oh e evening everyone and welcome to the Readington Township Board of Education meeting this meeting is being held in compliance with the open public meetings act and is open to the media and Public Notices were duly posted and the meeting was advertised in the hund county Democrat and The Courier news for formal action may be taken can we get a roll call please M dependo here M Fury here M mener Mr Beach here M bori here M Ryan here M wolf here Dr here one can we stand for the flag [Music] salute iedge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under indivisible with liy and justice for all y thank you let's do the first if I turn it on first all right good evening everyone um tonight is the night during our budget process where Mr B and I will talk with all of you about our tenative budget for next school year uh so it's this evening our presentation will include um a discussion of enrollment a discussion of budget priorities a discussion of areas that the budget will affect like Personnel curriculum people Services um as well as uh what our finances look like in terms of state aid um and tax levy increases uh so I'll begin our presentation with budget goals um it's it's really important for us to make sure that our budget reflects our values and our budget reflecting the goals that we have for the district um and the initiatives that we have in the district currently so our goal are uh to present a budget uh at the 2% State poos cap on the tax levy with allowable adjustments and we do receive adjustments had in the past receive adjustments for enrollment and we received adjustments for healthare as well which will allow us to go slightly above that 2% cap to prepare for enrollment increases for the new housing developments a couple months ago I talked with the Board of Education the public about how we're closely monitoring uh the Ridgid Readington um and the enrollment that we're receiving from the r Readington but uh on the horizon is the Camelot uh development that's up in the White House area as well as the Three Bridges DS property is looking at being developed over the next couple of years so while we may not see an enrollment increase from the rigid Readington directly we know that there are other housing developments that are on the way we of course want to balance class siiz guidelines with our scheduling efficiencies we want to make sure that we have class sizes that are small for person personized attention for our students and for our teachers but we want to make sure that we are also efficient about those class sizes we always seek to enrich student academic experiences with co-curricular and extracurricular activities and certainly at the middle school with the plethora of electives that we have students choose from and we are implementing our strategic plan for its Fifth and final year with our three goals of inquisitive learning social aarness and partnership so these are driving forces that tether us to our budet so looking at enrollment uh our anticipated krade enrollment is 1,359 this is just Bas based on current enrollment reports anticipated prek enrollment is approximately 215 for next year this includes our expanded preschool as well as our preschool disabilities classes that we have in District for a total of enrollment of 1 1574 seven out of District group students were out uh looking for anticipating for next year and we presume 134 kindergarten students in District based off of our current kindergarten enrollment uh we did registration a couple of weeks ago and we are close to meeting that Target right now with our registration um what made registration this year really smooth was the fact that we do currently have 102 kids in our preschool program that uh we know that know that several of them are going to slide it to kindergarten next year so our current enrollment is 1,410 prek is 102 the total enrollment of 1,512 the enrollment increase that you're seeing here for next year is mainly due to the increased number of preschool students our k38 population is due to decrease next year because we are graduating a large class of approximately 192 for e8th grade and bringing in a class of approximately 134 these enrollment figures however in the past what what uh Jason and I have done is we've included what we anticipate getting from housing developments uh in our Lo and this year was the year that the ridge opened uh we currently have approximately 41 students total from The Ridge of greenington where we anticipated a lot more but it is in its first year we thought it would be proven to not necessarily anticipate any enrollment increases uh next year based off with Camelot or the DS property because they're not doing be built in the next year but we should prepare for uh students coming from those developments so this includes our current students that are at the ridge but no increased enrollment from from that bridge development just so here's our K8 enrollment history from about 1650 several years ago to 1350 for 2425 you know from 2021 to 2425 I think this is probably the year that we're going to look at our last enrollment decrease and I think from this point forward you're going to see that line steady across anywhere hovering anywhere between 1350 and 14 for the next couple of years we'll see what impact preschool has on our um on our enrollment moving forward folks come to our town because we offer our preschool program we have a lot of movein maybe birth rates go up over the next couple of years there are so many factors that impact our demographics conversely to this here's our preschool enrollment projection for next year which is a great figure um so we're going to have approximately 25 students in pres School this year so keeping with one of our budget goals which is to make sure we balance class sizes here are the projected numbers for our class sizes Elementary class sizes grades K through five for next year uh you see that the board has really made a commitment to lower class sizes grades K through three uh where we are playing the foundation for early literacy and early numeracy skills uh class size go up to approximately 21 or 22 in grades four and five and the Middle School sizes hover around that low 20s area as well so this is what we're shooting for for each year so some highlights of what's included in the budget so first Personnel uh we're pleased to say that we were able to um place our Behavioral Health counselor's position into the local budget this was previously paid for our Sr funding so next year this individual or the position at least Le will be funded through our local tax levy which is a need for our students a need in the counseling department at the middle school and certainly a district initiative when it comes to uh our strategic goals a reconfiguration of two teaching staff positions through attrition uh so what we can do is we know that we are going to get retirements we know that folks are on the horizon to retire we receive some letters this gives us an opportunity to figure out where to put our current General Ed staff our teaching staff in the places where we have the most enrollment so we can look and re-evaluate our needs and decide whether or not we need to fill these positions or whether or not staff could be our current staff without filling those positions would be able to accomplish our goals