I'm call the meeting order so off the Pledge of Allegiance please flag of the United States of America stands indivisible andice for all adate notice of this meeting was advertised in the as Park Press and the beacon on January 11 2024 by posting the notice in the forkin river and L Harbor Post Office and by following a copy of this notice with the Le Township Clerk as required by the open public meeting act rule call please Mr Bell ABS he going to be late Mrs armado here Mr conedy present Mrs Walker she's absent Mr armado here Mrs Claus here Mr Peters present we're going to go into executive session be it resolved that an executive session be convened for the purpose of discussing confidential student matters including but not limited to harassment intimidation and bullying confidential legal matters including but not limited to the current case load and confidential Personnel matters the subject matters of these discussions will be disclosed to the public when the reason for confidentiality subsides and the length of the executive session is estimated to be approximately 60 minutes after which the board shall reconvene and proceed with business at 7 7 p.m. action may be taken motion motion Peters second all in favor I I I okay can everybody hear can everybody hear me okay first I'd like to apologize for being late we had some uh legal matters we had to resolve um I'm not sure if you're aware of how the agenda operates or not but when we get to items number uh 21 through 22 on page six of the agenda we still do not have our items resolved in private session we will go back into private session again when we get to that point but on that note I did request to have um the meeting tonight in the auditorium to accommodate everyone so nobody was sitting in the stairs nobody was on the floor nobody was in the caeria what I am going to ask this is we're in a bigger room if you were going to make public comment tonight would you please sit down over here up front on the left side of the stadium that way I can call you out and find you easier who's going to be making public comment and uh we're not all over the place thank you I appreciate it if we could stay out of that front row on the right the board is going to go down there for presentations for this evening and uh thank you so much for coming appreciate it so just to start sja met on April 8th the juniors are working on their May 2nd prom which will be at the holiday in in Mana Hawkin they're also working on their first fundraiser kiss his senior goodbye and the senior's prom will be on June 13th we would now like to present the this month's unsung hero Award presented by SGA if Will OD DOD can please come up to the stage meet me by the podium that would be great please give her family a round of applause I don't know if she's in attendance today but I'll say something short about her right now for the month of April the student government Association would like to recognize Willow DOD as the unsung hero Willow is a member of the leadership academy of humanities and balances numerous AP and honor level classes while simutaneously maintaining a vivacious social life she's a star player for the school Lacross team and is able to manage the rigorous day to day of junior year all while keeping a smile on her face and existing as a light to all to those around her for those reasons it is it is clear why she has been chosen as April's unsung hero [Applause] congratulations that's going to be all from us next for the report from the superintendent okay can everybody hear us okay yeah no louder Mr Li's up in the booth maybe he can turn our microphones up give me a thumbs up Mr Lidle when okay can you hear me now yes all right I'm gonna I'll lean in okay uh welcome to the April board meeting thank you all for uh being here tonight uh we have quite a few topics to uh discuss but uh first I am going to turn it over to uh Mr King to introduce our seniors of the month so board members if you uh we're going to drop the screen um and if you want to come around and uh be able to see for for good evening everyone and welcome to the board meeting I thank you Dr perer Board of Education and everyone in attendance it gives me great pleasure to announce April seniors of the month our first senior of the month is Audrey Malu Audrey please come on up her family's in attendance so please a round of applause for their family as [Applause] well hello we're here to celebrate April seniors of the month our first senior of the month is Audrey Malu here's a short video on her accomplishments I'm Audrey malanu and I'm proud to be April senior of the month at Lacy Township High School congratulations Audrey malanu I'm being named senior of the month I'm very proud Audrey congratulations on student of the month it's welld deserved some of my favorite memories from high school have been competing at the robotics competition and being a part of the science fair you know Audrey ever since you were a freshman you've always been goal oriented and driven one who I thought was going to be possibly a mechanical engineer maybe an orthopedic maybe a biomedical engineer because you always have a neck for the way the things work during my time at lths I've been part of the interact Club the biology Club a stem representative and a co- captain for the SE perch team Audrey as a STEM Academy student I've been impressed with your ability and your initiative since freshman year and this year is no different you wanton Our Best in Show at our schoolwide science fair and this past weekend your robotics team won the New Jersey C perch competition which allows you to compete at Internationals for a second time and hopefully you'll bring home a trophy outside of school I like to hang out with my friends watch movies and go thrifting Audrey you've always forged your own path through all four years of high school which has made you one of the top academic seniors your success in each subject has been unmatched After High School I plan to go to college to pursue biomedical engineering and hopefully have that as my future career so congratulations Audrey I'm being named senior of the month Audrey I have no doubt you will be a successful biomedical engineer scientist at a yet to be chosen University any schools will be lucky to have you as you'll redefine their standards of excellence as you as you have done here at Lacy I wish you the best of luck and look forward to hearing more about your [Applause] success congratulations again Audrey our next April senior of the month is Christian divers Christian M up his familyes in attendance a round of applause for them as [Applause] well our next Senor of the month is Christian ders congratulations to both our seniors here's a video on his accomplishments I'm Christian De and I'm proud to be name April's senior of the month at Lacy Township High School Christian congratulations on student of the month you have been a unique standout in the STEM Academy over the past four years congratulations Christian Endeavors on being named senior of the month I'm a member of the baseball program here I'm also a member of the STEM Academy which I'm very happy to be part of because I've met some of the best friends I've ever made in my life Christian your ability to forge ahead no matter what gets in your way has been one of the reasons you have been so successful continue on that path success is definitely getting guaranteed outside of school I really like big baseball guy and like when I'm not doing that I'm usually at home playing video games reading chilling listening to music anything I got to tell you last year during your leadership presentation at Forest Gump wasn't exactly sure what to expect but you're the type of person who kind of takes a project for what it is and then truly makes it his own that's going to take you extremely far in life I respect that about you you see what you have and you make it what you need that's a big big big experience part of you that I truly respect also my favorite memories here are probably going to Maryland for a robotics trip for C perch we won the international competition well we placed 11th out of 60 which pretty good and then another one of my favorite memories is cardboard canoe which we did for the STEM Academy where we were given like three weeks to make a canoe out of cardboard and I mean we sunk but we had a great time Christian four years of stem robotics Club has created a lot of good memories mostly funny ones about you living in your own world but that ability to focus has really made you successful and allowed you to balance you know Sports academics and even compete at that International C perch competition last year after high school I'm probably going to go to Ruckers University where I've been selected for the Honors College and I'm probably going to do the 4 plus one master's program for engineering so congratulations Christian I'm being named senior of the month Christian congratulations on being accepted into the Ruckers Honors College of Engineering 5 years Masters program this is a very challenging program but I have no doubt you'll succeed I wish you the best of luck and look forward to seeing you in the [Applause] future thank you Dr PR that concludes my presentation for the [Applause] evening all right another round of applause to Audrey and Christian awesome okay so usually after we do our seniors of the month we talk about our staff members of the month and like I always say behind every successful student is an amazing teacher that help who helped him or her get there so our two staff members of the month are Lauren Mahar and Kimberly Carl are you both here with us tonight yes come on up all right well they're wake making their way up to the stage let me tell you a little bit about why they were selected so this is Kimberly Carl's making her way up uh she is a teacher at Lacy Township middle school and this is what your colleagues said about you Kim when we think of a staff person of the month we think of someone who has shown outstanding commitment and dedication to our students staff or Community we think of someone who sets an example of Excellence Kimberly is this person not only does she design and Implement engaging lessons that utilize different instructional strategies and platforms she can connect with students through her deeply caring attitude concerned influence and positive presence there was so much more that was in this paragraph but I was going to be reading for a long time so I picked out the uh bigger points so it is for this reason these reasons that Kim is deserving of recognition as District staff member of the month congratulations oh no no no don't go too far we have a video yes we do is Lauren with us tonight no she couldn't make it okay so Lauren Mahar is a teacher at forkid River school and I'm going to read a little bit about what her colleague said about her Lauren encourages the children to be the best that they can be and to be proud of themselves and their classmates accomplishments she Fosters a team mentality in her class Lauren always has a plan a b and NC she teaches with compassion and dedication if a student gets discouraged with a lesson because they are not grasping the topic Lauren will try another route until the student comprehends what is being taught she is an amazing teacher and we are so happy to work with her this year and honored to nominate her as teacher of the month congratulations Lauren and so we have a video about the both of them Lidle hello lazy Township welcome to the for River School we are here to surprise special education teacher Miss Lauren Mahar who was nominated as the Lacy Township School District's uh employee the month for April so come on a surprise boys and girls how are you how are we doing today everybody ladies this Mahar how are you I have a special guest here boys and girls can I have your attention please yes I have a very special announcement for the month of April I am here to congratulate the Lacy Township one of the Lacy Township School District's employees of the month for April and that person is Miss Mahar congrat [Applause] yay than guys I want to tell you what a fabulous teacher she is um she was moved from first grade and she was a little hesitant this year and she never worked with the power before so we had a little bit of getting used to in there but um it's it's wonderful this room and Miss mahara has made it such a wonderful place um it's home it's uh very comforting inviting the children she encourages the children to be themselves um and act on their feelings and it's okay to be S or happy or share and um she's a very compassionate teacher and um the children are very very comfortable in there and they just love that room and the environment that she's created this year and I just want to say thank you for making me feel welcome in there and the children and the other Paras and anybody else who comes in there they know it's a safe haven and it's a home away from home we're here go surprise Kim Carl who just received staff member of the month come on let's go hey Miss Carls can I hijack your class for a second sure definitely so everybody you may not know but uh every month the district C celebrates a staff member of the month and this month Miss Carl's uh we're recognizing Miss Carl congratulations all right Miss Miss Carls was uh nominated by Mrs Kirk and we got a committee together and they chose you so congratulations again thank you so much thank you Kim congratulations on being selected as a District staff person of the month so deserving and I'm humbled by your awesomeness Your Enthusiasm and the way that you really care about your students it's a pleasure to be your colleague and your friend congratulations [Applause] we're good okay another round of applause for our two teachers of the month Kim and Lauren okay as per tradition Mr light are all be ready for our April Lacy now we are okay I'll I can't [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] this is all I got another day another impostor I won't let you give up and I hear a voice whisper I'll meet you right there in Paris [Music] to [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] all right thank you Mr merman and to all the staff members who submitted footage for our April Lacy now another round of applause that was amazing okay I now have the very distinct honor of recognizing some amazing people in the room who go above and beyond every every single month to do amazing things and they are so generous to the students of the Lacy Township School District they are so dedicated and when I got the phone call about this latest donation I was truly stunned um I believe Heather scanland you are going to come up on behalf of the Lacy the forkid river rotary all of you are coming up Mr angon are you coming up as well come on up I'm not going to steal your thunder I'm going to let them tell you about the donation and what it is for good evening so my name is Drew and I'm a member and the current president of the forkid river Rotary Club we're here this evening to make a $20,000 donation to be used towards new sustainable mental health projects in our schools thank you as you may or may not know rotary is a worldwide service organization with over 1.4 million members in over 200 countries one of rotary's goals this year is to address mental health issues throughout the world as a local Club our focuses on making our community a better place to live and raise our families and for this reason we're happy to follow rotary International's example by making this donation uh Dr pery has identified some wonderful programs that schools can utilize to enhance student mental health we hope that this $220,000 funding Grant from the forkid river Rotary Club will help her introduce several of these programs into our schools in the near future thank [Applause] you yep all right yes don't try to we'll get your real one the cash got it thank you so much on behalf of the Lacy Township School District the Board of Education all of our staff members again we were absolutely uh floored by the generosity of the forkid river Rotary Club um it and it's you know it's this tonight what happened but it's every month there's always something amazing that the fork River rotary uh does for the students and the staff of the Lacy Township School District we owe them so much gratitude another round of applause thank you so much okay while our uh board members uh make it back to their seats I am going to turn it over to miss Ormsby to introduce our auditor and tell you a little bit about why the auditor is going to be presenting