e e e e okay we're going to call the meeting to order in compliance with chapter 231 Public Law 1975 entitled open public meetings act add notice of this meeting has been provided as specified in the ACT proper notice of this open public meeting was provided in the notice of May 1st 2024 said notice was posted at the entrance of the Board of Education offices mailed to the Nutley Township Clerk sent to tap into Nutley advertised in the Star Ledger on May 3rd 2024 and posted on the district website can everybody please stand for the flag salute pledge allegiance to the flag the United States of America to the rep roll call Mr balamo here Mr baglia here Mrs danek Martin Dr deia Mr fragels Mr kazinski Mrs Quark Mr Scotty and Mr fero here okay Mr ba presentation of our 24 25 budget uh before we go down uh to the auditorium to set up for the presentation I would like to introduce two people joining us up on stage uh the first Mr Ray sarinelli I'm sorry right uh joins us from niss avaia our third party um accountants that help verify the creation of the budget to verify adequacy uh in budget submission uh the second person uh came came to me through a notification yesterday from the assistant commissioner um that we were approved uh for our uh State Advance alone and we will we're being appointed a state monitor the state monitor was appointed as of yesterday uh May 6th and joins us in District today we spent a day together uh and working together I'd like to introduce Mrs Janette makus uh our doe State fiscal monitor welcome uh we're going to uh recess and go down to the uh Auditorium for the presentation e can you see that okay in the back Mr torto can you see that okay I want to thank everyone for coming out tonight I know this has been um a challenging couple months um and we'd like to provide information uh and then answer questions pertaining to the budget uh the timeline uh has been short and we've worked hard uh to come up with um this presentation uh I do want to State uh and you can go to the first slide in um that as of yesterday we have uh kind of a not things have changed but we do have u a state monitoring District who will be reviewing everything tonight so unfortunately um while this process has been ongoing and deadlines are approaching um she came the district today and everything will be pending her review uh and submission um State monitors have uh final fiscal Authority in districts um so that has to be a consideration of our budget submission um and I just wanted to point that out I wanted to first start with um a topic we've been talking about this year's deficit uh this year's deficit uh was something that came to our attention we created a corrective action plan we went to the state for help uh through the mismanagement of the budget uh we have accumulated significant deficit uh to the cash flow of this year um in order to find a remedy for that we built a correct AC action plan with the state and uh we applied um and just yesterday we learned that we're being approved to remedy this year's deficit uh so right now we are verifying numbers in District actually that's one of the the task Mrs make has had this morning is meeting with our Auditors meeting with our business office and verifying the funds needed um to get through this year and pay all of our bills so I want to say first that this year's deficit has a remedy the remedy is a advance or a loan from the state they Advance state aid you consider it a loan the repayment does not affect next year's budget as my understanding is and I say that because um uh Miss meus will have input here uh that it uh starts being paid back in the next fiscal year so we have the budget for the repayment in the next fiscal year there's no interest on this loan and it's carried for 10 years um so the final number is being calculated you don't see 7 million up there because it's being verified um with a person in District looking through everything and beginning to look at um the analysis of what we've done in District the state accepted our corrective action plan and that will be updated with Miss mak's assistance as we work together in the business office uh we have um appointed on the board agenda tonight an acting business administrator administrator Miss Bell palan who will assume authority to sign checks and do different things in the business office with the support of Miss makus we will work to remedy all bills being paid and all debts settled we will also start a search for a new full-time business administrator later this week uh that will be a very intense process overseen by our state monitor she'll be a part of it and make recommendations as we move forward to find the best person for Nutley to to move forward with I want to say it again this problem happened this year we have a remedy this year and all debts and payments will be paid upon receipt of the money next slide please so this year's budget what are we doing differently uh typically I'd be up here with a business administrator uh but I have led this process um since this has been going through in March um in conjunction with a third party consultant uh so Ry as you saw up on stage has been working with us to verify our bu control roster for staff we have in District to make sure the budget is adequate has been working to to verify other accounts to make sure we meet the preliminary budget so when the budget moves forward um it has third party eyes on it as well as our uh State monitor who will look over the documents later this week between that process we will verify that our budget is accurate and moving forward for next year we've also built the budget on reliable revenues um that led to some of the mismanagement issues uh we verified every Revenue coming in with several people uh Mr uh Ray as well as uh our Commissioner of Finance as well as our Auditors Larn viny as well as New Jersey doe field office uh in John Ferrara so this budget is built on revenues we know are coming in um and that's very important uh to to do it's also been a needs-based budget so to the extent possible um I've met with um people in charge of departments and buildings and work through what we need to operate for next year um also with Staffing we built a needs-based staffing approach um for the district next slide please we've had several guiding principles um I've been sharing with the with the with the board and they've been sharing with me our goal is to preserve the existing educational extracurricular programs and experiences for all of our students uh we were able to eliminate identify and eliminate inefficiencies across the district to deliver a sustainable budget we're able to restructure administrative roles and responsibilities maximizing our student teacher interactions we were very conscious of class size remain within class size limits um meeting the needs of special education students um and the enrollment guidelines were very important uh we've had several board meetings over the past two weeks even where we've had public comment at each one and that was all incorporated into the development of this budget we've also attended other meetings like CPAC and PTO meetings uh to listen to the needs of the community uh we did want to enhance our tier one uh structure uh that's that's an educational jargon term for gened support structures and classrooms uh to help students in the gened setting uh the best we can before considering a special ed uh resources we want to build that uh we want to comply with all state budgetary guidelines and tax lever requirements was important uh we also wanted to think about building a framework uh to expand maybe two or three years down the road we understand that there are challenges in this budget but we do know that uh we will through planning fix our fiscal issues and build a sustainable path forward for the students of Nutley um we also want to make sure we look at our buildings and grounds we want to maintain our facilities and think about years down the road where we can find improvements in our facilities next slide please um this year's challenge in budget creation and and this presentation will be available line online right after this uh this year's challenge um is stated up there uh and it is kind of separate but related to the deficit we're in now um Rising costs in key areas are stressing the programs we've built and it's unsustainable to build a budget on revenues that aren't coming in so if you take this year's operating budget which is about $82 million and you move it one year forward that budget becomes 87 million based on Health Care increases raises everything that goes up year to year the issue is we have 74 million coming in um in reliable we call we've come to call Reliable revenues that is the current tax levy and the current state aid so if you try to run this year's program next year it's not going to work uh so the difference is $13 million and that has to be overcome so the preliminary budget set up luckily we got three million more in state aid um the tax levy in the preliminary budget was 5.26 that's 3.3 million which leaves you the rest to cut from programs which is challenging because every program we have is successful and every uh every group wants to maintain their program so we had uh to go through this and find efficiencies and we did this by finding efficiencies by looking at where we're spending top to bottom we did this from my office to every office in District and we did this with the students in mind to try to keep the programs in place focusing on class size and of course our special education needs next slide please so if you look at our operating costs our total general fund operating costs for last year they were $82 million a little bit over that our reliable revenues with the tax levy put us at $81 million we are going to see a decrease in our operating budget with more state aid and increased tax levy but that but again the number looks more like 87.4 million because of the increases we would normally see by moving up a year so our operating budget is actually going down about one and a half percentage points our revenues our state and federal revenues went up I said 3 million we actually received more xade last year so that brought our Revenue up a little bit last year so there's about you know 2800 2,800,000 in increase between the two years our general fund our local revenues general fund local revenues were was a point of Mis budgeting uh we budgeted meant much more there than we've received so this had to be right sized that's going down the deficit is in this year not in next year we're not running a deficit next year and then our general fund tax levy of note the 24 25 School District budget summary reflects lower net operating costs of 1.2 million do and balances the budget for the upcoming year the impact the tax levy is offset by increases in state aid uh the budget is compliant with all state budgetary guidelines incorporate statutory waivers for healthc care enrollment increases in Bank cap operating costs breakdowns will not be finalized uh tonight we were working off the preliminary budget although modifications and the Appropriations have been made especially in Staffing when we looked into the systems a lot of our systems were inaccurate we built them from the bottom up so will look different than the preliminary budget submitted um and with Janette and District today everything will be pending the review of our state monitor so those Appropriations will most likely change based on that all Staffing and operation cost decisions surrounding this budget are subject to change and review by our state monitor want to make that clear moving forward the commentary on this budget the state uh subject the state mon approval I along with the board identifi the following using the funds of the P preliminary budget we trimmed excess capacity within the district and unnecessary expenditures enabling a more efficient utilization of our staff and resources administrative roles have been reconfigured collapsed with expanding teach assignments added a more efficient daily operations has been suggested and projected I do want to talk I know people want specifics we condense 35 positions in District top to bottom from my office across the district out of those 35 positions we were able through uh through strategic positioning moving people into retirements preschool expansion the people that are certified expanding special ed roles like the IR classes um reduce that number of people downsizing to 15 uh there were four administrative roles in that 35 five I'm sorry five administrative roles in that 35 out of the the 15 um there's uh it's spread evenly amongst all the different types of Staff members we have u based on again we have about 630 staff members total in District that will be the impact on Staffing all resources necessary for security and preschool remain unchanged we will maintain our security footprint uh throughout the entire District having the same amount of Personnel in each building as we've seen this year that will remain unchanged they bring a necessary uh piece to our educational Community all resources to support services to our special education students remain unch changed and M I add for the first time