001I'd like to call this meeting to order. Mrs. Norian, would you lead us in a flag salute? >> Certainly. 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. Sunshine Law statement. All requirements of the Open Public Meetings Act have been met for this meeting of the board of education of the Bureau of Ordell. Notice of this meeting was filed with the record and all persons requesting such notice. Mr. Darien, would you read the mission statement? >> The Ordale Public School District is dedicated to the ongoing pursuit of educational excellence through comprehensive, innovative curriculum and instruction. The district is committed to providing opportunities for social, emotional, and academic discovery to foster curiosity, courage, and
002character. Our goal is to prepare our students to become lifelong learners who are self-directed, resilient, productive, responsible citizens. Thank you. Roll call. >> On the roll. Mr. Delg Greco >> here. >> Mrs. Downey >> here. >> Mrs. Genty >> here. >> Mrs. Moran >> here. >> Mrs. Norian >> here. >> Mr. Nutley >> here. >> Mrs. Walker >> here. >> Mr. Darien >> here. >> Mrs. Nichols >> here. Open to the public for agenda items only. >> Not seeing any. We'll skip to the superintendent's report. >> Good evening. Um, I'd like to start my report this evening by congratulating our Odyssey of the Mind team who placed first in the Skylands regional tournament two weekends ago. Uh, for those of you who have been around for a while, you know that our Odyssey team faces
003a pretty unique challenge every year. They compete in the middle school division and there's a very big difference between sixth graders and eighth graders. And I happened to be there that day and they competed against a team of eighth graders that I was I was pretty wowed by. And our team of sixth and fourth graders prevailed and they did an amazing job and I am so proud of them and looking forward to cheering them on at the state tournament, not this weekend, but the next weekend at Princeton High School. Additionally, a special thank you to the PTA. This is our author visit week. We had two author visits already this week. Yesterday was Hannah Slayer. Today was Gordon Corman, which we were, as you know, very excited to have. He is one of the most
004prolific children's authors out there. And he has a really amazing story. He wrote his first book when he was like in middle school. And he handwrote it and his mother actually typed it up for him. And he was in school and he would be the one to collect the Scholastic newsletters. and he found the address for Scholastic on the back and he sent them his manuscript and with a little bit of luck it got passed from one person to another person to another person and next thing you know he published his first book and has gone on to publish many many more. Uh, tomorrow we have our last author visit for this year, but it has been wonderful. And I can't speak enough about today's because in a school district where students are used to
005authors year after year after year, it's a little bit harder to wow them. And they were captivated today as fifth and sixth graders. So, special thanks to the PTA for organizing that. And the only other item I'd like to draw your attention to is one item under finance today that I don't want to take Mr. Darien's thunder. But I am incredibly excited to see us move forward on upgrading the sound in the auditorium. If you've ever sat under that balcony, you'll know that the sound from these speakers stops at that balcony. and adding new speakers and a new sound system to the auditorium is an incredible uh next step for this space. So, thank you. And that concludes my report. >> Thank you, Mr. Ayapelli. >> Good evening. I'd like to uh introduce the 2627
006tentative budget. I'd like to dive right into it. Uh, so the budget process, you know, I think about this that there never seems to end that as soon as we're done with one school year, we're into another school year and we're already thinking about the budget's always being thought about whether it's this year moving into next year that it's not just a static, okay, it's done and then we just that's it. um it's always being thought about each year for the next year and trying to plan accordingly. Um so we meet and have conversations throughout the year with the school level, district level. Board has a finance and tech committee. We have detailed meetings that are very into the wi into the weeds, very granular. Um the board is very involved uh as well as
007all the stakeholders. So I have to say this is really a partnership when the budget is put together. Uh so the budget as you may know may not know it always has to be balanced. Revenues and appropriations must match. Uh you can't submit a budget that is you know you don't have enough money you say and but we need this it can't do that. Uh we can't run a deficit. Uh so the first round is always to submit it to the county uh for approval and they have to approve it before it could even be advertised in the paper and the board can't do a public hearing until the county says well everything you said it you were going to put in there meets the guidelines and they look to check all the boxes and
008so as I said you know the budget the balancing um based on Orodell's home values based on the personal incomes. It's a tax levy based budget as we'll see. We get very little in state aid. Um and the state aid was received later this year. So the budget time frame has been pushed off a bit. Um and then we try to c you know salaries, benefits, what are our what's our enrollment going to be? Uh what are some big ticket items? Uh what could they possibly cost? trying to get their costs up front so we're prepared for the 26 27 school year that starts July 1. So our tentative revenue is right now the tax levy would be 14 million 801593 and that supports 87 almost 88% of the budget. Um but it's even more
009when you think about if we look down at the operating budget, the budgeted fund balance, the capital reserve, withdrawal from maintenance reserve, uh emergency reserve, those are all funds that the board over time if there is anything left over at the end of the year have put into allowable reserves. So they've been saving for the rainy day and they're using it without having to go in addition to taxpayers. So that's funds that have accumulated over time, many years. Uh and as you can see, our aid is actually 3% lower this year. It was 3% lower from the prior year. So we have got been cut 3% one year, next year another 3%. Um and it doesn't make up enough of the budget as you see. And we get categorical aid. Our aid is the state
010says there's x amount of dollars for this student. uh that's for transportation, security, special ed, and they give a flat dollar amount and they multiply it and they say that's your aid. Um and that's because the funding formula is not conducive to OIDEL. Uh Oriel is in the in the eyes of the state too wealthy. You know, taxes are too I mean the you have a high ratable base. got lots of ratables that are valued at significant numbers and the personal income they say is high. So therefore the state you we don't qualify for any equalization aid. We don't qualify for any additional aid other than the basic dollar amount per student. And so where does that mo money going to go tentatively? Right? It's general education is the number at the top 4,48,671 and
