good evening Mrs pelli members of the central admission staff and board members I'm Johson PL I'm the vice president for our student council and it is my pleasure to update you all on the evening of the evening on this exciting eventful month we have had and have comeing for Jackson moral High School to start things off we are near of the end of our positive winter I'm happy to report the tremendous start to this semester students and staff are working hard every day and we look forward for the results of their hard work we recently just had the underclassman go over the presentation process for their scheduling meetings for the next school year we have our spring break coming around the corner which is an exciting break which starts on March 29th a wonderful time for the students and staff for a quick recharge before we go for the hard stretch of the school year before break such events will occur to add excitement to our school year first off we have our spring musical Mary Poppins on March 8th 9th and and 10th being a part of the development of the set and as well in the cast I can say this will be an amazing show with a great turnout to come we have an amazing amount of talented students involved in this production from singers dancers actors and the painters and Builders they give all their best and put an amazing show for our community we are proud of these students for their hard work and dedication with putting on all their time and hard work PR something they love also on March 8th we have our B of the classes from 6:00 to 8 this competition brings our students together from all grade levels it showcases their talents and teamwork a fantastic event that truly brings the school spirit and shows our community we hold at jmhs I would also like to congratulate the jmhs T chess team for being Ocean County Champions now as winter sports come to an end all of these Sports go into their state championships and I would like to just recognize these asstounding athletes we have at the school with our basketball players wrestlers swimmers in track and field on all these just winter sports we recognize their hard work and outstanding athletes all of these teams have an amazing and strong season we're excited to see how our spring Sports come out as the weather starts getting warm we look forward for the baseball softball across track and field tennis volleyball and golf teams having this season and we wish them the best of luck confident they will make us proud We also look forward to having an early go for our student faculty basketball game which is a fun enjoyable experiment for both students and staff to strengthen our community at jmhs even more next up we have our March into Wellness coming up we prioritize the mental health and emotional well-being of our students in our school we have a sp Spirit Week therapy dog visit and having the jmhs Jack Paul's prevention Club present students Wellness for resource Fair on Wednesday March 6th they're providing local rers resources and making it a great opportunity for students then when in a couple few weeks we have our DEA EP and M Congress chapters who will be attending their state competition throughout New Jersey we would like to say how proud We Are of these students who are involved in these Business Clubs a big important time is coming up for our seniors regular disis from colleges are coming around the corner and our seniors start hearing back from more schools they apply to We wish all of our seniors the best of luck we know they were due and go do amazing things their post High School lives we're extremely proud of their hard work and what they have been accomplishing throughout these four years addition to our seniors waiting to hear back they are currently submitting applications for the local scholarship which these Awards would be given out June 5th here at JHS in closing I would like to thank M pilly the Board of Education once again for contining to support us thank you for the opportunity for me to speak tonight excellent report Joselyn and it was good to see you again it was nice to meet with you and the student council last week and hear about all the wonderful activities you have planned for the rest of the school year it was a a pleasure so from Liberty tonight Jose good evening superintendent porn word education members and guests I hope everyone's having a great month I appreciate the platform that you grant us to offer updates on our school the link between their community and Liberty is what makes it special as a way to commemorate Black History Month every morning our day starts with a highlight of one Trailblazer and their story of how they Inspire change Additionally the roppa Honor Society created a unique display in the main hallway the they Nam Periodic Table of black history it includes names faces and facts of prominent leaders that deserve recognition it has encouraged conversation and opened people's eyes to stories that sometimes have been lost over time the effort is appreciated and has had an impact on many of us reminding us we all have a story to tell other clubs have also been busy trying to ensure a positive climate the National Honor Society has designed and home motivational posters around the halls as a way to uplift spirits and remind people they are good enough fpla has also been active additionally their members took part in a regional Summit AT King University our winter sports kept their street growing as the Jackson Liberty wrestling boys defeated our re time rival Jackson Memorial 40 to35 in a very intense match an additional congratulation goes out to the team for winning B South Division tit after defending Point borrow in a gring tool furthermore turker pasino and armanii McAn won the respective weight classes at districts this past weekend and will be joining tney Oro Jordan aash SE Nim and Mark fbank at Region this weekend hosted by our school the boys basketball team has been on role after defeating M 63- 37 leid 66 to 38 and lazy 69 to 66 where Lucas Latif finished with a career high of 40 points the the boys basketball team had a wonderful time when they hosted the Jackson Challenger League participants at liberty for a scrimmage they most importantly demonstrated their support and love for the community NHS is having a community service project that consists of touring ESL students in areas they are struggling with this helps foreign students adapt and get comfortable in a new environment and has been very beneficial many clubs are busy raising money for scholarships and events the class of 2025 had a fundraiser at applebe CHF and organ a Valentine's Day chocolate roses fundraiser the Jackson Liberty drama club had a fundraiser at Louis's and popups pizeria the visure Bri leaders of America members are also having their traditional Chri Donas farmraiser which will conclude at the beginning of February the girl soccer team successfully held a big sale and shocate cover fundraiser this past week finally the drama department is finishing up the last stes under production of Beauty and the Beast which is set to premere tomorrow night it will run through this Saturday with the option for a man and evening performance to help promote everyone's excitement we're having a beauty in the Beast spear week tomorrow is blackout and team Bell or team Beast is on Friday if you haven't purchased your tickets yet please go online and secure your seat right away it's going to be a show to remember as you can see Liberty is staying very active the teams clubs students and staff are all working hard to make this St the best they can be we appreciate the opportunities that we have and thank you for your support through them all have a good evening thank you Jose for the very informative and excellent report nice job um lots of things exciting things happening in our high schools um and I can't wait to see the play this weekend so moving on this is uh for this evening this is the time of the year where we do our Samu semiannual uh violence vandalism substance abuse weapon and Hib report so with us this evening is our director of security Ray mooki who is going to share with the board uh the data for the first reporting period Mr mooki and the board members may want to turn around to see the slots thank you Mrs pmil uh good evening board president pal Mar vice president Cass all of our elected board members and everyone in attendance this evening the first report I'd like to present is the violence and vandalism report uh this is report period from September to December of 2023 next slide just some background and overview information uh the state of New Jersey began collecting data over 20 years ago the objective is to collect and Report incident data concerning serious student misconduct in the areas of violence vandalism Hib harassment intimidation and bullying weapons and substance abuse on the far right of the screen are our totals for report period one in uh specific areas of violence vandalism hi reports investigated weapons and substances abuse uh total number of violence incidents for report period one was 11 compared to 10 which was reported last year there were five incidents of vandalism reported for this reporting period uh compared to three last year same number of Hib reports investigated there were 40 for this report period uh 40 last year weapons there was an increase of six as you can see up on the screen I'll talk a little bit more about that in my report later and substance abuse there was a decrease in the number of substance abuse incidents for this report period compared to last year there was a total of 41 for this reporting period 70 last year regarding violence reports at our elementary school levels down at the bottom of the screen are the totals for each of those specific incident areas fights simple assaults threats and sexual offenses in all of those categories the numbers were zero at our elementary level School schools regarding hi reports that were investigated there were a total of 17 Hib incidents investigated by our elementary schools and there is a breakdown there uh six incidents at the Crawford School Elms had zero to report homman had six incidents three at Johnson zero at Rosen hour two at the switlick school at our secondary schools again across the top broken down by categories of fights simple assaults threats sexual offenses down at the bottom or our totals for our secondary schools there were a total of seven fights reported by all of our secondary schools and the breakdowns simple assaults there were a total of four threat incidents there were zero reported sexual offenses zero reported and for Hib reports investigated by our secondary schools there were a total of 23 incidents vandalism and substance abuse for report period 1 2020 3 there were a total of five incidents there were three incidents of vandalism reported by the Jackson Memorial High School two incidents at the gut school regarding substance uh usage Under the Influence there were a total of 20 incidents involving marijuana alcohol zero prescription drugs there were zero uh incidents of substances suspected but an exam was refused there were zero incidents reported regarding substance possession of marijuana there were 19 incidents reported by our schools drug paraphernalia 13 alcohol Zer and designer or synthetic drugs there was one incident reported by our schools weapon offenses as I mentioned earlier there was an increase of six incidents in our schools those specific incidents to break them down to give you more specifics on it there were a total of five incidents uh where students were in possession of knives uh in none of those instances were those knives used to threaten any other students or were they used for any to sort of um unlawful behavior in one of those incidents there was a bbon that was recovered uh at one of our schools the report that was given to me by the police was that that particular item was inoperable and had been inoperable for many many years and again in that instance it was reported to me by the police that that uh particular item was not used in a threatening manner or for any sort of unlawful purpose action taken by our school district for reportable violence and vandalism offenses there were 24 incidents in which the police were notified there were no uh police complaints filed there were zero incidents in which the police were notified and complaints were filed in school suspensions there were three incidents of in school suspensions out of school susp suspensions there was a total of 231 total days of suspension that was administered in regards to our violence and vandalism offenses regarding impacted students there were a total of 53 student offenders involved in these incidents student victims there were a total of three and again there's a comparison up on the screen to last year where our numbers are at this year as I reported last year in my report some of the factors regarding substan use increase in our district as you're aware in 2021 Governor Murphy signed into law legalization of marijuana hashish for recreational use since then there are 102 medicinal and recreational dispensaries actively operating in New Jersey and the number is increasing during my report last year I reported there were 35 this information is available on the state of New Jersey website and J .gv and it's compiled and maintained by the New Jersey cannabis Regulatory Commission so as you can see in one year there's been a dramatic increase in the number of medicinal and recreational dispensaries in the state of New Jersey other factors uh ecigarettes and vape products different shapes sizes and styles easy to conceal by individuals and they're often very difficult to detect uh there's VAR various types of products uh out on the market that didn't able a user to use illicit drugs disposable type Vapes pods mods boxes pens nicotine Vapes and so on and so forth uh they're readily available to unage students there's many many vape shops that are out there in our communities and online sites where these products are available in a 2022 National Youth tobacco survey uh the most commonly used product was the ecigarette and vape by our students what are we doing to respond to the increased substance abuse uh continued education of our students focused on the dangers