001for several months with respect to the budget. Is that correct? We have come a long way and tonight is a final presentation with respect to the school budget to which Dr. Dwitt and Mr. Styas will give the final presentation. So, it's all yours. I'll be back in 20 minutes. So, a lot of this uh will be repetitive, but as tonight is our formal budget hearing, we do need to to go through this. Um, so again, it's it's so nice that we have an audience for this. Um, but there's nothing in here that's a surprise. There may just be a few more details as we've, you know, finalized some of the pieces of it. I do want to thank the board um for the time you spend really working to make a budget that provides exceptional
002opportunities for our students and is fiscally responsible to our taxpayers. Um so without further ado here uh so we're actually at the end of the budget timeline. So we started way back in February um with our initial presentation but we actually started developing the budget probably back in November December. Uh so we're now tonight this is the public hearing on the budget and that obviously is the the first agenda item that we will be voting on. Um one of the the main foundation for our budget development every year is our strategic plan. Uh, and I, you know, I tremendously appreciate that Tim includes this in his budget documents and when submissions are made for the budget, he requires administrators to indicate the goal that the that um particular budget allocation supports. And so that's has
003number one helped us to actually achieve um actualization of our strategic plan, but it really makes it for a very thoughtful budget process. and you know some of the things that we've talked about through this and when we go and present we are presenting at the the townships over the next couple of weeks um I believe our first one is next Thursday we do that as a courtesy we want to highlight to them really what we have accomplished as a result of the budget and some of these things are very public um components of the high school the the learning commons that we're in right now um the design lab that you know was opened earlier this year our culinary arts cafe and kitchen and all of that came out of the vision from the
004strategic plan which we were able to support through careful budgetary planning. So we have our enrollment which you know for a number of years now has been going slightly down. We don't really expect much of a change from this year to next year. Um that's relatively stable in terms of what next year's budget includes. Some of these are recurring purchases. So we um have been working on replacing our classroom furniture. So this is year five of that. um Chromebooks for our ninth graders, obviously, some new desktops, some new laptops um for staff members. Um our TV studio, we are upgrading the equipment in there. Uh we obviously are always looking to in uh upgrade our technology infrastructure and some more uh wireless microphones for the pack. In terms of co-curricular additions, we are uh purchasing
005some more instruments for our marching band. And then we do have uh additional security cameras and phones in there as well. with regard to our uh capital projects. Uh I think I'm turning this over to you because this goes right into the next one. Thank you, Dr. Jwitt. Thank you, the board, members of the public. Um so, as we talked about about a month ago, and we're in the same place. We only we only have a few items for capital and maintenance. Um, obviously the budget dictated that, but the uh condensate tank in the south boiler um is rusty and it's been leaking. So, that needs to be replaced as best we can. Somewhere down the road, I hope that the district moves to a different type of heating system. Right now, it's steam, hoping
006hot water, but that's uh down the road. Um, but for now, we need to replace that tank. That's kind of critical. Uh if we do not have that, we do not have heat. Um there are security improvements that I'm not going to go into detail. It's just something that's part of our plan. It's about a three-year plan to to do some things that we need to do. Um and in the maintenance field, we have a fume hood fume hoods for the science rooms that need to be repaired. And this is just a piece of it. There's going to be a piece for the next couple of years. the fire doors which are always in need of repair. Um and then in the IT data rooms the we need some a little more air and air.
