good evening everybody so we have a a slight administrative delay here so in order to have a public meeting of this nature you need to have a quorum a quorum means you have the majority of the members of the of the governing body have to be present we do not yet have a quorum so we're waiting for one other board member to arrive when that person arrives we can begin the meeting so fre feel feel free to Talk Amongst yourselves students who have Mr guik previously he's getting an award tonight come over feel free to congratulate him and we're going to wait a few minutes thank you Mr Thomas evage can we hear a roll call please uh we got an indication that Miss Choy was unable to make it tonight so she will be absent Dr Miser Dr Meer is also sick tonight miss the park miss rakow miss zepa miss Theo Miss Thompson Miss Wilds vice president Melman and president Lee here we have a quorum also in attendance is our superintendent of schools Dr gadens as well as our assistant superintendent of schools Dr caramanos as well as our district board attorney Mr leera and we have all three student reps Hannah Choy Emily gilbard and Renee Kim all present thank you and Miss Wilds has indicated that she is on her way um hopefully she'll be joining us shortly so that brings us to our first Public public comment section um on any agenda related items if anyone from the public would like would like to speak regarding agenda related items please stop up to the podium and provide your name and address and you'll have a two-minute time okay seeing nud we will move on to the next portion of the agenda that's agenda item e public presentations and I understand we have a few tonight good even everybody it's a pleasure to to be back with you pleasure to be at a board meeting um a pleasure to uh recognize an outstanding staff member uh which will be followed by an outstanding student presentation we've uh we've had some scheduling challenges over the course of the past several months making that happen but we're able to be here tonight and we are grateful for the patience of both Mr guik as well as from our humanities class so the uh the NJ dooe set a program together about an exemplary educator it was a program that was designed to to highlight uh someone who is a master of their care C someone who cares deeply for students cares deeply for their content area building based Administration has conversations about it looks at the criteria and recommends somebody and then we make an application to the state and then from that application we then hear from the state if one of our teachers is recognized as an exemplary educator and I am proud and happy to announce that Mr Eric guik is this year's representative congratulations so I have a a short Proclamation here I just want to read out loud and we'll really highlight that then we'll take a picture Eric up here and if any familes here they can take a picture with you um any if you're a former student Mr GUI please raise your hand you'll all take a picture with him too whereas the award is part of a program designed to honor Educators who are valued by their school and community and it exhibited strong Knowledge and Skills demonstrated an inspiring presence and carry out a Clear Vision for quality teaching and learning clearly Mr guik is one such teacher whereas he is a 20-year veteran of the Leonia Public School System he's been previously recognized in a variety of ways including the American Legion Award of Excellence and education 2017 Governor's teacher recognition program teacher of the year for Leonia 2005 njaa together together Spotlight teacher CBS News spotlighted teacher and as a YouTube content creator for social studies education quite the influencer the kids are very impressed well done therefore be resolved that the owner Board of Education on this 12th day of March 2024 hereby congratulate Eric guak kun's achievement congratulations [Applause] Eric e for e tonight we're joined by the conversation in Humanities two class they've been working the entire year on their food security pro food insecurity project I had the chance to visit the class to speak at them about how government works about what we could do as a district as a as a as a Boe to take care of that I had a chance to watch the class present they did a full presentation for me in the Little Theater at the high school this is an outstanding presentation we've had to reschedule them um this is our third try and knew we could do it third time is the charm so miss Kelty your class is in charge please give us your presentation [Applause] welcome for and most importantly we want to make a positive impact stud there are numerous people around the world who have to constantly worry about where their next meal will come from these people are food andse in which food and security is inconsistent access to enough food and nutrition to Fu one's basic daily needs food and security has heavy effects on people's day-to-day lives and the effects it has on students is what we strive to help in Jersy about in students are food inure what this means for Le is about 163 students across all public schools are and food insecurity can affect a student's lives in a number of ways for example more prone to Chronic illnesses and affecting their performance in not only academics but also extracurricular activities so this is the goals of our food and security resolution our goal would be to provide healthy nutritious meals to all students in New Jersey regardless of their socioeconomic status our plan would include providing a free breakfast lunch and snack for all students as well as including a menu with more variety that can accommodate for different preferences and cultures divers and inclusive schoolwide environment the IM the two images you see above are thech compared to the bottom which is a school that has lunch program implemented okay so I'm going to go over some of the states that have already passed such policies regarding um food and security and the first state I'm going to mentions California and they passed their own policy in 2020 ever since the start of the covid-19 pandemic and they able to do this through funding from Congress um which allowed them to provide permanent Universal free lunches and breakfast to every student regardless of their socio economic status this policy became um permanent in 232 school year and California became the first state to ever pass um such policy the second state I'm going to mention is Colorado which they also um passed their own legislation in 23 24 School school years of this school year and unlike the state of California the state of Colorado does not actually require um all school districts to provide permanent pre launches and the last state I'm going to mention the state of Massachusetts which um also again enacted their own policy in 2223 school year under the current governor of Massachusetts and they are able to do this