in probably a couple years the special ed Staffing the special ed tuitions the transportation will be fully funded as per the need of that department um therapist services and Par professionals will be there as well District therapist servic and Par professionals we have looked at all areas including supply lines and are looking for efficiencies in our Athletics we will maintain all of our sport programs and our levels reducing coaches where the number doesn't add up to the amount of coaches as well as look at all our supply lines and support like game workers and different things like that uh we will look at our instructional technology and go through our INF facing versus outfacing student support our Chromebook program will be in place we will move from a purchase to a lease model which is more cost effective for us through finding efficiencies we will work to build the same experience for students at our high school we are increasing running the same schedule all 22 AP classes all 32 dual enrollment classes with Ruckers Caldwell University uh seaten Hall University um we will um continue those programs class size will go up the average class size in all the Departments uh will be no greater the average class size will be no greater than 25 as projected by our school counseling department at the high school uh with the exception to be fizzed which will be in the low to mid-30s um at our Middle School our class size will go from 20 and a half to 24 and a half um which is still below 25 and our element schools will right sizee u based on Need for all of our elementary schools class size of the elementary school is more of a factor of total amount of students how much available space is is available at our elementary schools to determine class size next slide please next steps uh the Board of Education will vote on this budget the state monitor after the vote will review and get to know the budget and I can't emphasize this enough we we have a situation that's very unique to Nutley where we were planning a budget and just yesterday the parameters of our review process and approval process have changed uh so we will go through uh that process and bring Miss makus up to speed she will review everything and um then have uh Authority after that to look at it we will review the the tax levy a thorough and adequate education we'll review the cash flow we will review the corrective action plan and make adjustments to build next year's budget the 2526 budget immediately we have to make strategic changes in the way we look at some of our services to build sustainability in this district and we need to do it now so never happens again then it will be submitted to the New Jersey doe for review and approval and the board will act to uh request for proposal all service providers looking for efficiencies and monetary savings as well as update the corrective action plan with future ways to run our school district that puts money more money where it needs to be for programs for our students and and not in other places that's the end of my presentation I want to thank you for your time I know you have a lot of questions we're going to go back up to the stage and open public comment is that okay Mr President thank you for for [Music] we now come to the portion of our meeting where we allow members of the public to address the board in this section we allow comments on reports resolutions and all School related matters our board regulations number 0167 a lot 20 minutes for these communications each person shall be limited to three minutes and we ask that you try to stay within this requirement speakers may speak more than once only after all those wishing to speak on a topic have been heard all statements will be addressed directed to me as the chairperson and no no one may address board members individually please be reminded that if your statement is too lengthy abusive obscene irrelevant or redundant your participation may be terminated comments concerning District employees and our students will not be responded to please remember to state your name and address each and every time you address the board for questions where the board may not have immediate answers the board will take information and respond to you at an appropriate time does anyone have any comments actually before some before you um somebody comes up uh I make a motion to suspend the 20 minute um rule for these communications all in favor okay we're still going to we're still going to um stay within the three minutes uh only because if uh if there's others that wish wish to speak uh but you you're you're more than welcome to come back up uh after everyone is done so does anyone have any comments M Canova there we go 147 Beach Street Miss makus welcome happy to have you on board um be very beneficial and good evening to everyone uh one one one part of that presentation superintendent Bia you mentioned um enhancement of tier one intervention for General Ed now would that mean a student who could possibly be evaluated for an IEP that the bar would be higher for what if you could explain that sure um tier one it's educational jargon and I apologize for that but it's part of a multi-tier TI support in general education so if a student in the classroom is uh falling behind either academically social emotional behaviorally uh for all different reasons uh they should go through different tiers of support uh before being looked at for special education uh the first tier is in the classroom uh the teacher should use strategies differentiation strategies and support uh this comes with a lot of professional development for our teaching staff time to do that the second tier is a pullout um support where students come and they're pulled out to get maybe a different type of curriculum or different type of program to return them grade level um and then as you go up the tiers we collect data we look at progress we make informed decisions about moving forward um to a referral to special services um and we use data to drive those decisions okay thank you very much that's all does anyone else have any comments Mr chairman Joe Gino 111 Brook D live at the April 27th meeting I believe board members stated that this is not a criminal matter my question to the board what law enforcement agency investigated that you arose to that answer so Mr Gino um the state monitor is here uh one of the thing one of the objectives is once uh the state provides funding um that's a require that a forensic audit be be done so upon completion of the forensic audit any criminal action will be referred to the appropriate agency okay also on the uh cap plan I noce the cap plan was emailed to the attorney general is it right now under the uh New Jersey office of public integrity and accountability is that being reviewed by them which what was that which which document the New Jersey office of public integrity and accountability from the attorney general your cap plan was was emailed to them I I don't know who emailed that so it's right on it's right on your report right on the bottom AG which report are you talking about I'm talking about your corrective action plan the corrective action plan yes that was sent to the Department of Education yes my question is is it being investigated by the New Jersey office of Integrity public accountability not that well not that I'm aware of that's not our department so I I wouldn't be able to speak for them no what I'm saying it was submitted sir to my knowledge we submitted this to the doe they used this to verify and they agreed with some of the findings in there to approve our loan and assign a state monitor I'm not aware if they turned it over to the AG's office I don't know what happened after that but in conversations with h high-ups from the DOE I can tell you they have received it they've reviewed it they've approved it and they agree with the findings um that there was mismanagement of money um that led to our situation okay is the state monitor aware of this yes she is and we will be reviewing the plan and she will be helping us update the plan as she stays in District okay thank you thank you does anyone else have any comments good evening Maria Hammond Ro Avet Le New Jersey um I just have a few questions uh you did answer most of the ones that I had I understand that some teachers uh received notices that they were laid off based on performance are those teachers being replaced by other teachers or is that part of the 35 that you mentioned earlier that's going to be restructured that depends on their role some are being replaced based on on the role where could collapse somewhere being collapsed uh that process uh is a process we undergo every year um this time of year as required by Statute that all non-tenured have evaluations completed by the end of April and are reviewed by uh our evaluators um that come every year in many districts to make decisions based on performance okay thank you my next question what strategic changes in services are projected for the next year I know you mentioned that we're okay for this year um and that there were some strategic changes that you're looking at in the future I mean what kind of cuts is that going to potentially entail I can tell you that at the high school we will continue with the rotating drop schedule um and the classes being offered at the Middle School uh we are looking uh to have five teams instead of six for our students and at the elementary school we are looking to incorporate uh more time for tier one uh interventions and modifying the lunch so L students put stress on our facilities um those are some strategic changes we're looking at okay my last question is you mentioned a $13 million shortfall moving forward how are we going to handle that because this year again you're saying we're okay so this year the remedy to this year is through the state loan uh for this year which will be begin repayment not in next budgetary year but the following uh the issue of3 million comes from taking this year's operating budget and extrapolating it to next year that was our starting point to see what it would cost us then looking at our Revenue coming in what we actually had uh that that came to $13 million that's a challenge we faced in Nutley that has been extremely highlighted by the mismanagement of funds um but we have cha we're we're facing challenges as all school districts are of rising costs in certain areas that are impacting other areas um and with a um budget that is primarily based on salaries benefits special education costs health care it's challenging to find that place to reduce those things okay um I do have one more question um I did ask about corrective action plan the first time that I came up and spoke uh you said once we knew more about exactly what we were looking at uh we would know more about a corrective action plan uh moving forward to prevent something like this from happening in the future that's my question so what what kind of things are in place to prevent this from happening such as is there going to be a monthly review now are we going to have I know we mentioned having geltrude uh I guess an Associates they're on the team and they're going is that the third party you were referring to third party eyes set of eyes looking at what's being done and how it's being done moving forward yes that's what we're looking at is as having a a third party uh assist our business office with closing out the the month end uh make making reports uh presenting those reports all uh to the uh Administration uh to the board uh also we're looking at having an external audit or prepare quarterly reports um so that we have those on a monthly basis but we also have it on a quarterly basis okay and those will be available to the public if they're if they're aail if yes if we can make them available we will okay thank you does anyone else have any comments my name is Leanne Martin I've been the math coordinator for 14 years before that a nle high school teacher I have been in District for 25 years on behalf of the admin team on behalf of the adventine I would first like to Express gratitude for teachers for their hard work each and every day thank you and happy Teacher Appreciation we I speak tonight on behalf of the Nutley administrative team and I would like to clarify who that represents our team consists of building principles Vice principles District coordinators of preschool and content areas kada 12 a supervisor and directors of special services School counseling and Athletics 41% of our admin team was born and raised in Nutley and graduated from Nutley High School 64% of our team started as a teacher counselor or CST member prior to earning their admin positions 23% of the team are actually Nutley taxpayers like all of you we represent Nutley and are very upset about this crisis and none of us are at all connected to the cause our our admin team along with teachers child study team counselors par professionals secretaries school resource officers coaches technicians custodians transportation and all other support staff are those who that who run the district day to day we are interacting with the students we are present in the schools so we come here tonight to educate the school Community about what our