e e e e e e e e e e e e e e done with this meeting call to order Mr Al pres Miss Calon here Mr dasta M coffinger here Mr Lombardi here Mr lunam here Miss Ryan vice president dun here president Gomez here to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all board statements in accordance with the provisions of the New Jersey open public meetings law the New Milford board of education has caused notice of this meeting to be published by having the date time and place thereof in the record New Milford Public Library New Milford Bur and the main office of all new Milford Public Schools the board announces that under its long-standing policy it will not discuss in public any comments made by members of the public concerning individual staff members at this time please be advised that all cell phones and electronic devices are to be turned off meetings of the board are open to the public and all members of the community should feel free to participate before coming to the board the chain of command should be followed there are two portions of the meeting reserved for comments from the public the first at the beginning of the meeting for agenda items only and the second at the end of the meeting for other items issues raised by the public may or may not be responded to by the board but all comments will be considered the board requests that all members of the public be mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking due to confidentiality and legal rights afforded by the state of New Jersey members of the public are asked to not speak negatively or in a derogatory manner about any employee of the board or any student Okay so we have the Acting Superintendent of Schools oft Lauren oasa is out sick today so we have Stephanie cuchar who will be covering I have I'm just going to do the reports that have to be reported and then she will share her full report with you um next week okay so for the pre the Hib report for February the high school had five cases reported three were forwarded for full inv two were not confirmed and one is still being investigated Deo had five cases reported five sent for full investigation one confirmed case of HIV two unfounded and two still under investigation uh Gibbs had one case reported that one case was forwarded by the principal for full investigation and the one case was confirmed case of HIV and Berkeley had five cases reported one of those cases was sent for a full investigation and the one case was unfounded for HIV the suspension report for February uh at New Milford High School there was one incident um that occurred for class and received one day of in school suspension at the middle school there were nine incidents that resulted in four days of in in school suspension and six days of out of school suspension the various offenses were fighting use of a vape and disrespectful to another student and uh Gibbs there was one incident it was a violation of the social media and cell phone policy that received one day of in school one and a half days of in school suspension and Berkeley had two incidences and both of them received a total of two days of in school suspension so four days of in school suspension uh for misconduct and then the presentation of the student safety data system incidents training programs is New Milford High School school had 14 [Music] incidences uh they completed six trainings and three programs Berkeley had 13 incidences completed three trainings and completed eight programs BF Gibbs Elementary School had three incidences completed completed six trainings and six programs and David Owens Middle School had 25 incidences they completed five trainings and four programs and that concludes that report for this evening there any questions thank youum skip the next one yes okay business administrative report okay that one I have for you so um much of this was discussed in the finance committee meeting um but we currently have a balanced budget there are still a few items um that we're just looking to see if we can use different resources in different areas um but the budget is pretty well ready for the preliminary budget next week um I'll have some more information to share at that point um we did receive a cut in state aid a little above $10,000 um but we were able to maintain all the staff and we have no current staff reductions planned in this upcoming budget some of the positions however did have to change um due to our increasing special education numbers and so um where we may have a retirement or resignation from a Jed teacher that would move into um a special spot um because our numbers and our programs are just are really growing um it's important to know that we are not accepting incoming tuition from other districts and that's what's causing our numbers these are truly New Milford students that are driving these numbers um and so that's also a piece where we get revenue is to offset it but because the new mford students have such needs and the program is growing in special education we just don't have the seats to offer it to to outside District um and we did reduce the um building and program operating budgets by um by a little bit each but we were able to maintain all the Integrity of all programs for all students so the budget really should not have an impact to students at all um a big part of why we've been having some you know the cost of healthare contines so that's been a challenge for the past few years um but we've been able to to sort of offset that in other ways for the summer facilities projects we did get the final approval on the rod Grant um they were company was out walking the roof at Gibbs and the high school today to come up with the plans to hopefully go out to bid and award that contract at the April meeting that does mean that we will have no students for anything on the high school um campus at all for Su for the summer as well as Gibbs and so all of our esy programs will be held at either Berkeley or the Middle School both of those buildings are the least air conditioned out of all of our buildings um but we did receive an SDA broad Grant and so with some of that money we purchased air conditioning for Berkeley and so we have a plan in place that will allow us at the second floor of Berkeley air conditioned before school lets out in June um so hopefully that's typically the hottest place in that building um and it gets pretty warm and so those classrooms should all have air conditioning with a few um classrooms downstairs and we're hoping to have that work completed our inhouse maintenance staff is working on that um and hope to have that completed by June we also so the ref uses our facility um for their summer program and so I met with the um Ally on Monday about sort of what their needs would look like and so we're working out a way to find them space at either Berkeley um and or Deo uh it's Berkeley is definitely going to be a challenge because we do have the air conditioning project going on there along with our own esy program um but we should have plenty of space to house them at the middle school so we're working sort of through that but um in terms of fields and any use of outside space we are not going to have any students on site at the high school or at um Gibs while while we have things going up and down off the roof um but the roofs are definitely over their life expectancy so this is sort of a a really great investment and um sealing all of our assets and it's it's a good thing it's just you know a bit of a challenge over