tonight all right so we have uh Mr stankowitz from uh Stein uh I'm I forgot the name of the Samuel Klein thank you um to present our audit for the 2022 2023 uh year um we have to do this audit every year he'll explain uh some more details about it um but Mr s yes that's fine right there good evening my name is Jerry stackit I'm a partner in Samuel kleinon company CPA firm we specialize in audits of school districts municipalities fire districts sort plants etc etc um we were appointed by the Board of Ed and answerable to the board of ed we hey Bruce how are you we uh we're appointed to do the audit uh for the school district a fiscal year of uh June 30th 2023 um basically we're here tonight to just discuss the two different documents that we generate from our presentation there's two documents there's a thin one which is my representation to the board about the operation of the business office for the school year the other one is sort of a joint venture between us and the business office it's called the annual comprehensive financial report the only thing inside this thicker document that belongs to us is our opinion about the uh financial statements okay so how it works really is um we're appointed our charge is to give an opinion on the financial statements financial statements and all the information are presented to us by the business office um we then do our testing we do our you know checking the numbers verifying information um then we sort of assemble it into report format which is with the bulk of the information is inside this this document so from there uh starting with that we do our testing work now not to get fancy about auditing because there's a lot of sophisticated things that happen in other types of audits you need to know first of all number one um with regards to what we test we test on a sample basis okay so and what we found is that the four most important things that that I know of is all the documentation for expenditures is proper okay all of it's charge of the correct the correct budget account okay it's charged to the correct fiscal year and you're in compliance with the public school contracts law everything else is all wonderful but those are the most important things with regards to payroll okay we check again on a sample basis we verify that everyone that works for the district is paid in accordance with either board authorization Collective barting Agreement and or other agreement or Arrangement um we run we run a sample uh you boy you you people approve salaries and we check to see that everyone was paid in accordance with that salaries assist of base pay and then also as well other compensation which again on a test basis we verify coaches overtime uh you know class coverage things like that again it's all on a sample basis we found that all to be good we found also to your payroll taxes to be paid timely on the revenue side uh we we've you know your revenue is basically a property taxes and state aid um so pretty much those are very easily auditable so um not not much to do extra there but just check to see that everything got paid timely and properly you also have a rather extensive U special Revenue fund which is where you receive your state and federal mostly federal grants and obviously since Co started there's been a lot of activity in those particular special Revenue funds with all the different extra AIDs that were given out which I understand are going to disappear um so you know that that we checked out pretty extensively um I would say that when you change Auditors it's it's very difficult not only for us but as well as the staff we don't know them they don't know us we have different expectations they have different expectations I want to indicate that the business office the staff there has been extremely Cooperative with my people and presenting the information to them and uh want they should be acknowledged because it was there was never any doubt or question or problem everything we asked for we were given we were given it timely and um again our results of that were good so we have uh a conclusion would be that based on our audit test based on the information presented by the business office um our opinion is that the financial statements as presented were presented fairly and properly in accordance with accounting principles required by the uh governmental Accounting Standards Board as well as the state of New Jersey okay and by the way the state of New Jersey piggybacks on the national uh governmental Accounting Standards so it's no different in New Jersey than it is in Delaware or Texas or or Oklahoma or whatever so the this these statements are prepared on that basis there's a lot of detail information inside of here and again it it was a joint venture between us and the business office they through Miss Orby presented us with a lot of the information u a lot of the information we had a grab from other sources in order to be in compliance with the requirements and some of the stuff although you look at it you may not think it relates to Lacy but somebody somewhere is looking at this information uh whether it be wall streeters or in Washington okay or in Trenton even in Trenton so a lot of data is contained in this document I do want to um direct your attention to the uh the main operating uh document which is exhibit C1 and I I let's see exhibit C1 I would get to the page number um just want to point something out there and it is I clipped it here okay page 96 okay and again there's a lot of information in here um you may not think it's relevant but the the most important fund is your is your is your uh general fund that that's where all bulk of your tax money goes in and the bulk of your expenditures go out of other than what goes through the grant fund so at the end of the year okay there's different components of your fund balance okay pretty much most of it and as we discussed at the exit conference has spoken for um you know you have a capital reserve of 5 a half million you have and again a lot of it's already spoken for and in fact what happens is on July 1 of 23 yes on July 1 of 23 when you open up for that school year in effect this stuff is it's not disappeared but it's just it just already spoken for and it used obviously to balance the budget for the the fiscal year that we're in so the capital reserve was about five and a half million the maintenance Reserve was 500,000 unemployment which is really not the board's money it's mostly employee money is 280,000 um the excess Surplus as a result of the operations for fiscal year 2223 is $423,000 and that's a mandatory Revenue Source in the 24-25 budget um excess Surplus utilized to balance the budget um was I'm sorry I'm sorry yeah this year was 3.7 million encumbrances which again are earmarking of funds that get expended subsequently but they relate to the fiscal year end it with 700,000 and then your what's called your unassigned I call it your 2% factor is 1.7 million okay so there's a lot of different numbers there they may appear to be large but they are in effect pretty much all spoken for not not necessarily a lot of free a lot of free money there so that that is represents that and again this information and for the record again the business office was very operate these all this information came directly dollar for dooll from all the various computer runs that are generated required to be generated through your your accounting system one other exhibit I I would like to point out has to do with your food service operation uh which is page 35 okay uh that's where you know the cafeteria the that you uh you know serve lunch for the kids and I don't know if you serve breakfast or you do um or extra any allart information that that comes along so basically that um that fund the expenses in that fund are 1.7 1.4 million you get reimbursement from the government for $900,000 and your local revenues from local sources which is parents money is about $600,000 now again that that number that's generated at the end uh a fund balance unfortunately the the Department of Agriculture has regulations about how much money you can keep in your food service fund so right now we're in excessive that requirement it's it's actually 30% of your operating expenses okay we're required to comment on it okay there's no big penalty but we have to comment on it and we also comment that in most districts what they do is they say yes we're going to spend it down or buy things you know for the cafeteria operation okay so and part of the problem was there's monies now coming through in all school districts and some entities that relate to covid that relate to the fact that possibly there was excess no I'm not saying overcharges but that some inflationary forces on the food service companies or you directed for yourself you received some extra money this year which kind of raised your fund balance your retain earnings above where it's allowed to be there's a comment in the audit in this thicker thinner of the two documents about that and again it's it's not like a mortal sin or anything totally bad it's just you know I in most of the districts that's the case that I work on and then who knows three years from now you could be way below that number so but a lot of it had to do with some of the covid money being filtered out and I don't know if there's much more coming so this document here is my representation to the board about the operations of business office which I've indicated was quite good they're quite Cooperative all the documentation is proper okay so uh in this here basically we we do comment on that one item with food service we make comments about you know how the records were presented which was all positive okay we we really didn't have any problems with any that was presented um and in here is where we were required to if any make make recommendations about anything and nothing Rose to the level in this audit here uh that would require us to make make recommendations um so in the end there's no adverse comments there's um no recommendations and you have again going back to this thicker of the two this is the independent Auditors report which is what we're requested by the board to do it it represents an what's called an unmodified opinion in the old days it was called a clean opinion or an unqualified opinion okay it's unmodified because your accounting procedures do not depart from what you're required to do okay and again it was all supplemented by our testing okay again proper documentation proper cut off proper charges to line items so we were you know my staff probably any first year audit that we do we spend a little more time looking at things because we're not we're not that familiar with the operation but um we we were happy I was happy so we again the opinion is that it's unmodified which is a good thing and also there's no audit recommendations so but we do want to thank the business office staff for for being helpful to our people thank you and we want to thank you Mr stanitz for uh taking the time to come out here and present uh there's going to be a quiz for everybody in the room about everything you said so we'll see how we do thank you all they was at0 Million something and their ears went up thank you any questions thank you okay thank you so much have a great night okay it's no problem coming out and if there's any questions please Channel them through the the uh business administrator I I doubt that there were because everything worked out very nicely you know but you never know when a question arises but you could Channel them through Sharon ORS me and thank you Sharon okay thank you have a good night thank [Applause] you okay um before I start talking about the budget I earlier was remind Ed uh when we watched the Lacy now about the play Anastasia which I had the most unbelievable opportunity to see and I hope you did too big shout out to Mr olander Mr zachar and the entire cast of this year's production of Anastasia Round of Applause to all of them it was amazing amazing all right so I don't normally read uh when I make my comments but I have a lot to say about the budget and I'm guessing that's probably why a lot of you were here tonight so I wanted to make sure that I didn't miss anything so just bear with me because my comment uh is rather long so last month we presented the tentative budget and outlined the impacts of state aid reductions that forced us to make painful and drastic reductions to our budget you saw that hopefully as you were walking in on the project behind us as you saw on those slides our call to action for advocacy has not changed we need help from our entire School community and Beyond in getting the word out that something has to change because there is no explanation for why this has happened to us and another 1433 school districts in New Jersey no one can explain why no one has explained why since presenting the tentative budget we have learned from the New Jersey Department of Education that school districts may not seek loans for the 2024 2025 budget at this point we have more questions than answers as I'm sure you all do and we have relayed those questions to the Ocean County Executive superintendent and by extension the New Jersey Department of Education that's who they work for yesterday we were informed that beginning next week and we just received confirmation of that a team of executive County Business officials also known as EOS will be working with us to review our District's budget we are told that the purpose of this meeting will be collaborative not punitive and the goal will be to determine the impact of reducing an additional 7 million from our budget which is the number that currently represents our deficit you already saw that impact but let me outline that again reducing another $7 million from our budget is not a thorough and efficient education and I think we absolutely positively all agree on that it means that we will have to reduce an additional 57 staff members including teachers administrators and support staff increase our class sizes into the 40s across all grades Implement pay to participate in all athletic programs and co-curricular activities and completely eliminate our ability to repair aging buildings across the district let let me be very very clear the Lacy Township School District does not have a spending problem it has a revenue problem caused by the reduction of state aid I cannot stress that enough last week we were hopeful about assembly Bill a 4161 which provides two features first a mechanism to recoup a portion of state aid loss for the upcoming year in a way of stabilization Aid the second piece provides for flexibility to exceed the 2% tax tax levy cap while the bill did fully pass the assembly last Thursday and I was in traten to see that happen it won't be heard by the full Senate until May 9th it then needs to be approved by the governor governor simply put we are running out of time because of the hard deadline of May 15th when we are required to inform staff of whether they will have future employment in the Lacy Township School District concerning our staff I have received many emails and phone calls about the staff that if nothing changes we'll be losing their jobs I know our board members have as well let me be clear about this as well we don't want to lose any staff not one our ultimate goal is to improve academic achievement for all students and with everything we've been through this school year and we know what that is the last thing we should be doing is reducing staff the very last thing we should be doing is reducing staff but at this point given where we are right now we have no choice so the big question that is asked of us often is how do we decide who gets reduced and who gets to stay this is a long and arduous process that begins with reductions of non-tenured Staff because they are not yet protected by tenure if the reduction requires us to reduce further we must then comply with teacher tenure laws that are based on seniority and certifications principles make these determinations based on required core subject areas such as math Ela science and social studies and then consider where consolidations can be made it has nothing absolutely nothing to do with performance I ask that everyone consider that when making comments tonight for all teachers you may be here to talk about again we don't want to lose any of our staff not one and we certainly do not make these decisions based on performance I can't stress that enough we make them based on a seniority list and certifications because that is what we must do so I'm going to end