through a funding of a four new 4% tax on the state's wealthiest residents which was um passed by voting in 2022 and we want to end food insecurity in New Jersey schools by asking Governor Murphy to adopt this resolution thank foravi issues systems and so much as Statics access too to support their teers can see effect as 62% saw behav issu and 47% children getting sick food insecurity has a severely negative impact on the nutritional intake of children when food is watered down It ultimately loses its nutritional Val and 40% of American families do this an additional 79% of American families purchase either unnecessarily expensive or car packed unhealthy meals that further limit a child's nutritional intake and therefore overall development this pie chart shows the um food security status of US families as of 2022 while food insecure families don't make up the majority of this chart this 12.8% still make up a huge percent of the population and we're hopeful that our proposal will start lowering this number in New Jersey and this shows um chart shows an additional um hard decisions that American families had to make regarding insecurity 76% of teachers saw decreased academic performance in students data shows that children that are currently experiencing hunger issues at home had lower scores in both vocabulary and word recognition 23% of undergraduates and 12% of graduate students are experiencing food insecurity the data shows that even after they graduate high school they are still um having this problem the burden of food insecurity and college stress contributes to food insecure students being more likely to fall into a lower GPA category compared to their food secure counterparts in a prepandemic survey nearly 60% of children are are known to still be in the low income communities so during Co there's a big part of the students who were in this area and even before then there's still a huge amount of students that still suffer from this food insecurity has been relevant in literature for as long as we can remember many of us grew up reading books with food in security without even realizing It Books such as the Hunger Games The Grapes of r neither they miss all involved the theme of food insecurity this shows how it has been historically relevant for as long as we can remember and how it is relevant in today's society these are the inflamation steps that we will be following through with so the Leonia Board of Education would acknowledge this as our proposal and it's recommended Bo ofed to adopt this resolution in order to provide free food for all students including lunch breakfast and snacks and then we would have to gain um the knowledge of the public by reaching out through Social Media newspapers online news articles and school announcements other states have already started to serve free lunches including California Colorado New Mexico Michigan Maine Minnesota Vermont and Massachusetts we also ask the Leona Board of Education to prop to have this proposal be forwarded to the New Jersey state legislature as a bill in order to gain State approval to request this approval the Board of Education will connect and collaborate with state and local leaders to all vote in favor of this bill and allow it to pass and move on next the city local leaders will need to research fundings to help the schools and the districts find funding for these free meals some companies could includ the Rob Johnson Foundation New Jersey Healthy Communities Network fgen Community donation and Hmart specifically for Hmart it represents our demographic location providing an Insight on our town and schools additionally local schools and distri District should have meetings and surveys open for the students the students should be open to give their opinions this would provide freedom for the schools to create a menu specialized based on the students especially students the goal of this resolution is to provide healthy nutritious meals for students in New Jersey regardless of their socioeconomic status implementation involves adopting the adopting positive resolutions as well as seeking legislative approval securing funding through grants and local companies and engaging with stakeholders through surveys and meetings this would allow schools and students to have the flexibility to create their own menus so they can better fit their own needs and preferences our proposal promotes the idea that all people deserve equal opportunity for success as education is a fundamental step towards success in our country um ending food insecurity within our schools will allow that um that all students will have this goal in reached for to be educated so that is the end of the presentation are there any questions or anything we have to clarify um regarding a presentation thank [Applause] you thank you so much sorry thank you so much for the presentation um I it was very great to read through um all of your work about a month or even more before um it's clear that a lot of hard work went into this so I really appreciate it and your presentation time it was very wonderful I did have a question um and it seemed like most of the data provided appears to be based on Nationwide statistics and I don't know if it's available but I was curious if you had the opportunity like when you were looking to find um statistics on Leonia and Edgewater or even just like Bergen County or if that just wasn't really available yet um well when we were researching this it was a little difficult to find something more specific to Leonia or Edgewater so that's why um for our proposal we were trying to look more Nationwide for New Jersey so that's why we were you know looking towards New Jersey as a whole um but we did find a few information um on different um counties but it kind of it was pretty similar to the Nationwide so that's why we just made these main informations like one in 13 children are food insecure um which is what we put it in the presentation but there probably should be around there which is a little more difficult to find thank you thank you obviously the problem is not isolated to just Leonia and Edgewater so it makes sense that you're looking at that level of that I was just curious if there was like any more specific information thank you any other questions great presentation and I love that you ended it too with with uh questions for us and prompts for us I'm wondering if you've given any thought to how we should fund this right if if we pass a resolution then we have to enact it and and pay for it so I'm I'm wondering if you've thought about that so as we've mentioned before inside our presentation we do have thoughts about funding with going with the different foundations that we could inquire with and also with local businesses such as mentioned with Hmart or local supermarket such as shoppr right they can help donate food also with help from um recently in the high school we had a um someone