this is to advise the general public that in compliance with the open public meeting act little Little Egg Harbor Board of Education meeting was advertised in the Asbury Park Press the Atlantic City Press and posted at the office of the Board of Education located at 307 frog Road Little Lake haror New Jersey and posted at the office of the Minal Clerk of little Lake Harbor I have a roll call please Mr phell yes M Lawrence yes M Herber Mr bar yes M alno here Miss J sorry I'm Sorry Miss Martin here here you have a that mean we have one extra can we please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Al United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation under godible Li jusice recommend a motion to approve the agenda can I have a motion can I have a second are there any questions all in favor any obss okay um all all in favor okay got it motion passes thank you um uh recommend a motion to accept the following minutes can I have a motion can I have a second second are there any questions I have a vote all in favor I any opposed any extensions motion passes okay mov on to public comment for agenda items only the Board of Education now welcomes the public to comment on the items which are on our agenda tonight community members should first try to resolve their concerns by speaking to directly to school administrators before bringing those concerns to the board each speaker is allotted a maximum of three minutes to make their statement No one may speak more than once on the same top topic you were required to give your name and address we speaking would anyone like to speak okay seeing as there's no one we'll move on uh we have the following informational items and moving on to committee reports okay I'm before P this evening okay first I would just like to say that we I first I want to thank everyone for giving so much of their time last week Friday night and Saturday um for our superintendent search um everyone as I knew would is taking this extremely seriously and devoted a lot of their time and thought with this so thank you very much um secondly I would like to thank all of the applicants everyone that we have met has been a pleasure to speak with to get to know um and there is so much talent in New Jersey that I'm actually just amazed and amazed that people these individuals are interested in our school district so I want to say thank you to all of them and the one key thing that I took home from it and you guys can all add if you like also um there were so many times I heard about the child and that's the main reason we've all done this um is for the children of this district and so I was very very pleased to hear that um as well had outside I take away from it I could I was there a lot of good people out there there all good and uh you know between kids and parents that's what their concern was and that's what I was happy to hear right and then um I just want to uh mention one thing that was and I'm not going up back and forth type of thing but with regards to shared services because it was most recently brought up sorry and um there it was a lot more than just we were concerned about and you'll see where I'm going with this in a minute um us being concerned about little Lake Harbor and I know that Laura is the other one that was on this committee with me and we reviewed a lot of the contracts and the wording the the legal language there was a lot more things that were benefiting pands that was benefiting little EG Harbor in those contracts if you would would you agree with that yeah I I was going to leave that one for you because you found all those so that was part of it there was only one contract that was a true 50/50 split with pands and that was Dr muli all the other ones were favoring two pyland and and also to the PT I think the PT one is a very well- written one that's very specific as to what days um she is at what school district so it really makes sense with that we're I'm leading into is transportation and that's a big issue that we're struggling with and we have um we're going to try to set up a meeting with Durham and we have had a meeting our students are losing instructional time due to the Dynamics of this shared agreement with transportation and a significant amount of of educational time along with the fact that our staff is suffering and it's it's something that we are really trying hard to work on but again you know with someone at our Helm that is focused on our district is making that a priority because they Patty knows that it's affecting our students it's affecting parents if anyone's been at pickup lines or try to pick up a student for a doctor's appointment or something so um we're continuing to work on that so we're trying our best and to work with the other schools involved we've met with pands we've met with eagleswood and tuckeron try to get and see what we can do to resolve that and um with regards to graduation I believe I just elect I didn't but um we have some people that are going to be meeting not yet with Mr Denning and uh Mr nrock um to see where we're moving forward in that direction so um we look forward to hearing at the next meeting um and so thank you for that and that's um our our search is going to continue and we have our second round interviews which are moving forward and so we are progressing in that direction so that's all I have okay moving on to superintendent's report oh wait oh sorry I'm sorry yes can you hear me no wait Patty hang on Patty okay okay the curriculum committee met on January 30th at to enter in i t but we met with her and it was is she here oh here okay it was very productive meeting like 3:30 to 5:00 um the