001Board of Education agenda workshop special acts meeting of October 20th, 2015. Please silence or turn off your cell phones and note the locations of the emergency exits. If we could please have a moment of silence for those staff members who may have recently lost somebody in their families and our school community families that may have lost someone special to them as well. If we could stand for the flag salute, please. I pledge algiance 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. these chairs. In accordance with the provisions of the open public meetings act, a public notice of this meeting has been sent to board members, all district schools, the Herald news, the trends, the the
002record, AI West Milford, the messenger, West Milford town hall, the county superintendent's office, the board attorney, and cable vision of Warwick and posted in the administration building. Copies of the board meeting calendar resolution were provided to all local media, town hall, township library, and all district schools. Roll call, please. Mrs. Francisco. Mr. Babbot. Mr. Bailey. Here. Mr. De here. Mr. Drew. Mr. Foody. Present. Mrs. Key here. Miss O'Brien here. Mr. Robbins here. Mrs. Schultz here. We saw that the board go into executive session at 9:00 p.m. for approximately 60 minutes for the purpose of discussing HIV personnel negotiations and matters of attorney client privilege. The executive session minutes will not be released until such time as the privilege or confidentiality is no longer applicable. Like to make the motion to approve the following resolutions that
003was just read by Mrs. Charles. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Um I actually there I I I got a letter from a uh parent that I would like to share with the with the board in executive session. How would we go about adding that to the resolution, John? So we should actually add student matters. Student matters. Okay. Yeah. I guess you're Yeah, that would be Yeah. Okay. Mr. Robbins. Yes. To the executive session. Can we add Hillrest to that? Is there an item of discussion for Hillrest? If there is, then yeah, we can add it. It's a real estate matter that we can talk about executive just to get a status on Hillrest. Yeah, we can add that. So, just make it as amended with those two. I'd like to make a motion to
004approve the following resolutions that was read by Mr. Schult Mrs. Schultz and amended by Mr. Foody, Mr. Robins. Second. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Thank you. Mr. Rashika, superintendent report. Okay. Um, well, it was no secret we had, uh, back on September 30th, uh, this building took in quite a bit of water, uh, in the middle of a roof restoration project. Um, fortunately, um, you could not tell that anything happened here sitting here, but this was quite a mess right in this very room and surrounding, uh, behind us. uh fortunately uh quarted early. It was like4 to 5 in the morning when I found out about it. And um what happened consequently is that our our crew came in and did a wonderful job to start things off, but then we brought in
005other people including the architect came in, the contractor and anybody else involved in the project. uh we immediately started uh remediation and removing anything that uh was problematic as far as being totally wet and making it into a safe situation. Um and then what we did was everybody knows I think at this point we moved our students and our staff out of this building for 4 days last week and uh consequently we stepped it up a notch and the roof was actually completed uh last Friday. So, and along with that, all the remediation in the building, as you can see from the rug, the ceiling tiles in here and everything in the classrooms has been taken care of. So, we're in a good place. Um, the one big thing that we're waiting for on the
006roof will not affect anything as far as teaching or creating any problems is the metal edging, uh, which had to be ordered and, uh, when that gets here, they'll install that as well. Uh, but certainly, we are in a much better place now, as you can tell, and students and teachers are back. I want to publicly thank uh Miss Summers for an outstanding job in her leadership role here and the staff for their cooperation and the parents and everybody that was involved, even uh our transportation with Mr. Maisie for really doing a wonderful job. Uh we came up with a plan the Friday before, instituted that plan quickly, and uh lo and behold, we were able to uh still educate our students at the other elementary schools, and I want to give them a big
007thank you as well because everything went very very smooth. Uh which is much better than losing time out of the classroom or closing uh you know, the school down and not having kids come in. So that's a positive spin on bad news. But uh fortunately, that's where we are. Uh also in this building we have new boilers that are up and running so it's warm when it needs to be but uh today and tomorrow I don't think we need or needed the heat so much but yesterday we did. Uh Paradise Null uh new boilers there too. A little bit of a hiccup with one of the uh uh systems that will be rectified hopefully tomorrow. Um and we're moving along. Also just you know as far as facilities we had spoken a while back uh
