001program have le uh left a lasting mark on our schools. The growth and success of that program speaks volumes about his vision, commitment, and passion for student learning. Mrs. Jenny Tom is retiring after 20 years of outstanding service in the mathematics department. A hardworking and highly respected educator, she taught AP Calculus AB and AP Statistics, helping prepare countless students for academic success beyond our classrooms. Her dedication and high expectations have made a meaningful difference in the lives of many students. We extend our sincere gratitude to Mr. Carchetta and Miss Tom and wish them both a well-earned and fulfilling retirement. Mr. Cartetta and Mrs. Tom, as well as other staff members retiring from the district, will be formally recognized at the board of education meeting on June 8th. That meeting will be held in the high
002school auditorium. February is Black History Month, a time to recognize and celebrate the achievements, contributions, and rich cultural heritage of Black Americans. Our district remains committed to honoring diversity, promoting equity, and ensuring our curriculum reflects the experiences and accomplishments of individuals from all backgrounds. Throughout the month, our schools will provide meaningful opportunities for students to learn, reflect, and engage with this important history. I'd also like to highlight uh our upcoming staff development day on Tuesday, February 17th. A key focus of that day will be our continued work with Atlas, which is our new online curriculum management and lesson planning platform. Mr. Dabberto will talk a little bit about that in his um update tonight on dis um about district goals. Staff on this day will engage in curriculum audits through their professional learning communities, refine
003essential questions, objectives, and standards, and make instructional updates on Atlas. This work supports alignment, collaboration, and instructional consistency across the district. That same day, we are excited to host a wellness fair for staff in the high school cafeteria. Premier Health Group will offer complimentary wellness consultations. chair massages and other types of screenings along with a complimentary lunch for the entire staff. I'd like to thank Mr. Walsh, our athletic director and supervisor of health and PE for coordinating this valuable opportunity to support staff wellness. Turning to our referendum update this evening, we will hear from our architectural firm, BWS Architects, who will present updated information regarding the scope, timelines, estimated costs, and the structure of the referendum, including the breakdown of the questions. This presentation represents an important step and our long range planning to ensure
004safe, modern, and effective learning environments. Additionally, I would like to remind our families and staff of the upcoming winter recess schedule. Thursday, February 12th, we have a single session day with a 1220 dismissal. Schools will be closed on Friday, February 13th, and Monday, February 16th. Students will also be off on Tuesday the 17th, while staff will be on site for a full day of staff development. Finally, uh tonight, Mr. Mr. D. Labberto and I will provide the board with a brief update on our progress towards the district goals of cult cultivating career readiness and real world learning experiences for students and ensuring a positive inclusive school culture and climate. So that's all I have for tonight. >> Yeah, she's not here. >> Okay. Sure. >> [clears throat] >> All right. Good evening. >> Looks like
005the update on district goes is a hot topic tonight. Drew a whole six or seven people out. All right. So our first district goal is to cultivate career readiness and real world learning experiences for students. I'm going to talk a little bit about just that goal and then Mr. Macho is going to update you on our on our second goal. Uh we have two sort of major initiatives that we implemented this year. The first of which is Atlas. Okay. So we've implemented Atlas. Atlas is really a multi-year implementation process for us. Okay. It is a curriculum platform through which we can run some very useful analytics. But for us, it's also serving as a vehicle through which we're going to audit our our curriculums. Okay. Uh as we scrutinize our curriculum, we fully anticipate uh
006to propose curricular revisions over the next year. One set of standards to which we will pay close attention that permeates all subjects is the career readiness, life literacies and key skills because uh obviously those standards align perfectly with this goal here. Another key benefit to Atlas is the or the organization of information optimizes our vertical articulation and uh and our interdisciplinary design as well. Coming up next Tuesday, uh we do have as Mr. Machoi mentioned a professional development day for staff. Uh our entire faculty is going to have about three hours where they can really dive into not only Atlas but but some of these curriculum and uh really start to ask some critical questions about uh our alignment and and what we're doing w with some of these. Our other big initiative has been
007I Ready. That's been a major initiative uh with regards to improving growth in our tested subject areas at the middle school. So far, all ELA and math teachers have completed three half-day training sessions. These adaptive assessments provide much better data for educators. Uh it I Ready also has an adaptive learning program that automatically differentiates for students. Uh in addition to those two, teachers continue to use school AI, Brisk, Magic, Magic, Magic School, and Snorkel, just to name a few uh of the AI programs that teachers are using. And we also continue to support exploring building thinking classrooms. This is a pedagogical model that fosters sustained critical thinking as well as so as well as soft skills like communication and teamwork. That's it for goal number one. Thank you, Mr. D. Labberto. Good evening, everyone. Um,
008I'm excited to give the board an update on our district goal number two, ensure a positive, inclusive school culture and climate. So, as part of our ongoing school culture and climate initiative, our district continues to participate in the No Place for Hate program. It's now in its third year. This initiative empowers students, faculty, and staff to foster kindness, inclusion, and respect within our school community. Our mission is not only to educate our students about the values of diversity and and acceptance, but also to promote unity among our student body, ensuring that all members of our school community feel safe, respected, and valued. So, um, our district culture and climate coordinators, um, Amanda Fernola, the assistant principal at the high school, and Lisa Holse, uh, our director of guidance, oversees the middle school. the two of
009them um are doing a great job overseeing each program in each one of those buildings. Um within the buildings, they've established culture and climate teams. Um and they work closely with our students. Um we have a few parents on that committee um administrators and um it's really student driven and that's really what's so great about the program is they develop the lessons, they develop the activities, so the kids own it because they they develop the activities. Um, I'm happy to say that two years in a row, um, we've received the Gold Star Award, uh, through the No Place for Hate program, which is exciting, which means we're, um, doing our part with trying to spread, um, positivity through the schools. Um, this year, just to give you a little update, in November, both buildings uh,