and a negative impact of the substance abuse increased visibility of our school security and staff Supervision in our hallways and during school hours frequent checks of all those areas of the building throughout the day to deter substance use or vaping in possession by our students focused checks on our restrooms our stairwells and those other areas that have been identified and associated with the substance use or vaping and a heightened awareness for our students exhibiting signs of substance use during school hours our teachers have been doing a very good job uh with their height and awareness of identifying students uh who may be using or under the influence and also and lastly is our information sharing between our administrators school security our school resource officers and I to identify concerns and deter these types of behaviors in our schools that's the end of my report my my violence and vandalism report be happy to take any questions no questions uh the next report I'd like to present is the semiannual report for harassment intimidation and bullying again this is for report period one the period of September to December of 2023 uh as you know the Jackson School District is committed to creating a safe learning environment for all of our students uh investigating all the complaints of harassment intimidation and bullying and preventing all acts of harassment intimidation and bullying on the left side of the screen is a breakdown of all of our assigned anti boing Specialists and the schools that they're assigned to on the right side of the screen are some of the preventative trainings that our staff members our administrators uh are participating in and have participated in some of the HP preven training topics presented to our students during report period one were Behavior expectations conflict resolutions cyber bullying social skills relationship inv Improvement culture awareness and implicit bias training groups at risk for Hib victims of Hib and bystanders Hib consequences some of our schoolwide programs during that report period lead University was conducted at Mccalla from the get schools week of respect and school antiviolence Awareness Week seal in our classrooms uh responsive classroom at our elementary levels advisory periods at our middle schools and lastly School climate team meetings at all of our schools a breakdown at our elementary level our hip investigations to the far right for report period one there were a total of six investigations at the Crawford school out of those six investigations five of those Hib complaints were founded Elms there were zero investigations zero founded the homman school six investigations zero founded Johnson three investigations two founded zero at roseen hour two investigations at switlick one of those investigations complaints was founded at our secondary schools to the far right for report period one two investigations reported at the get school zero founded 10 investigations at mlli three of those were founded six investigations at liberty three founded five investigations at Memorial zero founded motivation of the founded Hib incidents in nine of those incidents appearance was the factor involved uh color in three of those incidents race of the student in one of those and perceived weak weakness uh one incident was found to be a motivating factor location of the investigated hip incidents 27 of these incidents occurred on school grounds seven incidents occurred in our school buses or at our school bus stops and six incidents involve cell phones and the use of Internet classification of actions of investigated hions uh demeaning offensive text messages name calling offensive comments mocking taunting offensive comments over social media and hitting uh as you can see many of these classification of actions are verbal in nature the majority of them are outcomes of all investigated Hib incidents some of the consequences that were administered or used uh were parent student conferences out of school suspensions in school suspensions and detentions some of the remedial measures the more common remedial measures were counseling seting changes mediation and restorative practice lessons as I mentioned earlier in my uh my presentation last year regarding Hib complaints we investigate everything uh we do have a hip complaint submission process complaints can be received in person by telephone email or via links located on our district website uh recently implemented in the last year or so was hip form 338 which provides a means for parents guardians or our school staff members to report an incident of Hib in a confidential manner 24 hours a day seven days a week uh and in closing all our Hib complaints are promptly investigated in accordance with our district policy 5512 regarding harassment intimidation and bullying of our students that concludes of my report be happy to take any questions I have a question yes um can you can you give us a little example of what a school climate team meeting would look like or who's involved or how frequently they are typically the team consists of the principal a teacher the anti-bullying specialist assigned to the school a parent of a student who is attending that particular school and any other members that the principal at their discretion uh decides should be a part of that school climate team uh some of the things that are discussed at those meetings are the review of uh incidents that have occurred at the school and um discussion and ways to uh promote a proper climate within a school free of anyti bullying and harassment and intimidation and uh other issues going on at the school so they there's constantly searching for ways to improve the climate at their schools and a lot of the the information is discussed at those School climate meetings thank you you're welcome any other questions no questions thank you all have a good evening thank you Mr mooki um I appreciate the comment and the question about the school climate teams too I was going to elaborate a little bit on that as well um as you know this this work is never done uh this is work that we continually do we always drive for improvements building up on our climate and our cultures and our our buildings again that work is never done you want our students to feel as comfortable as possible to report incidents that are happening uh to be upstanders in their school schools so um we really take this stuff seriously so thank you and thank you for the report moving on with my superintendent report this evening I did want to just give the community an update on our 23 24 budget uh we did put a communication out a few weeks ago in regards to an update um with the loan so things are moving forward we um did receive an advancement in our state aid the state aid that's owed to us for the this whole school year is Advanced to us we're monitoring along with the Department of Ed our cash flow to see where we're going to and when we're going to fall short um and the amount of money that we will need for this year's budget to be able to continue to function as a school district um simultaneously we are working on the 2425 school budget we are anticipating uh receiving our state aid numbers within a couple of weeks and we shall see what our S2 cut will be for the 2425 school year but we are reled to to lose um a significant amount of state aid again um some good news is that we were notified on Friday February 16th officially that we will receive stabilization Aid in the number of 2.1 million for this school year um that's good news uh it is required of us because we have requested a loan that that will be put towards coming off of the loan amount that uh we'll be asking for so that's good that will lower our debt that we will need um that we will acue um acquire rather with this request of the loan so that is some good news we're we're happy to hear that and we are appreciative that they recognize the need for that money in this District um moving forward I did want to point out um on the agenda tonight as the official approval of our school calendar change we had two inclement weather days so we now have the last day of school being June 18th just wanted to publicly say that it is posted on our district website so true to what we've been doing over the last year or so year and a half um irin always puts up some good happenings that are um happening across the district behind me in the slides um as people can see who are watching from home or in the audience the things that are occurring within the district on a monthly basis so one of the things I did want to point out uh it is on our district website as well we want to say congratulations to to the RC and Colonel spare they and the cadets for receiving the exceed standard rating in their program review this year so that's excellent news and the program is up um we see the applications and the students who are interested in doing this from 8th grade as well so we're happy to report that it's a continually growing program as well so congratulations to all of them um I also wanted to point out some of the information again in the slides tonight coming up um in March we have a couple of wonderful things that are happening we have a trade and job fair and also a wellness fair so I did ask Mr Palumbo who is working with staff to oversee both of those programs to just let the board know about those happenings it's very exciting um sessions that we're going to be hosting and open to the community yes thank you oh wow sorry um yeah so uh the first uh fair I I want to make sure that our uh our community has access to resources and um easily accessible so on March 13th from 6:00 to 7:30 right here in the Liberty I mean the memorial Atrium we're going to have a mental health Wellness uh resources fair so we'll have um if you ever asked your question um how do I get my child you know some help or um counseling or you know where can they go for uh a gym membership or yoga therapy dogs all these really great mental health and wellness uh resources are going to be on hand um in our Atrium uh in a set up in a Fair style so open to the community that's uh March 13th from 6:00 to 7:30 and then um I'm really excited that we're hosting our first trade and jobs Fair on March 21st at the Jackson Liberty High School main gym we're going to have over 30 uh representatives from trade schools apprenticeship programs um employers the US military uh all uh career certificate programs all career Pathways that do not require four-year college degree it'll give our community the opportunity and students the opportunity to interface with representatives from all those different career Pathways um again it's open to the community so our you know we're looking for former grads that are looking for maybe a uh a new career pathway um grown-ups kids uh middle school kids anybody that wants to interface and learn more about other career Pathways that do not require for your college degree so really excited about that we have uh unions coming out apprenticeship programs like I said um so it's really an exciting opportunity um for for our community for our students so thank you guys so much for letting us do that excuse me Mr Palumbo what was the date on the Trade Fair yes March March 21st thank you sir no problem thanks thank you Mr Palumbo very exciting I'm really looking forward to both of them we've been so interested in doing a trade and job fair for years so excellent we're looking forward to that I just wanted to point out again I know that the high school board reps spoke about the high school Upcoming plays but I do encourage um community members bring your bring your friends your neighbors your relatives these plays are always phenomenal they really are top quality performances um so I encourage you buy some tickets come out see them grab some folks that you know and and and join out there's nothing like the um the performers to see a full audience so encourage you to please come out just some other happenings in the month of January and the beginning of February many of our elementary schools held soup or bows um food donations they collected cans of soup and other canned items and gave lots and lots of uh food and donated it to local um you know food pantry so it was it was excellent um community service that they they held another thing I just wanted to point out that I thought was uh just super kind um an excellent way to help some of our senior citizens the Rosen hour students decorated notes of Love um for the residents of three assisted living facilities um so I can imagine how wonderful it was for them to see some of those uh Valentines that they received so I want to thank everybody who's been involved in all of these wonderful happenings across the district and with that that concludes my superintendent's report this evening Mr pom turn it back to you thank you Miss pril at this time we will uh have our standing committee's report any a committee that met from the last board meeting till now so buildings and grounds chairperson Mr McCarron please report yes some uh District projects that were completed uh HVAC work was completed Memorial switlick and Elm schools a coil uh was replaced a new unit installed for Memorial kitchen freezer B which is an outside unit uh Memorial Fieldhouse hot water heater was replaced there was a new control board that was installed at gets boiler and gets water project is moving along as scheduled uh Memorial Fuel Depot project is now completed thank you Mr McCarron budget and finance I am the chair this committee focused primarily on ways to generate more revenue for the school district uh focused primarily on various ways to increase Revenue to the district which included a number of items that uh have been moved forward for approval on tonight's agenda they include the SDA emergent needs Grant which is a a little over $188,000 that's Finance number seven that will support the paving project at Memorial Transportation Depo roof repairs at Jackson Memorial High School HVAC control unit at Jackson Liberty High School the use of Title One carryover funds from 2022 2023 in the amount of $347,000 that's program number seven that's going to support us with the offsetting health benefit cost of Title One staff roughly the amount of $108,000 utilizing surplus funds