001No chance North Carolina. I'll stand out. That's what he said. First in Charlotte. Why is he running away? At large or second? Um, I we would like to call this meeting to order. Will you please rise for the flag salute? 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. Pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act, adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as follows. By having the time, date, and place of the meeting posted on the bulletin board in the administration building, April 17, 2025. by sending a copy of the meeting notice to the Star Ledger newspaper and the local source on April 17, 2025 and by filing a copy with the
002Township of Hillside and Hillside Public Library, April 17, 2025. Roll call, please. Present present. Present. Given present. Mr. Okai here. Miss Parks here. Mr. Shapero. Yes sir. Present. Okay. Um I would like to take a motion for public comments. Motion. Second. Second. All in favor? I. Are there any public comments? Great. Motion to close public comments. Second. All in favor. calm down. Um, I don't believe there's any need for executive session. So, let's get to our agenda. If I could give, if I may, President, just a moment of background for those who are not on finance. Thank you. Am I on now? Yes. Thank you. There's two motions. It's it's both to revise what we've tentatively sent to the Department of AD uh tentatively still. It won't be finalized until the hearing on May 7th.
003The two items that needed revision while we called this meeting and I appreciate your cooperation is to revise the special revenue column to include a correct account of the budget for our preschool. The second is also related to the budget. That's our SEMI, which is our reimbursement for Medicaid, which relates to our special education students. With this motion, these two motions certified to the county superintendent's office tomorrow, we have accomplished all that we need to on the tenative budget. But for one large pending item that Mr. Glover has been working very hard to resolve, it's about the charter school. We haven't gotten an answer on the charter school. And as it stands, the Department of Ed is expecting us because it is a pending charter school to reduce our budget in order to accomplish the
004$4.9 million that it will cost us. We have uh kind of held firm on this. We're hoping for an answer soon enough. Mr. Glover is all over the place looking for that answer. But until that time, we have done everything in our power to address what equated to a 3.5 to a $4.0 0 million dollar swing in our budget. Instead of going up two and a half million in in uh in state aid, it went down a million dollars. It cost at least $2.5 million to increase from one year to the next and it went in the other direction. A lot of places will be felt across the district next year as we try to make that up. But to uh consider and fathom a $4.9 million cut beyond that is actually unfathomable as it
005stands. Mr. Glover, thank you very much, Dr. E. Good evening once again to the members of the community. Just to reiterate, I think it's important that we have an understanding and to the board members also, I'm sorry, apologize. We have an understanding as to where we have done our best to support a healthy budget. We've come forth many times throughout the course of the last few months explaining that we do not look to um have a reduction in force and the current budget that's being put forth does not reduce any of our members of our organization. I think when folks in the community see that other districts are having the similar struggles and have to have had to lay off people, we've done we have not had to do that. Why that why is that
006important? Um we've already been operating on very lean and being very conscious about the human capital that we do employ in our district. We understand that anyone who's working in our district is based on a need. There may be those who don't always see that, but behind the scenes we're really operating under staffed. We have vacancies that we have been very diligent in filling, but we have not gone above and beyond. The um the county, New Jersey Department of Education and the county superintendent's office will be able to confirm that we are well within our human capital ratios. Um there's always spaces where we could say, well, we could rightsize our force, reduce our force, but then the question becomes where else do we suffer? We have not part two. We have not made any
007adjustments in the academic and curricular resources that our students will have as resources in the instructional process. Why is this important? You do not want our children to say that they don't have the necessary resources, textbooks, literature, math supplies, etc. Those things that are tangible to healthy instruction. We also know that today's society technology is a primary need in our classrooms and we are still growing our tech space and not reducing it. So it's essential to make sure that we continue to make our continue the movement that we've begun with our students being able to engage in the resources that will allow them to be competitive critical thinkers in our society. And finally for me I think it's important to understand that you still have to grow your district and be innovative. Um, and as
008our district continues to grow and get better, it also improves the the value of the community, both in the fiscal space, but also in just a feel-good social emotional space. A healthy school district is a district that people want to come to. It's a district that teachers want to work in. And ultimately, it's a district that our students perform better. And if that, yes, it may increase the property taxes, but it also increases your property value because people see your district as a a choice district, not a district to flee from. So I think it's essential that when we put forth a budget, we were very conscious. We are very thin across our budget. We have put on hold some projects that we knew were going to be essential, but we understood this is the
009time to tighten our belts a little tighter than normally and to make sure that we still grow our district, but there are some spaces where we're making sacrifices. And this is what you will see in this budget. Madame President and board, if I can also just give one final statement in regards to the pending charter school, the proposed charter school. Let me say that there was an application put forth by an organization that wanted to come into the district. They went through phase one and phase two. Throughout the process, I have been very vocal about the potential harm that it could do to the community, both from a fiscal standpoint as well as a social emotional standpoint. Let's be clear. This year, if if the New Jersey Department of Education were to approve the proposed
010charter school approximately 252 students, we would have to fund at a rate for 252 students for the 2526 school year. That would be at a cost of four. We'll give you the exact number, but that would be at a cost of approximately $4,947,845 252 students n 4,947,845 on top of the $1.9 million that we're already paying for the students who attend charter schools between Essex Union and Hudson County. That would come to a total in charter school aid payment for the 2526 school year of $6,798,375. However, if the New Jersey Department of Education were to approve the Hillside Charter School, year two of their operation, their enrollment would go up another 50 to 60 students. If you do the math, that would be another million dollars on top of the 4.9. And by the time
011they get to year three, at their capacity, they would have gone up approximately 100 students in total from 252. That 100 students would be another $2 million added to the $4.9 where we're at. So, this is not a one-year hit. If a charter school were to come into the district, well, Superintendent Glover, what impact would that have? That would be the equivalent of us closing three schools. It would be the equivalent of us potentially having to look at shared services. It would be the send receive. I apologize. And send receive means that we would have to potentially look at where could our students go outside of Hillside. So when I say it would tear apart a community, you would not have a community high school possibly where students traditionally go. you would not have those
012elementary schools that are neighborhood based. Our students would now be sitting, as we said, on the border of three municipalities. We would more than likely be having our students go to three different school districts. I don't think that's what we want to do. It diminishes and dilutes the board's power. It also diminishes diminishes and dilutes the power of the people in the community that vote for board members, but also vote for what they want their schools to become. So when I say that it's about fiscal and it's about community, in the letters of opposition that I've sent to the New Jersey Department of Education, I've been very clear the fiscal impact is severe, but the community impact would be even greater. That's my report as far as the budget goes. Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent
013Glover, and thank you, Dr. Akenho. Look for a motion. Okay. Member Shapiro, would you like to move finance, please? Motion items uh one and two on finance. Is there a second? Second. Miguiday. Yes. Mr. Estraa. Yes. Miss Hargrave. Yes. Miss Horton Given. Mr. Okai. Yes. Miss Parks. Yes, Mr. Shapiro. Miss Best. Yes. Thank you. Um, are there any comments from our board members at this time? If not, I will ask for a motion to adjurnn. Motion. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? I. Meeting adjourned. Thank you.