good evening uh with the secretary please call the role Mrs Becker Mr cumnings here miss gu here Mrs herck here Mr Hong Mrs Reese here president LAX all right we have a quorum please rise for the pledge IED Ali 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 all right the New Jersey open public meeting 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 and acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the East brunic board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time in place thereof posted at the East at the Board of Education offices um written notice was also provided to The Sentinel the Newark Star Ledger the home News Tribune the alternative press of East Brunswick and the municipal clerk of East Brunswick all Board of Education meetings with the exception of executive session discussion are [Applause] videotaped for later broadcast it is the policy of the Board of Education that videotaped meetings are not edited for any purpose individuals who speak at the board's public meeting should be aware of these videotaping rules all right whereas the Board of Education must discuss matters which are not appropriate for discussion in a public meeting and whereas these subjects are within the exception to the open public meeting act and are permitted to be discussed in closed session pursuant to njsa 10 4-12 B and whereas the Board of Education intends to discuss matters as followed as included in the agenda uh whereas the board whereas the length of the closed session is estimated to be 1 hour after which the public meeting of the board shall reconvene and action will be taken now therefore be resolved that the Board of Education the East brunic Board of Education will recess into Clos session for only the afor sub the afores said subjects and be it further resolved that the East brunic Board of Education hereby declares that its discussion of the afores said subjects will be made public at a time when the Public's interest in disclosure is greater than any privacy or governmental Interest being protected from disclosure in accordance with the open public meetings act Miss Becker and Mr Cummings all in favor I opposed exstension all right we are enclosed thank you everyone okay welcome back welcome to everyone in the crowd this evening we are going to start back with Dr veski superintendent report thank you president LAX good evening everyone the artwork on display in the boardroom this evening was created by students from Irwin Elementary School the art teacher of these talented students is Brook sbone Joan schwitz is the principal I along with B members and administrators had the pleasure of reading to students at Central Elementary School to celebrate read Across America at B Monroe visitors were welcome for breakfast and books to celebrate read Across America week caregivers and loved ones spent time reading together with the children in their classrooms the students teachers and staff and families of bound Monroe will continue to celebrate National reading month this month the month of March by reading the book The Nocturnals the mysterious abductions by Tracy Heck on Saturday March 2nd along with President Lori LAX and barbar Reese I attended the Buddy ball allstar game fast break buddy ball gives the players a chance to Showcase their newly learned skills and competitive spirit and we are proud of our association with the fast break buddy ball organization and the opportunity to provide practice and competition facilities and you got confused because there's two of us but you had both lores that day Oh that's oh sorry he's just confused because there's two lores you could say Lori and they could buy either us okay sorry and we have girls coding in here that's like you're getting into high algebra and stuff I know glor there you go on Sunday March 3rd along with board members and administrators I had the pleasure of attending the 39th Annual Daisy breakfast I understand they raised a lot of money Dr Figo did you hear the number I didn't get the final but I will probably out okay last night the science department hosted a dynamic science career night for students in grades 9 through 12 bringing together the local community and eager young minds over 100 students had the invaluable opportunity to engage with 30 passionate volunteers hailing from very ious scientific Fields these dedicated professionals generously shared their experiences and insights sparking inspiration and fostering a deeper understanding of potential career paths in the ever evolving world of science the event not only opened doors to knowledge but also established meaningful connections between students and professionals Paving the way for future collaborations and aspirations the East Brunswick winter color guard has enjoyed enoyed great success to start their 2024 season with a show entitled The beauty within in only their second year of existence the guard began their season with four consecutive wins the third and fourth of which occurred at the wintergard international Philadelphia Regional on February 24th facing units from New Jersey Pennsylvania Maryland and Connecticut the EB winter Color Guard tied for first place in prelims and improve their score by three points to win the finals outright their score can you could applaud for that their score in the finals was the highest in their class from six shows across the country that day so that's really good The Unbelievable growth and Improvement of this group which includes students from both Churchill in the high school has resulted in promotion to the Scholastic a class this marks their fourth promotion in two years the season continues on March 9th and wraps up with the main championship at the Cure Arena on April 21st and that's in Trenton in sports racial ddio was named the NJ Sia State girls wrestling coach of the year at the state tournament in Atlantic City so congratulations to [Music] [Applause] Rael girls swimming won our first ever sectional title and Katie Ryan qualified for the meat of Champions and finished fifth in the 50 meter freestyle is the third consecutive year she has qualified for multiple events so congratulations to Katie congratulations to all our February high school athletes of the month students were selected for this Honor by the coaching staff based on performance demonstration of leadership effort and practice and of course for modeling exceptional character parent teacher conferences will take place Tuesday March 12th through Friday March 15th these will be single session days for all schools with lunch served in grades kindergarten through 6 on Wednesday March 20th and Thursday March 21st The Churchill Junior High School drama club will be presenting The Adams Family Junior tickets can be purchased at cjhs booktix that's B tix.com just a reminder the East Brunswick Education Foundation will host their annual partner in excellence dinner on Tuesday April 2nd information can be found on our website at ebnet.org EF thank you thank you Dr veski and that is a wonderful segue into what we have next um do I see Jack out there come on up Jack is anyone with you from the education foundy tonight just you you'll do you'll do my friend I read here right yes under the microphone okay so next thing on the agenda we do have a resolution where since its Inception in 1993 the East Brun Education Foundation has funded 17 186 grants approaching 3 million in funding for technology equipment cultural programs author's visits schoolwide cross-curricular learning events Hands-On materials many books and much more to complement teaching and learning throughout the district and whereas from July 2023 to March 2024 the foundation has awarded 44 grants amounting to $17,000 toward his ongoing mission to enhance and enrich the curriculum for the students attending the East Bron public schools and whereas at at it at its annual Partners at Excellence dinner on April 2nd 2024 the foundation will celebrate this year's honores Danielle block Marilyn Edge Dr Arvin gopal and Lindsay shappa Esquire as well as the induction of Michael bargan and Brian selnik into the Alumni Hall of Fame now therefore be it resolved the East bronic Board of Education expresses its appreciation to the foundation and its supporters for the generous continuing commitment towards excellence in education and be it further resolved that the East brunic Board of Education recognizes and applauds the 20124 partners in excellence honores and Alumni Hall of Fame inductees on having been selected by the foundation this year moveed by Mrs Becker second second by Mr Hong and I'm going to have a little bit of discussion before we give this to you just to just but the first thing I have to say as a proud graduate of the high school is um obviously we have our Alumni Hall of Fame but I don't know how many people know that Danielle block and Lindsay shappa are also proud alumni as well so um yes they are they really are he did a good job might even mention it that you might mention it that night might even mention it that night keep it away um I I I have a thousand things I'm going to say but there's a lot of people that want to congratulate you so I'm going to let my board member say some nice stuff about you I'll step over here so I can see so um a group of volunteers who do nothing but spend their time raising money and reviewing grants from teachers to make our children's life better to enrich them academically socially emotionally and to help our staff run programs that they wouldn't be able to otherwise pretty pretty awesome thank you and your entire team and everybody who volunteers because we overuse the phrase for the kids a lot but in this case it is not a cliche thank you thank you I know Mr hung our board rep would like to say something so Jack thank you very much for you and your team's work you know 30 years $3 million and uh more than 1,700 Grand so those grand without you guys help we not the the board were not going to support those grants which means you open more than 1,700 doors to our students so that is very important as as the privilege as there as the uh board L on to you organization I know how hard you guys worked count this hours you guys spent take those hours from your family from your job you connect every organization talk to every possible people try to get money for our not for the organization is for our students I know you guys try to get every penny possible to Res this $3 million so you guys not just do the volunteer now just support support our school you guys you organization build the bridge between the East Bron public school and East Bron community and East Bron aluminize which means a lot you guys are the role model for the community service so I hope e Bron Community more people can join Jack team so there's a lot of thing I want to say but just want save time for my fellow board members thank you again oh one more thing I'm sorry so was so many people when they come to East BR you talk to them they said when we ask why they said we come to East BR for school so East Bron is the the crown of East Bron Community but the ebf is the most shining GM on that Crown yeah that I can't STP that but but I just wanted to say thank you for all you and your team do I mean for many many years you make a big difference in all our lives really appreciate it and I have to say if it wasn't for you some of us wouldn't have danced uh I don't I don't think I ever would have danced in front of that many people we have to show that again but you really are a special person and all the people and your team are very special people and we really thank you cuz like Le said and like Vicky said you know without you so many programs wouldn't happen so many many thanks thank you yeah Jack just echoing everything that you've heard and and beautifully said by uh fellow board members I I think the first time I met you I was at um we were walk I was walking through Churchill during a tour and there was it was it it was maybe like a you could buy a pumpkin or buy something and scho