011it goes from there and as you can see we have special education then there's employee benefits and those costs are rising considerably. Um so that number continues to rise greater than any other number in the budget. Uh so the board we're doing our best to maintain the quality of the education and present a budget that's fair to taxpayers. Um so we have general administration and it just if you take time to just look at the numbers and you'll see the total expenses for the general fund 16,288550 capital outlay. So that's capital projects that the board is tentatively going to put in the budget. Could be HVAC units. Uh that money would come out of the capital fund, not related to taxes at all. And that's another 548,360. So the total budget 16,836910. It's a pie
012chart. If you could just see the general expenses, you see the just a visual expression of what we saw on the prior slide. Um you see that general education, special education, employee benefits overwhelmingly the lion share of the budget. And so those health care benefits that we talk about and for here we're going to talk about those benefits as just you know it's medical dental prescription. So what percentage of the tax levy has that what is it you know in 2122 we were looking at okay health benefits was 10.79%. this year. It's an extraordinary. We're in the state health plan. We are in a very large pool. Um the rates have gone through the roof and it's put on the backs of the board and the taxpayers unfortunately how to pay for it. Um and
013you can see it's eating up more and more of the budget. So the idea of meeting the needs of the students which I think the board does an outstanding job doing and balancing the costs that are rising uh this is a fine line and it's a difficult line that keeps getting more and more difficult every year and the discussions get more and more you could say heated and involved at the board. everyone that's at the table when we're discussing this budget is coming with um you know with belief that they could do the best for the school but also there's everybody is tied into this and values what they're doing and I value what they do regarding this so the the numbers keep increasing so how do we you know the only choice is taxes
014and the board has been very diligent and cognit you know cogn cognitive of the fact that we should not you know pass. So the general fund 16 million836910 special revenue these would be funds that are outside these would be uh federal funds some additional special ed uh extraordinary aid funds. This would be IDA but these numbers are just offset with costs. So that 275967 is a fraction of what we actually need to implement those programs. And so this is just an offset uh from the special revenue fund. So the total budget is 17,112,877. And to go back the levy 14,81593. Next steps, the board can approve this at tonight's meeting. It's due to the county on March 27th. So, there is additional time uh because of the delay in the state aid. So, it has
015to be in the county office by March 27th. Uh it's submitted electronically. Used to actually have to one time, you know, make all the copies and go deliver it to the office and it wasn't that long ago. The state has really upgraded the program. And then you cannot advertise for a public hearing until the county approves it. So, as people submit them, county has their own magic formula as to who gets approved and how they do it. It's it's a secret sauce of a recipe. So, the final budget then would be presented in May at a public hearing. So, if changes are made to the tenative budget, they could be made in May and they're documented and submitted to the county showing this is what mayor may have changed. So the budget can go through
016another couple of iterations if the board chooses. Um and that's presentation. So I'll questions. >> Any questions from the board? >> Mr. Dariion. >> Yes, Mr. Ayelli. Um so this is a very good snapshot of what's occurring in this budget 2627. How does it compare in terms of percentage increase from the previous budget which was 2526? >> Are we talking levy or >> Levy. It's 3.99%. Which is significantly below with other communities districts um are going up. I mean 7% 8% 6.9% 9%. I mean the board has really held the line and still meeting the needs of the students. So 3.99%. Um >> so the the increase to the levy um is that the max number we could uh pass on to the taxpayer? >> No, there's significantly the levy number could have been almost
017I want to say 7%. There's something called banked um they gave us healthc care adjustment increases >> and the board is not using all of those increases. There's the number in the budget in the resolution stating how much but there's still another 300,000 okay >> on the table. So that money could be banked for future years if the board so chooses. So the so there is no 2% hard cap. the state allows for adjustments and so our cap was actually closer to 78%. And the board is half of that. So 3.99 um and that money that they said they'll at least give it to you but in the future if you so choose after you exhaust well you could bank it and possibly but again it's not money that we're getting in aid right it's
018just money that you would then be able to increase your tax levy by >> right >> that's and and a lot of those special adjustments are healthcare related if you look at the slide where you show healthcare benefits increasing over the past five years >> the the health care benefits originally was at 1.3 million roughly in 21-22 and now it's at 3 million. So that's it's almost [clears throat] double. And as a result, the state says, >> "Yeah, we see this. We understand that this is going to put a financial burden on you. So we'll let you pass on the expenses through a special tax to your tax the the tax levy, >> right? >> And we're not doing that. >> Not all of it. We are doing some of it. If you see in
019the resolution D9, there's the healthc care adjustment at 660,493 and it could have been much higher. I mean, the state said, you know, you should be increasing, you know, benefits may go up 32% next year. So, they're not giving 32% more in aid. They're just saying, okay, you could raise taxes higher. Your aid is your aid. Sorry. The only thing we could do is you could pass those costs along. So they've just given the out to and now the boards have to digest that and deal with that that you're not getting any more aid and you're in the state program. So costs would just be passed along. >> Right. All right. Thank you. >> You're welcome, >> Mrs. Walker. >> Um so Mr. Rya Pell, we know then that the cost for the the health
020care costs are the biggest increase. So from 202122 to 2627 it's gone up 20.72%. >> Is that better? >> Good. So with that in mind I think the you've done a great job along with the finance committee at keeping us down to 3.9%. However, the scuttlebutt in the community seems to be our taxes are going up and we all got reassessed this year and our taxes keep raising and a couple of people had mentioned to me that it's well it's the schools that are doing it and you know I feel that we've kept ours down almost all the time in the past years to 2% 2 and a half% So is there any way do you know what Riverdale's percentage was? >> Not yet, but it's my understanding they will use all their bank cap.
