e e e e e e e na indice okay we'd like to uh approve the minutes from April 15 2024 for closed session in the regular meeting do I have a motion you want to do the okay sorry go ahead trusty daro trusty msia yes trusty munes yes trusty PCO trusty Williams vice president dtis here resident benini here the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to an advanced notice of and to attend meetings of this board except where specifically Exempted by law at which time any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having same advertised in the Beville times also notice of this meeting has been mailed to the members of the board of educ ation the burrow clerk all elementary schools the middle school the high school Hornblower Early Childhood Center and posted on the district website also this meeting is being televised via the district's YouTube and Facebook pages great thank you Mr Paladino so now can we have an approval for our minutes for April 15th Clos session and public session so moved second second thank you Mr Paladino trusty uh msaga yes trusty munes yes uh vice president dtis yes uh president benam yes okay and um do we want to start with our presentations sure yep thank you madam president good evening everyone Welcome to our May meeting a lot of incredible things going on in the district and we're excited to be celebrating uh all the achievements of our students tonight uh with some presentations and then I after that I'll get into my superintendent report uh and we'll talk about a few other things but let's let's uh talk about the most important commodity first in Belo and that's our children so so here we are so we're going to start with the winners of the Young Writers um award-winning fiction contest I think that is May and Miss demov Right M demov you g to go down go down good evening Dr TOMCO members of the Board of Education and members of our Belleville Community once again um my name is Lucy demov your director of curriculum and instruction for specialized programs and I'm always so delighted and thrilled to be up here because I get to do the fun stuff and announce the the wonderful things that our children are doing in and out of district and the awards that they are winning so we're going to start with the interpretive reading forensics contest this was a contest that our students who are in the thank you that our students who are in The Talented and gifted program compete in it was back in March it was on March 15th and I am so happy to announce that out of sis six districts that competed Belleville earned first place and bille earned yes definitely definitely something to applaud so the students select a genre of their choice it can be fiction non-fiction it can be a biography an autobiography it can be poetry any type of literature piece of their choice they get to stand up before the panel of Judges I'm sorry I have to take these glasses off because they're reading glasses and when I look out into the out I see everyone kind of like yeah not good okay so once again 4 and a half to 5 and a half minutes they get to stand up in front of a panel of Judges they read their selection they have to read with expression out of six districts once again Belleville came in first place Belleville came in first place because of our eighth grader Judah cook so please put your hands together for Judah Cook miss Omare I'm so sorry I would be remiss in not inviting our teacher who is in charge of talented and gifted at velvel Middle School to come up Miss omima Omer I'm so sorry I started without you Judah is also receiving a trophy for first place [Applause] congratulations Judah we are so proud of you thank you honey congratulations yes stay up here babe stay up here we also have a third place winner who is very very worthy of recognition as well and her name please come up is Kayla Johnson Kayla is also an eighth grader at Belleville Middle School congratulations Kayla Kayla will also be receiving a trophy from the interpretive reading forensics competition and I'm not sure if I told you that competition took place on March 15th at Montclair State University congratulations to our two winners parents if you want to come up and take a picture now is the time [Applause] caners contest okay so the next the next competition that I am happy to announce is our young writers USA contest the name of the contest is called the glitch this was a writing contest this was also spearheaded by Miss Omar rare our Ela teacher at Belleville middle school so now I need the glasses so a few of our seventh and eighth grade students won the Young Writers contest called The Glitch Echoes of fiction writing contest the students were prompted to write a creative narrative using only a 100 Words and our following winners are once again Judah cook please come up Lucia [Applause] Beretta Jordan Francis [Applause] Alana [Applause] matiasic Amalia [Applause] Martinez Juliana reres [Applause] Sarah [Applause] dusk michaelin Kenworthy Rachel pul and Jeremy VZ [Applause] congratulations to our winners of The Young Writers USA contest parents please come up to take a picture e [Applause] thank you miss demov that was our um we went a little bit out of order that was our forensics competition first and then uh of course our Young Writers yes thank you all right I would now like to call up Mr hold on one second my just froze up on me here Mr Mara for competition cheer and the incredible job these these individuals have done this year um for their recognition come on up Mr Mara coach you coming up or no what's going [Applause] on yeah coach Aon Lewis come on up [Applause] okay so this year uh our competition cheer team does things a little bit different than other sports it's not an EDI sport so we competed and I have to read this off the paper that's why I didn't I'm not making a mistake on the New Jersey cheerleading dance Association had a 2024 uh state championship on on the varsity non-tumbling division correct coach okay there you go so our girls competed uh they are the state champions in that division um fantastic it it took us it took us a little bit more time to make these because we had to make these from scratch the N jcda does not give out those unlike the njsi and the SEC and ECA uh so took us a little bit of time but I have to thank uh Miss gingerelli and her staff for helping us out the the came out great so we're going to call the girls up one by one they're excited I was trying to get a cheer out of them but they said no and I'll tell you when the cheerleading team wins it's it's fantastic is not only do I get to you know just I get very proud of all the kids that win but I get these awesome text and pictures you can you could actually see them screaming through the text message I'm very proud of them first we have Genesis hodney come on up [Applause] breelan [Applause] emperado Christie [Applause] Maldonado Joselyn [Applause] Musha Ros kisada azreel Williams [Applause] Grace Hotel joliana [Applause] Pagan Gabriella Rodas yamil Cerna Sabrina Alejandro [Applause] Gabriella dbow Destiny manino Melissa Estes Juliana aasta congratulations to the 2024 NJ cdca state champion ship of Varley non Tumbl division great job [Applause] girls do a pyramid tried they didn't even want to do a chair I almost had this close to a chair that is so funny so funny great job ladies let's give another round of applause Miss Lewis thank you we now move on to our Essex County poster winners uh and for that presentation this evening we will call up our our school number 10 principal Mrs Maria Calhoun Miss [Applause] Calhoun good evening thank you for coming um I'm here to present the winners of my Essex poster contest all of the kids in fourth grade all over Essex County where it was there they could apply the whole contest is centered around students representing Essex County on the poster it was an art contest so they had to they couldn't really write about Essex County they had to create visuals and show what Essex County means to them Miss gizo if I can get you to come up that's our fourth grade teacher she drove the contest by telling them the history of S6 County showing them some visuals explaining things the students wrote about it in her class and then out of over 5,000 entries all over Essex County we had three winners in school 10 which is a huge deal and they are here tonight and that is gaan fantozi come on up come on up I will give them certificates on Monday we don't have certificates sorry they were all mixed up in there that's okay well they're just here and we'll recognize them and actually on Thursday they're going to the Essex County clerk's office to be recognized amongst all of the winners they only choose 15 out of 5,000 so again huge deal the next winner is Elia verpo Ilia come on up and his C cousin banana Huch come on come on up there's a lot of talent in this family G I apologize I will give you certificates tomorrow in school come on in the midle come on for [Applause] and our last recognition and Mr belon I think you're are you doing this one so we have a uh uh a wrestling um recognition that Mr belton's going to present tonight and uh I happen to uh have tweeted out about this uh this young individual uh when it occurred so very excited I see that we're wearing a grow women's wrestling shirt here so we got a pretty dedicated family so we're very excited so Mr Bon come on up and tell everyone the great news okay guys thank you very much DOC for the opportunity thank you to the board members as well um here in Belleville we love seeing our kids do amazing things inside the classroom and display a lot of character inside the classroom but seeing things that are spectacular outside of the classroom also should be recognized we have an amazing amazing young lady Lucy Tian right here come on up loc come on [Applause] up now this little Dynamo okay right here I'm intimidated