of maintaining our low class sizes uh increased wages for the police officers through shared services we have a shared service agreement with the township for our four police officers we want to make sure that we maintain with police officers in our buildings so we look at offering salary increase um um we have done some work through our retention recruitment task force to look at market conditions when it comes to our employees not only our teaching staff par professional staff but we have a lot of Staff um who we have to compete with in the corporate Market Our IT staff our facility staff one of the recommendations of our retention Improvement task force was to make sure that we are competitive with our Lo local school districts competitive with the area we conduct some market research so we're looking at at seeing where we can better align some of our staff salaries uh with market conditions both in public schools and even looking at the corporate sector I'm not saying that we can compete with the corporate sector all the time but we're at least going to look and we're going to see what we can do to try uh Recruitment and Retention services and stiens we offer for our par professionals and our bus drivers we off offer signing bonuses and recruitment stiens meaning uh finder fees for anybody that wants to recruit uh go you to the district uh so those will continue again next year we're providing flexibility in athletics for design and creation of sports and clubs one of the great things that came out of the um contract with the teachers uh is that we have these pools of money for clubs and for sports and activities we don't necessarily dictate which clubs and sports and activities our teachers can provide they can work with students and create whatever is of interest of that teacher and a group of students so provides that of flexibility uh for a teacher to propose to a building principal the creation of a new club which is really cool we have those S built into the contract uh we're looking at scheduling as well based off of the new contract with the teachers all of the building principles and convenient scheduling committees to look at revised schedules to conform with the contract but also create efficiency with our staff um we also have several new obligations in the contract with the teachers these include stip in and extra pay rates that have uh been really beneficial to some of our staff St is for power professionals who work in some of our self-contained classes um and some increases in curriculum writing rates that were really important for the teachers uh in our last contract negotiations so these things in this budget here we're going to see a little bit of an increase in these budget mons um but all really good things under Personnel really moving forward and making an effort to really compensate folks um for the work that they do but also to make sure that they create opportunities for students um through all their co-curricular and extracurricular activities preschool expansion um so we've talked quite a bit about this um the preschool expansion has led to um the location and and Recruitment and Retention of a lot of both professional certificated teaching staff as well as par professionals so we offer a free Pres for three employee Works uh residing here in rington Township this year we added two Preschool teachers our IND District program and two par professionals uh the nice thing about this is we had an IND District program already and the nice thing about this funding is that the preschool program that exists was able to slide into that preschool funding which helped alleviate some of our Global tax lby money um so we were able to take this person and just shift uh the salaries for the preschool teacher and power professional into the state a for for preschool we also created a preschool parent Community involvement specialist and relief teacher positions to leer shared positions as well as an instructional coach to create consistency across our preschool programs nurses were paid extra sions to help us with some of our preschool work and Ne next year when we expand we're looking for a total of 11 certificated full-time teaching staff and 11 power professionals at four private providers Perry patch Global Pioneer St learning and White House prep so our expansion will be a total of 14 classrooms next year uh with the funding that we received from the state which almost gets us to our universe which is funding preschool for almost every learner and every three and four year-old that we anticipate here in rton which is fantastic you didn't CL for the person out um curriculum and pupil services so a couple of highlights um under curriculum so we will continue our uh our spectrum of services for students with special needs and this is critically important so self-contained classrooms autism programs learning the language disabilities programs preschool disabilities programs these are programs that we have in our district that helps us educate children here in Readington and prevents us from sending children out District uh to an environment that could be for that child more restrictive we like to keep students in District uh to have them be educated with their typical peers Jason would tell you that he really likes the savings aspect of that I'll tell you that I really like the educational aspect of that that that students learning alongside with their peers the friends that they see at camp or at baseball and the ones that are in their neighborhood whether whether they're a child with a disability or not it's so much more beneficial to have the new District uh here in our programs it's really really important for us educationally uh a continuation of our extended school year program for students with special needs to Service uh their needs over the summer and there's several curricular initiatives that we've talked about in edtech and even last month at the board meeting there are revised English language arts and math curricular standards that are coming from the Department of Education we're going to be looking into the purchase of new textbook materials for English language arts at certain grade levels Math Science and World Language as well so these are some some great curricular initiatives and some updates of of our curricular materials Mental Health Services we will continue with our behavioral as health counselor uh we will have uh Renovations over to the Middle School uh not only the counseling Suite but the main offices and we will continue our employee assistance program for the mental health and wellbeing of our employees uh English language Learners will continue continue to be supported through the sheltered instruction model sheltered English instruction model which is a great way for us to service our English language Learners again in the general Leed classroom uh where they are provided instruction in a way that allows them to access both their potentially their native language as well as English we've expanded our breakfast and lunch program districtwide um we've done this because we found that our needs are changed as far as our uh free and reduced lunch status of students uh we before this year we were not offering breakfast or lunch to students at col Brooker at Middle School on an early dismissal case uh we noticed that this was an