021They will go to as high as they could go to. It's my understanding that that's >> so that would be like >> that would be above 3.99%. I'm not exactly sure of their percentage. >> Ours is seven. So they could be at seven. They could be even higher when we'll find out when they release. >> Same with the town. But I do want to say one thing when you look at your taxes. So the taxes are broken down. I live in Oidell. I'm a taxpayer here too. So I have a I'm not just saying, "Hey, let's spend somebody else's money." This is my money, too. Um if you look at the how the tax is broken up, you know, the schools, yes, but there's Riverdale, they're by far the largest portion. The burrow's portion of
022the budget of our taxes is greater than the school budget. the school meaning public school >> right >> so Barrow spends more has a higher portion of that tax overall base and Riverdale that's out of control of the board's perview I mean the board so I understand what people say I know the taxes are going up and listen if I could say well here's a way to reverse that here's a way to say we're not going to have an increase I would love to say that because I'm right there with all of you Yeah. To to what Mr. Ayell is saying, if you look in your tax bill, there is the fact there's factors, right? So, it'll say Riverdale factor, you know, I'm just going to make something up. 07 Burrow. 06. Oriel is always
023the lowest. >> Exactly. >> And I'll say this also since we have some council members sitting here. When I came on this board, the Ordell public school budget was greater than the Ordel Burrow budget. we we were spending higher amounts. It has now flipped significantly. So if anyone complains about taxes and they say schools, tell them to look at their bill and look at the factor for Riverdale, Ordell Burrow, and then Ordell Public because we have done a fantastic job of keeping people's taxes low. >> Yes, would like to say something. >> I think when you hear that, the first thing you think is well, we must be cutting things. But the truth is we added a staff member last year. We are increasing a staff member's hours again this year. So the strong financial
024standing of the district has also allowed us to move forward adding programs when you are hearing across the county of teachers losing their jobs of programs being cut. But we've we've done really smart things over time and we've managed things really well and and the board gets credit for a lot of that. But I always want to be very clear that we did not cut anything from this budget. The number of staff members we had actually um went up slightly in terms of the full-time equivalent. None of our programs got cut at all. Um, you know, we found ways to make materials work where we needed to and use the resources that we can to make sure that we're not going to we don't want to go around and just being proud and saying, "Well,
025we've managed to only increase 3.99 when everybody else has higher increases." We've managed to only increase 3.99 without it impacting the quality of education at Oriel public school because those two things have to be linked at all times. I think part of the issue with some of the schools is that when the co money came in, there was a lot of money that came in with CO. We were very careful and the superintendent was very careful like not to have use that money for recurring expenses, recurring and I think a lot of schools hired a lot of staff and now they have all these programs and now they're going to have to cut whereas we knew that it was not going to last forever. We were very careful with it. So I think that's part
026of it. Um Miss Anything else Mrs. Walker? No. And and I firmly [clears throat] agree with that COVID money. I know of schools that >> they were looking to build a new library in their school district with the money that came in. That was how large that amount was coming to some districts. So I just want to say I applaud both the finance committee and Mr. Ayell and Miss Bosios for fine job. >> So back to health benefits. Um I think in this current in the current year that we're in ending 2026 we had raised health benefits by an estimate of 30% and that's what they kind of came in at right 30%. >> Correct. >> So next year you're estimating for the second half of the budget 32% increase. That's what you're hearing. >>
027Yes. >> That's something like we just you know the state's going to have to come up with because districts cannot keep doing this. It's impossible. So, everyone's going to be in the same boat. But, >> and >> Mr. Nland, >> my question is, is this all related to the insurance companies under the um Affordable Care Act? >> I I can't speak to that. I that I don't know. I just know that the costs are rising and they're passing the costs on. I mean, um, you know, family plans, we're talking the top if you had the top and the board and that person also contributes the most that a third of that, but you're still close to, you know, $60,000 for a family plan. And the person, you know, if they're in that, they would contribute
028about a third of the premium, >> right? >> But that's it. But the the state actually incentivized teachers to leave one plan to go to another plan. And the board now is picking up that cost. They incentivize them to go. They're so sold as the savings. But as they switched plans, those costs continue to rise in the plan. And the contribution from the members >> is smaller >> than so as and and their numbers cap. So it's tied to their salary. It's just a percentage, you know, 4%. And the state incentivized the move. We were supposed to save money. I do this report every year and we saved no money and we just shown that it all they did was just shift the cost and spend a lot of time doing this report and I
029have not met anyone any district that said hey that chapter 78 or that chapter 44 those really saved us money. No one has saved money. >> This is unsustainable. Mr. Darien. >> Uh, yeah. I'd also like to um discuss some big ticket items that we've been maintaining through financial discipline and uh that mostly has to deal with the building. You know, this building is over 100 years old and requires a lot of maintenance and improvements over the years. And we are very successful in funding our capital reserve, our maintenance reserve, and our emergency reserve accounts every year and also using those funds every year to fund projects that improve the schools. So, several years ago, we spent close to $800,000 on this auditorium. Uh, this past year, we spent another $800,000 with the um I'm
030thinking unvent air dales, which are basically heat air conditioning systems for the classrooms. Uh, in this uh upcoming um budget, we are putting aside up to $500,000 for some new rooftop units. These are HVAC units that are getting old and need replacing. An additional $150,000 from our maintenance reserve uh to to use for um where is it? It just says oh for cameras. Is that right? For security improvements because every year we feel we should spend at least some money improving security even though our security is topnotch. Um, so when you have money going into these reserve accounts and you're slowly depleting these re reserve accounts for capital improvements every year, you stay on top of the ball and um, you know, and and therefore we don't need any referendums to take care of maintenance.
