I would like to call this meeting to order this is a regular session of the boot Township Board of Education held for the purpose of transacting appropriate board business in compliance with chapter 231 law of 1975 the notice of this meeting was advertised in the Mars County Daily Record copies of the agenda of this meeting were appropriately posted and made available to the public Mr for here Mr Brer here Mrs Cabana Mr Chen here Mrs hermy Mr Johnson here Mrs McBride here Mr Mills here uh Mrs nck also president Dr Angel superintendent principal I see Madison Bri our student representative we have a COR great thank you please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and at this time we have a report from our student representative welcome hi winter sports are well underway with the end for summon site boys and girls basketball both have games this week and boys and girls swim compete in state sectionals tomorrow and Friday wrestling recently won the njac independence Conference Championship hockey competes in the NJ SI AA sectional perment on Friday ski has their last race on Friday and winter track competes in state group Championship on Saturday the spring musical for this year is something rotten the opening show is Thursday February 29th at 7:00 p.m. more shows are on Friday March 1st at 700 p.m. and Saturday March 2nd at 1 p.m. 700 p.m. all seats are 13 or $16 so make sure to order them online they before they sell out midwinter recess starts on Monday February 19th and we return on February 26th thank you thank you very much if this time you have other matters you must tend to we will not be offended if you need to tend to them thank you very much and that brings us to board business motion number one M motion please is there a second second are there any questions comments or discussion if not the questions on the adoption of board dis is motion number one all those in favor say I anyone oppos say no any extensions and that brings us to administrative report starting with the business administrative report secretary support Mr muray okay thank you Mr Brer uh just a few items um very popular this year of roof leaks a number of new roof leaks have appeared in a couple classrooms and the upper gym these are areas that were not included previous roof project but have been included in the referendum total of seven buckets were placed in the gym to catch drips and were there during gym classes so that wasn't uh appropriate for that class uh and the hbac two rooftop Heating units were recently repaired to restore heat to the upper gym and the middle school hallway replacement of these units are also included the referendum uh the hbac monitoring system also failed to communicate with the classroom Heating units in the Middle School Wing which prevented us from regulating the temperature contractor was called in to troubleshoot the old system and all the necessary repairs were made uh the recent snowstorm on Tuesday the buildings and grounds Department did an excellent job clearing the snow so that we were able to open on time um on day which is today and then uh 2425 budget continues to be U worked on internally we met with the finance committee um and continue with meetings going forward uh the preliminary budget updates will be available on the website I'll put those up tomorrow just a couple of new spides that some new information and that's all I have to report great thank you that brings us to the superintend report Dr Angel L okay good evening everyone uh few updates strategic planning update can be found now on our website under the board tab uh we've made a great deal of progress already to date in only one year of the plan and we're happy to be able to share our story with the community so please be sure uh to look for that information on our website building tours for the referendum project were supposed to have been held last evening but obviously with the snow we uh rescheduled them so we've reached out to those individuals that had originally signed up and you can now reschedule either tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. p.m. or next Thursday night the 22nd at 700 p.m. we will be sending out information to our parents about a link it Benchmark assessment that uh our students will be taking in grades 5 through eight in mathematics that letter will go out later this week with the virtual backpack and what that data will do it will help us to continue to best prepare teachers and students for the spring administration of the njsla general reminder that school is closed next week Monday Tuesday and Wednesday the 19th 20th and 21st for our midwinter recess and that concludes my report great thank you that brings us to the nurses report and attendance report which youve all had a chance to look at and that next brings us to comod commendations this evening a thank you to the Nord family of booten Township for their donations of a flute wood recorder and a hand drum to the music department Mr cartel will use a wood recorder to teach our third grade recorder students and the hand was added to her classroom percussion collection the flute will join The Loner instruments in the band room for students who are having their instruments repaired with the result that obviously no educational time is lost so thank you to them congratulations to the fifth grade dare students upon the completion of their program and kudos to this year's sa contest winners Khloe staler Ava ketchup babe and Charlie Bonz many thanks to the Home School Association for producing the annual talent show and a round of applause for all the performers who Shar shared their gifts and skills with an appreciative audience we had