e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e this is to advise the general public in compliance with the open public meeting B the little Lake har Board of Education meeting was advertised in the Asbury Park Press the Atlantic City Press posted at the office of Board of Education located fron Road Little Lake haror New Jersey posted at the office of the mpal clerks of little Lake Harbor can I have call vote Mr phello here M here Mr bar here M here M here M lawr here Dr here can we please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance [Music] um can I recommend a motion to approve the agenda can I have a motion I have a second second are there any questions okay all in favor any OBS or objections that motion carries okay [Music] thank you recommend a motion to approve the following minutes can I have a motion motion can I have a second second are there any questions okay all in favor I any exensions or objections okay the motion yes thank you uh first will be our first public comment this will be an agenda items only the Board of Education now welcomes the public to comment on items which are on our agenda tonight community members should first try to resolve their concerns by speaking directly to school administrators before bringing those concerns to the board it may not always be possible or appropriate for the board to directly answer questions during the public comment period each speaker is allotted maximum of three minutes to make their statement No one may speak more than once on the same topic you requireed to give your name and address before speaking and please keep your comments respectful and non defamatory and maintain the level of appropriate for a public meeting miners may be in the audience would anyone like to speak seeing answer there's no one um we have the following uh informational items from Mr Co facilities manager M maruchi for technology enrollment and suspensions along with fire Jour moving on to our board work session I know that we have some committee updates like okay yes the budget committee met on April 18th for about two hours and we were briefed on uh more particulars on the budget as you know last month we approved an increase to our budget above the 2% cap four more per so 6% um of the tax impact and some of the increases in expenditures resulted from um Horizon Healthcare went up 500,000 our Pur contribution for retirees went up a mandatory 500,000 and please correct me if I have anything wrong Mr Green Mr BL um okay and a portion of our Esser funds were used in the past for stock positions which we're no longer doing we had to remove those monies because they're not recurrent monies an important uh detail that we learned was we had 54 new hires in the last few uh four years so that's a lot of Staff um we did have to make probably inevitable Cuts uh to our staff in the amount of perhaps around 23 uh I know everybody got a letter of warning noning staff um uh just some specifics Lead Teacher positions site pens were reduced from 15 to 7 some playground AIDS were reduced from 20 to 15 um ASI positions were either reduced or repositioned um and again our Cuts were $1.5 million in state aid this year and $429,000 last year so we're dealing with those cuts and state aid which is about 49% of our budgets the state covers um and the essr fund Grant is is running out as I said so moving forward the the board really had to make some tough decisions as does the ad Administration and who returns is really up to them and May May 14th or 15th is our next meeting and hopefully with pending legislation um there is a bill being considered that will give districts almost 2third back their money but there's some stipulations with that bill so we're waiting the assembly has passed it and the new New Jersey State Assembly but we're waiting on this the Senate so we'll see how that pans out but that's the only way we could really return some of those staff um we saved eight staff members by increasing our budget to the 6% and and that's an impact on the taxpayers which we really had a hard time with that decision um so just in in summary we will be waiting on the decision from the state which comes uh May 14th and we're just facing a tough decision and trying to be fiscally responsible for the public but trying to maintain quality education and and decent class sizes for kids at L Lake Harvard that's just a brief summary thank you thank you Lord and I'm just going to add to this I I can't stress enough how much Patty and all of heram team have agonized over this um you may have see her as a transient figure here but she treats and thinks about everyone as a person and as an individual and this really is something that she has put her whole heart and soul into and it has affected her yes so that's said um uh um we also had a negotiations meeting um this past month and we're having another one next month it is really my dream that I hope comes true that we do have a contract settled before the end of this school year we all have been working together um to try to work things out we have a meeting schedule for is it the second I want to say May 7th May 7th um and so hopefully we have that um also two we are we hope to have an announcement for you at our next meeting next week regarding our superintendent we're finalizing some details um so we will keep you posted and hopefully we do have that announcement to make um lastly in probably between now and next