from the food bank come who was actually one of our teachers um Mr Cen a daughter so she helped to talk to us about how we can help food insecurity along with the help of the food bank so we can provide funding from these local supermarkets and also more Nation like nationally from these food banks Spen to we have not yet spoken with noshio and whether they are willing to even allow donations to our schools um food security however they're willing to explore many different of we are willing to explore many different Avenues of providing food for example somewhere in the presentation they stated a new change to taxes in order to fund food insecurity we are um so we are still willing to speak with machos of whether they are willing to donate allow donations but there are a other avenues in case that does not quite pan out thank you just said one question and again great great presentation really laying out the case and then providing some solutions when it comes to the funding do you have any plans as you reach out to these Community groups providing the estimates of how much it would cost so at least you have a ballpark figure of of what funding requests you're looking to seek currently right now we don't have an exact estimate of how much it cost but once again the and other sources we can make we can eliminate food insec also about like finding the the cost of how this can all it it really depends on how much people really um use the schools from the cafeteria like we said we're not necessarily trying to you know make people eat food from the cafeteria but we're really just trying to limit the stigma of having to you know only be able to gain free food just because of your social economic status we're trying to keep it equal regardless just in case somebody didn't have breakfast one day or I'm really hungry and I have to take a test and I just don't have money or cuz walking around like um High the high school is an open Camp campus and you're able to go get your food but sometimes the food is pretty expensive to go out and so it's kind of in order to get that Ballo cost you have to like you know take in account all of the schools how many students actually eat from the cafeteria and just it's a lot of it's a lot but um yeah but our main goal is just to keep it equal to provide an opportunity there shouldn't be students at all who don't get food at home who shouldn't be insecure who come home and you know have to deal with all of these mental and physical issues and so we're just trying to keep it equal for all of our peers great thank you thank you and uh actually um the there's U um right now in Leonia and the par this are like the in organ for the like CFA Center for food action they right now they currently uh providing um the pre lunch for the like you know somebody who need it and the uh that's the something uh uh has been provided and there's a lot of effort in there I don't know the if their help uh is not enough and then probably you can talk to them is uh exactly what kind of help um you know we need and then they can Pro probably uh provide some better information for it I mean because of the uh you know the locally uh lot of Le Reas and a lot of people they actually uh you know fund their money for too so they have like you some resources available so you can probably utilize that Resource as well yeah this is a really important resource we will definitely look into it hello um thank you for the presentation um I'm accountant here so I want to help you out with some numbers and stuff so first of all some policy members are trying lawmakers are trying to get this approved they think once it goes into full effect for New Jersey it's $500 million for all schools I would like to ask Eric to share how much we spend a year on masio just so you have the number of what it will cost to feed all the students C of ballark thank you Mr zepa so basically our our mashos provider you know we we pay them on a monthly basis typically it's over the school year so it's 10 you know 10 months uh typically our our total cost to masas is about anywhere from 700 to 800,000 um of which some of that doesn't get reimbursed by the state and federal government based on um students depending on if it's paid if it's uh free or reduced so of that we probably get about a little over 200,000 reimbursed to to something um so I mean net net cost is about probably 500,000 to the district on a on a school year so that would be the number Target right if you're going H or something need at least 500,000 to cover that cost um I know that in the aformentioned states that actually implemented these policies you guys said um like for Massachusetts uh there was an alteration in the taxes so you kind of funded this off of the wealthiest taxpayers but I just wanted to know if you guys researched any states that relied heavily on donations or solely on donations as we are going to do if we actually um well on the presentation we do not have um those kind of States who were heavily based on donations um and I bet there might be there probably are a few since we did mention a couple more States who actually did Implement um a free school lunch um in their systems but um research we have not research that thank you I I do have one other quick oh sorry did you have more oh just the mic keeps going out right yeah um one other question and I I know this this project was for um for your class but I was curious if you had the opportunity you know there's always strength in numbers right and the more voices that are heard um the more voters that are reached U more impact we can have on state legislation I was curious if you had an opportunity to see if there's any other school districts that have student bodies that are that are trying to push a similar initiative which is is a great one I know it's a little bit outside of the box of what you're working on but I was just curious if maybe had heard of any other school districts or classes that are doing that currently we havenct but to in the future maybe we have the opportunity to collaborate I know for uh Leonia we have of course the conversations with Humanities Academy I'm not sure if there's any other schools who have a similar academy nearby but um one of our implementation steps was to get it out there possibly on social media um because the more force and the more power we have and the more support throughout this the schools in New Jersey for this plan of to have free um inter free lunch for the schools the better we are most likely you are to actually get to our gold in order to get these free free lunches so um I'm pretty they might have some similares in the school they might be sharing um but definitely with the help of social media and just spreading it around will um help support this idea if I've learned anything your peers will listen to you a lot more than people like older people like myself so there's definitely power in