Bridgewater BOE Meeting 4/28/2026

001I can see that. Was that for the athletic? You got to restart the whole thing. All right, good evening everyone. Good evening our student representatives. We are back from closed session. At this time I ask everyone to join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, we are up to section six, our student representatives report. All right, good evening everyone. Thank you so much for having me once again. First we're talking a little bit about the clubs and kind of general arts programs that have risen vents at the high school. First off, shout to our robotics in high school, the robotics team, team 403,

002for winning the world of the Lehigh University competition recently and qualifying for the world's championship which is taking place late last week, so right about now. It's the first time that the team has qualified for world since 2019. So very impressive accomplishment and it's really a testament to all the work that the team has put in into building the robot and overall just having a very successful season. Mr. Jim Griffin who is the advisor for the team is very proud of the overall accomplishments of the team. It's always to see so many of my own peers and mentors kind of really succeed in this really unique and important opportunity when it comes to the robotics team. So congrats to them. Additionally, the theater arts program had their [music] recent show, Little Shop of Horrors, which

003I personally attended. A great spring musical. I think the most impressive part was honestly all of the set design. Like they had like a little plant like designed as like a character. Super cool to watch. The day that I went the entire auditorium was packed out, so it's great to see so much support from the different members of the community. And overall I think it's a good representation of how well the theater arts program has really succeeded and I'm looking forward to seeing that same success continue throughout the following years. Additionally, the unified flag football is a new program that we installed as a part of the unified sports at our high school. Currently they're in the midst of the best of their start of their season and overall it's good to see that we're

004expanding this unified program which is very important for student inclusion. Two different sports to have more opportunities for different types of students to be involved. Additionally, four Bridgewater-Raritan High School students qualified for the National Economics Championship in Atlanta, Georgia after winning the state championship in New Jersey on March 27th. There's one sophomore, John Poon, and so one junior, John Poon, and three sophomores, Neil Parekh, Karthik Kona, and Rahul Kapoor, who all succeeded in representing Bridgewater-Raritan on this economic stage and we wish them the best of luck as they compete at Nationals. And lastly, the baseball team has also successfully christened the new varsity fields. I think this year was the first year of renovations for the field and both the players and also spectators attending the games have said that the renovations were really noticeable

005and a great way to kind of support the team as they start their spring season. And so from what I know, the strength is really strong and they're going to crush every single opponent that they're going up against. So I'll end it after that. Thank you. All right, perfect. Um so right now is a really hectic time for us seniors. Uh next week is AP exams. There's two weeks of that and I need to study. Um >> [laughter] >> I've not done enough of that yet, but it's okay. Uh May 1st is going to be commitment day for us. That's big. We're all going to be wearing our uh college t-shirts, sweatshirts, whatever. And it's it's been fun. Everybody's been posting on the commitments page. I'm sure your kids out there have been saying, "Oh,

006this kid's going here. This kid's going here." Everyone's supporting each other. It's very nice to see. Um prom is also soon, May 22nd is our prom. I just got my tux like two weeks ago. Apparently that's late. I didn't even realize that. Um and the junior dinner cruise. I actually I actually this this is like it's like my child in in the high school. I started this event last year. Um and it's a great it's a great time. It basically subs in for junior prom as a junior dinner cruise kind of thing. It's funded through tickets and it's a great fundraiser for the class and it was a lot of fun last year, so I hope it will be just as successful this year. Um NJSL testing started today and will go on through Thursday.

007Uh and for all non-senior underclassmen, there is a college admissions panel taking place tonight from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. And like I mentioned earlier that I completely forgot about when I was making this report was the PAC bingo night also took place, which is not as much for students, which is why I didn't mention it, but that was also really fun. I'm sure the parents got a great time out of it. A lot of money was raised for scholarship opportunities that will be coming up soon for seniors going to schools. So thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you both. Are you willing to take some questions from the board if there are any? Any questions from the board? All right, thank you both very much. As always, you're welcome to stick around, but we understand you

008have things coming up. Oh no, real quick. There was some news about the distinctions that a couple of our athletes got. I don't know if Mr. Beers wants to read the report or yourself or you sure you're okay? Okay, great. So I guess Matt and I will share the honor of announcing a couple of very impressive athlete athlete accomplishments from our high school team. First up, we have one second. So there are a total of three different ceremonies that our students qualified for. One being the Skyland [music] Conference Athletes, which was a ceremony that happened I believe yesterday. And Stephen Poon and Crystal Chen are third of our student representative. Both qualified for that and were given great distinctions in honor of all their work as both students but also athletes in their respective sports.

009I'll let Matt Harrison announce the other two. Um and then two other honors. We had a Somerset County Athletic Scholars Award for Jayden Lee and Lauren Yang. And then we had the NJSIAA Scholar Athlete for Dahlia Adams. Congrats to these student athletes. Great accomplishments. And look, guys, we're coming to the end of the school year. I know you have a lot of exciting things in front of you over the next six or seven weeks. Um you know, and I and I hope you enjoy the rest of your senior year and I hope you get to study a little bit. I I know it's hard to find the motivation once you have your college admissions done and and the like, but >> [applause] [applause] >> Now, but I want to just commend both of you. I

010mean, as a group our student reps I think have been absolutely excellent this year and um I appreciate the work you put in and the preparation you do and I also want to thank both you as both of you as the representatives and the whole senior class where it really does seem that that this year's senior class has a little bit more um school spirit than I've seen in in years past and I I think there are a lot of events that that your group and and the other groups in the high school have added such as the dinner cruise that that you um you mentioned for juniors that that's kind of a a newer event but um I can see will quickly become a tradition here at Bridgewater-Raritan for years to come so I

011didn't know you were part of the uh initial group to help organize it but um but I think it's an awesome activity and and uh it's it's time for everyone to get together and and and it's it's a lot of fun. Where does the cruise go if you're willing to share? It's basically a cruise around the Statue of Liberty in the Hudson. It was it was so fun last year. Yeah. Terrific. Beautiful setting. Thank you for doing that. All right, thank you both very much. Congratulations on those announcements and to Crystal for her award. Uh thank you very much for being here with us tonight as always. Anytime. Thank you. All right, we are up to item seven, the superintendent's report, Mr. Beers. Okay, this is an easy one for me this evening where I

012am just going to pass the baton over to my colleague, Mr. Lomsky, who's the the business administrator because tonight we have our final budget presentation. So um again, Mr. Lomsky. Okay, I'll be presenting on the final public hearing for the 2026-27 budget. Um in preparing this budget, I just want to go over some of our goals when we were working on this. Um to maintain our focus on academic excellence and opportunities for students from kindergarten all the way to high school. Uh talent acquisition, we always want to be able to attract and retain the best quality teachers we can. Facilities and infrastructure, improving, maintaining our facilities, we don't want to defer or postpone any type of maintenance projects, construction projects. And a big thing for this year is the middle school addition which will be

013opening in September. Program expansion, uh next year all of our primary schools will have full-day kindergarten and there will be a massive grade reconfiguration, fourth grade will be moving up to the intermediates or Security, uh continuing our commitment to the overall security of the school community. Uh we will be adding two additional security guards to our staff. And uh fiscal responsibility, uh we want to maintain fiscal discipline with a sustainable budget that prepares us for the future. We don't want to make poor decisions now that will rear its ugly head, you know, in the future and cause problems. Uh this is a quick snapshot of our district as of October of this year, we had 7,400 students enrolled in district. Little over 1,200 employees full-time. We have 13 total buildings which total 1.2 million square

014feet. We transport a little over 7,700 students. That includes out-of-district students. That's why that's higher than our in-district on roll number. And our district's operating budget this year is just under $188 million which which if you look at all the districts in New Jersey, we're the 32nd largest operating budget in the state. Um I I don't know the exact count. I think there are over 600 districts in the state. An important figure to note with our district and I'm sure it's happening in many other districts across the country, uh declining enrollment, there's low birth rates that have been affecting enrollment. So over the past 5 years, our total in-district enrollment has actually declined just under 600 students. So this was a key number in preparing this budget and making sure that we were right-sized. Some

015of the budget challenges that we faced and I know everyone in the state and probably the country has been facing, um in New Jersey particularly, health care costs have been skyrocketing. The state plan alone, so districts that are still covered under the state of New Jersey's plan for 2026 saw an increase of anywhere from 20 to 30% on their health and prescription costs. Electricity and natural gas, the utility costs have increased anywhere from 10 to 20%. And most recently, fuel, vehicle fuel which fuels our buses, our maintenance, buildings and grounds, that has recently increased 30%. Another new um situation that occurred this year, the cost for technology, for devices, computers, basically anything with a chip has been severely impacted and costs have been rising due to the demand with AI data center infrastructure build-outs. Um

016we've been hearing from suppliers that anything with a chip they're expecting it to increase 100% or more within the next few months. And lastly, special special education costs continue to rise and on top of that reimbursements from the state and federal government have been uh uncertain and inconsistent and most of the time have been declining over the years. That includes extraordinary aid, semi and IDEA. On top of that our state aid that uh the state of New Jersey provides aid to all districts, it's typically based on a per pupil um calculation. This shows over the years that our increases have been slowing down. Um back in '22 to '23 all the way to 2025, we saw steady increases of about 8 8 and 1/2% and just for this year and for the upcoming year, it

017went down 2.3 per the increase dropped to 2.3 and 1.9% increase. So as our costs are increasing our revenues from the state are not increasing at the same rate. In addition, extraordinary aid which is funded by the state of New Jersey, this helps us offset some of the um special education costs so we can receive reimbursement for anything over a certain dollar amount. So typically anything over $55,000 per pupil that we spend, we submit to the state for reimbursement. And back in '22-'23, they would reimburse 72% of that amount. Then it dropped to 62. And then it dropped to 52. Um so it hasn't been consistent. I mean it's consistently declining 10%. Um but it that doesn't help us when our costs are rising. So all these challenges we're facing, um not just us but

018everyone in the district. So some of the cost-saving measures that we tried to build into this budget and we're exploring in the future is due to the declining enrollment, we've been uh consolidating positions and staffing through attrition um based on declining enrollment. So we're able to cut back on some salaries and benefit costs. Um also with the health care savings um the district is in a self-insured plan. We are not in the state plan and that has been helping us maintain a more stable increase whereas everyone else may be seeing 20 to 30% increases, we've been around 10 to 15%. So that has been a significant help. And we've contracted with a prescription benefit consultants to help enhance or renegotiate with the prescription benefit managers for better rebates, discounts, dispensing fees all of all of

019those things have been helping keep our costs lower than uh across the state. Energy efficiency, with the rising utility costs, um through the referendum, we're doing a lot of improvements that should be reducing our utility costs which are new window replacements um boiler replacements, a lot of the boilers were original to when the buildings were built in the '60s and '50s. So they're being replaced with high-efficiency units. So that should help offset the increases. And lastly, uh transportation. For the 26-27 year, we did a complete re-route uh with the new new school start times, we were able to create different tier systems and more efficient routing. So that is helping us offset any increases in transportation. So with all that um we were able to prepare a $193 million budget which is a 3.23% increase

020from last year. And part of that, we're calling for a 3.04% tax levy increase. So, this is a summary of the revenues that make up the total budget, which is majority the tax levy, state aid. We are utilizing some maintenance reserve and fund balances to offset the budget. And then other miscellaneous revenues of facility rentals and things of that nature bank interest. Next, we have it broken down by expenses to balance the budget. As you can see, the largest items there are salaries and benefits. The benefits showing the bigger increase. This is all inclusive of not just health and prescription benefits, but all benefits to employees, tuition reimbursement, clothing allowance, things like that. And you can see transportation was relatively flat due to the efficiencies gained in the rerouting. Um another big area is the

021added district tuition. That continues to increase well above the 2% tax levy limit and the inflation number of 3 to 4% Some of the items in the budget for facility projects. We are planning to do some softball field improvements for the softball team. Roof replacements will be ongoing throughout the district. Paving and concrete repairs. This is part of our every year we work on these items to, you know, improve safety, tripping hazards, things of that nature. So, we're not that hasn't been removed. Painting projects. Some schools, some classrooms have never been touched since they were built. So, we're going through and repainting. And part of the referendum, we're renovating all the primary school gang bathrooms in all of them except Milltown cuz that's a fairly new building. The middle school HVAC upgrades, which includes the

022boiler replacement there and air conditioning. Middle school classroom and cafeteria renovations. They're currently ongoing and expected to be completed in the fall. And the intermediate or upper elementary science room renovation. So, some several classrooms in Eisenhower and Hillside will see a a nice facelift. Here's a breakout of all of our expense [snorts] expenses just so you can see visually where the biggest chunks are. And as you can see, salary and benefits, no surprise there. Now, our tax levy we are allowed by law to increase it by 4.66% or $7.7 million by utilizing banked cap, which is unused tax levy that we did not use in a prior year and a healthcare adjustment because the rise in healthcare costs for the state plan were so high for 2026, districts are allowed to increase their budget by

023that amount. And what we're proposing is 3.04. So, we didn't want to just utilize the full waiver, full banked cap. Um I've been seeing a lot of districts have been been doing that. We made a conscious effort to, you know, keep taxes on the lower end of for the increase. So, with that, we're remaining 1.62% below the allowable limit and while also maintaining all of our district goals without having to sacrifice. Um compared to everybody else in the county based on all of their tentative budgets, we're the third lowest of the 17 districts. Um at which the county average is 6.23%. The estimated tax impact for the Township of Bridgewater. Now, this is just strictly on the school portion of your tax bill. So, not the municipal, not the county portion. So, the the chunk

024that's for the schools, this is what it's talking about. So, the average assessed home of $629,800 will see an increase per 100,000 of $36.79 for the general fund and the debt service portion will see an increase of $7.37. And for Raritan, same information. Average assessment of $323,225 an increase per 100,000 of $27.35 for the general funds and debt service, which is to backtrack debt service is what our bond payment is for the referendum. That's an increase of $10 per 100,000 of assessment. This chart shows based on all the tentative budget information that's been released by the 17 districts in the county. Third from the left highlighted in orange is us, Bridgewater, with a tax levy increase of 3.04%. So, you can see we're we're trying to stay on the low end. This was pretty much

025identical last year. We were in the same spot and you could see some districts raising over 10%, 8%, 7%. The average was 6.23. So, we made a conscious effort to stay way below that. And with that, are there any questions? And uh before we get to questions, I I really do want to commend the work of Kevin, central office team, building administration, etc. to really come through the budget and and see how we can can be true stewards of the public dollars and cents. To come in at 3.04, although it's not ideal, I I think we could all agree that we're doing a lot better than some of the surrounding communities. Right? And and that could all blow up on us in a year. We know that because of healthcare. But um we were able

026to navigate this in a very challenging time. And I appreciate the work of the administration and certainly the the the support and and the the engagement of the Board of Education. So, you know, we we started this process. I think we had a retreat back in February. So, we all got on the same page. We've asked a lot of questions. We've gone through things and and I just want to commend everyone that's been involved in this um uh to help us make difficult decisions because here here's the part and I know I I'm a broken record with this. There there's no getting around this in until the nation or the state figures out a way to corral healthcare costs. Um we're going to be in this in this we're going to be playing this scenario

027out every single year. And and if you look on NJ Spotlight or nj.com, you see multiple districts every year who have really hit that fiscal cliff hard um where they're really cutting into bare bones of their operation. Now, now thankfully, you know, due to the stewardship of of our business office with Kevin and before him Peter, we we've always been able to to manage our budgets more effectively I think than most people. So, I'm talking too much, but but again, kudos to everyone involved. And uh hey, do we wish we could have stayed to 2%? Yes. But but I I think we're doing a lot better than a lot of folks out there. So, again, thank you and thank you for the support. Any questions from the board? I have a question. >> Thank you.

