get started momentarily uh Mr fenders if you can take out the practice session on Zoom Dr all right this meeting of the MAA Board of Education is open to members of the public to be physically present members of the public that attend will be asked to follow the same procedures as all other visitors to our schools those procedures can be found on the agenda page of our website Additionally the board meeting will be live streamed for viewing purposes only anyone wishing to view the meeting May do so via Zoom the webinar ID for this meeting is 867 4230 8498 and the required password is 811 450 all right call this meeting to order a roll call please Mr bler Mr Denise here Mr Gall here I think we check number excuse me Mr Hughes here Mr Miss Jansen Mr coplin here miss de here Mr DVA and Dr morthy here oh and um student representative Max ingerman here adequate notice of agenda of this meeting has been provided to the Ridgewood news and the record specifying that the m board of education will meet on March 6 2024 in the administrative offices 60 Ridge Road Mawa New Jersey copy was filed with the Township Clerk our salute to the flag Mr Gallow would you lead us please I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with ability and justice for all okay I do need a motion to recess to Executive session we will have that in the beginning um Mr Hughes and second by Mr karski all right so we will about 10 to 15 minutes thank you all right um and we're back I need a motion to reconvene to public Action meeting Mr Gallow and second by Mr Denise right all right agenda questions please let me your questions at this time to resolutions under new business on this agenda as a matter of fairness you are asked to limit your questions to no more than one and your remarks to no longer than 3 minutes if you are here representing a group please identify yourself the group and your position in the group if you are here as an individual please give us your name and address this section of public participation will be limited to 15 minutes please specify the resolution you are referring to in your question right I need a motion to open the meeting to the public uh Mr kmari and second by Mr Hughes we are officially open to the public seeing no one coming forward at this time motion to close the meeting to the public I need a motion Mr Hughes second by Mr cin thank you all right and we move on to our Mawa student representative report Ma so I'm here with a lot information been a busy busy so right now we have the uh uh drama club is putting on their show lay Miz um tonight is for the senior uh citizens and Thursday Friday Saturday for the public at 700 p.m. and Sunday is at 2 p.m. and this is all under the direction of Mr naam um we have our club DEA at the state competition in Atlantic uh City they took 35 our ma High School um from took ma High School's finest business Personnel to represent our high school and um they are led by Mrs Torino and Mrs Fergenson the MAA model un Club had a competition uh today they are led by Mr Miller winter sports came to an end on Wednesday as all of our winter sports teams had a very um very successful season we want to congratulate all of our winter athletes our um spring season is coming um next Thursday March uh 14 our club is having a new EXP position up in the T3 Gallery which is in the Big Blue Blue Square the theme is fantasy as as one of as Ma's most talented artists as they're led by Mr naum and Mrs Brown and she is also our top thoring Thunderbird March um FCA in action through at LX are hosting a 3v3 basketball tournament on Friday after school it is a $15 entrance free and all of it will be going to to the uh Marcus kale fund so far we have 20 teams and have raised $300 um next Monday the honor and AP art students are are going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art um two students exhibited their animation at rampo College at animation Fest well last week and um on March 25th of the Flyers we have here the gems is hosting a a a steam night for all of the students in the from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Winter Guard indoor percussion are working towards their shows for a championship um right now the high school is in um mindful March we have a whole bunch of activities planned from oural coaches coach Y and Coach graph and from The Hope Club um at the high school there was a career pathway at the Ridge and eight eight of our high schools who are eight high school students who are on the different career Pathways um went down to the ridge to talk about it and on Friday Mr Calvin has taken some of uh some of his students to n NJIT to participate in the 3D printing Bridge accom that's it's all for me thank you Max great thank you very much Max thank you and you're welcome to stay but we [Laughter] interest all right uh Dr churo your report for this evening yes thank you Max took a bunch of my things so there's still a lot left um in our continued commitment to celebrate our our athletes and our students there are a number of things Max spoke about the success of our winter sports and I wanted to take a minute to talk about all of our award winners to start uh the awards span from Team Awards individual Awards um and coaches Awards so we had our girls bowling team was were the Patriot division Champions our girls basketball team Patriot division Champions senior Sienna con State sectional champion and Patriot Division champion in 400 meter race senior Kia Nichols Patriot Division champion in shotput senior Joseph uh Pell a patriot Division champion in 55 met meter hurdles um we had two coaches of the year which is wonderful talks about how great our coaches are coach James delesio Patriot division girls bowling coach of the year and our brand new coach coach Karen Roos Patriot division girls ball basketball coach of the year we have some individual Awards get comfortable we have all County Marissa Lavetta first team girls basketball Ava noello uh second Team all County wrestling Harper Cohen freshman third Team all County girls basketball Lindsay Cunningham again freshman third Team all County wrestling Taylor tremble honorable mention girls basketball Ryan Laura honorable mention boys bowling that's for All Counties for all League these are all first team all League Award winners Brian AIA bowling Ryan Laura bowling Payton egg swimming Alexander Wong swimming the Sam Lee swimming Zachary o Conor swimming Harper Cohen basketball mercil Letta basketball Taylor tremble basketball mcken Mackenzie bz bowling Emily hung bowling kayy hung bowling that's first team second team Ryan Matthews basketball Tyson vanel basketball Cooper mil bowling Payton eggs swimming Alexander Hong swimming uh Sam Lee swimming Zachary oconnell swimming Olivia C trelli basketball Eva comr basketball ball Allison Bowl bowling Molly fear swimming Cole baruda wrestling then we have honorable mention Charlie Seri basketball Anthony laland bowling Kieran Aman swimming Emma Jordan basketball Isabella mfet basketball Kelly Ali bowling Elizabeth mes swimming Alexander Chrissy wrestling and Zachary sagato wrestling so I just wanted to take a minute and congratulate the great Seasons that they had the teams that they had and the great coaches that we had so thank you so much for the adults the dedication of the athletes and most importantly as a parent of an athlete I want to thank the parents for their ongoing uh commitment to us and making sure the kids are coming and going and coming out and supporting I was just at the state championship game last week and it was a great crowd for the girls basketball team um and Ma really showed out so it was against Glenrock um and I was cheering for MAA um but I have to say I had a number of Glenrock families come up and talk about the incredible energy uh that the Mawa fans had and most importantly which I was really proud of is the class of the fans and they they were cheering very loud but they were very classy in the way in which they were um supporting their team so that means a lot uh to me so I just want to say thank you all of them um something that I missed last meeting and it's something that we cannot miss is I wanted to thank uh a donation made by our our music our high school music boosters this is a long time coming we've been talking about this for a while there's been a donation of a UTV 2023 Kawasaki Mule SX 4x4 XC fi 20 and and also a 2022 Triton atv88 trailer all of that means all the equipment that our band needs to transport from trailer to spot a number of districts have this um this vehicle and trailer to assist in that transport it's been a long time coming we have not had that um so the music boosters were very generous and and they donated that to us so I can't thank the boosters enough uh for their ongoing commitment to our to our district the efforts that they make in raising money we are extremely grateful and the band is definitely