your words um can I also just add on with that that you mentioned that it was with like students and other like groups of students with in the other schools we have not found like as mentioned before like other schools that have been doing it but the the staff and the overall like members within the schools have been looking into it more than the students so it's not that it wasn't just shown at all but um it has been recognized in many of the other schools absolutely not a criticism it was a more of a maybe something to help even push this further but thank you is that all okay we have to I want to say uh in behalf of our class this is an incredible opportunity to be able to present this to the board education and all of you parents here um we are truly honored to be given our timeing though three times of charm but it was perfect um and yeah we feel honored and we just have so much dignity and we really um we really thank you to have this [Applause] opportunity so it's a wonderful job thank you it's Healy wonderful job boys and girls students fantastic one thing we will do is that this presentation will be memorialized on the district website we'll have it placed up there for you I want to point out for those who are listening at home paying attention that every piece of data that was shown was cited so you can go back you can find the sources for what our students Shar today through their work they worked diligently on this multiple presentations multiple times we are so so proud of you thank you so so much we look forward and I we will miss KY I will visit the class and I will follow up do a bit of a debrief I'll let you know which way that the board is going to go next so I will do that so thank you boys and girls I see no reason to keep you here any longer so go home go straight to bed okay get all your homework done yes and we're all set right and and for students who need Transportation home tonight we do have a bus waiting outside for you so we're all set for that so thank you moms and dads you don't have to stay either but you can if you want to but you might want to go home thank you very much everybody Mr guik thank you you're released too thank you [Applause] everyone yeah $20 million so so I don't want to give our next presenter a complex but the the crowds are not stick around for our presentation of the 2022 2023 audit by Mr Jeffrey Bliss district orer from Lurch Vin Vincy and Bliss LLP um not as fascinating as food insecurity but still fascinating nonetheless the floor is yours sir thank thank you pleasure here aor management just a couple highlights so our main our main goal in performing the audit after we obviously the books of records and the transaction is to express an opinion on your financial statements and an opinion on your compliance with State uh Grant compliance um our opinion on the financial statements is unmodified unmodified means a clean opinion clean opinion means the financial statements are fairly stated uh prepared and Accords with General accepted County principles and there were no scope limitations in performing the order um our opinion on the compliance grants was also unmodified meaning you complied in all material respects with the grant uh requirements unmodified opinions on your financial statements and on your compliance with uh state and federal grants is an absolute must um anything other than unmodified a modified opinion means there is an issue with the financial statements or uh there was a scope limitation of Performing UI meaning the information to support balances and transactions without not available um an unmod a modified opinion on compliance is also an issue and potentially could mean um that Grant funds were not spent properly and would be due back to the grter agency so uh it's imperative that you have unmodified opinions on both the financial statements and compliance on uh grants and uh again the district had those unmodified OP so absolute uh we had no material weaknesses or significant deficiency findings in internal controls obviously that's also a must got to have good controls in place to ensure financial statements are prepared properly and funds are not misappropriate um we had no significant deficiencies toal controls over Grand compliance again an absolute must and we had no reportable conditions of non compliance meaning no uh items that we found where you didn't comply with your your gr compliance um with respect to overall findings uh there were no General findings in the audit for uh 2223 so uh congratulations to the the administration doing a great job this year and um kind of cleaning up all the prior year audit findings instituting uh new controls in place um to ensure those with respect to the financial States how did you do um probably one of the most important schedules in the report is the C1 schedule um starts on page 68 and ends on page 74 and it gives you a summary of your fund balance and I'm going to go through that uh first of all overall the district improved its financial position from last year um you started the year with the total fund balance of 6,949 and you ended the year with the fund balance of roughly 7,160 um an increase of about 10,000 210,000 may not seem a lot but uh there were fund balance categories that were M's already committed to purchases so those are always going to reduce itself um and then the spendable reserve accounts is where you increase fund balances I'm going to go through so overall uh the end of the year capital reserve balance of 2,926 261 was up about 768 th000 over last year um of that 2 million 92 mil 926 261 the district year marked m703 for use in the 2324 budget for specific projects and you have a remaining balance uh of 1 mil 222,000 that you did not year more of anything in the 23 four budget meaning that you had 1, 223,000 that was available for new projects that you haven't committed the money to um of the million 7 that you put in the 23 24 budget if you don't spend all the money on those projects it'll go back in the undesignated portion of capital reserve capital reserve funds can only be used for capital projects in the long range facility cannot draw off from those funds to pay for operating fors can't you need money to fund an un budgeted tuition or an increase in health benefits you can't go Capital uh the maximum amount you could have in that Reserve uh is anywhere 17 million to potentially uh 20 uh you had a total of rough 2,926 close to 3 you also had maintenance reserves those are funds set aside to pay for costs related to required maintenance of school facilities uh the end of the year with a total of 1 mil 325,000 in that Reserve that was up 475 um of that 1,325 you used 275 to be used in the 20224 budget again if you don't spend all that Reserve money it go back into the unassigned portion of 1 million5 uh maintenance Reserve again cannot be used for operating cost they cannot be used for Capital cost