area of need we had students who were looking for their meals and we changed this protocol and this practice to now include meals for students on half day so that students have their meals consistently and they can count on us providing that for them even on half days um and then of course continued implementation the dist District strategic plan uh for our fifth and final year and we'll be looking to launch the next plan for hopefully the next five years as well at this point I'm going to turn the presentation over to Jason to talk about capital projects and run through some numbers here thank you Dr har y good evening everyone so I'm G to run through some capital projects as well as tax levy and budget appications so one of the great things we do here in Readington is we fund a lot of our construction through reserves so we are very conservative with our fiscal planning and we're able to put money away every year through a reserve process at the end of June and we save that money so that way we can perform necessary Capital upgrades without impact to the tax level so a lot of surrounding areas will go off referendums uh which will increase the taxes at the local level we do not do that here in Readington we fund things locally through servs um so uh this coming school year we're going to have a rather large project going on at the readingon Middle School main office that project will include removal of asbest as well as a complete redesign of the main office counselers and nurses offices uh in addition we'll be doing pack and Roofing work on top of that area um normally we accomplish all of our capital projects in the summer this project will go all the way through winter break very likely um which is unusual that would be having construction during um school session when students and staff are reiling um so that's a major change then in the past but the level of remediation for Festus and the complexities of the project um require such one as aspect of that planning involves uh no access to the rest of the school uh we're be sealing off that area so workers can come uh in out through the exterior wall of the building um through a locked fence and there'll be restrictions on work removement uh arrival dismissal and and other aspects to not disrupt classrooms the classrooms that will be impacted um there's only two that are adjacent to the office uh the rest are um down the hallway so um we're hoping that there's not having of disruption we're hoping to also get the roof done over the summer months so the roof would be done but the actual tear out would occur in the summer but the actual mediation of the space and putting the walls back up will happen probably this another big thing that we're doing is we're refurbishing all the preschool rooms districtwide so one of the things with the prol program is we want to make sure that students get the same experience despite where they're placed in the district so parents get a preference um that they can choose where they want their child to go do they want them to go to White House prep do they want them to go brid school do they want them to go to stand learning parently give Parents Choice here which is great um but we also want to make sure that each of those rooms are consistent and equal so we refurbish each and every preschool classroom at every site and provide new furniture and new resources so that way they are identical um each has a certificated staff member as well to use those materials which are trained by our Administration so we also redo bathrooms as well on those sites so we doing that at the 14 sites that are going to opening in September another large project we're be doing is the solar expansion so curent currently about 40% of our electric is generated by solar a lot of our solar is on the roof or in the back of our building so you cannot see it uh we will be expanding that to be about 85% in the winter months and probably about 100% during the summer months so we may be off the grid in June July and August uh moving forward uh which is great um for our energy needs as well as uh the Earth but also is going to save us money because the the state will not allow us to do this without saving money so it's a it's a win for the district it provides educational opportunities for students um and staff and it's also good for the environment one of the big things we're also doing at the middle school is LED lighting the classrooms that should brighten classrooms um at the middle school um we've done that through grants at the elementary schools but the middle school did not qualify for those grants so we're doing this out of um res serves backend it equipment is going to be replaced that's more to help uh make sure that internet and other core essential IT services are provided which are also our phones we're also going to be doing security upgrad so we've done a three-year security plan about five years ago uh which we fully implemented and the board this past summer um went through security and has been partnering with the police department in Township uh to make sure that we enhance any security that we can always uh do such so we're going to be taking on a large initiative to enhance security of the Summer with the township of Readington who's been a great partner in this um as as well as the police department uh there's going to be a new art room and computer room at White House School uh I just want to thank the uh art teacher at White House school for being very flexible this year uh that teacher move from a classroom to a cart and now is moving into a new art room so um she has been very flexible and I hope uh she gets everything She Wants in designing her own art room next year at White House School uh we're going to do some playground uh enhancement at White House and Three Bridges it's not be new playgrounds but it's going to be some enhancements to the existing playground working with principles on that softball and baseball field upgrades um some defensing signage um all these projectss are not funded through a referendum but through the reserves as well as some grants that we get that pay about 40% of the project so what is our budget for next year uh this represents the expense side of our budget as you can see from the blue um 65% of our budget is salaries 21% is employee benefits so about 86 % of our budget is Set uh which is the core of um any um School District I mean most critical people are the staff which makes sense that we spend the most money on them um we have planned for out of District tuition which is estate mandate uh Transportation uh we have our own IND District Fleet uh which has allowed us to avoid the problems that you're seeing around the state with lack of Transportation Rising rates uh not being able to go field trips Athletics uh we do not have those issues in Readington um because we approve and retain our bus drivers um utilities maintenance I won't go through all this else but uh normal things that are mandatory uh night custodial garbage collection are the remaining of the budget uh interesting to note if you look at the red the red is actually the supplies for um teachers as well as Administration uh we have been shrinking dramatically over the period of years um we try our best not to hit that um but it is the budget's getting Tighter and tigh because of inflation um as well