Jackson Board of Education (BOE) Meeting - 3/18/26

001[music] >> Wait, why do you two? Magic what? They went home. That's what I was saying. I can feel it here. I can leave this one out. Uh, it's probably today. They >> [laughter] >> I can hear it up. Okay, we're good. >> [music] >> Yeah. >> [music] [music] >> Who are they on? So, what? >> [music] [music] >> Okay. I have actually >> [music] [music] >> I call to say quality. I call the meeting to order. Please stand and salute the flag. 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. This meeting is in compliance with the open public meeting law and has been duly advertised in the newspaper as an official

002meeting. Roll call. Mrs. Brookes. Present. Mrs. Cass. Present. Dr. Osborne. Mr. Walsh. Present. Mrs. Rivera. Present. Mr. McCarron. Present. Mrs. Gordella. Present. I need a motion for the approval approval of the agenda. Motion. Second. Discussion? Roll call. Mrs. Brookes. Yes. Mrs. Cass. Yes. Mr. Walsh. Yes. Mrs. Rivera. Yes. Mr. McCarron. Yes. Mrs. Gordella. Yes. I now turn the meeting over to Ms. Permilli for her superintendent's report. Well, thank you, Ms. Gordella. And as we always do every board meeting, first of all, welcome everyone. And we always start with the most exciting part, I think, of my superintendent's report, which is our high school board reps with their reports of all the happenings at the high school. So, Payton Colin, can you come to the podium? Good evening, Superintendent Permilli, members of the Board of Education,

003and honored guests. Thank you for allowing us to speak on behalf of Jackson Township High School. As we move further into the second semester, our students continue to excel in athletics, academics, the arts, and community involvement. We are proud to share some of the many accomplishments and events happening throughout our school community. In athletics, both our girls and boys wrestling teams have continued to demonstrate hard work and dedication throughout the winter season. We are thrilled to celebrate that the girls wrestling team has won the first ever New Jersey State Championship to cap off their undefeated season. This success marks an impressive milestone for the program. Additionally, seven of our wrestlers between the girls and boys team finished in the top eight in New Jersey at states, showcasing the talent and perseverance of our athletes. Both

004wrestling coaches were also named coaches of the year for their divisions, while Coach Lemkey earned the prestigious title for the state. Congratulations on a truly remarkable award. The boys bowling team imprinted their names on the record books of JTHS by winning the Group 4 state sections. Our basketball programs also had great seasons, winning their divisions and making a run at states. Coach Goodall and Coach Holmes were also named coach of the year for their divisions. Our winter track runners were competitive all year and earned the right to race at both the Nike and New Balance Nationals representing our school at the highest levels of competition. As you can see, there were many athletes that earned accolades throughout this winter, but Marlo Donato and Yusef Johnson were recognized as our athletes of the month for their

005outstanding performances and commitment to their teams. Our clubs and activities remain an important part of the student life at JTHS. The annual JTHS volleyball tournament was a huge success and brought students together from across different grades for a fun and competitive event that helped build school spirit. Jackson Idol was also a great success showcasing the incredible talent of our school and students providing an entertaining night for the entire school community. In the performing arts, the drama department recently held an amazing three-night run of Mamma Mia. The cast, crew, and directors put on an incredible performance and it was heartwarming to see so many students and families come out to support the show. The disco ball dance party was a nice bonus and helped the show stand out as an experience unlike any other. Members of

006the National Honor Society have also continued their commitment to community service. Students recently visited visited our elementary schools including Holman where they spent time reading to classrooms and participating in Dr. Seuss's Read Across America events alongside students from Holman and Elms. Academically, we were proud to recognize our seniors of the month, Ethan Polk and Angelina Noen for their hard work, leadership, and dedication to their studies. Students have also had the opportunity to represent JTHS through several education trips and competitions. Members of FBLA competed at the state competition where six students earned top 10 rankings in their categories. Our DECA students also competed at the state career development conference and we would like to congratulate Emily Hirsch, Sadie Hirsch, and Caitlin Graziola for qualifying for the International Career Development Conference in Atlanta. Additionally, many students participated

007in the Teen Arts trip to Ocean County College showcasing all aspects of the arts. Finally, our band represented Jackson Township High School by performing in the New York City St. Patrick's Day parade, which is a great honor and an exciting opportunity for our student musicians. Thank you for your continued support of the students and staff at Jackson Township High School. We look forward to sharing even more accomplishments in the months ahead. Have a wonderful evening and as always, go Jacks. >> [applause] >> As always, thank you both for the comprehensive report of everything that's been happening at the high school. We have actually some pictures we're going to show in a few minutes to support a lot of what both Colin and Payton just reported on. But I also want to say congratulations to you

008both. I just learned they both are going to be accepting some college opportunities within the next few days, so congratulations to you both. But we are very excited that you will still be with us for a few more months to continue to report, so we look forward to hearing more from you. I am going to keep my superintendent's report relatively short this evening because we have several presentations. But I do want to just point out some of the wonderful things that have been happening across the district. Actually, like I said that Colin and Payton just mentioned. So board members, if you want to just turn around and see some of the slides that Ms. Irwin put together for some of the wonderful things that have been happening. You know, we did have um you know,

009Read Across America is in the beginning of March and it is just such a wonderful time and it is actually near and dear to my heart being, you know, a literacy teacher at heart. I was able to read to several classrooms this year um at both Elms and Switlik and it is just a joy. It is such a wonderful week of celebration of literature and excitement for students across the board, every level for reading is just it's contagious and it's wonderful. So you see some pictures throughout this slide presentation. You'll see them as I as I speak to some of the other slides. You heard about the marching band. What an incredible showing yesterday. They had such a great spot in the parade itself that they got a really really good airtime and they looked

010fantastic, professional just always impressive. You know, so that was fabulous. You heard about some of the wonderful acknowledgements of the hard work of some of our clubs, our DECA club. We have people who are going to nationals in Atlanta. We have staff that's been recognized both um coaches and advisors. Laura Fikac you know, received a service award for DECA. We have the coaches that both Payton and Colin mentioned in wrestling and in basketball that have been recognized for their hard work. We have students winning art contests at our 5-6 building. We have again the the National Honor Society students. How wonderful is that when you have your older students going down with the younger students and really celebrating literature and our younger students looking up to those older students wanting to be just like them.

011Such a wonderful activity. Really cute some of the things we saw during Read Across America. Our Switlik super readers were superheroes. They all had capes on and they were super readers and they were all learning sounds together in the cafeteria there. It was just fantastic. They I'm sure many of you've seen The Masked Singer on TV. We had at home and over there we had masked readers, mystery readers and then they revealed who those mystery readers were and they were all staff of the building. You see these inflatable costumes. Just wonderful things to celebrate literature. You know, I read. We had Dr. Godlewski read. Mr. Rotante read. Some of you read in in the schools and our teachers getting really invested too in dressing as some storybook characters. Give a Mouse a Cookie, one of

012my favorite books. So like I said, just wonderful things happening across the district. I don't want to spend a ton of time um on all of this because it's all been said, but I I think it's important for everybody to see just some of these great photos and great things happening across the district. Bowling champions, our girls wrestling. Oh my goodness, what a way to go on the record for the first high school wins. The winter season was just incredible for athletics. I'm just so proud of this district, of our students, of our staff who have demonstrated what it means to come together and be unified as one community. It just I literally have goosebumps right now. I just think I'm just so impressed with so much. Mamma Mia at the high school I was

013able to see the number of students that were involved in that show. At one point there must have been 50 students dancing. Just again wonderful things to engage our children and our students in learning experiences beyond the classroom and then the wonderful instruction happening as well on a daily basis. So thank you to our students and thank you to our staff for all these wonderful things. I just want to mention a little advertisement here, Mr. Palumbo. Our trade and job fair, March 25th from 6:00 to 8:00 at the high school. It's always amazing event and opportunity for people to come out and learn about all sorts of trades and what it means to be part of that trade. Trades are incredible. I have family members who are in the trades. It has been treating us

014well. It is an excellent career. So if you're interested, please come out and to the trade and fair show. Job fair. With that we're going to move on with our presentations for this evening. Like I said, we have quite a few, so I wanted to move us quickly there. We're going to start this evening. We have the semi-annual violence and vandalism report and the semi-annual harassment, intimidation, and bullying report. Our director of security, Mr. Pajewski, will be presenting those two reports to the Board of Education this evening and we're going to begin with him tonight. Thank you. There are slides behind you, board members. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for coming tonight. Members of the board and our administration of the Jackson School District. My name is John Pajewski. I'm the director of school security.

