0016, 2026. Emailing the newspap to the newspapers designated by the board, the local source and the star ledger. Posting on the district's website, the main holding board in the administration office and in each Rosel School email to the clerk of Rosel and posted on the Borell website. If everybody could please rise as we do the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you, Dr. S, if you can please do the roll call. >> Done. Dr. Atkins >> here. >> Miss Bomb >> here. >> Vice President um Chavez >> here. >> Mrs. Cortez >> here. >> Miss Santos, Miss Tennage, >> present. >> Dr. Washington, President Washington.
002Mrs. Mrs. Washington here, >> Miss Woody, >> and our two student representatives, Mr. Afere >> here and Mr. Emmen >> here. >> We have a quorum. >> Thank you, Dr. Simmons. Now is the time for the board to go into executive session. Um in order to go into into executive session is to discuss the issues that were on confidentiality as consistent with NJSA 10 col 4-12 for matters of attorney privilege contracts legal litigation negotiations personnel and student matters. The minutes will be made available to the public upon request when the confidentiality of the subject is no longer warranted. May I have a motion and a second, please? >> Second. >> Roll. >> All in favor? >> We'll be back in from executive session in approximately 1 hour. Thank you. for your patience. Uh, I'm going
003to reconvene. May I have a motion to return from executive session? >> Prince Cortez. Second. Chavez. Chavez. All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. Uh the next item on the agenda. We have several presentations on the agenda tonight. We have the junior ROC pre presentation of colors, our board president's report, committee updates, student representatives, we have our superintendence updates, and we also have another uh presentation by Miss Racer Harden that we've added to the agenda and we will be discussing the presentation of the school budget. So, first and foremost, can you all join with me and rise for the RLC? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Wait, wait, hold
004this. Thank you very much. Next, I'm just going to give a quick uh board president update. So, first I want to start by saying um and I don't think that we do this enough. Congratulations to our Rosel Lady Rams on their season opening win this past Friday. They won 206 playing sand. And I want to say those ladies show dedication, teamwork, and discipline. And I'm wishing them a successful season as we move forward. I also want to recognize women's history month and I want to extend on behalf of the board of education our deepest appreciation to the women across our district administrators teachers and staff who all lead inspire and shape the future of our scholars each day. Your impact is invaluable. I just want to say on this agenda and for tonight, our work
005remains grounded in the district's core priorities. academic achievement, student well-being, and social emotional learning, community and family engagement, fiscal and operational responsibility. These priorities continue to guide our decision-m and align with our vision 2027 framework. And actually, when we started our strategic plan a couple years ago, 2027 seemed far far off in the distance. And next year, it'll actually be here. So with that key agenda items that are on here for tonight is autism awareness month recognition. Um it recognizes our students and families and the educators who work with our students in the district and it's a continued emphasis on early intervention and specialized supports. So I hope you all will take some time to attend any district um sponsored autism awareness work. I believe there's an autism walk coming up. Um, do we have
006the date for the autism walk, Miss Quest? >> Yes. >> April autism walk is April 15th and I will probably be here at our permanial field. And that's right when we come back from spring break. So hopefully you out there in the community, people in this room, you will attend. It's always a good time and it's for a great cause. Uh we'll also be reviewing our tentative budget for the 2026 2027 school year is very healthy. Uh some key items that they will discuss with you, our will discuss with you is that our tax levy is stable. They've made strategic use of our reserves and fund balances and we continue to make an investment in student achievement and district priorities. Some cons considerations for our budget was we had some rising costs. Everything is going
007up whether it's special education services or health benefits and transportation. We all know we've been following the news. We have a reduction in federal funding. There's increased demand for services and our prek enrollment is up. But despite these challenges, our budget reflects a commitment to fiscal responsibility while prioritizing student success. In closing, our board work our work as a board remains clear and focused to provide the best possible educational experience for every student in Roselle. By staying aligned in our purpose and intentional in our actions, we will continue to move forward together with our students at the center of every decision. Yes, >> it's Saturday, April 18th, and the rain date is April 25th. >> Thank you. So, the autumn walk is Saturday, April 18th. Rain date Saturday, April 25th. So, I want to make
008that correction, but thank you. I'll hand this mic over to Dr. Fer for his uh I'm sorry board committee updates. So we can start with the curriculum committee is in your >> who has those >> okay policy. >> Thank you. have tough. There it goes. >> There's Okay, in and out. It's working. Good evening everyone and thank you so much. Um, Madame President, the policy committee met on March 16th at 6:00 p.m. um through Zoom. The following items were discussed. Policy uh 1220, which is a superintendent deployment. the board um the committee actually is recommending that we as a board uh have two options and um consensus on option one one which allows the board of education to establish criteria rather than requiring face qualifications. Um we also discussed policy 2530 the resource materials. This
009has to do with um recommending revisions to improve quality and structure especially with the agree that um detailed procedures shall be removed from the policy and placed within the corresponding regulation since policy um defines what is expected and regulation outlines how it's implemented. Um we also had um to table a policy 9130 for further discussion so that we can have more information from our council and compare it to other um policies from the district. Um that concludes my report for this month. >> Thank you. Any questions? >> Are you ready? >> Okay. Miss Susan. >> Okay. Good evening everyone. Um so the curriculum committee met um March 9. Um there were several topics uh discussed. So I'm just going to um go over briefly. Um we discussed um about professional development. Um we also uh
010Dr. press uh gave us an a briefing about the new um uh the new uh state test NJ um GPA test. Um so she discussed briefly how the new test um is going to be uh for this year. Um we also discussed um about the translation during um the meetings um for the community. Um and you know the board uh expressed um our need for um having um the meeting translated in a few of the languages that we have in the district. We also discussed a little bit about uh the grading policies. Uh we would like to um to learn more about it and we will continue the discussion about uh the grading policy and that's up for now. >> Thank you personal. Thank you, Madam President. Okay. The personnel committee met on March 10th.
011Um in the personnel committee, we reviewed the um the personnel portion of the agenda. We um we also had other discussions. Um we talked about the business administrator vacancy and um and the candidates that apply interviews have not started as of yet. Uh we also discussed the breakage report. We talked uh we had a climate and culture specialist discussion. Uh and this specialist will present to the board. Uh the superintendent talked to us about his plans for this position and how he wants to um expand the role. And um and the board also discussed how we would effectively evaluate the climate and culture program. And this concludes our personal report. >> Thank you. Bye. >> Thank you, Madam President. So we met for the finance committee on March 9th at 7 p.m. In attendance we
012have Dr. Fischer, Dr. Simmons, myself as the chair and commissioner Dr. Courtney Washington and education attorneyage and my assistant Mr. Tina. Discussion items included the title one and IDA grants. Dr. Simmons discussed the recent approvals of title one and IDA grants mentioning that additional allocations are expected to increase in the budget. She outline the necessary motions for the budget including general funals, special revenues, debt services, travel expenses, and percentage allocations. Item two that was discussed, school services and RFP plan. At the meeting, the team discussed plans to issue RFPs and bids for various services for the 2006 and 2007 school year, aiming to have them awarded by May to allow vendors to start work by July 1st. Um, item number three that we discussed um was the permit of service updates, meetings focusing on procurement
013decision on food service improvements, the team discussed whether to go to market for auditors and Dr. Simmons explaining that Since the current auditor um is within recommended 5year review period, there's no need to seek new bids at this time. And that's just a synopsis of some of the topics that discuss our financing. >> Thank you. Um Miss Woody is absent. So I'm just going to read a couple of bullet points from her committee report, but the rest you guys will find in the folder this evening. So in the buildings and grounds committee um they discussed some high priority items such as modular replacements across the district. Uh the high priority replacements are at Harrison the art trail and ACS the cafeteria. Those will be examined first. The completion date has been moved to August 2027.