they can only be used for requiring maintenance facilities um capital is different than maintenance capital or projects that add value to the building and life expend it used to life maintenance keeps the buildings in the current lo uh you also had reserves for unemployment compensation of claims on employment District gets a list of those people they agree or disagree when you agree you pay dollar for dollar every claim that's paid out to those people Uno there's two sources of money there's employees money that we take out of their pay and we hold on to and then there's the district funds of 1813 uh the employ money get first when we pay a claim and your portion that's in reserve of 181 gets paid last this Reserve has pretty much been the same bounds for uh you also had some yearend incumbrances of roughly uh 54,000 for Capital items and 681 for more of the operating type of things incumbrances are committed sign fund balances for purchases you actually made or contract you awarded at the end of the year where you don't really owe anybody money but you committed those funds to those purchases um it stays in fund balance but the reality is uh those funds get reentered backo reality of that roughly 734000 that was in fund balance it's all spent contracts have been uh completed the goods have been received your people money um that's the area where fund balance was reduced the most and even though it reduced uh you also had 500 you also had 550,000 in excess Surplus uh in New Jersey uh you can only have so much fun balance have books transf res accounts main B res 2% of the district's budget goes into exus at the end of the year you had 550,000 of exess surplus from the 2223 year those funds must be used as a revenue Source in the 2425 bu you have no choice other than to include it as a revenue in the 242 um we also had a small am from Insurance Recovery expenditures um over the years you receed uh significant funds uh for Hurricane ID damage at the high school um there is roughly about 23,000 left that leaves you with unassigned fund balance unassigned fund balance is the money uh that remains that the district can use the fund future expenses in future bus uh you ended the year with 843 760 uh it represented the maximum 2% you were allowed to have which is roughly 649,000 plus you're allowed to add onto that extraordinary Aid you receive over budgeted which is roughly 95,000 um so you had 843 so you had the maximum in the other side bance overall financially uh even though it only looks like you went up 200 you're actually you're you're available reserves that are available for future expenses increase almost mil reality you did had a good year um you had excess budgeted revenues 980,000 and you well under your budget expenditures close to the million so I would say at year R you were financially in good position uh very stable position um you had some nice reserves and capital uh that you drew down to do projects for the 23 24 year and you had maintenance Reserve that very close to the maximum all that any questions and again no findings no recommend thank you Mr B thank [Applause] Arthur do you have any questions all [Applause] right Mr Bliss thank you very much okay that brings us to our Board of Board of Ed members and student representative comments any comments from our student members or board members um just to relay a message from our senior class and also miss antinucci please attend the card party this Friday it's a fundraiser that's so amazing for the senior class like it's where the bulk of our fundraisers actually come from and um we use that money for a lot of the memorable experiences of senior year or Senior Week um our prom and stuff like that so please please come if you can um you guys can purchase tickets now still I think right yeah so um if you're interested in coming you guys can always come talk to us and yeah hopefully all of the board is coming and also just like a side note um we're having a Leonia apparel cell sale that um Mr mhler kind of designed and it's it's a new design I think a lot of the kids would like so all the kids can see it on their Google Classroom if they have like a health class um there's a link on that class and all that money also goes to the senior class um to fund raise and it's reaching the end of the year so please if you are interested um or if your kids are interested um that would be great yeah all if you want give me that link for yeah definitely encourage if if you haven't been to the car party last year was actually my first time it was awesome um it was a lot more fun than I i' second that went for first time last year it was definitely a lot of fun really great cause excitement energy you just feel school spirit there too so really nice job you no pressure Hanah um any any other comments from student Reser board members so the resolution has exist from the students I want to Circle back in this Cy I want to get a final version of it share it with the board because it's gone through several different iterations then we'll have a chance to talk about it okay um okay we will move no other comments all right thank you we'll move on to approval of consent to genda items Miss depar Miss Molina so sorry I paused for a second so I think that threw you all the guy's a good order that's gone to his head yeah he's ready to get out of here um can I have a okay Miss Thompson in a second Molina can it's okay all right now can we have roll call please thank you sorry about that thank you Mr park again miss Molina Miss SEO Miss Thompson Miss Wilds vice president Melman and president Lee Yes motion carries on consent agenda thank you that takes us to administrative reports after I have a variety of things to report on tonight I just want to begin with on a personal note on a personal not I want to I want to I feel compelled to express my thanks to the board of education to the community for the show of support following the passing of my mother it was very nice of you to to the phone calls the Outreach the cards I received from the students the people who came to the wake so thank you that means a lot the cards we received um on behalf of my family thank you my uh all three of my children were were were present um uh with my mother at the end and they were at the wake and they were at the uh the funeral and they commented on on how much Leon was present for all that so thank you it means a lot to my family and uh thank you thank you um on on on much much brighter notes I have I have a lot to report here so I'm going to do my best to save Mr thomasevich his fingers and not go too much here um I do want to begin by thanking the LMS HSA for having the team truth presentation they committ they did a uh entire School fifth and sixth grade assembly then seventh and eighth grade they did a leadership day um it was a fantastic day at LMS and it was a very strong day about empathy and kindness and how we should