BOE Meeting 07 22 2025

001That's fine. >> Uh, good evening everyone. Um, happy summer to everybody. It's July. Still plenty of little sunny days left. Good to go. Um, there are two topics tonight on the superintendent's report. Uh, the first topic is uh district enrollment for 2526 as we project enrollment with schools starting uh as well as a retrospective look at some enrollment trends that we noticed over the course of the past school year. Uh, so there are a number of slides in the presentation. I'm not going to go through everything in great detail, but there are some uh slides that I do want to focus on with our conversation tonight. Um, so let me begin by talking about some enrollment trends as well as our current enrollment. So just to review for members of the board and the public,

002uh, our school configuration is this. Uh, we have two schools that house grades preschool through grade three. Uh about two years ago, um White House School was only K through three and three Bridges was where all of our preschool programs were. But now both of our buildings have preschool classrooms in them. Uh students all come to grade four at Colberg School. Um and then all students go to grade six at Readington Middle School. Um so four through eight, there are two separate schools, grades four, five, six, seven, and eight. And we have offered a uh free preschool program along with preschool providers. We have four providers. Uh we will be offering next year a total of uh 16 classrooms both in the district as well as of our preschool uh partner, our providers. We have

003when you think about it, two years ago we had about 30 preschool students. This upcoming year we're talking about 230 preschool students in just two years. Uh so we are offering a early childhood education for students in grades three or aged three and four um at no cost to uh you know residents of Readington. We are running a pretty a short ali but we do have a wait list this year as well. Um so that's our school configuration. So when we talk around about enrollment, we go back about 10 years and we see that from the year 1617 to about 1920 and then 2021, our enrollment has been trending pretty steadily in the downward direction. Um, and I'll point out a couple of of data points here. The 21 2021 school year, uh, that was

004our co year where we had hybrid learning models. we had a day, B days, and um a virtual day in the middle. Um so we see a little bit of an enrollment decline there because there were parents who opted to either homeschool their children or place them in private school for that academic year. And the reason I point that out because you'll notice in the 21-22 school year, enrollment popped back up again. It's a little bit of uh misleading because it's just students reenrolling again in the district. It's almost like the students that disenrolled came back in the 2122 school year when we opened up. So that little pop is there. Um but that really is due to students reenrolling. And you'll see progressively from the 22 23 school year all the way to 2526

005enrollment has really stabilized. It's pretty steady. But what I do want to point out is our projections for 2526 has us projected at a slight increase in enrollment. And we'll dive into that in just a couple of minutes. We're looking at enrollment increasing and adjustment uh over the course of the next couple years. I mentioned before this is our prek enrollment, something certainly to be proud of. Um that we've increased our our prek enrollment from just a couple of years ago at 25 to now over 225. Great opportunity for kids. So here's our enrollment forecast. So, the the numbers at the top, if you take a look, um when we presented the budget in March of 2025, this past year, Jason and I projected 1,366 students K through eight. I I sometimes take preschool enrollment

006out of our enrollment projections just because preschool is such a new uh program that sometimes it's good to just look at K through 8 only and then add preschool in later. uh with anticipated 231 preschoolers which is a total of 1597 students but the bottom of the chart is where I just want to focus for a moment. So if you look at the top two years, the 22 23 and then the 24, excuse me, 23 24 school years, you can see that when we did the budget presentations on March of those years, we anticipated about 1,500 kids and we were actually bringing in about a 100 less 1416 and 1403. So, those were some of our old demographer reports that were leading us to those projections, but we'll see that we were actually bringing in

007fewer students as of the September enrollment report. That's flipped now in the past two years. when Jason and I go down and and project enrollment for our March uh budget cycle and then when we actually roll the tape forward and look at September, we're seeing that we're projecting 1359, but then our actual as of September of the 24 school year was 1409, about 50 students additional in the 2526 school year. This current school year, we projected as of March 1366. As of our registrations last week, it was 1399. You know, again, another increase of about, you know, 30 or so students. And I'm just pointing this out. I wanted to spend a little bit of time on this slide for the board because what I want to what I'm trying to illustrate is we have

008to keep an eye on just like Judy was talking about. Let's keep an eye on our forward trajectory, how we plan for the future. The past couple of years, we've been anticipating a little bit higher enrollment during our projections, but saw lower enrollment. Now, we're looking at projecting a little bit lower enrollment, but we're actually seeing maybe it's moveins, maybe it's the housing market. Um, maybe it's the preschool program, right, that's bringing residents to come to Readington because we offer universal prek for almost everyone that wants it. Uh, we're seeing some of these trends upward in enrollment. It's going to take some diligent planning. It's also going to take some fiscal planning on our part as well. Um, we really need to keep an eye on class sizes and we need to to discuss as

009a board moving forward the types of class sizes that we want to maintain for our teachers um in the general education setting. So, just some data points that I wanted to point out to you in terms of enrollment forecasts and projections forward. So this was this was how we started the year with projections as well as September enrollment. Here's how we ended the year last year in May 24 and May 25. Sorry, two years ago in May 24 and this past year in May 25. So really where where I want you to focus is down when we project in May 24 that we would have in um let's say total K through 8 um 1464 and we ended the year with 1384 and then in May 2025 this past year shows the same trend in

010May we projected 1359 but by the time we ended the school year we were at 1417. So even over the course of the school year, we're seeing that we we enroll a few students over the course of the year as well. Um so this is how we begin the year, right? Um 1409 is how we began the year last year and then 1417 is how we ended the year this past year. So an increase of 8 to 10 students. Um the housing development impact looking at 2425 this past school year. Uh so the rigid readon is on route 22 west. Uh this was completed in 2023. We started to see enrollment this uh from 2023. This past year was an entire year um of that development at the ridge being occupied uh by families and

011students. Despite the fact that it's 254 units, which sounds like a lot of units that would house a lot of folks, uh we saw total prek3 enrollment fluctuate between 35 to 33 over the course of the year. So yes, some more enrollment came from the Bridget Reington, not as much as we had anticipated. Um generally my my thinking here is that because there are so many limited three-bedroom apartments in this uh ridge complex um we see fewer families in a place like the Willows at White House Station. We see more three-bedroom condos which means likely more families moving in. So this is just an enrollment data point to keep an eye on as we look for two new developments anticipated. uh Camelot uh up at the White House sending region. This is off of Mullen

012Road. I don't have any additional updates on this one, but this is 192 total units um which is going to look very similar to the ridge. So, we can maybe project between 30 and 35 students coming from the Camelot development. However, recent um progress on the Diaz property at Three Bridges. I drove through there the other day. Uh clearing has begun. there's heavy machinery um that's clearing paths for construction to begin. I don't see that we'll have enrollment from the Diaz property, which is 80 total units over the course of this school year. But I do see us having to plan and prepare for this for next school year. And the big thing that I want to point out here is remember how I how I mentioned the Bridget Readington because there are limited threebedroom

013units at the Ridg Readington. Perhaps we're seeing fewer students come from that complex. If you take a look at um the Diaz property, it's 15 one-bedroom, 45 two-bedroom, but then 20 3bedroom uh condos there. The Diaz property development is going to look much more like the Willows at White House Station, which brings in even though it looks like 80 total units isn't a lot, it could bring 40 students, 45 students to our uh to our district. So, something to plan for. Um, and this is our we're headed into our five-year phase in approach with our redistricting plans. Um, so this is the final year as we've registered all students at White House and Three Bridges. uh all students grades K through three at White House and Three Bridges that are now attending all of those

014students are attending other under the new district redistricted lines that we began back in the 2021 school year. So I'll just give you a couple of figures um how we updated that. So here's uh newly enrolled kindergarten families in the chart. Current enrollment at White House School is 72 and at Three Bridges is 80. uh we haven't seen a class size of 80 at three bridges in I would say six or seven years or so. So that's so that's en an enrollment increase at three bridges but manageable. There were 11 total students redistricted uh that would have attended white house but are attending three bridges. The impact is that plus or minus 11. without redistricting uh the enrollment would have been 83 and 69 which is a total difference of 14 students whereas the current