007As the technology grows the heat in those rooms grow so we need to have some air conditioning in those rooms. Um, as I mentioned to the board, um, as I mentioned to the board at the March meeting, these numbers here, the capital's 408 and the maintenance is 190. We're using our surplus to fund those, our reserves to fund those. Um, I don't necessarily love doing that, but I think in a year like this, this is the time when you need to use those funds because those projects are a minimum that we needed to do and we really couldn't get it from uh the tax base. We kind of have to use our own surplus. But it's it's a it's a good thing that we had the money there to do this because it was critical
008to do that. And it also it gets us to get the projects done without overt taxing our constituents. Uh and then some of the budget cuts that we had already talked about. We provide a little more detail on the staffing cuts. Um as the board knows we cut an administrative position. uh we cut one clerical position that's through attrition and we cut a uh teachers position in PE that's attrition and point two uh in world language um and it was some shuffling around some positions um and then co-curricular and supplies we cut 5% across the board on supplies I keep telling my administrators this so they remember uh when it comes time in September uh uniforms we pushed a year out. So now it's a four-year cycle as opposed to a three. U and then
009there was a program we had we wanted to add a parchment a digital program so we can digitize records which I'd still would love to see the board do at some point in time. Um but uh we could not add that into this budget. Um and then one of the larger items for students uh we're eliminating the late buses. There's three days a week now there will be no late buses next year at all. Um and then a reduction of some of our athletic and field trip uh transportation. And one of the things we did on the revenue side is we estimated a little higher on what we anticipate receiving from our ex aid, extraordinary aid. Um which is always a little bit of a gamble, but I thought this was a good year to
010do that because I don't think they're going to cut that aid. Um and I think it's reasonably safe to do that. Um, our overall numbers, as the board knows and the public knows, we're up 3.7% in our operating budget. Um, the overall budget is lower. It's actually below 3%. Because we anticipate lower, uh, grant monies and we have less service. Um, but, uh, the number that kind of jumps out a little bit, um, is the miscellaneous revenue, but they're smaller numbers. We are uh have been fortunate with interest revenue and rentals have been helpful. Um so that seems to be helping our budget. Um the state aid as everyone knows went up. Um it's 8% there, but that's adds in that extraordinary aid number, but still it's a lot better than some of the districts
011that you've heard. They they lost a lot of aid. We did not. And then obviously the tax levy through the use of the waivers is up to 4.1% and the primary waiver was healthcare. Um salary and benefits is up 3.9 it almost interprets as like about 1.7 for salaries and the benefits is about 11. Um that those numbers were higher again we cut 3.2 positions so those those were lowered. Uh I saw I was talking tell talking talking to the board before they there was a survey statewide with BAS and the one thing I did see is that health benefit benefits was the it hurt everyone uh district statewide. So most of the districts struggled with the health care increases. They're all double digits. A lot of them used waiverss. A lot of them had
012trouble funding it. So they had to make cuts because of it. So that that is a big it always is a big driver in the budget and that one definitely hurt us this year. No, no question about it. Um and the other thing that I talked about at the last meeting was the special ed the the tuition out of district tuition placements. Uh that's up almost 11% and that that also kind of hurt us. Those are big numbers. Uh in terms of comparisons and I'm sorry these numbers are small. I try to fit them all in. Uh these are districts that are comparable to us. They're regionals. Um some in uh Hunington County, some in Morris, couple up north, but you can see our cost per pupil on the operating budget is is lower. We're
013the lowest of the of the group. And it's typically we've been in that range. We we kind of switch with West Morris every other year or so, but that's that's where we are right now. Um some things to be proud of the district. Uh the things and uh Dr. Jud already mentioned it. We do have uh we did do three referendum projects where we did not ask the the taxpayers for more money. That's the learning commons, the room we're in right now. uh the interior alterations which is the steam lab, the um the nursing the nurse room, the um the trainers room, uh the printing room, and obviously the chillers that no one actually thinks about, but you will next week. Trust me, without those chillers, there's no air. Um so the chillers, which are
