Board of Education to order on Thursday March 12th 2024 in compliance with chapter 231 Public Law 1975 entitled open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as specified in the act in the following manner a meeting notice was published in the newspaper on the district website on January 17th 2024 in addition the notice of the meeting was posted at the municipal building in the schools and a copy of the notice filed with the Township Clerk and transmitted to other newspapers on February 28th 2024 four these include the Daily Record The Star Ledger parsipany Focus tap into parsipany parsipany patch and the district website this regular public board meeting is being video recorded as per bylaw 0168 the recordings of these meetings will be available on our district website and on our video Ono YouTube channel we ask that you please refrain from using student or staff names in your statement professionalism is expected at all times may we have the roll call please Mrs Abraham here Mr baros here Mrs kogan here Mrs mayor here Mr Rea here Mrs Chappelle here Dr Wright here Mrs Golder here Mr chappa here please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right we will begin with our student committee reports uh Miss Smith would you mind hello everybody Key Club had their coffee house on February 27th from 6:00 to 8: with all proceeds going towards Erica's Lighthouse charity the junior class held their schoolwide dodgeball tournament on February 29th with much success the girls basketball team had their banquet on the 29th at the mansion in Mountain Lakes the glamys were hosted on March 1st with Junior presenters and Senior nominees on March 2nd the Winter Guard had a successful competition earning earning fifth place amongst the 14 teams competing on March 3rd PHS students Emma Gonzalez Ana Sinha and Stephanie Guan sang with the acda all Eastern honors Choir in Providence Rhode Island our annual student versus faculty basketball game was held on March 5th with the students winning by a tighter margin than expected all proceeds went towards Project Graduation as a part of this competition a penny war was deciding which team was able to start with five added points the staff was able to start with the lead but as we saw the lead did not give them as much help as they needed the blood drive was also held on the 5th with the support of many student and staff donators and volunteers the march concert for band and choir was on the 6th at 7 p.m. with a canned food drive being held there as well T pugante and Andy Shaw qualified for for deca's National Conference on the 6th after passing their objective tests and financial team decision-making roleplay event placing sixth in the state they are heading to California in a month for the national competition on the 7eventh we had our third college fair through donations by students and staff the Start program was able to make 30 birthday kits to donate to the Interfaith Food Pantry on the eth the parpan Leadership Retreat was held at the palal connecting the hills and the high through games speeches and small discuss us groups on the same day peer buddies had a karaoke night we've had many more students committing to colleges like Damien caran playing lacrosse at Felician College Luca Casio playing soccer at Ramapo College Amelia Chappelle playing soccer at Stockton University and Ava teresi playing lacrosse at Rowan University the Key Club is selling hot chocolate by the cafeteria during testing from Tuesday to Thursday for a dollar per drink on the n9th the senior class had their senior fun night Ed Diamond City Sports and finally a group of students went to Atlantic City for an fbaa state competition yesterday and they will be there for a few days so we wish them luck thank you m pankar hi everyone um so more Sussex Court employees visited phhs on Wednesday um February 21st to provide an overview of various careers in courts and the rural of various courts on the 28th of February um we had our infrastructure trial for the NJ GPA which is taking place this week and it's perfect cuz we get delayed openings if we're not testing uh the phhs and Brook lawn had com their combined choir concert on the 27th in February at 700 p.m. students from our chamber choir performed with the middle school students um wintergard had another amazing performance where they won third place at Woodbridge with a score of 68.7 girls wrestler Kayla Mena play placed third in her weight class at the region regional tournament and then qualified for the state tournament which she placed eighth in the 200 medley relay qualified for the swim meet of champions last week at gcit and then last week par Hills Deca took 31 qualified members to the state competition at Harris Conference Center in Atlantic City Trevor snellings and Kaye corn Reich um placed as finalists in the business finance team event and then our co-presidents k City Patel placed as finalists in The Business Law and ethics team event hope Rosen and Aaron Matthews will be going to the international competition in Anaheim California next month and hope was a top qualifier for apparel and accessories marketing which was her first time doing the event and Aaron qualified with high yield portfolio in the stock market competition on the fifth um The Varsity Club hosted a Gaga tournament which was $1 game uh we had our spring college fair on the 7th hosted by the counseling corner on March 16th we have the Project Graduation closing Drive fundraiser at the school from 9:00 to 12:00 in the morning the more secondhand items we get the more we raised for Project Graduation and then this week the FBLA members went to Atlantic City like Emily said and they will return on Thursday after the award ceremony on Wednesday last Friday we had our first cultural assembly clubs like Indian cultural Club African-American Club GSA Anime Club and then the drama club put on performances to demonstrate their club's purpose and then last Friday was also oural day and the half day with the office hours um and then for spring musical are you looking to have the best day ever this Thursday is the opening night for our musical SpongeBob it's at 7:00 p.m. tickets will be sold at the door $10 for adults um $5 for senior citizens and free for any student with the phhs ID the musical is from the 14th through the 16th and then this week along with music Honor Society student council is holding another pop-up Spirit Week um today was dress like your favorite genre for example cowboy hats for country music Wednesday is wear pink which is the national color for music education Thursdays we're yellow for the opening night of SpongeBob the musical um Friday is we're tiea because music ties us all together on the 25th we're hosting a blood drive as there is a as there is currently a national blood shortage students students under 16 must get parent per permission to donate but yesterday there was registration and on the 21st we have our annual Hill Senior standouts which is our senior superlative show and then on the 28th we have our spring pep rally celebrating the spring athletes and then the beginning of Spring break thank you is that all yes yes do any board members have uh questions for c Emily uh Mrs gold uh Mrs mayor sorry um SpongeBob is Thursday at 7 Friday at 7 yeah and Saturday in the afternoon right I think so yeah okay thank you m when was the clothing Drive uh March 16th at um 900 in the morning to 12:00 in the morning thank you Mr R um the blood drive could you just repeat the dates on that as well uh um March 25th and where is it at it's at our school oh at the it's at the school okay great any other questions thank you Emily Sia thank you so much I appreciate your uh very diligent very detailed [Music] reports uh before we suspend the agenda I just like to recognize two dignitaries audience Mr Matt McGrath Town council member Matt thanks for coming and uh Mr Matt DeVito for our Board of Education member Matt thanks for coming no other mats right in the audience um I'm going to suspend the regular uh agenda tonight uh for a budget presentation on the tentative uh 2024 2025 budget uh with that I will turn this uh meeting over to Dr Suter and Mrs Tesco I forgot to this [Music] is good everyone tonight myself and Mr Esco will be presenting the tentative budget for the 20124 2025 school [Applause] year the Boe budget timeline the Board of Education would be tonight is our tentative adoption March 12 2024 the total budget amount cannot change items within the budget can be altered we will have further discussion at our board meeting on March 28th and April 11th and the public hearing and the public adoption of the budget will be at our April 25th 2024 meeting as you can see from the slide pany Troy Hill School District mission statement the mission of the parpan Troy Hills Township School District in partnership with families and the Greater Community is to challenge and nurture all students academically and to develop confident Learners who are compassionate generous appreciative and invested in their diverse world this will be accomplished through Innovative opportunities that Inspire lifelong learning critical thinking problem solving creative exploration Democratic collaboration among students and staff our next slide is our strategic goals our strategic goals for the district as you can see number one members of our Learning Community will Design student- centered opportunities that require active student engagement and the authentic connection to real life experiences that strengthen creative problem solving critical thinking leadership community service and social impact our next goal members of our Learning Community will receive support for social and emotional awareness and mental and physical health in order to flourish demonstrate empathy and celebrate the diversity of all our 2024 2025 Boe budget directive is to adhere to the following goals in the construction of the 2024 2025 School operating budget we want to manage and control expenses in the operating budget with the goal of achieving an endof thee surplus of 2.5% of the total operating budget and optimized capital reserve we want to provide adequate funding that does not diminish to the greatest degree possible current services to students including facil ities upgrades where feasible security and support of the goals of the Strategic plan ensure our tax levy of 2% exclusive of the sgla spending growth adjustments and Bank cap support current expansion projects at this time I'm going to turn the meeting over to miss Tesco hi everyone so how do we balance the budget this year let's take a look the district received one 1, 14771 168 in additional state aid this is just so that you know