from insurance aggregate excess loss contingency Fund in the amount of roughly $95,000 that's Finance number eight RFP for naming rights of Jackson Liberty High School football stadium Jackson Memorial High School and Jackson Liberty High School Fine Arts centers and Jackson Liberty High School gymnasium you'll find that in finance number five facility rental rate uh is increasing revised regulation 75 5 1 and that's facilities number two child care rate increase for 2024 2025 you'll find that in programs 21 athletic participation fee increase for 2024 2025 you will find that located in programs number 19 the committee also discussed the uh expected state cuts anticipated again this coming year uh we anticipated stabilization aid from the state and the status of the district's pending alone from the state and we met uh in January it was uh Mr McCaron Miss Cass Miss Peril Mr binsky and myself and we will be meeting again Tuesday February 27th we now have a report from Transportation chairperson Miss barois hi everyone um so the transportation committee met on January 31st it's myself Mr pal Mar Mrs Cass in attendance was Mr binsky Mrs Peril and Mr SoDo so we discussed the uh processing of the B7 forms for the January 31st payment um we're also in the process of looking at the b6t forms for the 2024 2025 eligibility and that deadline was March that deadline is March 15th um we also were we also the Board of Ed evaluates the bids in accordance with New Jersey contract law um also we looked at uh I don't know if people have read but there was a a new state law regarding Consortium and that's working across districts and I have an update on that the district will be contracting with the lsta the Lakewood student Transportation Authority for the non-public transportation for the 2024 2025 school year and that will be um on the rest of our agenda um we also have a timeline for the trans transition to traversa it's the new updated transportation software uh that'll be coming forth in uh on in April uh we looked at the training on the use of versatrans for the enrollment Comm committee uh we also discussed the purchase of school buses um I'm sorry the lease purchase of school buses uh we discussed the electric School Bus Grant and let me just remind everyone we did one we did win the Grant in the first round but now more money was added to that Grant so to get to the actual cost of electric electric school buses because we won that Grant a few years back if I'm not mistaken um we it's also happens to be the uh bus driver and Van AIDS are in contract negotiation this year so we'll be discussing that um we looked at some potential cost savings ideas but no decisions have been made we are also looking into potential Revenue sources uh which would help with our budget um opening a training program that is open to other districts we discussed that we also looked into the esy and summer transportation and also route developments for the 2024 2025 school year our next meeting we haven't decided on a date yet thank you Mr barus we also have ad hoc committees that meet as needed State and County School Board representative Miss Rivera please report yes the next County meeting will be March 25th at 6 o' at Tom server intermediate East the topic will be the eighth grade dialogue thank you Mr Riva advocacy committee chairperson Miss Gardella please report good evening the advocacy committee met yesterday um and members in attendance was Miss Rivera Miss Peril and myself uh things that we discussed we reviewed um assembly Bill 1286 and 1282 uh for consideration of public resolution at our next board meeting the committee agreed to support with the public resolution bill a126 which has the state cover 100% of non-public Transportation costs if a district meets outline criteria however there was a concern discussed in the long term that the district may not meet the criteria therefore we would suggest the criteria to include if the non-public Transportation costs are 50% or higher of the public school population um transportation would be 100% funded by the Department of Education the committee agreed to support with a public resolution Bill 81 1282 which covers 100% of the special education cost for both in District and out of District students currently the state covers 75% after the district reaches a per student educational th threshold um the committee discussed uh a Senate bill it's 2343 which allows us two districts to raise the 2% tax Livy cap in order to fill the state funding void at this point the committee agreed that we canot Advocate on behalf of this bill as the local constituents voted against this very solution in November um the Senate Bill 2343 puts the fiscal responsibility to the local taxpayer and the committee would like to advocate for funding changes at the state level we also discussed areas within our budget where increased funding would be beneficial to the district this was multi- language Learners and charity we discussed um holding meetings with assemblymen ziki Senator gopal and Senator Hall we also discussed meeting with three or four Jackson residents to educate them on our vision and goal get insights and develop some action plans to include the Greater Community as well as connecting with other District advocacy committees as it was brought to our attention that there are several districts right now um advocating who have been cut State funding so we're hoping that we can get together for some S2 push um so our next business I might have skipped over that was obviously to schedule a meeting with um assembly M Zuki and at least one Senator invite and schedule a meeting with selected Jackson residents reach out via email to other District advocacy committees develop a plan of action for advocating for a revised school funding formula that includes our own residents other towns and speaking at the State Board of Education meetings we don't have a meeting date um but I'm sure we'll have an update next meeting thank you Mr Gardella I need a motion for approval of policy first reading revised motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCaron yes Mrs baroas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P yes I need a motion for approval of regulations adoption motion second discussion roll call Mrs cordella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs brokas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera Mrs Cass yes Mr Pay yes I need a motion for approval of the minutes the official board meeting January 3rd 2024 reorganization meeting the Clos session meeting January 17 2024 and the official board meeting January 17 2024 business this meeting motion second discussion roll call Mr gordel yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs brokas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P yes I need a motion for approval of the bill list motion second discussion roll call Mrs gella yes Mr McCarron yes m M brokus yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr palmary yes I need a motion for approval of treasurers and board secretary's reports motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs barokas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P yes I need a motion to open public forum on agenda items only we will hold another public forum during this meeting for all other questions this public forum will be for questions on agenda items only motion second please sign in and state the your name and whether or not you are a Jackson resident each person is allowed a maximum of five minutes to speak no person may speak more than once on the topic until all others have been heard all right good evening everyone uh my name is Ria hasham hassi I live in Jackson I'm a resident here for the past 10 years uh my children go to school here in Jackson I have one in elementary one in Memorial here uh I have multiple questions common concerns many are regarding the monitor ma'am this is just for agenda items only okay uh she can go okay monitor questions we could take it's on the agenda okay so here as a Jackson Township taxpayer citizen with a newly appointed monitor with a hefty salary what have you reviewed the budget before I assume so you know the details and what are your plans have you found any red flags have you found any concerns why ma'am ma'am I'm sorry just you have to address me the president sorry okay uh so were there any red flags in our finances for our educational system why do we need a monitor with a hefty salary which the citizens are responsible for paying I can say that the Jackson School District has been under S2 funding formula for the last six years which we've had $18 million of our funding removed the state of New Jersey has removed that from our funding uh with that um we've had an audit Auditors met two different Auditors come in and our audits have been very clean uh this the Ocean County Superintendent has also reviewed our spending and they have been very clear that do not have a spending problem we have a revenue problem and that Revenue problem is caused by the state of New Jersey's S2 funding formula so that's why we now need to borrow some more uh of our own money back and with that comes a state monitor uh appointed by the Department of Education Miss premil would you like to add anything to that yep no thank you um I just want to let you know that it is State Statute that requires that any school district that borrows money it's required um for a state monit to be assigned so we yep I'm sorry go ahead that's okay okay um so I understand not really the formula is really complex I don't understand it at all I do get a slight gist of it but I'm not sure it seems not fair as a citizen to have my taxes increased and my child my children in their classroom in their schools are losing programs and benefits and so I'm paying more but getting less just to keep it simpler yeah and and you're going to see uh in this agenda we actually are supporting a bill 3589 that is sponsored by assembly minui and that bill is actually uh asking for the state to pay for any state monitor within the state of New Jersey um so I will discuss more of that when we get to finance I'm going to actually have a statement on that um but I but I I hear you yes so that makes me a little bit happier thank you for that I'd also like just to comment for a second um we for six years now have been talking about the cuts that have happened through the legislation of S2 and the funding formula we've done lots of things I think hopefully you've seen those Communications you've seen the advocating we've done the informing testifying at assembly meeting budget meetings um we have done campaigns of letter writing postcard writing um you know we've done a lot to address that including we were part of a lawsuit to try and under better understand that formula so there are lots of things that the school district has done um you know with losing the state funding it was a perfect storm scenario in the beginning when S2 first came came to be we did lose enrollment significant ific l so it made sense to lose funding but there was this line that got crossed about the third year where we started to see and anticipate this coming um and tried to be protective tried to inform everybody including our legislators of what was happening here it's a perfect storm scenario especially with inflation right so in this current Year's budget instead of programs that you're referencing of being cut any deeper we've cut significantly and did not want to take any further because it would have drastically affected students hence we met with our county superintendent and requested the loan so that was to avoid having to cut any more programs okay uh in my youngest child's school there is a great influx of Spanish-speaking students with no one to communicate properly or teach them English and we have not had a public morning announcement speaker for some time because Miss Hogan is being shared between schools um also my older child that's here in Memorial had when he was in Johnson he he was able to learn Spanish as a second language that's no longer the case my younger child doesn't have that and that's just bits and pieces of things that one child had six years ago and this one doesn't uh and as in regards to the safety concerns those numbers are kind of H high so how are we addressing it appropriately still with not the proper staff I'm over my time sorry so I'm going to encourage you to reach out to my office tomorrow and I'd be happy to speak further on details of such um you know yes things have have been affected you know as I said over over the years of constantly being I just wanted to say it on record I'm sorry I understand I just wanted to State it on record got because it is a concern of course yep but feel free to to give me a call tomorrow and I'd be happy to to go over things with you a little bit more detail thank you so much thank you for your questions and and your passion I wish we could fill this whole Auditorium up with more people that really have that passion so thank you I think you guys are doing a great job may I just say one thing just because I saw you came with notes you were prepared and everything to speak today so if there's other things that you want to say on record there is a second Forum to ask questions that are not on things on the agenda so you could finish thank you I I just wanted to say as well uh many of us on the board all of us uh have children in the district so we have the same concerns that you do and that's why we're up here I appreciate you are there any additional agenda only questions seeing no one come forward I need a motion to close public forum motion all in favor I I resolution for Action all right I need a motion to move Finance motion second okay I'm going to open up for discussion I will say I do have a good bit of discussion on finance I'd like to just first uh highlight Finance number 10 if I can just give an overview for who those who are listening and who are here uh on tonight's agenda it includes a vote to potentially approve a resolution to publicly support Bill a 3589 sponsored by assemblyman Alex siwicki that provides the salary and other costs associated with the commissioner of education's appointment of a state Monitor and other staff will be paid by state