everybody attention please call the order start off the pledge pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all adequate notice for this meeting was advertised on Edge Park Press and the beacon on January 11th 2024 for by posting the notice in the forkid river and L Harbor Post Office and by filing a copy of the notice with the LA C clerk as required by the open public meeting act roll call please Mr Bell here Mrs armado here Mr conned absent Mrs Walker also absent Mr armado here Mrs Claus here and Mr Peters present we have a quarum do this District first right here I didn't know that was on okay want to save it yeah all right we'll save it okay go to ex session all right we're going to go into executive session uh be resolved in 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 confidential Personnel matters the subject matter of 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 60 minutes after which the board shall reconvene and proceed with business at 7:00 p.m. action may be taken motion motion Peters I'll second all in favor I I just like to announce we're going to do board goals next meeting it's supposed to be 2324 not 2223 okay good what you good with that everybody good with that s yeah got a big agenda tonight we do that's why all right thank you oh um there's some public out there uh asking that when we post the meetings let them know that the meeting starts at 6 but public session starts at 7 that other districts do that okay welcome folks we're going to continue back our meeting we just came out a private session just so everyone knows that this meeting is following the budget and the agenda that was handed out it's announced in the paper and the local uh uh post office that Friday's meeting will be regarding the budget but that being said we'll adopt the budget but the meeting is at 4:00 for the reason of we have high school graduation on Thursday if we got ringed out on Thursday we would still have time we push till 4:00 so we can finish the meeting 4:00 go to high school graduation at 6:00 clear good so any of the here that would like to discuss the budget you're probably better off sir sir don't we have to pass the budget by a certain dat yes corre unfortunate sir I'm so sorry for that but that's what we had to set up we set it up for next week we can't it's already been advertised we're not going to change it we're already set at that well I'm sorry we're we're following we can't get into back and shouting back and forth from the crowd I mean we have an agenda and that's what we have to proceed with today okay there's public comment later on in the agenda that you can any sir okay just for the sake of the public there is a public comment portion of this meeting that where you could speak on any topic you wish but the budget adoption is for Friday you're not going to act on it so thank you sir have a good day up everybody's time thank you have a good day all right so that being said you're good yeah good y okay um I just want to welcome you to our uh June board meeting here we are at the end of the school year it did go quite fast um three more days of school and Wednesday is our Middle School promotion and Thursday is our high school graduation assuming we don't get any of that bad stuff which I'm not even going to say out loud but when we get to this point of the school year is when I do like to talk about milestones and we've had quite a few uh so as I I already mentioned it'll be our 43rd annual Lacy Township High School commencement C ceremony that will take place on the football field at 6:00 uh on Wednesday our eighth graders will be promoted to high school also on the football field on May 24th 30 of our seniors earn their associates degree and will complete the college academy program and receive their and the best news about that is that since the Inception of the Lacy Township High School Ocean County College Academy the district has graduated 161 seniors in the program which is just beyond fantastic um at scholarship night our students were awarded over $350,000 which is a record for our district and in addition to that two seniors Brody Sager and Constantine calibri were awarded full scholarships and appointments to the Coast Guard Academy so congratulations to both of them and Matthew gothier was awarded a full scholarship and appointed appointment to the merchant uh Marine Academy which Round of Applause to him and his family and so I just have to say that that indeed again is a record for our district and a fine Exemplar of student academic achievement we're really really proud of them uh we had amazing fall and spring drama presentations and outstanding concerts across all of our grades Athletics and co-curriculars had a great great year um and so much more in between so I know a lot of our teachers are in the audience so kudos to our teachers our administrators uh our board of education for an outstanding school year and finally uh as a followup to my announcement on Friday I'm not even going to get into it because I'm going to get emotional uh I announced my retirement effective September 1 um I was going to say a whole lot more but I'm not so moving on um I do want to say though uh thank you to everyone to this board of education to admin um it's been an honor to be here for 20 years so that's it on that um okay um so I am now going to turn it over to Mr King because I am going to circle back around to our scholarship night and I'd like to invite Mr King up to the podium to make an additional presentation that um was not made on scholarship night Mr King the floor is yours thank you Dr BR and we first congratulate you on your retirement don't make me cry yes I will I won I promise just to reate what was said almost $350,000 was generously donated by the community members single families individuals groups to our district for our outgoing seniors uh that is just an incredible outpouring of of Love commitment support for our school it kind of demonstrates what this district is all about in the yes sincerely I [Applause] agree it was a wonderful night in the energy of the evening I made a an error where I neglected to announce one scholarship so I'm here this evening to rectify that uh the Lacy Township High School Performing Arts boosters Association scholarship uh was was over was not announced that evening they're giving out seven scholarships for $250 each if any of the students are here this evening please come forward when your name is called they've already received their scholarship but I want to recognize them we have Lily Brookman Jack Rael Carolyn Leman Autumn magnon Mars satell Avery whan and kayy zerella so all those students did receive that award that's [Applause] again a a lot of proud moments that evening along with our our three students going to Service uh but the the amount of care that went across that stage that evening it's going to really change lives was something to watch and it's it's I'm always moved by it I read the names I read the amounts but when you pause and step back and you see the totality of it and you see how it's going to impact their lives going forward and a lot of the donations are from former students of lacy so they go out do great things come back give more so more people can do great things it's a really nice nice event so thank you Dr for allow me to do that thank you and another round of applause for those [Applause] students all right so now uh we turn our attention to our next presentation and I alluded to our amazing staff we typically do this in May um but our May agenda was full and we decided how appropriate to end the school year with our uh presentations of our 20 2024 2025 teachers of the year and I say this every month when uh we recognize our staff members of the month is that behind every successful uh student is an amazing teacher uh who helped get him or her there um I like to use a quote every year uh because I always say that outstanding teaching is an art and in the words of Albert Einstein it is the Supreme art of a teacher to awaken the joy in Creative knowledge and expression and our teachers are nothing short of amazing and it is an honor to have Mr King kick off our Lacy Township High School teacher of the year thank you Dr P it is a great pleasure of mine to start off this amazing amazing event uh the staff members you see up on the screen this evening are welld deserved as award we're each going to speak on their behalf I am proud and proud and honored to introduce Mrs Michelle artali as the high school [Applause] it is she is she is here with many family and friends so a round of applause for all them as well than so what to say about Mr artali now it it comes down to involvement student engagement and the impact she's had on lives uh she has been here more than one year that's all I'm going to say about it it's been more than one year and the thousands of students that she's impacted over her career are better for it she's seen thousands of people come and go including staff members come and go Administration come and go her key quality is that each person gets their moment each person gets their time with her each person gets what they need to make themselves a better person and I don't care care if it's a student in their class A student she sees in the hallway a staff member in need a newer staff member a veteran staff member or even myself as an Administration she gives you the time of her Day and The Time of her heart to let you know that she's there for you and when the students that comes through loud and clear it doesn't matter what I've asked her to do as far as teaching assignments coverages the answer is always yes and when she says yes she means it she's going to go do that job she's not going to just show up she's not going to just be there for a while she will be there till the job is done and she'll make sure every student that she's with gets what they need and it's a very very special person to do that and when it come came time to pick our staff member of the Year our teacher of the year um it it's a hard decision it truly is a lot of great names come across the group and we we vote on them we pick the top three and and we send the top three to the board and when it came back I was proud I was proud that m artali is going to get the recognition that she deserves that she's earned and that we are happy happy to give to her your students are blessed to have you we are lucky to have you with us we thank you every day for all you do and understand that you're making a difference the high school teacher of the year Mrs Michelle [Applause] congratulations congratulations congratulations with that I turn the microphone over to Mr Greg Brandis principal of l sentral Middle School uh Mr King is a tough act to follow and uh so is Miss artali so congratulations congratulations to uh all the recipients from scholarship night to all the recipients for the teachers of the year and congratulations Dr Apper on your retirement um to celebrate the middle school teacher of the year I would like to invite down Miss Stacy KNX please join us [Applause] now Stacy is uh Miss Knox Stacy Knox is joined uh by her parents here tonight U Nancy and Larry and her two sons Trevor and Travis so congratulations to you on uh your daughter becoming teacher of the year uh Miss Knox believe it or not not uh I have not even known Miss Knox for a year now she's one of the sixth grade teachers who joined the Middle School in the milpond merger uh and as I did a year ago talking to administrators and teachers about uh all the teachers that were coming up to the to the middle school I'm like you know how how is Miss Knox what what is she about what are some of her qualities and they were just like she's awesome yeah she's amazing and I I didn't really know what that meant until I met her uh this year I and over the summer when I first told her that she wasn't going to be teaching the courses that I told her she was going to be teaching in the beginning of the summer and she been more than flexible in uh her scheduling and her students and just this year I uh alternated her assignment as well she's been more than uh flexible but most employing is she's a caring for her special education students uh she takes the time to work with them she works hard with them and is really always there for them and it's it is her best quality is I'm able to call her a caring educator which is uh is a great quality find in Miss Knox uh in addition to that she's always the first one to jump in and lend a hand we were looking