committee was updated on the district Improvement plan which includes many great strategies and steps to increase achievement and outcomes in math and Ela as well as strategies and curricula that reflect the diverse experiences and backgrounds of all students in the community a new Ela program by bro hill will be pilot in March the cost and Provisions for the new program was also discussed and how it will be applied to the study students as well the committee was updated on the I math program and how this is used for ongoing assessment of the students math skills in real time to benefit and affect teaching strategies and each individual students need teachers will be working this summer to align the curriculum with the new bla and m stands Miss Gallagher also reported that the parent response to three opportunities for the held up down form um was given and there was a pretty good response but we should remind parents there's still time to hand that form in okay and the committee also received from Miss Galler at Barra a report card feedback from parents and teachers which was by far positive and very well received we are still looking oh no we found it's on the agenda yes okay and we also discussed aism how it relates to achievement and how the community school right tool program had gos improve homework and return return and Foster more positive school that was that for our I also have a report for technology Chris and I I was just going to ask um myself okay we met on February 6 and Chris you can help me out here because my notes are spotted but um February 6 from 305 to 340 with us so U Miss blood reported that they discussed second Factor authentification with the staff for more protection on our internet um it's challenging Because the Internet is spotty in the school building and depending on sta staff carriers as well so that's still in the works um Chris you can help me out with the USB the special adapters that we were considering purchasing for teachers phones yes so those are something that you can use to plug into your computer to like dedicate that incl you okay so that you know that would take care of that problem relatively Lo Cost uh to implement that and then Chris also talked about a risk assessment uh for the district uh in the future would be a good idea as opposed to just a fishing um experiment by by a vendor risk assessment more thorough check on the district security when it comes to organizations you should really be doing ongoing fishing tests um accordingly security awareness trainings and assments abilities have that uh could be potential way into the system that's just good practice and I know um Terry went to texo this year she met a lot of vendors to see who out there help us with that and she got some good prices also there's a lot of free resources out there that I Shar she said yes that no company that you shared she was going to try to access some of their free resources um and I asked about backups for the information because that can be quite devastated distri but our our student files are all backed up onto the cloud car said and we talked about a cyber impact respons chis had asked about that and you know I checked my district and maybe the safety specialist here speak to that but all the training that we've had with safety Specialists we have not had much on cyber security so I don't believe that's written into quote unquote safety plan but that is something that all districts have to figure out in case what if that happens what to do you know your computers are down you can teach from the Smartboard what is the plan for two three days or more [Music] sure yeah plan is just you don't want to figure out the day of you know what you're to do you want to have ready it's terrible and I just want to applaud the administration and my fell board M Tak serious we saw last month Freeville Township had a cyber incident and closed SCH for the day um but I know in other places affects them weeks sometimes once and uh we just want to do everything we can something like that for so we did have a a negotiations meeting and we have one next week Tuesday next Tuesday so we are um actively working together to hopefully have a contract in place when this one ends all right okay now Patty thank you um February has been and continues to be a very big big busy month last week was National counselor's week and the little Lake Harbor School District wants to recognize and praise the wonderful work of our school counselors that they do with our students every day we are truly grateful and we applaud their work and we are thankful to have such outstanding counselors in our schools similarly commemorating Black History Month our district is participating in several activities to celebrate the achievements as well as the key roles and contributions that black Americans have made not only in US history but worldwide at the Early Childhood centures teachers have added songs read alouds and activities in the classroom in George Mitchell they continue to recognize individual black Americans who have contributed to the fabric of our society individual classes are providing the biographies of those individuals being recognized and they are readed daily over the building's PA system at Frog Pond Elementary School they began the month with a schoolwide announcement explaining to students why we highlight black history every February each week they set time during their pa announcements and Morning News to highlight black Americans who have made significant contributions to our society they also highlight an individual in their Weekly Newsletter and have shared educational Resources with teachers for