month I'll be starting to ask people on the board for some volunteers for some of our upcoming sixth grade ceremonies um band performances and things like that um to support that I know that um Mr Denning and the staff do a wonderful job um for sixth grad and it's always a great to be a part of uh does anyone else have anything to add okay that U moving on to the superintendent report thank you Dr Snider I actually turn on my microphone for big crowd um we're always excited when we get to honor our students who have achieved some great things tonight we have um several recognitions um we have the jump rope reports kids par Challenge and the steam tank Challenge and Beil worldwide contest um Award winners so um I'd like to start with the jump rope for heart kids heart Challenge and and I believe Mr Denning that's [Music] you um I would like to call the entire PE staff up here because this is definitely a joint um operation we would like to start by thanking the board of education for their support with the kids heart challenge jump broke for heart and Mr very specifically mentioned it at a previous board meeting and we truly appreciate the support in addition to the board recognizing the event we received a proclamation from the mayor scaba announcing that February was American Heart month and commending our district for our efforts the lake harbor school district has been participating in the kids heart challenge formerly known as jump her for heart since 1980 in 2010 these numbers are going to be staggering and I really wish Mr Green we could help you out a little bit with the budget um since in 2010 the Frog Pon School raised just over $4,000 and George Mitchell school for their very first year doing it was at $3,000 this year the George Mitchell School raised over $25,865 and the fra Pon School raised $334,700 for over $60,000 for the [Applause] district that money goes to the American Association for research public health education professional Education and Training amongst other things the PE Department this year alone received $4,000 in Us games gift certificates and monetary money as well to use for equipment in our department since 1999 when records have been kept our district has raised over 626,000 and over a half a million has been since 2010 not only do our students love the jump roping unit the money raise goes to a great cause and helps our department directly we also held our bring someone special to pee night which is held during the jump rope unit and we had over 130 families and attendance we have one student that we would like to publicly recognize that has been frog Pon school's top fundraiser his entire educational career here for 7 years this student has been our top fundraiser at frog Pon even when he spent his entire third grade year virtual his kindergarten year he raised $1,081 and his final year this year [Music] $3,625 totaling $1 15,45 we would like to recognize Matthew wor for his tremendous efforts supporting the American Heart Association and the te Department Matthew please come out and accept this certificate of accomplishment thank you for your efforts you will be missed next year and Mr has a question of fre now Matthew your commitment to the American Heart Association has not gone unnoticed your impact towards helping those in need is truly amazing as as a health and pH as a health and pH education department we are very proud of you with all that being said why have you been so committed to support the American Art Association each and every year well um the reason that I am so committed is because in 2017 my dad had open heart surgery and ever since then I just thought it would be a really great thing to raise money and help the kids that don't have working Hearts um as healthy as ours so [Music] [Applause] yeah can we get a group picture dad mom you want to get in there [Music] too just remember May I'm coming after you [Music] thank you [Applause] [Music] we also have um I'm going to jump across the SCH into the vehle worldwide contest while have here um vle as many of you who have students in the district um they know is a program that um we brought into the district this year using our Esser funds it matches students leile levels and the reearch has shown over many years that it has increased students reading skills in measurably and um we implemented it as part of our world cultures for our world language program as well as to supplement our health and program and our kids have really really done an outstanding job and for using it just a short time we have some really exciting news first I'm going to call up Jack ker come on up [Applause] Jack I have a few things for you jack but first I want to let everyone know why you're up here because all the students in our school use vehicle but you're the only one standing here right now and bble does a what's called a power contest um but they also have a worldwide contest where over 100,000 students participate in this contest and Jack made it to the top three out of over a 100,000 students so for that beable sent some some goodies for Jack so you have a trophy here that's your first reward for that we have a nice certificate from vable here signed by your teachers Mr dit Miss sailor and along with that there's a folder here but I know there's a gift card from Apple in here and there's also a very nice letter I didn't open it it was sealed it's for your parents I'm sure it's going to say some wonderful