014supposed to be online by by the way by May 8th. Um anyway, so uh these and the turfield and the these items here, we used our own capital reserve uh and state aid, debt service aid to pay off those projects. So the taxpayers uh didn't have to pay extra funds for these projects. And that's $13 million, almost $13 million worth of projects that the board did in referendum style without increasing the taxes. And then the EIP plan, and I know Mr. Bernber is going to get on me about it, but uh this this isn't the entire picture. What this is is it shows you the the um what happened what happened in terms of our kilowatt usage and the actual cost that we're paying um in terms of how those electrical projects helped us. Obviously,
015one of the bigger ones is the solar panels, but we did all all LED lighting. Um, and there was some rebates that are not included in this. They're actually separate. But you can see the difference back in 2223. You know, from July through April, you're talking 3 million um at kilowatt hours as opposed to the same period this year, it's 1.7 million. So, that's significant. Um, and it's a good time to do that because obviously the electric rates are going up in June. So, this is a this was a good project for the board. There's other factors and one of the other factors that I didn't include on this and I will because I did get the report from the energy company. Um, cost avoidance, you know, LED lightings in particular, you're not replacing those
016nearly the same as you are the old fluorescent bulbs for sure. um some of the pumps that we replaced again more efficient that's part of that electrical savings. So now these are good things that the board did over the last three or four years that helped and I will pass it over back to Dr. J talk about I get to talk about some of the the fun things. Um and actually a number of the staff members in the audience tonight in addition to their roles in the classroom they are co-curricular adviserss and coaches. We have a number of them uh in the audience. So, I know that this was included in our initial budget presentation as well, but when we talk about all the money and the cuts and and all of the, you know,
017struggles, uh, financial struggles, it's nice to actually also highlight what we are able to accomplish with the resources that we have, even though they continue to get more and more limited. Um, so we had a number of our teams earn championships, our girls volleyball team, our girls fencing team, competition cheer, and our wrestling. uh and that this was just this year and we're in the midst of our spring season right now. And then in terms of uh co-curricular and academic achievements, you know, these I just grabbed some snapshots from our social media um to show just some highlights of what our students are doing outside of the classroom and it spans, you know, our academic co-curriculars to uh the arts uh to things that are STEM related uh service related. So, you know, and a
018lot of these you would think that they're just cut and pasted from prior years presentations because our students earn these accolades year after year in terms of the allstate music ensembles. Um the uh the academic recognitions of our different academic related clubs, our science league, our math league. Um, so they it's one of the things I think that this board does really well is provide a really a very comprehensive amount of opportunities um to the students. And you know, that's one of the advantages of of being a larger district is that hopefully every student can find, you know, their their place and their passion somewhere in something that we offer. Uh, and I think that, you know, we've done a really good job of that. even despite our declining enrollment, we've done a really good
019job of committing to the programs that we offer and not having to make cuts in those areas. So, I really appreciate that on the the board's part. Um, and you know, our I our culinary arts program is just such a great example of when we found mold years ago and the board had to make a decision of whether to just condemn and move on or actually try and rebuild and and rejuvenate the program. And it's our most popular program every year. um where it's the the hardest one to schedule because we have so many requests for that. So, I'm going to turn this back over to Tim. Okay, more exciting stuff. Um so, the allocation changed this year. Um this is a question I usually get from the different towns. Why is our taxes going
020up more than this town? Essentially, it's a it changes every year based on two things. the enrollment uh of the three towns and the change in the values of the homes. Um and you know based on the analysis that I I was provided this year, you could see that um Warren and Wong get a a little bit more of the uh piece of the pie, the Wong Hills pie, and Longill gets a little less. Long Hill primarily because they're they had a increase in their elementary as opposed to the high school students. So which would make sense. Um and then the other the other two um they theirs were almost flat. Actually watching went down a little bit at the elementary level. So bottom line is Warren and Watch get a little bit more of
021it and long gets a little less. And that translates to this is Warren's the tax impact. Um, I go from average home last year to average home this year. I could put a $100,000 up there, but you can see in the second line, I would be telling people they're getting a tax decrease, and you're not going to get a tax decrease because your value of your home most likely went up. Um, if your home value did not go up, then you get a tax decrease from us. Not from everyone else. I can't I can't talk for everyone else, just for us. But um so in the case of Warren uh the average average home assessed at 900 almost $970,000 which is amazing to me but is uh $66 for that and a year in Warren