014Um there was the building conditions assessment that will continue during spring break and on April 2nd with the priority being health and safety related improvements. The long range facility plans and maintenance plans uh will be updated from a technology standpoint. 150 Acer Chromebooks have been received and are ready to be used for standardized testing. I believe they were already deployed to into the district. Uh, additional items that were discussed was school cleanliness. Some board members um brought up the fact that some of our schools won't look as clean as they should um to help mitigate that and to kind of identify where teachers will be asked to give a report each morning regarding the issues within room cleanliness. And that was a suggestion um by someone that has that at their school. From a maintenance
015standpoint, there are chairs missing or broken in the auditorium at KO and at this school at in the ACS high school. As the building is old, replacements are hard to find. All of the chairs will need to be replaced with a new set. The chairs at issue will be blocked off for now until money can be found in capital reserves for the replacement project. The total cost has been requested for the vendor that was needed to complete snow removal from the last storm. We're still awaiting the final numbers. Bleachers will be repaired at ECS and our facilities manager will conduct professional development at the close of school so that the maintenance crew will have additional skills to be able to get campuses ready for September. That ends this part of that report. and from from
016an ad hoc committee standpoint um and a prek uh I'm sorry special services um standpoint. We discussed updates to prek registration. Um that information has gone out has already been blasted. Uh registration starts April 1st, closes May 1st. Uh just because it's registration doesn't mean your child will get in. There is still a lottery that will happen later in the summer. I think that we've asked this moment to ensure that it goes out in other areas because just because we send it to parents in Genesis, there's a a a segment of our community that aren't parents yet. So, they need to be able to get that information. So, we need to be able to communicate that to the wider community. Um we talked about the autism walk, which I just announced. Um, and there was
017a concern about children's being present for IEP meetings. And what we discussed is that at a certain age, specific student level requirements and it's legal for students to be present legally for their IEP meetings. Overall, um, other than preK, uh, readiness, the Presbyterian church is ready. Uh, they have all that technology has been installed. and the teachers are happy there. And that was really it from an ad hoc committee perspective. We discussed that the uh Dr. Fisher and the ad hoc committee team have a meeting with Laura Bishop and her PR firm. They're coming up with uh communications guidance. We have to develop a communications committee that will help us decide taglines and things like that and have that input and help us with the overall communications and preparation for the referendum. Um let's see.
018Am I missing anything? No. And that's it from an ad hoc and special service standpoint all these reports. We have to we have to make sure that they get updated into the uh committee vocals for everyone. Um student representatives report Mr. Daniel and Andrew Emmy Daniel please followed by the superintendent of the culture climate presentation and a presentation by Lisa Hardy of St. >> Good evening. First and foremost, we are pleased to announce that we, the student body, performed extremely well during the Middle States review. Both our tech team and the students involved in the portrait of a graduate Middle States team did an outstanding job and received high praises. We are proud to share that both um board representatives, myself and Andrew were part of this team and as a result of everyone's hard
019work, our school has been accredited for the next seven years. Secondly, the June the juniors have just completed the NJGPA testing and we are currently administering makeup exams. And with that being said, we are now returning to our regular teaching schedule. As for our student portfolios, these are our graduation requirement for some of our seniors and they're currently being completed. The students have multiple opportunities to work on their portfolios which include before school at 7:00 a.m. during their lunch periods, after school, and within the STARS program that we have as well. Um, we are also in the process of a credit recovery for some of the students who are missing out on credits as well as seat time. And those students who are completing seat time have sessions held before school, after school, on Saturdays,
020and in the stars program. and these efforts are to support their attendance requirements. Um, lastly, I'd like to say that the staff at Grand Park is getting a special praise for providing us every possible opportunity for our students to successfully graduate. Thank you. >> And before I announce him, I would like to congratulate you, Andrew Ma. I had you in my notes for going to the meet the champions last weekend. So that was excellent opportunity and congratulations on getting there. >> Thank you. >> Good evening everybody. >> Good evening. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the board of education and the superintendent for passing resolutions that support our ability to meet our goals and graduate. As as the seniors prepare for prom graduation, the guidance counselors and Miss Harry sent out a
021link for us seniors to choose this year's theme for the uh prom and majority of the seniors chose. As you just said, I would like to share that I made it to New Jersey Champions where the best athletes in New Jersey get to compete against each other. And I also qualified for Nike Nationals in New York City where athletes around the world. And I would like to thank everyone in the board for all the congratulations, thank you, blow ups, repost that everyone did. And I also like to thank my coach, Dr. Mr. for all the hard work and training that he's done for me and without him I wouldn't be where I am right now. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you. Now we'll have superintendent updates. >> Good good evening everyone. >> Good
022evening. >> Let me begin to just quickly uh thank everyone for joining us this evening. uh particularly our folks that are here in the auditorium, our students, our staff, and those who are on our YouTube channel. Uh thank you for being here as always and thank you for being a part of what I call uh one roselle. Um as we hit the 119th day of the 180 days of this 2526 school year, tonight's report really provides a comprehensive snapshot of some of the district operations, instruction, student support, fiscal stewardship, and long range planning. uh as we continue to work toward vision 2027. Uh this month, Rosell Public Schools continue to remain uh operationally strong, instructionally purposeful, and steadfast as we focus on our students from our youngest scholars to our graduating seniors. Uh tonight, what
023I'll do is quickly give you a span of some of the things that transpired during the month of March as we reflect on the district as it moves forward with clarity, commitment, and community. Uh as many of you have already know known from the community and communication transparency uh perspective the rambler uh which has been uh provided to our families via our mailers but we also continue our in uh our efforts in the rambling on which has been published for the month of March on March 2nd 10th 16th and which provides continuous real time updates of all the activities and academic initiatives and community events uh that transpired in the month of of March. Uh each addition thus far has focused on one aspect of the vision 202027. Uh keeping our commitment to keep families
024informed, engaged, and connected. Uh back on March 5th, the superintendent conducted a conduct conversation, community forum, which is an opportunity to share with the community about uh the happenings across the district. We were very transparent. We offered some clarity. He shared an understanding about student behavior, expectations and school clim climate and those supports that we have in place for each and every student. Uh it was held here at Abraham Clark High School in conjunction nec event encouraging uh our students to actively uh engage in uh leadership uh uh attributes as well as learning how to tie a tie. Um, I know there's read across America, but we have we call read across role week. And throughout that week, we had we were very excited to continue to push forward with our read across Rosel initiative
025across all schools. Just to highlight Dr. Charles C. Pope School, they had a number of of students who attended uh who had read guest readers who were representatives from many of the divine nine organizations who came in as guest readers. Additionally, at the Kindergarten Success Academy, I'm having a sea of blue represented at the KSA showcasing reading to our literacy folks representing the uh Zeta 5 Beta organization. We had community safety and trust building activity where we we partner with the police chief for a number of initiatives transpiring beginning this month. Uh working with our student council representatives at all our schools across the district uh to taking the safety pledge. great opportunity for our students to understand the core values and safety uh conversations of public safety, safety, and trust in the community. We're
026also looking forward to continue to partner with the police department on a collaborative project with the BPA department, which will be showcasing on a rotating art gallery at the uh the Burough Hall. So, we're excited about that initiative. We also had a wonderful opportunity where we had our ESS folks who came in and on our professional development day provided some uh school avoidance workshops to our staff as well as our counselors understanding the challenges that they face for students who face a school avoidance. Although Black History Month ended in the month of February, I can tell folks Black History is a 365 day of the year uh celebration and LV Moore approved it when they held their Black History Month that got delayed because of the the weather and they pushed it back to uh
027early March and we were I was very overwhelmed by a performance of the students doing spoken word uh studentled performances and and I have to say they have this wonderful wonderful opportunity where they had a elevore gospel choir. Uh the students had me standing and clapping and shaking and they were singing songs. So certainly I'll be bringing those students here to perform for the public because they did a phenomenal job. And that event also had Reverend uh Reginal Atkins who also was a special guest who gave the students some inspirational words. Our steam initiatives across the district. I'm very very excited as Dr. Washington mentioned where there are so many great things happening across the district. We were excited to send a uh a team of ACS students to Princeton Ignite STEM students actually came
028in third place in an event. Uh they were very excited because they created a a project entitled seawater powered vehicle conversion and it really stood out uh for its integration of chemical engineering sustainability and social equity. I was very proud of our students who had an opportunity to participate. We had a wonderful group of fifth fifth and sixth graders who participated in in an event over at the Rawway Center. Uh they presented at a an event called Steam. You be the solution. New Jersey Regional Challenge. It was a hands-on competition based uh held by the Urban League of Union County and the BASF organization. Uh the students again had an opportunity to pitch sustainable uh focused startup concepts and they are now advancing into phase two where they will produce a sustainable focus video for
029final judgment. Uh Harrison Elementary School, they're over there making food. I'm excited to know that they are creating students are learning to use the uh hydroponic uh planting and I believe we have Miss Ringwood, Miss Bach, Miss Espen who are nurturing crops of vegetables and flowers. So, I'm very excited to see the students understanding uh the value of being patient and responsible as we as they learn gardening. As we prepare for the NJ GPA, we're also getting ready for a host of assessments across the entire district um in the month of April. Actually, this month we're preparing. We've done some trial uh uh some some trial testing of our equipment, preparing for the upcoming testing season, and lots of things are are ready and queued up upon our return. Our steam department, again, I can
030tell you so many things, but the steam machine is on the move. The steam machine is actually at Grace Will Day. Students had an opportunity to experience the steam visit steam machines visit day and the teachers had an opportunity to utilize the a variety of equipment station on the machine. Excited that in our OT space we have our upgraded phone system which is actually going fully live as we transition from our old system. Uh right now I believe we have a more reliable system. Hopefully it'll be more efficient across the entire district. Uh time will tell in terms of the new upgrade across our system. The special ed department hosted a virtual transition fair. Organizations from the Union County Surrogate Court, New Jersey Transit, Ruckers Travel, Independence, Vocational Rehabilitation Services, the Commission for the Blind,