010did their pledge signings. Uh, the middle school, their theme is harmony happens when every school note counts. And at the high school, the theme was linked together. We are united against hate. And um activities uh happened and are happening right now. So at the during um this week at the middle school um perception verse reality is going on. And what's nice about these activities is we rotate them through the different subject areas. So, all the social studies classes are doing the same uh lesson at the high school. Um they did a really creative activity. Um hashtag we choose positivity. It's a big social media initiative and um Fern Nicole, I apologize if I get this wrong, but this is a a campaign where student uh sports teams, clubs, and other groups within the building are
011are um creating messages online of respect and kindness. So, all these activities are going on, people are competing against each other, and then there'll be a schoolwide vote um to to determine uh 2026 we are the kindest award. So, pretty exciting stuff going on at at the um the high school. Okay, this is just snapshots. Um this is the um pledge board that the high school did with their theme linking everybody together. So you can see they came up this all again come up come comes up uh came up by the students. It's like a big chain linking everybody together in the building. They all sign it and then they they um make make this um bulletin board and then there we're proudly uh displaying our no place for hate banner right when you walk
012in the main entrance of the building so people right away know this is what our building's about. Okay, here's the middle school. Some more snapshots here. We have last year's banner and the year before that displayed and theirs was the music note theme. So all the notes are up there with all the kids' names on them. They again developed this concept, created the board and um so that's again displayed by the main entrance. Uh the middle school also has a big program called we care where they work under the core values of collaboration, awareness, resilience, and empathy. Same type of thing. The kids drive a lot of those activities. They do different activities throughout the school year to promote those core values. Just a couple other things. There's a lot going on. I just picked
013a few out just to touch on. We do lots of assemblies in both buildings. Uh Dwayne Dwayne D. West came in. He runs a program called Bound for for Greatness. And um that's the a lot of these are assemblies um about character education. Chris Pulios, he's a youth motivational speaker, professional BMX writer. He came in, did a nice presentation. Uh we had our Holocaust presentations last week for grades 8, n cyber bullying assembly by Sergeant Rich, and the social awakening by Max Staceil, which Dr. Westervelt put together for the high school. Um just really great programs again trying to instill all those core values um into our students. Okay, just a couple other things. We're very proud of our peer leadership programs both at the middle school and the high school and they do a
014lot with orientation um specifically the eighth grade peer leaders with the seventh graders and the senior peer leaders with the incoming freshmen. Okay. Read across America. We have students that go out to the elementary schools during March and they read to the students. Um and then just a couple clubs that are really bringing kids together from different backgrounds. The multicultural club, um the key club, and then again I mentioned earlier we care. So we're doing lots of different things across the board in both buildings. Um definitely working hard to really um ensure a positive and inclusive SC school culture and climate. Thank you. Turn it back over to All right. I'm back. I'm back. >> Yes. >> Hello. Go. Hello again. I'm back as your interim principal. >> The substitute principal. Yes. Uh in the
015past several weeks, we've had some great events for our students. Uh on January 20th, we hosted an in-house pep rally to celebrate winter sports. So, in the past when we've had pep rallies, we've usually had to go down to the high school and use their gym because of some capacity challenges that we have in the middle school being able to put both grades in in one location. But we did it and uh it was a little crowded, very energetic, but all in all that it was uh went off very well. The students were well behaved. Right there in that picture, that's my man Patrick playing uh he's on a scooter playing the game Hungry Hippo. I don't know if seventh and eighth graders know the Hungry Hippo that we know and love. Those games that
016were like perpetually broken. I don't ever remember seeing one that was like operational that had all the hippo heads on it. Uh so like I said, went off very well. So I do anticipate actually hosting more of our own events for for both our grades in house at the middle school. high school. I love you, but I don't love to have to rely on you for our our pep rallies. Uh, also in recognition of Holocaust Remembrance Day, our eighth graders attended an assembly on February 5th. Sandy Rosen from 2GNJ, that's an acronym for second generation New Jersey, a Holocaust awareness organization, shared her parents' story of the Holocaust. This was a great opportunity for our eighth graders just ahead of their Washington DC trip where they will be visiting the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Also, during
017our single session days in late January, our LLD program sold coffee and breakfast to teachers. All proceeds for that will go to our participation in the Special Olympics this spring. We had a great turnout for our meet and greet with our soon-to-be principal, Mrs. Angie Owen. She'll be joining us in about a month. And finally, as we have reintroduced our eighth grade trip to Washington DC, we have also reintroduced our hoodie design contest. The winning design was submitted by Isa Isabelle Andre. Mr. Andre, I think you may know her. >> Yeah. Yeah. The order forms for the sweatshirts are in the DC Google classroom and also in Mr. Mass's room. And Mr. Machoi, I think since you are will be attending as a chaperone, maybe you need to purchase one. So that's the front and
018back. They do look good. I They're in white. They're in white. So might have to get one myself. That's all I have as your interim substitute principal. I give you the permanent principal of the high school. [laughter] >> Thank you. Good evening everyone. Good evening. Okay, for the high school, I want to acknowledge National School Counseling Week. It was the week of February 2nd. Um, and the theme this year was school counselors amplify student success. I could sing our counseling department's praises all night long. They are motivators. They are advocates. They are mediators. They are therapists. I mean, you name it, we call on them to do it and they rise to the challenge. So, I just want to acknowledge Miss Lisa Holse and her department for the work that they do during this um
019National School Counseling Week. Also excited to share that we had our Holocaust awareness assembly. Um Dr. Fran Levven from 2GJ came and spoke to our 9th and 11th grade students. Um we chose 9th and 11th grade because the Holocaust aligns with their curriculum. So, it makes sense for them to be part of that presentation. Dr. Dr. Leven spoke about her parent, both of her parents are survivors of the Holocaust and she spoke about their stories and it was a really powerful presentation for our students. We had a packed house in the auditorium and um our students are just so amazing as they sit there and take in this little bit of history. Turning to athletics, I want to acknowledge the boys basketball coach, Mr. Bill Humes. He had three he has earned 300 wins, which