as well the Jackson School District acknowledges that the current New Jersey law that requires a monitor to be appointed to the a school district has requested a loan from the Department of Education the Jackson Township School District has lost $18 million in state aid through a six-year S2 school funding legislation in response the Jackson Township School District was forced to reduce its budget by 215 staff members the extraordinary growth of Jackson Township non-public students uh base far exceeds the district's budgeting capacity and has created a significant challenge to our resources uh and finances uh and transportation and Personnel Resources uh the district believes that the expense of a Department of Education monitor should be paid uh for by the Department of Education and therefore supports Bill a 3589 and if I could also just add miss gardela Mr McCarron and myself were with assemblyman sukii at the State House when he submitted Bill a 3589 we are in complete support of this bill I firmly believe that if the state of New Jersey want wants to mandate and appoint a state monitor then the state of New Jersey should pay for those mandates and appointments any other discussion on finance am I on uh regarding Bill a 3589 um I heard that it had a very good bipartisan support in the Senate and it'll be introduced to the assembly next week so it's really exciting thank you for your hard work on that all right while I'm at it I do have some more discussion I wanted to give anyone else a chance here um Finance number four uh before I vote on finance number four and this has nothing to do with our state monitor Miss Miss Morris however I find it completely unfair and unnecessary that the state of New Jersey appoints a state monitor to oversee the district for a problem they created let me be clear the Jackson School District has never had a spending problem anyone who has reviewed our spending including the ocean county superintendent and multiple auditing firms have agreed that we are spending responsibly we have a revenue problem and that problem has been caused by the governor of New Jersey with the disastrous S2 cuts the governor has reduced our state aid to the point where we now need to borrow some of that money back which has resulted in a monitor it's incredibly unfair for some good news though I would like to uh close my portion of discussion for finance before we go to a vote with Finance uh number 13 which was recently added to our um addendum uh I would like to acknowledge that this uh that Finance number uh 13 is a generous donation to The District of desks and chairs from Next Level Real Estate School uh its CEO and instructor is Miss cun who is actually here in the audience today so thank you Miss cun um we appreciate that this donation will positively impact our students so thank you very much any other discussion on finance roll Mrs cordella yes Mr McCaron yes Mrs barokas yes Dr Osman Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P Mar yes I need a motion to move facilities motion second discussion roll call Mrs cordella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs brokas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr pmer yes I need a motion to move programs motion second discussion yes am I on number 19 I just wanted to hear from I guess that was really the finance Comm committee uh regarding how come the minimum maximum family cap wasn't raised with everything else what was the thought process behind that what was the question I'm sorry repeat it so number 19 uh I don't mean to yell it was the increase of athletic and Co cular participation rates for 2425 we raised the athletic fee from 75 to 100 the activity fee from 35 to 50 but we kept the maximum family cap the same I was just curious on that how that would came to be Mr binsky would you sure so when we decided to raise uh the participation fee specifically the the for one student we didn't want to overly impact us any one family so that they would have to may be forced to make a decision where one child would play and another child they'd be like oh maybe we shouldn't play if we raise that too high um so we wanted to keep the family maximum to be the same so families wouldn't have to make as tough of a decision de ision like that any additional discussion on programs roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs brokas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P Mar yes I need a motion to move students motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs barokas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr plary yes I need a motion to move Personnel motion second discussion roll call Mr cordella yes Mr McCarron on their personnel uh 14 document k GG is a no and Personnel 16 a is a no everybody else yes Mrs barokas um under Personnel 14 um GG is a no and six under 16 a is a no everyone else everything else a yes Dr Osman okay under for um Personnel 14 since there seems to be a lack of data for for all of the Jackson Memorial High School recommendations I am going to abstain from all of the Jackson Memorial High School recommendations and I am saying yes to all of the others Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P yes I need a motion to open public form on any topic pertaining to the Board of Education motion second please sign in and state your name and whether or not you are a Jackson resident each person is allowed a maximum of five minutes to speak no person may speak more than once on the topic until all others have been heard hello um would I just put my address right hi I'm here on a couple different things um here is a a resident I think you guys are doing amazing job I definitely want to come to more meetings I'm also the lison as a council president um and also Al as the owner of the school that just donated um the desks and the chairs it's was an honor and I was happy to donate it but it was also a Bittersweet um just as I think it kind of fits because it was a school it's a different kinde of school it was a real state school as you were saying people that go there they do not it's you know it's high school education um unfortunately I fought the state for a very long time to not allow to stop Rick and mortar in the education process of my school now it's done online so unfortunately students can't come to my brick and mortar because they would rather them sit in front of a laptop and get a license that is going to one day possibly sell your home your biggest investment um it really really was upsetting to me but I'm happy that you know I was able to donate uh that stuff to the school that I went to and then secondly as a council member council president uh that that sets the agenda just like you guys do I'm here to say that I plan on supporting the Board of Education um in their support of the Alex uh SII assemblyman sii's Bill and it will be on the next meeting for the council to vote I will be speaking with them and hopefully having their a five on that so thank you guys keep it up thank you council president cun thank you for the donation and the support I'm not sure if this is the correct moment to ask this question but I hear about redistricting students moving students from schools I can address that okay so we currently have a board enrollment committee that is studying the enrollment Trends we've had a few meetings um we have made no decisions about redistricting it's just a committee that is watching enrollment um and looking looking at our numbers we do have some schools that have um are highly attended uh large numbers so we're just reviewing and looking at those numbers right now but there's been no recommendations moved forward or anything if we were going to make any of those recommendations it would be very public okay thank you that was all thank you for your question is there a p yeah just don't get too close because it's really a lot l oh it's live um good evening my name is Mor berstein um I just I'm sorry I came late to the meeting I had a meeting in the county um but I also did notice on the agenda Finance at motion number 12 which is a motion to I guess contract with the ta um as a parent of a private school child who's been at multiple meetings in the past when You' had hundreds of parents here I think it's a major step in the right direction that will hopefully ensure more children are able to get on buses safe buses um safety is obviously the key over here hopefully reliable buses and hopefully will be a a learning process for everyone but hopefully it will be a process that will go smoothly so first all I want to thank you as a council member I also want to take a moment to thank and look forward to continuing to work together with the district getting more buses on the roads in safe reliable ways um having one address that we could contact when there are issues and I think that will be something that we'll all be very proud of so lots of luck to everyone involved and hopefully it will be a wonderful year 24 25 next year thank you thank you councilman are there any additional questions or comments I forgot to ask something I heard LSD buses before so the LSD buses along with with other buses that are not Jackson School District buses are habitually speeding will this be addressed somehow somewhere so I don't know if that was me or you um so anybody that we contract with we obviously follow up with them if there's any kinds of reports made um but in the event if you are seeing or hearing of any speeding we um encourage you to call our Police Department first and then notify us and we can follow up with the contractor as well okay okay thank you thank you any additional questions or comments seeing no one come forward I need a motion to close public forum motion all in favor I we'll now turn to board comment starting with Mr McCarron I was able to attend as I already mentioned the uh signing of assembly bill number a 3589 with assemblyman Alex Wii uh I appreciate his support for our schools and I hope that that Bill gets passed uh making it the state's responsibility to pay for the monitor wish everybody a good night and thank you thank you all for coming out I agree with you 100% hope this bill passes and thank you all for coming out thank you all for attending in person on live stream for the informative presentations and inquiries thank you Miss for your generous donations to the district everyone have a wonderful night I just wanted to say even though Jose left that I was very impressed with his report from Liberty um especially when he was discussing the positive climate and culture it's so important for our students and I wanted to applaud him for bringing that up I also want to thank um the staff member who's volunteering to uh be the adviser for the environmental Club um having created my own recycling Club as a young student I think that's great and I think that our board of education is doing great things and I appreciate our Jackson Education Foundation and all of our community members that are involved here tonight so thank you um I wanted to thank everyone who came this evening and those that are watching online I am looking forward to seeing many of you at our two up Upcoming plays um we're seeing um Beauty and the Beast at Liberty and Mary Poppins at Memorial so if you see me in the audience please come up and introduce yourself um and also on April 11th um the Jackson Education Foundation is having a senior senior prom um even though we there isn't there was an age put on there it's really we really just want the community to come out and join us it's a great event it's going to be held at Liberty High School and it's really just a community event to raise funds to give grants and scholarships back to our children so I know I'm going to be there and I haven't turned that age yet so and I hope to see many others that as well so please join us on April 11th and thank you for this evening um I just want to thank everyone for coming and I want to also thank Mrs Miss for her generous donation um we also received an anonymous donation um to pay for um the home and lunch balance so that's always fabulous when something like that happens um my sentiments are the same as everyone at this table regarding Bill 3589 I think it's absolutely ridiculous that the state is forcing us to pay for something that their mandating um and the fact that they put us in the position so all the way around um I hope this Bill gets passed um I do encourage everyone to go out and see our two plays our Productions are always amazing they're fantastic um and also the senior prom I'm going to piggy back on what Ally said I will be there as well I am of age but um we are looking forward to this event I think it's going to be fabulous and we would really like to get a lot of community involvement and have a lot of people um attend um other than that I wish everyone a good night thank you I want to thank everyone who came out tonight to uh view this meeting and for those online watching from home it is important for our town to receive accurate information not misinformation or fake news that is so easily found online watching these meetings and reaching out to The District administration team will provide everyone with correct information my fellow board members and myself are also available here publicly every month and also via email anytime if anyone has any questions or concerns let's all work together to keep the Jackson School District a great place for all of our kids thank you all very much and have a wonderful night I need a motion to adjourn by acclamation motion --------- [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] see [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] see [Music] [Music] [Music] how are [Music] you [Music] [Music] here [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] a probably [Music] [Music] yeah [Music] I call me to order please rise salute the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible and liberty and justice for all this meeting is in compliance with the open public meeting law and has been duly advertised in the newspaper as an official meeting roll call Ms Gardella present Mr McCarron present M barokas present Dr Osman here Mrs Rivera present Mrs Cass present Mr P present I need a motion for approval of the agenda with the