028Um you know, I know you mentioned some of the big projects that are going on across the softball, you know, the roof replacement, some paving and painting work. Is And then you sort of talked about the referendum projects. So, in that first part, if you go to that slide again, um Yeah, so for the ones that are not under referendum work, which ones are kind of more maintenance reserve funded versus uh capital reserves funded or are they uh funded by the operating budget? Paving and concrete and painting, we utilize maintenance reserve. Roof replacements, a mix of rod grants, regular operating district grants. So, the SDA, School Development Authority of New Jersey has a grant program where they we submitted for certain projects. Most of them roof replacements. And they'll reimburse up to 40% of that

029project. >> Okay. So, 40% will be refunded by the state and it's paid for out of capital reserve. And the softball field improvements is part of the regular budget. All right, perfect. Thank you. You're welcome. Good. That just reminded me of one thing if I could jump in. The referendum work, much of it is partially funded by the state as well due to the decision that the taxpayers made. So, I know that's something that we talked a lot about when the referendum was up, but I think it's still worth mentioning that a lot of this money is coming from the state as a result of the referendum that that we put out in the public supported. >> Many of the projects in the referendum qualify for up to 40% reimbursement by the SDA as well.

030Are there any rod grant programs being done this year cuz we get 40% from the state for that too, right? Yes, we're starting two of them. Um, JFK partial roof replacement and Bradley Gardens. And those are regular operating grants which we actually don't we pay the up we're We pay up front and we request reimbursement as payments are made. And it's usually about 40% we used to get, correct on that one. So it's not like the referendum we actually get better better we get more tax dollars from the state than that from the referendum but raw grants are hard to get [snorts] so that's great you guys Correct. You were here your first time at you know assisting in that, correct? And then you know you get to follow so thank you. Mr. Seger I

031don't have a question. I just um First of all, I want to say that the board I don't know I'll speak for myself. I take it very seriously um how the our tax rates and the impact on our constituents um and I I you know it's unfortunate that we uh have these cost increase that we have um but I do want to apprecia- I would do want to give my appreciation to to Mr. Beers, Dr. Founder and Mr. Lomsky uh who make the I'm going to say the really hard decisions that get us so that we can be in the number three spot as opposed to you know let's eight or ninth there is all over six seven percent. Um so while I am um uh I'm aware of the impact that this has on

032our our stakeholders and our families um uh I do appreciate the work that this administration has done to to minimize that impact uh and you know that's it. Thank you, Mr. Seger. >> another question. Mr. Lee Um I know we have What's that? the tentative budget and so you know between the tentative budget and then the budget that is on the agenda tonight, have we seen any sort of big changes or anything like that or is it generally the same budget as before? It's identical to the tentative budget. No changes. I know that some of the developments that you mentioned I I don't remember if they were discussed or I didn't really ask about it at the last meeting but you mentioned how the cost of chips has gone up a lot in technology. Um,

033has that been incorporated in the tentative budget and I guess same thing as the final budget? >> Yes. Yeah, all the the technology portion of the budget was estimated based on expected increases um with the chip increases and all >> Yeah, that's a big part there. Um, and I'm also curious as well like you know you mentioned a couple of the different uh projects related to uh maintenance and then capital reserve. Are you expecting sort of or at least are you in the budget projecting that we're going to have more net inflows or outflows out of capital reserve and also what about the same for the maintenance reserve as well? Do you mean as far as us contributing more money into the reserves? >> Or is more money going to come out this year? According

034to the budget we have. I think that's a question that's not really related to the budget because we're talking about closing out the current budget and what the potential uh surplus would be. So I mean I I think we need to refocus the question on what this budget is because it again as as I I would hope you'd know through through sitting at this table for a couple of years and being part of FFT, we know that the amount that goes into capital reserve it is based on your surplus at the end of the year and we don't have that figure now so any discussion about that would be hypothetical. We we have an understanding of where we'd like that surplus to be based off of the budget, correct? But it's not on the topic

035is what I'm saying. But but but we we we have budget we have budgeted surplus so what I'm asking is >> Mr. Lee, respectfully you've you've you've asked the question you've gotten a response so it may not be and the response is that it's not directly applicable. So thank you for the question. You've had a chance to address it. You have the chance to address that um a number of different times but we'll stay focused on the budget as much as we can. It is the budget. Uh I'd like to echo Steve's comments um on the burden that this does place on taxpayers but but also I wanted to draw attention again back to what you were saying about the rising costs of chips and how it affects technology specifically as it's related to AI

036infrastructure. This is actually an issue that's affecting uh the the market the supply market in in general especially around construction and consumables around construction. Um, it's just driving costs up exponentially for for projects all over the place. Um, so in addition to >> [snorts] >> you know commending you guys for for providing an excellent education in this district and and and and staying you know relatively low in in a economic crisis that we're facing. Um, I also wanted to commend you for staying on budget for for the referendum given these circumstances. So it's a lot of good work that's been done. Any comments? Yes, thank you, Mrs. Lockmer and I and and I think you hit on a a really important point is that as Kevin in the business office and and all of us

037are navigating this there are macroeconomic forces that are just beyond our control. And and we're in a reactionary phase and and you're correct where it seems like things are hitting you all at once where okay, health care costs are rising. Oh, um now gas prices are rising. Oh, now energy prices are rising. Oh, now chip prices are rising. So it it it's really like a multi-front war we're fighting in a way and I appreciate the comments. Thank you. So I have a question. Anyone else who Let's see if anyone else has not asked any questions yet who would like to comment? All right, one last comment or question for Mr. Lee and then any further discussion can be had when the budget is uh up for approval during the business agenda. Mr. Lee, go ahead.

038Um I guess you talk I guess one of the big saving drivers of savings for the district has been attrition um and slowly taking down head count but maybe focusing more on the non-compensation side of the budget, what are some of the areas that you guys looked into to find sort of different cost savings for um non-compensation operating expenses in the budget compared to the last budget? Everything. Uh the transportation rerouting is the big one. Um, that probably would have seen an increase of close to 4% um and it's relatively it's flat so that was a big help. And uh we've scaled back on a few um every year we budget construction amounts for projects but with the referendum, the raw grants, we've scaled it back to just only the softball field. Um, so those

039were the big non-salary accounts that were reduced. All right. Sounds good. Thank you. Uh thank you, Mr. Beers. Thank you, Mr. Lomsky for that budget presentation. Mr. Beers, anything else as part of your superintendent's report before we move on? That'll be it. All right, thank you. All right, we are up to the item eight, the president's report. Uh I just wanted to briefly recognize uh three different groups of people who make uh significant and positive differences in our school every day. The first I got to admit I didn't plan on mentioning until I walked into this building a few hours ago and I saw a sign. So thank you to whoever put up the sign that today is the fourth Tuesday in April which happily is today is bus driver appreciation uh day. You know

040we hear a lot about transportation when there are issues that come up but the uh you know the hard work the long hours the early hours and um I know the children aren't always perfect but uh they deal with our children every day. Uh always angels. Um still make this a demanding job and a critical job. So uh on behalf of the board I'd like to thank all of our bus drivers um who who serve our our our community whether they work directly for the district or for a provider. And then along with that everyone who's a bus aid uh and everyone here in the transportation department um cuz they play a vital role and in the day-to-day lives of our families and kids every day. So thank you to them. Uh next I just

041wanted to also recognize our parent teacher organizations. You know every just about every meeting we have donations and gifts from the PTOs but they do a lot more than that in running events and providing things that our our students and teachers need and just having that support making our schools and creating helping to create a culture that make our schools a place where kids want to be and look forward to to going. That's in addition of course to a lot of other things that contribute to that. Uh but they play a play play a big role. Um and a lot of the PTOs I I've heard um just from being around the district put in a big effort for the students who are leaving and going to a a higher grade um to the next

042school. I know that's the intermediate schools, the um middle schools or the high school. And this year uh I recognize that they have a big lift because two grades for the primary schools from each one are leaving to go to the intermediate schools and pretty much everyone from the primary schools are leaving. So I know everyone does something a little bit different um but we see the signs around town. We see a lot of different things that they do. Um, so thank you I to them for putting in those efforts to to fundraise and to actually plan uh whatever it is they're doing on behalf of the kids who are leaving um the the schools that year. Every year but especially this year because um it's a much bigger bigger ask um financially and otherwise.

043Uh and just finally I want to echo the comments of other board members um complimenting and thanking the administration for the great job that they that they did putting together this budget. Look, it would have been easy and I'm sure somewhere in the state or in the country there's been an administration that's been like, yeah, all right, the 6% is the average in the county. Uh we can go up to four or 4.5 or whatever it is. Uh we'll move a few little things here and there, but um that's not going to be our focus. We'll we'll the budget's going to be what it is. We're not paying it anyway. And that's not what we've seen in this district from the beginning, really from the time we passed our last budget, especially since the beginning

044of the year, um our administrators have put in time clearly going through line by line through this budget, creating a budget that's responsible to the taxpayers um with one of the, you know, the third lowest uh increase in the county. But more importantly, thinking and always keeping front center what our children need. Um we're not seeing increased fees or, you know, we we we eliminated we we eliminated fees a while ago. We're not seeing uh teachers cut um that serve our kids or or aids or things that serve our kids every day. Um so, thank you for that effort on behalf of the board. Um and I think it speaks to look, if they're putting and I know that they are, if our administration is putting half as much conscientious effort into the budget kind

045of the the day job, the day-to-day running of the schools and the well-being of our uh students, they put half that much conscientiousness into conscientiousness and effort into that, which I'm sure they put more into. I think that speaks to a lot of the uh successes that our district is having. So, thank you to Mr. Beers and ever and all our administration team for those efforts. We appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. All right, that concludes my report and brings us to item nine, committee reports beginning with the academic committee uh and Mr. Joshi. Okay. Um we met on April 20th at 5:00 virtually. In attendance were myself, uh Mrs. Asuna, Mr. Walker, Mr. Pepi, Dr. Jones, and Mr. Beers. First item on the agenda was the uh textbook pilot. And this was for Spanish

046and science. Uh Mrs. Wolf and Mrs. Uh Ms. Matthews uh reviewed the process and current status of textbooks uh pilot for grade six to eight science and Spanish one. Students' feedback is still being collected. Uh final recommendations will be shared with the committee before the end of the school year. Uh slideshows have been shared in the board drive. Any questions? I have some questions. Mr. Lind, go ahead. Thank you. Um so, I I I know I read the meeting minutes and said that there would be like the materials and stuff like that. Um referencing the pilot textbooks, where could I find that information? It's in the board drive. It should be in there. Which board drive? Which folder? Which board drive? >> academic committee drive. Are you sure? It's committee folder. >> folder? Yep. Okay,

047I'll take a look at that later because I wasn't able to find in the committee folder originally. But respectfully, if you were looking for it, did you reach out to ask before right now? If you were looking for it and you didn't find it, you have resources here that could have gotten you information. So, I'm not asking a question, I'm just pointing that out. And then I guess another thing as well is when you were talking about this in committee, uh I guess what were some of the big things that you were looking at, key considerations, uh or things that you were trying to take into account when looking for a new textbook for Spanish one and also for So, right now the students are giving feedback. So, we're waiting for that first. Once that

048comes back, we'll have more questions as to, you know, why or why not students liked it or did not like it based on what was presented to them. Um the other things that I look for personally is that to see what resources these textbooks give. In addition to just having your physical textbook and others, uh many times you have um you know, online uh access. Um and other virtual help that's there. So, we look for that as well. Um and then obviously, one thing is cost is cost is also important. So, we'll ask questions about cost associated with getting new textbooks. Uh and if I missed something, Dr. Jones, um would you mind adding? Sure. They actually, Jeremy, go through the process, too. So, they explain how people pilot them if they start off, you

049know, looking at their criteria and they're identifying five potential resources. They'll create a committee. The committee should be representative of teachers in different grade levels if it crosses grade levels and it should also be different types of classes. So, you know, um like your general education class, it might be like a co-taught class where they have um inclusion or, you know, students who are English language learners. So, they they try to get teachers who teach different types of classes. And then what will happen is they narrow down the textbooks. This, by the way, is in the policy and regulation. They'll narrow it down and if they choose maybe two that the teachers like, they'll get in touch with the publishers. They sometimes have training. They'll have them explained because typically now they're both hard cover

050and online resources available, too, on the platform. So, sometimes they need somebody to help them understand how to use the platform. And then they actually pilot them in the classroom and we collect feedback from the different teachers. Teachers collect feedback from different students and then ultimately they make a recommendation. In the case of why are we even picking certain areas, it's typically when the text that's being used is very old or in the case of science, they don't have something that's common or consistent. Um right now the Spanish one is the way that it's designed, the curriculum is really thematic. So, they're using multiple different texts rather than having, you know, uh uh one textbook that everybody uses. And so, that's been something that the teachers have actually asked for for several years now because

051um this way you're more likely to have students kind of end in the same place and be prepared for the next level equally. So, was there a Spanish one textbook before? Were any Many years ago there was. And then it and then it was eliminated at some point and they went to really they were it was text-based kind of like the way the English department is in the high school that it's novel-based. Yeah. So, it worked more that way. But you guys are trying to move into more like finding an actual textbook. >> Definitely with Spanish one, yes. And so, if you go into the drive and you find it, there should be an explanation of kind of, you know, that whole process that they used and probably they're two finalists at this point. Okay.