over 30 per student performers there flying high in fourth grade in January congratulations to from 4C Hannah Eagan Sebastian chanowski and Rosie Rocco and from 4S Emma Matthew Ellie golden and Alexandra Perez bosen Spotlight on student work for January congratulations to in preschool AA gadian and Karen ramik in kindergarten Alice Chanel Kira Andy Jack Galloway Zachary hanifi Elizabeth long and Amelia Tracy in first grade to Colette bardex Sor L Lanny he Matthew oi and Carolina Zada in second grade Harrison cortei Julia Ram Finley shoski and Aubrey waa and in third grade Kyla Maul and Jacqueline odris and to our Falcons of the month for January congratulations to in fifth grade Ashley krtz in sixth grade grade haly wo in seventh grade Charlie Jansen and in e8th grade Griffin chopos and those are our commendations for the great thank you there is no correspondence on our agenda that brings us to open session number one the first public comment period will be limited to agenda items only the second public comment period will be open to any topic please be mindful that public comment periods are available to enable the public to give comments and feedback to the board personal matters and day-to-day operations are not appropriate subjects for board meetings these can always be most effective ly resolved with the appropriate staff members or administrators according to the chain of command concept questions may be directed to the appropriate School Personnel or board through email please state your name and address for the record and all comments for limed to 5 minutes anyone from the public wish to address the board on agenda items at this time if not we'll move on to the on reports starting with the mountain RS Board of Education Mrs hermy is not here but she has finally given me her her um m board of education update so bear with me there was a meeting on February 5th 2024 there were three presentations Dr dville was recognized for his service and contributions to the finance committee the board received a presentation on a potential trip being organized for Barcelona and Madrid spring break 2025 most importantly the program of studies was presented by Mr sir I encourage everyone to watch the video or check out the presentation it was approved by board action and is acely being distributed to all high school students and current eth graders program of studies there is a strong interest in the business curriculum aviation in Aerospace and over 22% of the population is interested there's a 4-year stem course with Pathways to be a Private Pilot or a drone remote pilot art programs have been revamped to include more Contemporary Arts Performing Arts will be will offer honors classes students may be accepted into honors sections there will be additional requirements to be in honors dual enrollment leaving leaving relationships with William Patterson and seen Hall and focusing on Syracuse Syracuse University project Advance uh trains nlhs teachers as professors uh I'm not sure I'm just reading bullets now entrepreneurship honors forensics and human development and Sport programs removed are guitar and music production part two Latin and pxl program sounds like a computer program math sequence students will be able to take geometry and Algebra 2 together freshman year this does not help our current eth writers who are taking geometry now in order for our freshman to to Algebra 2 they will need to take the Summer Academy course shout out to DRC Mr Santos director of Information Technology he presented at texo discussing his experience of writing a technology plan for the district Mountain Lake Sumit Academy is going to be June 24th to July 26 the school business administer update interviewing has begun on schedule in the superintendent search product project process I'm not sure F sounds like in orts um I think Mrs M McBride reported on something rotten February 29th to March 2nd and April 27th Mountain Lakes Ed Foundation is sponsoring cavana Knights and that concludes the Mountain Lakes Board of Education report and that brings us to New Jersey school boards Association very nothing to report through njba will note the Morris County meeting feary 8 hear about that great thank you and that brings us to mors County School boards Association okay so the meeting was last Thursday evening uh the agenda and there are two presentations are out in our more SC school boards uh folder for the board uh there is uh a government relations slide deck and then another presentation as well um this was their uh virtual meeting there were some uh different I guess breakout rooms that they put us in uh how does your board handle this that was very informative and uh they had something on pilot programs and then the presentation on the government relations update and those are the two that are actually out in that folder um just looking ahead March 20th is the UNG hero meeting that'll be held at County College of moris and then the final meeting of the year is is May 2nd and that would be in Roxbury okay thank you and I believe um they had a gentleman who is on the Paran Township uh Town Council will give a presentation on a pilot program it's I guess there's a state law that allows the municipality to um do some it's like taxes in uh it's U payments in Lee of taxes so um I guess there was a big controversy in Pary recently if you read it in the paper but what it does is it kind of excluded the schools school from collecting their portion of the taxes that would have otherwise been paid on a property that's now put into this pilot program but it was a very very interesting presentation and that brings us to the Education Services Commission of Mars County