less than 1% of our budget the district is using a health care adjustment to offset the 7.8% health benefit increase that we're facing and an enrollment adjustment as well as Bank cap to help fund the increases to program costs the increase in state aid along with the adjustments help the district balance the 2425 budget and in case you wanted to know what bank cap is because we've been asked that before it's a prior year adjustment that can be used in a subsequent budget to offset the rising costs our next slide is our capital projects and en and equipment that we will be um the capital projects that we will be doing in the next budget cycle and the equipment that we will be buying this slide shows roof Replacements window door concrete and Paving Replacements classroom renovation costs technology infrastructure upgrades security camera Replacements and school building painting our next slide is our Revenue sources this slide shows how the budget is funded here in cor siany 86% of the budget is funded by the local taxes followed by state aid which makes up 8% of the budget federal and state grants make up 2% the rest of the budget is funded by miscellaneous revenues from facility usage refunds and tuition charges our next slide shows our budget appropriation so 42% of the budget is um is for instruction followed by 18% of the budget is employee benefits 12% goes to support services such as media child study team guidance curriculum and supervisors 8% of the budget is allocated to maintain our buildings and 6% transports our students another 6% is for administration including our technology departments the final 8% of the Appropriations are allocated to Capital project Health legal and audit services as well as the district Debt Service our next slide shows how the taxes are calculated our tax levy for the 2425 school year inclusive of The Debt Service is 158 Milli 745,000 513 the taxes will increase $161 38 important upcoming dates Board of Education meetings on March 28th and April 11th and a public hearing and budget adoption on April 25th will conclude the budget season does anybody have questions thank you Dr s Mr Desco um first thank thank you to yourself and the business office for putting the budget together um the parpan school district is a complex Beast with um lots of moving parts U much of them old moving Parts unfortunately that require a lot of care and feeding plus the um requirement to be in compliance with the Myriad state and federal um laws uh so we really appreciate that um any board members do you have questions on the tenative budget anybody but Mr no Mr beas thank you Mr thank you Mr President thank you Mr Desco Mr Suter Dr Suter I apologize um I have a a couple a series of questions so please forgive me but I was home today can you um can you explain to me where you got the ratables for 2024 I get them from the tax assessor's office I got them directly from Dan CIS that's par tax assessor right yeah um and I believe if I remember that the ratables for 2024 is up from 2023 yes roughly and the assess values of average home I believe is pretty much the same as was last year it was up like it was up like $2,000 maybe yeah okay yeah all right um so a basic question is on our pie chart for Revenue pimp not I'll get to that next budget Appropriations please remind me again if I remember correctly our pretty much static or fixed costs fall under the categories of a b and c instructional employee benefit Support Services correct fixed meaning that you have them every year happen every year right absolutely so so basically for us as a board as a district really where you can kind of play Within the margins a little bit comes in the other small percentage of what's available the other half of the pie other third of the pie so if you need to make a tweak here and there that's what you did it but you can't touch those static costs you cannot touch the static cost no so there's right so so they stay and we're talking about teacher salaries corre all of you know the CBA agreements corre right teacher salaries benefits all those right that is correct so for an example um the Littleton expansion just um that we we're currently going through um where in this pie chart does that fit so the Littleton expansion you're talking about the construction piece of it correct in the current budget 23 24 right but I'm saying what what little uh what little nugget what little uh slice here does it fit into if if it was in this budget it would be in the capital outlay capital outlay or it would be a um which is G basically and that's an area where if you had to you could get their pencil and sharpen your pencil a little bit and make changes if you had to so basically in none of these fixed costs are there anywhere where I can sit there and say we got to expand Littleton and we're going to adjust one of those three uh a or it would be very hard to do that you'd have to save put money away in the capital reserve corre you'd have to see if your excess surplus funds came out for the the previous year see how much money you had left over to to do capital projects right the next year okay uh my next question goes more into um so after the meeting on the 25th April 25th which will be where we'll actually vote on the budget can you take me through the next series of steps that happens after that so it comes to the budget the board votes yes and then what happens the next day just take me take me through the transition like does it go to the count County does it go to the state okay so what happens is after you guys vote tonight on the tenative budget it goes to the county office correct then over the the course of time between March 20th the date that is statutorily due and April 25th the date that we have assigned to our you know public adoption of the budget um the the county will go through the budget if there's any changes they'll get back to us in that time frame right after um we get it approved by the county we advertise the budget it goes out in the newspapers then we have our budget adoption on the 20 um what was it a the 25th of April um and then after that the the budget gets posted on the website the user friendly budget and then we go through all the Motions of renewing everything for the new year we go through the salaries everybody will be approved for the next year um all of the services will be approved for the next year we'll start our new year on July 1st got it in that time frame also we do our um tax certification right that goes to the town the town signs off on it and we get it back and we have to submit that right all right so the next question is fairly simple because I'm sure it's self-explanatory is so come September 1st um we look at our um our district size you know amount of enrollment and let's just say for argument sake we increased our student enrollment by 15% right so roughly about what time does the state come back and adjust our budget to to meet that accordingly those 15% extra students it does not the state does not come back and adjust it on September 1st you know you get your your enroles coming in you say 15% so that's a lot of students in the district um the students go into the schools we fig figure out how we're going to educate them the district we we just can't reopen that budget and say we need more money because we got more students no no that doesn't happen no you can't open the budget what you can do is appropriate the fund balance but I would never ever suggest put you put you at risk yes so right yes well I'm I'm I'm making sorry I'm just kind of trying to I'm very conservative but yes it it it does it will put you at Great risk so if we were stuck with that scenario although it hasn't happened um if we were stuck with that scenario we would have to look the other pieces of that pie which you can use a sharpened pencil and actually have to maybe transfer money transfer money from point8 you know from the G fund to a to an H fund let's say for ARG yes we could do that yeah you could do that but basically bottom line you're going to have to sacrifice somewhere in order to to bring that to fruition you know you are absolutely correct okay I wasn't sure I was kind of bottom line stays the same um I guess the next question is of all this additional funding that we received the 1.47 what was it 14 1.47 trillion dollars right that was it no I'm sorry trillion yeah yeah um roughly I mean I know you said it's less than 1% so um ideally what would we use that for just we use used it to fund the budget right so our fixed costs we use that additional state aid and all the adjustments to fund the budget's fixed costs okay so we didn't put anything extra in the budget got it okay thank you you cleared up a lot for me thank you you're welcome Tim thanks for the great questions uh Wendy yes uh is the um increased State allowance for health The increased percentage in health but does that actually cover our increased health benefit costs is that like no no what's the difference do we know um you can have let me see I think it was 6.3% but don't quote me okay and 6.3% they allow you to have a 2% increase and then they will give you an adjustment based on how much state health benefits went up yep and then they give you a percentage of that so you don't even get all of it so it's some percentage between the 2% and 6.3% I believe so we kind of start out in a whole regarding health benefits at least um well anything over 2% yes anything over and it is over 2% yes y 7.8 That's a notable difference in fact um and so that enrollment adjustment so those that potential 15% students like that that do that goes in at Le into the computer program the enrollment adjustment from the state the next year so the enrollment adjustment that we got this year is part of the tax taxes that we just presented okay it's already in there it's in this in this and so it would be the like once we basically have to float the students any new students for a year until we can make those adjust you get an enrollment adjustment the next year no are you talking about the increase of 15% in stud no I'm I should okay um if so the if when you say if you get the enrollment adjustment is that mean this like we could have 15% more students in the state could not adjust well they have a they have a a very complex formula I went through all of the formula calculations the other day it is very complex it's based on six years of data it's based on weighted calculations so I can't answer you until I see next year's budget and my understanding is they kind of keep that under locking key it's not that they keep the budget under lock and key how they the way they formulate and figure out the weighted calculations not that it changes but