031Union County, Arc all were there to present at this virtual transition fair. Lots of parents participated in that event and I was very excited to see the host of information that was being provided. Uh kudos to our uh athletic director being honored at the 75th annual directors of athletic associations of New Jersey convention on March 10th. Recognized as one of 24 African-American athletic directors in the state. Uh he had received recognition for his uh diversity and equity uh student advancement work. So kudos to Dr. uh Griffin for his acknowledgement. I want to acknowledge uh we have uh our BPA department across the district had an opportunity to participate at the Union County Teen Arts Festival. Uh looking at all the accolades they received, they received highly uh high levels of critiques from a lot of
032individuals, but they came out on top as always. Our G&T program here in Rosel hosted the game on convocation uh just last week uh two weeks ago. Uh, we hosted seventh graders from Elizabeth and they actually had an opportunity to collaborate over at the Rosel Memorial Library. And I'm going to I got so much great things. This is the narrative I'm going to continue to tell folks that we are a a social community act activist organization. We partnered with a host of organizations from King University to the Rosel New Destiny Center to provide over 40,000 pounds of food to local organizations to feed those throughout our various communities. So big up to the King University Rosa Rosel New Destiny Center and our district personnel who helped us distribute over 40,000 lbs of food and it
033was incredible. I was last Friday the Friday the 13th we were fortunate to have acl day where we provided wellness day for our staff. We took an opportunity to say, "Let's practice what we preach." And we did an uh half a day for that particular day and allowed our staff to have a personal self-care uh approach to their their their resiliency and their school climate. So, thank you for our staff. Hopefully, as we talk about the whole child, we talk about the whole educator. And again, I'm going to just highlight a couple of points. Uh, shout outs to Javon Kilpatrick who was recognized in New Jersey School Boards Association uh for being an unsung hero just uh just just a week ago. We want to congratulate him. Big up to the girls flag football team
034which had their debut on uh Friday and they showed up and showed out. Uh they stand out players out here. We had Kamorei Bond, we had Mia Ricks, we have Mia Losea, and Ashley Castella who also showed up and showed out during that game. So, big up to those young ladies. Shout out to uh the cheerleaders who placed first place. Coach Lorasia Larasia Clark and the Rosel Ram cheerleaders. First place victory at the Impact Cheer and Dance Competition at the Robert J. Collins Arena in Middletown. So the girls are working hard and of course they delivered an impressive championship win. And on the fiscal side just to give you a quick shout uh to this side we will be presenting our preliminary budget for the 2627 school year aligned to our instructional priorities our staffing
035needs and fiscal sustainability. uh our enrollment trend analysis has been conducted. Our program of staff alignment has been conducted and our long-term financial planning to support our vision 2027 is is queued up and aligned with shared this evening. Just want to take an opportunity I had the pleasure of uh taking a team out to Seattle Washington where we had an opportunity to have some deep learning uh which began at the Microsoft Center to the immers immersion exploration at the Seattle Aquarium. uh the team I took out there we had an opportunity to visit the Kent school district and the Isiqua school district Dr. Nvarez Mades and Dr. the pot and myself respectively watch and witness uh flourishing student engagement in career pathways and robotic programming. And additionally, our our Harrison Elementary School team presented their
036print lab entrepreneurial financial literacy and career readiness project in conjunction with uh South Alageney School District and that was a high school group of students that were doing the same work our students were doing here in Roselle. Uh this school district is located in Pennsylvania. So certainly was a great opportunity for our talents to be showcased on a national level. I won't go all into it in this pres presentation, but be on the lookout, I'll repeat, be on the lookout for the uh capital improvements that are queued up across the district. One of the biggest ones you'll hear about our facility improvements as we we push forward the a bond referendum for our new school. uh certainly excited about that opportunity. We're also going to be sharing out as we look to uh reconfigure our
037elementary schools, all three elementary schools, and we're also looking to do some additional work at the junior high school as as well as the middle school. That information is forthcoming, but the configuration will allow us to do some advanced planning and some enhanced instructional initiatives across the district. So, that information will be rolled out. And probably the biggest thing out of that at on the back end is the exploration of what we call the 710 transition center, which is a an innovative component of the district plan to create uh a transition center dedicated uh and designed to prepare students for adulthood and independent living. Uh some of those services will include uh independent living training, employment preparation, on-site retail experience, and much much more. So, we're very excited to to really give a full presentation
038on the new school respond referendum. And finally, I just want to close out. I just kind of gave you a snapshot of all the things that we've been doing for the month of March. Very exciting and very time consuming, but when you have a dedicated team such as our board commissioners and my district administrators, anything's possible. So, what we don't say uh is enough is that uh we are on the move and I want to encourage this community to kind of pay attention to the things that are happening across the Roosevelt public school district. Uh with that being said, we're going to continue to shift and transcend as we remain targeted with tenacity and the Rosell's public schools continues to celebrate these ongoing achievements that I believe are unwavering uh commitment to our dedication to
039excellence and equity. Uh let us remain Moselle strong and steadfast in our commitment to every student every day because as I always tell everyone, it's because all students matter. Madam President, this concludes the superintendent's report for the month of March 2026. >> Thank you, Dr. Fischer. Can you please take us through the HIP updates for March 2026? >> Yes. Our harassment, intimidation, and bullying hip investigations report window number two for the 2526 school year. Incidents and training and programs for March 2026 are as follows. Kindergarten Success Academy reported zero incident being reported or investigated. Harrison Elementary School reported one incident being reported one incident and one incident reported as not being a hit. Dr. The Charles C. Pope reported zero incidents for hit investigations. Washington Elementary School reported three incidents that were reported and being
040investigated and three concluded as not being a hit. Leonard Bmore Moore Middle School reported investigated four incidents. Three incidents were considered not not to be a hit and one incident be inconclusive. Graceville Day Junior High School had one incident that was reported and investigated and one incident that was reported as not being the hit. Abraham Park High School reported two incidents that were were being reported and investigated. One incident was uh confirmed as being a HIV and one was reported as being inconclusive. For the month of March 2026, we had a total of 11 incidents that were reported and investigated. One that was confirmed as being a hit and a total of eight that were con uh considered not to be a hit and two that were concluded as being inconclusive. This concludes the HIV
041and investig investigation and bullying report for the month of March 2026. >> Thank you, Dr. Fisher. Uh, next up we'll have a culture and climate presentation by Mr. Dale Gals, culture and climate specialist. Is it >> so can we join? Can we move down board because we're also going to need to stay down for um we'll have Miss Harden present as well and then wait one second because can we adjust the Can I adjust the agenda really quick because I don't want us to go back and forth. So one second Mr. Fields can we have Miss the board do you mind if we adjust the agenda to let Miss Raa Hardy present and Betty goes to Mr. Fields and the preliminary? I make a motion. >> Have a second. >> All in favor? I. So,
042we've adjusted the agenda just so we have to change in the presenting order. Um, Mr. Fields, I apologize. Um, may I have Miss Rachel Harvey come? She just Okay. Good evening, Madame President, Superintendent Fiser, and the members of the board of education. My name is Racha Hardy. This is Jamal Hardy, and we represent Stephen Stones Child Development Centers. Um, we're here to present a proposal to partner with the district for our summer enrichment program for the summer of 2026. Our program is designed to prevent summer learning loss while keeping students engaged and active and socially connected. Um, our program provides a safe and structure engaging environment for students throughout the summer. We previously had the opportunity of doing the before and after school service with you previously within the district and we look forward to
043the opportunity of partnering with you guys again. Um for the schedule depending on the district preference we do operate um from 6 to nine weeks. We're currently uh hosting three summer school programs annually within the Irvington and the Hillside school districts. We've been in business for about 23 years. We're a full uh 12-month program where we do provide before and after school and summer school services. Um we do operate during the summer between uh Monday through Friday for the hours of 8:00 to 5:00. We do have the um availability of open up early for 7:30. So we can't do 7:30 to 5. Some of our program highlights is that we do academic enrichment, arts and crafts, sports and games, weekly field trips. Now, our field trips, we're active during the the summer. We're out the
044building between three to four times a week. We're going to the movies, we're going skating, we're going bowling, and we do go to Splash Flex every Friday. Um, we do provide nutritious meals. We are contracted with the child and adult food program where we do follow like the same guidelines as the district uh where we have healthy nutritious meals uh throughout the day. All of our staff are fully trained to be in accordance with the New Jersey child care regulations including background checks and also they are CPR and first aid certified. Um we welcome the opportunity to meet with you guys further to discuss any program details or locations or enroll expectations and we thank you at this you know for the time for considering us and we're happy to answer any questions. >> Thank
045you. Does anyone have any questions? >> I don't see any questions. Miss Honey, can you give your information to this question? Wait, do you have >> So are you um planning to have a summer program in this district? Yes. >> And and what location were you looking? >> Well, you guys can decide how we do operate. In our previous district, we pick one location and we host grades from preK all the way up to 8th grade. So, it'll be like a one-stop shop for our families to come. Like we'll have certain classrooms for, you know, the age grades for the summer. >> So, you would accept subsidies? >> Absolutely. We prefer subsidy programs. Um, and you know, I do attend the monthly meetings and um, fortunately they are considering in July bringing it back cuz
046I don't know if some of you guys know they had um, let go of the subsidy program for new parents which affect affected statewide, but now they're bringing it back uh, in July. So, we are welcoming, you know, like last time we were in a dish, we sat, we met with families to try to get them approved and try to walk them through the process. >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> Talk to your microphone. Sorry. >> Um, in terms of pricing for family, what does that look like? So, we're right now we're um working with some members in the district on the funding because we're trying to make it affordable to the families. Again, like we accept subsidies, but um we're coming in at a discounted rate. Um I have spoken with some of the
