LHTSD Board of Education Meeting, 03/17/2025

001a [Music] good evening everyone I'd like to call the March 17th 2025 lill Township Board of Education meeting to order please rise for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for it stands God indice adequate notice of the meeting of the Long Hill Township Board of Education was given as required by the open Public's meeting act as follows notice was sent to the echo Sentinel and daily record on October 14th 2024 notices were posted on the bulletin board in the first floor entrance hall of the School District administration building Gillette New Jersey notices were filed with the Township Clerk and notices were mailed to all persons who have requested indiv individual notice pursuant to the open public meetings act roll call please Mrs Butler herey

002here Mr Foster here Mr gr here Dr Mah here Mrs mnon M N here this casee here going to start off with a presentation and appropriate for steam it is New Jersey stem month for people who don't know so very exciting so Mr Alexis so uh principal vello is here and Mrs Ned Bey our steam teacher at the middle school and she's brought a few of her students to to give us a presentation should we gather around for the demonstration or do you want I think Michael has a slideshow first okay greetings everyone and and thank you for having Central Middle School this month we're very excited so I'm going to give go over a little bit of the structure of the steam program just so everybody's aware of what the students at the middle

003school get to experience so we offer steam at seventh and e8th grade so all students in uh Central Middle School have this experience and the way that it's organized is that it's a cycle course for one marking period so every student gets it for 45 days each year each year that they rotate through the middle school some of the key benefits of why we offer Steam and a little bit of an overview is the first reason is to develop critical thinking still thinking skills students learn to analyze information evaluate evidence and form logical conclusions through inquiry based learning enhances students creativity we want them to be excited to be there and they're excited to present tonight as well every time I go in that room which we have a brand new steam room this year

004it is fantastic they are there's always excitement and there's always passion in there and I love to see the things that they're doing so we integrate Arts into steam it encourages Innovative thinking unique solutions to problem solving promoting collaboration I don't think I've ever not seen the students together when they're working they're always in collaborative teams so that's such an important um Quality for our adolescent students to learn so they're always working on projects to be uh together building communication skills teamwork such an important word so we always want them working to together and sharing their ideas um improving students problem solving abilities Hands-On activities they're always working sometimes are on their computers but often times they're either on the floor on the ground collaborating working building and thinking together um expanding career awareness exposure

005to various different steam Fields um that they can potentially have as path for careers in the future increasing engagement and motivation again the students are always engaged Hands-On learning Hands-On thinking um and it they have fun with it and they really are learning relevant skills building confidence so students when they successfully complete steam projects it boosts their self-esteem they have a level of accom accomplishment and just overall excitement about being in school and engaging in these activities and adapts to real world application steam projects often mimic real world scenarios allowing students to apply their knowledge to practical situations which is very exciting okay some of just the steam program highlights this year some of the activities that they they've engag in so those are all the skills all the focus areas of things that we're

006trying to build but some of the highlights So Physical Computing skills um basic computer programming coding little micro bit mini computers so they're actually coding them to uh respond to commands 3D printing we have three right three three 3D printers that are operational and students have been using um learning CAD software Foundation uh experience in wind turbine engineering we actually have like little sample wind turbines they can test them out see what types of um um different parts make the create the most energy uh focus on AI and machine learning and using distance and sound sensors Jack I should be able to play this video right this is just a very informal video just uh that two students uh Miss Naeli was able to to grab yeah so pretty much we use um we coated

007the tricolored LED light to um to flash different colors and then we use the two LED lights to code the um eyes and then we use the position servos to make the feet spin well done here's the snap coat very good thank you thank you so it's just a little quick informal video of just walking around seeing what their students are actually doing what they're able to explain so they're using those coding skills to program their little uh creation there okay so now I'm going to turn it over to the live demonstration portion so we have Regina abeli our steam teacher and we have merera Avery and Dylan today that are going to model some of what they've been working on recently so I'm going to turn it over to them now which is one

008group going first [Music] okay want to give okay they have do you want the microphone for your introduction your introduction no see [Music] you um my name is and we are in seventh grade um in the school of C demonst how to Cod drawings using the robots um the robots are part of the seventh grade program and Robin hat for St P's day my computer IED a to have it draw a hat and the Hat shows how we can code the P to draw straight lines and sharp edges F my code thatle make lines with curves and circles um we decided the because it was one of our favor in you can also the robot to change colors Andes um although this is just a small demonstration codes like this are used in everyday life

009um codings like this can be used in [Music] factors that may look like simp I tell there's a lot of computer science that went into that and they did a great job they both came up with this idea on their own when we were doing the coding in class originally um I had them during different shapes they were programming a square a pentagon triang we had two eighth graders one of our eighth graders uh town is on a new travel basketball team grade the eighth graders did Lego robotics okay yep let me hello these are basically battery packs with that you can code into them then we use these my cat does that too so the thing with Ste that I really enjoy is that that spins like crazy right and it doesn't go in

010any direction but you can build and figure things out to make that go straight to curve to go not as crazy as it will so it solves many problems and you got to use those problem skills to um create better ways to build it then this is a grabber so you press this button and it so I so as you can see it's like a wheel as a button so you just press the button and theie and pick them up and grab them which is also really cool what I liked about this one I made this one my partner Town made that one I liked about this one is because it really complicated to build but when you ran into problems you had to go back in the steps figure out what's wrong what's going

011on and you got to learn not to get frustrated with yourself as you're building it so then you can solve the problem figure things out and be able to pick up the Lego bricks press button aesome great job very [Applause] [Music] wonderful just I'll show here's some 3D prints I didn't bring our eighth graders get to use Tinker Canon design and create something that they want to make on their own bring home sixth graders are currently working on the Wen turbine unit so they are trying to redesign turbine blades their testing with the digital multimer they're assessing whether their newly created blades fun with that very nice wonderful amazing okay thank you so much we've just been so thrilled with the way that the new steam lab came out um and the development of the

012course we've really tried to raise the level of steam programming that we're offering at the middle school and having Regina has just been absolutely phenomenal the students have been so excited about all the different projects that they're able to engage in at all the different grade levels and really get their hands on all this technology so we're just we're just thrilled with with uh the progress this year and where it's going to go in the future too so we're very very excited about it it's quite exceptional really question yeah any questions well I I have a question so one for the steam cycles does do you do the same things every single cycle or does it change yes and no I do the same things but I found from the first marking period to the

013second marking period there was a difference in the student and what they remembered from scratch coating so the first marking period did scratch coating at seventh grade at a higher level than they did I found the second group I move the scratch cing down to the sixth grade so now sixth graders are getting the scratch cing the rest of it is pretty much the same with the finch robots the humming kits are for the eighth grade the finch seven um next I am building so for me this is progression next year since my my won't be here but my S will move up to that I did the between and year I have Micro and Lego lo that I'm add to the next year but I am pretty much keeping it the same one Mark

014to the next I have another question are the most of the kits reusable yes so like these robs these are all reusable at charge all the time same with the Legos I mean there's consumables the markers will dry out there's a lot of I bring in a lot of materials from home hardboard all sorts of containers I mean that's as a stem steam teacher you always a lot of that iing for the robots that don't don't charge like my huming bird kits they do do take batteries filaments I'll need new filaments you know as we run out of that 3D printing but pretty much everything else is reusable I mean I I did set everything up when I was making the purchases in order to have this sustainable for a number of years okay we