the way they're interpreting us as a district I can't tell you what that's going to be until after I see the budget and so there's a certain percent of amount of that just isn't in our control right there I was surprised that we got an enrollment adjustment this year that's why I went through all the calculations have to be honest with you um is there any additional bank cap that we're not going to retain no we used all of our bank cap it was $5,245 that we had left over from last year that we didn't use last year and we used every drop this year so both adjustments and the bank cap and um under the state and federal programs line um of budget appropriation what are the kinds of things that are paid for with that because like that's not special services because that goes under instruction right like what's you're talking about I on the budget yeah what is just an so that's like Ida title one it's the federal grants it's any of the in in um in town grants that we get so that could be a myriad of things Bud budget Appropriations not Revenue um budget appropriation state and federal programs yeah that's the same it's the same on both sides Revenue side and this side and the appropriation side but like what's an example of the thing that would get paid for because like the like teacher salaries for special educ two Title One teachers that get paid out of there that this is also an instructional cost in like probably the bulk of that state federal program is an instructional cost it's to probably if I was going to say the bulk of it that it's tuition District yeah DEA that's the biggest chunk okay all right I think thank you very much I appreciate it welcome thanks thank you the great questions any Mrs kogan I I just have a general one I think we've alluded to it but I just want to make sure it is said like you went through and met with the principles and the supervisors and asked them what they needed maintenance you know you went and got your list of what everybody was asking for and then you tried to create this budget you were in no way able to give everybody what they asked for right like you had to take away and tell people no you cannot We cannot put this in the budget I could not get everything or Sue and I because the two of us did it together we could not get everything in the budget that everybody asked for we tried to give you know for like heli and balloons or something like they're asking for things that they're asking for curriculum thing things they're asking for you know technology things you know things that we could use in the district absolutely okay thank you Mrs Golder okay I mean in the past in what uh Dr right was saying in the past we have um we've had a history of being underfunded so it was you know it was a a welcome thing to see is that they gave us extra money which they normally don't and even then we're not fully funded either um and the the the issue the issue in terms of you know just the budget that um you know we have for example elementary schools and I'm going to make it as simple as you know a box of crayons you know for each student and then some parents will put online well you know why is the teacher asking for another box of of um students why because in the budget you have one box of crayons for that student and you know we can't take into account how old they are and whether they're going to break them or anything like that because that's just impossible to do so um you know it's we can only do the best in trying to with with the small percentage of of the budget that we can manipulate okay to do those purchases something you know tissues toilet paper I mean you know cleaning supplies it's just the type of you know daily expenses that we all have and they've risen you know over 50% in some cases so we're faced with the same reality and and it's you know and we're not talking about you know we're not talking about any increase yet we're just talking about you know um supplying things for the current students and in in facing you know in in FA I mean we may be we may be uh pushed to ask for donations from you know from companies from you know tax deductible donations to to be able to buy you know exercise equipment for the high school you know things like that because you know as I mentioned as I mentioned before before my children were in high school I had no idea that you know we Pro we had to provide the the um room for the students to exercise so that they could be better athletes etc etc and and I'll never forget when I said $6,000 for a treadmill you know and I'm talking 2011 you know so it it costs money and and and it's and that's just talking in very simple terms you know in in everyday type of cost so um Robin my hats off to you as always thank you so much for taking care of us you know as a district and um you know we it's not something that um it it's always a difficult task every year um to put out but it's the reality of where we stand right now um and um you know a lot of people are saying if you want to you know not a lot of people you know economists are saying if you want to live like you you know like you did three years ago you you need 67% raise you know and it's it's just not doable you know so thank you thank you but I also Sue did help me do the whole budget oh I'm sure I just want to put thanks to your whole office and Mr baras sorry um I have a couple of follow-up annoying questions which is perfect for me um by the way thank you again you and Sue and the rest of your team having worked with you guys over the years I know what you guys put into this so God bless you thank you so I guess the question is you know this seems very complex how how difficult was this putting this budget together it was it was difficult we worked pretty much night and day for like 3 weeks last week right I it was it was a long week so you didn't leave any stone on turn Bas we went through every line right and and multiple times exactly um one of the things that caught my eye and I'm just was kind of curious Transportation um transportation I'm assuming would be like the what PPP owns in in buses and then what we also paying salaries pay out to sta yes right um that number seemed kind of light to me I don't know am I am I not seeing that correctly it was yeah that's right 10 million 573 okay so for for argument sake you know we for some reason had to one one of our schools gets overcrowded and you know just can't fit another body in there and we had to maybe make some other arrangements um and we had to get additional transportation is that covered in that uh 10th 10 six or would that be something that would be above and beyond the current allocated budget so that's a complex question depends on when they're where they're going okay depends on if we have transportation that's going to that place correct is it in the budget no but can you fit children on or students on buses that we currently are running yes right so it is a complex question if there're if they're going out of District no probably not in the budget correct right all right I guess yeah because the number for some reason right that number though is a million dollars more than it was last year because I put a 5% increase just for sta alone right on that line and if I remember you saying last year and I could be wrong but st's number went crazy last year correct I think it was two years ago two years ago two two years ago yep yeah and that was fuel cost and whatever else it was just their their cost I guess to maintain their drivers and keep their drivers they they pretty much raised all the the rout cost we had to go out to bid they didn't renew us we had to go out to bid and I believe that if I remember correctly something like that you know you traditionally go offer bids anyway so you're always checking yourself to make sure that we're competitive and we're not you know over the top so to speak with Transportation sometimes we try to renew because you don't know what's going to happen if you go out to Bid And if we are able to we will try like this year we're going to try to renew because to go out to bed we know we're going to pay more than I think the the transportation increase this year is 5.13% correct so I put that in the budget already and for a school like por siany Troy Hills you're probably looking at only a handful if that of of bus companies that can support our our size okay thank you very much you're welcome just uh one one question on on the um health insurance costs uh so 7.8% increase that's price waterhous Coopers does a national survey of the average annual health um Premium Insurance uh costs each year and it's about 7 and a half% this year so that's pretty close to the average a few past few years it's been significantly higher yes it than that has the district made any structural changes to the plan um to the coverage to enrollment eligibility that may have led to the decrease or is it simply that utilization was was down and that the plan ran uh financially well two years ago we switched from Horizon to Etna to you know kind of keep cost down I think that year it went up like 19% if I remember correctly um last year I don't remember the exact increase something around 10 or 11% maybe um but don't quote me because I'm just using my memory here um yeah so we didn't make any changes this year all we did was ask our advisors to go out and solicit quotes for us and that's what they're doing and right now these are guesstimates as to what the the um the actual health benefit increase will be those um actual estimates will be coming in the bids will be coming in okay thank you and inflation this the third year a little over the third year where inflation's been running between 3 and 4% depending on what what you put into that inflation number today inflation data came out running um higher than anticipated at 3.2% um and it's it's been between three and four I said the last few years um yet the school district is um only allowed to raise its budget by 2% not withstanding some some smaller adjustments um how have you been able to manage the budget the last few years and keep us where we need to be it's like this can I just say one thing we're only allowed 2% of the tax tax not of our budget correct thank thank you for that yeah um yeah with great difficulty exactly I mean we CH we didn't leave any stone unturned this year for sure I mean breakage everything we took right Mr help correct me if I'm wrong but it's I think the word you're looking for is sacrifice we've had to give up a lot of things that we really needed true right very true but kids have crayons they have books there's teachers in classrooms the heat's on yes okay thank you very much are true thank you I I want to just say thank