052And and it's in there. I just looked. Yeah. Okay, I'll double check. And then for the I guess so, you kind of picked out two, right? So, are you piloting two right now or we piloting one? They they pilot both. They and they collect feedback from the students and then from the teachers. And it's interesting cuz sometimes, you know, you like one text a lot, but maybe you don't like the platform as much and you see, you know, the benefits of the resources that they have. I believe in both cases right now they're leaning towards the Savvas or Savis, um which is also what we use for math. So, Yeah, I I know a lot of textbooks and programs look great when you get them, but once you dive in, sometimes there you find things

053that was missing from the glossy version that they sent you. Absolutely. Thank you, Mr. >> And my final question on this is how we do we have any sort of preliminary feedback from teachers or students or anyone on the textbooks? I think that might be getting a little bit more and I think it's beyond unless Dr. Jones has something. I think it's getting a little bit red too granular for the Board of Education. They're piloting it. When they have a recommendation, they'll bring things to us and make their recommendation. >> We do have feedback from the teachers because we know the direction that they're leaning and how we even narrowed it to the two choices to begin with. They are still in the process of collecting feedback from students, so I do not have that

054yet. All right. No problem. Thank you. >> a rubric, too, right? You use a rubric for the grading, so they've got a, you know, a scoring system and, you know, so I even asked they even look for feedback from the kids, you know, which one do they feel most comfortable with because that was something I was like, hey, what do the kids think? Like, that's a good question. We'll get We are doing that. We have We're getting that feedback later. So, it was a great that you're doing this. It usually runs about a five-year cycle for curriculum, give or take. And it's based on what the state does for curriculum development, also, too. The science standards are changing, Spanish, so you you constantly have to adapt. You guys are very very nimble on curriculum development

055getting it done. Thank you. Yeah, one of the good things is I think with the Spanish, they have something like the uh Duolingo type of online app, as well. So, it's good. All right. Item two, AP discussion. Mr. Beers and Dr. Jones reviewed the rationale for AP studies at the high school. They specifically explained how uh proposed AP changes introduce a significant risks to students' wellness, instructional quality, equity, and program coherence. They also shift decision-making away from trained educators and create structural challenges that may undermine the very opportunities they seek to expand. For these reasons, the administration recommends tabling uh the proposed AP provisions, which lack domain expertise, place the board in legal jeopardy, and circumvent the district's overall goal. A more detailed explanation has been shared in the board drive. We adjourned at 6:27

056p.m. and our next meeting is on May 18th. I have some [snorts] questions. Yep. Uh you know, I understand my policy proposal. I I wasn't in the committee meeting. I I read it. It's I don't know how extensive this conversation really was, but I just like to know how exactly does that policy that was proposed I guess bring risks to the different things that you mentioned, right? Wellness, instructional quality, equity and program coherence. >> Jeremy, did did you see the uh I did. I did. Yeah, but I'd also like >> read it. I'll read Excuse me. Go ahead. Um Did you read it? I read it. Okay, those were the answers in there. I mean, I can read it out loud if everyone wants me to. Go ahead. No, I said everyone. But I I

057think with the board we provided our reasons. You may not accept them. Well, I'd like to understand >> No, no, I'm sorry. Mr. Beers is in the middle of a sentence. Thank you. Just a little bit of decorum would be nice. We provided a thorough explanation of why it's a terrible idea. You can choose to reject them, but that is the stance of the entire administration and the committee. Thank you. That uh Ms. Lockrun. Uh Mr. Beers, do you do you remember maybe been last year a couple years ago one of the students used the term toxic achievement culture, which is the first time I I'd ever heard of of that term. Um is is this sort of uh what was being sort of talked about in terms of mental health and well-being? Correct. Correct.

058I I I just want to say I'm sorry. I've been Wait, you need to ask her question. You can't let I I can't ask my question. >> Ms. Lockrun and she asked her question. So, does anyone else have a question or comment on this academic committee item, the AP discussion? >> Yeah, I do. Mr. Joshi, go ahead. >> So, one of the things to consider, okay, when we um when we reviewed this, and Mr. Beers um shared this with us, and I'll point you to one item, number four, the program viability, where you know, we need a certain amount of students to run an AP class. Okay? Now, we want um improvements in our classes. We want more AP classes. We want to give uh different types of AP classes. Now, if we allow this

059and you know, students do not take these classes and just take the AP exams, what we end up doing is basically canceling some of these AP classes that we're fighting for. Because you need certain amount of students to run a class. Okay. So, it's you know, what what is stated here um that Dr. Mr. Beers provided is that the situation created is ironic. An amendment intended to expand AP access may actually reduce the AP courses we can offer, thereby reducing the AP access in itself. So, it's just a defeating thing that we're doing here. So, that >> And but hold on, hold on. The other thing that I really considered is the mental toll that it takes on kids. Yes, we've heard that you know, kids can take six or they want to take six

060AP classes and we've had cases here since I've been on the board, some terrible terrible incidences have occurred because students cannot um tolerate or kind of navigate taking all of these classes all at once. They may say they can. Maybe it's the parents, but we have to be cognizant of what we're doing here, and these are the experts that we've hired. And if they're recommending this, then we should seriously consider it. Let me I have some questions. I have some questions. You get to make your own point and then I'll go to the next person. Thank you. All right, just two two thoughts that I had, and I concur with a lot of what's been said from the administration and Mr. Joshi and the committee discussed um just just just two things that stand out

061to me is that any academic institution is going to have basic set of rules that's not the that they follow and the students follow. Um I don't think there's a college in America, at least not a good one, that a freshman going into is going to be able to show up and register for nine courses cuz they think they can do it. Now, there might be a special exception somewhere on a case-by-case basis, and I think that's still at at least within the realm of possibility here, but any institution of learning has to have some guidelines, some rules, one for the student to make sure that they're actually learning and not just, you know, ticking off credits, and you know, maintaining some control within their institution. So, I don't think that we're um just by

062having some limits and some rules, I don't think that we're unusual for institutions of learning uh or certainly school districts in the state of New Jersey. And also, if people are interested if kids are interested in learning about other things that's not directly tied to their coursework, I I hope that they go out and do that. We have a fully stocked library with books on every topic in the world. The internet has lots of different ways for kids to go and learn about things that they're interested in and to enrich themselves and to think about what they might want to do in the future. That doesn't neces- but but to do that, to learn more, to improve yourself, to expand your horizons, doesn't mean you have to take I'm not sure what the number is

063we're talking about, seven, eight, nine AP courses at a time, cuz I think that's becomes counterproductive at a certain point. So, that's the only thing I wanted to say. Uh is there any further uh questions for Mr. or comments on >> I do this. I have some questions. So, Mr. Lee, go ahead. I mean uh Mr. Joshi brought up a point about uh the the fact that allowing students to somehow self-study would lead to classes being cut. Was there any instances over however many years where or even one instance uh where like a bunch of students decided to self-study and then we started cutting classes all of a sudden? But that was not an option in the past. So, we could say it's an unknown. What What I can tell you is that AP enrollment

064has risen significantly since we got rid of this option. But that's So, we can't prove causation, but but I mean, that's one of the that's one of the issues. >> So, has has any class been cut? >> Excuse me. Once again, Mr. Beers is in the middle of a sentence. Little bit of decorum, Jeremy. Just a little bit. These are complex issues that can't be always answered in a word or as quickly as you would like. >> I'm sorry. I will say it again. Since we instituted this policy, or I shouldn't say it's a it is not a policy, it this procedure, enrollment in AP courses has expanded. I don't think that answers the question. Mr. Joshi, anything else from the academic report? Uh no, that's that's it. All right. Thank you. Thank you. We

065are going to be moving on >> to ask my questions because people brought up some points I'd like to discuss them. >> is large and and many of those points were answered in the document that Mr. Beers referred to [clears throat] >> doesn't. It does not. >> Okay. That may not satisfy what you think is the right thing, but it answers the question. I don't think there are people here on this board that even write the finance facilities and transportation committee report with Mr. Singer. Thank you. The finance facilities and transportation committee meeting committee met on April 22nd at 5:30 p.m. In attendance was myself, Mr. Maloney, Mrs. Lockrun, Mr. Pepe, Mr. Lamsky, Mr. Beers, with special guest star Mr. Letzel. Up first was a referendum project update. Mr. Letzel provided an update to ongoing

066referendum projects highlighting the current HVAC electrical upgrade projects at the primary schools that are nearing completion this summer, but cannot be activated until the utility companies perform their service upgrades. District administration has made formal complaints to the Board of Public Utilities to try and expedite this process. Bradley Gardens classroom repair work and safety inspections, which uh state that there were no safety concerns regarding the ongoing work at the school. The middle school addition is expected to be complete on time during early summer, and several new projects have already started during the school year or will begin this summer, which include the middle school Eisenhower and Hillside classroom renovations, primary school toilet reservations renovations, middle school HVAC and boiler upgrades, and middle school clock and paging system upgrades. The last topic discussed regarding the referendum was

067the plaque for the middle school addition. The rod grant projects for JFK and Bradley Gardens partial roof roof replacements were also begin this summer. The recommendation of the committee is that changes will be made to the plaque to align with board policy 7250. And that is it. Are there any questions? Yeah, I have a question. Um >> So, I know as part of these FFT discussions, when you look at the sort of quarterly referendum report, usually we kind of take a look and for the different program, or sorry, for the different projects, we'll see how much over or under budget and obviously we know HVAC has been an area where it's been a lot over budget. Um some areas have been under budget, like the middle school addition. Uh was there any discussion of the

068projects that were over and under budget and what that overall net amount was for the referendum and ongoing projects? Not this meeting. Is that something that the FFT committee would consider in the future? Well, as you said, we do that quarterly and we recently did that, so it's not time for that yet. Wait, so just for clarification, quarterly would mean four times a year? >> That's correct. >> Okay. Not every month. Right. Okay, four times a year. Okay. And the board gets We There was an extensive referendum update in the board brief that you sent us. Sure. Thank you. On the referendum, it doesn't cover the over under budget aspect of referendum. I'll note that. Understood. Um if you have questions about that, you could certainly reach out, but it wasn't discussed at that particular

069meeting. >> didn't get a request for that prior to the meeting. Right. Anything else? Up next is the business agenda review. The business administrator reviewed the draft business action items for tonight's meeting with special attention to the purchase section, which includes several purchases for the middle school addition for furniture, door swipes, and security cameras related to the referendum, and several renewals for the upcoming 26-27 school year, as well as replacement of the large set of bleachers in the high school gym, which is the last set of bleachers to replace in that gym. The consensus of the committee was to approve the action items. Are there any questions on that? Up next was our policy review of the 6100 series. The committee discussed the review of that series with special attention to policy 6150 regarding tuition

070income. Currently, the district does not accept any non-resident students according to the policy, and it was discussed if this should be changed and how it will impact enrollment and finances. The policy will be The recommendation of the committee was to discuss the policy at a later date to be determined, and the committee will continue their policy review of 6200 and 6300 series for the next committee meeting in May. Any questions on that? Lastly, other matters, the business administrator provided an update on the Commons Way softball fields improvement. District administration had met with township personnel who are working on the draft share usage agreement with the board attorney. The district will solicit proposals from engineering and architectural firms to assist with the specific specifications and construction management. There was no recommendation at this time. Any question

071on that? Mr. Suna. Just wondering We've been talking about the softball fields for a while. What's the target date for this to actually happen? Uh it won't be this year. Am I correct? Right? >> Yes. Yeah. Um but I'm told that the last meeting was very productive and the township is looking to move forward. They just have more questions on it. And uh And and to be very hopeful with we're hopeful for the fall. Right? Which which could be advantageous for us in in uh putting this out to bid, etc., because a lot of times our contractors are are pretty tightly booked for the summer, and this is a project that could potentially be done in in let's say September and October, and be prepared for for um the spring. So, that is our best

072case scenario. Fingers crossed. So, opening day next spring? That's what we're hoping. Looking forward to it. We'll be there. First pitch? >> Good. Mike, you got the first pitch. No, I don't. >> it this time. I'm not doing it again. I tried to get you to do it. You weren't available. I know. We adjourn at 7:26 p.m. And our next meeting is Wednesday, May 13th at 5:30 p.m. All right, up next is the personnel committee uh chairperson, Mr. Walker. Thank you, President Mike. Um we met at the Wade Building on April 21st at 5:30 p.m. In attendance was Dr. Founder, Mr. Beers, myself, Ms. Suna, Mr. Lee, and Mr. Peppy. Uh the first item on the agenda was uh we looked at the draft personnel addendum for this meeting. The committee discussed the personnel addendum

073items. Dr. Founder reviewed specific sessions of the sections of the addendum and answered questions. The committee The recommendation was the committee supported the action items. Are there any questions? Reappointment of bargaining unit staff members was the next item on the agenda. The committee reviewed the staff evaluation process and the work that informs the reemployment or informs the reemployment process. The contract renewal decisions for non-tenured staff members were also discussed. The recommendation was the committee supported the action items. Any questions? Personnel legal update. Dr. Founder reviewed a confidential legal issue regarding a district staff member and a related agenda item. The recommend The committee supported the recommend supported the supported the action item, which is on the agenda this evening. Is there any questions? Well, that's good, nice. Uh recruitment update. Dr. Founder shared the information