047members um President um Washington. We're trying to figure out some numbers so it can definitely be affordable. >> Okay. Thank you. Can you give your information to >> Will this be available? >> You have some students who have IED. Will this be available to all students? >> Absolutely. Yes. We do not deny any students. >> So you would have the um you have the teachers or uh in business available who are trained to handle students that may be challenged. >> It depends on what spectrum. So, we do have staff that are strained um with but if it's like severe behavioral being that's a short program within the 6 to9 weeks um we we take them in cuz we don't not deny any families but we take it as a case by case situation to see
048if the program you know being that we go out the building and they might need a one-on-one. So, we take it on a case by case basis. >> You said you were working with uh people in this community. Who who are those people? >> No, no, not not people in this community. We work with um programs that help with students that's on the spectrum for, you know, autism and speech delay and all that type of stuff. >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> I do have another question. >> Um since you are going to be in this district and having a summer program, you're going to need more staff. Where are you going to pull your applicants for let's say junior counselors in your campus? >> That's a good question. So, we like to hire within
049the district like we did before. We hired within the schools, teachers, paras. We prefer to hire them first. Why? Because they're familiar with the families. They're familiar with the students. Um, also we'll also pull some of our staff who are already trained. Like again, we've been in the business like 23 years. So we do have annual trainings that we have to do which is statemandated um to meet that request. >> Um how long have you >> how long have you um done this before? What type of experience do you have? How many years of experience do you have with this program? >> 23 years probably. >> How many? >> 23. So, what other districts or uh what what other space have you worked in? >> So, we work we're currently in Hillside. We're currently in
050Urban. We previously worked in Nord and we previously worked worked in Rosel. >> So, you're going to be working in those areas along with Roselle? >> Oh, yes. Mhm. >> Okay. So, you have the staffing for that? >> Yes, absolutely. >> Any additional questions? Miss you. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you guys for the time. >> Can you please pass your information to Miss Cluster so that she can give it to the superintend this member? So, make sure you have your budget done. as close as you can to the laptop. Make it easier for yourself. Okay. One of them. I think I'm going to get on. Let's start. Uh good evening Dr. Fischer, Dr. Perez, Dr. uh Marshall Simmons, and the board of education members. This evening, I'm going to share overview of the
051work that's being done by the kind of culture at Abraham Clark High School. My focus is to support students, improve behavior, strengthen strengthen attendance, and help create a safe and positive school environment. My work centers around school climate, student support, and accountability. I help make sure students, staff, and families feel supported. I I also work to make discipline fair, consistent while using d while using data to guide us to the next steps. are my daily daily responsibilities. Each day I work directly with students and staff. A large part of my day is meeting with late students, helping attendance concerns, and checking in with students that need extra support. I also serve I also supervise lunch uh duties. Also help staff manage issues during the school day. And I guess you can see here this is
052just a overview of of how things are going so far this year. Okay. So for the schoolwide discipline system, in this role, I help manage discipline in a way that's clear, fair, and organized. I process referrals. I keep reports up to date. My goal is to support their accountability while also helping students learn from, you know, when they make bad choices at times. Okay. One important part of of of my work is preventing problems before they get bigger. Through daily check-ins, conflict uh uh conflict mediation and teamwork with administration, many situations are addressed early. This helps reduce the number of student fights and shows the value of building strong relationships with the students. Okay. Um I also use data to improve how how we respond to students behavior by tracking by tracking the referrals and
053also looking at patterns. I identify repeat repeat repeat offenders concerns and then I also work with the counselors and also administration team to to develop the best way to respond to these issues. This helps us be more proactive instead of only reacting after a problem happens. So identify the trends. So this data also helps us use the mo I'm sorry. This data also helps us see the most common behaviors concerns in the building. Many issues are related in the classroom behaviors. Phones cutting class and tardiness. Looking at these trends helps us decide where we focus our support and interventions on. Um I currently support students who have active behavior plans. This includes uh weekly and daily check-ins of um progressing to making sure they're going through their um their plan, family communication, and making sure
054the plan is being followed through and fully correctly. I also help lead the INRS process so students can get support early. So restorative practices, a big part of course is working using restorative practices. This means helping students reflect, repair harm, and return to the school community in a positive way instead of only focusing on punishment. The goal is growth, responsibility, and making better decisions. Attendance. Attendance. Attendance is another major focus in this role. I review reports. I look at patterns of crimes after I meet with students, families when concerns come up. We have a tier system so students can get help on a needed basis. So, climate, family, and staff support. Climate school climate is the is is only strongest when students, families, and staff all work together. I regularly contact families with both concerns
055and positive updates. I also support staff and support uh engagement be I'm sorry. also support staff in student engagement and behavioral strategies so that students can be successful in the classroom. Our family engagement family partnership is very important in this work. Each week I hold meetings with on each week I hold meetings on phone with phone calls and parent conferences to talk about attendance behavior student well-being and these conversations help build trust and strength and the connection between the school and the and the comm and the community. I'm sorry. So these are the student surveys here. We also gather student voices through surveys. The results show that many students feel that they are academically challenged, supported school and also informed about topics like online safety. This feedback is very important because it helps us understand
056directly from them and how they feel immediately. So this is the survey for the parents also gave us a lot of good feedback. Many f many families shared that they feel that the school is safe, respectful, a positive place for learning. This shows that the families see that the work being done and the value the school environment we are building here. staff collaboration. this um this work happens well okay this work definitely can't happen just by myself alone I work closely with teachers counselors social workers and um administration to support the students when students need uh to go a little bit beyond something like maybe I can't help uh we use teamwork collaboration to try to solve the young man or young ladies problem and um try to be very consistent with that safety. Safety
057safety is always a top priority. I help supervise key areas of the building, support re-entry after serious incidents, and serve as part of the threat assessment team. I also help monitor events and other times when students need to be supervised. All right. In closing, in closing, this work is about building a school culture that is safe, supportive, and student center and student centered through discipline systems, attendance work, restorative practices, family communication, and staff collab staff collaboration. I continue to work to improve and outcome of the students. the next survey that we'll have during the next open house. We'll try to see the next progress to see what's the next measure. Thank you. >> I'm sorry. Thank you Mr. for your presentation. I just have a few questions. Where do you receive your referrals for students
058that you are monitoring? >> I received it through Genesis. >> So Genesis, we have desktop that's t and then all the referrals come up. So if the teacher for example is writing something up, it'll pop right up there. So we get in and then we can um call the student down. And then we uh we get it through Genesis. So then it comes directly up. So then we're able to see exactly who did what, what class they're in. We could call the student down and that's that's how we're able to see the referrals. It used to be written, but now it's all magic. We document that the meetings that we're having with the parent, >> it's either going to be in notes or in Miss Harry has a folder that she keeps a lot of
059keeps alive of all the uh parent conferences >> and the strategic plans. Where are those kept once you identify from the the student that's referred and in the strategic plan plans? Where is that? >> That's usually administrator's office. >> And how often is the problem? >> Well, I meet with students every single day. So, it all depends on which student it is. And if it's their appointment time, it all depends. >> And then for the climate and culture um surveys, how often do those go up? We do one at one at the beginning mid year and then we're going to do the one in the spring >> and then once you receive that data where >> then we uh meet together as a team and then we try to come up with different strategies to
060see what works best what what came out of the survey and see what where we might want to try to target those areas if it's if it's feasible. question for you. How often do you meet with the team that you work with? Do you have like regular operational meetings or >> uh we meet every we meet just about every week and then I work with Mr. Patterson directly? So, we meet with kids all the time. So, we're like the um I guess who you want to say Tom and Jerry or something. We're just tag team. So, That's that's like our we're like the main our main team but then we work with everybody. >> So do you have a process and procedures that you follow and if so tell me what that looks like >>
061our process and procedures that we follow. >> Yeah. >> Oh for culture planning. >> Yeah. What's your process and procedures of your daytoday work? Oh, so my day-to-day work, like I said, uh in the morning I come in, I have to uh work with the target students. I bring them down, I work with them. Uh then I call the parents. Um I try to work with try to we we come up with strategies so that like a lot of the kids a lot of the issues is getting up in the morning, which we know. So I try to give them different uh ideas of how to get themselves here in the morning. Some kids have a lot of different issues like I don't want to go into but some of them are working you know
062a lot of different things. >> Let me stop you right there so you can give me what I want. So what I'm looking for for you to tell me is what is your process or procedure that you say a child doesn't attend school. So what is the process that you follow? Well, when a child doesn't attend attend school, like I said, we run an attendance report. So then if if I don't have to go out to go see a child that you know that's the resource person but I would reach out if it's if a student let's say is out for straight days or 4 days or the student is on my list and it's not there on the check-in deck I do reach out to that parent to see if the student like what's
063what's the wellbeing how how he or she is doing because they didn't show up for the uh checkin. So that's one thing that I do. next day >> after the if the student isn't there, then if a student >> continues not to show up, what's the next step? So, I'm sorry. >> Well, well, then then that's when it goes to um Mr. uh uh uh >> Cunningham. >> Yeah, Mr. Cunningham. Mr. Cunningham. So, after after a certain point, it's out of my hands. >> So, what do you handle? >> I I handle attendance. discipline. >> So what part of that do you handle? So you just handle attendance only. If they don't show up, then it's passed off to someone else. >> No, no, no. If if they don't show up at a I mean
064at a certain point, it's it goes to someone higher than me, of course. >> But I'm just talking about like the daily like but checkins. So pursuing is is is >> so after the first time after the second time after the third time >> now that then we have to go by the code of conduct. So after that that's a c it's a totally different conversation. So the code of conduct so if you're I guess if you're um absent three times or four times like that or you know 18 times you you know you you lose your credit for the for the year. So that's a totally different conversation. you have. >> Can I jump in? Um, what happens is Mr. Field and Mr. Patterson in the morning takes care of students who are late.