you to Robin and to sue as well because they really did a tremendous job and I couldn't do it without [Music] [Applause] them so at this time if there is anyone who would like to address the board regarding the budget only uh please come up sign your name uh and address in the book at the lecturn and state your name for the record and please address the chair each person will have three minutes to speak to the board um it would be helpful if you would like to adjust the board please do so now come up sign the book uh after the first speaker is finished would anybody like to come up and address the board on the budget only okay seeing none I will close that portion of the public um comment section um correspondents any correspondents that come before the board no there's [Music] not is there any UNF and unfinished business Mr varos I can't no thank [Music] you um anyone else unfinished business no okay we're going to go into um committee reports and as I've been doing just want to highlight a couple of things um that have transpired since the last board meeting many of which I've talked to Dr Sutter about um the board has decided to look at the residential developments whether they're they're pilot projects or not pilot project projects and assigned to various committees different um uh different duties uh so the ad hoc committee will continue to be focused on tax revenue and funding uh buildings and grounds we'll uh focus on classroom space considerations uh that includes within our own buildings expanding our own buildings and potentially going out to um uh look for uh new locations uh either ground up schools or the refurbishment of um vacant buildings within the township as as we know there are a lot of commercial office space that's vacant right now um and we're going to pursue all uh options to to have the most cost effective and efficient um plan in place for for our district and for the kids in our district uh we have our Communications uh efforts uh we now have an faq's section on the district website that's pilot and residential development focused um members of the public can uh use a link there and submit questions and of course board members can formulate their own question questions that we will put up there and our policy committee is um continuing to look at District policies that may be affected by um additional enrollment Dr Suter you had sent out some information about the mount Taber promising practices project a lot of piece um can you just give us an update on that um well I wanted to congratulate the mount Taber school for being selected to participate in the promising practices project and study which identifies promising te teaching and learning practices in New Jersey because Mount tamber School demonstrated learning acceleration during the covid-19 pandemic Mount tab was selected um after comparing their performance to schools with similar characteristics considering factors such as socio economic status of the school Community race ethnicity of the students and proportions of students with limited English proficiency or with disabilities so they showed an increase so we were selected thanks Bob any um questions on that no um last board meeting there were some questions regarding uh HVAC practices in our schools um with some suggestions for potentially uh changing some of the way we the ways we run our HVAC um with potential cost savings I think Dr Sutter you had reached out to our um HVAC consultant and you know posed that question to him yes I reached out to danam McDougall who was our our maintenance director and um what he had said was that the air conditioning unit were to run at their lowest settings he he he says he did not say that um Mr McDougall stated that all of our staff including head custodians were instructed on numerous and ongoing occasions that air conditioning units were to be set at 72 degrees during the summer months these units have their own thermostats to control the temperature in each classroom and do not require a centralized building automation system to control them Mr McDougall explained that our buildings do not have the required infrastructure to support centralized cooling systems without very costly improvements to the overall system far exceeding any covid related funding available Mr McDougall explained that just one mold related incident can easily run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars and easily exceed the million dollar range Mr mle further explained that the cost liabilities for mold remediation is extremely high and this is why insurance companies no longer provide unlimited coverage and limit their coverage to $1 million unfortunately there just is no money in the budget for projects such as this thank you any any questions on HV no thank you um you know one of the things I've always been proud of as a board member is you know my support of the Arts and you you may have seen some articles um that a number of our students were uh accepted into the Blackwell Street Art Show U which is which is being displayed at the Morris County courthouse and Dr Suter shared with me an email from from Allis in caravano or according supervisor vigil and Performing Arts and TV production really just thanking the board for its support of the Arts over the years because you can really see the impact in what the students what the students are doing um I forwarded to Dr Sutter an email uh regarding Morris County Schoolboard Association scholarship opportunities I believe that's um something that would go to the guidance counselors for um for implementation y oh thank you yep so that's been distributed um um I think uh Sho will talk a little bit about um our video on the go program and some of the ideas that were discussed at our last communications meeting um let's see I think that's it that you think the things that you and I discussed Bob um but believe it or not it's a time to start thinking about the um superintendant evaluation as well as the uh Board of Education self- evaluation unfortunately I am conflicted on participating in the superintendent's evaluation so I would like to delegate that to um our vice president um to to work on um I believe March April is the the first um action item which is actually from the superintendent to the to the board so we'll put together a timeline and I'm sure Mrs Golder will will be working on that um just coincidentally uh the njsba is offering um tomorrow uh evaluating this the chief School administrator or the superintendent so if anyone would like to attend that training just log on to the njsp website and you can register for that uh the njsba has uh released their theme for the 2024 workshop and that's quest for Student Success and the workshop will be in Atlantic City from October 21st to October 24th um as I've been mentioning please re review the njsp school board notes um again mentioning the enoro women's leadership conference on April 19th there were some new SEC decisions uh there are some uh ways to attain board member Academy credits if you'd like to uh continue your education and also work towards board member certification and as a reminder our unsung heroes program will be at the County College of mors on March 20th uh beginning at 6:30 and one of our board goals was board training uh we did Issue a poll out to board members and the number one winner is is um public and Community engagement so Joanie will be working with um our njsba rep to schedule that training for us during a a board meeting thank you committee reports let's see start with Mr Ray being we just spent some time on the budget okay um the finance committee met last night um members myself Mrs Abraham Mrs Chappelle Mrs golderer Mrs Tesco and and Dr Sutter and we discussed the what we've been talking about most of the night is the 2024 2025 School operating budget um I just want to convey my thanks and my appreciation to to Robin and and to Sue and and and our team as regarding preparing the budget one of the things we talked about last night is that this is a zerob based budget which is a much more difficult type of budget to prepare because you're starting from the bottom up and she did get um uh input from from the schools themselves and and and this made it a much more difficult time consuming effort so again uh I think I speak for the entire board when I express my appreciation one of the other things that came up last night was the structural inflation problem we we touched on it briefly here but we have more than a 3% inflation rate I'm just going to slightly correct you Mr Chao but um uh the last couple of years our inflation has been more on the order of anywhere from 5 to 10% and and uh so we do have a structural problem our expenses are increasing um our cost of living is increasing but yet we have a 2% cap on uh on our tax levy so that is something that is going to have to be dealt with and and it maybe at a higher level than our school board that it's going to have to be dealt with uh more at a state legisl level that uh that will'll have to deal with this uh because over it's this has been in place my understanding is for the last 16 or 17 years and it was fine when inflation was basically flat for for many years um after the financial crisis inflation was like maybe couple of percent 2% a year up until 2021 uh so that is that is a challenge that we're going to be facing we face this year greater than in the past and will continue to face in future years um and so but you know with the discussion that took place we had a chance to talk about some of the issues I love your questions Mr Mr baros so um and so anyone have any questions any additional questions um regarding the meeting no Jack do you have a um liazon report at all or no just Finance just just to finance I didn't go to the um pal meeting but uh no problem I wasn't put you on the spot I just didn't know if you had a yeah no no I don't okay uh Mrs mayor hello hello um the Sports Committee met um with the boosters on March 7th present were myself um Mrs Hogan Dr Wright Mr Ricker uh Claire Herman and Mike de Bernard um you know we thank the boosters for coming it was my first meeting because this is my first time on this committee thank you um I'm not going to read everything that was said it's just ridiculous for me to read everything but um Mike gave us a um update and you know about the Emergency Response Team and all and I asked about if everybody is trained for um first you know to give CPR because he talked about having the defi defibrillator there and they have classes how to use it and they also have classes how to you how to administer CPR if it's needed even for the students which I thought was really important um let's see okay they