for teachers for our first event of the school year um for the glaro uh uh Harlem Globe trots uh event and uh I said well who's doing it um why don't we try to get some sixth graders involved sixth grade teachers involved and they said well miss knox's the only one that signed up already so uh she was there and she actually I think stole the show during the event so um she was also part of the spirit Committee in mil Pond and been teaching over 20 years so and she throws the best end of the year parties so congratulations to MC Knox as being teacher of the year [Applause] thank you thank you very much thank you so much thank you at this time I'd like to invite Miss Holly neik principal of Cedar Creek [Applause] good evening everybody congratulations to all of our teachers of the year I have the distinct pleasure of recognizing the Cedar Creek teacher of the year and that is Mrs manna [Applause] I'm so proud and honored to work with Mrs Manna I think so is everybody else in our building and in this District she's joined here by some close friends we are all happy to celebrate her um Mrs Manna has been a teacher for 30 years and 25 of those years have been at Cedar Creek and that is amazing um she's taught first grade second grade fourth grade Mrs TNA is one of those teachers that no matter what you ask her she does she leads committees she gets grants she brings in sustainable change um one of the qualities that I love so much about her as a teacher is her honesty and her Integrity um she is always going to tell me her true feelings about something you know good or bad that's okay that's listen that's what we need right that helps help us grow in schools um and anybody that walks into her classroom knows that she leads with her heart um Mrs Manna Works to build Independence in students she always always always has the students lead the way when it comes to expectations and setting classroom rules um she takes their input and voice into consideration um she believes in students taking ownership for their learning and um growing from their mistakes and that's always a difficult conversation and she is happy to have that conversation with our students and that's so important she's a champion for all children and she encourages them to advocate for themselves she believes that part of her role as an educator is to help students feel comfortable so that they can grow socially and academically I have to tell you when I was writing this and I was thinking about Mrs Manna I couldn't help but think about one of my favorite teachers as a child and that was Miss Frizzle in the Magic School Bus I see somebody saying yes and she said take chances make mistakes and get messy right and that's how we learn and grow and Mrs Manna does that with her students so again I am so honored to recognize Mrs Manna as the Cedar Creek teacher of the year congratulations [Applause] at this time I'd like to introduce Mr feedler the principal of forkid River School [Applause] congratulations good evening Dr Pereira members of the board board of education and the great community members of lacy I am honored to introduce the foret river School's teacher of the year Miss Sue Weaver come on [Applause] down Mrs Weaver is a graduate of Jackson Memorial High School and georgean Court University where she earned her bachelor's degree Mrs Weaver's learning never stops as she was always researching implementing the latest Cutting Edge practices and techniques to help her students Excel socially emotionally and academically Mrs Weaver's professional career as an elementary school teacher began in 1995 when she started teaching at the Lucy and homman Elementary School in Jackson where she went to school as a young child after the birth of her son Lewis and then her daughter Kelly Mrs Weaver took a break from her professional career to take on the most important job which is that of being a mom she returned to the profession 18 years ago and she was hired by the Lacy Township Board of Education to work at the forkid river school during her tenure here at the forkid river school she has served as a first grade teacher fourth grade teacher and instructional interventionist and presently a third grade teacher additionally Mrs Weaver is our resident environmental science club adviser who with her students lead many environmental awareness programs for our school making us better Mrs Weaver's passion creativity and dedication are boundless she Prides herself on connecting with each and every student to inspire their self-worth confidence and self assurance Mrs Weaver who was inspired to become a teacher by her late father and career Middle School teacher Jim Murphy captures her vision for her students with the following quote those we teach should feel empowered by the knowledge they gain to become highly productive members of society this evening Mrs Weaver is joined by her daughter Kelly Kelly give a w her son Lewis and her husband L all of which are uh Lacy graduates by the way uh Mrs Weaver on behalf of past and present students and staff members of the forkid River School congratulations on being named the forkid river Schools teacher at [Applause] congratulations s at this time I'm happy to introduce Mr Brewer from the loka harbor [Applause] School good evening everybody and congratulations to all our winners I'd like to introduce loka Harbor's teacher of the year Mrs Regina F now she makes her way down if you've been to any of loka's performances you know it's a futa Family Affair so her husband Steve and her daughters Lucy and Sophie are here as well give them a big round of applause Mrs fuza has deep ties to the community not only being a resident but having sent her children through our schools as well it should come as no surprise that Mrs f is being honored here tonight Mrs fruits has been an employee in the district you're not going to get mad Mar since 1989 her first assignment being in forid River then she came over to Loa in 1999 and she's been a legend ever since if you were to watch one of her performances that she was directed you would think the only way to get children to do that would be with a cattle PR and a whip she does it with a strong work ethic a joy and a smile I don't know how she does it her words of encouragement are second to none I am not sure that Mrs fusa sees it as work I think she thinks she's just playing with children and that it's just a natural calling I really do during her time at wanoka Mrs fruta has been involved in just about every aspect of performance in our building whether it's her own Coral concerts the recorder clubs supporting band concerts Arbor Day Celebrations Flag Day or putting together something last minute at a promotion ceremony if students are singing dancing or playing a musical instrument Mrs fruta can be found she inspires her students to appreciate music and they certainly desire to improve just so they can make her proud I have five sons that came througha and I promise you they all played the recorder I can hear hot cross buns and o to Joy in my [Music] sleep the staff and students at loka Harbor are so blessed to have her on behalf of Mrs kilmurray the staff at LHS and our students I'd like to wish you congratulations to Mrs fruta our 2024 teacher year [Applause] [Applause] at this time I'd like to call down Mrs Don you the principal at mil Pon school thank you Miss Mr bre so good evening everyone and such a wonderful night celebrating all of our lazy Township teachers of the Year this one is my most favorite evenings it's a great honor as an administrator teacher parent and Community member to celebrate these wonderful Educators that have shown such dedication towards the success of their students congratulations to all of you tonight I have the privilege of representing milpond elementary school and it is with great Pride that I introduced our milpond teacher of the year Mrs Sher [Applause] heck Mrs HEC is accompanied tonight by her husband Keith and Son Mason although her daughter Madison could not be here I know she's thinking about you we all know how important it is to have a strong network of support to go home to so we thank you Keith Mason Madison for being there for Sherry thank you her history of educating our youngest Learners began at Shippensburg University her passion for teaching stems from her very own childhood experiences her dedication to giving each child the best kindergarten experience possible has led her here this evening as a kindergarten teacher at milpond this year had a few challenges so Sher packed up many years of memories teaching materials and items that just made it her classroom and moved to milpond to be a part of something very special her perseverance and determination to provide her students with the best kindergarten experience has brought her to this stage this evening throughout this year she was an integral part of our team as we created a community her ability to work collaboratively was the Catalyst that made many team initiatives successful Mrs HEC has a unique way of creating bonds with her students the staff students families everyone that walks the Halls that last for years and years I can stand here and say a lot of great things about Sherry I've known her for a very long time however I thought it was more important to hear what a few of her colleagues had to say Sherry definitely a team player deserves to be recognized for all of her efforts in helping not only her co-workers but for her work in helping her students achieve success one wonderful woman who loves her job no matter what is thrown her way and comes in every day with a smile on her face energetic nothing slows Sherry down she is a great educator with so much to offer this year I've been truly fortunate to have Mrs HEC on my team her patience and compassion have been an inspiration especially when dealing with everything that we have G going on so I wasn't surprised and I'm extremely proud to have sherry represent milpond as our teacher of the year congratulations Sherry [Applause] conratulations [Applause] can I have all staff members of here please come down please sh teachers please back I [Music] know pict yeah [Applause] [Music] con good like all right one more round of applause for our staff members here and so let's keep our uh staff members of the month now uh keep going is Kathy Robinson and Dana Glenn here with us as they're waking making their way down I'm going to tell you a little bit about Kathy and Dana I'm going to start with Kathy Kathy is a power professional at Lacy Township High School and nominated by 11 of her peers this is what they had to say I'm not going to read all of it because I'd be here till Friday um so I took a snippet yes my students and I love when Kathy is assigned to class as well as her happy attitude she has an amazing rapport with the students she helps out any student who needs it as well as the student she is assigned to she is truly a part of any class that she participates in she goes well above and beyond her role she's an amazing and well-loved member of the Lacy Township High School power professional staff her report with students teachers and administration is beyond compare she embodies the school tenants of tradition of Pride and tradition of Excellence every single day her easygoing Manner and willingness to help in matters large or small coupled with her kind heart and integrity make her a mentor to her peer and her love for the job and the people in it make her an outstanding candidate for this honor congratulations Kathy [Applause] well and don't go anywhere because you know we have a video so all right let me tell you a little bit about Dana who's also a power professional she is at milpond nominated by quite a few of your peers as well Dana was my student many many many years ago and now serves as a parah at mil Pond sorry wrote that wrong uh she also volunteers at Lacy Township middle school that's why I got confused actively assisting the drama club twice a week at our rehearsals and also all of our performances this week before our big Hershey Park field trip an eighth grade chorus student fractured her ankle this student still desperately wanted to attend this long awaited trip despite her pain and discomfort during the trip Dana saw that the student was having a pretty miserable time just waiting for her friends on roller coasters Dana immediately swooped in and saved the day she went to guest services and determined which activities the student could still participate in she pushed the student's wheelchair for8 