hello and welcome to the post earthquake posts solar eclipse edition of the Hillsboro Township Board of Education on April 8th 2024 in accordance with the state Sunshine Law of New Jersey adequate notice of the meeting of the Hillsboro Township Board of Education was provided on April 3rd 2024 to the hillsbro beacon and The Courier News Mr eer can we please take rooll Mr Davis here Miss Jackson here miss Craig here Miss Ling beer here Mr Lee here miss nurse here M stats here Mr hio here and Mr M here we have a quorum um can we please take we'll take a motion to move into executive session pledge gent uh whereas the open public meeting act chapter 231 of the laws of 1975 provide that the public body May exclude the public in the portion of a meeting at which the public body discusses certain matters which confidentiality is required as permission permitted in section 7 of the ACT resolved by the Board of Education of the township of hilsboro in the county of Somerset in the state of New Jersey as follows matter to be discussed is a Personnel matter the matters discussed in executive session shall be disclosed to the public and the need for confidentiality no longer exists can I get a motion in a second so move second all in favor we'll be back around 7:30 thank you hello and welcome back to the Monday April 8th 2024 Hills for T Board of Education meeting uh we are now back from executive session uh Mr eert if we could please take rooll Mr Davis here M Jackson here miss Craig here m l beer here Mr Lee here miss nurse here miss stats here Mr tro here and Mr Marini here we have a quorum let's stand for the pledge of allegiance 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 I would like to acknowledge the correspondence is listed uh next item is committee reports I don't believe we have any committee reports since the last meeting um there is no board president's report tonight so I'll move on to the superintendent's report thank you Mr President first some good news for the district I want to uh congratulate Junior from the high school Tiana C who was published earlier this year in a national poetry anthology which inspired her to apply for a summer program at the at UMass amster UMass Amhurst in their young Raiders program I'm thrilled to let the public know that uh Tiana got a full ride there so that'll be about $5,000 in tuition uh including housing and three daily meals as she continues to explore her writing creativity and special thanks to our high school teacher Miss Puma who's been a mentor to her and shared this great news with us also some additional good news the Hillsboro Township Public Schools have been recognized as one of the NM foundation's 2024 best communities for music education the award program recognizes and celebrates outstanding efforts by teachers administrators parents students and Community leaders who have made music education part of a well-rounded education designated are made to districts and schools that demonstrate an exceptionally High commitment in access to music education only 975 or 6% of school districts Nationwide received this recognition for 2024 this is the fourth consecutive year that our schools have been named a bcme district and truly represents the joy and passion that our music educators bring to their classrooms each and every day thank you to all of our music educator staff as well as all of the students who participate in our music education programs for this great honor so on the not so great news side we are still dealing with our budget situation and I want to let the public know that that as superintendent I'm continuing to Advocate um with our local legislators as well as legislators throughout the state and also form a unit with the other districts who have been hurt uh by the S2 Cuts over time to uh hopefully have something legislatively done to restore or give us us options to make our budget work uh I've said several times how we've been cut about $7 million over the past several years and we have made it work here in Hillsboro but I want to say that the consistent losing of Staff the consistent losing of materials the consistent losing of resources that's a slow erosion effect that we are going to see in our classrooms at some point and uh I don't want our teachers to have to do more with less I want us to be able to do what we need to do so two things I'm continuing to uh prepare for uh prepare for the worst but hope for the best like I said I'm advocating with legislators and hopefully we're seeing some things happen in Trenton but I also have to prepare that if we're if we need a $2.5 million cut to our budget where is that coming from that's something that I'm going to be discussing with all the board members here at Future committee meetings and uh lots of things are on the table without getting into any specifics these Cuts could mean that we don't fill certain positions from the referend that we just passed this fall and that would be a shame it could also mean that um some positions are lost through attrition if people resign or retire we don't fill those positions it could also mean that some staff members could lose their jobs and it certainly means we're going to be losing a lot of stuff I've shared with the board some general numbers uh where these Cuts would come from but I am continuing my work and my advocacy that we don't have to make such uh horrible decisions and over time the state needs to fix this and figure this out um we as a school district and all the other S2 school districts can't live from year to year where we start getting when we say in October Mr record we start getting stomach aches worrying about the budget and then and then that carries on through March and we get into this pattern where oh we have to make Cuts or can we Advocate to get some money back and and have everyone in suspense we need long-term Sol we need a short-term fix right now and we need a long-term solution so by our next meeting we will put forth uh on on April 29th a final budget um between them every board member here at the table will have a chance to look at what those potential Cuts would be and I am going to hope and pray and reflect and meditate and everything that I can possibly do to try to make sure that funds come back to Hillsboro so that we do not have to make those cuts I want to thank all the members of my administrative team um I want to thank uh haa leadership who I've been speaking with on a regular basis all these people about um what we need to do and uh I believe I am going back to Trenton on April 15th to hopefully watch the assembly vote uh the full assembly vote on a measure that will help restore some funding so um short superintendent report today Mr President but that is the my report thank you very much we'll now move on to the approval of minutes uh 9.1 motion to approve executive session minutes 31824 motion to approve regular meeting minutes 31824 and motion to approve special meeting minutes 32524 can I