order please rise for the flag I pledge allegiance to flag the United States of America stand all righty the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meeting of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the Cedar Grove board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be advertised by having the date time and place thereof posted on bulletin boards in the district published and or transmitted to to the Verona C Grove times and star lger newspapers tap onto tap into online news and filed with the Township Clerk posted on the district website could I have a roll call pleas Mr grandi here Mr marzulo here Mr Pac here Mrs Keegan here miss Dora here good evening everybody hello hello I see that nobody uh has signed up for the uh first reading of public comment on agenda items only so close that section session section of the meeting and we were going to move on to I think we're going to go right into the budget presentation let's start with that and then we'll reconvene after for committee reports all right all yours Mr de thank you all right like to welcome everybody to the 20242 um budget hearing um this first slide here just um describes the timeline of um just how long the budget process takes uh usually around December um uh information is sent out to all the principales and directors um they prepare their own building based budget um and then it comes to uh myself and the superintendent then we gather everything together and meet with the finance committee and um review the budget with the uh the board um that's through um uh February March um at the end of February the estate Figures were released uh we did receive an increase in state aid this year of just under $175,000 um and then the um the boorder approved the tenative budget um on March 19th that was then submitted to the county office um and the um County Superintendent uh approved the um preliminary Budget on April 2nd uh so what what's being presented tonight is um the budget that was submitted to the county superintendent uh for approval um so they'll the board will be approving the final tax levy numbers tonight uh for for next year's budget um doesn't mean that the funds that are in the the presented accounts will remain there um in the same accounts by the end of the school year uh just means that the budget is is a fluid process so um you know amounts can change in accounts you know if uh certain things happen if uh um something is needed for a student or you know teacher retires or whatever there's always ways to uh to move the the F funds around uh this next slide here um just categorizes all of the the expenditure accounts um I'll go into much more detail in a future slides um so the the budget basically just broken down into um uh instructional programs which is all regular education items uh special education uh employee benefits uh support services and operations and maintenance um so all those U categories together um um they make up our operating budget which is $ 37,8 27,000 uh we have our special Revenue fund is um just under $1.6 million uh that's all of the grants that we receive uh from the state and federal government and our debt service fund is um 2339 million um this is all of the principal and interest payments for the the bonds that we are um paying off currently we have three bonds uh from referendums that were already approved the 2012 2016 and 2019 bonds uh so the total annual budget is 41 m763 359 um and is an increase of um uh about a half percent uh from from last year uh this slide here just shows a pie chart um just um the items that I mentioned didn't categories on the previous slide um so the instructional programs make up the most of the budget 29% um employee benefits is next at 21.3% uh Support Services is 20.1% special education is 19.8 and the operations a maintenance budget is 99.8% um and this is of the operating budget only um this slide here shows the um the operating Revenue um um majority of our budget is obviously from our local tax levy uh which is the amount of funds that are raised by the taxpayers um which is 31.8 million uh we do receive state aid as I mentioned uh we did receive an increase of just under $175,000 uh so our total state aid uh for next year is projected to be that $2.2 six3 million uh we do receive um pilot money every year it's a $1.2 million from the township um we have a an agreement with them for 25 years years um for the hilltop development uh then we have a budget fund balance this is just um a surplus and unused Surplus um that um that Carri carries over as per our audit uh extraordinary Aid um this are the funds that we receive from the state uh for sending special education students out of District we we apply for that and then we we get that money a tuition these are for um Regular students that we have coming into the district and some special ed ones um that they're not um Ser Grove residents uh we do have a few um Verona students that come in um in our progressions program uh we have a a Glen Ridge student in our high school and a West CO col West coell student in the middle school and also our um preschool uh is included in here uh the withdrawal of Maintenance Reserve um this these are used for funds that are um towards ordinary maintenance um we have a reserve account for this every year so that's what that is um just to continue um um our after CARE program we do um have a contract with alphab best um for before care and after care um and this is as per the contract with them this is the minimum balance that we would be receiving as a revenue share uh interest income is all of the um uh interest that we receive from our banks um miscellaneous income is just um some like like like prior year refunds or um any miscellanous income that that comes into the district uh a rental of fields and and um uh uh buildings um we do rent out our Auditorium for uh dance recital and competitions and we do rent our um athletic fields for some uh programs uh semi is um this is our first year that we're required to participate in semi um