065If we have students, they're responsible for monitoring pulling those students. And again, it's usually a large number of students. It's now down, as you can see on the report, it's about 50 now. So, you have to contact parents because these are repeated offenders. You're calling, you're keeping check. eventually if it continued that goes through guidance and then um counseling and then it goes through the attendance department. He moves to the next strategy where now we're preparing for lunch right we have small facilities so Mr. Fields and Mr. Patterson we have four lunch periods so therefore um he takes two lunch period Mr. Patterson takes two lunch period so that we can do other things. Even though administrators are still doing lunch duty, they're the main arteries who monitor those other staff because we have a
066small inbuilt and then we have the trailer. We have outside one security is working all of that. So they are responsible. He's responsible for taking care of that lunch with about 220 students and maybe seven staff. >> So in in in looking in looking at this, this is just a nice suggestion. and looking at process and procedure. When you look at culture and climate, it basically what you're telling me is a job responsibility that you he just does every day, but it doesn't inter intertwine or tell me what he's actually doing to ensure that the culture and climate of this school is maintained. So that that's kind of like what I'm looking for. >> Well, it does it has one I'll let you speak. It has everything to do with that because remember we struggle
067here with behavior. We have some outside. It is critically important for Mr. Fields and Mr. Patterson to deal with students because when we have things that happen in the community, they have the skill set and the relationship with those students to offset those behaviors. We have had five actual altercations in this building, but we have had over 30 active situations that could have potentially caused us way more problems. And so having them as the culture to mitigate that situation or those situation is worth its weights and value because they get to call parents, they get to intercede, they have the relationship that there has a schedule that kids come down and meet, right? So it offset those behaviors. We have students who come in who, you know, are set by parents. >> So they they're
068meeting with students. See, that's what you didn't say. They're meeting with because what you gave me is okay, they're calling for attendance. Then they're in the lunchroom. That's what you gave me. You didn't tell me that they're mitigating. Okay. Something is happening in the building. They are now mitigating that and talking with those p those parents and those children. That's the part you didn't tell me because I'm trying to see how it all intertwines. Yes. Because >> that's that's the focus. They have to meet with those parents because a lot of times if we're evaluating I'm at a meeting something's happening who is taking care of those parents. We need to get parents in at any time. Sometimes they hear meet at 5:00 after track practice. You might need to meet with the parents because
069it's something that they are dealing with and we sit once a week and really um talk about what's going on as a school. But all of that information is generated in Genesis. So who we're meeting with and as you can see if we could go back you know I think he meets with it's regulated to like seven parents a week. There might be more but it's mandated that he's meeting with at least seven parents based on all the parents that we meet with as an administrator. >> So he does more than just attendance. >> Um yeah. I assign Saturday detention. I do the lunch detentions. We do uh lunch groups. I mean, if if you could just kind of like to give a a just a suggestion, a good good understanding of this, the mitigation
070and you know, all those things that the job really does, you know, for the school and change the culture of the school. That would be great because it a whole lot than you know a couple of these slides cuz I'm just thinking handle based on what's communicated of just handles attendance and goes and works out in the lunchroom. So that that's what I see. But if you could give me some process and procedure it tells a whole different story. >> So you know we can put that together for you but please know that you know it it's so important Mr. Fields also does all of the um surveys for students, staff, and parents. So, he put it out and we push it out through our um counseling department. So, that way every we're making sure
071that every student at every grade level, every parent gets it. Like the survey survey, >> parents, um >> parents, students, and staff. There are three different surveys that go out. This year we're including a community survey and we're trying to figure out as a team how to push that out. >> Are we getting a lot of our surveys back from the students? >> Yes. Yes. Because we we have creative ways to do that. Like for example, the one at Christmas time in order to get into toys for tots you had to complete it and flash your um receiving that you went in. So we usually get the full student body or we have a meeting in here. >> Three different language. >> Yes. And um if you go on I think it might be online.
072So I'll send it to you so you guys can see um the survey before it was like completely um completed but we'll send a report out. >> Thank you Mr. Kos for this um presentation. I just have a a quick question being that um like I always mentioned one of our goals as a district is the culture and climate and you are in charge of the culture and climate here at the high school. What are some programs that you have put together with your team that are have been successful at the high school uh that can be replicated at our other locations? >> I mean for the younger level you said >> right. Yes. such as you know like the junior high school which eventually they're going to come here right like they're the next
073group and so I would like to know what are some some of those programs that have been successful >> well you have to >> well one is the lunch groups have been very successful because yeah because um it gives everybody a chance to like express themsel themselves first and hear everyone out so it's very important I always tell everyone make sure you hear somebody I mean you always That's it. Make sure you let them hear what they're saying to you. So, um there's always two sides. So, that's those lunch groups are always good. And then we get a a lot of stuff a lot of things from the kids out there and um really opens up our eyes to see what's really going on in school too. >> Okay. But you will say that that
074would maybe be a pro >> that would be Yeah. Because um and then it's a comfort like a more relaxed environment and then um it's The kids single like that a lot. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> One last question. >> You said you meet with about 50 students a day that are late. >> That are late. >> Pretty significant portion of the population. >> But from where where it began it was is it dropped so much. It dropped. I mean even 50 50 is is a high number. What we're trying to of course we're trying to dig down much lower but the way where where it started and where it is now it's gotten so much better. >> So the question I have is what what
075are you doing to sort of mitigate that? What what is working? What are you trying that you've seen hasn't worked? What support could you could you possibly need that you're not getting to get that number down? 50 students a day. I don't know how many students are in it but is about 20. >> We have 921 students and I will tell you attendance across the state is very difficult. Students are late for whatever reason. That is why we have stars. We have some students who are constantly late. the other student in Stars now who um you know parent one of the parent was deported and so therefore she now works at Amazon at 9:00 p.m. at night and she wasn't coming to school so she got off at 3:00 a.m. So therefore it was important
076for us to input the stars program. Go ahead. >> And how is she doing now? >> Uh she's doing fine because she's in stars. So therefore, she works from 3:00. She doesn't have to get here by 8:00 in the morning. And now she comes in from 3:00 to 7:00 and she goes to work at 9 9:00 at night with her parent and gets off at 3:00 p.m. 3:00 a.m. She's a senior, so she's already 18. So that works, right? But again, we're we're trying to put programs in place. And I know that um some of the questions Mr. feels and feeling right now. A lot of it it's embedded within the structure of the school, right? Um I know culture and climate, but culture and climate is what has changed the dynamics of class. So
077I I I can appreciate that individual example and thank you for bringing that up because that I think that's a success story. But the question I'm asking is not individually why do we have 50 students that are late. It's what are we doing with those cuz you brought the number down is what you said. The number was high. >> Well, we brought the number down because they meet with those students. We talk to parents. I will tell you we have programs where we do awards for students who are showing up on time attendance awards. We're having ice cream social for kids who are doing the work. But again, listen, we can put all the programs in place. We can I make those 7 a.m. phone calls because I know some of you receive those phone
078calls early in the morning as a board member that you know you need to get your student here on time. We had tested last. Yes, we have a large number of students make up because we started to test at 8:30. They should have been here at 7:45. Those messages went out every single day, twice a day, and we still have a large number of students who need to take a makeup test because they got here late. Um, it's something that we're working with. As you can see, the numbers were like 150 a day. It's down to >> and it's it's not every single day. >> Like today it rained >> there was so it's not a try. >> So the question I haven't gotten to the question yet, >> right? So my question is what
079have we done that we have seen to be successful? But are there certain strategies that we could implement that we don't have the recesses the resources for yet that maybe you're waiting for that we can work toward >> so in other words what has worked and what has not worked >> seem like harassing parents seem like it's been working a little bit more >> you need to harass >> I mean harass calling them calling them and getting on them seems like it helped a little bit more so >> you got to get on the parents to to get these kids up. >> Do you do you find that that's the parents job? >> Well, that's that's another that's a whole another conversation is the getting in contact with them or some of the things is
