[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] and [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] I call the media to order please rise salute the flag [Applause] 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 Mrs Gardella present Mr McCaron present Mrs barokas present Dr Osman Mrs Rivera Pres Mrs Cass present Mr triple mury present I need a motion for approval of the agenda motion ja discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCaron yes Mrs barokas yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P yes I now turn the meeting over to Mrs peril for her superintendent's report thank you Mr P good evening everyone today we communicated to the community that we received written notification this afternoon that the board's unanimous rejection of the proposed budget has been overturned by the state monitor assigned to our district there have been no changes to the budget that was presented last week which means that the 2425 budget will move forward as presented this is not the budget we wanted in fact it is heartbreaking however we are bound by statutes that say no matter how many millions of dollars in funding we have lost and no matter how much our circumstances costs and student needs have changed over the past seven years and no matter how responsible we have acted to keep this District afloat during this overwhelming loss of state aid that we must present a balanced budget to accomplish this Mission Impossible we worked hard to preserve our programs and activities for our students but in order to do that we needed to make big sacrifices the most significant of these sacrifices are the closing of the Rosen hour Elementary School and the loss of 70 positions we could not afford to lose without significantly impacting the operations of a district this large and the supports we need to provide our students it saddens me that the district will have to endure these deep Cuts but it is necessary for us to begin to to move forward together we need to plan and prepare for our students returning in September we also need to Mo move forward strategically planning for the future of this District so we can continue to provide the best possible education to our students is important to remember that moving forward does not mean giving up and we will continue to Advocate strongly for the support of our students families and our taxpayers deserve with that tonight's meeting was for the purpose of voting on The personnel agenda items that were not voted on last week additionally on the Personnel items there are also a few new Personnel items that include resignations and new hires with that I turn it back to you Mr prary thank you Miss prilly 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 3 minutes to speak no person may speak more than once on on a topic until all others have been heard this will be the only open public session this evening so if you'd like to say something come up at this time I don't know how to turn it on oh now is it good all right all right good evening everyone um I know the board you've all received my email that I I sent my name is Nicole cman I'm a teacher here at um Sylvia Rosen hour and I'm also a parent here um in Jackson so I know you all received my email so I'm really just going to address um Miss Morris here um I actually did try to find your email somewhere but no luck um I have been emloyed by the Jackson School District for almost 18 years most of them spent at Rosen hour I have been lucky to have worked with amazing co-workers fantastic families and the best principles in the district unlike all other schools in Jackson it's a true neighborhood School most of the students walk to school in addition I believe that we have the most English language Learners that being said many of the parents do not drive the only contact that they have is with the school parent advocate before and after school where they're jeopardizing their future education by putting these students on the bus and taking away their main communication with a school look around you don't see many Rosen our parents and it's not because they don't care it's because they can't get here others are so busy working two to three jobs that they can't come and even for some they can't read English so they don't even know that we're closing I went to Dollar General the other day and I saw one of the younger students when I mentioned that I was lucky enough to be going to Crawford with her she didn't even understand what I was talking about she was trying to ask her mom what was going on and although I don't speak much Spanish I was able to understand that the mom just kept telling her her school name was Rosen hour not Crawford my heart actually hurts for them these families they came here some literally risking their lives for a better education and more opportunities for their kids and now here we are taking that all away I would like to ask you Miss Morris have you ever been to Rosen hour have you seen the programs that we offer these students did you know about the we build club that I run with the the district PT Natalie Zera that club which is run entire by volunteers and completely supported by our principal Teresa litra give the students the ability to work with the needy peers all around the district this year which was our first year we made Cory Rosen Hall filters to help the kids with breathing problems we made soccer plows so that kids in wheelchairs can play soccer and gym and most recently they designed and made water bottle holders so that the students in wheelchairs and Walkers did not have to rely on others to carry their water bottles all this at zero cost to the district everything needed including a 3D printer was supplied by private donors I also had Kenneth Bradley a professional football player come in to give a motivational speech to my flag football team all this will now be unatt unattainable to many of the students because these programs are held before and after school when they have no access to Transportation I know as a board you're fighting for our students and I really appreciate that and I thank you for all of your hard work what I don't understand is that the selling of roseen hour has to be in immediate need none of the employees thankfully are losing their jobs so we won't be saving money on Personnel yes the building will be used their building will not be used so there'll be a savings on utilities but now we're going to need a bus for over 200 students I'm sure that's going to raise Transportation cost significantly that cost will only increase and be ongoing not just through this budget but all the budgets in the future I understand that the school will now have to be ready for sale but why not do that as the year goes on after hours unless