there's a certain amount of students and we're over that so we do have to um participate in that and transportation is just our the funds we receive from our parents um for students that ride the buses but they're not eligible to receive uh free busing uh this is just a pie chart that shows as I mentioned the local tax Lev is the majority of our budget uh it's 84% our state aid is next with 6% our pilot money is 3.2% uh fund balance is 3.1% extraordinary Aid 1.3% and um all of our rest um adds up to less than 1% uh now on to our expenditures um uh this will be a little bit more more detailed from what I mentioned on the first slide is are um the instructional programs category um our regular programs are basically all of the salaries of all regular um instruction teachers in grades K to 12 um also includes any substitute teachers or class coverage or anything like that uh we also have our um software uh for students um is included in here a copy releases um and certain supplies uh for every grade level are included in here basic skills in ESL these are all the salaries and supplies in both areas uh Media Services is um a salary of our media specialist um and also um some uh programs and services and supplies for the libraries in the elementary level and instructional staff training um these a percentage of our district supervisors is included here and also includes all curriculum writing uh for next year we are required to rewrite um all math and language arts curriculum so that's included in the budget and also any professional development and training and online subscriptions is included here uh so that brings our total to 10.97 S uh special education um the uh instruction part includes all the salaries um these are all of our um in District staff that um work we have an lld program our resource room preschool disabilities and also a progressions program so it's all the salaries um and services for all those at of District tuition we um currently have 23 out of District um students place in private schools uh so that that's a budget for them and we do uh supplement M some of our budget with our Ida Grant which is a Federal grant uh for related and extraordinary Services um this includes all um services for um in-house uh Speech we have um interventionists ABA services and um uh Therapy Services also and child study team these are all the salaries of our child study team members um and and supplies and professional development and our uh software program uh next uh employee benefits uh Social Security the these are payments to the state for all non-certificated staff um such as secretaries custodians um that's included here uh retirement contributions um the state pays for um all certificated staff's pension um but the um the board has to pay for the um pensions of all the um non-certificated staff so that's included here uh workers comp is the premium for our um uh insurance coverage for workers comp uh tuition reimbursement is as per our um Union contracts just to reimburse um staff for uh classes and and some other items that's in the contract um other contractual obligations um these are any um codal uniforms any sick day payouts or anything that's uh part of the contract um health benefits is obviously the biggest cost here um this is all of our medical prescription and dental coverage uh we are in the um the State Health Benefit Plan um our um for our um Medical Only Our dental and prescription is in a private plan and a we do always look at our claims history every year to see if we could um if we have to remain in the state plan a lot of districts are starting to go into um uh it's like like like with other school districts it's like a health insurance fund um but our claims history isn't there yet where we could do that um but we are looking every year to to see if we can do that uh next we have uh Support Services um this obviously everything that supports all of our students um our attendance in health is all of our um nursing salaries and um attendance um secretary a guidance is all the counselors and all the schools and we also have a sack in the high school and our um student software uh General Administration this is all of the um salary for the superintendent's office um and all of the um professional fees um attorney fees audit fees um you know certain um professionals like that and dues includ in there uh School administration is all of our principals Vice principls directors and secretaries in all School tools and also supplies essential Services uh and admin it this is all of the um the business office staff and also technology department and our um uh personnel and accounting software that we use uh transportation is um the big one here um this also includes the salaries of our own bus drivers we do have four of our own bus drivers um we do um Outsource 14 uh routes and we have four of our own drivers do it uh so it includes all those prices um we are purchasing a athletic bus through our Esser uh uh Grant uh so that'll help reduce our um athletic transportation in the future and also includes all transportation for non-public students is also included here and Athletics and co-curricular um these are all of the coaches salaries the trainer um any game help or uh advisers in um in all the schools uh and and supplies for all athletic teams is included here uh next we have our operations and maintenance budget um uh this basically includes all of our um uh fees to to basically run our buildings um um to maintain them to keep them clean to when something breaks or boiler breaks or you know a pipe has to be be repaired uh it includes all those prices to um uh to maintain that and all of our gas and electric um uh uh expenses are included here um security is also included here um these are all the armed security guards that we have in the buildings and also um camera repair and cell phones and and panic buttons are included here and capital outlay um this includes the debt service assessment uh from the state um that we're required to pay because we have um bonds through