treat each other and how we should act so definitely uh thank you to the LMS HSA for their teen truth presentation um I also want to thank our both congratulate Mr guik who was here before an outstanding teacher wonderful to have in the district it was nice to his sister was here this evening as well as the humanities in two presentation um I visited with that class as I mentioned before I'll just reiterate I was in the classroom for a class presentation about um the topic itself but then also had to present to a board of education and then we did a dry run in the Little Theater where they gave the entire presentation and I gave feedback and they Incorporated that so what you saw tonight was roughly the fourth or fifth iteration of that presentation they did a really really nice job so thank you to miss Kel and her students for that um I want to congratulate our very own Emily Gilbert sitting right over there uh last week she was recognized as a Bergen County unsung hero award so congratulations Emily very nice I want to thank Dr caramanos for uh nominating Emily as well as being the one who presented the the the certificate to her as well as we had the chance to uh pay go to the fifth grade for read Across America week so we had a really good time um I read from John Steinbeck's the red pony to the fifth grade and I could feel they they liked it whether they liked it or not they loved it and then Dr Carano sh tacos fall apart very nice and I I will I showed the red pony and it was blank stairs and it was ly Greer and the shears erupted so Dr caramanos did a better job picking a book for the fifth grade so thank you for that um yesterday we had a staff development day um I want to thank specifically uh staff member candidate St Lorenzo for leading the uh the Zumba class that we had as well as our district mental health and wellness coordin Emily lamb for all the work that she did putting it together as well as Dr caramanos it was a great day for our staff it was a really really strong day um a lot of energy in the room so thank you to that to our staff I reorganized that as you can see in my uh my comment here we're transitioning to board docs board docs is a right now we have a lot of Reliance upon Google forms and Google Docs and things like that board docs is a very very well respected and well-liked online platform that transition is beginning now we have a series of meetings this week eventually we will schedule a dedicated board retreat for the purpose of training the board members on how board docs is used that's a TBD time to do that but they do recommend that the members of the of the board of education do take part in specific training and modeling what a board meeting would be like so there'll be updates for that and we plan to have that being a July 1st um full adoption by July 1 the card party was mentioned thank you Hannah for mentioning that I look forward to being there on Friday night I met with Kevin Woods and I met with burrow council person Jordan zagler regarding the Planters outside uh Jordan is making a presentation to the burough Council on the 18th about having five of the Planters restored out front of the retaining wall here we're also discussing whether BS ballards would go out in front of the school and also the Four Corners that we have by fortly roads we're discussing that with the town and I want to thank council person zagler for his strong work on that um I had the opportunity yesterday to attend the Ramadan observation at the senior center so it's very nice to be invited I brought the best wishes of the Board of Education to that event um tonight in the audience you see administrative intern Brooke Geller uh M Geller is part of her work is doing research for district strategic planning firms and she's getting that put together um I if I have not yet I will share with I think I have shared with the board the file that we have the folder we have with all the different groups that do that that's a presentation that M Geller will give in the next few months about who we should go with and make some recommendations there for our strategic planning um as we speak right now the Bergen County Spelling be is going on update tomorrow on that and I want to make it a point to uh wish best of luck to our spring athletes spring sports are starting up underway as I was waiting tonight to come to the board meeting Dr caramanos and Mr Toman SV and I were talking about how we will be killing time in a few weeks for board meetings by watching baseball and softball games and we're looking forward to that that's a lot of fun um we are fully in the in the midst of March here the weather is turned um and we are delighted to have come through the winter we're delighted to see the longer days the warmer days um and we're looking forward to what is now really basically a very busy time as we head towards the end of the school year uh we're not there yet you know April break is right around the corner um but believe it or not it time is just fly so thank you to the board and I am happy to give that full report thank you thank you very much and Mr tomich thank you president Le I have four items to discuss with the board and the public tonight uh the first item relates to the 2425 budget which is moving along is being finalized for submission the tenative budget will be submitted to the full board at next Tuesday's board meeting which was moved up from the 26th so it'll be March 19th uh The District in relation to the the 2425 budget uh the district did receive state aid reduction of about 47,000 which is the reason for the delayed of the tenative budget which was um prelim preliminary uh supposed to be on tonight's meeting but it was moved to the 19th to get it in um accordance with the budget guidelines um the next item relates to the capital projects update the first project is the ACs roof project so I'm happy to announce today that the SDA notified provided a notification right before today's meeting that um given the district to go ahead to go out to bid award contract start the project so they basically you know ticked and tied all the documents that were needed to to um adhere to the grant that they that they awarded the disher uh the next project Rel to the replacement of the five exterior doors at an Scott uh that is going out to bid tomorrow so that will be in our in our designate in our designated newspaper as well as posted on our district website uh the bid opening will be on April 16th uh the next project is the replacement of the exterior interior door replacement at LHS that was in relation to uh the damage incurred by Hurricane Ider which is going through insurance proceeds that's also going out to bid tomorrow and the bid opening is also April 16th the next project is the electrical secondaries at LHS which was also caused by Hurricane Ida which is also going through insurance proceeds that's also going out to bid tomorrow