008in regards to technology and I have good news that the runs for additional wireless connectivity in this building have uh gone on quite successfully with uh good progress very good progress so it's also happening at uh our middle school over at Makipin and they're starting to get into the elementaryaries as well. So we're making a lot of progress. I'm happy the roof is working and the boilers are working and uh hopefully we can go through the rest of the school year unscathed. So, thank you. The kids are back in class. Yep. Yep. They're all back in on Monday. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Rashika. Special reports and correspondence, Mrs. Francisco. Uh just that the uh minutes from September and the revised minutes from June 23rd will appear on Monday. uh for board consideration. Thank you. Legal
009report will be done. Thank you. Have a report. We'll talk about executive session. Thank you. First off, I'd like to welcome Dr. Elizabeth Mcuade. This is the first meet meeting that you're joining us at the board of ed table. So, thank you very much and welcome. Thank you. Welcome back. Thank you. You're welcome. Um our goal setting meeting took place on Saturday, October 10th. The meeting was facilitated by New Jersey School Board Association field rep Robert Mian. We reviewed the compilation of the board self-evaluation and discussed and developed board goals, district goals aligned with the district strategic plan. We also discussed rewriting the team charter at a later date. For those board members that were not present, I went ahead and scanned a copy of the board self-evaluation results and emailed them to you. Uh
010Mrs. Uh Robin Mi will be compiling all the information and submitting it by email to Mrs. Francisco at a later date. Um it would be a summary of the meeting that took place for us and then once uh Mrs. Francisco gets it, we'll um send it to all the other board members. I'd also like to talk about um can this be discussed now or should I wait for executive session? You can talk about it's just information on the timeline. So you can talk about it now something substantive about it. So it's fine. Okay. Thank you. Uh I just wanted to discuss the working timeline for the superintendent search. Uh advertisements postings will appear in the newspapers um sometime in October uh possibly the 18th November and December. I sent everybody a copy of the ad
011itself. Um I believe that December 21st, which is a Monday, will be the deadline for the applications. And this is all a timeline by RPAT. Uh by January 9th, the paper screening and initial applicant checks completed by consultants and then the selected applicants will be contacted and interviewed by the consultants. After the reorg meeting in January, uh the new sitting board can now approve the candidates. So at that time um the board should consider four dates for interviews and reserve those dates and times and then from there between January 20th and January 29th the board will interview preliminary candidates narrowing the field to two to three finalists. The board will establish two dates in close proximity between January 20th and January 29th as reserved times for interviews and deliberations. And then somewhere between uh February
0121st and the 5th, the final interviews of the finalists will take place with the board of ed. And that's pretty much the timeline for a July 1st start. Lastly, I just want to um mention something today. I had the privilege along with school board trustee Inga Keeppy of attending a world language showcase forum facilitated by Mrs. Bren Brenda Lewig, West Milford supervisor of world languages. World language supervisors from Northern New Jersey were all in were in attendance along with Dr. David Greer, newly appointed New Jersey Department of Education coordinator of world languages. A lovely lunch was provided by Susan Alexander, sales rep from EMC. Mrs. Karen Johnson, our former German teacher and 20134 Pail County teacher of the year. She's presently an assistant principal here at the high school, presented a mini workshop on a
013halfh hour. She spoke about the value of infusing technology used in everyday life into the classroom and beyond. The event provided opportunities for discussions including New Jersey Department of Education updates, best practices, student growth objectives, and updates in the field of second language teaching and learning. I would just like to commend Mrs. Lewig for organizing this informative event along with the West Milford staff who were involved in lending a helping hand. I thought it was very informative and um very well attended. And that's all I have. So we'll move on to petitions and requests. Petitioners who have requested to speak prior to the meeting will be first with five minutes for each petitioner for a period of 30 minutes and then time permitting other petitions and requests limited to 5 minutes per petitioner will be
014allowed until the 30-inut period transpires. Petitioners speaking during petitions or requests are asked to address topics listed for special action in the agenda. All speakers are asked to give their full name, spell their last name, and provide their address. Speakers may not use the names of students during petitions and requests. I need a motion. Oh, not yet. Sorry, I'm ahead of myself. Would anybody like to come up and speak? Okay, seeing none. Oh, you want I believe that was a hand raised. Okay, I take that. Yes, it was. Okay, thank you. Edwin Gonzalez. I'm talking as myself, not representing any township organization, 17 Hillside Lane. I am I am speaking finally because it's kind of concerning in terms of the regularities presented by this board when it comes to time to do the executive session.