use in the classroom please view the district website to view our students work in celebrating Black History Month speaking of our district website we hope you have looked at it and seen its new and improved look um it is continuing to be updated on a regular basis but we are excited about the information that we are providing on it as well as sharing the work of our students on and throughout the various pieces of the website um we think it's easier to navigate and we hope our community finds it that way as well just a reminder the ptao is having a fundraiser this month I've been believe it closes Friday for gertude w candy if you haven't had the opportunity to participate in that fundraiser I hope you will and last but not least I wish all of you a very Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow and that concludes my report right I just want to tag on with about the PTO fundraiser um yes I did see on social media that the last one funded the um book vending machines and that they're trying to fund covers for the playground and while it's been a while that I've had young children you know going down slides when they get hot it's not as much fun um so I do think it's a very very workfall cause so if you can you're interested please uh support I will and and truthfully I can't say enough about the good work that our PTO does for all of our students okay moving on to presentations we have an audit presentation Mr Mike Garcia of for Scott and Associates thank you very much um tonight we have the results of the audit for 22 23 school year so that is June 30th of 20th grade um and the school audit really has two components um first obviously um we're looking at the numbers confirming the numbers and giving an opinion on numbers but also we're looking at the policies and procedures and practices of your business office to make sure that they're following all the rules and regulations with the state of New Jersey and the federal government close on all school districts I just want to go over a few of the things to give you an idea of what we're looking at when we're here um first um every month your business administrator Mr Green submits to the board a board secretary's report the financial statement for the month um you know one of the first things we do is we get those monthly statement and we review those to make sure that they're accurate make sure that the information that the board is receiving on a monthly basis is timely and accur so obviously very important and then of course we're looking at the year end the whole 12 month period not just the one monthly um um rep um significantly when we're in here looking at the year stuff your most significant asset is obviously cash so we spend a lot of time testing your bank accounts to make sure that the bank accounts are properly Rec recile and that the money is in place in the funds that they're supposed to be that the general ledger is correct and that there's no shortages in cash Revenue the district has multiple sources of revenue um most significantly state aid property tax levy federal grants we test that to make sure that those monies are going into your bank accounts properly and being properly recorded um expenditures every time the board cuts a check um you know there there's a procedure that must be in place that kind of actually ends up with the board approving an expenditure on the bill list but before it gets there as part of our auditing we sample to make sure that um whenever a check is cut that there is an actual proper invoice to the that that it's due in payable um that if it was over the bid threshold bids are receive from the required we make sure that these expenditures are being charged to the proper budget account so once again when you get that monthly report that says um was paid for instructional supplies you can have some confidence that the accounting system is working properly um um tuition contracts we test those to make sure the tuition um in the case where you send students out of District that's being properly paid and reported um health insurance your employees are required to um contribute a portion towards a portion of their health health insurance cost we make sure that those calculations are done correctly and the amounts are properly withheld from the employees paychecks we also make sure that the employees on a sample basis we test to make sure that employees are paid properly in accordance with their contracts um also the withholdings from their salaries for taxes insurances pensions and whatnot those amounts are being properly witheld and then properly dispersed to the proper agency um Student Activities you have a Student Activities account we apply similar procedures those accounts to make sure that the student funds are being properly handled and recorded um Food Service um and this is actually I want to spend a little bit more time on this the last couple of years everyone is probably aware that the federal government has increased funding for school Food Service since the pandemic and the subsidy reimbursement rates were much higher than they had then um in previous years um and what that has done is it has created a situation where in the eyes of the Department of Agriculture some of these programs are now overfunded and have and actually most food service programs in the state of New Jersey are considered to be overfunded and have excess cash resources what we want to make sure right now the Department of Agriculture is being um they're giving board Boards of that time to spend down that money I just want to draw your attention to the fact that at June 30th of 23 the department agriculture would