Dums motion discussion roll call Mr cordella yes Mr McCaron yes Mrs barokas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P yes at this time I turn the meeting over to Mrs Peril for her superintendent's report thank you Mr P Mar so good evening everyone um like to start my report this evening the same way we started every board meeting is with students so tonight we have Joselyn who is stepping in for Jamal who um is at a wrestling match tonight so jessyn can you come up to the podium please and uh share the wonderful happenings at Memorial High School and thank you for stepping in tonight good evening Mrs pelli members of the central admission staff and board members I'm Jon PL I'm the vice president for student council and it is my pleasure to update you all on the evening of the evening on this exciting eventful month we have had and have come in for Jackson Memorial High School to start things off we are near of the end of our positive winter I'm happy to report the tremendous start to this semester students and staff are working hard every day and we look forward to the results of their hard work we recently just had the underclassman go over the presentation process for their scheduling meetings for the next school year we have our spring break coming around the corner which is an exciting break which starts on March 29th a wonderful time for the students and staff for a quick recharge before we go for the hard stretch of the school year before a break such events will occur to add excitement to our school year first first off we have our spring musical Mary Poppins on March 8th 9th and 10th being a part of the development of the set and as well in the cast I can say this will be an amazing show with a great turnout to come we have an amazing amount of talented students involved in this production from singers dancers actors and the painters and Builders they give all their best and put an amazing show for our community we are proud of these students for their hard work and dedication with putting on all their time and hard work something they love also on March 8th we have our B of the classes from 600 to 8 this competition brings our students together from all grade levels it showcases their talents and teamwork a fantastic event that truly brings the school spirit and shows our community we hold at jmhs I would also like to congratulate the JHS T chess team for being Ocean County Champions now as winter sports come to an end all of these Sports go into their state championships and I would like to just recognize these astounding athletes we have at the school with our our basketball players wrestlers swimmers in their track and field on all these just winter sports we recognize their hard work and outstanding athletes all of these teams have an amazing and strong season we're excited to see how our spring Sports come out as the weather starts getting warm we look forward for the baseball softball across track and field tennis volleyball and golf teams having this season and we wish them the best of luck confident they would make us proud We also look forward to having an early go for our student faculty basketball game which which is a fun enjoyable experiment for both students and staff to strengthen our community at jmhs even more next up we have our March into Wellness coming up we prioritize the mental health and emotional well-being of our students in our school we have a sp Spirit Week therapy dog visit and having the jmhs Jack Paul's prevention Club present students Wellness for resource Fair on Wednesday March 6th they're providing local rers resources and making it a great opportunity for students then within a couple few weeks we have our deca EPA and M Congress chapters who will be attending their state competitions throughout New Jersey we would like to say how proud We Are of these students who involved in these Business Clubs a big important time is coming up for our seniors regular decision from colleges are coming around the corner and our seniors start hearing back from more schools they apply to We wish all of our seniors the best of luck we know they would do and go do amazing things their post High School lives we're extremely proud of their hard work and wor they have been accomplishing throughout these four years addition to our seniors waiting to hear back they are currently submitting applications for the local scholarship which these Awards will be given out June 5th here at JHS in closing I would like to thank M pil the Board of Education once again for continuing to support us thank you for the opportunity for me to speak tonight excellent report Joslyn and it was good to see you again it was nice to meet with you and the student council last week and hear about all the wonderful activities you have planned for the rest of the school year it was a a pleasure so from Liberty tonight Jose good evening superintendent porn Board of Education members and guests I hope everyone's having a great month I appreciate the platform that you grant us to offer updates on our school the link between the community and Liberty is what makes it special as a way to commemorate Black History Month every morning our day starts with a highlight of one Trailblazer and their story of how they Inspire change Additionally the roppa Honor Society created a unique display in the main hallway the they Nam Periodic Table of black history it includes names faces and facts of prominent leaders that deserve recognition it has encouraged conversation and opened people's eyes to stories that sometimes have been lost over time the effort is appreciated and has had an impact on many of us reminding us we all have a story to tell other clubs have also been busy trying to ensure a positive climate the National Honor Society has designed and home motivational posters around the halls as a way to uplift spirits and remind people they are good enough fpla has also being active additionally their members took part in a regional Summit AT King University our winter sports kept their street growing as the Jackson libery wrestling boys defeated our time rival Jackson Memorial 40 to35 in a very intense match an additional congratulation goes out to the team for winning B South Division title after defeating Point borrow in a gring tool furthermore turer pasino and armanii mccan won their respective white classes at districts this past weekend and will be joining tney Oro Jordan aash SE n and Mark fbank at Region this weekend hosted by our school the boys basketball team has been on rooll after defeating M 63 to 37 lakid 66 to 38 and Lacy 69 to 66 where Lucas Latif finished with a career high of 40 points the B the boys basketball team had a wonderful time when they hosted the Jackson Challenger League participants at liberty for a scrimmage they most importantly demonstrated their support and love for the community NHS is having a community service project that consists of tning ESL students in areas they are struggling with this helps foreign students adapt and get comfortable in a new environment and has been very beneficial many clubs are busy raising money for scholarships and events the glass of 2025 had a fundraiser at applebe CHF and organized a Valentine's Day chocolate roses fundraiser the Jackson Liberty drama club had a fundraiser at Louis's and popups pizeria the visure Bri leaders of America members are also having their traditional chis Donal fundraiser which will conclude at the beginning of February the girl soccer team successfully held a big sale and shler cover fundraiser this past week finally the drama department is finishing up the last stashes under production of Beauty and the Beast which is set to premere tomorrow night it will run through this Saturday with the option for a m and evening performance to help promote everyone's excitement we're having a Beauty and the Beast spear week tomorrow is blackout and team Bell or team Beast is on Friday if you haven't purchased your tickets yet please go online and secure your seat right away it's going to be a show to remember as you can see Liberty is staying very active the teams clubs students and staff are all working hard to make this St the best they can be we appreciate the opportunities that we have and thank you for your support through them all have a good evening thank you Jose for the very informative and excellent report nice job um lots of things exciting things happening in our high schools um and I can't wait to see the play this weekend so moving on this is uh for this evening this is the time of the year where we do our Samu our semiannual uh violence vandalism substance abuse weapon and Hib report so so with us this evening is our director of security Ray mooki who's going to share with the board uh the data for the first reporting period Mr mooki and the board members may want to turn around to see the slots thank you Mrs pilly uh good evening board president pal Mar vice president Cass all of our elected board members and everyone in attendance this evening the first report I'd like to present is the violence and vandalism report uh this is report period from September to December of 2023 next slide just some background and overview information uh the state of New Jersey began collecting data over 20 years ago the objective is to collect and Report incident data concerning serious student misconduct in the areas of violence vandalism Hib harassment intimidation and bullying weapons and substance abuse on the far right of the screen are our totals for report period one in uh specific are areas of violence vandalism hi reports investigated weapons and substance abuse uh total number of violence incidents for report period one was 11 compared to 10 which was reported last year there were five incidents of vandalism reported for this reporting period uh compared to three last year same number of hi reports investigated there were 40 for this report period uh 40 last year weapons there was an increase of six as you can see up on the screen screen I'll talk a little bit more about that in my report later and substance abuse there was a decrease in the number of substance abuse incidents for this report period compared to last year there was a total of 41 for this reporting period 70 last year regarding violence reports at our elementary school levels down at the bottom of the screen are the totals for each of those specific incident areas fights simple assaults threats and sexual offenses in all of those categories the numbers were zero at our elementary level schools regarding hi reports that were investigated there were a total of 17 Hib incidents investigated by our elementary schools and there is a breakdown there uh six incidents at the Crawford School Elms had zero to report homman had six incidents three at Johnson zero at Rosen hour two at the switlick school at our secondary schools again across the top broken down by categories of fights simple assaults threats sexual offenses down at the bottom or our totals for our secondary schools there were a total of seven fights reported by all of our secondary schools and the breakdowns simple assaults there were a total of four threat incidents there were zero reported sexual offenses zero reported and for Hib reports investigated by our secondary schools there were a total of 23 incidents vandalism and substance abuse for report period 1 2023 there were a total of five incidents there were three incidents of vandalism reported by the Jackson Memorial High School two incidents at the get school regarding substance uh usage Under the Influence there were a total of 20 incidents involving marijuana alcohol zero prescription drugs there were zero uh incidents of substances suspected but an exam was refused there were zero incidents reported regarding substance possession of marijuana there were 19 incidents reported by our schools drug paraphernalia 13 alcohol zero and designer or synthetic drugs there was one incident reported by our schools weapon offenses as I mentioned earlier there was an increase of six incidents in our schools those specific incidents to break them down to give you more specifics on it there were a total of five incidents uh where students were in possession of knives uh in none of those instances were those knives used to threaten any other students or were they used for any to sort of um unlawful behavior in one of those incidence there was a BB gun that was recovered uh at one of our schools the report that was given to me by the police was that that particular item was inoperable and had been inoperable for many many years and again in that in instance that was reported to me by the police that that uh particular item was not used in a threatening manner or for any sort of unlawful purpose action taken by our school district for reportable violence and vandalism offenses there were 24 incidents in which the police were notified there were no uh police complaints filed there were zero incidents in which the police were notified and complaints were filed in school suspensions there were three three incidents of in school suspensions out of school suspensions there was a total of 231 total days of suspension that was administered in regards to our violence and vandalism offenses regarding impacted students there were a total of 53 student offenders involved in these incidents student victims there were a total of three and again there's a comparison up on the screen to last year where our numbers are at this year as I reported last year in my report some of the factors regarding substance use increase in our district as you're aware in 2021 Governor Murphy signed into law legalization of marijuana hashish for recreational use since then there are 102 medicinal and recreational dispensaries actively operating in New Jersey and the number is increasing during my report last year I reported there were 35 this information is available on the state of New Jersey website nj.gov and it's compiled and maintained by the New Jersey Canabis Regulatory Commission so as you can see in one year there's been a dramatic increase in the number of medicinal and recreational dispensaries in the state of New Jersey other factors uh ecigarettes and vape products different shapes sizes and styles easy to conceal by individuals and