022uh in Wong Wang Burough the average home is about $936,000 and that tax rate actually is also So going down, but when you compare last year's average to this year's average, the price goes up $148 per the year. And in longhel, um you could see that the average home went up a little bit as well, 596 to 622. Uh the tax rate was almost the same and the regional tax is $103 more than last year. Um, so that's the tax rate. Want to thank everybody for being attentive and listening. We tried to make it quick. But for those who, if there are public out there watching, um, obviously there's questions, you can look at our website. There's information on our website for the budget. Um, Dr. Jude and I will be at three towns. We
023will be at I think Long Hill was the first one. Is that next week? And then uh the 14th and 15th we're at Warren and watching. I'll give the board all the dates and times. So you guys, if you want to tune in or watch, feel free to do so. And with that, we thank you and ask for any questions. Anyone have any questions? My only comments is to thank both of you. I know how much work this is put together. It's a substantial effort to get to this point in the budget process. So, thank you. Yeah, I you know, speaking on behalf of the board, I certainly echo those sentiments. I'm sure everyone appreciates all the hard work you do and uh both of you do and rest of your staff. Certainly, the last
024few years have been financially uh more difficult than years past. And uh again our job as the board and administration is some mathematical principle called maxi min and dealing with constraints and we're trying to maximize the educational environment and the opportunities for the students. However, we have certain constraints. So, we're trying to do the best we can with what we have and I think this model or this budget, I'm sorry, really depicts that. And uh you know, there's going to be more struggles down the road and we can just hope for the best and hopefully there'll come a time when the state of New Jersey actually cares about us and decides to do something that helps a district like ours out. Uh not sure if that's ever going to happen, but certainly that's what we
025need to happen. Um so again thank you. Okay. So now it's an opportunity for the public to comment solely with respect to the budget items. there'll be other opportunities for public to comment with respect to the uh uh the agenda items and then after that for the secondary round. So at this point are there any any comments with respect to the public? If you would can certainly take the podium, make your comment, state your name, where you're from. Anybody? We have a big crowd tonight. Anybody? Okay. None. Okay. Mr. President, I'd like to move items D1 through D5. Second. Uh, any comments with respect to those five items. Okay. Roll call, please. Mr. Excuse me. Mr. Mio, Mr. Galla, yes. Miss Lee, yes. Mr. Marichek, yes. Mr. Morrison, yes. Sober. Yes. Shur. Yes. And Mr.
026Bernberg, yes. Okay. Motion carries. Great. Okay. Move on to board correspondence. Do we have any Dr. J? We do not. Sorry, we do not. I was keeping you in suspense. Sorry. All right. Uh, Dr. J, you have another opportunity to speak with regard to superintendent comments. Uh, nope. I'm going to leave it all to the students because there is a lot going on with the students and I don't want to steal their thunder. Okay. uh I too will pass to just reiterate uh it's a big important meeting tonight with regard with respect to the teachers and respect to the budget and uh again appreciate all the efforts with respect to the budget and certainly appreciated all the teachers and all those who are up for uh a tenure as well as for uh I guess
027reapproval for years moving forward. Okay. Uh Mr. Ste, I know you had a lot to say on the budget. You want to add anything? I'm just going to add one thing because I want to reiterate that point. So, so the chiller project the it's it's pretty much set the the information the um the fluids are all in the system and on May 8th and May 9th it'll be commissioned and will be able to be used after that. So, let's hope that the weather stays a little cooler. Um but you always get those weird days in May. But anyway, I just thought that the board should know that we're almost done with that project. Okay, Dr. you have an opportunity to amend your lack of commenting. I just this might be premature as I know we
028do this when we're about to um discuss the agenda items, but I just want to bring everyone's attention to A8 and that is taking one of our unused emergency closing days and allocating it to extend Memorial Day weekend to add that Friday um as a holiday. I literally do not talk about that until it's on the agenda for this meeting because that anything can happen. We do still have one day in reserve just in case, you know, we've had the smoke apocalypse and all those crazy things in past years. Um, but of those two days, we allocated the one for that. So, I just wanted to point that out since that's a nice well-deserved day for everyone. I I was going to comment on that, but I decided to let you be the hero. Okay.