as other um caps on the tax of the increase so we move inflation and salaries going up over 3% and our tax levy is below that um it causes stress on the budget so we do uh fiscal approvement planning in our finance committee this slide is a perfect example of the pressures on the budget so health over the past 10 years has gone up 80% that's probably consistent with college tuition um we also have salary increases that have been steady about between the mid tws to the mid three ranges over the years um but you can see our tax levy has not increased that much so what we end up doing is we try to identif buy efficiencies every year to narrow that Gap to pay for those things which is a challenge every single year this goes through our state aid and tax levy for the general fund this is the general fund is what the um board of education has control over so state aid went up this year by a little over 300,000 which is fantastic news um the tax levy um had a slight increase and you can see the giant preschool Aid that getting from the state to provide fre preschool to three foury olds um from a Debt Service perspective This was um this is kind of like a mortgage this is slowly going to be paid off and should expire in 2027 um the board has no control over this this is simply the amounts that we need to pay to me upgrades that we did in the past when the district did a referendum over 15 years ago and this is uh total taxes so you can see the uh Prudence in fiscal spending over the years um the overall increase has gone from negative to zero and has been inching up over the years um and has been consistent slightly above 2% for the past several years uh it is a phenomenal statement the board's work and administration to achieve increases of 2.6% when you have inflationary pressures that we've had um which everyone I think is feeling personal we in their households as well and we're able to do this while also providing strong raises for staff and do all of our capital projects and maintain our programming which is tremendous accomplishment so what is that mean for a taxpayer is uh the increase equates to about $124 uh the average home is $450,000 in in town which has been pretty stable over the years um the big increase that happened a couple years ago on the local taxpayer was really because of Merc uh leaving the district and that tax base eroding uh which shifted the tax base to the residential home owners so outside of our control but uh there was a reassessment that did impact some residents in town and uh the Merc to Unicom change uh was the primary result of that um this is just a example of the impact on the tax Lev over the years and you can see on an average home uh in about the past 10 years it's gone up $800 so I think that's pretty good talking about 80 bucks a year on average um that the local tax has gone up for an average household um if you're living in a million dollar house it would be about $160 a year um we have very good schools in New Jersey and um the way the state funds it is locally rather than a state or county level which is why our taxes are a little bit higher at a local level than other states um but it also gives us control at a local level which is why our schools are so great that concludes my part of presentation so I'll open up the questions for Dr har thank you I have a couple questions okay the first question is on the capital projects can you just go over a little bit um very briefly like timeline on them some of some of them are indoor projects some are outdoor like when it comes to the Soft C fields what are we looking at for completion so for um softball fields fencing signage um most that will probably be done uh this school year um I know that they're trying to get the baseball fields and softball field done before we start the season um I don't know if that's going to happen depending on the um vendor that selected uh solar probably will get kicked off in the July August time frame we're hoping that they can put in some of the footings that may impact uh Bus Parking um but most of the other sites are where students and staff don't utilize its grounds um that are behind a cemetery or engine Bas that staff and students don't go into um for the RMS main office that construction will happen the day after school ends Yeah you mentioned yeah and that and that should be a very large uh construction project over the summer so that will definitely impact the Middle School main office which will Impact Summer programming locations um so that it's pretty much a syis on that thank you more question the other question is on um the fund budget when you look at the salaries is there a way to break that down to R tea or TAA L um yes so if you go back to this um 65% of our budgeted salaries which is what you're alluding to um of that we have about 50 non- allign staff and we have about 10 uh aligned um administrator unions so that is about 60 unaligned or administrative staff Union the remaining staff which is about 265 are in the rtea um so the vast majority of our salaries are um the rtea um teachers Paras um custodians and secretaries which are the people you see every single day that work with students she the 265 that are in RT about 192 teachers 50 par secretaries eight or 10 secretar something like that and custodians cians okay thank you any other questions all right thank you I just have a comment excuse me um I appreciate you know Jason Dr Hart you stand at the podium in such a unassuming quiet way and yet I think we all think that what you're saying is really very powerful I hope people here well certainly people here appreciate it because they've seen the presentation but I honestly hope the public appreciates that you know for you to make a statement I I'll quote we fund capital projects with our reserves unquote that's an amazing thing to be able to stand there and say because again surrounded districts and a lot of districts in the state do not are not able to do that so you know we really appreciate that you know you say we're fiscally conservative your approach uh is obviously working and I just want to thank you for that because it's really you're able to do thank you Dr um thanks Matt a couple of brief slides on um NJ shifting totally shifting gears I don't have a natural good segue for this from from budget to to student achievement um I guess really what what we're here and what it's all about um so let's talk about kids and let's talk about how um our district Compares on the njsla which is the New Jersey student learning assessment and the comparisons that I'm going to walk you through tonight are comparisons uh from the 2023 Administration which was last spring so this is last Spring's students taking the New Jersey student learning assessment um so two key terms uh that you should know is when I flip to the next slide first there's going to be a column of graphs uh that are going to say 10 to 20% and this refers to to these are graphs that refer to other districts in the state of New Jersey similar to us that have between 10 10 and 20% of students eligible for free and reduced lunch so this is our measure of economic advantage or disadvantage so this is comparing us with other districts in the state that are socioeconomically similar to us the other uh comparison that I'll provide for you is something called DFG so District Factor