015enrollment difference is eight students so we've created you know the dis we have eliminated as much of a disparity between white house and three bridges enrollment in kindergarten is much more comparable and much more manageable from a student uh class size perspective uh as well as um a program delivery perspective ive and a personnel perspective. Um there were no other additional students in grades 1 through three who were new moveins to the redistricted area of our township. Uh so here is the total impact over the course of the past several years. Uh over these four years or five years of roll out the total has been 57 students uh grades K through three who have been redistricted. Um if you take a look at enrollment with redistricting K through three at three bridges of White

016House, it's 292 students to 301, a difference of nine students. Had we not redistricted and it was flipped and those 57 students were all attending White House and not three bridges, it would have been 235 to 358, a difference of 123 students. The goal was, believe it or not, and I I couldn't have predicted this if you asked me five years ago, the goal was 60 students swing from Three Bridges uh or from White House to Three Bridges side of town. I think 57 is pretty darn close. Um our predictions were pretty good. Uh we did this without a demographer. We did this based off of transportation and, you know, housing developments and everything like that. But I think to bring three bridges in White House within nine students of one another versus 123 students

017of one another, I think is is pretty good work on the behalf of the board and the administration to really bring some parody to the programming at both of the K3 buildings. Um and lastly, something that we added in uh to our district website, we have um where does my child attend school? Just to make sure that we try to eliminate as much confusion. We want parents to know exactly what to expect when they come to register. So, you can click on this on our website. You'll see also on our website, new student registration is there as well. So, if you are new to town and you want to know where your child is going to live, if you're looking at buying a house, we have this on our website. It's really accessible. Um, and

018then this map, um, it was a draft last year and we put it into, um, use this year thanks to our tech department. Uh, you can click that search button, type in an address, and it'll ping where that address is on that red and blue map. Anything in blue is the Three Bridges side of town. Anything in red is on the White House side of town. Um, so it makes it very clear when you're buying a home, if you type in the address exactly where your child will attend school. We did this to make sure it's as clear uh as it could be for uh for our students and for our parents and our families. Uh, so that's just my my update for the board of ed in terms of enrollment. We're looking great for

019this school year. Uh there's a lot of staff on the agenda tonight uh that will be hiring to make sure that we have all positions filled um at the beginning of the school year. Uh we're still working on some hiring, particularly our leave replacement positions are are more difficult to fill because folks, you know, they want a tenure track position, but we have some interviewing that's coming up over the next couple of weeks. Um, and in terms of some of the things that Judy said, I just think that when it comes to, you know, where have we been, you know, where are we now, where we are, where are we going, I think that we need to keep our eyes on where we're headed in terms of enrollment and how we can respond to the

020the need of our of our district. But I I'll turn it over to the board for any questions. >> Okay. Uh Dan, can you bring up those other uh So that concludes the enrollment portion and I have for you I want to show with show some of the referendum uh the next one down. >> This one? >> Yeah. >> Um so we are planning Thanks, Dan. So we're planning our um communications for our referendum. Um here are things that are going out and I will help you with this too. Just like Judy said, I want to give you a couple bullet points in terms of messaging. Um, if you remember anything, one thing and one thing only, remember we're doing this with our referendum. We are unlocking funding for the future. Think about it as

021a key that unlocks funding for the future. How we unlock the funding? By having a certain percentage of our projects be eligible for the grants from the state. In order for us to get access to over 10 million, it could be as much as 12 million in funding from the state, we need to pass the referendum. So, it's offsets the cost to the taxpayer. So, we are unlocking that funding by passing a referendum to get access to up to potentially could be 12 million from the state. So, as you're messaging around the community, it's unlocking that funding for the future. Why should that matter? I would say this. We all pay state income tax. We know we do. Why shouldn't the students of Readington get access to the money we pay in taxes to the

022state of New Jersey? We'll unlock that $12 million. We'll get that $12 million for our students if we pass the referendum. So, think about unlocking funding for the future. So, one of our primary bullet points that we want to message to our community is that a referendum unlocks grant funding from the state that allows us to reduce the burden on the taxpayer and actually get access to the money that we've probably all paid in taxes with state income tax. Right? So, that's a banner. Uh we have enough banners to go in front of all of our schools. We have enough banners to go in front of our private preschool providers as well. Uh so, these are large banners that we're we're going to order. We're going to put up in front of the schools on

023the side or on the fence here in front of uh uh the middle school. Dan, can you go down to the thing? Thank you. >> Oh, wait. Yeah, there you go. >> Uh this is the postcard. Uh so this will be the mailer that is due to go out to the community. It's a front and back mailer that's going to go out to the community um by the end of September. Uh so we're going to be sending this to the printer soon. Some other bullet points here. We really have to message the fact that we have expiring debt. We have 40 million in expiring debt and we're reissuing about $38 million in debt. We can get 83 projects completed through this referendum with no increase to the taxpayer. None. In fact, the referendum is structured

024in a way where we believe that we'll be able to give the taxpayer back a little bit of money, $17 a year. But, you know, how often can you say that we're going out for a referendum doing 83 projects for 38 million and taxes won't go up? In fact, you might see a little bit of savings in your tax bill. So, this is the front side. Um, and then that's the backside. So, there are some facts there. The total cost, the estimated state aid, and the local share, and then the average decrease in taxes of $17 a year based off of the average um home assessed in Readington. So, we get to do 83 million or I'm sorry, we get to do $38 million worth of um projects. So, this will be a mailer that

025goes out to every household in Readington by the end of September. Um, the next one, Dan, so you'll see a similar theme again. Um, we have this new new opportunity. We're funding critical facility upgrades and we're planning for the future with no increase to the tax levy. A couple of key highlights that I just want to bring to your attention on this one and they're on all of them. We we have a great referendum that balances both necessary facility enhancements, modernization for safety, but we also include projects that positively enhance the student experience. Things like playgrounds, uh refurbishing certain classrooms directly related to the student experience. We have to pay attention to our boilers and our roofs and our HVAC systems and window replacement. We have to do that. That's our obligation as a board.

026But we've structured our referendum in a way where there are many projects that go directly to students, which is another key uh key messaging point here for uh out of the public. Um and then so this is the one pager. Um so this is a poster. So we're getting larger posters. Uh these can be set up every time we have the board meeting, every time we have a public forum. We have enough for all of the preschool providers. we have enough to to put in each one of our school buildings. Uh and then lastly, we have a two-pager. So the front page is the same. The reverse page, if you flip down, details some of the primary projects at each one of the buildings. So for example, Holland Brook School has about $6 million um

027of referendum projects with a little almost 2 million in state aid that we could get from the state. And it lists the different projects. This is not a complete list of projects. We don't want to overwhelm or inundate the public with too much information, but these are some of the higher impact projects that we wanted to highlight for the community. Um all of these um handouts are going to be sent to the printer. Uh we are just finalizing our state aid numbers just because it did come in our um it's on the agenda for approval under finance. Uh we just want to make sure that our state aid numbers are as accurate as possible because we believe through the calculations with our bond attorney, our state aid could be up to 12 million. So we

028could advertise 12 million um potentially. So we've been holding these off and setting them to the printer. Um lastly, I've created a calendar for the board for all of us for all of the public events, excuse me, that are coming up. Um I'll share that again. Uh back to school nights. um community events. Uh I've now added in um the private preschool providers uh meet and greets and their open houses as well if there's an opportunity for I I don't know if board members can attend a lot of them during the day, but potentially Jason or I can go over to the private preschool providers and they're all on the same day. We can't be in four places at once, but we'll do the best that we can. Um, what I'm planning to do is

029put together, you know, a package, some kind of, you know, suitcase or something, a, you know, a a booklets and handouts and things like that. So, whoever is going to community events, whether it's me, the board member, Jason with a board member, we all have a stack of handouts, we have our Readington School banners, we have our posters, we have everything together. We'll keep it in the board office and anytime any one of us go to a community event, we have all of these handouts right there at our disposal. We'll put together a package for everybody. Um, but this is a really exciting work. We have a we have a great and unique opportunity here and we really need to go out and message this. Um, questions from the board about any of our creative