020if you're not familiar with the basketball world, that's no easy feat. So, congratulations to Coach Humes on that achievement. Um, this past week on Thursday the 5th, we also had the dance team showcase. Our dance team is a mix of middle school and high school students. Mr. Sher, I think I saw your daughter on stage, right? Doing an awesome job. I just have to I want to sing the praises of the the dance team. They really their their numbers are growing. The program was I mean it was a vibe. The girls were amazing in the dancing and um it was they should be proud of themselves. Um and as Mr. Mr. Machochi shared with you guys for No Place for He um activity was we choose positivity. The hashtag we choose positivity. Um it was
021our social media campaign. All of our clubs and sports participated. Hopefully if you were on social media last week, you got to see some of their posts. Um and the award for the kindest goes to our girls soccer team. Their slogan, we are in this together, be a team player. They earned the award because their post had the most likes. um and they were very creative in their video that they had. Um so we were we celebrated them today as the kindest. But I also want to give a shout out to the students of the Wessex Wire because they didn't do just one post. They did a week-l long um series of posts to spread kindness and positivity and that was just um our little part in making the world a little bit of a
022better place here at the high school. Um, for our staff acknowledgement, our February Noble Knights, we have Mr. Kevin Grammada, our athletic trainer. He was recognized by his colleagues um as someone who just cares for the whole child. He doesn't just treat injuries, he cares about the student in its entirety and just their overall well-being. And he was acknowledged for that. Miss Dian Lippy, a science teacher. She was um recognized by one of her colleagues for being a source of encouragement and support and inspiring students with her environmentally focused lessons. And then we also have Miss Abigail Martin, social studies teacher. Um she was described by a colleague for her sunny demeanor and her adventurous pedigogy. She's always trying to find new ways to bring the curriculum to life and so their colleagues recognize them.
023We're proud of their work. And then upcoming, what do we have coming up? Um, mark your calendars. Sunday, March 1st is the sophomore class tricky tray here in the cafeteria at 12 PM. This fundraiser is really important for the students because it sets the tone for the things they can afford and have in their junior and senior year. So hopefully everyone has um an opportunity to to come out and support the sophomore class. Then on Wednesday, March 4th at 6 PM, we have our night of knowledge. Again, the theme for that is balancing the West experience. Um, communication is going out today. Tomorrow, it went out today. Yes. Excellent. Um, this is a night for parents and students to come together. It starts with an interactive panel discussion. High school and middle school, as our
024students tell us, is it's challenging everything that's on their plates and everything they have to handle and keeping their grades up, participating in extracurriculars, maintaining an after school job. So, this night is designed to start a conversation for families and students to continue that conversation at home. There will be an opportunity for workshops. Um, and we just really hope that everyone comes out and enjoys enjoys the night. On Thursday, March 5th, that night uh that week, we have the freshman semiformal at the East um the Handover Park Manor, a night of dancing and food, fun stuff. And then, um the weekends of March 12th to the 14th are spring musical. They're doing Chicago Teen Edition. So, we're really excited for that. So, make sure you grab tickets to see that. And then we kick off
025testing season the week of March 16th with the NJ GPA testing. This is for our junior students. Earlier in the fall, we tested the plat the new platform for um that we'll be using and we are we will be ready to go March 16th for our annual state testing. And with that concludes high school information. Have a great evening everyone. Okay. Allan. Yes. >> Mr. Barnett. Yes, please. >> Good evening. Thank you very much. I'm going to talk a little bit about the upcoming referendum for the for your district. Uh we're going to give a more of a broad overview. Talk about scope. Can I walk around or can I just do I have to stay right here because I I move around. I tend to move around too much. Um and talk about uh
026kind of a broad scope. We're going to talk about referendum timeline, what's upcoming for how do we get from now until November. Uh what the cost is and how the referendum is going to be structured. The referendum is going to be structured in two questions. Oh, all right. So, I already talked about the agenda. We're going to talk about projects, question, cost, and timeline. That's the the big four for any referendum. So, we get into the referendum. This is going to give you an overview of the projects. We're going to be working we're going to be touching practically all aspects of the campus. We're going to be talk look working on the high school. We're working on the middle school, the existing football field, stadium and bleachers, stadium bleachers with press box and also the
027the practice fields, the the baseball, softball and the practice field. These um so when we get into the high school, first thing we're look one of the first of the projects is interior interior doors. So we're going to replace the doors and hardware on all the doors that you've seen uh starred. That's going to include access control. So each of those doors is going to have a swipe card access which allows for better security inside the building. We're also going to be replacing a number of exterior doors. Exterior doors are also going to have card access for again to improve security addressing the unit ventilators in the in the building. So everywhere you see a blue triangle, we're going to be replacing a unit ventilator. So that's your that's your heating unit. your classrooms. It's
028the 10 ft long, 2 and 12 ft high. Sits under the windows, provides the the heating for the space. So, we're going to be replacing those uh sections of the of the uh existing building. They have some areas where the windows and the section of wall below need to be replaced, including the foundation. back to some of the original construction. So, we're going to be surgically replacing sections of walls and windows. A new security vestibule that will be added to the front entrance. Again, all that security with the access control uh interior extra doors and also new vestibule. And then lastly, we're going to be the high school is a media center renovation and a classroom addition. So, the classroom edition is going to be two stories. It's going to house 13 classrooms and two
029small group instruction spaces. We're going to move on to the middle school. Middle school is going to follow the first two items are first two items are going to follow very similar to what we're doing proposing at the high school. First one is the interior doors and doors and hardware with the van that access control. Exterior doors and and hardware for with included access control. Now when we get into the HAC upgrades at the middle school, we're looking at the three large spaces. So we're going to look at the the large gym, the small gym, and the cafeterias. We'll provide new rooftop units for uh uh air conditioning in those three spaces. Another security vestibule at the front entrance. This time at the middle school. We're going to the concrete that's trellis that's in the