a point of prie for us and the support they give we greatly greatly appreciate so we went from athlete to Performing Arts to now academics um this is uh our uh project challenge students they take part um in the law Fair competition um and we received this email from the director of mock trial programs from the New Jersey State Bar Association I'm excited to share congratulations to miss maren shackner and Miss Kelly delloo for their exceptional leadership and dedication in guiding our students through the law fair mock trial their hard work has undoubtedly contributed to the success and recognition of our students in the fourth and sixth grade the law competition provides a platform for students and teachers to submit original mock trial cases fostering an environment that not only promotes legal awareness but also serves as a valuable educational tool the cases submitted must be suitable for classroom use to teach students about legal issues aligning with Civics education requirements such as the New Jersey learning standard 6.3.8 Civics pr5 under the guidance of Moren and Kelly our fourth grade team placed in second place and our sixth grade team placed first in first place now this was out of 73 um groups in each division so it was a huge accomplishment for our teams and uh our mock trial organization so um year-over-year we have a solid showing um this is an absolutely exceptional showing so I wanted to take a moment to thank not only miss shaer and missell uh but I wanted to congratulate the students I know it's a lot of work preparing for that trial and then even the presentation of the trial they go up in front of uh a judge and and present their case um they are now invited down to Rucker's law school to present down in New Brunswick so that is another Point going to Pride um max talked about the uh the high school play I also wanted to bring bring your attention to rampo Ridge Play Beauty the Beast is going to be taking they're going to perform the of March 22nd and last but not least sorry last but not least I want to bring everyone's attention to new business 18h I wanted to provide some context you'll see recommendations for Lara Bishop communication um as a consultant this communication team will also be able to assist the district in developing developing and implementing communication strategies as we move forward with a series of initiatives as as informed by our strategic plan the MAA blueprint and our 2023 2024 District goal focused on community connections where there is an ongoing effort to develop relationships with the MAA community and Beyond MAA Public Schools will continue to develop relationships with the community and business partners additionally it is imperative that our communication is one that is comprehensive ongoing and is executed through means that are best suited for our community Mawa Township Public Schools aims to reinforce its strong presence accurately reflecting the district's strengths and capturing its Vision through all forms of communication a brand statement will en key will inform key messages which will be woven into a range of tactics and a comprehensive communication plan for our district consistent messaging across various channels will help to find and build awareness of the district's brand which will simultaneously bolster the characteristic pride in MAA Public Schools a strong brand will benefit the district in subsequent efforts that may include marketing specific uh marketing specific programs and responding to various issues some of the formats that we're looking to engage in would be videos uh collateral materials traditional media newsletter newsletters social media efforts um and uh a number of things showcasing the awards that we have achieved and we are looking to achieve community outreach is also a priority uh for this engagement so I wanted to to share this with you I truly think this is an opportunity for us to continue to expand and improve our communication strategy which uh which is something that is important to Showcase to our district the programs that are taking place the achievements that we have but also bringing them in to hear from them so um uh I I hope for your consideration thank you thank you very much Dr dor um all right Mr blinker our preliminary our budget conversation presentation today all right um thank you very much Mr Gall thank you for getting that b place um so welcome everybody for tonight's budget presentation um as I've done in the past years this tonight is the preliminary budget presentation so purpose of tonight is on the agenda there is an item to adopt a prary budget this budget um along with supporting documentation will go down to the county office uh they will conduct a review over the next several weeks uh come back to us recommendations or questions that they have regarding it and um in on our May 1st board vet meeting we are scheduled to have a adoption of the final budget for next school year the 2425 school year so overview of the uh itinerary agenda for this evening as well as for the next couple of board meetings again as I've done in the past uh years the budget is uh far too large to discuss all in one shot one meeting we're going to break it up over a couple different meetings for tonight's purposes I'm going to discuss the revenue sources of the budget as well as tax impact um speak about Debt Service this relationships to the budget as well as a special Revenue area of the budget for the March 27th meeting discuss about special education tuition benefits and other operational areas of the budget uh April 17th enrollment Personnel capital outlay and any proposed summer projects that we have for summer of 24 and May 1st a summary of the previous meetings uh agendas and discussions as well as the adoption of the 24-25 budget for the May 1st meeting so jumping right into the revenue that will uh fund the 2425 budget for next year our there's seven main areas or focuses of Revenue the largest of course is the tax levy that is imposed on the tax payers of the district that number for next year for 2425 and this is inclusive of the tax levy uh a waiver which we discuss in a couple slides uh is 7,543 64 uh I have Debt Service reference there as well however I'll get into a minute where there I wanted to have it there's a reference but there is no Debt Service tax levy for this school year this represents an increase of 1.67% from the prior year so while we're allowed to increase the budget uh operationally by 2% each year which we have done because of other factors in the budget the overall tax levy is going to be a 1.67% increase other Revenue we have uh of Interest Miss Revenue rental income in reimbursements in PR years and other um um miscellaneous items so that's budget next year for $330,800 it's a little bit larger than we have in the years past uh primarily because of interest and Trends in the market um impacting our ability to generate interest on our accounts again I'll touch Bas on that in a few slides state aid uh this is the state aid that we receive um uh year over-year it's budgeted next year for 4,742 through6 so you may have seen in um the news lately as of the last couple weeks just last week uh Governor Murphy gave us budget address following that there are several reports on state aid and impact on districts throughout the state we were fortunate this year to be the recipient of a 10.64% increase from the prior year fund balance is the next category these are unextended funds from a previous year's budget as well as other other items that we have that allow us to put money and help F the 2425 budget I've said in the past and I've said this to the finance fail committee as well this is an area we need to pay um close attention to over the next couple years and I do want to uh make efforts to try and lower this number over the next couple years really from the perspective of being able to sustain it going forward uh going forward we are going to have budg that are more and more mean we have a 2% tax levy some of our increases I'll be mentioning them tonight as well as in future meetings are over 3% so this fund Bal balance does help us um balance the budget but it's something we do need to be very mindful of and closely watch in the next couple years and try and uh bring that number down um responsibly and in a very calculated manner next we have exteror a and semi so these are two other areas um that help uh um one from the state government and one from the federal government ex shary Aid is something that comes from the state so for any special education uh students who might receive services such as on toone nurses specialized Transportation specialized placements um that go above and beyond uh what students um might be able to receive this is based on state guidelines State thresholds we can apply to the state for additional Aid to help um uh offset the cost of those students so this is