031And I just wanted to highlight that within this budget, um, we're still able to maintain these reserve accounts and spend money for capital improvements even though we're at a lower increase like other districts. >> Any other questions, Mrs. Walker? >> Ju just a quick statement update. When I started teaching and till almost I retired, I didn't pay anything into my medical benefits whatsoever. And when I retired, I had the same benefits for both my husband and myself. In the past 10 years, and I know because my daughter laments all the time, she teaches at Riverdale, how expensive the teachers now have to pay to put into their uh benefits. So some way, as I heard Chris say, it's unsustainable what's happening. The whole medical profession is just crazy. So just this and observation. >> I
032have a question on the $300,000 cap that we're going to pull forward. We have three years to use that. >> Yes. >> Three years. So 300,000 plus addition to whatever happens next year. Okay. about >> any other questions. >> Good job on the budget, Mr. Ayelli. >> Well, thank you the board. The easiest thing, boy, if we just said go to CAP, it would have saved a lot of aida because the conversation I know it's never going to happen, but that's okay. But boy, the meetings would have been they would have been faster. They would have been less less auditive. That's all I got to say. >> And nicer. It's always a pleasure discussing items with you. >> Yes, definitely. I mean, the hard work is doing what you did and and taking care and
033really considering the taxpayer. It's not just frivolous. Hey, we're going to just spend. So, as a taxpayer and it's part of the process, it's I don't think it could be better. >> Anything else for your report? >> Uh, we did have the bid opening for the kindergarten rooftop unit. Uh, there were seven biders. uh those numbers now are looked over with uh land associates to see that uh contractors complied. Then after that they would go to the attorney and then if uh possibility be on next week's agenda to approve but I don't have the figures to speak of be I just have general numbers and I don't want to speak because it might not be that >> right that's meeting that's really the reason we're meeting next time is to get that bid in right
034so we can correct process okay that's why we're having two meetings two weeks in a row any other questions for Mr. Mr. Pell, is that it? Okay. Moving forward, minutes, review of February 18th. Any questions or comments, please email Mr. Mr. Aipelli. Approval of January 21st. Do I have a motion? >> I'll make a motion. >> Seconded by Mrs. Walker. Any questions? >> Call the question. >> On the role. Mr. Delg Greco. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Downey. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Genchi. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Moran? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Norian? >> Yes. >> Mr. Nutland? >> Yes. Mrs. Walker, >> yes. >> Mr. Dariion, >> yes. >> Mrs. Nichols, >> yes. Committee reports, uh, buildings and grounds. Mr. Delg Greco, >> um, I would like to after this meeting, I'll propose some dates for
035a B&G meeting. There's a couple items that we need to discuss that came up through the uh, budgeting process, but for tonight um, I would like to bring up B1, which is uh, use of school facilities. I'll second it. Second by Mrs. Norian. Any questions? >> Call the question >> on the role. Mr. Delgreco, >> yes. >> Mrs. Downey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ganchi, >> yes. >> Mrs. Moran, >> yes. >> Mrs. Norian, >> yes. >> Mr. Nutland, >> yes. >> Mrs. Walker, >> yes. >> Mr. Darian, >> yes. >> Mrs. Nichols, >> yes. Curriculum, Mrs. Norian, >> yes. So, I'd like to present item C1 on field trips. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Second by Miss Moran. Any questions or comments? >> Call the question >> on the role.
036Mr. Delg Greco, >> yes. >> Mrs. Downey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Geni, >> yes. >> Mrs. Moran, >> yes. >> Mrs. Norian, >> yes. >> Mr. Mr. Nutland. >> No on one. Yes on two. >> Mrs. Walker. >> Yes. >> Mr. Darien. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Nichols. >> Yes. Finance technology. Mr. Darien. >> Uh, yes. We had a meeting. I don't remember when it was. It was a while ago. Um, the result of that meeting is uh the budget we see tonight. Um, we had met many times over the past few months regarding this budget and I am happy the process is over. So, uh, with that, I'd like to make a motion to introduce items D1 through D10. >> I'll second. >> Second by Mrs. Genshi. Any questions? Mrs. Walker. >> Um, I'd like
037to question D6. Could someone explain that? >> These are old checks that we mailed out that were never cashed, so we take them out of circulation. >> Yeah, I followed up with the vendors. They're like, we have no outstanding balances. This is predates me. So, we just void them. Has to do it by resolution and the money comes back into the >> They were probably lost in the mail and then um our AP department re you know uh resubmitted the checks to them and then we just never they just never voided the old checks. >> Okay. All right. That's great. Thank you. Any other questions? >> Call a question. >> On the role. Mr. Delg Greco. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Downey? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Genshi? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Moran? >> Yes. >> Mrs.
038Norian? >> Yes. >> Mr. Nutland? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Walker? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dariion? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Nichols? >> Yes. Delegate report? Mrs. Norian? >> I have no report. >> Personnel. Mrs. Walker. >> Okay. Thank you. I'd like to present F1. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Second by Oh, Mrs. Genji. Second by Mrs. Genshi. Any questions? >> Um, Mrs. Walker, >> I have a question. Um, I just a comment. I was happy to see that Derek um Gordon is coming back. for to volunteer, not to volunteer, to work part-time. That's nice to see one of our retired maintenance people. And the other thing, um, I see that, um, Lindsay, um, Malcolm is going to be again the director. It's listed as assistant director. Who is her? the principles, >> the admins, >>
039they're the directors and Leslie is the >> Oh, they're the directors and she's >> that's in their contract. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Call the question on the role. Mr. Delgreo, >> yes. >> Mrs. Downey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Genchi, >> yes. >> Mrs. Moran, >> yes. >> Mrs. Norian, >> yes. >> Mr. Nutland, >> yes. >> Mrs. Walker, >> yes. >> Mr. Dariion. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Nichols. >> Yes. Policy. Mr. Nutland. >> Yes. I'd like to uh I'd like to present G1. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second. Any questions? Can you hear me, Mr. Ramy? >> Feedback. >> Yeah, >> I think the two mics have to be talking. >> Any questions on policy? >> Call the question. >> On the role, Mr. Delgreco? >> Yes.