015And tonight we will be doing the semi-annual report report period one, September through December 2025 for both the violence and vandalism substance abuse and weapons offenses in the Jackson School District and as well as the semi-annual report for harassment, intimidation, and bullying. So just a background and overview. State of New Jersey, as you can see, began collecting this data back in March of 20 of 2002. And the objective is to collect and report incidents data concerning serious student misconduct in the areas of violence, vandalism, HIB, weapons, and substance abuses. And to the right is a chart, breakdown of the last three periods starting September-December 2024 January-June of 2025 and of course the most recent one, September through December of 2025. And these are the numbers for those areas. >> The next slide is the violence

016reports at the elementary levels. This includes fights, assaults, threats, sexual offense, HIB alleged and confirmed at all our elementary schools to include the Jackson Township 5-6 school and these are the numbers for that. So this is the violence reports for the secondary schools. Again, same categories and this is for the Jackson Township middle school and the Jackson Township high school and these are the numbers. This slide is the vandalism and substance abuse vandalism incidents. Again, it's the previous two report periods to include this one both at the Jackson Township 5-6 school, the Jackson Township middle school and then Jackson Township high school and just for context the previous two obviously we had gets them call Liberty and Memorial. Those are the numbers for when we had that and the most section to the right category

017is for this year. Substance abuse September through December 2025. These are substances under the influence. The different categories again the pre the previous two market report periods and to include this one. And that's the top section. And the bottom section is substances possession of the different categories and again the previous two report periods and to include this most recent one and those are the numbers for that. These are the weapons offenses for all schools and just to definition of a weapon included any instrument readily capable of lethal use or of inflicting bodily injury. But the category is not limited to handguns, rifles, knives, clubs, chains, slingshots, leather bands studded with metal fillings, razor blades, stun guns and any other device that projects, releases, orients tear gas or any other substance e.g. pepper spray that is

018intended to produce temporary discomfort or permanent injury through being vaporized or otherwise dispensed in the air. And some examples are toy gun and also an imitation firearm. And those are the previous two report periods and the third is this year's report period. Action taken by school district. So these are the actions sub categories police filed complaint. That means where the police were notified and there was actual charges signed against. In school suspension and out of school suspension and then the again previous two report periods to include the third one which is the current one and those are the numbers. And we will continue to strive to ensure a safe district and school environment by bringing school district safety teams and school anti-bullying specialists together to review data, using this data to plan programs and inform

019practices, approaches and curriculum. Building strong partnerships with the Jackson Police Department specifically the school resource officers. Providing training for school administrators on the effect prevention effective prevention and response to violence, vandalism and substance use. Educating all stakeholders on how they can make Jackson school safer. And providing community events to educate parents, guardians about school safety. So this is the semi-annual report for harassment, intimidation and bullying. Again, report period one is September through December of 2025. Jackson School District's commitment. Jackson School District is committed to creating a safe learning environment for all our students, investigating all complaints of harassment, intimidation and bullying and preventing all acts of harassment, intimidation and bullying. We are committed to being proactive and prepared by having behavioral threat assessment training for staff. We have behavioral threat assessment teams training district and

020school. Understanding school violence training. District training for all school and ABS policies and procedures for addressing and reporting HIB, violence and vandalism and substance abuse. And our anti-bullying coordinator with our anti-bullying specialist meetings reviewing HIB policies and data review and investigation procedures. All right. So on this slide to the left it's the these are our schools in that column with the respective anti-bullying specialists that work within that school. And to the right are the different events and initiatives that each school does through the first marking period but also throughout the school year. So our HIB investigations in the elementary level to include the Jackson Township 5-6 school. This was last year the the column to the left as a total for September to December of 2025. I apologize it's 2026 20 25-26 school year. This

021is the first report period and those were the total number of HIB investigations looked into and in the column to the right for this report marking period two is the founded HIBs. So this is the secondary so these are our middle school, high school. Again, current report period one. The left column is the total number of incidents that were looked into and the column to the right are the founded HIB incidents. So this is a comparison of the same time period. I apologize. So this is from September to December of 2024 the total number and then how many were founded for that period and compared to the current total September through December of 2025 and the founded ones as well. If you could notice that those numbers were definitely a little bit lower compared to

022the last report period. So this slide is the motivation of founded HIBs. This is within our school district. These are the different categories that first bar of the different reasons why there's motivation for that. The outcomes is the middle section of the investigated HIB incidents with the consequences and remedial measures and the bottom section is the location of these HIBs that we had to investigate. And that column to the right is the classification of actions investigated during the HIB incidents. These are classification as to why or what the reason was for the HIB. So in conclusion with our HIB complaints we investigate everything. HIB complaint submissions complaints received in person, telephone, email or via links located on our district website. There is a HIB form 338 which provides a means for students, parents, guardians or

023a school staff member to report an incident of HIB in a confidential manner 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All HIB complaints are promptly investigated in accordance with district policy 5512 and that's our harassment, intimidation and bullying students. Thank you thank you very much for the comprehensive report. Does the board have any questions? Okay. Thank you. Thank you have a good evening. Thank you. So moving forward with the next report we have our annual food service department report. And we have the director of food service Gary Haddad here to provide us with that [clears throat] annual report. So Mr. Haddad. Thank you. And again board members I'm sorry but please turn around for slides. >> [laughter] >> Good evening. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to serve you at Jackson Township.

024Been with district for about a year and a half so uh it's been a pleasure. Uh so my again my name's Gary Haddad and uh so we've had a pretty uh pretty productive year this this past year. We've uh increased our our participation throughout the district by 4%, even though we had a district enrollment drop of about uh almost 7%. So, uh it's been productive. Staff's been very busy with all the redistricting and everything going on. Um it's been been a interesting 6 months. So, um and our free and reduced meals have have increased to uh 48%, meaning that 48% of our student population are eligible to receive free and reduced meals through the district. Uh part of that reason is the uh the expanded Medicare uh opened up Medicare for students to be eligible.

025So, if they're on any kind of Medicare, the family's on any kind of Medicare assistance, Medicaid, sorry. Yes. Um they can get um meals through the district at no charge. So, that we were prior to 24, we were at uh 36%, and now we're up to about 48% free and reduced uh with with the expansions. Next slide, please. And some of the infrastructure improvements we made over the last uh school year, we added a large walk-in freezer to accommodate the added enrollment over at the high school. Um we put in some equipment so that we could service those 2,300 students in the time frame that we need to serve. And we had to do some uh restructuring with Crawford at with the walk-in box. Uh it was structure itself, the shell itself was was uh

026compromised, and we had to replace that. So, in total, we spent uh $286,000 uh plus minus uh with some other structural and some other frameworks. So, all that to help, and we put some points of services in with kiosk because uh the high school was going to be a uh 1-hour block lunch when we first opened up, and that was allowing us to service all those those students in that 1-hour. Next slide, please. So, it's just some comparative statistics. Uh we had again a 7% change. Uh our lunch participation increased by 4%, and our daily average breakfast, unfortunately, has decreased uh by uh 0.2 2 0.28%. Um Part of that is the restructuring, drop in enrollment, but we've done several things to uh help improve that, and you'll see that as we we go along.

027So, points of service and and innovative revenue generators we've we've we've uh have done in the district. So, we've did uh breakfast kiosk. We launched those over at uh the middle school, and they've been very successful, and as well as the uh 5-6 building. And we introduced a afternoon snack uh bar for our students at the high school so that they can stay within the district, don't have to go out to Wawa or Quick Check to get something to eat. Um as it and as you probably may know, the breakfast the lunch ends basically at at uh 11:30, so those students that are going to be here from 2:00 on, they usually looking for something to get to eat and sustain them for those activities they have after school. >> [cough] [clears throat] >> It's

028just a picture of our kiosk that we have set up at the middle school, 5-6 building as well as similar. Uh students have 10 minutes to get through the line, so we try to be as quick as possible and have them come expedite through there. They grab a a uh sand- breakfast sandwich and a a fruit or juice, makes it a complete meal, and then they put their pin number in, and they're on their way. And then over at uh the high school, we turned our concession stand into a cafeteria uh and our concession stand's now a kitchen. We've put some equipment in there uh that was part of our im- improvements. Um we are looking to do some more expansion there because we're currently servicing about 400 uh meals a day just for lunch

029out of there. Uh since it's a very small area. So, this is what we kind of our tray line that our our we kind of improvised as we often do in school food services. So, and that's one of the things that we And that we do uh holiday caterings, we do outside cater- we provide services for the district uh internally. Um This is uh some ex- ki- uh holiday catering service we performed for uh the administration, and uh this is We also created a a dinner menu for for for uh the district so that if any outside when we rent out the buildings, they can order from us instead of going out to the local restaurants, and and provide and we can capture that those sales. And then we do some theme bars. Uh we