my comments where I began our call to action for advocacy has not changed we need everyone's help in spreading the word that we are fiscally responsible fiscally sound and that we do not have a spending problem we have a revenue problem I implore all of you and Beyond to reach out to Governor Murphy the commissioner of education and members of the budget and education committees all of that information is laid out on our website youve receive that hopefully on the hopefully on the flyer that you collected on your way in um it's all on our website it includes a sample letter email addresses phone numbers social media contacts we up here we are not going to stop fighting we are not going to stop we need to understand the why the why and until somebody can tell us the why or restore our state aid which would be better we're not going to stop fighting and we're imploring all of you to help us do that that concludes my comments board president Peters next we're going to continue to public comment during public comment I'm going to read the um Public coment public comment participation statement we usually ask that you state your name and address and for the students purposes I do not want you to state your name and address I just want you to say I'm a student at Lacy school if any students going to speak during public comment okay any audience member wishing to make a comment or raise his or her hand when called upon State their name address or affiliation and attention to make a statement if you're a student please just say you're a student comments will be addressed to the board president comments will be made on one issue at a time comments will be limited to five minutes no audience members shall be recognized twice until all who have wished to comment have been recognized this portion of the meeting is for public comments only there's no questions to be answered the purpose of this board meeting is perform our business in public everyone is entitled to a public comment if there is a question for the board there's an established chain of command to follow if you would like to make a public comic please raise your hand first lady right [Applause] here good evening everyone I'm a student of Lacy's Township High School I'm in 10th Grade and I've been doing marching band for 2 years now before I came to high school I was extremely lost nervous scared and anxious a friend suggested I join marching band so I thought I'd give it a try and I saw the marching band and color guard perform before at football games and I thought it was really cool so I joined going into ninth grade I was depressed and anxious but as the marching band season progressed I found my second family I realized that this is what I was supposed to be doing I finally found something that was really me Mr monu has made a safe place for us we can go into his room and feel like we belong no matter what we are safe from being bullied we feel appreciated and worthy when we are with Him Monte is the one who made this safe place he is the one who helped me Branch out and truly find out who I am he taught me confidence and honesty I wouldn't be able to talk and be standing here today without him he helped me find me he saved me Monty pulled me out of dark places in my life and he's done that for so many others as Performing Arts students we are not always the popular kids we aren't athletes but Monty has made us feel popular important safe and most of all that we belong with all the tragedies that lcy Township students have experienced this year we cannot afford the layoff of our teachers our mental health cannot do it and losing Monty or any of the other teachers that have impacted our student body is unacceptable without teachers like Monty there wouldn't be a safe place for students to feel like they belong there wouldn't be a place where our mental health was safe Monty is my person he has taught me that being me is enough and that I am important so I beg you to fix this horrific financial situation that our school district is in the students are the ones that are suffering because of financial decisions that our district and our state state have made a solution needs to be figured out we need to keep all of our valuable teachers and programs thank you for allowing me to speak tonight I know that all of you want to do what's best for us kids hopefully that's why you're on the board of education so please do what's right for us and make a difference in our lives thank [Applause] [Applause] you do we have somebody else for public comment in the white yep [Applause] good evening members of the board I am a student of lacy Township Schools as you may have seen there's a petition going around there's multiple petitions going around one with over 12,000 signatures or 1,200 signatures all of these petitions show the public support for our education which is slowly being taken away I do not understand or I do understand that you the board do not decide our budget for the year but you do decide who gets laid off and I understand there's a process this is the second year in a row we're not only a band teacher is being laid off but there are multiple extra teachers you would never cut a sports teacher adding to that coach versillo is making to my understanding almost $200,000 a [Applause] year but you choose to lay off the other teachers music is an asset for the kids to get away from life things and other things they are struggling with you might say well we have other music teachers but you but what you may not realize is that Mr Manu students have built a connection with him he's not only a teacher but a role model I would like to leave you with this quote by Hans Christian Anderson when words fail music speaks thank you for your [Applause] time anyone else my name is Sarah Newman I've been one of Mr monu's students for about three years now it started off when my middle school band teacher was deployed about halfway through the school year along with other teachers Mr monu helped to fill in this was also the year I joined marching band when I joined I knew nothing about it whatsoever other than how to Simply play the flute which I was not very good at either despite this Mr monteu never minded he has always put so much effort into our marching band every year and I genuinely don't think anyone understands the full extent of how much he cares Mr migu is one of the most compassionate teachers I have ever met I have never felt safer in a classroom or in a teacher's presence for that matter than I do with Mr monu he forms bonds with each of his students and takes interest in each one of them whether they are in his guitar classes public speaking or any of the Bands he speaks to his students with such respect as well I always know that Mr monu will welcome me and any friends I bring to his room despite the fact that often times he has stayed up most of the night before working on something for band my friend started a petition to save Mr moniku which has gained the attention of a local radio station as well as a local news article this petition has reached over, 1300 signatures in the past 5 days that is over 1300 people who care about Mr monu over 1300 00 people who want Mr moniku to stay at this school over, 1300 reasons for him to stay with this I beg you to reconsider this decision Mr monu is a safe place for everyone who gets to know him and I cannot imagine the school without him thank you [Applause] good evening I'm a student here at lths and I would like to open by saying that I have no intention in slandering or speaking poorly of anybody because I I know that no one is really in control of this tonight so I'd like to thank you for your attention and I will begin I've been a student here for three years now I'm a Junior I've been working with Mr montigue since I was 12 years old in the eth grade I've been working with his bands and his programs ever since I recently switched instruments and I now play a different instrument in concert band and now I am I now a member of the Lacy Township High School jazz band I'm supporting them tonight I'd like to speak here tonight because I I need to share my personal EXP experiences with him he has done nothing but support me in my decisions every instrument switch I decide to do every lesson I take he's always by he's by my side and ready to support me I know you all understand the difference that he makes and I'm here to just advocate for that no matter who no matter who you need or who what you're feeling he's always by your he's always by your side and he's ready to to listen to what you have to say if there was any teacher in the building that I'd be most comfortable with talking to or are speaking to with any matter is him he's been nothing but support for me in my years here and he will continue to be support for me in my future years and I'd like to say that with these budget cuts and the teachers that we're losing it's comes a great loss and many hurt feelings and it it is none of your faults and I respect every single one of you up here for listening to me tonight and I do not blame anybody in this room because it is not our faults all I'm doing is sharing my feelings he's very important to me personally and our system here without him we would have no support during football games for the marching band we would have no program such as jazz band and and we'd have no Festival no competitions no fundraising and the concert band would not be able to put on concerts for us alongside of the choir they assist each other and him and Mr olender are in assistance all the time he helps with sound and we appreciate it and overall he's just a constant a constant chair to sit on for when we need him and he's always there for us thank [Applause] you hi um ladies and gentlemen of the board um I'm a student of lacy Township High School I wanted to talk a little bit today about one of my personal favorite teachers um Mr monu as many of my friends up here have been saying today um bear with me a little bit because I'm probably going to reiterate what some of them have drawn on I've been involved in the Arts since fourth grade um something about the music in elementary school drew me in and I knew it was a place that I would feel safe throughout my time in almost all of your Lacy Township District Schools I have seen what many different types of music teachers all with different styles of teaching I can say without hesitation Mr monteu or Monty as a students call him is the very best and most dedicated teacher I've seen he sacrificed time with his family and time with his friends just to support us kids I met Monty in the summer into e8th grade I was having a really hard time in my middle school fitting in and I found a sort of Refuge in the performing arts department much to my other teachers dismay my band teacher at the time told me about the Lacy marching band and that you could join even before high school I always went to the football games when I was little and was mesmerized by the way that they played the halftime show was always my favorite part I was a little nervous about the idea of the whole school seeing me but after meeting with Monty before I joined he seems safe and trustworthy enough that I gave it a try I have now been a March B going on my fourth year in June and it is one of the best decisions I've made here it is such a safe space and it fostered the type of community that I and so many others were looking for he cares about every single student there no matter their skill level and no matter where they came from in concert band he's the same way in the winter of my freshman year I was dealing with a lot and was probably in one of the darkest points of My Life One thing I could always rely on however was Monty's door being open for lunch during class whenever you needed him to provide help in any way he could whether it just be someone to talk to or just a place to stay without that door being open I would have not made nearly as many connections as I have or have met some of my best friends and my support system here at Lacy um what I would like for the board to consider today is not only Mr use value as a music and band teacher but also as an invaluable educator I was lucky enough to be offered a place in the leadership academy in my freshman year the class he taught with another one of my teachers Miss djon was public speaking the whole class heard that the first day and as you would imagine turned white um Monty assured us that by the end we would be okay and he was right I watched as a class where no one would talk turned into a class that was comfortable working with anyone else in the group no matter what type of click or place they came from in the high school was this is solely because of Mr monu's teaching in conclusion he has made a lasting impression on not only my life but every other student who came to talk today and his dismissal will not only be Miss but grieved and to the end of that as many of you know we have lost five Lacy Township School District students this year out of those three of them were seniors kids who had waited 12 years to finally walk across that stage suddenly are going to be missing from the student body with that being said and as the mental Health crisis of the school rages on why must you insist on taking away another safe space for the students thank you hello my name is Lee haly sorry I a student at Lacy tanip high school thank you um first of all I want to acknowledge that I understand you are not responsible for the loss of state aid um however since I was 5 years old I you guys have shown me that Lacy Township the Lacy Township School District is not interested in the uh mental mental health of its students you taught me way too early what it is like to be let down by an institution you mentioned in your presentation earlier that Lacy is not responsible for this um um spending problem which I'm I'm going to say you have a spending problem your head football coach makes over six figures and so do you um uh you can't afford to keep unanimously appreciated teachers but you are completely fine spending $200,000 on a roof if you can call it that in the courtyard um but not the roof for this school there are literally leaks in the ceiling now right now as we speak um this is not counting the fact that you guys treat the staff horribly to begin with ask anyone in here and they will tell you that they are not being paid nearly enough for what they are doing and what they on the accommodations that they are giving students nor do you give them the resources to to that they need to retain these unnecessarily High salaries of some of the elites here you are firing you are firing teachers that you have a privilege to have in the first place you simply do not know what is going to be coming in in the next few years this is the end of an era the last time you can truly say that this school was okay this is disgraceful you don't care I will never feel protected nor represented by this District I need you to recognize the cognitive dissonance in saying that you do not have a spending problem and learn how to allocate your money more effectively there was a point in time where my sibling was minutes away from suicide the only reason they are still alive is because of Mr Fritz and his compassion and urge to remind them that life is truly worth living if Fritz was not here neither with them I had Mr Fritz for German 2 and he was always upbeat helpful and understanding in I always felt safe in his class and I was dealing with a multitude of health issues which he was extremely accommodating for now I want to talk about my experience sophomore year I was lost I suffered from extreme depression and anxiety one of the only places I felt safe was what was M Miss corus's classroom she does not work here anymore she fell victim to Lacy's Relentless urge to let students and staff down and was unfortunately purged in last year's budget cut if Miss corus Wasn't There To Remind Me that everything was going to be okay that I was not crazy and didn't give me the advice that my counselors simply were not giving I would not be standing here right now she is the reason why I was why I am still alive We have dealt with so many tragic suicides this year and I'm not saying the budget cuts are inherently causing this but what I can truly say is that if Miss corus's employment kept me from being another statistic and I had just been one year behind I would be dead Mr finina he is my financial literacy teacher for third period he the only teacher I've ever met who is as understanding as he is as someone with ADHD he has made incredible