okay this young girl just won first place in a national competition for wrestling in within her age bracket not only on the Nationals over in Washington state she also won first place in the National wrestling kids championships as well so she is feared from Belleville to the West Coast okay and she is the most polite well-spoken articulate kind-hearted person in our school so everybody walks up to her looks up to her our sixth grade students cheer for her in the hallways every once in a while when she wins another another National recognition we give the whole school no homework so while she walks through the hallways everybody's chearing her names so guys please recognize our amazing student Lucy Tian [Applause] congratulations thank you very much great job let's give another round of applause for all of our students uh and all the achievements tonight congratulations everyone uh we thank you parents for coming out and uh helping us recognize your your uh your children and all the great things are doing so I'm going to continue out my superintend report now and hopefully some of you stay for that but if not I understand so we'll give everybody a couple minutes to clear out thank you again thank you parents thank you so again thank you all uh I'd like to acknowledge all the administrators that are here again uh just an incredible group of individuals taking their time to come and support the board and the district working very hard um you know I always make it a point to um when I thank everyone always thank the teachers first The Faculty because I know as as as an administrator for 25 years now um you know we really know where you know the important um the importance lies inside the classroom so a good administrator or a great administrator is there to support um not only our students but the teachers um so again um for the unspoken hero in the back thank you so much I don't think I say it enough but thank you for being here tonight and like to give you a round of applause as well excellent job I think it's very easy to take a hit you know because of the you know your salaries and all that other stuff but uh you know you do support everyone here so so I appreciate you thank you very much um great things happening in this District we just had our um I don't want to steal any Thunder from some of the board members but Fusion the fusion event uh was this past weekend it was uh very well attended uh I I put out a tweet that seven or eight years ago when Dr Giovani kusano was one of our directors year he was charged with the community engagement piece before Miss Keller took over that department which was one of the board's um you know um motto was to kind of increase Community engagement and I think over the past nine years we've done an incredible job with all the boards that board members that have worked with us here but uh when we started this uh these two events one was the um the Hispanic Heritage Month month event which was the 1 October we did it was freezing I remember it was really cold inside then we did the first um Black History Month event that year and then we finished up with Fusion which was a celebration of all the cultures uh it just really really got a chance uh to to show certain individuals in the township what the township really is like um the Multicultural aspects uh the the children and the students and the families living with each other uh in the schools uh without you know we've we have our arguments here and there but really without incident um just the Rarity in certain places around the country and uh we seem to know work work on how to get along and we get along very well so that event culminates uh a year of Multicultural multiculturalism and acceptance uh and it's really important and I and I hope that the board continues to do that in my absence um what it also does is allows me to segue into um you know the future the future here um the future of belleville's public schools um you know I I there's an expectation that with the Genesis of a true preschool program um over a 90% preschool Universe rate that's continuing to grow um offering the ability to have parents have their students or have their children in classes at such an early and such a such an important age is really going to um prove beneficial over the next um decades um however we're not really going to see some of those results for the until a few years from now um because we do know there are a handful of people in this community that love to look at results I'm sure we'll hear about some of those tonight again um so hope those same people get up in a few years when those results uh do Skyrocket because of all the work that um we're putting in um for these these young groups but it brings me to another point that I've been making and we've kind of calmed down a little bit but now that I only have a few meetings left with all of you here um you know the enrollment piece keeps you know bringing up um bringing up interest uh to me at least to make sure that I say to this sitting board say to the future board members that are out there um future administrators here uh and the future parents that um it's really time to start shaking the tree I can't do it by myself anymore um I'm falling on deaf ears and I think that um the only way that happens is by emailing the right stuff to the right people knocking on the right do and uh and saying to everyone that is a naysayer right now to the things that I've been talking about hey let's prove the big bald guy wrong a couple years from now and let's do some work on it now so we can prove him wrong instead of just talking about rhetoric uh that would be a good thing to email the mayor and counsel uh and other people in town that aren't believing in these enrollment jumps um so again um this will probably be my last moment to to talk about some of this but I think it's really important and I and I and I appreciate the board giving me a few minutes because it is this important and this is not any personal attack this is not me going against developments I've said it a million times it's not me going against the pilots or lack their of support to the district on that it's not me going after the district not being mentioned once once in the master plan of this Township none of that stuff this is me talking reality real reality because I lived it okay I've lived through developments I've lived through things that happen they're not bad things they're only bad things when a district is not um prepared for the change that may come it may come okay uh and most likely it will come in some point because to sit here and think that a multitude of units regardless of Studio one bedroom 10 bedroom whatever they are to sit here and think that that's not going to produce possible students is an injustice to everyone who is in uh in education or in any type of leadership role across the country so in saying that we have to think about this stuff okay certain individuals in the township on Council have never ever Liv through a development project this is the first time it's happening okay have never certain individuals all right um so that's that's a that's a concern um the mayor made his uh state of the township address the other day and talked uh great about everything in the town except the schools well I don't know why he talked about the schools at all put them down a little bit all the hard work that we're doing in my opinion uh but that's fine um he talked about you know the incredible job that the police do the fire the fire department his his planning boards and all those other things uh I think our board does an incredible job our our teachers our administrators our kids we do the best we can with what we have um but at the same time you know um it's very easy to twist things and and rhetoric and stuff like that so tonight we're just going to talk about complete facts all right but he did say something that was really interesting he said these developments or these apartments or these expensive leases that we're doing are exactly the people we are trying to attract right exactly the people we are trying to attract to support businesses to support whatever the infrastructure I guess I don't know what else it can possibly talk be talking about but I can't worry about the people we're attracting because you have to worry about the people now and how it's going to affect these people now or when those apartments those units don't start filling up there those rents go down Etc and there's there are some things if you're really interested there are some resolutions about rent control and stuff like that uh that really do affect taxes as well um that you should look into if you if you have a few minutes but that's I I digress on that um in in light of all this that I've been talking about but more so in some of the uh attacks that have come against me and the things I'm saying I'm not giving all the information or I'm twisting the information and all that other stuff that doesn't that doesn't support anything I'm trying to do here I I I really have no quote unquote skin in the game if this place completely gets overcrowded in six seven years and you have no room for your kids like when I first got here and students in the middle school because we had sixth seventh and eighth grade in there in one building were sitting in the hallways doing classes having classes okay so if we're going to revert back to that and nobody wants to listen to me then that's up to you all um but again I'd be remiss if I didn't say some of these things however when all these these um when all of these events were occurring with the developments we immediately the board supported we immediately got a de a demographic report immediately got this once I found out all right a and again um that was ordered in September of 2022 so we're going back only a few years all right at the