015reused the winter my kits as well at the end of this unit they will break them down they will put them in the boxes and we'll reuse those do the winter M kits align at all with the climate change standards or is it engineering I we talk about okay thank you guys so much thank thank you great thank you so much again I just wanted to also recognize um the Vex robotic state Championship was over the weekend and the elementary team scored uh placed third in skills third in teamwork and was also granted an Excellence award um and the middle school team ranked 18th out of 66 teams though so they had a pretty good showing so we're not sure if they're moving on yet but that was just the update from over the weekend

016so I just wanted to share that because it's all connected in a way thank you so much very [Applause] okay um Communications nothing to report uh board committee and liaison reports Karen okay uh since our last meeting there were actually two meetings of the Morris County Ed Services Commission and the biggest thing is uh number one I'd often mentioned about the sale of the was a state building and now it has definitely become the property of Norris County Head Services uh hiring an architect to see what redesign configuration could be made to some of the rooms uh as I mentioned their enrollment is decreasing so the writing is on the wall in the next couple of years uh they're probably looking at not having the school one of the first things they will probably do

017is move their offices from Moritz Plains with their renting space to the building secondly their budget we approved the budget at the last meeting you have on on our agenda you're approving the rates that were uh identified you know and finalized they don't have the Ed Services Commission does not get property taxes or state aid their income is based purely on members dues as well as what they receive for payment for the services they're providing to the public schools and the non Public Schools uh with respect to committees governance okay uh excuse me uh George Kim and I have agreed to submit a proposal for this year's school board's conference that doesn't you know have to see whether it's going to be accepted or not uh the conference is in the lateral part of October

018uh interview questions you know we all have our interview questions now we finalized those and I think the the guidelines have been set out that we'll interview at the end of this meeting we'll have the interviews one at a time and uh they will be taken in alphabetical order after that we're going to have an executive session to discuss the candidates and then come out of executive session and actually take some action with a resolution to have the new board member accepted uh reminder went out on the Strategic plan last strategic planning session which is tomorrow so hopefully many people can turn out to Millington school for that uh the CSA and self- evaluation schedule it's going to be tight guys in the sense that you're only going to get a week to to do

019both in the sense because sometimes if you waited too long just add it on so you're going to get one week to get it done uh George will complete his part for the CSA evaluation on May 14 and then uh basically has 48 hours to make Corrections or changes Etc and then we can access it and we will have between May 16th and May 22nd to complete the self the the CSA evaluation excuse me and then we'll move on to a review on June 2nd after Kim has completed a summary and things will progress from there because it has to be completed by July 1st self-evaluation we're looking for uh it's going to they've redesigned it so it's similar to the CSA evaluation now where Kim will be inputting our board goals and what we've

020accomplished and then it gets turned over to us to do whatever you know answer or respond to whatever is there we will have from June 2nd to June 11 to do that at a special meeting on June 16th we will be covering a whole Myriad of things not the least of which is the self- evaluation goal setting and uh Georgia's review so we got like big busy late spring early summer and I think you all got I some a notice that I put out about the April 7th review have something written you know just one page it's going to be short first half hour is ethics training and then you have the goal review for each committee okay uh Finance I'm not going to go into the the budget stuff because Rob will be covering

021that in her presentation um excuse me uh I think I mentioned before that presently uh we now have 104 uh who qualify for free and reduced lunch that um now is put us to a point where I think I mentioned we're having to offer breakfast next year and since the bid that we previously submitted was only for lunch uh within the course of the next couple of weeks another bid will be going out to handle both breakfast and lunch and hopefully things have been working out with the present vendor but we have to see what's going to turn up for that anything associated with a problem of ordering seems to have been handle there aren't any situations where students are not getting their lunch so every is on board in terms of how to order

022excuse me big thing now is that uh you can students can order lunch for field uh field trips okay uh also Force has graciously um volunteered or you know is donating for the free and reduced lunch children one course per semester free for them to be able to participate in the force courses and uh following one of our goals Robin was able to secure a grant for $6,000 for the carts that we need to serve our breakfasts come come okay uh the presentation is up on the website has been up on the website and um not yet oh I apologize okay wait we got the board got it and uh as of the meeting there were no questions posed to Robin okay um all right you're going to see on the agenda several items obviously

023the tentative budget uh for the zabona sports camp there was a 2% increase in the facility's use fee um alphab best came to us and asked to have their contract extended and they will not raise the rates so that's okay and I guess there had been a question as to whether they had any openings or you know slots available for kids and so yes there are there was something wrong with their system that was somehow kicking things out incorrectly uh for the force uh in the way that the accounting does has been happening there's some little leftover monies in different in different categories so an agreement was reached that that would all be accumulated and they they have been providing money for instruments again for students who could not Prov provide it for themselves so

024all those little bits of change that are left at the end of the year are going to be moved over to that music bucket I'll call it um let's see we joined a new co-op it opens up uh the in Bergen County it opens up to us another list of acceptable vendors and hopefully you know Robin is always looking to see where we can get things the cheapest obviously uh there are professional conferences that are going to be attended in May um the new J well NJ PSA and the nasbo by Robin and um oh the two the 23 24 pay to play fees are going to be collected this month and the final three checks are due and you're going to see there's a disposition of books from uh two libraries Millington and Gillette

025and I just want you to know that uh there were inquiries made about you know could they be used in California and all first of all like the shipping is you know horrendous but these are outdated books you know and mostly what really they're looking for out there is money they're not looking for these kinds of supplies so um and I said the all the budget stuff will come through of it any questions anybody I do okay um two things what did did you say that you that we were going to be looking into new vendors for the the food program when we have to put out an RFP okay okay because the first one that we got that was only put out to have lunch so since we have to have breakfast you got

026to put out a new RFP okay um and then the second was um in regards to the alphab best having issues with the the people getting kicked out of the system were those people that were kicked out the system were they notified that it's back open or there was an issue I believe they were yes we told to everyone and and told them there was a glitch and and there are no issues anymore so yes they said that they did job good thank you Karen uh on Danielle's Point you're going out to RFP for lunch and breakfast andf correct are you interested in a vendor perhaps one does breakfast a lot cheaper and maybe one does is whoever responds okay you know you got to you don't want to separate them we don't want two

027different vend so you don't want two different so it has to be one vendor to do it all okay yeah and you got to see like I said you got to see who who responds play sure so does our current vendor do breakfast do you know yes okay cool okay Daniel okay so thank you um okay so we had a community relations committee meeting on February 25th it was myself um and George Tom and Kim and we spoke about like the results from the first strategic planning meeting that we had and it was a good turnout and everything like that um we did speak about how um I just how to again how to support PTO and other organizations um with us with for the lgf and things like that how we can help support