um which the bid opening will be April 16th so the advertisement will be effective tomorrow the next project is the ad unisex bathroom conversion at LHS um since last update at last Bo board meeting there is really no no change uh we'll still in the process of submitting the documents and drawings to the doe for approval and we're still estimating to go out to bid at around end of March early April depending on when we you know the doe signs off on that project uh the next projects relate to the mitigation at LHS and LMS that is basically uh the architect is working on finishing the design and renderings uh within our our budget based on Fe proceeds and the local match for both those locations and we have um we're planning on having up upcoming meetings to be scheduled including Central administration myself Dr gadens Dr caramanos as well as uh supervisor of building and grounds Mr Woods um as well as the building principles and vice principles of both locations and the architect to go over the design and scope of that project uh the next project is the media center at LHS that has been submitted for doe approval we're waiting to for the state to sign off on that to finalize uh the redesign of the media center at LHS um and then the next step is also setting up an internal meeting um between myself Dr gadens Dr caramanos Mr Woods uh Mr calendar Mr Service as well as the architect to go over the design of that new Media Center at the high school the third item relates to the seven EV buses so myself and Mr Woods we have been in communication with the New Jersey D representative as well as the vendor that the district uh secured the award with for the original 7 EV buses um we did receive a tenative approval from New Jersey DP for a spec change that was needed to uh secure a different model of EV buses uh based on production issues with the original model so we're just waiting to get the final uh spec change Grant agreement back to sign off on that and then once we once we receive all that final paperwork then we'll bring it to the full board for a resolution to you know to accept that that revised Grant as well as to do a revised you know we'll cancel the old Grant uh contract with the vendor for the original Seven buses and we'll award a new contract Under The Cooperative uh local cooperative for the the revised buses so so we should hopefully have that shortly uh the last piece relates to our RFP with the District Food Service Company so that is underway uh the next step is basically uh the plan is to get it submitted to the Department of Agriculture by April 5th um and the contract needs to be awarded prior to June 30th so we're working on on finalizing that RFP and it's through an evaluation process and that's it okay thank you very much and that brings us to item J committee reports uh starting with our student Representatives any other comments okay um next up is the Boe practices and principles moment yep we met on uh February 28th and the main topic of our discussion was is um planning for the CSA evaluation um we talked about which kind of template we would be using NJ SBA has a pretty decent template and we've used it in the past so at our March meeting we'll finalize um the exact one maybe tweak it or modify it and then we'll be using that one and sharing it with the the full board thank you uh next we have building buildings and grounds Mr I know we talked about if we can get out of that contract and modify it where it's less buses so we can buy some caint um and then see we probably won't know on Monday um about the being yet or um but that's something else we'll keep on our radar thank you next is education Wisconson we met last week on on March 6th and and went over a number of topics uh including the professional development day and the schedule for that it sounds like it was a great balance of uh building building knowledge and also hopefully some fun relaxation for our school staff uh we talked about the formation of a committee focused on uh the use of AI and chat gbt and and we also talked about some potential changes to the high school school day thank you now next is myself finance and planning um as per the norm Mr Thomas sage has covered most of what we discussed we're going to have to switch up the agenda um but one of the things that that he did touch on um but wasn't expanded on was the change for our um the March 26th meeting date to March 19th um you all should have received emails about that and I believe that's all now out with the public um and last year we had a similar issue and I think even the year before that and it's not for a lack of planning um because I know after we had to do it last year I spoke with Eric and said asked to please do the best he can to try to schedule the meeting so that we don't have to move the dates but unfortunately our calendar is prepared before the county releases their budget deadlines so it doesn't matter basically it's luck with a draw and we just weren't lucky the last two years for last year and this year and that's why we had to kind of we had to switch around our dates in order to allow um Mr Thomas sevich the most time he can to prepare the budget that results in zero findings from our auditor um so I'm more than happy to make accommodations I know I think one of the things that we missed in the email was request to see what our quum will Beil 26 obviously it's um excuse me for the 19th um it's ineffective if we have a meeting that doesn't have a quum so please um I think Dr G know to question just to confirm and um if you are able to make it or if you're able to um adjust your scheduled to come for that meeting that'll be absolutely appreciated because that'll help us make our County budget deadline so um other than that like I mentioned Mr Thomas Thomas I would covered most of all of our other discussions thank you and Mr seel policy thank you so we had our policy meeting actually today and uh I think one of the key things is we just continue to review the existing policies that are um on the books right now looking to see where we have policies that may have some either Antiquated or or language that's not relevant as much so we're continue doing an assessment of for current policies and secondarily as the state passes new legislation or or regulations we're evaluating how that would impact our district uh policies and regulations so there's some stuff coming down the pike that we're looking into to ensure that we can review it and then see where the application would be on our our own District so more information will come as we um provide an assessment and then uh share with the board and the public thank you that takes us to item M policy um we have two items um one for SI leave which is a second reading and one is a first reading for the HIV um it was brought to my attention that well do we need a motion second actually there's okay that was brought to my attention um by