015We have people in here in the past. you guys kick us all us out of here to have the executive session. Stopped doing that. Started going to a different room and then went back to the old ways. It's very confusing. You guys are primarily the only school board that does that that I have researched around. Every other school board finds a different room to have their executive session and comes back. Also, you guys are here. You guys get elected by the people of this town. There's a trust given to you guys. We expect you to be here. We expect you to participate of the whole meeting as a whole without leaving or resting in other places. I know everybody has different jobs. Everybody but you made a commitment by running. You chose wanted to run
016to be represent this town and all the kids for the better of our kids. We expect that trust to be fulfilled and not betrayed. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Gonzalez. Anybody else would like to come up and speak? Seeing none, like to move to close petitions. Need a second? Second. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay, thank you. I need a motion to adopt the agenda as presented and amended. Like to make a motion to adopt the agenda that has been presented this evening. Second. All in favor? Any opposed? Personnel student affairs. Mrs. O'Brien. I'd like to move items 1 through seven under personnel and student affairs. Discussion. Mr. Booty. Um, number one, it says replaces Brandon permanently or is this just for the remainder of this school year? No, it's till June 30th.
017Till just 30. I just wanted to clarify. Okay, good. So, the the salary that you see there is based on 12 months of the retroactive based on the eight eight months of the contract. Okay. Any other discussions or questions? Roll call, please. Miss O'Brien. Yes. Mr. Robbins? Yes. Mr. De? Yes. Excuse me. Was that Yes. Yes. Mr. Drew? Yes. Mr. Foody? Yes. Mrs. Kempy? Yes. Mr. Bailey? Yes. Mrs. Schultz? Yes. That concludes personnel student affairs. Thank you, Mrs. O'Brien. Mrs. Kempy, would you mind moving uh special action education? Under education. I'd like to move item number one. Second. Discussion. Roll call. Mrs. Key. Yes. Mr. Bailey. Yes. Mr. O'Brien. Yes. Mr. Robbins? Yes. Mr. De? Yes. Mr. Foody? Yes. Mr. Drew? Yes. Mr. Schulz? Yes. And item two will be voted on after executive session.
018Thank you, Mr. Bailey. Budget and finance. I'd like to move items number one through five under budget and finance. I don't know what number six means, so I'll do that unless someone can clarify the what what that means through. Excuse me. I'm asking either the president or the BA, not him. Thank you. May I have some clarification before I move number six? The change order number two. Excuse me. The change of order under I see uh under orders of finance one through six. Okay. Um six is regarding related to that's all one motion. That's all one resolution. Um the the first resolution is uh broken down in in different paragraphs and it's for the referendum on December the 8th and it has six different I'd like to move item number six on your budget of
019finance please. The number six under budget and finance. You want to change your move it or not? One through six. Is that you want to move? One through seven. Okay. There's seven resolutions under budget and finance. The proposal for the referendum has six paragraphs to it. And then um that's one resolution. So that's the first resolution. Just tell me what to move one. Just one. Just one. Just item one. Just start with that. Yeah. Thank you. I'd like to move item one under budget and finance, please. Second. Discussion. Mr. Booty. Now that we got that cleared up, um I just wanted to let the board know. Um today I went up on the roofs at both McPin School and the high school to physically see what it is we're dealing with and I'm kind of
020glad that I did. Um the rooms are in really bad shape. Um, now there have been talk about the high school being the being the worst. I personally think it's Makipin. Um, when up on the roof at McAppin, you know, there's there's varying levels of in in spaces and roofs. There's probably seven different sections on on that roof. And there's four different types of materials that are used on the roof in general. We have rubber roof in in sections. We have asphalt roof in sections. We have spray foam roof in sections. And then we got sections where there's rubber roof that's been covered over with um a white aluminum fiber coating to help protect and and the reason being that that rubber roof that's there is starting to degrade. Um you can see the fibers
021that are in the rubber roof, they're starting to come through. Um, and that rubber coating, although I don't know when they did it, I believe was to help save that section of roof because it it looks like it was in pretty good bad shape. Um, the spray foam roof where they have that section that's done with spray foam. Um, there's I got I took pictures if anybody wants to see. There's bubbles in the roof that are a foot off off the roof. There's sections where there's water underneath and if you were to roll around it would sound like you're on a water bed. I mean that's how much water. There were spots when I walked through where there were little holes and little geysers would of water would shoot out. Roof's in bad shape. But
022when I compare it to the high school, my opinion is worse than the high school. Although high school's pretty bad all by itself. Um, I was a little dismayed at at why we would have so many different sections, but the people that are were running the show back then aren't here to explain. So, it's nothing that, you know, our current administration has done. It's it's obviously been done in the past. Um that roof originally, and this goes back to both the high school and and Makipin. Um they were originally asphalt roofs. They did a stone ballast. Um and with a stone ballast, there's what's called the ballast edging, the the drip edge on the edge. It's just curved up maybe an inch to 3/4 of an inch so that when they put the stone down,
