001I call to order a meeting of the Wong Burough School District Board of Education. This is the budget public hearing meeting, April 24th at 7 p.m. Call to order. Please stand for 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. Welcome to a meeting of the board of education of the bureau of WAN. Please be advised that this and all meetings of the board are open to the public and media consistent with the open public meetings act chapter 231 laws of 1975 and that the advanced notice required therein has been provided. This is a regular meeting of the board of education of the bureau of WAN at which formal
002action may be taken. This meeting is being livereamed on the district website where a recording of the meeting also will be posted. The public will have an opportunity to be heard as shown on the agenda at points in the meeting provided for the public to address the board. Recording or photo or photographing other than for private personal use requires the consent of parents or guardians whose children may be included in the image. Roll call, please. Yes. Mrs. Amado here. Mr. Fra here. Mr. Gonzalez here. Mrs. Duet here. Mrs. Maddox here. Mrs. Santos here. Mrs. Alearo here. And Mrs. Harvey and Mr. Craft are absent, who I think may be coming. We will move on to the presentation of the 2025 2026 budget when you ladies are ready. Yep. As soon as I can get this
003slideshow to present. Here we go. Present. Wow. Curtis, are you bringing your laptop? I am. I for some reason it is not stretching. There we go. So this time it's my turn here. I'm not touching yours. You're not? Okay. I'm not touching. Oh, you won't need to, will you? Because you can see from here. [Music] There you go. Karen and I are back to present the budget for the 2025 2026 school year. Um, this PowerPoint will be up on the district website tonight or tomorrow and the userfriendly budget will be posted within 48 hours. Those that try and take screenshots, it'll be easier. With the support of the board, we remain committed to transparency to a new perspective on the reality of the fiscal situation of the district. The budget that we are currently working
004in uh is just the start really of building a financial foundation for the future that will be sustainable. Last year, the resulting recommendations seemed like a huge increase all at once. You know, it didn't have to be that way. We've told that story already. And over time, there was an opportunity to spread that increase over several years. That didn't happen. We foreshadowed last year that we knew that we were still going to need to represent a budget um above a 2% and we saved out some of our bank cap in anticipation of that. This year we also were required to budget our federal funding at between 50 and 70% of what we would usually have on the advice of the state um and many other current unknowns. We also received a net 3% cut in
005state aid. Um again, WA Chung is not alone in this. So many districts are facing this situation. You can't go on your news feed without reading it, seeing it, knowing what's happening. [Music] Um many districts also facing the need to use their waiverss and cap. They're still having to cut staff. I am just going to lead tonight since we have so many staff in here. We are not cutting staff. We made that decision. Um, however, we aren't able to include many requests in the budget. Um, we've remained costconscious. We've had to be very creative in every aspect of our operations. Um what we are presenting to you continues to stabilize the budget, the district finances, and again allows us, we hope in year three to really start using the feedback that we're getting to really
006um delve into our three to five year strategic plan and build that quality um climate culture, high quality the education that I think everybody expects for their students, not just in Wung, but everywhere. The budget process. Thanks, Aaron. Um, tonight's presentation, as you know, represents the budget piece, right? I think that there's sometimes some confusion. These are the outcomes we're working towards. The budget is the financial expression of our goals. It takes those visions, but it turns it into dollars. This isn't a report on our current budget. Tonight, we're actually looking forward and trying to continue to align our resources, our vision, our goals, all of our priorities to reflect again that commitment to building a foundation for this whole community. um of what we expect. This budget with the input of the board, the
007endless wonderful input of the board represents that shared commitment. This is meaningful. This is based in long-term outcomes for our students and our schools. And we're really um excited might not be the right word, but we are really proud to stand here and tell you what we're presenting to you. Budget uh vision. Aaron, thank you. Um we speak of the district's vision often, especially in the last couple months around our planning processes. Um the budget we are presenting tonight again takes into consideration those discussions for the current time, the next year and again for that longer range planning. The next slide. Thank you. This slide we tried to update it. It's a picture from school boards. We have to show you the flow of the budget. So, um, we come together for those of you
008that are with us for the first time this evening early in the fall. All of our teachers, principles, uh, um, board, the BA, buildings and grounds, we start to talk about the budget. We developed that tenative budget. You know, that that was presented March 18th. We also presented that in the community at the burrow um and publicly. That tentative budget goes to our executive county superintendent. He has approved that tenative budget. Over the last month, we have fielded questions, comments, um any number of requests for additional information from the community so that you have that understanding again of what is being presented in this budget in a way that is meaningful to you. And then tonight um at the end of our presentation, the end of our public comments, there will be a vote uh
009from our board of education to adopt the budget. And as I said, based on a formal approval, that um userfriendly budget will get posted within 48 hours. Aaron. Um, our budget timeline pretty straightforward. Um, again, for those of you that haven't been with us, every year we are required to develop a budget calendar with the board. Um, our budget process starts in the fall. We start with the expense side. So, everything is built for February. Then we receive our state aid numbers and that really helps us finalize the development of the revenue side. Um, somebody asked this question just minutes before I walked in. I don't think it's something we present, but in fact there are I would say more would you say more than $700,000 of requests that we were not able to include
010in the budget. people ask and you know we obviously we're only presenting the budget. I usually don't talk about what we weren't able to include, but I I want to make sure we answer all of your questions. And I do think it's important for you to know that that's a lot of money, right? Those are a lot of requests. Those um requests all come with rationale of why they're important to be included in the budget. And yet we were not able to do that this year. Erin, I think you can go past the second page of the timeline. Right. And that's you. I'm switching with you. Grabbing a drink. There you are. Grabbing a drink. So, this is just to explain how we collect the data to build the expenditure side of the budget. Mainly,
011one of the first things we're going to look at are salary and benefits. Salary and benefits make up a major portion of the budget and they have to be projected very carefully. As you know, those are contracted costs. So there isn't a way to change them or you know reduce them in any way. The rising costs in health care, pensions and other benefits also require careful planning. We have brokers that we use. Our brokers try to do the best they can to keep our health care down, our costs down as much as they can and they, you know, will come with suggestions and ways to to try and reduce it. But our overall health care this year, uh, what actually went up 12.9%. Which is very high. Next, we look at out of district costs
012like tuition and transportation, our special education placements and the transportation to to get those students to um to their schools is sign is significant. Excuse me. We explore our in district alternatives and route efficiencies to manage costs. So, we look at like routes. Can we put multiple children on one bus? Can we go with another school? If one bus is going to a special education school, can we, you know, go with another district? So, we do try to do that as much as we can. As far as our building maintenance and operating costs, we we engage in preventative maintenance and that reduces long-term expenses and ensures safe facilities. But while we do that, our utilities, our insurance, and our vendor contracts also increase, but we we do the best we can. So, if we have
013a a vendor that is maybe, you know, their increase is too high, we'll go out and we'll look for something lower if we can get it. Utilities, as you all know, and you're all living in a house, you know what's happening with electricity this year and gas that's affecting us. We have two large buildings. Enrollment trends impact staffing services and the facility needs and our decisions are data driven so that we can ensure that our resources align with the projected student numbers. That's an annual thing that we look at. Next slide, Aaron. Thank you. Do we put that in a different spot? Okay. I think it's No. Okay. Okay. Yep. Um, so to meet these objectives, uh, sustain and expand staffing, so we want to recruit and retain highquality staff within budget. We want to
014preserve our programs as much as possible. So, we continue to fund for transportation, clubs, and sports. We want to invest in professional learning. We strengthen our teaching through training and collaboration. Enhancing curriculum and instruction, focusing on improving academic outcomes. We want to stabilize operations and services to ensure long-term efficiency in staffing and support. And mainly think smart and think for the future. Look at where we are now and make intelligent decisions for sustainability. Yep. Now he's nowhere. Wait back. Okay. I thought I thought that there was another screen in the middle there. Okay. So, um, revenue and tax. So, according to the statute, the board can increase the school tax levy by up to 2% every year. You then can take a look at your enrollment and if you have an added enrollment, you can
015add, you know, you can add money for that. But we did not have an enrollment adjustment this year. The board of education can also raise the tax levy to offset extraordinary increases in health insurance. That number is calculated by the state. We don't choose that number, but we are able to use that number. So that offsets some of that 12.9% that I talked about. you have to use your healthcare adjustment before you can request bank cap. And last year we use those same adjustments. So we did use healthcare, we did use bank cap last year. So we're we're we're following the same path last year. Okay. Per pupil spending. So, our per pupil spending and I I think you can see that um we are trending in the right direction. Our goal is to land
016kind of in the middle of Somerset County. Those schools that I'm showing you there, they're all K to8 schools about our same size. So, you can see from 21, 22, 23, and our, you know, 24, 25, which is our current year, you know, where where we fall. So, our goal is to try to stay in the middle. We are a small school, but we don't want to be we want to just, you know, we'll never be at the top and we don't ever expect to be, but we want to sit in the middle somewhere. Per pupil spending is an important indicator for school districts because it reflects how much financial investment is being made in each student's education. It serves as a meaningful benchmark to compare if districts are receiving comparable resources. Large disparities in
017per pupil spending often highlight systemic inequalities inequities that can affect student outcomes. So um this is the per pupil spending on the sending districts to the high school. So you can see it's the same but these are just sending districts. So you can you see where we are you know in 2425 when we increased the budget last year you can see our per pupil spending went up. We definitely want to maintain, you know, again, like I said, the around the middle the average of Somerset County. We are trending toward that with last year's with last year's increase. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. The format, right? Right. Okay. So, the bank cap. So on this screen you're seeing that the current tax levy right now is $14 million. We have the 2% increase which is the standard $287,000
018and then we have that healthcare adjustment that I just explained and that's going to help us with that practically 13% increase. As Dr. Glazer mentioned, we had a lot of bank cap from years prior. Last year we took some. This year we're requesting another $250,000. We are leaving 257,000 for next year. Every three years the bank cap expires and it would roll right. It'll roll off. It does not go back to the taxpayers. Extra bank cap goes back to the state of New Jersey. So if we don't use it, they'll use it. They'll use it. um if you these funds and and if every year that goes by, so let's say we didn't use that healthcare adjustment this year and we didn't use the bank cap, it will stay for next year and it becomes
019like a savings account like your banked capital. That's why it's called banked cap. It's short for bank capital. So it's just letting you use it, but it will roll off and we will start over. So we use next year's bank cap. the following year we don't have bank cap anymore. Okay. All right. So you can see now so with the bank cap and with the 2% and with the healthc care adjustment our our budget our tax levy is projected to go up 5.68% 5.68%. 68% with the additional tax levy of 3.68. That's over the two because of the allowable adjustments combined with our beginning balance, our state aid, and other local revenues such as bank account interest, rentals, and fees. We have the ability to not only maintain existing programs, but to continue to grow
020them. Notable on this screen is that we did receive state aid cut of $40,000 from last year and we are budgeting federal funds between about 50% and 70% of what we got last year. We don't know what we're we'll receive because we don't find that out until this summer, but we projecting um possibly a decrease. So, we're factoring that in to be conservative. Um the other that's pretty much I think that's pretty much on the screen. You see special revenue funds that's your federal funding and then your debt service is for the referendum. On that screen you can see the aid. The graph basically shows and it's a little bit hard to see but the big purple part of the pie chart that's our regular instruction and that's 36%. So that's your salaries, you know,
021that's everything to do with instructing students. They're all in the purple area. That doesn't that doesn't look purple. It's well doesn't look purple. Look brown. One on the left. The big piece of the pie. Why you violet? It's violet. Yeah. Some kind of uh uh special education and employee benefits account for 21% of the budget. and then the facility operations, transportation and administration make up the remainder. It's how that pie chart cooks out. Okay. Significant increases impacting the budget. So, right now, um, as you all may know, we're in a negotiating year for our July 1st, 2025 salaries. Uh, they have not been determined yet. So, right now we're estimating, but um it is definitely an unknown. As I told you already, the health benefits will increase by 12.9% starting on July 1st of this