hours up and down hilly Hershey Park and ensured she had a blast shopping eating and riding what rides allowed for her wheelchair she went above and beyond to make this students day I am so grateful that Dana was on this trip saw a student in distress and did everything possible to turn the situation around it is for these reasons that Dana among many other was named June staff member of the month congratulations all right Mr Li we have a video good morning and today is Trop so join us as we go into paradise and we are congratulating D um Glen who is one of our staff members come on follow me what I oh my God thank you can we go can we go inside yeah girl [Music] [Applause] hi I'm Laura hir I'm a coral director at the middle school and I nominated Dana Rose Blen for staff member of the month because she went above and beyond when she was chaperoning our field trip to Hershey Park um Dana was there as a regular chaperon and she saw a student that we had that had been in an accident the the week before and was in a wheelchair she saw her texting her parents that she was having a horrible time and she wanted to go home and Dana just swooped in and completely changed this kid's day she took her to Guest Services she figured out what ride she could be on she personally pushed this kids's wheelchair up and down the hills of hershy Park all day long they went shopping they ate ice cream they rode the ride she could ride she just made this kids day and it's fabulous I'm so proud of Dana she's a former student of mine and a lacy grad and it was great to see the the Lacy tradition go on month this month celebrated cath Rob she's coming [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] thank Mrs Kathleen Robinson thanks to the recommendations over 11 people nominating her her staff member of the month I proud to talk about her today she has been with this district for many many years and I really hope that Kathy you are leaving here with half as many memories as you've left among the people who are here students staff athletes everyone that you've touched the hearts of you're going to have really big shoes to fill when you retire not just because you're a size 10 but because of all the amaz motivational bulletin boards around the building helping out with the Special Olympics the Performing Arts assisting staff anywhere that they need and even the bathroom Duty Diaries of the students that come to talk to you when you're on bathroom Duty and helping them through anything that they might when you think of a par professional you think of people with warm Hearts who fill in the blanks for students of anything that they might need in their daily life and you've definitely accomplished that [Applause] congratulations all right and while Mr zitz is uh setting up for a photo uh we have our final Lacy now of the school year and I know um Mr Mer's going to want to take a nice break for July and August yeah he didn't send me a uh no Lacy now we have no Lacy now I don't think so not now Lacy I'm G have to have a chat with Mr mer no that's my fault totally okay he's taking a break now there is no Lacy now okay we're good all right good stuff let's get to work that's right I just remembered the May was for both May and June so yes I apologize Mr merman he did tell me that that's right um all right so um I'm just going to a few more comments uh for me I do want to thank Mr mman um for all of the work that went into making those Lacy Nows we changed it to Lacy now because it certainly was longer than a lacy minute um once again I want to congratulate all of our teachers I want to wish our students and families a happy summer we have three days left unfortunately it's going to be the three hottest days and I know that our elementary schools are going to be hurting a little bit but we are on an early dismissal day um and once again while I still have my composure I just want to uh thank the entire District the staff the administrators the board of Education uh for the honor the honor of um having served here as first middle school vice principal Middle School principal uh assistant superintendent and for the Last 5 Years superintendent uh I know he's not here but my friend and Mentor uh Mr Richard stub is who hired me and um yeah he uh taught us well right are we good yeah we are good no we are not good sorry uh Mr sininsky has to do the school self assessment hi grades review you ready yes briefly yeah so we do a self assessment every year on our harassment intimidation and bullying um policy and how we uh apply that legislation we'll take oh they can leave while I'm talking I don't mind don't worry this is this is it's all posted anyway you can go look at it on the website so we do a self assessment every year uh this is for last school year this is for 2223 um this is a statutory requirement that I talk about it an open public board meeting uh it is posted on our website the maximum score every school can get is a 78 we score between a 73 and a 75 for all of our schools it is a self assessment uh we gret ourselves on HIV programs approaches and other initiatives training by the Boe other staff instruction and training programs curriculum and instruction HIV Personnel reporting procedures investigation procedures reporting and you get a final grade so Cedar Creek School um was a 73 out of 78 work at River School 73 out of 78 High School 74 out of 78 Middle School was a 72 out of 78 Lok Harbor a 73 out of 78 and milpond school a 73 out of 78 so our district grade is a 73 okay there I've done it I've reported it you can look at these results I am the district head coordinator you can always call me and every school has their own local coordinator you can call them as well really exciting right there you have it okay that's part of the legislation that was enacted about a dozen years ago uh it has helped us in many ways it also occupies a lot of our time uh but um you know well worth it in many cases so that's hip reporting thank you it's not Applause worthy don't do that it's truly not it's just a lot of work we'll be on a five minute break here so it seems just give it a few minutes folks we'll start public comment okay next to start off a public comment an audience member wishing to make a comment will raise his or her hand when called upon their name they will state their name address and attention to make a statement comments will be addressed to the board president comments will be meet one issue at a time comments will be limited to five minutes the audience members shall be recognized twice to who have R have wished commented to be recognized this portion of the meeting is for public comment only and there will be no questions 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 I would personally like to apologize for last meeting there was a misunderstanding on the timer the first person that went up um unfortunately the timer was not started if anybody has watched the uh video from last meeting you'll notice myself uh bending over to miss Orby saying hey seems like this person's over to five minutes and it was mistake the timer was not ever started from that point on so tonight I will confirm that the timer is started you will have exactly 5 minutes to speak if the timer goes off you'll be called upon to sit down and come back up and finish your uh public comment at that point any questions good anyone from public comic please yes ma'am please say your name and address put my glasses on Lisa Edgeworth Hilltop Drive In lenoa good evening I just wanted to follow up with something on the record I know that Mr Cony is not here this evening and he's the chair of the policy policy yes ma'am okay um I sent an email some time ago and it was slightly addressed but I don't think it's being addressed to the extent that it needs to quick question ma'am who did you address that email to um Mr Cony Mr Bell and Miss clouse okay thank you yes and Mr con had gotten back to me and you briefly said something so I just wanted to follow up on the record about the varsity letters for Performing Arts um there's a Senate bill that at a minimum every program that competes must be afforded the opportunity to achieve a varsity letter select choir is such a group and they've been competing in the teen Arts Festival for a long time the Jazz band is another group that continually competes and the drama while they don't compete through no fault of their own as they're not giving the opportunity to even though the opportunity does exist with the amount of the hours that the international thespian members put into their craft they they also need to be afforded an opportunity to achieve a varsity letter this recognition is something that needs to happen it needs to be given to our Performing Arts students we must remember them when when we're recognizing our Lacy students these gifted and talented young people should always be remembered now I put off asking about the varsity letter because of all that's been going on with the funding and the budget but I can't and I I won't be putting that off any longer these kids deserve for us all to have their back and show them in give them recognition now I just found out this evening that part of the reason it was put on the back burner is because some of them get chords at graduation so they figured okay we'll just wait on that the only ones that get chords at graduation are the drama students for the international thespians uh the international thespian Society they get chords at graduation but the varsity letters is a student recognition in and amongst the of itself where you know their friends see them in it they it's not like getting a quartic graduation this is something that other students their peers recognize that they are a valued member and that they work hard in their craft so for the jazz band members who compete all the time the select choir members who do compete they just got done with the teen Arts Festival um there's no question whether they should be afforded the opportunity to achieve those varsity letters um legally and as far as the international thespian members the amount of time that they put into their craft and I don't think anybody here would disagree with that the amount of hours these students practice and you know perform and just I mean I I can't even I'm stuttering now but they just they blow me away and it's not just because I have two students in there um they're not even thespians my guys so it's not like I'm saying hey my kids deserve I'm fighting for the ones that that are out there and they're deserving not that my children might not be but that's not why I'm here I'm not fighting for just two students I'm fighting for all of them who work very hard okay so so thank you for your comments I just want to let you know and everybody else know that it is a topic that we talked about in policy um and we will talk about it again for our July policy meeting so the conversation's not over right thank you you're welcome quick question you know any other did you do any research any other districts currently doing this yes they are and I did give that information to awesome I'll reach out to M con okay thank you so much yes sorry I just got back from work um I'm a student of lacy Township High School and I just want to thank Dr Pereira for everything she's done for me and my friend Logan um she's honestly been a super big help with this entire budget process and I can't thank her enough for the entire learning experience and the whole and just opening my eyes even more and just being an amazing person to not only me but to everybody else and I can't thank you enough I'm sad to see you go but I know you'll somebody is going to they're going to love you just as much as we do and I hope you get as much love as we give you and stuff but I just wanted to say thank you for everything that you've done and I love you and have the best time very nice [Applause] tonyi Sunrise Beach um from the last meeting for the budget meeting I wanted to follow up more on transparency as we as I discussed last time open up the school Community to all the taxpayers not just people who are involved with school activities teachers students you know but everybody in the village okay should be aware of what's going on in our school districts all the taxpayers and in reference to that I was at the township committee meeting and I brought up in a situation to them I'm going to bring the same thing up to you but I need to ask the president a question if you don't mind was the um was the adequate notice of meeting