030marketing materials? >> Are you excited? Excited. Great. >> Let's get excited. >> I just want to thank you, Dr. hard and the communications uh committee, they did an excellent job putting together. I thought it was very clear and I think very beneficial to the community. >> Remember, we're unlocking funding 12 million in state aid. We should get we should get that money that the state is holding for the kids of Bington and taxes will go down. No tax impact. If you remember any three messages, those are the messages we should be talking about clearly with the community. Thank you. Anything else? >> Is that is that one that we're going to have at the meetings? >> Yeah, you'll have that at the meeting. So, don't memorize every single project. It's about facility upgrades, student experience,

031right? And then we can talk about the Jason and I will be there. We can give nitty-gritty details if need be. >> Thanks everybody. >> Thanks. >> Thank you, Dr. Hart. Okay, the next item on our agenda is comments from the public. So, I know we have some people here, so I'm expecting some comments. I'm just going to give a little overview of how public comments work. We have two sessions. The first one is comments that are limited to action items on the agenda. And then we have a second session that's more based on other items that are not on the agenda, things that you want to bring up. So, when you come up here, if you can speak for the first item, just it's four items on the agenda. just to let you know

032like if items are in a backup material doesn't necessarily mean it's items that we're voting on. So it's action items precisely something that we're voting on. So if you come to speak, state your name, state your town, um state start your conversation and if it does appear to be something that's not on the an action item, I may just interrupt you and ask you to go to the second one. I'm not trying to be rude or anything, just how it works. So, right now I'm just going to call anyone up to if they have any comments for any items on that they want to discuss for action items on the agenda. >> Okay. >> My name is Scott Preszlo. I live in John Reading Road in Readington. I'm not sure what section, but is the

033questions regarding the Ryerson property for the financial committee. >> Yeah. Could we That would be since we're not voting on there's no action items. That would be in the second. Okay. So, anything online? >> Okay. All right. So, we'll see you in a few minutes. >> Next item is board correspondents. We did receive two correspondents and they're on record with the board office. We do have them. Um we're now going to move into some of the administrative items going through each of the committees. The first one is the approval of administrative reports. We have five items. Item 101 through 105. Can I have someone give me a motion and then a second? >> I'll move al. >> Okay. Any discussion on any of the items here? Roll call vote this morning. >> Mrs. Cassidy, >>

034yes. >> Mrs. Fury, >> yes. >> Mr. Votes, >> yes. >> Mrs. Menser, >> yes. >> Mr. Pieros, >> Mrs. Rad, >> yes. >> Mrs. Deto, >> yes. >> Mr. Riza, >> yes. >> Passes. And then there's actually another section as well on the next page. Um, approval of the minutes items 2012. Can I get a motion in a second? >> Motion. >> Okay. >> Second. >> Any discussion items? >> Okay. M. Cassidy. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fury. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ro. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Menser. >> Yes. >> Mr. Pier. >> Dain. >> Mrs. R. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dinda. Yes, >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Okay. Our next item is our finance and facilities. We have 10 items that we're going to action as well as we have a committee report as

035well that we'll be reading. So, prior to that, can I get a motion and a second for items 301 and 310? >> Okay. >> Second. >> Thank you, Michelle. >> Sure. So, we have a committee report. The committee met on Wednesday, July 2nd. The first topic was general liability insurance renewal. The cost of the general liability insurance through school alliance insurance fund for years 2024 through 2025 and 25 through 26 were reviewed and rates increased 10.95% and 8.49% respectively. These are the largest increases over the prior 9-year period and the broker advised the increases are higher than average but not an outlier. The safe is a self-insured not for-profit insurance pool and the current policy will expire in one year requiring the committee to renew or seek another insurance provider. Property. The committee discussed the

036Ryerson Road property. It shared services. The committee discussed proceeding with a shared IT services agreement between the school district and the township of Readington. This will appear on an upcoming board agenda. The RTAA addendum. The committee discussed proceeding with an addendum with the RTAA related to incremental salary increases for select staff due to an increase in workload. The increased workload is driven by a recent decision to abolish a supervisor position and redistribute work. The proposed amounts were previously negotiated by the negotiations committee. Instructional coaches stipens for new teacher orientation. The committee discussed existing staff stipens and agreed to move forward with the mentor coordinator position which will appear on the board event agenda. Unpaid insurance waivers. The committee discussed the unpaid insurance waivers across various roles in the district. RMS field trip electronic payment pilot.

037The electronic payment pilot will continue to enable additional experience to be gained with the new system. Summer capital projects. An update on summer capital projects was provided. All projects are on time and on budget. The facilities team was commended for their continued superb management of ongoing district improvements that benefit both students and staff. $640,000 electric bus grant. The state imposed a deadline of July 18th, 2025 to accept the grant for two electric buses. Due to prerequisites needed to accept the grant, such as cost estimates, utility company agreements, and infrastructure requirements, the committee agreed it is not possible to meet the state imposed deadline. The district will be able to apply again in the future if a new grant is made available, but the committee indicated it is not currently in favor of doing so and

038will utilize the current inservice EV bus to gauge the success of this bus initiative. The committee reiterated our ongoing commitment to green initiatives for the district and the additional funds needed to support any new EV buses may be better allocated towards other green initiatives. Bill list. The bill list was reviewed and noted to be normal except for the large quantity of final payments to close out the school year for audit. The next meetings are planned for August 21st and October 3rd. >> Thank you, Michelle. Um I'm going to open up for comments from the board, but I do have a statement that we prepared. I want to be first before we open up for general comments. The statement is due to multiple correspondences and requests from the community in regards to the district property on

039Ryerson Road. Mr. Riza, Miss Mener, and Dr. Hart prepared a statement to provide further details. The finance committee has discussed the district owned property on Ryerson Road at committee meetings on April 2nd, May 16th, and July 2nd. The discussions originated with a request to allow bow hunting on the property and no consensus was reached. The finance committee also discussed the history of the property location and current and past usage. This led to further conversation about future district plans for the property. All discussions around the property are preliminary and at committee level. There's no board action on the agenda regarding the Ryerson road property. And with that, I'll open up any board member comments on finance. >> I have some comments. >> I have comments on the electric bus grant. Um, as the chair of the

040green committee, I'm obviously very disappointed that we're turning down this grant from the state. Um, this has been in the works for sever several years. Part of the green committee's initiatives are to look for cost-saving measures for the district to if we find um grants such as this to reduce facility costs. That's more money that can be spent per student. The board of education authorized the business administrator and his team to go after this grant. This is something that people were aware this was happening. We received word about this grant. Oh my goodness. Sorry. We received word about this grant last August. So, I don't feel like it's transparent to say that we the state imposed this timeline that we could not meet. Had we we asked the district, we asked the uh business administrator

041to go after this grant. Had we acted on it when we knew that we received it, we could well within be their timeline from the state to have this fulfilled in terms of the cost of the grant. So, it's $640,000 for two buses. That doesn't take into account the amount of fuel cost savings over the life of the buses. This would be to purchase two buses with a charging uh port. And that the amount of that grant is just exponentially large when you look at the cost of the buses plus what the fueling and the maintenance would be. So, you know, when I think about the green committee and our initiatives and how we look for these cost cost-saving measures, it's really disappointing to me that, you know, this year, beginning of the year, that

042this board tried to disband the green committee and now they are declining this grant from the state. Other school boards are moving towards all electric fleets. Bus manufacturers are moving towards electric buses. This is the way that schools are moving. So, this isn't early adoption. These buses are out there. There are some districts that are using, you know, full fleets. Um, my biggest concern is that this was killed in committee. This was killed in the finance committee. This was never brought to the full board to discuss. I have not never seen that happen on this board. Whenever there's, you know, an issue or something that the committee can't rectify within themselves, they would bring it to the full board to discuss. So, this is the first time I'm seeing that uh we applied the the

043district the board authorized to go out and apply for this grant and then it was slowwalked to the point where we couldn't then meet the state's deadline. And so that's very frustrating to me and I think that the finance committee should explain why. What are the reasons? Why are we declining this grant? because as far as I'm concerned, this has been a waste of our administration's time to do this. And I just want I I feel like I should know. I know there's members of the green committee here and I know the public is interested in why this grant was killed. >> Okay. Anyone have any additional comments? >> First, we'll go Pam and then we'll go PA. Yeah, I was disappointed as well to see that the green committee's recommendations were terminated in in