consider that little egg has about $169,000 too much in the Food Service bank account so what do what can you do to spend that money down first um and and probably um least likely is um reduce lunch prices but that's a temporary fix because you only have to raise in the future the the best way to do it is to evaluate your cafeteria systems and if there's any equipment supplies that you can purchase now to draw down those funds before Department of Agriculture comes in and says you know last time one come and say okay we want some of the money back so really evaluate your cafeteras and anything relatable to the Food Service Program start to spend that money down right now the Department of Agriculture is being lenient and allowing time for that but at some point in time if we're back here next year and the year after and we still have excess funds you know they're going to come knock in that so right now about almost $160,000 that you just come up with the plan and figure out you know what you can spend that's directly related to the Food Service program to spend that money then um finally the last area that I wanted to talk about is we review the um application for state school aid and the transportation report basically the head counts that the district sends to the state October your state a is based on those numbers so it's important that those are G accurately um as an overview of the things that we look at when we find areas of exceptions or errors we're required to write finding and recommendation to the board for Action happy report that no such findings were reported this year so it's a clean off um and once again the things that I mention to you there um in overview not all inclusive but there are a lot of things that now to talk about the numbers for a little bit um Mr Green handed out the audit synopsis to everyone and the main audit the full audit itself is over 100 pages long this synopsis here has um really what I think is the most um important information to be aware of in a limited amount of time and really the way I want to work on this is actually work backwards so go to the last page the last page is just a summary of finds and recommendations once again under each of the applicable areas that we look at you see the word num so there are no finds and recommendations like moving forward one more page this um this schedule B2 comes directly from the main audit and you'll see I've highlighted some numbers here for you the column that I want to concentrate on is this First Column the general fund the general fund is the main oper for the district um and the first number that I've highlighted for you is state aid in the amount of 17 million of 51 15,4 $473 which is actually an increase from last year state aid in the amount of 621,000 but that is significant well is really all attributable to the fact that the state created a new category state aid in 2023 the maintenance of equity and um supplemental stabilization which is not a permanent piece of state A to roll forward in 2324 this year's budget um your state actually decreased by 429,000 so that onee increase is not reoccurring and actually is decreasing now in 23 24 Robert I don't know if you have 24 25 estimated state aid numbers yet but the assumption is that's probably going to go down again but in the 2223 year there was a slight increase um I've also highlighted the total revenue line um that 32,8 44,48 um the total revenues increased by $1.3 million from the previous year once again most of that are those temporary state aid categories that we talked about there was also the 2% Inc producing tax it's not statute than those two items really have for the most of it on the expenditure side I've highlighted three three numbers first Transportation costs your transportation cost in the amount of 218,000 um $596 that was an increase of about $500,000 from the previous year so the transportation cost did increase in 2223 right below that health benefits in of 12,681 th000 that is an increase of about 340,000 total of all of which is actual health health benefit call so the the $12 million are all employee benefits Social Security taxes other insurance but health benefits is the biggest pie of that increase I've highlighted for you the total extendes of 32,4 195,000 that is an overall increase of about $1.3 million in the previous year so those are the revenues and the expenses rolling forward one more page is we're going to see what we ended up with at the end of the year and I've um highlighted in blue and made some notes on this schedule so you can um um tell where this money is help first you'll see in the blue box we have our total surplus funds but they're broken down into several categories first we have excess Surplus I'll give you a brief reminder on excess Surplus um currently the State caps School District Surplus at 2% of expenditures with certain exceptions that's the current law after Co they allowed that to go up to 4% for 3 years but now we're back down to 2% where previous so whenever you have funds in excess of 2% they get us set aside and must be used to support the subsequent Year's budget so in this case the 6,559 um is the excess amount over 2% at June 30th of 203 that was generated that money is in the bank right now and must be used um in the 2425 budget right below that we have excess Surplus that is designated for subsequent years expenditures in the amount of 87,8 3660 that is the amount that you were above 4% at June 30th of 20 that money at June 30th of 23 is still sitting in your bank account and it's now been used to fund the 23 24 schol budget so that money has in essence been spent towards um the budget