they're often very difficult to detect uh there's VAR various types of products uh out on the market that enable a user to use illicit drugs disposable type Vapes pods mods boxes pens nicotine Vapes and so on and so forth uh they're readily available to unage students there's many many vape shops that are out there in our communities and online sites where these products are available in a 2022 National Youth tobacco survey uh the most commonly used product was the ecigarette Vape by our students what are we doing to respond to the increased substance abuse uh continued education of our students focused on the dangers and the negative impact of the substance abuse increased visibility of our school security and staff Supervision in our hallways and during school hours frequent checks of all those areas of the building throughout the day to deter substance use or vaping in possession by our students Focus checks on our restrooms our stairwells and those other areas that have been identified and associated with the substance use or vaping and a heighten awareness for our students exhibiting signs of substance use during school hours our teachers have been doing a very good job uh with their height anded awareness of identifying students uh who may be using or under the influence and also and lastly is our information sharing between our administrators school security our school resource officers and I to identify concerns and deter these types of behaviors in our schools uh that's the end of my report my violence and vandalism report be happy to take any questions no questions uh the next report I'd like to present is the semiannual report for harassment intimidation and bullying again this is for report period one the period of September to December of 2023 uh as you know the Jackson School District dist is committed to creating a safe learning environment for all of our students uh investigating all the complaints of harassment intimidation and bullying and preventing all acts of harassment intimidation and bullying on the left side of the screen is a breakdown of all of our assigned anti bullying Specialists and the schools that they're assigned to on the right side of the screen are some of the preventative trainings that our staff members our administrators uh our participating in and have participated in some of the hip prevention training topics presented to our students during report period one were Behavior expectations conflict resolution cyber bullying social skills relationship inv Improvement culture awareness and implicit bias training groups at risk for Hib victims of Hib and bystanders Hib consequences some of our schoolwide programs during that report period lead University was conducted at mall fall in the get schools week of respect and school antiviolence Awareness Week seal in our classrooms uh responsive classroom at our elementary levels advisory periods at our middle schools and lastly School climate team meetings at all of our schools a breakdown at our elementary level our hi investigations to the far right for report period one there were a total of six investigations that the Crawford school out of those six investigations five of those uh Hib complaints were founded Elms there were zero investigations zero founded the homman school six investigations zero founded Johnson three investigations two founded zero at Rosen hour two investigations at switlick one of those investigations complaints was founded at our secondary schools to the far right for report report period one two investigations reported at the get school zero founded 10 investigations at mlli three of those were founded six investigations at liberty three founded five investigations at Memorial zero founded motivation of the founded hip incidents in nine of those incidents appearance was the factor involved uh color in three of those incidents race of the student in one of those and perceived weakness uh one incident was found to be a motivating factor location of the investigated hip incidents 27 of these incidents occurred on school grounds seven incidents occurred in our school buses or at our school bus stops and six incidents involve cell phones and the use of Internet classification of actions of investigated hices uh demeaning offensive text messages name calling offensive comments mocking taunting offensive comments over social media and hitting uh as you can see many of these classification of actions are verbal in nature the majority of them are outcomes of all investigated Hib incidents some of the consequences that were administered or used uh were parent student conferences out of school suspensions in school suspensions and detentions some of the remedial measures the more common remedial measures were counseling seating changes mediation and restorative practice lessons as I mentioned earlier in my uh my presentation last year regarding Hib complaints we investigate everything uh we do have a Hib complaint submission process complaints can be received in person by telephone email or via links located on our district website uh recently implement mented in the last year or so was hip form 338 which provides a means for parents guardians or our school staff members to report an incident of Hib in a confidential manner 24 hours a day seven days a week uh and in closing all our Hib complaints are promptly investigated in accordance with our district policy 5512 regarding harassment intimidation and bullying of our students that concludes our report i' be happy to take any questions I have a question yes um can you give us a little example of what a school climate team meeting would look like or who's involved or how frequently they are typically the team consists of the principal a teacher the anti-bullying specialist assigned to the school a parent of a student who is attending that particular school and any other members that the principal at their discretion uh decides should be a part of that school climate team uh some of the things that are discussed at those meeting meetings are the review of uh incidents that have occurred at the school and um discussion and ways to uh promote a proper climate within a school free of any bullying and harassment and intimidation and uh other issues going on at the school so they're they're constantly searching for ways to improve the climate at their schools and a lot of the the information is discussed at those School climate meetings thank you you're welcome any other questions no questions thank you all have a good evening thank you Mr mooki um I appreciate the comment and the question about the school climate teams too I was going to elaborate a little bit on that as well um as you know this this work is never done uh this is work that we continually do we always strive for improvements building up on our climate and our cultures in our our buildings again that work is never done we want our students to feel as comfortable as possible to report Port incidents that are happening uh to be upstanders in their schools so um we really take this stuff seriously so thank you and thank you for the report moving on with my superintendent report this evening I did want to just give the community an update on our 2324 budget uh we did put a communication out a few weeks ago in regards to an update um with the loan so things are moving forward we um did receive an advancement in our state aid the state a that's owed to us for the this whole school year is Advanced to us we're monitoring along with the Department of Ed our cash flow to see where we're going to and when we're going to fall short um and the amount of money that we will need for this year's budget to be able to continue to function as a school district um simultaneously we are working on the 2425 school budget we are anticipating uh receiving our state aid numbers within a couple of weeks and we shall see what our S2 cut will be for the 2425 school year but we are sated to to lose um a significant amount of state aid again um some good news is that we were notified on Friday February 16th officially that we will receive stabilization Aid in the number of $2.1 million for this school year um that's good news uh it is required of us because we have requested a loan that that will be put towards coming off of the loan amount that uh we'll be asking for so that's good that will lower our debt that we will need um that we will acue um acquire rather with this request of the loan so that is some good news we're we're happy to hear that and we are appreciative that they recognize the need for that money in this District um moving forward I did want to point out um on the agenda tonight is the official approval of our school calendar change we had two in climic weather days so we now have the last day of school being June 18th just wanted to publicly say that it is posted on our district website so true to what we've been doing over the last year or so year and a half um Irwin always puts up some good happenings that are um happening across the district behind me in the slides um as people can see who are watching from home or in the audience the things that are occurring within the district on a monthly basis so one of the things I did want to point out uh it is on our district website as well we want to say congratulations to the RC and Colonel spare they and the cadets for receiving the exceed standard rating in their program review this year so that's excellent news and the program is up um we see the applications and the students who are interested in doing this from 8th grade as well so we're happy to report that it's a continually growing program as well so congratulations to all of them um I also wanted to point out some of the information again in the slides tonight coming up um in March we have a couple of wonderful things that are happening we have a trade and job fair and also a wellness fair so I did ask Mr Palumbo who is working with staff to oversee both of those programs to just let the board know about those happenings it's very exciting um sessions that we're going to be hosting and open to the community yes thank you oh wow sorry um yeah so uh the first uh fair I I want to make sure that our uh our community has access to resources and um easily accessible so on March 13th from 6 to 7:30 right here in the Liberty I inan the memorial Atrium we're going to have a mental health Wellness uh resources fair so we'll have um if you ever asked your question um how do I get my child you know some help or um counseling or you know where can they go for uh a gym membership or yoga therapy dogs all these really great mental health and wellness uh resources are going to be on hand um in our Atrium uh in a set up in a fair style so open to the community that's uh March 13th from 6 to 7:30 and then um I'm really excited that we're hosting our first trade and jobs Fair on March 21st at the Jackson Liberty High School main gym we're going to have over 30 uh representatives from trade schools apprenticeship programs um employers the US military uh all uh career certificate programs all career Pathways that do not require four-year college degree it'll give our community the opportunity and students an opportunity to interface with representatives from all those different career Pathways um again it's open to the community so our you know we're looking for former grads that are looking for maybe a uh a new career pathway um grown-ups kids uh middle school kids anybody that wants to interface and learn more about other career Pathways that do not require fore college degree so really excited about that we have uh unions coming out apprenticeship programs like I said um so it's really exciting opportunity um for for our community for our students so thank you guys so much for letting us do that excuse me Mr Palumbo what was the date on the Trade Fair March 21st thank you sir no problem thanks thank you Mr Palumbo very exciting I'm really looking forward to both of them we've been so interested in doing a trade and job fair for years so excellent we're looking forward to that I just wanted to point out again I know that the high school board reps spoke about the high school Upcoming plays but I do encourage um community members bring your bring your friends your neighbors your relatives these plays are always phenomenal they really are top quality performances um so I encourage you buy some tickets come out see them grab some folks that you know and and en joy out there's nothing like the um the performers to see a full audience so encourage you to please come out just some other happenings in the month of uh January and the beginning of February many of our elementary schools held soup or bowls um food donations they collected cans of soup and other canned items and gave lots and lots of uh food and donated it to local um you know food pantries so it was it was excellent um community service that they they held another thing I just wanted to point out that I thought was uh just super kind um an excellent way to help some of our senior citizens the Rosen hour students decorated notes of Love um for the residents of three assisted living facilities um so I can imagine how wonderful it was for them to see some of those uh Valentines that they received so I want to thank everybody who's been involved in all of these wonderful happenings across the district and with that that concludes my superintendent report this evening Mr pom turn it back to you thank you Miss premil at this time we will uh have our standing Comm committee's report any a committee that met from the last board meeting till now so buildings and grounds chairperson Mr McCarron please report yes some uh District projects that were completed uh HVAC work was completed Memorial switlick and Elm schools a coil uh was replaced a new unit installed for Memorial kitchen freezer B which is an outside unit uh Memorial Field House hot water heater was replaced there was a new control board that was installed at get boiler and and gets water project is moving along as scheduled uh Memorial Fuel Depot project is now completed thank you Mr McCarron budget and finance I am the chair this committee focused primarily on ways to generate more revenue for the school district uh focused primarily on various ways to increase Revenue