time the demographer opened all the possible um units that were available uh anything that we can get from the township uh at the time there were only 888 approved new units I was just told the other day that we're looking at 2,000 new units so this what I'm telling you now is only half the battle it's only half the battle so if you want to call this conservative this I would rather call this Ultra conservative Ultra conservative and again not against any of it not against any of it just know that no one will be able to look back at me or this board and say well you guys aren't prepared for this we need 10 trailers we need this that the other thing we have to have split session schools where our kindergarten kids are going to school at 5:00 at night just remember all of those things okay we're not even talking about money yet we're just talking about preparedness for for um you know where we're going to put some kids now this might not happen at all it might not I hope to God it doesn't happen but this is what projections do and the town's demography reports do not exist not one was done not one developer did a report not not one I don't know I guess Act of counsel not one report exists so everyone who's telling me I'm wrong is just saying I'm wrong so people would listen to it and that's fine all right but that's the truth not one exists okay I implore every parent to ask the council to now get a report go get a report done let's prove the bald guy wrong give me a report smack me in the face with it and say no kids coming out of these buildings because there are reports that were done out there called the Rucker rental study I'm sure if you've been an administrator for 5 minutes you've read this already was done back in 2018 all of those projections for all rental units across the state tell us that this is definitely going to happen and I'll get to that in one second um but out of the 880 there will be 888 new dwellings in the next 10-year period that that was what we went with when we did our demography report and that's where we we were talking about the projection of 260 new students it's that's the aggregate it's a small number if you think about it's 20 students 21 students whatever a year that's all the projection was but that can wipe out a district if all those students are in one or two grade levels one or two buildings okay some of these projects are by schools that when I got here had 75 students in it and now there's 150 students in some of these schools okay these are real numbers I'm not making these up there's no reason for make these up um we've made three attempts to meet with the mayor and counsel three attempts as a board to meet with the mayor and Council just to discuss moving forward what we can do Mr paldino and myself we were uh the the uh board graciously allowed us to get plans plans prepared on where we could expand these schools three four classrooms a site in preparation for this giving us 10 years 10 years to budget to work to bond to do whatever we need to do to prepare for the possibility of just 260 students which again is a very ultraconservative number um to this to this point we've got no response except from Deputy Mayor karelli Mr Graziano they're the only two that are willing to sit down with us uh and speak to us so I think you need to remember that when I say it so it's not everyone there it's the majority and with three new council members sitting I hope that in my absence everything gets better and everybody starts talking again to the board um because I think that change is probably one of the best things best things that ever happened to this Township the best things um so that's an important important piece of it um but but the real reason why I'm bringing this up and I was going to be quiet I wasn't going to say anything only have two meetings left blah blah blah but something came up at the planning board the other day and it sparked my interest and it wasn't as bad as certain individuals made it seem like people said I was a liar nobody said I was a liar but again it was like sort of like I was twisting the numbers a little bit because everybody thinks I twist numbers and that's fine I guess you can look at data 10 different ways okay um however it's it's really interesting because I have to I definitely have to you know thank the registar department Mr Sullivan and and all the other individuals that help with this uh putting this together because you know we talk about like Silver Lake development down in Belmont you know and there there are individuals there there are families of four with four kids that are living in two-bedroom apartments where do you think everybody's going I mean the whole talk so far with these developments is that no one's coming out of one-bedroom or studio apartments kids don't live in those things it's impossible that is the biggest fallacy so we ran a record of kids living in multiple uh multiple students right multiple families living in the same residence multiple families living in the same residence okay so now the first thing you're saying to yourself is self well obviously some of these are probably two family apartments or multif family um two family houses or multif family houses of course they are right and that would be great because that would be legal that would be something that we you know income bearing property that would be something like the mayor said that we've been trying to get re-registration for four years because we've been trying to get to work together just so we can get actual real numbers real numbers so in in looking at all of our families that live in the same addresses okay and then taking out the two family or multiple family houses so either single homes or individuals who live on the same floor okay we have 74 different different residences 74 addresses that meet the criteria of multiple families living in one single single family houses or single floors 74 residences so if you multiply that by three families that's how many kids we're talking about that are doing exactly what these developments aren't going to do so it definitely exists in Belleville already now will it exist moving forward according to everyone else absolutely not and that would be great okay and then I will come here 10 years from now I'll be Wheeling down in my wheelchair however I get here and I'll say everybody I was wrong right but the reverse side is this we go back to that Middle School time when I first got here and I couldn't even walk down the hallway you guys remember that tell me you you please remember that right it took us a whole whole year and a half some of you were on the committee with me to pull the sixth grade out right we had to pull the sixth grade out just to get room and we were still overcrowded because of a very bad decision right now the board and the council not talking about this is the is a very bad leadership decision very bad right nobody has to shake hands and hug and all that other stuff just have to sit down and talk about it but that's the truth that's a true number that's a hard number okay so so that's the stuff that's happening here and that's the stuff that's important um 74 is you know a huge number 89 you know the sensus thatat is very clear too 21 21 2021 I think was the last census 89% of the families in Belleville continue to live in the same house year after year so this isn't something new this isn't Rich TOMCO new like oh we just found 74 families this has been going on we've been seeing this we've been seeing it grow and it's just going to continue to grow you know as people want to continue to move to this town because all the great things you know and that brings us to that Rucker study I was talking about in 2018 I have to read this I want to get the exact numbers here um but you know then back back in 2018 they have a a a family that makes in between a Family household income between $50,000 and $100,000 a year okay back in 2018 um what they were saying is that for for just 1,500 units 1,500 units which is still 500 less than the conservative um number that I was uh the number that I that I heard for 2000 that would predict back in 2018 from the the coefficients that they were using in the Rucker study 102 students 102 students so our number of 260 is a little bit higher um again that that coefficient is also based on average salary and the average salary now according to the sentus of a household in Belleville is $98,000 it's actually 95,000 9597 that's during the Census Data um things are happening here that I continue to talk about that nobody's paying attention to things continue to happen that I'm talking about that no one is paying attention to okay I talked so many times about the poverty level and how it's a hurdle here it's not a hurdle that we heard about 10 15 years ago before I got here it's something that's increasingly um uh occurring you know our district poverty rate right now is 57% we have three schools that qualify for free breakfast and free lunch that changes the neighborhood hoods will change forever if that happens forever okay 57% um some of the some of the schools that we're being compared to are not even close to that in poverty levels in different schools uh some of the districts we're being compared to the township poverty is the census is saying there's 4,22 people two residents which includes kids in the township that are at the poverty level that's what the Census Bureau says okay which is 11% of the township and I I've been been saying about 10% okay so think about this for a second 11% of the township is in poverty all right but we have 57% of our kids and we have almost 5,000 kids so it doesn't take a genius to figure out where the poverty lies in the township right and there's nothing wrong with this but the services all those things that we're talking about that we're putting money into that we're trying