a member of the public um which is much appreciated and part of the reason why these documents are shared for transparency uh for p 5512 harassment intimidation or abilly um that's item M policy bi B1 excuse me um there are some paragraphs that are repeated in there simply just language is simply duplicated um and other than that um I would ask for a motion and a second tooll call for okay um so I'd like a motion um with the uh correction to eliminate the duplicated paragraphs in P 5512 can I have a motion Mr second um Mr zapa okay all in favor any oppose or extensions okay thank you and then I guess I need a second motion just uh to approve item a for the new SI lead policy on second reading motion I'll give it Mr seel second Miss Thompson all in favor any opposed or extenstions okay motion carries and that brings us to new business okay um can I have a motion for item n under new business question Miss Thompson second Miss Wilds um any items for discussion um other than well it can only be a or b okay seeing none can we have roll call please miss Molina Mr par Mr zepa Mr seel Miss Thompson Miss Wilds vice president Melman and president Lee yes yes motion carries on new business brings us to our second Public public comment period on on any school district related matters anyone from the public wishing to speak please stop up to the podium state your name and your address uh Arthur's at 125 RealD I have a couple of things I saved them to the end because I believe want to ruin everybody's party with Eric word by the way Eric did teach both of my daughters and the my younger one the teacher I said the self of me and Eric down you know had a good laugh my teacher the my daughter the teacher then fact text that he was a very good teacher consisted with one of the reasons he got an award but he was only starting he was only teaching a few years that years ago um I have a couple things one I'm really glad that that Maria food presentation thing regarding dollars what is it going to C that's you know any and Eric always but they need to one thing it was a very good presentation nobody isue with the fact that anybody students adults athletes anybody when you're hungry you don't perform well so said was absolutely true but they really need to understand that there is no free lunch that everything cost something either your taxes whatever and they really probably should have after asked a question how you going to fund it maybe was Maria they talked about well they're going to try to get grants and get you know shop right to give them a half a million dollars and all that other stuff but they need to go out and and probably feel the you know the marketplace and see what's practical I mean I I object to free for everybody I think that this in particular this I think that uh the affluent can afford it and they should pay for it think the needy should be supported uh I think everybody knows who the needy generally are teachers certainly should we as students growing up all kids that harded and I think they absolutely need support however provided but I'm not I'm not a big you know I grew up I got the little metal box you know lunch box marking down here right here and Fe our lunches all that other stuff so I object to I content was excellent right on point I think they need to understand more about financing I think great shape Eric Eric's good at keeping keeping keeping money there um I think the hi of policy which is 22 pages is very good to address most of the issues parking on uh it referred to a lot of things in the njac which I didn't check and reference on that which is actually always a good idea because if you come to B you can always refer to a state statute that is Administrative back you up on it so I did go through the whole thing I didn't cross check the jaac a lot of it but it was a slow as any key and key part of the key to that is make sure your staff and teachers are properly it's in there you know within a year new people have to be trained and you need to make sure everybody train get perent training my opinion I noticed that the security portion of responsibil disappear that oversight change think the last meeting or two meetings of issue about security build it was not responsib it may still exist two things on the facilities the um this is not the only one who really rememb and ra when the Board of Education used to have the things over there with Bernie Joseph B massive capital that we didn't need um and the spending of upgrading of the upgrading CL of the heating system from Electric which is not the most efficient but it was functional it work uh to a water system and I brought up the issue of incre cost ass pipes water water treatment things breaking down more mechanical equipment I noticed in the bills one of the bills a $12,000 item for refer to as a variable Drive something that slows down and increases in according to demand and it broke down and we wouldn't have had that of course and there's other things also I've noticed a lot of my eye this was a pretty large expense and there's going to be more of it so as you go on and that led me to the water treatment issue when you have a water system there's supposed to be water treatment I yet to notice any know the I didn't notice water treatment water treatment is important because water disos to the pipes results mold and bacter IES and things that clog up so uh the questions for Kevin if he's listening do we have a water treatment vendor if not how do we treat the water May fine expens that thank you anyone else from the public wishing to speak on any any school district matter please step to the point seeing none we will move on to board yeah Arthur in terms of um Safety and Security that was essentially rolled up into buildings and grounds so if there's any Safety and Security related matters then that will be covered under that in that group it still exists just different name that was actually end of the recommendation of our news thank you um any other board comments on anything any school district matters okay seeing that that brings us to close session um for those of you at home that are watching online um the board will be going into Clos session during which time the broadcast will be paused um we're anticipating anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour for tonight's discussion um you are more than welcome to come back when we do come back into session and for those members of the public that um are joining us tonight we do need to ask you to leave for this portion of um can I have an can I have a motion on Open Session approval of personnel items Mr SLE second Mr ZKA uh roll call please Mr Park Miss Molina Miss zepa Miss SEO Miss Thompson Miss Wilds vice president Melman and president Lee motion carries on open items thank you motion for adjournment m m second okay all in favor any opposer extensions okay seeing none meeting's over 10:15 thank you Daniel