buying an apple an apple thank you thank you and I and I walked up and uh I should have known I walked up and and I said hey what's going on here and you looked at me and you said well you're you're were you know you purchased an apple to support the the students the well-being the community you know you gave and and we both kind of like paused for a moment and looked at each other and I just right away went for my wallet right like think this guy is is the real I'm not messing around with this guy right now so but but what that is Jack is a is a um it's a shout out to your tenacity and to your desire and drive to uh support the wellbeing of the community and you go above and beyond as as everybody has said here to help do that my kids have benefited as a result of your efforts um through the various programming that's coming into the schools and that means a lot to me as a parent and I'm just have a lot of respect for the work that you do and I really appreciate it so thank you thank you not to put the competitive nature but I will tell you back when we were in the elementary schools my husband and I used to actually like try and beat the other ones so put a little competitive Spirit you're going to want uh one ster to make sure you win that was is the school to be we used to have to buy extra apples for everybody well I wanted to thank Jack for something slightly different um as a board member we get to see this and but right now being in a lot of different places being here but also being a PTA mom and spending time with kids at the high school and the elementary school it's nice to listen to the staff and the parents talking together about how are we going to do this for the kids and people right away say well nebf of course and there's just this strong feeling of everyone working together there doesn't seem to be that well this is ours you know the PTA owns this or the parent the booster owns this there is such a strong community-mindedness that comes out of all these groups and I am so in awe of the way the foundation works with so many different other groups to make things happen and I really want to thank having now two of my students I mean my son has graduated and my daughter's a junior and I just have such an appreciation for people come here for the schools we know this but as the kids get older I see how much they're learning about volunteerism and community-mindedness and my daughter is active with the youth Council and her awareness of what adults do in this town over years and years like you with the foundation and your team and her awareness and how normalized this is for our kids to see that this is what a good Community member does you you know you raise your children you're a good person but you also contribute as a volunteer and they're they just believe this is what every town offers and it's not so I want to thank you for your work and for your example to our kids thank you and I'll I'll end it by echoing what everybody here has said and I know at the Barnes & Noble we spoke briefly and the event is wonderful kids are excited to go to the bookstore see the kids from their schools performances they're teachers um and have a chance to buy books to support the foundation and I just think work that you do is is wonderful and Community right so in East Brunswick we are a community I think we we thank you for contributing to our schools and for being beneficial to our community so thank you thank you from one volunteer organization to another right you do things for the right reasons and you guys probably don't realize this but being in the schools right now there are probably a tremendous amount of programs that you've enjoyed that are thanks to the foundation because it's true when you say you brought and there's a lot of things that we fund as a school district and there's even more that the Education Foundation makes sure that you as students don't lose out on there's been incredible um speakers that have come you've had great musical programs um the books so um this gentleman in this wonderful organization next time you see one of those grants now you can say you met the man the myth and the legend and on that note I'm going to make official you are in just one second I have to make it official so I do have to ask all those in favor I opposed extensions motion carries okay congratulations now please I just want to thank everybody for the kind words um I'm here on behalf of a group of volunteers who work tirelessly I've become the face of this group but it is by far not just me they are an incredible group of people who all come for only one reason well actually not one reason for about 9,000 reasons and it's all the kids in the district they don't think about their own kids they don't think about themselves they don't think politically it's all about what can we do how can we say yes to what the teachers want to do and even when we get a grant that doesn't quite match what we want to do we send it back and say write it this way so it can work and Heather I I just want to um thank you for saying what you did because we have a grant that's just for Partnerships and we partner with other foundations we partner with organizations ptas and if they contribute third of what they want to do we'll contribute two thirds because it's so important that we work together like that and the fact that groups are talking about that way means that our message is getting out there so thank you so much for that um I'm GNA pass everybody's words in fact I'm G to try to show this video at my next meeting so everybody in our on our team can see the great things you had to say so thank you very much thank you yeah I know that come on I brushed my hair today I the side of you we'll put you in the midle not bad right not bad right thanks thank you to you and your little organization yes than you I win see Tim you're not the only one that could be Dr blin a race just kidding oh I'm on fire tonight this is why we have a sense of humor because we have to make things fun right speaking of fun now we are moving on to the presentations and special reports part of the evening um Mr Juliana I'm going to ask you to kick off the first part okay so um this is now the official announcement of the vacancy on the board of education we have two vacancies um so this is the official Public Announcement uh beginning tomorrow uh we expect to have um uh the notice uh posted on the district website indicating uh what the procedures will be for accepting applicants which the board will consider um ultimately um uh any applicants will be interviewed by the board um uh applicants that the board selects from a screening process uh the process will also be advertised in the home no Tribune we expect uh that that will occur during uh the week of uh March 11th and the week of March 18th subsequently uh paper submissions will be accepted by my office um and uh then the rest of the process will proceed will uh the individuals that are selected will then be notified of um interview dates and and follow follow-up procedures um I ask that please do not send anyone who's watching this video or anyone in the audience please do not send me applications unless you have read the process that will be posted because I won't be able to accept them so please make sure you follow the process thank you thank you Mr Juliana now the fun stuff this is always my favorite time when we have learning across the district I am so thrilled and so thankful to our staff that does this um and I see these wonderful girls that are waiting but I'm actually excuse me for a second I'm going to do something a little different um Mrs Rees I don't mean to put you on the spot but I would actually like to ask you to introduce learning across the district this evening because I know that this happens to be an issue that's near and dear to your heart and for years um it's been something you've worked on so thank you so much and thank you ladies for being our Churchill Junior High School seventh grade students will talk about girls who code at Churchill Junior High School and what they're learning and doing and a former Churchill Junior High School student who is now at the high school has started a coding chapter there because of how much the club impacted her and other young female coders so thank you so much for being here invite him on up would you please come up than I'm sorry I know I put you on the spot the reading was the easy part right good evening and thank you to the board for this opportunity for our students to speak about our amazing program girls who code at Churchill Junior High School I am Melissa Krauss a 19-year East Brunswick veteran teacher of stem and Engineering I'm here with my colleag Kerrie Ree and as the only two female engineering teachers within the district we are very passionate about female representation and access for our students I'd like to thank our supervisor Andrew scanland uh for his support in keeping the Integrity of this program and now I'm going to turn it over to our amazing students hello everyone my name is Catalina seerz and I'm currently in 8th grade to start did you know that over half of the girls we serve come from historically unrepresented groups for example in 1995 it was calculated 30 7% of computer scientists were women today women only make up 24% compared to the 76% of men the percent will continue to to decline if we do nothing we know that the percentage of females in high school participating in computer science has been stuck at around 31% for the last 3 years the biggest drop off of girls in computer science is between the ages of 13 and 17 which is also middle school and high school during this critical period many girls lose interest in pursuing technology related fields to fix this is through the empowerment of girl-led clubs that are accessible in schools hello my name is umid asgar and I'm in seventh grade the reasons stated before are just a few of the reasons why churchold junior high school's participation in girls who code is so significant to our community social norms Drive younger girls away from computer science Fields because it's because it may seem manly or unfeminine girl whoo teaches girls at a young age to improve on the past but at the same time encourages the change in the gender barrier to be more welcoming for future Generations introducing girls who code to younger girls brings us together to acknowledge the fact of how others feel the same way we do about the inequitable expectations in which society anticipates from girls like us restricting or not providing the opportunity to join girls who code can isolate women from from branching out or pursuing their future goals continuing to observe the preferential social standards my name is Helen n and I'm in e8th grade when we first logged into the girls who code portal we were given a quiz that calculated our interests and gave us a variety of options to learn from to help us grasp a better understanding of technology in the world around us because of the videos and notes that were presented to us we were able to establish a base understanding of coding in the world we live in hi my name is Gabby sufan it helps us become aware of the opportunities we have surrounding technology such as engineering or computer science this program impacts our community in a positive way girls who code has inspired us to become familiar with the world of technology and is something we will continue to Value throughout our entire lives my name is Rafael saua and and I currently a freshman during our meetings we learn about soldering which is the process of melting a filler metal with a special iron to join together two other metal pieces we dive into projects that challenge us to think creatively and critically we work to unravel mysteries of electronic engineering my name is Ruby pornoy and this year I am a freshman so far we have worked on a variety of circuits such as a flashlight and a light up star these projects taught us new skills with each one that we could use