don't current all right the rest is pretty much um they were trying the boosters were saying that they're really worried about they're not getting enough parent interest in the kids coming up so they were trying to decide how they could kind of stimulate more interest in the program to become a booster um and it's funny because I said that my boys were very in to at to sports at the hills and I even didn't even know about the booster program so I think you know there has to be an awareness so both of those people from uh Mike did the PHS update Claire did the phhs update um that's basically it they were talking about um to change the records you know especially if you read the sports part a lot of students U broke records in different things and it came up at the hills they were asking I guess there's a board that has all that information and they were asking when that will be updated and they said they're going to do that over the summer because some sports are still going on so they don't want to start messing with it yet and that's basically it the rest is really stuff that you can look at you know on your own and our next oh that was it we don't have a next meeting schedu uh any questions for Judy on Sports nextor uh so thank you for the reminder um so we all have our committee uh minutes in front of us uh some of them are longer than others and it might be a good best practice to try and summarize them versus reading the uh the committee report verbatim it does um sometimes just take a lot of time um Judy I think I saw on your report that they were looking to perhaps um add some additional teams I think girls golf yeah they were talking about I'm trying to remember which teams they were talking about who was golf and basketball well they have girls wrestling yeah um I I don't remember what else I'd have to go back and me your whole thing again my question was there a mechanism they're using to evaluate whether or not that they may add those things or not are theying opinions or were talking about that there really isn't a whole lot of room for these these new sports to practice you know the gym Can Only Hold so much that was a big thing that they were talking about um and if they need practice time and the gyms taken and you can't go outside that's a problem so they were talking about that um they were talking about my favorite pickle ball so you know those are things that they'd like to do with there's an interest but again it's space and teacher to be in charge of it so okay thank you and um you mentioned that uh they're having trouble or difficulty getting uh people to sign up parents sign up for boosters yeah yeah they were saying that they don't get that that enthusiasm from parents coming up you know I don't know if they don't know if their kids going to be in sports so they don't want to commit yet um they were talking about ways to to you know generate that interest you know I thought maybe they could have a coffee thing where they invite prospective parents in and show them what boosters do and kind of talk it up um the coaches do go down to the lower grades and discuss the sports and all but I think they really need to hit the parents and let them know because they're the people that need to buy into that like I said I didn't even know about boosters so I think that has to be an awareness that has to be brought out okay thank you and who's who's our PTA Council leaz on is that Tim is that you PT P PTA Council yeah and just seeing a a current PTA president attend the meeting just came in a few minutes ago I would really love to see a schedule a PTA Council uh meeting with um the the the local PTA presidents as well as yourself there is one one's having it tomorrow no or next Wednesday oh is it next Wednesday yeah so you didn't know about it no okay yeah so let's maybe um Dr Suter you can get that out to to the board um uh I I think we're missing a crucial Ally in in how we um reach out to the school Community by um not working more closely with the ptas and if my schedule permits on the date I'd also like to attend I'll do debate thanks uh Mrs kogan do you do we want to do leave oh yeah why don't we do liaison reports as well as committee so Mrs uh mayor do you have a liaison report oh oh about my what I did over the weekend is that I'm sorry I miss was do you do you have a liaison a liaison anything to anything else oh yeah I mean I could talk about the programs I went over the weekend is that what you're asking me no were you assigned to um the pal or to the Town Council no you don't okay Allison I think thinks differently do you think she she has something to report out but she will have to do it on her own time at this point okay so I'm confused but thank you uh Mrs kogan all right buildings and grounds met on February 22nd with myself Mr Bears Mrs mayor Mr Choo Miss Tesco Dr Sutter we talked about the 2024 budget and the capital projects that would be in there and they were listed on the budget report tonight we talked about the project updates the grounds project updates um the PHS Auditorium lighting upgrade has been completed which is very exciting especially right in Fr before the musical is about to happen everything else you know is listed in here is is you know going as it's supposed to be going we talked about um St Christopher and you know the cost Effectiveness or the lack of cost effectiveness of you know renovating a project um property that you know would be leased we talked about other you know building opportunities for potential School locations we talked about the Littleton construction update we do now have the building permit um so that's obviously progressing the project is currently at still at 102 day delay which we hav gone backwards but we're still at 102 days uh the committee asked Mrs Tesco to reach out to The Architects to give the district a listing of each school and its maximum capacity of students and then we talked about the overall Township residential development and that was building is and grounds any questions for Allison and buildings and grounds no uh I know you attended a session over the weekend a legislative session or you want to you want to do your Lon first or you do whatever you want first you but I went to the school board's legislative committee meeting on Saturday the guest speakers were now I lost it Senator Angela mcnight from District 31 and assemblywoman Dr Rosario bag bagal from District 27 um Dr bagal is actually an administrator in a local District so she being part of the assembly's education committee is I think going to be a huge help to them because she can actually explain what's happening in schools one of her um law regulations that she would like to to pass is having the government actually ask school officials and relevant parties in the school funding formula right now there's no requirement that they contact any outside parties to do the school funding formula so she's asking that they actually are required to you know ask the relevant parties before they do the school funding formula um so the committee gets a chance to ask them questions most of it was on the current budget and you know the districts that lost money are not happy this districts like Mrs Golder said who have been chronically underfunded are not happy so that was the main um point of the whole committee meeting there was also a discussion that the budget the state budget has meetings that are open to the public for anybody to comment on them and one was I think yesterday and another one's next week there's also a senate committee meeting on the new school funding formula and they requested testimony from anybody interested particularly school boards on the upcoming school funding formula because the funding formula that is in effect theoretically expires at the end of next year so they either continue it on or come up with something new so um my suggestion is as many people as can say something about that do so because the what was what was said at the meeting from this the mainly the senator who who isn't a School employee just made me realize they have a lot going on they have a lot on their plate they have to discuss a lot of things they are not necessarily tuned in to exactly what is going on with schools and the funding so it would probably be a good idea to make sure that we can do whatever we can do to make sure that they do know what's going on and how hard it is to do a budget with a 2% property cap so that was basically the legislative committee meeting I also went to the CPAC meeting last week which is on transition out of school um given by the ark and it was very good I think there was at least 17 or 18 people there so it was very well attended and was very good information thank you any questions for Allison we're going to jump over vice president Golder and go to Dr Wright uh the transport committee did not meet um both there was no uh agenda item presented and it created additional time for the finance committee to meet thank you Mr pal no she want me to go sum summary summary report not verbatim summary report all right I'm going to start with teaching and learning learning if you don't mind um sorry teaching and learning met on February 26 present were Dr morone myself Miss Golder and Dr Wright uh we just speak loud oh I'm sorry can you hear me now um we there were three courses that had books added including mythology for 12th grade semester English fantasy and fairy tales for 12th grade semester English and revised English 3 and English 3 enriched and only the top three titles out the seven or eight were included in today's uh meeting agenda the books were the following The Lion and the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis becoming Brianna by Terry lenson the ghost of Rose Hill by RM Romero and then the additional four books will be on the next um meeting agenda we also discussed deeper thinking focus groups it met four times throughout this this school year and they continue to focus on teaching strategies perspectives questioning specific activities asking more open-ended questions and the different aspects of teaching that impact deeper deeper thinking including expectations language time modeling modeling routines interactions and environment in addition to that um we they did they did an activity called I used to think and now I know um in addition to that we spoke about the June 14th PD day with food trucks to allow teachers to become to be more aware of these focus groups and share their feedback with their peers the middle school committee is adding sixth grade 21st century skills quarter course for the for this school uh for the upcoming school year uh not making any adjustments to the bell schedule at this time