something that while we're not guaranteed every year we it is uh pretty consistently funded so we do have a comfort level of funding a certain level of that for each year we would apply for at the end of the school year and then receive it the following school year and then semi which is also me um mentioned here this is a um Federal um grant that we receive or federal revenue source that we receed to once again help with um special education students who are also medic they eligible last two items the first uh transfers from reserves so we have a couple of Reserve accounts in District we have an emergency reserve a capital reserve maintenance Reserve uh this line indicates that we're going to be transfering some money from those reserves into our um oh and unemployment Reserve I didn't mention that one from those reserves into our operating budget for next year so from the unemployment Reserve we're going to transfer $400,000 we discussed this uh this came about when we uh discuss our audit with our Auditors this past year we had a pretty detailed and in-depth conversation about the unemployment Reserve how it came to be what it's made up of and what we can use it for uh we learned that because it receed some funding in Prior years prior budgets of um transfers of funds from operating into that Reserve account now that it's been um more established and has grown to a a level that we feel comfortable pulling somebody out of that and bring it back into the operating budget so we moved there from operating several years ago we're now bringing it back in in the emergency Reserve um while there are various different uses of can have forward if we have an extraordinary increase in health benefits um if we have uh any other emergency um situations that might incur in the district one other area we could use it for is for security needs and upgrades uh in speaking with building the budget we do have a need for an upgrade to our overall security um Mainframe and infrastructure uh of approximately $80,000 so we're going to fund that next year with a Adder from the emergency Reserve account and then lastly um I'll focus on this towards the end of tonight's presentation special Revenue uh these are federal and state grants that receive for specific purposes this is not part of our operating budget this is part of our special Revenue budget or um fun2 uh it's referred to these are dedicated for specific purpose which you got all mention in just a few slides F this this comes to our tax impact slide um as I've said in past years this gets a um need to re-engineered a little bit because we are talking about our fiscal budget for next year which runs from July 1st to June 30th so it's on a fiscal year when we take that and look at it for the tax impact purposes to um share this information with the taxpayers and with the tax impact that is done on the calendar year so I'm taking half of this year's tax levy for the 23 24 year half of next year's tax levy for the 2425 year ultimately comes to the tax impact for the calendar year 2024 uh speaking with Mr raldi the tax accessor from Township he provided me with some of the data for um the first two bullet points here first is net valuation taxable so this is the overall value of the township um there's a value for the 2024 year of 5 billion $799 million uh it's increase of a little bit over $8 million from the previous year um again based on on information um Mr Ral provided we have an average value of the of a home in Mawa for next year year for 2024 of $48,600 tax ly from the prior slide and the information here we come to the 2024 tax impact so for every $100,000 uh of value that a home is worth $126 represents goes to the schools and UPS to fund the schools uh that's an increase of $13.90 for the prior year and going back to the um above where we say the average value of home is $48,000 for that average home the tax impact for the schools school district is $5,799 an increase of $ 6681 from the prior year couple of highlights and uh for the 2024 year um as I mentioned before health benefit waiver So within the tax out that I mentioned before of um was 7,548 included in that in addition to the 2% increase that we have on the operating Levy from the year before we are eligible for this year a health benefit waiver based on thresholds of the state sets and um estimates that we have from our professionals that we work with for what the impact might be to heal health benefit PR next year uh we do exceed what those thresholds are and therefore eligible for a waiver so this waiver allows us to exceed and go above the 2% tax ly uh the dollar amount for that waiver is $339,500 accounts CDs whatnot however uh those Trends have changed where now they uh have increased we're seeing um interest that we can earn on our checking accounts in the 4 and a half to 5% range So based on that information and looking at Trends where that um appears to be stabilizing and and certainly not going down to some of the very low percentages that we had just a couple years ago we did feel comfortable increasing what we budget for that to help um um fund the budget uh interest overall for wver accounts $150,200 that we're budgeting for next year uh the reserve transfers I touched based with this on the other slide but again something that we don't necessarily do every year but we do have some um um items this year that can be funded by this so we have $480,000 that we're um funding the budget from our res accounts and then Debt Service uh Debt Service I wanted to keep this on here mention it even though we don't have any Debt Service schedule for the 242 5 year it is something to highlight that we are um this past year in the 23 24 year we made our last payment of principal interest that we owed or were responsible for for any referendums that have been passed um previously here in the district so this past referendum I believe this was the one that um helped fund the building of L medal school so our last payment for that was made this past year um with that what this year's was that was the tax Lev that was assessed to the town's people that now is being taken off so that is not going to be assessed at all for next year so with the increase of 2% the increase of the waiver but with that deduction of not having that debt service and that falling off that gives us even though we're above 2% in some areas the overall tax leg increase for next year is the 1.67% that I mentioned on the previous slide okay um special Revenue as I had said I wanted to highlight at least one or two areas for tonight other than revenue and then we'll do more in Futures future presentations uh for ton I wanted to mention on special Revenue this is also commonly referred to as fund 20 uh these are funds that receive either from federal government from the state New Jersey or from private local sources that are dedicated for a very specific surface um purpose excuse me this again is outside of our regular operating budget so from um the federal side we have Essa uh which is formally called NV these are our title grants title one two and three uh and four that um you may be familiar with may have heard uh Ida is another Federal funded Grant uh we use that for the purpose of offsetting the cost of tuition for some special students we have non-public grants so nonpublic is um exactly what they um reference these are grants that we the district pull for some non-public schools in town so we have apple monor school we have Young World Day School um certain funds that the state has allocated for them however Mawa is the custodian of uh we work closely with those nonpublic schools to ensure that they are spending them aligned with State guidelines and state purchasing laws and any funds that they do not use at the end of the year the nonpublic it does go back to the state at the end and then lastly we have local grants so local grants such as um msf grants things of that nature are also included in fun 20 dollars for next year for the federal grants I mentioned Ida and Esso we're budgeting $626,000 from the state nonpublic uh we're budgeting $6,200 based on what we've received uh previously so total anticipated for special revenue is 632,000 uh the local budget I'm sorry the local funds that I mentioned before because we don't know that there um certainly are coming in while there is a great consistency each year we don't have a budget number for those um I did want to mention that within the special Revenue although this is coming to an end as well but I did want to highlight this is the last year that we have some leftover federal funds that received for Co relief so we have there were three different um categories the fourth on the bottom the three main categories that we received um Co relief over the last several years uh first was cares this Al referred to was eer one this was $171,000 uh those funds were required to be spent and um liquidated