in the future the best thing is we're doing it as a team creating a Sisterhood of support and learn sharing experiences and shared learning experience hi my name is Sophia faban and I a sophomore girls who Cod has have made a huge impact on me since I joined in the eth grade teaching me to be more confident about the importance of making my ideas heard because they matter regardless of my age gender or race for years in elementary and middle school I avoided joining so many activities that I had an interest in and feared that I'd be the only girl girls who code not only brought me the space that I needed to be myself but also opportunities that I I can never forget by nth grade I finally felt confident enough to join the girls who code summer emersion program and it ended up being the highlight of my summer for the first time I felt that I had the potential to pursue this in the future I didn't just learn about code though I also learned about life it gave me the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone learning a new coding language and working with people that I'd never met before things I would never even considered as a shy and hesitant girl I was at the start of 8th grade hi my name is Divia baman I'm a sophomore and girls who code has changed my life for the better I was always worried that others might look down upon me for my passion for engineering but girls who code helped me reverse this belief however the journey towards inclusivity remains a work in progress even today in my AP Computer Science applications class I am one of five girls I was appalled at how dangerously low the demographic of women in computer science was this gender gap limits diverse perspectives and reinforces false stereotypes many assume women aren't suited for stem careers due to their underrepresentation many people many girls simply avoid considering such field due to the fear of being the only woman in a male dominated industry but thanks to girl who code at Churchill I've been able to challenge such stereotypes by applying for and winning the ncwit aspirations and Computing award whose mission is to encourage more women into this Dynamic and growing realm of computer science and engineering girls who code still has a lasting impact to make and there's so much more that it can do for women like me hello my name is RA meta and I'm in seventh grade girls who code alumni are earning computer science and related degrees at seven times the national average since 2012 girls who code has served 580,000 students through after school clubs and summer programs just to name a few I myself have reaped many benefits of this organization at Churchill learning to improve my coding in a space where I don't feel intimidated by the male students around me this is the place for female students like myself that enjoy that are curious about tech enjoy a bit of Challenge and want to be a part of a group where learning is as important as the code itself Churchill girls who code at Churchill Junior High is where it's at it's j not just coding it's about going and learning together thank you for your time thank you so much girls that was that was amazing and I have to tell you I'm sorry for being personal for a second they may not remember me uh but Divia she's SM and Sophia the they're my babies from Memorial from my PTA days so it's nice to see you all grown up and so well spoken um and speaking so I have to tell you and I apologize I'm a little bit but you know I'm getting old I have my senior moments did you this was the reason I had Mrs Reese introduce this was years ago and I think it was Community programs correct you started bringing this in it was your idea that we should start having these programs and I think that's how we started do we did we not before we got in the school am I correct or am I having a senior making me blush I'm sorry no I'm being serious because I was hearing about this before I was smart enough to know what it was since but no as a board we've definitely oh thank you as a board we definitely have been supportive coding but it was back um in my days as a first PTA president that we started doing um a scratch and Lego Mind storms in hopes to get uh younger students involved in coding and Dr veski and his team is and and president LAX and vice president Heather gals we're all working together to push those opportunities for the students um and we really so proud of you really it's a one girl your girls who code is a wonderful National Organization and the wonderful teacher and the wonderful staff to to do this it's going to be such a a door opener for you so we're really thankful uh that you're taking the lead on this and starting the club at the high school that's a big step so really we thank you so much for what but I want you to learn from something that Mrs Reesa mistake she made I want you girls to own all your success because when I told her and yes she's right it's a team effort but when I told her that this was something that she had the forethought to to um to work on years ago she gave credit to everyone else I want you girls to go out there and kick butt and I want you to take I'm sorry am I love to say that I didn't use the bad word um I want you to own all of your success because I think it's amazing what you're doing and I'm so impressed with all of you but but don't do that and I'm impressed with Mrs re and Mrs CR we we're very proud of you yes um yes do other yes so beautiful girl beautiful presentation says I I don't remember who say that it says life is about involvement so once you get involved it's not that scary right it's a lot of interest so use your own experience use your own examples get more girls involved bring more girls to your club and then spread your own successful stories show them how you overcome your fails at the beginning now how confident you are that is your task so I'm I'm now I'm challenging you I believe you will bring more girls to your club and make more progress s here again this grass I saw your hand I did I wanted to thank you because faces looked familiar and I'm like why do I know them it's Memorial that makes so much more sense um I just wanted to say two things I wanted to say first off as somebody who spends her entire day with freshman and sophomores I would have put you all at sophomore year by the way you spoke or maybe Juniors you are so poised and I realize that is not part of the coding but you are gaining something from it because the way you present is very confident you just look like you feel the words that you're saying and that's a skill that comes from having strong advisors that push you forward and it just needs to be said really well done the other thing is I appreciate what you said I think it was you um about not wanting to try something for the fear of being the only girl and and I think that we don't give enough credit to that fear in high school that it's not that there isn't an interest there there's just the fear of being the only one of some subgroup and when it's being a girl we see the trends in hiring of who goes into what field and I think it starts by making this opportunity something that's so clearly labeled this will be girls you will not be the only girl and so I appreciate how you're spreading I appreciate you dedicating your time to it because there aren't enough women in in it and I hope you continue to grow your group so that people know they can go and they won't be the only one I have an idea how to grow your group I was thinking um oh see the Girl Scouts have patches for coding and we can connect you with the Girl Scouts you'd be wonderful role models for the younger students because they earned their patches and the girls and the CEO of the Girl Scouts has made it a big priority uh to have the girls more involved in stem activities and also have that's another thing but they also have a competition team too at the higher level so that's something you might but you would be wonderful role models for them so if you want I can share with Dr veski information there you go she has a daisy at home so that she would appreciate that too you'd be wonderful role models for if you're interested I just throw it out there thank you thank you oh I'm sorry I'm sorry for last minute here I was just going to say as all of you were speaking and it was it was so awesome to hear you you know share your passion for this I just kept thinking to miss re's point I I want all of the young girls in our district to know about you you're so inspirational and have so much to give and I just uh I think that there's so much there and I just thank you I'm truly inspired I want to see that uh star too that that you created because that was very cool and did you weld that actually sorry that okay soldering sorry that is so cool can we can we pass it around real quick I promise we won't break it I think no I worked really hard on this but what if you keep it I won't keep it I wish I could do this I had I mean this is just awesome so cool I I just wanted to say how as an organization as a school district how proud we are all all of you but I have a question for all of you just by show of hands how many of you imagine yourself starting your own company someday oh come on well you should you should because I I will tell you that the world it the world you know today when you finish your schooling your formal schooling will be completely different it's evolving so fast and people like you are going to be at the head of that and you will have the opportunity to Define what the future is because rather than work for an organ ganization that has rules and and definitions that you don't like you get to Define your own rules by starting your own company and leading that so I encourage you to do that Divia and Sophia are going to graduate in a couple of years but I know there's some seventh and eighth graders among you we may have to bring them back again and Reas the question I'm asking that because someday I want them to hire me yeah you're looking to leave us her come on well I could be an assistant to either any of them right now I am congratulations on the success Mrs kuss M re thank you this is wonderful I'm going to we're gonna take a picture but I'm actually going to if it's okay um I mean you are welcome to stay but for CHR you know what he's right actually take your picture take a picture give me a second so once you guys success don't remember don't forget Jack and his team I love your shirts by the way those are I like the yeah right here L we'll put you in front I'm so T to photo ball no we get St picture you're supposed to say but I'm already here get used to this you're going to be so successful that's the longest photo SHO ever I think con for the record I beat him again just saying um so Chris before before um I call the recess actually um Mr Juliana is right it might be nice for you to hear I know for some of you you're already there but some of you are going to be there soon enough um Chris not to put you on the spot but you better make it good cuz you're selling the high school for us here so all right good afternoon everyone um a lot has happened at the high school in one1 since the last board meeting we have a new principal in charge uh it's the start of spring Sports and events and clubs are in full swing at the moment uh one thing that stood out this month actually occurred yesterday as students in advanced placement literature uh classes attended a Broadway performance St in New York which was made possible due to a grant from the East Brunswick Education Foundation and I know we talked a lot about the impact of the evf but as students we're greatly appreciative of all of their efforts and it's great to see a play that we learned in class come to life in front of us in the stage so that was a great experience for um everyone who went on the trip um I also know that the ebf is involved with sending our ipple team to Nationals as well so there's a lot of um appreciation that the students have for the foundation uh the trip itself