080it's just it's just tough. >> Personally, I don't agree with the thing is hold okay. Yes, you hold the parent accountable, but I was late every day when I went to school. My parents went to work early in the morning and they left us, my brother and I, home to go to get ready to go to school. Now, whether we got to school on time or not, that was on us. And guess what? You should consistently >> welcome. Welcome. I'm not saying Oh, Google. >> Google. Yeah. Just a little everybody. So, I'm going to kind of tilt it. So, I'm not see. Is that good? Everybody can see. Okay. Good. >> Okay. Good evening everyone. As you know, um this time of year, I call it the Super Bowl for finance is that we prepare
081the school budget. Um and this has been quite a year. Everybody has seen what's been going on throughout New Jersey regarding budgets regarding um regarding a lot of reductions. Um you see on the federal level we have challenges in terms of other you know not getting all the information. There was a lot of delays. So coming into this budget season there was a lot of things that were kind of uncertain after the governor's address um where she did talk about a lot of things that they need to fix. um she did indicate that they're going to be looking at things a lot more intensely. I do also want to mention that in um last year, prior to the new governor coming on board, they did start a state aid um review and trying to um
082change the state aid formula. That's still ongoing. So, we don't know what the outcome will be out to this new governor and a new commissioner of education. So, we should be finding out what those things are. But I did go um and represented a few districts at those meetings because I still believe that a lot of issues that we as districts were still facing and this current 6% although it was nice to get that it's still not enough to sustain many of these budgets. So, um although this year we are in a pretty um and you'll see you as a district are in a good position in terms of budgeting in that we don't have to do a lot of the other cuts that a lot of other districts are doing. We still have things
083to look at and we still have to plan out how are we going to sustain this budget over the next 5 years. Okay. um as you a a as always the key is always to maintain um our educational programs. So as we looked at the budget we s we looked at it in a in a very holistic way. We didn't want to take any um we didn't look at any positions um that um were studentbased. We looked at positions where there were alternatives or ways we could reduce staffing that did not affect the classroom. So that's how we went about that. We met with every principal. We met with every director and we sat and talked and we listened to what the issues they had and what and they actually presented us with some of
084their recommendations and needs for their group their classrooms for their buildings. Um it was both educational and facility dri driven and we considered all of that when we looked at the budget. Um one of the other things that um we also looked at was the facilities. Um, as you know, there's a lot of things that needs to be remedied in the schools and we've been doing a lot of intensive work to see what each school needs. Um, what some of the um, projects we want to move forward in with. Dr. Fischer mentioned earlier how we're looking to do a new school that will support not just our prek program, but our elementary programs. So, really trying to deal with some of the enrollment issues we've been we've been having here in the district. So all
085of that is part of this budget and not just part of this budget but it's part of the next five years as we plan different strategical um strategic u methods we'll use for making sure that we sustain all the programs and facilities here in Liselle. But as we put these things together we did face a lot of challenges. One of the things that we start the budget with all the time is coming up with the budget assumptions. How are we going to look at this budget and what things do we have to take in consideration? As you know, health benefits is one of the biggest concerns we have. Um, a few years ago, precoid, you know, the increase to be maybe 10%, things like that. Then there was a change to the health benefits and
086a couple of years if you recall, it was 0% increases. Now, I don't know about you, but when that happened, I said it's going to catch up with us soon. And here we are where a lot of districts are facing 20 to 30% increases in health benefits. A lot of it coming from prescription on the prescription side, which is higher than even the 20% we see here. So, when you look at that number with 21% increase, that is the that is the average increase when you look at both health, prescription, and dental. So, we still have these challenges with health benefits and that's something that according to the governor, you heard her address that they're going to look to put a panel together to start looking at that. But this is a serious issue because
087we surely can't maintain increases like this year to year. Um special education, um those costs again, um with our most need students, they continue to go up and rightfully so. But even as they go up, we have to figure out how we're going to deal with these increases and still serve all of our students. Transportation, that has been an issue for a number of years now. The state has um when when they changed their policy and regulations around um um bus drivers and things like that, the cost um skyrocketed and now we're dealing with those costs in terms of routes and we continue to do that. One of the things we're going to do ne going into next year, we're going to try to consolidate some of those um routes that we have and we're
088going to look to bid out transportation for field trips and athletics to also help us reduce some of those costs. Um our charter schools, we we had a nice um discussion about just making sure the residency for all of our charter school students is appropriate, but that also increased. it increased based on the um projected enrollment from the charter school. So we had nothing to do with the enrollment and that projection. We won't have numbers until next December that um that then certifies how many students are in the charter schools. So there is a possibility of that number going up or down come December. Okay. um the revenue shifts. We got a notice from the state um department of um the department of education that we will all to budget 25% reductions in all federal
089programs and that came from the state level who got that from the federal level. So going into next year, anything that we're getting federally, the expectation is that we're going to see a 25% reduction in that. And then as we know, we got a 6% increase for state aid. But um it's not a straight 6% because the increase the charter schools took some of that percentage increase. You know, everybody always looks at, oh, you know, how much money do y'all get in the state aid and you know, they'll all see the 3 million, but that 3 million isn't what we actually are getting because there are reductions in both the um we saw a reduction u based on the charter school increase and we also did receive a decrease in um preschool. So, our preschool
090aid also went down. Um, and then just the the uncertainties, there's so many things that we need to just address in regards to facilities. Um, one of the things we're working on is a comprehensive short and longterm uh report of all the different maintenance and capital improvements we need for all the buildings. We've um wor been working over the last couple of months with architects and with a couple of other consultants that have walked these buildings to tell us what needs to be done throughout all of our um facilities. So, we're going to have that list from them in the next I'm hoping next month and we'll also make that presentation to you. But the key there is to really get ahead of the maintenance issues and not be so reactive, but have a plan
091in place on how we're going to address that. um the state uh and the department of education through the um school development authority, they provide us um finances, but they usually focus those on what we call priority one and two um issues, which is really health and safety. So, we're going to try to get that list together so that we know what issues we have to address in priority order. So, we'll have that for you shortly. And that will also be something we continue to do because we do believe if we could do a lot of these things based on the plan that we won't have to pay as much as we do when they happen as an emergency. Um, one of the things that um we always talk about and I like to um
092bring up is that the biggest thing we always have to be in mind mindful of is enrollment. So, one of the things that we do on October 15th, all the schools throughout New Jersey, they count all the students. And we spent a lot of time this year making sure prior to October 15th that we had all the numbers we um we needed in place. Um we did see a slight and I will say slight reduction as you see there in the total enrollment. But one of the big things that we made um and I want to congratulate Mr. teeth out cuz he was um behind a lot of this is that we made sure we worked with our um um principles and put out the word that we needed applications for free and reduced. Free
093and reduced application is one of the bedrocks to how you get fun um funded um through state aid and through federal funds. And even though we have a number, if you ever, you know, one day I'll go through the state aid formula with you, but what you'll see is the actual number of children we have enrolled that goes into a weighted um um calculation. So even though we have like 3,000 students, we actually get funded for 5,000 and it's all based on the free and reduced. And with that increase of free our free and reduced numbers, we did see a nice increase in state aid. So that is relative to that. So that work needs to continue and it's important that everybody continues to work together to get those numbers um in place because we
094don't want to see that go back down. We wanted to say because we still think we're not at the level we need to be but it's a lot better than what it was last year. And then like I said um preschool enrollment um the the the key there is that we did see from that year to the next which is the current year um reported was um a increase. However, in the new um 26 27 enrollment, that number did see a decrease. We're working with the state um the department of preschool to see if we could get that number back up cuz we um re um we did an adjustment to those um projections and we're hoping that they'll give us the difference in what we need to run the preschool program next year. Okay.