028them um they did have a really good turnout for the wi for the Wizards um and they're doing their pop kids event as well right now so we're just trying to really put that out there and support them um and then of course we talked about the Sterling Street there so there will be probably a mascot which will be super fun um which is I believe it's April 27th um so just reminders if anyone's available to sign up because I think we just have a couple people on there um and our next meeting I believe is March 24th um but I can I'll double check that um and then Katie's not here so she gave me uh gave me what to say for the buildings and grounds meeting that took place um looks like okay

029March 19th um it was myself um Tom George Kim Katie um we were all present and uh Robin and Mark um there was a qack update the cusac site visit originally scheduled for 21225 was rescheduled to 424 due to the inclement weather um as for maintenance and operations update over pres president's weekend uh during the break maintenance staff continued painting at Central Middle School um they complete they completed all hallways at CMS and then we'll move on to Millington um they plan to utilize brakes and empty building days to maximize maintenance work as for the Capital Improvements projects the from the miltin tree damage from the storm back in November uh the roof repairs were completed on February 22nd um the damaged classroom with the rooftop AC unit is included in the rod Grant work

030scheduled for summer uh in the meantime they're exploring options for a temporary air conditioning solution uh maybe a port through a portable window unit I believe um let me see here as for the rod Grant uh I guess okay sorry guys I'm not really fluent what this says but the rod rod rod Grant includes the classroom unit ventilator replacement um they reached out to the state contract vendors for quotes after bids came in over budget twice and early indications suggest costs will be within budget allowing for most if not all work to be completed um as for the direct install program moving forward with replacing the rooftop units at Millington um they decided not to proceed with the replacing of the central Chiller and the rtus at this time due to cost and life expectancy

031which um are estimated at five plus years they will explore future incentive programs for Central Chillers rtus um the V VAV system in administrative in in the administrative office I don't know if that refers to that refice heating and is not working because of V so what we're looking to do is the first step in anything would be looking Heating and they think that it possibly we fix the baseboard heating everything else will work but even if it doesn't that still is the first steps so it's worth pursuing okay thank you um as for the CMS Library finalizing the design in the layout for updates and um they're still looking at for the Millington floor the abatement room 31 they're looking are still discussing the abatement plan um for the interior lock at Central Middle

032School they're updating and reconfiguring locks for enhancing security and better key control expected to improve security reduce maintenance costs and provide better access and control for Millington fencing proposal to install a fence along the back of the playground between the shed and the pony fence to prevent children from entering hazardous areas the fence will be limited to the back corner and will not extend into the surrounding Park area um the Gillette security enhancements proposal to add security Camas for improved visibility an additional key card reader installation at the back door near the playground for better access control um there were also new spotlights installed over at the Central Middle School stage and theater area and new curtains installed that's about it Danielle VAV stands for variable air volume oh okay Mark used that I I

033asked that question and apparently that regulates the temperature and the air flow different parts of the office good very good but the way he said it I just respond of course yeah um so the next meeting will be uh March 19th at 4:30 any questions for Daniel no but Daniel I would like to confirm that our next community relations meeting is the 24th okay good thank you thanks okay crystal sure the um the technology committee met on March 6th it was myself Kim Tom Katie George and Jack and we discuss technology interns the technology internship program will continue this summer they are looking to hire two interns and job postings will be available in April or May Windows 11 followup the deadline for upgrading to Windows 11 is October 2025 all necessary devices and Hardware

034prepared for the upgrade um updates will be implemented during the summer and staff will have an early adoption option available in the coming weeks if they so choose districtwide wireless access point replacement project is scheduled to begin in late June Arctic has been selected I'm sorry I don't have my glasses with me today Arctic has been selected as the vendor due to competitive pricing and previous successful collaborations the replacement includes all access points across the three buildings uh the brand is going to remain the same with only fysical unit Replacements which is great and current access points are nearing their end of life cycle so this is very timely continued implementation of the district 1:1 initiative the initiative will be fully implemented by 2026 but with significant progress expected by September we're currently in year

035two um of the three years of the project 60 new iPads three carts will be deployed at Gillette leaving only 40 devices needed to achieve one: one status and Chromebook refresh would refreshes will occur in grades 3 to four and other devices will be distributed um as needed there is a financial software migration to cloudbased solution the business office is transitioning to a secure cloud-based financial management system which is fantastic the immigration enhances security for sensitive data and improves accessibility and then we discussed the BQ and smart display installations and there are over 10 installations that are planned for the summer smart displays will be installed at Gillette and Millington B Q boards will be installed at Central Middle School which are also smart displays right jack okay good and a long-term plan is in

036place to replace all the projectors districtwide with uh displays by the 2627 school year and the BQ smart displays have been successfully introduced at Central receiving very positive feedback uh for their enhanced capabilities and are slightly more cost effective um providing a 75 in display compared to the 65in display so that's great for the older kids and then finally we discuss cyber security initiatives and the district has launched the nobe cyber security awareness program The District's um which is an anti-fishing program and so the district's fish pone percentage is lower than the industry average when compared to similar size school districts and so it's really cool it provides modules for teachers to go through so that they understand simulated fishing campaigns and the staff are equipped with fishing report buttons to identify potential fishing attempts

037um and we I think we've all seen fishing in action so really good to know that that's done for the district and next meeting is to be determined any questions okay and um so the student achievement and curriculum committee met on March 5th um under the goal of raising academic performance by deepening student understanding through inquiry based strategies personalized learning uh and critical and creative process problem solving um we had the iear mid uh the I ready midyear diagnostic data um which was a second checkpoint on the progress of the students in the math and Ela um that we were able to discuss in depth looking at areas where students were improving and also areas that still require need or maybe more progress uh you know uh Focus uh so with the professional development that

038the district has been holding that has been a goal and they had a a February 13th profess professional development training which focused on uh the shortcut is mtss but multi multiple tiered systems of multi- system multi-tier systems of support the last test always gets me there uh and and um basically targeted instruction um they're looking at using small group instruction to Target specific academic skills and those skills they're targeting is coming from the diagnostic data reports um we also had an update on the uh change to the math curriculum uh which will be going into effect for next year uh and an update on the preschool enrollment uh so it worked out that with the students who had enrolled and then had been selected in the lottery um that once uh we had disseminated the

039information that you had a spot available uh some people had all you know decided okay thanks for the spot but we're actually going to go with this other one so uh we had one uh person left on the weight list who it we haven't been able to accommodate yet so that was that was fantastic because it worked out that I think everyone uh there there were maybe more spots than we realized once people had a spot they didn't need the spot we were able to offer the spot to a new person um and I guess if anyone moves to town and is interested in the wait list that is actually how we got on to the wait list years ago uh so there's a wait list for anyone interested in the pre School uh under

040the goal of improving student attendance uh our attendance is at a similar percentage in February as it was last year um we also have a survey going out to families and then to students and staff uh so the parent survey went out last week uh and uh the student and staff one if it hasn't gone out it it was going out the week after our meeting so George has it gone out yet uh believe it's taking place this week yeah it's coming out this week and that'll give us some information on our on our programs and uh you know we'll see when that data comes in uh how that can be useful for the planning uh we had it go under the goal of raising family engagement a parent information webinar on IR uh and