030do Mediterranean day here. We just recently did a uh uh Chinese New Year celebration. We had egg rolls, and unfortunately, fortune cookies weren't available, but giant sub day. High school kids usually seem to like that pretty pretty pretty well, and that was actually we did that throughout the district. And we partnered with uh the work-based learning uh team, and the students that are in the that program had gone out to um help in some of the schools. We started out with Crawford. I'm sorry, uh with Switlik first to do some uh help with putting together some uh fruits and vegetables and and traying up some items. Um and it worked out very well, so then we expanded it. Now we do Crawford, Clayton kitchen, and Memorial kitchen. So, and we have about three students that

031have some interest in pursuing careers in food in the food service industry or with uh the Jackson Township schools. >> [clears throat] >> So, some of the efficiencies we have in here in in the district, um the goal for the industry for meals per labor hour, it's uh it equates to every hour of paid labor for every meal served. So, just a reference point, uh your Burger Kings, your McDonald's, your quick service restaurants, typically do about 80 to 100 meals uh per hour for lunch at a busy at the busy time frame. We we service somewhere between 200 and 300 meals per hour, depending on on the dis- on the school and whatnot. Uh right now we're averaging about 3,400 meals per day for lunch, and there's 11 11 sites uh with kitchens, but six

032schools. So, um and we're elementary schools are about a 24 to 0.6 meal per labor hour. Um it's a high performance. The standard is fif- uh 20 to 25 for el- elementary schools. Your middle schools and high sch- your middle schools about the same, 20 to 25, and then your high schools usually about uh 15 to 20 meals per hour. And our food cost for >> [clears throat] >> the uh last for the year to date, uh as of January end of January, we're at 39%, but that actually was September, October really were were high high cost. Uh we had a lot of figuring out to do because of the new new new configuration of the schools, new configuration of uh buildings, you know, so the whole district was a big learning curve for myself

033and staff to get uh those under handle. The last 4 months, we've averaged about 37% food cost. So, we're we're being consistent with that. Uh our paper and and uh cleaning supplies has been on target. >> [clears throat] >> Our labor fringes is a little bit on the high side, but it also shows our commitment to uh keeping things trying to keep things fresh, trying to keep things uh a scratch base as possible as much as possible. And >> [clears throat] >> so, lunch balances, this is a nationwide uh issue. Every district you talk to that you they meal debt is a big big issue. And in this district, we're right now at 178,000. We don't in Jackson, um we don't dissolve debt, so that that's been carried since you know, last several years. I

034believe it might gotten uh downsized back during COVID, but I'm not that I had not sure about. Um some districts do absolve it, but it can't come from the food service funds. That has to come through the uh the general fund general fund. Um we do send out month weekly monthly reminders. Towards the end of the school year, I start sending them out uh probably twice twice a month. We are reconfiguring our letter so that we can kind of uh get a little bit more exposure, I guess you would say. Um and we utilize the parent liaisons in in the district. So, especially with those bilingual families that uh we can't communicate. The letter is in Spanish. The letter is in English. Uh but again, sometimes we need a little help reaching out to those

035families. Um some of the misnomers that we're [clears throat] working on educating families with is that they believe that they once they submit an application that it absolves them any of any of any debt they had previously. Unfortunately, that's not the case. If they once they accrued that that money, it has to be paid off. Um if there's a student that is listed as direct certified because of Medicaid, they and and that other family member in the household is not um on that list, they need to notify us so that we can get them on that list. Um >> [clears throat] >> wellness report. Uh we this is something we we do diligently in the district. We have a food advisory committee that encompasses some of this information and we >> [clears throat] >> meet

036uh twice a year at each district uh each school district each school, excuse me. And we have discussions about uh what the child's likes and dislikes are. We invite family members through that as well. We also um get some feedback on items that we're thinking of trying to bring into the district. Uh we take their suggestions on theme days. Um make it so that they are have a buy-in to the program. So, we also are we've been awarded a grant for uh $5,000 to for sustainability and nutrition education. And this is a uh example of our Elms school where they started the food share program and we're looking to expand that throughout the district. Um and you look there's uh what what a great child does not want something that they have on their tray.

037For example, the the fresh apples that are in there, they can put that in the the share zone and someone else can come take that. At the end of the day, we we take those fruits and vegetables and we bring them to uh either we put pack them up and bring them to the the nursing station sometimes or we'll donate them to the local food bank. And then we also adhere to offer versus serve in the district. So, what that means is that we offer five components. We offer the the fruit, the vegetable, the grain, the meat meat alternative, and the milk. Students need to take three of those components in order to be considered a meal and half a cup of that one of those components has to be a half cup of fruit

038or vegetable. We also on the line, we just don't offer the broccoli and that's it. We offer, you know, a hot vegetable. We offer a cold carrot packs, celery. I try to tell my staff that uh we want it to look like the rainbow. So, when the students come through the line, they see multiple colors out there. There's, you know, fresh fruit, canned fruit, juice. So, they have an assortment of items to take. There's sign sign is that tell them the students that they can take two fruits and two vegetables per per serve for a meal. Often, I get you know, comments from the students in my food advisories that, you know, we we're hungry. We want more food. Well, I can't unfortunately give them 20 chicken nuggets. I can give them the five chicken

039nuggets and then they can take as much fruit and vegetables they like. No no no cashiers are ever going to tell them you have too much fruit and vegetable on your tray. So. And then uh we try to work with parents as well as with the children and limiting their their snack intake. We do follow the smart snack guidelines at the elementary schools and the middle school. So, they they have the opportunity to purchase low fat, low sugar, and uh whole grain snack items. And we usually try to put those behind the cashier so that the uh the child has to ask for the those those alternate snacks. Um and then we do a couple of different things trying to limit uh access to those things as well as help with uh Well, if the

040child owes money on their account, we we use that to hopefully get them to pay their balance off so they can buy snacks. Um parents do have the ability to communicate to us if they want to block certain items from their their child's account, um spending limits. And our cashiers are usually pretty good in trying to assist those students with making smart choices. So, [clears throat] the report on the uh school wellness policy. So, we're we're in compliance with the district wellness coordinator ensures compliance with healthy, hungry, free kids act, HFKA, and other district wellness goals and provides an assessment of our wellness policy and board of education at a public meeting. So, we're in compliance with all regulations district-wide. We continually improve upon the advanced know- knowledge of healthy menu options and smart snack

041options at all levels. We display promotion signage and theme days that will encourage breakfast and lunch participation and we feature new nutritional alternatives, menu items, and place healthier foods first in the service line where students are most likely to choose them. So, we also follow a uh we go in and do an audit on each school. It's called the smart lunchroom smart lunchroom. And that's something that my staff and myself will go through and we'll look and it's a Cornell study that was established in 2019. Um so that we can make sure that we're we're following the guidelines as well as off making it more accessible for the students to take the healthier items. Then on the district website, we have um our menu and parents can block off the allergens to see what the

042that they may contain if they have any allergens in the in the district. >> [clears throat] >> So, our pricing for next year, we're doing a lunch increase of 15 cents. So, elementary school will be 3375, the middle school will be $4, and the high school will be 425. Um and then breakfast will increase by 10 cents. Some of the one of the some of the reasoning behind that is uh yes, inflation's been been at 2. 5% or 4%. However, uh we're seeing a lot of increases in avian flu is back. They're talking somewhere up as from the processors at close to 80 80% increase in that price for the processing. And then uh beef is also going up as well. So, hopefully uh we can stem off those costs. Any questions? Thank you very

043much for your time. Thank you so much, Mr. Hadad. We appreciate it. Okay. So, one more presentation this evening. Um and it is a big one. It is our tentative budget. Um and I'm sure some of you have already um seen uh the state aid numbers were released for the 2026-27 school year. And as Mr. Beginsky will outline in his presentation with the tentative budget, once again, we have been reduced by state aid with a um 3% decrease in our state aid, which was uh one of the parameters that was put into place. But I'm going to turn that over to Mr. Beginsky, who has a very comprehensive um presentation to the board and the public on our tentative budget. So, Mr. Beginsky and board members, you will also again need to to turn for

044this slide presentation. Okay. Well, thank you. Um I'll start by just acknowledging the work of the business department who works on budget 365 days a year. Um, this is our opportunity to present it, but we literally start working on next year's budget the day after this budget gets struck. So, um, I'll start by talking a little bit about the budget development timeline. Uh, this is a process that involves a large number of people ranging from our Board of Education members, our Budget and Finance Committee, the Superintendent, Central Administration, uh, our building administrators, many of whom are here in the audience here tonight, uh, department leaders, as I mentioned, the business office, human resources, payroll, transportation. So, a huge amount of people involved in this budget development. And for us, it really ramps up in September

045and October where we gather together these stakeholders, start to assess the needs and what their needs are and what their needs of the department are, and then we we also take a close look at what enrollment is doing, uh, where is it growing, um, and where where do we need to kind of allocate our resources for the next year. So, we combine that with, uh, whatever the central office's initiatives are, and we create a tentative budget, and that's where we are tonight. Um, one of the big drivers with the budget is enrollment. And so, what you're looking at here is a 10-year history of K-12 enrollment in our school district. And as you see in the two columns, I included both the public school student enrollment and the non-public school student enrollment. And the public