while it was raining in New York it was a great experience um students got to roam around the city uh five pizzerias take the subway so it was really fun and we had a lot of Liberty with that yeah there go um in other news volleyball has been a Hot Topic this past month with the East Fric Education Foundation once again hosting a volleyball competition on February 26th and a science Honor Society hosting their own on February 23rd both events were a great opportunity for students and staff to compete on the court against each other and support the clubs at East brunic High School and this Tuesday this past Tuesday the East Bruns High School band had its preview concert for the repertoire they'll be um they'll be playing at their upcoming Festival uh and as well the East bronic High School choir and Orchestra will soon be going on their Disney trip to compete and enjoy the park so there's a lot going on to arts department a lot to look forward to thank you you did good what do you think girls thumbs up okay thank you I I'm putting everyone on the spot tonight I'm just Chris are raid tonight so but he did a great job but he did a great job um so now I'm at the correct part where I'm goingon to say you are more than welcome to stay and to join us for budget hearing presentations but if you have homework or something better to do um now would be the time to make an escape because I'm going to call it two-minute recess I want to know why everyone laughed in with a lot of okay don't take it personally that they were not all here for you yeah it's not me it's the others that are presenting don't take it personally that I'm just kidding I see at least three people in the audience not members of our district no thank you for you know what a lot of people this is the beauty of Technology there are people that are very excited to watch this at home so um but I am I am not going to make you wait any longer okay so uh we are continuing our uh budget uh presentations and discussion this evening uh we're going to change the order a little bit um we'll start out with a transportation budget and this is be Joyce forsberg the manager of Transportation come on down come on up come on up good evening my name is Joyce schb I am the senior manager of Transportation here to present my budget for today for this year for the fiscal year 2025 Budget Transportation as you're aware our department is policy-driven and service oriented we provide safe reliable and efficient transportation for students to and from school and school related activities and out of District students to their special needs schools we also promote student transportation as the Frontline supports for the instructional program by delivering students safely on time and in a frame of mind ready to learn as some of you were aware we were bringing more routes back inhouse this year some of the benefits of bringing the routes back into the in-house services are the bus driver stability student familiar Al yeah students are familiar with us sorry trouble over some big words uh we have increased parent confidence and comfort level which we have seen this year um improve student behavior and also the reduction in HIV cases for our 2025 budget the budget is going to support the transportation services for transporting 6,772 students including a and l in transportation services we operate Fleet operations between the school buses maintenance and repair 47 school buses 28 Facilities Management Vehicles two security vehicles we also support the mandatory bus driver drug and alcohol testing and we also support having our drivers look professional by having them wear uniforms as of this year okay we transport 3,745 students per mandated Transportation also this year we transport 225 students for hazardous criteria which is the policy that we put into place for students in areas where they shouldn't where we safely transport them instead of having them walk to school yeah I was trying to avoid that word walk because we're not supposed to say that parent responsibility um as you can see we also transport 191 charter school students this year we've increased uh the non-public students have increased we're up to 259 Aiden lose students and for special Transportation needs we have we transport 373 students okay uh for our budget I'm going to read off my paper because I can't see that far I want to make sure I have the right numbers okay our budget supports um transportation of 4,394 and $31 which is 30% of our budget for transporting uh students K through 12 the uh Flex students and displaced students okay um our special prek busing is 5,543 691 which is a 46% of our budget uh between maintenance and fuel for our supplies and inspections on our fleets it's 5% of our budget which is close $595,000 uh we do support after school activi buses for um clubs and everything which is 453 which is 4% of our budget so the main part of our budget is transporting students charter school is a 4% of our budget so here again it's mandated Transportation but that's my presentation thank you Joy any questions okay to start with our finance chair you have questions left oh um actually uh no it's kind of more of a shout out um Joyce are you still getting to the bus depot at like 4 in the morning and personally checking every bus out that that's why we had to go first that's confidential information you can't know that okay Joyce gets to the bus depot probably earlier than 6:00 in the morning and personally checks out every bus um Joyce could drive a bus if she had to and she has she could probably drive three at once although we wouldn't compromise anyone's safety and that kind of dedication commitment and expertise trickles down through her entire staff we always say that the the week after bus passes come out to the parents the one staff you don't want to be a part of in this district is the transportation Department um because they hear from everybody besides the fact that they treat parents with respect Transportation has become so complicated it's just it's it's absurd between um bus companies being allowed to uh they're not regulated in terms of increasing their pum uh cost per route there's a lack of buses in the state in the country but let's talk about East Brunswick there's a lack of bus drivers and yet you make it all work we do our best you do more than your best what you do is incredibly responsible and when we talk about safety starts with you man you get our kids to school and you get them home sounds like a simple concept right anything but we're so grateful to you and your staff thank you yes Mr H Jo thank thank you so uh do we have any EBS uh from the news is bronck supposed to have five EBS uh are those bus coming or we are still waiting I would Mr Hong why don't um why don't we have a um update for the board at a next at an upcoming meeting okay um on that topic okay okay so uh I have three children in public school they all are bus riders so I know how important you guys job uh and how great you get you guys are doing your job so each time when I when my children B the bus I always hear the bus driver say good morning but Polie bus up everybody sit down and then door was it was closed so that's why I you know those I talk to parents sending off their their children they all says okay with the bus drives are great and if possible which I believe we should have more in-house B uh in-house B so we can have more control because they will trade they driving is they tra their job a part of is B public school it's part of the district so you know I one time um I had my children had a outside contract bus driver they come home to me that those that driver was very so I have we have no have no account we cannot hold them accountable unless they got in big trouble so you know I suppose the idea have more in-house bus we increase our in-house bus fleet once again thank you and your team for the great job you guys provide to the entire East Bron public school and the community thank you thank you thank you so much thank you now you get to go yes get some rest cuz you're up early who who would you like next cuz you're confusing the the thing well next up uh we have uh Gerald skank director of facilities management Gerald who's also who's also here at crazy hours of the morning and never goes home oh okay it's okay it's all right he's going to speed talk right all in the fine print well good evening everyone um as Mr Juliana alluded to I'm Jerry skank director of facilities uh management and I'm here to present uh the department budget for 2025 so um as you know our department is uh broken up into three parts uh maintenance uh general maintenance building maintenance um facil facilities or um custodial and uh ground operations so uh the first bullet here the budget Advocates and provides for buildings and properties that are environmentally comfortable uh well-maintained safe clean and efficient uh the budget also supports uh the department being in compliance with any state regulations Federal uh East BR of Township laws codes and board of uh Board of Education policies and regulations let's do I have a clicker okay there we go and uh so now we'll kind of get into just some broad parameters of what the budget supports and building and system maintenance and repairs it supports uh electrical work uh repairs and concrete and asphalt surfaces any hard surfacing doors locks glass general maintenance HVAC self-explanatory painting plumbing and so forth um as far as the compliance then the budget supports uh environmental services such as at Hera which is um the asbest hazard Environ uh emergency response act indoor air quality air um combustion assessments with our uh with our high efficiency boilers to make sure that they're uh they're compliant uh right to know and then also custodial Services which is uh cleaning sanitizing our buildings and then the final part is carrying up deeps of our of our grounds um our physical education um uh Sports fields and a atic Fields Courtyards irrigation systems Landscaping uh trees and and other things and most importantly what we just what we just came through is snow and ice removal operations with uh with winter so the following slide uh is a breakout of of our budget uh just to kind of give you um a a bird's eye view of what what it entails as you can see the largest piece of the pie is custodial uh custodial trash movement operations uh keeping our facilities clean um safe um as um it's it's 60% almost 60% of our budget uh the next largest piece um and they almost equal parts is our buildings and system maintenance uh and repair and also our grounds uh you can see that they're 18 and 19 um uh percent of our our budget respectively and what I'd like to do um you know this is just a broad overview but I'd like to point out just a few things in our budget just to kind of give you you know a specific on on what it what it funds so on page 9 of uh 33 um in this year's budget with um with um uh the administration support and the board support we're going to be uh installing two glycol based systems uh in two of our schools Lawrence Brook and Central have water-based systems and last year as I as I was sharing with the U finance committee last year we had five heating coil ruptures um and when the heating coil ruptures for for those that don't know hot water just spews all in the classroom uh so it creates a huge issue um so um uh because those systems are water-based we're going to be putting in glycol systems which is essentially uh coolant uh and it prevents the coil from freezing so uh so the school stays available um to support instruction uh there's no disruption to operations and everything so we'll be able to do that that's what this uh this budget is going to support the next thing on uh page 19 of 33 it just shows some some very uh modest increases uh in accordance with the CPI uh that's projected for the next year for uh geese removal services uh snow removal operations uh grounds maintenance services and uh and other things so those are just minor increases