044another committee and wanted to remind everyone that uh we saw a delta of $32,000 per bus that we gained. So that's $64,000 that our district is missing out on when we have to go to replace a bus. I know that the first EV bus that came through replaced a bus that had no heat. Our children were driving to school and home every day all winter with no heat and needed and needed the bus to be replaced. So there is there is a consequence to us making this decision and allowing the you know the deadline to to uh come upon us without properly applying for it. that we will need to replace buses and we're doing it um to the detriment of our township of our of our community and the taxes that they're paying. Um

045I also want to say that there are solid benefits uh besides just the cost of of the bus, the grant and fuel costs. Um Harvard has a study that says that we see $200,000 per bus benefit in health um outcomes and positive health outcomes with using the EV bus. So I just want to mention that it may not be factored in there as a financial cost that we're paying in taxes, but our students who are going to be seeing those those consequences. >> And thank you Pen. >> Yes. I just wanted to mention as a member from uh past green committee and current finance committee um the decision to touch on Beth to there's a disconnect in communication between the green committee and the finance committee and other committees the goals that are spoken about

046in the green committee are green goals that don't necessarily align financially with the finance committee and there's There's a disconnect between the two committees. When I did talked about disbanding the green committee, it's not because I was against going green. It's because most districts don't have a green committee and still get green objectives done and still have sustainable New Jersey grants. Okay. When we had this meeting, it was brought to our attention that our electric grid cannot handle this bus. So, it made no sense to approve and spend money that we don't have on an electric bus when our electric grid cannot handle it. So, I don't understand why everyone's all upset. We We can't handle it. Our electric grid come in can't handle another electric bus. I don't What do you want us to

047do? Like, I'm not sure. >> Okay. Any other comments? The point that Beth raised about um what the process is when one committee recommends something and then another committee isn't aligned. I think that does deserve some kind of resolution. I don't know if it needs to be here or not, but I think it's a fair point to raise around increasing communication on that. So, thanks for raising that. >> Did anyone reach out to you after receiving the minutes? Was there any discussion after sharing? >> I didn't get any outreach on it. No. >> Okay. All right. So I I was going to make a couple comments myself. Um so Beth, I agree on the sharing of things. Normally things do not go through one committee and get actioned at the next board meeting. And I

048believe this occurred. You're right. We had the grants since for quite a while and it wasn't actioned. But what stirred it on is that the state sent us an email with about two weeks to action. So because we received that said you have two weeks of action or you're going to lose the grants at that point it was impossible to actually meet the deadline just it would take months to actually submit the grant and solve all the prerequisites. So yes could we have taken action earlier valid point but once we received that email it was almost impossible to actually take action. Um, couple things that Paulo and Pam mentioned, so I'm going to bring up is that in February we discussed the EV buses as part of the green initiative. We did a presentation at

049the green committee. That presentation is actually on our website. So if you go to the green committee section on the website, there's a list of all the agendas. And if you go to February meeting, there's all the presentations that were there. One of them was one that Jason and myself created. just going all the over all the different green initiatives, the solar panels and stuff like that. Um, one of them was the EV buses. So, we did an analysis. It's out there. So, I'm just going to just let you know some of the details of it. So, the first one is we did an EV bus that went launched in beginning of this year. I think February, March, we went live something like that, right? >> February. >> Yeah. So, um, we want to see

050what the financial, as to Pam's point, not everything is financial. There's other non-financial items, but just talk about finance committee. So, I looked at the financial portions, myself and Mr. Bone. Um, we received $240,000 either through a federal credit or a federal um tax benefit for that bus. The bus costs $49,000 as opposed to $154,000 for a diesel. So, the cost is quite substantially higher. So, with the other costs associated with it that we had to purchase to actually support the EV bus, we ended up having a net negative of $48,000 on the budget for that bus. Um, once again, not everything is financed. There's non- finance reasons as well to have a bus, but just so you know, for that one, it was $240,000 in grants. Now, Pam mentioned the 32,000, which is valid.

051So, we did another analysis at the same time. We received this grant that we're discussing tonight, $320,000 for each bus, up to two buses for 640. Based on that, it's substantially higher than a 240. 320 is greater than 240. So is there a financial benefit? As Paulo mentioned, um we cannot just bring in the new bus. We need to do some infrastructure as well. We need a transformer and other things to actually support it. Um that's pretty costly. And then we need to work with JCPNL as well on some contracts and stuff like that. So we haven't had a true cost estimate of what it would cost to bring in the transformer. So because of that we really don't know what the cost is. So the cost would be a savings of 32,000 without the

052additional infrastructure and other costs which are unknown. So chances are once we bring those in it would financially it would be a net negative again because there are substantial costs that have to come in that we have to we haven't actually priced out yet which we would need to do as part of any submission to accept the grants. So once again, it's not all about finance, but chances are it would be similar to, and it's hard to say this because we don't know the cost, but we did lose a little money on the first bus. And then there's the second one, unknown cost because of infrastructure. In addition to that, the board, as um Michelle read in her notes, fully supports the green committee. Po mentioned that as well. Um there's a lot of green

053committee initiatives that we do. If you go to the green website um on our green page on our website, tremendous resource of everything we do, vets leadership is phenomenal on the green committee. A lot of green committee members here. It's just that at this point the deadline made it impossible to approve. Plus, we don't know the true financial impact of the EV bus. Um so I just wanted to throw that out there. I don't know if anyone else has any other comments to add. >> I'll just add one more thing. >> Okay. Um the the one piece that you're not calculating is that we are installing solar on all of our properties and that the we would have no cost for fuel for the life of these buses with our solar panels. So that should

054be factored in as well when you look at diesel costs versus you know freeing electricity that can't be understated. Dr. Hart mentioned for the referendum unlocking this funding from the state. This is literally funding from the state coming back to our district. We don't see that all the time. When you see that, you take advantage of that. >> So, I feel like this is leaving money on the table for our district. And yes, there would be cost or there would be expenses that we have to lay out to get this started. But in the long run, we would absolutely be saving money. We would absolutely >> great and ma'am. Thank you. That brings up another point I completely forgot to mention is that we do have the one EV bus and part of what the

055finance committee discussed and I know it's been discussed um multiple times is that we're using that as um I want to say test to see how EV buses work, right? Is there any what's the long-term implications? It's only been in the field since February. So, one of the issues is seeing how the EV bus works. already have one and then revisit it at a future time and I believe grants do come right Mr. B I think we the proposal is open I think you had mentioned >> uh yeah the the the next grant proposal for EV buses at the state level is actually open now until sometime in August >> which probably I would imagine will be on the green agenda. Uh yes, we have a regime committee meeting in the next few weeks that

056could address that. >> Any other thoughts, comments? >> I just have one more question, Jason. Uh originally when this when we got the grant, didn't we have two years approximately to accept the grants? And is that why we just never had it on the agendas? So, the state didn't provide us a specific deadline for the grant. Um, and we did work with them on providing updates throughout. Um, I believe that the state um imposed a deadline primarily because the governor is switching offices. Um, and the changes at the federal level that have occurred recently. Um, so they imposed it, I believe, uh, to also see exactly what money has been spent or not to push into the next round of funding which is now available. >> Thank you. Just wanted to clarify that this is

057not something we dropped the ball on. It was we thought we had more time than we did. >> Okay. Any final comments. >> Okay. Um, Mr. B, can we get a roll call vote on the items 3013 310? >> Mrs. Cassidy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fury, >> yes. >> Mr. Voss, >> yes. >> Mrs. Menser, >> yes. >> Mr. Pieros, >> Mrs. Dra, >> yes. >> Mrs. Dinto, >> yes, except for Yes, except for item 3.01. I abstain from check number 065566. >> Mr. Yes, >> passes. >> Okay. The next item on the agenda is our education technology. We have six items to move and then also committee report from that. So, first can I get a motion and then a second to move items 401 through 406. >> Second, Paul. >> Okay. Excellent. Thank