administrators do for kids each and every day and what could be compromised should positions be restructured or cut as indicated in the corrective action plan we have heard quite a bit about oversight as we continue navigating The Current financial situation coordinators provide ongoing K to2 oversight of curriculum instruction and assessment reducing this oversight will have a direct impact on academics and nutly our programs will greatly Suffer Without this entire group together we have spearheaded an explicit multi-sensory phonics curriculum for early Learners more diverse classroom libraries math and focus math fluency activities Mystery Science teachers curriculum institute for social studies interdisciplinary lessons instructional coaching math Bridges interventions the scripts National Spelling be the algebra Readiness assessment ISL schooly codable really computer science programming honors and advanced placement opportunities the Ruckers program for Allied Health and Sciences dual enrollment opportunities seal of biliteracy high impact tutoring strategies programs ruler and other social emotional learning initiatives Rucker University Behavioral Health preschool programming award-winning musical concerts and Productions the nutly art show community events and so much more in addition we apply for and manage grants lead our departments and complete heavy teacher observation loads to Foster their professional growth and ensure quality instruction while the building administrators are tied up dealing with everything under the sun who will communicate regularly with teachers who will respond to staff needs pertaining to academics and programming who will answer teacher emails when they need support who will conduct program reviews for Content areas who will plan and provide professional development academics should not s off the principles and vice principles simply cannot do everything and attend to every single need of students and staff they also cannot be expected to hold expertise in every content area without content expertise we are concerned that the student performance particularly in tested areas will suffer this will show in our test results and school performance reports which may impact nutley's educational reputation and eventually the home values of this community we could not possibly list all of the responsibilities of our building administrators principles and vice principls often put their need their need the needs of staff students and parents in front of their own because we have content coordinators in the district principles and vice principl are available to greet students assist them when they are upset celebrate their Joys resolve conflicts be present for parents and ensure safety Protocols are followed all of which create and maintain an environment conducive to learning as former teachers we have always felt and still feel that our teachers are the heart and soul of this District cordin coordinators need to continue to lead teachers and staff with curriculum development and support instructional strategies teaching resources ass assessment creation professional training student growth objectives just to name a few they have their fingers on the pulse of best practices within their content areas and create structures to ensure that these are implemented in our classrooms if there is a change in schedules teachers need support from administrators on how to attend to such changes and help our students transition as well if teachers and Staff feel inspired appreciated and supported by leadership students will be happy and Thrive dismantling our admin team which is already below the average of local comparatively sized districts will set us up to fail fail our students fail our staff and fail our community student learning will suffer principles and teachers will not have the support they need teachers will have more on their plates not less Nutley is an impressively accomplished District we would like to keep it that way our school district is arguably our Town's largest industry and most important investment the academic quality of our our schools is the marker of success in our community the accomplishments of the district are largely due to the hard work and dedication of our entire staff we know as board members you commit a lot of your time to the district we appreciate your efforts and commitment that being said the board and central office are not the only people who have committed many years some of our entire careers to nutly education we do not envy the tough decisions you have to make but we sincerely hope that you do everything in your power to mitigate the impact to our academic programs which are led by your administrative team thank you thank you thank you does anyone else have any comments hello my name is Joe CIO 499 Center Street first question I had is the bidding process um the media center was an accepted bid of I believe 200,000 by the time it was done it ballooned up to 1.4 million ion same thing with the oval it would started at a 300,000 accepted bid by the time it was done it was near 2 million just short of 2 million how does that happen so um we could actually get you all of that information we have our our architect that has it all uh could put it out so we we'll take that and we will get you the answers for that exactly because that was bit out right if there was a change order the architect has the change order was approved by recommended by the architect it was approved by the board so information we would easily be able to provide you but why such a large gap I'm that's you know what I mean I don't know if that yeah I I Grand to 2 million that's not I understand but I don't I don't know if that's accurate so that's why we're going to have to who's in the report I understand but we we have you know we if we if we went out to bid for it right right there was a process for that so we had to award a contract so we we will get that information back to you we will take that and make sure we answer that okay and as far as the insurance who our current broker our current broker is iMac so we've been using them since 2008 correct uh I believe so yes there's nobody else that could get us more cost-effective Insurance well so that's one of the one of the action items is that we're going to RFP all of our professionals okay okay that will include our our broker that will include all of our professionals that we use um with that then we will see the broker there's two components to it right so the broker is the one who goes out and actually you know shops out the insurance uh our current insurance provider our network is Horizon Blue crossb Shield okay okay then you know they shop out the dental they shop out the prescription um so the the the broker part of it is a small piece of it he's just presenting different he just he's out there shopping they're out there shopping those Services um to us and then obviously uh we we make a decision on who is the best for the uh obviously for what we have and yeah we also have to meet uh we also have to meet you know contract requirements too so right you know that dictates a lot of that okay um the next question was um the expansion Mr bagia had mentioned that the expansion of the town was also an issue for or causing the deficit has the Board of Commissioners and the Board of Ed come together and say you know maybe we need to slow down and let the Boe get caught up because as you guys are talking about cuts the town is still expanding so you're you're adding more fuel onto the fire essentially so I'm I'm sorry apologies can I yeah go ahead um I'm not sure and if I made the statement that the expansion of the town is putting burden onto the district that's actually not accurate so our current enrollment has not increased over the course of the last 10 years with the exclusion of the prek expansion program the pre expansion program is funded by the state so the expansion of certain costs are what are putting pressure on the district but is not the population in the town all right thank you yeah so I just just to just to continue on that um if you look at one of the charts that's in our audit reports it actually gives you a 10e history of our uh enrollment and it's pretty consistent over the last 10 years you know it does it does go up and down right right you know about a 100 or so students but it's not it's you know you don't see an increase of you know 3 400 over a two-year period um with the exception obviously with the preschool program that that we just put in place to a year and a half ago okay thank you thank does anyone else have any comments at last week I'm sorry Richard saell Harrison Street Nutley at last week's meeting I asked what was the exact budget deficit you told me $7 million tonight you showed it at $13 million what happened sir two two different numbers uh this the $7 million is this year's deficit um and and that's that's not confirmed yet the state's still working to identify accounts payable checks that haven't gone out things of that nature to identify this year's um cash flow deficit uh Mrs meus was in today looking through all all the files and she's going to report to the state directly um the 13 million is a number that comes from next year's budget U taking operations this year year putting them on next year what we would have to pay for the same program versus the reliable Revenue coming in um from our different sources for next year so it's two different two different situations one is this year's deficit which is a big problem that we're getting remedied through a loan the other one is the rising costs of operating school districts and how they're impacting versus the revenues coming into the school district okay I also last asked last week uh if the budgets for the last three years were balanced and if they had a surplus and they said they couldn't answer me because they didn't have the facts in front of them was it I can answer that question as we've established the budget over the last two cycles was not balanced it wasn't balanced it was submitted to this to county that showed revenues and expenditures being balanced but there were expenditures that exceeded the revenues and there were unfortunately unrealized revenues so the budgets in reality when we looked at the data they were not balanced when they were presented to us at the board level to our superintendent they were balanced so the reality is two last year's budget was about $6 million in deficit this year's budget is approximately $7 million in deficit and if we roll this program over to next year which was the slide that Mr B showed we will be approximately $10 million in deficit which is unfortunately the reason why we need to make Mak some reductions in our expenditures that I understand that but uh according to the internet we had a surplus last year and the year before now how could one read a surplus and the other one read a $6 million deficit I can't tell you what the internet says the internet says I'm a billionaire and I'm not it's under the New Jersey budget so but as as we restated last uh in in our restated budget for last year we we had we ran a deficit lure about $80,000 as we were able to with more investigation identify that that deficit was much larger much of that is tied to bad data unfortunately now we borrowed money from the state no interest fine uh is there any other departments in the city that could have lent this money that had a surplus and could have lent US money through the town instead of borrowing it from the state so so we're we're separate entities right you have you have the municipal you have the school separate entities so um you know we're we're required when we when we were aware of the deficit we were required to notify the State Department of Education that's what we did so we are working within those uh those rules and and so that's that's where we're at at this point so all the Departments are private entities and they all worry about their own budget but we the taxpayers wait pay to the town we don't pay to each enti now let's say we take the uh new Department that's building seven pickle ball courts in Owens Field do we need seven pickle ball courts I'd rather have it go to my kids education or the transportation or something like that I don't think I need a pickle ball quote anybody here play pickle ball for you that's where our money's go I'm sorry but it's it's again it's two separate boards right two separate entities um and I understand that on your at your level you're you're looking at it it's still the township but um there are it's two separate entities so board of education is separate from the Board of Commissioners and some of those projects that they do on their end you know they may not be using tax money for they may be getting getting funding through the state through grants through federal grants so it's two separate entities okay now you did mention something about a tax levy increase in tax levy does that mean property taxes are going to go up tax levy a tax levy increase yes that's what that and you have a cap at 2% we have a cap at 2% with certain except except exemptions that um you're allowed to to use Bank cap there's uh Insurance waivers there's there's uh student