040>> Mrs. Downey? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Genshi? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Moran? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Norian? >> Yes. >> Mr. Nutland? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Walker? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dariion? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Nichols? >> Yes. public relations. Mrs. Moran, >> um, I don't have any updates, but we should probably get another meeting on the calendar, so I'll reach out. >> Special education, Mrs. Downey. >> Okay. So, we had our meeting a few weeks ago. >> Yeah. >> Um, we just kind of went over our goal, make sure we have like proper protocols, resources for staff and students. Um, we talked about the data that we're going to collect, classification rates, declassification, 504 to IEPs, um, types of classifications, looking at some trends. Um, we talked about progress monitoring, case loads, um, and
041types of evaluations, but we probably need to schedule. >> So, all things we're going to start looking into this year, >> and maybe you want to set up another meeting, too. >> Yeah. I'm sorry, what was the last one? After >> progress monitoring and case loads >> like types of evaluations. >> Types of evaluations. >> This time we will open to the public. Just state your name when you come to the mic. Please. >> There we go. All right. Thank you. Uh Brendan O'Brien. I obviously live in town. I have a third and a first grader. Um reason I came and you guys do great. I love OPS. I've never been to one of these things and I was expecting a giant crowd but uh is what it is. Um I've meaning to come for
042a long time and so my son's in third, daughter's in first. Yesterday I spoke to Miss Bosios about this and Miss Broncado yesterday there was a shelter in place drill at the school and I spoke before my Logan my son joined the school. I spoke maybe you but I spoke to the vice principal about what I'm going to speak about tonight uh before we even enter the school but yesterday shelter in place drill my six-year-old comes home I'm leaving to bring my son to one of his million practices as you know um and my daughter's like oh we had this drill and uh mind you she's six you know I was when the when they called the drill I was going into the bathroom and I have my six-year-old explaining to me as calm as
043can be that oh you know if I'm in the bathroom I have to jump up on the toilet you know lock the door and stay you know, but I wasn't really in the bathroom. So, I ran to the the first room next to me. She runs to the language arts or the the Spanish teacher's room and she she told me she was told to go back to her her classroom. She got to her classroom, the door was locked, as it should be, cuz God forbid you're an actual emergency. That's how it should be. She then had to go back to the room she originally went to, which she followed protocol. So, you know, we have a six-year-old. Again, I was explaining I spoke to Mr. Marcato this afternoon. So, bits and pieces might have been
044left out of story. It seems like she was never in a hallway alone, but as a parent, when I saw this, in my mind, my six-year-old is roaming a hall alone. God forbid, again, I know it's a drill, but you have to pretend it's not, and she's out there by herself, and then she'd go back because she couldn't get into the one room. Turns out, again, shelter in place isn't technically, you know, lockdown. You're not thinking someone's in the school, but the kids don't know that cuz I asked my kids this afternoon, they think of it as lockdown. And when I spoke to Miss Marcado, the teachers apparently think of as lockdown. So, we obviously have to address protocol and make sure everyone knows. It seems like the door was never closed on her. The
045um the Spanish teacher uh followed or watched her go and come back. Miss Broncado said, "My daughter asked to go back to her home room. My daughter says she didn't. She was told to go to her home room." Whatever. It all brought back to my mind that I don't understand for the life of me. And again, I don't I'm really here just to find out what the process is. Why in a town like this, we're talking about our taxes. Taxes go up every year. They're going to keep going up. When I live in New Milford, they went up. People love complaining about taxes. They go up. We came here to live in this town mainly because of this school system. Love the school system. Love the teachers. Everything. Why we don't have a police officer
046in this school boggles my mind or a retired police officer. I know everyone talks about security. I've spoken to police officers who work in Ordo. I've spoken to other police officers. You can probably bring them up here. They may not go on record. having an officer into school, god forbid, the worst of the worst happens, is going to be put the kids in a better spot because if you have someone trained in active shooter response, they're going to do a better job. And I I just don't know the the reason we don't do it. And again, it might not even be a board of ed thing, so I could be speaking to the wrong people, but I I again going back to when before my son started kindergarten, what is the protocol? If it's an
047extra, again, our taxes go up a couple hundred every year, probably more. I don't care if it's going to cost an extra 30, $40, $50 each person to put a police officer in the school. Every town around here does it. Milford does it. River Edge does it. Hallworth does it. Um, they all do it. So, I don't know why we don't. We have one one building to protect. They're right there. But, and the police will say this, and I've seen the police when when you do drop off, if they get a call, they have to leave. If there's a if there's an officer in that building and somebody's in this building trying to do harm to the kids, he can't he or she cannot leave that building. They have to call out to wherever someone
048else is. That wastes time. You have some lunatic coming in here trying to do harm. Doesn't take that much time. So, if you have an officer in here that will respond, again, that's just my feelings. I was just more curious. Again, I'm not It sounds like I'm yelling at you guys. I'm not. I just don't know whose decision it is because I've told a bunch I've been told by a bunch of people. It's the school. It's the council. It's the taxpayers. Like what is the process if parents want a police officer into school to get a police officer into school? >> So what I will tell you is that this is an active discussion with the board currently. I will tell you we actually discussed it this evening before this meeting. So it is an
049active discussion >> and there will be some sort of resolution at some point this year. So you will hear something. I really can't get into details. >> Okay. >> But you will hear it. Like the second thing I Oh, go ahead. >> No, I was going to say like some of the other arguments I hear that like the kids don't want a police officer in school or it might scare the kids. Our kids know all the police officers in this town. >> Well, what I will tell you is we have two sets of parents. We have very vocal set that wants a police officer when a gun in the building and we have also a very vocal set of parents that do not want one and they do not want a weapon in the building.
050So, you are on one side. We have a whole group on the other side. But it is an active discussion and we have we have been discussing it for a long time, not just this year. But you should hear something this year. >> Okay. >> I do want to make one other comment to you about what you said about the shelter in place whatever. I will tell you that this entire board will look into exactly what you told us. >> I Yeah. And again, I think it was just I I honestly, you know, lockdown shelter in place to me it sounds like the same thing. And again, if you're expecting kindergarten through sixth graders to understand the difference, the teachers were probably confused, too. But they all sounds like the kids know what to do.