030courtyard. Over the past 20 plus years is started to uh what's called spall and break apart. So part of this project will be to cut and remove that and renovate that courtyard. And then lastly for the middle school, we're going to be renovating the auditorium. That'll be a complete renovation. Seats, ceilings, walls, uh ADA compliance, HVAC, uh uh theatrical lighting, sound. It'll be a complete uh transformation of that space. When we go to the exterior, the athletic field improvements. As I said earlier, we're going to be turping the practice facility with the two baseball uh baseball and softball fields. We're going to be providing new stadium bleachers and press box. And along with the turf, we'll be providing field lighting to light that side of the of the exterior fields. Now, as I said earlier,
031we're going to we're structuring the referendum into two questions. Give you a quick overview. What's in question one, the addition of renovations to the high school, the renovations to the middle school, the artificial turf field and lights, and then what's in question two is the stadium features and press box. How this works is on election day, November 3rd, 2026, the voter has the opportunity to vote on question one first. If they if the voter votes on question one first, they move on and vote on question two. If they vote no on question one, they're done. Question two can't go without question one. So, the district has chosen this order of projects to allow that when you see and then next will be estimated cost. So everything I outlined in question one is $44,915,600. Everything in
032question two is $4,500,000. So if a voter was to vote on both questions, it's $49,415,600. These numbers do not take into account debt service aid yet. When you go for a referendum, a district goes for a referendum and bonds the question the referendum they're eligible for debt service aid. When we go back, you look at question one, the addition and renovations to the middle school and the high school are eligible for debt servicing. The exterior projects are not eligible for debt servicing. So the numbers that you see here, these cost estimates, they do not take into account the debt service aid. The debt service aid is calculated by the department of education. It's 30 approximately 34% on facility improvements and then there's a whole algebraic equation as to what's based on student on what is
033on the addition. So we let the department of education determine that for us makes u that way we have a concrete number timetable as I said earlier November 3rd is going to be the referendum book you have to work backwards from that tonight I'm giving you a presentation review of the projects and overview of the projects February 19th the board of ed approves the department of ed schematic submission so that's this everything that I just showed on a series of documents along with the cost estimates, resolution, education specs, series of items that the state requires for review to determine the eligibility of the projects and also determine the eligibility of the debt service aid. The board is going to vote on that package on or excuse me, it's two packages, one for each of each
034of the sites. The middle school and the high school are each independent packages, but they go down collectively as one that happens on February 19th. We'll submit February 19, excuse me, February 19th, the board uh approves the schematic submission. We get the referendum package back around the 20th or the 21st. We turn around and submit it to the state during that February 21st to November 3rd period. Sounds like there's, you know, that looks like there's a lot of not a lot happening, but actually that's when the state starts to review. The state back what's called a PEC letter, preliminary eligible cost. You'll this the district will get that about May or June of this year. That's when they that's when the state determines what the percentage of debt service aid the district's going to get.
035they the the district will then bring in the financial advisor and that's when that's when they lock in what is the what is the estimated tax impact to the public. Then there will be a series of presentations. Uh there might be a information session uh both virtual and in person. The um and then lastly November 3rd is the referendum vote. So that's the overview. That's the overview of the next coming nine months and what uh and then we can get into another time we can get into what the post referendum schedule would be should they vote yes. >> That wasn't that was for reference just in case. >> Okay. >> That's it. >> A couple questions. Sure. Um, one is for us and for here, can you give us a a little bit more of
036an explanation of um the sort of justification for some of these renovations? Some of them are obvious. Sure. >> But like for instance, the auditorium at the middle school, like tell us about what's going on that requires, you know, um, some of these changes. The other question I had was, do you have any I know I know we can't hold you anything and I know you don't know and I know it's complicated, but any guess as to what the debt service aid might be is there a range? >> Sure. >> Yeah. I just think it's nice for people to hear. >> Sure. So, I've been with the district for 15 yearsish. Um, >> and over that time over that time in working with the district developing a series of pro uh projects. We also work
037with you guys on a facility assessment report and long-range facility planning. So that starts to establish projects that the district would like to do across the entire campus, both schools site. We've generated that list for you that has to be done every five years. So we've done that list probably three times and over that we check off what we've what we've accomplished in that period. We've added some things and then over that I'd say over the past five years we've started to say okay what what projects do we feel would be best suited for this type of work right the larger ticket items that it's hard to chip away at at uh a little bit each year. the HBAC. We've been talking about the HBAC, I think, since 2020, >> right? But because they're large
038ticket items, it's better to strategically to roll them into a referendum. You get that 34% debt service aid on certain projects. So, we've we've looked at a series of things. We've weeded out projects that we didn't feel that that the group didn't feel were beneficial for the referendum and we've and we've come up with the list that you see here focused mainly on security uh safety and need. That's been the that's been the over overlying drive as to what's what shaped the projects. um HVAC that's that kind of goes without saying the need for that. >> Yeah. The auditorium is 1960, probably 1965,67ish. It's original. I think the operable partitions no longer work. It's not ADA compliant. So, that's what drove that project. Security. That's that's kind of a given. >> Um, univvents again when