things about your parents and thanking them for raising such a fine young men so congratulations Jack [Applause] [Music] go [Music] [Applause] [Music] and last but certainly not least we have more to be proud of um here in Little Lake Harbor because um our students who participated in the steam Tech Challenge um which is a yearly challenge um that's sponsored by the um New Jersey school boards Association um and and they have done well before and once again we have good news to share so it's just like Shark Tank so steam tank Shark Tank so the kids come up with an original idea and they have to go through the entire engineering design process for it so this is year four um that I've been doing it with Miss Randall and we had three groups go in and they sit in front of we do it virtually the first round and and um they first submit like a video of what their idea was and all three groups made it into regionals so then they have to come up with a prototype they have to talk to mentors they have to um dive into it um using the engineering design process and so all three groups made into regionals and did a great job they're still going on throughout New Jersey so we are waiting to see if we made it to finals um so we have um three the three groups the first is robotic arm and yeah no I'm great so we're going to call the students up to um present them with the award so hi so the robotic arm really quick they design this so that people who may not be able to reach things could they in a backpack and it's supposed to reach out of their backpack and reach up and grab things for short people like me in the supermarket and so the people the boy the the students that were part of this group were Robbie Logan and [Music] [Applause] finnean we're going to want to get pictures all right and the next one was sharpened it's a sharpener that has three different sharpeners in one it's a color pencil crayon and regular pencil sharpener it can go in a little caddy and they made a 3D printed prototype that we're still working on because we have to get the sharpeners for but they're still working on that and if we make the finals they'll make it even better so that is Dylan Travis and Colin [Applause] [Music] and then we have our destinator which is our group of girls who decided that they needed to be more organized and it's a desk organizer because they share desks and it has you can take it with you and put it on your other desk when you switch classes so it's just made so that they can take their stuff with them and people aren't taking their things when they're sharing a desk so that that's Riley Kylie Amelia Harper and Olivia [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] toward me one more thank [Applause] you I've said this before but it bear saying again there is nothing more exciting than honoring the achievements of our students and praising the hard work and dedication that they have to learning and I congratulate our students their parents and their teachers for participating and doing such a fine job thank you very much um and if I may I'd just like to part of my report also mention that this was a very special week in education um we recognized our bus driver on and all of our bus drivers um who service our children on Tuesday was bus driver appreciation day um it's also um Earth month and yesterday was Earth day and today we recognized our amazing administrative assistant and secretaries in all our buildings and I'd just like to take the opportunity to thank them and all of our employees for doing such a wonderful job in our schools [Applause] and that [Music] hope you um of course everyone is welcome to stay but if any of the stud see Awards which are amazing I can't wait to see some I would love to see some of them in person we're actually going to send you a slide deck that we were going to present tonight but unfortunately our projector will frit so we will share [Music] thank you for coming [Music] [Music] to items recommend a motion to improve Finance items a through F can I have a motion can I have a second are there any [Music] questions N I have a Mr phell yes M Martin yes Mr bar yes mnar yes M yes M Lawrence yes Dr SN yes yes recommend a motion to approve facility items A and B I have a motion motion I have a second second are there any questions [Music] great I just have a question on on B what can you just explain that cost what is that about uh this is just U this this work actually took place probably at least two years ago and um there were some disputes about was done [Music] well thank [Music] you um I have aoll call up Mr yes M yes Mr yes Mr yes yes M yes yes recommend a motion to approve School business school business administrators non-personnel items a through G do I have a motion motion have second second are there any questions I just have a question on um oh gosh where is it ocean in G is it yes yeah we've contacted with them before right that's the same company that we've used for years and they're going to work with our new with um right school right ocean in has actually funded um many programs for the district particularly at the preschool at ECC um this is a contract funded by um ocean in um for for the summer program so we're very excited it's um had that it's money that well I don't know that they have funded the summer program before um and Flynn can Dr Flynn have they ever funded the summer for yeah so they used to fund whole variety of things so