029All right. Our student representatives, we have Sophie Lamb and Juliana Santos. You like to bring us up to date? Okay, so this month's student achievements are as followed. We are pleased to share the results of the fifth math league contest. Watch Hills Regional High School achieved an impressive score of 27 out of 30. This places our team 13th in the state and fourth in the county. We congratulate the team on their dedication and success. In addition, the Watch Hills mathematics team had an outstanding performance at the 42nd annual AMTJ High School mathematics contest. The team secured second place with 32 points, tying with Tennifly High School. They also achieved second place in the Gamma Division, which is a remarkable accomplishment considering the large pool of over 1,250 participating students. One student achieved a perfect score
030of nine, earning them first place individually. The students who have been accepted into girls state this year are Sadie Brown, Rebecca Lubec, and Roxanna Nazarin. The students who have been accepted into boy state this year are Anderson Tran, Arav Kadakam, Anthony Palumbo, Arish Patel, Nico Moludas, and Jay Carring. At Girl State and Boy State, each student becomes a citizen of an assigned city. The citizens set up city governments and elect city officials. Each student is assigned to one of two parties, federals or nationals, so they may see how political parties function. They develop their own party platforms and discuss issues they choose. All of the elections are carried out according to the existing laws of New Jersey. Candidates were selected based on academic achievement, leadership, patriotism, community involvement, and extracurricular activities. Recently, our FBLA students
031attended the New Jersey FBA State Leadership Conference where they engaged in valuable workshops, heard from inspiring speakers, and showcased their skills in diverse business competitions. Several of our students achieved finalist positions in the state of New Jersey. Rehion Mitra earned a finalist position for introduction to marketing concepts, Amanda Kashman for accounting 2, and Cayang for intro introduction to programming. Furthermore, our students demonstrated exceptional performance in the objective testing category. Their hard work and dedication have truly paid off and we congratulate them on their outstanding achievements. Isabella Corlette applied and was awarded the Sea Smart Ocean Diversity Scholarship. Seesmart hopes to provide qualified students with an opportunity to explore their interest in ocean conservation, marine biology, and scuba diving. 11th grade student Arish Patel was awarded the Deans List at the Robotics Montgomery competition. The Deans
032List award is a prestigious first recognition similar to the National Merit Scholarship honoring outstanding student leadership and dedication robotics. Selection is based on leadership, community outreach, technical skills, and commitment to first core values. Arish demonstrated these qualities and is now a district championship semi-finalist, advancing to an interview at Lehigh University. This award is recognized by colleges and universities and winners may qualify for the Woody Flowers Memorial Grant. Continuing on with our student achievements, um we are proud to proud to announce the results from the recent CJMEA Concert Band Festival. Our three ensembles, freshman concert band, symphonic band, and wind ensemble, were each adjudicated by worldclass judges and brought their best to the stage. The wind ensemble earned their first gold rating in over 7 years. The freshman concert band earned a silver rating and the
033symphonic band received a bronze rating. These recognitions are a testament to their hard work, dedication, and passion for music. A huge congratulations to violinist Emily Wang. Emily has not only auditioned for the New Jersey All State Orchestra, but she secured first place, which is the top spot in the entire state. This is an extraordinary achievement, and Emily's hard work and dedication have truly paid off. Also, congratulations to Sha Dav who auditioned for the NJ AJ Regional Jazz Band at Piscataway High School and was seated as third trumpet. He played with our ensemble on Sunday, April 6th. Our students demonstrated remarkable artistic skill at the 39th annual Mount Olive, New Jersey Invitational Art Show, a jured exhibition sponsored by the Mount Olive chapter of the National Art Honor Society. This year marked Wong Hills's first invitation
034to the prestigious event which showcases outstanding artwork from high schools across the state. Wong Hills students distinguished themselves with the following awards. Esme McLaclin, first place in drawing. Cat Ryder, second place in digital art, and Ava Pervenol, the first place in ceramics. In addition to these accolades, several Watch Hills artists were awarded substantial scholarships from renowned institutions, including the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford, Moore College of Art and Design, and Monserat College of Art. This school extends its congratulations to all participating artists. Julia Goldberg, Ava Provenol, Elise Provencol, Alexander Rivera, Tori Schiffman, Willa Bellish, Alex Coleman, Esme Mclaclin, Cat Ryder, and Cadence Cra for their exceptional contributions to this successful exhibition. Each year, over 10,000 students from across the nation participate in the American Chemical Society's Chemistry Olympiad. This year, Wong Hills