039you look at a UNI event project of this magnitude, it's costly. So, it's better to instead of trying to chip away a little bit each year out of your capital improvement strategically, it's better to put it into a referendum and and obtain the 34% debt service. >> Uh I think uh stadium bleachers we looked at uh we did that project four years ago, four years ago. >> Um and we ch we chose not to put it that at that time. So again, it was in we chose to put it on hold there in prep in in preparation for a potential referendum. So that's kind of how we got to the >> guess as to how this is going to play out in terms of the debt service. Do you have is there a range or
040some? >> Sure. >> Well, I if you want to do that, I'll run a quick number. >> The debt service is tricky until we get from the state. >> Thank you. I have two now. [clears throat] Um it's tricky until we get anything back to from the state because we don't want to put a number out there because we don't know what the state is willing to give us. [snorts] So we don't want to say a number too high or too low. 34% is a more comfortable number. But again, not all of that will fall under debt service. Um so that's why we have tried to get this done as quick as we can as well and get it down to the state so that we can get information out to the public as fast
041as we possibly can because the state does take three to four months, sometimes as long as six months. We're very hopeful, three to four months. Um, and then as soon as we do have factual numbers, we are working with our financial advisors already. They've been brought in on the project. Um, we will turn around and get that all back out to you guys. Go ahead. Just turn your mic. >> I think what Debbie might have been getting at is just so that everyone else can understand when you see um like a HVAC replacement for certain spaces. Those spaces just so everyone knows like didn't have it at all before. Right. Those were spaces that had no air. >> That's correct. That's correct. And the auditorium is like That's correct. >> The exterior walls that he's
042referring to are literally falling apart. So many of the items that are on the list are almost like a non-negotiable in keeping up with >> right. They're more when I said more need-based than they are >> right >> than they are. the way you explained the courtyard outside it kind of applies to that's what I was >> I I'll just add Debbie just for a couple things too. So the the HVAC systems in the middle school that currently we don't have at all. Those are teaching areas. Those are instructional spaces that are used all day. We also have with the unit lunch all the kids eat lunch in both gyms and in the cafeteria. So upgrading those facilities obviously with the air conditioning is a is a plus. I mean, we have hot fall, a
043hot spring, and hundreds of kids are utilizing those facilities. So, those are musthaves in our opinion. Um, with regard to the auditorium, again, that's a hub for lots of big events. >> Um, the ADA compliance, the HVAC, >> not to mention the technology, the screens, the curtains, the stage, the sound system. So we can run our middle school musical there, which is a thriving program right now, and also host all kinds of events in there. So those are some of the other things with the with the um the auditorium. And then and then obviously with safety, you know, that's a huge um priority of ours. and you know with enhanced doors, you know, durable locks, multiple ways to lock the doors quickly and efficiently connected to our state-of-the-art emergency system. You know, those are all
044things that, you know, we we have um prioritized. >> So, >> um I would just like the community to understand that we as a board sat down and went like went through every nook and cranny that we could go through in the building. Um, a majority of it, as Debbie would say, majority of it is renovation. Um, which will make us, you know, eligible for the DOE debt service, which is a plus for us. There's only one section which will be considered new addition. Um, I know there's a lot of people in the community. Um I went to school here many many years ago and they always think it's funny like oh I can come in and I the same classroom and the same door and which is you know kind of nice you know
045kind of like recreation you know you have that emotional connection to the building but my children here so when children start going you know you don't want them experiencing something you experience you know you want them to have new and improved. Um, so it's nice to know that these things have all lasted and because of our great um, finances and our BA and our our capital and our maintenance, we're we're very lucky with our maintenance because they do more than just maintenance. They're not just, you know, sweeping floors and cleaning up the cafeteria. They're they've built structures for us internally which has saved us a lot of money and has able to us to be maintained at a safe and secure facility for our students and staff. But it is now time for, you know,
046it's time to put our heels and and really look at the building and say, "Okay, guys, you know, you opened in the 60s. We still have things here from the 60s and and we need to really improve them." So, you know, we're grateful for the architects and the fact that most of the stuff will be renovation. and we're hopeful that, you know, the state will look at it, acknowledge it, and come back to us with a a healthy percentage so that we can move forward with this. But, you know, I think it's something that um and I know it is something that this community, we all have to look for because we do want the best facility for our students and our staff. We want everything to be safe and secure and we want it
047to go forward with, you know, a good a good look. Um when we look at our athletics, our second question and our turfs, you know, a lot of our other, you know, sports go to other buildings and they have all turf and we don't. So we want to give our students the best advantage that we can going forward. So um we're hoping that when we come back with the numbers that you know the DOE, say your prayers, that DOE acknowledges us and that we you know come back with good numbers and percentages. And times have changed a lot too. It's important we meet I think times a lot of this is security that probably nobody had to think about in the 60s and unfortunately to think about today. So >> yeah and I just wanted
048to add to Mrs. Calderon about the turf field too. Um you know that one thing we need to keep in mind is that is instructional space. Our entire fizzed department goes out there all day. So middle school would be able to have their own space in addition to that field would be a multi-purpose field. It would not just be baseball, softball. We'd be able to we'd be able to line that for multiple sports. And we have 27 sports at the high school, nine sports at the middle school. So we can put baseball, softball, and other other fields on there. I mean other sports on there as well in addition to um a practice football field for the marching band. And when you add the lights, then we have a usable facility from say 7:30 in
049the morning till 9 or 10 o'clock at night. >> And we potentially rent it out as well. Correct. >> Yep. It also provides opportunities for to generate revenue as well. >> Anybody else have a question from the board? Because I um we'll get to the public in a minute. Sorry. Sorry. Um nobody else because I do. Um, Alan, can you just elaborate on um the walls down at the high school um just so that the public knows like they're fake walls almost that that's how the building was built in the 1963 that they are not safe, >> right? It was built as a panelized system. So it it spans from floor slab up to the roof, but what it's lacking is the foundation. So as the as over time it's actually slid down. So, what