095And this is the chart and you can see this is a um a seven-year analysis of what the enrollment is. Uh and it's always important to look at that and that's how we can you know based on trends see where we stand as a district and you see we and and and two I think somebody mentioned that people we still are receiving a lot of children. So we're not seeing a huge reduction. There's a lot of districts that are seeing a lot of reduction. Our big changes comes when we see the charter schools. a lot of children are moving towards charter schools and that's why you see that increase in the projection. Um and one of the things we all talked about was how do we continue to um let parents and the community know
096about all the great programs we have here in Rosal. So that push to make um everybody understand that we have great programs here and there's not always a need to um go somewhere else. You could just stay right here and get everything you need for your students. So as we put the revenue together, one of the things that we were very sensitive to was what are we going to do about the local taxes? Um there was a assess a reassessment here in Moselle assessment the um equalized value of all the property here in Roselle went up significantly and that did hit the taxpayers and there's an increase based on that. So being very mindful of that, we did not want to put an additional burden on the taxpayers here through by increasing the state um
097that's an increase for the tax levy. Okay. Now um we did um look to increase a few other accounts. Um interest we um we did have a um increase in some of our reserves. So I did we did increase some of the in interest earned. Um and you can see here overall even though we went with some of the increase and you did get a um a 6% increase in state aid overall there's a um reduction of about 1.4% in in the total revenue and that's where the budget starts. It starts with revenue. So once we know how much we can estimate then we know how much we can spend right. So we took that into considerate to see how we're going to take that into account. So when you look at the appropriations, you
098can see from year to year, we did put some reductions in. And most of the reductions you'll see was trying to be very conservative with some of the um some of the non-essential um activities that we have here in the district. We like I mentioned before, we did not reduce any classroom um um personnel. And all in all, we didn't reduce any personnel. We looked at some vacancies and that's where we took the reductions in. So there's no staff being um released to accommodate this budget. We just took into account what uh what items we could um ask the staff to cut. We did ask all um principles and directors to cut their um um supplies and equipment down by 15%. So that did um aid that. So we was able to do that. we
099cut that we stopped spending in the current year budget in um the end of January so that we could use some of those savings into next year's budget. So those are all of the conservative things we did in order to not um reduce staff in this budget. Um overall um we believe that the as you can see benefits is one of the big the big increases you see here in the budget. you don't really see a big um increase in the um in the regular instruction and you see a slight decrease in the special ed instruction. What you see there is really the activity of the vacancies because everybody received based on the settle contracts a 3.9% increase. So that is in the budget their increases. Okay, here you can see uh and and sometimes
100people ask like what are you spending you know how does the money get spent here? The majority of the money as you can see goes towards instruction. That is what we do. That's what we're in the business of. So you see that's where um that is and that's mostly in salaries and then in benefits and everything else as you see really is then support services again for students. And then you'll see all the other costs. And you can tell with the um outside of the charter school and transportation, which is also for all, you know, um Roselle's um students, you can see everything else is pretty much um secondary in regards to what we really spend all the money on, which is again the classroom and the student achievement. >> Dr. S, before you leave
101that slide, regular instruction, is that salaries? Yes, most of that is salaries. As a matter of fact, almost all of it is salaries. In regular instruction, that's where you see all your teachers, all your instructional aids, and the supplies and equipment for the um for for that staff. So, that's all part of that. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Again, just another, you know, Dr. Um, Fisher and I was talking about, we're very visual people, so putting up graphs and having these things sometimes helps in understanding a lot of this stuff that we're dealing with in terms of revenue and appropriations. But again, you can see the the use of the money and feel comfortable that all most of the money is going towards the classroom. We're not we're not we're not um overextending
102ourselves in many other areas. um between most of that is supplies and and benefits and then support services which includes the child study team uh attendance technology and a lot of other things. Okay. As I as I mentioned, we had that increase. The increases mainly came from salary and benefits. Tuition um tuition is done out of district tuition is done with whatever the private providers are are charging. They get an audited number and then we then get build one way or another if it increases or decreases. We saw a 15% increase in their costs. Um, as you know, a lot of the needs for our students are increasing, not decreasing. So, that's requiring a lot more supports. Our decreases, again, we looked at transportation. Um, as a matter of fact, I we had a nice
103long discussion for a few weeks with um with the commission just to get our transportation understood and to work with them to really manage who and what we would do going forward with transportation. So we have a really good system in place right now. Um and overall you see the other decreases in other instruction. These are all um um outside programs. This is not the dayto-day programs in regards to um you know the regular instructional day. These are more after school and different things like that. So there are some decreases there. Um and then administration also we did some decreases in that area. As you see, the money still follows the student. So, most of the money we're spending, most of it is going towards instruction. And that's the key. When we looked at any
104cuts that we considered, it was not an instructional side. It was more in either um being more efficient or looking at programs that we may not be able to you work with. And that's where some of those 15% reductions came from. Again, this is a breakdown of where our salaries lie. As you can see, most of it once again is in the regular instruction. Again, that's classroom teachers. Um, the special ed instruction is classroom teachers. Um, and then other instruction is again is more the afterchool or alternative programs or summer programs and that's and that's also teachers. So athletics, we still have a strong athletic account in terms of all the um all of the sports and things that we move forward with. We have support services. Once again, the support services are our child
105study team members, our nurses and other other supports in the school guidance and things like that. Admin is 1.4 before that includes not just central admin but that includes all the principles um a and there and any other clerks that works in those areas. Again, this is just another way so you can see the um the out um the footprint of where we have and where most of our salaries lie. And then like I mentioned, we're going to do a we recommending a 0% increase for our tax levy. Now the unfortunate thing here is when we do the tax levy, as you can see, even though the first the the second column did not change, your valuation did. And you see that amount, you actually went up 300. Is that billion or million? Million in
106terms of valuation. So that's where the change is coming from. You can see the tax rate how that has gone down in regards to it is is spread out over more of a valuation. And then the assessed value which is another significant change. The assessed value for the average home in Roselle went from 122,000 to 482,000. So when you see those changes which is again based on the re-evaluation the tr the increase that unfortunately a lot of t um taxpayers will see is based on the re-evaluation and not based on the tax levy that we're proposing which is 0%. >> So that $3,262 that's on average what each household will commit to the board of b >> to a tax bill. >> That's what I Yeah, >> that from the board of ed. >> Correct.
107Correct. >> Okay. But if we had gone up, that number could have been >> that would have been higher. >> Okay. >> That number would have been higher. >> Okay. >> And a lot and and that's why I saying you know trying to do this and to your point especially after a year like this is like how do you do that to you know your taxpayers? Um so we were very conscious to look inside the budget to make sure that wasn't the case. But on top of that, you now still have, you know, this uncertainty, especially we have fixed income people, which we know we have. I mean, you know, one of the things that I um looked into is what is the population here? And you have a very high lowincome population. >> So,
108a population like that handling this kind of an increase, that's concerning. It's very concerning. So some of the things we that's why we want to plan better be able to manage this better better as we go into the future. As you can see it's not something we're we're doing that is is causing the increase because we saw the increases in the budget. We do need those increases. You know I mentioned that we took a lot less from vacancies but that means next year we don't have the vacancies. So we don't have that pushing to do this again. So that's why how whatever we do together to kind of manage this over the next three to five years is going to be critical. because what we don't want to do is overt tax the um community.
109But you had another question. >> So the burl did a reassessment. Is that published anywhere? >> Yeah, the that I we got I got all this information um from Google went online and all all of the assessed values for the whole state is up there for 2025 to 2024 and you can see all this information that's public. So all of this information is available um for all communities. As a matter of fact, every county in New Jersey can find this information for them. >> Again, this is another, you know, just pictorially just the differences in the rates. And you can see just by the picture that the changes and and I think the set value for the average home is the big one. you can really see that almost $300,000 in what was and what
110is today. And that's significant. It's not easy to go through these things. I I've gone through that um with other districts and it's just it it just, you know, hurts the taxpayer and it makes things a lot very difficult. Very difficult. >> So, we're going to be locked in flat, right? >> We're locked in 0%. Yep. It's 0% for the whole year. We can't promise next year, but right now it's 0%. >> Okay. Okay. >> Yes. >> And I have more questions than >> Huh? >> I have more questions than >> So um thank you for the presentation and um we're locked in at 0%. Was that last year as well? We were locked in at 0%. >> We can do one. We did >> we do 2% last year. >> Yeah, I think 2%.