that's budet yeah that's that's that's going it's in the bank June 30th but now it's in this year's operations below that we have capital reserve in the amount of 1, 618,000 those are capital funds that are set aside and can only be used for Capital um improvements to builds we also have a maintenance Reserve in the amount of $163,400 [Music] $99.99 we have also um this assigned fund balance for other purposes of $33,988 these are encumbered amounts and all that means is that June 30th of 23 vendors don't all get their paperwork in to be paid by June 30th so those bills are set aside until all their paperwork is in um it's approved by the board the checks are ultimately released so that money has now been spent against those open bills that related to the previous year we have one more um significant item here that is um fund balance that is designated for subsequent years expenditures in the amount of 2,626 7140 these are additional funds that the board applied to the 2324 school budget so the money is in the bank at June 30th of 23 but now along with the 87 ,000 that we talked about earlier that money is being used and spent to fund this year's operations finally it leaves us with a in Brackets unassigned fund balance of $440,000 this in Brackets indicates its deficit it's somewhat deceiving um it's actually very deceiving I've given you some notes down there on the bottom as to what this number actually means the state of New Jersey as you maybe maybe you're aware May or not the state withholds the final two state aid payments for all school districts they've been doing in about 20 years get to balance the state budget because they pay it to you in July so they don't have to have the expense on their works so the state requires that that money not be included on this statement but it actually is in your Surplus account because the money comes in the first week of July so it shows up as a deficit here of 440,000 but the value of the state aid that was withheld for month of June comes in in July is 947227 so your actual Surplus account is a positive $ 56,59 181 and that is once again now where it's your 2% so that's the maximum that you have to have is the 56,000 you do have it along with those other reserves that we discussed all right um once again like I said the full audit itself is over 100 pages long uh there's a lot of information in there I did Cover the things that I think are most important for the board to be aware of and the public to be aware of and you know in a limited um um time um if there are any comments or questions you have for me of course I'll answer them or if there's anything that you think of after the fact my contact information is in in the report this in contact with me and I'm always always question but if there are any questions tonight since I'm here I about expenditures water would a water filtration system I I believe they are specifically allowed and encouraged um well have you seen the list of pre-approved equipment purchases at the Department of Agriculture there's certain equipment that they'll make you request approval for but I believe like water water bottle Filling Station type things I think they're specifically automatically allow I'll send you the list tomorrow I have I don't have the most recent one okay previously it was not on but it I I'm pretty sure it is and I know other districts have done it so it's not on a pre-approved list you just have to go through the process but yeah I believe that is you enjoy doing this stuff huh they're doing a long time this just takes a special person it was very well done oh thank you very much I know there's a lot of it can be dry material but um and you know you know Robert's office his entire staff very very helpful when we're here doing it you know there were three or four of us and we're here for two or 3 weeks and we're kind of paining the um but um there's you know there's a lot that there's a lot that goes on in your business office and in order to have a clean audit it's not easy explain it so even I could understand thank I Tred thank you thank you thank you good night thanks okay moving on to action items recommend a motion to approve Finance items A and B can I have a motion motion can I have a second any questions yeah I have a question I'm sorry I didn't s this earlier but I was looking at the bills list um School specialty LLC you know is that a new vendor I've never seen them before and it looks like a large charge I'm just wondering looks like Supply special it's definitely not a new vendor it it just may be coded differently okay but it's but that's the same end we use all okay thank you anyone else if not have a roll call Mr phello yes M Mar yes Mr Barry yes MN yes M Herber yes M Lawrence yes Dr Snider yes motion carries can I recommend a motion to approve facility items a can I have a motion motion can I have a second are there any questions if not have a roll call Mr phell yes M Martin yes Mr bar yes mno yes M Herber yes M Lawrence yes Dr Snider yes motion carries okay recommend a motion to approve School business administrators non-personnel items a through F can I have a motion I have a second are there any questions I just have a question on E I was just wondering what it is confidence closet project through Laur do you want to respond since I know that you asked a question it's a grant we got through the county um it's for middle school and high school but we do qualify because we have sixth grade and um they fund us initially it was 6,000 we got additional funding up to 11,000 to provide personal hygiene product everything from shampoo conditioner body spray socks shoes leggings Sanitary products