041as far as our qack update um everything is in place as we need to for the planning in terms of student achievement uh for the good of the order there was a followup on some questions with the Middle School uh so a discussion of you know um when students are feeling uh perhaps a little bit out of place during the day who can they go to and how do they know who to speak to within the school building uh and there are various uh resources for them in the school and also a conversation about how the uh Middle School teachers are communicating or using the open grade book and uh that's something that we're we're looking at um our next meeting is March 26th uh we also have an update um which I think is

042very exciting from the shared services and regionalization feasibility committee which you'll remember is um watching Hills Regional High School and the various sending districts are participating so there will be a public town hall community meeting on April 10th that's at 6:30 at wung Hills Regional High School and we will be sending the update uh through the various uh Communications we have probably like the Friday flyers and any e blast um and so that is open to all the communities that are involved in the sending districts and the high school uh and it should be giving you you know some really good information uh we also are going to have a committee meeting for the shared service of regionalization and feasibility committee on March 24th so I will attend to represent the district and I will

043update you with the next meeting okay any questions for Ann is that meeting on the 10th only in person or also virtual give me one minute I think it's only in person but I actually have a flyer here that I can look at here we go I just have to zoom in no I don't see a zoom it's it's in uh in person uh so yeah no it's in person thank you what was the timing on that yeah 6:30 in the wling Hills uh High School um learning comment which is their Media Center I'm sure there'll be people directing it's a little bit of a walk but it's very nice any other questions okay thank you Tom uh nothing at this time thank you okay J yep so policy committee met on February 11th at

044Gillette um Karen myself and Mr Alexis were there started at 4:30 we went through several policies in 79,000 series um many with with no changes or very small changes and there are on the agenda today 51 to 54 for approval um and then we've been going through the wellness policy uh the njsba policy wellness check and so we've been looking at certain policies that um the NJ SBA said we needed some clerical changes to and so we're about halfway through that so um that was in the committee minutes as well um we also met on March 11th um those policies will be on the April 7th um um general meeting and our next meeting is April 2nd that's it for policy so I'll take questions on that and then I'll go to legisl legislator policy

045questions Okay no Okay um then from a legislative standpoint um there's the committee met the New Jersey assembly education committee met um they approved some changes to the cell phone policy legislation um meant to be very minor changes they also approved a 3424 which enhances the role of school counselors um specifically adding language around mental health um and there's a bill right now that's working its way through the legislature about cursive handwriting instruction and potentially adding that back into the curriculum those are those are still working their way they are not law they're working their way through uh the Comm most prous thing ever all right that's all I got um okay um I'll just add I've been trying to sit in on everybody's meeting so just everyone's doing a good job and thank you

046guys for all of your work um I'll hit on quickly Township Le on I do know that we reached out to the town to ask them about presenting our budget and we still have we we never heard back right Mr Alexis we haven't heard back yet but I don't know that watch him Hills is scheduled airs either but so we're hopeful that we can probably go the same evening okay that's a possibility but we will have our budget presentation here tonight so but we'll move to superintendent report okay thank you very much we have a full agenda this evening and interviews coming up so I'll limit my my comments to an update on strategic planning and introductory remarks on the budget um but first I want to note one item on the agenda and that's

047my recommendation to appoint uh Dana Carcillo as our new director of special services beginning on July 1 we're excited about the opportunity to have Dana continue her career in Long Hill and contribute directly to the leadership of the district as Karen mentioned we have strategic planning our third and final session tomorrow evening in the Millington APR at 7 o'cl this is in person um we're going to build off the feedback that we received in the first two sessions um and our task for tomorrow night is to collaborate to create goal statements in four different areas so we have four areas first one's teaching and learning inspiring Innovation the second group will be culture of respect and well-being the third is future focused facilities and the fourth group is building community and participants will have the

048chance to select a topic area and collaborate on the writing of the goal statement we encourage broad participation of course and again walk-ins are always welcome uh for the budget I'd like to point out that the proposed budget is aligned with our district and board goals and with our current strategic planning before I turn it over to Robin for details I want to emphasize that the budget is focused on student learning and professional development for our faculty as well as on our future focused facilities so we continue to invest in our steam program as you saw this evening uh in instructional resources that include I ready and mtss training and that's all part of our commitment to datadriven decisionmaking as well as a new math program uh we've added a third preschool inclusion class which

049was mentioned and staff resources to bolster our basic skills program which will fit very nicely with our commitment to mtss and also our larger commitment to personalizing instruction um we also found a way to continue the summer Institute which originally started with some of the um the federal aid money back during Co so we're investing in the facilities too and have funds reserved to overhaul the Central Middle School library into a flexible Innovative learning Commons something that's designed to inspire creativity inquiry and collaborative problem solving um we also have major HVAC work going on uh this summer I want to thank Mrs Bower and the business office staff our administrative leadership team the finance committee and the entire board for creating a budget that is student centered strategically aligned and fiscally responsible now that's it

050for me Robin you have a presentation prepared and your your movie is going up on the website tomorrow right okay Jack this whole meeting hinges on you it all falls apart for Jack Jack Jack Jack Jack Okie doie okay so tonight I will be presenting a shorten version of the full budget presentation that was recorded as a movie that full version has been made available to the board and will also be accessible to the uh public on the district website this live presentation will highlight the key points and I encourage anyone looking for more details to view the full movie okay I want to recognize our Board of Education and the members of our finance committee Miss Nyquist Mrs Mrs case and Mr Foster for their time and effort in the budget process developing our

051District's budget that is more than just numbers on a page it's a dynamic plan designed to meet our students needs while maintaining Financial sustainability the goal is to create a budget that supports both current priorities and long-term stability developing our District's budget is a collaborative multi-month purpose multi-month process it begins in November with data collection and Trend analysis throughout the winter we work closely with teachers administrative and the finance committee to prioritize needs and estimate costs by March we finalize a tenative budget for Board review and adoption the process concludes in May with the final budget hearing and vote this approach ures ensures as we are thoughtful and strategic in our financial planning this slide outlines our proposed operating expenses for 25 26 school year our largest expense is the regular General Ed programs for

052instruction at $ 5,679 th000 focusing on our core academics we also allocate significant resources to special education and basic skills to support diverse learning needs outof District tuition is offset by idea funds helping us to manage the impact on our local Budget on the right side of the screen maintenance and security and transportation ensure safe well-maintained facilities and hopefully reliable student transportation further down you'll see employee benefits that remain a substantial portion of the budget the total General operating fund expenses amount to 22 m419 se4 including grants and Debt Service it totals 23 m153 525 oops wrong way this pie chart provides a clear a look at how our budget is allocated salaries make up the greatest portion seen in the dark blue at 49.8% employee benefits are the light blue at 17.36% and maintenance

053operations and transportation and busing that are another huge portion of the budget most importantly 94% of our budget is fixed costs with just 6% remaining as discretionary spending for areas like instructional materials and Technology we carefully allocate these discretionary funds to maximize their impact on student learning now let's take a look at how we fund the budget the largest portion comes from the local tax levy demonstrating strong community support state aid contributes 6.2% which is an essential but a limited source of funding we then also use Capital maintenance and emergency Reserve withdrawals for specific needs you'll see that our general fund revenue of the 22 million 41,000 in um operating expense matches operating expenses and the total revenue of 23 153 uh 525 uh it matches also the total expenses on the other side this