enrollment so there there are certain C uh um exceptions to that okay also ask you the question if the town was insured for the loss now does this considered a loss that the insurance company would cover or is it you know just a Mis accounting or mis budgeting or like I said before was it criminal and so I think we've answered that before well you said was it wasn't Criminal but we we've answered that and and as we said there is going to be a forensic audit that's going to be performed and who's doing the forensic a that there that's something that the state is going to assist us with so the state's going to be involved in that okay thank you for your time thank you does anyone else have any comments good evening my name is uh Andrew centino 23 South Spring Garden I'm looking at the adverti recapit whatever this is balances all right we're looking at the capital reserve you have $2,258 being carried across a span of three uh two years the audited balance from 2023 the estimated balance at the end of this year and then the estimated balance at the end of next year what's even more startling is that the maintenance Reserve is $40 as taxpayers and homeowners in this town how many people in here maintain a balance of a budget of $40 to take care of your house and we have seven schools in this District of which all of their kids and my kid attends I want to make sure that you're properly budgeting the correct amount of money to maintain the safety where my kid attends if I could answer um and and you're not the first to bring up this point there are and there are people up here who are ified to answer this than I am but there are certain State statutes many of those Reserve accounts are designed to be funded at the beginning of the year and fully depleted at the end they're supposed to be used much like a HSA account in healthcare you fund it you you lose use it or you how government accounting works so that's that's why there's no money in any of those accounts at the end of the year oh but if the audited balance as of 20122 you had $1.7 million approximately in that account and then in the maintenance Reserve you had 177,000 now if what you say is accurate what you were doing was improper in 2022 and you approved it as we've established I can't speak to the numbers specifically but as we established much of the data that we're working off of and those years were incorrect there's also some carryovers from the covid years that were allowed to carry fund balances in certain Reserve accounts that had to be removed coming into the following year I don't want I can't speak to it specifically but I think you deserve an answer clearly what is the process for actually approving the budget as the board members I understand that you Outsource a lot of your uh accounting and finance and all of that but how much budget actual budget and planning experience does anyone on the board have and how closely did you pay attention to last year's budget and the prior Year's budget never mind this year's budget and next year's budget I actually have career experience in budgeting and planning and this this is garbage that's what this is so you asked a question regarding the budgeting okay so we are the Board of Education we have professionals who are the ones that handle the budget and put that together um Mr B can can speak more about that um but we are we are are presented with the budget and that's what we are that's what we look at and that's what we approve is what's presented to us so what you're saying is that nobody closely looks at the line items as they're presented you just get a number sent put in front of you and you just rubber stamp approve it that's not what I said Mr I'm sorry but okay again so we're not in the day-to-day of of of of operations of this School District okay so when budgets are put together they're put together by the various departments okay with the business office we are not at that level to say that that number that they're putting in there is correct or not correct we're not in the dayto day we're not supposed to be in the dayto day okay if the budget office if there's something wrong in the budget office and you're not in charge of those people you're really relying on on some black box to tell you something that may or may not be true well which is which is the main reason why we are going to be implementing some of those other corrective actions which is bringing in someone from the outside to look at that to provide reports directly to the board that's not happening that hasn't happened you know before that's something that it's in a corrective action plan that we're going to be implementing all right one last question what structural Place uh processes have you put in place or will be putting in place to ensure that this never ever occurs in this school district in my lifetime well part of that part of that is putting in those those those outside uh Consultants that are going to be reviewing that and providing input to us the outside Consultants has not worked and we know that it hasn't worked because the Auditors completely missed the deficit of last year missed the deficit of this year that's not working yes Miss Bas hi Janette makus um just as a background for everyone in the audience um I was a board member for 18 years um I was a business administrator for 25 and I worked for the state as the county executive business official for nine years so that's my background um what happened here is very unfortunate uh in in the sense that um the numbers that the board was given were Incorrect and you're absolutely right with regard to the reserves that were used uh and the fact and and I'll speak specifically to the 1.4 that was was in the uh maintenance Reserve that money can be re can be withdrawn during the course of a year so for example I don't know uh the first four rows of the auditorium seats something disastrous happens and we have to replace them they're not budgeted for the board can vote to withdraw that money during the course of the Year well what happened last year uh and I only know I've been here two days uh and I looked at the last year's audit because I wanted to see what was happening before I came in here uh and what I can surmise is that the business administrator withdrew the money from maintenance reserve and then transferred it out and utilized it for other areas as a result the budget was overexpanded but it didn't show the board members would not have known because the monies had been taken out of the reserve so the superintendent and the board rely on the business administrator when it comes to the budget I mean let's be real if you work with budgets a you know that um so the money was there which is how last year came out even the problem was when they used the same numbers because it looked okay for the current year well now the reserves are gone there's no place to pull the money from and what has resulted is what exists today the difference now is that and I hate to I'm not sounding um bragging or anything the difference is I'm here um and there will be very tight controls one of my responsibilities is to come in and look at all of the processes that are taking place how purchase orders are done how are they handled what happens if a teacher ordered six books and now they know they need nine did they call up the vendor and say it's okay well no it's not going to happen next year so I can only tell you that uh um there will be more reviews um when the budget has worked on next year uh it'll be with real numbers and once you establish again that budget that we can live with and which is going to keep us uh sane if you will once we get there which will be next year 2425 each year then esta becomes easier because you've got a baseline that everybody is comfortable with um and I hope that answers your question I do actually have a followup to that so I was afraid I actually have an accounting background so I understand your part about internal controls my question to the board though is you rely on outside Auditors these outside Auditors attest the financial condition of the Nutley School District as she indicated there was a lack of internal controls now the Auditors are supposed to have spotted that there was a lack of internal controls that there were failures years within the financial reporting of the budget and the actual results no I didn't I didn't quite say it that way well I know you're not saying that but that's what the that's what the job occup that's what the what CPA and that's what Auditors do for living they attest to the ver the they verify and they test attest to the actual Financial records of whomever they are auditing in this regard to what extent is the looking at the actual Auditors and seeing if they did what they were supposed to do in the operations of what you I I I can tell you that they do that the the state does uh monitor Auditors uh they have rules and regulations that they have to that they have to follow they have to submit certain materials uh I know we have an audit to here and I'm I'm I'm responding for him but basically uh the problem the problem in this case was you had a year that technically you were over expended but there were sufficient Reserve funds to cover it the problem is that we now made a budget we're into the school year the audit doesn't come to the board it came in March for the 23 24 school year by the time the budget came in and people looked at it and said we have a problem well the school year was already three years the the timing of when audits are done versus when the budget has to be prepared versus when the school year starts that's I can tell you that's been a problem why why is it nine months a public company they closed the fiscal year at the end of the calendar year and the report is out two months later three months later why did it take nine months uh that I can only tell you that all of those dates are in the statutes I I you know we have uh as business administrators um tried to get that changed uh the state statute says they have nine months to report now I'll turn it over to the to the auditor um so the previous due date for June 30th School District audits was December 5th legislation was passed in January to extend it to January 15 so the the the new due date for the next three years is January 15 and during the course of your and I'm not putting you on trial here but during the course of your review of the books and Records so you're normally looking at just just to be clear uh Mr sarinelli is not from it's not is not our auditing firm okay I'm not the current auditor okay but they're supposed to be looking at work papers and there's supposed to be a manager reviewing the auditor's work and there and if they notice anything they're supposed to immediately bring that up especially if it's something so concerning as this and there was an absolute failure in that regard as well I mean there is failures all across the board here I'm sorry I know you guys are elected I know you're volunteers but I got to tell you this is just horrendous horrendous thank thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak thank you thank you for your comments anyone else wishing to speak Hi Megan Martin 12 WN Avenue when you say all resources necessary to support services to our special education system does that include the ER classes run by the southb and joyer committee can I yeah so in talking to southb and jointure um they have um the the plan was to transition those class is to us we're going to put a transition plan where their par professionals will stay with our teachers as we transition they'll also provide PD from their Maywood campus to our teachers to integrate them so you have cut that complete program out of your system it's it's not cut we're just we're using it's not just being run by those teachers so that's the par professionals the par professionals from South so where are you getting the certified teachers that have the uh necessary experience to deal with emotionally disturbed children from our district okay but you told me our last meeting at the CPAC meeting that the problem was that the program was unsuccessful because we couldn't find a teacher to run that mod right I I exp so how are you planning on finding those teachers if a school district of a school that is run with people who are experienced with emotional regulation problems they couldn't find a a teacher how are you planning on finding one I was just explaining that they've had several teachers in and out of those no they haven't my son is in the program so sorry we had one leave in November and and then for some reason last week I got an email that for the last he can verify that we had a teacher come in a week ago right yes for the last 30 days you have a teacher in the program and we haven't had one since November so we haven't had teachers come in and out we haven't had a teacher since November so how are you planning to staff this program yeah well that's a South Bergen but we're going to staff it with our teachers we've actually so you're going to do it better we hope I want your promised to me that you're going to do it better I I can tell you that we have worked with some of our teachers to identify those teachers that are