accommodations to me helping me reach my full potential and I have learned so much in his class which you should probably take by the way um Mrs dejon also not up for rehire last next year was the teacher who my sibling uh student taught with last year she was incredibly open to their ideas and teaching styles Mrs Jean was also incredibly understanding when it came to my depression and anxiety my sophomore year her class was where I learned to love literature this decision is disgraceful I wouldn't even be able to show my face if I was in your position however once again you have established time and time again that you do not care and I can't help you do that and but what I can say is that you guys do not represent me you dare to say a tradition of pride a tradition of Excellence on your website and the Flyers you gave me when I walked through the door ask anybody in here if you truly take pride in anything but your bank accounts Dr Pereira Dr zalinski make make both more than $160,000 individually if you are good people who truly cared about us you would resign the Board of Education should also reverse these absolutely disgusting decisions I'm sorry you can't allocate your funds and I wish you felt an ounce of remorse for the things that happen under your jurisdiction Lee fvi [Applause] thank you for your [Applause] comments um hi I am a member of lacy Town middle school and I'm going to be reading Beyond a high schooler who could not make it tonight um so the budget cut has deeply affected me since we as a district will not be will now be losing several teachers that meant so much to only not only me but many others Mr monu is one of the most important people to my school life and has forever changed both me as a person and my Outlook on the world I used to be very inclusive and socially anxious person though band Monty helped me open up and become the responsible and confident leader I am today I cannot thank him enough since seventh grade he has helped me grow and Thrive as both a m musician and a person my mental health has struggled and has had it up and downs over the year but Mr moniku has always been there for me and has taken time out of his busy day to sit down next to me and talk me through things when I cried when I cried in his room he has always been so kind encouraging and understanding to not only me but every student he's met not only during marching band season but even just in it in my typical school life he has made my days infinitely brighter and made it so much easier for me to pick myself up in the to wake myself up in the morning and come to school with something to look forward to Mr monu is such a special part of not only our musical family but our district as a whole and losing him to budget cuts and reduction in force would be devastating would be devastatingly blow me personally um let alone our whole family of musicians here at lths and it would be truly never be the it would truly never be the same without him he has forever changed lths band programs and has made us the absolute best we can be and it is clear that he deeply cares for all of us it would be a tragic loss for us uh to lose him and many other teachers and so I hope hope that we as a district can stick together and make a change for the teachers like Mr monu if not get him back then stop these Cuts as a whole we need to come together and stop the unfair budget cuts of our school um and as me personally I have had no like bigger supporter for marching band Color Guard are than Mr monu thank you for your comment [Applause] good evening everyone my name is John tomel and I am the vice president of the sophomore class and also part of the leadership academy at the Lacy Township High School I would just like to say I'm very disappointed that so many teachers are being like go this year our high school years are some of the most important years of each student at this High School school because some of us have to get into colleges the military or vocational school if we don't have the education that we need and deserve how will our futures look I'm extremely disappointed that I'm losing my Ela teacher and former public speaking teacher Miss djon and I'm also losing my former other public speaking teacher Mr monu as they were both two of the major people I was able to talk to in my freshman year I was I was very nervous walking in and I also hope that with these budget cuts that the Board of Ed is not planning to get rid of the leadership academy as that Ed is one of the cies I'm able to actually be myself in I hope that you reconsider what you are doing to our high school teachers and find some funding from some other place I also hope that you keep on fighting and everybody in these in this audience keeps on fighting for our students thank you for your time thank you for your comment [Applause] sorry give me a minute hello I'm a student of lacy Township middle school and I would like to discuss the budget cuts and the things that are affected by them first topic I would like to talk about is a te is teachers getting let go because of these Cuts around 57 teachers are getting cut a lot of these teachers in my opinion do not deserve to lose their jobs if you if you are going to let these teachers and staff members go they should be teachers that deserve to be let go teachers that don't care about their students teachers that make students feel unsafe or uncomfortable teachers who fall fail to properly educate students I myself have I myself went to a teacher to for my mental health because I was struggling with grief recently and she gave me a death threat and she isn't losing her job she's keeping it I think is very unfair that the qualifications are based on aren't based on performance and are based based on SE seniority if you can do anything to change that I feel like it would be a great help to everyone the second topic I would like to talk about is how the budget cuts will affect the classroom over 40 kids would be placed into one classroom and that would lead way for struggling students to slip through the cracks and go unnoticed and unhelped these students who are struggling may just be seen as bad students who aren't good enough at doing school work [Applause] good enough at doing school work and won't be able to get the help that they need not to mention that it'll put a massive amount on amount of stress on not just the students but the teachers as well it is already hard enough for teachers to teach a room full of 15 to 20 kids just imagine how hard it would be to teach twice this number I would greatly appreciate if you could probably figure out a way to and more new and more helpful ways to figure to deal with these budget cuts thank you than [Applause] com I really wasn't going to plan on saying anything my name is Jen Varga um I would say about two three years ago I used to work as a substitute within this school district and it didn't matter what school I was in every single teacher par professional and Mr feedler was like the best principal I have ever ever had the chance to have come across my way I am now in a school district I have my own classroom and the things that I do in my classroom is a direct reflection on the teachers that are here Mr Fritz every day I would want to say hello to him in a different language I would look up how how to say good morning in a different language and we would sit there and talk I have a picture of him and Mr grillon giving my daughter her diploma at graduation I had kids go through this District I was in this District as an employee and what is happening is horrific no teacher should in this District should be losing their job they should we should be fighting every single person not only for them to keep their jobs but by the way to keep our taxes down because the only way you're going to make up for the shortfall is to raise our taxes above a 2% I can't afford that I don't know anybody else in this room that can afford that I don't make that much money as a teacher as I'm sure the other teachers will tell you we don't make a lot we sometimes have to work two jobs and now you're going to get rid of teachers like Mr montigue that you've had every single student tell you what he's done there's a mental health crisis in this school district now you're going to add on top of that Mental Health crisis with these students to the teachers because they're going to be so stressed overworked underpaid and where do they go who are they going to say anything to if we don't fight for them now and you don't fight as our school board there's going to be a major issue and then these children that are the ones that are going to take care of all of us when we're old aren't going to be able to do it because they don't have the proper education that's what should be said to the state not why do we have this how about we figure out why we can't get loans that would be the why not why did you take $6 million away and give it to another school district I work in a county they got all of the money Newark school system has a school budget of a billion a billion they have 30 32,000 students maybe they deserve that money but we do too we have some fantastic children in this town fantastic I am proud to say that I know a lot of these students I remember some of them and I remember some of the the teachers that are sitting in this audience and these are the teachers that always had a kind word for me I was a substitute I've been in other districts and I can tell you they never treated me as good as this District did and it didn't matter that my my daughter was here that's the kind of people you have working for you please try to do something to get some kind of money without raising our taxes because I can't afford to live in Lacy if that happens okay thank you thank for your comment yeah uh hi I'm Carissa faly I was a student here a few years ago and I actually did um part of my student teaching here I was here when um the first round of teachers last year was let go and I remember going into the hallway after school with uh my Co-op Samantha Dijon who is an amazing woman an amazing [Applause] educator I can wholeheartedly say that it was her Direction and her instruction and her help that made me the teacher that I am now because I have graduated um I remember going out into that hallway and talking to all of the English Department and half of the people that were let go that were crying because they got that notification while they were still teaching the elementary school teachers also got it while they were still teaching and I know that because all of my friends were student teaching in the elementary schools and had to watch their teachers or their co-ops try to get through the day knowing that they probably would have no jobs and no job security come a few months seeing that as someone who's going into education really showed me what I it was a reality check of what I was in store for and I'm still doing it I'm a teacher now and I was one of Mr Fritz's students I am the affer mentioned sibling that was minutes away from killing them in this school because of the bullying I faced because of everything going on in my life that no one in administration seemed to want to help me with even though they knew about it it was my teachers that saved my life it was Mrs Sullivan it it was Mr grillon it was Mrs SoDo it was Mr Fritz it was Mr olander it was Monty even though I didn't have him he gave me a home when I didn't have one but I don't want to talk about me for this whole time I want to talk about one of my students who came to me the other day and told me that she didn't want to get up in the morning anymore and told me that she was afraid to go home home it was like being I I had a flashback to being in this school but I was on the other side of this conversation I thought back to my teachers I specifically thought back to Mr Fritz when I told him the same thing that it was hard for me to get up in the morning and that I didn't want to be here anymore he looked me in the eyes and he said Carissa I will be here for you you do not have to worry about my class you will never have to worry about anything in here I will help you get through this I will get you help please don't make me go to another kid's funeral that changed my life that moment made me want to be a teacher because all I want to do is pay that forward so when I was talking to my student I looked her in the eyes and I said the exact same thing that Mr Fritz said to me she started crying she hugged me and I am getting her help but it's because of Mr Fritz that I knew how to handle that it was because of Mr Fritz that I have the passion to do what I'm doing I'm not doing education because it's a fallback I'm not doing education because I don't know I just felt like we're super wellp paid and super appreciated and underworked okay I'm in this for the kids and when I got to pay forward Mr Fritz's kindness and Mrs Sullivan's kindness and Mrs Soto's kindness and Mr gillan's kindness even Samantha dijon's kindness to me when I was there because I saw how she treated all of her kids when I got to pay that forward I saw that my teachers didn't just save my life but they saved my students life and I found out 10 minutes after that conversation with my student that Mr Fritz is one of these teachers that being that is being let go I found out that Monty is one of those teachers being let go Monty wasn't even my teacher I was in choir I was in theater I wasn't in band but his room was always open to me no matter what he didn't care who I was he just wanted to keep kids alive and safe you are affecting the lives of students these teachers not only saved my life they're saving my students lives and I I am remiss if I don't get up here and talk about the teachers that saved my brother's life that saved my life and that are saving my kids' lives and will continue to do so because I know that I wasn't one in a million I was one in maybe 20 I know my best friend is over there right now and can say the same things about Mr Fritz but probably won't you have teachers that have that are being paid way too much and by teachers I mean like coaches I mean like you know coach rillo who's like the highest paid teacher in New Jersey and what does he do except for call his students like fat pigs and lazy oh yeah that happened to me that's something that happened here yeah say that I'll say that we have teachers here that creep on the kids let's be honest we all know about it we all know okay where are those teachers getting their pink slips where are those teachers where is the teacher that used to in front of me make me accept his compliments and in order to go to the bathroom because all the bathrooms are locked where are the teachers that couldn't care less about me where's the teachers that have these like you know open cases against them where are they in all of this they have like a lot of job security and that kind of makes me mad or how about we just like I don't know you're choosing the wrong teachers guys the wrong people and maybe I should be more eloquent maybe I should be more careful maybe I shouldn't be shaking as I'm talking to you because I'm supposed to to be this like Beacon of respectability and responsibility but that's never who I was and that's not who I am anyone who knew me when I was in high school knew I was a mess I was insane I was loud but they got me through they kept me alive these teachers keep people alive and you're just choosing the wrong people guys that's all thank for your com hi forgive me I wasn't planning on saying anything but that was pretty moving um my name is Lucas bernaldo I'm a parent I have two kids in the district um and yeah I I agree with all these kids up here I agree with what she's saying um we need the Arts we need these teachers um and I also understand where you guys are coming from it's a hard job to have right you're charged with balancing a budget where you have numbers and you have in income and revenue and you have expenditures coming out but at the end of the day your job is to balance right and and your job is to look at those line items and those expenditures and in my opinion and I think in everybody else's opinion no teacher should be losing their job here it's not about who's good and who's bad and yes we have overpaid you know coaches and stadiums named after people that probably shouldn't be and that's regardless of the fact here these teachers should all have their job we need all of them from K through 12 just like we need all of you you need to stand by them not look at the budget and look at what the biggest piece