022year. Uh Dr. Glazer is going to talk a little bit about the anticipated and adjusted positions in a minute. Transportation is projected to increase by the consumer price index. So, this year is 3.57%. That's actually better than last year's uh CPI um increase. For facilities, we are um adding in we're looking at, you know, adding an additional 124,000. We have uh five or six boilers that need a contract on them. Uh they've hit their their their time is up and they need the maintenance and so we um obviously don't want to replace a boiler. So, we're going to we need to buy these contracts. Uh we also have a gym floor that needs to be replaced this year. Um and lastly, the utility market, which is uh very volatile at the moment. So, we're, you
023know, watching I'm watching for that. We're watching our um our bills monthly and trying to, you know, trying to do whatever we can to try to even them out, but it's um utilities are tough right now. And that is it for that screen. Okay. It is. Oh my gosh. Okay. So, these are the fixed costs. These are unavoidable expenses that impact the budget. So, in other words, there is nothing we can really do. I mentioned contractual salary increases. The next line is your insurance, the health care, our property insurance, cyber insurance, which is a big thing right now, workers comp, social security, and our PERS insurance from our um pension plan, plant maintenance contracts, as I just talked about, uh the boilers, the grounds, the the you know, the grounds need to the grass needs
024to be cut, the snow needs to be plowed. There is nothing we could do with those utilities, gas, electric, water, sewer, the phones, the internet. Those are the costs that we're given. The special educ education schools out of district, the tuition is the tuition. Transportation um CPI for our regular transportation and our special education. Um we go out to bid every year. We we you know try take the lowest we take the lowest safest option. Um and our contracted services our nurses our aids and our substitutes uh right now both nursing and aids they are um they're commanding a high perdeium rate right now. Uh technology our site licenses and educational subscriptions and that's our curriculum basically right there all the licensing. And lastly our legal fees. Uh again the you know the district does
025um have lawyers our board attorney and we do use them when needed. So that is another cost. The next this screen is showing you things we can control a bit. So we have shared services with the burrow with the high school with nearby districts. You may remember you know last year we did a shared service for ESY with Longhill. you know, we we reach out and we do try wherever possible to share something. You know, we'll we'll even share um a van and if somebody needs a van, we'll share it and we'll go back and forth like that so that you don't have to rent a van to, you know, move something. Um we have our brokers, our um we're in funds, our insurance, we're in a pool, in our healthcare, we're in a pool,
026and in our utilities, we're in a pool. So those are all pool names where we we the you know absorb some of the cost when you're with others. We have tiered busing. Uh I did say that already. We rebid our out of district transportation every year. We uh try to utilize our um power professionals as efficiently as possible. They are from outside uh companies but right now you know that is still the better choice uh given the budget. We negotiate with vendors wherever possible. Like literally the business office will call someone and tell them their price is too high. And what could they do for us? We're a small school. We've done that many times. Sometimes we're successful. Um co-op purchasing. We purchased from um Somerset County's ESC, Hunter County ESC, the New Jersey ESC.
027We just recently wanted um need to we want to purchase something and we found that they had a better price on Bergen County ESC. So, I've reached out to see if we could join anywhere we can get a cheaper price. We're always looking. And then again with our contracted services, you know, if something if if the prices go up, if I I don't always look at the dollar. A lot of times I'll look at the percentage increase as soon as it increases to something, you know, above what seems right. You know, we we'll change we'll change where whenever possible. That is it for that screen. Breathe. Really? It's not that bad. It's not that bad. Come on. We know it's better. Um although I can't do what? Well, yes. But I was going to say
028something. So, we spend a lot of time talking about um investing in the schools and why investing in the schools is important and what the priorities are that support student learning. And again, this is our budget presentation, not our performance presentation. So, I I do want to try a little bit to help you understand There is nobody in here that thinks just putting more money into the schools, just willy-nilly, is going to give us very good results. Nobody. Nobody believes that you have to spend money effectively, not necessarily more, right? Even more isn't a guarantee. But the truth is if you have your inputs right told you about per pupil spending teacher salaries smaller class sizes we've been looking at the goals for the last 12 years they've been pretty much the same geared around
029these areas right teacher salaries um small class sizes is those things are not going to determine outcomes. Those things on their own don't um increase test scores to to quote many. But the important thing is that money that's spent well, money that is targeted, spent on what the district, what the community chooses to spend it on, spend their time on. Research supports almost every single time that improves outcome. Beyond that, it requires I'm sorry, several years of sustained spending. If you want to increase improve student outcomes, and I know you've heard me say it over and over, a huge body of research supports that those outcomes, test scores, graduation, college attendance, um student performance, right? those things again sustained not one and done not start and stop not we are not going to go above
030the 2% cap so what are we able Karen told you all the things we can't control what are the things we can control the lowhanging fruit that's that's how we have goals on paper year overyear and We need that um action, right? When we talk about investing, when we talk about what it is that's going to improve those outcomes, again, as you just heard from Karen, through enough slides, she couldn't breathe. It's the operational spending, the teachers, the support staff, the materials, the resources. If we look at that, right, just that where we're spending our time, where we're proposing to spend our money, the truth is small amount out of our total budget. It is unlikely that test scores or other outcomes that I think that Watung Burough has come to to expect are going
031to happen if we only continue to keep up with the rising costs of non-academic services and supports. There has to be more. So let's talk about what that more might be. This is a list um kind of a random list if you want to know the truth but I built it based on what we are proposing in the budget in the budget um that we believe are priorities to meet goals. instructional leadership. You might automatically think of me or the principles, uh, Mrs. Dakota, these people. These are your instructional leaders. You're sitting now, but you lead where you stand. If you're standing in your classroom, if you're standing on the stage with the band, if you're standing in the special ed resource room, that's where instructional leadership starts. Just the fact that you're here makes
032this priority. Number one, not rain. When we talk about strategic staffing enhancements, I think we talked about at the first meeting, we had 12 requests for staffing, all all with rationale, all important. What we had to prioritize are those that are going to expand our current program. Those that are going to allow us to build in the ways that um again this community has communicated that they want to build. I'm so sorry. If I don't take a drink, I'm going to go. Sorry. I've been um dehydrated. Thanks, I just really needed a drink sadly first. Um when we look at right these um staffing enhancements and we'll do that on the next slide. You're going to see that we have a point4 custodian there. And you might say how is that driving student success? Why
033isn't that on a different slide or a Karen slide? Because that point for custodian making that person full-time helps us reduce overtime, helps us support our operational efficiency, helps us when we need um a child on the playground needing help or a teacher in the faculty room needing help. We didn't have enough of that. They're paying overtime. There's no need. Well, that person becomes um instructionally significant. Erin, if you could just go back a slide. I know I was talking about um that position, but beyond that, right, you've heard us speak a lot about curriculum development and professional learning. You've heard us speak about um finding upto-date resources and materials, teacher training to improve their instructional practice to improve their efficacy, which will improve outcomes. It it ties back to those academic standards. It ties
034back to our strategic planning. It is important. It's not just something extra. Professional development keeps teachers on current relevant best practices and instructional strategies. Again, helps us build staff capacity for differentiated instruction. Our new literacy for social emotional learning. It's part of our district goals. But again, if you want to see academic achievement, if you want to see equity among students, professional development, investing in our teachers and in those outcomes for students, that's where you're going to see it. Curriculum resources, again, we've talked a lot about that. um updating our materials aligned to standards, making sure that every child has access to um diverse texts to hands-on materials to authentic realworld learning, experiential learning that we're supporting the curriculum updates when they come out. um and supporting the staff in um internalizing those updates and
035their instruction, personalizing our learning tools. Maybe that's onetoone um initiatives. Maybe it's strategies in the classroom with compacting curriculum or scaffolding our instruction. It's about creating the learning environment, giving our staff at every level what they need. Again, across grade levels, across subjects, between buildings, between um content areas. What is necessary for our students to be prepared for future success? And yes, that includes our academic intervention and counseling and me mental health services. It talks about um learning barriers. There is not one child in a classroom. There are 15 kids. You can't start teaching on page one of the book and expect that you're meeting those learning styles. That's why we have to invest in all of this. We've spent a lot of time through the um strategic planning process talking about enrichment and extracurricular
036programs and what's available. There's actually we found out kind of a lot more available than we thought. But it's about helping every child be successful. Maybe that's not in the classroom. Maybe that's in the art room with a different content. Maybe that's athletics. Maybe it's student council. We had a large large group of students come and participate in the strategic planning process and then schedule a follow-up meeting with their teacher, the principal, and myself and presented their own goals, their own objectives, their own timeline. What more do we need to hear in my again in my opinion? So all of the things that you are going to hear us propose and present are in support of this. Yes, class size maybe. But the important thing about that isn't that you have 12 or 15 or
03718. It's that it's manageable. That the workload is manageable so that teachers can focus on instruction. Done. Done. Right. So these are the budget priorities that are going to I hope help you understand where we are making our recommendations. Aaron and I'm sorry grabbing another drink. At least I'm still standing. That's the So what do we got? So these out of those 12 positions are the um the ones that we are able to I just thanks that we are um and have been able to recommend for next year's budget. Again, just to repeat, it is not everything that we would want, right? But as I talk, I hope that the priorities um really reflect that thoughtful discussion, that give and take that got us here. because believe me to get to this number from 12
038was not a one-time couple minute conversation. So, supervisor of instruction, a lot of miscommunication about this one. I think I've gotten more questions about this than actually the budget numbers, which I found really interesting. um this um emerged as a priority. Honestly, it's been a priority in the district. It's been an ask, just so you know, I think pretty much every year it looks like since 2013. I see you shaking your head. Yes. Yes. Um it has not made it to the table. But during the strategic planning process, it it became not just clear, right? Remember, we have students, we have teachers, we have administrators, we have parents, we had our community members, we have our mayor and council president and other council people participating in this process. And the idea that we could add
039a person, multiple responsibilities, and that title, by the way, not very creative, not ours, came from the county executive's office because that is an administrative title that does not add to our administrative ratio, meaning it doesn't cap us. We are able to move ahead with that title without um it unbalancing. I guess I I should say it that way. Unbalancing our um administration. So I am going to work my way down the list a little bit at a time. Um there is some things to cover and things to talk about. Phyllis, welcome back. you while you were gone and I know you missed a lot about the budget and the development and the committees but thank you for taking the time to write your questions. Phyllis also asked that um her questions be answered at
040the meeting in public so the community could also um understand what she's asking. So happy to honor you with that tonight. Um, and I think, believe it or not, the questions you asked are going to answer not just for you, but for the community why it rose to a priority, not just in for 13 years being on the table, but through strategic planning. Right. So the supervisor um of instruction instructional supervision the idea behind it is a continuous process ongoing right not just in the summer or on a PD day or after school right collaborative works with everybody all of our educators in the district with a goal of improving instruction ction. They um work to help teachers improve learning, advance learning in our schools, the quality of education. Um and to answer your first
041question, first and foremost, the supervisor instruction does not assume responsibility for curriculum writing. that is and has always been first a local task but it remains that collaborative process right with our teachers. When you look at a curriculum writing team, it's representative of the grade levels. Um, it's representative of special education, of multilingual learning instruction. And you know, that's another reason Miss Dakota, our special services director, is responsible for our multilingual instruction and bilingual students. That is not her area. This frees her up to do what she is here to do and this person can take that focus as as an example in addition to the curriculum. This person um again provides leadership standing in a different place maybe but provides that leadership to support all of us me principles teachers in those effective learning
042practices that we just talked about. were so important including instructional strategies, technology integration. This person, yes, will be helping to update, helping to implement prek to 8 curriculum. Yes, making sure it aligns with the district expectations with the standards, right? Maybe helping with the assessment so we have those multiple measures. The bottom line of the role though really is about helping our teachers because let's be honest, we just keep piling P principles, teachers, whoever it is. We just keep putting more and more things on the plate. They have platters out here, full platters. Nothing ever gets taken off, right? So, you know, we say to them, "Oh, we, you know, we want to make every child's experience challenging. We want to set high expectations for student achievement. We want to make sure every child succeeds.