054chart visually represents our funding sources showing once again the largest portion is our local tax levy and state aid this highlights our District's Reliance on local funding and the importance of careful financial planning for 2526 we've been told to anticipate a 3% decrease in state aid driven by reductions in transportation and special education Aid even as security Aid has increased this decrease emphasizes the need for careful budgeting to manage these funding shifts federal grants support Key Programs in our district Ida funds special education the elementary and secondary Education Act Esa has $44,000 and has a lot to do with uh low-income students and our national school lunch program currently is reimbursing us about $100,000 a year since Federal funding is subject to policy changes we remain Vigilant in monitoring potential shifts our budget prioritize initiatives

055that directly impact Student Success the key ones I want to point out are the new math program for K to8 the additional preschool inclusion class to expand early childhood education and the increase in basic skills Staffing for targeted student support these Investments reflect our continued focus on student achievement our capital reserve will Fund $239,000 in projects to maintain and upgrade our facilities this includes replacing rooftop units at Millington School we're going to replace 13 rooftop units this summer through a direct install program uh for improved efficiency uh that's a million doll program um of which we have to pay back about $500,000 over 5 years we're also repaying prior Capital Improvement projects including last year's Gillette rtu replacement and the districtwide lighting Improvement the year before that by using our capital reserve we address infrastructure

056needs without increasing tax burden our maintenance Reserve will fund 332,000 for important facility updates including the upgrade C upgrading the Central Middle School Media Center into a modern learning common and updating classrooms at all three schools with new paintings screens window shade Replacements Etc like Capital expenditures these projects are fully funded from reserves keeping tax impacts minimal our emergency Reserve will fund additional security improvements for 2526 ensuring a safe and secure learning environment without increasing local taxes after planned expenditures our Reserve balances are still going remain strong the capital reserve will have an ending balance of $867,000 the maintenance Reserve will still have $528,000 and the emergency Reserve will still have $226,000 maintaining healthy reserves allows us to plan for future needs responsibly the maximum allowable tax increase this year is 2% which amounts for

057Long Hill to 3 $ 69,7 52 we're going to use $162,300 in Bank cap before it expires leaving a balance of 347,000 for future needs right B uh Bank cap remember is uh due to expire in 2728 so we have two years to use the remaining 347,000 in Computing our tax levy the general fund tax levy increases by $647,000 you can see that on the top line on the very right The Debt Service Levy increases $16 16,42 the total tax levy is increasing $663,000 the impact for Long Hill homeowners um the increase for the year is $1 19861 for an average home assessed $622,500 5% increase remains aligned with responsible Financial Planning and probably is more in line with the future than the 2% that we had been at in the the past if we

058look at per pupil spending from the New Jersey taxpayers guide uh for 2324 I also added in uh sending districts to watching Hills Regional we are in the lower to midrange at 20392 per student that so long Hills per pupil spending of 20392 um when compared with the other districts and this again demonstrates our commitment to high quality education while maximizing taxpayer value so thank you for your time and I appreciate the opportunity to share our budget with you and I'd be happy to answer any questions so any questions I have a couple uh and and they're simple ones uh on the three pages you had that showed the money being res uh taken from the res Capital reserves yes it comes up to almost $600,000 and you say that'll no have no impact on

059the tax levy where does it have an impact uh because it's coming out of the reserves that's money that we have put aside already uh where's the do you see the balances up here so we already have money in reserves we pulled some out of cap reserve for the rod grant that leaves us money in there so our our our purpose was always to have money left over in the budget to be able to put some back and we are going to be able to put some back at the end of this budget cycle as well but we want to use some of this money to pull out so we don't have to raise money on the taxpayers now and keep our reserves High we want to keep a constant Circle going of having some

060left over put it back spend it put it back spend it and that's the the best budgeting that it keeps our buildings nice that's a good thing I I sort of remember a million dollar number at at the end of the year this exactly Back Up Normally it is the million right and I did not go to the million on that this year because we're already doing a million out of direct install right so part of this is the direct install amount that's every year now for five years we're going to be paying off um we're also doing 930,000 in the rod grants that's already 2 million in projects and when we add in the another 300,000 for the middle school media center right that's a big amount of projects so we don't really need

061to replace a million right now and we have a lot of Technology coming out as well so the goal is to that the rod Grant is going to reimburse us for part of the money we spent but it's a reimbursement we have to put it out to get it back so once we start putting that back we're going to build our Reserve back up that okay I think that's it I've got some simple on okay great anybody else thank you any other questions no great thank you to you and your team you know what it's group effort group effort great team am I good Jack okay thank you thank you welcome okay moving to the next item on the agenda any comments from the public on agenda items okay so we're gonna oh okay you

062have to come to the mic uh at this point the Board of Education welcomes comment from any member of the the public on agenda items only please note that as per board policy number 1120 a total of 15 minutes is allocated for public comments at any single board meeting in order to provide residents the opportunity to comment individual speakers are limited to 3 minutes each at any particular board meeting the board May extend these time limits at its discretion any questions should be directed to the board president and depending upon the nature and complexity of the question it may or may not be answered during the meeting by the administration if so the response would be would occur after this public portion of the the meeting has concluded everyone has the freedom to speak but

063please be advised that anything said in public may have legal ramifications and there is no protection regarding statements made by the public please state your name and address before you begin hi my name is Sumit viani I'm a resident um in lill okay uh just quick question I I saw there was uh 841k of Debt Service just wanted to understand like um how much is the debt that we have and like how many years uh it would be paid off and uh what interest rate we are paying so that's I'll leave it to is that a question that can be answered or yeah I don't have the number right off I can tell you I believe it expires in 28 29 so we have two more years two more years to pay it off okay

064and I can get back to you with how much and dollar just don't know the numbers right sounds good I was just curious because you know interest rates have gone up from 2% to 7% and given we have a healthy Reserve the question is like if we should be paying 7% or uh like pay off some of it so that's all thank you okay thank you okay okay so move to resolutions Karen will you move in number one minutes so move second any questions okay roll call please yes this is daily yes abstain Mr BR uh yes yes Dr M yes Mrs yes yes um Danielle will you move in financials numbers 2 through 34 so move second any questions okay roll call please Butler yes D yes Mr Foster yes Mr gr yes Dr

065yes yes yes um Crystal we move into special services number 35 so move second any questions okay roll call yes Mrs yes Mr Foster yes Mr yes yes M yes yes um and will you move in personnel number 30 36 to 48 so moved second any questions I'm sorry I miss that you said a second Crystal Crystal Crystal okay roll call oh no questions yes and roll call right yes roll call Mrs Butler yes Mrs D yes Mr Foster yes Mr yes Dr Mar yes M nist yese yes um Tom will we move in curriculum number 49 to 50 so moved second any questions okay roll call M yes Mr daily yes mrost yes kov yes Dr Mo yes M nist yes this case yes uh Justin will you move policy number 51 through 54