of the pie is and start slashing it because that's what you do and I get it you're scared the state started pulling money and where are we going to find it from but it's not from their pocket it's not from their job security it's not from how they're going to pay their mortgage or their benefits or their pensions or any of that maybe we stop fertilizing the soccer fields maybe we get creative we don't need green grass to play soccer do we like you need to stand by your employees by the the members of the community the people that are leading our kids and stop just handing out pink slips every year it's something else every year it's somebody's losing their job and then we all get up in armed and come here and then you magically find the money and we're sick of it my family are teachers in this District my kids come here I moved to Lacy for a better life for my kids and my family and I I get it people don't like property taxes I'm I'm a different view I I want you to to go over 2% cap I think that we should be paying I think that we should be funding our school district for our kids we have the property value here and we have it and we should be funding this school district for our kids just like Jersey City and Newark deserve their money so do we so I'm I know it's hard and I get it but you got to find the money these people deserve their jobs you're cutting the wrong thing here find it give them their jobs back thank [Applause] you got it hi I'm a student here at Lacy I've been here for one year and I'm part of the arts program growing up I was a really insecure child really insc about my weight and oh and monq help me go over with my goals and not me feel like a fat loser anymore and if we cut these Arts we are losing a safe haven for these kids I don't know what else to do he's monq and O are the only people I can go to about my problems especially with my grief about my grandma's death and my uncle's suicide they are the the only people I can go to anymore no one else will listen if we lose them kids will not have someone to talk to just please try to keep their jobs thank you thank [Applause] for good evening my name is Mary joia cheda president of the Lacy Township Education Association and I'm here tonight to talk about the devastating S2 cuts that will negatively affect our school district as we know and love the loss of funding for the 2425 school year will cause us to lose quality and terrific staff staff who have put their dedication sweat and tears into the betterment of our students and the future of our community the state funding cuts that we are facing pose a significant threat to our district jeopardizing the valuable Educators who have dedicated themselves to our student successes additionally and importantly our esteemed Arts Athletics and extracurricular programs known for their achievements and accolades are going to be paid to participate elective courses across the district will be reduced crucial services for our special need students who make up our most vulnerable student population and let's not forget the adverse effect that these Cuts will have on our students Mental Health I am here tonight to reach out and rally the support from our community our community it's not just the school board it's not just our local state it's our community we cannot face these challenges alone anymore we need your help and we need it now the impact of these Cuts extend far beyond our schools they are affecting the entire town and the community that we call home the repercussions of these state cuts will be long lasting and devastating we implore you as your as your staff please to raise your voices of support write those letters make those calls reach out to our governor our local Senators our representative our assemblymen uh Commissioner of Education the state budget use your use your social media tag share together we can make a difference and Safeguard the future of our students staff and Community if our funding is not restored to previous levels Lacy will face a future of Education that will be completely a different landscape than anyone in this town has ever seen or experienced everyone and just to put that into perspective what we are losing for next year 33 staff members some of whom have been discussed here [Applause] tonight your children grandchildren nieces nephews neighbors class sizes swelling to 40 plus and 57 more staff members on top of the 33 already let go for a total loss of 90 staff members who play a vital role in supporting our students [Applause] take that picture that is what we want to share that is what the state that is what the town this is what community means this is what we Face moving forward if we do not get our funding restored these challenges will not resolve themselves we must face them as a unified United Community our children town and staff deserves better this is why it is so crucial that our town parents and Community organizations go on your social media call write and request to meet with our elected State officials let your voices be heard for the betterment of our students staff and community at Large [Applause] thank you for your time consideration and support for our beloved Lacy Community please stay updated on all developments by visiting the Lacy Township School District website and click on S2 Pathways to advocacy thank you [Applause] hi Alisa Waller Crestwood Drive um I read once that the two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you figure out why uh these students have figured out why today and tomorrow it could be another why and I stand behind them and I also stand behind all our teachers as a fellow teacher uh I pray for them and I hope it works out I also wanted to point out the hypocrisy that I saw here tonight and kind of the irony at the beginning of our night how we PID tribute to all the great things that our district does by video as all of you step down to let us enjoy that show and pointed it out after the Arts the music um and I [Applause] wanted the other hypocrisy that I noticed is that you've had that check up there the entire night and that's a check for mental health and you want to check art and music for mental [Applause] health and as I'll say as I end I stand behind these students um these activists at just as the activists at Columbia University are acting on their behalf for their future these people are our future and we need listen this district will fall apart without this and the Arts thank you okay we started at 5 o'clock today we're going to take a quick 10-minute break you're more than welcome to stay and speak we have 100% time for you but we need a break we've been in a meeting in private session uh since 5:00 we'll be back at 9:10 thank you bring M back to order anyone else for a public comment please state your name and address good evening my name is is Ron Parry I live on Seagull Drive um just want to start off by saying I have a unique um view of this I myself served on a board of education in another District years ago I'm also a parent of a middle schooler and a high schooler and I'm also a substitute teacher so I've see this from many angles and I'm looking at your things you put out and some of these things are a little um alarming to me can you more uh clarify what you're looking at sir yeah um it was uh something that came with uh budget what the 7 million in reductions look like it was part of your uh your your your thing that you put out this uh this morning or this afternoon um first off I I'm sure you all understand that um school is more than just reading writing and arithmetic you're dealing with kids some when they're very young they're minds of mush that that you get to mold and teach and turn them into well-rounded individuals that's part of what an education is it's not just learning math it's not just learning social studies it's things like music okay it gives them a place to go it if you never played an instrument you wouldn't understand the the hand coordination that you get to develop if you talk to some surgeons they will tell you they develop that great hand ey coordination from learning an instrument it's things like you're asking kids to play to pay to play sports do you all realize that for some that is their only opportunity to get into college via scholarship you're going to take that opportunity away from that all right you're asking him to pay for clubs all right if you look at our political system we're in the excuse my language where are if you take that opportunity for clubs I I I was president in college I was I was president of a Circle K Club in high school I was the president of of um Key Club which is Kanan similar to what the uh the the the great people the RO they gave you all right this is where your leaders are going to come from you're going to take all this out yes you're going to graduate children that will have know about Civics they'll know how to add and subtract maybe um like I said I'm going substitute some of these things I see is really blows my mind all right um you know you're you're you're looking to take away you're taking away what does it say 57 teachers and staff this year my understanding is you took away more last year what are you going to take more next year all right the other thing I want to address is your you got this check for mental health you guys have a mental health crisis in this District right four students five five died total one in an accident not his fault but four students decided the ultimate thing for them was to take their own lives okay I worked as a medic for 37 years before I became a substitute to another District I myself survived a suicide attempt I've seen both sides you guys did absolutely nothing except an after thing I went to the middle school and said look I can come in and do a program for you and talk to the kids and show them and tell them both sides of what it is and what happens when somebody does that you know what I was told we don't want to do anything like that we have crisis counselors which is something for f the fact but we don't want to do any kind of programs because we don't want to glorify it you're not glorifying anything you're shoving it under a rug please make that go to good use okay because if you've never had to stand in front of a parent after working on their child whose last resort was to take their own life you have no idea what that's like and I hope you never ever have to do that right but you're going to take away I I don't even know the gentleman mon Mr monq I don't even know him other than I just found out he's actually my son's uh History of Rock and Roll teacher you're going to take somebody like that away it's a safe place and yes trust me I was on a board of ed I understand the position you're in it's not an easy one to be in it's not easy for you it's not easy for the staff it's not easy for the kids but you have to think of them first because right here is our future this is our future and right now I want to weep for our future because they're going to end up with less in a well balanced education and if that happens it's going to be on all of you because yes I know the states cutbacks they don't want to give you money they don't want to do this and you know what I was on a board of ed for six years and it was the same BS every year we're cutting back we're not giving you and then you put the pressure on and you put the pressure on the people you can only raise their taxes 2% unless you get a variance all right and in the end you wind up finding it somewhere rather than losing good teachers rather than putting more stress on on these kids do it now you're going to put 40 kids in a classroom I know how destructive it could be as a substitute with 20 kids in a classroom you're going to double that and have kids standing on top of each other teachers aren't going to be able to teach they're going to be too busy telling 10 over here and five over there to be quiet so that they can so they can try to do their job that's the future it's in your hands you need to do the right thing thank [Applause] you and before don't mute sorry yeah you're fine but that program anytime any of the class schools want it I would be more than happy to come in and do it [Applause] [Music] I just State my name and no address right is that what you guys you can say your name and address okay um Morgan cherina Sullivan 907 tapen Street forkid River um there's a couple things I want to say and I will say it very shortly um and try to wrap it up I do not know Mr montue I was not even going to mention his name however these children are counting on that man to continue to stay in this high school and hearing their hearts I I would plead with you all that that would not be a cut that you would make because these children will be Gravely affected by that decision and I don't know the children I only hear their hearts as a mother because I'm a mother I also wanted to say overcrowded schools this is a very hard reality that Lacy Township needs to face but the police are in our schools now more than they're not Middle School specifically I go there to pick my kid up or to be dealing with an issue with my child and the cops are always there detective B desari should just be stationed there he's there so much that is before the cuts that will be made now if we cut more pars out of any of those schools areas in the Middle School you guys are outnumbered you already have parents that are not parenting their kids kids that are not listening kids that are doing all kids are whing out right now it is nuts in Lacy Township and if we take more teachers out the ratio is going to be jacked that's what I wanted to say and really try to get that through and I know that you guys can't do much but I'm going to tell you what we can do on the last thing that I say so overcrowded schools I also want to say we're counting on you guys we voted for a lot of you for your boldness for for what you guys said that you can do 2019 and I was going to talk about this last 2019 a bunch of us went to Trenton and we killed the bill and we stopped something really bad from happening now we're counting on you guys to do something similar we could get busloads of every single school that is getting cut to and we could do more than write letters and we could do more than just make phone calls we could show up at Trenton and we can make noise make our voices truly be heard because nobody's going to hear us unless we make noise and I understand maybe it's not you guys but no more Cuts can be made for these teachers um Mrs art okay that's another thing I wanted to say Mrs and then I'm going to close it with this Mrs artali Michelle artali my daughter asked her own Mr Mrs artali and Mr Taha two amazing teachers my daughter asked other teachers repeatedly okay for a letter of recommendation for her College repeatedly my daughter is mild and meek and and doesn't really want to go out there and be bold like her mama so she didn't keep asking them aggressively but she asked them until she finally came to me and said her own teachers that are highly paid Mom I don't know they're not giving it to me they must be really busy I said Angie ask ask Mrs artali not even 24 hours later Mrs artali had produced a letter of recommendation for my daughter as did Mr Taha the those teachers teachers like that teachers that are underpaid those are the ones that are fighting for our kids and those are the ones that have to stay and I do want to go to Trenton and I will help fight and I will get on that list and if you guys are all about it let's do it we're counting on you we need your boldness the ones that we voted for that we believed we're ready to go out there and make a change we believe in you guys come fight with us I'm not blaming you I get it it's Murphy let's go against Murphy and fight together thank [Applause] you uh my name is Stuart McKenzie sir I have this girl waiting the glasses coming up next oh I'm sorry okay she's been she's been waiting a while it doesn't matter either one of just do rock paper siss hi um I am a student at Lacy Township High School I'm speaking as a student and I would like to address the recent teacher cuts due to the lack of money that the state is giving us although this realistically will not help the teacher who were laid back laid off come back I would like to share how cutting these teachers will res result for the student students this letter is primarily about Mr Fritz the German teacher and swim coach for lths Fritz has a great compassion for Learning and truly enjoys his job and preaches education for his students I can name countless teachers