043We know we can accomplish this. Differentiation, scaffolding, again, compacting the curriculum, problem based learning, that classroom environment, right? a place where our students, again demonstrated at the last strategic plan meeting, have a voice and a choice that we are creating a culture that values effort. Our students can do hard things. They show us it all the time, right? deepening that understanding, applying the knowledge, promoting all of those critical thinking skills that we know will be important to their future that have to be taught. on top of making sure they're prepped for their five or six periods of students and social emotional learning and lunch duty and making sure that um the entire school if they want to can get to the Somerset Patriots game and celebrate and have the Glee Club perform as is tradition
044before Mrs. Riley retires. And just so you all know, if you missed it tonight, May 22nd board meeting, they'll be performing right here. Um, nobody misses out. But the the point of this, right, the goal is to make sure that the learning is relevant, that it's meaningful, right? That it is interesting, that all of that is creating engagement with the content. And we need to make sure that our teachers have the time and the tools and the flexibility to respond to those different learning styles. I have 21 years of teaching. I would like to think I could walk into a classroom, take it over, make a meaningful lesson. Right? If you said to me, and I've done plenty of problem based learning units, I've done plenty of rubrics and assessments. If you said to me,
045I just interested if you could take this, it's part of your regular curriculum. We're already talking about I've seen so many observations in the last month. My god, shout one out, somebody. I'll shadows. There's that will be a challenge. This is like an improv game. So if you said to me, I would like a problem based learning unit on shadows that is a performance assessment that gives our students an opportunity to um demonstrate their learning right in a variety of ways. I will guarantee you I can stand there. I can think okay what do we want our students to know and learn and be able to do and how will they demonstrate that they have learned it right that they know it and are able to do it and honestly you challenge me but if
046you think I couldn't make that crosscontent authentic problem based learning I've already got a flashlight in my head making shadows figuring out the phases of the moon and science and if that's a shadow is an eclipse a shadow is the absence of light and the giving of light a shadow and maybe we'll read Peter Pan and maybe right not a plant either by the way good good for you to do but the the idea behind this you aren't going to do that on your own or without direction and our principles and directors and me and our teacher leaders even when they're meeting by department and planning units and lessons we need direction all of us and this person I I believe is able to make sure that our teachers have the tools to make sure
047that we all really have a common idea of what mastery looks like. We all know what the tasks are, right? We all know that those frameworks are accessible. I can confidently say we have a wonderful and wonderful instructional staff. They're committed to excellence. During their um faculty meetings and lunch, we've had our consultants in working, planning already for this year, for next year. I can tell you, you don't look tired, but I know you're tired. You're tired. Everybody's tired. In a small district like this, everybody needs support. Professional learning, job embedded, coaching, support with methodology, somebody to come in and model, somebody to give feedback when it's not an observation or an evaluation, somebody to say this is what we expect for students. How can we collectively make this happen? And our staff also deserves
048the opportunity to do this with each other on a professional development day to come up with a program that they demonstrate that they share with their colleagues. But again it has to be important. So this instructional supervisor supervisor of instruction not just curriculum right not not just um you know that facilitating coordinating professional learning that coaching helping us. There are not enough of us to to do that observation and evaluation process. That does give us, believe it or not, a little pressure lever at that level. Program review. I've been here a year and a half. We've talked about world language. We've talked about multilingual learners. We've talked about um gifted and talented. We've talked about steam, right? All of these things. somebody to coordinate that program review, to do a formal assessment with the staff,
049with the parents, with the students, so we know that we're providing the very best that we can. and somebody who is going to look at our testing, all of it, not just NJSLA, who's going to take that data, work with our teams when they're looking at data, help make the best decisions for kids. And that might be in the IRS meeting. And if you don't know what that is, that's um um when a student is struggling, it could be struggling in any area, we pull a team together. We look at what strategies we could try, things that we need to do differently. We try that for six weeks. We come back, this worked, this didn't work. What else should we try? Right? all of these things that people are just so stretched, so stretched. So,
050this person in addition to that, um, since you asked, yes, will be applying for and managing our federal, state, and local grants. We have all kinds of programs and initiatives. Um, the question was, um, the director of special services also used to write grants. She still does. Mrs. Dakota writes grants. She completes our extraordinary aid reimbursements. And I wish she was here tonight. She is not. But I will tell you that this year, just in one year, she is responsible for more than $700,000 in funds being returned to the district this year. on top of 504 coordinator, HIPP coordinator, multilanguage learning coordinator, and bilingual coordinator. You get where I'm going. We can't just keep piling hats on people's heads. We just the time has come. So, um, and we will I know we'll have more
051questions when we're done done, but I promised, like I said, that I would answer that and I want to keep going. So, world language. Um, again, been on the table through two budget cycles with me. I have no idea how many before that. Um this position was proposed um as a full-time Spanish teacher. This um is for Valley View. We have um an increasing interest in Spanish, but our French enrollment at the middle school has been declining. That creates huge scheduling challenges and big big class sizes in Spanish. If the trends indicate right a need to restructure our language offerings to staff in a different way so that we are providing that equitable learning that we are saying is so important. Um this this recommendation again rose to the top. Our current Spanish class sizes
052are too large to provide optimal learning. There's the decline in enrollment. So we have underutilized resources. Our multi-learner language learner support is being stretched again challenged right at Bayberry. We're having a growing population. There needs to be an increased attention not just to meet our legal requirements but hello our educational requirements. Right? So, the idea is hiring a full-time Spanish teacher for next year, allowing for the reallocation of our current staff, our current French teacher who's also ESL certified as students finish their French instruction. We wouldn't stop, right? we would keep moving forward and um make sure all those students that are in French are able to be prepared to continue in high school if they so choose um will also work with our multilingual learners. Um the current ESL teacher then who is going
053between two schools, right? So we lose a period of instruction both sides. um would be at Bayberry to support that population, the multilingual learning population, but it also helps to optimize our Spanish instruction. An additional Spanish teacher lets us adequately support the increased demand. Bless you here at the middle school. Helps us maintain those manageable class sizes. Helps us make sure that we are able to provide quality instruction. the Bayberry Spanish teacher instead of having to have a split schedule, a different thing every day, will be able to um be full-time better able to um support that instruction and for us allow as part of that program review, right? How are we looking at language development at the elementary? It was brought in in one way. I think that the idea is different. This allows
054us to really delve into that with that program review. Recommending this position addresses the scheduling, the class sizes. It lets us strategically use our staff, our expertise, right? And it lets us again maintain that student choice. We want to make sure that our student preferences remain right a focus. You had asked for the job description. This is a teaching position. So the job description is teacher. But I will give you the rationale that was provided for the position for you to be able to look at and get whatever additional questions you may have had answered. Um just to to keep moving, we've talked about restoring the basic skills position, right? Last year I was not able to do it. This year we were not able to to do it full-time. We spent we spent if
055you had any idea how long we spent figuring well if this person has this free period and this person has this free period and if we could move this 15 minutes and take oh my goodness I mean the amount of time we put in we probably could have done 10 basic skills classes. So we are recommending restoring halftime this year with the expectation that it becomes recommended full-time next year. And again, some of you I see are new faces. Um just so you're aware, basic skills is targeted instruction, right? It's academic support. It's early intervention. It's making sure our students get the foundational instruction or the remedial instruction that they need to be able to succeed firstly and math and English language arts, but obviously as an extension all of their other content. I already
056talked about the custodian. Um, we committed to the next piece last year. We are using um some of those bank cap funds as big one-time purchases. We are um updating our K to8 math curriculum and the associated professional learning with that. We have had teams of teachers um reviewing materials, working with consultants to see how the standards match up, unpacking our current curriculum and working to write new curriculum. This, I hope, will be the beginning of finally, sorry, equipping our educators to deliver not just math instruction, engaging instruction in the content. You know, Phyllis, you had asked me about rigor. Everything I've talked about tonight is rigor. I think that there is a misunderstanding that rigor is more work. it's harder or more homework. Rigor is that deeper understanding. It is that opportunity for kids
057who master a skill to go deeper in that skill. That's what we are hoping for. our K to4 ELA curriculum um also and associated professional learning same process teams of teachers reviewing um learning what it is that science of learning um science of reading science of writing offers to learning. How are we going to build strong readers strong writers from the start right? How are we going to make sure that our students are able to read and write across the curriculum? Right? You know, the resources are great. That [Music] $431,350 is the cost of that staff and those resources. Not a insignificant hit. However, in the scheme of things again, so so many things that we are not able to do. I um just along these lines just to make sure I'm answering every other
058question. I did have two other questions. Maybe I have them on my computer. Oh, I'm so sorry if it's your question. And I think it got buried in here. I apologize. Ask it again if I missed it. And I I tried to cover it all, but if I missed it, please ask again because I don't see it just sitting right here. It's moved. I think it moved. Did it go? I think we're still No. So, this is also a big topic. More misunderstanding. We did not cut baseball. We did not cut softball. Those coaches, those buses, that transportation, those uniforms are remaining. They are still there this year. They are maintained next year. It is our hoped for outcome, right? with all of these sixth graders moving up to be able to safely field all