046school student enrollment has been, uh, a slight decrease every year over these 10 years, uh, with a total that led to a 22.52% decrease over that 10-year period. Uh, still a large school district with 6,345 public school K-12 students. Um, but when you look at the non-public growth, the non-public students is really remarkable. Uh, and in fact, this past school year, uh, the number of non-public students in the Jackson Township eclipsed the number of public school students for the first time. And our public non-public uh, projections for enrollment are at 8,534. And when you put those two numbers together, it is, uh, over 14,000 school-age children residing in Jackson. And that non-public school student population in the 10-year period has grown over 1,164%. Um, this is something that is unique to Jackson. And when you

047talk to other districts, uh, even districts that are not that far away, with the exception of Lakewood and and the starting in Toms River, no one can really do this. And so, it is, uh, it is a unique, uh, a unique circumstance. The other driving factor in this is the rising growth of our, uh, percentage of economically disadvantaged students. And you saw it in, uh, Mr. Haddad's presentation. 48% of our public school student population is identified as economically disadvantaged. And so, that comes with its own, uh, challenges, uh, in terms of budgeting. One of the, uh, apples-to-apples comparisons that the state does is, uh, what's called the Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending. It used to be called the Comparative Spending Guide. The state puts this out every year. It publishes it in December. And so,

048this is the opportunity for school districts to look and see how is your our district spending versus other comparable school districts. And when we get compared to other districts, we are in the category of large K-12 districts, the school school districts that service a K-12 population and that also have more than 3,500 students. And there are 96 comparable districts that fit that category of large K-12 districts. In out of those 96 districts, our school district was the fourth lowest budgetary cost per pupil in the state. And when you look at some of the other indicators there, and I listed them, we're in the really in the lower 10th percentile or 20th percentile in almost every single indicator for the state. >> [snorts] >> That is indicative of what has really been austerity measures that our

049school district has taken on in the last couple years. Um, when you look at us versus other This is just This is district This is statewide, but just in our immediate area, there are really no school districts that, with the exception of Toms River that also, uh, spends at a at a low level, that, uh, spends at this low level. And it's not necessarily something to be totally proud of, but I can tell you it's in it's representative of where we've been and what we've forced to have been with regard to the state funding issue that we've been we've been faced with. Uh, I'll just note there the total administration and administration salaries and benefits, 16th lowest and 11th lowest. Sometimes you hear that narrative, oh, oh, that school district's top-heavy. Oh, look, you know,

050they got so many administrators. That is not the case in the Jackson Township School District. Uh, the data does not support that. And when you compare us statewide, it certainly doesn't support it. Um, one of the other, um, considerations, and this is not a slide that's unique to this year, um, is where we spend versus what's called the adequacy budget set forth by the state. And the state uh, and the and the two links there are to the actual New Jersey education educational adequacy report, which talks about how the state calculates this. And basically, what it is is the state says, "Based on all of the factors that we have," they determine what Jackson Township should be spending to provide a thorough and efficient education for the students of Jackson. We fell below adequacy in

051'22-'23, and and we were $1.1 million below that threshold. You could see where we were every year after that. Last year, this our current budget season, we're spending we're spending $32.4 million below what the state says Jackson Township should be spending to provide a thorough and efficient education. We just ran the numbers based on the new state aid calculation, and we're still $29.65 million below on the projection for next year. This is after closing two schools, redistricting, restructuring, and we're still there. And that's the state's own calculation. So, taking a look at how we're spending our money, uh, I'm going to talk a little bit of detail about each of these subcategories. And each of these subcategories makes up our entire spending plan, which you could see there for '26-'27 is $160 million 734,000 worth

052of spending. So, the first topic, salaries, um, our salaries line item, uh, this incorporates all general fund salaries, is going up by 740,000, which is less than 1% for next year. All right. So, when you look at a 10-year history of our salaries, it's really remarkable of what this school district has been able to do to contain the costs associated with salaries. And in fact, we're spending we're projected to spend less in salaries next year than we were spend than we spent in 2017-2018. You know, that came at a cost. It came at a cost of eliminating 376 positions during that S2 time period. But I will tell you it has not compromised the level of education that we provided. You know, we have hardworking people. The salaries make up the lifeblood of the school

053district, the people who work every day to make sure that the students have the education the quality education that they deserve. We're just able to do it in a very frugal manner. I can tell you, and and this is an important note, if you could go back, Allison, on the next one. The in in red there, any personnel reductions for '26-'27 will be accomplished through attrition or breakage. So, I want that message to be clear because, you know, when we have what attrition and breakage is means we have a retirement or a resignation, all right, the person who replaces them, looking at what they're the new person comes in at, that's considered breakage. And so, no staff member is going to be, uh, to lose their job because of a budgetary reason. All right? If

054we do that, it's going to be through resignations and retirements. So, the other piece of the salaries, uh, line item is health benefits. And health benefits, I think I, um, not so jokingly referred to this as the gigantic asteroid heading toward the school district. But it really is not just our school district, it's the entire state of New Jersey. And when you look at the state of New Jersey, and if you go to the next slide, Allison, everyone is in facing these same cost drivers, which include high-cost prescription drugs, uh, specifically those GLP-1 meds that are very expensive, uh, out-patient care, uh, and the increase of, uh, utilization of it. Um, economic inflation, uh, with regard to prescription drug costs is a big factor. And the post-pandemic care rebound where people didn't go to the

055doctor, they didn't do screenings, and now all of that comes roaring back, um, with higher medical bills and higher prescription costs. And so, we've been able to keep a lid on it, but like the rest of the state, uh, that number is going up, uh, rather large it more than 25%. Comparably to the state, and this is on the on January 1st, the State School Employees Health Benefits Program experienced an increase in their rates of 31.9%. So, we're doing better than the state, but it's still a major obstacle for for this budget. The next two line items, school budgets, uh, and facility and capital non-salary. So, both of these budgetary line items are going up for next year. Um, and I can tell you that both of these budgetary line items tie directly to the

056experience that students have in the classroom. All right, with regard to school budgets, um our our school budgets are going up by about 25% next year. Um and this is something that's sorely needed. They've gone through a period of uh frugal austerity that has uh forced them to utilize every resource they had to the the greatest extent and they will continue to do that, but now they'll have some some room in the budget to do the things that they haven't been able to do. Uh those kinds of things are technology, textbooks, classroom instructional supplies, uh including professional development, which needs uh is something that is uh is critically important uh in the field of education. Um with regard to facility and capital, well, we're kind of tied to energy costs. Uh I think we we've

057experienced the worst of it as far as increases I go, I hope. Um but we also have uh aging uh buildings that need maintenance and so um we are spending more money and project to spend more money on maintaining those facilities uh and capital projects, specifically HVAC projects and paving. These two numbers are very tied to inflation and on the left-hand side of the screen, you see the 5-year history of inflation for our Mid-Atlantic region, and those numbers drive a lot of those costs. So, um so it it it's difficult to keep up. With regard to administrative uh and instructional support spending, um there's the number uh for 25-26 looks a little out of whack. It's because uh when we sold the Rosenhauer school in May 2025, we received a a loan from from the

058state to carry us over through the closing. So, they gave us the money in 20 in May 2025 and we're paying it back during the school year, so it's showing up as an expense. So, really that $14.5 million, 9.4 million of it is that money that just came in and went out. Um but in 26-27, that $5.8 million does include it it includes a $600,000 payment back of our original advanced state aid loan to the state, and it also includes the annual cost of the state-assigned fiscal monitor. Two things that, you know, don't tie to direct instruction, but we're saddled with because of the of what happened when we had to take that loan. Out-of-district tuition is another budgetary uh stressor for most school districts in most public school districts in the state of New

059Jersey. Uh we have done a tremendous job creating programs in our district to service the needs of our students to keep as many students in district, but it is a difficult challenge and we are projecting 50 out-of-district placements for next year and you can see the history here, which is really a rather remarkable history um going from 92 in 2019 to 2020 all the way down to a low of of 44 during the 25-26 school year. Um but there is only so much you can do. You know, you have to meet the needs of these students and and when the student does go to an out-of-district placement, the average cost for that right now for a student going out of district in Jackson is $149,000 per year. And so, those are costs that um you

060know, those those schools that set those tuition, they're not tied to the 2% cap, all right? The tuition rates increases get set at a much higher rate and it it's a challenge to to keep these costs down. Um the next category, aid in lieu of transportation for non-public students. This is a number that is increasing again by a very large number, by 1.5 million. It's a more than an 18% increase in our budget and it's another one of those numbers that other school districts don't have to have in their budget. In fact, when you look at our aid in lieu costs over the last 10 years, we went from 589,500 to we're projecting 9.7 million for next year. Now, we do get we do get some money in non-public transportation aid back from the state,