who come into school have an undesireable day unlike those teachers Mr Fritz genuinely enjoys teaching and coaching he always has a smile on his face every single day even though he gets up at 4:30 in the morning just to come and Coach girls swim this passion will be taken away at the end of the year because the state's ways of budgeting have failed Lacy school systems I am not exactly sure what the state of New Jersey is doing with the money we are fundraising for but clearly it isn't being spent responsibly as a junior in high school I've known Fritz for three years and I can proudly say he is more than just a German teacher he is an amazing person too he has a family and travels an hour every single day and night just to come here and teach that shows how loyal and dedicated he is just to this system and you guys are just going to cut him Mr Fritz has been there for countless students as people have shared their stories about him helping them with suicide um you can also ask other teachers and workers such as Mr cicardo and Mr Sato and they will tell you every single morning there is a group of girls in his room asking for count countless advice and coming to him crying or overall excited and I can happily say that I one of those girls who are always there coming in his room and he always knows how to put a smile on everybody's faces he is truly an intelligent person to be around and the school would wholeheartedly be depressing without him him hundreds of student get excited to see him every single day and mention the good and the bad in their life and have him just listen and communicate with them when I'm too scared to go to guidance to speak about personal problems or go to other teachers I go to him and he is always there to help and it's not just me who he's helping he's helping countless of other peoples our school has been incredibly affected from these budget cuts because the state of New Jersey refuses to help us however this just doesn't justify the teachers being cut from the district and finding temporary solutions to avoid spending more money is not actually fixing it all of the strategies that you guys are using to try and help us isn't really helping us in the long run we're just going to have to keep coming back to the problems of cutting more and more teachers clubs and having to pay for more Sports this is the second year that multiple valuable assets of lacy Township have been cut to save money however why are the schools continuously in debt if we are cutting so many teachers with there now being two budget cuts in teachers it shows the way we are budgeting our money is clearly not helping our school system at all and it is affecting our teachers and students as I previously stated I am only a high school student but there are teachers who feel the exact same way as me removing teachers is also going to crowd classrooms and make everybody more stressed and anxious with 40 kids in a class and The Limited AC that we are already have it's going to cause health risks and more hazards our language classes specifically are essential because now when you go to colleges they look for if you can speak another language which is why Fritz being cut would put our school at a major disadvantage his classrooms are filled with students who are passionate about learning German and I've know people who have been in his classes all the way up until AP German who have learned so much and can actually speak almost fluent German now he can teach almost any Year in German that we teach at the high school and has provided knowledge during his time at Lacy forit has put a smile on countless people's faces including mine the swim team and his students are able to come to him with family issues School issues and even all these teacher cuts we're able to go to him and talk about him and he puts a smile on his face even though he knows that he is one who is getting let go Fritz is the first teacher I've ever felt comfortable sharing my personal life with and has truly saved me and several other students from going into Great Depression removing him from the district would only put students and other teachers who he is close friends with at a major loss also the state needs to take the families into consideration there are pregnant women who are being laid off currently such as Miss law and mjan who will struggle to support their newborn children not only is this infuriating to students but teachers as well students are supposed to feel comfortable and safe here and every single year with more and more Cuts you guys are failing to provide safety for us and calmness we go to these teachers for support like every single one of these band kids has been saying their teachers make them feel welcomed and safe and you guys are just taking those people away from us not only is this affecting the students but the teachers as well the teachers are forced to keep their heads up high even their jobs are all on the line they are all stressed and underpaid and they are just freaking out although some teachers are highly qualified to find other jobs it is very difficult with such short notice the decisions being made by the Lacy education system is currently failing its students and teachers as a Township we need to start doing better raising more money and caring about the future of lacy Township I know the board of education is not entirely responsible for these budget cuts but as somewh on the swim team who has been in German with Fritz and asked the board to please take his considerations and talents into consideration he is an amazing asset to the school district so we have to do something we all have to fight to make the budgets work and to fix our school system thank you for your time um oh um hello I am a student at Lacy Township Middle School um I personally have been affected by the budget cuts um last year I lost a teacher that meant a lot to me Mr browm who just happened to be a band teacher just like Monty now I don't know Mr [Applause] Monty now I I don't really know Mr Monty but from what I've heard he is a great teacher I think it's unfair that good teachers are being let go instead of the teachers that should be the formerly mentioned staff member who sent death threats towards a friend um same person that is the same person uh who said the same thing to me um my friend and I were going to counselors for um my personal grief um and this after um um we my friend and I were going to this counselor to go talk to her about my grief of my brother committing suicide um uh this teacher decided that the best thing to say to me during that time was if you talk about that person who I was having a problem with at the time again I'm going to hang all of you and I think that it's completely absurd that she would say something like that and a teacher like that shouldn't have have her job teachers that have been helping mental health you've been taking away please reconsider some of the teachers you're taking away because all these stories that I have heard all the stories that you guys have been hearing those are all teachers that have helped kids and yes um thank you for listening um that's it no this guy's going right here this guy's I am obviously not a student at high school here but I'd be very proud to be there classmates you have a lot of well spoken kids here tonight now for several years obviously you've been taking a cut on uh state aid in all those years how many times has the state granted you a uh budget waiver in all those years how many times have you spent up to Cap all of them you've always spent up the cap you've never but you've never asked for a waiver not during S2 cuts the problem was Sir that the state was taking more money from us year after year more than we recoup with our 2% cap so with our 2% cap we're maxed out at a certain amount of money that was it understand state was taken out double if not triple of what our 2% cap was and over the last years we've been losing losing losing not have enough money to make up this year they hit us with a 30% I know the highest in the county I'm sorry you're the highest in the county 30% yes trust me in the state not in the state not in the state no you're at 31% negative I at every single school system the but have you applied for cap waivers when we can to go over and above your cap when we can yes when you can it's we're not always eligible to apply and there's an entire explanation and a form I understand because obviously if you don't people don't spend to their cap then the cap for the next year is on a lesser amount of money and and it's a you know a house of cards so if you've always spent to your cap and when you are able to and you applied for cap waiver then this is all on the state but if you haven't spent a your cap and you haven't asked for a waiver then part of it's on [Applause] youie hello hi I'm a student at Lacy Township High School and I wasn't planning on saying anything tonight but um some of the stories that I've heard from other students and teachers and whatnot really uh really got to me and I actually choked up I think uh I walked into history a couple weeks ago right before you guys made the cuts and my history teacher told me that basically we have to walk on eggshells around all of the teachers because because they would be losing their jobs realizing that is devastating really you realize you guys are making students who are not adults yet walk on eggshell around teachers because the teachers are emotionally unstable because you're firing them and and and and not being supportive all in all I just think these teachers deserve better and the students deserve better because these teachers are the last bit of hope that some students have so thank you and I appreciate it thanks for your [Applause] [Applause] coming hello I'm a freshman at Lacy Township High School first I'd like to start off by talking about Mr monteu being cut Mr monteu has been one of the most inspirational figures I've ever met Monty has done so much for the students band programs and even the Arts his past few years with Mr monteu at Lacy Township High School he's helped me with so much two years ago I was crushed with the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes unfortunately not many teachers are well educated on how to help or support this condition Mr monu however has saved my life several times he he can understand just by the sound of a beep what is going on with me and how to help me he teaches several classes at this school he he teaches the concert band jazz band and marching band I'm in all three and he's helped me for the past two years with this as a musician he's helping me grow as a person he's helping me grow these programs were left in shambles before he came here he's truly created something special and incredible with this program not only have we increased but last weekend we had play second for our jazz band additionally for the class of 2027 we have not had a stable band teacher since we were in sixth grade we have lost Mr browon we have lost Mr bador and now we are losing Mr mon also as mentioned earlier it was stated that the jobs of people who were being cut was not based on their performance level I think this is absurd the performance level of teachers should be the reason that they are cut or that they are staying this is their whole jobs the whole purpose of a teacher is to help students grow and to guide them along their path if they're not doing their jobs they don't deserve to have them for the people that are guiding us along our way to make us better people and growing up into young adults they should be the ones that are keeping their jobs they are the ones truly teaching us also I'm new to Lacy Township High School after moving out for mates I came back just for the Arts just for the Arts I had left an Elite School of academics because of Mr montue he has taught me so much so much and even though with the literal garbage cans in the hallways for the leaks in the ceilings that have not been repaired for years year three years ago yeah like literally every 10 feet like a Disney trash can it's it's actually out of hand the jobs are compromised for these teachers but they still keep going they're still putting on a brave face and they're showing up to school and they're guiding us along the way they're still doing their jobs they're not leaving even if they are searching for new jobs they have not stopped theyve been betrayed left behind but they're still going and keeping their loyalties because their loyalties are to the students and they love their students and we love them back we need Mr monu at Lacy we need Mr Fritz at Lacy and even Mr V for the Spanish class can teach so much that we can't have with other students with 40 students in a class that's an insane number there's there's simply not going to be any education going on and it's a danger to our students and our teachers it's impossible for a teacher to contain 40 kids at once especially at a high school age some of these people people have the bodies of grown adults and teachers simply cannot control that in a classroom environment as well as we have 30 kids in a class right now and we could barely fit them I'm sitting shoulder Tosh shoulder with most kids in each class 40 kids I'm not even sure how that's going to work I I just really think we need to find another way to save our budget cuts and not cut the people who are actually guiding us and helping us and doing their jobs as teachers thank you for your time [Music] [Applause] okay so hear me out hang on one second all right so we've eliminated board member comments tonight we've eliminated superintendent comments tonight and we've eliminated a board committee report tonight due to the fact of the length of the meeting we're all going to call public comment to an end at 10 o'clock so you have another 2 I'm sorry you have a lot of stamina thank you so much I appreciate it because we have to go back in the private session and finish because we came out late we're coming back out again we're going back into private session so if you would like to go next go ahead you can go Rihanna and Mendes uh Woodland Road Fork River um this is my 19th year teaching in Lacy and I was also a student in alumni and I fought for several issues and I hear I know that everybody here wants to keep our staff and emotions are really high and and just as much as I was willing to fight for my rights a few years ago I am wanting to fight for this district and the only thing that I keep hearing we need to work towards a solution and it looks like the only solution is pointing towards fighting in Trenton and there's another 140 districts and I I think we need to move towards putting together some kind of volunteer committee to make that happen and to have a big presence the day that they're going to vote on giving us some of this funding back and making others aware as to how non-transparent the budget is but we can talk all night about how much we love our staff and how much of an impression it's made on all of you but the people sitting on the stage care and are donating there's many of you giving your time for this we need to focus on the fight and what's going to resolve the issue and it's getting money and our voices need to be heard in Trenton so I would be happy to volunteer if there could be a committee that joins to get together with Jackson Tom dver the other Ocean County districts that received funding cuts and put together I've one one and a half personal days left that I am willing to help with anything that we can collaborate to make a presence seen in Trenton uh I've been trying not to comment all night on public comment but you just you just hit a stone right there so a lot of you don't realize she mentioned Tom's River Jackson some other schools myself uh Dr PR um Mr Silva and Miss Claus went to a meeting two weeks ago about a four or five hour meeting at Jackson schools while we were there we met with 16 other districts to collaborate together correct so we've been quiet you know you've been saying you should do this we've been doing it Dr pray let me finish please I let you speak let me speak thank you so Dr Pereira has been a Trenton numerous times and testified in all your guys behalf and all the employees behalf she's been there testifying explaining to the state of Trenton correct what this is doing to our district and not a lot of people know that we've been there fighting we've been there she's been more of a politician following this following that following this keeping the board updated where is it out on the table right now where is it at