their meeting is being held right now so I am not attending it and that brings us to the lieutenant of special education Cent Advisory Group in regards to the special education current advisor group I would like to report them two recent presentation presentation by CA the first presentation titled behavior management and intervention strategies was held on January 30th 12 parent members participated the second presentation took place on February 6th and it was titled transitioning to mon High School the presentation was delivered by Mrs kto who is the director of special education services at high school mrso provided an overview of the special education department at the L high school and she shared information pertaining to the transition process she stayed late to take care questions the participants were very grateful for this ample opportunity to ask specific questions they thank MTO for her time and expertise shared during this event the event was well attended with 13 Grand participants the following day February 7th Mrs Venter returns to our Township this time to RBS to deliver the same presentation to parents who preferred an early afternoon session a meeting was held on February 6th at 7:30 in the morning at our school during which the parent representatives from Cod met with MES and Dr L Happ of discussion Centered for special education of RVs lastly the parent survey this is still being circulated and filled out by SE members the deadline to complete the survey this this coming Monday February 19th once this round of responses have been processed a second drill down survey will be developed and rolled out by the end of February to gain additional data overall results of the survey will be shared with SE members and the school Community later in March in regards to the upcoming events the next special education par pris group meeting will be hosted at the United Methodist Church in body Ro at 7:30 p.m. on March 19th this will primarily be a parent lisening not Additionally the the results of the survey will also be discussed any parent of a child with an IEP or a f or in the district is encouraged and welcomed to attend and that great thank you very much and that brings us to the bo Township Education Foundation uh my report today is the same op last uh so February 25th there's a bowling event and spring music Jor thank you and that brings us to Rockway Valley hen School Association okay so on March 8th there's going to be an ice skating night at men and Arena from 5:45 to 7:45 the book fair is March 18th to 22nd 8th grade is planning some fundraisers they're going to Dorney Park on May 31st their class trip to DC is scheduled June 5th to June 7th let's see uh and that looked to be about all they're planning some evenings um potentially with Mountain Lakes as well a mixer and that's all I have to report great thank you that brings us to the township of mtin which is Mrs gavana she's not able to attend this evening but she also kindly presented her report to me um the ballot Dropbox for the March 12th special election is open to accept mail and ballot the box is located outside Police Headquarters and is accessible 24/7 the township is seeking interested individuals to join our recycling program as recycling Devo attendance on Saturday mornings from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon individuals must be aged 16 or older to apply pay is $50 per session and go to the township website or Weekly Newsletter for more information residents are reminded to register for the Township's emergency alert system smart 911 this notification system provided free from the township and County allows residents to receive email text message and other alerts regarding emergency notifications and other important messages regarding our community also smart 911 provides you and your family with a potentially life-saving resource with a free emergency 911 component which helps our emergency dispatchers better assist you by allowing residents to create a safety profile which can include any information they would like to share with the first responders during an emergency to sign up use the link on the township website or Weekly Newsletter and lastly to stay informed about Township Happ sign up for the township times a weekly electronic newsletter sign up for the newsletter at wwwb township.com newsletters and that concludes the township of botin report and that brings us to the botin township Green Team the Green Team met on February 2nd which was a Friday at 3 p.m. our discussions centered around organizing Community camps in our coun the following dates have been selected for the four PL cleanups which will take place before the start of summer March 9th April 13th May 11th and June 8th all of those states are Saturdays and specifically the second Saturday of each month Additionally the township Representatives agree to cover the cost of 20 grabing tools allowing the users to effortlessly retrieve any type of refuse some residents vo willingness to cover the cost of 20 reflective vest so that the participants of theups will be safe and visible to the dri all who would like to participate in these volunteer based initiatives will soon be able to find all the information on the township website and on social media as the promotional prer is in the final stages of design additional topics of discussion included connecting with the m team and finding ways for closer collaboration as well as locating possible venues and organizations that could receive donations of parable items with the intent of distribution to the need great thank you and now brings us to Transportation there no motions uh we had a meeting for the facilities