061but it only covers about 35 to 40% of of the total cost there. And for example, in 26-27, we're projected to spend 9.7 million. We're we're projecting to bring in 3.3 million in non-public transportation aid. That $6.3 million difference comes right out of our budget. And that is a line item that again, unless you're Jackson Township, Lakewood Township, and to the Toms River to a certain extent, you don't have that in your budget. Um the last category is transportation and this is not including salary or aid in lieu payments, and our transportation budget is going slightly down. It's essentially a flat budget. Um our transportation department has done an an excellent job of trying to contain costs with regard with regard to updating the the our fleet and having uh a rotation of getting new

062school buses so that we don't have to spend as much money to replace to repair those vehicles. Um also, we we made out pretty good on fuel so far. Um the past couple weeks haven't been so good and hopefully that trend doesn't continue, but that is uh that has been another cost savings for the district. And so, that budget is flat for next year. So, all told, the expense categories, uh you can see where the percentage of the expenses come from and the two largest one are people-related. You know, 75 74% of our salary of our of our expense budget comes from people, salary and health benefits. And you can see where the rest of the percentages come from. So, turning our attention to revenue. So, on the revenue side, we have several different sources

063of revenue um that make up where our money comes from and they include federal, state, and then local revenue. And so, I'm going to talk about each one of those in detail. So, moving to the the the state and the categorical state aid. So, categorical state aid is the state aid that everybody talks about. This is the one that comes to the district and this is the one that was been has been radically cut over the years through S2. And so, just as we had predicted, it represents a negative 3% cut, a $680,000 cut from last year. This was the 22nd largest cut in the state of New Jersey this year. So, we've been on the biggest loser list, the top 10 in previous years, so I guess 22nd's not so bad, but when you

064talk about 600 600 plus school districts in the state of New Jersey, it's really a travesty considering what we've been cut so far. And so, why are we only cut -3%? We were only cut -3% because the state set guardrails up and said that last year they did this for the first time and said, "No district should have to experience more than a 3% cut and no district should get more than 6%." So, we literally got the maximum cut they could possibly give us, even though it was only 3%. And when you look at the history here, and this slide's been up every budget presentation that I've ever done, this is where you can see exactly the narrative of where things got very very difficult in Jackson. When you look at, you know, think about

065that. -3% is the maximum cut the state said nobody should have to do more than that the last few years. Look at those years from 2020 to 2025. -7.5%, -10%, -12%, -18%, - and the dollar amounts that go with it. That's losing income that never comes back. That number just keeps going down. It's like it's like having a a pay decrease every year in your household, but your expenses are just going up and you just got to make it work. And when you compare that to enrollment, the enrollment has decreased. It certainly hasn't decreased in relation to the categorical state aid. That is a false narrative that we have heard from from different people and I could tell you, you know, it was never tied to enrollment and it certainly isn't tied to enrollment anymore.

066When you look at the total reduction, 55.6% reduction during that time period in state aid, 22.5% reduction in in enrollment. So, it just doesn't equate. Um get off the soapbox, turn our attention to the other state aid. All right, extraordinary special education aid and non-public transportation aid. These are uh driven by um you know, your metrics inside the school district. So, extraordinary special education aid provides partial reimbursement for exceptionally high costs for special education students. Okay? It is a pot of money that the state puts aside and depending on how many how many districts are eligible, the state allocates that money. That's why we're we're only budgeting a flat amount because it could go down, it could go up slightly. It we don't know what it is until the state determines how much money they

067have in the pot and how much and how much every district is going to get. Non-public transportation aid is a is a calculus driven by the number of students you have and the difference between, you know, they they reimburse us for for expenses beyond $710 per student and less than the aid in lieu number of 1177. But up to that first 710, it's on the district. So, um the other funding sources, federal and state grants. This is a lifesaver for us. These uh we are budgeting 14.3 million dollars in grant money that would come in from the federal or state government. You know, this includes IDEA, ESEA, the title one through four, the state preschool grant. So, these are things that absolutely provide opportunities that we normally wouldn't have in our regular budget. And our

068district has done a great job of pursuing grants and receiving them and and making excellent opportunities for our students. So, the when it when it comes to the local share, all right, I this is literally from our state aid notice. It's a picture. That's why it looks grainy here. But, this is the calculation of how the state calculates what's considered local fair share. So, there's two metrics that go into this. The first is the total property values in Jackson, which is um which is listed there, and the residents total income. Those two numbers and they take a three-year average of those two numbers. And those two numbers go together to make the calculation to determine what is Jackson's local fair share. What the state determines that Jackson should be spending in their tax levy to

069support the schools in Jackson. And you could see that number is $150,559,000. They compare that to what the general fund tax levy is. And 25-26 our general fund tax levy was 107 million. So, the state's assertion is that Jackson is spending below local fair share. Where Jackson Township is not providing the local tax levy to the point where it's it matches the local fair share, and that's why we keep getting our funding cut. So, that's the state's explanation of of of local fair share. How does this factor in? Well, obviously, you know, if we don't have if we don't if we're getting cut in state aid, where does that money have to get made up if you want to keep moving things forward? It It comes from local revenue. And so, this year the general

070fund tax levy includes both a 2% tax levy increase, and we are eligible for an adjustment for a health benefit cap waiver because our health benefit costs are so large. And so, every pretty much many many the vast majority of school districts in the state of New Jersey because of the health benefits costs are eligible for this this year and will be utilizing in their budget in some capacity. You could see some of the other local revenues including miscellaneous income, which is income we get from rentals, food service, uh child care. So, we've done well with that and we anticipate to continue to to do well with that. There is no budgetary line item for a sale of property for next school year. Um you could see the 25-26 budget did have that. And [clears

071throat] then the free balance. That's our surplus. So, we're anticipating a large surplus because we're anticipating the closing of the McCalla property. And so, the free balance is us utilizing a portion of that surplus to go towards next year's budget. So, all told, the local revenue is increasing by over $2.3 million for next year. What does this mean for the the the local taxpayer? Well, the general fund tax levy um adds up to $116 million. The debt service tax levy is is uh $7.7 million, and those two together go together to make up the total tax levy. And so, the total tax increase to the total tax levy is uh just over $9.2 million for next year. For the average assessed property in Jackson, the average assessed property in Jackson is identified as $654,839 for

07226-27. It would mean a $305 per year increase for the local tax for the for that average assessed property, which amounts to be just $25.42 per month. And this increase is due almost wholly because of the health care uh the health care costs and the eligibility for the health benefit cap waiver. So, this budget is not all doom and gloom, and I want to make it very clear to you that this district is moving forward. This district has done great things and continues to do great things with whatever resources they have available to them. This budget includes a 25% increase to all the school budgets, which is direct resources to students and staff. It includes new teaching resources for an enhanced social studies curriculum in grade 7 to 12. It includes allocations to plan and

073implement a flexible learning academy at the high school. It includes the replacement of all high school Mac labs for all instructional classrooms and J and TV studios. Um it includes allocations to launch an interscholastic middle school volleyball program for boys and girls next year. It includes allocations to address some of the facility issues through capital and maintenance reserves to address the highest priority needs in the district, specifically HVAC replacements, maybe even some partial roofing replacements, and paving. It includes a technology equipment lease renewal to replace all student Chromebooks in the school district for next school year. And it includes an expansion of high school offerings um including APs and electives for next year. So, this is some great stuff that the school district is going to have in this budget for next year uh that

074is going to keep this district moving forward. So, all together, this is a balanced budget, which is the requirement that we have to put forth. Um it is it it continues to achieve and establish educational goals, and and it's essentially a flat budget. I mean, a 0.07% increase over year over year. Um again, a lot of people a lot of work goes into this from a lot of different people. This entire district should be proud of this budget because I certainly am. Mr. Beginsky, an excellent comprehensive outline to exactly what has happened in this district. You and I have presented so many of these presentations to explain the history here, and this one just really really puts it together nicely of exactly what has been happening historically here, how the district has addressed those issues,

075and I I want to really uh repeat and reiterate what Mr. Beginsky just said. I'm very proud of this district for doing the hard work. This was difficult these last 10 years, but specifically the last few. And had we not acted over these last few years, we would be in a very um difficult position for our students. This budget is supporting everything that already exists for our students, keeping our staff, and then also increasing opportunities for our students even while being cut. So, I appreciate all the work um of everybody in this district including the board um in making sure that we can preserve programs and expand them for our students. I now open it up to the board for comment and questions. I had a couple comments. Um Mr. Beginsky, for the state saying