059of our teams. There was no, again, despite what um I've been told and asked, no cut to clubs at Bayberry or Valley View, actually an increase. And I I want to say um because I don't think people realize this when we're talking about the budget, we have an amazing PTO, an amazing educational foundation. If you stay for the second part of our meeting, you're going to see just for value, we haven't even put Bayer's on yet, the list of donations from the PTO. Those are parents that also invest in the schools. Yes, their children are in the schools, but when you see the amount of money that they are raising, WE PTO, CPAG to supplement what we're doing, it's amazing. And again, on top of all all of these asks. So, I feel like it
060was just while we're sitting here in clubs that are maintained, nothing cut. And so very grateful for the generous contributions of all of our communities. I will also say when we weren't able to field that sixth grade team, the wreck, Warren and Watung wreck stepped up. They've created a team from the sending districts and the high school. So all of those eighth graders and ninth graders were also able to play. Nobody didn't not get to play. So also the wreck stepping up. Um just my last very last slide like ping the duck. Um just a reminder right the tax levy that 2% is only $287,000 for right if we only do the 2% think of all of the things that we've already lost in this budget. what was needed to get what you're seeing presented
061tonight, an additional 528,000 give or take. We are taking advantage of the healthc care waiver to offset that. We are using the additional $250,000 in bank cap to offset that. We are keeping $257,000 about in bank cap in reserve for next year. forewarned. There you go, babe. Back to numbers. So, these uh this presentation um this will be available on online, you know, in a day or so. So, you can take a look at it. But this is just basically showing you the role of revenues and the increase. So you can see that the we've asked for the 5.68 5.6 um local tax levy increase, but you can also see how other revenue items are will be decreasing this year like the interest um like our state aid and then in fund 20 the federal
062aid and other sources. So, we're decreasing all of those items, but that's causing some of the, you know, the the need for the increase in the tax levy. As you know, we don't um receive any, we have no other funding. So, if it's not the state, it's the federal government or it's the local taxpayers, it's all we have. But you can take a look at that. The uh next slide is the same thing on the expenses. So this is a list of the um expenses and where where everything um has been allocated. But Aaron could you go to the next slide and then this this slide I have two of them. This is showing you the comparable from last year. So where certain things are going up you see like in basic skills remedial instruction
063is going up again because Dr. Glazer just explained we are adding a staff member to that. um at a district tuition. We are um anticipating a decrease next year, but then an increase in our own special education. So, it offsets that way. Um instructional supervision, again, you're seeing an increase, but that's also because of the the uh staff that Dr. Glazer just explained. I don't think there's anything else on there. Um and then the next screen, please. So, same thing here. um general administration. It looks like it's down. Um that's it's it's a little bit odd because things like copers and internet costs and phone costs are in administrative lines. So it it does look if we can negotiate uh a better copier lease or something like that, you'll see, you know, you'll see that
064change in there, but it it's a little bit um it's bringing that down there. Technology is up. uh maintenance and operations as I explained to you about the boilers, the gym floor, those are going up. The benefits up you see 11.6% although I said 12.9 but that's offset by employee contributions. So that comes down a little bit. Federal and state looking at a 50% reduction and then the debt repayment um that comes from the uh state support of it is down a bit too. That is pretty much it. But you can take a look at that, you know, in in more depth. The user friendly budget will be posted that that does all 400 lines. Yeah. Next the next screen. So this is the ch this is the um uh the tax levy screen. So
065um the bottom line is that with the 5.6 6 um 8% increase with the referendum, which is, you know, the only way really to look at it. The taxes, the annual taxes on an average assessed house, would go up by $554 a year, just like $46 a month. That's if you own the average home. I did put the calculation there on the bottom so you can figure out what your increase the school impact is on your home by doing you know that multiplier right there. So if your house is worth a million it's 592. If it's where if it's you know $400,000 it's 237. So that just basically tells you you can see the ratables increased in this town and the homes increased um on average by $80,000 this year. So, uh, they that's really
066basically math, but that would be the impact of our school tax, um, increase, including the referendum. Yes. Well, and it that's true. I mean, the the tax impact screens, they're they are a little bit difficult, but that's this is the second half of this year and the first half of next. So it's it's always roll you know rolling. Uh next screen and that that is it. So there's nothing left on this presentation. So thank you. If you have any questions that's my email. If you have any questions about the numbers you have any qu questions about you know curriculum and thank you. Questions. Does anyone from the board have questions for these ladies? Okay, move on to the Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Dr. Glazer. Um, are there grants that get missed because we don't have
067a dedicated person on this? Well, of course, but even if you had a this person is not the same way Mrs. Dakota is not dedicated to grants. It's one piece of the position. Just to give you an idea, last year I wrote a grant. Last year, last week, it was only last week. Um I wrote a grant to um the Young Arts Association to do a residency when our outdoor learning commons is open to um try and do a um experiential program with nature and art and bring um some plantings and science. I think we all share in that. I will say of course, right, we we do we're this though being part of a specific part of a job description and expectation I absolutely think makes that um less likely. Um um the the
068basic skills teacher seems so important. Um can you explain why we are choosing to do 0.5 of the basic skills teacher rather than full-time basic skills this year and perhaps adding the world language teacher next year or making some other decision. So the the Spanish is a big implication right now, right? We we have big class sizes, do not have the enrollment in French. We've been for two years now tried to be creative, right, within the schedule to create, you know, flex periods and and other opportunities to fill those gaps, but it hasn't changed. That trend hasn't changed. And basic skills is hugely important. I am not underelling it, but this is what I'm going to say. um one person K to4 supported by a reading specialist, right? Not as much impact again is if
069we can help teachers who really need a different strategy, a different tool in their tool belt to teach in a different way to help a child be successful. And yes, we have basic skills, right? to be able to work in small groups, to be able to um work on those core content skills with the goal of that grade level achievement. It is huge. It needs to work in concert with something else. And when we're prioritizing, and it don't get me wrong, it is huge. We felt that if we could get the half in and only have to supplement those other periods half the day, that was better than waiting another year, right? Not having anything, not being able to grow, right, to a full-time, but also providing something meaningful. I'm really excited the pool because
070we've posted it anticipated. Our positions are anticipated until uh budget and then we can you know interview. I am amazed at the number of people that are interested right we we don't we can't get a lunch aid let a pair of I I'm thrilled. So I think that the power of starting the power of utilizing the staff that we have and the expertise we have to grow regrow let's be honest we are regrowing this program to regrow this program will be stronger than if we continued to have a jigsaw schedule over here not meeting all the needs of the multilanguage learning students, right? Okay. And I just want to ask um to clarify, so if we only used the 2% tax levy, we would have to cut $500,000 from our current budget, from our current
071expenses. 580 something. Yeah. I mean, Aaron, I don't think he already took that. I think I have it still. I can tell you. Yeah, thank you. Uh let's see. Oops, I lost 528. Yeah, thank you. And again, we had 700,000 additional requests on top of that. Right. Thank you. Yeah. Anyone else? Thank you. Okay. No, it's I just You thought you were [Music] Okay. So, we can move on to public comments on the 2025 2026 budget. We welcome input from the public. There are three times during the meeting when the public is invited to speak. The first opportunity to comment on the 2025 2026 budget is now. The second opportunity for public comment will be on agenda items only. This will follow the committee reports. The third opportunity for public comment is towards the end
072of the meeting. Total time allotted for public comment is 30 minutes. Before you make your comment, please state your name and municipality of residents. In the event that it appears that the public comment portion of the meeting may exceed 30 minutes, the presiding officer may limit each statement made by a participant to 3 minutes duration. Our public forums are not structured as a question and answer session, but rather are offered as opportunities to share input with the board. In instances where the board feels a response is needed, the presiding officer or superintendent will address the comment. It won't we won't be addressing any of the comments until after everyone has had a chance to speak. New Jersey statutes do not permit the board to discuss personnel or hiring in public session. Names of students should
073not be used. Members of the public should consider their comments in light of legal rights of those affected and identified in their comments and be aware that they are personally legally responsible with potential liability for comments that they make to the board. The board shall not be held liable for comments made by members of the public. And there's a sheet to sign in at the podium if anybody No comments. Hello everybody. Uh Rich Desaniano, resident of Wong um for about 12 years, a parent of a first grader, member of the PTO, held of two educators. Uh my dad was actually my first computer science teacher. Um I think the first thing that I want to say is um kudos to the board and the administration um for providing strong leadership um uh and having to
074make hard decisions that I know that you're getting push back from push back about excuse me uh from uh members of the community, members of the council, etc. um it's not an easy thing to make decisions that you know are going to put you sort of right in the middle of criticism. So I appreciate that and know that it's not an easy thing to do. Um I'd also like to say uh just add it Dr. laser very much second a lot of what you said towards the end there and appreciate you putting forth such a strong uh rationale and and sort of giving a voice to why the um additional positions and uh improvements to the uh textbooks and something else I don't remember um are important and not but they're just because we're doing
075them um and and why it's important to add this faculty add these uh additional faculty members. Um, I'm going to try to stay positive though. Now he dropped something, so maybe I should. No, I'm kidding. Um, I I my family and I came to uh Wong. I said this last year. um for a few reasons, but one of them was because of the education uh and the the sort of um reputation of the the education system here and uh really had no qualms about understanding that sometimes you have to pay for those things and that means tax increases that means tax increases. So again um fixing sort of some of the ills of the past boards that didn't put these increases in front when they were needed. Um, I give you guys props for that.