by uh September of 2022 which we did do we spent of what we received the cissa orer 2 $747,000 this had a deadline of September 2023 to spend the liquidate buy again um we were able to spend the full 100% of what we received uh art Esser or Esser 3 uh 1,842 th000 this we have a deadline of September 30th of 2024 to spend so there's a little bit of carry over into next year um to data we've spent um approxim % of it so we just have a um small amount left to spend uh but we are on track and working with um uh within the district to have those money spent and encumbered um prior to the September 30th 2024 deadline and then the last is AR Ida as I mentioned before Ida funds we used to offset the cost of some special ed tuition um we received this during the course of the co uh relief period that was initial 133,000 which we used for that purpose as well um that brings to the conclusion for tonight's presentation however as I mentioned this is just the first of a couple presentations for the 2024 budget uh just as a recap after tonight's meeting and tonight's adoption of the prary budget we're going to send the um um the budget as long as uh in addition with all support of documentations down in the county office uh we have two more meetings where I'll be discussing various areas of the budget and then uh our main first meeting is when we anticipate having a summary and final adoption budget for the 2425 school year uh at any time between now and that final adoption uh we certainly can make some modification adjustments if you need to um and if so we will go into detail with any of those changes that might be uh at the final budget final budget hearing on May 1st any questions from members of the board thank you very much thank you very much Kyle I I did have one question um not to I I'm just trying to understand with State funding and state aid and how that's I mean I'm assuming there's some sort of a formula that's very complicated perhaps but uh I I'm just is there something particular that raises ours 10% I mean is there do you have some understanding or it's seems politics okay I'm I'm I'm just curious it does come down that there there are there are various different different factors that um play into it um such as uh what our enrollment levels are number of students might qualify for free indu launch which just a couple of variables that come into play um there is the safe funding formula um and it was it's been referenced in the news a little bit it it had been modified over the years so there's a there's a phase in process to bring everybody back up some funding that um you know some good might say they should be at uh we're still currently going through that phase in process for our budget Purp is when we initially build the budget we do budget um thinking that the stay is be flat so anything that does uh come in additional helps us close any gaps that we might have and um this additional funding that we can we can utilize great thank you so much sure Mr Kar question comment but um it's um just well done for yourself and administration and the principles administrators who put this together over the past several months a lot work I know that goes into this but to come in at 1.6% increase is very impressive I will say that you know as a bit fche the council came in at 1.3 so congratulations to the council but the winners here all are the taxpayers of the township with a $66 increase from the school board and a $44 increase from the township assuming the county can try to stay flat for once um a $100 increase year-over-year on an average home in this town they get the services we provide the school district that we have is is a testament for the people that put this on that's all thank you Mr karski well said M I'll just do my I'll do my finance committee report nowo all right sure let's just skip right ahead finance and Facilities just to Echo what Ben said uh Kyle and the central office team did a very um scrutinize the budget and expenditures very very closely but if you're an aute listener to these budget presentations over the past 10 years or so the district has absorbed many new initiatives things like P day kindergarten the one toone initiative Middle School sports and I can go on and and um supports the scene building the supports that we give our elementary as teachers in terms of supervisory support and the coaches um and a whole series of initiatives this year's budget was really more focused on funding what we currently do why are we not introducing a whole series of initiatives well for the one for one thing all the things we have in play are working pretty well but the more important thing which is more long term than what we're looking at here is our resources are becoming more constrained and what in future presentations Kyle is no doubt going to be mentioning things like the rising cost of Transportation the rising cost of our health benefits um and any number of area areas in the budget that are growing at a rate faster than 2% in negotiations we always talk to the to the people we negotiate with and we say well one day your raises and our ability to raise revenue will cross we're getting very close to those days one of the other things that I think we should be applauded for is there's always a temptation as you get closer to use onetime um Revenue sources or onetime cost reductions to to to fill the Gap the central Office Team and the committee were very much against any of these onetime um types of Maneuvers because we're really you know we're looking Beyond this year we're looking Downstream and what would the impact be on our taxpayers um we would be doing a disservice to our taxpayers is if one year we didn't there was a very low increase followed by a very large increase in the future year um so that was another Hallmark of the way that this budget was built um I get nervous because I was here during I wasn't on the board but I was a citizen During the period of time when Ed batula was the business administrator and the state in order to fill its budget problem took back a tremendous amount of state aid and when so Kyle references this um you know trying to get back to we're supposed to be number yeah it's wonderful that we should send a thank you card to Trenton to give us some of our money back um to help our school budget but it does um it does concern me because the more we become reliant on that money the less in one way we have a little less control um and we have less certainty and confidence building programs going forward so uh all these are we have a as as Ben mentioned we ended up in a in a fantastic spot and as the board has done for many years now uh We've kept the tax increase below the 2% thresholds um that were allowed um but I do want to provide one small warning for the future that um we we need to be uh extra careful and this the team who put this budget together is aware of those those uh RIS risks and pitfalls and has done a bang up job um guiding in a way that we have future success and we continue to offer the educational uh excellent educational opportunities that our community has become accustomed to so I just wanted to wrap that part of it up thank you Mr appreciate it um okay uh assistant superintendent report Dr Fair do you have a report for us this evening I do I'll start with the obvious I know that I um I shared in my report at our last board meeting that we would provide a copy um of Rachel Gilbert a recent ma high school graduate her uh children's book last in the box of CR Journey so there's a copy for you um Mr Gallow um he he already returned to you know that first page where she does speak to um to my family and the wonderful staff of the MAA School District so congratulations again to Rachel second p another congratulations to Walker lson he is also a Mawa high school graduate and he is one of our Math teachers at M High School walker lson uh he serves as rampo College's pitching coach for their baseball team and he was just recently honored into the rampo college athletics hall of fame um he's a 200 2015 graduate uh of uh of rampo college and he help helped guide the road runners to three NCAA tournament appearances including the division 3 College World Series in 2015 so congratulations to Walker I know Max had shared uh our Gem's evening uh gem stands for girls excelling in math and science you'll see that there is a flyer at your places uh all are uh invited that will take place on Monday March 25th from 6: to8 at the uh Think Tank over at JK uh we had an American Heart Association fundraiser our JK student council and the hso assisted in the JK School communities efforts and fundraising for the American Heart Association ultimately they donated collectively a very impressive and generous $ 6,380 in funds towards this very worthy cause so I thought that was important to highlight also at your places is another flyer that showcases and advertises for