um as needed we have we planning to purchase bags so that's discreet um and the whole goal is they believe that it improves student attendance um better self you know worth and feeling for those students that don't have access to these products yeah they're doing a lot of research with it too to see how successful it'll be so um hopefully something that will continue thank you um anyone else have one more question is the [Music] esy it's the same it last year um I think it is I think it's I think it's five weeks usually 20 days typically 20 days and 4 hours a day minimum it can go up to 6 hours a day um depends on the district most districts do 20 days at 4 hours a day of instructional time not including transation and you know loading up and unload bues than you anyone else if not can I have a roll call vote Mr phello yes M Mar yes Mr bar yes mes yes M Herber M Lawrence yes Dr SN yes motion C we have a recommended motion to approve personal items a through J can I have a motion can I have a second that are there any questions I'm just going to say and I pray that I'm remembering the right um I believe that Mrs aate was in kindergarten at one point no remember long enough to remind me Josephina bate was a a when we back in the day when we had AIDS in kindergarten I was pretty certain she was Brady's Aid and God forgive me if I'm remembering this wrong but she was left-handed and he was left-handed and she taught him to write and I will say that was one of my saddest moments was when kindergarten involes eights because I really do think that they did so much so um if not she was add all right anyone else I just want to say thank you to in Hunt I know she's resigning she's a great school Nur and we appreciate all of her services um not C Mr Phil yes M Martin yes Mr Barry yes M lesno yes M Herber yes M Lawrence yes Dr Snider yes motion carries recommend a motion to approve superintendent of school's non-personnel items a through G can I have a motion can I have second are there any questions so I have a quick question I know that the curriculum committee met and discussed the new pilot for ELA I guess okay it doesn't here so there were certain classes I'm assuming that were selected for all grades K through six to Pilot yes okay great so is it I actually have um in K through three we have two classes great okay thanks we have the pday okay thank you there's no one else have a roll PLL vote Mr phell yes M Martin yes Mr bar yes M lesno yes M Berber yes M Lawrence yes Dr Snider yes motion passes okay recommend a motion to approve the agendum to tonight's agenda can I have a motion motion can I have a second second are there any questions if not can I have a roll call pleas Mr phell yes M Martin yes Mr Barry yes M zes yes Miss Herber yes M Lawrence yes Dr Snider yes motion carries um I do not believe there are any new motions at this time yes we do have a motion uh it's it's motion that we discussed in executive session regarding I have the resolution written if you'd like me to read it out loud soone can make a motion second make a motion second res Ser okay resolve that the board of Board of Education approve the determination of staff member ID numberers 7397 said employees last day will be February 12th 2024 for R yes roll call have questions I'm sorry Miss Lawrence yes M alesn yes Miss Martin yes Mr phell yes Mr bar yes M Berber yes Dr Snider yes motion JIS throw me off when you go out of order um moving on to public comment the floor is now open to members of the public the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues the board requests that each statement made by a participant is limited to 3 minutes s in policy number 0167 there's a signing sheet located on the podium please sign in if you wish to speak is there a mic there for you I just so you sure hello I'm here this evening because I have some questions regarding school calendar for the 20242 school school district school district have aware that we are typically two separate districts we are in the same town and both calendars impa um I noticed on the calendars that proposed that the school district will have the full week in November but the school district is off THS and Friday that week as a mom of two boys one in the midal school and one in going to middle school and one this is going work is there a specific reason why one head off the entire week and the other doesn't we meet two different districts however both schools are in the same town for the past 5 years we have the same schedule furthermore after seeing that off the week and the other is only off for the two days I didn't know to they out of school on different days and assuming that's because of the difference uh looking around at other districts eagleswood Stafford Southern Lacy and barate will all be off the entire week in November and so we F I'm sorry harb Township and land City schools and what's the reason that our district will not since l l Harbor school district will not be off an entire week when will be observe Veterans Day um that week is also election day has election day in it and for a presidential election how will that be through um as a mom with kids in two different districts I can tell you her experience and it's a lot easier when their schedules line up and this plays a major role in child care needs and even more motivation for my kids to go to school um and finally I know you need to have a certain percentage of students and staff in order for those days to be off in November to even count so what's the backup plan in case we don't have enough students or staff on those days to count if people just decide not to go to school because of vacations