076And I also want to just say that I appreciate that there's a plan and stability. Now, the strategic planning exercise was interesting, but it was also valuable. Um, I personally took place took part in all three sessions. I know other members of the community did. And I it is frustrating to me to see across different forums this sort of implication that there's no plan. we just want to throw money at this problem and testing is bad, performance is bad when people aren't participating and people aren't offering solutions. The performance improvements and the grade improvements and the testing improvements are going to be trailing indicators, not leading indicators. And the commitment to continuous investment in our students, my child is going to be a student here for another seven seven years and I want to see
077this continuous investment. So, I appreciate I know it's not an easy decision and most importantly, this enables the more important people in here to do their job. So, thank you. Thank you. Everyone, Paulina Miklish, 30 Valley Drive. I have twins who are five years old. I always like to tell people they were accidental. We didn't plan on having twins. They're awesome. Boy, girl, super fun and they're really smart. My son, I have, like I said, boy, girl. So, my son was recently diagnosed with ADHD, sensory processing disorder, and also has had a severe stutter for the last couple of years. Um, it's been really challenging for my family from from the angle of we have no solutions for something like a stutter. It if you're familiar with that disease, it comes and goes and it
078can be really hard on a family. And we've been paying out of pocket for specialists including weekly stutter specialist visits and they will be entering Mayberry in September. So hopefully the teachers will get to meet them and love them. Um, but I just wanted to bring that kind of personal aspect to this because there's budget line items, statistics, but when you get to know your your local neighbors and the people who are in your community, it's really different. So, if you guys would entertain me for just a second, I'm going to let you hear Roman's voice. watching this. So, that was last night and that was him trying to tell me about a new toy that he just got. So, um yeah, I wanted to just share that personal angle. It's something that's happening in
079my home and Bayerry teachers will get to know him really soon. Um, I've also I've also thought about our community and how he's really not that unique because I think that there are kids all across Wong who have something that they're dealing with that our teachers are going to be helping them with in the classroom whether it's something like a stutter or needing extra needs or maybe they're super super smart and actually want more time and I think you mentioned more depth into a specific subject because they might be just awesome at stuff and need more help. Um, I've also heard that Bayberry has a huge kindergarten class. I'm not sure what the kindergarten class sizes are typically like, but just looking at the numbers, it looks quite large. So, thinking about class sizes was
080something that I wanted to come in and just learn more about. Maybe you guys can address that later. Um, this town can do great things. I think that our school systems can or this school system can be fantastic if we can all just come together. And if that means $46 a month, I wish I could cover all the people on my street. If that means that it would help us get to where we need to be. So, let's improve our community and give our kids a chance if it means that we can help them with all of the things that you listed out today. Um, they all seemed actually incredibly valuable and not at all frivolous. if there's anyone wondering about whether they're really needed or not. So, thanks for hearing my voice and thank
081you for hearing Roman's voice today. And hopefully, like I said, you'll get to meet him pretty soon. Thank you. Thank you very much. Hello, Molly Hartman. Last 140 Oakidge Lean. You guys know I like to be prepared and my phone's dead, so I'm not. So, we're going to wing it. Um, first of all, thank you for taking the feedback um that this community gave to you, right? The strategic planning meetings. I saw some of those things up on um that board as top priorities. Number one, um whatever we're going to call them, curriculum coordinator, instruction coordinator, whatever it is. Yes, thank you. We need it. Um I also saw the update for the um math uh program. My son is in second grade. They're using Go Math. It was discontinued in 2021. Not okay. Okay.
082Today I had the absolute privilege of bringing my kids to my office and they got to see the inner workings of a law office. And the only reason like major reason why I am a professional today and I can show my kids that is because of this school district um which I metriculated from kindergarten all the way through um 12th grade. So um and and Mrs. Duet, I I had a lot to say about the old days, right, where we didn't need test scores and we didn't need any of these rubrics because we just knew. We just knew our students were prepared, right? They were excelling when they got to the high school. They were a step above. We just knew it. And it was because our teachers had all the resources they want. You
083remember, we had we wanted for nothing. And nice things cost money. So be it. I'm sorry. I see these numbers. $800 to $900,000 average home prices. We're talking about $500 a year. Like, stop complaining, okay? It's $500 a household. Like Miss Meeklo said, I wish I had more. We're all struggling in this economy. I wish I had more to give because it's that important. Um, that was I had a lot more to say, but I think I've said it and I really just please support this budget. We need it. We need more. um the max you can go. I'll speak for my mom who couldn't come today. She's a lifelong resident of Wang. She says, "I'm an old person in this town and I want my taxes raised as high as possible because I want
084my grandchildren to have the same education that my kids did." That's all I have to say. Thanks. Thank you very much. board and everyone sitting out with us. Um, my name is Salad Munoz. I'm the municipality in the burough of Watong. Um, I'm not sure if this is where I should speak or at the end, but I'm going to give it a go. Um, since we're speaking about budget, I think this all ties in and I just ask you to bear with me. I'm also a twin mom, kindergarten, boy, girl, so new to the district and you know um we moved here with the intention of having our kids in a supportive district where they can thrive. Um so a little background, I'm a licensed registered nurse with over a decade of experience protecting some
085of the most medically complex children in New Jersey, both clinically and in a school setting. I've served on a hospital falls committee. I've trained nurses statewide and been contracted by out of district placements to lead compliance and safety documentation efforts. Um, in addition to my clinical background, I've also worked at the executive level with within globally recognized financial and insurance firms. Uh, I've had the fortune of having a front row seat to how large institutions manage liability, assess risk, and protect their reputations, especially under pressure. So, I come with a very special skill set um for over 20 years and maybe closer to 30, but who's counting? Um that experience matters here today because I've seen some red flags and in this district safety systems. And when I saw those red flags, I knew exactly
086what was at stake and it is our children. Um I raised concerns, I flagged gaps, I offered solutions free of charge. I even advised Dr. Glazer uh directly about the absence of a head injury protocol and the urgent need to implement that. Um whether that advice was acted on, I don't know. I'm sure we'll have some some talks and we'll figure that out. But what I do know is this. By the time the system should have acted, my son had already been hurt. Um but this isn't about credentials. It's about the most important title that I hold, and it's mother. I'm standing here tonight because this district under the current administration has failed my son Matteo and under that same administration it will continue to fail others. Matteo is 7 years old weighing just sorry
087I forgot this part. Matteo is 7 years old. He's born weighing just one pound. The same size as this doll. Same size and weight. Um, sorry that always gets me that little doll. Every time it comes out like something rattles in me. But same size as that doll being passed around you. Matteo has defied every odd. He has arrived in this district walking, talking, reading, engaging in multiple languages, bright, resilient, eager to learn. And he also has complex medical needs. I don't lead with that because that doesn't define who he is. He's so much more than his needs, but that still it's a part of our life. His body moves differently. His brain is far more fragile than most children his age. But what he needs to thrive isn't extraordinary. It's clearly outlined in his
088IEP. I've lost endless hours of sleep coming through this and fine needling it and documenting. And it's clearly outlined in his IEP and medical documentation. On February 10th, I warned this administration on record, if you put this child on stairs unsupported, he will go flying head first. And 18 school days later, that is exactly what happened. I'm not omnicient. I can spot these safety issues. Despite multiple emergency meeting requests, documented medical risks, and repeated warnings from staff internally who knew him best, each one was met with delay, dismissal, and outright disregard. There were no less than seven warnings between my husband and I and attempts to get a emergency meeting to prevent this fall. This is what I'm trained to do. I'm I'm trying to I've helped others. I'm trying to help my son. Uh,
089and on March 6, my son fell head first down a school staircase. Why? Because the district failed to assign the trained onetoone aid his IEP clearly requires because repeated documented warnings from me, his doctors, from his teachers were ignored. The aid that was assigned to Matteo had already been reported unbeknownst to me. Okay. Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt you, but if you could not mention personnel, we're not allowed to discuss them. So, if you could just Okay, just rephrase it. Okay. Thank you. So, the assignment to Matteo had already been reported by to administration by staff for sleeping on duty, smelling of marijuana, being untrained in basic safety protocols, specifically about their ability to safely assist Mattail. All right, we're still you're Sorry, we need to interrupt you again. You're still talking about personnel.
090Okay. Which we're not allowed to discuss in public. Okay. Someone chose to keep someone in place even after alarms had been raised. Persons within had tried to speak up. I, not personnel had been speaking up. His doctors had spoken up with written letters that are documented and they were ignored. People knew that he was neurologically vulnerable. People knew a fall could mean permanent damage to my son. This risk wasn't it wasn't a risk that slipped through the cracks. It was flagged clearly, repeatedly, and it was chose to be ignored. He hit his head. He was hospitalized. This is what happens when IEPs are treated like suggestions and when administration silences staff instead of empowering them. When liability takes priority over student safety. And that breakdown didn't stop because this week on Monday, April 21st, Mattail's
091first full day back in less than an hour, his head hit the floor again. Apparently, the first incident wasn't enough impetus to protect him. So, let's be clear. When administration, that's not staff, correct? I'm not directing. Okay. When administration delays action, ignores risk, fails to collaborate, students get hurt, and districts pay the price. So, this isn't just a safety issue. It's an administrative failure with long-term legal and financial consequences. It's a budget problem because the cost of legal liability for something, what's the cost of legal liability for something that should have never happened. Prevention costs less than litigation. Transparency costs less than damage control. And competent leadership always costs less than cleaning up after the wrong one. Especially when leadership is costing you $130,000 a year to ignore medical documentation, dismiss staff warnings, and gamble
092with student safety. So since we're talking salaries tonight, that is important. I'll remind you all as a nurse, my two primary responsibilities are simple. To keep people alive and to document, document, and then do some more documenting. So, every ignored warning, every delay, every deflection, every thinly veiled effort at retaliation, I have it in writing, on record, timestamped. We, my husband and I, were forced to go from proactive to reactive because one person refused to answer emails, to return calls, or communicate. That silence cost us dearly. It's cost my son dearly. And while I've chosen not to speak on my son, my husband's credentials here tonight, I will say this. We have the experience, we have the network, and we have the reach to take this as far as it needs to go. So, what
093will it take for this district to act? How many head injuries does any child have to survive, never mind a medically fragile one, before accountability becomes non-negotiable, a lawsuit, a funeral, because we're not going to wait for a third incident. So, I'll ask you plainly, do you value administrative protection or student safety? Because if you choose protection over my child's safety, this district will pay on paper, in court, and in public. My life's work has been protecting others. Today, those others are my children and the children entrusted to this district's care. You guys won't protect him, we will. We will file, we will publish, we will speak everywhere. And I promise I promise you, we will stop at nothing. And the next time any district thinks it can quietly bury a disabled child's trauma with