in addition to that we had the parent night uh a parent caregiver guide to vaping prevention which was held on February 20th at 6:30 p.m. at phhs and free child care was also provided but it unfortunately didn't draw as many people as they would have liked for the next event there is discussion of combining it with with another event and communicating and advertising it more for better turnout multiple academic Pathways were also discussed and currently stem Pathways has had lots of success and they are adding two other Pathways called Visual and Performing Arts and Humanities and and Dr Morini provided a preliminary overview of all of them and last but not least was the E Sports pilot is just for juniors in high school and these programs are thriving and are inclusive for all students and they're offered one day a week for one and a half hours as an after school program and the students show their commitment and expectations to it just as they would for a sport and I'm sorry that the minutes are not included in your packets uh printed out um but I will get it to you any questions foro on the TLC no I'm sorry what are Esports oh gaming okay thank you for not not for not for money right just for fun underground sports that's not school okay yes I just in addition to that there are many schools many universities and colleges which have introduced it as a division one sport to say too yeah so it's actually taken up quite a following and should you have a Communications report yes I do and I apologize ah Hadad of time because because it was a uh lengthy meeting and it does have lengthy notes but they are very important um feedback that we did receive Communications did mean on February 26th and present were Dr Sutter myself Mr rehea Dr Wright we were able to have Brian satch join us as well as Mr chafo um we discussed the feedback and goals from the district to the public in regards to a Communications plan and video on the go enhancements and like I said Brian satch of video on the go was able to join us to help us with this he provided a tremendous amount of feedback and ideas on how to enhance and engage more viewers we discussed the YouTube channel which has 2,700 subscribers and 1,300 videos thus far including the Boe meetings and different school activities that are uploaded the last view count for um our last Boe meeting was 70 uh also discussed using also discussed we also discussed using Twitter more for more engagement additional suggestions included using the Facebook pages like parney support page for more behind the scenes showings of District events including recognition of staff and students since that brings in more engagement highlighting internship students and the star program was another idea Brian also stated that highlighting students including students in arts music Etc would bring in more engagement other suggestions included recording and live streaming any requested concerts and the theme of enhanced engagement would go a lot further the more we share on social media Instagram as well as Facebook spotlighting teachers all year long uh School Board news can also be shared as board highlights via the superintendent we discuss having transparency and podcasting on Spotify or apple where we have Boe members talk to students let them discuss hot topics of the time and our discussions with Community residents and parents to engage them even further topical discussions about budgets uh facilities funding Etc might be helpful for our district families to know and it might help bring parents into the fold a little bit more especially with the current climate of issues facing our students both in and out of the classroom engaging parents and families may bring more accountability learning and interest about items such as AP classes Sports extracurriculars and difficult subjects like vaping another idea was a PSA on YouTube about vaping or vaping projects by students and a link that can be provided for everyone to watch other insights included showing more positive sides of parcion announcements about fundraisers and PTA events enhancements to the school mobile app Etc professional development and training for staff can be either online or in person as needed and we can discuss pilot facts figures impact PLL the community run focus groups etc for further feedback and speaking of Pilots we did have some questions about the P from the public public that a board member did receive and shared and to answer some of them in regards to open space at Lake haat Elementary Central and Brooklin middle schools the blue the blueprints of the schools are available to identify classrooms and each principal will be able to get a blueprint which helps determine how many students are allowed in each class unfortunately combining both high schools into a Regional School is not likely and would probably be a rather pricey Endeavor of over $100 million assuming that Pilots were not a factor and this was a question that was brought brought up assuming that Pilots were not a factor and that developers were just going to build the new residential units what would change and please be specific some questions and discussions ensued on Pilots including Paran Park which will be completed by the end of the year Logistics town homes and the number of units and how many students it that may come out of it if for example there are 100 units could there be 40 students or even 240 students from parcion Park alone and we also discussed some facilities around East Lake we also discussed adding the communication slide provided by Dr Wright to the website for a quick glance of facts and figures and this slide includes information such as the amount of money the school district spends on average to educate each student in the district as a governor is providing state aid figures including certified tuition rates for 2002 to 2003 we would like to have these figures um before we can update the slide accordingly and last but not least we're looking to add the frequently asked questions link to the website that would include this slide along with questions that come in from the community and our answers this information will be reviewed thoroughly before uploading to our district website and as Miss Tesco communicated to the committee business is the business office is working on the budget and once it's completed she can provide the most accurate information for the seven key numbers in funding so thank you to Dr Suter and Mr Tedesco for taking the time to ensure that our information is correct and thank you Mr satch for joining us and providing important feedback to us thank you thank you for that any questions or she on Communications um I I'd want to thank Brian for attending the communication ation meeting um I think it was very fruitful there's a lot of food for thought a lot of opportunities for us to enhance how we communicate with the public and we just need to seize those and um and begin so thank you for that you have a Mr baros Quick question it doesn't sound like you probably covered it but um on your radar have you yet or you plan on discussing the request by uh Mr kahill for um his request he made earlier in the year for video wanto I'll be going to a chamber meeting and I'm sure he's going to ask me I I don't think we addressed that specifically in Communications but we can take it up at our next meeting I think that would be part of and that was to highlight local businesses correct I guess they were using um local Merchants right yeah local merchants and whatever else they do for okay I'd be happy to add that to the next agenda you have a question yes um well not a question as much as um not even an opinion but maybe it is question so why would Communications be the ones that um would make any decisions or or do anything with respect to any requests that um Mr Cahill has for video on the go when that should that should be something that has to come to the district first and then assigned to you know to the committee not where Mr Cahill sends the information to the committee and then it comes to the board it should be the other way around first of all but um before we could respond to Mr Cahill um we have to find out what the costs involved would be and I I don't believe that as a district we have any of of that information so it's not like we are we can respond to anyone with respect to we we don't know how much we would charge per hour or for event um we don't know what the actual cost for a video on the go would technically be you know per hour or per ever be you know for an event or for or for a a um you know any project because you know um there's you know there's a salary involved and as an employee of the district so it's a little more complicated I believe than just real quick I I believe and I could be wrong Mr President please correct me is I brought this up in new business a couple of meetings ago and I believe that you had to signed it initially to Communications if that's wrong I apologize as relates to all those points you made that's a very good good analysis but I guess bottom line is someone should get a hold of Mr Kill and whether it's going to take a month a year two years whatever let him know where it is because he's going to ask me again and I don't think anybody has gotten back to him right but but like you said you're going to see him and it's not an easy question to respond and and it it has to be yeah but it's not it's not in my it's not in my area talk to him about so no yes yes so if I can and Susie I I agree with everything you said um I think at last communications meeting it was a very robust agenda it was a very long meeting I think we went over our lot of time the idea of um having video on the go work with entities that aren't part of the school district I think is very much in its infancy um there was a time when video want Theo was working with the township um to to do various things but that that has stopped so I think under the the broader umbrella of how can we expand video on the go above and beyond what it's currently doing both with our own internal Communications as well as um what what can we do for the community either um at no charge or or for a fee we we haven't really begun to um uh explore those time just didn't permit at our last communications meeting I about say Tim for Mr Cahill um he should direct a question to the superintendent about what he's looking for um so what I would tell him at the next chamber meeting is you did bring it to the board um it's being presented or being discussed in Communications however we would need some more details from him about what he's looking for from a service like that and he should direct those to the superintendent to then um then