074about the district's recruitment efforts and its positive impact on finding excellent candidates for open positions. The committee supported the recruitment efforts of the the district, and I think it's be showing well. We always try to attract the best teachers, and Dr. Founder's in going find them, digging digging digging and find them. Getting them in. Thank you. Any questions? Other matters. Dr. Founder reviewed the administrator transfer for that was for that was being that that will be recommended for the board this evening. The committee supported the action item. Any questions? And we adjourn at 6:34 p.m. Our next meeting will be May 12th at 5:30 at the Wade Building. Thank you, Mr. Walker. We are up to community relations with Ms. Lockren. Okay. Uh community relations met on April 8th at 5:15. In attendance was myself,

075Mr. Josh Mr. Joshi, Mr. Singer, and Mr. Beers. It does say Yes, Mr. Peppy, but you were not there, correct? I was not there. I was overseas, so I'm sorry. I should I should have caught that. >> Yeah, I'll I'll see to that to have that corrected. >> Nor nor was I attending virtually or anything along those lines. No, no, no. That's a Yeah. Uh so, the first thing that we discussed was the school calendar. Uh we have discussed this before. Um some changes were made based on feedback that we had received from um stakeholders and teachers, and we are we have That's on the agenda for today. Uh the second thing that we talked about was uh BOE protocols and the use of electronic devices by board members at public meetings. Uh we are

076preparing to review that policy more thoroughly and will potentially have a uh first reading for the board at the next meeting. Um and well, I guess I should ask, are there any questions? Great. Um we also discussed the BOE planning calendar, um and I believe the conclusion at the of that discussion was that we would put it forth to board leadership whether or not you wanted to go back to the old way of reading it before the board. I don't know if that's been discussed. It it has not, but it's a great question. I do think that a planning calendar helps keep us on track and mindful of some of the key things that the board does, some of the high-level things that the board needs to make sure it takes care of, especially I

077think we're approaching a Q sack year. I don't know if it's this year or next, but regardless of whether it is, we want to be staying on top of those things. So, I think it's a good way to keep the board informed of the things that we need to do. Obviously, we have the administration's help, but Right. And in previous years, that was done by the vice president. I will leave that up to you to determine if you want to continue that tradition. Um and then last, we >> giving me homework. >> [laughter] [gasps] >> Uh and last, we discussed uh policy 2464, and uh the community relations committee had the same conclusion as the academic committee that we agree with uh administration and have no further recommendations at this time. And that was all

078We did We had We didn't have any walk-in items. That was all we had. I have a question. Okay. Why Why Why would the community relations committee consider an academic committee item? Uh I believe that we discussed it because there was communications going back and forth, and we were just Honestly, it was a very brief discussion about it because we're not academic committee. It was more about And And another one is in that policy, it really was asking for the Board of Education to take an oversized role in student affairs that it doesn't typically do. What's that oversized role, exactly? It's a role beyond what the board is supposed to do, which is allow the administration to do their job. >> want to see if you actually read the policy, cuz I'd like you to

079actually tell me what exactly the board's role would be in that policy. I'd like to hear that. >> don't have a role in >> No, what would the policy propose? What would that role be? In what way? Hang on one second. I don't think I don't think this is an inquisition. This is my board report, and I would like to go. Thank you. >> at a time, please. Mr. Lee asked question. No one has to respond. If someone wants to, they are welcome to. Well, I'm just asking because it says that that the policy as proposed, which I proposed, would uh apparently increase the the the board's role in in and and I'm I'm just curious like what specific part of the policy that is and and what exactly that that entails. Um I think

080that really what it came down to is that we took the recommendation of administration and uh that was the end of my report. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. All right. Uh we are up to liaison and delegate reports. Are there any liaison and delegate reports? I have a few. Mr. Singer. Sure. Uh on April 9th, the uh town the Bridgewater Town Council met and they recognized uh some of our students who are actually sitting here today. Uh the founding students of New Jersey's first high school chapter of the American Lung Cancer Screening Initiative, including Krishna Doppalapudi, Avneet Singh, Krish Dave, Anaya Ashar, Ilona Sachev, and Kaustav Badri. Uh this uh high school club, um many of whom are juniors actually, authored a policy and position papers uh that has received bipartisan support at the state

081legislature and is now uh the First Responders and Veterans Lung Cancer Screening Asset Access Act. And they reached out to 80 organizations of first responders to promote lung cancer screenings. As I said, many of them are here and I imagine you might be speaking about this uh later on. Is that accurate or not? No? Okay. Well, either way, um uh you these students have met with uh town council members uh to work on these position papers. Uh as I said, it's received uh bipartisan support at the state level. Uh so, I think it's something we should all be very proud of. Uh they also spoke at the town council meeting um incredibly well and I just wanted to congratulate them for that. The Could Could I just jump in with a related Raritan report? I

082understand that some of those same students are uh talking with and uh working with the uh administration and mayor of Raritan to make a similar presentation. And I know that town cares deeply about first responders and veterans, obviously the hometown of John John Basilone. So, anything with veterans like uh people in Bridgewater, we care very deeply about. So, thank you for reaching out to them and uh presenting there soon, hopefully, as as well. Town Council also gave their budget presentation on April 9th, but I will not be going into that. Uh my next report is that the Somerset County School Boards Association is having their meeting on May 4th at the Vo-Tech, at which time Hillside's own Karen Masood will be recognized as Somerset County Teacher of the Year. Uh so, I hope you all

083can make that. Uh on a side note, I want to note that um Colleen DeMonte has been recognized as uh she's a special education teacher at BRMS and she was honored by Magic 98.3 as a teacher who makes magic. And there was an event honoring 18 teachers, including Mr. Mrs. DeMonte, um who was nominated by a peer. And we just want to send our congratulations both to Ms. Masood, uh who we'll see next week, and Mrs. DeMonte. Uh Okay. The Delegates Assembly has uh six resolutions being voted on. Uh that's May 16th, I believe. Uh as well as a new vice president of legislation will be elected. Um we can discuss those resolutions uh during new business if that works for the leadership. Mike. Does that work for you? Yes. Okay. Uh then that's all

084I have at this time. Thanks. That'll work. Steve, could you send a quick link to the resolutions? Do you mind? To everybody? I think the handbook was sent out today to everyone. Okay. But if you don't have it, let me know and I'll just >> see it today. Okay. I'll send >> got to click through a couple things once you get to there. Yeah, I would have to click through >> link, but it's a link to the site that it's on. >> Okay. Thank you. Sorry. I just wanted to add to that that there was some confusion over whether or not we had submitted like our name was um somewhere in in at the end of one of the resolutions, but um we have not. So, so I have a question. So, I know the

085last time uh Dr. Lee was our delegate assembly member and we I guess basically as a board told her how to vote on certain things and and all that. Are we going to do the same thing for this for this round of resolutions? I literally just said that we would talk about that at new business. Well, I'd like to hear a little bit about that right now. Why now and not new business? It's actually new >> at new business. We're going to talk about it at new business. We're going to talk about it at new business and no one is telling the I I don't think anyone told Dr. Lee how to vote on anything. So, that's the thing that it's up to the to the delegate. They can take information from the board and

086information from the discussion of the delegate assembly and make their own conclusion based on what they think is best for the district. That's my understanding anyway. >> actually disagree. I think that the the the delegate from this board to the Delegates Assembly should reflect the uh desires of this board and not come to their own conclusions, which is why I have the six resolutions here to discuss during new business so that I can get a sense or Jen can get a sense cuz she's actually going to be the representing delegate uh at that time. And I agree that that while I understand what you're saying that as a the person that will be at the Delegates Assembly, I want to hear what the board has to say and I will my vote will obviously convey

087the board's. Right. I I look, I I think that the the will and the and then what people say here is important, too. So, I just respectfully think that I mean, when I was the delegate for for 2 years, there were sometimes where we had it was one year we had 16 resolutions and we didn't discuss them all here, certainly. Here, we would have been here till till 2:00 a.m. So, or if not longer. And um I kind of took them at their face. A lot of them had broad support and were not particularly controversial. Um but I just to to be clear, when I was the delegate, I did go back and forth a little bit and take from the assembly how I would vote. But of course, that's You are welcome to make

088their own. Understood and I appreciate that, but I wouldn't want anyone to question uh the the vote of our delegate to the assembly. Understood. Right. And I have one report. Um the the uh Ed Foundation Club at the high school had their very first uh volleyball tournament. It was very successful. It was on April 10th, I believe. Uh and to that end, the larger Ed Foundation is still holding the uh third annual golf tournament on July 10th. So, July 10th, right? 9th. Sorry, 9th. April 10th was the the volleyball. July 9th. July 9th. Thank you, Mr. Joshi. Are there any other liaison or delegate reports? There's one thing I'd like to bring up from NJSA New Jersey School Board Association standpoint. Um the the five key associations, the PTA, the New Jersey School Board Association,

089the NJEA, the National NASBA, the New Jersey Business Business Business Administrators, the New Jersey Association of Superintendents, and New Jersey Association of Principals and Supervisors drafted a letter and sent it to to Governor Sherrill advocating that steps be taken and measures to help affect and impact the rising cost of health care that we're all seeing right now. This is a unified effort by five organizations. Did we all agree on all the issues at first, but it was signed by all of them and sent to Governor Sherrill on April 22nd, so Kevin and Bob and Karen, your groups are stepping in and as well as the the association, so they all were there. But it's a strength trying to move forward that we know the current situation health care is unsustainable. Um you know, the the

090state state plan was up 34% and I think there's expected to go higher from some of the things saying, so we have done our administration has done a great job mitigating through self-insurance, but others have not, as we've seen, and it's difficult. So, something that they're doing collectively doing it, so there is a larger group, so feel free to, you know, bring your senators. If you want a copy of that, I can send you a copy of that resolution of the letter if you'd like. So, that's all. So, there the larger group that you are a member of and the other groups are supporting and trying to advocate at a high level. All right. Any further liaison or delegate reports? All right. Seeing none, I'm just going to jump in to respond to something that

091Mr. Lee had said earlier, and I'm going to give him a compliment because it's true in the policy that um he sent to the board and and put before us in March at our last meeting, um there there wasn't oversized role for the board, at least at my brief review of it. However, in February, we received a different version of that policy that had considerable uh role for the board, including uh directly hearing appeals, uh getting annual or semi-annual reports. So, I just want to compliment Mr. Lee for kind of realizing that that was not the role of the board and uh making the adjustments when he brought the policy forward again. So, congratulations. I mean, thank you for kind of educating yourself on what is the role of our board and a board member

092um before bringing this new policy to us. Um so, that's an improvement at least. So, thanks. >> Let me Let me Let me just address that briefly cuz I I think it's worth cuz cuz cuz he just brought it up. He talked about how it's not the board's job to receive reports. It's also not the board's job to hear about any specific appeals or grievances, but the reality is that statute um and I think there's there's multiple various different examples of things that the board hears direct appeals about relating to students and confidential information. HIV is one of those good examples. You know, we we hear about these appeals and we receive them and you know, we deal with student confidential and we deal with individual student issues every single time and the reality is

093that as the board we're at the top of the org chart which means that if there's no administrative solution, it's up to the board to determine what that solution is. And I you know, if you read through the policy, you'll find that actually goes straight up the org chart. All right. Sure. Well, thank you for that. >> not true that it's an outsized role. Right. And it's the board's job to be informed of what's going on in the district to ensure that policies are being followed, to ensure that the district is well-run. So that's 100% the purview of the board. >> Well, nonetheless, there's not a role for the Board of Education and we don't determine grades for example. I know you're getting mad right now. The board would never hear an appeal about a

094student's grade for example. So we're not going to get into the whole thing, but nonetheless you scaled back that policy in the board's role significantly from your kind of first version to your second version. So I give you credit for that. We are now moving on to item 10, open to the public, which is also our budget hearing. So individuals and or groups are invited to present their concerns, comments, and requests to the Board of Education at this time for any matters. In accordance with board policy, members of the public are allotted an opportunity to address the board for a maximum of 5 minutes during this period of the meeting. And again, this does function as our this will be our annual public hearing on the budget, which will be taken up later. So any

095comments on the budget are welcome at this time as well. Um just please be advised that a video recording of this meeting will be posted on the district's website and if you could sign in and give your name and municipality of residence before starting. So thank you for your patience and thank you for being here. I believe so. There should be a sign-in sheet there. And and if I could just ask, are you addressing us as one group or individually? One group? Okay, thank you. But we still [clears throat] get 5 minutes per person, right? No. But 5 minutes as a whole. As a whole? Okay. Yeah. Mr. Point of order. Uh each member of the public gets 5 minutes. So we take the rules for groups. Since this is a group Well, they can

096go come as individuals. They want but they're coming up as a group. Would you like to come in as a group or you coming as an individual? You have to address the board. Not I understand that you have the you're angry. I understand you're angry. But but I believe the policy does allow people to have 5 minutes. So even if it's for a group, they can decide if they wanted to speak individually, they want to carry on a speech >> for that. We're on we're on we're on to on to public comment. If there's anything else you want to send us, feel free to send me an email or the board and we'll make sure we get it out to everyone, but thank you very much for being here. I appreciate it. Okay. Uh just

097to clarify, we will take it as a whole group. I thank you Mr. for pointing that out, but we believe we can get it through it in 5 minutes. Thanks. >> Thank you. Um good evening. My name is Krishna Dalal Poli and I'm a junior at BRHS right now. And specifically, I serve on the fundraising committee for the Bridgewater-Raritan Model United Nations. So I just want to start with something personal. When I was a freshman, public speaking terrified me. I would stutter, I would stammer, I could not get through a single sentence without pausing. And I joined Model UN because I heard it would help. And I was nervous. I fumbled through my first few debates. I lost more than I won, but I kept coming back because somewhere in the countless meetings I attended