023the stone doesn't run off. the water goes to the edge, builds up, and then drips into the gutter. When they replaced it with the rubber roof, they didn't replace the ballast edging. They just used, you know, they didn't they didn't use a new edging to go with the rubber roof. They used a ballast edging. So, you got all along the perimeter of the roof, you've got areas where the water puddles, and that's been contributing to all the leaks because it it freezes in those spots. Um, and at at Macapin on the back side where it adjoins the tennis courts and the baseball field, the wood underneath the roof, the sophet on that end is all starting to rot. So, we not only have to deal with repairing the roof, but there's also damage to the
024wood sophet underneath. So, I mean, it's it's really, I think, imperative that, and I hate putting any any more debt in in on the district, but um we really need to repair the roofs of both the high school and the middle school. There were spots on the high school roof that we just repaired um during the summer over the auditorium that further degradation has occurred since then. And the maintenance supervisor, Eric Sanvi, who went up with me and one of the maintenance guys, they said that they are going to go up and address it over the next couple of days so we don't have further problems down the road. So, it was kind of a godsend that I was up there to begin with because I don't think they would have been up there on
025a roof on their own, but um I just wanted to inform the board. And if anybody wants to see any of the pictures, I'd be more than happy to. And I I think that some of those pictures when we tell everybody that we're going to do this referendum that we could get somebody from the paper to put some of these in so they people can see for themselves. We really need to do this. Thank you, Mr. Foody. Anybody else have any comments? Mr. Robinson? I just like to thank Mr. Foody to go up on the roof. It certainly has convinced me now that we do need need roofs. So, thanks. Thank you very much. Welcome. Anybody else? Mr. Drew, um like to comment briefly about this. I think there's no question nobody really wants to
026consider something like taking on additional debt and kind of the community for some period of time. I don't think anybody at the table really wants to do that. Uh however, it appears that the uh repairs are absolutely necessary. really should not be delayed. Uh, and at this point, we're spending additional monies to repair items that are hurt because the roofs need repair. So, we're actually wasting the town's money on additional things. And if we don't do this, it will become a safety issue. We can have issues with mold that could be very expensive. So, I think it's they're in dire need of repair. uh doing this with a bond. Uh first we can't we don't have the money to spend. If we just plop down the cash to do the roofs uh we would have
027to delay it over multiple years and uh uh what would happen I think is that uh uh that would impact the educational budget and again we would have further damage. By doing it as a bond, we can take advantage of 40% uh funding by the state. Uh in this case where we're talking about $8 million total, that means that the state will uh finance or give us the money for 3.2 million of that. Um, so they're basically giving us money to do the repairs that we know we need to do, not doing it as a bond would would uh that would be money we'd have to come up with. And uh 3.2 million is a very substantial amount. So we need to do it as a bond uh to take advantage of the state funding.
028And finally, uh, by doing at what are historically low interest rates and especially interest rates lower than the existing bonds, um, our debt service will be less than what we're paying now. So, it in fact gives us an opportunity to spend less on debt to get something done that we need to have done. Um, so I think at the end of the day, even though we don't really want to do something like this, we have to repair the roofs and uh there really are no uh other alternatives. This is a a good alternative for the district and uh u so I highly support the issue and thank you both. Thank you. Anybody else? Mr. Judy, the only other thing that I'd like to say um and I don't know who's really read this, but under
029item number two, um under resolution one and we go to paragraph C, the last sentence of the paragraph, I'm not comfortable with. Um, the school district, it says the school district may transfer a portion of the proposed local share cost of one project to another under circumstances permitted by statute. That's because each roof is a separate project. Well, I I just want to be, you know, I don't want this going anything but the roofs. Each roof is a separate project. So, there's technically two projects here. And what that means is that if you have extra money in one and you need it in the other, you can transfer between two projects. And that's the project that they're being referred. One is the high school project and one is the MAC project. Okay. But the reason
030I I'll tell you why I'm I'm uncomfortable with that. Um when we did our last bond issue, there were things that we bonded for um of work to do and we thought we were going to finish those projects and it didn't. Money got taken from some projects to finish others and we were still in the hole for windows and doors and all that kind of jazz. I can't speak to that because I wasn't here to tell you what this means. Yes. But I'm just telling you why I'm I'm uncomfortable with that. I can tell you that that's what this language means in this particular resolution. This resolution was drafted by our bond council and there are two separate projects, one for each roof. Anybody else? Roll call, please. Mrs. O'Brien, yes. Mr. Robbins, yes. Mr.