get a motion in a second second second any [Music] discussion right seeing none all in favor you we'll now move on to the first public comment period public input on the action agenda and if any on the 2024 2025 budget we very much welcome input from the public during board meetings there'll be 2:30 minut periods of time meeting will be open public comment where members of the public are inviting the comment which they may do if they are attending in person during the first public comment period members of the public May comment about items that are listed on tonight's agenda before the board votes during the second public comment period members of the public May comment on any school or School District issue that the member of the public feels may be concerned the residence of the school district that's for B 0167 before you your comment you'll be ask to provide your name and address there's a 30 minut limit on public comment please understand that are public forms do not structur this question sessions but rather offer this opportunity to share your thoughts with the board instance where board leaders a misunderstanding or inaccuracy the board president or superintendent will address the comment there may times a member of the public comment has a question about personel hiring decisions deal public meetings act the priv rights of public employees and comment therein offer the board to discuss Personnel issues in public session all right seeing no one we will close public comment and if there's any board comment before we move on to the action agenda okay seeing none we'll move on to the action agenda thank you Mr President in the area of Education I'd asked for the board's consideration to approve the following motions professional travel related expenses affirming the superintendent's HIV determinations for the attached cases approving field trip destinations and approving the submission of the New Jersey school Insurance Group safety Grant application can I get a motion in second any discussion by the board seeing none we'll move to roll Mr Davis yes Miss Jackson yes Miss Craig yes M Ling beer yes Mr Lee yes Miss nurse yes M stats yes M Mr Hill yes and Mr Marin yes motion passes in the area of Human Resources I ask for the board's consideration to approve the following motions suspension of a staff member retirements and resignations appointments change in employment status leads of absence co-curricular advisor AP Proctors school safety specialist seventh period coverage stien payment and extra coverage can I get a motion and second so moved any discussion by the board see now we'll move to roll Mr Davis yes Miss Jackson yes Miss Craig yes Miss lenning beer yes Mr Lee yes Miss nurse yes Miss stats yes Mr tro yes and Mr M yes motion passes thank you in the area of operations i' ask for the board's consideration to proove the following motions uh monthly accepting monthly financials accepting line item transfers accepting financial status approving an agreement with effective School Sol Solutions LLC approving a resolution agreement to join the Morris County cooperative pricing Council approving the resolution in agreement with the Union County Educational Services Commission for joint transportation services for the next school year approving a resolution with Somerset County for shared services approving a resolution for solicitation of bids and exec ution of a leas purchase financing and approving resolution for the woodern roof project and a motion to accept a donation can I get a motion in second second any discussion by the board seeing n will'll move to rooll Mr Davis yes M Jackson yes M Craig yes M Lanning beer yes Mr Lee yes Miss nurse yes Miss stats yes Mr Heel yes yes and Mr Marie yes motion pass and pertaining to policies and regulations I would ask the board's considerations to approve uh policies and regulations reviewed by the governance committee as listed for the second reading and approving a policy and regulation reviewed by the education committee for second reading can I get a motion and second so move second any discussion by the board all right seeing now we'll move to rooll Mr Davis yes Miss Jackson yes Miss Craig yes Miss Ling beer yes Mr Lee yes Miss nurse yes Miss stats yes Mr H yes and Mr M yes motion passes all right we'll move on to the second public comment period we very much welcome for the public during board meeting will 30 two 30 minute periods of time the meeting will be open public comment where members of the public are invited to comment which they may do if they attending in person during the second public comment period members of the public may come into any school or School District issue that member of the public feels may be of concerned the residence of the school district for byw Z 67 before you say your comment you be ask to provide your name and address there a 3 minute limit on public comment please understand that our public forms are not structured as question sessions but rather offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board in instance where the board believes there a misunderstanding or in accuracy the board president or superintendent will address the comment there may be time when a member the public makes a comment or ask a question about personal hiring decisions kindly note the open public meetings Act and the priv rights of public employees Encompass there in to not the board to discuss personel issues in public session okay seeing no people coming up we will close public comment and any board comments or discussion yeah so I just want to provide some updates regarding what the student council is doing at the high school so currently we're discussing uh spirit night deadlines and spirit night points as well as some action committee updates including how we can uh improve the gender gender neutral bathrooms than GSA Memoirs and in terms of some old business we also talked about how the junior promos which was earlier in March and some events such as the soda T drive and the senior citizen effect event which occurred on February 28th and some new events that we're discussing include a penny drive and uh just more planning for the spirit night which is upcoming so yeah awesome thank you Miss stats uh I just want to talk about the uh the robo Raiders uh had a went to a robotic competition at Warren Hills on March 23rd and 24th um I went on March 24th for a couple hours and uh it was pretty exciting I saw few a couple matches and uh some students especially one in particular um were very helpful in explaining things um they always participated as part of an alliance with other schools and uh and just just the particulars of uh what's expected in each match and uh so it's it's it's a really exciting kind of uh thing to witness so I appreciate the time that they spent with me awesome thank you any other board members all right seeing none we'll take a motion to adjourn second all in favor all right see you in a couple weeks thanks