just to keep up with uh uh with the costs and the Consumer Price Index for those operations and then third finally I thought it was uh I thought it was important um when we have to make Capital repairs and and uh Capital repairs are when repairs to infrastructure and components reaches a certain price uh threshold and it has to be capitalized or has to be categorized as capital of repair so at the high school um one of the fire one of our six fire hydrants needs to be replaced um so we're replacing that on the next budget and then also in the subg in a high school the um uh the sports uh or the scoreboard uh that is um that is no longer in good repair parts aren't available for that um so we're going to be replacing that in this budget as well so that's just a just a couple details that I wanted to give you you know it's still uh an overarching view but it kind of breaks it down a little bit to what the department does so with that I'll open it up for any questions or comments or anything you're almost off the hook it's just it's just a I'm just tip my hat too sir the and you and your team the uh I have some history doing facilities in property management and uh it is just so massive the undertaking on every level and and to make sure that it's done well and appropriately and really I mean in addition to creating safe and healthy environments for people you're you're mitigating risk at the same time um and and those are huge components that go into a thriving community so I just really am grateful for everything that you and your team do working late at night you know coming into these buildings and cleaning them so that the next day people feel comfortable and ready to learn and grow so it's just a huge effort and I really applaud you and your team thank you thank you very much for recognizing that thank you so much all right thank you thanks Sher next we have Nick latronica our Chief Information officer and we're getting like laser shows and stuff right the coding Club I don't know what I have but I do need to mention that um it's interesting that they presented tonight because we have four people in our applications team a manager who started out as a part-time programmer uh yadina and two out of our three programmers are also women and when we have openings typically well not typically the women have interviewed much better than the the male applicants that we've had so we have an anomaly here in the district I told the adviser so that she can pass that on to the to the girls that's great well good evening for those of you who don't know me uh I'm Nick latronic I'm the proud Chief Information officer for the district um you know and as I prepared this presentation I can't help but to be grateful to work for East Brunswick uh a district that values technology so much when we go to Tech conferences a lot of the other school districts are very envious of the size of the staff that we have um you know and the support that we're able to give to the students and Community our desktop support team uh who is headed by Clifford Raymond in the back there uh they managed requests from over 10,000 staff students and parents a year the network team maintains an infrastructure that has less than 1% downtime and we also have our amazing applications team that help support uh you know Enterprise applications but they also create Integrations between various systems um so that data transfers seamlessly from one system to another so that we don't have to worry about duplication of data entry or data entry errors uh we pride ourselves with keeping up to dat with the latest technology while still ensuring compatibility with existing Tech and working with the proper groups in the district to make sure that everything aligns with District goals such as Joyce Dr buly and her team we like to use the motto Leading Edge not bleeding edge uh and it wouldn't be an IT presentation without a lot of numbers and data so a bird's eye perspective of our environment right now we have about 5,000 one to1 laptops that's for students in grades 8 to 12 and our teaching faculty we have over 6,000 Chromebooks and that's what the students grades um kindergarten through six have um and we also have some laner carts in the schools for different testing purposes and when students forget their device we have about a thousand PCS and Macs that are shared Labs um and administrative spaces for the teachers uh let's see we have a little over 800 wireless access points in all of our buildings combined that give us just about complete uh wireless access in all of our buildings there might be a closet here and there that doesn't doesn't get good signal but we try to take care of that when we get reports uh some rooms such as the jam-pack and the high school cafeteria can accommodate about 500 wireless devices so when we're doing testing or when they have a community events or they're getting rented out we're we're able to support everyone pretty well uh we have displayed technology in all classrooms and some shared purpose rooms this is either interactive touch screens like you we have up here uh regular TV or a projector and a Smartboard we have three data centers in The District in different buildings so this way if one building goes down we have uh backup coverage and we also have backup fiber optic routes so if one building gets knocked out the entire District doesn't get knocked out and lastly last piece of data here we have over 10,000 managed user accounts and with the system that we have it gives us great analytics to see important information about each of those accounts um information that helps us to make sure that there aren't data breaches that accounts haven't gotten compromised we usually find out an account has been breached before the user finds out next slide so the budget also provides support for assets that keep the district running both hardware and software such as our Network firewall uh routers and switches that keep all of our buildings connected and secure using our um fiber optic Network to which all of our buildings are connected our dedicated internet service which gives us 10 gab combined of Internet Service uh we use a product called paper cut which is also paid for out of this budget this past year uh we worked with Joe crotchfelt and his team to complete our centralized printing efforts which has been going on for three years so over the past three years we have over a 90% reduction in in paper that we use in 2022 we had uh over 20 million Pages printed and this past year we only had 1.3 Pages printed so it's really helped our efforts to be you just made Mr Cummings your biggest fan because he wants the board agenda to go that way mhm uh and we also support the districtwide telephone and mass communication systems which is you know a Blackboard which allows us to send out phone calls emails text messages you know make sure that everybody gets three or four copies of every message and Microsoft Education Services which uh is what provides all staff and students access to Windows on District devices uh office and it also is what we use for uh account management um and email management it also gives us great capability ilities when we have op requests to be able to find email and documents for legal cases things like that uh let's see the budget also supports our cyber security awareness training it supports Genesis which is our student information system our transportation system vers trans which is used by Joyce and her team uh business plus which is our finance and HR management system and then it also supports our absence management and recruitment systems uh and also as I as I kind of mentioned before our CIS and our HR systems have secure Integrations with over 20 other systems so that we don't have to enter data in multiple systems next Slide the budget also covers software services and Licensing for instructional Services uh such as Brain Pop learning alley um Ally sorry I ready Envision and the Adobe Creative Suite that are uh used instructionally in the classrooms it is uh provides support for support services for students with IEP and 504 plans it helps us manage our hibs um it supports our College and Career Readiness system which is Naviance and additional systems on next SL covered by the budget include our curriculum development and Les lesson planning canvas which is our LMS for grades 7 through 12 our staff evaluation and professional development systems and also various uh security and analytic tools that help us monitor key performance indicators that allow us to monitor students and staff members that are at risk or need additional support uh next slide this is the the fun slide that you know I cannot really even read from up here but this this shows expenditures broke down by category uh the largest bucket you'll see is the one that we spend for equipment that has a limited life cycle computers telephones Network equipment uh display technology um this is the part of the budget takes the most work um you know to calculate with the number of Staff members a number of students the age of the devices kind of a balance between what's working and when people start to to scream to you know make the money last throughout the year um you know and and this is such an important piece of the bucket because if we don't stay up to dat with you know appropriate life cycles we start to accumulate a technical deficit which is harder and harder to get out of because you know uh the second largest bucket covers the Enterprise systems and services that support the entire District um you know the way these are broken down allow us to track how much we spend on various functions such as security guidance and special ed and that's it any questions that anybody has that's it that's a lot you're instrumental you touch everything you you're you help us uh you help us do a lot but I see uh I see Mrs Becker's hand up so I'm going to let her um before I get into what a wonderful job you and your your staff do I want to um highlight some of your highlights if you will uh people think about technology they think about the glitz and Glamour and the fun part and the the the part that's very visible to uh our community which is the hardware and software that our children and staff use right but if you think about it there's there's really three layers I've always thought um there's the hardware and software in the classrooms for the staff for the students there's the hardware and software that's used to run the district because the district is a business and every business um has systems that run it but then there's the infrastructure some people call that the non-sexy part the part that the wireless access points the peripherals the fiber optics the things that make it all work and you and your team manage all of it well if you saw our data center with our virtualize servers you would not say it wasn't a sexy aspect of it I nice neon light need to know Nick need to know um what goes on in technology stays in technology um but I I think it's important that the um the community understands that it's so much more than just the laptops or tablets we provide the children the students the teachers um you mentioned professional development but it's it's it started with Dr magistro and then um Dr veski really championed when he came um making sure we had the correct infrastructure in place and investing in it and starting to think about not just our immediate needs but he saw a need to think into the future and he had a vision for what we needed to look like and where we needed to be in terms of technology and thank goodness he did because we were one of the few districts in this state that were really prepared to go remote during the pandemic due to the wisdom and vision of Dr veski you um Bernie and the rest of the central office staff certainly Joyce and Lou yeah back mics was a big part of that we could not there never was going to be a perfect solution or situation with remote learning during a pandemic but darn we did a really good job and