and transportation committee on Monday evening we discussed the upcoming building tours and some overall Communications uh in regard to the referendum so I just wanted to take a minute to talk a little bit about some some of the communications to date that have taken place regarding the referendum and to give a sneak preview of what's to come so from a public Communications perspective everything kind of kicked off last summer uh within a letter to the community from Dr Angelo and that was posted on the community website excuse me on the RBS website in July the architect was also present at the August Board of Ed meeting then in September the architect did additional presentation there were FAQs posted on the RBS website and the architect was also present at the back to school nights in October there was a referendum information session that was held at the Home School Association meeting that session was publicized on Facebook and then things really began to heat up from Communications perspective in January the pr fir firm began collaborating with the district on Communications a Communications committee was formed there was the launch of the very comprehensive Bond referendum referendum website that website was publicized through social media a press release a letter to parents and the township newsletter there was also the launch of the social media campaign and there was a um connection or contacts made with the uh admins of community social media Pages just to make sure that those posts were extended for those um different social media Pages there was also the development of the four page Community mailer which was subsequently met about a week or two ago if for some reason you have not received it we have copies available here this evening there were also um Township newsletter updates that were developed and are appearing weekly in that newsletter the social media Pages um are being monitored and citizen emails are being monitored for any questions or themes of questions um that are then turned into website FAQs in February the building tour uh or tours were conceptualized and again this was spoken about earlier they have been rescheduled February 15th tomorrow beginning at and next Thursday the 22nd beginning at 7th you do need to register for those and that is available on the website uh there's also ongoing social media posts and website updates and then giving a little bit of a sneak preview of what's going to happen between now and then the referendum vote there is going to be the release of the referendum video and that is an overview of the referendum it's going to present key information to the public there is also three shorter videos that are going to be featuring staff members discussing the various proposed projects the event not to miss will be February 28th this is going to be a virtual Forum it's a Wednesday evening it'll be held from 6:30 to 8: the link is already on the referendum website so you do not need to register for this but it will be a fantastic opportunity here from the project architect my advisers and teachers who will discuss how the proposed improvements will benefit RVs students and again that link is already on the website no need to register and then as we get closer to the election itself the communications will really hit uh full swing there'll be a series of pre-election uh reminders then post vote there'll be some Communications um on various platforms about how that vote um played out and then there there will be an event on March 12th and that will kind of bring everything together provide guidance about how the vote played out the results and what that means as far as next steps so that's just a preview and that's my report for this evening great thank you very much that brings us to finance sure good evening everyone uh the finance commit has met several times over the since our last January 2014 uh topics that we've discussed in those meetings have included the Mountain Lakes send receive uh negotiations um in addition to um the tentative 2024 2025 budget submission that is due to the New Jersey Department of Education in March and as Mr M stated before there's an updated presentation that we put online tomorrow that concludes the report thank you and that brings to finance motions 1 through 7 I have a motion please I'll is there a second second it's a to any questions comments or discussion if not questions on the adoption of Finance motions one through seven this is all in favor say I I anyone oppos say no any extensions that us to there has not been a meeting yet we have one in two week thank you and that bres us to personal motion number one any motion please I'll move is there a second any questions comments or discussion if not questions on the adoption personal motion number one this a roll call Mrs B yes Mr brander yes Mr Chen yes Mr Johnson yes Mr MCB [Music] yes car thank you that brings us to the pro program committee and the program committee met at 8:00 this morning so this is H the Press we did talk about the uh extended instructional Support Program here at Rockway Valley for grades 5 through eight we talked about the Linkin Benchmark assessment that Dr Angel reported out on his superintendent report um we also discussed uh canvas as a as a POS digital platform to replace Google classroom and this is actually the platform used at Mountain Lake high school so it'll allow our fifth through eighth graders to experience the platform they'll use in high school and and make it a seamless transition for that also there will be a steam night I think as was already mentioned on February 27th but it may be rescheduled um you like yeah I uh also the Mountain Lakes High