076that our T&E is below, is that based on strictly this local fair share? Um What what's going on? You know how I would the state says we're below T&E? Mhm. Adequacy budget. Yes, is the adequacy just strictly based on the local fair share not being there or >> It It uh Yeah, adequacy is related just to our spending. It's what the state calculates should we should be spending um the state says we should be spending based on next year's budget $29 million more to educate our students to provide a thorough and efficient education. So, I'm just, you know, I was sitting here and doing math, right? >> Mhm. So, when you said also showed a slide, and I didn't take note on the slide, but there was a difference of about 43 million from what

077the state said on that grainy slide that we should be taking in on the general fund to what we actually do take in on the general fund, but then you're talking about adequacy. Like, none of those numbers even jive up then cuz that's a $43 million difference, and you're talking about less than that. So, are they looking for us to take in more money than actually is necessary? Or I'm just trying to understand. Yeah, I mean, I feel like local fair share is is a concept that that the state the state wants to convey to townships and municipalities that they should be spending a certain amount on the tax levy to support their schools. Adequacy is about how what the actual number that we're spending versus um how many custodians you should have, how many

078how many guidance counselors you should have, that kind of thing. Correct. Yeah. My last question, so when you showed us the state aid, you know, we got our categorical transportation, special education. Special education went down, but then you also showed us our out of district placements. Do they give us and determine our funding based on the fact that in the year prior we were down from 48 to 44. Like, it was 44 students not this year, but last year. And like, how do they determine that aid? Like, if cuz you just said >> say that >> Because you said that out of district placements cost $149,000, and the difference was I didn't write the difference down, but I did the math on my calculator. It was six students. in out of district placements. So, it's

079just kind of like interesting. How did they come up with that number? >> I would actually make an argument that because we have such good programs and because we've been able to reduce the number of students out of district and reduce the costs, we've gotten less aid because of it. That it's actually disincentivized. I mean that I would and I'm just that I believe that that would be that's the case, but Well, that's a shame on the state. Um last thing is I just wanted to ask about um you know, we got a 3% negative and I would say there's a guardrail and it could have been more, but a lot of as you pointed out in Ocean County we're like one of the biggest losers and a lot of people went up, but it's

080been in the newspaper everywhere that so many townships are struggling to meet they knew they're going to be in a big deficit. Do you feel that you know, they're getting 6% is going to fix their deficit or even all these districts are they still necessarily going to have problems? Well, plus 6% is definitely better than -3, but I will I would say that the the the increases in the health benefit costs that we're all dealing with all school districts really are are go far beyond what what any kind of that kind of an increase in state aid. That's it's it's it's too much to overcome. >> So, you're predicting that even with all of our local communities maybe receiving more than we did they might still have deficit issues and in the end we are

081at a balanced budget with a minimal budgetary change. And I just want to kind of point that Yeah, I would agree with that. Yeah. Thank you. I just want to commend you Dan because Mr. Beginsky because when you do a presentation it is always clear, it is always concise and I think even for the general public I know you've educated us. Just the way that you do it um it's I just want to say thank you because it's really it's a great job. Thanks. Um I too want to thank you. Always do a terrific job. Um one of the things is the narrative out there is that if the um non-public um student population because they are not added to our to our district that that is actually a savings. Um the my thought is

082is that that is not true because the state gives us money based on our the population our enrollment. So, if they were added then we would actually be getting the correct amount of funds. Do you believe that that is one of the things that is the fault in the formula? Well, you I mean you would you you would have the cost to educate them. You would you know, but you would definitely get more more funding, absolutely. Thank you. Special education aid, how was that figured? Special ed extraordinary aid? Yeah. So, it's the there's different categories and tiers. So, uh depending on the severity of of of of the need. Um so, I believe there's a a certain reimbursement at uh for students who are uh a certain type of disability for transportation costs, uh for

083the power professionals. It depends on the severity of it and then so it's it's a it's a math calculation. But that's just your eligibility. The actual determination of it has to do with how much money the state has set aside and how many school districts are tapping into it. So, that may not be a true number. It could be reduced. Right. Yeah, that How about equalize aid? Where does that come from or I How about what? Equalization Oh, equalization aid. So, we don't we equalization aid was a was something that uh the state does for certain school does for certain school districts that they feel are underfunded. Um and so that they can make up they run the categorical aid and they don't feel it's enough. So, they they use the equalization aid to bring

084them up. So, we'll never qualify for that. >> ours is zero. So, it's not doesn't even make the slide. Thanks. Oh, you know, I had one other note Mr. Beginsky when we did the difference between the 150 that the state 150 million that the state said that we should be collecting from the local people versus what we are. It was 43 million. Is that a is that a dollar for dollar like is it a 43% difference or is it not dollar for dollar? Do you know? Yeah. It's dollar for dollar. So, it'd be a 43% They expect us to be up to that that dollar amount so yeah, that's all. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's dollar to dollar. Wow. And according to that formula that Mr. Beginsky presented it's because of the way that

085it's calculated the value of the homes and the wealth of the town um saying that that's the local fair share. That's what that document demonstrates. Right, but it's so interesting because our local fair share covers 68% of our budget. Mhm. So, that would almost feel like it would be 100% where where is your income tax going and how you getting it back? >> Yeah, right. >> As a taxpayer. Uh-huh. Yes. >> You know, it's really like it's mind-blowing actually. Mhm, okay. Grant grant aid is that's not a definite, is it? Those numbers? The what aid? I couldn't hear you. Can you say it again? >> and aids that we get from uh funding So, some some of them are are definite numbers. Uh if we go back to that slide real quick. Yeah, so um

086we're budgeting 75% of title one through four because that's what we've been told to budget for. So, whatever we got this year we're budgeting 75% of that for next year. But the preschool aid this preschool grant that number came through on the state aid notice. So, that's the actual number. Okay. Yeah, and then the other grants down the bottom in yellow are grants that we've accepted and those are those are actual dollar amounts that we will be receiving. So, since you did at 75% we could actually do better with that, okay, than we see the numbers up there. Okay, thanks. Anyone else? Okay. Well, with that that concludes uh my superintendent's report and again thank you to all who presented tonight. So, Ms. Cordella, I pass it back to you. We have no fiscal monitor

087>> Yes, we have no fiscal monitor report. Sorry, my screen is not changing for some reason. Uh I lost internet, guys. We have a standing committee reports. I'm just going to say budget and finance Mr. Beginsky was the report and then we'll move into buildings and grounds. Yes, for buildings and grounds uh Jackson Township High School locker rooms were cleaned, sanded, and repainted including walls and lockers. That's for the stadium locker rooms. Jackson Township High School home economics classroom existing gas stove range was removed and new unit installed. Jackson Township High School wood shop exhaust system was repaired to improve indoor air quality. Also at the high school four new fire door closures were replaced as required by fire official. Uh Jackson Township Middle School fine arts exterior canopy lighting was repaired. Jackson Township 5-6

088school the MUA vacuumed the kitchen grease trap. In addition, the in-house plumber repaired a clogged line to the cafeteria area. Crawford Rodriguez cooling tower was filled, serviced, and checked in preparation for the AC season. Transportation building a third new lift station pump was installed for the transportation building restrooms. The MUA also evacuated the lift station twice. Uh administration building a new backflow preventer was installed on the main water line by the in-house plumber. Also I'm going to give an update for superintendent search. As previously shared, Ms. Permilli has announced her intention to retire effective July 1st, 2026. After reviewing all submitted application packets, the board has selected candidates to participate in the first round of interviews which took place on March 2nd and March 3rd. We extend our sincere appreciation to everyone who expressed interest

089in serving as our next superintendent. The board is moving forward with the second round of interviews on March 23rd. I just wanted to thank all the board members for for prioritizing the scheduling of these sessions to ensure that we remain on track with our timeline for naming the uh successor. Thank you. Uh transportation No report. Curriculum and instruction no report. Ad hoc committees as needed. Um scholarship The committee will meet on April 15th to select the last of the scholarships with the guidance department and the students will be notified of their winning a certain scholarship in the first week in May. That is all. Thank you. Uh state and county school boards Next um legislative meeting is May 30th virtually at 9:00. Um advocacy we did send out emails to multiple legislators and didn't hear

090anything. Um I do have something I'm going to say in my board comments. I saw something from Assemblyman Zwicker, but we didn't speak as a committee. So, I'll share that then. Um policy and regulations I need a motion for approval of policy second reading and adoption. Motion. Second. Discussion? Roll call. Mrs. Barocas Yes. Mrs. Cass Yes. Mr. Walsh Yes. Mrs. Rivera Mr. McCarron Yes. Mrs. Cordella Yes. Policy and regulations I need a motion for approval of policy and regulations abolishment. Second. Discussion? Roll call. Mrs. Barocas. >> Yes. Mrs. Cass. >> Yes. Mr. Walsh. Yes. Mrs. Rivera. Yes. Mr. McCarron. Yes. Mrs. Gordella. Yes. I need a motion for approval of the minutes, the closed session meeting February 18th, 2026 and the official board meeting February 18th, 2026 business meeting. Motion. Second. Discussion? Roll call. Mrs.