a parent Academy that will take place tomorrow evening via Zoom uh the title of that Parent Academy is supporting each child emotionally where they are and uh this session will be focused on providing our K through 12 families with strategies uh from some of our administrative team and some of oural coaches in the district um that families can use to support their child when they are facing a range of challenges um from disregulation to stress anxiousness nervousness and sadness so an email reminder will be sent out to the community in the morning and in that email uh communication will also be a direct Zoom link to the evening's uh presentation on the agenda list a job fair our central office team uh will be joining me this weekend where we will start recruiting I can't believe we're saying this for the 2425 school year for anticipated vacancies so um we're excited uh but it's we're here we're here so uh which transitions nicely into the announcement of our retirements because ultimately we have to fill those vacancies uh this weekend so um agenda item 19B we have Lorraine Pierro uh who serves as a non-instructional par professional at MAA high school and she's uh worked here for the past 10 years years um many will know her as the greeter at the front desk of M High School um in the afternoon at the front door Lorraine's three children are graduates of MAA high school as well and are products of our school system in her position Lorraine has been responsible for helping to maintain the security of our building while welcoming guests to our High School uh L Lorraine interfaces with public parents staff students vendors and Township officials often and in her interactions she has consistently demon demonstrated herself to be professional proactive supportive and loyal to our students and staff uh Lorraine is always willing to go the extal to assist our students parents and staff and uh we wish her nothing but happiness in the years ahead so congratulations to line lastly uh agenda item 19a announces the retirement of Linda Walter who is a science teacher at rampo Ridge Middle School um so in celebrating her incredible career uh she has given 47 years of service to education uh she's left an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of countless individuals particularly during her remarkable 43 years of tenure here in Mawa Mrs Walter has devoted her time and energy to enhancing our school community Through the organization of one of our Tricky Tray events through her advisement to the National Junior Honor Honor Society and through her dedication to the Arts and Lead leting our spring play for the past 8 years with her final performance taking place the week of March 22nd so this is just a Shameless plug to not only honor our students but also to honor Mrs Walter in the last showcase uh so everyone can buy their tickets now Mrs Walter uh we wish her the best as she embarks on this well-deserved journey into retirement with her beautiful granddaughter waiting for her um we send our heartfelt wishes and if you know Mrs Walter she loves Disney World so we hope she visits often and it just so happens that the play is Bey the be so it's all very poetic that's my uh report this evening thank you thank you thank you Dr Fair um all right let's move on to uh president's report so um I I actually have a few things to share You' think we've covered it all but there's so much so much going on in this District at all times um our tops during Thunderbirds of February we have uh senior Abraham Cagan uh who's an active member of the art club and he's in the visual and integrated design pathway and our staff member uh is our teacher of art um Mrs Taran Brown so they tops are in recognition for Thunderbirds um congratulations to uh a senior Thunderbird Jacqueline Carly for being recognized by the New Jersey school boards Association as a 2024 Bergen County unsung hero um and that was um there was a recognition on March 5th um and this is basically for the um various um districts and representatives from those districts so congratulations to her that's a real honor for us um our Deca uh they had their competition their state competition um and Izzy Molino uh shines bright winning two Awards in the area of marketing so congratulations to Izzy um in from the music department we have quite a few things the t- birds perform their show let music play at the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Indoor Winter Guard show South brunic High School um our percussion group the indoor percussion um performed Cosmos at the JFK High School and placed second at the US Tournament of bands competition uh and then we had our ma High School senior tuba player uh Ali Amir who performs with he performed with the New Jersey Allstate symphonic band in Atlantic City so congratulations to all of them um we also have had several North Jersey students of the week um we yes what keep voting keep voting keep voting everyone uh callia Nichols who's a senior and nisma Ensel I hope I pronounced that correctly also a senior um and then we had uh congrats to Ana Patel and Albert Wen who competed at the Harvard debate tournament uh in February and they made it to the top 16 uh also Ana received a speaker award I thought this was very impressive for being six out of 500 plus high school students in their division so a real tremendous achievement for our debaters and for MAA obviously uh and lastly this one I thought was very interesting and and Dr Detro did not mention it so I'm going to mention in the sports area um senior captain in ice hockey uh Lanna Cole I think I'm saying that correctly on her Milestone of 1,000 saves um she earns a thousand I thought this was the best a thousand career saves cementing her in the New Jersey Boys why is it just boys versity um goalie history but again Kudos uh to a woman pushing forward in a man's world just all right that was my report you know just saying congratulations to everyone all right uh board committee reports what do we have this evening Mr Gallow has already given us Finance facilities he CH oh yeah why do you say that Mr Gallum would you like to kick us off yes I have a very very from negotiations yeah we we've met two times now with each of our associations that represent our administrators and supervisors we continued up positive dialogue we have a followup meetings set up with both and we look forward to bringing the contracts to conclusion in the not too distant future thank you very much Mr aano um just a quick reminder that our first tber talk Round Table is on Tuesday um 6:30 at Ridge Middle School in the library um rsps are still open so please use the link that came out in the email um I cled it all over social media you definitely can't miss it um just a quick reminder it's just a nice informal Roundtable Gathering where we can invite the community in and have conversations about whatever is on their mind um we all know that'd be intimidating to come to a board meeting and then you stand up there and all of us are just staring at people as they're talking um um so it's just nice to be able and you know Dr Toro really mentioned earlier and I kind of want to follow up on what he was talking about um Community connections um being available to the community I think it's all really important we talk about it in strategic planning in District goals um in board goals and I think we do a really great job of it um and this is just kind of another layer of this is another event that we can do when we're talking about connecting with the community uh we talk a lot about how we have a very large population town but a relatively small school community in comparison um this is a great opportunity if you don't have students in the district to be able to come and find out what we're doing um there's a lot of things that we should be very proud of and there's a lot of great things that we're doing and we happily open the doors um so I will be in attendance on Tuesday I'm looking forward to I think we had about 30 rsps so far um looking forward to those 29 other community members coming out to say hello and just say what's on their mind um and have a really cool you know intimate setting conversation um also to follow up on what Dr T was speaking about earlier um voting on The Lord Bishop contract today just from a community relations standpoint um we are very excited about this I think that as a district we are doing really amazing things um and we talk about branding and having a brand this is just one further step of getting that credit also for what we are doing here um having a person be able to come in and say this is just how to do what you're already doing and do it a little bit better um I think is a really great thing uh being able to connect with the community both the school community and non-school Community I think there's a lot of opportunity there um so I am speaking on behalf of my committee