031De, yes. Mr. Drew. Yes. Mr. Foody. Absolutely. Mrs. Key. Yes. Mr. Bailey. Yes. Mrs. Schultz. Yes. Like to move items 2 through seven under budget and finance, please. Second discussion. Mr. Drew. Um, item number two. Did we discuss this information? Yes. This is actually a decrease. Um we had discussed this a few months ago. Um they had when they opened up the floor they um hit a conduit that they weren't aware that was there. And so I think we discussed it in July and um this is actually um the final change. It'll be when everything is told up, the actual contract is less than what was originally awarded because of the um the money that's held in escrow for any anti unanticipated um adventures that happen. I also have a question about item number four.
032This is the uh external uh bridge deck uh flying stairway. And I think um as we've discovered, if you have something made out of steel that's exposed to the weather, you've got to constantly paint it and repair it and so on and so forth. And at some point, you get rust and potentially a a safety hazard if we're not there now, but we're going to have to continue to spend money on that. Why do we need do we need it? The Could we take it out? The balcony. Yeah, it's an erris. Yeah, for the design of the building. It's a I I I I figured it was for part of fire safety where it needed to have an egress, but I didn't know for sure. You wouldn't have enough egress, I think, because the rooms
033are on the outside over here. And I don't know how you would get all those kids through the halls for egress in case of an emergency. So the problem is that they're second floor and they can't go out the front door. They're like right out here and then you would have to have all the kids filtering this way. Now the high school has a second floor with no flying balcony, but they have different doorways. They have multiple exits go out. This is limited. Yes. Is a fire. Anybody else? Basically, it's right out there which is on the second floor. All right. Anybody else? Roll call, please. Mr. Bailey. Yes. Mr. Robbins? Yes. Mr. De? Yes. Mr. Foody. Uh, yes. Mr. Drew. Yes. Mrs. Kempy. Yes. M. Mrs. O'Brien. Yes. Mrs. Schultz. Yes. [Music] Okay. So,
034workshop and discussion for budget and finance on Monday. Is that correct? Correct. On Monday, there'll be 11 items for the board to consider, possibly more fascinating architectural discussion, I'm sure. So, please everybody plan to attend. Anybody have any questions with regards to budget and finance? Mr. Foody. Um on number one um of the authorizing the 42,500 to prepare an electrical and structural analysis at the four schools Marshall Hill, Westbrook, Macken, and the high school for determination of the possibility of of solar. Have we gotten any other bids um from any other architects whether it be land or cuz I'm just a and I'll tell you why I'm I'm just a little concerned with the the cost when reading the proposal it said that you know he wanted the plans to all buildings which in speaking
035with right Eric today he said he had all meters he had to look for the maca pin ones. Mhm. Um and and knowing what this guy's going to do, he's going to look at the the bar joy specifications in the plans, look up in a book that what their weight load is, do a little bit of determination as to what we have up on the roof now and the possibility of the solar and figure out whether or not. Well, I'm just a little concerned that that cost might be high and I'm curious if we have had any other bids because it's part of the SOP manual for the district is we're supposed to get but this is also the architect that's doing the roof replacement. So, I think it would be um behoove the board
036to use the same architect that's doing the roof replacement and doing all the bid specifications for the roof replacement to also do the um competitive bet bidding for any solar project. Um I I know in speaking with him he is going to have to make a determination whether the the drawings are actually accurate and he's not going to be able to just look at the drawings and take that as gospel. He's going to have to do bring the engineers in to do their own calculations. And that money is also including the development of the RFP for the um procurement process if in fact the board um you know determines that they're going to do that. What then would is this fee just for the determination and not the breakdown? It's including every everything I believe
037that that was given to the board members. it was electronic version and it also includes the RFP and the analysis of the um the u responses that come in and the recommendation to the board. The only cost is if the board decides not to go forward with solar panels. you know, I if if they determine that, you know, you're not going to be able to cover the entire roof or it's not as extensive because of other variable factors because they also have to take into account the wind load up here and and other things. Um so once that determination is is is made the board has to decide whether it's you know what what can be covered whether it's worth it. So this is but you can't do one without doing the other. This is
038going to actually this will actually tell you what can be covered. Well, what what and and the reason why I asked for this separate cuz I I read this and and and thank you. Um it's one price 42,500. But if we spend $20,000 and if that's his cost to find out that we can't do solar, then that part of that bid is drawn up the the specs for but it's not that's not an amount of money that they're going to get up front either. So when they give you a professional fee like that, it's built in increments as they do the work. Oh, no. Understood. But it there's no breakdown as to what that those costs will be in the proposal that I read there, which was what was on the board member page. So,