um the funding source as was previously written is changing so so while that's being worked out they are specifically okay so that's why it's [Music] July and we are certainly Greatful for any of the grant funds that we receive from them because they help us offer some really special fund and we would otherwise not be able to fund given our budget thanks thanks and I just want to say thank you to the PTO for all the donations for the classrooms and Tractor Supply and hands Garden Center I know that especially a lot of the preschool programs from those a long time ago anyone else not have a roll yes yes Mr yes Mr [Music] yes yes have a recomended motion to approve personal items a through F can I have a motion I have a second second are there any questions [Music] Mr B Jo yes M Mar yes Mr bar yes Mr Les yes yes A and B um and with that can I also add um to vote to affirm the hi finding regarding student number9 9282 I have a motion I have a second are there any questions did you say items A and B oh so yes thought we did [Music] have okay got [Music] itks are there any questions [Music] I just so I just was looking at the policy again 3310 maybe um uh 3 yes okay P could just I kind to cross reference that with 2240 as it it says I didn't find 2240 anywhere is that like stme something it's probably a stme policy that we did not adopt but 3310 was the one that was recomend and that I recommended to the board to adopt for first and we did the first reading right um so this this the second read I just reiterate my concerns about side conversations and maybe the loose language in here but as as we know as a board we can resend any policy or or you know change our mind on it but yeah I don't have a problem with it right now are sorry are we voting you're adding a c correct adding a c which is to affirm the H finding have appeal finding um St number [Music] 159922 aoll call Mr yes M yes Mr no to a and yes yes yes to be but I have to obain from A and C correct I think you were there for was not okay okay so then see yeah thank [Music] you yes I don't believe there's any new business at this time um and just everyone's aware we'll be doing our formal budget presentation next week on April 30th um the floor is now 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 as cited in policy number 0167 there is a sign and Sheet located at the podium please sign in before you speak [Music] okay hi I'm Jac finnean I'm the president of the Teachers Association first we want to thank the board for approving the use of the banked cap at the last board meeting to help save as many jobs as it can we appreciate that um but the association wanted to personally reach out to the board before the scheduled budget meeting next week as you are aware approximately 57 non- 10year teachers were given pink slips last week they have put in tireless hours and efforts to prove how dedicated they are to our students in school we are asking that before you finalize the budget to see if there are any other items to be eliminated and not well- needed staff as you are aware losing one staff member is one too many the ones who are affected the most are the ones who need us the most our students thank you [Applause] [Music] even hello good evening to all board members in the community of Liang Harbor I'm Carla Baker I'm fourth grade teacher here at F this is my last two R and you will be missed I'll miss it here but as a veteran educator with Decades of experience in this District along with my fellow colleagues I am here to speak to you with a heavy heart and an urgent plead the future finan cial situation we find ourselves in is dire and the consequences for our students are simply unacceptable we cannot allow them to suffer any longer the budget shortfall of $1.5 million is a staggering figure but the real cost is in the loss of vital services and resources that our children will rely on it is not just about members on to spreadsheet it's about real kids and their Futures here's what we stand to lose one every child learns differently and our teachers work tirelessly to tailor instruction to meet each student's unique needs without adequate funding we we may be forced to adopt a one-size fits-all approach leaving many of them behind our counselors are the pillars of support for our students helping them navigate the challenges of academic social and emotional growth without adequate funding we risk leaving many of them without the critical guidance they need to succeed limited resources May Force us to increase class sizes making it harder for teachers to provide individualized attention and support this can lead to frustration disengagement and academic struggles for our students supervision during lunch and recess is crucial for ensuring the safety and well-being of our students decreased supervision due to budget constraints would put them at risk and diminish their overall School experience many students rely on academic support instruction to address academic deficiencies and build build essential foundational skills without adequate funding we risk losing these critical programs and winding the achievement Gap even further we have many students that require special services who stand to lose these Services due to the budget CLS many varied positions are needed to service this population of students and with limited staff members this will cause critical effects to these students and their achievement summer school offers