to um partner with that we're trying to look at enrollment pieces and other things are all happening here it's all happening in these buildings and all that's going to happen is as these individuals get older and they become citizens here and they have their families some of that's going to grow and and something that we really have to think about um 68% of the poverty here is uh is represented in the district schools I mean it's just incredible stuff I don't know how else to say it uh my my hope is for this board the next superintendent the new leadership in the council um or the council as a whole to sit down and say listen let's just see what we can do let's just talk about it no one's asking for you know signature or anything like that there's no talking happening and that's a scary thing it's a very scary thing um I've seen this happen before uh it's happened in neighboring towns and it doesn't happen overnight you know the first people that move into these apartments that are $4,000 a month or whatever it is yeah how long is that sustainable right or when all the apartments aren't um you know rented and then developers sell and they flip how is that sustainable these things happen they're going to happen these are beautiful things that we're doing for the township the township looks great you know nine years ago I drive mine I see an old factory I'd see graffiti it's it's like where are we now we're starting to build it up that's great incredible stuff this Board needs to talk to the other Township leaders to discuss the possib ability even if I'm half wrong still a lot of kids and that I'm not even talking about regular enrollment increases we're increasing enrollment already and some of these developments aren't even online yet that's a problem and that's because great things are going on here so so again uh I wanted to get that out this will be my last time to say it I said it at our event the other day um it's not to disparage anybody it's to just be very very succinct very to the point that talking has to start happening or the finger should be pointing in in other directions so so that's my Spiel on that I appreciate the few minutes now for everybody's edification of the most important thing probably that we're all here for is um the uh regarding the budget um that was voted on um in uh the end of March I believe um so the only vote that really took place was the was the technical review vote if you recall that the last vote that the board took was at the board hearing we had a hearing on uh what the board asked Mr paldino and myself to cut um the board did not vote on that at all basically it was a tie right it was 331 uh so there was no vote on that so that automatically goes back to technical review because we have to Now work on the only Bo budget that was approved by the board uh which was the first original technical review budget um which was 10.2% tax increase to local tax levy um the board did not uh you know meet again um and we had to basically submit that uh it was submitted uh after Mr Egan the state monitor uh informed the board that um under his statuto um you know what he's entitled to do um the tax increase he's reduced to 6.42% so the tax rate uh the tax levy for next year um for this district will be 6.42% which represents 2,913 th15 so that's a decrease from 10.2% so that's I guess that's the official word now for all of you um whatever has to be posted will be posted um and I guess we'll kind of move away from that but that's all I have progress thank you madam president wow thank you no thank you TOMCO um Mr Paladino do we have any I figured I would do her after if if you don't mind this way yeah no thank you just a couple of things from uh Mr rean and then myself uh Mr ean's watching via the district social media page um he's reviewed the agenda tonight that's being presented by the superintendent myself and he approves uh everything as a pertaining to Personnel purchasing and finance and then lastly uh certifies that there's sufficient funds to get the district through the end of the school year June 30th as certified by The District's Treasurer this evening and then the only thing I wanted to mention in my report to the board was there's a grant on the agenda tonight uh Capital emerging grant for about $121,000 those funds will be used um to purchase electronic signs uh outside of each of the schools to Spruce them up a little bit that's all I got for you thank you Mr paladen all right and now we'll let our uh High School representative talk that way we can balance it out a little bit so Rayanne Welcome to our meeting let us know what good things you have going on at the high school after this um good evening everyone so starting off I'm happy to announce that on May 1 our life skill students competed in the Essex County Special Olympics at Brooklyn Dale Park and they won first place on that same day the environmental club and The Green Thumb Club led by president benini collaborated to tidy up and plant various crops in one of our Courtyards where students will be allowed to sit en Joy the Optimus Club led by Mr kkin and Mr rubinson took a trip to the van v botanical gardens in Montclair there they learned about the history of the state and had opportunity to explore the extraordinary Gardens in celebration of the end of AP exams the battle of the classes event is scheduled for May 29th from 4: to 6: this past Thursday Friday and Saturday nights the Theater Arts group presented the play Avenue Q with the support of the band production staff stage Tech stage crew set design and ology ending on a high note an event most students look forward to prom will take place on June 12th with over 350 students expected to attend that's all for tonight I hope everyone has a great night thank you very much Ryan okay and we'll move into public participation can I have a motion to open motion second all those in favor I I okay first on the uh list you have Michael Sheldon is it three or five always been three yeah yeah all right good evening everyone Michael Sheldon 47 Floyd Street um very obviously disappointed to hear about the budget situation Mr Sheldon before you start I just I'm sorry you're missing you're missing something though you you're missing something missing something we'll pause your time we'll pause your time you're missing something what am I missing you're my apology there's no apology there what do you mean there's no apology there's no apology you you you on your one of your rants on one of your rants you said I perjured myself during a public hearing I lied and then after you said that you know I lied about the numbers I gave the numbers within 24 hours I gave you every position no shared positions and I said to you you basically slander me in front of all these people these 500 people that you put these letters out to no let me finish that's exactly what you did so I said I'll I'll have a public apology from you as soon as you get here that's that's what I that's what I deserve stop being a bully and apologize it's very simple be a man and apologize you made a mistake I'm letting you apologize right now well then you shouldn't be able to talk you should sit down then you should sit down you can apologize I'm not I don't file any lawsuits against you really no none at all no maybe the board did but I didn't listen you said you talk to the attorney general he was going to come here with the with the with the governor tonight or whatever you're going to do yeah you did just apologize be a man and apologize we're totally against HIV and bullying here and what do you do you come up here for eight years and all you do is Bully be a man and just say I made a mistake you proved me wrong I'm I'm I'm sorry just do it truth that's what you should do I am being truthful you be truthful it's very simple I don't understand what the big deal is it's very simple good then I'll say this again I'll absolutely say it again again here you go this is a a uh indicative of someone who was bullied when they were younger and now comes up here on a bully pulpit because someone can't come back I'm the first person to talk back to you now you proved everybody right that you can be wrong so now be a man and just say I was wrong did I not give you the right numbers did I not give you the right numbers very simple question did I not give you the right numbers give me the right numbers what are you talking about I I gave you every every number listed there every number listed every number listed no get your hand off for this should meeting there should have been at the last meeting when you denied me the opportunity there's no opportunity you put it in an email that you copied me on I answered the email I answered the email did you send the email back to all those people the budget discussion that I had voluntar this this is exactly this is exactly the problem with with when even when you were a board member oh bullying then you come up here and you bully so that's okay everybody sees everybody see it fine go ahead continue start your three minutes I'm I for the record it's just you have I think two minutes and 50 seconds left I just want to make sure you have all of your time hope okay okay hold on okay go ahead thank you thank you all right so you announced a moment ago that the that the state monitor has approved the 6.42% increase in the uh tax bill you what you didn't do is give us the actual numerical details I understand that that translates to a $260 increase for the meeting assessed home you said you're going to post the details will you be giving that table overnight tonight or tomorrow showing everyone in Beville how much more they're going to have to Fork over in property taxes uh the parking garage matter this Fiasco with the parking garage you rejecting the latest bids I'd like to know what happens next and and I also would like to know since you