read tonight at the first part of the meeting yes thank you which was law there was nobody in the crowd yeserday I understand I wasn't here I just wanted to confirm it was done all right under that as far as I know there must be adequate notice consists of two newspapers minimum and you could check with your Barrister if I'm correct or not under the open public records act 1975 as far as I know would anybody on a dis de or anybody in this room tell me where I can buy a la Beacon according to the Library of Congress hasn't been in existence since 1984 we at the beginning of every public meeting say ASB Park Press and the beacon that's not transparency that's giving wrong information to everyone okay what I'd like you to do is a same thing I said to the township please look into it and correct it if our Barrister was earning his $165 an hour under number 63 of tonight's agenda you would have known that in advance because he was doing his job right but evidently that's not up to me I'm not on the board I don't employ him that's that next um I personally think it's a violation of the Sunshine Law and anything that was said at any meeting before 1984 when it was discontinued may not be valid but I'm not going to challenge that okay maybe somebody else might want to challenge everything that was done but not this guy okay tonight under number six and number seven on the agenda there's excessive revenue between six and seven of $2.5 million and it's going to the capital reserve and the maintenance accounts where did we get that money I mean we're we're you know we're scraping for dollars and I'm reading about $2.5 million that's being moved also under number eight there's a fund balance of a million where's this money coming from if we don't have any money where's the money coming from that's my question number six and number seven there are estimates that we can go up to if you read it it says we could go up to we most likely won't have that money but it's a resolution we do every year that it's book keeping only yes okay so we don't have that money see the way it says it though it's kind of you know it's not it's not stipulated just as a bookkeeping cleanup type of thing way it's stated and me not being that educated in reference to it it's money where the heck the money come from if we don't have any money so maybe in the future when when it's presented that way in the agenda maybe try to clean up the language so that it's could be more understand that's all I have thank you very much so Mr rosoli will bold and underline up to but it clearly says up to so that's the one thing I wanted to say the second thing is last month you talked about communication so what I want to say about that is there's no possible way that this board or this District could get the addresses and names of every single Community member what we do have access to is our website and our automated calls which true does go to our family but that's why we have a website and every communication that I've ever made about our budget has always been posted to our website and I've always said at the end of every meeting please check our website for all Communications related to our school district and it's incumbent upon the community to work with us and visit the website and see those Communications which you know is a reminder for me when I think about the huge mental health and wellness night that we had not too long ago you know that's a big topic for us and and we advertise and we advertise and we sent emails and automated calls and we use remind and social media and if there were 60 people there that was a lot and half of those were staff members so it's not that we don't communicate and it's not that we don't try it's that we use every mechanism available to us but we need the community to meet us halfway and visit our website to find that information there's no way we can send communication out to everybody who lives in Lacy the township can do that but that's their role and we would never ask them for that information because not only that we don't have the postage or the envelopes or the Manpower or the money to do that no I understand I understand that okay but what I'm saying to you is when you stipulate the beacon don't stipulate maybe get with Veronica in the township committee I wrote the same thing to them the same thing I just said to you be consistent with them and how they're approaching their adequate notice because they're under the same law that you're under it's the Sunshine Law okay so maybe be consistent with them on how they do it at the beginning of their meeting and you do it at the beginning of your meeting and I'm going to miss bantering with you likewise thank you for your comment and thank you for the acknowledgement of the beacon appreciate it anybody else public comment yes sir Nick spal I'm from the seab breze community I think you all know the seab breze community um I think we're sometimes referred to as the cash cow for Lacy which we uh resent present that designation 568 homes in cbes I think the average property tax levy is probably a little bit north than $99,000 mine's 11 um we send no one to school here so we have zero impact on the school zero we don't cost you guys anything but yet we're paying the bill and with regard to the gentleman here talking about communication we didn't know what's going on here we have a property manager in CB's 568 homes and probably 1100 voters or in my household here's four um you know we deserve to be communicated to we're we're finding this information out secondhand or when you know somebody pops up and says hey here's an article in Lacy patch they're going to raise our tax 99.9% in addition to the county and town Levy we got to know about this we got to be part of the process we are providing a 100% societal benefit to you to the school you know and we do our part but recognize that there's a lot of retired people living on fixed incomes the agent CB in some cases are 70s and 80s these are people some people have been retired for years and with respect to inflation you know they're just they're just not keeping up people talk about senior freeze well the reality is in sebres not a lot of people are eligible for senior freeze because people do have um you know income and assets that are exceed what you know the senior freeze relies on so we are getting squeezed there's got to be some mechanism here to address this issue um and you know not that we don't want to pay our share but I think we're paying more than our fair share I I think that we're seeing uh affordable housing more and more affordable housing coming in Lacy they're bringing in children they're increasing enrollment in my view looking at what they Levy they're not paying their fair share inequitable hands down my only my question for you know you Mr President is is the public going to have the opportunity to vote on his budget and I say that for the benefit of the others that are here unfortunately no so we we we we're just getting this 99.9% shoved down our throat it's not 99.9% cap the cap is at two the governor came into US ripped the money at our hands and said if you want it back go back to your ta taxpayers we lost 138 positions of employees in the past five years we lost over $7 million this year came in and just ripped it out from us and our lovely Governor said if you want it back you have to go for the taxpayers I'm making a change in that 2% cap well I understand that and I understand that you know we live in a in a town that's uh you know predominantly Republican and we have a democratic Administration whether that has something to do with it or not I don't know I can only speculate corre okay but you know the the again you got a retirement community here we don't impact the school there's got to be some sort of mechanism to offset the impact on us please reach out to us if you come up with that mechanism we'd love to hear because this board has sat tirelessly and spent hours going over that budget cutting and crisping and trimming and doing what we possibly could to make it pass well you know Mr presid we did have we did have four I don't have the dates written down again but the other day I believe we had four meetings advertised and we're going to change that Beacon issue I'll I'll take partial blame for that ad where we had budget workshops where the public had the time to come in and speak to us about that we were unaware we really were unaware you know people aren't people aren't aren't looking unless you know we we commun we have a Facebook page okay in our community that we start notifying people too so you know we we get the information out when we get it but a lot of times um quite frankly how we found out about this was through Regina Des Senza she was the one that kind of sent an email out and said hey do you know what's going on and we were like what you no we didn't know that and you realized without that budget pass that we're looking at 40 to 60 kids per class we're looking at pay to sports we're looking at pay for busing there's numerous things that I understand the impact you know I've had children in school um you know but I'm so sorry sir I took some of your time but unfor every look I'm I come from the corporate world sir I'm sorry I have to stay that 5 minute Max you're more than welcome back up again just give us let someone else go I have to keep to the five minute time thank you so much anybody else under a public comment Allison Hollister for New Jersey um as a parent of a Middle School eighth grader who is going to be graduating on Wednesday along with other parents and their friends we are deeply appalled at the lack of Memorial that was put into their yearbook regarding the the passing of a student um in eighth grade Chelsea deal the high school as well as Fork school put the names of the students who have passed this is a lack of disrespect to the deal family as well as their friends especially since they paid out scholarships to seniors in the U memory of their daughter I just wanted to put that on record um I also want to express that last week's budget meeting was a very very atrocious meeting to attend we can all agree to disagree we all have our own opinions and while some may get heated and some may get um some may get heated sorry um but when some may get heated there should be a there should be a uh what Miss armato had said we all should have a some kindness and compassion towards the people who are speaking for some people to say that just move um and that we don't care about you is wrong on so many levels everybody in this Township pays taxes everybody in this Township pays for the kids to go to school here it's not just a simple move or we don't care about you we do care we do care about the kids who go to school here I care as well um we should have a plan in place there should be a plan going forward as we all know PR um sorry excuse me Mr Murphy doesn't leave office until January 1st of 2026 at any point next year he could reenact S2 and the possibility of us losing more money is still always on the table while I'm all in for doing what's best for the kids for the teachers for anybody not to lose a job what is good what good is a 9% height doing for this District at this point it is just a splint on a really bad injury to make sure that we could keep going there is no after extra after school extra help for students in the high school that was cut there are no CT there's no courtesy busing there is at this point no freshman Sports at this point what is there what do we have to do the Taxas the tax increase is going to affect many like Mr Amad and Mrs Amato had expressed last week it just doesn't affect the taxpayers it Al also affects the local small businesses single families renters everybody like somebody said last week there are a lot of chiefs who are getting paid a lot of money but those Chiefs have not taken a pay cut at what point do we stop the bleeding Dr Pereira you stood up here and you said that you would continue to fight and then you sent out your resignation notice that you were retiring I hope that you continue to fight like you said you would because being that you did fight for us within this last last couple years we all know that if we're given a certain budget we should stick to that budget we all knew that S2 was coming and at this point nothing was done to put money away yes we have led through our savings and yes we have tried and tried to push things back but still 130 teachers were cut those teachers belong here those teachers