strong in this area we have brought them to the class to see if they think it's a good fit for them we're working with our teachers not to just put someone there but to find the right teach that was my second question you're not going to just put Force someone into that position that's going to be a voluntary position we we've talked to some teachers about going into that role and we brought when are we going to find out who those teachers are because I'm not going to agree to put my child in that program until I know exactly how it's run because I agreed to that program because it was run by South Bergen I did not agree to put my problem my child in that program run by nle as soon as we can I'm also very dis pointed about the fact that there's been no information to parents about this change no one has contacted anyone and said hey by the way everything is about to change starting in June for summer school who's running that program you or or South Bergen that that's esy is being run by our department okay so again there's been no communication to any parents regarding those changes that's completely unacceptable I'm sorry these are our children's Futures and you guys have just acted like oops sorry we made a mistake we're going to try our best to do it better this is not kindergarten we're not going to try our best to do better for our children you need to put a pen in place that shows that you are going to be able to support these children and their needs and keep everyone that they have in their lives and their support services in place so you're telling to me in your slide that you're not making no any changes but apparently you are you've already cut something so you've already cut from the special education department just to be clear you're saying you've made no changes you made a giant change in my child's life are you guaranteeing to us that when you put this proposal through that there are going to be no more teachers that are going to be be fired that there are going to be no support services that are going to be fired Transportation people are not going to be fired and power professionals are not going to be fired I'm telling you that's the plan we pres that's the plan are you guaranteeing to me that none of those changes are going to happen I don't have final control over that that's our monitor who will review everything okay so we're we are expecting more firings and more I am not expecting that no but it has to be reviewed by but you can't guarantee it that there's no be made as a board cannot guarantee that okay all right all all decisions so we are going to again live in fear until May 15th and you guys decide if we're going fired or not hopefully not but when are you going to let the power professionals know if they're going to have a job next year okay so are our our state monitor is here now two days State monitor when are you going to let us know when the P professional is going to have a job next year this is not this please please direct your question I just want you to understand where I'm coming from as a parent as a child in the in the system and as a power professional in the ABA program every single teacher and power professional and support staus are living in fear The Vibes in our school are terrible teacher appreciation week no one has done anything for us no one has assured us that we're gonna have a job next year no one has talked to us no one has showed up where are you people why is no one showing up and telling us that we're going to have a job or not everyone is scared no one is teaching no one is learning it's just been a complete waste of a month so get your stuff together and let us know what the plan is we need answers thank you and we appreciate that for your comment thank you okay does anyone else have any comments uh Nick fry 66 North Spring Garden Na and thank you for turning the clock off um at the first question after the March 13 15th email came out I asked a question I think based on the crowd I know the answer but I just kind of want to hear from you how much Faith do you think the community has in this board and have you done enough in the past two months to remedy any of that Faith let let him answer let him answer well I think that's a very difficult question because I think depending on on on our perspective versus obviously the the community's perspective um but this board of education did recognize that there was an issue okay we we we look to address that issue we contacted the proper authorities um you know notified the state um that's what I meant not authorities the the Department of Education um and and and this Administration with this board has been working and we've been trying to be transparent to the community we've had more meetings uh in the last month and a half um than we've had probably you know in the last year um we've gone out to to all of the different pto's we're trying to go out to all of the pto's um the CPAC meeting the special ed parent education group um we've had multiple meetings where we've had the we've explained um you know presentation we've given out questions and answers um we're we're trying to be as transparent as possible uh we understand there's there's a lack of you know um people don't feel comfortable and people are anxious and and and and they're worried um but we're we're doing everything we can on our end um to to make sure that we build a sustainable budget we have our our state monitor here with us okay she's going to help us in that process and as as Mr be said she will have complete control on decision making when it comes to anything that has to do with the budget or Personnel anything that's within that perview so um we're we're doing everything that we can um we're entertaining obviously um you know any any type of feedback um we we want to hear from the public that's why we've had me we've had many meetings that's why we're here tonight presenting the you know something for next year and again and we just to be clear the budget that was presented tonight still has to be reviewed by our state monitor is that going to be cleared by the 15th so now the time frame is for review of this budget and I'll address it to you Mr f it everything is on track for still May 15th I'm sorry you for the for the budget for the budget everything is still on track for final submission by May 15th after uh m m looks at it well that's what we're you know that's that's obviously discussions we need to have with our our state monitor as well uh you know I I don't know what the processes as far as you know she she just literally came into District today yes yes um I think there's a couple things I mean I understand what you're saying I think what's missing even though you say you you're trying to be transparent I think the transparency is still missing I think there's things that this board has done and this is throughout the past now couple years once Mr Depo was put into office I think the lack of knowledge between the business office the administration and the board has been too far and I said this at the last meeting somebody's in charge of all of the money without any checks and balances in place but I also think it's important that the community understands that Mr B you were not the one who hired Mr depa that was the previous administration he came in in June of 2020 When Miss uh Julie Dr Glazer was still uh the superintendent out of the nine people on this board four of you were on the board at that time not all nine of you um uh that in uh June of 22 he was uh sorry October of 22 he was promoted to assistant superintendent Mr Mania when you uh took over full-time I think what's missing is all of the information on the person who made the problem and I think that transparency is what has been lacking I think the transparency of looking at the audit that some people are looking at and saying listen the auditor that has been doing this if you look back at all the audits in place have been doing this until at at least 20 2000 the year 2000 that that auditor does municipalities all across the state not just nutly you can point out all these little things that's missing to clear what is happening between you the board you the administration and you a crook because that's what he is he is a crook Mr Frey yes and and I understand that but obviously it's it's it is a Personnel matter so obviously we cannot comment on that I get it I I'm not asking for comment the fact that the system is being called garbage it is not garbage if it is the system that has been put in place for years that is an issue that has not been checked that is an issue that has not been updated these systems if you are a business are being looked at every single year and updated so the fact that the audit came out and it did come out for 22 23 and it had a boatload of issues in it that is the first one that has come out with issues and yes that audit came out with those issues to say you have a problem and then when you figured out you had the problem after that February 7th audit that's when you went back and went what are we going to do now yes you were fixing those problems in the fall as well but when you're not forecasting out a year that is a problem my bank account I don't look at it and go oh I got never ending money that's all good that's not the way it works you need to forecast out a year you need to look at this monthly not yearly because when you look at something yearly these things are going to slip through that is a problem switching uh to miss makus and I'm sorry that you come in in these situations it's a tough time uh the state monitor uh how long is this position going to be around for uh and 10 years 10 10 years maximum or 10 years uh 10 years maximum I hope okay what about what's the minimum 10 years so that's it flat 10 years all right uh and who paying for the position is that a budgeted uh a line item in the budget yes okay um for the monitor to look how far back are we looking are we only looking at last year or are we looking at from the higher so we're going to be meeting with we like I said uh Mrs Mrs makus just literally was in District today okay okay so we're going to be she has a lot of work a lot of people to to meet with and um that's what we're going to be doing in the coming days and we we we'll have more of an answer for you okay and the forensic audit is that also going to go back to day one of we will as soon as we know exactly you know exactly what the details are we will let everyone know yep um I know the budget changes are not set in stone I know you still have to look at the budget um how much power does the board have and the administration have once it gets turned over to miss the final say is is with our state monitor okay okay you don't have to answer it I got it um Mr Bon you said last night that you're going to look at in and you you've been saying this these are your words uh ineffective use of Staff meaning jobs that are redundant that's my interpretation so correct me if I'm wrong jobs that are redundant or jobs that kind of cross over uh do is that information that the monitor is going to get in this decision- making process the monitor gets all information all all budgetary how we constructed this she vets everything um and it was the inefficiencies were not were not also due to how people were scheduled those types of things you know throughout the district okay uh on Staffing itself I know there's been already some separation from non-end staff who have not been renewed out of curiosity is there a reason why we did it that way and not for budgetary purposes um and if you can't answer that I I I generally can't speak the Personnel decisions but I can tell you that every year we go through the process of reviewing our our staff especially non tenures and we go through the process of uh holistically scoring and looking at them looking at their strengths and also recommending goals for the next year for for our staff um this process is consistent in many districts um and once those once those that's identified actually uh we work with the E to have those conversations and they would prefer to have those sooner than later and that's part of the reason we had that is so you kind of answered the question is is there a reason why it it wasn't a staff reduction as far because now you potentially have to fill those roles is that why you did it that way potentially because every year it's a very similar process we go through and find the best people for our students based on what we're looking at and that that's a that's something we do just out of curiosity statistic wise looking back at meeting minutes since 2018 only 13 teachers or Paris have been terminated not renewed um which is an average of two per year this year so far Spring Garden has lost four Lincoln School has lost one and I know the high school has lost some I don't have that number is there a reason why there's more this year than previous years I would say that numberers uh typically higher than two people get non-renew by just not making on the next or they they typically May resign or things of that nature um I I don't I'd have to check that verify those numbers um I would say that the number this year is is within the range of our typical conversations