091Barocas. Yes. Mrs. Cass. Yes. Mr. Walsh. Yes. Mrs. Rivera. Yes. Mr. McCarron. Yes. Mrs. Gordella. Yes. I need a motion for approval of the bill list. Motion. Second. Discussion? Roll call. Mrs. Barocas. >> Yes. Mrs. Cass. >> Yes. Mr. Walsh. Yes. Mrs. Rivera. Yes. Mr. McCarron. Yes. Mrs. Gordella. Yes. I need a motion for approval of the treasurer's and board secretary's report. Motion. Second. Discussion? Roll call. Mrs. Barocas. Yes. Mrs. Cass. Yes. Mr. Walsh. Yes. Mrs. Rivera. Yes. Mr. McCarron. Yes. Mrs. Gordella. Yes. I need a motion to open the public forum on agenda items only. We will hold another public forum during this meeting for any other questions. The public This public forum will be for questions on the agenda only. Motion. Second. Please sign in and state your name and whether or not

092you are a Jackson resident. Each person is allowed a maximum of 3 minutes to speak. No person may speak more than once on the topic until all others have been heard. Are there any other additional agenda only questions? Seeing no one come forward, I need a motion to close public forum. Motion. All in favor? Aye. Resolutions for action. I need a motion to move finance. Motion. Second. Discussion? I just want to thank um we got an anonymous donation of a thousand dollars uh towards our unpaid lunch balance and I think it should be recognized. Thank you. Um I also wanted to ask um Mr. Beginsky, the uh finance number six surplus items. Mhm. Will those go on GovDeals? Y- uh if they have any value whatsoever, we will put them on GovDeals tomorrow. Tomorrow, okay.

093I'm just going through my >> through my items here. I made a note the same as uh Miss Cass about the anonymous uh donation. Um roll call. Mrs. Barocas. >> Yes. Mrs. Cass. Yes. Mr. Walsh. Yes. Mrs. Rivera. Yes. Mr. McCarron. Yes. Mrs. Gordella. Yes. Motion. Second. Discussion? Mrs. Barocas. Yes. Mrs. Cass. Yes. Mr. Walsh. Yes. Mrs. Rivera. Yes. Mr. McCarron. Yes. Mrs. Gordella. Second. Discussion? Roll call. Mrs. Barocas. Uh Can you close that? Yes to everything except number two. Mrs. Cass. So the twen- I'm sorry, the Mrs. Mrs. Cass. Yes. No. No. No to two. Are you voting >> number No to number two. No to number two, yes everything else. Got it. Mr. Walsh. No to number one, yes to everything else. Mrs. Rivera. No to number two, yes to everything else. Uh

094yeah, number one is all of the motions, the program motions. Mr. Walsh, do you want it? Let me switch that. No to number two. Got it. No to number two. Okay. Uh Mrs. Rivera. Yes to everything besides number two. Yes, but no to number two. Got it. Mr. McCarron. Yes to everything. Mrs. Gordella. Yes to everything, no to number two. So everything except number two carried. So the calendar the revised calendar did not pass. Correct. Right. That is something we're going to need to discuss because now we have no calendar and I'm not sure when the um staff is supposed to report or not report. So we're going to need to figure out a plan. This is the current calendar, folks. This is the >> mean I I I didn't expect everybody to vote no

095on that. I was just making a comment. I didn't I didn't expect that. >> blindsided. I guess I thought we were only voting on the 29th. I didn't know it was the whole calendar. >> This is the entire revised calendar. So it now just did not pass, which means we're going to need to figure out when my staff and my students are supposed to be here. That's for this year. Well, that's correct. That was for this year. >> calendar. I can change my vote to yes, although I don't think that's allowed. Can you? Um frankly, what what you uh someone who well, since you many of voted no, someone who voted against it should move for reconsideration of that item. Technically, is what should be done. So there should be a motion to reconsider that

096item number two. Motion and second and then the board votes on the reconsideration. That reopens the item before the board. That's the correct way to do it. Go ahead. So make a motion to reconsider if you wish. I make a motion to reconsider. And then a second. Someone has to second. Okay. Then you would do a vote on the motion to reconsider. So the motion to reconsider that on number number two. Mrs. Barocas on number number two. Right. And that just brings it back at that point, then it's back before you. Then you can discuss the motion again okay and revote on it. Yeah. Well, the first person needs to adopt the motion to reconsider. Okay, so Mrs. Mrs. Barocas to adopt the reconsider the motion. That just brings it back before the body. So

097you're just voting to reconsider. Yes. Mrs. Cass. I'll vote yes. Uh Mr. Walsh. This is the motion to a to reconsider number two. Just to reconsider Right. Just just to bring it back on the table. >> Yes. Mrs. Rivera. Yes. Mr. McCarron. Still yes. Sorry, say that again? Still yes, he said. Yes. Mrs. Gordella. Bring it back to have a discussion. Okay. So the that motion is back before the body now. So now you can discuss it. Uh basically, because you now have the motion in front of you whether or not to approve the calendar. If there's any discussion, you can have that discussion now before you vote. So the discussion is Can I start the discu- Right? So the So the discussion is is that on the calendar the it for argument's sake you

098know, if there was another blizzard or um you know, we had the storms the other night. Let's say power went out. So the first two days to go are April 2nd, April 1st, no problems. But then we go into June 29th. And I don't and I don't think at this point we have we have camps that start on June 29th. We have we have staff that starts uh summer jobs. It we're just it's I just don't want to put us in that position where if we're able to adjust that bubble, that box, and just have April 2nd and April 1st you know, I'm I'm all for it. I think the June 29th just puts us in a scenario where you know, everyone has plans. We're we're literally right we we're because we've brought this calendar

099so close to you know, the end of the year, we're we're we're going right into people's summer plans. So I can comment. Okay. We certainly can revisit the makeup day should we need it again. That's something we could always revisit. Uh that's just a suggested makeup day should we need it in the calendar. Um and I just want to be clear. Obviously, I think you all know this, but obviously this wasn't by design purposely. Um Of course not. Right. So, we you know, the days that we put back into the calendar were out of necessity. Um and we certainly can look at the 19th and make that a half day should we need another day. But, um you know, that's not something I think I think that's something we can talk about and just adjust.

100I don't think it's a reason to not vote the calendar. Had I known was a an issue for this year, I I could have adjusted it beforehand. I just didn't realize it was going to be a big issue. I think we thought if we had if we approved it, then we're stuck with like the way they put it on the agenda, then we're then we're to say that we said, "Hey, in advance, guys, you took June 29th." The issue >> Whereas to me, I feel like we took Passover, we took a lot of things. So, if we had to go to that, being that community pass already came out to residents regarding the 29th, I'd rather see the 19th impacted. Now, I I hear what you're all saying. You're looking you would like the 19th

101to be impacted should we need to should we have another closure and have to put a day back. >> Yes, absolutely. I completely hear you. I just want you to know the box at the bottom, the final options will be considered as the winter progresses. They're considered. It's not a requirement that we do it that way. Okay. So, we can make those adjustments. The important part is that we communicate that to the public. So, if hopefully it doesn't happen. >> Right, right. >> But, if we needed [clears throat] to, we could consider saying, you know, instead of going to the 29th, we can look at the 19th. Okay. As long as we communicate it to the public and to our staff. And let's all just cross our fingers that we won't need that day, of

102course. Absolutely. >> No more bad weather. Roll call. Any other discussion? Roll call. So, we're voting on >> back on number Okay. Number two only. Right. As is. Right. Correct. Mrs. Brookes. Yes. Mrs. Cass. Yes. Mr. Walsh. Yes. Mrs. Rivera. Yes. Mr. McCarron. Yes. Mrs. Gardella. Yes. Resolutions for action, I need a motion to move students. Motion. Second. Discussion? Roll call. Mrs. Brookes. Yes. Mrs. Cass. Yes. Mr. Walsh. Yes. Mrs. Rivera. Mr. McCarron. Yes. Mrs. Gardella. Yes. Resolutions for action, I need a motion to move personnel. Motion. Second. Discussion? Roll call. Mrs. Brookes. >> Yes. Mrs. Cass. Yes. Mr. Walsh. Yes. Mrs. Rivera. Yes. Mr. McCarron. Yes. Mrs. Gardella. Yes. I need a motion to open the public forum on any topic pertaining to the Board of Education. Second. Please sign in and state your