were in were sorry those teach teachers belong to be here and those teachers are out somewhere else changing the lives of other students I hope that you know I hope that this 9% increase will help put in put back into the school what we need schools what we need but unfortunately I don't know what next year is going to hold I hope that you guys could just come up with a plan for the next couple of years so as this way we don't have to be keep we don't have to keep fighting these budget cups keep fighting for our teachers keep fighting for our students thank you thank you for your comments anyone else from public I'm just going to see any else have public comment yes good evening Lacy citizens and members of the school board first there were some comments that were made tonight that I'd like to address uh there's the senior freeze okay the senior freeze I want people to understand how that works because you actually have to pay the taxes first and then you get reimbursed the following year if you don't have the money to pay the taxes you're in trouble and it just keeps going up year after year after year so it isn't like you um get it out of your taxes like they reduce it out of your tax bill it comes a year later so that isn't really going to be reliefing for people who are really living on a very limited income um the other thing that I want to make a comment about is what happened at the meeting last week um our board president could not control the meeting or refused to control the meeting we had a lot of employees here who didn't like the message the message of the questions the difficult questions that a taxpayer had asked them I mean as a taxpayer I'm being asked to contribute an extra 10% in taxes for the funding of the school district but the individuals who work here the teachers union I asked a simple question what are you giving back I mean we could have worked on this together you could have taken half and we could have taken half as the taxpayers that would have been more fair you're not giving up your longevity increases you're not giving up your step increases and you're not giving up your cost of living increases and the entire budget is all you okay let's be clear about that um I don't know why that didn't happen but it should have happened this approach is is just not acceptable and also the behavior of the people who work in the school district at that meeting was appalling the things that were said to members of the public that our Educators would behave in such a way banging on tables screaming and yelling was beyond appalling what kind of Ro role model are you employing in the school district how are we going to have young leaders if this is what they're taught that their teachers are teaching them I just find it appalling and I I know for the people who did speak up there's a lot of senior citizens here there are single people in our town there are people who are living on living uh limited incomes and we all have a voice you want our money you certainly want our money but you don't want us to say anything we're supposed to be silent sorry it doesn't work that way and that is just a matter of fact um so the 9% you know 99.9% increase it didn't really have to happen you know I've been coming to these meetings for 14 years probably more than anybody you know I've come and I've spoken my big thing has been about student achievement and improving the levels of the school district I want to know why we have year after year all of our scores are so low and why do certain school districts continually perform so well and what are we doing wrong obviously there's something we're doing wrong and I'm I'm happy about this Dr Pereira is finally leaving she actually is taking my recommendation which was something I asked for four years ago and it is nothing to do with you zero yes but you're going to Red Bank Catholic as a principal and I wish you all the success in your new job but you are leaving a sinking ship that you helped create that's just a matter of fact fact and it's not only about the money good leaders are able to figure out a challenge and they are able to see the end of the tunnel and what that will mean and that is the problem that we have had in this school district and I am hoping to God that the school board will do the right thing hire an extremely qualified superintendent who has a record of turning around and underperforming school SCH district and that this school board gives them the power to come in here and do the reforms and the changes that are needed for all of us for the children for the taxpayers if the school district is successful in raising its levels all of us will be in a success rate including the people who don't have kids because our property values will actually rise more people will want to come here to live to come to our schools no matter what you say to me or how you feel about things the student achievement is the bottom line it's supposed to be about our kids education the bottom line and we've had a lot of nonsense going on in these schools over all these years and I just want to make sure that tonight that the geordano censure is going to be read at this meeting because that is part of the law and the state ethics Mr bid could you please have a seat I'll call you back up again thank you for your time I appreciate it anybody else public comment [Music] yes you hang on one second ma'am I did point that way but I pointed this lady if you just have to se if she's done you can go next I don't want you to go back up the stairs just have a seat there as when she's done you can go thank you so much good evening Diana McKenzie Oak Street forkid River I apologize for having a sore throat but I do want to read this dear members of the Lacy Township Board of Education before I start I would like to thank you for volunteering your time and for working hard on this budget I mentioned in my email last week that I support the tax increase of 99.9% approved by our governor yes as a of Education you need to be fiscally responsible but our students deserve a thorough and efficient education this 9.9% increase will also increase our base amount for next year's budget which will be a big help going forward as per the governor this 99.9% is for this year only for the past five years our tax rate per $100 evaluation increased at a much slower rate and a slower Pace than our Municipal rate this 99.9% increase is needed to catch up no one likes a tax increase but we can all look around and see their prices to maintain our district our buildings including utilities fuel Building Maintenance have all gone up just like they have in your homes there are numerous building projects all around our town besides the numerous random homes going up these projects include the um area by Applebees near JT Bagels behind JT Bagels the completion of projects along with near Kon Allen the area by CVS the current carpet store that's going to be demolished with tow houses approved for there and units above the lrat and also new proposed homes near Parker's point they will all bring students into our schools none of these projects are age restricted how can we increase class sizes to 40 plus students without even knowing how many children will reside in those homes maybe 200 maybe 300 the number is unknown this estimate doesn't even include students that would be eligible for our current preschool or even students moving into our town without of District placements where we would have to set the tuition costs yes we strive for higher test scores but with 40 plus students in a class that task is even harder small class size is best practice not larger ones when it comes to a vinyl vote please do the right thing and vote Yes for the increase to our budget our students deserve a thorough and efficient education with small class exercises fabulous programs excellent staff academic programs the Performing Arts Sports and other curriculum areas let's support our motto a tradition of Pride and a tradition of Excellence thank you thank you for your comments [Applause] welcome yes ma'am yes your is thank you first of all I have to say I apologize for wearing the wrong shoes here so ma'am if you could just pull that microphone down a littleit closer thank you so much I only have one thing to address and and that's the time for the next meeting that um you're planning uh the 4:00 it doesn't give the people who are working um a chance to come to those meetings uh they're out there working hard to make money to pay the taxes uh it's a whole different age group than me and for you to make that time it wasn't good for the meeting on Monday and it's not good for the meeting that you're going to have about the tax I I strongly urge you to CH change that at least give us we the people of town paying for the schools a chance to attend the meeting thank you ma'am real quick would you state your name please Linda Miller M Mr Miller I have a question for you yes what about people that work night shift is it fair to them too the majority we can't accommodate to every possible person in here we have we have a police officer we have people working the post office people that work stock and shelves in Walmart and town you know so so now we're going to try to we try to Comey best but the reason and I stated before in the meeting I don't know if you heard me or not the reason for the 4:00 meeting is it came a backup plan God forbid we get a rain day for graduation we can do it on Friday and still have time to make graduation for our seniors that earn put their four years in here that was the reason of a 4:00 meeting well graduation Thursday Middle School's Wednesday High School's Thursday and then a backup plan if we had to push back Wednesday or Thursday we had Friday as a backup plan well I did hear that okay and it seems that the gentleman that became really upset and left because that was the same speech you gave him I'm willing to stay here and listen well isn't there any other day or any other time that the meeting could be held at 7:00 no I mean there's seven days in a week and there's 30 days in a month I I is there a a time slot I mean do you have to have it before a certain date m yes when is it de what is that date ju ju July 1 I don't have a calendar please we just can't have people yelling from the audience everyone has a chance to come up and speak I I don't have a calendar in front of me so I don't really know what you're telling me without looking at a calendar but um I'm just hoping that you can reconsider have it an evening when more people can come I I know people work at night all night long or whatever but the majority of people work from 9 to 5 a majority and we know that teachers usually work 8 to four so it gives the the teachers and the people who work in the township a chance to come to a meeting at 4 but it does not give a lot of the community that work till 6 to come so I'm just asking to reconsider the time thank you for your comment man' anyone else for first time speaking for public comment back to the gentleman up top Nick spaltro from cbes again um what I wanted to say by the way um I I just want to Second what this nice lady had to say that I really think you need to really accommodate people and change that meeting date um I don't know how you do it but you know in time but I I think that's something you need to do what I wanted to say before was I come from the corporate world been doing it for a long time you know nearly 40 years in fact um when a business becomes unsustainable you have to rightsize it we have to reorganize it and you know I I don't envy your position in doing what you're doing the class sizes you know it's it's um you know not desirable at all but you know at some point Things become unsustainable and you know in business we take uh businesses we'll merge them together to flatten the organization right we eliminate layers of management um you know we create efficiencies in there and you know I think Lee akoka wrote in his book years ago he says I can cut 10% out of anything and it's true we've done it in the corporate world amazingly enough but at some point you know you got to look at the school system you know in Aggregate and you got to say do we merge the school with other towns there's a Regional High School up up the road you know do we regionalize the high school School how do you create efficiencies and maintain the quality of Education you know our children need to be educated they are a future we want them to become doctors lawyers scientists engineers