it was because of the planning that had gotone into already the infrastructure the hardware Readiness so I I think that that's something that I've always applauded the leaders in our dist district and that I think this board has tried to support it's never just the immediate needs because technology changes at such an alarming rate that you know better than anyone else you can't plan a budget or anything on immediate needs it always has to be with that vision of what are we going to need tomorrow next week next month next year so um you guys do an amazing job with a relatively small staff you're all incredibly dedicated and knowledgeable and every time I forget my password I change phones I have to say not only does Nick help me change my password but he he I get a little tiny punishment each time because the password gets a little more longer a little more complicated but um kudos to you and your entire staff thank you very much Vicki any other questions Mrs ree it was more just a thank you really you do an excellent job there's so many moving parts and uh with everything that's going on in the world cyber security wise I feel safe knowing what you're in charge and and uh making your team and it makes a real big difference uh you know when there's a problem it handled right away um and the fact that we have so many uh Chromebooks and laptops out there and they're fixed I mean even the uh at the high school when the kids have a problem the kidss are learning that's another thing the kids are learning to help also one another to so they're learning a skill and they're developing that so just a thank you yeah I really don't know how Cliff's team repairs as many Chromebooks as as they do um and it only doesn't only save the district money but it's saving the family's money because when they don't have the device coverage this way you know they're not paying for a whole new device they're you know Scavenging parts from one device to fix another though and the insurance is great too it's low price I'm doing a little promo for the insurance because somebody drops water on their laptop or any other kind of things that could happen right and that's was very inexpensive insurance and then you're covered so thank you for providing that as well thank you Mr re thank you Nick thank you cliff and your team thank you very much thanks Nick okay and next we were really running a marathon here tonight Dr Figo you get to slide over Dr Figaroa with student services well thank you everyone for uh giving me opportunity to speak to you a few minutes tonight uh on the proposed student services budget for the 2024 2025 school year uh in terms of student services as you see you know we promote health and well-being for our students our staff our community um but we are also tasked with supporting the whole child and that is important for us uh some of the things you'll see in our base budget our health services our counseling services our student assistant Specialists and also our health and fizzed curriculum are all included in the student services budget when you look at the pi you see a little piece there of uh guidance Services uh um and those would include archiving records uh student assistant Specialists materials counseling um materials uh also administrate General Administration copy machines uh office supplies PD um things of that nature going under there if you notice the biggest piece of the pie is health services so let me say that um and this goes back to 20 the 2020 2021 school year even before that actually this board had the force forethought to make sure that throughout the covid time period and after that our kids had resources for mental health and that was critical for us and ever since then this board has also supported us is has been tremendous um for what we've done and we've been able to do with the additional support that the board has has given us so we thank you tremendously um one of the things that uh we'll be doing and if you can go to the next slide you see here the therapeutic counseling services this is the major component of what you see uh in our budget for student services now there's three different tiers that this would include tier three is the more intensive wraparound services for those students who need that the there's also tier 2 which is more moderate Services uh for students who just need those uh particular uh services and then we have uh tier one which is mostly professional development and parent engagement now as you see here we started 2020 2021 it was based on need what we felt we needed to help support and supplement what we already do for our kids and as you see we have uh gone up some over the course of the year my proposal for next year would have be to have two full-time clinicians at the high school um a third clinician at the high school dedicated to the flex program three clinicians at Churchill one at hamal and one for our elementary ER program uh that that is what I'm proposing that we do for next year now we have been using the last few years we've we've uh utilized um effective School Solutions ESS um and they work with us uh individual and group counseling uh substance abuse counseling um professional development as I mentioned before and family engagement for our families which has been very very helpful it also gives us the opportunity by using ES to potentially keep a student or students here versus at a district placement or bring a student in from out a district placement because of the additional Services we have um which is something we'd like to do if we can keep our kids here in District that's always going to be what we want to do um so that's that's a very big part of what ESS has helped us to do and what we want to continue to do uh as we move forward uh so that is my proposal uh for this coming school year and I'll take any questions at all that you may have Mr H yes thank you great presentation so my question is uh high school and chill has almost identical number of students and teachers so why do you uh plan two uh CL uh clinicians for high school but three for church here well technically there are three still at the high school but one of them will be primarily focused on the flex program and then the need that we've seen so in terms of the mental need the issues that we're having with students we've we we move those counselors around based on what we see as the need so we may have more extensive needs at one school but we may also be able to adjust our counseling program so that we can also have additional students and additional services at another school if we need to thank youcome just so I'm understanding correctly sorry so it's it's about 15 students per clinician is the r approximately this coming year um ESS has been very good working with us and they we were in conversation about possibly extending if we can again it all depends on the student need um the more intense wraparound Services would obviously take more manpower you know people power so Mrs Becker um thank you Lou um pleasure you and your your team are like the glue you you are part of everything and hold things together and um it's it's an incredible job because life has become so complicated you know we've all heard the term leave your personal life at the door when we come into work right well um I don't know about anyone else but I've always found that hard to do and I think that our staff and students um as life becomes more complicated life in our schools become more complicated and you and your staff along with the very important academic support um from Dr Bley provide our children and staff with uh a net so to speak or or glue um do we still have I know at one point we had a link there was a a terrific presentation that Daniel block did a few years ago literally listing all of the support groups and services available to our students whether it was um during the day whether it was extracurricular activities we used to have a link to it on the website I don't know if we services are still on the website I'm sorry our services should still be on the website that this was this was a a videotape of her presentation oh the actual video tape I can't could look into it if if we still have it or um or could think about at some point putting it back up I would encourage every every parent every member of the community to take a look at what we do in support of um our students and our staff it's the scope and bandwidth is mindboggling and it it just is one of the reasons why we're as good a district as we are so thank you thank you m beer thank you so much oh oh I'm sorry Mrs ree I didn't see you there I just want to again say thank thank you for all you do I mean it's a ever increasingly difficult job since uh 2020 and uh you and your department has met these challenges at every turn of the of the road and we're just very thankful for all that you and your department does to make it a better world for the kids well thank you I'm very fortunate to be working with such wonderful Professionals in my department and throughout the district and to have such a supportive board because without you we could not have made a dent in where we're at right now so thank you thank you Mr Juliana you're going to uh on home give us the update so wrap it up with a few things uh that are important to this process first I wanted to just remind uh the board and members of the public when we began the budget process in the public setting um there were some challenges that I had identified as being in the on the horizon not too far down the road and so I just wanted to go over those because as we are working on this budget and bringing it to a conclusion we are still facing challenges so in Staffing the uh fiscal 2024 positions this year's additional positions that were not budgeted but were required in order for legal compliance will certainly have an impact upon our ability to uh craft a final budget in addition a number of position requests that were made for next year uh for consideration as Dr Figaroa just noted the mental health services that are necessary at the district maintaining those Services is an important aspect of and priority uh for the board and and the administration to ensure we continue to provide those services to students um teacher shortages is and absences the cost of substitute teachers has a significant impact upon on School District budget and something that we are working on how do we deal with this issue certainly contracted transportation services um just as a as a um anecdotal piece um you as we're developing a budget we're trying to maintain contracted services at a reasonable level uh but we don't have direct control over those um the governor and the Department of Education came out with what the CPI would be for transportation services that's a consumer price index increase for that 5.81% as a threshold for increases that is simply not sustainable it's not sustainable for East Brunswick I don't see how that's sustainable for virtually any school district in the state so that's something that we're going to have to uh deal with uh we will not be we will not be budgeting for a 5.81% increase in transportation services I can assure you of that contracted services in general uh we're seeing cost increases going up across the board health benefit rate increases Our Workers Compensation Insurance rate increase um is will be reflected in this budget um you see the cross out line unknown state aid support well last week we found out what our state aid would be and that will be a state aid reduction uh we are looking at opportunities for maximizing our Enterprise Revenue to help help offset our costs uh another surprise that we received last week is the charter school budget increase outside of our control and I'll go over that in a little bit more detail and one of the other challenges is non-recurring budget offsets that we were able to implement for this year but knowing they would not repeat themselves for the next year so they become challenges for us as well as we craft a budget