through the SDA we're required to pay that every year and um uh some uh technology switches uh this next slide here um it's basically a close analysis of our budget um I always like to break our budget into fixed categories and discretionary categories uh your your your fix are all your basically your your personnel um you know salaries benefits and all that everything that's in the contracts um uh that's the the majority of your budget um uh and then you also have um a student course and um uh for any special education Transportation um then other professional courses also included in the fix category um so and you add everything up um our total fix cost in our budget are $ 35956 million um and our discretionary funds are the the remaining of it um so that's about $1.8 million um last last year's fixed costs um have increased um by um a little under $1.4 million um so that means our discretionary costs have a decreased because of that um this slide here just shows a pie chart of um the categories I just spoke about uh personnel as I mentioned is obviously the the biggest chunk of the budget 79% uh student uh costs relate to 12% uh the professional costs are about 3.7% and the other discretionary is just under 5% uh we do have some new items that are in included in our budget um we have a new um uh some Personnel a bcba um is going to be used for our special Department um it's going to help keep a specialized student in District uh we have an in in-class um resource teer for our kindergarten this is needed because of increased enrollment uh freshman football coach is also needed because of increased enrollment and uh we are going to be um implementing some new um uh math programs uh for grades K through two and also in grade 8 uh for next year and as each of the last um four or five years I don't remember when it started but we are um continuing to uh get the new Chromebooks uh for grades one five and nine as part of our one to1 initiative U so we are continuing to uh to do that um next slide here just talks about the tax impact uh for the the a school tax impact for the operating budget um the average increase uh for the average home is $477,500 um so the average annual increase would be $118 um that comes out to per month uh just under $10 per week uh two and a quarter and per day 32 cents um so our estimated School tax rate is increasing from 1.468 to 1. 493 or 1.69% uh increase and that concludes presentation thank you Mr come on perfect timing good good to see it okay thank you thank you Mr D you're welcome uh at this time does the board have any questions any comments anything that they would like to um share regarding the budget um I I do have one question uh Mr D and Mr Roso I know that um through our discussions committee meeting discussions that um that the budget in included some uh speculated money potential return of some specula onits do we have an alternative plan in the event that um that is not successful has there been any uh discussions yeah you know was that is that included in the plan we do have other some uh contingencies that are built into the budget um in certain areas as special education Transportation um we are going to be approving a um a new Voiceover IP system tonight um so that'll help reduce I don't know the exact number but it'll help reduce um cost for next year um so that that'll help for that um you know depending on if not all all of the items that we're planning on happen um and and we do have some money still in um a surplus that we could always use if if if if we have to I mean you know that's always the last Last Resort um but there are you know I think there's enough contingencies in the budget that that that will be okay all right I appreciate your diligence thank you okay any other questions at this point regarding the budget all right so we're going to move on to um some committee reports Mr Kelly perfect timing uh Mr Kelly was late because he was uh busy at honor Society inductions tonight so thank you for um taking care of both ends I appreciate that so why don't you start so then I can you can go if you'd like to yes can somebody just share his mic yeah great sorry thank you um first and foremost uh we had the National Honor Society thing that's the biggest thing going on at the high school right now so yesterday we had the whole National Honor Society that's all the large organization that's just like the general pool of it and then today we had the individual chapters such as like uh history math science business um Italian and I believe Spanish are all the individual chapters we have at Cedar Gro and the history one is new as of this year because we finally got our deposit and we got appr proove for it at the high school so that's our newest uh Society um next most important thing uh spring sports are in full swing and we're you know obviously our girl softball team is doing amazing as usual every year um it is scholarship season so all the seniors are doing our doing our interviews and handing in uh you know extra uh scholarships when needed and then right around the corner looking up to next week starting Monday uh we have our AP testing coming up so starting Monday morning and then spanning for about two two and a half weeks um we'll be having our AP testing for all uh all students that are currently enrolled in AB classes and that's uh that's all that's going around at the uh High School currently that's it that's a lot yeah well you know we stay busy over there yes yes um Miss Mrs Keegan and I attended last night to the National Honor Society induction and it was really impressive how many students were inducted last night unfortunately we couldn't be there tonight um but I'm sure there was an equal amount if not more oh even more it was great yeah yeah the spe impr it's still ongoing so it's pretty good it was it was really it was an honor to be there little bit cold though it was cold air conditioning yes it was um fantastic well I appreciate you know as always good luck with your AP exams good luck to everybody at home that listening