but you know at some point we got it it's got to be sustainable it's got to be feasible so I mean and that's probably a bigger problem than you folks can handle I mean maybe you know there's there's other places around the United States where you know there's no such thing as local school districts they're County right so they have larger school districts but you know they have flatter organizations that that's the thing because you know again the second uh you know what uh uh the other gentleman had said is the majority of the of the school budget is salaries you know administrative and otherwise thank you quick quick I like fly your comment um you currently working sir I'm sorry are you currently working I'm working working yes okay I went back to I was retired and went back to work okay otherwise I can't afford to live here were you working in 2018 I was okay are you making the same salary as 2018 not much more actually okay well we're working on the same budget we're down to our budget annual budget as our 2018 Finance that's what budget number we're work with that's how much money has been taken from this District that we are currently today with the rising cost of fuel the rising cost of health insurance the rising cost of with you know everything possible books to programs to lighting to Electric to water to sewer to you know everything we are operating on the same monetary value of 2018 this budget like I said I don't envy your position you say the corporate way of making cuts and feasibilities we've done it Miss klous Mr Amato has worked Pirus Pirus and all the administrator and these guys up here they're saying hey cut your budget by this cut your budget by that we B Coke out of the water with that 10% with the 18 2018 budget sounds like an unsustainable situation it is and we're trying to do everything can to sustain and education in this district and that's why I'm voting yes to keep the class size below 40 students per per class that small class size is known small class size is where the students are going to gain the most desirable understood but again you got to be able to sustain it and at some point what do you do you know like I said what's what's the bigger picture here how do you you know is there consolidation that could be done with other school districts to maintain that class size but lower the costs awesome question we'll look into that that's how our decision to make to become a regional school that comes from from the state but there's 4,200 4200 reasons why I'm voting yes and that's the amount of students in this District have you one one of the things and you know this is hearsay sure um we did have a member of our community um you mentioned to me and they were close to the situation but they said you know monor Donovan Lacy Township was one of their biggest draws of people so I mean what is that so people are willing to pay money to send their kids to to mondon versus keeping them here you know what does that say about the quality of Education too thank you appreciate it thank you have a good day nice to meeting you Mr bidnick I believe you're back okay we used to have 5150 students we're not we've lost a lot of students so when he talks about the numbers well how do you keep the same number of employees anyway when you've had such a declining school district and people left during covid because of the Draconian decisions that were made made by the current board not this board there's been changes but by this board in the administration which affected a lot of children in our school district in a negative way I know what I would have done if I were the superintendent true leaders stand up for what they believe in and they fight and they do what they have to do that did not happen here instead students suffered okay that's one of the things so a lot of people took their kids out of the school district they're homeschooling them they're sending them to private schools I encourage people to do that quite frankly there's a New Jersey school choice program if you care about your kids education and you can't afford to send them to a private school or to homeschool them please look it up online and do the right thing these are your kids look after their education this school district has been declining for quite some time I hate to say it it's the truth it's been since I started speaking here 14 years ago it has really gone downhill and I have a question when Mr stardo was a superintendent and I came and spoke to some of these meetings he put on the website all the employees of the school district with their salaries their health benefit cost the Social Security cost the pension costs and everything else since all the money is now going to this I am requesting that we do that again it's all available online no no not on your website on asby Park Press no no no no no and that's old it's two or three years old it should be current we're paying the bills it's all going for staff and salaries practically and we have a right to know every single person has the right to know and to scrutinize and you know what the more information we have the more powerful we become information equals power and by not being transparent not having meetings where people can come to at times especially about budget which most of the people are working is not being transparent and yes I do take record Dr Pereira has my email address because I've been emailing her for years do I ever get any notices about what's going on in the school district no and I'm very very much concerned about what's going on here so when I hear the garbage that comes out the propaganda it's not true and we do have a right to be looking and scrutinizing and I I'm telling you I can't wait till we get a new super in here and I hope that some of the people on this school board will look to make sure that we get a person with great credentials and I don't care what you have to pay them if they can come in here no if they can come in here you get a great leader who can turn this place around they're worth their money in time okay that's my suggestion and thank you very much thank you for your comment Lisa Edgeworth Hilltop Drive loka I just um I had something I wanted to say earlier and it was in my thing but I um I missed it because I was just up here it just gets nerve-wracking anyway I wanted to apologize for my part in any um nonsense last week okay and when I personally said that I didn't care about people in the community that's not it's not accurate okay I do care very much about everybody in the community um I'm not just blowing smoke okay I care about everybody on the board even whether you voted yes whether you voted no okay we're all here as a community together I truly mean that and I apologize for saying that I don't care because I truly do care about everyone I just think that most of the school messages that need to get out have to go to the people who care most about the kids and you know that's going to be the parents so I mean that's all I have to say thank you she gets email she gets um just real quick under public comic Mr rol are you still here yes um I'm hearing that the beacon is still being published and that that comes out every Thursday I would love to know where to buy um I don't know if you can purchase it or if it's online I don't know the situation okay but we do advertise on that and fortunately that's a new way of of newspapers can you buy at Iber Park Press you get the what the beacon in the office the hard copy or digital get the hard Cofe right right we get a hard Cofe in the board office so there they have to be available I don't know maybe they're not in store maybe you have to pay a monthly Fe Beacon that covers Lacy right haing Beacon is not sold in Lacy but you can purchase it online now and have it delivered to your home what happens if you you get on a lot of people seniors you're a very smart guy Mr roselio I'm sure you can figure out I you okay so okay I'm just clarifying that it is still being published but we will we'll look into it we will we'll look into the way it should be you can justify it if we we're adopting we're adopting tonight that we're advertising in there and if there something changes we'll do an amendment sure SLI my which is very unusual something tells me it's going to be a positive one um number 16 njsa Cooperative with the hockey program is this our first pay to play for sports no we've had this contract with barnegate for a few years okay is there any other sports where we're cons have you considered pay to play or cooperative with any other sports to save money yes we're considering gymnastics as well okay so there is other sports that are in the fure future in the works we can go and uh and think about saving money down that's all I wanted to know thanks okay we good I'm good all right next we to go to board committee reports for samata would you mind filling in for M Walker for sure curriculum committee please sure okay so this is the curriculum committee minutes um the meeting was June 11th 2024 at 2:30 p.m. it was myself Cheryl Arman Dan Bell Kim Claus and William zinsky the meeting adjourned at 3:15 p.m. um we went over curriculum 2022 to 23 hi uh grade grade report Mr zalinsky PR presented the Hib grade report for 2223 this is a self-graded report that will be posted on the district website the report for the year provides more detail than previous years on each of the categories that make up the self-study Mr zalinsky will present the report at the June Board of Education meeting which he did earlier today curriculum text material discussion the absolutely true Diary of a Part-Time Indian Mr zalinsky led the discussion of this text material and after the committee reviewed the book it will be removed from the text materials list for 2024 to 25 school year Credit Recovery with en mum MOS students will sign up for online classes students will pay through mosh Mr zinsky led the discussion of credit recovery for high school students for the summer students families will receive a detailed letter that will allow them to sign up and take courses which they may have failed online during the summer months guidance counselors will follow up with students who need to take courses especially if it may affect their graduation status parents and students will sign up and pay for their courses through mosh financial literacy and moneyskill.org option for students who have trouble fitting financial literacy into their schedules possible solution due to two staff reductions in the business department Mr zalinsky led the discussion of using this online course for students to meet their financial literacy literacy requirement this will be a pilot year for certain groups of students by the budget cuts that have resulted in a loss of two business teachers at the high school lead U assembly for grades 10 and 12 um Society for the prevention of teen suicide Mr zalinsky informed the committee that these assemblies will be viewed by the 10th and 12th grades this year they are at no cost to the district and we will look to expand their use next school year ltms band chorus trip to Hershey Park that already took place 5:31 um lths WTS senior trip to NBC Studios that took place 63 2024 special education Special Olympics New Jersey Summer Games 68 and 69 Jacob bahian two gold medals VJ vigilante two gold medals Aiden de bronze and gold medals Banna Vasquez fifth and sixth place finishes technology Chromebook program replacement of two grade levels of Chromebooks over the summer Chromebook collection taking place at the middle school and for high school seniors Parts orders to maintain Chromebooks in early July esy and sea planning is underway community relations integral Club end of year party June 7th 2024 at Gilly Park of course it took place Old Guard of forkid river chapter 19 visit on May 13 2024 and Personnel June 11th 2024 tentative budget adoption which we had and June 21st 2024 final adoption adoption ltaa nothing to report other nothing to report our next meeting is scheduled for August 6 2024 at 2:30 p.m. that's it thank you Mr M Miss CL would like to finance please we had uh two Finance meetings this month the first one was on May 21st at 4:00 it was about an hour and a half it was myself Mr conned uh Mr Peters was an alternate for Mr armado uh Miss ornsby and Dr Pereira uh we pretty much just talked about the budget for about an hour and a half that's it um Thursday June 13th we had another meeting um it was myself uh Mr arato Mr conedy Dr Pereira and Miss ornsby uh we talked