only have $6.9 million left from the shared services Bond ordinance after spending five million of it uh acquiring the Eastern International College how did you somehow come up with $8 million according to the bid sheet so you transferred you took some of the budget surplus that you have every year and moved it into capital reserve so you could help fund this garage that you're now legally obligated to build as I keep saying if that garage doesn't materialize soon you know the the the the conversations in treaton whenever they mention Belleville are going to include the words criminal conspiracy to defraud the state of New Jersey okay I'm just I'm going to interrupt Jun for a second now I'm going to pause I'm going to pause your time pause your time you know we always give you your due time thank you I have to warn you when you start throwing around words like criminal conspiracy that you could be not from this board but potentially privately subjected to a defamation action I just want to warn you and I'm only doing that in the interest of the public I just want to make sure it's clear because that's a very serious allegation you're making no I'm just saying it could be I'm saying potentially could happen Okay I just want to make sure we'll resume your time I just want make sure calls for a garage to be built and mean if a garage does res your time now goad right so I'll be resume thank you 1 minute and 25 seconds now on this agenda tonight uh item 13.3 you're about to appropriate almost $200,000 for a new boiler at the middle school didn't we just put in brand new boilers and all of our schools courtesy the referendum why is that almost $200,000 going to a new boiler for the for the middle school I'd like some comment about that and let's see I only have a minute left here let me just make sure ready my budget items all I'll have more to say about other Other M you Dr TOMCO you very quickly you you tried to refute I gave you the link to the video of the last uh week's planning board meeting when Mr Banda uh challenged some of the uh predictions made by you about the impact the residential projects will have upon the school district in particular Mr Bandu said that of approximately 325 new residential units that are now online that they've produced according to him and if I remember his words correctly only four kids so I would I would take it that you completely refute his contention that 325 units have only produced four children I think you you just threw around the number that you have some at least 70 some OD students out of 800 units so I'd like you to I'm not trying to antagonize the situation between you and Mr melum I know that that's Fallen apart in the last couple years but you know you guys seem to be on the opposite ends of the spectrum about the impact that all this residential activity is having on our school district so if you care to to address that I would appreciate it I don't responsibilities so I don't know no responsibilities Mr Vincent France Antony mous bullies my God uh good evening uh resolution uh 7.1 the cost of legal fees not covered by Insurance can we uh know what they are you continue please we'll we'll address whatever we can after as we always do Mr frony go ahead we can't but you say that I said that down and you never answer and then you force me to scream out loud I want an answer we don't you all the time Mr Bush you in the panel here I ask a qu sit down and we'll answer you you sit down you don't answer we'll do our best to answer it's not public question just public comment go ahead sir this is yes and you have the agenda like I said I've been doing this for many decades and we've always had a report we were able to get answers and even with our Council though I don't like the way they mind but at least we get some answers for them I've never seen anything like this since you got here just shut up and sit down now it's a simple question cost of legal fees not covered by insurance can you give me some examples of what is not covered by Insurance you're mute Mr franch Antony we told you if you ask all the questions make all the comment you have your time go ahead okay you'll see if you answer me that but in the same regard then when I sit down you'll answer me this are some of these cost uh related to Oprah request will you write that down so you don't forget when I sit down you answer me on that you got those two questions what are they for yes and are some related to Oprah request uh because was I called the governor's office today to pray that he would veto that open legislation that's absolutely ridiculous and the aid start getting back to me so oh no you don't understand I don't I I told them my history attend the meetings and I told her what you guys did to me one time I get up here asked the question of an item on the agenda you said sit down we'll answer you you never answered me you but you did say Oprah it so I OA it and a month or so later I was shocked when I saw your Oprah legal expenses that the clown $275 to answer my Oprah request so I told the governor sayy this was an item on the agenda where the seven board members had to vote on it the superintendent and businessman had to know what was going they could have answered me at the mean they forc me to do an Oprah and then says and she says what would cost $275 to answer an Oprah thing so this is the Ridiculousness so I'm going to sit down now I hope you have the ability and the courtesy to answer me yeah we're gonna answer I think we're going to do our best to answer your question like we always do like we always do okay Mr balino so to answer your second question none of those are covered by Oprah and to answer your oh to answer your second question none of those have to do with Oprah that's Section 8 and to answer your first question it's everything that insurance would not cover that has to go to legal and I could explain just a little bit so okay well we'll give an example so lawsuits for example that are filed against the board often times litigation civil complaints matters employment matters special education matters depending on the case we will uh suggest that the board refer those matters to insurance and then those matters are assessed by the insurance carrier to determine whether or not the claims fall within the board's insurance policy and that allows the board to get the value from its insurance policy the board would then pay its deductible and then have representation not from our firm for example but from outside Council that's assigned by the insurance company and then those matters will be covered by Insurance everything else is not covered by insurance for example the day-to-day issues that go on in a school right the conversations that people in my office for example may have with administrators or uh the board leadership because there's a question that's uh on their mind that's not covered by insurance so Insurance actually covers a relatively narrow amount of the overall legal work in this district and it would only be related to lawsuits that are the defense of which are covered by the insurance policy just so you understand that's what that's what is the difference between and that's the case in every single School District throughout New Jersey thank you very much gentlemen we have a motion to to close public participation motion move and a second second all those in favor I okay we're going to move along to approve the resolutions on tonight's agenda so for personnel resolutions suggested by the superintendent 9.1 to 9.53 uh is there any discussion on the personnel you do that at the end well did you want to do that now ask him now or at the end at the end let's get through the the agenda items because I think everybody wants to comment tonight yeah okay so does anybody have any comments on Personnel if not Mr Paladino please call the Ral trusty msia yes uh trusty munes yes uh vice president dtis yes to all with the exception of number 116 under 9.51 I abstain and president benam meini yes all right and for curriculum and instruction items suggested by the superintendent and the staff items 10.1 to 10.3 is there any discussion on curriculum hearing none can I have a motion so move second second Mr Paladino please call the rooll trusty massagi yes trusty munes yes uh vice president dtis yes president benini yes moving on to resolutions on board policy items suggested by the superintendent items 11.1 to 11.19 was there any discussion on those then hearing none Mr Paladino say motion right that's right so moved second second got on a roll Mr valino all good uh trusty massagi yes uh trusty munes yes vice president dtis yes president benini yes and resolution on finance any discussion um I do this is uh items 121 and on right items 13.1 to 13.22 wait I'm sorry the be where we just did 12 say it again I think we went from 11 to 13 oh I'm sorry purchasing and business services yes thank you no problem I'm just trying to get through it do you have the motion on that so that's 12.1 to 12.16 is there any discussion I do I just wanted to highlight two items do we do we need some motion on this I'm sorry because I know we motioned on the other stuffff we're good okay yes all right so my questions uh there's two items here that we have um for it's it's a consulting firm that we have um for two grants that we're trying to apply for I just wanted to see if you um Mr pad if you can speak on those items I'm just trying to find what number they were EXC which ones you know what I I I just found the items they're actually on the 13 so I I don't have any comments on this portion I will on the next they're under Finance I'm sorry okay then do we have a motion did we get a motion for those I'll move and a second and I second that okay Mr Paladino trusty massagi yes trusty munes yes yes vice president dtis yes president benini yes and now Finance motion second