098and the countless conferences I went to full of students arguing about topics such as nuclear proliferation and refugee resettlement, I realized that I was learning to think on my feet. And that is what Model UN gives us. 2 years later, I've given speeches in front of hundreds of people. My uh learning about policy directly led me to create the First Responders and Veterans Act along with my peers. But let me give you the numbers. Our flagship conference is is Model UN in New York. It is the largest high school Model United Nations in the conference with over 5,000 schools from over 300 uh 30 countries, [clears throat] sorry. We've received a congressional proclamation for that achievement. This year, we advanced. We earned the first place delegation award for research and preparation at 300 schools. Plus

099more individual best delegate delegate awards than before. And we've also won outstanding delegation awards at most of the local conferences conferences we've gone to. Uh such as Academy Model UN in Burton County and North Brunswick Township High School. As you can see, we are bringing the recognition and honor that this district's mission statement promises for every student. The mission says teach them one and all, inspire, engage, and educate, challenge all to grow and exceed. And we have held up that our end of the promise. We've grown, we've exceeded, and we've made this district proud and honored. However, we currently attend only one major conference per year and that is NISMUN like Krishna just mentioned. Last year the cost was $500 and this year it spiked to 630. And with obviously inflation and other costs, it's

100projected to go up to even more 700 plus next year. And we want to expand options to other conferences to make it more affordable for students, but that's simply not possible without any funding. And Krishna's team has done a lot of effort in getting funding. We secured a $1,000 grant from the Picatinny Arsenal base, but it's simply not reducing costs enough. And we've used financial aid to put several students on trips who wouldn't otherwise be able to attend, but $700 for simply one conference throughout the year is simply unacceptable. And we've tried other options such as NIMUN in DC, which is also 600 to 700 dollars, as well as ILMUNC in Philly, which would be 400 to 500 dollars. So we are requesting a simple funding amount to help subsidize some of these costs. So

101here is our simple ask. We ask that this board allocates us $10,000 annually to cover the registration fees for our national conferences as well as our Ivy League conferences, including NISMUN, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton and so many more. This amount is less than what other programs receive for far fewer students. It is less than the cost of the bleachers that are going to be discussed later in this agenda. And it is the money that already exists in the budget's complete accounts. So not trips, not hotels, just registration fees. Enough to level the playing field so the student who wants to debate the world's biggest issues does not have to first debate with their parents about the family budget. Now I want to talk about policy. 2 years ago, this district eliminated student student activity fees.

102You made a clear statement, no student should be priced out of an education. That was the right decision. The question I'm asking tonight is whether the same principle applies to what we do. Because Model UN is education. It happens outside the classroom, but it's still considered education. It teaches diplomacy, public speaking, research, and leadership. It builds global awareness. It challenges students to grow and succeed. That is exactly what your mission statement promises. So if the district believes that no student should be turned away because of a cost, then that belief should follow us, not just to the classroom, but to the conference room as well. Not just to the school building, but to New York, Harvard, Philadelphia, etc. to every place where Bridgewater-Raritan students go to represent this district. For the student who is finding

103their voice, for the club who has brought national recognition to this district, and for every student after us who deserves the same opportunity I had to walk into a room nervous and walk out knowing that they can change the world. Thank you so much for your time and consideration tonight. Thank you thank you all very much for your comments. I appreciate it. We're all silent. Um Mr. Beers, Mr. Lomsky. I It's okay. No, it's okay. We got [laughter] you. Thanks. And and thank you for coming. I don't I don't typically do do a back and forth and and uh ladies and gentlemen, certainly this is something I'll follow up on you know, with the principal and through those channels and I I would I would appreciate furthering this conversation with you and and again, thank

104you for your candor and for your professionalism in in your presentation. And this is an activity that certainly has my support and I I believe I can speak for the board to say everyone sitting here has its support. So if there there's a mechanism we need to figure out to to fund this moving forward that's not currently being done I'll certainly go through those channels and uh and do what we can to make it happen. Thank you so much and we do appreciate you guys hosting us here tonight. This was my first time at one of these meetings. I actually learned a lot, so it's really interesting. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you thank thank you very much for for coming. I'm sure your meetings are just as entertaining though. No, and and and

105I'm sorry. I I know it's not supposed to be back and forth. Is there a competition coming up that you're not able to go to? Is is the or is it for next year that we're really talking about? >> More so for next year. Competition season's kind of ended at this point, but we do plan on going to more like national conferences next year just to again like open the opportunities for students. So Okay, so there would be time to to figure this out. I appreciate you guys coming. I know it's late. Thank you. I'll be in touch. All right, is there any further public comment or comments for the budget hearing? Thank you. Thanks. I'm a little rusty myself, so I should And again, our emails are on the website, so if there's anything

106else you want to send us or to Mr. Beers, um feel free to do that and we'll pass it along to the right people. Thanks. >> I just I do have a a quick question before I start to speak. I'll be speaking on behalf of myself to start and then um somebody in the community was unable to attend the meeting tonight. Um does the clock start >> Unfortunately, we have to give you 5 minutes um just reach person who's here. Um but if you have something you want to read, feel free to do that as part of your time. >> Okay, thank you. Yeah, I will try to um I have paperwork both from myself and from her. Okay, and of course if you want to leave us something, we can get copies out to

107the board if that individual wants to send us an email or letter or something or get in touch, we can make sure that it gets to everyone. Our emails are on the board. You can email Mr. Beers or Mr. Lomsky. Okay, thank you. So what I'll probably do is just try to paraphrase what she said if I if I have time. So um and let me just set my timer. Sure thing. Um I know how long I'm going. Okay. Um So good evening. My name is Katherine Choi from Bridgewater and I want to speak tonight about transparency. Up until 2024, the administration partnered with families on gifted and talented education. At the February 2024 strategic planning meeting, families shared their concerns about transparency and the future of the AI program. I was sitting at a

108breakout table when Dr. Jones assured parents that quote, "We know how important this program is to the community. It's not going anywhere." Yet, here we are. After an unexpected announcement this past February that the AI program will end within months. People are understandably frustrated. The community had no advanced knowledge that the administration decided to end a solid academic program. The parents of children currently in the program didn't receive a letter for weeks about the change directly impacting their kids. The board was told that the decision wasn't even up for a vote. The administration's plan for the current AI students lacks rigor and puts undue pressure on our teachers. It seems that feedback from the community is being ignored. I thought the district had a goal to improve transparency. Why did the community partnerships stop and

109can they resume? Why must the AI program end with this school year? Why can't there be a more inclusive plan for how to strengthen our district's strong academic standing? I ask all of you on the board to please take a step back to review this administrative decision. Please don't allow the AI program to be abruptly canceled under these stressful circumstances. Let's come together as a community and figure this out. Over 250 people have signed a petition asking the Board of Education to retain the AI program. As and I have that here if I can hand it to whoever at the end of my talk. As our elected representatives, we respectfully ask that you listen to our families and to ask questions to our administrators. When voting tonight, please take exception to the elimination of the

110AI program and have the rest of the budget move forward. Thank you for your consideration. And Thank you for your comment. Do you have anything You still have some time if you have anything else you'd like to share. >> Okay, yeah. I just wanted to check my timer and see how much time I had. Understood. >> Um so this is again a woman from the community was unable to attend the meeting tonight. Um Her name is Cindy Alexi. She lives in in Martinsville. Um and so I will read again I'll paraphrase parts of this uh it is kind of a long letter that she she has um and I don't have the time to read it all. Uh her name is Cindy Alexi. She was I was unable to tonight attend tonight's meeting but I

111asked Katherine Choi to please read my comments regarding the AI program as I have 30 years of history regarding the program. Uh she is a 35-plus year resident of Martinsville and has two children who attended the AI program. She became involved with Apex, which is the Association of Parents for Educational Excellence in 1994 to 1995 school year when one of the members attended a Board of Education meeting in August and heard that the district was considering eliminating the program due to the cost of bussing. Um basically over the years there were issues that came up. The administration brought in various experts uh with with uh I'm sorry. With with uh uh very very detailed information on gifted programs and the need to really uh provide differentiated teaching for students who require it. Um an endeavor

112that a group of parents took on culminated is what they called the ideal proposal. Um individualized differentiated enriched accelerated learning, which uh she printed out and provided to me here and I just have one copy but I'd be happy to provide it with the all of you. Um and in conclusion, um we must look at what works and investigate how to preserve the program currently as we move forward. Every year, the budget is an issue as the state continues to provide less for school school districts like Bridgewater-Raritan School District. We now have a unique program which other school districts wish they had. This program is not to be thrown away but to preserve it like a rare masterpiece. I ask the administration and Board of Education to read over what I have what I have

113provided. Um again, this is all this is historical details from 20 20 years ago but it still is is very relevant. And again, review the report by Dr. Lenore Curtina, the consultant you hired. She does not recommend eliminating the self-contained AI program. The program does not cost $500,000, which is stated at a board meeting, because the teachers are tenured and the bussing costs are nothing compared to the damage, impairment, and detriment to a child who learns differently. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much for your comment and certainly if you'd like to reach out to that individual and tell them to get in touch with us. Okay, can I provide the documents to somebody and the petition? I don't know who I >> Mr. Lomsky. provide. You bring it over here. I'll take it from

114you and give it to the right people. Thank you. Yes. Okay. All right. Good evening. >> [clears throat] >> My name is Ken and I'm a parent of a child currently in the AI program. I'm also here in support of our kids. And I want to give them the opportunities all the opportunities to succeed in this crazy world of ours regardless of whether they're in general ed, special ed, AI, SGI, or anywhere in between. As Katie mentioned, we have a petition from over 250 parents of kids who are currently in the AI program and have long since graduated from the AI program. And those 250-plus parents support the AI program as it currently stands. And so to give our children the opportunities to succeed, I hope you as parents and members of the BOE will

115support that as well. So I ask before you vote to adopt this budget, I'm asking you to pause and to ask the questions that have not yet been answered. First, the elimination of the AI program was not brought to this board as a standalone proposal. It was embedded in a budget proposal budget document without a separate vote and without the full deliberate deliberate uh deliberation that a decision of this magnitude deserves. This community has not yet received answers to the questions it has asked. And now this board is being asked to approve a budget that makes that elimination permanent. Make no mistake, a vote to adopt this budget is a vote to end the AI program. Once this budget passes, program staff will be reassigned, cohort placements dissolved, and a year of appropriated gifted education

116cannot be gifted back gift gift back given back to these children. Second, we we need the administration to demonstrate that the replacement for this AI program is academically equivalent to AI as it currently stands. One of your consultants, Dr. Cortina, reviewed this district's gifted programs in 2023. And she recommended retaining the AI program while while adding SGI and cluster grouping as a supplement, not a replacement. This administration is now doing precisely what she advised against. And yet, the curriculum for this replacement has not yet been fully developed or shared with the community. Will there be a gifted cluster in every school for grades two through five? What does differentiated instruction really mean and actually look like for identified gifted learners under this new model? Right? We cannot evaluate whether the replacement is academically equivalent to

117AI when the details of that replacement have not yet been provided. Finally, this board has the ultimate legal and fiduciary oversight of this district. The New Jersey Strengthening Gifted and Talented Education Act requires districts to ensure equal access to a continuum of service of gifted services. And if this district administrative decision violates that statute, this board is accountable whether you whether or not you personally made that call. You cannot disclaim responsibility for administrative decision and then approve the budget that defunds it in the same breath. Directing the administration to bring a compliant plan before approving funding is not is a non is a non for a non-compliant one is not an historic extraordinary task. That is oversight. That is this board's obligation. And tonight, that is what we as parents of this district are asking

118you to fulfill. Thank you for your comment, sir. Any further comment this evening? Hello. Good evening. Lenore Al-Caru, Bridgewater resident. Um I want to be direct with this board. The proposed replacement model for gifted education does not comply with New Jersey state law. It is not an opinion, it's a statutory analysis. The Strengthening Gifted and Talented Education Act, NJSA 18A colon 35-36, requires districts to provide a continuum of gifted and talented education services and to ensure equal access to those services across the district. The district's new model consists of 40 minutes of SGI per week and in-class cluster grouping. That is not a continuum. It is a single enrichment-based tier. Every district ranked above Bridgewater-Raritan, New Jersey maintains a dedicated gifted program. Every single one. Furthermore, the district's own published plan uses the word may

119when describing cluster group activities. May incorporate differentiated instruction. Not will, not shall. May. That district discretionary language does not satisfy the statutory requirement to design and document appropriate instructional adaptations. And there is an equity violation embedded in the new model. SGI eligibility is determined by a school relative threshold, top 10% within a child's home school. That means a child in a high-performing school who would qualify district-wide is locked out. While a child in a lower-performing school gets access. That is not equal access. That is a structural inequity baked into the design. We urge the the board to vote no on this budget as proposed and to delay the removal of the AI program until an adequate adequate equivalent self-contained program has been established. Thank you. I thank you for your comment. Good evening. Good evening.