um I hope you take the time to really consider how this can impact families and students especially siblings in different schools anyone else like to speak okay public comment is closed would anyone I Patty I don't know if you'd like to respond or would you like one of us I'm sorry um I believe that in building the calendar the board's um Direction and intent was to provide the best instructional time possible and also um to have the students out before the heat of June really became difficult um many people have in the past expressed their displeasure with being off the entire week in November um because parents in little like Harbor so many of them do work and having their children off makes it difficult because they have to find additional child care so when the board approved the calendar they did state or we did state that there was a possibility that additional um adjustments could be made but at that because we recognize there are some um things that may conflict with our busing schedule um that week was not part of that conflict however um but again um the concerns that were brought to the board by some residents were the ones that ultimately led to the final decision in that um I Dr Snyder do you think I covered that accurately um yes I I also don't like with regards to election date can Chris you're going to have to help me out on that one is that a federal holiday no um election day oh no so election day is not a day so and we do not house voting so we do not have to be closed on that day and I also think to a lot of it we were concerned as well with the amount of instructional days that are in November and I I I think and that that played a role into it as well because I think to this how many days was it 13 or 14 yes total days in school and in um we did share our calendar and what our thoughts were with Pinelands as well um so they were aware of the direction that we were going as well um yes because if we end earlier we seem to kids tend to drift off after Memorial today that seems to be the trend um as well so those were the thought processes as well I also thought that um when we went out and talked to surrounding districts that other schools told us that they would hope to eliminate this week in the future as well so that other schools in New Jersey are are likely going to go back to just two days that week um from that my understanding is Galloway Township Schools are only off those last two days that teacher and I I I just want to say um I can relate to you I have kids in both District so I feel you I understand I have a child in seventh grade and he's going to be off and my other two will have to come to school but we we tried to get feedback from parents who sent out surveys and we got feedback from staff too as to what a people really want and the majority didn't want to be off for the whole week it not saying that couldn't change go back thank you for for yeah especially schools too that I have to accommodate for Jewish holidays um so they have to make sure that they a lot for those when they're building their calendar as well um but I know Galloway is only two days because when I drive for camps Galloway I can only get Thursday or Friday yeah we have a lot of Gallow that to so they're like also um the schools the closing dat is and getting pushed back further and further especially then if you have snow days and stuff there's going to be another federal holiday in June which would have to be off if you don't up before that but also just looking at it from a u um maintenance part it's awfully hard to do everything that has to be done in these schools in uh in two months and if you're getting out at the very end of June that that puts a a strain on a maintenance department to do all the stuff that has to get done within the building um and I've been told this by people L we're in maintenance and but I I I see your your point and thank you and and in retrospect also too as we move to middle school high school a lot of kids that are involved in sports at that point can't travel that week it's a commitment as well so it's really overall in better interest to be in school especially that month which when we have um we have that Thanksgiving which is so okay um moving on to board for anyone I just want forgot to ask this before um how did the the new program go is it right at start right at school our new program that we no at school yeah I was just wondering how it was going actually I'm sorry do you want me to comment on that yeah do you mind no not at all um actually the program is going remarkably well I've gotten very good feedback um I had one concern that came to me I brought it to the area manager Britney who addressed it immediately um our site manager is a young woman named Danielle who um from what I've heard has been wonderful and most of the staff who we had worked in previously in the community school attended training with WR at school and um as an example Michael K who was um the secretary for our community school um when he visited central office um about a week ago um told me that things were going very well and the kids were really enjoying the program and I'm sure you will get an update because right at school 10 to on a monthly basis share some information I can also tell you that they are I'm preparing a flyer for their summer program and they will be running it um 5 days a week from June 24th through August 16th and parents um will have OPP of how and when they wish to use the program so as I get more information I'll be certain to share it but so far it's been very successful thanks Patty sorry I forgot to ask about that earlier oh not a problem um yeah I just