there's already cash offer on the table selling the school won't be overnight I know there's a process to sell it you have to go through the county and the state but again could not be done while still using the school throughout the year there's also no guarantee that the district will even be getting the asking price or that the new buyers won't ask for costly repairs before buying it I want to applaud the board's decision to sue the state of New Jersey however if we do win and get all the funding back the school will all already be sold in the meantime Rosen hour students will be increasing classroom sizes in Crawford and students in other schools will be continued to be educated in trailers I just want to tell you though that I I didn't want to come up here and say all of this but I can't continue to stand up in my classroom and tell my students to stand up for what they believe in while not doing it myself nor can I tell them to stand up to bullying when I see our district being bullied by the state of New Jersey I'm not a hypocrite now I know Miss Morris that you didn't come here and demand that they sell roseen hour but what you did do was give our board no choice you did all of that without going around and seeing what could be lost you didn't talk to the students the staff or the parents all of the Educators that I know they go into this career to help students and their families not to force districts to close down schools anyone who does this in my opinion is a hypocrite thank you for your time [Applause] I'll sign in in a minute can you hear me all right great uh I'm assemblyman Alex swii uh I live in Jackson I represent Jackson as well as uh 12 other uh municipalities within legislative district 12 uh first off I uh want to commend uh all of you uh for all the work that you've been doing uh the fighting you've been doing on behalf of the Jackson School District um I did have a question though uh when was it that you were notified of the uh Department of education's decision on the school budget was a little after uh 11 I believe this morning today yes today why wasn't it within the 48 hours that we were told in the last meeting uh you'd be notified that would have to be Miss Morris to answer that question Miss Morris could you answer that it just took longer to review um in complete detail everything that had to be reviewed uh to address the budget as you well know it's a very very large budget and um a budget that is being looked at that needs to be uh recommended as a balanced budget uh which necessitated in this particular case at least an 18 million cut just took longer than um than I anticipated okay but it was it was over to you to make that decision correct to approve the budget or not approve it yes okay great so my question though is if it was over to you to approve it and frankly it would have been if they voted yes on it right I mean ultimately you would have had to have the final say but it was over to you to approve it at the last meeting you said it was over to you to approve it and that you would need I think he said something like or probably within 48 hours to do it the failure to do it within 48 hours took it past the deadline which was this past Monday correct correct okay so given that why is it that the Department of Education put out a press release today that said our action today is to compel to provide a balanced budget for both districts ensuring that the failure by the failure by these Board of educations to meet their budget adoption obligations why did the Department of Education put a PR out that blames these folks for not meeting the de line for their budget when it was over to you after last week's meeting to get it done within 48 hours so they could meet it I can't answer that I don't know okay well I apologize on behalf of the state for that garbage I mean it's unbelievable to me that the Department of Education which we've been pleading with right begging for help all of you me assembly M Clifton who also represents this District have all gone above and beyond to meet with the Department of Education to testify before assembly budget committees to put PR out there ourselves to make sure that everyone's aware of it to speak on the assembly floor to ensure our colleagues were aware of what was going on here in Jackson which we we assume they didn't right we did all of that and then we get down to the final passing of what's a horrible budget horrible and everyone here everyone here knows it and what does the doe do nothing to help this town but they took the time today to put a PR out to blame these folks that is just unconscionable so again I apologize on behalf of the state I said it before the state caused this problem not any of you I appreciate all the work that you guys have done I'll keep fighting for you I promise thank you Kathy deiro sorry I'm slightly late to class um I just wanted to say something about this press release that the state put out I was actually a little bit encouraged at the last meeting when I heard Miss Mars speak and tell us that the you know the State Department of Education was hearing what was happening here this press release was not issued by people who heard anything that was happening here to call All of You volunteers and the professionals that are paid by the district a failure for this is ridiculous there's only one failure here the failure is on the part of the state it's on the part of us2 it's on the part of the legislators that passed it who contined to pass it the governor who's condoned it the State Department of Education that hasn't done anything about it of sub of substance to help this District Tom's River Lakewood other districts with similar problems that's where the failure lies it's not with any of you volunteers who serve on this board as opposed to people at the state who were paid $175 and $150,000 a year to do their jobs so I think that it needs to be publicly said that to release a press release that specifically points the finger at the boards of Education as a failure is completely unconscionable and I think every voter in this District knows where the failure lies and knows where the fix has to be made and I look forward to hearing what that fix is going to be for other districts that are in the same problem who can't sell a school so thank you all for everything you've done on behalf of all of the students and all of the staff members um and I'm sorry and I'm glad to hear our representative say the same I'm sorry that the state felt the need to issue a press release like that when it could have just simply put the budgets forward and not done that so thank [Applause] you any additional comments or questions seeing no one come forward I need a motion to close public forum motion all in favor I I need