050we're going to be what we'll be proposing is to remove the panelization portion, dig down, excavate down, put in a new foundation, and come back up with a new wall that takes it's a it's a it's kind of like this. This would be a good example. It's kind of like this type of wall now with a panel, a window, and a panel. So, what we would be and it just sits on the edge of the slab. So, what we would be doing is we would take this section out, excavate down, put in a new foundation, stabilize it, and come back with um I think we're proposing a masonry veneer up to a certain point and then uh a window system up to the underside of the existing up to the existing roof. So, we would
051go down the and that's the the tricky part of this is we have to go down the line while um the scheduling of that hasn't been worked out yet whether that's going can be accomplished during all of summer or we need into the operations of the school. We're still That's putting the cart before the horse at this point. >> I'm sorry. Did I address that? >> That's perfect. Yes. Because I I wanted the public to know that it wasn't just like over replacing walls. Like this is a structural thing at the high school, >> right? And it's been happening over a period of time. Um it's not something that just happened overnight. Uh it go it dates back to the original construction of the building. >> Thanks. >> I've been here long, but not that
052long. >> Okay. >> Um Any other comments? Sure. Go ahead, Bruce. >> But the necessity of the extra space by the media area with the additional classrooms because every town continues to grow. Um, we need to make sure we have enough >> Yes. >> actual classrooms for our students. >> Yes. >> Go ahead, Mila. >> Put your microphone on, please. >> Oh, it's not working. Okay. I just also wanted to add to the public that us board members uh conducted a walk through um at the middle school and the high school and although we wanted so many things that should be renovated and replaced. We really it was very hard for us to decide as to um which one are going to prioritize. Obviously, we would love to have new lockers, new bathrooms and stuff
053like that because if you most of us u most of you guys um even the um public if they know the school at all, if they have graduated there, you will see how original the rest like the locker rooms, the bathrooms. It was really hard for us to decide, although we wanted to really get that all done, but uh we really did go with safety first. So, um just in case some people may have a question, why did we not prioritize uh the locker rooms, the bathrooms, and stuff like that? We wanted to, however, we had to really make a really hard decision as to what we're going to prioritize with this uh referendum. So, it was not unnoticed. It's just this is the best that we can do for the amount of money that
054that we uh think would be feasible and uh would work good with the community. >> Thank you, Lyla. That was a good point. We did as a board take a walk through the buildings and try to prioritize. We'd love to do everything, but we wanted to be conscious of our number and really kind of just had to go with what was most important here. So, um, that was a good point. Okay. Any other board members? No. Okay. Before we move it on to the public, we have to just do one other thing. Um, and then we'll get to the public portion. You can come up if you have any comments or questions. Are there any committee reports? committee the ad hoc committee met. The ad hoc referendum committee met um Ray Stampone, John Toast, Mary
055Wadwitz, there was Melissa Kea, Damian and myself. Um and what we did is we we um were in receipt of all of the information from Allen and from our PR firm which will be handling most of the social media for us. We will actually be going hand in hand with them in order to get the communication out to the public. Um everything else Allan has discussed with you tonight. Our main concern, what we're trying to figure out is there are four towns and we want to make sure that we get the word out to everyone who is invested in this and we'll be voting for it for all four communities. So, right now we're all trying to, you know, brainstorm how do we do that? You know, um Damian, Mr. is able to do email
056blast to you know everyone on campus but now we need to go further because we want to be totally transparent. We want to make sure that everyone is familiar with what's happening and that they are educated voters when it comes time to go vote. So that's what we're now working with the PR firm to find out how do we communicate this um out there to the four communities going forward. So that was meeting and um we will continue to meet as a ad hoc committee so that we can bring the information to the board and then we can find a way a means to get it out through social media to the four towns. And honestly, if there's anyone out there who has a suggestion, you know, just go on to our website, find out
057who is on the ad hoc referendum committee, send us an email. We are more than happy to take everything into consideration. I mean, you know things in your town that you know even though we all live in the towns we just may not be aware of certain organizations that meet on a regular basis or you may want to be a part of our community outreach who gets the information out to the public. So that will be another step that we will be looking for. Um Mr. Macho will be putting out in the future a survey. We'll start gathering names of anyone within the communities who want to getting the word out. We're not saying getting the vote out. We're just saying getting the information out to everyone in the public. Um, we want to make
058sure that we are totally transparent. That's why we started with this kickoff meeting and we will continue at each board meeting giving you an update if there's anything critical going on. >> Thanks, Deb. John. Yes, please. Um so for the finance committee, we met uh last Friday, February 6th. Um a couple of u items on the agenda that we covered were um uh what the administration recommended in terms of some dire projects that need to be done um and we need to use capital reserve for um and that the committee will be uh recommending for approval tonight. Um one is a full mill and paving of the tennis courts. The tennis courts are in really bad shape. One of them is actually unusable. Um, so that's uh so that's something that's necessary. Uh, that would
059include new fencing around the tennis courts. Uh, the second is the removal and replacement of a 3,000galon water tank, hot water tank that's in the high school, uh, which we're not quite sure, but we think it's original. So, uh, the time has come. Uh, one other item was an administrative item. You may have remembered we did some uh paving of the main driveway um uh in the fall and um uh the money was inadvertently transferred back to capital reserves and we just need to move it back um uh during the audit process. So that's that. Um other than that, we started uh discussions and planning for 2026 2027 budget planning. Um so that's going uh along swimmingly. Melissa's up to her ears in planning. Um, as with everything else in today's world, costs are going
060through the roof. So, really one of the biggest challenges that we need to solve for a finance committee and for Melissa is um rising health insurance costs, rising prescription medicine costs, things like that. But more to come in the budget presentation. >> Thanks. >> Okay, perfect. All right, so we'll move on. At this time, we will open up the floor for public comments on agenda items. Um, in accordance with bylaw 0167, a copy of which is available on the district's website. The board is now opening up the meeting for a period of public comment. Please remember to you need to come up to the podium. Please remember to announce your name, place of residence, and a group affiliation if appropriate. Um, all your statements will be limited to three minutes in duration. And uh, just