okay the state the state average and I'm going back to a 2017 report is 2.7 per year that is the state average so again I'm just asking why does this number seem higher than usual is that something that's because of the budgetary issues or is that something that these teachers were just not performing it to part the latter yeah we we reviewed and went through that process was there any was there any thought process in the timing of these uh non-renewals and the reason I asked is because this week is Teacher appr Appreciation Week um it's also mental health awareness month does does it just seem like a lack of of thought in the timing of it our our timing right now is dictated by um our budget preparation as well as working uh through to solve these problems and our state monitor has to review these things so um these cuts are are not something we're looking forward to and we want to make sure they're verified with accurate budget numbers uh VI our state monitor so we still have to go through that process um the prek program it has been approved for 2425 has it been approved past that has the because I know in November is when that budget gets approved has have we been approved so the budget doesn't get approved in November November um you get to um to the state about how many seats you'll have how many classes you have you apply to the state based on what you can accommodate that's your time to increase classes um I believe it gets approved in December I want to say um and then that budget becomes due sometime in the middle of the winter and then that budget has to be approved so the process is really in November I think it's November 15th I want to say off the top of my head you have to project out your next September years okay um and that's how funding happens there are you still looking to expand the program continually throughout uh yes we are okay um with the budget presentation that you um presented um with the deficit of this year the potential $7 million is there an estimated amount of us getting more money so that July 1 we don't open the year and go uh oh we don't have money uh that number is not up to the district it's by looking uh Miss makus will be looking through and talking to I believe the doe and the treasury Department for that okay so that could be a fluid amount of money I I can't answer that question I don't I don't know the answer to that question sure right now I mean we met with the auditor today okay uh to ensure that we have captured all of the purchase orders that we've captured uh we know very clearly what the revenues are going to be uh that's what we were working on today uh and because I have to verify to the state the exact am exact amount of money that they should be loaning to the district so uh that number that you're quoting is may not be the number that you finally read about in the newspaper uh because that's part of the process is for me to to review that and not to ask for more than we need but also not to ask for less than we need so that when we end up June 30th um we're starting clean on July 1st okay makes sense and that's that's what we're doing right now yeah thank you um how has the the budget review process changed um previous two other years I know and I respect all of your your hard work that has gone into creating this current budget is it different than past years well I mean I'll let Mr B answer that but but you know this year obviously the budget has been led by our superintendent so he's the one that has had Direct um input into the budget um for our the financial side um I we've been using Ray sarinelli and his group to verify third party all of our staffing position control roster has been a lot of the time as well as he is direct reporting uh to the Board of Education as to the status of the adequacy of our budget based on the projections he provides us feedback as to uh comparables versus other towns uh similar size similar stature um and what we're looking at we share with him is the needs of the district and he's been working with us to make sure the preliminary budget is adequate as per that and he is direct reporting to the board just I just want to add to that y uh Mr sarinelli has also assisted Mr be with the you know what they call the roster control right and that is that is uh A system that identifies every single Personnel within the school district and actually uh connects it to an individual Department um so that that has been a complete restructuring of that um so that so that everything is is accurate moving forward so that's part of the the Strategic changes that you had talked about is is number one having more eyes on the budget and then having this based on approval flow background checks Board of Ed the um uh and just efficiencies across the board all of all of the budget Creations have been based on the corrective action plan in place is that correct the processes behind uh some of the controls and and in the corrective action plan are being implemented as we speak the corrective action plan most likely will be modified as we learn more and as we look at other parts of the budget to find savings U the corrective action plan I believe is a living document that will be modified yes uh in order to meet the needs of the district um are any of these efficiencies I know Commissioners and Board of Ed two separate entities but the one nutly group plan has been created have any of these efficiencies been crossovers between say Nutley uh parks and wreck people and our athletic department where they can split time between both um has there been any any intertwining between us paying somebody 20 hours in the Board of Ed and 20 hours paid by the the town um that's definitely something we're looking at we our shirt service agreement uh mostly works with facility usage and different things but we are looking to expand that to all possible ways to do this what you're bringing up is a great point and we are looking to capitalize on those improvements yeah and just just again just and you know Mrs makus is here and obviously we appreciate her being here those those thank you for that um but um you know she is like I said this is her her first day in District um you know even though this this this budget was was put together um you know she still needs to spend some time sure you know looking through the budget so that's that's very important and I think that's you know something that everyone needs to understand right um listen I've been through this I've hired people I've fired people I've it's not an easy process I get it I've been fired myself uh it's a part of life I get it but when you have teachers here who feel this is what I've always said in business like walking dollar signs because that's what they are at this point when you are looking at a budget that is how you have to kind of look at it is how much does this person make and then you assess and that's a problem that's a problem because they no longer feel like a human they no longer feel like they they have the back of the people in charge and that's what needs to be clear now more than ever there's teachers here there's parents here there's more than 300 people watching they're going to be continue watching everybody has eyes on this because it affects our kids and it affects the students in more ways than any of us will foresee from here on out for at least 10 years with Mrs makus here it's it I think it's good that we have these meetings but there are also times where the you need to be clear and answer questions that you can answer and I know it's hard to do but there's sometimes where you have to give that tough answer that you can legally give thank you thank you does anyone to have any comments Jack sder I am not a resident but I have been a bus driver for five years U with you guys I just have a couple of recommendations first I'd like to know is is this ma'am are you the monitor please don't go you you put things in you say things that we understand you're not talking up here you know a lot of us don't have budgetary knowledge or whatever but there's two recommendations I'd like to make you you had mentioned that you're not involved the board is not involved with the day-to-day running of the schools and I would strongly recommend that you all get down and come come out and take a look and and get a feel for what goes on before you make any uh decisions on budgets and find out exactly what what is going on in in the schools and the second thing I uh retired from a Fortune 500 company that was uh when I left we were working on getting the um Congressional Mal Malcolm vridge award which is a equality award and one of the things that we or that the company did was we took the pyramid and we turned it upside down so that the people on top were supporting everyone underneath them instead of you know looking down and saying okay you guys do this for us it was you guys doing for the majority of people that kept the company running so I would strongly recommend that maybe you take a look at that too and that's about all I want to say thank you so much thank you does anyone else have any comments Harrison Street has any member of the board ever rode on a school bus and see what it's like to deal with these kids every day we all we only carry special needs kids and these kids are great and I want to keep the great yeah and we can't do that if people don't understand what we do every day but we and and and just just to be clear this board understands but there are there there's difficult decisions that have to be made and and and and so we we understand and we appreciate everybody we appreciate what you do we appreciate what the parents do the teachers all the way up to our administrator the entire District we we appreciate everyone um it's we're just in a challenging time and and we have you know unfortunately we have to make difficult decisions um and we do that we make those decisions based on the information we have uh but of course first and foremost is is the students okay that's the most important thing every decision is that takes that into account is our students uh and then of course our staff uh but again as as as we've explained a lot of these costs uh continue to increase salaries continue to increase okay every year there's there's there's adjustments for for for for the raises that are in in the contracts right there's Health Care there's there's you know all different types of benefits pensions um you know everything goes up gasoline all of that all of that stuff right and and we are limited on the revenue side as to how much we are permitted to increase that and and and even though sometimes you're allowed to go a little above the 2% those costs that are on the expense side side are increasing at sometimes 8 to 10% a year and it's very challenging when you know if you take just one one particular area that goes up by 10 or 15% um that that that in alone would would put you in the red uh so so there are it's it's very challenging and and and I just everybody needs to understand everybody up here every board member understands everybody appreciates everything that you do everything that our teachers our staff we appreciate everything and it's difficult it's not easy to be a peer um you know and and look and and the criticism and I've said it before we understand the criticism and and to some degree we accept the criticism but we are we also do understand you know that what you're going through it's just it's a difficult time there's difficult decisions that have to be made um hopefully those decisions um you know won't affect as many people but again those are the challenges with the budget it's not it's not a simple issue with where we're able to just continue to go and and and take last year's program and run it this year um because it's just those costs are increasing increasing at a rate of 8 to 10 plus percent a year okay well I appreciate your cander and thank you very much thank you anyone does anyone else have any questions good evening Tim Nar 14 Cadet Street uh Miss makus welcome um I'm not going to address specific budget things because I know you're just getting here so there are some things but there are some adjacent things that I'd like to to just comment on first of all I hope that as we've got as some people have gotten notices of poor performance that we're going to continue and I know you can't comment on Personnel but to look at the poor performance of other people who may be resigning on the agenda today who have been in a position in the district and that we will be going to the state after license I also hope as we move forward we look at our hiring practices and not just our budgeting as a simple Google search may have stopped us from being in this predicament to begin with I I would like to to ask one question do we have a retention plan in place I know several of our teachers have talked about being concerned about their positions power of professionals what are we doing to make sure we retain the Great teachers that we have as we know there are school districts all over the state clamoring for teachers and I'm afraid they're going to come in and raid the great teachers that we have so do we have attention plan in place so that we keep the great