about health and prescription renewal or voting on that tonight um our health benefits went up 12% and our prescription benefits went up 9% Dental there was no increase property and casual Casualty Insurance uh Miss Orby let a review on the property and Casualty Insurance renewal um the quote will be the subject of the resolution on the June agenda Chromebook and desktop purchase Miss Orby led a discussion on the quote of new Chromebooks for desktop this quote will be subject to resolution on the June agenda next year we're going to look into leasing we'll see if that saves us any money um capital and maintenance reserves Miss Orby led the discussion on the capital maintenance Reserve account deposits uh these items will be the subject to two resolutions on tonight's agenda subscription busing so we had um a parent come in the last meeting and he was asking about subscription busing so it was only two days later we had our meeting so we opened the discussion um so we're going to discuss it again the next Finance meeting um we couldn't really get through it it just wasn't enough time um the June agenda review we spent a lot of time just going over this large agenda fiscal action Miss orens we led a discussion on the fiscal action um the district was assessed from the administrative review performed by the Department of Agriculture in May 2024 um walking Zone we talked about that we are going to expand the walking Zone this was a plan from last year um now that the light is in um we're going to do another little section and we are going to add a crossing guard and I think that's all we had that's it we had no uh policy meeting this month sorry next month good next month we'll have our policy meeting okay superintendent comments please yes um I just like I mentioned in uh my letter I just want to thank our community for uh all of their support in getting the letters out again um to Trenton and um to the people who really are in positions to uh effectuate change um I do want to address a comment very respectfully uh my decision to retire was mine and mine alone I would never take advice from you Mr bidnick um but the thing too is you know I'm I'm reminded of this quote that I love it's actually hanging in my office and it's by Theodore Roosevelt and it says it's not the critic who counts not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of Deeds could have done them better the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena not once Mr bidnick have you ever gotten in the arena with me not once have you visited a kindergarten classroom gone to an awards night scholarship night you've never been to a graduation ceremony to my knowledge you've never been to a student academic presentation to look at the successes of our students in sat and AP and reading in math you've never volunteered at an event when we really needed help and I just checked my emails you've sent six since 2019 so you know I find it a shame because I really think that if you had come with some suggestions to this board or to me I mean at least Mr rosoli we banter he gives me suggestions um and ideas you know it's my understanding you've provided a list but you've never had that dialogue with me nor you have you ever cared to instead you think that you're more powerful on the other side of that podum which you've said and I disagree with you I think that you would have been more powerful had you had a seat up here with all of us um I'm never going to change your mind nor do I care to try um and that's okay you have your opinion and you're entitled to it um but there are some misnomers and my decision to retire again nothing to do with you [Applause] that's it oh thank you for your comments board comments Mr Dan Bell I will say it as much easier on that side of the podium um but we've had to do some difficult things and uh I appreciate uh the board I just want to say that really quick uh they don't always agree with me but they have done a great job uh trying to help me learn and educate me and uh I appreciate the time each SP I appreciate everybody that's spoken at the podium um and I just hope that we can move forward as a a district uh and have more plans more ideas we're always open to them I can tell you that but that's all I have thank you Mr uh yes first I'd like to congratulate the teachers of the year and the staff members of the month and um Dr Pereira I'm going to personally miss you I think you um you've taught me a lot and um I'm just going to miss you at these meetings I'm going to miss you overall in general so I wish you a lot of luck thank you and yes I do want to read something I wrote something so I didn't go off on a tangent so um I want to address the significant concern surrounding raising school taxes 2% to 9.9% that's nearly a five-fold increase so I urge my fellow board members to reconsider the substantial increase while our commitment to providing quality education for our children is unwavering we must also recognize our fiscal responsibility to the community it's vital to understand why the tax rate has been capped at 2% the cap was established to protect homeowners from sou overwhelming Financial burdens maintain economic stability in our community and encourage fiscal responsibility within the school district at our last meeting those who opposed the tax increase were unfairly accused of not caring about the children told they should move they weren't part of the school community and that It's Only Money such accusations are not only unfair but also very divisome disregarding valid concerns of many residents we must remember that all taxpayers are integral members of our school community and their voices and contributions deserve to be respected and valued passing a 99.9% tax increase would pose a heavy financial burden on homeowners and renters renters and businesses will face increased rent as landlords pass pass along additional tax burden seniors and those unfixed incomes would be affected facing Financial hardships many retirees who have been carefully planned their financial finances would struggle forcing essential cutbacks and even possible relocation maintaining a reasonable tax rate helps protect the economic stability of our community and retain the support of residents the board of education has a responsibility to ensure every dollar is spent efficiently and effectively to benefit our students without placing an overwhelming burden on taxpayers and families the 99.9% increase is a one-year band-aid and this Band-Aid places a long-term financial burden for residents who will have to deal with the consequences of higher taxes that just grow higher each year again I urge my fellow board members to reconsider the substantial tax burden supporting and caring about our children's educations means advocating for a fiscally responsible approach that support their needs while providing the Financial Health our entire community and I really would like the board to reconsider maybe moving the meeting a little later on Friday food for thought and I think it's really important people are working and taxpayers do want to be part of this and they they don't they feel like they don't have a voice and that's all I have to say thank you m Claus sure um I wanted to address Nick but he left so hopefully he'll um watch the tape but um we did go out to cbr's community I guess he didn't come but we met Dr PR and I met with a group of about 150 close to 200 people when we were doing our letter campaign um to get the word out so um thank you to his community um you know unfortunately for him but he they really helped us move along with this um you know with this increase um with this bill so um I I would love some invitations to go back so I don't know if um we can get an invitation if we can go back and speak regularly maybe once a quarter just let them know what's going on the schools I think that would be helpful um but we were there um so you know in 2018 we were at $21 million um uh funded um from the state and now we're down to seven so when that 2% cap went in we had $21 million now we have seven and we're still at 71 million so just think if everything that's gone up we have cut so much you know I'm supporting this 9.9 because we can't we can't survive without it we cut 130 teachers already we cut this year 35 teachers we can't afford to cut another 40 to 50 teachers we can't afford to have 40 kids 45 kids in a classroom we can't our kids will not learn so our ranking was higher back then why we had more money we had smaller classrooms so everything you know you take away one thing another problem happens and that's what's happening so yes it's unfortunate we are raising and I and I do feel for everybody including myself um but we need to do this to survive um we have Paris that are full-time right now there's 29 I believe is 29 full-time Paris um you know I I don't want to look at them and say hey you're now part-time and there goes your benefits I mean they're part of our community you know we can't get rid of another 50 teachers they're part of our community too so I you know I do support the 9.9 that's you know where I stand on that but um we I do sympathize for everybody um in our community as well thank you you're welcome Mr M hey thanks um congratulations to all scholarship recipients as well as our teachers of the Year staff members of the year Well Done to everyone um I also want to wish Dr Pereira all the best um since joining the board Dr Pereira and I have had many conversations on what it takes to be a good board member now she is in fact a de facto board member so I went to her a lot um for advice on how the school runs what does the day-to-day activity look like what does this mean what does that mean can I say this can I do this oh I'm sorry did I call you on the weekend my apologies but I have another question for you very very receptive to all my questions and I think because of my interaction with Dr prer um I became a better the board member um I don't know how much of an impact that had on on on the board but um I feel that when I sit at this St I'm I'm prepared I'm well informed and I do my job um for all the residents in this community so thank you I wish you all the best and it's been a pleasure um I love sports I love school spirit I think that's critical I don't care where you go to school um Performing Arts is crucial um I don't know if it was my first year as a board member when uh our Performing Arts Performing Arts group did the um Mama Mia and I was blown away I was blown away I was like wow this is amazing and I and I hear what you're saying we're talking about an LT on a jacket I don't understand what the problem is um if we want school spirit I don't know I thought I've seen people walking around with marching band Jacks barity Jack B but that's considered [Music] that's from the athletic but I've also seen the The Mask they get the added but they can't is it okay yeah yeah please um they they can get the stuff that for the sleeves but they're not issu the letter for that now is this a state policy or something that we're going to talk about it more in policy I I would really like to just make that happen I think it's critical it makes people walking out of here feeling pretty good I am the recipient um the proud parent of of of watching my sons and daughters receive letters and and it's a proud moment not only for them but for all the members of the family so if we can make that happen for our Performing Arts group why not um I think it should be done sounds like a no-brainer Mrs Miller thank you you're 100% right we should have this meeting later in the day um I just looked at the weather it's it's only raining on Saturday and if we want to have this meeting on Friday we should I don't want to be here at six o'clock on a Friday night not that I have this great you know crazy uh schedule where I'm going to be somewhere but I'd be all right with sitting here and listening to all the residents of lacy Township um speak about what they like and dislike about the budget I think it's critical I think we're in a critical time right now as a district and I think all residents deserve a voice and not just those in favor um Mrs edworth I know you now for a couple years and it takes a big person a godb believing person to go up in the podium and do what you just did and apologize I know you I know that was just heated a moment stuff so thank you for doing that that's real class I appreciate that um apologies are huge and when you can say it in the public like you just did that's