second that's 13.1 to 13.22 correct Mr Paladino trusty massag yes well hold on discussion on these items okay all right so now 13 14 15 16 17 and 18 are Grant programs that applications that we're putting in so I know this is something that we we've decided to put on and just highlight a little bit more but I wanted to actually have some discussions on this one what it's what it's about what those grants would be used for if we are able to receive them and so on uh no you can generalize it I mean uh it's it's 13 14 15 16 17 yeah so so so we're um we're going to do a better job of getting information to the board moving forward we have uh we have our grant office now uh doing a lot of work as you all know there's a million grants out there so so we're trying to apply for everything we possibly can they do a great job Miss Bruno does an excellent job uh so you see on here is a lot of violence and prevention uh grants that we get um or we look to get um there's also stuff there for the um the electric School Bus program I think came back uh this year for federally now uh we're looking to even possibly get another bus uh terrorism prevention program um to again help with some of the security secur issues we're always looking to make sure everyone's safe here because you know just like you all at home or parents get you know weird phone calls the scams and stuff you we get stuff here with you know the the terrorist terroristic threats with you know to the servers and just all these different things that are happening because all of our students are on social media so we're looking for all that stuff obviously always looking for mental health uh stuff to assist uh with our team there and I don't know what else am I looking for yeah those are just Gent izations but um again you know anyone who has any Grand opportunities out there board members parents just send them to Mr Paladino's office or my office and uh we'll send them out to the grants I mean it could be as little as $50 or you know some grants we go for a million dollar grants um I know Miss Ben Mei really works with us on the environmental side of that um does an incredible job for the township I don't know if everybody's aware of that but she's the reason why we have all that stuff on that side um so we love that partnership we'll continue to do that as well so I appreciate the question thank you thank you okay all right trusty massagi yes trusty munes yes vice president dtis yes president benini yes okay so we're going to do remarks first by the citizens and then go into our comments and discuss or question a couple of those things right okay so we're g to have a a motion to open public comment so move second all those in favor I okay and first we have Michael Sheldon uh good evening again um I want to thank the uh the few Trust who have recently spoken in opposition to this completely unfair and unjustified tax increase even though it's instead of the original 10.2 it's now 6.42% courtesy of our would be invisible State monitors actions uh in fact if I remember correctly at the public hearing U chair of the finance committee Miss msia um she um begrudgingly voted in favor of the budget because of her she expressed her concern that if if the board didn't approve the 4.1 1% increase earlier this month that the state monitor would intervene and impose a much higher uh increase in her wor feares have been confirmed she also expressed um how she had as chair of the finance committee she had made multiple efforts to speak to Mr Egan about the budget and apparently was ignored uh at every term which says a lot about the three wise men that are running this this District uh the uh uh starting tonight an effort is going to to be made to reach out to Governor Murphy to let him know about what's going on here and to ask him to intervene to have the AG's office and the Opia launch an investigation of this Boe Administration to get to the bottom of what's going on with the taxpayers monies I'm hoping that a couple of the or a few of the trustees who have either publicly or privately told me about their frustration with their experiences with this budget will join us with that effort uh I previously with our superintendent about to be relegated to the annals of the Beville Boe history book and a little over 40 days will the superintendent be getting any extra compensation Beyond his regular payments owed to him for the remaining 40 days his contract is a little bit vague in the separation or termination aspect um again I would hope that some of the trustees will comment upon this I often cite the Latin legal phrase uh quas at conent viatour that silence implies consent but I appreciate the fact that as I said earlier some of the trustees have begin to speak up about what's really going on with this board uh see I've got a little over two minutes left here one of the uh items on the agenda that I didn't get to in the bills list you're appropriating uh $200,000 to the go-to architectural firm Solutions architecture marked for middle school expansion I assume that this has nothing to do with the garage project so I'd like to know somebody the operations committee Etc because I'm obviously not going to get any respon for our beloved Dr TOMCO tonight um with what what's going on there what what are you contemplating with the middle school expansion if someone could elaborate now I have two minutes left and I this is something I've been meaning to discuss publicly with the board for some time uh to show you just how manipulative and mendacious our superintendent can be at times and what I'm referring to is the claremon field renovation project uh when I was on the board in 2019 I was chair of the finance and operation committee I spearheaded uh that effort uh during that that year fortunately everyone loves what happened with the Claremont field but as Dr TOMCO spoke during the late spring and early summer of of 2021 there were problems getting psng to do the final power hookup and uh he he lamented the fact fact that you know they were apparently ignoring the board they couldn't get pscg to respond so what did I do as an independent citizen private citizen I took it upon myself to reach out to the president and CEO of PNG Dr Ralph ISO who like myself happens to be a physics person and we kind of hit it off and within 24 hours Dr ISO appointed one of his senior vice presidents and the head of his engineering department to figure out what was going on here why the Claren field project which was finished by didn't have a power hookup why it was without power so they discovered in very within 48 hours that uh paperwork hadn't been properly filed something called a cutting card but they got it straightened out within one two three I have all the recordings and v in fact I shared it with Dr TOMCO I shared it with the Town Council they knew at every step of the way what was going on in fact when the head of engineering for PSG came here in July to oversee the final power hookup he called me from Claremont field to let me know that power had been restored they did the connectivity test everything was done so I asked well I was I was really uh shrined when Dr TOMCO at the board meeting at that time he was asked about what's going on with the power hookup and he said well hopefully within the next week right now he knew very well because I have all the emails that psng had finished the power hookup because the CEO of psng had directly intervened for the benefit of our Township and when I asked Dr TOMCO you know when he said that he's hoping in a couple weeks that the power would be hooked up he I I I I replied to him I said to him I said in the absence of a coach at respond from you or is the absence of cachent respons because you unable to offer one and his little T response was good afternoon yes so essentially he's admitting here he's a BS artist he knew all along that the power was there but he wouldn't ackn acknowledge it because at that time his best friend was mum and he wasn't going to DARE credit me with helping get the power restored good luck to you Dr cono I'll be seeing you in Vincent Fran anony bully bully uh what I when I sit down I hope you can answer me why we need a new boiler at the middle school when it's only seven eight or 9ine years old in 1972 I bought my building in Washington I set up a lingat converted from oil to gas I sold it last year 51 years the bank the mortgage company inspector was amazed at the condition in the boiler once a year the little sand the copper pipes were all shining and all and all my properties maintain so I'd like to know why if all that big expense a whole new boiler system all new piping CU I used to walk down some days to close my I saw all the work on it why we need a new boiler and now the Dr TCO I thank you for giving me the opportunity to praise you okay thank you your big speech was right on target thank you you said I can't do it myself anymore it's time to accept the enrollment increases the only thing is you're not doing it by yourself no more I and a few others have been at every planning board meeting banging the alarm loud and clear couple of meetings ago if you you watch them the videos of them the planning board chairman who fortunately lost the election this time almost had me arrested we wound up in a screaming match all right because what I was saying the exact same thing you said but not this year not last year for the last 10 15 years and you're right on target got right across stre me not only are you right that you have many families living in one apartment okay right across your I'm might block I won't tell you which house and all that they've got a big mailbox cars pull up double Park they run up to the mail bark look through take their mail out and leave I believe they're using as a mailing address to have their kids in the school system uh I'm in an A1 residential district