being this reaching out to uh Mr Rado correct but that's what I mean I think it's time for the public to stand behind her we've been doing that two hours sorry three hours after we found out about the cuts we had a meeting with Senator motto the township committee um oh my goodness the ninth delegation District on Lacy Road at their office we had a meeting there discussing what the impact is going to be to this District so a lot of people here saying you you you you you it's not us it's just let me finish please it's the state that cut us correct we are in the fight we're doing the fight Mr is I appreciate that absolutely and I'll be the first I'll drive the bus all right to go to Trenton but we've been to Trenton we have been collaborating other districts yes we're in a bad situation but I don't how to tell you this Jackson in a worse situation Tom's River in a worse situation we walked in other heads down oh my God we're getting pumble we thought we were bad all right Jackson School District needs to transport 4800 nonpublic students on their dime and the state pulled $10 million out of their budget on top of that so then as a county we should be able to pull together we are attempting that we are not we are tired remember the state lawsuit trying to find this funding formula it's to the point now where we're trying to collaborate together and go fed Federal a federal lawsuit to say hey why are 150 schools out of 400 something losing and you go one town south of here and they come out and say oh come look at our brand new uh plasma TV board on our Scoreboard on our football field and Meanwhile we're cutting Sports we're cutting music we're cutting this we're cutting that we're looking at pay to play we've looked at every option possible old school people in here central regional split session we looked at it we had it on the board where the juniors go and fresh or sorry freshman and juniors go from 12:00 p.m. to 400 p.m. correct and the seniors and uh juniors go from 7 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. we've looked at every option possible to save money we've hired a company last year to monitor our utilities as best as possible the problem is our utilities are so old we can't can't even hook up to the computer systems for the guy to raise and lower the heat at night we got to do it manually yes we know about the roof leaks absolutely we had a case study on all our buildings and the biggest problem was the roofs but we're looking at a referendum where we can't do a referendum if we ask a question to raise more than that 2% cap to try to bring it up I'll add 10 minutes at a time man you're correct all right but we are doing everything possible they are doing everything possible to try to accommodate and keep as many jobs as possible the vote is May 9th correct what's that the vote the day that they're going to vote originally it was May 6th I'm now hearing May 9th so I'm keeping up on when it is and I will let absolutely everybody know when when it's going to be okay let's keep going with our do you have any other comments no that was all go ahead sir thank you John satell South Street loka Harbor first off I want to commend everybody over here all the children who have come up and have said something to this board that had the goall to come up here and discuss what their disgusted was with this decision I was we moved here to Lacy Township in 2006 I moved here with my wife and my two children at the time I didn't have a third I came here because the school district was a great District I heard that the district was a great district and when I came in and when my kids started in school they were a great District I've seen the decline in this District over the years over and over and over again we continue to hear year after year after year budget cuts budget cuts we're losing people we're losing people we're losing people I Was preparing with my children to go up on Sunday to go to a AC accepted students day for my daughter who was accepted into college Saturday night I heard something that was pretty disgusting I heard that Mr monu was going to be let go Mr monu has been a staple a staple of the band Department here the performing arts department he's been a confidant he's been a mentor he's somebody that everybody goes to When the Children cannot go to the guidance counselors in this school district because they don't feel that they can talk to the guidance counselors in this school they go to Mr monu they'll sit down in his classroom they'll sit there and talk to him you know why because he sits with them and he will sit there and listen they feel that they have the respect of Mr monu and Mr Manu has the respect of every one of these children and all the students that are not here tonight that are in the Performing Arts I come to you as the incoming Performing Arts boosters Association president of the board for next year and years to go I I and everybody else all the parents all the volunteers have seen everything that Mr monu does for these children okay the only other person that has not been a volunteer that knows exactly what they what Mr monu means to these children is Mr King Mr King has been to the events he's been to the competitions he's helped us in the Performing Arts boosters association with equipment pulling things in there pulling things into the trailers into the trucks he's helped us out so he knows when you go backstage you guys don't see what happens backstage everybody in the Performing Arts boosters that is a parent volunteer goes goes and they can see and they can say exactly what he means to these children so I think that you guys should seriously consider keeping Mr mahue because Mr monu is the Lacy Township High School band and the B Lacy Township High School band is Chris monu [Music] and I understand just like all the other parents do that these budgets cut these budget cuts are coming from Trenton right I'm pissed I'm pissed when I look at this and I can I'm sure you've probably seen things that I've posted I've sent you guys emails so if you haven't read it you can go ahead and go into your Lacy Township emails and you could read that right but I'm pissed to sit here and look and see that the potential for the art program is at Jeopardy that check that you have sitting right on that desk is for mental health okay a lot of these children without this program will suffer they will suffer and the failure will be on all of you thank you for your comment D you guys come up next D your next hi sir um I have one question just to start off today are you proud of your efforts dealing with these budget cuts are you proud of them thank you for your time next comment really really I have a question I'm not going to get in debate with you sir of what of course we are proud to be up sir I'm the student representative of lacy Township High School I'm the class president I've been the senior class president for four years I don't understand why that would be a problem so I'll let you go when you're done I'll reply thank you I believe that the thing wrong with this District in general is that there's a lack of Pride okay each and every one of you the lack of Pride that's happening with this district is snowballing down to the teachers out here and to the students right now I as a student have to do my best okay to make sure that these kids are proud of their school as a student as a 17-year-old boy I'm not even 18 yet and I'm doing a better job than most of you adults out there and steing pride in the school it's a joke I'm not only the class president I'm in the NHS I'm in the drama I'm in the varsity baseball team okay I'm a leader I have to make sure that these students are proud to be here and it's a joke because not even the teachers are proud to be here and that's not even a reflection on them it's a reflection on you guys because they have nothing to look up to they don't have an incentive okay I have to find out how to make fundraisers for my seniors I go to my advisers and I'm trying to make plans up for these fundraisers and they don't they're telling me that they don't have a solution I say I need to find a way to do it because they give me until last minute to make these fundraisers up right and they say it's not going to go through we don't have enough time I say why not she goes in years past the students would do it on their own I go why isn't that happening why do you think that's not happening that the students aren't doing this why do you think so I say because they're not proud they have no incented to because the people up here don't actually care about us they don't care at all they don't care they don't care if they cared none of this would be happening the people that actually care about the student wouldn't have to sit up here and even beg okay they wouldn't even have to and it's sad that it's coming from me it's sad okay I'm 17 years old and I know that as a 17-year-old boy who has learned more from the teachers sitting out there who has those teachers have molded me into the person who I am and you're so quick and willing to let them go because of money it's lazy it's easy it's the easy way out it's been that way for the past 10 years it's the easy way out yeah that guy's right I haven't been around that long and I know he's right I knew that Lacy at one point was a place that people were proud to be at we had winning teenss we had winning programs everyone was like yes this is what I want to be a part of but now no one wants to be a part of anything because the people at top don't care about us they don't care at all and until you guys realize that nothing is going to change and it's a shame that I even have to come up here and beg for me to talk it's a shame as a student as a student why why thank you thank you for your comments next she's been waiting for a while she has homework to do so I told her to go in front of me yeah okay I had a whole thing planned eloquently said but uh it is 10:00 I still have homework to do for my college classes so I'll try to keep it brief um as I was well more so before but when I was looking across the room I saw faces of people not teachers but actual people with families and lives and they need to sort out their own money and everything uh they have all shaped the past three years of my lives with guiding and supporting students like myself to reach as high up as we can and then some uh and as well as like just support supp in Us in general of our livelihood like I can name teachers right off the bat okay well guidance class are Miss spuza Mrs SoDo Miss dejon have literally kept me afloat my entire High School career ever since I was 10 I've been hospitalized four times for my psychiatric health and in freshman year I went to go to spuza and she saved my life and I haven't been in such a rut since cuz I've had her as as mentioned dejon I've had SoDo I've had also teachers who are just I walk into the rooms I had a really rough day today but walking into Miss penna's room walking into Mr Fisher's room made me smile a little more and knowing that there are most likely more teachers that are on the list that these teachers are going to be on and going to be cut there's going to be more statistics of kids killing themselves I am only here today because of these teachers and don't you dare don't you dare say oh we're only have 10 minutes left I and these many other students and adults who are concerned for the well-being of this community have been here since what 6:00 and you guys were you guys were saying you were there since 5 or 4: but this is your job I and many others have families to go back to we haven't eaten dinner I have homework to do but I'm here trying to tell you please care about our wellbeing I I I don't understand and also why is it based on on seniority again it's been mentioned before the top coach in this school everyone knows he's really creepy with the girls he would video he would video record me and other and other students doing jumping jacks last year and always mentioned me and one other girl said your jumping jacks are really nice I was disgusted I went to guidance and I I spoke to someone who I suppose normally deals with that they switched my class thankfully nothing happened to the coach didn't expect it but still seeing these teachers who are proven to actually better Our Lives yet we have the the guy who sexually harasses young girls and also shows us videos of frat house paddling that is not false during his gym lessons he would show us that content but that's allow I make it make sense that's all thank you thank you for your [Applause] comment good evening de boujan for River I am a parent a taxpayer Lacy and numl and the co-chair of the Lacy special education parent advisory group I don't any Envy anybody sitting up there tonight I know you've made a lot of hard decisions I know some of you up there and some of you over there the LTA have been working very hard to get some of our funding back so I want to say thank you and I see you and I appreciate you I also wanted to point out tonight that one of the women in the rotary was one a group of several parents that in the 70s walked around the township knocking on doors convincing taxpayers to vote Yes on the referendum to get this High School built her name is Heather scanland and she is my mother I can only imagine what she thinks now what goes through her head when she sees what's happening with this District thank you to all her friends at The Rotary for the support of mental health as we heard tonight we are in a mental health crisis we have known about this S2 Bill coming we've been dealing with it since 2018 I think putting so much time into a preschool grant that you've dropped the ball on the S2 situation let's face it that Grant can be cut at any time and that would be another complete disaster I think maybe that we should have been trying to figure out a way to bring money back into the district we all know that the money is in special education and if you would build that department back up stop cutting the special education teachers bring about 20 to 30 students back into this district from other students bring some of them back that are being homeschooled because they pulled them out because of the programs that were cut we could make millions of dollars back and I hope that some of you consider looking into that into the future we do need to do a lot better in our special education department uh I also wanted to point out I have not seen any Administration Cuts come through in the past 5 years even though we've lost 150 teachers Paris staff members Etc the other issue that I wanted to bring to your attention tonight is that the self contained autism room in the high school is on their third teacher this year she's actually not a teacher she's a long-term substitute long-term substitutes don't even have to have a special education certification either do regular substitutes they do not even read IEPs they're not privy to them so you have a whole classroom of students special needs students who need the most consistency are not getting any consistency and their last two marking periods are being taught by someone who doesn't have a special education certification and can't even read their individual education plans I think that's unacceptable lastly I wanted to point out that the stiping for the jazz band is only $250 the music costs about $400 Mr monu has paid the difference out of his own pocket several years I asked him if he wanted me to go to the board and bring it up before a few years ago twice I asked him two years in a row he said no I believe he didn't want to make any waves and look where that got him anyway thank you good luck to everybody working [Applause] [Music] hard there we go um I a lacy Township uh high school student and I'm not going to present myself as that but instead as the future as well I'm standing in front of a lot of the future there are going to be future doctors here future politicians future Palm readers even I don't know what they're going to do but they are the future here and they are not going to be able to be the future if they do not have a proper education if they do not have the resources that they need they are not going to be able to get themselves to college to trade school to apprenticeships they are not going to be able to get to any of that if they do not have the basic education to get there and for some of us there might not even be a future at this point last year I went through an extreme Mental Health crisis I was on the verge of taking my own life and there were very few people in the school that