groups developed in the 70s for the purpose of comparing student performance on Statewide assessments ACR across demographically similar school districts these data are based this is based on census data and the last time the district Factor groups were identified was in the year 2000 so there have been two census Cycles since then in the year 2000 Readington was a district tror group I I don't know if based off of sens census data we changed since then but I'll tell you that other surrounding districts Who were or are in I are places like East andwell Township lton Lon Branchburg um you know we we have our status here as I that this could very well be outdated so we were identified as an i these other distri districts were identified as a district Factor group I um but I don't know if we're actually comparing us to the same um District Factor group I data uh so here are our English language ARS achievement comparison so there are two things here first Readington Township is the first group of columns all the way to your left on English language arts and this is how many students met or exceeded grade level expectations districtwide it's not broken down by grade districtwide from the year 201617 all the way to the year 2223 which was last year's Administration so 72% of our students grades 3 through 8 achieved meeting or exceeding expectations on uh the New Jersey student learning assessment for English language arts um and if I misread a number it's not because I misread it it's because I honestly can't see it I think the next one is District Factor group um this so this is how districts Like Us in terms of 10 to 20% free and reduce lunch scored all in New Jersey also scored of njsla and that is 62% so we are 10 percentage points above other districts that are like us that also have students that are uh 10 10 to 20% fre your ledge moving over and you compile all of the data for hunon County 61% of 61% of students in Hunton County have achieved meeting or exceeding expectations on the njsla we are 72% so you have to of keep us at like tether tether your thinking to us at 72% and then work your way across for the 2223 Administration District Factor group I is 71% for the last Administration we are 72 so again 1 percentage point above and the board may remember from the October report that the state is at 51% and we're at 72% so what does this mean so when comparing in the year 2023 When comparing Readington to other districts in New Jersey a free and reduced lunch status of 10 and 20% we've outperformed those districts in ela When comparing this to 100 in County we have outperformed all of 100 in county and JS comparing us to other District Factory group eyes we were right there with them at 72% or 71 and the state of New Jersey is at 51 we're at 7 72% um and this is relatively consistent longitudinally from 2017 2016 17 all the way 2223 um so this is good news right I I know when we talk to the Board of Education every year when we go over the October report on student achievement it's like well wait how do we compare what do we look like to others we were actually able to get our hands on this report from um from linkoln which is really important so this is more information for US News uh math looks relatively similarly so look at that uh same thing Readington Township School District in the year 2223 you look at that dark blue uh column that's 58% of students are meeting and exceeding expectations but if you look at other districts that are 10 to 20% free to reduce lunch that's 49% so we're 9 percentage points above other districts that look like us as far as socioeconomic status hund county is at 50% and we're at 8% so again 8 percentage points above the average in the county you'll see District Factor groups I is 60% we're at 58% so we're WR there even with them in terms of math and then lastly in the state of New Jersey 39% to 58% so again um in math uh the data is relatively consistent that in math 58% of our students are meeting and exceeding expectations and our students are outperforming other districts in the state of New Jersey also have a free and reduced population between 10 and 20% the districts in hun and County we perform them as well we're performing relatively evenly with the district Factor group I uh groupings in New Jersey and we are certainly out outpacing the state of New Jersey which again for math uh is great news as well uh so here are uh the summary so we reported 72% of students meeting exceeding expectations in ela and 58 in math in the year 232 or 2223 these scores are well above the state averages in both Ela and math in ela we outperform all other groups free and reduced population hun County D&G and math we outperform free and reduced hun County and scored two points below our DFG the historical Trends also demonstrate our high achievement all the way back to 2016 2017 so we were able to longitudinally look at this it's not like with the exception of you know last year which was the first year after covid and two years of not taking the njsla um we're not really seeing some inconsistencies in our student performance they're performing exceptionally well um and lastly um our our Readington students are are scoring competitively and this is the hard work of our teachers and our students and are to be commended for this amazing work because it really is a testament to the work that they do um the final thing I'll say and I I didn't look this up so I'm not quite sure where the state of New Jersey ranks in terms of our um educational achievement Nationwide but historically New Jersey Massachusetts are generally within the top two for public education in the country right so keep that in your mind and then remember a punch line so remember we are in the highest one of the highest achieving States in our country and we are outperforming that state right so rington is performing better than the average of the highest performing State one of the highest performing states in the country County outperforms the average of the state we are outperforming under the county right so when you put all of that together our teachers are doing an excellent job and our students are performing exceptionally well and it's a testament to the the work that the board does and how they support the the students and the teachers I think it's a it's really good news to share so I wanted to share this with tonight any any questions on this report link it yeah does that does that not provide the breakdown of classes and grades like does it not tell you the comp of data to show like if the kids come in at one level and then meet the district at a certain level or it just puts it all together for this honestly I'm not sure if I have an answer that question because we we usually use um our I ready data is the better indicator where where students are coming in for the school year and then we track their progress on my ready which is linked to State Standards um I I am not entirely certain if we use Link it for that exact um like growth modeling or seeing where they're leaving at at the end of their time here in Readington but I ready we might be able to pull that out of in terms of our growth reports I know I think the njsla when they do like the report cards I think they break it down into Middle School they do yeah it's I don't know if we have that through link it but I can