I'm paying top taxes now with my kids out of house my wife and I put maybe a half a garbage pil out every I don't put out every day across the street down the street all these illegal Dr and one finally got caught a couple years ago I didn't want to squeal on him but some illegal things were going on the fire department and the police department were there in two days and I went to a meeting I said you keep denying what's going on your whole fire department was there he saw they they were in the Attic the illegal apartment they were in the basement and your Police Department was in there cuz the landlord was the girl in the basement had to use his bathroom and he was peeking on her and the mother called the police I said so now you know it's IL legal department so what happened he went to court paid $500 fee two Saturdays later the tenants moved out a month later they moved back in I have made Flyers 8 and 1/2 by 11 colored flyers saying illegal Apartments will be prosecuted to full Senor law I put the uh statute number and all the town won't put them in the bill I said it doesn't cost any money you send the tax bill out and the water bill put it in each one at least you're warning these people oh no we won't do it so this is an absolute disaster I agree with you they keep lying the mayor you said in state of the township some admissions no I watched the tape and I wrote everything every single item he said was a lie all right he's just and I accused him public one night you're a narcissist you're a young man you're going to get in trouble someday hopefully there's a split on the council now hopefully these two who sat on this board who just got elected I saved their campaign literature let's see if they're going to take actions to what their campaign literature and their mouth said so I want to and regards to the Ruckers report the professor who drew up the Ruckers report I just brought it up I didn't know it was going to come I would bought it I would have brought it tonight he was shocked he was shocked that his report when he saw all it was about B Monclair all the apartments in Montclair and he says oh no studios won't do this do that was in his report when he saw I think Glen I forget which unit there he had predicted two or three students 41 students and then in the report he says I was shocked at the result there so we need more people to speak out you have one of your members sitting up there is on the zoning board and In fairness the zoning board don't approve a lot of these things and I compliment that for that but you're right on Target and it it's got to stop and the other thing is previous boards had done my sister taught it the old school number two we fought to save that school cuz that was a good school for the Silver Lake reason right there the people could walk we save no they sold it a previous board School number one I fought that for 24 years the one night I was busy I didn't go to a meeting the scam absolutely I could use those strong words cuz that's what it was the board gives it to the town for a dollar the town that illegally shells it and all that it's it's a shame what's going on in this town so I disagree with you some other things on this issue you were spot on I hope more of you and you truste sitting up there you live in town I hope open your mouth too well they wouldn't be able to serve if they did thank you thank you for your time come to meetings and use your position say I'm a trust you're killing the school system Mr Hinton come to the podium I guess there's nothing we can do about this uh increase huh now it's too late too late sir those I hear you talk about was the projections of the future all these apartments we've been saying for a long time in this town keeps happening keeps happening what I don't understand is why you sold the school number one took back to the town all right you're going to need that for school school space we're going to need it they sold it they sold the other school number two I believe it was they sold that too all these here students coming in but nobody talks about these grades that the school the the kids are getting us taxpayers like to see us getting something for our money we like to see kids coming out passing these uh these tests that that they give them it's a disgrace what's happening here they're not getting their education they need deserve and all you do is keep raising our taxes so I hope something changes here thank you thank you motion to close public participation so move second oh I okay yes you can answer the motion we answer you can answer it but just wait till just close so second motion I second and all those in favor I I okay yeah can we get some clarity on that yeah now now you can of course you can answer yeah we always answer when we can I forgot sorry got better it's a simple answer the boiler needs to be replaced I wasn't here when the first one was installed it needs to be replaced no warrant dat a warranty is that how long how long was the warranty on from from initial leave it was only for a couple of years it was only three years do we have an option to renew warranties after they expire or is whatever the term is and that's it NOP whatever the term is unfortunately that's it this is is this one part of the referendum this wasn't don't forget the middle school had a temporary boiler outside if you remember um for a long time this this this boiler that were that was is being replaced was not part of the referendum there's several boilers in there am I right Matt there's several boilers in there yes there were two uh there were two was in Middle School and school 8 roughly about eight nine years ago right okay so I just want to talk about a few things I did request to have Mr Egan attend a meeting um it was discussed Mr Egan is not here so that's all I'm going to say about that we did request it that's what I can tell you um also I I wanted to ask Jonathan I've gotten a lot of requests about the superintendent and moving forward and how we're going to handle that so I think it's best to let Jonathan summarize a lot of the things that we've discussed with the superintendent uh especially since we have Nikki here and and Matt right right right so we've been specific to keeping uh Nikki and uh obviously keep keep the protection in terms of ethics and so uh those discussions have been held in executive session with respect to the non-conflicted members but for the general discussion here the way that these superintendent searches work I think are are important we're not yet at the phase of beginning and commencing a search for a new superintendent uh we're going to be looking at least for now for an interim superintendent uh this is very typical of boards of Education because when when the board realized they would have a vacancy effect of July 1 they need to make sure that they secure the position that the district is properly LED and then going forward uh they would have the the the time after an interm superintendent is in place to really engage the community uh and and and to make sure that whoever is the next superintendent of schools will you know obviously uh continue to move this District forward I mean that that's the objective but you know what you'll notice this board doing over the next couple of months is um appointing an interim superintendent of schools usually we do not have someone yet that will be that will happen the night that the board uh obviously I would have to nego choose someone negotiate with them and then appoint that person but that person would be have to be in place by July 1st so that there's a chief School administrator which the district obviously needs to have and then um over the course of the next couple of months the board would commence a process by figuring out um you know some sort of uh search Entity that would assist the board and then of course I think in speaking with the board I've I've learned that this board you know wants to make sure that it has the opinions of its Community takes the administration the teachers the union um you know law kinds of interested I imagine officials from across the community to give input on what what they're looking for in in their next educational leader and then obviously the district would process all that they' put out a an advertisement and then you would not see a new superintendent in all likelihood although it's not impossible but selected until you know the next board is in place because the the next board can only you know choose its own superintendent board can choose for a future board and that's some that's a legal requirement so you know it's um it's a complex process it's something that many board members throughout the course of their careers as board members don't ever really have a chance to do it's obviously the most or one of the most important decisions that a school board can make in terms of who its Chief School administrator is but um I don't know if board members will have any questions for the public um obviously I would answer you in a sensitive way in executive session if you were eligible to participate in that but I want to make sure that I answer any questions that you might want me to at least answer for the public okay I answer everything yeah okay else we're good okay all right and would any board members like to make comments tonight I I think they would so Liz massia did you want to make some comments tonight okay I'll start okay not too much not too many just a few okay first I would like uh to extend congratulations to all of our award-winning students it is such a wonderful feeling month after month to see so many of our very talented young people earning awards for academic creative and athletic achievements kudos to our teachers and support staff who help our children to reach these amazing goals also congratulations to the life skills students who participated