Educators we have so my kids still get a great education they've been getting yeah I mean thank you for that it's definitely a concern we have great Educators in here and I I know uh not knowing is sometimes um the worst thing right we're moving forward um as quickly as we can to put together reappointment agenda to move forward uh and we are also working to find efficiencies to make sure we retain all our great teachers so retention plan in the term of our expeditious work um I know it may not seem like that I'm saying that right now but we are trying to move with all the parameters we're dealing with right now unfortunately right now it's going to take a little bit longer because we have to review things still as to where our budget is and I'm hoping um through work through time we find um you know where we need to be with all of our great teachers thank you you just one more quick thing and Par professionals as well I want to make sure I add that in there absolutely and just one more thing just because it was mentioned in the budget presentation that there's now third-party eyes on the budget really we've always had those third part party eyes in the finance committee and the Board of Ed itself as elected officials for the town I didn't do my due diligence in paying enough attention in the past to it um but we have those are the third party eyes now we have fourth party eyes in the state Monitor and that gives me hope for the future moving forward but I know for a long term we we do have uh some impact that'll be coming for years thank you thank you anyone else wishing to speak bar love joy Hampton Place I just have a a couple of quick questions about the position of the business administrator are we actively seeking now a new business administrator we're in the search now for a business administrator hello yes uh we will be uh over the the remainder of this week putting out a posting and and actively looking for a buiness so the position here that says acting business administrator will only be in place until we hire a new person yes the business office needs Authority um to do certain tasks by certificate and our assistant business administrator will be put in place pending uh the completion of a search for a new business administr and my last question is the box next to it is blank so can you tell me how much we p being the um acting business administrator um right now the salary is consistent with her current salary okay that's you're you're not able to tell us what the off top my head I don't know it is a person it's probably on a board agenda somewhere I don't know off the top of my head what our assistant business administrator makes I'm not I'm not sure okay thank you thank you anyone else wish your name to speak how you doing my name is dve len tend on a court um I guess this is my first meeting coming to this but uh I guess some of my questions are why is it that when money is lost or a budget is in a deficit the first thing everybody wants to do is cut salaries they always blame salaries benefits that's always the first answer is there no money that can be saved anywhere else because the teachers that are here the power professionals everyone else that's probably going to get cut or whatever those people chose to deal with children they chose to educate them I mean that that was their career choice and I mean I don't see any mty seats up there like where are your resignations I know it doesn't save money but why is it why is it their responsibility when it had nothing to do with the issue that's my question that's you know that's that's a challenging question right um you know we're volunteers and we get we get elected and and so um you know obviously the decisions we make if if the public does doesn't like those decisions they obviously can not vote for us if we decide to run again right but you're you're in the seats right now and I'm coming to you right now as someone who votes who chose this town for the educational system right I have three kids in the school system right now and one more on the way eventually I me in the they went went anywhere from the preschool program into in Lincoln School I think the teachers there are absolutely fantastic I had one one of my daughters she wouldn't open up to anybody even around her own family she was there for a couple of months and I'm telling you she's around her family all the time if you put her in a room outside me and her mother she started crying these teachers within a couple of months had her opened up I mean she talks to it's just amazing what they were able to do and the idea that those people who had nothing to do with it the very first thing is always let's cut salary let's cut benefits they make too much I think that's BS because listen salaries go up all the time they they do they if that's not budgeted for then then there's an there's another issue yeah and there's there's no question that we have you excellent staff right yeah we there there's no question there um and we're looking for efficiencies in all all all different areas um and that's um you know something that which is why our state monitor is here our state monitor is like I said she's going to be you know assisting on this uh looking at those different areas um but again we're looking at all areas from top to bottom and you know if we can find efficiencies uh you know those are things that we're going to do we're going to implement um but but it is it's challenging it's challenging because you know unfortunately salaries salaries and benefits and uh you know uh pensions and all of that make up 80% to 85% of of the budget right but when you get everyone says salaries like they're negative thing what you get with a salary is you get a service you get something that's provided that is tangible you look at people and say okay they make a salary they get benefits but their kids are getting something for that it's very easy to say oh that's the biggest part it should be the biggest part a 100% should be S because these are the people who are doing the work I understand but the reason why I bring that up is not to is not to point out that that's the easiest place to go but just to point out that those are the challenges there's challenges with that that when your your your budget is made up of 80 to 85% salaries and benefits in healthcare it's challenging because some of those things are difficult to to be able to adjust right because of you know Union contracts and all that so those are it's it's not a point to say that that's the largest area and that's where we're going to look it's the fact that that is the challenges of being you know 80 to 85% of the budget and forgive me for not knowing this but so the money that was gone $7 million is that about right that's what I've heard is that close that's the area yes okay what's the total budget that that's out of the total budget for last year so you said out of the seven you're missing $7 million or you over spend $7 million so just to be clear the money's the money's you know based on our our investigation the money's not missing okay okay the money the money is um there was issues in the in the budget on the revenue side overstated revenues and on the budget side understated what's the What's the total budget the total budget for last year uh Mr B what was 80 82 million 82 million 82 million all right so you're missing what 9% 8% again it's not not missing right the money the money is the money is is you're in the red is that good enough to say you're in the red well but when you have when you have overstated revenues and then you have expenditures that were understated right you're you're still doing those Services right you're still you still have those those programs you still have those those payments that you're making uh you just don't have the money for it right I it's a little hard for me to understand if I didn't have money in my account they take my house away they take everything so I'm not fully understanding that but I don't have to I just want to impress upon you and by the way your answers were fantastic you I think you were great up there but uh very entertaining very very good really appreciate it um but just listen people have said it before I know my time's up but I can tell you right now just going with what I find and what most P not whatever people who are elected tend to go with salaries benefits and I just think there are other ways to save that money bad decisions are going to have to be made I can understand that but I don't think it should solely come from that because I mean the teachers here really it's the reason that we chose to live here and to raise our children here and have them go to the school thank you thank you thank you thank you Ryan Bas Le baring your drive first I want to thank everyone who came up and spoke tonight in the last few weeks it takes a lot of courage and I continue to all continue to come up here and and speak your mind um with that said I want to say this is a disgrace that we are here in this position tonight facing these challenges nutly historically has gotten Surplus money and grants to support our special needs program and we should be leading the way in fact now we're we're chasing our tail here and I and I hold all of you most of you up on that stage responsible and you mentioned next election time I assure you next election I will hold you accountable for that the budget issues misappropriation of funds invoices and vient cabinet draws that that's incomprehensible some of the things that we've been hearing from you guys over the last few weeks you know we moved to Nutley 22 years ago because we heard great things about Nutley we came from Linhurst we stayed in Nutley because we saw great things I'm a Raider I'm a Raider I'm a Raider we stayed in Nutley because we saw great things but now I I'm not sure what the future holds for Nutley and the Nutley Public School Systems I currently don't even have a child in the Nutley Public School Systems he graduated last June as a matter of fact today he finished his freshman year at Monclair State University go Red Hawks he was however on the special needs program and went through the program here as he was diagnosed at two and a half with autism he started at Radcliffe at the age of three went over to Lincoln Middle School and then finished at the high school 16 years of IEPs we sat with many people in the room some challenging but you know what he was a success story he came out of a great special needs program in the township of Nutley as again that's why we stayed here because that's what Nutley was known for Miss Mara Miss Howard Miss Renee Miss maresi Miss delita Sarah Fredericks Mr s Miss Sone Miss Wick Mr KY hell even Mr Anderson are just some of the names of the people that had effect on my son every day as he came to school you could ask Mr Anderson he was the first one at the door before anyone else these are just some of the teachers Paris case managers and therapists that guided my son on his journey to where he it today so I say thank you to those who are still here in the room a lot of them left consistency is crucial for all children a lot of the parents have said that here tonight it's a must have for someone with special needs many of you have said in the last few weeks you have family members daughters grandchildren on the Spectrum so you have empathy and and and I'm with you with that and and I share that empathy but make no mistake we're here because of the lack of oversight and the lack of overspending that wasn't because there's a few more percentages of people on Special Needs program that was an oversight in the budget I'm I'm seeing we've over spent 300% on some of these programs over the last year weight rooms and football fields and and name go down the list so it's more than just there's an increase in Special Needs students in in here so please don't make that the issue while we're $7 million over budget okay with that said I I I hope that the rest of the parents here and those that are online that have 16 more years of IEPs to sit through that they have the same experience that we had which was a great one but what I'm seeing over the last few weeks I don't think that's the case case but I hope over the next 10 years during your tenure that you help write the ship here and get us back on track because I still want to be a nutly Raider even though I have no more children in the school system I do have family and friends in the school system so I ask you all to consider what the rest of the parents are saying here tonight and over the last few weeks and ensure that it remains a great program for years to come and you don't Outsource our children's future thank you thank you anyone else wishing to speak oh I'm sorry listening to Tracy smello 27 Nev um coming up behind the gentleman who just spoke wonderful about in District my son David is out of district and I understand how expensive it is to send a child out of a district he's 18 he's been 18 years of IEPs ifsps I can't even name all the amazing therapists counselors case managers our child study team has been amazing absolutely amazing I pride myself telling I teach Inc Carney and I go there every day and speak of the amazing amazing child study teams