a motion to move Personnel motion second discussion roll call Ms Cardella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs barokas yes Mrs Rivera yes M Cass yes Mr P yes this time we will will open up for board comments starting with Mr McCarron just want to say I felt it to be a shame that the state chose against providing additional funding to our district it amazes me that everyone acknowledges a revenue problem and a failure in the funding formula but the state took no action to fix the problem voting matters it is time to put people in office that care about our school thank you I want to thank everyone for coming out you know your input and comments and I appreciate everyone have a good and safe night rendered speechless um I just want to say that uh you know I thank everybody who kind of said publicly exactly what I believe everybody on the board was feeling um It's upsetting to think that we came into this with a hinder of Hope just to be placed at the blame um I would say that that's you know maybe made to make us feel like we shouldn't be advocating for our students but I think that we're probably going to do the opposite of that and Advocate a little bit louder and for one you know a g a long range game plan so we can have the foresight to make sure that we're not making hastily made decisions that people can't wrap their heads around and that affect the students it's just it's no longer so you know we're going to come together as a board and an administrative team and we're going to continue to do the right thing for the Jackson students uh like uh Mrs Gardella I too am uh speechless and that's rare for me and but it's probably better if I remain speechless because what might come out of my mouth my might end up on the front page of the newspaper cuz we know how much I love the uh people running our state right now so thank you all for coming to our defense and uh thank you for the to the state for calling us out as failures because I wouldn't want you to be embarrassed it's always better when you just put it on the uh volunteers of the townships way to go for classless as usual usual thank you everyone have a good night um I just want to say thank you to everyone for coming out and Mr siwicki for your kind words um and everyone else who spoke as well as you know we've been advocating clearly on deaf ears I still keep going back to the news2 when Murphy claimed he didn't even know who we are um had no idea who Jackson was but he did know that we had religious schools in the township it's just very funny um and even the DOA I just find it very disappointing that this is how our state runs um we pay a state monitor we actually pay this person to sit there and no offense to you Mrs Mars it it absolutely has to do with the state and how they operate and I think it is the most disgusting thing and what they've done to our district is just pitiful so other than that everyone have a great night thank you state overreach over an elected school board can undermine local governance erode Democratic principles and disregard the unique needs and priorities of the school district balancing State oversight will local autonomy is crucial to maintaining the integrity and effectiveness of public education in my view the state monitor unilaterally adopting our budget was a complete overreach from an unelected official who does not live in this town and does not know its residents in my opinion the state has made up its mind it wants to Target Jackson assemblyman sukii called this quote political end quote I have to agree governor mph is targeting Jackson and its students because of how Jackson votes in elections this is completely detestable mayor Raina said quote using our children as political pawns is shameful and highlights politics at its worst end quote since the implementation of S2 our school district has lost approximately 22.4 million in state aid a result as a result we have to had to cut numerous positions our class class sizes are overcrowded we have had to eliminate many extracurricular activities and our students are even forced to learn in trailers we are unable to make several important Capital Improvements and we cannot even upgrade our school buses while our Administration has done its best to get by with limited state aid these past few years we finally hit a fiscal cliff in the 23 24 school year specifically we had to obtain a $6 million loan from the state to balance our budget for the 2425 school year the commissioner of Education refused to even recommend a loan for us which he is permitted to do by Statute given our dire fiscal predicament I find this astonishing given that the state and our underfunding is the sole reason why we are in this situation let me be clear the situation that this District faces has been caused entirely by the state not by our administrators not by this Administration and not by this elected board even our state monitor has publicly acknowledged this fact to deny us the absolute bare minimal alone which would at least get us by for the next school year and permit us to offer students a thorough and efficient education it is disturbing on many levels it is the it is disturbing on many levels and it is the board's business position that if required to take the actions that this budget would require which includes selling Rosen hour Elementary School cutting even more positions they want us to eliminate courtesy busing among other things it will deprive our students and our district of being able to provide students with a thorough and efficient education for the next school year which is a violation of New Jersey Constitution our students have our students will have to learn in vastly overcrowded classrooms and in certain situations sub substandard conditions many students will also have to walk to school in in and along dangerous roadways with no sidewalks and where cars travel at high rates of speed as a result of the state's repeated insistence we eliminate courtesy busing now to be clear Miss Peril has worked diligently to salvage it for the 2425 school year and she's commended for that but nonetheless they continue to force us to get rid of it we have explained all of this to the commissioner and state officials more than we can even remember but they simply do not care we will continue to Advocate we will continue to leverage every resource available to us whatever that may be to fight for our students you have our word and we thank you have a good [Applause] night I'm going to motion to go into close session for matters of attorney client privilege can I have a second discussion all in favor I no action will be taken uh at this time in the exec session but I do adjourn uh I need I need a motion to adjourn motion done we don't we could do it very good e