058you. >> The edtech committee met on June 12th. The first item we discussed was teachertoteer mentor and new teacher orientation program. Instructional coaches Mrs. Rarig and Mrs. Maravantano proposed a new teacher orientation program for the district. Through their inquiry project at TCJ, the coaches created a potential onboarding program to help with teacher retention. They proposed a combination of virtual and in-person meetings and activities, district bus tours, coaching in content areas among other ideas with sessions taking place after school and for the first four years of a new hire. There would also be mentor training for mentors who are supporting new hires. This proposal will move over to the finance committee to discuss further. Uh second, we discussed chronic absenteeism data. Mr. Dr. Tumalo has been tracking chronic absenteeism in the multilingual learner population, particularly at

059one specific school. According to the language instruction education program, LIE during the 2324 school year, the rate of chronic absenteeism has doubled from 8.2% to 16.2% from the previous year and is now higher than the state's recommended chronic absenteeism rate of 16%. Action steps have been taken to encourage attendance, including communicating to parents about the importance of attendance, sending letters home in their home language, and creating outreach programs such as ML Parent Night. Mr. Tula will continue to monitor the situation and keep the committee informed. Uh, next we talked about library books and Mackin software. The district will be transitioning over the summer from Destiny to Macken for all of our library needs. Dr. round resented on the Macin software program and the new tracking and search features. The district selected Mackin because one, it

060was cheaper than Destiny. Two, it is better tracking options for parents to view which items have been checked out. Additionally, RMS parents can now sort by interest or reading level. For example, grades 9 through 12 if they don't didn't want their child accessing those materials. Dr. Brown reiterated that parents should contact their child's ELA teacher and the school librarian with family preferences. Several board members had concerns about sensitive books that could potentially be in classrooms and not part of the new library software. It was suggested that the district create an inventory of classroom books. This would help with communication between teachers and parents on how to approach a book that may be above a student's reading level. One board member asked what an inventory like that would cost the district to implement and reminded the

061others that according to our resource materials policy, teachers, principles, and administrators select the books to be included in classroom libraries and it is not under the purview of the board of education. Dr. Hart summarized the discussion of what he understood to be the request of the board and took it as an action item to research what effort level and cost to the district would be to implement classroom inventories. Dr. Hart will review this idea and several other options with administration and come back to the board with his recommendation. Uh we also discussed summer reading requirements. Dr. Brown shared the summer reading list for grades six through eight that have been newly updated this year with titles that are available for students to borrow over the summer from the bookroom. Uh next we talked special education

062monitoring report. Miss Beagle presented the special education monitoring results 2024 which is a district-wide audit by the state performed every six years. The district had several findings of non-compliance with required action steps. The findings were minor in nature and corrective action plans include training for the child study team in preparing IEPs and developing an oversight mechanism to maintain compliance. Next, uh we talked the summer teacher academy catalog. Mrs. trial shared the summer teacher academy directory. There are 22 courses that teachers can choose from and attendees are paid for participating during the summer. In the spring and fall, teacher academy attendees are compensated with flex time. Uh next, the sexed optout comparisons. Miss Pouch updated the committee on the number of students who were opted out of sex education this year compared to last. There was

063no significant change from last year. About 4% of students were opted out. about 43 of 96 students. Miss Pouch has been monitoring this number since the new health and PE standards were implemented. Um the IT department shared services. This was tabled due to time. We said happy retirement to Mrs. Kryle and Mel, which I can't believe they're gone. Um and then we um our items on the agenda and our next meeting is scheduled for August 11th at 8:30. >> Thank you, Beth. Any comments or discussion? >> Um so I have some comments on the um library book classroom library um item that we discussed in committee. We've gone around and around in edtech committee in the fall. We talked about library books that are available to students. Now we're talking about library books that are

064available in classrooms. And it it is my feeling that this board is trying to police and control and if they could ban books they would be pulling books from the library and from these classrooms. Um the state has the freedom to read act so we're limited in doing that. So instead we're looking at ways that we can restrict access by creating these inventories or whatever other idea is coming you know down the pike. But the concerns that I have is what does this cost the district? We're going to be paying teachers inventory what's available in their classrooms. I don't know what that cost looks like. Um it it's not a teacher's job to do that. I mean these books that are in the classrooms that we're now talking about are selected by the teachers, administrators,

065by the superintendent. This is not a board um action. This is not our purview to be looking at these books. Um, I just imagine a scenario where a teacher is going through and deciding if some content in that book is offputting to someone. How do you make that judgment call? And, you know, I I don't know that that's going to be fair to students and if that's what parents want to see. Um, the other thing that's that worries me about this is that this is taking priority over other things that the board is working on. We have a referendum. We have four brand new board members this year and for the board to be stepping in and saying, "Hey, we want you to change the library software and oh, by the way, now we want

066you to inventory all the classroom libraries." To me, this is this is overstepping as a ro role of a board member. In the past, when we had um a board member who had a pet project that they wanted, you know, to work on, we would have our board president step in and say, "Hey, this isn't a priority of the district. we have bigger priorities. We have goals that we're, you know, following this year. And so it was always that board president's role to step in and keep the board focused on board action items. I remember feeling this when I first joined the board. Hey, I want I think we should be doing this. I think we should be not doing this. You know, whatever it is. But that's not our role. Our role is governance.

067Our goal is to set these higher priorities and not be directing on the day-to-day how we think that something should be run. Um, you know, the we talked about this in our training about what governance looks like and it's asking Dr. Hart what does he need from us as a board, not giving him direction and saying how we want things done. I would like us to see focus on the referendum, focus on these new board members. You know, these proposals to me are going to be costly and I think that that should be um looked at first, like what is this costing our district? What is this doing to our teachers? What message is this saying to the public? And I I personally don't believe that that's what we should be focused on. >> Thank

068you, Yes. Uh so obviously done those meetings and um I just want to touch that when we were doing our self- evaluation one of the questions that I took a screenshot here because I wanted to make sure I read it out loud to everybody. It basically said the board evaluation is you know us being evaluating ourselves. The question goes like this. Does a board operate as a policymaking body through the development of board policies that give administration sufficient authority and latitude to manage the dayto-day operations of our district? All we are doing as a board in these committees is bringing up a potential policy an idea that we want. We are not trying to tell the supervisors or super superintendent how to do their job. We're saying this is what we want. And they're coming

069back saying, "Well, we can't do it." And we're like, "Well, what if you did this? What if you did this?" Because we kind of don't want to hear we can't do it. And then that's why we're offering up ideas. That's all we're trying to do. And if we have free ideas and they're like, "Well, we can't do that." and then they say, "Well, we'll look into a solution that but it might cost us money, then we'll look into it." But all we're trying to do is achieve a goal and that's for the students, right? So, if a student gets a book that the content is not proper and you shouldn't be reading it, then that's a problem. We have an issue here. We have to protect the kids. Every teacher should know what book they

070have in their classroom. It's easy. They bring in these books, they move them around, sometimes they box them up. They know every book that's in our classroom. We're not asking them to go above and beyond. This is something simple and we're just talking about a policy and that's exactly what we're doing. So, I don't think we're going above and beyond. We're overstepping our boundaries. So, I disagree with you. I if I can just add too I think some of the u minutes were a little misleading too because that wasn't the only thing that we suggested um during that conversation. So I had also made a suggestion to offer um if it was possible to offer a permission slip if a student is given a book that is say four grade levels of above this way

071that takes out the teacher saying oh I don't know if this is appropriate or their judgment on it and it's just saying hey this book is above grade level we want the parent to know that so they know that there might be content in there that although they can can read it maybe they shouldn't or it's up to to the parent. So that was left out of the minutes. Um so I just wanted to clarify that. And I think also our role in policy um is to gather information so we can make sure that we have good policies and that's what we're doing. That's what Dr. Hart is think. and we can come up with good policies that are understandable that communicate well with the community taste. And you know, I I I also don't