work with the board on that and I think I think that should satisfy his his request I you like to say he'll be there next meeting you know but we we can't do that we need to evaluate that further Michelle um I I think that all the points raised are very valid I just have a question and this may be naive so bear with me um above and beyond video on the go and in light of all of the extra um attention we're giving to the curriculum in our schools and focused on developing opportunities for our students is there an opportunity where we can en enlist our students to get involved with the community and to record things and you know I yes it does take it we need to take into account what he's asking for but maybe there's an opportunity that we can involve our students in that effort and Dr Su don't mean about SP we do have an apprenticeship program in place where we do work uh with the two high schools you know please that's correct we we have television and Brian can speak to that as well so yeah we do yeah yeah so thank you for that yeah sheo any uh the Asen reports yes uh last night I was able to attend the Paran Education Foundation uh liaison meeting and um I'm sorry can't hear you yeah just uh yeah is that better uh Andrew lus uh opened the meeting and um once the adoption of the agenda was completed we discussed the minutes of the February 13th meeting followed by the treasurer's report and any correspondence the meeting attendees also discussed the Tom latus um golf outing that is coming up and along with fundraising uh donations dinner planning prizes sponsorships the number of golfers Etc uh they also discussed the spring Jeans day which was going to be on March 27th along with a food truck fundraiser for June 4th and other topics of Interest were senior scholarships and a pickle ball fundraising idea and the next meeting will be at the Boe building on April 9th and just a reminder the Tom lates Memorial Golf Classic is on Tuesday May 14th at n West Golf Club thank you uh thank you very much that uh had typically been one of the big fun fundraisers for the PF um I have check with my social director but I most likely will be there for dinner I don't play golf it's very bad watching me play golf um but um you know to contribute to the PF um you know share dinner with some like-minded individuals would be fun so please if you're if you're available 10 on May 14th please do good thank you Mr baros thank you Mr President uh policy meant me on February 29th 2024 in intendance for myself Mr rehea Miss Chapelle and president chafo and we had uh input from Madam attorney k gilin um and so we met and discussed uh the suggestion um bylaw 0152 and bylaw 0157 um 0171 I'm sorry geez 0171 I looked right at it too so um they are in your attachment and I believe they're in the bulletin for first reading thank you oh I'm sorry and to uh my fellow uh committee members um I have the first two policies I was able to draw out relating to the pilot SL um um Redevelopment um subcommittees so I'm going to be sending that out if not tomorrow definitely by Friday you'll get them and then we'll schedule a meeting accordingly thank you questions for Mr baros Mrs Golder the only thing okay sorry um the only thing I um is that un for the unsung heroes I everyone had received an email from Joanie as you remember unsung heroes are um students from the high schools ore U Middle Schools if they if the district doesn't have a high school um they the committee um on the county committee um the committee that handles raising money and doing that have done an incredible job in trying to um get more money uh and the money is donated to the students in a um basically in a scholarship type of um way it goes directly to the student it doesn't pass by you know there's there's no fees involved it goes directly to the student so if anybody um would on on the March date what they do is they they get a a gift bag each one of them you know for just being um uh named the unstung hero for their district and in the bag where they try and put some goodies one of the things that they were trying to do was um get a $50 Amazon gift card so if anyone you know I know um Mr chafo has uh offered to donate some I know um Mr rehea I don't know you know so if any that day what is going to happen is give me just the Amazon gift card they um I do tell them who has donated them and I will give it to them that same day because we have to be there early for um you know setting everything up before everyone gets there so that's how it'll happen so e either myself or even to Judy who is actually on the committee and will'll probably have more information than if I can just add to that um I spoke to um bernardet and she said that there were so many that we needed to conf fill for all the bags so we had five that were already we needed one more you know I already purchased or committed to two and I told her if we didn't get that last one that I would fill in for that so we have two four five already spoken for we just need one more person oh hold on when did you last speak to her because she texted me she texted me and said that they needed on top of the five that I said I was bringing she said we needed six more no we just need one more just one more oh great okay so maybe the denomination was $50 H the denomination of the M yes gift card yes Amazon gift card so they could put in the in the gift bag okay Mr bar sorry I I didn't finish my L report oh I I I do it seemed like there was a hard stop there just apology Sor I love hear myself talk uh Town count Council liaison report from the meeting of March 5th 2024 uh I'm just going to key in on some of the more important things that I felt were for the for the board uh there were two ordinances passed uh one was uh ordinance R 2024 -41 143 resolution of Town Council of the pipy Troy Hills authorizing the appointment of a new special law enforcement officer a class three officer didn't say whether that was to replace punish um our class three but I just want that bring that up uh there was also ordinance R 202 24-44 this was a resolution of the Town town of parpy Troy Hills Morris County opposing assembly bill number four Senate bill number 50 which proposes overhaul of the fair share Housing Act FHA in a way that imposes unrealistic obligations and unrealistic time based on the the omous standard I have the actual um wording and the resolution with me if You' like take a look at it please be uh take give my guess I wasn't going to read the whole thing here tonight um I wanted to let's see there was a council report by councilman McGrath um discussing the impact of the tax appeal losses uh Mr McGrath echoed mayor barberio's concerns regarding the town the Township's tax ta appeal losses and emphasize their significant impact on the Township's finances he highlighted the need to address the issue to maintain fiscal stability uh there was a meeting yesterday of the transparency committee that was an initial meeting that happened yesterday um and I'll just I'll wait to the next one to give you more details on that uh however on this on these meetings there is a call for the uh public to to attend and particip IP at so and then there was mayor Rio's report he again stressed the budget concerns he expressed concerns about the budget um he has not met formally with uh council president kifi he's concerned about the carryover of over 463 affordable housing units from the last round which will pose challenges for the township financially and I also will say the school board Financial stability the mayor emphasized the importance of financial stability highlighting potential challenges due to tax appeals and companies moving out of poran he stressed the need to retain companies to avoid a shift in the tax burden onto residents uh Maria barberio discussed effort to retain businesses including pilot programs despite challenges where commercial developers leave in properties to Banks he noted the importance of balancing Revenue generated with residents interest uh discussed Public Safety with the police department uh regarding uh praising the police department's performance uh despite some of the social media criticisms um and that he was also because of the fiscal challenges um the workforce is not up to where he would like to see it just yet um okay and Mr Mayor also um uh talked about the uh State funding for the Board of Ed 1.47 billion in funding suggested it should help the bard of Ed with our budget he expressed disappointment with the lack of increase in Township funding compared to its significant increase received by the schools he highlighted the unfair distribution of the municipal purpose tax assistance fund by the state I guess currently today ping Troy Hills does not um cannot receive that uh that assistance so and that is my report thanks to any questions on the Town Council asent report Dr Wright uh this might not actually this might be beyond the perview of the um uh the the the meeting itself but my understanding of the revision of the affordable housing um bill is that one of you know it's a one of the benefits is that it removes the um What's The Phrase the Builder uh remedy Builder remedy Builder remedy um and the and actually gives municipalities while it increases the obligations and it's a little more structured there is more Municipal control and less developer autonomy under this Division and it seems to me that one of the common themes we've been hearing from the town about Pilots is well we have to have them because otherwise the builders will come in and stick us with affordable housing which is problematic in a number of other ways um but do is there any sense like of acknowledging the complexity or that this this might not actually be bad for pipany in any event that I have been in no however I did print out the documents uh um they're fairly lengthy and I have not read them read through them I was planning on doing it this weekend so as soon as I'm done with it be more than happy to share great thank you so much um I have a question yes Su with respect to the tax appeal portion of it did they did they provide any dollar amount as to what losses they're talking about um are we talking a million dollar5 million were hundreds of thousand well I have seen unfortunately um my little fingers were not typing fast enough to catch the actual number I believe it was in excess of 5 million but I do not want to quote that number I want to say is that I will confirm that with I will ask all right question thank [Music] you any Mrs Mrs mayor now now can I yes I wanted to report out on the uh events that I went to Friday and it was supposed to be Saturday for the B it was Sunday um Friday it was the um nor nowas I I don't