in the Special Olympics and took first place finally as leaon to school five um the parents have continued to reach out to me and on more than one occasion expressed to me there's very serious concerns about the overcrowding of that building not only as it currently exists but adding a pre which will compound the problem there is no art room or Music Room the students sit at their desks in their room for all subjects and many of them sit at those same desks even to eat their lunch this is an intolerable situation for small children we need to look at an alternative plan for either the prek or the sixth grade to free up space and allow the children some freedom to learn and eat away from their desks and this comes from the parents of school five and like I said they've reached out to me several times about about this they're very concerned I I know they've expressed their concerns to Mrs Gilligan the principal and they've asked you know can you move the sixth grade out of there can you not bring the prek in the the building is tight and I know we're seeing this you know throughout the district and it's only going to get worse as we continue to watch this overdevelopment just wear its ugly head um but something has to be done you can't strap these kids into these desks all day every day for academic subjects art music and lunch as well just to be able to bring the prek in there so so hopefully we can revisit this and and maybe come up with some type of another plan to help them out and to ease the the crowding and give these kids a place you know an opportunity to get away from their desks um next week is Memorial Day weekend everybody have a safe and and enjoyable weekend not to forget why what the weekend is about but to remember those who lost their lives defending our country progress thank you trustee Dr massaga trustee leis munes good evening everyone uh I want to uh congratulate our K our kids tonight that were recognized um it's an amazing achievement it's uh important to um not just always focus on the difficulties of things that we're doing but also take moments to celebrate our children and the achievements they really do work hard and you know as adults we see we see the chaos we see the things that are worrying us but our kids don't see that they just see that they get to come to school they get to do the best job possible and and it's important that we take a moment to highlight them clap for them reward them for their efforts because you know they don't live in our worlds we live in theirs right um I just want to also um you know I Echo U Dr msaga in her concerns with the schools I mean we added the um Annex Building at the middle school and that's why part of the reason why um us being able to build something out there that'll bring our kids um out of that middle school is so important um that's one of the biggest things that I we we've been I've been fortunate to sit in this board for the last four years and we've done a lot cuz we've done a lot and but but I I definitely would love to see that Middle School get built out with the highest priority obviously because um you know even even you you know our little kids get to go out our high school kids get some Outdoor Experience but our Middle School's constantly stuck inside the buildings and I know that that's a big concern for each one of us so I thank all of you for your efforts in trying to do this it hasn't been easy we do we we started with a plan a of course we're going to throw everything out there for plan a to try to do the very best uh facilities and we're going to throw all the bells and whistles out there and hope that we come in within budget you know we've just gone for a round two and I'm I'm certain that we're going to continue for our our plan C and come up with some scenarios where we can pull this off um and what that looks like I I know that uh that's you know information on that is definitely going to come as we come up with these uh renderings and we and we come up with these plans for us to do so um and then you know uh as far as the superintendent process um that's not going to be something that I I can say I mean I can speak along with everyone here because we all we're all having the conversation ation and we you know replacing Dr Tom is not going to be an easy one um you know and and the biggest thing for us one of the most important things we get to do is elect somebody who will be here possibly for 5 years 10 years down the line so taking this on and turning around and getting somebody in that position immediately is you know it it's not in our opinion in my opinion definitely not the best thing to do that's the reason why we're having intrum and that's why we have somebody coming in just to help us keep you know I always reference uh with with the board um as a realtor we have a broker something happens to our broker we have other people in our office other people that would step in as an intrum broker to keep the the the contract going keep the lights on keep business working this is a little bit of a scenario of what we're dealing with here um we look forward to who the next person would be uh just to help us through this process but we are our commitment to the community is to make sure that the right people the right person the right candidate is properly vetted and that we're really bringing somebody who I'm not going to say fill your shoes but I will say that we'll come here with their own vision and their own goals to try to help our kids succeed um that's it for me thank you thank you trustee munes and vice president Nicole dtis he's good okay so I'll just um wrap it up with a few things and comment a little bit about the township because I do it on several committees that are part of the township um thank you for the comment about the zoning board we are very critical of the applications that come in uh we have been communicating and uh I have discussed several times some of the problems that we're having with some of the applications that come through the zoning board but what most people aren't thinking about are the changes to the master plan and the development that's occurring doesn't even have to come before any board that you know the changes have allowed some of this development to just occur so I think that has to be looked that and I've also commented about the master plan and another reexamination of the master plan because I think the township needs to do that and include the elements in the master plan as I've also discussed with Dr TOMCO uh definitely some demographic information about the township definitely some health information uh we just applied for the historic preservation element to be put into the master plan which was never done hopefully we get the grant to do that um and there's a couple of other elements that are missing from the master plan like the open space and natural resources element uh and if you do look there there is a school element that should be put in the master plan so I I think that the uh the new employee the planning Aid that's there and in the construction Department uh they're going to go ahead and try to figure out a way that that could hopefully be done done for the future we are looking at Grants that cover both areas again that's it's really nice to have your foot in both doors so that we can apply for grants that will cover sometimes the School portion of things too whether it's safe Roots um and some of the other projects which by the way the township did receive the federal Safe Streets for all Grant which is a really great grant that very few municipalities received that when we received it the comment was wow we're really surprised that a town like Belleville was able to get the grant that's kind of disheartening in a sense as well that that would be said but um it's a very exciting Grant because it's a a planning Grant and I think it's important because we're not looking at the streets but we're all talking about the street safety um the congestion and things like that the other big part of this grant is that it's a grant that looks for public feedback so you'll be seeing a lot on that in the next couple of months and getting the the feedback from the public and a lot of Grants now are looking for community and public feedback and that's very important because if you live in a community people sometimes don't really feel like they have a say so a lot of these grants now are based on making sure they get a say like Green Acres has changed their application process and that's the open space and the parks grants um dot for the Safe Streets grants has changed that as well so these are very important things when it comes to looking at different grants and I know Mr Paladino is finding the same thing with some of the federal and the State education grants um like I said we requested that Dr Egan at least try to come for tonight's meeting he cannot and uh I know he is watching so hello Mr Egan I'm sorry I called him Dr Egan Mr Egan um I am disheartened about the budget um it as a taxpayer it affects all of us so uh you know I don't know what to say that that's uh it's a pretty awful decision and it's very hurtful to some people uh everybody tried uh I know Mr Paladino with the budget numbers we all looked for different ways that we could do things and without like Dr massagio said without affecting the programming and our Educators here um we went with the best case scenario so I want to thank that team the financial committee uh for all of their hard work again because it wasn't easy um and I'm just sorry that you know our our tax taxes are going to be increased by as much as they are I don't think we all saw that coming but it did everyone have a good night we're going to ask for a motion to close now our meeting so motion and a second second all those in favor favor I no one's opposed okay have a good night everyone