061please be considerate. So, if you have a comment or a question, please come up to the podium. State your name and place of residence. Please. >> Hi, my name is Kelly Stevens um from North Caldwell. I'm a parent. Um I was just curious how the two question um referendum was arrived at and why those groupings like why wasn't the turf part of that second grouping? So >> I think um this crystal ball mentioned we had lots of projects that we we looked at. We rated them high priority, medium priority, low priority. And we wanted to try to put together two questions that we can get a the best bang for our buck. We want to be able to to reach multiple groups of students, multiple programs. So by putting the projects we selected, we felt
062would target lots of different groups, the athletics, the extracurriculars, the science department, the math department, whatever. We just um so we we looked at that as as being a priority to try to structure the question so that that first question we can we can reach lots of programs, lots of kids. And then that secondary question, it'd be great if we can do that. Um, but we felt that we would pull that out, make that a second question. Also trying to be cognizant of of the the total project costs, too, because obviously with all of those other projects, the the the total project costs would be m much more than the the figure that Allan presented tonight. just to tag team off of Damian. The field outside, so all four sending districts, their um their towns
063have um turf fields. So the kids play when they're K through six, they play on turf fields. They come to West Essics at the middle school, they're on grass and it's muddy. I think anybody who's had a kid play on that field, they know it's very muddy. And then they go to the high school and we have turf again. That's part of why we felt it was important to put the turf in with the general questions. We feel it is a priority, not just for sports. The middle school kids, sorry, if they have fizzed, they're out there in the mud. So, we felt that was a really big priority. Not that the stadium isn't um the bleachers are a priority, but if we just felt that the the turf is a necessity and not to
064say the stadium is a luxury by any means it's not. It needs to be, you know, updated, but we could put that off for a couple more years if we had to. So that's why we felt that the turf should go in with the referendum because it is a priority and it is a necessity um just for you know the kids being out there and safety reasons. But we felt like if we put you know this the stadium seating in the separate question if it didn't pass hopefully we could raise money in the future and get that done separately. Do you feel like I answered that yet? Hope that >> Kieran Keeland New Jersey. >> I have two questions. I hopefully only two. Um, two girls in in that are seniors in school right now
065going through a lot at college. Understanding aid, two types of aid that I come up with. There's the free aid, scholarships and grants, and then there's loans. When you guys are talking about uh debt service aid, is that going to be free money or is the district going to have to pay that back? >> Unless you want to answer that. So, we bond Oh, sorry. I forget that I don't microphone tonight. Um, we would bond out the full amount and then the state reimbures. you submit and they reimburse you in essence. >> So like you bond it and then the money gets refreshed from the state like they reimburse you for it. >> So the state will give you the money that you're not have to pay the state back. >> Correct. >> Yes, that's
066that's what I was looking at. >> Um the second thing or another one was has anybody done the analysis of possible savings? Now you talk about the door locks, right? You guys have insurance, I'm sure, general insurance. Is there any reduction in the insurance that the district is going to have to pay by improving the security and redust reducing liability along with that then you're talking about putting in field turf. I agree with you. I mean, Rosland just did theirs. A lot of places have it. There's a couple of reasons why. One is it's more costefficient. Is there an analysis done by the district as to how much you guys have saved? The district will save with maintenance on that, right? It's not going to be muddy anymore. You don't need the drainage anymore. You
067don't need to cut it all the time. You don't need to put the lines down. There is some sort of savings. It's probably not much, but over the years it may add up. And that's actually then reducing the outlay of costs over a period of time. Um, and my my sorry, did you want to answer to that before I go on? >> The insurance I don't have an answer for that. That one is a good one. The maintenance one, the the field one is has actually been a discussion um because we do realize that that will reduce manpower needed and there will be the long-term saving. That's more for you guys to do to like make people aware that yep, we're laying out this money, but then we're not going to have to pay it
068out in the future. It's all a cash flow type of deal. >> Um, >> and then the other one was going to be, you know, you talked about the cost of this and the cost of that, the cost of the field versus the cost of the bleachers. Is there an analysis that you guys are going to present as to what the cost of the individual pieces are? like what is the cost of all our locks which everybody I would agree everybody a lot of people agree that that's an absolute priority you know we want safety for the kids the same thing with the wall you know you can't have the wall falling down someone's going to get hurt um something like renovating the uh auditoriums people might say do we really need that what is
069the overall cost may be minimal and then the question kind of goes away right that's not that much we don't need that and the bulk of the cost is actually into things like the locks. You know, certain things like air conditioning you probably need. I've been hearing about the air conditioning in the middle school since my kids were in there eight years ago, seven, whatever it is. >> Um, so there are certain things and I didn't know if you guys were going to have a presentation that broke that down a little bit more. I know it's in two questions. I still don't understand why, but that's up to you guys to make that presentation. But, you know, is there something that you will publish to everybody as to what the cost is a little bit
070more? Sorry, I've taken more than my three minutes. >> Good points. Yeah, that is a good question, Alan. Is that something that we can do? We can provide that. We can provide that with with some disclaimers. Let's say >> approximates. >> Well, no. Yes. >> No, you're good. You're good. >> So, I just wanted along with that. My idea was you have a big number there, $45 million. Correct. If you break it down into a little bit pieces, >> that's easier to sell than $45 million at one time. >> That's correct. It's it can be construed that way. Yes. It can also be construed the other way because if we work in a my firm specializes in in K through2. We work in a in a different type of construction market than a homeowner does.