check but I know when you do see like the new performance reports or the report cards you're going to see it broken down you'll see njsla achievement results broken down by um by building then by grade level and then by subgroup if we have enough students in that subgroup so economically disadvantage IEP students um ethnic and racial diversity multilingual owners you'll see those different categories as well if there are less than I think 20 students in each one of those categories they won't repord it because it's identifiable let me write it down I'll ask Sarah and Stacy to see if link it has that capacity to break it down but we primarily used link it for like aggregate data so okay that's my primary answer I'll get that to you thank yep another question I just want to be clear the DFG we don't specifically know what district we were compared to like do we know if we're comparing it to Clinton and blon or we don't we don't because there the district Factor groups were um they're based off of the year 2000 census so I can't guarantee that the census for Clinton or Flemington rton branberg has changed so they may have changed their socioeconomic status which might have if we had District Factor groups and if we did the sense if we looked at the 202 census and then did the district Factor groups we might line up differently they may be a j might be you know JK or or or hi or something like that so I don't I I can't tell you who we're comparing us to but I can tell you that District Factor groups back in the year 2000 these were other districts that we will compare ourselves to in the local region whether they or we have changed since the year 2000 I don't know the answer of that question and there's no way to get those results like Township NJ results I'm just curious it would be nice to see it Direct um we have some data that I could share with you yeah okay I I'm I have to make the comments sry I wait for other you um so again I don't know what's better news you know what we just heard financially or educationally but when you have uh this formula of you know low taxes and high achieving kids you know what does that equate to well a lot of things like you said you know great teachers kids are doing well great Administration but also we can't forget you know the property values in this District are are only going to continue to increase so I think people in general because of this combination uh should just feel really good about living in this County you know and this is just all really exciting news like you said Thank you anything else thank you everybody thank you Dr that concludes my super report we are now open to the public limited to action items on the [Music] agenda anything online there's nothing on the chat nothing on chat okay all right I'm sorry canes we're getting to that yeah you can com oh you're welcome to come to the podium if you have a comment to make you anything on the agenda and that is on the agenda so you're certainly welcome to comment on that at this point yes um and then November so this is about the excuse me I don't mean to interrupt you could you just State your SC thank you um about the m so in the November election Jody bman was voted out of her position she came in dead last on the ballot Christina Napoli got 20% more votes than better this is not a major election those who voted had skin in game they are the parents of the kids that go to new schools she lost her position because people were really unhappy with the job she was doing because of how she was Voting and the direction she was taking School District the wishes of the majority of the parents of this school district should not be discarded furthermore both uh Jody bman and Pam Cassy were supported by NGA if such a trivial thing as Mrs nap participating in recess at her school could potentially be construed as a conflict of interests and M betterman and M cassley voting on an RTA contracts could certainly be considered as a much bigger interest the op the Optics of allowing that but not Mrs nap to participate in her students activities would be very poor helps indeed Mrs bman and Mrs Cassidy also got some from action together New Jersey an organization funded through act blue which according to their website is only available to democratic candidates committees and Progressive organizations those that get support from action together in New Jersey are asked to take a pledge to v a certain way on topics on Poe now i' like to portion of the Po's uh code of ethics just going to be part of it a school board member shall abide by the following code of ethics for school board members I will confine my board action policymaking planning and appraisal and I will help frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them I will recognize that Authority rests with the Board of Education and will make no personal promises or take any action that may compromise the board I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use the school for personal gain or the gain of friends uh furthermore I will provide accurate information and in concert with my fellow board members interpret to the staff the aspirations of the community for its school so in nove in November the aspirations of the community were clearly expressed the majority of parents do not want Jordan betterman on Boe further Mrs betterman and Mrs Cassidy's affiliation and subsequent help by outside organizations could be construed as a violation of the code of ethics putting the Boe at risk we are asking you to please elect a replacement who best exemplifies the values and direction that Christina napi had as that was the reason she was overwhelmingly elected and not someone with opposing views as that is the reason Jody bman was voted out of position thank you mrly I'm sorry I didn't hear you Kimberly thank District ERS good evening Dr Hart little louder good evening Dr Hart board members and Community I have known J jod betterman for 15 years as our three three of our children are in the same grades we met 2009 when our daughters began at threee Bridges Jody was already a compassionate leader and advocate for our children as her oldest child now in college had started in the Readington school system in 2006 Jody was always involved in everything for the kids and not just involved but the chair of many activities I would say I was involved because I would volunteer if someone in need a few hours that they needed to fill but you could always see this just this wasn't just volunteering to Jody it is her passion 18 years ago she started out as a volunteer parent and became the chair of the book fair school store mini courses then VP of TBS HSA after TBS she was also a chair of numerous committees at RMS a founding member of the Fine Arts committee and HSA president jod has also been involved at Central in numerous organizations last month she put together a parent meeting for 8th grade parents at Central in U sorry she put together for parents to ask other parents going into hung Central to make the transition easier for them it was a Hu a huge success and those parents were extremely thankful when I'm talking to parents from other schools they say wow I would have loved to have that at my school and that was a great idea I'm going to try to get my school to do that parents helping parents is wonderful and if jod asked you know