072appreciate um what you just did. >> This was not brought up in the policy committee. This was taken to the edtech committee and told >> this was basically a directive to our staff and administrators. This is what the board wants to see. That's how this was presented. >> This was in a conversation about the li process and it came up in conversation. It wasn't this is what we want. This is what we're demanding. >> It did not come from our superintendent. He did not say, "Hey, we have a problem about library books and we need to address this." >> We did have an issue that we were addressing. >> We did. >> We can't discuss it, but we did. >> Okay. Okay. I just Yeah. I just want to say one thing. I happen to

073be attendance of that edtech meeting. So you're I'm not I'm not on the edtech policy, I'm sorry, edtech community, but um I filled in for a uh vacancy. So I was able to attend that meeting. So I do want to say one thing that I thought was interesting that I did not know is that something that Dr. Brown shared that there's she estimated between a 100,000 to 150,000 books that are in classrooms that we don't know what the titles are. They could, as Paul mentioned, they come in from different sources from book fairs. They brought them from their from different classes. They got them from various different resources. They may purchase themselves a teacher. So, it's a large number. So, part of it as a board was how do we address that? And then second

074thing is how do you address um if there's any inappropriateness or not. Um so, that's one thing that um I think Dr. Hart's going to address in a moment. The other thing that came up when Beth mentioned was Dr. Harsh summarized the discussion of what he understood the request would be and took an action item to research the effort level and cause the district to implement the classroom inventories. Based on that recommendation and Dr. Hart um went through and put an item on the agenda called motion 5.17 motion to accept superintendent's recommendation and approve the attached list of staff for their participation on the read and practice review committee. So this item is a direct correlation to what we asked Dr. Hart to do and he's actually researching it. So I'll turn it over to

075Dr. Hart. >> Yeah. So after the edtech meeting, as Beth read into the minutes, you know, there was I I summarized the discussion and what I took away uh from the district or from the discussion was that there's a desire to have a conversation with the teachers about how we monitor books in classroom libraries. We know about libraries. We know that the software can filter books in libraries, but we also know that there are classroom libraries that teachers monitor. And and I will say that I I believe that the teachers do an exemplary job with all of the day-to-day tasks that they have in monitoring not only high quality instruction, the social, emotional, and academic needs of all of their students, but also monitor to the degree the best degree possible what kids have access

076to in their classrooms, whether it's a reading material, whether they're monitoring them online because that's a new reality now, too. The teachers are doing the best that they possibly can. But in order to be responsive to this request of the board, I think that miraculous things happen when you get a group of teachers in a room to try to problem solve an issue because they are so close to it. There may be a very right in front of our faces easy solution to ensure that teachers and parents are monitoring what kids are reading at home. That may not be inventorying the 150,000 books that may be in the district and having a teacher spending their professional development time doing that that they can monitor. Um but they can they can come up with a solution

077I believe which is the I think it's 5.17 that you pointed out a series of um you know they they can be awfully creative about how to solve um the desire of the board to ensure that we have a level of of monitoring that happens when it comes to the reading materials that go home. We talked about when we talk about perfection and even in our conversation with Judy Wilson tonight, you know, we are stri we are striving for perfection folks and and we we will continue to strive to have the best highest quality teachers to ensure that our policies and our protocols and things that we put in place are followed 100% all of the time in every instance in every scenario for the 181 days of the school year. But I just want

078to give you some some realistic expectations that as much as we can put in additional processes and teachers are great at monitoring these things, there are substitute teachers that come in, right? There are leave replacement teachers that happen. I think it's best to hear from the teachers before we draw conclusions about how we monitor or don't monitor books in classroom libraries and how we hold teachers, students, parents, the administration, everybody accountable to these kinds of things. So the solution here now is let's hear what the teachers have to say. Let's allow them to come up with a creative solution within parameters that they think is realistic. And if the teachers really truly believe that a realistic expectation is to go through and inventory every book in their library, we can do it. That that's a

079problem. That's not a problem. That's a solution to a problem. If they believe that there are other ways to achieve that, I'd like to hear what the teachers have to say. I think that they should have a voice in something like this. That's the only thing that excuse me I would ask the board. My hope is to bring a recommendation back on August 11th. I know that the committee is being approved tonight. I have a note to my secretary to to get a meeting on the calendar within the next couple of weeks. I don't know if the work will be done by then, but I'd like to have something done so that we can communicate on back to school night to parents, right? So that we can roll out a a clear communication plan and

080parents and teachers know exactly what to expect. That would be my goal. >> Thank you. And I ask for the board's support in that too. You know, getting the teachers together and seeing what kind of solution we can we can drive. They they work hard. Teachers should really be teaching kids. They they really should they should be looking at what they're reading. They should be engaging with the kids. That's my firm belief. I really do want them to be doing that. But if if the best solution is inventory, maybe that's a possibility here as well. >> Okay. >> Any other? So, first I want to express my support and the trust that you're placing in the teachers to make the right call there. I think that's that's a good next step. I also want to

081just play the role of the conscience of the board for a minute and I pulled up our board goals and I don't see book monitoring as a board goal. Um, I see academic achievement, governance and structure, communications, referendum and safety. I do think that reading materials could be easily captured under the umbrella of academic achievement. But I just want to hold up a mirror to all of us to say we're spending a lot of time here and in committee meetings talking about reading materials and I would like to see us focus on academic achievement and some of these other board goals as a priority and put trust in the school administration and the teachers. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other comments? I would just in my pers perspective I would think reading material

082will fall on their safety of students and their emotional well-being. So I don't think that we're too far off. >> Also the policy committee will be reviewing the 2000 series and um this will be coming up. So to gather information and to have um good information for policy development I think is important as a board. >> Yeah. And part of the policy changes include engaging with the community and the users of that policy as Dr. Hart indicated. So, we want to make sure that we're bringing bringing in, you know, parents and teachers and the board uh as well as the school administrators on this because we also don't want to scare kids away from reading. >> Yeah, >> I was glad to see that committee that you formed. >> Great. >> Exactly. >> Scheduled a

083two-hour meeting. I hope we can accomplish it in two hours. I >> think it's two hours or more as needed. Something like that. So, Dr. heart. Thank you for putting that on the agenda for the committee and sourcing that and the eight teachers. We don't know who you are yet. Thank you for taking that responsibility up. It's a you see it's an important subject. It has a lot of different opinions on it. So we do support you Dr. Hard on the committee and the teachers as well that will be on the committee that will be formed as soon as we vote on it. So, speaking on that, um, any other conversations before we vote on the items? >> Okay. Mr. B. >> Mrs. Cassidy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fury, >> yes. >> Mr. Lopes, >>

084yes. >> Mrs. Menser, >> yes. >> Mr. Pierre, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rat, >> yes. >> Mr. Pinto, >> yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Okay. Our next section is communication. Um, we have two items. person because I find that item 193. All right, back where we should be. All right, next item is personnel. Um, we have 19 items to move. 501 through 519. Can I get a motion and a second on those items? move. >> Okay. >> Second. >> Okay. We do have a committee report. Um Justina is not here so I am going to read it on her behalf. So the committee met on July 16th. Um the attendees were Justina, Pamela, Linda, and myself as well as Dr. Hart and Mr. Bone. Um items. First, staffing updates. The committee reviewed current staffing

085updates across the district in preparation for the upcoming school year. Next item was enrollment updates and class size. The committee reviewed current enrollment figures and class sizes across the district. Committee also examined projected versus actual enrollment trends, noting a gradual increase in the student numbers. Additionally, ground has been broken on a new housing development in the three bridges area which may further impact future enrollment figures. Third item, job descriptions. Revisions have been made to the supervisor of special projects to accurately reflect the updated responsibilities. A job description has been created for the coordinator of mentoring programs. Fourth item was organizational chart. The organizational chart is rei is reviewed annually and reflects the changes in administrative structure. Personnel matters. The committee discussed a personal matter and it is now revol resolved. Agenda items: new hires, resignations,