039I'm just seeing 42,500 with no actual breakdown that if we can't do a solar panel project, then he's going to get paid 42,500 for Why don't I do this for everything? Why don't I get in touch with him tomorrow and I'll ask him to break it down? I would like to see that before I I vote on it and that you'll have that available before Monday. Okay. I'm sorry. Hi, Jamie. Uh the other the other thing I wanted to bring up real quick is the you know we're putting brand new roofs or we're proposing to put brand new roofs on on these buildings that we're going to put ballast and solar panels on and how it affects the roofs and the warranty on the roofs and you know spending $42,500 or or part of that
040sum to figure this out. To find out that we're going to put our roofs in jeopardy is another thing to consider warranty wise warranty coverage on the roof. Well, there's no penetration, right? So the so the roof will still they'll say you guys you guys are covered for 25 years even if you just put the ballast up there or the 20 years whatever it is that that's fact anything the the roofing contractor is going to warranty the roofs and then if if you do put up any kind of panels that person or that organization has to maintain everything and that includes the roofing structure so it it's not Um, the board should be fine for the the warranty period. Um, Joe, have you I'm curious if if the if the roofing company who puts the
041roof up, are they going to still warranty it with the ball? The roofing company doesn't do the warranty. It's the manufacturer of the product that warranties it. So, whoever manufactures the the the com the um the layers that the material we put up there, they're the ones that give us the warranty. Okay. So they would have to be part and parcel with anyone that comes up on the roof to make sure that everything is still intact. This is not something that you could do in isolation from what I understand. Everyone has to be on board. Yeah. I will say that the there's two separate warranties here. The warranty with the roof and the layers and everything that Barbara was talking about is one warranty. So if those parts fail, then uh that company comes in
042and fixes it. But if anything from the solar parts fail, they also have a warranty that they come in and fix it through that through their warranty. So if they cause a damage, they fix it, right? And if the roof just fails, then that's warranty through the roof. Understood. The roof manufacturers will be around for a long time because they make good money and it's a but the but the solar company will probably bankrupt before they have to put any money out in my opinion. See how this business is working. It's not anybody. Does anybody else have anything to add? One one more question based on what Jamie had said. I and and Barbara, I don't know who we would ask, but if we we do the roofs, we get the approval, we do the
043roofs and and it turns out that we can put solar on and we put solar up on on the roofs, something happens and we got a bad leak and we got to move those panels. Who's going to do that? Are we going to pay the company to come in and and is that something that Mr. Simbrino can ask? Are we going to pay them to move those panels in order for that repair to be done? Um and and then what are we going to lose? I would just I I think it's something that we should at least ask. He would be the one to know. So that's who should be. Yeah. And then one step further is how far is the is the solar company going to argue it and say it's not our fault
044and then they have to go back and forth to figure out who pays for it. Well, but we're discussing we're not even there yet. And the other the other piece I think in in many of the studies with roofs that do have solar panels, it actually protects the roof. Um the sun that would usually be baking down on your rooftop is now going into your solar panels. the snow and the or the weight from the snow goes onto the panels. Many times that melts very quickly. So, we have to I think we need to I think this is a great dialogue, but we need to measure out everything, but just figure out again who's going to cover what is the important piece of at this time. I think if we spend a lot of time
045talking about something that we don't even know we're doing yet. It just I think at this point what this resolution is going to accomplish, it's going to put to rest whether or not the board um has has roofs that can handle the solar panel given the environmental issues that we deal with in West Milford and you'll know once and for all whether or not that's a feasible option for you and and take it from there. And unfortunately, sometimes you have to spend money to make money. Yeah. No, I'm in I'm in I'm in favor of of doing something, especially if we can save money for the But some of the the questions that are coming up, they're down the road. We can't answer those things at this time. The only thing that we that I
046that we can answer is if how much is he going to spend to do that study and how much is not and and I'll ask him to provide a breakdown of the money so that you can see that if the board chooses not to go ahead with the RFP then that entire amount of money will not be subject to be paid. Yeah. Or we can't do it because the roof can't take the loads. That would be and I just want to I just don't want to be stuck with a 42,000 not 42,000. If it was 20,000 I'd feel better or 25. I would just I'd like to know what that and I'll and um I'll have that information for you so that you can review it. Okay. Okay. Mr. J very quickly. Uh Senator Bino
047did say exactly our superintendent said that having the panels up there would extend the life of the roof. Now the question is whether that was sales blower or whether he's willing to put his his money where his mouth is and for example extend the warranty and it all of this is a little bit premature but to avoid those issues with the interface which I deal with at work all the time. uh when we get there joint and severally liable. Absolutely. Okay. Anybody else? Okay. I guess we can move on to education. education items. Anybody have any questions regarding the items under education? There's 10 right now. Okay. Then we move on to personnel and student affairs. Mrs. O'Brien, there are 26 items under personnel student affairs that will be brought to uh our voting pleasure