051So, it's the teachers do, too. I mean, again, doors should be locked. I'm not disputing that, but um again, that's a bigger national conversation why six-year-olds need to be doing this nonsense, but that's neither here nor there. But, uh thank you. I appreciate that. >> No, we appreciate you bring it to our attention. Thank you for coming. >> Thank you. >> We We had somebody come to our meeting tonight from the parent. We're happy. >> Anyone else? We have three council members. up. Mr. Kelly, >> I'm just looking at your slide here. Um, and I just met Can you hear me? Yeah, I'm sorry. Um, yeah, I'm just looking at your slide here. Uh, and I just met with yesterday with our CFO and the auditors. Uh, and healthcare is the big one. um obviously
052here and those numbers are similar to ours. Um our increase we're looking at is 22% which in real dollars is about $500,000 from last year. Uh the total number is about 3 million. So um you know it's interesting. I don't know how you guys work and in the health benefits here but um we had issues if I don't it was public over the last I don't know three or four years ago. We had a major issue uh in terms of um we were paying a little bit too much than we should have been and that was caught by our by our auditors and um just really thinking about again um communicating here and whoever's uh negotiating and whoever we actually have on Nabura website RFP right now for our insurance broker. Um, but either you're
053doing some of the things that we're doing, why not um just get together and and talk about that. And uh >> when you say you were paying more than you should have, what does that mean? >> Um uh you know, it's I I wasn't involved, but I guess we switched our coverage and um then our auditors, I guess we were paying a little bit more than we should have and we left, I believe, uh the state p plan and um went through another agent and uh that cost us a lot of money. So, just so the public knows, every year the finance committee and Mr. Ayapelli, who of our BAS, we do go out to see if there is a uh lower um lower premium plan for us. We do check it every year. Have
054you looked into self-unding at the town level? >> We did. That's what we did. We left the statement to selfunding. Yeah. And that cost us and then you have to shop around. The other thing is the high deductibles, I assume. Did you guys offer that to the staff and >> Oh, well, we are under contract. We have to >> you have to give the >> Yeah, we have to offer uh we have to negotiate that. So it's either equal to or better. So we cannot just do that. >> Okay. Um yeah, that's the other. Yeah. So um I guess I can ask our folks or who you guys use, but yeah, we if we have an RFP. Um the other thing that came up and this is probably for another discussion maybe with Greg if
055Greg is your guy but um obviously everybody's last year's uh everybody's house the average house in town went from 624 to 7 I don't know 93 and this year now it's at 8 whatever 75 or something like that. So um basically the the pie and the buildings up north were worth less. So that's why uh the mill went down, but the rate went up and you know we we didn't have to raise another dollar yet. People's taxes went up. Um but and I asked our order about it today. Um that does that affect you guys. How do you guys we push off obviously 65% we collect we pass it through to you know the schools and to the county but we're taking we're collecting the money. And if you guys and that's where I need
056to get a better handle. if you guys are capped at 2% or something, if you guys don't have any debt and you guys have rainy day funds and all those types of things where similar to the county, um that's the benefit that you have, right? That you can kind of you're getting the benefit of the increased and assessed valuations and the increased tax collected that we collect for you where we have to you follow our >> No, because that's not really true because the assessments go up the factors change. So if your budget's 10 million and you're going to go up 105. It doesn't matter what your assessments are. It's just the factors. Yeah. Your your house could be assessed at 200,000 or 800,000, you're going to get the same taxes because it's the budget
057is the budget. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's how we work. But I thought, aren't you limited in terms of what your increase could be? Maybe we should s, you know, they they both agree with me and the mayor has said that also. Yeah, you guys get kind of But whatever. I guess in different uh different time we should discuss this. Um in terms of uh you know our our levy was 14. I don't have the presentation in front of me the exact number >> eight is the one looking behind. Yeah. >> Right. So so you know from a finance perspective you know we're concerned about how much are we going to get from the local tax levy. Now how does that work per household? You know we don't divide it by the number of
058residents. We divide it by based on the valuation. >> Yeah. >> Now now you say you know the average home you know was 600. Now it's 800. You know, some of that has to do with inflation. >> Um, you know, because the the value of the dollar is less, so you need more dollars, but really at the end of the day, you know, we need 14 million, you need 16, 18 million, whatever it is. >> And and you divide it amongst all the residents based on their percent to total. So if I have something that's worth 800,000 and somebody else is worth 100 million I get the premise how that works. Yeah. I mean >> their percent to total is more than mine and so my bill goes up but their bill goes up more
059because they have a greater number. >> I totally get that. All right. >> But we don't focus too much on that Tom to be honest. You know we just try to keep our our you know finances in order so that we have minimum increases and then how that gets distributed is out of our control. You know we we don't control the assessment. you don't control the the factor, you know, that's, you know, >> we we used to talk about that in terms of like the impact to the average household. How much would it be? How much would the increase be? But, you know, we're kind of getting in an area that we really don't focus on, you know, and it doesn't really >> Yeah. And again, and bottom line, we can't change it. It is
060that that the way it is is the way it is. >> And nobody sees it, you know, broken out that way. they they get a an annual increase and they say, "Well, this percent is from the the the regional, the local and the municipality and the county, right?" And they don't really see it. So, we we stopped re, you know, putting that into our presentation. >> I get you. I appreciate everything you all work you guys are doing and really do. I mean, 100%. And um yeah, maybe we could talk the the health thing. >> Yeah, we can talk about insurance because, you know, it's out of control. I'll give you an example. So, we were talking about fuel prices, you know, we all see our utility bills skyrocketing, gas, >> uh, the the distribution,