035had 10 students take the local exam. Of the over 10,000 students, a thousand are chosen to take the national level test. Junior Jason Zang qualified to take the national exam and is one of the top 1,000 students in the country. Now, moving on to our school events. The world language induction ceremony and sealed by literacy recognition was held on April 6, April 9th at 6 p.m. in the pack. 161 students were inducted into the four language honor society. Chinese had 25 students, French 40 students, Italian 31 students, and Spanish 65 students. In addition, 45 students were recognized for achieving a seal of bi literacy from the New Jersey Department of Education. The languages represented were Chinese, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian. Three of our graduating students will receive two seals of biliteracy. There
036are Benjamin Carvalo in Portuguese and Spanish, Tiffany Wang in Chinese and Spanish, and Selena Zhan in Chinese and French. And that is all for our student announcements. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Kudos to all our students. Okay, first round, first opportunity for public comment. The first public comment period will be limited to agenda items for this meeting only. Second public comment period will be open to any topic. All comments are limited to five minutes. Any public comments? Please take the podium, state your name, where you're from, and let us know what you're thinking. Any public comments? Okay. No more discussion items. Do we have any? No. Mr. President, I'd like to move items A1 through A4 and A7 through A14. Any comments or discussion with respect to those items? Roll call, please. Mr. M,
037excuse me, Mr. Deagio. Mr. Galla, yes. Miss Lee, yes. Mr. Mayor, yes. Morrison. Yes. M. Sober. Potter. Yes. Trumpour. Yes. Mr. Bernberg. Yes. Motions carry. Mr. President, I'd like to move items A5 and A6. Any comments, Mr. Sty? Roll. Mr. Majio, Mr. Gall, yes. M Lee, Mayor, yes. Mr. Morrison, yes. Mr. M. Miss Trump, yes. And Mr. Bernberg, yes. Motion carry. Mr. President, I'd like to move items C1 through C14. Any Hold on one second. Hold on one sec. Did you say C1 through C14? Oh, I'm sorry. C1 through C15. Okay. Second to that. Okay. I'm sorry. Uh, someone had a question. I'm sorry. Yeah. So, how are we gonna how are we supporting our students? So fortunately we have actually a teacher in each of our um world language departments that also has ESL
038certification and as the enrollment has been fluctuating in those this actually gives us flexibility because we're making somebody part-time full-time and yes so so we are still servicing them. So I'm glad you brought that up. Any other comments? Roll call, please. Mr. Majio. Okay, Mr. Gallock. Yes, Miss Lee. Mr. Mayor, yes. Mr. Morrison, yes. Miss Ober Potter, yes. Mr. Trump, yes. And Mr. Burnberg, yes. Motions carry. Great. Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to move items D1 through D14 and D16 through D No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Sorry. D All right. D6 through D14, D16 through D22. Okay. Any comments with respect to those? I would just like to comment on D16 and thank uh the Churchill family for their donation to the Ben Watkins Memorial Music Scholarship Fund.
039Seconded okay. Any other comments with regard to those items? Okay. Roll call, please. Mr. Mio. Mr. Gallic? Yes. Miss Lee? Mr. Mayor? Yes. Mr. Morrison? Yes. Miss Ober? Yes. Miss Potter? Yes. Mr. Trump? Yes. And Mr. Burnberg. Yes. Mr. President, I'd like to move items D item D15. Any comments with respect to that item? Roll call. Mr. SL. Mr. Majio. Mr. Gallic. Yes. Mr. Lee. Yes. March. Yes. Morrison. Yes. Mr. Champur. Yes. And Mr. Renburg. Yes. Motions carries. Okay. We now have the second opportunity for public comment. Again, uh I stated before, uh the only difference is this can be comment about anything. So, would anyone like to make a comment? Yes, please come on up. State who you are, where you from. Well, good evening everyone. I'm Marissa Walsh. I'm from Atlantic Highlands. That's
040down in Mammoth County by Sandy Hook for anyone not familiar. Bit of a drive. Um, for those of you who don't know me, uh, I'm a teacher here 19 years. Uh, and I will be the newly, uh, elected president of the Wong Hills Regional Education Association. So, I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. Um, I've been here, you know, since 2006, uh, changing administration, changing state mandates for teaching, you know, changing board members, pandemics. Um, and I just want to make it, you know, clear to you that I've always been very dedicated to the success of the students at the school, uh, and the staff at the school. And, uh, it's a message of collaboration that, you know, we're all bringing here tonight that we are looking forward to working together to find
041innovative solutions. We want to make the school better for everyone, staff and students. And, uh, we look forward to, you know, successful years ahead of us. And that's it. Thank you for your time. [Applause] Yes, please. Good evening. I'm Trisha Rexford. I live in Warren. I'm here to talk about policy 5756 both in terms of it its substance and whether it should be rescended and also in terms of the process by which the last vote was taken. Policy number 0167 of this board states that the board of education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the comment of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest. The way in which the motion to resend was raised at the last opportunity without being put
042on the agenda without allowing for public comment demonstrated at a minimum a willingness to subvert the opportunity of the public to comment and at worst an intent to do so. The fact that it was raised when a board member was missing makes me lean more towards the latter rather than the former in terms of inference. And I know I'm not alone in that inference. Setting that aside, let's talk about the substance of that motion. All of the disc discussion with respect to that motion focused on the question of whether when a trans or gender non-conforming student comes out to someone at the school and tries to live as their authentic self whether the school should be required to forcibly out that student to their family. As a parent, I agree with many of you that