want to remind the you know the community and that there's a jump jump uh for heart jump rope for heart jump broke for heart um I haven't done much junk rram lately but uh that's a that's a good uh function that they do and I know they raise a lot of money and uh the kids enjoy doing that and um and I also want to say that uh in regards to the curriculum that when I was on that committee spoke to miss Galler about um it it's just so impressive to hear that uh the teachers even though this is a lot of work to bring in something new like this they are you know willing to accept these changes and they jump in with uh even though it's a lot more work for them uh to do this that they willingly do this and U they go over and above uh we ask teachers to do uh so much like we're going to do a new uh changing Comm on course to another system right you going to learn that so there's there's a lot of things they do and uh that's unspoken I really appreciate that I'll take a turn this is on um I'd like to speak to two things first of all the confidence confence that is amazing we do something over at Pine lands similar and I can promise you the reward that you guys are going to get from that um giving to the kids and the community is beyond amazing we have some bags so if you want to save some money um we have a lot of things maybe we could kind of hook up um if we can do that and I just wanted to thank the board for being so gracious it's my second month I'm the new kid on the Block I'm going to be a little quiet but anybody that's out there that knows me those I'm not that won't last that won't last no it won't last and uh Dr Snider I have a Lou of voice just you haven't heard my gym voice yet but I really do appreciate um everybody being so gracious and helpful to me I'm I'm a little slow learner but once I get there I'll I'll do well and the other thing I do want to say is I am completely enjoying the superintendent search thing um like Dr s said the candidates are just amazing and it's it's I'm just so grateful and thankful that uh you all have entrusted me with that process because I I'm looking forward to the great things that whoever we choose um is going to bring to this District um so that's all I second pgy back off [Music] that but I do want to thank um strategic educational Advantage uh Frank and Mike who gathered all these resumes we had a resumes still down all that information for us really made it easy for us to uh weigh through all the applicants and choose about two dozen we spent 15 hours this weekend Friday and Saturday interviewing um a lot of candidates and you know if you go to our website there's a timeline on website of superintendent sech and we're staying true to that you know it's a lot of sacrifice but we're putting the work in I want to thank my board members for each resume and then the table with good points about the strengths and weaknesses of these candidates so we are doing a very very thorough search um you know we're not even on ter and try to make the right decision because as a board this is really the number one job right superintend district and I believe all of us are many many hours try to get that way so I just want to say thank you to Frank Mike and also for Pat her wisdom and guidance to this whole very to [Music] and add to that as well to thank Frank and Mike for their time that they spent with us coming down from nor Jersey in New York to you know going through everything with us they've been very thorough with us and for Patty yeah your guidance and your expertise through this has been a blessing Robert Cindy and D to the amount of time that they spent with us over the weekend was phenomenal and they fed us lovely um there's no other group of people that I would rather spend my Friday Saturdays my HB and my children um it's not the first time we spent a Friday evening together do Saturday was Saturday was new um and I do look forward and we are being very thorough we're trying to be very thoughtful and conscientious on our decisions that we're making and the questions that we're asking and the time that we're spending and we've got a lot more work ahead of us but I'm very um excited and hopeful that we're going to find the best person for the school district so we have an amazing pool of candidates that we've already met so I think it's going to be a great thing just time we need time so thank you all that and I'd like to thank Mr Mike Garcia for his report tonight it's very comforting to know that we fin stat bring our and I'm going to go and also think again Frank and Mike I I we had different um um firms that we could have chose from and I really think we made the best choice with them they're amazing they just ask questions and give us information that we in some cases we didn't think we need it and and part of the search some things that people may not know and Pammy brought it up is asking questions we went through a list of questions trying to think just of what are the right questions to ask these candidates so it's it's really is we are being very detailed oriented and we are trying to make the best decision um and so we are grateful and I am very grateful that everyone um you know is was able to to were able to work on this together and I want to say did I count you had almost originally 40 yeah so that's just amazing that that many candidates were interested in our our district and um had a love of children and of education so it was wonderful and so with that I say our next meeting is going to be March 12 at 6 6 p.m is executive and 6:30 is a public session can I have a motion to adjourn motion all in favor any extensions meend it thank you you have good