for fiscal 2025 state aid this is an analysis of state aid going back quite a number of years um the first bar to the far left is uh fiscal 2009 um the reason I like to show this chart is because for the longest time uh after 2010 uh we had reduction and then pretty much flat funding for uh roughly eight years nine years um flat funding is not flat flat funding as costs increase really translates into a reduction over time um we started to see gains over uh the last few years um and last year one of the things that I had said to the to the board and to the public is that we were expecting one more year of gains in state aid um the governor proudly boasted that um state aid would be fully funded I'm not sure if the words were fully funded um I think that was it um but along with that comes full implementation of the funding formula and full implementation of the funding formula means for East Brunswick that our state aid is going down $1.32 million so it's not an advantage for the district it's a significant disadvantage moving on charter school so with that reduction in state aid of $1.32 million we have an increase in Charter School Appropriations we don't have a choice in what we budget for Charter Schools the state says here's what you must budget and so we have to budget an additional $740,000 for Charter Schools we have a perfectly fine School District here I was criticized this past year from some members of the public for constantly talking about the charter schools I will continue to talk about the charter school it's unnecessary it takes from the program in this district and puts us in a position to have to make hard decisions ultimately for what purpose I I have not seen that purpose in all the years that we have had to do this and I'm not ashamed to keep saying this and I will continue to say this Bravo and health benefits health benefits for existing staff the rates are increasing right now based on our claims experience we're looking at a rate increase of about 7% on our health benefit programs uh this is a breakdown in terms of medical and prescription dental vision and the employee contribution um several years ago um the state passed uh legislation that put into place uh a couple of mandatory health benefit options uh that needed to be afforded to new staff we've done that just as other districts have done that but quite frankly the ultimate impact of that was to save money and we're just not seeing it so these are my highlights for tonight we have two more weeks until a tenative budget must be adopted so March 20th will be a budget adoption rest assur ured over these next two weeks up until just before that adoption date we'll be working on Crafting a budget uh that can be adopted by the board the public hearing will be held on April 25th and then final adoption will be held May 9th thank you m any questions from the board Mrs Becker thank you um couple questions so um East Brunswick state aid decrease was 1 $1.32 million okay so um would it be fair to assume that um I'll just take our County that um the rest of the county has also seen um decreases across the board no that's not correct we've actually had some districts in the county that have had significant multi-million dollar increases in their aid really yes okay that's just in middlex County that's yeah I but I thought I'd start close to home thank you um we you talk about um unregulated or maybe I don't know if the word is non-regulated increases and two of the ones you mentioned were um the cost of private schools the schools that um when we need to send a child out of District the state does the state does not regulate the uh amount they're allowed to increase their tuition correct um same thing for transportation there is no regulation by the state there is no cap put on um what uh Transportation companies can charge so let me let me U elaborate on the CPI so uh each year during the budget process the state tells districts what the CPI is for contract adjustments so this year they say the maximum that you can renew a contract for is 5.81% that doesn't mean that it's capped at that because if we can't come to an agreement and first of all I will tell you right now we're we have no interest in looking at any contract that's going to come back for renewal at 5.81% that's not going to happen but whatever that level is that the state says this is the maximum that you can renew a contract for in that year if a bus company doesn't want to renew they don't have to we can't force a renewal if we can't come to terms on a renewal the only option we have is to go to bid public bid a public bid did provides us no guarantees the numbers can come in favorably or they can come in at some astronomical levels that we absolutely could not control so this is a really tenuous area for us um president Le if you don't mind I do have one more question thank you uh just along these lines we used to talk a lot more about unfunded State mandates but I'm sure that they still exist um people have asked me over the years how can the state mandate something that's going to cost a school district money and yet not provide funding for it um I don't know if there's a short answer for that and I but more important I was wondering if you could think I I'm putting you on the spot and if you want to get back to us about this about some recent maybe over the past year or so examples of unfunded state I'm I'm look I I'm I will just name one right now go for because we we heard it um at the last board meeting in terms of and it's one of the major areas of our budget and that is in special education the state doesn't meet its obligation and so school districts are left with having to deal with the need which is they're they're valid needs but local communities being expected to to pay for the kinds of costs that are incurred is simply not something that can be maintained on a long-term basis I'm choosing my words very carefully here because we recognize there's a need but it ends up starting to pit things against each other if we have to make choices and that's not fair it's not fair to students it's not fair to the community and the state hasn't stepped up in the way that it really needs to across the board what about Federal Ida funding we utilize our federal Ida funding right but are we funded at a full no it's all formula driven um it's all federal funding uh for Ida is you know based on what's happening in the federal budget um but would you say 10 15% of what we need I'd rather come back rather than guess but the point is that it's nowhere near oh no what we need no okay thank you Bernie you're welcome appreciate your honesty and and the work that you and your staff have done um you guys start working on a new budget the day after after um a budget is adopted in May so on May 10th you guys will start working on the next budget yeah I'll get a few more gray hairs um the amount of work that you guys have to do in the next two weeks is incredible um you're just you're just a team to do it and just to remind the board and the public tentative budget adoption means tentative it is a formality it's part of the process that we have to go through for the state it says we have to adopt a tentative budget by March 20th it does not hold us to it we can make whatever changes we want between then and May 9th so thank you thank you Mr Hong so every year you know you got to deal with this in the legally responsibility and very limited resource so I have to give a lot of credit to you this year I'm surprised with our state it was CAU so uh in his budget presentation Governor morph set aside $5 million as this SoCal stabilization act for the school district who got State got cut is there any way we can apply get a piece of that there is no application process but we will be having a meeting next week with um some appropriate people that that we hope we'll be able to get their attention Okay by your experience do you have a clue why the child school budget got increase for that amount we've been spending a lot of time analyzing the entire state aid formula I'd like to come back to that at the next meeting to address that in more depth um right off the top I'm going to say it's a combination of uh what the state deems to be the per puple uh portion of what they should receive from the from our base Aid and also their en projected enrollment not actual enrollment but what the projected enrollment will be but I'll I'll speak to that in more detail at the next meeting thank you the I I just wanted to mention um AA international academy charter school did apply for an expansion of their program they were granted an expansion of the program uh by number of SE so I think that's represented in some of the numbers we saw this year and that was that was granted some years ago but phased in over multiple years thanks Bernie okay thank you this brings us to the good of the cause for the public the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest to protect the privacy of all students and staff concerns regarding individual students and staff members should generally be addressed by first meeting with the appropriate administrative staff in order to fair and per uh permit the fair and orderly expression of such comment the board shall provide a period for public comment at every meeting of the board is there anyone this evening that would like to speak to the board if you would like to come up to the podium if you would please just state your name and address for the record and you will have three minutes sure so I am panage G for me I don't know how many people knows me but I met Mr vosi and Lori in The Breakfast session so I represent uh East brownway Cricket Club uh I am a founder of the Cricket Club with three of three members we formed the Cricket Club so I don't know about you know Cricket or not so Cricket is world's number two game where it is very popular in New Jersey 200,000 kids and adults play cricket in New Jersey and 130 clubs and the next Olympics is happening in Los Angeles in 2028 so we formed the club club is fully ready and we are launching our first spring program into next month and on top of that this is only for the Youth and we are doing it for the community and this is we all work I work in it as a product manager so we three people who are from the we formed this and we are working towards bringing this youth boys and girls there will be boys and girls both the teams normally everywhere they're doing the boys boys boys but we want boys and girls may play together or have a separate team so it is boys and girls this very and it is with the recreation and many clubs are there but they don't have space because space is a constant where they will play but mayor has helped us to build a full cricket ground in in the Heavenly Farms which is the contract is already approved and the work will start in next 2 3 months this is one about KCK and the second important thing is being a part of Indian Community naan we are celebrating holy Festival in East bronic which is happening on 27th of April at 12:00 till 6:30 it is one of the biggest Indian festivals so I am here to invite each one of you who are present in this room and I wanted to come early but everybody left so everyone should come and if it is possible that if the school can help us to circulate this to all the all the schools and if it can go in every kid's bag so that everybody knows everybody should come and we have also cultural programs food fun uh color playing secured area I will give you the flyers what I have so people can play in the secured area there will be no colors played outside the security so people cannot complain oh somebody put color on me and it is all fully organic powder colors we are getting from a big wholesale dealer so 20 seconds 20 so this is all are invited especially viosi and all the team and board members please do come on 27th and I will send you an email with formal invite and my flyer so if you can pass it onto the school board thank you so much thanks if you don't mind I can leave