our students invaluable opportunities for academic enrichment catching up on course work and preventing learning loss over the break eliminating these programs in the future would be a huge step backward for their education as a community we must come together to address this crisis I am implore you to join us in advocating for solutions to bridge this budget Gap whether through increased State funding Community donations or collaborative Partnerships together we can make a profound difference in the lives of our students let us not turn a blind eye to the suffering of our children their Futures depend on us please let us Stand United as a community and ensure that they have the resour resources and support they need to thrive we are aware of the budget approval meeting on the 30th and we urge you to reconsider the elimination of staff that have direct contact with students on a daily basis an overabundance of teachers and AIDS have received notice of non-renewal for the upcoming school year we ask that you thoroughly look over how the money will be spent in the following School whole year we are hoping as a board you can come to an agreement to find other items to be eliminated and not well- needed staff and services thank you for your attention to this urgent matter and for your unwavering commitment to the well-being of our students [Applause] [Music] hello I'm Danielle townsman and as a former District special education teacher a current Township res resident and a parent of a child with special education needs I'm expressing profound concerns regarding the proposed consultation model slated for implementation next school year under this model students outside of self-contained classrooms who require special education services will only have access to their special education teacher for around 2 hours daily this limited time will involve the teacher either pushing into or pulling out of various classrooms to provide services this shift is alarming considering that our district currently employs an inclusion based approach ensuring that students in these classes have continued ous access to their special education teachers throughout the school day by significantly reducing the presence of special education teachers in these classes we risk removing many students from the least their least restrictive environment con consequently we anticipate a rise in behavioral issues and a potential decline in academic perform performance among these students moreover what Provisions are in place for the students who require additional support beyond the allocated 2 hours who perhaps can't return back to a self-c classroom because that is not their least restrictive environment um I implore you to revisit this decision as it does not serve the best interest interests of students with IEPs for 504 plans it jeopardizes the educational mental emotional and behavioral well-being of numerous students even those Beyond those service under special education I am also concerned about the district only having one part-time occupational serving all three schools giving the consistent turnover in this position I am very concerned about the ability of the single part-time ot to meet the legally required servics for all students thank [Applause] [Music] you would anyone else like to speak that will close our public comment section and I believe Mrs would like to say something I would thank you um I want to thank um Mrs Baker for speaking I think um I can speak on behalf of the entire Administration and the board um in saying that we heartedly agree that there needs to be an answer to the cut and State Aid having received a $2 million cut over the past two years after having had5 million in Esser funds end so the way some of the Esser monies were spent in the early years providing additional teachers now leaves us with an inability to fund some of those positions and that coupled as Mrs urn mentioned with a a um $500,000 plus increase in health benefits and that was changing Health B we would have had a much greater increase had we not switched and a an over $500,000 increase in Pur contributions which went from 15.8% to 27% um and that's something we have to um for our non-teaching staff we have to um the district has to pay the pur contribution um the district also is penalized on on a TF contribution of almost 60% for any teacher that was in a grant in the Esser budget so as many of your union leadership knows I had worked very hard to move as many teachers out of the grants when I arrived here um this year in order to avoid having to make some of the cuts I will tell you that um the resulting staff cuts across the board not just of teachers but of other staff um is an incredibly painful thing um and we are doing our very best to save as many positions as possible um yes every non-tenured employee received a um reduction in force letter because we don't have the money to support all of the positions but many of you will receive contracts following um our we needed the time to be able to adjust our schedules take a close look and the Administration has been working um very diligently at that uh Mrs Baker your speech was excellent and I strongly urge um anyone who can take a part of it and Mr Baker your entire speech and forward it to our assemblymen and our Senators I will tell you that um Mr cello um arranged a meeting for Mr Green and I himself with Senator Amato um an assemblyman rump and assemblyman Myer um