066so move second any questions question okay on policy number 61 61.1 um I I just after the second C in the guidelines uh that's that's new wording can I can I ask where we got that wording from that wording comes from statute uh 18a 4.36 okay so Governor Murphy says we can't change that Go okie dop thank you okay any other questions okay roll call please yes daily uh yes but I will abstain from number 54 for policy number 61 61.1 Mr Foster yes Mr G yes with an AB exstension of 61 61.1 yes yes um go back to Karen we move in number 55 other so move second any questions roll call please Mrs Butler yes Mrs Dy yes Mr Foster yes Mr yes yes yes yes uh any items for discussion unfinished business

067uh new business okay any comments from the public uh this point the Board of Education welcomes comments from any member of the public on any topic please note that as per board policy number 11 20 a total of 15 minutes is allocated for public comments at any single board meeting in order to provide residents the opportunity to comment individual speakers are limited to three minutes each at any particular board meeting the board May extend these time limits at its discretion any question should be directed to the board president and depending upon the nature and complexity of the question it may or may not be answered during the meeting by the administration if so the response would occur after this public portion of the meeting has concluded everyone has the freedom to speak but please be

068advised that anything said in public may have legal ramifications and there is no protection regarding statements made by the public please state your name and address before you begin yes hi this is Sumit vadani uh I live in the township um my question is more uh related to artificial intelligence I mean given the Advent of artificial intelligence what we are seeing um is there any plans or thought to um like how it can be leveraged to optimize the budget or otherwise uh what can we do with that I don't have any answer answer for you to that I I I mean I guess if you would like to reach out and send an email that seems to be like a a bigger question yes um so if you want to if you are interested I

069would I would send an email and ask that question sure okay thank you um interview of candidates for Board of Education vacancy so we said it before um Karen mentioned it alphabetical order right now our candidates are here um so we're going to call you up by alphabetical order last name um those candidates who are not being interviewed we're going to ask that you sit out in the hallway um while the candidates being interviewed um we're going to ask every candidate the same questions um and then we are going to go into a Clos session uh to discuss the candidacy and one other item and then we'll come back and give our our um uh provide our selection um anything I'm missing no that's it um okay so the first person to go is Alex

070De jamus uh can I thought we were gonna oh they are they are going yeah yeah um do we need to is that door closed yeah yes thank you good evening superintendent good evening good evening Miss bman congratulations on a great budget thank you okay great so we are going to start we have a couple of questions we were just going to kind of go down the line with the board members asking questions um if you guys don't have a copy we can pass it down otherwise it's it's in your email so um so let's we're going to just let me yeah if you can yeah uh you're going to get started yes okay uh please introduce yourself and tell us why you were interested in being on the board of education thank you Miss

071Nest my name is Alexander D jamus I'm a almost 10-year resident of Long Hill Township um I'm a father of four children um almost all school age uh my daughter Alyssa goes to Millington school as a fifth grader my son Zach is a third grader at Millington and I have Rising twins who are emerging into the Pre-K and kindergarten realm uh I'm interested in serving on the board because I've dedicated a good amount of my life to um the advocacy and advancement of Education I'm an attorney I practiced for almost 20 years um most of my work has been in school law I've represented school districts um including the Newark Board of Ed for 7 years as an in-house attorney I'm currently a partner at a firm in Bernardsville New Jersey and continue to represent

072school boards such as Montclair mendum middle sex Montgomery and several others that I can't remember now um in various legal issues most notably in what is Hib litigation harassment intimidation and buing um I've always had passionate for working for and helping govern schools uh I've served on the High School Board of my alma mater for 15 years uh I'm an advocate both for public and private education I think there's Great Value to both um I started this crazy mission in college as a student government member first serving as a uh representative in student government but also eventually for the University Senate and also Board of Trustees at Ruckers um so this is something that I take great interest and pride and happy to continue to serve on this board which I served on for four

073years in the past thank you thank you um what do you think are a school board's member's primary responsibilities well this is pretty clearly trained upon um but I think uh if I were just to speak philosophically um the most important thing that we do is uh to act as stewards for one of the most important public resources that exists in our community which are at schools so our job as stewards of those is to understand uh what the what the community goals are um to fulfill that by being informed by being um actively involved in the community by of course uh uh supervising the leadership that you hire such as the superintendent uh by remaining uh cognizant of what the right roles are of that are a member of a n member body right

074uh the division is important where we are not operating the school district we oversee by by uh asking the right questions monitoring the work of the the chief School administrator and also um setting policy what key qualities and spec excuse me specific skills do you feel you have to bring to the role of LGH Hill Township School District Board member thank you for asking M Dr Mah um again I I kind of fall back on my experience but also my genuine interest in maintaining the schools um as one of the most important um I think features of this town I when I moved here it came as somewhat of a surprise to me how incredibly um u under the radar this town flies and it is a phenomenal town and it is somehow sandwiched in

075between all these other more popular towns um but truthfully uh the success of a of a school district um is really one of the most driving force one of the most important driving forces for the success of the community in the town and quite frankly the property value of the Town um so it is not only a moral imperative to keep schools as um driven successful and uh you know focused on growth but it's also a financial obligation this is something that is tied to every Community member's property value um it's a no-brainer for us to do our very best to maintain the most successful and the most um you know well-run schools that we can and also I have four kids in the system almost um please describe your previous Community or nonprofit experience

076so I've already mentioned some so I'm not going to repeat those but um uh what little free time I actually have I dedic to coaching um baseball softball and to a certain limited extent soccer that my kids are involved in um I wish I had more time to volunteer my time but uh that's kind of where I've been able to do it again I served on this board for four years in the past between 2019 and 2023 uh I've remained uh interested in continuing to serve uh both by running in uh in the elections uh but also putting my name forward today sure are you aware of the time and training commitments ethics law disclosures and fingerprinting background checks required for the school board membership and are you ready to serve if select this evening

077I am fully aware of it I've passed the background check since 2012 I have no doubt that I would continue to um and yes uh school board members are the most highly trained public officials in the state of New Jersey um and uh yes uh I've I've in fact helped provide some of the training in the past okay all right thank you very much thank you very much if I may say you have an embarrassment of riches you have very good candidates thank you very much for your consideration thank you can you send in Mr fandino of course thank you you number one yeah set it back and just ask a question yeah he's he doesn't want prepared prepared I had my own we just felt like good to pass it down I guess where

078yes okay okay well thanks Joe can you send Miss colon care that one did we did we miss word it Cole I have k o l e sorry Alex is that not right that's right okay we said it quite clearly yeah hello hi I'm Allison Cole I'm I've come to the right place correct yes all right great hello so could you please introduce yourself and tell us why you're interested in joining the Board of Education sure so good evening esteemed members of Long Hill Township Board of Education uh my name is Dr Allison Cole I live in Millington and I am honored to be speaking with you today as a former full-time pulmonary critical care and sleep medicine physician I have dedicated my career to understanding the intricacies of Health and Wellness however my priority

079shifted when I decided to make my family a priority sorry I'm kind of short so I'm just going to hold it like this now with two children in the Long Hill Town trip School District I am deeply invested in ensuring that they receive the best possible education my transition from full-time clinical practice allowed me to focus on a sleep tele medicine practice that I now have I also started public education with the sleep is my a waking passion podcast and I transitioned to A continuing medical education form where I help Health Care Professionals improve their education in sleep and pulmonary disease uh the other thing that I've been up to is that um I'm actually I started volunteering with the American Academy of sleep medicine that is the nationally recognized um sleep medicine uh you