who's um sons and daughters are getting ready for these exams I know it's an intense time um but I'm sure you're all well prepared so thank you very much yeah can't wait great thank you so much thank you all righty all right so we'll move right into our committee reports um I guess we'll start with uh curriculum and instruction we'll go right down change up the order a little bit Mr P you want to speak about that um primarily uh much of the information in curcum instruction is being covered in our particular meetings especially with the update of the the building goals um in relationship to our district goals and next month you will be able to see the presentations by the two Elementary principles on the goals and the significant improvements that they've made in in moving the schools forward um this year also Mr de in his program had indicated that the adoption of a new math program which I think is desperately needed at the elementary level to progress into uh 2025 26 school year and and very much like math program uh very much like World Language programs they are introduced in incremental components um you would not change the whole uh set of math books and programming for students that are already andfor grade so it it moves along in a trajectory so next year it's it's uh through grade two and we're very happy that we've made this this decision was made by all the administrator staff and reviewing good numbers of series and um we're very pleased with that and um just look forward to next month with those presentations yeah and I'd just like to add that um tonight there will be a resolution um approving the New Jersey high impact um Grant which we will formally approve tonight and this is a grant that uh Mrs Mado had applied for and um we were awarded it and that's going to be specifically used for targeted in small group targeted instruction to uh provide additional assistance for students that um have been identified as having some AC academic needs so I I commend correct that's outside of the normal school day cor it's in addition to um yes and uh a shout out to the teachers who have volunteered to provide those services so um I'm looking forward to see the benefits of that so I just wanted to add that um all right we're going to jump into facilities I think we're going to tag team a little bit right so you want to start um sure the rod Grant as you know the estimates that we got were um or the bids I should say were pretty high so the scope of the project has been revised um for the HVAC and electrical upgrades at North End and South End um it we're looking to have it completed over one summer instead of two and due to the revisions of this project and re Visions to the usage of our Esser funds we're going to see some parking lot repaving done at both elementary schools as well as at the high school in addition to the parking lots being repaved um Sr funds as Mr Dita said are being utilized to purchase a 54 passenger bus for athletics it's going to save the district a substantial amount of money in transportation costs um The District's Voiceover IP system and equipment is also being upgraded with the usage of the SR funds along with the clocks in the buildings across the district and MMS is getting a new paging system all these upgrades are going to save the district money in the areas of equipment rental and repairs due to the Antiquated systems that are becoming more challenging to repair and replace due to Rising costs and difficulty finding the parts to replace and repair them yep and there's also a component to the uh voice over system that will increase security yes so um I wanted to make sure that that was clear um and the only thing that I would add to that um we pretty much read my notes um is there will be a resolution tonight to approve Professional Services and that's the Strategic environmental services and they're going to be responsible for removing um some expired science lab chemicals so it it has to be done in a very systematic uh manner so we'll be approving that as well tonight and then final payments for our boiler projects are going out and we're pleased to announce that there was a change order which basically means there was a decrease in cost and so we will be receiving our bill our final bill would be $7,500 less than originally an um anticipated so that's uh good to know so that'll all be um approved tonight hopefully um we'll move on to finance yeah sure very quickly because I think everything has pretty much been covered already I know um but obviously from a from a finance committee perspective uh you know the the majority of our time has been spent on the uh on the budget which Mike did a good job of uh laying that out uh tonight uh but you've you've already mentioned the Thea Grant how that's going to be used and the high impact tutoring Grant as well and I think even Mike touched upon the um the Chromebook uh lease purchase for for grades one 5 and N those are really the uh the highlights that I was going to uh talk about so pretty quick update okay is there any other updates that anybody has I think we're good right yes good okay um I just want I just have a few and then uh few comments that I'd like to make um I attended the autism acceptance uh day at the Town Hall on April 20th that was really a fun event so I appreciate the town hall and all that they did for that it was nice to we had a beautiful day it was really nice to see the families come out um again I want to congratulate the all the students who were inducted in the National Honor Society last night and those that are being inducted tonight um that was really uh an honor to be invited and it was it was nice to be there um unfortunately I personally was unable to attend some of the Middle School play which I heard was phenomenal and the North and South End spring concerts that I heard were even better uh was you know the feedback and the um social media presence um has been really astronomical so kudos to everyone who had played a big part in in that spring sports are going strong um