the earlier this week and we spent quite a bit of time talking about how that um budget cut the actually the 2 million over the past two years has negatively impacted our district and what it meant for us as far as what we would be losing um they were incredibly supportive they shared with us not just our story but the story of several other ocean and M County districts who were hit hard today Mr Green was informed that the work schools are like cutting more than 100 staff members and and I can't even imagine um so this is a a painful exercise and we know that we need to have at least some of our funding um returned to us there is a bill that has passed through the assembly and it will go to the senate floor on May 9th and we hope by May 13th which believe it or not is the Night Before Our May meeting but we hope on May 9th we will have a positive outcome and we are hopeful that at least a portion if not the whole U amount will be returned of the state's cut um certainly we express the fact that the funding formula should be an open Formula that we will have access to and as you know we don't it just comes down from Trenton and we're left wondering why were we hit The Way We Were um so again please continue to reach out to your assemblymen and your Senators um and we will continue to do the same um and I would like to briefly address um Miss Town's um comments um I don't know where you heard that we're only going to have a half part-time OT servicing the whole District um that is just not true um we have to be able to surfice the needs of all of our students and whatever we need whether we contract them through the district or whether we contract out for them we will have what is necessary for us to be comping under the law with regards to the IC model there seem to be quite a bit of misconceptions about what is referred to as the consultation model um we have whater here in little L Harbor an inclusion model that Services um all of our allow inclusion I you know I I tend to refer to it as inclusion as being IC um where you're in a students are in a general classroom with a regular teacher and then you have a resource model which is a model where students are pulled out for services in math or Ela or science or social stud it's necessary um currently um at gr levels average eight which is the maximum by law without add 18 for example would be 10 regular students and eight inclusion students serviced by one inclusion teacher and a content specialist elementary teacher for an entire day by going to the consultation our inclusion or special education in class support students across classrooms it should improve behaviors and provide individual more individualized attention to students who really need it and I really think that there is a misconception I also like to add that New Jersey Target is that our special education students in resource um are provided with 80% general education of time with general education students that could be their specials their morning meeing various other and that they are provided the needed services in subject area content area um for no more than 20 Fe 20% of the time that's the Target in New Jersey which is the lowest in the country um of providing um the time that is expected and little L Harbor is significantly that general education time for our special ed students we are here to meet the needs of all of our students and by providing and research shows more time with general education students allows for peer assistance more individualized time for the special ed students who are now in smaller class sizes and less beher problems because you are not lumping as many students together um I realize this is change I know that change is not always easy but sometimes change is good and ultimately um we will be meeting or um Miss lenher will be meeting with W special education teachers in both buildings and she is opening her door and has said this before to anyone who really is not clear on the the full aspect of the model please contact her should be more than happy to sit down and explain it um I also want to add and I am talking more than I usually to but I want to add that our assessments that we do through Lincoln we have our beginning of the year assessment our midyear assessment and the end of the year assessment our assessments show that the changes that we have made in special education this year have resulted in a marked increase in achievement of our special education students and that is a credit to our teachers but it's also a credit to the fact that we are now putting children in the compliant and appropriate class sizes we have taken the 12 in a class that was across the board and did not meet compliance standards of the state of New Jersey we had to add 17 AIDS because by code you must have an aid in a self-contained classroom and you can't count one of a student as that class remain and I truly being compliant with the and making the changes that have occurred that and the dedication of our teachers is why our student achievement special ed has risen and onate reports that come out for two years behind behind so really going to see the increase in our students achievement until the 23 24 scores are reported in 2526 but I tell you you are doing what is right and I'm here I don't mean here a little like bar I me here on the earth I will come back to celebrate the work that you have done because I know particularly our incl and resource and