086retirement, job descriptions, committee approvals, sports club appointments. Our next meeting is scheduled for October 20th. With that, I will open it up for any comments or discussion. Just something quickly. 5.03 for the um resignations. I just I wish those um staff members well. I'm sorry to see some of them go and I I wish we could have celebrated them in some way. I know they were um you know unexpected resignations, but I thank them for their years of service and just wanted to and I know uh 5.04 also for retirement. I'm sure we'll probably do a celebration at some point or something. Okay, good. >> Thank you. Any other comments? Okay. Can we uh roll? >> Mrs. Cassidy. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fury. >> Yes. >> Mr. Hopes. >> Yes. >> Mener. >> Yes. >>

087Mr. Pier. >> Dang. >> Mrs. Ry. >> Yes. >> Minto. >> Yes. >> Mr. Yes. >> Okay. Now we're on to communication. Um, so we have two items to move. 61 through 602. Can I get a motion in a second, please? >> Second, Paul. >> Okay. Um, >> yep. We have a committee report. Um, the committee met on June 18th. First item we discussed was referendum communications. Um, Dr. Hart reviewed the cartoon edu video options for referendum communications. Cartoon edu offers two to three minute pillar videos which we can use to provide overall information regarding the whole project andor focused on a specific portion of the project. These would be shared via Genesis website, newsletter links, etc. These cost uh $795 each and they are licensed to us for us to keep. They also offer

088packages of social media posts that cost $14.95 for 10 videos or 26.95 for 20 videos. These are 30 seconds long and are designed to be tailored to something specific such as reminders to vote information and reminders for certain events leading up to November. Uh the district will move forward with both pillar videos and the 10 social media videos. The next item we discussed was ref um the creatives for the referendum communications. Dr. Hart shared the drafts of the different creatives that will be shared with community at upcoming events leading into November. These creatives include a one-pager, postcard, banner, and Facebook enhancements. Those are the ones you saw during his presentation. The tagline, unlock funding for the future, is the front runner right now. The committee reviewed the overall design and the content on each piece

089and provided feedback for minor adjustments. One board member asked if we will also use bus magnets to advertise the referendum and it will be considered. Dr. Hart is bringing our edit suggestions to Lori Purllo and we will receive the final draft via email for approval by July 15th. The next item we reviewed was the virtual remote instruction plan. The district is required to submit its proposed program for emergency virtual or remote instruction to the New Jersey Commissioner of Education each year before July 31st. This plan is in place in the event of a health related closure that requires virtual or remote instruction. We will be submitting the same plan as last year with only updates to the demographics and dates within the plan. The next items um we reviewed the revisions of the thousand series.

090Um 11 policy 1100 district organization included more specific guidelines for personnel and chain of command. Policy 1120 the management team added a list of the members of the leadership team that attend the monthly meetings. Uh policy 1210 board superintendent relations added district finances to the list of responsibilities of the superintendent. Policy 1220, employment of chief school administrator, added that the superintendent shall be evaluated once annually in accordance with policy 1240 and applicable laws and regulations. Um 12, policy 1240, evaluation of the superintendent. We removed non-tenure from the policy since it is no longer applicable. Policy 1522, school leveling plan, school level planning. This is a draft of a new policy for our manual. We will hold for further discussion regarding including uh prek. Policy 1540 administrators code of ethics. The preamble was removed. Policy 1643

091family leave. Uh we added um to indicate this is a mandated policy. We replaced fixed leave year to begin with the start of the school year on July 1st with a rolling 12-month period measured backward from the date of a staff member uses any FMLA or NJFLA leave. Further discussion of the thousand series policy 1140 educational equity policies affirmative action. Dr. Hart shared the letter from the New Jersey Department of Education and the United States Department of Education to serve as the response to their request for certification and shows we are in compliance. No action is required at this time and this policy will remain as is until further notice. Policy 1230 superintendent's duties. After further review of the statutes mentioned in the policy, it is determined that no revision is necessary for this policy

092and it can move ahead to first read. Um and then we um as a committee reviewed the 2000 series. We're beginning to review those policies and have their notes um and edit suggestions for our next meeting which will be Wednesday, July 30th um at 8:30 a.m. Agenda items or revision of the thousand series virtual remote instruction plan and video content. Thank you. Any discussion, comments? Okay. Can we get a roll call vote? Mr. Bowman. >> Mrs. Cassidy. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fury. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lopes. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bener. >> Yes. >> Mr. Pieros. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rder. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Dinto. >> Yes. >> Mr. Riz. >> Yes. >> Passes. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next item on the agenda is unfinished business. Um we have one item listed. It's

093about the board member election deadline of July 28th at 4 PM. So if anyone's interested in running for the board of education, you have roughly a little less than a week to submit your petition. If you go to the Hunter County website, there's a course toolkit that you can download that holds instructions as well as the forms you need to fill out. Um, one of the items to note is that the number of nom nominating um, signatures went from 10 last year to 25 this year. This went up quite a bit. So, just keep that in mind if you're going to run. So, once again, everything's on the county website and um, you can just download it and take action as needed. Any questions on the comments? Okay, next item is the updated committee assignments.

094Um, this was predicated by Carolyn's resation from the board a few months ago when she moved out of the district as well as Richard's new appointment this evening where he was sworn in as a new board member. Um, Carolyn was on a few committees. She was the chair of personnel. Um earlier this year, about a month ago, Justina took on the role of chair of personnel. So that was taken care of a little while ago. Um to replace Carolyn on the personal committee. Pam has moved over to the personal committee and she's attended the first meeting I think about a week ago. So welcome Pam. And then the third committee that Carolyn was on was ADTE. So Rich will now be taking a role on the edtech committee and Rich will also be on the

095green committee. So those are changes that were made um predicated by Carolyn's resignation a few months ago and Rich's appointment. So I don't know if anyone's got any comments. Okay. All right. The next item is open to the public. So, I'm going to give the same um shortened version of the preamble I did before, but you could come up make any comments um doesn't have to be on agenda items. Um just come state your name and the dis and where you live like if you live in Ronington Township. Um just three minute limit, but you know we have depending on how many people speak we may or may not enforce that. So, we'll we'll play it by or by ear. The other thing I want to note is that when you make comments, we may

096not respond right away. We're going to go through the whole session and then we may or may not respond dependent on what the comments are. So, we'll go through the whole board comment section and then after that we'll make a determination if we will respond at the meeting or offline if needed. So, based on that, does anyone have any comments? >> Joe Weisenberger's purchase Bington. Uh first I just want to thank everybody for being here and volunteering your time. Uh regarding the uh Ryerson project um you mentioned that the financial committee were in preliminary talks and just with full transparency what was being discussed uh during those talks building on the land, selling the land uh or reszoning it. >> Okay. Um go through your statement. Okay. Any comments? Um, and what is the land

097currently zoned for? And does the board have any intentions on selling the land partially or as a whole? And, uh, if the board is trying to sell it, have they already started the process of reszoning it? Um, and what are those? And that's it. >> Thank you. >> Any other comments? Hi, I'm Daryl Hong. I live in Gez Stanton. So, Reington um you've talked about the buses and you said that the financial committee said it was not feasible. Um when can we expect the report about how the current EV bus is working? You said it's only since February, right? So, it hasn't been a full year yet. If you're going to wait until that bus has been, say, on the road for a year or so to decide whether or not EVs are worth it,

098are we going to hear about it in a year? That's it. >> Thank you. Scott Brezlo Readyton again referencing the Ryerson property. You had read a statement earlier. Will that be posted somewhere? >> I'm sorry. >> The statement you read earlier about the property, it will be posted on the website. >> Yes, it will. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I want to sign again. Do you guys want me to sign in? >> We're done. >> Okay. >> I'm doing my best to keep track. Oh, you know me. >> I do. >> Hi, I'm Jody Betterman in Readington Township. I'm a green committee member and I wanted to speak to you about the electric school bus grant that you guys have been talking about that you have let languish for the last nine months. Um, I

099see that it was made public in October. Um, in the finance meeting minutes, you now indicate you've run out of time to take action. Um, I haven't seen this in the finance committee meeting minutes since December. So, if it's been discussed, it hasn't been in the meeting minutes for six months, and I know you have a lot of other things going on along with the referendum. So, I it's not that I don't understand that. Um, but it feels a little disingenuous that it's now a deadline has been imposed on you. So, I'm wondering if you asked if there was any opportunity for an extension at this time. Um, I I heard on June 24th at a New Jersey Clean Cities Coalition meeting that the New Jersey D was touting its electric school bus grants of