080know major Society medical society that I belong to and at the ASM one of the things I volunteered to do was to do governmental advocacy since starting when I transitioned out of full-time clinical practice in October of 2022 I've now been to Capitol Hill no less than three times and I advocate for Sleep Health on a national level so I wanted to share with you why I'm here today which is that improving academic performance I know that it is something that is clearly on the board of education's mind and while it is incredibly complex and what I'm about to say may be intensely not popular I will say it anyway one of the quickest ways to improve academic performance is to improve the sleep of our children the statistics in New Jersey are actually kind

081of frightening um we are ranked 10th in the country for both being the most sleep deprived 57% of middle schoolers in New Jersey are sleep deprived and 73% of our high schoolers are chronically sleep deprived and you know there have been other places in the United States who have basically been able to demonstrate significant Improvement in math and reading scores in students just by delaying school start times an hour it requires a very complicated and uh coordinated effort but there are other places in New Jersey who have instituted this chadam Ringwood uh excuse me Ridgewood um I believe the oranges uh Maplewood so there's a few other places where they've demonstrated that this is um something that you can do so I know this is a growing movement uh I know I'm also probably running

082out of time so just wanted to say that I would be very happy to advocate for this and uh would love to work in coordination with y'all um to basically Foster a supportive and inclusive environment that improves the academic well-being as well as the well-being of our students who are very athletic because it improves athletic performance as well not to mention mental and physical health for them so thank you very much thank you we have a couple more questions sure what do you think excuse me are the primary responsibilities of a school board member I it sounds to me based on this meeting that you're looking at budget you're looking at various aspects of the education but I do think that I wasn't sure if I'd ever have another platform to talk about sleep health

083and I do think it's a another responsibility of the board to think a little bit outside the box aside outside of the box different from what you might usually expect the standard protocol is for the Board of Education okay Danielle um what yeah what key qualities and specific skills do you feel you have to bring to the role of Long Hill Township School District Board member I think I'm highly organized I am very capable of um just by way of what I've done with my career uh interacting with people who come from uh different educational backgrounds I have a a a real passion for uh you know essentially caring for the town in a way that I think brings a sort of new or different meaning to it I have a broad breath of experience

084um and I'm very passionate about advocacy and um yeah I think those are probably my I'm I'm also very collaborative individual so thank you excuse please describe your previous Community or nonprofit experience sure I don't I'm not going to lie I don't have any nonprofit experience per se but what I have done um pretty much with the American Academy of sleep medicine is that is in you know I just volunteer my time and we meet we have monthly meetings where we go over our agendas for what we're going to what we're collaborating to do currently I'm working um with the sore Coalition uh Coalition which is an organization that is geared toward securing Medicare oxygen benefits for patients so that is something with my pulmonary background that other people on uh the ASM did not

085feel comfortable participating in so I'm advocating from there from so I'm on that uh Coalition that just meets once a month uh and then I we collaborate with other organizations so I have some friends on the um American Medical Association so we've done some Hill Day participation to try to improve physician Medicare reimb M uh so that we can keep doctors employed um which is kind of a problem these days thank you thank you um are you aware of the time and training commitments ethic law ethics law disclosures and fingerprinting background checks required for school board membership and are you ready to serve if elected this evening um yes to all of that and I do have the capacity which is one of I mean this would never have been possible if I stayed in

086my full-time clinical job I didn't have time to spend time with my kids little Alone come here and sit in this very long meeting so it is something that I do have the bandwidth for so I figured why not throw my hand in the ring okay thank you very much thank you am mind asking Christina if she can come in I'm gonna go with the first name I didn't do well with the last name this is all I have for her it's her letter there's nothing in her letter so you know what I mean question hi good evening we have a couple of questions for you I had hop so I'm excited okay cool um please introduce yourself and tell us why you're interested in joining the Board of Education good evening I'm Christina malion

087I am a sterling resident here in town um I am a mom of three young children and my interest sparked here um for the last couple of years as we've been introduced to the Board of Education um from my child enrolling in school uh I've kind of been trying to find a good place and fit for me currently um currently I'm in my favorite role of my life which is Mom to three young children um and I'm fortunate that I'm able to do that and I I've volunteered on different committees different boards I've done some things with the PTO I've done some things with the Education Foundation um I've been class mom three years in a row out of the four that my son has been inette um and I would really like to further

088involve myself while I have the time and opportunity to do so um I think serving Community is important I think that there is a need for parents to be involved at the capacities that they can withstand and right now while my time in life a lot for that I'd really like to take the opportunity to serve community and and children in general I think our children and the upcoming Generations hold forth a lot of good to do in this world and I would like to help Foster that in any way I can thank you Christina what do you think are a school board members primary responsibilities um I think that you're I think you have a lot of priorities and and and important roles that you all serve but I think primarily looking at the

089uh board obviously the budget and and uh Staffing and and all the things that come to your table that need to be handled with a certain fragility um and understanding how important and complex even a simple decision might be I think that there's lots of repercussions whether they be positive or negative for the community the schools the teachers the staff um and again of course the kids priority and I think that uh you guys have to really work well together there has to be culmination in communication I think transparency and honesty are very important to your roles um aside from being efficient thank you what key qualities or specific skills do you feel that you can bring to the table on the Lord Long Hill Township Board of Education excuse me it's my allergies I'm

090dying as a board member thank you Mrs iqu um and that's quite okay I'm struggling too so don't mind my sniffles um I think um so I have a background I've always felt a high desire to serve and fill a need um I have a background in early childhood education my bachelor's degree is in speech and hearing sciences I have a minor in Psychology a focus in children's child psychology I went on to earn a K5 post bat I am a I am a licensed teacher um I fell in love with early childhood education I was able to serve in this community for 12 years as an educator um lots of my little babies that I've Loved have come through this District I still go to dance recital and and and baseball games and all

091sorts of things for kids that aren't even mine um because I think that when you when you teach and you implicate and you love a child you love them all the time um and they touch you on such a personal level but getting back to your question um I think that my background in education my background in um Early Childhood specifically I just I love the little ones but but fostering education in our children and having served in schools public and private helps me to understand the needs of those uh you know serving in our buildings and I also um I just carry a lot of empathy during the pandemic I saw a need for for support in motherhood I was a new mom myself I was pregnant with my second and I became a

092birth Jeweler um so my skills there in seeing women through uh a very emotional and empowering experience I think um and finding support in partners and just finding a way to be um a present and assertive power with a lot of compassion is something I specialize in so I feel that those skills could definitely help this board thank you thank you um please describe your previous Community or nonprofit experience so I have volunteered with the Long Hill Education Foundation um and I've done some of the event planning I've done some things of that nature I served um on the board for the um expansion of the preschool program here uh with the previous superintendent um and I was able to get into all the buildings and meet all the principls and do things of that