self-contained teachers have changed a lot this year and I know it's not easy you've done an outstanding job and I think you need to Beed for it and I have no doubt that as we continue to make what's best for children our priority you'll see more so again thank you I'm just to that in resource rooms and with the state of mental health and anxiety that we have on our youth population today I do think inclusion is the best model to help that as well I do think it really helps with self-esteem those different aspects that are youth today which mean social media all the different things that they're exposed to I do believe that it will um be beneficial and again I'm going to agree with um blood CH change is horrible shouldn't say it's horrible it's very difficult I I know um when you we had changes in sixth grade this year and hopefully everyone now that we're getting ready to go into May he's like oh it wasn't so bad you know or you might come to say no but I'm I'm hoping that there's positives from it um and the first time that you I know the first time that you teach a subject I'm in that field also it's the hardest time you're trying to figure out what works you're trying to learn the material I mean you've done the curriculum things like that but it does get easier and when you see that student that really relish from it and it's just I only take one you'll see how worth it it was and you are very much appreciated and you don't for one minute underestimate the work that you do um and these decisions that have been made with the budget have not been made lightly by anyone I can't even tell you the amount of meetings that we have tried to conduct um separar a budget um members that were together for negotiations will be discussing and we kept this meeting again to keep you informed to keep you part of the process as much as we can um and then that's why we're going to have our following meeting next week um as well and again it's our intentions we realize we're all in a bu this together and we're trying to do the best that we can for the students and for you and we don't take any of this life okay with that said when anyone else um I think we can all agree that the heart and soul of our district are the teachers especially the teachers here tonight uh realizing that over 50 pink SLS went out this month and potentially 23 cuts are going to be permanent as Mrs baker said one teacher is way too much um we definitely are in the same boote with you guys but you know we're not the only District unfortunately facing this catastrophic uh short call Tom River potentially have over 360 Cuts you mentioned briak over 100 Cuts I wanted to just thank Patty she went over every single line in the budget multiple times not many superintendant actually go through the budget line by line spend the hours that uh she did and I know Robert was right there with her working through how many jobs can we save how many teachers can we save um she mentioned that we spoke with Senator assemblyman Meyer and assemblyman rump uh many of you may remember assemblyman rum was our mayor here in Little Lake Harbor and so I know he is pushing hard to get us as much funding from the state as possible and you know I've said this in other discussions when there was the PE Health standards and other sort of controversial things you really have to pay attention to who the governor is and a lot of this comes down from Trenton and who the governor is uh the next governor election is in 2025 uh you may not think it affects you now but you should really and I know I am going to be paying attention to who the candidates are and specifically what their policies are when it comes to school funding that is something of a mystery people are suing the state to figure out how this thing is put together uh and you know you really want to evaluate the next governor candidate and how they feel towards school funding so I wanted to say that uh about the consultation model uh my wife and I we have a son named Matteo many of you know who he is so we are right smack in the middle of the consultation change um Mato has had great progress since kindergarten he's going in third grade next year he'll be going to five ponds and we want to see that progress continue and we do believe that this change will enhance his ability to be more independent and get him the services he needs and get him really prepared for life I mean that's what school is all about is preparing for life and uh we are excited about this change and you know if it doesn't work we're going to make sure that that's known to our case study team and we'll come up with a solution but I think if you do disagree with it now um or have any questions please reach out to Kelly she really does have an open door um she wholeheartedly believes in this change and if you have any questions or even if you don't believe in it you know express that to her a lot of people come to us and other board members but really the train of command is for you to go to your supervisors and this is something when she explains it I think is something that makes sense and something that will benefit the community but like fatty said it may be a year or two before we see the actual results but we believe that it will help kids like Mato and uh kids in a special Edge so we really uh ask you to if you have any issues with that please seek out I know they're going to have a lot of meetings about this and try to answer more