to participate you know it will be a helpful wellth thought out organized process I'm not going to list all the organization she's been in because first we'd be here for hours second of all you know her you know her record and you know what she has accomplished for the school system I see no reason why you wouldn't pick the most qualified passionate person for the position who can fit in seamlessly and get to work right away for the remainder of the Year Jody obviously knows what she's doing has done it before and cares about our community and our kids every single one of them by the example she has set and the time commitment she has showed when given the chance to do so she has taken time away from her own family to gave all of our families her whole heart all these years and that means the world to us parents she cares deeply about this community and always has since she became a part of it 18 years ago it's true she was not reelected she was elected to the Board of Education 2021 and served her community again with Grace commitment and integrity we all know unfortunately she did not win re-election last year but she did receive over 2,200 votes Jody benman has a heart of gold and always wants what's best for all of our children and it's most qualified to fill this bacon or bed seat so I just wanted to make another comment because go my understanding is that you interview different candidates and you're whoever you're going to pick was not on the ballot or didn't um you're not at my point is that you don't know what you're going to get might have to start over it might not be a good fit when she just seems like the right choice for a seamless transition and then they would vote again for the two to fill the rest of the two-year term next year thank you hello Carn Sherwood I'm a white house parent I uh I didn't prepare anything to say but I'm here because I just want to remind you guys that that town the people of the Town voted miss fman out not that you don't deserve you know um the gratitude for your service um I think you certainly put in your time but I think the public made it very clear when they voted during the election and I think that's an important thing for you guys to remember and when you're voting please remember that and try to pick somebody who's closely aligned with Miss napi thank you thank you thank you good evening I'm Karen midman I'm a I'm not a parent I'm a grand parent my children are not in this uh School area but um I wish they were from the academic perspective but I'm not sure I'm happy that they are with the way I hear politics being brought into the Board of Education there's no room for that I know jod I work with jod On The Board of Health she brings her scientific knowledge her expertise her critical thinking to any question that comes up on that committee and I agree with uh the woman before who said hitting the ground running is something that it should be important for this group so I totally support jod and feel that she would be an excellent replacement for the uh inter thank you thank you Ed an Fort I promised I wasn't going to do this and I can't help myself I just want to remind you that although jod didn't get the most votes she got more than anybody else who's being considered tonight thank you anyone else okay okay thank you everyone we appreciate your comments and certainly appreciate you being here to share your um your perspective okay moving on to correspondence you say anything about that just just that they corresponden that's usually the number oh okay I apologize all right counting it quickly there were 20 correspondences all right moving on to the election of the board vacancy um we we need to get a nomination and a second I would like to nominate D vman I second that second okay call is that the way is that the way we do it for each person or do we wait until we get all the nominations you do all the nominations for all the nominations first okay I I would like to nominate uh Mr Paulo loes okay seconda you second second okay [Music] nominations do the roll call that right yes so the we do the roll call in the order of nomination um and uh just in in Conformity with the bylaw 0143 um the vote count needs to exceed the remaining board members that are on the board uh because there's one vacancy the nine becomes eight uh so the the majority of the eight is five so anyone receiving over five votes would uh be elected excuse me over five or five or more five or more I I disagree with that I read the policy that it's a majority vote of the of the members present I'm sorry that it's it's the vote of the remaining members but the remaining members are just remaining members you have to be present to vote if you look at policy 165 about voting you know unless it's there's a unless it's listed as an exception it's by majority of the quorum presid so it could be 43 if we had a quorum tonight the minimum Quorum of five you would only need three um I'll just State for the record that we have two different board attorneys uh that were hired by the board that um disagree with that statement and have provided Us in writing that five is needed um for to see things V yeah we didn't discuss it I don't about anyone else I came away from the the meeting last week we went over this because we thought a member may not be here and I was a quum I don't remember hearing you know you need almost a super majority I mean you know Miss mener is not here she chose not to be here tonight you can only vote if you're present it doesn't make any sense to me that now we're going to say we have to have five votes out of out of eight so I I don't know what lawyer is saying that but that that goes that goes against the policy on voting it doesn't even say that in the policy it just says to the remaining members remaining members are obviously remaining eight members is what that means yeah because the person who left majority of eight would be five yeah but that it doesn't mean that that's not what it means though it just means a majority vote everything's by majority remembers you have but it's people who are pres and V I don't know how I don't I don't have the policy in front of me but if it doesn't say who oh thank you I also don't recall receiving any correspondence contacted the attorney regarding this this is kind of a major thing I mean this is like saying you could prevent a vote just by people not showing up you're you're going to need to get to five the whole point of Robert's Rules of Order is that so that it isn't dependent on who shows up to the meeting who can who can take that vote so by one member not being there their voice can still be into consideration by having to not just be split even four four so the idea is to have a super majority is actually how it's written in the bylaw does it say full membership of the board or does it say remaining members looking the very bottom the last a roll call will be conducted that [Music] part okay I'm just going to this is um this is a board policy which is 0143 and I'm just going I had got to the last paragraph but than you I'm just going to read the last paragraph it says a roll call vote will be conducted on candidates in the order the candidates were nominated with a second if there are two or more vacancies each vacancy will be filled by a separate election process the first candidate who receives