School child study team staff will be visiting Rockway Valley School sometime in the near future the Mountain Lakes High School will be scheduling with theor dor of guidance in rway school 8th graders on March 8th and then there is also the mentoring program for grade s and 8 discussed in a bit more detail uh some um some areas to um make some interesting uh U changes forol very positive changes and with that we have a motion for program motion number one on move is there a second second all those in favor say say no that brings us to poliy okay prior to open session number two I was not planning on providing an update to our tach Mountain Lake send sending receiving agreement uh negotiations but some information came to our attention yesterday that Warren uh a statement to be made this evening uh on short notice to us so I would like to take this opportunity to update you on the status of our negotiations with the Mountain Lake Board of Education regarding our sending receiving relationship with them you should know that the booten Township Board of Education offer a 10year agreement with 3% increases in the tuition rate each year you should also know that while the Mountain Lakes Board of Education accepted this increase as the tentative Mount tuition Mountain Lake still desires to adjust the final tuition rate to cost per pupil or certified tuition rate reported to the NJ doe with an up to $1,000 per student limitation beyond the 3% increase for that year in year one that could represent a final tuition amount that represents an 88.5% increase over the prior year Bo Township has made good faith efforts to understand the mountain Lake's Board of Education concerns and made offers for tuition rate increases greater than 2% which allows for high school fixed and variable costs to remain constant while providing a ceiling to boot Township taxpayers on high school costs that do not decrease when enrollment decreases each time Boot and Township has made offers to increase tuition whether it's increasing the Bas rate or the annual rate Mountain Lakes offers to modify the tenative tuition but always adjust the final tuition to cost per pupil as you may know from our prior board meeting cost per people or the certified tuition rate is the maximum tuition rate that may be charged by Mountain Lakes throughout NE negotiations Mountain links has not moved from their position that final tuition should be based on cost per pupil there are various reasons why booten Township does not want to set the final tuition rate to cost for people with a fixed tuition rate the only variable to consider is enrollment and no matter what high school enrollment is projected at the beginning of the year both districts are aware of the actual enrollment throughout the year and therefore aware of any amounts that have to be paid or refunded between the districts with a variable tuition rate both school districts must consider both enrollment and the final tuition rate which can only be determined after the school year has ended moreover state law requires Mountain Lakes to obtain certification of its actual cost per student for each tuition category one of which is grades 9 through 12 from the commissioner of Education based upon reports prepared and submitted by the Mountain Lakes Board of Education these reports must indicate the actual amounts of expenditures and adjustments whenever practicable practicable were amounts eally allocated and supported by documentation for each applicable item in the grade program category which the tuition rate is required according toir bookkeeping and accounting system it's quoted from the statute so that's why so cover something since the Mountain Lakes Board of Education continues to focus on using cost per pupil as the final tuition amount botin Township has requested the information that Mountain Lakes was required to submit to the MJ doe to date fiscal years 2021 and 2022 were received in December fiscal year 2020 was received in early January and fiscal year 2019 was received in early February regarding expenses that were allocated the supporting documents were not provided in support of those allocations in addition it is booten Township's understanding that Lake Drive program students in Mars County School of Technology biotech AC Academy students attend attended Mountain High School Mountain Lakes High School during the past 10 years botin Township has requested a breakdown of the average daily enrollment used to calculate cost per people for those years specifically botin Township has requested whether or not these students are included in average daily enrollment while we commend and encourage the Lake Drive program students to be a part of the greater High School Community their pure people cost should be paid for through the $80,000 tuition paid to Mountain Lakes by those students if these students stud are not included in average daily enrollment to the extent that they utilize High School resources botin Township is subsidizing a Mountain Lakes Revenue generating program and the cost per pupil is inflated to the extent that these students are not included in average daily enrollment used to calculate cost per pupil for fiscal years 2014 to 2018 botin Township has not received any information from reviewing un unsubstantiated information for fiscal years 2017 and 2018 appear it appears that High School enrollment dropped by 10% while the high school budget increased by 4% the matter of the enrollment our school districts collectively and individually have to live within a 2% tax ly cap when comparing our fixed rate tuition and our agreement to the unsubstantiated cost per people for those years the difference