the Flyers here yes thank you so much if you do you want to give I'll take them and distribute thank you very much and these are some players for the I got mine thank you thank you thank you pankos um is there anyone else this evening that would like to speak to the board please come and state your name and address for the record hi uh Mary Antonio 17 Buckingham Drive I'm sorry could you repeat your name Mary anos they know who I am sorry I wasn't looking up I just heard voice um so as many of you know over a year ago several parents came forward deeply concerned for The Envision curriculum which um hadn't been rolled out as best as it could have um but just to put everyone at ease uh I'm here tonight to actually thank the board and Dr veski and Dr Bly for um all of the efforts that have been made with regards to the enVision Math curriculum um you know it takes great courage to acknowledge that things could be done better and it's a sign of progressive leadership so thank you Dr veski for um granting us the opportunity to meet with you and to go over our concerns um we're grateful that you heard the concerns of parents and students and you took great strides um both Dr weski and Dr Bly met with us several times to address those concerns and they made promises that um all of our suggestions um issues would be taken into consideration and as promised a year later um there have been effective improvements since those conversations um we recognize that there are still challenges of course uh but we're hopeful that this continued partnership with the math curriculum will eventually improve to um even more greatness um a special thank you to Dr buy who continues to have an open door policy or open phone policy I should say um on this and all curricular issues um and a thank you to Dr gasal who's been uh a tremendous help at the elementary level um you know it's wonderful to have parents who care it's I like to see that when um my my counterparts care um it's even more nice to have administrators who care and when you have both of those things together um it just makes it so nice to live here and to work here and to have our kids go to school here personally my my daughter was the first round of the enVision Math and she's now thriving excelling actually I get tremendous really nice reports from her um advanced math class teacher so it's it's really nice to hear um the other thing I wanted to thank the board for uh and Dr veski was the accommodation of the holidays in the 2024 school calendar 2024 2025 school calendar um I know that uh there have been so many holiday accommodations and um you know school calendars are never one siiz fits all just like the student in the district um our calendar might not look like any of our neighboring towns but that's because our our demographic doesn't necessarily look like any of our neighboring towns either so um yet another sign of progressive leadership so I I just wanted to extend my gratitude thank you for um everything that you're doing thank you so much Mar is there anyone else this evening that would like to speak to the board okay seeing that I'm going to close the public portion um um and I am going to entertain a motion for this evening's agenda so moved by Mrs Becker second by Mr Cummings is there any discussion on any um anything on this evening's agenda any sections no then I'm going to ask the secretary to please call the RO Mrs Becker yes Mr Cummings yes Miss gu yes Mrs harck yes Mr Hong yes Mrs ree yes president LAX yes motion carried um just have a go to the clause for the board then so uh if there's any yes um that one oh I'm sorry you go first I I have to I forgot I have to it's okay we'll forgive you that's fine it's um Bill list Dem pending okay the vot's closed I can't change it now oh okay um I just wanted to we're doing committee group or yeah committee reports old business new business go to the cause for the bo so um I had the opportunity today to go to Central uh for read Across America was really great experience um the children were very welcoming and so is the administration um I had an escort a fourth grade student come to meet me and bring me to class and our during our walk together he proceeded to tell me how he loves coming to school every day because it's amazing and that even though he didn't feel well and he had allergies he was still coming cuz he loves it so much and so I think that speaks volumes for administration for staff for teachers um Miss Malloy was the teacher for my class and she was very welcoming the students complimented me on my book Choice um so of course that you know adds to it um I welcome being able to do events like this um as a parent I'm involved in know what's going on you know at my daughter's school but I don't always get to take like the temperature of the culture and what's going on around the district and I think being able to go to assemblies and student events and being able to go to the schools and participating is really great opportunity as a board member so thank you you're very welcome I will tell you that your class may have been great but my class wins today cuz always it's it's it's you know what and and I'm going to get yelled at for saying this because you're not supposed to play favorites but Shannon Key's first grade class in central this up back to back and that's is my new thing that I get invited back every year because these kids are my buds and we have such a good time so I found that I Feel Home in first grade level so I just want you to know that so everybody else's classes were great but I'm just telling you Mrs kayy's doing something right because I thought last year she had the best class ever this year is the best class ever so I'm going to go ahead and say I'm very comfortable and that it's her oh miss Malloy fourth grade class will challenge you so so miss Meo first I see a gauntlet being from just said that the I don't know I may have to invite them them them in they may have to come because we had our class last year for learning across the district and they wowed and I'm telling you they're going to do it again so and the Lor the Lori War now right and and I do want to give a shout out to Dr gasal um um who you know organized today's event and with his team uh and his green screen yeah and they they they did a very nice job it was very welcoming and uh very cool it was nice to see him his staff was fun Mrs ree I'm sorry we no don't worry um I also was at Central Mrs Desmond a little shout out for her so it was beautiful it was a very nice uh event and and the building was beautiful um couple things I have a couple of things uh we didn't mention this but I just want to give an extra shout out to hoe Howard Alexander um for the uh buddy ball fast break basketball buddy ball it's a beautiful event every year it it was the 20th anniversary uh buddy bll on the 15th anniversary of the particular game the Finley Urban allstar game and um the pal program is such a wonderful program where they the students help one another and it's just the heartwarming event it's all volunteer run so just a shout out to them thank you for everything that you're doing and also um I didn't want to mention Amry Gilbert and Community programs when we talking about coding uh because she put up with all my suggestions all that year so I I just want to thank her and her team they really did a great job but I have something uh exciting to talk about which which uh thank you to president LAX we've been talking about this for a long time so um we have a new one I'm sorry I meant to no it's okay I'm l i I can I can introduce we have a new ad hoc committee called student life and the objective is to enhance the daily quality of life for students attending all East Brunswick Public Schools and this is to supplement and listen our student service department does an excellent job at addressing all the ever increasing needs but uh you know recent Federal Studies have said seven out of 10 Public Schools seen an increase in the number of children seeking Mental Health Services and our teachers our administrators they do the best I mean we deliver top-notch academics as our coaches do in athletics and our Arts departments do as well this committee is just basically saying tasked with what else can we do to make our students experience better with in with us on a daily basis right how can we best support them uh we want to listen to the students the parents that each each grade level elementary middle school high school and have the students weigh in and we know how important it is to be responsive and have the students voices heard we just basically set up the parameters of the uh of the uh at hoc committee so that we have our goals and objectives and I'm very fortunate to have Lori herck and Tim Cummings are on the committee with me and um you know it's it's a it's a new beginning and it's an ad committee which means it's for a specific purpose so it's not forever but um it's a hope that we can address you know the daily life of the kids and their quality of life and see if there's anything more that we can do to make things smoother for them and maybe Chris might want to and he could our student Le on to that as well absolutely so we thank we thank everybody for your support and we'll we'll report back to you when the time comes you know thank thank you bar I'm sorry I meant to introduce that I apologize it's a long night okay but a good night can I just mention something no as an update okay if you must Mrs Becker asked about Mrs Block's presentation on the website um Mr Electronica emailed me and said that her presentation is still on the website look how quick so everyone should watch it it's amazing okay Mr Cummings quick one thank you I brought my brochure pamphlet The Lightning Thief at the high school if you haven't gone you got two more opportunities tomorrow night Saturday night I'm not sure if there's tickets but I saw it on Sunday it was awesome so kudos to the performers the set the costumes the sound the the musicians I mean it's just such a collaborative effort totally great and uh just was so impressed and inspired by their work together so thank you very cool Chris you did a great job I like that you inspired them um I have to ask any any news or should you you to tell us when you're ready should I keep asking uh it's at the end of the month so end of the month okay the board meeting after the next one probably will be released you'll tell us yeah all right do you want us to hold you back another year so you can make some other decisions uh not preferably I feel like we should like decorate his chair Maybe oh yeah there you go party could be a we could do a senior prank we could do a senior prank he's gonna send a not thing the real singers will be doing the prank that's true yes all right she well we do have a need for another closed session so whereas the Board of Education must discuss matters which are not appropriate for discussion in public meetings and these subjects are within the exceptions to the open public meetings Act and are permitted to be discussed in closed session the board intends to discuss matters as follows those items listed on tonight's agenda the length of Clos session is estimated to be another hour okay estimated to be one hour after which the public meeting shall reconvene an action may be taken will not be taken will not be taken I stand corrected I was reading at the old one now therefore be it resolved that the East brunic Board of Education will recess to co session for only the affet subject and be it further resolved that the East Bruner Board of Education hereby declares that it's discussion of the affers said subject will be made public at a time when the Public's interest in disclosure is greater than any privacy or governmental interest being protected from disclosure in accordance with the open public meetings act I heard Mrs Becker and Mrs gu all in favor opposed discussion Bo it carries thank you so much for everyone that came out this evening have a wonderful evening