048on Monday and there could be additional ones as well. Any questions or discussions pertaining to personnel or student affairs? Generally, yes. Thank you. Okay. Okay, we shall move on to old business. Does anybody have any old business? Seeing none like to close old business. Second. All in favor? Any opposed? Thank you. New business. Does anybody have any new business? [Music] Seeing none, like to close new business. Second. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay. Petitions are request. I just wanted to bring up to the uh board and to the people of West Milo that on our website right now school website as far as refusing participation of state assessments and testing. We don't have any type of guidance for the families that choose not to take that. We had it last year. It was removed from
049our website and that puts a bunch of people out there in limbo. So, it's something that I'd like to see addressed soon um as far as giving some guidance to the parents that choose not to take part testing. Mr. Booty, why was it taken off? Uh we're still waiting for further direction from the state at this point. Uh I was at a meeting two weeks ago with Barry Ericson from the state who oversees all of this. Um we're just waiting for more clarification. There might be different ways to do it. Uh we've also been asked to share which word uh Mr. Novak and myself are going to do next week is do a whole presentation on park what the questions mean, what the results mean and so forth. So while we're talking about this I
050can tell you that the scores are supposed to start being released I believe Friday uh this Friday and then uh more information will be available the middle of November. Uh so you know we want to look at it. We want parents to have a better understanding now that we have a better understanding. It's not something that's new anymore. Uh, and we're not saying that there may not be an opt out, but we want to make sure that we're doing things in the right direction. So, I think at this point, we're just waiting for the dust to settle and then see what we need to do and move from there. And hopefully the state or your your people don't drag their feet and then to the point where people are scrambling to what last year's policy
051was just hand in a simple note. You know, I mean, I I don't see how we're going to go against the state if we just put out something that says if you refuse park testing, just report it to or whatever the policy may be. It's not going to be in violation of the state. Well, we that's what we're not sure about. So, I mean, you draw it up. So, it's not that's all. But the the discussion last year was that the the districts who did not have a significant amount of students uh participating in park would not receive a certain amount of state aid, which did they carry? We haven't seen it yet. We're not to that point yet. And just to let you know, it's political suicide for anybody to say, "I'm going to
052revoke your your funding." I doubt they'll ever get elected again if they revoke funding from your district. That's ridiculous. Thank you, Mr. De. I appreciate that. I I I understand where where where Jamie's passion is. And my daughter did the first round, which was the math. And after she explained to me some of the things that she was going, now keep in mind, she scored, she aced it, the New Jersey ASK in eighth grade. hands down she aced it. Um that they sit there and they ask questions. The first section that she did she was very comfortable with. Boom boom boom did everything. And the second section and the third I believe there was things in there that she'd never ever learned before. So along with all of her friends they wrote, "Haven't haven't been
053taught this yet. Haven't been taught this yet. haven't been taught this yet. To me, if that's not the that's not the proper way of doing testing. So, when she told me that, I took her out of the next round cuz it to me it seems like a bunch of bull that you're they're testing kids on stuff they haven't learned. Why are we taking them out of the the classroom, their learning time to take a to take a test that they haven't even anything first to learn? what what they're doing I think this year just to to get a little bit of clarification frustrating. Yeah, it is frustrating especially on the students part. Oh, absolutely. Um but the the piece that they're looking for is to try to determine and come up with a baseline based
054off of the information that they collected from last year's data. That's why it's not really being counted toward anything moving forward for this year. Um so they're looking at that. They're making determinations. Uh there should be some uh information coming forth uh real soon that we can share with the board and we can share with the public and we uh together have uh already decided that as along the path as we get more information we will be sharing that uh whether it be a video presentation or a straight ahead discussion. I don't know what discussions that all the administrative superintendents have had with Trenton. I I Oh, some of it's been some of it's been pretty hostile. So Oh, I'm sure. I could tell you that. I'm sure. But you know, it when you take
055when you're taking the kids away from their learning time to test them on stuff that they haven't even been exposed to yet is to me a little bit ludicrous. And I would hope that they try to change what they're they're doing. I mean, you know, you you test kids on what they learn, what not, not on what they haven't learned. And it just I understand everybody's frustration that in and taking their kids out and there's frustration on educators end too. You know, you know, I'm not saying I'm for it or against it, but there are concerns. But, you know, we again, we you know, we're all even you as the board of education have to follow what the state is telling us to do. Um, so we have to listen and make our decisions wisely