094silence and non-response, they'll remember Matteo's name. We're not going away. Not now, not ever. I'll be submitting a letter to each board member documenting legal failures and liability now facing the district and kindly request a private meeting with the members of the board and the superintendent. Um, thank you. I there's more. You know, as of 11:59 tonight, we're out of FERPA compliance. FURPA compliance comes with legal fees, settlement, liability, corrective action, mandated training, federal grant risk, admin burden, reputation damage. It is in our best interest. I have two special education children enrolled in this district. It is in our best interest for this to thrive and to work well, but we need to be able to speak and collaborate and get at at a minimum an email response. Someone needs to call us back. Thank
095you. Thank you. I'm sorry. I saw your hand go up as No, no, there's something flew by. Okay. Thank you. Any other comments on the budget? No. Okay. So, move on to action items. Does somebody want Hold on just a vote. Yep, that's what I'm doing. I move adoption of the 2025 2026 budget. Uh adjustment for healthc care costs $278,719. Adjustment for bank cap $250,000. Authorized travel and related expense reimbursement for the 20252026 school year. Do I have a second? Second. and discussion. Phyllis, did you have a comment? Did you have a comment? Question. Did you? Yeah. Yes, I did have a com I think I have to say. So, here it last year, we approved a budget of around $16 million. The secretary's report as of June 30th, 20 Tell us your microphone. Yeah,
096just talk it into your microphone, please. I think Erin's coming. Hold on a second. [Music] It's very maybe just start over. Here I am. Okay, I'm back. Okay. So, last year we approved a budget of around $16 million and the secretary's report as of June 2024 for last year said that we spent about $15 million. report also said there was an available balance left over of approx approximately $1 million for this year. We approved a budget 17 and a4 million about a million and a quarter more than the year before. The most recent secretar's report projects we'll spend 15,240,892 June of 2025. The secretary's report also projects there will be an available balance as of June of this year. This would be an increase of about a million dollars more than last year. If we
097take the proposed budget of 18,567068 and divide it by I thought there were 674 students, it looks like we may be spending $27,250 per student. Um the a projected 25,000, not the projected 25,000. As I look down from I have to hover over and I'm not supposed to get too much into the weeds. 30,000 feet they were told we were told to uh to look at this proposed budget. It just seems unreasonable to me because from uh 2023 it's 18,000 per student and now it's all the way up to 25,000 maybe 27,000 per president. So that those were just a few things that I was looking at and I understand everything the parents need what they want. But we once had as um uh who was it? There she is. As she was saying, we
098always did have what we needed. I was always given what I needed in my classroom. I was also an LDTD LDT learning disabilities teacher consultant. I understand what the parents go through in the special needs area. I do. Um my biggest concern though is maybe there's some uh some too maybe too much appropriation that we don't know or we did too much and we have this leftover stuff and we can use it and maybe we could do something with that kind of money that's been budgeted. So that's what I have to say. Any further discussion? I'd have to remind you also we did have budgets that went down and our kids did well anyway remember. Okay. Go ahead, Mrs. Maddox. Okay. So, I'm gonna kind of give you a little synopsis. I guess this is
099sitting on the other um side of it. Uh but also um this is my personal view and and how um I perceive to vote tonight. So my family moved to Wong about 8 years ago and my boys went to Montasauri school um prek through kindergarten. I have two older children that went to Milbour Milbour Short Hills School prek through high school. uh they're now 23 and 21 years old. You know, the decision when we were just trying to decide where were we going to move was are we going to move to Short Hills area or were we going to move to Wang? Those were the two final places that we were looking at. You know, looking at both places, we decided, okay, you know, we've found a home that we like here in Wang. Um
100the community seems amazing. The schools sound great. you know, there's a lot of community, a lot of um a lot of substance within the Wa Chang uh area. And so, this is where we decided to move. Um, you know, me, like every other parent in this community, wants the best for my children. And, uh, I think we all have the same goals. You know, I know the teachers have the same goals. Everybody on this board has the same goals. If I look around this room, I look at this table, I see the I see that we all have vest vested interest in our schools and our community. You know, we all are either homeowners, we're students, we have students in elementary or middle school. We're all either taxpayers or educators. So, we have some kind
101of interest in this room. Um, I think that, um, if I look around this room, I can honestly probably speak for all of us that nobody wants to pay taxes, more taxes. I mean, nobody's going to want to say, "Yes, I want to pay more taxes." But I can confidently say that we all want more academic excellence or better academic excellence. So, a couple of things to think about. What can what are we doing all that we can? So are we investing in our children's education? Are we investing in our community? I think that we all can think or you know if we think about this my husband's an entrepreneur and say you can ask any entrepreneur how do they become successful and it's not by spending just frivolously but it's by investing for profit
102and that's what an entrepreneur is investing for profit. Some of the things to think about is that we want to continue to keep drawing people to our community. We want businesses to want to be here. We want our home values to increase. We want better resources for our children. We want better academics and we want our local economy to thrive. So we have previously gone without increasing taxes or minimally increasing taxes but at what cost and we know we all know that inflation happens and not by choice. Unfortunately we haven't kept up with inflation and that's impacting resources in our schools. We can't run a successful school by cutting so many financial corners that we paralyze our abilities to function in today's world. Today's world is very different than yesterday's world. We didn't have screens
103when I was growing up. As like many of you when I'm looking around the room, we didn't have screens. AI is becoming more prevalent. Parents work more and less time in the home. Parents take their kids out of school more. There's longer vacations. Parents have less time to be involved in schools. There's more emphasis on testing these days than we than there was in the past. And I think that was mentioned earlier. I don't remember when I was going to school. So much emphasis. And and granted, it is important. We all want our kids to thrive. We want all we all want our kids to succeed and excel. But I think that there's just so much emphasis, it's it's just gone overboard. Our kids now have shorter attention spans. We require more structured time and
104less play. And kids are taken out of school sometimes for extracurricular activities more and more. So just to summarize, you know, um you know, I know one of the coms is but academics are still low. Well, this is my final statement. uh we all share that passion for academic excellence. It is true that our scores were once higher and it's something that we are actively working to improve. But the challenges that our students face today are more complex than they were in the past. Academics don't exist in a vacuum. Students need safe schools, qualified teachers, mental health support, and updated materials and facilities to succeed. Now, we ask for more fund. We are asking for more funding. It's not because we aren't trying. It's because we are. It's because we know what our stu our
105students need. We are committed to giving it to them. Investing in education is how we turn those scores around. Not just with quick fixes, but with lasting solutions that give every student the chance to thrive. Thank you. Does anyone else wish to speak? Roll call, please. Mr. Gonzalez. Yes. Mrs. Amado. Yes. Mr. Craft. Yes. And thank you to the administration and the committee for all the hours you guys put into this. Great job. Mrs. Agliero. Yes. Um, let's see. Mrs. Maddox. Yes. Mrs. Santos. Yes. Mrs. Harvey. Absent. I'm sorry. She is absent. I got it. Mrs. Duet, not at this time. No. No. Okay. Did I get it? And Mr. Fras? Yes. Okay. And the uh budget passes. Thank you everyone for coming. We are moving into Let's give people a minute to We are
106moving into our regular meeting now. So you're welcome to stay if you want to. Um, but feel free to leave if you came for the budget. 9:00 referendum update. Okay, for the referendum, we are moving on to presentations. We have a referendum update by Connor O'Brien with Legacy Construction Management. Referendum update. Anyone want to hear the referendum update? Anybody need a fivem minute break? Actually, do do we want to take a fivem minute recess? Yes. Wait, I move that we take a fivem minute recess. I can. All in favor say I. I. We're in recess for five minutes. Let's see. Giants pick, please. All right, welcome back. We will continue on with our regular meeting agenda. So, we're starting with the presentations. Uh, we're getting a referendum update from Connor O'Brien from Legacy Construction Management.
107Uh, good evening. For anybody who doesn't know me, I'm Conor O'Brien. as introduced with Legacy. Um, I'll keep it quick since it's already been a long night for everybody here. Um, and then if you have any questions, I'll answer anything you guys have. So, regarding the couple projects that we had ongoing, the main one being the HVAC, we are very near the end of it. We did the chiller replacement over the spring break that you guys had. We have the startup next week and we are in the process of closeout documents, the process through the summer that was supposed to be done during the summer that we talked about the delays of equipment. We're just into the punch list of items. So, believe it or not, even with the delays of the initial upfront, we
108should actually close out this project prior to the actual substantial completion contract date that's in put in place, which was June 13, 2025. So fingers crossed we actually hit that. I have a little over a month to accomplish that. So it's been a long road to get here, but um with that being said, we are near the end with the HVAC portion of the project. Um the media center and the front office which was done by um and the Bayberry toilet room upgrade which was done by the project. We got some more items done um through the punch list through the spring break. We do have one item up in the life skills room that we've been fighting with the contractor to take care of which was floating of the floor. Um that is a
109item that we are scheduled for. Was supposed to be over spring break. Contractor never showed up to actually do the work even though it was communicated through several meetings. I don't know how many weeks that they confirmed it was going to be done. They just never showed up. We have over $200,000 holding for them to get paid by finishing this. don't know what other motivation we need to put in place for them. It's a problem. So, um, we have I don't even know how many attempts more we can do. I don't know how much more motivation they need to do. I've spoken to the owner of the company personally to express the concern how it's impacting the school, how it's impacting the kids. Just that little piece. I'm out of options. I will hope that
110they finish, as I said, next week and be done with this because it's been exhausting. Dr. Glazer has been on the calls. The BA Karen Bishop is on the calls. Ricky's on the calls. I I don't know how to express any more than it's been frustrating process to even get this little piece done with this contractor. Um, with that being said, those are the two portions of the projects that we had ongoing. We do have another project that is out to bid currently with the outdoor learning commons and the field uh multi-purpose fields. We did have to extend that bid opening to uh May 13th uh due to just um documentation that we needed to make sure was upgraded to ensure a proper bid that you guys can receive and review to make sure you
111guys have all those options put in place based on those that that project. So as discussed and presented during the public presentation that the architect was here with we showed the boards, we showed all the possibilities of the alternates. We just had to make some adjustments during the bid process to make sure you guys have all those options to be able to make that decision. I have met with Karen Bishop Johnson to go over the budget which is obviously we're at the end of this referendum. We need to ensure that the money's there to be able to do the project. That's why we utilize the alternates to be able to make sure we can get as much done within the budget. Um, so we do have probably another meeting or two probably to get to
112to just ensure that prior to May 13th. I would say we're pretty close to being pretty darn comfortable with being able to award with everything that we need to get done. So, we did get some feedback for some pricing from some co-ops. So, we feel pretty comfortable to be able to deliver what you guys expect. Um, again, just want to keep it keep it short and sweet. I know it's a long night for anybody. So, that's all I have for for this update. If there's any questions, I'll answer away. All right. Thank you, Connor. Thank you, Connor. Thanks for hanging in there all night. No, no problem. Have a good night. Thank you. You, too. All right. So, moving on. Uh, we do not have an executive session tonight, so we can move on to
113superintendent remarks. I'm writing on the back of them and um we did in wow return enrollment to the agenda. Um you can see that we are currently two students less this year than last year. So on the same date, [Music] um I do not have a superintendence report this evening, but it is my pleasure to read the principal's report. In February, Valley View students, um sorry, I wrote on it. I apologize. Prrenav Vaggar Wall and Omesh, I'm so sorry. My blue marker went right through it. Omesh, but we know you from strategic planning. Thank you. And Leila Castello, Evelyn Ding, and Ariana Patel participated in the Math League on Demand Math contest. Their outstanding performance qualified them for the state championships held on March 30th. The Math League competition spans grades four through high school,