043I would hope that if my child were going through something like that, they would come to me. Frankly, if I have not created a safe enough space in my home that my child would dain to share that with me, I have failed as a parent. But as a member of the LGBT community, I assure you that not every family is a safe space. There are many homes where if a child were to come out as gay, trans, gender non-conforming, they would be subject to emotional, psychological, and even physical abuse. They could be subjected to homelessness. None of that is something that we should be bringing about on our children, particularly those that are part of one of the most vulnerable classes. I know that the number of families likely to be unsafe in that way
044is small and that was mentioned last time. But how many children do we have to put at risk for it to be enough? Is it enough that one kid ends up homeless because we forcibly out them? Is it enough that one kid ends up committing suicide because we force them into the closet because we won't protect them? or does it have to be more? This protection is not meant for most of the kids out there because most of them have the privilege of having a safe space. It is meant for those that don't. And that's not even what the policy does. As the superintendent pointed out last time, the protections of confidentiality stand irrespective of whether this policy grants them. But let's talk about what this policy does do. It provides dignity and protections and
045a guarantee of a safe and equitable space for our LGBTQ kids, in particular the trans and gender non-conforming kids. It it applies to respecting names and pronouns, protections from bullying, equal application of the dress code, training for staff, equal access to educational programs and activities, appropriate access to bathrooms and sports. None of which was discussed here last time. It was all focused on this one hypothetical worst case forced outing that isn't even how the policy like isn't even required by the policy. What's most important about this policy is it states an objective several times throughout the policy. It explains why the policy exists and it states the board of education is committed to providing a safe, supportive and inclusive learning environment for all students. It states that a safe and supportive environment within a school
046begins with understanding and respect. It states that the board adopts this policy to help school and district administrators take steps to create an inclusive environment in which transgender and gender non-conforming students feel safe and supported and to ensure each school provides equal educational opportunities for all students. And finally, it states the board developed and adopted this policy to ensure that its schools provide a safe and supportive learning environment that is free from discrimination and harassment for transgender students, including students going through a gender transition. You are on record making the statement that that is what this school district stands for. And now you're thinking about taking that away. The statement that makes loud and clear is we don't stand for those things anymore. We don't care. We are not a safe space for this vulnerable
047population. And this population is currently being hunted for sport by the administration. It is already increasingly becoming unsafe for members of the LGBT community to simply live their lives. They ought to be able to go to school and have a safe place to do it. If you rescend this policy, you are making a statement that you do not care about these kids and you do not care about the safety and shame on you. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments? Okay, before we move on to other business, I just want to go back to Marissa. Thank you for stepping up or being elected. I don't know if that is stepping up or had no choice. Uh, but I know we've worked with you before and uh we're certainly welcome working with you again and I'd
048be remiss if I didn't thank Greg. I think you were the president for several years, five years maybe. So certainly thank you for your service to your union and I'm sure they appreciated all the efforts and uh the strides that you guys made uh under your leadership. So thank both of you and obviously you know the whole staff in general. Okay. Uh other business. Yes. So just uh three items. I I wanted to um also congratulate uh uh Alan Delhus and his work with the the music program. The accomplishment of the wind ensemble, you know, earning a gold rating in his first year after several years of not meeting that rating, I think is a true testament to the quality of instructor that we have uh in Allen. He's done a fantastic job, not only
049with this group, but um the way that he's been uh coordinating with the sending districts. Um he's gone to every sending district con concert. He's been there. He's reached out to them. He's had meetings. He is working to try to create that vertical articulation of program that we've talked about before for all of our content areas. And I think that, you know, he's he's doing some really interesting things. And I I just wanted to congratulate him uh on those accomplishments, particularly with the freshman concert band getting a silver is unheard of. Um so I think that you know again it's a testament to the work that they're doing with that ensemble. Also wanted to call out um uh congratulations to um coach coach Soybert, sorry. uh he was involved with a um AED awareness day