I'm very excited for this very much looking forward to it um really happy that we're able to have this to V on today really appreciate the work that Dr T and Dr bear have done um to kind of bring this about we've been talking about it for a while wanted to make sure that we were doing it right with the right people the right you know um the right impact behind it so just wanted to say thank you um and I think that this is just really great just from our standpoint great thank youo uh any other board committee reports okay quickly from uh instruction and curriculum um at our February meeting um um we just reviewed um some of the uh touch points um we had a presentation from Mr Gata and Mr Pascal from the guidance uh department and also um our career Pathways program um so they provided an overview and several handouts of um the career Pathways and also how we're working on the communication and transition particularly from Granda Ridge to Mawa High School um the other thing we also uh talked about was um Dr bino presented to us about uh the growth data um from our Universal screeners that's I ready which is um what is used K through 8 and Link it which is used at MAA high school so um very good information and information that teachers can use and Implement and can see the growth that um students are making on uh some of these testings that we do did you want to jump in yes um I let me i s a little more information specific to I I know we've talked about it many times um and Dr Rina was able to give a very comprehensive overview to the instructional committee I wanted to talk to the board as a whole specific to this work um what I can tell you central office has been fortunate enough to be in and partake in the the data meetings at the different schools and I Know It All dat when you say data different people have different feelings when you say data um some people feel it's more cold and and removed but what I can tell you it's the complete opposite um as a teacher and an administrator director of curriculum and now in my seat now I have to tell you I was was truly inspired being in those meetings because of uh the awareness of of who we're working with and the ability levels that we that we are obligated to address and most importantly I'm very grateful to the administrators and the teachers who are running that meeting the reason I say that is um when you sit down and you sit when you sit in those meetings and you listen um you're able to appreciate uh the the ability of those teachers to look at that information and really create uh very specific and intentional plan for our students when you see and we talk about the students who either struggle who are on grade level or our students who are above grade level um there's there's purpose behind the plan um and there's meaningful goals and check-in points to say are we doing right by our students it was a great opportunity now at the midyear point to see we we've decided to take on I ready uh we put uh an amount of money into this program it's a and Link it and it's a K12 initiative it's really important for us to see is it working um now I want to be very clear with you because there was some um conversations about it the growth is not just because of I ready the teachers are working extremely hard and the teacher is making a big impact what I ready is also helping them identify very specific things to work on and and I really am grateful for the de the dedication of the teachers and commitment of the teachers and administrators to make sure that program is being maximized in the district so I'm encouraged um I'm very proud and I'm very grateful for the work that's being put into this again we talk all the time whether it's the state reports or as I said which is more important the every day data that we're getting um growth is happening there's Pride there and and hopefully uh this continues uh year over year over year thank thank you Dr Doro and and yes I and I guess I would say the the tool in and of itself is never as you know useful and productive as those administering the tool so it's a good combination to provide us more specific targeted information on uh students their learning and their growth so thank you for clarification Dr Doro um I also just wanted to as a board um I know that there are times that um you know we've spoken about having uh you know some full board conversations i' just like to give an opportunity uh on 18h uh regarding the communications consultant um at Laura Bishop who um we've all as a board met with um in different meetings uh through our different committees and um in you know other individual board members as well um so I just wanted to open the Forum if there was any further conversation we want to kind of give our perspectives uh just to have some conversation about it before we vote U Mr karski go ahead thank you very much I was going to jump in anyway Krista did speak for her sometimes the committee has I guess this could be board member remarks speaking okay yeah um speaking in supportive the resolution but you know going back to I'd say prior to Dr joro's arrival but definitely during his interview process he heard from the board members about our concerns about the communication strategies of the district and and it was bued it was all over the place it was the other in inconsistences internally trying to reach out to the broader community and and you know there were some different phrases that would describe it but I think using one of yours was an area of opportunity would be the best way to put it um and in in this several years you've been here your team have done leaps and Bs I me it really has got us to a point things are going out people are knowing what's going on um but we certainly still have room for improvement um and not a bad way just to to trista's point the school Community is several thousand kids and so on top of that several thousand parents and Gardens this is a town of 26,000 people 25 and a half as the last sensus um it's a big community and it's vared in in from socioeconomic to where they live and you know you name it so in just trying to find the different channels to reach that talk about all the great things we're doing um to make people feel really foolish for wanting to leave this school district and go to private schools various reasons make decision um but no I think it's I think it's she's going to provide us with a lot of of of help in terms of just different things we can do different things we can do better and I look forward to working with it so it's it's a great thing thanks thank you Mr kisar oh sorry thank you Mr kmari Mr Hughes so 100% I think we're doing a great job with communication but with that being said I after reviewing the services that Lauren Bishop provides I feel like we're doing a lot of great things already and we can compound that but also use resources at the district level and do a lot more inhouse rather than use Lauren Bishop so for example if one of the services that she wanted to provide is video I we have a tremendous uh class digital media here at B High School school we can utilize digital media to produce various videos and say hey and we can point to those students be like hey check out this awesome video like what if uh digital media did something on some of these Sports Awards and we just interviewed some of these kids on the sports awards and we could just point to the MAA student to say hey a MAA student videotape this individual so in my in my opinion I feel we already are doing a tremendous oh the uh the website the website looks great I was just looking at the website yesterday there's already Awards listed on the website so I think we're doing a great job uh communicating I think we can definitely compound the great uh work that we're doing with communication and not necessarily do that with their help I think we're doing a fabulous job and we can do everything in house and the last question I had was the cost so I understand that we're going off a $35,000 uh price tag but after also looking at some of the other details under budget and fee structure uh with the Warren Bishop LLC It also says that fees do not include professional videography professional photography printing or mailing costs translation services or other pre-approved out of pocket expenses uh I don't know if we can speak to that now since we haven't it hasn't been approved but is there any uh is there like a price tag or do we have another estimate of how much more that would be and I'm sure dror came I get back to you on that or do you have some okay um along the lines I I I'm in complete agreement with you along the lines of making sure that our students are engaged in in production what I can tell you and I'm very proud to tell you is our students are already doing those types of things along the lines of engaging in taking those uh opportunities to create videos so our students already