120>> [clears throat] >> 5 minutes, right? Uh yes, sir. Great. Yeah. Appreciate that. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Inderpreet Banga. I am from Bridgewater. I want to talk not about law or research, but about the children. I was not in the gifted program when I was in school. I did not have what my son has. And I will tell you watching him in the AI program, watching him challenged, watching him find his people, watching him come home excited about math and reading and all of the subjects, uh I understand something that no data point can fully capture. This program changes lives. It has changed my son's life. It's changed some of the parents who are here. And it's changed the lives of students for over 40 years. The children in the AI program

121are not abstract policy subjects. We discuss policy here. You debate policy. You agree on policy. These are second and third graders right now who will be returned to their home schools next year with no specialist teacher, no cohort, one 40-minute pullout session per week as their gifted education. That is a regression. And for these students, it means repeating curriculum that they have mastered. You've received a petition from over 250 people. You have reviewed and quoted Dr. Renzulli's research. You have Dr. Cortina's slides and her recommendations from 2023 for this very district. All of the evidence points in one direction. Accelerate and enrich. Accelerate and enrich. It's not just about one or the other. It's about both. As my fellow residents have indicated, let us reach all children regardless of where they fall on the academic

122spectrum. Dr. Renzulli and Dr. Cortina research and supported it. Mr. Beers said, "We are the only district that has this program in the state." That is not a disadvantage or some outlier of the state, but a diamond. It's the reason why my wife and I came to Bridgewater because of the academic excellence that has always been in Bridgewater. Again, back to the 1990s. And it's related and embedded in academic excellence. Accelerate and enrich. The only question tonight is whether this board will follow the evidence. We discussed the budget today and the last couple of meetings. This very discussion happened 20 years ago in 20 2005 when the board had to debate during that time of budget crunch whether or not to get rid of the AI program. And they held strong and they stayed with

123the AI program. They were challenged to cut the program at that time and the board followed the evidence. We are not asking you to do something complicated. We are asking to preserve a program that is working, that the research supports, that the law requires, and that family say benefits their children. Please consider this when your vote voting tonight on adopting this budget. Protect these kids and protect Bridgewater and the future of all these children. Thank you. Thank you for your comment, sir. Any further comment this evening? Good evening. Could I write his name as well? No, that's not necessary. Um good evening. My name is Lu Yu. Uh I'm a Bridgewater resident. I've been here several times, so you guys probably know me by now. Um I want to say that actually in the beginning

124of the public section, um those children students had conversation with the superintendent. I think that was great. I wish we can do that for all the questions and comments we have here. Uh we used to be able to do that. I don't know, a few years ago somebody changed the rule that, you know, board does not respond to the public comments. Um I don't know why, but, you know, we don't think that's really making sense because all the questions I've been asking, all the requests I've been, you know, asking, we haven't got anything back. Um you know, if we can have some back and forth here, that'd be great. Um so, another thing is that uh after the last board meeting, I can I went back and do my daughter uh talked to myself and

125my daughter is in the sixth sixth grade. She's 12. She said she was going to come here for this meeting. Um she felt strongly about protecting um the AI program and making some comments. Um but a few days ago she said she couldn't go. We she always have activities on Tuesday nights. Um but she was going to skip that come here. But after watching the replay um of the a few meetings, she that's why she said she That's why she said, "I want the debate. I don't want to stand here and just sharing my comments when the board may not even pay attention to what I'm saying." So, she said she's not coming, but she gave me her speech so I can, you know, speak on her behalf. I can make my points about, you

126know, having a conversation back and forth would be much better. So, this is what she has. Um I want to share my experience. I joined SGI and the class groups in fourth grade. Um AI and E classes are teaching a grade level above, but SGI is preparing a presentation that meeting one time each week and you're missing class time for it. Class groups are some extra worksheets with no instruction or feedback. Programs like this were not teaching us anything in the first place and should not be considered to replace the AI program. Second, I was also heard that many students in the sixth E class were not in AI and that was used to suggest AI may not be necessary. However, that's not the full story. We entered the sixth E classes with different backgrounds.

127For me personally, I took the CogAT test in first grade and second grade which were not on Saturday and we did not have to sign up for and I was not even close to qualifying for the AI program. But later we moved to Basking Ridge. I took third grade and first half of fourth grade there. And to be clear, I did not qualify for the isolated program Basking Ridge offered. I was average student there. But when I returned to Bridgewater in the second half of fourth grade I realized the material we're learning in Bridgewater is what I learned at Basking Ridge during third grade. So, suddenly I became the more advanced student in Bridgewater and that's how I qualified for 5E and 6E classes. It's not accurate to say AI program has no distinct outcome,

128no advanced pathway. The AI program is not a dead end. And third, although we are in the same 6E classes, we are not at the same level. The students who have never been to E or AI programs before are struggling more than the other students. At the same time, some more advanced students in my classes are already learning calculus. They are only in the same classes with us because there's no more advanced options available for them. In some other districts and countries, what we call advanced program is just average. Students there don't have to join any special program to know what our students have to join the AI program to learn. And that may explain why some top schools don't have a AI program because that's their regular classes. So, instead of removing opportunities, why

129don't we improve the curriculum for all students? Um for all for our regular class and AI classes. Um they could and should probably be strengthened. Finally, students are the future. They have the potential to make our world a better place. Um why would you want to limit theirs and your future by restricting their learning? And that's her speech. Thank you. All right, thank you. May I have about about 30 seconds left. Did you have anything else you wanted to share with the board? Um I just want to say um I mean, we don't have that many parents here this evening, but we are here you know presenting them. Um we you know, they signed the petition to show their opinions. So, I want to make sure um the number of people here don't don't don't

130make you think there's not that many people care about this thing. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, you have something too? Okay. My name is Ya-Yun and I'm in the eighth grade AI program. First, putting an AI student in a normal classroom is like putting a swan with a penguins. It has the ability to fly, but it will never be taught how to because penguins don't. Second, all kids work at different paces and uh >> [laughter] >> AI kids can put normal kid at unnecessary stress to work faster, which isn't good. Third, my sister has cluster groups and uh all she got was a worksheet that didn't get graded. Is it still like this? >> [snorts] >> Fourth, the the SGI program is one period a week, which is a big drop from AI's all day

131advanced learning. Last but not least, uh we're educating the future leaders. Do you want them to not be challenged? Thank you very much for your comment. I appreciate you coming out. Especially especially on a school night. Thanks. Thank you. Any further comment from the public on any matter and specifically on the or specifically on the budget. All right, seeing no one else, I'm going to close uh the session of public comment. Thank you everyone for uh coming out and addressing us tonight. All right, we are up to section 11 of the agenda, approval of the minutes uh from March 9th from March 17th, 2026 regular session. So moved. Is there a Do you have a second? Second. Okay, motion and second. Is there any discussion? I have some discussion. Mr. Lee. Thank you. I have

132a motion. Good. Uh I have a motion to amend the meeting minutes. Um and I move to amend the meeting minutes to add the following information for clarity and transparency. At the end of the superintendent's report in the meeting minutes to add in the following during the end of board questions during the superintendent's report board president Michael Pappas cut off all further questions from Jeremy Lee and moved on from the superintendent's report. Under the business portion, I'd like to add in the following. During debate, Jeremy Lee spoke against the approval of the tentative budget. Mr. Lee stated that his opposition to the tentative budget was driven by his opposition to the defunding of the academically independent program. He stated that the $512,000 figure noted includes all baseline teacher and transportation costs and does not represent

133the marginal cost of the program. He also stated that he believed that there were more areas where the budget could be cut to pursue tax relief for families without sacrificing the quality of education for students setting various line items in the budget. He also discussed AJ Joshi's campaign promise from 2024 to continue to advocate for AI arguing this budget breaks that promise to voters. During debate Jeremy Lee raised the following point of order under our parliamentary authority Robert's Rules of Order section 49:21 clearly outlines the procedures for small boards of fewer than 12 members and under those specific rules, motions do not require a second to be debated and voted upon. Since this board has only nine members, my motion is properly on the floor and I claim my right to debate it and for

134this board to vote on it. The chair ruled that the point of order was not well taken. And then under the policy section for discussion of 2619 to add in the following that during debate Mr. Lee spoke against the policy. He discussed his support for admitting international students setting research showing interactions with international peers positively affecting academic outcomes. He argued that the policy deviates substantially from Strauss Aspen recommendations and enforces redundant limits on international student enrollment as a board can choose to admit as many or as few students as it wishes. And under old business to replace Mr. Lee responded with a point of order stating that Mr. Walker speaking about his motion is out of line with the following. Jeremy Lee raised a point of order pertaining to the objection to the consideration of

135the question motion raised by Mr. Walker stating that Mr. Walker's discussion of this of his motion was out of order because the objection to the consideration of the question motion is non-debatable. Michael Pappas ruled the order was well taken and proceeded to a roll call. There's a motion on the floor. Okay, with the uh without a second, that motion fails, but thank you. >> Point of order. your motion. Point of order. It's a point of order, Mr. Lee. Thank you. Point of order. Under our parliamentary authority, Robert's Rules section 49:21 clearly outlines the procedures for small boards of fewer than 12 members and under those specific rules, motions do not require a second to be debated and voted upon. Since this board has only nine members my motion is properly on the floor and I

136claim my right to debate it and for this board to vote on it. Yeah, I'm going to overrule that. I mean, this board and every board of education that I've seen in the state of New Jersey um and I've I've watched more than I care to than probably I should have and and been to more meetings than I've care to see. Make seconds. You've made seconds before. Um the second is necessary to move uh something into a uh to move something to a vote. I'll take a look at that, but uh I'm going to of order. >> a motion. Motion from Mr. Lee. I appeal the decision of the chair. Okay, is there a second on the motion to appeal? This is the decision of the chair. Okay, without a second, that motion um, does

137not proceed. Any further discussion on the minutes? Seeing none, Mr. Lomsky, can you call the roll, please? Mr. Singer. Yes. Ms. Lockert. Yes. Mr. Lee. No. Mr. Maloney. Yes. >> Mr. Joshi. Yes. Mr. Walker. Yes. Mr. Suna. Yes. Mr. Pepe. Yes. The motion carries. All right, we're up to section 12 of the agenda, approval of action items. Uh, up first we have the personnel agenda. Uh, this is personnel 2628 through 2631 with one addition. Uh, Dr. Fonder, would you like me to read that or would you like to read that into the record before we take a motion before we ask for a motion? Yeah, I I'll read it if that's all right with you. Um, [clears throat] the uh, personnel addendum is something that we have printed and the board members have. Uh, so

138this is the copy from the the back of the room. There's section B of it has a retirement and so we do a an updated version the day of the board meeting in case we get anything last minute. This is uh, something that came in after this was printed and so this is an addition to section B, the retirement section of the personnel addendum PER 26-28. The retirement of Tracy Ann Biondi, full-time special education teacher at the middle school, effective July 1st, 2026 at a salary of $111,461, which is our masters plus 75 step 24 after 27 years of service. That sentence that I read captures the uh, information that's included for retirees and so uh, that would be added to the personnel addendum. Okay, so do we have a motion for personnel 2628 through

1392631 with the uh, addition that Dr. Fonder just noted? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Okay, motion and a second. Is there any discussion? I have a motion. Motion from Mr. Lee. >> Thank you. In the future, Mr. Lee, I'll I'll let that go. Please please wait to be uh, recognized, but go ahead. Thank you. I move that the board postpone definitely personnel 2631, approval of agreement with the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association. Is there a second? Okay. Uh, without a second, that motion does not move forward. Uh, is there any further discussion? I have some further discussion. Mr. Lee. Uh, for that specific resolution 2631, approval of the agreement with the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association, when was that specifically added to the agenda? Uh, I believe it came through in the updated version that we got

140uh, this afternoon. This afternoon, what time? I I don't know the exact time. It was around the time that >> was this afternoon, right? How many pages is this document? I'm not sure offhand. How many pages is this document? Mr. Lee, if you know, you can tell us. How many pages is the agreement? Why do you keep asking questions that you know the answers to? Yeah. That's a great question. I'd like to confirm that I I have the right facts. That's why I'm asking these questions. Why don't you tell me first? Well, I'd like to know how many pages is in it first from the administration. How many is it? I don't know. You don't know? Enlighten me. I thought it was on the agenda, it's being approved, right? All right. All right, what's the

141question? Question is how many pages is on the agenda? I don't know. We're not voting on the number of pages. >> know? You don't know how many pages are in the number of pages, Mr. >> Okay, I'll ask this. I'll ask this. How much time did we have to actually review this agreement before the start of the meeting? Mr. Lee, you know that the revisions to this document were minor in scope and it was clearly pointed out by the district attorney as far as what those changes were. Is that correct or not? That's a yes or no. >> to the Are you referring to this And I'll say how many pages this is. It's 66 pages. Okay, thank you. 66 pages. 66 pages, we were given how many hours? Maybe what, one or two hours?

142No, I didn't. Were how how involved were the revisions that were made? That you >> matter how many how involved it is. >> because if if you're working on a document and there's a revision that's essentially a couple of sentences that it took two groups to align on, I mean, you know that it's small. I'm hoping you could read a sentence or two before the meeting. If you can't, that's fine, vote no. But I think a lot of us are really growing tired of you making a clown show out of this organization. I'm just asking questions. >> This is an absolute clown show and an embarrassment to Bridgewater Township, to this Board of Education, and to this whole entity. So can can we do something moving forward? Can you please read the room? If there's

143something legitimate, we will certainly act on it. But right now, this this is just becoming the theater of the absurd here. Where we go for hours and hours and hours and hours over nothing. So, I believe what we can do is if you're not comfortable, you can vote no. Well, >> And and this I'm going to interject myself. This [snorts] document reflects what the personnel committee negotiated and the entire board approved. When was that? Um, in the last memorandum of agreement. I may have phrased that incorrectly, but >> year. Right, the negotiations committee >> [clears throat] >> meets with the negotiation committee from the BREA and the board already approved the memorandum of agreement. That's why like all of the things in here are already in place because this is just putting everything in one

144document together. But could any of this have been discussed in negotiations committee? I had a question, I'd like to be acknowledged. Nego- I I'm a part of negotiations committee. I don't remember a meeting being had to discuss this being on the agenda. >> for a second. I don't remember that. Dr. >> [snorts] >> You did it last year. Ms. Lockert, go ahead. That was going to be my question. Could you remind the board who is on the negotiations committee? I'm sorry, I think I said personnel committee, I meant negotiations committee. I apologize for that. Um, How many times has the negotiations meeting happened this year? How many times have the negotiation negotiations committee had a meeting? I did ask a question. Yes, Ms. Lockert. And your question was? >> if you could remind the board

145who was on the negotiations committee. On the negotiations last year. >> Last year, yeah, I think myself, >> Go ahead. uh, Ms. Collistri and Dr. Lee. Right, thank you. And this uh, document stems from basically memorializes what was agreed to by both parties. But why wasn't Excuse me, I was asking Dr. Fonder a question. Sorry if I wasn't clear about Right, the memorandum of understanding is where the two sides agree on what will change in the document and that was approved by the board in the fall. I believe at the September meeting and so there were a lot of changes that were made from that and then at that point the we're paying the attorney for the school district to make sure that this document is the perfect document. They go back and forth with