softball team's doing great I was able to attend the uh the weekend tournament it was really impressive our facilities that was able to handle so many different teams coming into our town and um bringing business into the town and uh it was just really a nice day just s the players everywhere so continue excited to continue to see that grow and then I'd just like to take a moment to thank all of the board in it's their entirety for the time that they've provided over the last few months um we've had a significant need for special meetings and it has taken a lot of time a time away from our families and so I just want to thank everybody um for your time and your commitment and the dedication and uh that you've you know shown over the last couple of months so I'm excited about what lies ahead um I do wanted to give a little bit of an update on our leadership transition uh Dr T um has already met with each of us as a board in individually and has been in contact with um all the administr the whole administrative team um he has scheduled dates to tour all of the buildings and then schedule follow-up meetings to meet with each of the building administrators um he's also begun to meet with our town officials and um is fostering working relationships with um all of those parties next he will be scheduling meetings with central office staff and then building based staff and then eventually we'll be meeting with our FSA boards um and then in June and July the plan is to schedule some opportunities for the community to be able to come out and meet and get to know Dr T and then we I also want to say that I appreciate Mr bro's uh continued support and uh working with us through this transition so um that's all I have at this point um Mr BR do you have the superintendent report yeah I just have a just one thing I just want to say is um next week is Teacher Appreciation week and I want to just thank all the staff here in Cedar Grove um you know the staff gets a week of appreciation but they really um they really are app they should be they are appreciated every day for taking care of everybody's children educating them um sharing um just the basic needs of growing up and being good people and uh just want to thank the staff here in Cedar Grove wonderful group of people talented group of individuals who truly care about kids and so um I just want to just give them a shout out for teacher appreciation we can thank you very much thank you Mr brusso and I second that I mean with the board as a whole we um we really are U we really is a special place here have some really amazing teachers and we do good work because of the efforts that they put in every day so um I'm looking forward to teacher appreciation with next week um all righty so we will move on to some business all right under the business administrator's report can I have a motion for G1 through g16 so move have a second second any discussion actually have a have a question um Mike on uh G6 payment of bills in reviewing that I noted you can correct me on the amount but I think it was an excess of $60,000 of um public sewer costs repairs can you just maybe talk about that for a few seconds yes uh we we've had a very big problem this year with um uh the um uh Plumbing in in the High School uh has been uh consistently getting CL LED um so we've had to pay a contractor to come up to um basically suck everything out um and and every time what they find is all uh uh Vapes in the um the the aligns uh so pretty much every time that they have to come up it's it's about you know about $6,000 to $8,000 uh per time that they they come up um uh so it is a very big problem um you know that we're you know consistently doing um uh you know so hopefully you know that that can improve I know I think um um Jody's been trying to meet with the staff uh the staff the students up there to uh um you know try to get you know see if we can solve the problem here but it is a very big problem uh you know in all my years i' I've never seen seen seen expense this high before so the issue isn't that the plumbing is inadequate the issue is is that things are being flushed down yeah they're being flushed down the toilet um uh so it may not happen right away but then as they one gets clogged then as they continue to flush them then you know a lot of them get clogged then it causes the the um the water to back up the assur to back up I mean we had one instance where we had a uh um was that a couple months ago where we had to cancel um a school high school had cancel lunch because the uh um you sewage was back up into the kitchen um you know so it it is a you know a consistent problem that we're having so that's certainly unfortunate and I know that the high school principal is um continuously talking with the students and um trying to get them to make some better choices so we appreciate any help at home with relaying that message of um you know that's money that I certainly would prefer to use on something that directly impacts the students as opposed to Plumbing issues so any help we can get from there would be greatly appreciated I do want to say oh I'm sorry D David you are you good any other questions yeah no that that was that was the only question I had um on G10 I just want to give a thanks um a generous donation from Mr arani and the New York Life um made a generous donation to enhance our stem curriculum so thank you uh Mr arani and New York Life we we do appreciate that very much um is there any more discussion no okay can I have a roll call then Mr grandi yes Mr marzulo yes Mr Pac yes Mrs Keegan yes Mr Dora yes moving on to uh superintendent report General Administration can I have a motion for H1 through H5 and addendum A1 addendum A2 will be removed from the agenda some moved second any discussion roll call please Mr gry yes Mr marzulo yes Mr pic yes Mrs Keegan yes but abstain from h3e Mrs Dora yes under Human Resources can I have a motion for I 1 through I 133 so move second any discussion I have a question on the um in the area of uh our step development in regards to