050at JFK Rec Center in Newark uh with the the Giants and again they were doing a big event where they contributed AEDs uh to the rec facilities in Newark but also calling attention to the importance of having those kind of devices and training people on how to use those devices was uh really good and it was just great to see one of our faculty members getting accolades for work that they're doing you know out in in the community. Uh the last item that I want to touch on and I'm glad that we have so many teachers here because this directly impacts you. Um for the past many of you are aware that there was a u an educator evaluation task force that released a report uh last summer on the evaluation process and the the
051the issues the well documented issues uh that exist. uh with that uh there's been a working group that was formed and we started meeting in uh January. I was appointed to represent the New Jersey School Boards Association on that group along with about 25 other education association representatives from NJA, uh the superintendent association, uh school boards, uh the Garden State Coalition of Schools, Business Administrators, uh all for the purpose of taking the task force report and turning it into policy and actually to to create actions that would lead to changes in the evaluation process to make it better, to make it easier, to make it um uh less uh accountabilitydriven and really designed to focus on professional development. How do we use this as a tool to work on guiding professional learning, professional development for
052our teachers, not just have this thing that that becomes kind of this game of gotcha, you know, on on the scoring. And so we had uh three working groups that were looking at um uh how to address the uh highly uh highly qualified teachers within their evaluation framework. Uh an SGO working group that was dealing specifically with SGOs and then the work group that I was sitting on was a flexibility working group. That particular working group is looked at all of the regulations and uh really unveiled a lot of flexibility that exists within the regulations to um not just do the evaluations the way that we've been told to do them, but actually ways that we can make them uh more effective, less invasive, less burdensome. uh particularly as it relates to both admin the
053administration's work on uh uh in in in all the paperwork that they have to do. Um I actually sat down with Nicole and members of the the team here uh that work on the evaluations to get their feedback. Uh I actually shared with Nicole uh the draft of our recommendations that actually have been submitted to the Department of Education uh on Friday of last week. Uh the new guidance will be released by the department of education prior to the end of the school year. Uh there will then be state training that is held across the state. Um held by the department of education to train everyone on the new guidance and how to utilize that. Uh and then the goal is that uh the guidance would be implemented for the upcoming uh school year. So
054the whole idea is to uh really again get away from this terrible cycle that we've been in with this evaluation system, try to recalibrate it uh so that it can really focus more on teacher professional development and professional learning uh while we wait for the 20 27 year when the regulations are up for renewal. So this is kind of step one in order to how do we how do we loosen things up a little bit with the goal for how do we implement permanent change when the regulations are up for renewal in 2027. Uh one of the things that will be happening um is that the this year SGOs were not required for teachers that have tenure. There was only required for teachers uh that currently um do not have tenure. uh that is going
055to be extended for two years until we review the reg until the regulations themselves are reviewed. At that point in time, I expect that the SGOs's will go away for everybody. Um so I just wanted many of you know that I've been very critical of this process over the years. Uh I've I've taken them to task at this table. Uh so when I was given the opportunity to actually do something about it, um I decided that I would take advantage of it and and and try to make sure that your voices were represented in this process. I know your union had was representing your voice, but it was important to me for our faculty members since I've been so outspoken about this that that we were at the table representing you to try to get
056this uh in place. And I think that you'll be uh pleasantly surprised at at what actually comes out from the Department of Education. I know whenever you s you hear the words Department of Education and guidance um that the hair on the for those of us that have the hair on the back of our necks, it stands up. Um so since we had so many of you here, um I just wanted to share with you what I've been doing on my summer vacation. Um and so that uh you'll know what to look forward to as the uh the new year gets underway. So, thank you. Thank you. Appreciate all your efforts. Uh, anyone else have any other business? Okay. During executive session, we were not able to uh address all the items we needed to
057address. We had a hard stop at 7:30 uh as uh for the public, excuse me, for the school budget presentation. Uh, with that in mind, we're going to go back into executive session, then after that end the meeting. So there's not there's not going to be any further action after the meeting. We're just having a discussion. So Oh, and so we're uh again I had highlighted what we were discussing uh in the beginning, but uh we still have facility use and strategic plan uh consultant to discuss. So can I have a motion to go back into Okay, so we're now back in executive session. Thank you everybody for coming. Thanks. Thanks for attending.