a summer when you have students in a building that really never closes in terms of Food Services we still are seeing a lot of families with high balances so um there were letters sent out from my office again late last week early this week so any family who has a high balance should receive those letters and please you know be aware of it if there is a hardship please let us know we can work with you but um the balances are getting pretty high at the next meeting the auditor will be here to present the 2223 audit and then in terms of the budget there's just a few the um items that I wanted to tell you were f23 24951 196 and .97 which are the um tuition costs for next year and those numbers were utilized while prepared pring the 2425 budget um and then on tonight's agenda there is action because when you receive the approval for the rod Grant there's all sorts of forms and paperwork that's coordinates to approve and so that is what's being approved um this evening that just allows the submission of of all of that there we were awarded Three Rod grants two of them being the I spoke about and the third one is the High School auditorium hbag the mechanical equipment is um the lead times are are really bad but the only time you can withdraw from capital reserve is during your budget process now and so if by a small chance that that the lead times happen to get better um and we can do that work during this budget year that would be great um but it's not likely and so if we withdraw it now and we don't use it we posi back in June and it goes back there and then withdraw withdraw it in 2025 so that's what all the action on tonight's agenda is about and that concludes my report for this evening I just have a question sure which you may not be able to answer so I know they're assessing the roofs now is the expectation for the roofs to be done before the next school year starting yes okay the idea would be for them to um mobilize The Day After High School graduation and it should be completed before students return in September so that um roof work impact the um summer theater program it will um because we will not have students here but uh Dr Al at riverdell has graciously said that we can utilize his auditorium at Riverdale um because I I don't I think this show is the first week of July I'm not sure it I think it is scheduled and Danielle had got that set she left and so they're only going to charge us for the rental of the space thank you other question how much in the total grants do we get for all these projects is it just as simple as adding up all these things that say Grant amount it is and I have the total I can get it to you I just don't have it I apologize I just wanted to say one one quick thing I wanted to just um really just point out what a great job Dr card budget and um you know when we hear things like you know $10,000 that we lost you know keep in mind a lot of districts around us are getting hundreds of thousands if not Millions more and then when you add to it what happened to us last year the fact that you know we're sitting here tonight saying that hey we got 10,000 less than last year we have continued increas in costs but you know we're not cutting any staff and I I just wanted to really go out of my way to to really say thank you and and you know for the job that you did thank you I appreciate it anyone else okay moving on to Le on board committee reports um I I have one but just it short um I just just a report that we did meet as a finance and Facilities committee um Dr Kar gave us a rundown of how the budget was formed what some of the pain Point might pain points might be um that were much less than last year obviously um and just to Echo you know Joe sentiment you know guys did a great job it was really well explained and having to combat the high you know the just increasing cost of health benefits um and and things like that so you know it's not the ideal position that we'd want we'd want 20 million more dollars but um but you know it was it was a it was a good productive presentation no no no just I mean yeah like it's you know again not to belabor the point but like we're we're not sitting here first week second week of March talking about having to still find a million dollars like right and that's that's a heck of an effort you know so I just wanted to point that out and really her greatest effort is getting us all on a schedule together was tough that's is like wrangling cats is a tough one the four most difficult schedules you could throw some of the other ones in there would that's true yeah okay any correspondence okay okay I seek a motion for BA 23-24 6667 68 69 70 71 and 72 I need a second Angel andard all in favor I I oppose okay agenda item for discussion review of the tenative agenda for the r meeting to be held on March 19th any questions regard regarding review of board action any questions regarding the review of educational programs and curriculum any questions regarding review of personnel recommendations any questions regarding re review of finance and Facilities I have one um probably should have asked this earlier but um one other things that stuck out for me was f23 d24 .208 um just one that's awesome to get you know donations from the Milford wrestling Foundation the rec department and shopright for wrestling mats um just a clarifying point I thought that I had at some one of the meetings I was told that we could not direct donations to specific sports that it was given to athletic department and they could do with it what they wanted I just want to clarify if that's actually true um or if that was something that I'm not recalling so this it was something that was to to us and I know that that was in in the context of just other sports like saying that they were going to donate something and they were told that you know the athletic department has discretion to put it wherever they want if it's a dollar amount that's correct this is the actual mass that received so there's a distinction just the physical correct like they were the physical mats that were received we like to put a dollar amount on it because um not to get too technical but we maintained something called the fixed asset report um and so we need to always know sort of what the total of anything that coming into our building is but this is not an actual dollar amount these three um organizations got together and then donated we have the maass they actually purchased it correct they actually purchased the m and the mats have been delivered awesome okay any other questions okay any old business any new business okay seek a motion to open to the public is outlined in New Milford Board of Education by law 0167 each statement made by a participant shall be limited to three minutes Nicole dun seconded by no Nicole dun all in favor oppose I seek a motion to close seconded by Stephanie Cofer all in favor I oppose okay any board member request for additional information okay and no action okay it is hereby move that the Board of Education adj into executive session in accordance with the provisions of Section 8 of the open public meetings act chapter 231 PL for the purpose of discussion and consideration of matters pertaining to the following subject student matter the minutes of the executive session will be made available to the public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists we won't be taking action um when we come back to open I seek a motion to go into close Tony Alro second Stephanie CER all in favor I oppos