061electric, you know, and the school's no different. It's just much bigger. >> So, you know, we added monies in next year's budget, this upcoming budget to account for increasing in energy. And now recently with all the things going on with disruptions in the energy supply, we thought we'd throw an additional $54,000 in our energy lines for gas and electric. 54,000. >> Well, our insurance healthcare benefits went up 650,000. >> So just to kind of put it into perspective, >> you know, >> yeah, >> we're getting hammered on utilities, but it ain't nothing compared to health insurance. Yeah. And so so if we can figure out a way and and and and the other thing we didn't talk about is that you know these changes that we do to healthcare benefits affect all our staff and
062we we are concerned about the frequency of changes and the disruption that it may have in terms of accessing health care providers. I mean, yes, we do provide the same level of insurance, but sometimes that requires for you to to, you know, re-sign up under a new health insurance, identify doctors, make sure you're in the right plan, you know, if I leave the state, what does that mean? You know, there's all these things. Are my kids going to be the covered the same way? And so, while we're worried about the cost, we're also worried about the impact on our factor. >> I got a daughter with a chronic uh disease, so I get it. Yeah. And my wife's on the phone with insurance companies all the time. But I I do I just think that
063um and I'm glad to see my fall council people here um that we need and I think the governor said something the other day about shared services or whatever that we need to whether it's our salt budget, right? We have these that that there's got to be ways that we can work together and save everybody money and whatever whether it's you know we have risk insurance >> all those types of stuff and so I appreciate this time. I appreciate everyone. Rita, it's great to see you >> without crutches or no. You good? >> I had to carry her. >> Yeah, she gave you a piggy back. All right. Great. All right. >> All right. By the way, on a side note, you guys were kind enough to let us use this building. Last week, I
064was here for five hours. Um, and just sitting right where Dorothy's sitting and I had my wedding ring on and I don't know what I I was twiddling my fingers and then I I can't find it. So, I usually I'm not I came home and my school was on the ESPN that night. So, I watched the game until 1:00 in the morning, 1:30. But I don't think if you see a ring back there, let me know. But maybe I dropped it somewhere. I walked home. All right. All right, guys. I'm sorry to >> An update on the ring. There was a call today. They were looking for it. So, >> Oh, yeah. >> Yeah. The custodians, they were trying to look for it. They did. >> Probably $100, >> but I just wanted to let
065you know they did it to me. The office did forward it and I heard it that they were looking for it. >> Thanks for coming, Mr. Kelly. >> I did. All right. >> Dave Banfield. I would like to have been a fly on the wall at home at Tom's house, but that's another story. Um I incidentally, when we were uh at that table the other day, there was a tremendous amount of noise coming from under the stage. Uh are you aware? >> Yes, we heard Yeah, we heard it. >> Okay. Yeah, >> great. Um, so I'm just here because it's been a long time since I was on that side of the table and I wanted to watch the process and be able to explain it to people who uh who may ask me about
066it and I I think I'm somewhat prepared to do it. But I think uh Peter, your presentation was was very good and I appreciate it. So thank you. >> Thank you for coming. I'm Maggie Her. I guess I'm completing the council standing here. I'm actually here as a citizen, not as a council person. Um, I had some questions about how you bank money. It was an unusual statement. It was in the discussion of the health budget where you said there might be 300,000. I didn't that's not the exact figure, but it was a little over 300,000 that you thought you could maybe put aside. And you said you have a reserve of 870,000. And I'm curious what the policy is about banking extra funds. That was just an odd thing. So I'd never heard that
067before. >> So every year uh during budget season, the state >> So there's a 2% cap that we have to stay by. Yeah. >> However, the state allows you based on enrollment, special education students, I believe health uh I know health care, health rates, they give you an additional amount that you can go over the budget. So, we have $300,000 that we could have gone over and not gotten dinged. So, we have to submit our budget to the state. Obviously, if we're over, they're going to kick it back to us and say, "You're over the 2% and you you can't do it." So, you can only go up a certain amount. So, we have $300,000 that we could have gone further with our budget, but we did not decide to take it. And the process
068is is done in finance during budget. >> That I don't understand that because you said something about banking it. It sounded like you were putting it into reserve. >> So, because we didn't use it, it's we don't have the money. It's not ours. It's just that we could have raised our budget another $300,000. But because but because we didn't, we can bank that. And next year, if we want to raise our budget an additional $300,000, the state will allow us. It's like a bank with the state. They will allow us to raise it. It's not money that we have. >> No, no, I understand that. But when you say bank it, where is it? >> It's nowhere. It's just a number of >> debt that the state owes you in a sense. >> No, no,
069it's it's just Yeah, it's a permission that they allow us to go over our um required capital. And if you don't go over, then the next year you can draw on that that you did not go over. >> Three years to use it if you want. It's nothing you use. You can have three years to go to the taxpayers and raise their taxes, another $300,000. So there's no money anywhere. It's just a line item. >> Yeah. I was just wondering because it is 2% of your budget. So that's that's a lot of money. Um so so what you're saying is it's not real money that you're putting aside. you're just because you didn't use it. You have uh an equity discussion with the state about >> those funds. If we find we're very short next
070year with our what they're allowing us, we have this $300,000 we can add to our budget. We can budget another 300,000 of expenses and the state will approve our budget. >> Okay. Bank is not the way that I understand bank. It's a different kind of description. Okay. Then then my other question is um >> in terms of your reserves, where does that come from? Do you put in every budget? Is there so much to put into reserves? I don't have the actual budget in front of me. I'm sorry. >> So, at the end of every year when we're audited, we find out um if our budget was 14 million, what did we spend? What do we have left? And we use that money to buy certain things at year end that we needed and we
071also put it away into reserves. So, it was already budgeted and that's how we put away money every year. >> Banked, right? >> No, [laughter] it's actual money. It's in our capital funds. >> It's in our >> It's just an odd I was not familiar with that. They call it bank cap, right, Mr. Ayapelli? Bank cap. >> Yes. That's not you. It's not our term. That's the state's term. Bank cap. >> All right. Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you all for what you do. We appreciate you a lot. >> Anyone else want to add to that discussion at all on the budget or anything before we move? Okay. Old or new business? I have some old business. Um, you know, we've talked about this before. We've talked about it in public