114fosters quick computational thinking and problem solving skills. It aims to enhance student interest and confidence in mathematics through engaging activities. A heartfelt thank you to Mrs. Nema Patel for her dedication in hosting and chaperoning the students. To our um school resource officer Mike Dinsky, firefighter Dmitri Gman um and retired public works manager Bob Burns for facilitating the use of facilities on a Sunday evening. Congratulations to Prrenav, Omesh, Leila, Evelyn, and Ariana on their achievements. Other notable events include Spring Picture Day successfully held on April 2nd at Valley View and April 22nd and 23rd at Bayberry. This is Autism Acceptance Month. Um, we've been commemorating with spirit days and lessons at uh Valley View during Mountaineer Mondays. Bayberry has been celebrating by creating schoolwide bulletin boards, marching in a parade, holding homemade infinity signs, among many
115other things. Uh, Portugal Coffee House will start using coffee sleeves made by Valley View students May 1st. Get your coffee sleeve at Portuga. The Valley View Bookf Fair was held the week of April 7th, a great success thanks to the invaluable support of parents and volunteers. The annual day of giving was a remarkable event where students engaged in activities to give back to the community. The activities included creating kindness rocks for the Wong Police Department, crafting positive messages on bracelets, making dream catchers for local assisted living facilities, preparing flower pots for a Warren cemetery and assisted living facility, knitting hats for the homeless shelter in Somerville, and crafting lanyard keychains as welcome gifts for our rising fourth graders to middle school. I sincerely appreciate all staff and students who organized these activities and of course
116the PTO for generously funding the materials that made this day possible. A reminder that marking period number three did conclude on April 9th here at Valley View. Today here at Bayberry and Valley View, we celebrated Bring Your Child to Work, providing a g glimpse of life um at the schools for our staff's children. The week of March 17th, our second graders put on a project-based learning showcase for third and fourth graders. And the second grade students shared what they learned about their chosen animal, explained how they created a habitat enclosure to meet the animals needs, their research skills and speaking skills are so impressive. We did our staff in service on March 31st. staff worked with a variety of professional development topics and curriculum projects. Our fourth grade performed their play Thacked on April 3rd,
117doing an amazing job singing, acting, and making us laugh. Thank you always, Mrs. Riley, for your hard work and dedication. We are missing you tonight while the third and fourth grade glee club is performing at the Somerset Patriots game. And just a shout out that at the May 22nd board meeting, um, the Glee Club and Mrs. Riley will be here at the board meeting to kick us off. Oh, yes. Sorry, it's further down in administration. That's fine. Um, we also have a retirement to celebrate. We did invite Lois to come, but I'm I'm almost glad she didn't. She has an earlier morning than all of us. So, um after 25 years, um our beloved bus driver Lois Bulmer has um decided to retire. she was trying to hold out to graduate. That's the word she
118used um with her students and unfortunately life sometimes gets in the way and she will not be able to [Music] um continue with us past June 30th. Um we will be obviously celebrating her retirement um with a you know little fun stuff for her and a proclamation um recognizing her many years in the district, her commitment to our students over the years and honestly to their families as well. Um and we'll miss her. Thank you. and the BA's report. Yep. So, uh you'll see on the agenda tonight um in the personnel section that we uh um are hoping to have approved our new payroll position, which is very exciting for the business office because we've been without one for a few weeks. Um so, we're really happy about that. And um other than that, this
119is the time of year where the business office starts to review for the getting ready for the end of the year. Uh at this point, open enrollment and open enrollment. Yep. Um at the for the end of the year, uh we're looking at purchase orders. We're checking in conferences. We're, you know, this is about the time when you start to think about is there anything coming that we're, you know, that we're not ready for. Is or is there something that didn't occur? Like for one, uh utilities as I mentioned, we, you know, decided uh this week that we needed an additional like $30,000 onto that purchase order just because our electricity has been it's just crazy right now. Um so that's what we're doing right now and we are in um an open enrollment time
120period. our healthc care has um is time to you know you you reup it every year July one for everybody and that process has just started too. So this is when staff can sign up or make their changes anything that they need. That's it for our office of two hopefully soon to be three. Thank you very much. Uh moving on to committee reports. Um Mrs. Maddox, do you have the report for the curriculum committee? Okay. Um, we met Wednesday, April 8th, uh, from 4 to 5:40 and this was a virtual meeting. Attendance was Dr. Glazier from 4 to 5:40 p.m. Uh, Karen Bishop Johnson, business administrator, she was absent. Jennifer Aguilario, did I say that right? No, it's okay. I don't know how many times I've tried to practice that one. Anyhow, I needed a
121phonics card. I'll share it with you. You really do. I learned it, but I needed a phonics card. Did I say the time? You were there from 4:00 to 5:40. [Laughter] Um, see, that's what happens whenever I'm the one who has to do this. Um Dory Harvey was there from 4 to 5:40. Fatima Santos was from there from there from 4:00 to 5:40. Myself was there from 4:00 to 5:40. Uh Principal Fner was there from 4 to 4:30 and Principal Kid was there from 4 to 5:13 and um Nicole Dota is I did I say that right? Correct. Was absent. Okay. That was a tongue twister. Um, so the new business was um there was a teacher of the year county awards on May 7th. Uh committee was informed. Did you already say that? No.
122Okay. I mean over time but not like I don't have to repeat that. The committee was informed that principal Fickner and special services director Nicole Dakota will attend the teacher of the year county award ceremony with our staff. Congratulations again to our honores. Valley View special education teacher. I'm going to mess this up. Caitlyn silly silly. And Bayberry professional support persona. Is it Chopa? Yeah. Darn. And I'm I'm sorry I'm butchering these names. Um so the second portion was Bayberry Art Show was May 7th. Glee Club. Um the committee was informed of the upcoming event. Uh district science fair. I think you had mentioned this, but I'll just review it anyways. June 2nd, the committee was told that it would be at Valley View. Um and that is for the whole district, the science fair.
123It's Bayberry and Valley here at So followup is March 31st, 2025 um um principal Kidd uh reviewed what the teachers could explore and uh work on during the professional development reported that um that all went well. um parent meeting just joking uh is still determining dates for this and it will be scheduled sometime after April 29th. Uh do I need to review the ref referendum? No, we kind of did that. the strategic plan. During meeting number three, some goals were created with objectives that can be developed for the strate strategic plan. I think you kind of pretty much already reviewed that earlier. Um, curriculum update resources adoption timeline. Valley View teachers selected the math program and when the new budget opens, resources will be ordered and professional development will be scheduled before the school starts
124in September. and potential board agenda items. Pursuant of excellent summer staffing, all the hires will be on the agenda. Valley View focuses on inviting students who are struggling or potentially failing classes. And then ESY summer staffing. All the hires will be on the agenda. 2025 through 2026 budget approval. No new new information. PTO donations. The PTO will have items on the agenda for on the agenda for the board to consider approving. And that was it. Thank you. Uh Mr. Fra, can you give the report for the administration finance committee, please? Sure. Uh we met on April 10th at 5:00 p.m. It was in person except for myself. I was virtual. Um the committee members there were myself um Manuel, Adam and um as for the administration we had Dr. Glazer and uh Karen Bishop Johnson
125and for the guests we had Ricky Boyd. Um honestly there isn't too much to discuss because we kind of went through every single thing before this. Um we discussed the referendum projects update, we discussed the the uh strategic plan. We discussed the final budget. Um we did discuss the snow days and calendar which is on the agenda for tonight but it is going to be changed I believe. Yes. Um last um we discussed the May 8th uh board meeting which we are moving to 5:00 p.m. so that we can accept an award from NJSBA at the Votech school. Um we discussed a candidate for the business office position. We discussed the memor memorandum of agreement for the uh New Jersey office of emergency management which is used for FEMA um for natural disasters and stuff
126like that. We also discussed the um health insurance which Karen already went over. And then we have the general agenda items including professional development, pay applications, uh change orders, payments of bills, um the retiree, and then that's pretty much it. Thank you. Uh Mrs. Amado, can you have the report for the policy committee, please? Yeah. policy committee met virtually on Wednesday, April 9th from 5:30 to 7:08 p.m. In attendance were myself, Phyllis Juet, Adam Craft, uh board president Jan Leierro, and administration Dr. Glazer, and Pinky Nielsen. Um transportation, we discussed combining two policies together, the NJSBA policy 3541.1 with the Watching Burough and Watching Hills approved policies 8600. Um Dr. Glazer is going to offer a version of this combined policy for review before next month. Um, and I will write up a first draft
127of an informal guideline document for transportation coordinators going forward outlining which streets require additional safety measures and what those measures should ideally be um, in our opinion. Um, Dr. Glazer also provided a bus waiver update as well. It seems like this was a successful program that we should continue. um bylaw 0167 public participation in board meetings. The committee agreed to the policy updates and moved it to a first reading. We then discussed the wording of the public comment statement which we would like to update. This wording can be changed without a board vote. So I would like to ask the board since we're not voting on it directly to please take a look at the first reading uh regulation folder for this month. the new wording um suggestions are in there. Um and you can
128send me any feedback before we make this final change before next month. Um up for a second reading bylaw 0164 governing the board meeting agenda order um which officially puts the public comments before executive session. We received no comments on that and it's approved for a second reading. um policy 8601, student supervision after school dismissal, um and the associated documentation. The legal language was received from the lawyer for a designated escort waiver. Um all pickup programs will be updated to match the language and student handbooks will be updated over the summer. Um we also discussed some parent challenges working with three different programs that govern parent pickup situations. Um policy and regulation 2440 summer programs as explained last month. The current available policy that covers this topic is geared towards high schools and needs to
129be updated for our use case. Summer school will be provided to students in danger of failing. Um, as other committees mentioned, this policy has been moved to a first reading. Policy 2365, acceptable use of generative artificial intelligence and policy 5701, academic integrity. All AI programs require a minimum age requirement of 13 years according to our IT gentlemen. Um, no suitable programs were found for our student community at this time. Given that information, these policies will be reviewed next month with the appropriate updates and move forward for a first reading. Um, we also discussed dog walking ordinances per a board request. Um, Dr. Dr. Glazer met with Jim Damato on this topic. And while a school could potentially do something about this, call the police if neighbors are leaving pet feces on grounds, she felt this
130was not the battle we want to pick right now. And we just like to ask you, please curb your dogs. Please curb your pets. Um, uh, please pick up the poop. That's kind of what we're saying. Please. That's what we're saying. Um, policies for review, regulation 24/19, school threat assessment teams, and regulation 8420.1, active shooter. This regulation is up to date except that it's missing language about implement implementing Raptor, which is a new program for us that will be added and moved to a first reading for April's board meeting. I was going to say it's there meeting. Oh, it is here. Sorry, old old language. Yep. Um, that is moved for a first reading. um regulation 2425 emergency virtual or remote instruction program. Dr. Glazer um will review this against the current policy for next
131month for the May board meeting. Um and that's everything I think. Thank you very much. Uh Mr. Gonzalez, do you have a committee report for negotiations? I do. Uh we met on uh April 8th uh with the union and uh are meeting again on May 1st. Thank you. Uh moving on to board liaison reports. Is there a report from legisl the legislative liaison? Yes. Um quick one thankfully the there was a new law that was passed on Monday March 31st regarding sunscreen policies. Um was Sorry. It requires school districts to adopt policies concerning student use of sunscreen and sunprotective clothing at school and school sponsored functions. Thank you. Okay. Work on that, I guess. Um blurb to share on that. I'm just curious on what they said. Um you don't have to do it now.