146the BREA uh, union rep rep to make sure that everything is exactly the way it should be and everything is updated correctly. Thank you. May I ask a question? Any further discussion? I I just I just wanted to ask a follow-up to the original question. Was there any objection from the committee or the members of the committee to the negotiations? I didn't think so. Thank you. So let me I believe the vote was unanimous on the memorandum. Excuse me. I think we're Mr. Lee was interrupting you. Go ahead. We were we're taking this path down memory lane about the negotiations committee from last year, but this was on the agenda literally and there was no discussion of this in personnel, there's no discussion of this in any negotiations committee meeting, which we haven't had at

147all this year and now this is all of a sudden on the agenda. It's 66 pages. We were given less than possibly two hours to review this and I don't know how this board feels comfortable approving a document that we've barely had the time to review since it was added to the agenda. I don't really see how we can do that. It's not that I oppose this agreement, but it's rather I think we need to actually spend the time to read through this, think about the changes that were made and actually review this document in detail before we approve it. That was nicely stated. Why didn't you just say that in the beginning? I'm sorry, I That was that was that was great. You made a valid point. Instead of going through I'm doing this

148and I'm doing that. I mean, come on. That that was great. If you had just said that from the beginning, I think we would have been past that. You would have had your answer. If If I could ask a follow-up question based on Mr. Lee's comments, Dr. Fonder, if we were to go back into the if if if we were to we were to start making edits to that document, my sense is that that would be highly prob- problematic. Is is that correct or am I Right. And that's that's why a a board of education would have the attorney do it because the negotiation is negotiating the memorandum of understanding. And then once that's done, it's legal to interpret that and make sure that the document reflects it throughout. There's not an opportunity there to

149renegotiate any sort of the terms because we've already finished that part of the process with the negotiation. And that's why it's not something that the board members are proofreading this. It's the attorney who does that and the the our law firm, Bush Law Group, does that. I still think it a board member needs enough time to read it before they approve something. Mr. Singer. Thank you for recognizing me. You're welcome. Just want to be clear. Anything that comes at 4:15 is inappropriate. Is your belief? Something that's 66 pages like this. >> at 4:15 is inappropriate? Anything that requires more than 2 hours to read at 4:15. Um I also just want to note for the record that Dr. Fonda referred to the early fall adoption of the memorandum of agreement. That was the September 9th

150meeting where the memorandum of agreement was passed by this entire board with two abstentions being me and Mike. Correct. Is there any further discussion on the personnel agenda? And and because we're discussing um sending stuff in at the last minute, I hope you also abide by your own rule as well. Point point So Mr. Mr. Joshi, I'm just going to intervene. Well, let's try to keep it to the Mr. Singer made a comment. Let's try to keep it to the personnel agenda. That's all right. Right. Any further discussion on the personnel agenda? Mr. Olomski, can you please call the roll? Mr. Singer, abstain on personnel 2631, yes on everything else. Ms. Lockrin. Yes. Mr. Lee. Abstain on personnel 2631, yes on the rest. Mr. Maloney. Yes. Mr. Joshi. Yes. Mr. Walker. Yes. Ms. Assunna. Yes.

151Mr. Pepe. Abstain on personnel 2631, yes on everything else. Am I correct that personnel 2631 has five yes votes? Correct. That Yes, so the motion carried. The entire motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Olomski. Right. Moving on, we're at the curriculum uh section of the agenda, curriculum 2646 through curriculum 2648. Is there a motion? So moved. Motion. Is there a second? >> Second. Who had the motion? I think you had the motion. >> I have no idea. I think the first second >> it. I'll second. Second. Second from Ms. Lockrin. Motion and a second. Discussion on the curriculum agenda. Right. Seeing none. Um Mr. Olomski, can you please call the roll? Mr. Singer. >> Yes. Ms. Lockrin. Yes. Mr. Lee. Abstain on NGSBA Workshop 26, abstain on NGSBA Spring School Law Forum for Jeremy Lee, and

152yes on the rest. Mr. Maloney. Abstain on uh 2646 and yes on the rest. Mr. Joshi. Uh abstain on 2646, yes on the rest. Mr. Walker. Yes. Ms. Assunna. Yes. Mr. Pepe. Yes. And once again, five votes for every at least five votes for everything, Mr. Olomski? Yes. And motion carries. I'm not sure we needed five votes on that, but better to be safe than sorry. Right. We are up to uh the business agenda, business 26112 through business 26126. So moved. Second. Motion and a second. Discussion. I actually have a motion. Motion, Mr. Lee. I move to amend I'm sorry. I move to divide the question to consider business 26120, approval and adoption of the 2026-2027 school year budget separately from the rest of the business agenda. >> [snorts] >> Motion on the floor. Is

153there a second? Right. Not seeing a second, that motion does not move forward. Thank you for the motion. Any fur- any discussion on the business agenda? I have a motion. Motion, Mr. Lee. I move to amend the final budget resolution that as a condition of the 2026 district budget, which is being voted on for final adoption, the board directs the administration to allocate all necessary operational and personnel funds to guarantee the continuation of the immersive full day AI program, academically independent program, ensuring they operate at the same capacity and format as prior years. Motion on the floor. Not seeing a second, that motion does not move forward. Discussion on the business agenda. I have some discussion. Mr. Lee. Thank you. You're welcome. Having grown up right here in Bridgewater and walked these very halls from

154kindergarten through graduation, I owe my foundation to this district. And I care deeply about the future of our schools, which is exactly why I cannot sit by and watch us dismantle the programs that make our district exceptional. Tonight, I'm speaking out against the final budget before us. And I urge my colleagues to join me in voting no for two fundamental, common sense reasons. This budget actively harms our highest-achieving students and it fundamentally mismanages our budget. My greatest concern is the deliberate defunding of the academically independent program. We're stripping away gifted and talented enrichment and acceleration opportunities from kindergarten through fifth grade. And why? I remember this [snorts] question was posed to me at our last meeting. And when you when looking at the facts, I think the real rationale is obvious. We're chasing ideological trends

155like replacing the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism and equity, rather than focusing on individual academic excellence. But this isn't a step forward for our students or families. It's a tragic step backwards, pushed by those who will face zero consequences because these changes won't affect them personally. Furthermore, the public is being handed a misleading statistic, which was mentioned before. We're told the AI program costs $512,000, but that number lumps in baseline teacher and transportation costs. It is not the actual marginal cost of providing our gifted students with the accelerated education they deserve. The elimination of the AI program will not reduce taxation or budget appropriations by $512,000 unless we decided to entirely and illegally abandon the educational needs of our gifted students. And is this board majority prepared to nickel and dime

156taxpayers by cutting bussing for AI students, eliminating classroom teachers, and unsustainably increasing class sizes all in the pursuit of funding a bloated administration and DEI initiatives? The reality is that our AI program I appreciate a little bit of decorum. That was funny. I appreciate a little bit of The reality is that our AI program There's reaction. >> delivers one of the I appreciate a little decorum. The reality is that our AI program delivers one of the highest returns on investment in our entire district, driving long-term student success well after graduation. Some have argued that because two-thirds of sixth grade math and ELA students didn't start in the AI program, the program is somehow failing. I look at that same statistic and actually see an incredible success story. It proves that our general education students are

157working hard, growing, and earning their way into advanced classes. It proves that our universal screening efforts are working, finding talented kids from every background and challenging them to reach their full potential. When a program successfully expands opportunity and rewards hard work, common sense dictates that we expand and invest in it. We don't kill it. This budget also represents a fundamental breach of trust with our gifted and talented families. Transparency and accountability on this board matters. And during the 2024 candidates' night, families were explicitly assured by the current academic committee leadership that our advanced elementary classes were a protected priority. Mr. Lee, I'm Mr. Joshi publicly stated I'm going to interrupt for a moment. Your comments are drifting from the substance of the budget. We're talking outside of the budget. Focus on the budget or other

158business agenda items. Thank you. Mr. Joshi stated, "I will continue to advocate for these as long as I'm on the board." But we're seeing a complete retreat from that. We cannot ask the public to trust a budget that breaks the very promises that put board leadership in their seats. And I hope that when it comes to cast his final vote tonight, Mr. Joshi hopefully won't disappear or neglect his duty to taxpayers. This is not the budget. You're making a campaign speech. So I'm going to I'm going to interrupt your speech respectfully if you're not talking on the substance of the budget. We're not hashing out things from the past. >> discuss >> limit for board members? Look, I will discuss >> Not This budget remains packed with questionable loaded spending. Just look at the misplaced

159priorities. We're handing $17,000 to consultants for records management, but we're already spending $4 million on secretarial staff. We're spending $20,000 to outsource record scanning, $30,000 for staff development, $5,500 for outside workshop presenters, but we actually employ six full-time instructional coaches for $593,000. We're outsourcing custodial management for $32,000, but we actually have our own buildings and grounds team. And we're spending $48,000 on phone licenses, $10,000 on administrative cell phones, but we haven't even considered a cost-saving bring-your-own-device policy. And it actually gets worse because this year we're budgeting $25,000 for new weight room equipment, but last year we budgeted $27,000. We're spending $16,000 on porta johns, $15,000 for lanyards, $9,500 to tune a handful of pianos, $7,000 for piano accompaniments instead of trying to at least ask for community volunteers. We're spending $4,700 for cheerleading choreography when

160we already have excellent coaches here in the district. And we're spending $4,000 on pet therapy. And just because these items were budgeted in the past does not mean that we should They should serve as placeholders for endless spending. I believe there are material areas where we can deliver affordability to families while delivering a top-tier education for our students. There's nothing insulting about saving money for taxpayers while protecting the quality of education our children deserve. And we have to ask ourselves, is this money better off in the hands of bureaucrats or in the hands of taxpayers? And when you weigh this wasteful spending against the defunding of our gifted and talented program, it's nothing short of an insult to our families. All this happening while taxes continue to skyrocket, pushing hard-working families to absolute financial brink.

161And I cannot in good conscience look our taxpayers in the eye and support an unaffordable budget that slashes core academic excellence to fund administrative bloat. I recognize the importance of approving a budget and funding our schools, but this budget is a non-starter. Our students deserve better, our taxpayers demand better. And I urge my fellow board members to stand with our community, vote no to this final budget, and demand a budget that fully funds our student instructional programs, not bureaucratic ideological agendas. >> Mr. Lee, you're not getting back to the point you started with, so I'm going to wrap up your comment there. Thank you for your comment. Uh I will just say for that, look, I'm not going through that line by line, but if your student takes a uh choir class or vocal music

162class where there's a piano playing most of the time, um what are we supposed to do as a board? Say, "Yeah, pull Sit through hours of class throughout the year." Uh what's how I'm I'm not sure how many hours a high school class has to be. I'm not sure how many classes how many hours a high school class has to be, but sure, let a roomful of kids uh sing along and learn, you know, pitch and music with an untuned piano. Uh I'm I'm not going point by point. Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee, no. Mr. Lee, you're not recognized. Cuz it's an insult to our students, frankly, and it's an insult to the administration. And you're welcome to disapprove the budget, and you're welcome to disagree with the amount that I've that I've raising it. You

163voted against the budget last year that, as Ms. Lockrin said, had AI in it. But I don't think we're discussing that right now. >> you do not have the floor. Thank you. You're welcome to do that, but you're talk but one, you're insulting the administration, you're frankly you're insulting our students by saying that their education and the things they need to succeed don't matter. And I I would note that, look, I don't see in the bills list very often uh individuals named. You've not been shy about submitting your own expenses to the Board of Education in the past. New board member training, I didn't submit a a dime for new board mem- board member training. Um year ago, 81 bucks for I'm not sure what you spent that on. They gave you lodging and they

164gave you food. At the NJBA workshop uh last October, $70 of that was mileage. I guess I respect that. Um gas is expensive, but you submitted $388.08. So, $310 at a event that had plenty of free food and and free events, and um Free transportation. And and and your transportation was, you know, back and forth. Point of order. I'm sorry, I'm not I'm going to I'm not I'm in the middle of speaking. >> No, I have a point of order. What's your point of order? >> of order is that this is not related to the budget. >> It's related to what you just said, and it's money that and board member expenses is going into it. So, you applied that against the budget last time. So, look, I'm not going to begrudge someone if they

165need to to to charge something, but you have not been shy about it. So, to hear So, to sit here and listen to you talk about uh pet therapy like that's nothing. You're not shy at all about submitting your own expenses, which very few board members do, and certainly not to that amount of money. So, it's just a little bit hard to take seriously, especially cuz you've never spoken out against any of these things before. And generally, when we have um you know, bills lists and >> [snorts] >> other items on the agenda on the business agenda, you don't speak up about these things now. But I know it's easy to to look through a uh budget and cherry-pick things that could seem to someone who's not paying attention or doesn't understand what's happening in

166schools as wasteful. So, I I can't really take a lot of that seriously. I respect if you want to vote no, but your reasoning is frankly absurd. Mr. Beers, I'm sorry. Sorry. There's just one thing, and look, I'm not going to get into all of the points because most of them aren't factual aren't factual at all. And and um I I'll just consider the source. However, what's highly insulting is you've brought up multiple times pet therapy. Do you understand what pet ther- who pet therapy helps? Mr. Lee. I don't know, am I being recognized now? Am I being recognized by the >> Okay, well, I you know what? I'm going to answer that question for you. Okay. Some of our handicapped students throughout the district. How dare you sit here and mock them? And mock

167the services that help them. Who am I mocking? >> No, I'm sorry, Mr. Lee, you don't have the floor right now. And and and you talk about things uh about bloated spending. How dare you mock those kids and the services that are provided both for students um with disabilities or students we know the pet therapy helps with students who may have mental health issues. I take offense at that. And I think the community takes offense at that. And I And I know I have to sit here and listen to your TED Talk every every week, but it it would be nice if we stayed to the facts and we stayed away from mocking students in this district because I think that I I think Excuse me, I have the floor. You don't have the floor.