072before. I feel like I'm kind of beating the dead horse, but you know, we keep having conversations surrounding safety, so I'm just going to bring it up again. Um, you know, we focus here at the school on safety every year. you know, we we we we budget monies to improve safety every year. Um, and it it it's a top priority. So, way back when uh with the Sandy Hook incident where someone shot out the front door of a school, elementary school, after that person was unsuccessful getting into a high school. Um, he went to the nearest next school, and that just happened to be an elementary school. He shot out the front door, which was just made out of safety glass. and he then he proceeded to move to the first classroom available and shot
073everyone there. So we were the first c uh school in all of probably New Jersey. I know that in this area we were the first school to hardened our lobby. Um and so we have bulletproof doors. Uh we have secured access. It's we were we were modeling after you know man traps in you know secret facilities where you can come in but you can't leave. So after long discussions we put in bulletproof glass to the office. The office can see inside the lobby. Uh someone can walk in with an AK and spend 20 minutes shooting at that glass and won't get through. Uh, in addition to the glass, we had to put down steel doors that come down. So, if we get tired of looking at you while you're shooting at us, we can just
074close that steel door. Um, the the glass doors are very heavy. The leading into the, you know, the safety uh this the bulletproof glass leading into the building is locked. Uh, we decided not to keep you in here. Uh, you could still exit the the front doors, uh, but you just can't come in. Now, since then, you know, we we we spent a lot of time focusing on all the entrances and exits to the buildings because that's our next weak point to make sure that we have sensors, make sure we have cameras, make sure we have monitoring systems so that and and our doors that [snorts] we're permitted to use have timers so that if they're open and closed on a certain time when they're not supposed to open and close, they set off alarms
075and and and and that is, you know, keeping any danger at bay on the outside so that if someone tried to come in by the time they would get in you know the the police would be here no matter where they are even the surrounding officers from neighboring towns would be here. So we spent a a a lot of time and then in addition we have cameras uh you know throughout the building and then we upgraded the cameras because they were cable to you know Ethernet and then we went from 2K to 4K. Um I I I got to be careful. I don't want to get into too much specifics about the security but we have tons of cameras and then every year we're like well where can we improve? So last year we thought,
076"Oh, Memorial Field. Well, it's not on our property, but our kids use Memorial Field. Maybe we can go through and get permission to put a camera, you know, on Memorial Field." And then we did that. We got permission from the burrow. We got permission from utility company. We have cameras now across the street. We're still looking, you know, for additional improvements and we still budget for it. When it comes to an officer, uh, you know, one of the benefits we have is that we have the police station nearby and we have officers in the area. Uh, believe it or not, if there's an emergency, most likely the the officers will be here just as quickly as the local SRO because depending on where you are on campus, if you're on this side, uh, they're probably
077closer than than than you would be if you were in Memorial Field. So, so if you had to run across the street into into over here by the gym, it's actually closer to run from the burrow police station. So, there are a a lot of moving parts when you when we're talking about uh safety and and all I can say is at the end of the day, we talk about it every every every year and we make improvements every year and it is a major concern for us. uh in addition to um consulting with outside professionals whether the county level at the state level uh we have routine audits um so it it is a big concern and that's all I have to say >> any other older new business >> oh go ahead [clears
078throat] ahead >> sorry just to piggyback on Mr. Darian statement about safety. I think we're still owed a public safety meeting with the uh the police chief, parents administration, so forth. >> Where are we at with that? Are we >> Okay, >> Mrs. Dorian, >> I I just wanted to mention um I I know that many of the board members do not remember um but some of these people may remember a former employee of the district um Judy Crystal. And um I just wanted to let everyone know that she passed away and uh we send our condolences uh to her family. Um she was a great asset in the building. She was a speech teacher. Uh yes. Um I would definitely like to um uh give a shout out to the nurses and the teachers,
079especially uh Mrs. Myella and Mr. Kelly for running the Hoops program. For those who don't know, the sixth graders have a inter mural captain le with a young lady and a young man leading a team and it's uh it's a cohort of kids who are playing against each other here at the school. And uh there's a real camaraderie and there's a real fellowship that goes with it. And um the feedback that I'm getting from the students is that it's an absolute slam dunk, no pun intended, but actually intended. So, but I know how hard Miss uh Miss Myella and Mr. Kelly have worked at this uh and it runs uh runs like a top. So, kudos to them and the nurses and the teachers who volunteer for it as well. So, uh you know, big
080thanks to them. the other one. Mrs. Walker, >> um I just wanted to comment. Um I see on Facebook um not that many people go on anymore, it's all recipes, but on Facebook is um the Oridel Public School. And now we're posting very often every couple of days something that's happening at the school and I just wanted to compliment whomever is doing that. who is doing that? >> Um, Mrs. Holly and I split duties, but she has set that as one of her goals this year. So, most of the recent ones have actually been her. >> Okay. All right. Great. But great job. >> Any other old or new business? >> One quick comment. Um, you know, for people who want to think about dreams and working hard. Um um one of my former students,
081Jake Thistle, is on American Idol and is on the top 20 and he is uh he's doing great and it's just awesome that this is a kid who grew up you know quarter mile from here and uh you know as far as I'm concerned he is a local kid and uh wish him all the best and uh go Jake. >> Anything else? just uh to thank the board very much for in my absence being so very kind to reach out to me to inquire and also your very generous uh >> we missed you >> gift. So, thank you. We've already enjoyed it. Thank you. >> Don't leave us again. [laughter] >> Mr. Darian, would you make a motion to go into close session? >> Yeah, I'd like to make a motion that we go into
082close session. I'll >> second it. Second by Mrs. Norian. Roll call. on the roll. Mr. Delg Greco, >> yes. >> Mrs. Downey, >> not yet. >> Mrs. Genji, >> yes. >> Mrs. Moran, >> yes. >> Mrs. Norian, >> yes. >> Mr. Nut, >> yes. >> Mrs. Walker, >> yes. >> Mr. Dariion, >> yes. >> Mrs. Nichols, >> yes. We will not be taking any action afterwards. Thank you all for coming. We appreciate it.