071So the sticker shock if I showed you what a door would cost is you have to understand prevailing wage uh it has to be bid publicly bid. So it's prevailing wage there's uh there's a lot more that goes into the public sector than the private sector. So yes we can share the the breakdown of per project and also included in also included in the cost estimate. There's [clears throat] two there two things I want to talk about with the call system. One, you know, we're being asked when we when we put together together, we started this process one maybe two years ago. We're being asked to project in the future. We asked project dollar amounts in the future. If anybody's tracked construction over the past over the past six years since uh you would understand
072that it is a volatile moving target. the when we print we put up the number 49 million in uh change the district is not allowed to spend one penny more than what than what they vote on when they vote on the 19th. That's the state law that's mandated. We're asked to project out potentially two years of construction inflation, right? when when when the vote comes on November 3rd to get to November 3rd, that's the easy part. Beyond November 3rd is the hard part because that's the that's the series of documents, the bidding, the getting the contractors on board. Controlling that cost one, two years beyond what what it is that you vote, the district votes on is is the tricky part. There's two points that cover both points escalation the projecting out and the public
073versus private. So yes, we can provide that information. We can provide that. We have the the they will have to vote on a what's called two forms by the state 131. That is an itemized breakout of what's it go for the classroom edition. How much is this uh steel? How much are windows? How much are doors? How much are how much are ceilings? How much are floor finishes? I have to provide the state an itemized cost estimate and it all has to tally what I've shown you tonight. Oh, the other piece too. I'm sorry. The other piece too inside every cost estimate there's what's called soft costs. Okay, soft costs are 30 which is what the the state allows the district to carry which is 30% above the cost construction cost that covers legal uh
074bonding architect engineers fees construction manager fees uh permits inspections uh contingency that's the big one contingency When I talk about right building that wall, what's down there? We're going off of a drawing from 1960. We don't know 100% what's down below. Anybody renovated a kitchen? Anybody renovated a house? >> Sure. >> Right. You go, I didn't know that was there. >> We have to take that into account. The state allows us to carry that that contingency. The other piece of it is the state allows you to carry 30% as a maximum. When you go for a referendum that's covered by debt service aid, that that appropriation that the district or the state will give back, you want to carry that 30%. Because the 30 the debt service aid is calculated on the max. It's calculated
075on construction cost and the soft cost. So you want to carry that for the district and that really is for the benefit of the district. So that So that for the whatifs, the district can cover themselves because like I said, they cannot spend on referendum projects one penny more than what the the the taxpayers go. >> Does that address your question? >> kind of. >> Yeah. My my question was as much of what you're talking about, but then there's a perception. So you correctly described I believe that you know the construction of a public school be much different than everybody else's house. >> Absolutely. >> Great. The issue is that everybody else is familiar with doing the construction on their house and they're not familiar with that but they're voting on it. >> Correct. >>
076So they're they don't have all the information that everybody has becomes more difficult shooting blind. And that's why I was saying if providing a little bit more clarity and information might help people get over the $50 million number and understand that the whole thing is actually required >> to which I which I agree with you and we can provide that information. >> That's what that's where I was driving that. >> Okay. >> Thank you very much. >> I talk to >> Thank you. That's okay. Um, while we're talking about cost, I just want to mention also we are going out for the referendum vote on November 3rd, which is election day because it's no additional cost to the district. There are four times a year, five times a year that a school can go out
077for a referendum. If we were to pick a different date, we would have to pay between 80 to $100,000 per district. Am I close, >> Alan? >> Okay. So, if we were to go out in April for a referendum vote, uh it would cost us almost $400,000 just to go out for that vote other than the on election day. And if the referendum doesn't pass, we don't get that money back. So, we were trying to be again fiscally responsible with going out in November on election day because it is no additional cost to the district. So, I just want to while we're talking about costs and savings and stuff like that, I just wanted to mention that. Um, are there any other questions? Does anybody else have any other questions? We'd love to hear from
078you. No. Anybody? Okay. Okay. All right. If there are no other questions, we will move on to our agenda items. Um, John, do you want to take finance? Any questions or comments? >> Melissa, you can call the role, please. >> Mr. Andre, >> yes. >> Miss Principal, >> yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Miss, yes. >> Mr. Sam, >> yes. >> Mr. W. >> Yes. Deb, do you want to take um curriculum, please? >> Buildings. >> Oh, sorry. Buildings and ground. Sorry, >> I'm looking right. >> Second. >> Any questions or comments? >> Mr. Andre. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Laya, you want to take personnel, please? >> Yes, ma'am. >> The following personal motions are made at the recommendation of the schools, any place on this agenda, items 1
079through seven will be voted upon in one motion. And I >> second. Any questions or comments? Sure. >> Okay. >> I just think it's great to see that the middle schools going back to some quote unquote normaly and going on a field trip. Um I think this is a great kickoff um for the new year for them and um I'm really hoping that they have a great a great time. It's a great opportunity for them. >> Thanks. Okay. Did you call the RO? Yes, please. >> Mr. Andre, >> yes. >> Miss Chris, >> yes. >> Miss Gavani, >> yes. >> Miss, >> yes, >> Miss Mr. Sher. >> Yes, >> Mr. Champ. >> Yes. For items one and two, recuse myself on number three. And yes, four through seven. >> Mr. Co. >> Yes. >>
080Um, Jonathan, do you want to take Do you want to take curriculum, Jonathan? Following curriculum and special education motions are made at the recommendation of superintendent of schools. Any place on this agenda items 1 through seven will be voted upon motion. >> Any questions or comments? >> You call the role please. >> M. >> Yes. >> Miss. >> Yes. >> Missi? >> Yes. >> Miss? >> Yes. >> Miss? Yes. >> Mr. Chair? >> Yes. >> Mr. Excuse myself on item number one. Yes. Mr. >> Yes. >> Debbie Hollstead, do you want to take um miscellaneous, please? >> Sure. The following miscellaneous motions are made at the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. Anything placed on this agenda, items one through two will be voted upon in one motion. And I so moved. >> Any questions
081or comments? Please. >> Mr. Andre. >> Yes. >> Mal. >> Yes. Yes. >> Miss >> Yes. Mr. Sher. >> Yes. >> M. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Miss. >> Yes. Okay. At this time, we will open up the floor for public comments on non-aggenda items. Does anyone have any public comments on non-aggenda items? No. Okay. Uh Ray, do you want to read us out? >> Sure. There being no further business before the board of education be resolved, this public meeting be adjourned at 8:47. Motion second.