168Because I think what we're getting at here is the main problem. And your speech really showed it. We are a community. We represent 7,800 kids who come through this door every day. Now, if you want to call that equity and collective and collective whatever it is you called it, guilty as charged. Yes, I'm here to fight for all 7,800 kids, whether you're the highest of the high or the low No one's low, but the highest achieving or the lowest achieving, or kids in between, or kids with special needs, or kids with mental health issues. Every Every person I like to have a >> out of 7,800 calls it our home. And I'm just telling you both as a superintendent of schools and I can only imagine what the community members would think of this. But

169I think it's embarrassing, and once more, it's embarrassing to this institution to have to listen to this continually. Personally, I've had enough. Could I All right, any further discussion from anyone who hasn't spoken on the business agenda yet? Yeah, I I'd like to Mr. Joshi. Yeah, so I'd like to go on the record and say that last year's budget did have the AI program in it, and Mr. Lee voted against it. So, there you go. Ms. Lockrin. Yeah, I have a little TED Talk, too. Uh first again, I want to acknowledge the burden that this puts on taxpayers and and I mean, I'll just come out and say, especially in Raritan, cuz you guys are dealing with some significant issues right now. Um but a vote to adopt this budget is a vote for all

170students. It's a vote for the young people that spoke here today, for the students of performing arts, for the athletic teams, the vast variety of student-organized clubs. It's a vote to preserve the prestige that Bridgewater-Raritan has received for multiple years running as a district that supports highly gifted students and award-winning AP classes. For the greater majority of students that may not be recognized as gifted by some, but that find their gifts because of the services that are offered here. It's a vote for pianos, it's a vote for cheerleaders, it's a vote for students with special needs, it's a vote for full-day kindergarten, and it's a vote for the high-achieving public education provided by this district for which I am proud to be a parent of and a former student of. Thank you. Any further comment?

171Mr. Singer. I just have a brief comment that buildings and grounds performs a wholly different scope of work than custodians. If that's unclear somehow, perhaps we can get some clarity in that, but Yeah. They do very different work. Yes. I also appreciate both our buildings and grounds and our custodial staff, many of whom stay here until 11:00 at night waiting for us to be done with these meetings so that they can clean the building. >> Any further discussion? I have some further discussion. >> Now, Mr. Lee, I'm not recognizing you. Any further discussion? >> No, excuse me. Why am I not being I would like to address some of the points made because I think you bring up some points and I would like to address them. >> You said your piece. You've taken up

172most of this discussion, and I agree with the comments of Mr. Beers. And I have a point of order. >> further discussion? I have a point of order. Miss Lock, I'm sorry. Miss Asuna. >> I have a point of order. I'm not recognizing the point of order, Miss Asuna. >> Point of order under adopted parliamentary authority, we have unlimited opportunities to speak. >> interrupting. It's Mr. Lee. Thank >> and gentlemen, we're going to move into a 3-minute recess. Everyone stand up and stretch for a second. No, but point of order, you didn't ask for a vote on that. Point of order. Point of order. There was no motion. There was no second on a recess. This was This point of order is out All right, we're back on. We'll just going to give everyone one

173more minute to come back in. Point of order, Mike. What's that? Point of order, Mike. All right, we're back. Thank you, everyone, for your patience. Miss Asuna, you had a comment. I just wanted to make a comment. As a proponent of the arts, I wanted to make it clear that I feel that anyone that accompanies our students in the classroom should be paid for their efforts [clears throat] and their education and their knowledge. Thank you. Any Anyone who hasn't commented on the business agenda yet? I'd like to make comment. Mr. Mr. Lee, you've commented extensively. Mr. Lomsky, can you please call the roll on the business agenda? Mr. Singer. >> Yes. Miss Lockner. Yes. Mr. Lee. No on business 120. Do I No on business 26120. Uh and uh abstain on the Venus tile payment

174application. Abstain on business 26126. And yes on the rest. Mr. Maloney. Yes. Mr. Joshi. Yes. >> Mr. Walker. Abstain on business 2614. Yes on the rest. 26114. Just to clarify. Okay. Miss Asuna. Yes. Mr. Pepe. I'll uh recuse myself on business 26114. And yes on everything else. Okay. Motion carries. Motion carries. Thank you. We are up to a lot of pages to flip through here. We're getting there. Special services. 2629 through 2631. So moved. Motion and a second. Any discussion? Any discussion would have to on 2630 or 2631, we need to be in close session. Seeing none, Mr. Lomsky, please call the roll. Mr. Singer. >> Yes. Miss Lockner. Yes. Mr. Lee. Yes. Mr. Maloney. Yes. Mr. Joshi. Yes. >> Mr. Walker. Yes. >> Miss Asuna. Yes. Mr. Pepe. Yes. The motion carries. We're up

175to other 2619 through other 2622. So moved. Right. Um Any discussion on anything other than 2621, the calendar, would need to be in close session. So, let me start with What's that? Anything beside the calendar, I think. Anything beside I mean, we can Any discussion on uh We'll start with 2621, the calendar for 2720. This is for 2728. So, a little bit in advance. I actually have something. Mr. Lee. Um I noticed that a lot of the items bundled under other are not related. And as a member, I have the right pursuant to section 2710 of Robert's Rules to request a division of the question. And I request that resolutions other 2619 and other 2620 regarding HIV reports be considered together as the first item. That resolution other 2621 regarding the school calendar be considered

176separately as the second item. And that resolution 2622 regarding the policy 2464 gifted and talented students appeal be considered separately as the third item. Okay, I I I know this has come up. What No. No. I'm sorry. What's such language? Mr. Lee's representation of what 2622 uh the scope is is not listed in there, and he is All right. I'm going to overrule the I'm going to overrule the point of order. The board, as I said before, the This board hasn't operated that way. You're welcome to make a motion if you'd like to do that. If it's something that the board would like to change and talk about dividing questions, I think it's something we could bring up. Hopefully not tonight, but at another meeting in new or old business if that's the way that

177people want to go. >> I just told you I just told you the section the section that permits a member to request the division of a question, particularly when the question has multiple parts of that question that are not related. Okay, so we've always grouped the other together since you've been on the board at least, and I think for you know, well before I've been. So, I'm going to overrule that for now, but I'll take a look at that section for next time. >> I'll make a motion. Yes, sir. To divide the question. A motion to divide the question in the way that you mentioned? Okay. Uh So, motion to divide the question to discuss 2619 and 2620 together, 2621 separately, and 2622 separately. Correct? Correct. Okay, is there a second? Right, seeing none, that

178motion does not move forward. Is there any discussion on the calendar? I actually do have another motion. Motion for Mr. Lee, go ahead. Uh I move to amend resolution other 26 22 by striking the title in the resolution text in their entirely entirety and substituting them with the following. Yeah, we Point of order, point of order. We discussed this in closed session and I am amending it to say that it would be inappropriate. No, if nothing in it is inappropriate. I am simply amending the title and I am amending the last part. Everything is public. Okay, it depend it depends on what that title is. It is simply adding a little bit it's it's simply adding the titles of the actual policy and the statute. That's what I'm trying to do. I'm going to ask

179the board, is there any Was there anyone who's planning on seconding a motion that that motion? How can people say no to that until they've heard it? I'd like to at least make the motion and allow the people to hear it. I'm hesitant as Is this a closed session topic? This is not a closed session topic. This is not a closed session motion. This is not a closed session motion. When the board attorney was here in closed session, this was not brought up. That would have been the time to ask, so I'm not going to entertain that motion right now. Mr. Lamski, would you please call the roll on the other agenda? You did not ask for more point of order. You did not ask for more debate from the board before asking that. And

180I did have question I had regarding the calendar, I had a question regarding the calendar. What I'm watching. Wait, wait. No, no, I I know I No, I can't make a motion. Do you have something on the on the on the calendar? I have something on the calendar. I noticed that Eid was removed from the calendar. I know the initial date was wrong, but I was wondering why the date was just removed entirely after I guess in the second version of this calendar. Are you able to answer that question? I'm not cuz I looked at it and I just noticed that Eid was was was not in the second version. I I will say I appreciated your your feedback and thank you for it. We had the date wrong. Eid is actually over a weekend

181um during that calendar, so that's why it does not appear on the calendar. Okay, thank you for that. Thank you, I appreciate that. Any further discussion on the calendar? Anything else, Mr. Lamski, please call the roll for other. Mr. Singer. Miss Lockrin. Mr. Lee. No, 126 22, yes on the rest. Mr. Maloney. Mr. Yes. Mr. Joshi. Yes. Mr. Walker. Yes. Mr. Suna. Mr. Pepe. Yes. Motion carries. All right, we're up to There's no policy, so we are up to item 13, old business. Is there any old business? Seeing no old business. Actually, wait, I I do have some old business. Yeah, we just No, no, wait, no, no, no. I have I have old business. No, we You can just move on. Mr. Lee, what's Can you give me the topic, please, and we'll figure

182out if it's old or new. I just want to ask some clarifying questions relating to you know, some of the actions of this board that have already occurred. You're welcome to say whatever you want. I don't know if I'm going to have any answers, but go ahead. Well, I know at our last meeting you know, Mr. Joshi assured the public that the AI program is {quote} not going away {unquote}. So, according to the administration, there's no motion for the AI program right now. The The We're talking about the budget. How is this old business? It's old business cuz we're talking about what you said during the budget when you No, that's old business. Now, we're we're going to move on. Is there any new business? All right. Um There are six resolutions and the first

183resolution seeks support for the use of ranked choice voting in school board elections and the NJ SBA supports the use of ranked choice voting. If the I'm just want Do you want to do them all at once and then see if the board has What are you asking for just like a straw poll or like is there support from this board on that or you know, are they not in support of ranked choice voting? I'm going to be honest, I'm going to speak for for myself. Obviously, the feedback from the board is valuable. When I was the delegate, we had a some very brief discussion. I put out a Google form once, I didn't get much feedback. My the number one thing I based my stance on was the report that was given out at

184delegate assemblies by the NJ SBA professionals who broke down the issue you know, not taking 20 minutes, but gave a really good kind of road so far and and what led to that point and what the recommendation is and what the possible considerations are. So, I know for me that was the most valuable other than my own judgment and what I think the board might have wanted and what was best for our district. So, that's Without kind of hearing that, it's hard for me to Well, so I I could say I I can say generally, but it's hard for me to like weigh in in a really meaningful way for me at least. I'm trying to make this as brief as possible, so I'm not like the the the delegates assembly handbook since we like

185to you know, know how long things are. It's about 170 pages right now, so or 120, whatever the hell it was. It's over 100 pages. Um and a lot of these resolutions are quite lengthy, so I don't want to go into the detail that is possibly required, but I can mention each of these resolutions and if any of the board members has a problem with supporting any of the resolutions that NJ SBA puts out to support, they can email Miss Lockrin or myself. That sounds great. Do you want to just kind of very briefly run down what they are? The second resolution seeks the inclusion of three broad belief statements that the schools must carry out the state's constitutional obligations to provide all students with a thorough and efficient education, that school buildings must be

186free from civil immigration enforcement activities and that board should adopt policies and procedures procedures that protect the health and safety of all students while honoring valid judicial authority. The NJ SBA supports a statement that boards have the responsibility to ensure that all school buildings are safe havens for all students regardless of their immigration status and are not used not to be used as venues for immigration enforcement absent judicial authority. That is the second resolution. The third resolution seeks support for the involvement of school districts in municipal discussions pertaining to pay to payment in lieu of taxes or pilot programs. The NJ SBA supports a revised position on that. The fourth resolution seeks the support for the belief that New Jersey school funding system should recognize structural limitations on local revenue capacity caused by state imposed

187land use and environmental restrictions. The NJ SBA supports a revised statement on that as well. The fifth resolution seeks support for the equitable pricing transparency and cooperative purchasing opportunities for instructional materials while preserving local board authority over curriculum and decisions. This should be of interest to our academic committee as they pilot those two books. And the NJ SBA of course supports that as well. Lastly, the sixth resolution seeks an update to NJ SBA policy to allow for increased representation for sending districts on county vocational school boards. I'm not sure that we >> [snorts] >> have a position on that, but the NJ SBA supports the position that government structures should reflect the shared fiscal and educational responsibilities between county and sending districts and that county votech should encourage the creation of an advisory structure to

188allow sending districts to review tuition methodologies, capital plans and fiscal fiscal imports prior to adoption. So, those are the six resolutions and I will be happy to send out this brief statement to the board and have them weigh in if they are so inclined. There's a section in the middle of the handbook that kind of I don't know if that's what you were just looking at, but kind of gives like a like a quick summary of each one and then you can read more to find out. Do you know have you and Miss Lockrin decided who will Miss Lockrin, you will be Is is the Is the representative and and you're the alternate. So, if people did have feedback, just to be safe, should they send it to both of you or how would you

189like to proceed? Since Mr. Singer came most prepared for this this discussion, it would be it would probably be pertinent to send it to both of us. Okay, just to be safe then that we avoid any open public meetings things, don't copy me on that unless you feel compelled to. Four would be okay. Four would be fine. Yeah, you don't need to copy me on that. If you have something you'd like me to see, you can send it to me separately, but just so we're not If they're different chains that start going about different things, we want to avoid that there Make sure to avoid that, but I'm sure you would have done that anyway. All right. Anything further for new business and thank you for sending that along. Mr. Singer. Just briefly, I want

190to note that April is school librarian appreciation month and I would be not allowed to if I did not say that we we appreciate our librarians at every single level, the elementary level who librarians who get our students into reading in the first place and instill a love of reading to our middle school librarians who find something for every student to ensure that they are an interested reader and you know, find something that that speaks to them to our high school librarians who teach our kids how to do research projects and help them in so many other ways including just providing a safe space for them to be lunch or other times or after school. >> Libraries lunches I was in there the one time was was packed with students. >> So just want to

191send that my appreciation for all of those staff members. I can just add to that compliments to Mr. Moran for help making those connections throughout the district between our local libraries cuz the director of the Raritan library and I believe a representative of the county system over in Bridgewater at least once a visited and started to collaborate with the high school library. High school librarian so thank you to everyone to Mr. Moran and everyone who's making those connections happen cuz that's a strong strong link there. Thank you. Can I make a motion to adjourn? Anything further? Seeing none is there a motion to adjourn? So moved second. Motion is there a second? Second? Motion and a second? All those in favor? I. I. All opposed? All right everyone. Till May 19th. That's not what I'm

192here for. Cute.