111>> We went to CA last year. >> Okay. So, >> and we only spent on average $1,256. >> So, I just want to say um to the administration, thank you and for board education for being fiscally responsible and thank you. We appreciate >> because based on what has occurred in our town, you know, like you said, this is a lowincome town. It would be it would really hurt our residents >> and we don't want to hurt our residents. >> Not at all. Not at all. >> So, thank you board members and thank you administration for being fiscally responsible because, you know, because of that tax assessment, you know, that was done in 2025, it could really hurt our communities. So, again, thank you. >> And we continue to just look at every I mean, it
112it's a struggle. you know, when we did all the budget, you know, meetings, everybody wasn't happy to reduce and a few people tried to sneak in a couple of things to get it, but you know, we we was we was, you know, um we knew what the end end result we needed to get to. And the last thing we wanted to do was to cut any kind of educational program and then put any additional burdens. If we could handle the burden, you know, in this year, let's do it. You know, we never know what happens year to year, but in this year, we could figure out a way. Let's figure it out. And that's what we did. Again, um we maintain the programs that we have here. Um it's unfortunate that, you know, um a
113lot of, you know, the the tax levies that were given out, not tax levies, the state aid that was given out, the governor did put more money in the budget for some, but some lost. But even with what a lot of districts got, even if they did get to 6% increase, they're still cutting. They're still reducing. I you know, I've talked to a few a number of BAS and superintendents and they're still doing major reductions. So, I think we're in a better position if you look statewide than most because we don't we're not doing that. But I will say this and we had a very um um um um healthy discussion today me myself and Dr. Fisher is that we just have to really figure out what this five-year plan looks for us. How do
114we reduce cost but still maintain strong educational programs and we're going to all work on that together. Not just myself and him, but all of us as a board, as a community, because what we don't want to do is continue to put this burden on the public. And I think that's the biggest thing we have to kind of all do together because a lot of people are feeling this. I have total sympathy over all the people that may get letters that they can't that they won't be hired next year. That's ser, you know, that's a serious thing when you when you do that and that's not what we want to do, but that's what a lot of people are going to be facing. So, we're going to look at this holistically, continue to do that.
115Work with what we can do for year after year over the next few years to see what we can do to sustain what we have. Okay, >> that's all I have. Any questions? And we'll, you know, this is just a preliminary budget that we're submitting. Um, we have a good month to look at this. So, if you see anything, have any ideas, you know, we can still discuss that and and and you know, make different decisions. I know Dr. Fischer and I and Mr. Tout, we was talking about some of the capital um programs we want to put in this. So, we may have some of those suggestions that we'll take out of capital projects reserve. So again, it won't hit it won't hit the taxpayer. They'll come out of the reserve, the savings that
116we have. So that's what we're going to try to do to to move those kind of projects and then we're also going to solicit the um school development authority to see what they can start giving us in in regards to our district because we do we do qualify uh we do have a high um u um lowinccome population. We should qualify for some 100% funding for a lot of things. So, we're going to be doing our due diligence to push those agendas to see what we can continue to get for our community. Okay. >> Sure. >> Um, regarding your slide with the with the population, um, you illustrated um, the growth in in different populations. I wanted to know specifically the preschool. >> Um, do we have a cap on the total number of people
117that total number of students being put in preschool. >> That's a great question. >> It went up significantly. >> You kind of walking into a realm that we we're really working with. Our universe is 400. So when you see the number of of 76, we're way under our population and we're under our population because we don't have the facilities. So when Dr. Fish is talking about looking to build a new building. That's exactly why we need to do that because there's many more three and four year olds we should be serving. So, but they don't have the space for that. And we haven't had any um incre any any um um new buildings in Roselle for what 50 60 years. I mean, it's a long time since we had a new building. So, there's a
118definite need for a new building and so that we can accommodate all of our students. So, we're exactly what you're seeing is exactly reduced. We only have the capacity right now. I believe our number that we're putting in is 90 95 93 students for next year with a total of 120. So we'll have um some of our special ed children uh um be inclusion in those classrooms but the majority be gen and I think it's about 95 students that we can accommodate right now which is about eight classes which is way under the population that we should be serving. >> So taking that into account that we're underserving our community >> once we get to capacity will that help even out the budget? Will that add to the expense? It would it would definitely help
119to even out because you know right now unless things change we get we get funding for every preschool student we put in the any general ed preschool student we put in and that's why we're we submitted our paperwork to have that increase because we want to increase those numbers at least by the few you know by the um from 76 to 90 something which is an additional 20some children. So that's the purpose to get that additional um state aid and if we do that across the board and and hit that capacity then we will get the aid for those also. So we do get extra money if we if we increase the capacity of the of of the um community to serve all the children. Great question. Thank you. Anyone else? >> Okay. Thank you.
120Are you walking? Yeah. Just one last Yes, >> that must be the That must be the she was talking. >> I know. question. >> Okay. So, thank you Dr. Simmons and thank you Mr. Fields for your presentations. Now, we're going to move on Okay. So for this section, may I have a motion and a second to accept and approve governance items and presentations as presented. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Is there any discussion? Seems like there's no discussion. Mr. >> Short, >> Mrs. Chavez, >> Mrs. Cortez, >> Dr. >> Yes, Miss >> Yes. Santos. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Washington. >> Yes. >> Dr. Washington. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Now comes the section. Before I open public comment, I just want to advise the public that the next board of education uh workshop meeting will
121be held on Thursday, April 23rd, and the next monthly board of education meeting will be on Monday, April 27th. Now comes the section of the meeting for public comment as mandated by this board's policies. Members of the public who wish to address the board during the public comment portion of this meeting may do so for four minutes. Please come to the microphone. Provide your name and address for the members. When speaking, please address all comments to the board president. Public comment is not intended to be a question and answer period. It is the time of the meeting during which the public may speak on any topic associated with the business of this board of education. All public comments must conform to basic standards of civility. Disruptive, threatening, defamatory and or profane comments as well as
122political commentary will not be allowed. If spoken during the meeting, the commenter will be stopped and may be removed from the meeting. Is there anyone at coming to the microphone for public comment? >> Okay. >> Seeing there's no public comment, I want to close public comment at 9:36 p.m. Now, we're going to get to the vote. But before I get to the voting, >> um I want to I want to say happy Women's History Month to all of our board colleagues and thank you to Dr. Fisher and his team for the beautiful flowers. Uh thank you for giving us our flowers. >> Now, may I have a motion and a second to accept and approve public comments and superintendent resolutions 1-1 through 1-15? second. >> Any discussion? >> I just have a question. Can you
123just clarify just confused on the June 2nd? Is this half day? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, thank you. So due to the uh capital being adjusted due to the uh inclement weather, we posted all our uh um snow days. >> Uh the only other opportunity that we we actually pulled the entire district. We sent out a survey to the entire staff and I would say I had about 90% of the respondents agree with a June 2nd as opposed to impacting the uh spring break. So, we chose the the the June 2nd date and we're going to have to do some configuration on those voting sites that we have. So, we have a plan in place to address those locations on that day. >> All right. Thank you. >> I think that was a smart thing
124to do by polling the staff instead of just voting for them or or making the change without the input. So, thank you for that. >> Any other discussion? Seeing that there's no further discussion, may I have a roll call? Mrs. Chavis, >> yes. >> Dr. >> Yes. >> Miss Cortez. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Washington. >> Yes. >> And Dr. Washington. >> Yes. Thank you. Moving on to personnel. May I have a motion? May I have a motion and a second to accept and approve personnel items 2-1 through 2-26? >> I'd like to make a motion to accept personnel items. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? Seeing there's no further discussion, may I have a roller? >> Miss Turn. >> Yes. >> Mr. Atkins. >> Same. >> Miss B. >> Yes.
125>> Mrs. Chavez. >> Yes. >> Miss Santos. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Washington. >> Yes. Dr. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Moving on to the business section. May I have a motion and a second to accept and approve business items 3.1 through 3.12 and 3.13 through 3.15 on the agenda. Second. >> Any discussion? >> Seems like there's no further discussion. May I have a roller, please? >> Mrs. Chas. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cortez. >> Yes. >> Dr. Atkins. >> Yes. Miss Bond, >> yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Miss Turn. >> Yes. Abstaining from 3.3 3.4. >> Mrs. Washington from 3.1 3.2. Dr. Washington. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. Um, moving on to policies, regulation, and bylaws. May I have a motion and a second to accept and approve for first reading item
126number 4.2? >> Cha. Second. >> Any discussion? >> 4.1. >> There's only 4.2 >> for first. >> Yeah, there's no 4.1. >> I think that's the one. Let me just like go back to the agenda. There was something that was pulled from the policy like the committee that didn't come from committee. >> So they didn't change it. They just like watches. >> Any other question? See if there's no further discussion. >> Yes. >> Dr. Yes, >> Miss B. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Cortez. >> Yes, >> passes. >> Thank you. Uh, moving on to curriculum and instruction. May I have a motion and a second to accept and approve curriculum and instruction items 5.1.2 >> second any discussion? See that special? >> Mrs. Washington. >> Yes. Mage. >> Yes. >> Dr. Atkins. >> Yes. >> Miss
127Bar. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Chavez. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cortez. >> Yes. Santos. >> Yes. >> Dr. Washington. >> Yes. >> Motion pass. >> Thank you. Prior to adjourning, there was a Dr. Fisher that I'd like to add discussion for next month. Um the evaluation system, I believe, can we discuss that? And how are we using Now, may I have a motion and a second to >> motion? Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I thank you everyone for this meeting. Sorry it went too long. Thank you so much.