very cool so well done um I'll say it again man tax increases we did not as a community make phone calls and send emails to beg for a tax increase we didn't I know I did I wanted more money back give me some money from Newark give me some money from pic give me some money from there I didn't want you I didn't make phone calls to have my taxes raiseed 99.99% now the good thing about a 99.9% increases it gives our teachers the security they need to continue feeding their families and taking care of their families unfortunately there's another side of the group that may not be able to afford the increase that's that's this SM and and we all say it's only this and it's only that it's not just only this I think we need to respect both people that this affects um the time for survival you know it's over man we got to stop talking about what we just want to survive that's maybe that's the problem as a board all we talk about is survival we never talk about thriving right let's Thrive let's let's let's go get corporate P sponsorships let's go put names on buses let's have name and rights we've got two that I know of who played professional sport three that I know of who play professional Athletics that graduated from this school Tyrell Smith Chris Fleming and Keith Elias where are they why aren't we bringing them back here to talk to our kids those kids who are troubled who maybe need someone else to talk to maybe someone that they might have something a little bit more in common with let's bring them in to name the field let's bring them in to name the court whatever but we need to bring the the old crew back so the young crew can understand how we got to be this great in everything that we do I think that got lost somewhere along the way the tradition that we talk about well we don't talk about it enough there is a tradition here there's been some amazing graduates here when I first moved here uh I was on the Lacy Township basketball association board and we gave out of scholarships that night and it was a guy first time I've seen it in my career a guy who got a a scholarship to the Air Force Academy it was amazing I never seen that I'm from Queens you know we took civil servant jobs um it was amazing to see that and it was something that that wasn't even my kid and I was proud talk about Community being proud right giving out a bity letter I I don't get it you know so if we're going to raise taxes I want my school to look like ridgwood you know I want that kind of I want that kind of school um for 99.9% and more I want my school to look like the other schools out there that are that are thriving I can't keep figuring out how are we going to put another bandaid on this how are we going to put another bandaid on this how are we going to put another bandaid in and then we're fighting and we're looking at each other we're talking to each other and and at the end of the day we're all professional thank God on this dayus we're all professional we have the ability to voice our concerns without hurting anybody's feelings but at the end of the day we should expect more for 99.9% and not just the opportunity to have the doors open in September so my commitment to you guys tonight and we already started talking about it thank God Kim was really into it as well Sharon was really into it as well we started talking about corporate sponsorships and naming rights and bus uh sponsorships and things like that and if you have any ideas on how we can drive Revenue back to the school please if you want to blow up my inbox please feel free to do so I'd love to see these ideas because I I write them up all the time and anything we can do to drive Revenue back to the school because we know it's coming September we start all over again I know Sharon's going to have an idea and it's not going to work out the way we want and we're going to start scrambling and we shouldn't be in a position to scramble I said it last week and I say it again we're too competent to be incompetent I stole that line from Mrs Amato down at the other end of the days um but that's what we need to do we need to be proactive we need to be all in and the time for going back and forth with each other is over it's done let's get this thing fixed let's not worry about let's talk about Surplus in a couple of years you know what I mean and we're not doing that we're just talking about how to survive let's not do that anymore let's talk about how do we bring Revenue back to the school if we can do that then we have tradition everybody will want to come back and have their their their voices heard in the school I'm sorry I went off there a little bit I did have something written down but other the ideas kept creeping into my head so I apologize for the long-winded uh Speech but thank you for the time thank you Mr just want the public to realize something our 20-year average of raising the taxes over over 20 years is 3.6% there were years we did not use that full 2% cap there were years we gave money back after we took the 2% cap so the average over 20 years is it with this increase that we're voting on next Friday at 4:00 because you have to give a one we notice for the time frame some board members to understand that you just can't change it and say we're going to do it for 4:00 6:00 has to be one we notice and from that point there will we passed our deadline to pass our budget 3.6% remember that over a 20 year average that's what we've raised your taxes and I've only been on the board the last six years Mr Morano we make comments like all in and we have to do this we have to do that please do me a favor try to best your ability to make all our meetings all the finance meetings that I've covered for you for meetings that you've left early on and could State then have them at a normal time for business people who work don't have to be don't have to leave work you made that suggestion to the finance chair no no maybe if you do that and I did miss one and let's talk about the other people that Miss meetings okay are they are they being publicly recognized I'm not talking about them right now I'm talking about you but I want if you're going to recognize me for missing meetings I want everybody recognize Mr Peters let's recogn meeting how many have I missed I didn't ask you I but where is he fortunately he's working right now so he can miss because he's working I can't right right that's what you're saying no I'm talking about so it's a double standard no it's your crew and then The Outsiders your question no you're not answering any question I'm trying to I want to know why no one else is being publicly recognized for missing meetings CU nobody else got up here and said that they're all in tonight say it again nobody else got up and said that they're all in tonight 100% I said we're all in said you were all in and have I not been all in I don't know I've covered numerous meetings for you numerous name as a sub as a sub but she just did two of them let me ask you something you're a board president you're supposed to be the face that is boor I am what did you do Friday afternoon Friday afternoon when you came to senior day I went there because had slice of pizza and left no that's not what happened yeah I was there I was cleaning while you were watching you're right and I was told I'm not going to get this FR no why not you brought it up Mr okay I will get in front of it I got there at 12:30 so I told I was going to dunk tank which I volunteered my time no we were there at 11:30 you weren't there are you going to let me finish I was told I'll show you the email to'd be there at 12:30 in the dunk tank I'll show you the email I know it I know all about it so I got there at 12:17 thank you so much I appreciate yeah we'll talk about it later no no I want you to recognize everybody meetings you that is excuse me you're a coward how dare you recognize me and not everyone else that missed the meeting here you're pointing it out you know why you're pointing it out cuz you know what's happening in July I'm running again are you done how dare you are you done I'm done okay good but not with you is that a threat no it's not a threat okay such a foul ball move on in thank you so much Jesus Christ are you done thank you anyway that being said said 3.6 was our average over 20 years so uh yes I'm in for raising the uh the increase keep the class size down and do what we best we can to get the best education we possibly can all right that's it let's move on to next can I have a motion please motion page number two meeting minutes can I have a motion please motion I'll second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes page two listed Bills final listed bills two and three can I have a motion please I'll move second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes but Iain on 21210 thank you page two transfers and s1701 a through 5 please can I have a motion motion second roll call please Mr Bell yeah yes Mrs armado yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes page 3 through 12 Finance 6 through 29 can I have a motion please motion I'll second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes Pages 12- 14 technology 30 through 39 can I have a motion please motion second Peters roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes Pages 14- 16 Transportation items 40- 43 can I have a motion please motion I'll second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes Pages 16- 18 annual adoptions 44 to 51 can I have a motion please motion I'll second got that Ru call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes Pages 18 18- 21 purchasing 52-61 can I have a motion please I'll make a motion I'll make the second rule call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes Pages 21- 30 Professional Services 62 through 67 can I have a motion please motion second second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes next page page two page 30 and 31 facilities and other items 78 to 85 can I have a motion please motion I'll second at Peters good yep roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armad yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes and Mr Peters yes page 32 policy and regulation 86 can I have a motion please motion second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr armado yes Mrs clous yes Mr Peters yes page 32 hibs 87 and 88 can I have a motion please motion second roll call please yes Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr armad yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes page 32 B donations can I have a motion please motion second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes Pages 32 and 33 C programs and curriculum Das one and one and two can I have a motion please motion second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr armado yes M Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes page 33 professional days workshop and travel can I have a motion please motion second roll call Please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes page 33 40 E certified Personnel 1 through 18 all right wait hold on one second we have an addendum in this section on number seven uh so make sure you guys see the addendum and then we just have a correction on page 38 39 page sorry page 39 number 16 um towards the bottom of that chart it should be Dana tra Everybody follow out addendum can I have a motion please motion second good yep roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes and thanks to the volunteers and Mr Peters yes Pages 41 to 50 F non-certified Personnel 1 through 11 can I have a motion please motion second rule call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armato yes Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes I have a uh walk- on yes number one for retirement yes uh move that the board approve the following retirement Vanessa Pereira superintendent of schools effective 9124 motion you're not going anywhere all motion second roll call please Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes we'll miss you Mr armado yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters unfortunately yes congratulations and good luck okay we have a second walk on as a suspension without pay move that the board approve a 3-day suspension without pay for the following staff member number 856 865 for uh June 19th 20th and the 21st motion motion second second okay uh roll call Mr Bell yes Mrs armado yes Mr arato yes Mrs Claus yes Mr Peters yes good y yeah motion rejourn motion all in favor thank you for coming everybody