have that experience and they have a large number of things that we have created I know that there was some uh some videos that were sent out over the past couple weeks from the high school they are involved in doing that the struggle is you start to wear them thin because they're not here to just do those videos they're here they're doing their coursework they're involved in extracurricular activities so what I can tell you is we we are finding let's take La Bishop out of the conversation we are finding additional opportunities for them to create those videos those videos is a it's a small part of this experience um so what I want to tell you is that engaging with an organization like this videos are a piece uh utilizing them um allows us to do other types of of videos that's number one number two um at no point did I expect them to take on the cost of mailers um or materials or translating what I can tell you which I'm very happy about we already have a program here that translates so that's not an additional cost uh the mailers uh and and hopefully uh everyone's aware of this anything that does get sent out to the school Community we take on that cost so I would never expect an outside agency to take on that cost for any new products that are happening what's going to happen in within our meetings that we had and I'm so glad that she met with every single one of one of you and also with the materials that I sent to you guys um is there there's a number of things the the complexities of the materials are are of are value which I appreciate but also the approach the the understanding of them coming in and not only working with us but training our staff um to understand what we need to do let's just talk about so social media um unfortunately social media is a huge um tool to get information out um training our staff on how we can create content to get out to our community that people are going to look at that's number that's number one number two is um identifying different opportunities for us to engage outside news organizations um crafting that kind of content um so we can celebrate the things that are happening and more importantly get our information out to our community immediately there's another piece of it so I don't want to go chapter vers on all the different opportunities but I do hear what you're saying along lines of make never forgetting that there are opportunities here um in District and making sure that we're leaning on our students we're doing that along the lines and um it's actually perfect timing we were talking about creating content for our Sports organizations and actually parlaying that into internship and externships for our students so I don't think it's necessarily one or the other I think it's important to make sure that that's our primary focuses are we maximizing our students but I don't want it to be at the cost of taking them away from their studies too um because that's their major priority um but just realize that when we take on organizations like like this we're always looking at are there things that we can do internally and then we're also looking at when we're talking about opportunities are there opportunities for us to build our capacity of communicating at a high level because that's what the community deserves and I think that's why we engage this organization thank you Miss Jansen yeah I I just wanted to share I I just came from an external event where I had to hire many vendors to support the success of it and I had 150 people in and when I look at all the vendors and I think about Laura's presentation she has the expertise we need to bring us up to that next level to advise us so that the volunteers can continue to spend their time and spending in a very productive way while they're learning and I think that's what the beauty of this is that she's done this she has an outsid in perspective that will bring us up on the teex pys templates that will last past our engagement with her so when I think of this I think of her giving us the the the piece of development and giving us that expertise to just really enhance what we're currently doing because we know there's a gap to that point so while I understand there's challenges but really understanding what's behind this I think everyone's been very thoughtful with all the details and every piece that she's going to bring us and she's done this for other school districts and I was very impressed with her having looked at vendors in my outside life and seeing what they can bring um and I I think this is a really positive item for us thank you m Chans Mr Galla I I fully endorse uh at and and we'll vote Yes on it um I think one of the things we should step back from is what is the purpose of communication so for many we've made a lot of strides as Ben has said to improve the way that we reach out to our community and one of the communities that we have also um reached out to in a more um focused and intensive way our is our business Community our volunteer organizations um as part of our Pathways and internship and externship and Thunderbird partnership I mean it's the inventory of things we do is amazing but bringing in a um one of the the values of bringing in an organization like Laur Bishops is that they will provide us not only expertise from experience but they'll also give us feedback on what we're currently doing because we know that there are businesses we're not currently reaching that are here in Mawa and in the surrounding communities what other ways can we communicate to get the word out so they be enthusiastic to come to us we're not we're not necessarily hunting them down they're hunting us down um and change the balance of the equation so I think that outside perspective is going to be very helpful to um strengthening our overall communication strategy the other thing and trist alluded to it is and and Ben alluded to it as well we have a gigantic community that does not have a daily contact with our schools and what's the purpose of communicating with those folks well first of all they pay a lot of our budget 60 65% of their taxes go to supporting a school district uh and based on all of the achievements and successes of our programs they should rightly when they when they send their checks in they should go I am very proud to be able to have to put my name on that check to the school district because I know the product they're putting out is excellent um so I think that's a community and I know the township has struggled reaching out to those folks as well through uh various social media and automated message systems and I think that's a community as trist said and Ben said is is is underserved by our current communications platform and Laura will help us by doing the audit of of uh inventory of what our communication strategies are is how we could reach those uh those folks in our town who are so important ultimately to the success of our I mean one of I mean Kyle brought it up in special Revenue it's outside local funds think of all the resources we get from uh Mawa schools Foundation Mawa Municipal uh MMA the MMA and all those helps that help our students we have a tremendously diverse and generous Community who have only one interest the success of our students and the better we can connect with them through uh communic various communication strategies the more successful we'll be so there's there's a thousand reasons to do the low ambition contract and and I think and just do my little lens those are some of the things that I would focus on so yes we have we have the digital media folks and they can certainly assist and they might even be part of some of the Hing and maybe they'll talk to her or maybe she'll interview them and some of her knowledge will transfer to them I mean again the education experience is always sort of a two-way street you know us reaching out but we also want folks to reach in and and give us a hand thank you Mr G Mr C I'm not going to beat the dead horse we've all kind of covered a lot here but the one thing I want to point point the point I wanted to point out was just the importance of communication these days we we see it Dr T mentioned social media it's all over the place and one of the things that at from the hso standpoints we brought up as well as from the board is consistency um one of the things that I'm really looking forward to with with this consultant coming in is providing some kind of consistency throughout the district so as our families move through the district going going from K to 12 there is a consistency in messaging we talk about brand we talk about building out the brand and part of that brand message is consistency and what we're saying and how we're saying it um over the years Dr D has been great with feedback back and has been able to kind of change the way Communications go out from the from the individual schools so that there's a little more consistency