questions so please speak up and let your voice be heard uh on two different notes I think I want to thank Patty for getting all those glasses for the solar eclipse I think that was uh pretty cool to see all the kids have to make the business off the secretaries and and D my secretary for doing that as quickly as they did yeah I know that was sort of a last minute thing but I think the kids really enjoyed it and I sold my kids glasses and I was looking up at it so I wouldn't have had that otherwise thank you and I just want to say like I'm really proud of the uh students that came up earlier uh the young man that raised all the money for the jump rope for heart uh the beable worldwide contacts and the steam tank participants you know these are the Future Leaders of our district and I hope one day one of them considers all of them considers running for the board and being in our position because you know this is temporary we're trying to make the best decisions we can for the kids now but we do need Future Leaders like them to uh build on the progress that we're making here at Little Lake um yeah I just wanted to uh uh well there's been a lot of talk about how thankful we are for the teaching staff and the whole staff that works in this district and what it's kind of like kick the oh by the way we got let something to go um yeah that's kind of that SS um but I Mr Green um what is our because some talk was tonight about cutting wherever we can and that's definitely what we were looking at what is our discretionary uh percentage of was it seven something like that 6% yeah about 6% of our whole budget is just you know you have to pay salaries insurances you have to pay lights you you know uh maintenance and everything so we're talking about 6% and we we've all gone over this and over this and over this trying to figure out what we can cut um if you have suggestions and you know we're we're opening to listen um you know teaching is a noble profession it really is uh I don't think that uh personally that you're not made you don't make a lot of money um you know you do okay but it's it's Noble profession let's face it uh and then to have to go through this kind of stuff is U it's kind of insulting but I just wanted to say that those people who this is going to hit the hardest uh I do feel for you and it's don't think that I should hope that you're not but don't think that this means that you're any less than a person or you're not needed or you're not wanted because nothing could be further from the truth we could handle stuff like this if this stupid um uh calculation that they use from the state to figure out what the cuts are going to be if we can figure it out but I asked accountants I've asked attorneys and uh you know well no they don't know either so uh I I just in fact that's one of the questions we asked from the superintendent search you know can you explain it then well no they could so uh if they had something like this where you could do it through attrition you can plan ahead well okay you can deal with that but just to come up like this and say by the way we're cutting it arbitrarily and that's what it is um they're a bunch of Knuckleheads and trm um I don't have any faith in them and uh I just wanted to say that uh I really do feel for all of you and thank you for what you do um and as far as uh one other thing i' like to say is on a lighter note uh I went to the Blue Claw game last Friday and tradition has it at the beginning of a baseball games the national anthem is sung and that was sung by the students of little L Harbor school district and uh you know just sitting there and listening to other people there saying oh my gosh look at all these kids jesz is this the whole school that came here uh it was they did a fantastic job you know this voices like that made me proud uh not only be uh uh an American but be affiliated with this District thank you I'll just say real quickly I Echo what everyone has said um but I do want to thank Mrs Carla Baker again for what you said it was a beautiful speech and I want to thank you personally for everything that you've done in this District I know firsthand how wonderful of a teacher you are so thank you for everything and thank you for getting up here and speaking on behalf of your colleagues I also want to just thank Patty and for all the hours and time I know you inherited a lot of things um that you had to fix and we appreciate all the time and effort and this board and the administration being fiscally responsible and trying to avoid Cuts because I know that we have tried to avoid this with all cost so thank you for all the time and effort that you have put in by going through all the L item details in the budget okay I just want to say our next meeting is going to be April 30th and [Music] 7 I [Music] um so April 30th at 6m will be our budget hearing and hopefully and then after that will be May 14th at 7 p.m. I leave today also administrative administrative professional and Secretary Day and so I would like to just say thank you to all of the staff um here as well for everything that they do to help everything runs fly I'm going to say that I know that we could not have done some of the things that we have done with our searches without members of that staff um on Friday nights and Saturdays um so we are extremely grateful and apprciate um and with that said can I have a motion to adjourn can I have a second all in favor or objections