that I have dealt with in Nutley um like I said I know how expensive it is and I just want to say thank you to Mr banan because I did send an email and you promptly responded to me and I do want you to consider all children in District out of District that we really really follow that IEP that individual part of their education plan to know that they all deserve amazing things and I'm speaking on both ends because I have a seventh grader who's typical I have a freshman who has an IEP because she has a hearing aid so I run the gamut of all of it and I just really really appreciate everything that you do everything our teachers do our case managers and to please please consider the children who need things I don't want to say the most because every child does but transportation our power professionals the AIDS on the bus Rich was my son's bus driver for a couple of years um everybody in Nutley every single bus driver and Aid that I have encountered has been nothing short of amazing and to take that away from our children would be a complet detriment so thank you for your time uh Mrs Vegas from the first of all I just want to say I love education I truly love it I could never be a teacher but I love education and so I went into the business side of it when budgets are put together it is important to understand that budgets are not numbers that's what we're talking about today because we're in a situation where numbers are important but when a budget is prepared a budget is not numbers every number reflects a child every number reflects education and when a budget is prepared hopefully with my help that's what you have to look at you don't look at it as numbers it's how much can we squeeze out for the children in this case of Nutley and that's what we are going to do I know that the picture that my job is um there's no question my job is is to ensure that Nutley doesn't over expend its budget again there's no question about it and decisions are going to have to be made and not everybody's going to be happy with every decision but know that when we analyze the budget I am not looking at numbers and I can tell you I've been here uh I started yesterday I spent the day here with your superintendent I have never seen anybody worked so hard uh as he did today he was at every meeting with me uh every question was answered uh the people in your business office I have to say are wonderful people and I say to you that his approach and I don't know the board as well but I believe their approach too the approach is looking at it in terms of children and that's what we're going to do it doesn't mean everybody's going to be happy with this some of you are going to call me names that I probably have been called before but understand that we are not looking at numbers we are looking at children that's what the budget is it's children and we are going to work our hardest to achieve the most that we have with the dollars that are available so that you are not sitting here next year asking what happened uh we need a Baseline and that's what we're looking for 2425 to be the new Baseline we have to straighten the ship once we do that what you are going to see I hope is that Nutley achieves and is where was three years ago uh it's going to take us a while I tell people that we have to take baby steps and we're not going to be taking Giant Steps we're taking baby steps as long as we're moving forward and that's what we're going to do but understand that My Philosophy uh is that a budget represents children and we will do our best to ensure that that is the focus at all times with all the tough decisions that this board is going to have to make um I appreciate the opportunity sir thank I thank you for that those comments thank you hi good evening Charing Gonzalez 423 Center Street good evening Mr B and the board um I am a parent I have two children one who's out of the district already um as the other gentleman spoke uh just finished her freshman year today at Montclair State in University studying music therapy um we've come from the elite uh music program that uh Mr V started off us on um both of my children have IEPs um I can't tell you the consistency the importance it is to stay consistent within the district for our children especially um children who have related Services my son is currently finishing at Radcliffe with the amazing Mr Carney who you know I always joke around with him that he will be coming with us to middle school and high school because I mean he can attest to the many many changes that Maximus has had where he started with Mrs LaGuardia at Spring Garden school when he was three years old literally two days after he turned three years old he's been in the school system um my thing my biggest thing here is that our students would be nothing without the amazing Paras that we've had in this School District um I just thank you thank you to every single par starting from JP Garcia who's no longer here to miss Laura vulpi um to Miss Gina Casal to all the amazing Paras that have you know done the amazing things that they've done for our son and for my daughter as well but there have been many changes Maximus has experienced many changes over nine years Paris just being switched out put elsewhere um behaviorist you know um uh just counselors there's no consistency now that it's worked out for my son with the consistency that we've had what would you say Mr Carney two years that we've had the same child study team staff with the counseling and the behaviorist almost two years that we've had no changes roughly about so behaviors is a little new but you know behaviors is pretty good because she's following the format but we have to understand that when we keep making these changes and you have plan that's in effect for your child not every single behaviorist knows how to carry out the the nuances of it not every single um Aid is not even Paras they're not informed as much um about the plans that are in place for your child we have wonderful teachers that work with them we have Mrs Ryan who I worked with Max for two years and we do have excellent teachers but we also do need more support for the Paras the Paras have a very strong voice in our children's life and they're not acknowledged enough so my request to you is to stay as transparent as possible please try not to make as many changes that the board sees fit you know Administration like they're nothing without the support system like they need consistency as well they need to feel supported so I just like to thank you all because we have stayed at nutly because of the program but there have been instances where I've been seriously considering maybe going out of District because of the change changes but if we can try to stay consistent for our children who have these needs that changes are very hard for them within itself it would be a better program and I'm also speaking for the students that are out of District as well I have a wonderful my daughter's best friend her sister her little sister is in a wonderful program at Alpine I would hope that these changes would not be affected for them as well because again we come to this town because we've heard nothing but wonderful things for the special education community so I would really hope that those changes that you guys are looking at is not going to affect the little ones and I would hope that the teachers that are here now who are not working with the special needs Community are not affected with over bombarding of over populations of students in their classrooms as well and I'd also like to thank the Amazing Music Department that we have here as well because if it wasn't for this department my daughter would thank you do anyone else wish to come up and comment okay seeing none can I have a motion to close the public hearing part Mr baglia would you move Finance resolutions uh Mr President please I'd like to move Finance resolution one is written discussion Mr President if I may like some clarification about the timeline with this budget uh we have to vote on this budget by tonight yeah so I think that's kind of the challenge we have to vote on this budget tonight um I'm actually a little bit torn on on voting on this budget without Mrs makus you having the opportunity to review um the budget um thoroughly um obviously you've been in District just today so um that's a challenge for for me uh I'm sure it's a challenge for also the board uh you you can have some you I'm sorry you can have somebody move to table uh the budget to a uh budget approval to a a specific date uh and recess this meeting uh and uh at that time uh we will come back and hopefully you'll be in a position to reconsider but it has to be a date certain okay because I that that would make obviously like I think that would make this board feel better that you've had the opportunity to review the budget and have obviously input on the budget um although you do have overall input on the budget but um uh I I I then I would like to make a motion then to recess this meeting um to yeah you have to make a you have you have three issues on the on the agenda okay you need to uh table one of them okay vote on the other two tonight and uh then table it to a date certain which I would ask that it be next week next week okay okay so um Mr President yes I will make the motion to table the finance resolution number one um and move that agenda to I believe it's May the 13th which is next Monday night uh hold on Mr kazinski um I believe you you have to table resolutions one through no four she just said only one the only the only the only motion you're going to take table or or anything that's related to the budget so the first that would be one Finance resolutions 1 through 4 okay yes the Personnel ones not just just Finance resolutions one through four yes all all of those have to be yes tabled then I amend my I I would make the motion that we table Finance resolutions 1 through four until Monday May the 13th um m Mr kazinski I'd um I I'd like to give Miss maker some more time I'd like to table it to Thursday May 16th if that's if that's better for your schedule that would give that would mean that I wouldn't have to necessarily work all weekend okay kidding just just kidding whatever is convenient for the board uh uh just understand and the attorney will tell you better than I uh I believe that uh certain notifications have to be done by May 15th yes be submitted by the 15th well notifications terms of personnel yeah yeah on the non-renewals and things like that yes I justess so that that that that that has to be I just I know the date was asked on whether it has to be May will be by May 15th yes those decisions will have to be reviewed and and superintendent will have to make by May 15 okay I I just want to be fair fair to you um to give you as much time as as you need so that's why I Mr kazinski I put forward this May May 16th Thursday May 16th at 6:30 I I think but that's I don't I don't know that that's allowable I understand we have to have the budget submitted by the 15th well uh yes there but and there is a process and we are taking advantage of of the process okay okay I I'll I'll defer to the attorney I'll defer to miss bers then I will yield to our monitor okay then I will again amend my motion that we table Finance resolutions 1 through 4 until um Thursday May 16th second discussion Mr Bal so this is roll call on tbling this is roll call on the motion t tbling one to four yes Mr balamo yes Mr Baga yes Mrs Dan Martin Dr deia yes Mr fragel Mr kazinski yes Mrs cor yes Mr Scotty yes Mr F yes and just make sure the resolution forers has the date certain in that resolution of 16th at 6:30 resol includ purposes of the state monitor to do uh a review okay so so now we have uh Finance Mr pag okay so so then we need to if there's any discussion on items five and six if there's no discussion then roll call Mr balama Mr baglia yes Mrs Dan Martin Dr yes Mr fraginals Mr kazinski yes Mrs quk yes Mr Scotty Mr Faro yes Mr deia will you take Personnel agenda Mr President I'd like to move to approve Personnel agenda items A and B as they are written discussion roll call Mr balamo yes Mr bagia yes Mrs danek Martin Dr Delia yes Mr fragels Mr kazinski yes Mrs Quirk yes Mr Scotty yes Mr feraro yes is there any old business that come before the board any new business Mr President if I could and um I had a speech all prepared but since we postponed our budget discussion I'll save it for then but I I did want to thank Miss Martin for her input the feeling that you expressed certainly has always been my feeling but I can't speak for the board but I think most of us feel that way it's a difficult time in Nutley I've been on the board 27 years I've never had to think or even contemplate voting no on a budget uh but because of the circumstance we're in now I'm glad we're going to postpone it till we get a more clarity on the budget but again I thank you for your input sorry Mr President thank you Mr kazinski any uh any new business to come before the board okay um then I make a motion to recess tonight's meeting to Thursday May 16th at 6:30 second brok Mr balamo Mr baglia yes Mrs danek Martin Dr Jia Mr fragels Mr kazinski yes Mrs Quirk yes Mr Scotty Mr far yes okay thank you everyone [Music]