helped supported me and those who were are some that are being cut Mr Brewster Mr Fritz some of the few people that did stay and like stand up for me and make sure I was okay are now going to just be swept under the rug like dirt from some crumb cake um this year I came into High School barely with a reason to go on I was just going through the motions chugging on just to get through high school with no light at the end of the tunnel and then I ran into the Arts I joined theater I completely joined into choir and it gave me something to do it it it gave me an escape from reality it gave me motivation to keep going it gave me a family away from home a family away from where your normal family might be crazy or what have you but you always have something to come to and that's being ripped away from people you're taking away people like Mr monu who I've known not even for a year but yet he has made so many of my days better and just you you are taking away a Lifeline from people you are this year alone across the district we have already lost two line lives to Suicide let's not go for three strikes out Batten a thousand here aren't we these students are gasoline dipped logs and we are skipping Stones batting rocks together th throwing Sparks everywhere and it's going to set the logs upon fire and at the end of the day when the ash clears you have to think how do you feel about that are you okay with that is do you sleep at night knowing that things that happen are partially your fault like I know I know not all your fault I know but we should be in this together not butting heads over it so you know teenager [Applause] teenager I'm just a teenager what do I know so how about a little teenage activity I got to dare I dare you I dare you to talk to the other districts more why not talk to the entire State we got so many districts that are struggling through the same thing that we can be talking to and no it doesn't have to be some long but conference that you sit there for four to five hours it could be as simple as getting a phone call through a secretary and you know what you can scrape off some of the top money that has come to other people like I know we've talked about coach brazilla with a 2,000 something or 200,000 something something like that people are being paid crazy amounts just over seniority and tenure while people who are taking their own mental health into risk are getting paid scraps to what other people are getting paid so instead of being able to go out and enjoy a Teenage life go home do homework or look into a college we have to come here and fight for the future Generations that are coming to the school so thanks for that I guess to [Applause] Lou hi Lisa Edgeworth Hilltop Drive lenoa Harbor um I just want to say this I see the sides from as a community we need to pull together more and we need to go fight before it comes to this at this point the children they need their teachers but when we're making budget cuts and this is what I wanted to come to to say actually I wasn't going to say anything tonight um is that our teachers are assets they're not an expense and this is something that I learned years ago for a great company that I worked for and they treated their employees as assets we teach our we treat our children as assets right they're assets they're not an expense we do anything we can for them so are your employees so are our teachers Mr monu he's one of the best assets that Lacy Township has you can't look to take him off of your expenses when he's Irreplaceable there is no other teacher in the district that can come in and fill his shoes it's just not going to happen he's the band director he does the marching band The Jazz band The I guess he teaches the uh public speaking there's so much that he does there's if you remove one band teacher I know what do you have I think four right now one's in the military so he's not here most of the time because he serves our country and then you have one who takes care of the elementary schools and then you have the other who's in the middle school if you take our high school band director what you're essentially saying to our community is that it's just not important and music is going to completely be going what's NE next what's going okay that's not fair and just remember when you're looking at your budget people are assets they're not expenses thank [Applause] you last one to go go ahead ma'am on hi Kaye holler I have stated my name at the last board meeting and I will state it again um I have spoken about this last year as well when my band director and my course teacher throughout my middle milp years Mr browon was cut from his job and all the students and me have had come here and stated our issues and you all just sat in your chairs looked at us like we were stupid and didn't care you sat in your chairs stared at us or stared at your phones or stared at your computers or like play with your pens and we're like okay we'll do something about it but we we don't care we don't care you're cutting teachers who actually care about their jobs rather than the teachers who come to school every day I hate my job uh I hate the students I have to teach I know my math teachers that I love dearly they come to school every day with a smile on their face and say I love my job I am proud to be working here I am proud to have a job and I hope that money that you got for the mental health is going to a good cause instead of a bad one because really you really need it have you seen what we've gone through five five people we have lost in our district there could be more there are so many problems you do not know about your teachers don't know about your counselors do not know about students are afraid to tell their counselors what is going on because they certainly really do not care okay we'll help you they call the parents something happens the kid gets yelled at at home because they feel a certain way that's that shouldn't happen they should feel safe at school I don't feel safe I will say it a million times until the day I die I do not feel safe in your school and I'm proud to say that I will be leaving and I'm never coming back because your school district sucks you don't do anything you don't help you don't want to help the kids you want to help yourself all I'm saying is you need to shape it up before you lose more kids and more money because this this is really disgusting seriously you need to do something about it because you're going to lose a lot of people a lot of people and it's going to be your fault thank you thank you for your comments we're moving on now to new business sorry sir can I say I'm sorry we're closed the floor thank you so much public comment ma'am ma'am I've given every opportunity for people to speak every opportunity the entire room not for him let him you have one more person let we got two minutes go you get five all right so um I'm take your time I'm up here today um representing Mr moniku um he was in that corner of the room um when you think about somebody who doesn't want to be in a room who doesn't want to be seen he is in the corner he does not want to be publicized the way we are publicizing him he doesn't want the attention that we are giving him he wants us to be seen he doesn't want himself to be seen I have been to well my own concerts that I was in and he is the only person that was not thanked in the entire Auditorium um I wanted to say that um he's a great guy that the emotional uh the mental support of this school it's it's based on these teachers that are being laid off I mean granted these budget cuts granted you have to do something about these budget cuts granted these teachers are the easiest access to them what what do we need to do though we need to base these who's being laid off based off performance cuz if we keep on basing this off of seniority I mean I'm not going to name names but coach Barcelo um quite literally is overdue for retirement by how many years now and he's getting paid how much like come on seriously we it it took me about four days to get a response from a senator and it took you guys like I believe you said 6 months to get a response um to get action rolling with the legal system it's just I know you guys are in a hard place I sympathize with you kind of um the fact that there are how many microphones up there and I've seen one two three used um not calling everybody else out but um it's it's the situation sucks we get it but there's action that be can can be done simply if you guys could start by getting word out wider I had to go to my friend's teacher Mr paa just to find out what to do to actually save the teacher that we wanted to save Mr moniku I I had no idea if it weren't for M paa I would have no idea what to do to come to this board meeting in general it there's so much that can be done if we could get I don't know on the morning announcements something about uh the budget cuts how to email these people if we could get a list of people well we do have a list of people to email but if we could get a student perspective of what to send out not just the parents perspective cuz it's directly affecting us I mean granted thank you keep on saying we are the future we are and it's you're stripping quite literally stripping the future away from its needs it what the future needs to thrive I thank you for your time thank you for your [Applause] comment okay we'll move on to business go to meeting minutes can I have a motion please page 2 A1 have a motion please motion second I'll second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conned yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes and Mr Peters yes thank you page two list of bills A2 can I have a motion please motion I'll second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conedy yes but I need to abstain on 949 936 955 333 95316 and then my employer 289 299 and 283 300 thank you sorry Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes and Mr Peters yes I D stain on 21210 please thank you page two transfer A3 and A4 can I have a motion please motion second roll call please I'm sorry who motion it was Mr Amato and Mr ConEd seconded thank you Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conned yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes page two through five financing facilities A5 through a12 can I have a motion please motion second second conedy first was Mrs Amad second Mr conedy can I have a roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conedy yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus um Yes except no on 10 and Mr Peters yes p five and six a18 a16 I'm sorry oh D my apologies pay five tuition and transportation a13 a15 can I have a motion please I have a question sure uh Kango or I'm not don't know if I'm saying it right kigo Kango Education Institute keynote speaker um who is he what is it have we heard about this yes okay k no uh being paid through title funds and he's speaking at our mental health night as our keynote speaker okay he's been in our district before okay yeah thank you can I have a motion please motion second second Mr arm you get that roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conned yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes p five and six a16 through a18 can I have a motion please motion second Mr and Mrs moo roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conedy yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes page six policies and regulations a19 and a20 can I have a motion please motion second Mr con Mr armato I have a roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conedy yes Mr armato yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes right we will now repeat resume sorry back into private session she's going to read my bed I'm tired we're going to go back into private session be it resolved that an executive session be convened for the purpose of discussing confidential student matters including but not limited to harassment intimidation and bullying confidential legal matter matters including but not limited to the current case load and confidential Personnel matters subject matters these discussions will be disclosed to the public when the reason for confidentiality subsides the length of the executive session is estimated to be approximately think 1 hour 60 minutes we'll be back at 11:30 after which the board shall reconvene and proceed with business at 11:22 action may be taken motion mot motion Peters second I'll second all in favor I I we'll be back at an hour public please be quiet so we can reconvene appreciate it let's go let's go you want to call us you going to do each one individually how do you want to call the hips P like to have needed motion for page 6 a21 a22 please motion I'll second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conned yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes me a motion for Page Six B donations please motion second ready roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conned yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes also like to uh thank the rotary for Their donation page seven C programs of curriculum can I have a motion please motion second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conedy yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes page 7 D professional days workshops SL travel can I have a motion please motion second second con roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conned yes but I need to abstain on Mrs uh kovski thank you Mrs Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes page 7-1 e certified Personnel E1 through E10 can I have a motion please motion second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conned yes Mr armado yes m Claus yes Mr Peters yes F Pages 11- 16 noncertified Personnel F1 through F9 can I have a motion please motion second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conned yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes okay we have we have a resolution we have four walk-on resolutions can you just give it brief survey brief identification what each one is please names oh G to read them um walk on resolution number one is for the termination of employment contracts move that the board approve the termination of employment contracts for the following staff uh employee number is 858 037 uh as of 4222 24 and 857 993 as as of 31124 motion motion second Peters roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conned yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes and Mr Peters yes okay walk on resolution number two is suspension without pay move the board approve approve a 3-day suspension without pay for the following staff number 856 889 for 41924 42224 and 42324 motion motion second right Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conned yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes okay walk on resolution number three this is approval of a settlement agreement move that the Lacy Township Board of Education approve the settlement agreement uh to be paid by insurance with respect to civil action docket number ocn l001 36622 as discussed in executive session motion motion second second Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conned yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes with the contract revised yes all right our last walk-on resolution uh be it resolved that the Ley Township School District approves the following whereas student ID number 98667427499 as student was advised of their right to appeal to the commissioner of education and whereas student anticipated participated in a hearing pursuant to njsa 37 2.4 before the Board of Education which took place on April 18th 2024 and has been afforded certain due process rights whereas the preponderance of the evidence indicated that student ID number 90 8667 engaged in prohibited conduct and that said Behavior constitutes cause for further discipline now therefore be it resolved that in accordance with njsa 18 18 a375 student ID number 90866 7 will be suspended and placed in an interim alternative placement ending June 30th 2024 be it further resolved that student ID number 90866 7 will be excluded from participating in all Lac Township School District extracurricular school activities and is not permitted on any school property or any other school function without prior approval of the superintendent During the period ending June 30th 2024 motion motion second second Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr conned yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes moot motion to adjourn motion at 1138 all in favor