056is basically what we want to do. That's pretty much where we are. All right. I had a motion by Debbie O'Brien and a second by Ena to close new business. I think we were in the midst of a voice vote. Are we all in favor of closing new business? I. Any oppose? Thank you. All right, we're going to move on to petitions and requests. Petitioners who have requested to speak prior to the meeting will be first with five minutes for each petitioner for a period of 30 minutes and then time permitting other petitions and requests limited to five minutes per petitioner will be allowed until the 30-inut period transpires. All speakers are asked to give their full name, spell their last name, and provide their address. Speakers may not use the names of students during
057petitions and requests. Would anybody like to come up and speak? Yes. [Music] Good evening. Uh William Sidwards, CYT O W ICZ, 694 Lake Shore. Uh the first item I'd like to speak about is the solar project. I have a terrible feeling that it seems more like feelood a feel-good project more than it's going to be a beneficial project to the district. And I understand that everybody wants to do the right thing by saving costs by going green. However, I think that, you know, correct me if I'm wrong outside of here, but for $42,000 for a structural and electrical analysis, now you have to think that your savings have to already surmount the $42,000. So to me that just kind of seems a little one-sided in who's going to benefit from the project. And perhaps a
058better direction is to explore which items in terms of infrastructure in the district right now are could be replaced and stop using so much energy and create possible savings that way for the long term. and also the fact that you know you're going to realize your benefits of solar energy in 20 years. By that point perhaps solar is going to be up to speed in terms of being a marketable product and then it would be well worth the district to explore that. And the second thing is a question uh perhaps once again outside of the meeting. The comprehensive maintenance plan is developed every three uh 3 years. Does that mean that there's a 2012 to 2013 comprehensive maintenance plan? And if there is that online is that available for us to view? It's an annual
059thing. And what the comprehensive maintenance plan describes is the the building areas that need to be addressed and how much money has been spent on those areas in a three-year period. what was actually spent, what is currently budgeted, and what is anticipated to be budgeted next year because the state requires us to spend a percentage of the billion building values over a 10-year period. Okay. So, that's what the comprehensive maintenance plan is. Is that available for public documentation? It's a public document. Yes. It's not on the website. Okay. So, it has to be requested, right? Great. Thank you. That's all. Thank Thank you. I could just I just like to point out, you know, we're talking about the solar energy and again this again something for the future possibly, but in the meantime, it's important
060and I know this was discussed at a a board meeting going back sometime, but Miss Francisco was very very successful this year and going out to bid for uh power um for for the district and had saved by going that route saved a substantial amount of money. So, that's a step in the right direction without using going green, but certainly did save us. Do you remember what the savings was on that total on the new uh on that bid? Uh, from what we were paying, I thought it was about 7 cents uh a kilowatt hour. Um I think you say about $40,000 35,000 35 to $40,000 total. So we are trying to, you know, we are trying to find things as you said indicating where we can try to spend less money and make that
061happen. So we're doing that until we make a decision on the LG. And with the boiler replacements, um, we we have them on automated systems now. And because they're more efficient, they modulate instead of just throwing out um a heat so that um they they increase their um they in increase their production as warranted. So when it gets colder in the building, they fire on um more cylinders, so to speak, and then they modulate back when you don't need as much heat. So, we now have new boilers in three buildings and we're in the process of rebuilding the uh the ones at Macab and school to make them a little bit better. And I agree with those things. I think those things are great and they definitely offer immediate benefits. And that seems more of
062the direction versus the the still exploratory solar route. and to to spend $42,000, even if you drop that that cost down, it you still have to overcome that cost. And I think that the route of replacing things like boilers that can be put onto uh automated systems and such, I think that's perfect. And finding cost savings in terms of electric, that's great. I just think solar isn't as great. Thank you, Mr. Suits. Would anybody else like to come up and speak? Seeing none, I'd like to move to close petitions and requests. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay. Thank you. We're going We motion for executive session. Mrs. O'Brien, would you like to Sure. At 8:30 p.m., I'd like to make a motion to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing a
063HIV personnel negotiations matter attorney client attorney client privileges as well as student matters and hill press center. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay, we're going to be going into executive session and we'll be coming out to address HIV afterwards. [Music] Yes. 8:30. We would love to do that, Steve. But we're moving on back to um education. And um under education, I'd like to get a motion to approve item number two, which is an unsubstantiated hit 016/H2. Second. Discussion. Uh roll call, please. Mr. Scppy? Yes. Miss O'Brien? Yes. Mr. Robbins? Yes, Mr. Denver. Yes, Mr. Foody. Yes, Mr. Drew. Yes, Mr. Schultz. Yes. Okay, it is uh 9:32. I need a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjourn. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay, we are adjourned at 9:32 p.m. Thank you very much everybody
064for coming. Have a wonderful week. See you in Monday. Same day time, same board channel. Day