103name and whether or not you are a Jackson resident. Each person is allowed a maximum of 3 minutes to speak. No person may speak more than once on the topic until all others have been heard. How you doing? My name is Tom Riley. I live on Fox Drive. Uh there's a couple concerns I want to just bring up to the board. Um you know, when we have a snow day, I understand that's it is what it is. Everybody has to adjust accordingly um to the closure of school and you know, everybody takes off of work and whatnot. Um just I think replacing those lost days with half days also really impacts uh parents um because instead of being replaced with a full day having a half day, now people are obligated to take, you know,

104half a day off from work. And when you multiply that by four, it it starts to add up. People don't have the luxury of taking that kind of time off in some cases. Um I'm also concerned about the loss of instructional time. You know, most of these snow days happen in January, February, March. And when you have a um high school doing block scheduling, you know, you're losing significant amounts of instructional time for the second half of the school year in the high school. Um it may not sound like a lot, but it does have an impact. It does add up. Um second thing um that concerned me was uh when we lost the internet and we had to close the school for the internet, uh just how reliant we're becoming on technology. Uh the

105fact that there is no analog contingency that has been drawn up um is a little concerning. Um I didn't plan for, you know, to be home with my kids because the internet was down. Um neither did my job. Uh Thirdly, the it seems like the blizzard made everybody's mind break up at Johnson. Um the traffic control is just getting nuts. Um just today alone, two people trying to go in the out. Just watch them. Just go in the opposite flow of traffic cuz they didn't give a you know what. Um the the fact that there's a giant bus from one of the after school off-site activities. I don't know if it's a karate school or something like that. And he just parks the bus and idles, you know, and it's a diesel burning bus and

106the fumes are noxious, frankly. Um and what what I'm hoping that the board can do is ask law enforcement to come down cuz the school resource officer can only do so much legally. But, I thinks that sometimes the police do need to come in. It doesn't take long. It's more the afternoon than the morning. Only has to be there for 15 minutes. It's not one cop that can just come down and show that they're paying attention uh to ensure that, you know, people are abiding by traffic laws. Um I saw the presentation for the uh uh school lunches. Um one of the things I didn't know was um that I can actually control what my child is allowed to have for lunch. Um the reason why I run a negative 20 to $40 balance is

107because I don't want my daughter to buy snacks cuz if I give her money, you know, whether it's physical money or the digital money now, she's going to subsist on snacks. So, by running the negative balance, I know that she's not allowed to have a snack. Um the last thing is uh I just want to give high praise to the Johnson PTO who, you know, just do an enormous amount of work in there. Um you know, they don't get paid. It's just an enormous amount of time. And uh I just want to give them a lot of praise for what they do and what they do for my kids and everybody's kids in that school. Thanks. Are there any additional questions? Seeing no one come forward, I need a motion to close public forum. Motion.

108Second. All in favor? Aye. Did you want to make a comment? Yes, thank you. So, I just want to make a couple of comments. First of all, thank you for sharing your concerns. Um and I just want to let you know I'm also always available. You can email, call if you have any concerns or questions or follow-up. Um obviously the snow closures and the emergency closure that we had this year was not common. We haven't experienced something like that in probably a decade with the amount of snow that we had and the storms that we had. And we recognize it's not ideal. We agree. Not ideal. Um and we always strive to improve um in making decisions. It was definitely not an easy decision to make. Um and balancing, you know, obviously instructional time is

109extremely important and we value that. Also allowing making sure we have enough coverage in our schools um of staff and all of those things go into consideration. Um but we strive to get better every time. Um I just wanted to address the internet loss. Um so, our phones are also based on the internet um and we did have a unique situation in where there were poles down from the storm in an area, as we explained in our communication, that JCP&L was communicating and saying that our internet provider was not permitted to go into that area to even assess the situation um to know what the damage was to fix it. Um and so, we struggled with, honestly, communication. We anticipated if you remember, we did a delayed opening first anticipating because the information that was

110coming to us was that it would be repaired earlier. We thought we'd be able to get in on that day and unfortunately, it got delayed and delayed and delayed. And as you learned, wasn't even fixed until the following day at the end of that day. So, it was a communication issue and the access issue. We do have contingency plans now. They are in in place should we lose both phones and internet. So, we have put a a plan in place. And um again, wasn't ideal, but unfortunately, it was a situation that just transpired on those days. And then again, let's hope this never happens again, but we we agree we should not be that reliant on the internet, but we definitely have contingency plans. We have met, debriefed, and have been working with all administration

111on that. I too agree that our PTAs do a ton of work here I always thank our parents. This is a shared endeavor in raising students and educating students and we could not do it if it were not for the help of our parents. So I agree with you and I'm actually meeting with the new chief next week. We'll bring up your concerns. Okay? Thank you. I'd like to open the meeting to board comments starting with Miss Brokus. So first of all, I wanted to well, thank you again to Mr. Biginsky for doing an amazing job on presenting the budget. Just I can't even believe the amount of work that you and your staff put into this and can't thank you enough for doing such a great job. Congratulations to our girls and boys wrestling

112teams, the boys and girls basketball teams and our bowling team on the tremendous success they had during their season. I also was able to see our marching band during the St. Patrick's Day parade and wow, what an amazing just an amazing thing to see our school not only representing Jackson, but representing the state. They got so much press that day and I'm just really impressed by them. So congratulations on having that opportunity. And last but not least a big happy 18th birthday to my daughter Paige. Have a good night everyone. I just want to congratulate the girls wrestling team too. It's just amazing. All of our sports as you said bowling, boys wrestling, there's we have a lot to be proud of in this district. The band in the parade. I had the opportunity of

113seeing the play last Friday. I just have to say that Mama Mia was outstanding and I can say that because I actually saw the Broadway production back in November. Our production put them to shame. The energy and the enthusiasm when I went to New York City, I was actually a little disappointed thinking wow, everybody always talks about it. Our show hands down, it was just phenomenal. So again, kudos our students, staff, just amazing. And congratulations to DECA. I always have to give them a shout-out and good luck on the next competition. Have a good night everyone. Thank you all for coming out this evening and viewing our live stream. I went to see and thank you for all the overall presentations. I went to see Mama Mia, it was amazing performance along with during the

114Read Across America. Went to read a classroom at Elm's. It was great interactions and student engagement. Everyone have a safe and great night. Kudos to all the athletic teams. Kudos to the presentation, the budget, all the administrators cuz I know they all put their little two cents into it. I know what they have to do as far as that's concerned. And next thing I'm going to talk about has to do with something that I'm not liking, okay, in the calendar, right? And it's because when we have half days, okay, we lose time. Time in the classroom with half days and it seems like and it's not just this district. I see all I was looking at all the calendars at all the districts and it seems like they put more and more half days into

115their calendars. Okay? That's less time that the kids spend in the classroom and that's where all the wonder happens in the classroom. So that's just my pet peeve. That's only my opinion, okay? But I I've been kind of at this for a long time, all right? If they're not in the classroom, okay, nothing's happening. Have a good night. I think everybody covered all the athletics. You know, congratulations to everybody's wins. Just wanted to say thanks to Mr. Biginsky, Mr. Rotante and Dr. Gulesky for the tours of the buildings that we set up last week. It was good to get into the buildings, see them, see everything that's going on and it's great to see firsthand all the great things happening in our district. Thank you. Thank you. I just I'm echoing everybody, but I have

116to point out there was I watched Mama Mia and there was a young man that came out in the last 3 minutes and he's come and spoke at many of our board meetings. I recognized him and he was the father, I think it was Farady was the name. And as soon as he came out, man, I just want to say bravo. He nailed that part and I had to laugh out loud. I mean, it was absolutely amazing. Kudos to everybody in that production and obviously we've highlighted all the athletics and I just wanted to point out that Assemblyman Alex Sawicki put a bill in today with the assembly. It's number A4750. It's meant to provide relief to school districts who in the past 2 years have went over the tax levy cap by 9.9%. And

117where health care costs I did not see a percentage of that increase. It just said an increase in health care costs and the bill would be therefore a state issue and that the state should therefore correct that issue and it should not be a local issue. So I don't know if his bill will have any traction. To anybody who is an advocate or might want to send an email, again the bill number is A4750. Any support to all the districts in our state is obviously a benefit and for us as you could see, you know, we are yet again for the second year increasing for that tax for the health care waiver. So it would be a benefit to us as well. You know, I also just want to say I I listened to all

118the campaigns for our current governor and I know that she did run on a campaign for improving health insurance rates and costs in the state. So it would be interesting to see if this bill gets some traction. And last you know, I also have a concern that we need to have a more consistent calendar you know, I I listen to you and I I do agree. And hopefully as we move through we don't have a year like we've had currently. I feel like it was definitely out of character and you know, it's something that I think everybody is going to look at in the years to come. Everybody have a good night. So I need a motion to adjourn. Motion. By acclamation? I