to the district which included a number of items that uh have been moved forward for approval on tonight's agenda they include include the SDA emergent needs Grant which is a a little over $188,000 that's Finance number seven that will support the paving project at Memorial Transportation Depot roof repairs at Jackson Memorial High School HVAC control unit at Jackson Liberty High School the use of Title One carryover funds from 2022 2023 in the amount of $347,000 that's program number seven that's going to support us with the offsetting health benefit cost of Title One staff roughly the amount of $108,000 utilizing surplus funds from insurance aggregate excess loss contingency Fund in the amount of roughly $95,000 that's Finance number eight RFP for naming rights of Jackson Liberty High School football stadium Jackson Memorial High School and Jackson Liberty High School Fine Arts centers and Jackson Liberty High School gymnasium you'll find that in finance number five facility rental rate rate uh is increasing revised regulation 7510 and that's facilities number two child care rate increase for 2024 2025 you'll find that in programs 21 athletic participation fee increase for 2024 2025 you will find that located in programs number 19 the committee also discussed the uh expected state cuts anticipated again this coming year uh we anticipate stabilization aid from the state and the status of the district's pending loan from the state and we met uh in January it was uh Mr McCarron Miss Cass Miss Peril Mr binsky and myself and we will be meeting again Tuesday February 27th we now have a report from Transportation chairperson Miss barois hi everyone um so the transportation committee met on January 31st it's myself Mr Palm Mrs C in attendance was Mr binsky Mrs Peril and Mr SoDo so we discussed the processing of the B7 forms for the January 31st payment um we're also in the process of looking at the b6t forms for the 2024 2025 eligibility and that deadline was March that deadline is March 15th um we also were we also the Board of Ed evaluates the bids in accordance with New Jersey contract law um also we looked at uh I don't know if people have read but there was a a new state law regarding consortiums and that's working across districts and I have an update on that the district will be contracting with the lsta the Lakewood student Transportation Authority for the non-public transportation for the 2024 2025 school year and that will be um on the rest of our agenda um we also have a timeline for the trans transition to traversa it's the new updated transportation software uh that'll be coming forth in uh on in April uh we looked at the training on the use of Versa trans for the enrollment committee uh we also discussed the purchase of school buses um I'm sorry the lease purchase of school buses uh we discussed the electric School Bus Grant and let me just remind everyone we did one we did win the Grant in the first round but now more money was added to that Grant so to get to the actual cost of electric electric school buses because we won that Grant a few years back if I'm not mistaken um we it's also happens to be the uh bus driver and Van AIDS are in contract negotiation this year so we'll be discussing that um we looked at some potential cost savings ideas but no decisions have been made we are also looking into potential Revenue sources uh which would help with our budget um opening a training program that is open to other districts we discussed that we also looked into the esy and summer transportation and also route developments for the 2024 2025 school year our next meeting we haven't decided on a date yet thank you Miss barus we also have ad hoc committees that meet as needed State and County School Board representative Miss Rivera please report yes the next County meeting will be March 25th at 6 o' at Tom server intermediate East the topic will be the eighth grade dialogue thank you Mr rera advocacy committee chairperson Miss Gardella please report good evening the advocacy committee met yesterday um and members in attendance was M Rivera Miss Peril and myself uh things that we discussed we reviewed um assembly Bill 1286 and 1282 uh for consideration of public resolution at our next board meeting the committee agreed to support with a public resolution bill a126 which has the state cover 100% of non-public Transportation costs if a district meets outline criteria however the was a concern discussed in the long term that the district may not meet the criteria therefore we would suggest the criteria to include if the non-public Transportation costs are 50% or higher of the public school population um transportation would be 100% funded by the Department of Education the committee agreed to support with a public resolution Bill 81 1282 which covers 100% of the special education cost for both in District and out of District students currently the state covers 75% after the district reaches a first student educational threshold um the discuss uh a Senate bill it's 2343 which allows us two districts to raise the 2% tax living cap in order to fill the state funding void at this point the committee agreed that we canot Advocate on behalf of this bill as the local constituents voted against this very solution in November um the Senate Bill 2343 puts the fiscal responsibility to the local taxpayer and the committee would like to advocate for funding changes at the state level we also discussed areas within our budget where increase funding would be beneficial to the district this was multi language Learners and security we discussed um holding meetings with assemblymen ziki Senator gopal and Senator Hall we also discussed meeting with three or four Jackson residents to educate them on our vision and goal get insights and develop some action plans to include the Greater Community as well as connecting with other District advocacy committees as it was brought to our attention that there are several districts right now um advocating who have been cut state funding so we're hoping that we can get together for some S2 push um so our next business I might have skipped over that was obviously to schedule a meeting with um assembly M zi and at least one Senator invite and schedule a meeting with selected Jackson residents reach out via email to other District advocacy committees develop a plan of action for advocating for a revised school funding formula that includes our own residents other towns and speaking at the State Board of Education meetings we don't have a meeting date um but I'm sure we'll have an update next meeting thank you Miss Gardella I need a motion for approval of policy first reading revised motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCaron yes Mrs baroas yes Dr osbin yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P yes I need a motion for approval of regulations adoption motion second discussion roll call Mrs cordella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs brokas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera Mrs Cass yes Mr Pay yes I need a motion for approval of the minutes the official board meeting January 3rd 20124 reorganization meeting the close session meeting January 177 2024 and the official board meeting January 17th 2024 business meeting motion second discussion roll call Mrs cordella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs barokas yes Dr osbin yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P yes I need a motion for approval of the bill list motion second discussion roll Mrs gella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs brokas yes Dr osbin yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr pal Mar yes I need a motion for approval of treasurers and board secretaries reports motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs barokas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes yes Mr P yes I need a motion to open public forum on agenda items only we will hold another public forum during this meeting for all other questions this public forum will be for questions on agenda items only motion second please sign in and state the your name and whether or not you are a Jackson resident each person is allowed a maximum of five minutes to speak no person may speak more than once on the topic until all others have been heard all right good evening everyone uh my name is Ria Hami I live in Jackson I'm a resident here for the past 10 years uh my children go to school here in Jackson I have one in elementary one in Memorial here uh I have multiple questions comments concerns many are regarding the monitor ma'am this is just for agenda items only okay uh she can go okay monitor questions we could take it's on the agenda okay so here as a Jackson Township taxpayer citizen with a newly appointed monitor with a hefty salary what have you reviewed the budget before I assume so you know the details and what are your plans have you found any red flags have you found any concerns why ma'am ma'am I'm sorry just you have to address me the president sorry okay uh so were there any red flags in our finances for our educational system why do we need a monitor with a hefty salary which the citizens are responsible for paying I can say that the Jackson School District has been under S2 funding formula for the last six years which we've had $18 million of our funding removed the state of New Jersey has removed that from our funding uh with that um we've had an audit Auditors met two different Auditors come in and our audits have been very clean uh this the Ocean County Superintendent has also reviewed our spending and they have been very clear that we do not have a spending problem we have a revenue problem and that Revenue problem is caused by the state of New Jersey's S2 funding formula so that's why we now need to borrow some more uh of our own money back and with that comes a state monitor appointed by the Department of Education Miss prilly would you like to add anything to that yep no thank you um I just want to let you know that it is State Statute that requires that any school district that borrows money it's required um for a state monitor to be assigned so we yep I'm sorry go ahead that's okay okay um so I understand not really the formula is really complex I don't understand it at all I do get a slight gist of it but I'm not sure it seems not fair as a citizen to have my taxes increased and my child my children in their classrooms and their schools are losing programs and benefits and so I'm paying more but getting less just to keep it simpler yeah and and you're going to see uh in this agenda we actually are supporting a bill 3589 that is sponsored by assembly minui and that bill is actually uh asking for the state to pay for any state monitor within the state of New Jersey um so I will discuss more of that when we get to finance I'm going to actually have a statement on that um but I but I I hear you yes so that makes me a little bit happier thank you for that I'd also like just to comment for a second um we for six years now have been talking about the cuts that have happened through the legislation of S2 and the funding formula we've done lots of things I think hopefully you've seen those Communications you've seen the advocating we've done the informing testifying at assembly meeting budget meetings um we have done campaigns of letter writing postcard writing um you know we've done a lot to address that including we were part of a lawsuit to try and under better understand that formula so there are lots of things that the school district has done um you know with losing the state funding it was a perfect storm scenario in the beginning when two first came came to be we did lose enrollment significantly so it made sense to lose funding but there was this line that got crossed about the third year where we started to see and anticipate this coming um and tried to be protective tried to inform everybody including our legislators of what was happening here it's a perfect storm scenario especially with inflation right so in this current Year's budget instead of the programs that you're referencing of being cut any deeper we've cut significantly and did not want to take it any further because it would have drastically affected students hence we met with our county superintendent and requested the loan so that was to avoid having to cut any more programs okay uh in my youngest child's school there is a great influx of Spanish-speaking students with no one to communicate properly or teach them English and we have not had a public morning announcement speaker for some time because Miss Hogan is being shared between schools um also my oldest child that's here in Memorial had when he was in Johnson he he was able to learn Spanish as a second language that's no longer the case my younger child doesn't have that and that's just bits and pieces of things that that one child had six years ago and this one doesn't uh and as in regards to the safety concerns those numbers are kind of H high so how are we addressing it appropriately still with not the proper staff I'm over my time sorry so I'm going to encourage you to reach out to my office tomorrow and I'd be happy to speak further on details of such um you know yes things have have been affected you know as I said over over the years of constantly being I just wanted to say it on record I'm sorry I understand I just wanted to State it on record got because it is a concern of course y but feel free to to give me a call tomorrow and I'd be happy to to go over things with you a little bit more detail thank you so much thank you for your questions and and your passion I wish we could fill this whole Auditorium up with more people that really have that passion so thank you I think you guys are doing a great job may I just say one thing just because I saw you came with notes and you were prepared and everything to speak today so if there's other things that you want to say on record there is a second Forum to ask questions that are not on things on the agenda so you could finish thank you I I just wanted to say as well uh many of us on the board all of us uh have children in the district so we have the same concerns that you do and that's why we're up here I appreciate you are there any additional agenda only questions seeing