professional development con conferences um we have a resolution in the agenda to eliminate a position out of budgetary responsibilities but yet we're allowing that individual to attend conferences want in positions eliminate I don't know why we expend some of those funds uh she was approved for those funds uh prior uh on pre previous uh agendas so this is this is the approval of the actual date that she would be going on that conference well now we're expecting now we're approving the funds 9 e you're approving you know you know significant amount of money that that was a recommendation you can you can deny it I'm just wondering you know why if we're eliminating the position we be sending person for that position out for professional development because she is still an employee of the district and is working in that in that capacity for work related uh functions until June 30th understood Mr G is that a mandated training uh we do we do we do because if we recall there was another employee that was supposed to um be trained in that and uh they no longer doing that so that has fallen solely on a director which is um not the yeah any other discussion I just want to do a give a shout out to um Miss Ashley Pines who is on the agenda tonight for uh retirement 25 years at Northend so we appreciate your service and wish you all the luck and uh enjoyment in your next Journey can I have a roll call please Mr GR yes Mr marzulo yes Mr pic yes Mrs Keegan yes M Dora yes under special services and a motion for J1 and J2 please so moved second discussion call please Mr grandi yes Mr marzulo yes Mr pic yes Mrs Keegan yes m Dora yes at this point we open the meeting to public comment on any items on or off the agenda we do have one Mr Michael bronan I'm sorry apologize confident that I don't have to I good evening Michael bramall 88 Westland Road here in Cedar Grove um I had two areas I wanted to discuss one was uh the superintendent and then a budget issue so I just elected to sign on the one sheet so I apologize um I think it was 4 years ago you hired Mr Gro or previous board uh hired Mr Gro as a superintendent and uh I think he got hired U right around this time 20120 right in the middle of the pandemic so rolled into September of 20 uh 20 with virtual learning which as anyone who was paying attention knows was challenging difficult rules change dayto day and it was a daunting task and I thought he handled it well um sorry all right I thought he handled that very well and then we rolled into other issues uh I mean I I used to see 200 people at a board of ed meeting with CBS News Vans outside and people standing at the podium calling for the superintendent's head and immediate resignation and I give him credit for uh handling himself uh professionally during those times there was change over in board members there was a recall there were people calling for him to be fired and resign and I'll tell you I'm married to someone who quite honestly didn't like Mr Gro uh at that time but I will also tell you that as a parent of a child in the district whenever we had concerns and addressed Mr Gro he invited us to his office uh he was professional he was courteous and we may not have agreed on everything certainly Mr Gro in my wife didn't agree on most things but I appreciated his willingness to invite us in and speak to him and you know come to a resolution you know good bad or otherwise but I always appreciated his efforts uh for this community and I want to thank him for a service to CER Grove um my next question was related to the uh security portion of the budget uh it's $278,000 in change is that for the salaries of the security officers that are assigned to the schools and I'm sorry should the question be addressed to Mr Dita or you could address okay you'll defer to him okay that $278,000 is that for the salaries for the security officers yes is what else comes out of that 278,000 are you able to tell me or is it just their salaries because I know we don't pay benefits I know uh they get Healthcare from previous jobs is so basically just their salaries yeah pretty much their salaries and um you the overtime or we have a substitute okay um so I did some quick math you know not being a math major but I know the guards make about $38 an hour which would be about $47,000 per guard per year If I multiply that times six guards 282,000 is my rough math and I'm pretty close to your budgetary number is 278,000 so my question is to address a rumor that I heard recently that you are eliminating two security guard positions can anyone tell me that that's accurate yes there'll be two so they'll there'll just be um one in every building now as opposed to multiple so if we're eliminating two guards at a cost of about 100,000 total then I don't know why we're budgeting $278,000 it would seem to be $1,000 more than we really need actually looking the budget here um salary-wise it's um uh $242,000 is actually for the the salaries um we also um one of the security guards is a the school security specialist so he receives a $110,000 stip in uh we have 10,000 in overtime and or sorry 10,000 for a substitute substitutes and 15,000 overtime uh we also have um uh some uh the whole pass software that we use uh that um the annual fee for that is included in there um and also our um the class uh software that we use um that um annual fee is in there also so that's um all those added up add up to 15,000 um and then we also have the um uh Panic buttons as I mentioned each school has those um uh our um cell phones is out of there and also a Burg arm we have a monitoring um for for each of the um uh schools um so that's included in there uh let's see and we also have some um uh uniform costs um uh some uh um Camera supply so if any cameras go down we do have some money in there um so that that adds up to um the supplies adds up to 7,750 um and the other um services is a 13,000 uh so it's not just I I misspoke when when I said it was just salaries it's it's some of the other um Services also okay um Can someone explain why we're eliminating