132Just like you could email. I mean it's pretty short. I could read it out. I was going to say she looks so excited. Pretty short, so I could read it out. Um, the policy shall not require a student to provide documentation from a physician or other licensed healthcare professional. As amended, the policy may require written permission from a student, parent, um, or guardian, but may not require school personnel to assist a student in applying sunscreen. That was all that was written about it. Uh, is there a report from Somerset County Education Educational Services? Um it was it was actually very very short one of the shortest meetings I've ever attended. But we did have the opportunity to um to go to their workshop and uh which was actually quite impressive. The the workshop was um
133building materials and all the supplies that they util uh utilize in order to build walls or um rooms or homes or whatever. And these students were actually in charge of building um whatever their assignment was. But they had several examples in the workshop and they took us through um the workshop and showed us some of the things that the students had been working on which was very impressive. So cool. So you know these are some of the tools that they're going to utilize in order to be successful adults once they go out into um society and you know they're setting them up for success and it was pretty impressive. Um, next time we have another meeting, we're going to go into their automotive area where they teach children how to do auto repairs, oil changes,
134and they were saying, you know, if you have a vehicle that you need um, an oil change, you can just fill out a form and the students will actually they'll do some oil changes for you. So, you know, these are just some really impressive things that uh, the school is doing. That was it. Great. Thank you. U, Mrs. Mrs. Amado, do you have a report from Somerset County School Boards Association? I do not. Okay. Next month I will. Okay. So, moving on to school boards association. That's me. Um I hope everybody saw in the board packet that we have received the official notification of achieving board certification with the New Jersey School Boards Association. Uh we will be honored at the county meeting on May 8th at 6:00 p.m. It's being held in Bridgewater at
135the Votech School. I hope everyone can attend. Um but if you wish to come, please ensure that you register for the meeting. They feed you. So you have to register. Um the plaque um honoring us for achieving certification will also be presented to us at our June 19th board of ed meeting. Can't make it be here June 19th. Good job. Um and then it's me again. Regionalization committee update. Uh the committee met on March 24th at 6 p.m. virtually. We were provided with an update on where they are regarding data collection for all ascending districts and the high school. Uh there was also a town hall on the shared services and regionalization study at the high school on April 10th. It was well attended with lots of good questions. And if anybody wants to watch
136it, a video recording of the meeting can be found on the high school's website. I believe it's actually on the homepage. Yeah. Did we get it? If we've got it, we'll put it up too. Okay. So, and maybe it will be up on oursel. Um M UJC Dr. Glazer, do you have an update? Our meeting is May 8th. Okay. Uh moving on to community engagement. Um is there any update from CPEG? N. And there's nobody here from PTO or what? I don't believe PTO on the agenda. Lots of Valley View donations, right? All the donations from the PTO are on the agenda tonight. Thank you very much for the for all of those. Um, okay. So, we're moving on to comments from the public on agenda items. Um, we welcome input from the public. There
137are two times during the meeting when the public's invited to speak. The first opportunity is now on agenda items only. Public forums are not structured as a question and answer session, but rather are offered as opportunities to share input with the board. In instances where the board feels a response is needed, the presiding officer or superintendent will address the comment. New Jersey statutes do not permit the board to discuss personnel or hiring in public session. Names of students should not be used. Members of the public should consider their comments in light of legal rights of those affected and identified in their comments and be aware that they are personally legally responsible with potential liability for comments that they make to the board. The board shall not be held liable for comments made by members of
138the public. No takers. All right. Moving on then to action items. So before we start, I just want to address um under action items under administrative item number two, approve revised 2024 and 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026 district academic calendars which are in attachments two and three. This item's on the agenda because we have two extra snow days that we didn't use this year that we need to give back. Um, and the thought was that we were going to put them back over Memorial Day to extend Memorial Day weekend that we were going to take the Friday before and then the Tuesday after. However, after receiving some feedback from this the schools, um, it caused some instructional hardships. Um, we've decided to just keep the Friday, which is May 23rd, and then they'll
139use the last day of school, which is June 28th. So, I would like to move that June 28th or sorry, June 18th. It's late. I know. I was like June. Thank you for correcting me. I would like to move that we amend item A administrative 2 approve revised 2024 2025 and 2025 2026 district academic calendars to indicate that in the 2024 2025 year the days at off that we are adding are May 23rd and June 18th. The last day last day will be June 17th. So we're giving June 18th off. It already is. We had three snow days. We've used Is that correct? Am I that correct? I know I was so on I have I know I sent an email. Well, I'll have to look now. The tentative last day of school on our
140calendar is listed as June 18th with this change on our act on our actual calendar. On the calendar that's an attachment will be if you're using if you have two days the last day will be the 17th if you're using May 23rd. Yes, correct. So June 18th will be off. Yes. Yes. That's so to So I move that we amend the calendar for 2024 2025 to indicate that the snow days we're giving back will occur on May 23rd and June 18th. So those two days will be off. Second. Thank you. Any discussion? This is a motion to change what we're voting on or is this the vote on the thing? This is a vote to change it to reflect May 23rd to change the item. We vote on it as and we'll vote on it.
141This is just a vote on the change. Great. Seconded. Mode. Roll call. You ready? Uh, Mrs. Amado. Yes. Mr. Frraise. Yes. Mrs. Duet. Yes. Mr. Craft. Yes. Mrs. Maddox. Yes. Mrs. Santos. Yes. Mr. Gonzalez. Yes. Mrs. Agliero. Yes. Motion passes. Okay. So now I'll move administrative items. One, approve minutes of previous meeting. Two, amended, approve revised calendars. And three, accept Bayberry and Valley View School District School security drill reports. Second. Any discussion? I would just like to know what we do to make sure everybody knows about these calendar changes tomorrow. It's already I think he's already got it is uh everybody right staff and parent um email that goes tomorrow. Okay. More than one email maybe. Oh no. Absolutely. But you again we have lots of school communications but the big one tomorrow. Okay. Thank
142you. Roll call, please. Mr. Gonzalez, yes. Mrs. Duet, yes. Mrs. Maddox, yes. Mrs. Santos, yes. Mr. Fra, yes. Mr. Craft, yes. Mrs. Amado, yes. Mrs. Agliero, yes. Motion passes. Okay, good. Maybe you could ask the PTO president to also send one out or post it on their Facebook pages. Yeah, it's a good idea. I think we just moved away from their suggestion. Um, Mrs. Dwet, do you mind moving the items under personnel for us? Personnel approve appointments. Okay, let's see. Approve appointment of uh, do I have to say the names? Um, Shadon. No, I don't know. All right. for the board office and uh approve the appointment of oh my goodness substitute. Number two, it's a substitute bus driver. Any of my cheaters? Substitute bus driver. Okay, you want my cheaters? And um number three,
143approve the retirement resolve that the board of ed upon the uh recommendation of the superintendent approves Mary Lois Balmer's retirement effective of June 30th, 2024. And number four, approve revised leaves of absence. We have very teacher revision. What is all these? Okay. Resolve that the board of education upon the recommendation of the superintendent approves the following revised leaves of absence. 4045. Number five, appoint summer pursuit of excellence program staff. Ellie View, we have Carissa Stanzac. Ellie View, we have Christopher Mel. Valley View. We also have Kevin O'Connell. Um, we have McKenzie Foggman, Carissa Stanzac at Valley View, her teacher, Caroline Star, and Caitlyn Bile. More just one more. One more. Okay, six. Approve of extracurricular positions. Uh that Leslie Kirk Kirk Lesley Christopher Mel Lauren Miller second uh Carissa Stanzac second. Any discussion? Roll call,
144please. Yes. Uh Mr. Craft. Yes, Mrs. Santos. Yes, Mrs. Maddox. Yes, Mr. Fra. Yes, Mr. Gonzalez. Yes, Mrs. Amado. Yes, Mrs. Duet. Yes, and Mrs. Agliero. Yes. Motion passes. Great. Mr. Fra, can you move the items under operations finance, please? Sir, I move operations finance one, approve payment of bills. Two, approve transfer of funds 2024 2025. Three, accept financial reports. Four, approve professional service provider. Five, approve payment application for Bayberry and Valley View HVAC upgrades. Six, approve change order for Bayberry and Valley View HVAC upgrades. Uh, seven, approve change order for toilet room renovations at Bay Elementary School. Eight, approve change order for educational alterations at Valley View Middle School. Nine, approve SCESC transportation agreement. Number 10, approve professional development/school business related school business and related expenses. Number 11, accept donation for teacher appreciation lunchon.
145Uh number 12, accept donation of care packages and treats. Number 13, accept donation for of the end of year luau. Uh 14, accept donation of Valley View front benches. 15. Accept donation of Valley View Student Council spring dance. 16. Accept donation of Valley View Staff appreciation gifts. 17. Accept donation of locks for Valley View Lockers. 18. Accept donation of Valley View Field Day supplies. And 19, accept Valley View Field Trip contributions. Second. Any discussion? Thank you for the very many donations. Yes, I was going to say. Holy cow. Is that like 30,000? That's just But that's just Valley View. Bayerries will be on the next. That's why I said we have to call that out. It's amazing. This was about $30,000 that we don't have in our budget that we otherwise wouldn't have been able
146to do. Exactly. And these are all wonderful things that the children and the staff will get to experience. So for not to harp on it because I'm very happy that the budget passed, but we're obviously being fiscally responsible by putting in only things that I don't know how you want to put it. I don't want to get in trouble saying things we need or what. But it's nice that we're able to do these things. Yes. More strategic things, but it's nice that we're able to do these things because it's not just always about the academics. Yes. Absolutely. Roll call. Okay. Just imagine what our taxes would have gone up if we didn't get these donations. Um, Mr. Gonzalez, yes. Mrs. Duet, yes. Mr. Craft, yes. Mrs. Santos, yes. Mrs. Maddox, yes. Mr. Fra, yes. Mrs.
147Amado, yes. And Mrs. Agliero, yes. Motion passes. Um, Mrs. Santos, could you move the item under a curriculum? Approve additional field trip location for the 2024 2025 school year. Second. Any discussion? Right. Roll call when you're ready. Mrs. Bishop Johnson. Got it. Mrs. Amado, yes. Mr. Craft, yes. Mrs. Duet, yes. Mrs. Maddox, yes. Mrs. Santos, yes. Miss Mr. Gonzalez, yes. Mr. Fra, yes. Mrs. Aaro, yes. Motion passes. Excuse me. Uh, Mrs. Amado, could you move the items under policy, please? Yes. I would like to move for a first reading bylaw 0167, public participation in board meetings. Policy regulation 2440, summer sessions. Regulation 5410, promotion and retention. Regulation 2419, school threat assessment teams. And I would like to move for a second reading B. Um, bylaw 0164, Conduct of Board Meetings. Second. Any discussion? All right.
148Roll call, please. You're ready? Yep. Okay. Mr. Fra. Yes. Mrs. Duet. Yes. Mr. Craft. Yes. Mr. Gonzalez. Yes. Mrs. Amado. Yes, Mrs. Santos. Yes, Mrs. Maddox. Yes, Mrs. Agliero. Yes. Motion passes. Uh, moving on to board business. Does anybody have any? Okay, moving on to final comments from the public. No. All right. Make a motion to adjurnn. Let's go move. I can't move. All in favor say I. I.journed. Thank you everybody. [Music]