093nature um I volunteered on all sorts of um just I do I've I've done some Outsourcing with moms helping moms which is local to our community and things of that nature I've done some pro bono duel work for um women who were not able to afford the services um I'm I was not currently but I was part of a Outreach group in nework who helps single moms um through through Labor and we volunteered our services so that they can have support if they weren't finding it in their own lives um I just think that uh that's very important and I I love any opportunity to help serve Community I love the food drives and things of that nature I really like being class mom but I had to give somebody else a turn this year

094my poor son he was like please I was like baby mommy did a three years in a row so it's it's another mommy's turn we have to share um but I just I being a teacher and an educator being class mom allows me that opportunity to kind of come back in and do things of that nature and and pull out all my old teaching tricks that I have to blow the dust off of and bring back out from time to time my kids will tell you I use my teacher voice sometimes at home um so it's been it's been wonderful I miss I miss the schools so this like I said um to Mr grof's uh question I just I while I have the time and opportunity to use these skills I'd like to implement

095them in a place where I feel that they'll serve thank you all right are you aware of the time and training commitments at the law disclosures and fingerprinting background checks required for school board membership and are you ready to serve if selected this evening yes I am familiar with them I've been fingerprinted teaching myself um and been through the systems and um I still keep up my cus um both through like teaching strategies and things like that I stay up to date on the curriculums um even though I'm not using them currently and uh again with birthing practices and things like that I stay up to dat um in my trainings even though I'm not actively using them and pursuing them at this moment I I think that uh and and the board obviously uh

096I look forward to training and learning and expanding my knowledge in those areas thank you thank you okay thank you so those that's all the questions we have for you so thank you would you mind sending Josh in absolutely thank you guys so much thank you yes welcome thank you thanks for having me good evening so we have a couple of questions for you okay okay um could you please introduce yourself and tell us why you are interested in joining the Board of Education okay um yeah so my name is Josh Nal as you know um I'm interested in joining the board because I have one child who's been in the system for several years and another who's going to be entering in the fall um I've dedicated my career to public interest and I

097want to give back to my community by kind of using the skills that I've developed during my career to um assist with uh you know my child's education what do you think are school board members primary responsibilities um being good Shepherds for the community's resources and the the education of students to create um you know obviously wise citizens and leaders for the future what key quality quties and specific skills do you feel you have to bring to the role of LGH Hill Township School District Board member um so so I'm trained as an attorney uh I work at the financial industry regulatory Authority which is a nonprofit public interest entity we regulates um Financial Services um try to keep the bad actors out um try to um get reimbursement for customers that have been you

098know victims of fraud um so in working there I've spent a lot of time working with you know complex contractual agreements um financing documents funding promise notes things like that um as well as corporate governance issues um so I've developed um you know a key eye for detail um you know financial literacy um literacy with the law and the um the legislative process how the law is made how rules and regulations are created and I think that these are skills that I could bring um hopefully to the position on the board okay please excuse me please describe your previous Community or non profit experience um my nonprofit experience um I think I explained a little bit already um worked at fener I've been there over uh 10 years so it's something that I'm you know

099interested in long term um you know Public Service um that sort of thing uh in terms of community um I regular regularly bring my K my children to uh the Halloween uh events that we have you know down the field down there at the egg hunt um the Sterling Street Fair is on the street that I live on so we go down there as well thank you are you aware of time and training commitments the ethics law disclosures and fingerprinting background checks required for school board membership and are you ready to serve if selected this anything yes I am okay thank you very much okay thank you very much uh s to come in okay we'll do thank you thank Youk you okay hi uh we have a couple of questions for you hi good

100evening could you introduce yourself and tell us why you were interested in joining the Board of Education sure um my name is sum viani and um I have a bachelor's and Masters in computer science and an MBA in finance um I just completed AI certification from Warden um there are couple of reasons that I'm interested uh first and foremost um uh like when I moved into this Township uh for example our Middle School was rated 10 out of 10 in some of the websites like niche.com and others now it is rated around 6 s like uh depends on which website and one of the things that would be good to see is like it goes back to that level where uh it was um so um like for example my son uh he has already

101he's in second grade but he's already completed third grade njsla books and what I would like to see is the kids who are sharp get more Challenge and be able to uh kind of see how they can grow and how the school district like achieves Excellence overall right uh so that's one of my main reasons and then the second thing as I heard the budget and stuff like that and given my background in technology and experience uh I'm learning uh I've already gotten certification on AI and then I'm doing uh other certifications in AI as well um so I think uh I can add value there as well like on the budget level or understanding where we can optimize the things going forward um like you know there's if we have ADD if we can

102optimize it then over a period of time we can in invest in other areas uh for the school district um where it can add a lot more value to the kids over time so didn't realize it was me uh what do you think are a school board members primary responsibilities uh primary responsibilities um I guess from what I've heard uh so far uh it's um about budget maintainance of uh the grounds stuff like that uh and um some uh things about governance of uh what is happening what is working what is not working and things like that so hopefully uh I know you've touched on some of these but what key qualities and specific skills do you feel that uh you have to bring to the role of L Hill School District Board member um

103so I have um both experience in computer science and also I have MBA in finance and I work in finance so I understand how money works and how we can add value like you know I was asking earlier the question about uh uh the debt that we have and how we can optimize the payment on that uh and then uh about technology where we can improve and maybe we can add AI education to the kids even at this level and um you know I mean that's where the majority of the changes uh robotics plus AI can uh really really impact the world in the next coming 20 years I mean what we' have seen in the last 20 years that's just uh uh a trailer right please describe your previous Community or nonprofit experience um

104so um I haven't worked in any Board of Education so far uh but I did uh try to start something called uh Divine Fellowship during Co to help people um um my dad is a homeopath which is homeopathic medicine uh in India and um I did buy some to give uh for free to K people who could benefit during Co so that okay um are you aware of the time and training commitments ethics law disclosures and fingerprinting background checks required for school board membership and are you ready to serve if selected this evening sure yes okay okay thank you very much thank you much you everybody if you guys want can come sit back in here okay and will you move us into close session sure the board shall move to close session to discuss

105the qualifications of candidates for the Board of Education vacancy and to discuss a harassment intimidation and bullying report Action will be taken upon return from the Clos session thank you e e e [Music] okay up okay so we're coming back into public session now and we do have a uh resolution to read okay so it's resolution 56 resolve that the lill Township School District Board of Education hereby appoints Alex De jamus to fill the vacant board seat effective immediately pending the successful completion of the Criminal history background check as required by njsa 18a 12- 1.2 be it further resolv that upon receipt of the criminal history clearance Alex De jamus shall take the oath of office and assume All rights and responsibilities of a board of education member through January 4th 20 uh 2026 in

106accordance with applicable laws and regulations do I have a second second okay roll call please Mrs Butler yes Mrs Dy yes Mr Foster yes Mr gr yes Dr Mo yes M nist yes this case yes so congratulations thank you all just want to yeah just want to thank all of you for your interest and coming out this is a long meeting and we know that you guys have a lot of responsibilities you guys really were great candidates and we really appreciate and we hope that you guys find other ways to contribute because I'm sure that you'll do a great job so thank you okay motion to adjourn second all in favor I any opposed n extensions thank you