between those amounts was only $27 in fiscal year 2017 and $2,152 in fiscal 2018 we have no information about the fiscal year 2018 High School cost which generated this cost increase and differences fixed rate and actual cost per pupil we are open to continued discussions if m l is willing to consider fixed final fixed final tuition rate options rather than c for people and with that we'll now move into Open Session number two the second public comment period will be open to any topic please be mindful that public comment periods are available to enable the public to give comments and feedback to the board personal matters and day-to-day operations are not appropriate subjects for board meetings these can always most effective L be resolved with the appropriate staff members or administrators according to the chain of command concept questions may be directed to the appropriate School Personnel or board through email please state your name and address for the record and all comments are liit to 5 minutes will anyone from the public wish to address the board on any matter we can ask about that sure okay uh David fight uh 70 Kings on road I just want to understand I guess where we go from here I guess so they're stuck on the cause per pupil we're not we don't I understand why we don't we're not okay with that but is there are we then at a stalemate or how is there like arbitration like how do we how do we resolve this at this stage where we still consider ourselves in negotiations with mountain Blakes and we are also still subject to litigation that has been suspended regarding the tuition rate for this year so at this point um we can't really disclose too much more than you know you know where we are at this point um since we're still in negotiations and potential litigation you know we have to continue to you disclose things when it's appropriate but we can't really disclose where you know too much more about where we're headed we we do hope to resolve this that was that's the best outcome in in in an inevitable way that is you know both beneficial to both districts it's just hopefully we'll each gain an understanding of each other's positions and and hopefully resolve this that's that's our hope right yeah CU I I'm sure you're addressing the letter that they just sent out so now I mean now it's going through the Mountain Lakes Community like it wasn't before and the kids I'm sure you're aware in the high school are now talking am I going to be here next year you know and they're all saying boy you guys might be gone and so now it's really coming to a head yeah things thing you know um you know things do not work that way so no one should be worried about you know the kids being there at the high school next year you know you know a ter of you know period of time like that things don't work that way right now it's just a disagreement over the tuition amount not not the actual CED relationship that we're that we're U discussing okay thank you yes Charlie 20 South Rockway Drive Bo Township so uh Mountain Lakes issued the press release yesterday stating their position and um from their perspective will I guess my first question is will Bo Township o put out a press release besides what was spoken this evening or to that same note and then am I understand that you requested information of how they arrived at their numbers data and they have not provided it so you can then you know take a look at it and make a decision from there we're we're hopeful that the information will will be provided um I can't answer to why we haven't received it yet I so you can't calculate the numbers I My ultimate question is you can't confirm where they're coming from without getting that data correct yes um we you know in order to you know in order you know um to I guess you know look at the P you want to look at the past 10 years to to you know the how the cost per people was calculated so that you can look forward and and figure out you know what that looks like um and we don't have enough information to do that um there are reports that are supposed to be filed with the Department of Education yearly that has this information so we we hope that it will be forthcoming and my first question was related to a press release if we do if you know the board will go into close session we don't you know I don't I can't speak for what we'll do at that point but if a press release you know were to be issued it would be similar to would I just than you thank you are there any other questions question about anything okay if not we will move to hold buiness is there any old business come before the board uh I would just say that uh I know we talked about it before but I like the app great thank you very much other old bu is to come before the board is there any new bues to come before the board if not they have a motion to enter into executive session discuss ISU of one confidential as permitted in the open public meetings act chapter 231 of the walls of 1975 these matters may or may not be made public when the board reconvenes they will be made public when the confidentiality of the subject is no longer warranted the topic of discussion will be negotiations regarding relationship there will be no board actually takeen when we Recon meting other than Jing our meeting so if you decide to stay that's all you'll see if not thank you very much for coming and have that motion please a second say hi hi and thank you very much for coming it is 8:59 p.m. we have just returned to open session there is no other board action may have a motion motion to adjourn I'll move is there a second all those in favor say I I thank you thank you for coming to our meeting this evening