two security guard positions that I know uh was a very challenging task for this District it was a huge adjustment I think for parents for teachers um for students to get adjusted to having security guards in the school I know there were painstaking efforts uh to finally get it done write down to the details of what they wore so it wasn't offensive uh so it wasn't overbearing so it wasn't like it was a police state going in and taking over our schools and I think they've done a tremendous job um I think they've become part of each individual school I talked to parents at North End South End middle school and high school and I've yet to hear one person say a bad thing about him I've only heard good things like they are ingrained in those schools where these professionals these retired police offic ERS know students on a firstname basis they know parents on a firstname basis and I would think when it comes to you know you're going to manage it and the superintendent will manage it but obviously you said one for each school um the middle school and the high school is a tremendous amount of real estate for one person to handle and we talk about kids shoving stuff in the toilets well that's $60,000 we spent on sewer cleaning now a one extra security guard having two in the high school is not going to stop everything that I understand but maybe we give oursel a fighting chance if we keep them as opposed to eliminating two positions so we're going to eliminate a North End we'll eliminate a middle school and we'll take someone and shove them over to this facility but have one in each school I think the elementary schools can handle uh one security officer and I think they do a great job but the middle school and the high school as we know is a tremendous amount of real estate for one person and look at the Trends on school shootings obviously one is too many but the hundreds that have been in recent years primarily they're at middle school and high schools so I think the focus should be to maintaining that robust staff that you have and not rely on Subs because Subs aren't always going to be available it's like teachers I mean you go down the list right and you hope to find somebody and if you don't you make ends meet and you double up whatever you have to do but security officers for this cost I mean I know the board gets the school gets $1.2 million a year from the town and pil of money you're getting it for 25 years so a third of that 1.2 million should fund your security guards for the next 23 years and not have to go into any other pocket of money not have to go into a tax levy not have to go into grants which I'm certainly sure are out there in the way of security and I'm sure the school probably has grant writers whether you Outsource your grant writing or someone does it in house but there are grant writers available a third of your pilot money that you get and I imagine does and I don't know does money go into general fund yes okay so that's $1.2 million of free money that this district is going to get for 23 more years I'm asking you to take a third of that quote unquote free money that you've only realized for the last two years you got 23 to go take a quarter a third of that approximately and put it into security because this is the first that I've heard of it and I don't I probably haven't been to a meeting since someone was yelling and screaming from Mr Gro to resign and that was several years ago and I'm thankful that things have been Qui it since then because it is a great Community with a great School District um I'm just asking to reconsider I know budgets are tough Health Care through the roof pension contributions I get all that but this is the first that I've heard uh recently that you're going to eliminate two security positions I don't know if it's been spoke of publicly before and clearly not a big draw to the meeting I just ask the board to reconsider and maybe look for some alternative methods because talk to parents you're in the district uh you may or may not have children in the in the district but I will tell you that you know as a parent it's a crucial part and a secure feeling when you go there every day and see those school security officers which for a year and approximately five months have become a fabric and part of those individual schools so um I just asked that you look at that I know there's a million in change in Surplus I'm not a big fan of Dipping into that we don't have to I mentioned grants um you know grants are out there for a lot of different things hopefully the board and the administration continues to look at Grants if you don't have an outside grant writer uh it's certainly something to look at if you don't already have it but I me you know I wrote down the Vapes right at the end and I don't expect them to be the police officers of the school but they can be an added resource to your high school Personnel to do some spot checks of the restrooms there are no female security officer so that would create a problem if the problem is occurring in the girls' room as opposed to the Boys Room uh I'd be in favor of certainly hiring another security officer and have a female assigned to the high school but that's a different conversation I want to try to keep the six that we have and I just think of this and I leave you with this thought the high school and the middle school is a tremendous piece of real estate for one person to be responsible for it it is a lot and I just ask the board to give that further consideration before they make that final decision thank you thank you I appreciate your time thank you thank you very much okay at this point we will close that portion of the meeting and announcement yeah okay come on come on up I speak at these things okay uh Joe mongello 47 Anderson Parkway so I wasn't really planning on speaking but I did hear the same rumor about the guards um I don't know if we really answered to why we're eliminating them you know he did ask that question and I didn't hear an answer of why we're eliminating them but I'm