? >> Uh, yes. I had a couple
054things to report. Um, I earlier in February, I attended the Middle Sex County Schoolboard Association meeting. So, just want to give a little update from there. Uh, there were two guest speakers. Dan Harris who was who is the chief of staff for Assembly Speaker Coughlin and Senator Vin Gopal. Um they gave us a lot of information from the state level uh to keep schools informed what's going on. Um a couple of the important items that they brought up there was a Senate bill introduced in January, Senate Bill S1807. Um, this bill will require municipalities to share pilot revenue with uh, school districts. Um, I checked on the status. As of right now, it is referred to the Senate budget Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee for review, but that's some new legislation that may affect our
055district. So, I wanted to bring that up. Um they also talked about uh chapter 44 legislation from 2020 that is set to sunset in December of 2027 with regard to health insurance for teachers. Um they just giving us the heads up that there are some pos possible negotiations coming up for new legislation to be introduced before it sunsets. Um, Senator Gopal, he brought up there's some discussions at the state level to um create to regionalize special education. He was talking about regional hubs that would host special education students in that type of need. Um, some of the members asked for more details. It's only in beginning talks, but that's something else they were talking about. Um they did discuss the guidelines had just been released for the cell phone ban and they had mentioned the
056possible um grant funds which I I did let Mr. Also Mr. Pepe know so they're they know to be on the lookout for that. Um and let us know you know the governor would most likely be asking for an extension on the budget proposal which we knew would happen. Um I also attended on February 19th a program called Northstar Leadership Leading with Purpose and Intention. Um, Mr. Mitchell and I both attended that. It was a very good interactive seminar. Um, there was a lot of insight from like long-term board members when we broke out into small groups and had discussions um about being good effective leaders. Uh, there were a couple really good takeaways I just wanted to bring up here for quotes to kind of remember as board. Um, when we remember our north
057stars, we govern from principle, not pressure. Students benefit when adult alignment is strong. Governance approves when we seek perspective before we take positions. [clears throat] And the steadiness students feel tomorrow is shaped by the alignment we choose today. So these were just important things I wanted to bring up. Um I also I reached out to Mr. Pepe. Um, coming up in April, Friday, April 24th, there is a forum at Mercer County College that NJSBA is offering, uh, an annual school public relations forum, which will be presentations and panel discussions on best practices and current issues facing local school board, school boards, and public relations and communications. So, I emailed to be registered for that, but I wanted to bring that up in case any other board members wanted to try to attend. Um, you know,
058as you can see, I've been attending a bunch of things because as a new board member, I I'm trying to learn as much as possible to be able to do the best I can in the position. I've also been listening to a number of the free webinars and the back catalog of webinars. So, as I get information, important stuff, I'll keep sharing. Um, and then I also just wanted to bring up um the Denellan PTO Tricky tray is scheduled for May 2nd. This is our biggest fundraiser for the PTO. So, wanted to put that out there. Registration is live. It is on the website. Donations are accepted up until day of we will take anything. So, just wanted to put that out there. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Moore. So, uh any other And
059by the way, that's really cool that you're doing all that. That's awesome. Um are there any other items for new business that anyone else would like to bring up? Oh, wow. This is on. That's call. Okay. Uh, moving on to item 14, president's remarks. And I will actually take a moment just to say a few words here. So, um, [clears throat] in light of Mr. Ross' resignation, I'd like to take a moment to recognize Mr. Ross. Mr. Ross, over the last three and a half years, you have led the district with distinction. When this board asked you back in 2022 in the DHS auditorium where we were meeting to help us create and execute on a vision to revitalize our school district, you rose to the challenge and explored many different ways to change our
060course. There was a good amount of trial and error along this journey as would be expected, learning from the misses and celebrating the wins. And we learned a good deal from both. With all of that churn though, you kept the focus on moving forward and we as a district are in a much better place than we were when we started because of that drive. We are just now seeing the fruits of that work. We still have much to do in the remaining time we have, but I would be remiss if I did not say thank you, Mr. Ross, for all you have done for the Denellan School District. Moving on to item number 15, public comments. Any issue, any topic. The board invites public comment from members of our community in accordance with board policy
0610167 on any issue, any topic. Public comment sections are intended to provide an opportunity for members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest. The board and administration will take notes during public comment, but will not provide substantive responses to questions or concerns raised by individual speakers. If necessary, the superintendent may provide a brief response after the entire public comment period is completed. The board appreciates and welcomes feedback from the community, but is not at liberty to engage in a back and forth dialogue with members of the public during this portion of the meeting. Prior to making your public comment, please state your name and municipality. Please note that all statements must be directed to the presiding officer. Please come to the microphone at this time if you'd like to make
062comments on any issue or any topic. Hi. This hearing you Kimberly Green. Can you hear me? Okay. Um, I wanted to say on behalf of the community that has been actively speaking up and coming together. Thank you, Mr. Ross, for resigning. And I also they're I'm getting questions still about Friday's meeting. They want confirmation of whether Friday's meeting is still on. obviously doesn't seem necessary, but the town wants to know. Thank you, Nicole. Thank you for all of your updates and everything. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other comments? >> Jeff Best from Denellan. Um there's three things I want to say. First, um I apologize I wasn't at the last at the last meeting, but I was at the December meeting and there I spoke to the board and I told you that I
063believed rushing the renewal contract through was a was an attempt to bypass the process of our elections of bringing in two new board members. Um, I am very grateful for the board postponing the vote. Thank you. I believe you did the right thing. Uh, the second thing at that meeting, I believe the school board's pre president's comments were used as an opportunity of a bully pulpit where he denigrated the citizens of the community that were wish to express their view. That's not what a president's report should be. It should be a report about what you have done. It's not an opportunity to be abusive towards the citizens when they are raising legitimate concerns. I would ask you to please refrain from ever doing that again. I didn't hear that this time. So, thank you. And
064the third thing I would request is I understand that when we when you go to executive session, there are reasons for executive session. there exemptions that take things out of the public discourse. Please let us know when we you go into an executive session which one of those applies so that we can be certain that civil rights are not being violated. Those are the three issues I'd ask. Thank you. Any other comments? Last call. Okay, moving on to item number 16, executive session. So, the Dellan Board of Education will now adjourn into executive session to discuss items that fall within the specific exceptions to the Oakland Public Meetings Act. C NJSA 104-12B. The confidential matters discussed by the board during this executive session include items that fall under the nine exceptions to this which are
065oh sorry for this to tonight we'll be talking and the exceptions are number two individual privacy number three collective bargaining agreements number seven pending or anticipated litigation number eight attorney client privilege and number nine personnel just so that we're clear any discussion that does not need and remain confidential will be made public as soon as it is practical. Minutes of the executive session will not be disclosed until the need for confidentiality no longer exists. All individuals who may be discussed in executive session have been adequately notified. Action will not take place after the conclusion of the executive session. So we have a motion to move into executive session. Please >> move to go to exec. >> Seconded. All those in favor? >> I I >> I >> opposed. Okay. So, we'll be adjourning from executive
066session um when we are completed. So, there's no need for you to stick around. We'll meet again on >> March 17th. >> March 17th. Uh same time, 7 p.m. Uh same place. Thank you. >> Excuse me. Is Friday's special meeting Right. This I'll just say this, a decision was not made until tonight's meeting because we needed the action that was took place tonight. So, we'll advertise something tomorrow if we're going to cancel the meeting. It'll be posted on the website. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Are you comfortable with that? Okay. Yes. Friday's meeting is going to be cancelled. Yes. I didn't know if you