100150, no, I'm sorry, $15 million being fully subscribed to from the first round and they were saying that as they were introducing the second round um, being launched. So, they were very proud of that $15 million being allocated and so it made me wonder if they would be willing to work with anyone who had an issue and needed an extension. So, this is the grant opportunity that you have let expire. This opportunity from the state was specifically designed to cover incremental costs above and beyond the purchase of diesel school buses. So, in theory, it should not be any more expensive to purchase these electric school buses than it would be to purchase diesel fueled buses. And based on the numbers that Mr. RZA gave tonight that that first grant was a negative of $48,000. This

101grant is $120,000 more per bus. So, it seems to me that there would be adequate funding to make the difference between the $150,000 diesel bus and the $400,000 electric bus. Um, so this board of education is allowing $640,000 for two electric school buses plus the $40,000 IRS credit if it's still available along with the charging stations to be allocated to some other school district. I heard Dr. Hart talking tonight about unlocking funding for the school district and saying that we all pay state income tax. Why should it not come to our school district? I feel strongly about that. I want to invest in the students here in Readington. Why would we let them invest this money that's already been allocated by the governor? He's allocated two rounds, $30 million. So first and second rounds are

102already fully allocated. that state money that we all pay is going to go to another school district. Why should we not invest that here in our students like we want to do with the referendum? You are allowing my tax dollars to go to fund someone else's school bus purchase and I would rather that money be spent here where my children went to school. Thank you. >> Thank you. I'm also here to talk about the finance committee meetings. Uh my name is Eric name. >> Yes. My name is Eric Swirling. C W E R L I N G. Uh I know some of the members here know me, others. As a point of reference, I served on this board for 12 years and was chair of the green committee for that entire tenure. During which time

103this district was recognized with numerous local, state, and national environmental awards, I was personally recognized with the 2016 public education award for uh from sustainable rar collaborative having been nominated by this district superintendent at that time. Our green initiatives saved this district hundreds of thousands of dollars. I'm here to speak tonight regarding my profound disappointment, but not surprised that this board has let a $640,000 grant from the NJ slip through its fingers, depriving this district of two more electric buses. It is a certainty that as a result of your actions, our children will be breathing diesel exhaust while queuing next to an idling bus rather than a zero emissions electric bus. Childhood asthma is a serious issue in this country and diesel exhaust is a recognized lung carcinogen. It is a certainty that this district

104will have to pay for years of expensive diesel fuel and engine repairs rather than saving additional money each year with less expensive electric bus fueling and maintenance. especially since this district will soon produce most of its own electricity and uh those of much many of those electric studies that would the finance studies that Mr. discussed, at least the ones that I was privy to, did not include any discussion of the uh fueling and and maintenance of the buses. They were not included in those studies. At least the ones that I saw. It's a certainty that transporting our children will emit more carbon into the atmosphere than would have been ne than would have been necessary. It's a fact that the 10 hottest years on record globally have been in the last decade. Think about that.

105To put a more local spin on it, all of this rain here lately in New Jersey is exactly what is predicted by the ocean warming models and result in increased water evaporation followed by intense rains. This grant didn't fail because of the imposition of an ownorous deadline by the D. This board was informed of this grant almost a year ago. It failed because of your inactive passive progressive pocket feeder of an initiative pursued by previous boards for many years offering this district $640,000 for a genuinely worthwhile project. I also feel genuinely sorry for Mr. Jason Bow who has worked tirelessly and persistently on these applications forever. when you could have demonstrated to our students that their STEM education could address the problems of the future by having them ride in buses fueled by the solar

106panels outside their windows. Instead, you've given them the fuel of the 1950s, diesel. The students who arrive in these buses will be on this planet in the year 2100. You are charting a darker future for them. They will remember what you have done here. Thank you. >> Hi, Carol Hle. Let me turn that on. Um I just have a couple of comments. Brenson Township. Um first I want to say thank you to the staff that um that are retired. There's I personally know many of them and it's really uh they're going to be missed. So, um, just to let them know that, um, uh, regarding the Ryerson Road property, I would just want, um, I would want a lot of public information about that because you mentioned that, um, the township talked about bow hunting.

107Um, I'm just concerned that that is a large swath of land that affordable housing township has over 500 units that they need to fill. And while they may say bow hunting and people that live at in that area may be concerned about bow hunting near their towns or near their homes, if you know if it's becomes an affordable housing issue, it how would how would the public know that? How would you know that? And if um if it is because you're looking to sell the property, then maybe it should go out to bid or something and not just blanketly go into the town. Um, last would leave regarding the electric bus. Um, what I heard tonight is that the I was at the green committee meeting in February, I want to say, where you did

108the presentation and the presentation was very extensive. Uh, it and it financially it the EV made sense and I thought it was a good presentation, very in-depth. What I'm concerned about is that the green committee sends something forward and then the finance committee there's no vote and it just got shut down. Right? So there should have been a vote to reject this bid or not accept this bid from the board. And I think a remedy to that would be for a board member to make a motion to accept or reject the the grant for the funding. I don't think that it should just be um oops. I think that there could be a vote made to u move it forward. And those are my comments. Thank you. Thank you for your service. >> Thank you.

109>> Turn that on. >> Any other comments? Okay. So, I I did took some notes. We will I'll just defer with Dr. heart for a moment if we want to discuss any now or get back to you. So this right here. [Music] Okay. Well, thank you. So all the items related to the bus. Thank you very much for all your comments. They're very thoughtful. We appreciate you coming out here and taking your time. We will be discussing them at the green committee which is next week I believe. Two weeks >> planning meeting. >> It's not till September something. >> Yeah, that's Oh, you're saying the >> planning session. Okay. That is next week. >> The green committee members are not invited. It's just the executive. >> Okay. So, September. Yeah. So, we'll be discussing it

110in September. That's our next green committee item. So, our next meeting. So, we'll go through there. Um, we took notes on that. We'll make sure that we have this on the agenda items and things that we could discuss. We'll discuss. Um, in regards to the Ryerson Road, I know the question was about zoned selling and so on. Other future uses. Um, I'm just going to go back to the statement that we had that all discussions around property are preliminary. and at the committee level. So, I'm sure that's not what you wanted to hear, but unfortunately, we can't make any other discussions on that um in regards to that, but I think there's no action items on the agenda in regards to Ryerson Road. Dr. Hart, did you want to add anything? >> No, I think

111that covers everything. And um the green committee meeting that we're referencing is there's a summer planning meeting that the board and administration have on an annual basis to discuss goals for the year. Um you know I think just in general this meeting is good timing for us uh because we did our retreat tonight. We're setting green committee goals. We'll be setting board goals and district goals in in the future. And I think that all the comments we heard tonight can be used as discussion points on how the board uh moves forward with not only um some of the items that were reported out in committee reports, but also some of the concerns and questions we heard from individuals tonight. So, I think that this is good information for us to have for us to create.

112Like Judy said, let's talk about process. Let's talk about how we're going to engage as we move forward uh with various items that are on the agenda that are in committee right now where there's no action being taken. >> That's all I have. >> Great. Thank you. >> There's also no comments on >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. >> Okay. Um so we close out the open to public section. Once again, thank you very much for coming out and for your time. Our next item is going to be executive session. Um, so I'm going to have a motion to adopt the following resolution. Resolve to adjourn to executive session in accordance with the sunshine law to discuss HIVs for approximately 30 minutes at which time the board expects to return to public session or action shall

113not be taken. Matters discussed will remain public if and when the circumstances requiring confidentiality no longer exist. However, it is not presently known when such circumstances will exist. Um, in Matt, can I get a motion and a second on that? >> Motion second and local. >> Miss Cassidy, >> yes. >> Morgan, >> yes. >> Mr. Ves, >> yes. >> Mener, >> yes. >> Mr. Pier, >> thanks Mrs. Rad. >> Yes. >> Minto. >> Yes. >> M. Yes. >> Are you tired? like yes. >> Um, we just have to bring up the meeting. No, I just texted