no one come forward I need a motion to close public forum motion all in favor I I resolution for Action all right I need a motion to move Finance motion second okay I'm going to open up for discussion I will say I do have a good bit of discussion on finance I'd like to just first uh highlight Finance number 10 if I can just give an overview for those who are listening and who are here uh on tonight's agenda it includes a vote to potentially approve a resolution to publicly support Bill a 3589 sponsored by assemblyman Alex siwicki that provides the salary and other costs associated with the commissioner of education's appointment of a state Monitor and other staff will be paid by state as well the Jackson School District acknowledg is that the current New Jersey law that requires a monitor to be appointed to the a school district has requested a loan from the Department of Education the Jackson Township School District has lost $18 million in state aid through a 6-year S2 school funding legislation in response that Jackson Township School District was forced to reduce its budget by 215 staff members the extraordinary growth of Jackson Township non-public students uh base far exceeds the district's budgeting capacity and has created a significant challenge to our resources uh and finances uh and transportation and Personnel Resources uh the district believes that the expense of a Department of Education monitor should be paid uh for by the Department of Education and therefore supports Bill a 3589 and if I could also just add miss gardela Mr McCarron and myself were with assemblyman siwicki at the State House when he submitted Bill a 3589 we are in complete support of this bill I firmly believe that if the state of New Jersey wants to mandate and appoint a state monitor then the state of New Jersey should pay for those mandates and appointments any other discussion on finance am I on uh regarding Bill a 3589 um I heard that it had a very good bipartisan support in the Senate and it'll be introduced to the assembly next week so it's really exciting thank you for your hard work on that all right while I'm added I do have some more discussion I wanted to give anyone else a chance here um Finance number four uh before I vote on finance number four and this has nothing to do with our state monitor Miss Miss Morris however I find it completely unfair and unnecessary that the state of New Jersey appoints a state monitor to oversee the district for a problem they created let me be clear the Jackson School District has never had a spending problem anyone who has reviewed our spending including the ocean county superintendent and multiple auditing firms have agreed that we are spending responsibly we have a revenue problem and that problem has been caused by the governor of New Jersey with the disastrous S2 cuts the governor has reduced our state aid to the point where we now need to borrow some of that money back which has resulted in a monitor it's incredibly unfair for some good news though I would like to uh close my portion of discussion for finance before we go to a vote with Finance uh number 13 which was recently added to our um addendum uh I would like to acknowledge that this uh that Finance number uh 13 is a generous donation to The District of desks and chairs from Next Level Real Estate School uh its CEO and instructor is Miss cun who is actually here in the audience today so thank you Miss cun um we appreciate that this donation will positively impact our students so thank you very much any other discussion on finance roll call Mr cordella yes Mr McCaron yes Mrs barokas yes Dr Osman Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P yes I need a motion to move facilities motion second yes discussion roll call Mr cordella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs brokas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P yes I need a motion to move programs motion second discussion yes I have am I on number 19 I just wanted to hear from I guess that was really the finance committee uh regarding how come the minimum maximum family cap wasn't raised with everything else what was the thought process behind that what was the question I'm sorry repeat it so number 19 uh I don't mean to yell it was the increase of athletic and co-curricular participation rates for 2425 we raised the athletic fee from 75 to 100 the activity fee from 35 to 5050 but we kept the maximum family cap the same I was just curious on that how that would came to be Mr binsky would you sure so when we decided to raise uh the participation fee specifically the the for one student we didn't want to overly impact us any one family so that they would have to may be forced to make a decision where one child would play and another child they'd be like oh maybe we shouldn't play if we raise that too high um so we wanted to keep the family maximum be the same so families wouldn't have to make as tough of a decision like that any additional discussion on programs roll call Mr Gardella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs brokas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr yes I need a motion to move students motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCaron yes Mrs barokas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes mrle Mar yes I need a motion to move Personnel motion second discussion roll call Mr cordella yes Mr McCarron on their Personnel uh 14 document K GG is a no and Personnel 16 a is a no everybody else yes Mrs barokas um under Personnel 14 um GG is a no and six under 16 a is a no everyone else everything else a yes Dr Osman okay under for um Personnel 14 since there seems to be a lack of data for for all of the Jackson Memorial High School recommendations I am going to abstain from all of the Jackson Memorial High School recommendations and I am saying yes to all of the others Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr Tri P Mar yes I need a motion to open public forum on any topic pertaining to the Board of Education motion second please sign in and state your name and whether or not you are a Jackson resident each person is allowed a maximum of five minutes to speak no person may speak more than once on the topic until all others have been heard hello um would I just put my address right hi I'm here on a couple different things I'm here as a a resident I think you guys are doing an amazing job I definitely want to come to more meetings I'm also the lison as a council president um and also as the owner of the school that just donated um the desks and the chairs it's was an honor and I was happy to donate it but it was also a Bittersweet um just as I think it's kind of fits because it was a school it's a different kinde of school it was a real estate school as you were saying people that go there they do not it's you know it's high school education um unfortunately I fought the state for a very long time to not allow to stop brick and mortar in the education process of my school now it's done online so unfortunately students can't come to my brick and mortar because they would rather them sit in front of a laptop and get a license that is going to one day possibly sell your home your biggest investment um it really really was upsetting to me but I'm happy that you know I was able to donate uh that stuff to the school that I went to and then second secondly as a council member council president uh that sets the agenda just like you guys do I'm here to say that I plan on supporting the Board of Education um in their support of the Alex uh SII assemblyman sii's Bill and it will be on the next meeting for the council to vote I will be speaking with them and hopefully having their a 5 on that so thank you guys keep it up thank you council president C thank you for the donation and the support I'm not sure if this is the correct moment to ask this question but I hear about redistricting students moving students from schools I can address that okay so we currently have a board enrollment committee that is studying the enrollment Trends we've had a few meetings um we have made no decisions about redistricting it's just a committee that is watching enrollment um and looking at our numbers we do have some schools that have um are highly attended uh large numb so we're just reviewing and looking at those numbers right now but there's been no recommendations moved forward or anything if we were going to make any of those recommendations it would be very public okay thank you that was all thank you for your question our yeah just don't get too close because it's really a lot louder than ours oh it's live um good evening my name is morai Bernstein um I just I'm sorry I came late to the meeting I had a meeting in the county um but I also did notice on the agenda Finance add motion number 12 which is a motion to I guess contract with the lsta um as a parent of a private school CH child who's been at multiple meetings in the past when you've had hundreds of parents here I think it's a major step in the right direction that will hopefully ensure more children are able to get on buses safe buses um safety is obviously the key over here hopefully reliable buses and hopefully will be a a learning process for everyone but hopefully it will be a process that will go smoothly so first all I want to thank you as a council member I also want to take a moment to think and look forward to continuing to work together with the district getting more buses on the roads in safe reliable ways um having one address that we could contact when there are issues and I think that will be something that we'll all be very proud of so lots of luck to everyone involved and hopefully it'll be a wonderful year 24 25 next year thank you thank you councilman are there any additional questions or comments I forgot to ask something I heard LSD buses before so the LSD buses along with other buses that are not Jackson School District buses are habitually speeding will this be addressed somehow somewhere so oh I don't know if that was me or you um so anybody that we contract with we obviously follow up with them if there's any kinds of reports made um but in the event if you are seeing or hearing of any speeding we um encourage you to call our Police Department first and then notify us and we can follow up with the contractor as well okay okay thank you thank you any additional questions or comments seeing no one come forward I need a motion to close public forum motion all in favor I we'll now turn to board comment starting with M McCarron I was able to attend as already mentioned the uh signing of assembly bill number a 3589 with assemblyman Alex SOI uh I appreciate his support for our schools and I hope that that Bill gets passed uh making it the state's responsibility to pay for the monitor wish everybody a good night and thank you thank you all for coming out I agree with you 100% hope this bill passes and thank you all for coming out thank you all for attending in person on live stream for the informative presentations and inquiries thank you Miss for your generous donations to the district everyone have a wonderful night I just wanted to say even though Jose left that I was very impressed with his report from Liberty um especially when he was discussing the positive climate and culture it's so important for our students and I wanted to applaud him for bringing that up I also want to thank um the staff member who's volunteering to uh be the adviser for the environmental Club um having created my own recycling Club as a young student I think that's great and I think that our board of education is doing great things and I appreciate our Jackson Education Foundation and all of our community members that are involved here tonight so thank you um I wanted to thank everyone who came this evening and those that are watching online I am looking forward to seeing many of you at our two up Upcoming plays um we're seeing um Beauty and the Beast at Liberty and Mary Poppins at Memorial so if you see me in the audience please come up and introduce yourself um and also on April 11th um the Jackson Education Foundation is having a senior senior prom um even though we there isn't there was an age put on there it's really we really just want the community to come out and join us it's a great event it's going to be held at Liberty High School and it's really just a community event to raise funds to give grants and scholarships back to our children so I know I'm going to be there and I haven't turned that age yet so and I hope to see many others that as well so please join us on April 11th and thank thank you for this evening um I just want to thank everyone for coming and I want to also thank Mrs Miss for her generous donation um we also received an anonymous donation um to pay for um the home and lunch balance so that's always fabulous when something like that happens um my sentiments are the same as everyone at this table regarding Bill 3589 I think it's absolutely ridiculous that the state is forcing us to pay for something that they're mandating um and the fact that they put in the position so all the way around um I hope this Bill gets passed um I do encourage everyone to go out and see our two plays our Productions are always amazing they're fantastic um and also the senior prom I'm going to piggy back on what Ally said I will be there as well I am of age but um we are looking forward to this event I think it's going to be fabulous and we would really like to get a lot of community involvement and have a lot of people um attend um other than that I wish everyone a good night thank you I want to thank everyone who came out tonight to uh view this meeting and for those online watching from home it is important for our town to receive accurate information not misinformation or fake news that is so easily found online watching these meetings and reaching out to The District administration team will provide everyone with correct information my fellow board members and myself are also available here publicly every month and also via email anytime time if anyone has any questions or concerns let's all work together to keep the Jackson School District a great place for all of our kids thank you also very much and have a wonderful night I need a motion to adjourn by acclamation motion