there's a little bit more brevity in in C in certain situations as well um and I think bringing in this consultant having her and her team look at what we're doing and how we're doing it throughout K through 12 saying hey let's do it this way giving our staff the tools that they need CU let's be honest our staff are not communication experts they're here to edate and care for our children that's what they're experts in so for us to expect them to know what the newest and greatest communication tool is is unfair we don't expect them to know how to change a light bulb or or how to run um you know a wireless access point and we have tech people we have facilities people that do that this is no different than that so I'm I'm looking forward to seeing what what this brings um and I've been obvious I've been a big proponent of this for for very long time so thank you for finally putting this on the agenda and making this happen uh thank you Mr coflin any other comments for um I just uh want to say two things one of the things um is how we came to Laura Bishop Communications I think is important uh to note because several of us have heard her speak at the New Jersey school boards Association um uh this particular uh past October she uh had a presentation and I think um she has done this for several other districts um in New Jersey and she's been very successful in that so I think you know one one um understanding of this is how we we've been talking about this really a lot of this came I'd say even out of the pandemic I mean there were there have been times where our world has changed it's evolved uh and um a reliable and consistent approach to communication is uh critical in um you know what we do and how we do it so um but I just wanted to highlight that that was something that you know several of us had heard her Dr dor Dr Fair followed up on that um and so again uh there's there you know what we do sometimes it looks like we just vote and it comes up it's been a very step uh you know and stepwise and guided process and uh again uh I think we would love we love that our administrative team is so good at commun Communications and social media and all that but we'd love to have a professional to help our team so that they can focus on educating and educating our students and uh we have someone else who can assist them with some other pieces of the puzzle so again um I welcome uh what what she's going to do she's going to work with us uh if this gets voted on through the end of this school year and then in preparation for the next school year so this will be um an annual contract beginning on April 1st for her that for one year okay all right if we have nothing else uh then let's move on to Old business um we have 17A um Mr bler roll call please the minutes from oh I need a motion sorry from January 24th this was from the January 24th meeting February oh and we have February 15 got it okay so those two meetings um motion Mr Hughes second by Mr Gallow Mr Denise yes Mr Gallow yes Mr Hughes yes Mr kmari yes uh Miss Jansen yes Miss Mr CER yes M Deano yes Dr morthy uh I abstain on 17A and yes to 17b all right let's take our new business um A2 n need a motion on the floor Mr kismi second by Mr Gallow okay roll call please Mr ler Mr Denise yes Mr Galla yes accept on 18a I am abstaining from check number 11 14761 and 14818 Mr Hughes yes but no on H Mr karski yes Mr cin yes and um thank you to Mr bleer and the entire business office staff for the for the budget together it's not it's not an easy task so thank you m Deano yes and Miss Jansen yes and Dr morthy yes all right let's now take uh 19 new business uh like to take the retirement separately uh 19 A and B I need a motion on the floor Mr Hughes and second by Mr kid marsky on uh our two retirements for this evening Mr Blaker Mr Denise yes Mr Gallow uh just a note on Linda walters's retirement I had the opportunity do to go back to do uh back to school night last fall and I went into her class and I thought oh my God I would love to go back to middle school science she is a Dynamo um she remembered that she had my kids I of course this was 20 years ago that she had them but she still remembered that they were in her class um she is uh an educator that loves the profession of educating but for the purpose of advancing students one at a time um her presentation to the parents was wide ranging broad uh Dynamic I mean she she got you um and it's it's a real loss to the district to uh lose her but a big gain I'm sure for her family and uh for I mean it says 42 years of experience should we have another year 42 43 years experience it's it's a tremendous record tremendous contribution to our students in our in our community and we and I wish her nothing but the best at Disneyland or Disney World so I vote Yes Mr Hughes yes and shout out to miss pero you could always count on her for a smile in the morning comeing into school thank you Mr karski yes M Jensen yes Mr copin yes Miss tanero yes and Dr morthy uh yes and uh wishing them both uh very well in their retirement and both my children did have Miss Walter as well and um she's uh uh really I think one of the things that strikes you she's very down to earth very matter of fact but connects with our children um and I mean 42 years is is is a tremendous uh amount so we thank her for her dedication uh and to both of them good luck in retirement uh all right next let's now take 19 C through o I have C through o Mr kmari second by Mr cin Mr bler Mr Denise yes Mr Galla yes Mr Hughes yes Mr karski yes Miss Jansen yes Mr copin yes Miss Deano yes and Dr morthy yes all right public questions or comment public participation at board meetings is in accordance with bylaw 0167 at this time members of the public may ask questions or make a comment on educational issues or School matters of community interest it's a matter of fairness you as you're asked to limit your questions to no more than one and your remarks to no longer than three minutes if you're here representing a group please identify yourself the group and your position in the group if you're here as an individual please give us your name and address all right I need a motion to open the meeting to the public Mr Gallow second by Mr cin okay we are officially open to the public hello everyone I'm Alison Cuchi I live at 28 Divine Drive I'm actually here tonight I haven't been to a board meeting in quite a while uh but I'm actually here uh to say thank you I'm here to say thank you because my kids were little when we were contemplating money was the extra money the Surplus money going to sports fields and I mean that's years and years and years ago and I had little kids at time like that's going to be great my kids are into sports but then when you changed and went to the idea of the the think tank my kids were still little but I'm here to say thank you times 100 for not only coming up and realizing that was the future of what Mawa needed but as a parent of a student who's currently I mean the best part of his day is in that Think Tank the amount of money you spend on the wood shop equipment alone is phenomenal and that is what's making my child go off to want to be an engineer you know it started as a little kid with Legos and things but through Mr Co and most importantly Mr cat is own he has just cultivated a lifelong woodworker mechan everything possible so I'm really here to say thank you for spending the money on those kinds of things please continue to spend money on those kinds of things because there are kids it's the best part of their day I mean he loves it so much he's now doing an independent study with and helping Mr kazone in the the I guess introduction to Woodshop as one of his you know last parts so it really really makes it different so thank you for investing in that years ago thank you for investing in it now and I just hope that you continue to do that for for future students of as well thank you wow thank you very much for that yeah that that was back next week two hours sorry but thank you m still worth it though and you know that those are the that's what's very heartwarming to hear when um our programming and the things that we're putting in place are directly affecting students and from what you're saying your your your your son is excited to come to school that's that's really tremendous and that's really what it's all about so thank you very much for that feedback we really do greatly appreciate it and don't don't worry we will continue to focus on those things in this District uh continue to move the marker ahead thank you all right seeing uh no one else coming forward at this time I need a motion to close the meeting to the public Mr coflin second by Miss Jansen all right um I think we do not need an executive session at the end so motion to adjourn uh Mr Hughes and second by Mr Gallow we are adjourned thank you everyone for coming out this evening appreciate it for the