going to give my two cents on it I think a lot of times with these Life Safety um systems security it's a it's a cost and nobody wants to spend on that cost but if you have a problem everyone going to be begging for these officers I don't know if the reason what the reasoning is I will you know jump on the fact that he said you know I'm at North End that guards fantastic you know the kids' names I've ran to a lot of the other guards you know just I don't have any kids in the other you know buildings but they've been fantastic and uh it's kind of disappointing to hear sorry that uh you're going to eliminate two guards I think that position I always uh you know it seems like an easy job right for the most part 99% chance nothing's going to happen but it's also the worst job in the world to have when you were the last line of defense between a active shooter and those children so um I think eliminating security is a big mistake I think it's a uh God forbid something happens you're really you know put in a bad spot and there's probably a lot of places we can cut other than the $40,000 for some guard so especially because this was a referendum years ago it was voted on you know comes out of taxpayer money and then it's just like ah well we're we're out of you know we ran out of money or we're going to do something else like better find the money somewhere else I think it's a real bad move that's my opinion I'm not on the board and I bet you a lot of people in the town don't even realize that this is happening because we heard the rumor and I'm like thumbing through the paperwork and I'm actually you know going I don't see it maybe this isn't happening and then you know thankfully he said something and you confirmed it so I do ask you to reconsider it you know like I said I think the majority of the township likes them I think they're great with the kids and like I said I hope we never use them I hope you never need your fire alarm systems I hope you never need the access control system but when you need it everyone's going to be begging and wishing they had it so it's uh I think it's a real you're putting yourself in a real sticky situation by eliminating somebody especially if you have someone call out I guess you're going to have a sub but the subs don't know the kids they don't know the school and when there's an incident their reaction time you're talking seconds to respond and uh I think having a steady guard in these schools that know these children and know these schools is the best way to go so I would strongly recommend that you reconsider it thank you your time thank you and if you could answer why we're eliminating it I guess that would help we'll take you you know you make both make very valid points and we will um take it back in further the discussion and um come back with our respons I do appreciate both of in your comments okay sorry Speak sure say your name my name is Jason Kau I live at 44 lwood Road in Cedar Grove I would like to ask you about agenda item i1 elimination of position to approve the elimination of the director of guidance and School counseling um I would like to know what the rationale is for that we've recently had one guidance person turnover now within the span of I think about a year or two this is a second one um and I understand that Personnel changes happen um but I'd love to know why eliminate the position now especially given current concerns and public events related to mental health so it was a decision that um the board and the administration um a long time talking about and um for the overall direction of where we're going at the time that was the decision that we made at this point okay as as as a resident of the Town um you know without without too intensely attacking the issue what I'd like to know is what about the direction of the district the direct the direction is the district is going in the same direction it was when we instituted that that position it was just a reassignment of um responsibilities that the current position entails is being reassigned to others we're not reducing we're not eliminating any programs we're not eliminating any Services we're just restructuring in the way we deliver it okay so I understand a recently produced position and now there's a restructuring that's that's easily understandable um I guess my second followup would be then what is being done on those issues because I know you know 5 10 I can't speak for five but 10 15 years ago we really didn't have much not only for mental health but for things like disability compliance and HIV it was a a tire fire yeah so we've made a significant growth in that areas and it's continued to be U and I'm going development so we have programs in uh instituted in all our buildings mental health programs and Mr bro can speak to them more because you know he oversees all of that but we have mental health programs in all of our buildings for all of our students we have uh school counselors uh we in increased our uh child study team member to make our school psychologists and social workers more available to be more handson with the mental health components so so you you affirmative you have swapped out the child study teams so that swapped out anything we child study team was added this current school year earlier on you you've moved people around so there's increased availability is what I'm reaching for more efficient in the delivery of our services right I remember that in the day this was a significant problem I GL to see that it's being addressed yes um ongoing process okay thank you for the information thank you okay I think we're now finished with that portion of the meeting um move on to the announcements of future meetings our next meeting is May 21st uh will be held at South End in the media center um Clos session will begin at 6:30 regular open will be 7:30 and then the following meeting will be June 18th same times uh but at Memorial Middle School I have a motion to adjourn the meeting all in favor hi meeting adjourned thank you very much have a great evening everybody