really remember how they pronounced it celebration and it was really very nice because um the parent who I spoke to said it was more like it wasn't a religious thing it was more like Thanksgiving is for us you know any anybody could come they had you know stuff for the kids to do it was really lovely um it's spiritual renewal reflection and connection with family and Community um it was interesting because they had a plate set up and they had seven um components on the plate that each stood for something and then they had this guy dressed up this poor little old man he was dressed up to look like this um and he handed out treats to the kids and all kinds of toys it was almost like Christmas you know and it was about Persian New Year what the Persian New Year celebration and it's a celebration of the first day of spring so they were all you know okay that was Friday um the Saturday um the Vol celebration Ramadan Ramadan ramadon Ramadan celebration was switched to Sunday because Saturday's weather was so bad and we came and it was so cold that they brought it all inside which was really nice they had tons of food I mean it was a really nice celebration the room was packed I mean if the Fire Marshall had been there we would have been shut down it was just pack people were in the hallway it's an unofficial assessment right but it was nice to see all these people come together for that celebration so uh the mayor spoke um you know it was just fun to be there and then I thank the Board of Ed you know as usual for all the considerations that we give to their celebrations so I was really proud to be there to represent the board at both celebrations thank you thank you for attending uh those two events appreciate it are we done with committees and Leons I think so right okay good um so can we move on please to approval of the minutes we have executive sessions uh one and two uh in regular me minutes of February 22nd 2024 may have a motion please sheel uh Allison roll call Mrs Abraham yes Mr baros yes Mrs kogan yes Mrs mayor yes Mr rehea yes Mrs Chappelle abstain from both executive sessions and yes to regular Dr Wright yes Mrs Golder yes Mr chaa yes okay we are up to superintendent since Bowl in number 15 Dr Suter thank you president Chao thank you sir good evening in an effort to assist parents during non-school hours with their child's School issued electronic device the district will utilize the cesto software program cesto is a parent software control which provides Peace of Mind by allowing parents to easily Monitor and manage their child's web activity cesto will also allow parents to pause access to the internet and their child's device additionally parents will be able to add up to two personal devices for free with discount upgrade options for those who are interested our goal is to ensure parents will have more control over their children's digital lives on the devices the district sends home the district will rolling out our cesto software initiative sometime in April and run it through the end of the school year if all goes well the district will keep cesto in place for the summer and we use adjusted hours I want to thank Dr morone and Mr Ricker and all the students at PHS and phhs who participated in our peer Leadership Retreat on Thursday March 7th at the paron pal as I visited I watch students listen to guest speakers and engage in small group activities students look like they were having such fun as did Dr Maron and Mr Ricker tonight for your approval we have superintendent bulletin items 1 through 31 with addendum and readen items 32- 49 thank you Dr Suter um the two policies that Mr baros brought up were included in the bulletin um obviously uh you can ask questions about anything you'd like but um I'll open up questions to uh Dr Sutter on the uh the superintendent's bulletin yeah um I have a question but it wasn't covered in the bulletin I I was but it's for you because I know that some districts no are concerned about the eclipse and they're just they're letting their kids go home early that day so that they're not outside during the eclipse and they're not looking up and damaging their eyes I didn't know what this District's thoughts were were that or you thought about it at all we have been giving it some thought um but we haven't we're not ready to make a decision at this point okay I was curious there are districts there are districts that are calling a half day that day right but you know we have to take into consideration okay you know parent accessibility and things of that nature so we we make a decision just wanted to know if it was on your radar don't look up thank you don't plan on it what okay this is probably going to be a dumb question but what has been done in the past nobody okay to my knowledge no okay well Mr R for what I read about it the of the eclipse in this part of the country is going to be like 150th of the surface of the Sun that you see it's like there isn't even any reason to there's really not going to be any change it's not going to get any darker really it's it's going to be the biggest non-event in in history since Haley's comment Mr Rea we have openings science classrooms if you're ready I appreciate your help just curious if other districts were concerned it's good to see we're focused on our pupils pupils um any other questions for uh Dr Suter no questions uh we have to the secretary's report Mrs Desco please hi everyone on tonight's secretary's report we have our regular business motions including the approval hopefully of the 2425 tenative budget anybody have have any questions okay hearing none we are up to the hearing of the public at this time is there's anyone who would like to address the board please come up sign your name and address in the book at the lecturn and state your name for the record and please address the chair each person will have three minutes to speak to the board it would be helpful if you would like to address the board to please come up now and sign uh sign in the book so that you're ready when the first speakers finished as a reminder uh these meetings are meetings are video recorded um if you are a student who wishes to speak we ask that you not provide your home address but rather give only the name of the municipality in which you live if you are parent wishing to discuss a specific matter pertaining to your child during this portion of the meeting you may request that the board temporarily suspend the video recording alternatively please consider speaking privately about the matter to the superintendent after the meeting speakers should refrain from using specific uh student or staff names in the comments and are referred to bylaw 160 or further information regarding the videotaping our of our meetings Mr of you I think you could put it up it up hello it's you got it h it's on this is like fancy paper [Applause] too thank you Matthew DeVito parin uh I I brought a hand out tonight and that's being passed around um this is information that you would have probably seen before or maybe you haven't um this is a two uh tables from our uh 2023 or 2023 District audit um this is regarding um enrollment and it I want to highlight a few things about this uh information it shows the enrollment of all of our individual schools and what the capacity of each of those schools are and what that what that shows here if you look across for uh several of the elementary schools east lake nolwood lake hawaa Littleton M Taber and North fail they all have significant enrollments above their listed capacity for students and they have been for the past 10 years so some of them are well above a hundred students over the capacity listed I don't recall any major um improvements like for adding space to our uh elementary schools since this doing the Littleton Edition now so that's where I see where I know the state always asks you oh you know you need to be over overc capacity to make additions well here's an example of six of our schools not just Littleton that have significant capacity issues so this something I'll bring into the board's attention for you so that maybe in the future you can at this and do some uh wherewithal find a uh whether or not we need to do expansions and start that planning so that's basically I uh had to do uh I also wanted to make a quick note uh I noticed the new uh Community ports reports for this uh for this uh term I'd like to see that uh it's very interesting to see that certain members that have never straightened certain committees before had an opportunity to do on committees they never seen before so congratulations to that thank you you thank you Matt good evening um I'm cassera grao from pran um I'm a lifelong pran resident and uh my husband who was actually sitting back there is Dr sha stga uh I've lived here my whole life he's lived here for over 25 years and we're both proud graduates of the precip new school system go Vikings um we're here tonight because we'd like to to collaborate with the Board of Ed on creating a youth cannabis use prevention program full disclosure our company Happy Days Boutique hoping hopes to open the first state licensed and certified minority woman Le adult youth cannabis dispensary right here in town one of our company's main initiatives is to provide educational opportunities to the community with an emphasis on youth education and mentoring programs as well as to help those experiencing substit substance abuse get their lives back there are many misconceptions and misinformation regarding cannabis and I feel it's our social responsibility to fill the knowledge Gap we had our first open public information session uh last May at the precip public library and we plan to have another seminar in the next few months we understand that cannabis is a very sensitive topic especially with regards to youth safety and therefore we'd like to ask Dr Sutter and the Board of Ed to um have the opportunity to privately meet and hopefully discuss um something with the collaboration in the future future thank you thank you any other comments from the public okay seeing none I'll close the the public portion Dr Suter would you like to address either of the two speakers want to thank Mr Deo for the information M gro we could talk after the meeting okay thank you I believe we are now up to the roll call vote of superintendent bulletin number 15 items 1 through 31 with addendum items 33 to 49 may I have a motion Michelle Mrs Golder roll call please Mrs Abraham yes Mr baros yes Mrs kogan no on number four yes on everything else Mrs mayor yes Mr Rea yes Mrs Chappelle yes Dr Wright yes Mrs golderer yes Mr Choppa yes see no other business motion to adjourn Dr R Mrs mayor all in favor okay meeting's [Music] adjourned