the votes of a majority of the remaining board members will be elected to the vacancy in the event no candidate receives a majority vote of the remaining board members another election process shall be conducted between the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes so you're reading into that majority of the reing board members I'm not reading into anything I just read what I whether pres or not it says remaining board members meaning that there are now we have we started with nine we lost one we ended up with eight so there are eight remaining board members they didn't say eight members who are who are a they didn't say the present board members but that's right into every other single vote okay well if you look I mean again if you look at policy one 65 it just says majority of the of the Quorum that's present well this is this this policy 0143 is called board member election and appointment I also I'm still asking about that correspondence we apparently went to the attorney it wasn't shared with the board members in regard to having five did I misunderstand what you stated no we um we consult the administration consults with the board attorney uh every single month on a variety of topics uh from special ed to Oprah to uh board votes or anything going on with the board to make sure when we go to a public meeting that we are prepared uh so that way if meeting is conducted and there's questions on what is occurring we have appropriate legal advice so that way we know when things are passing or not passing um as well as if someone can vote on something or not vote on something so the attorney advice which is two separate attorneys that are appointed by the board uh provided the legal advice that we're getting this evening those attorneys which were voted by the board members to be appointed uh provided that guidance uh if you choose not to view that as uh the guidance that is perfectly acceptable um but the administration works with the board attorney to make sure board members are in compliance with SEC as well as legal statute uh to avoid uh legal fees which uh go to funding not children and students and curriculum uh but legal fees that are not uh in the best interest of the overall budget I understand what you're saying but my question is why was that guidance not shared with all the board members going into this meeting that that's how the vote would take place well I certainly do not share every guidance that we get from the board attorney but that involves each and every one of us tonight which has been shared right at this moment I don't know how any attorney can read that into the policy I'm sorry and I would have appreciated a heads up I I I don't know about the rest of you I didn't come out of that meeting thinking that especially once Michelle mentioned she may not be here that we are still any five votes I don't know if anyone the rest of you came out of the meeting thinking that I thought we discussed a quorum the majority of the people present I don't know all I know is that you know once again we hire a board attorney to make sure we follow the the law and that was the guidance given so whether or not we knew it then we know it now or how we feel about it if that's the guidance then that's what we need to follow no but I guess I'm asking why don't we have that in writing you don't believe us well I just I'd like to have an inviting I mean I'm not saying whether I believe you or not I just this is just surprising to me I'm sure that we can get the attorney to write something to provide that guidance you know so it was verbal I'm sorry it was verbal then I honestly don't know mine was verbal I spoke to the attorney um I asked him to provide something in writing I never followed up with him he told me verbally I know Jason had a separate conversation as well yeah my my convers ation with was with fob and Hara our old board attorneys that I handle um Legacy U matters fog and Har has been the board attorney for over 20 years my was with the new one just let you know so we talk to them separately without even knowing that we talk to them separately my guess is that this is not the first time this has happened with these attorneys and they deal with a lot of different districts I don't know it may be the first time it's happened with us but I can't imagine them giving the wrong advice but I guess we can find out but in the meantime the question is are we ready to move forward or any other comment yes um I wanted to had something highlighted on that policy that I wanted to bring up real quick pass back over I I I'll just let the board know and I don't know if this is helpful at all but there are certain matters on the board agenda that always regardless of how many board members are present will always require five votes so when we talk about matters of personnel and when the Personnel committee goes to move matters of personnel if we have five board members attend One Night in the summer because that's usually when it happens when there's vacations and things if there's five board members here it's not the majority of the present board it's always five Personnel matters are always five so there are there are things that other things besides you know voting for a that's set forth excuse me that's set forth in the voting policy this what we're talking about now is not it's a different policy but I'm just saying it's not my my point is it's not uncommon to require five votes of the full board in order to move things on the agenda what I'm saying examples you're talking about there are all specific exceptions on our voting policy exceptions to the rule that's majority of of members present so what we're just talking about now voting in a a vacant member or to fill a vacancy that's not listed as an exception voting calls you know it's at best ambiguous I I don't know you know be told the lawyers say this is the way it's done I I don't at best it's ambiguous I don't know what their analysis was why why isn't it in the other policy and why doesn't it just say five it says majority majority of the remaining board members my guess is that you could have had three people resign and then the remaining would have been six and then you need a majority that that that's just my guess so I mean I think I think it was pretty clear to be honest any other comments yes so I was going to reference a different part of that policy um 0143 and I just want to read the um one piece of it so in considering candidates who have expressed an interest in a vacancy the Board of Education May interview candidates in public or executive session the board must vote to appoint a candidate to a vacancy in public session and there shall be no decisions made in executive session which is exactly how we follow it um in the event that interviews are conducted in executive session board members in the public session nomination and voting process shall Express their opinion in support of their vote so the public can witness any deliberations policy formulation and the decision-making process of the board so uh we very rarely get the opportunity to express our own personal opinion so I wanted to take that opportunity now to um explain why I am nominating Jody bman um based on the notes I took in the interviews there was only one candidate who correctly answered the question what is the role of the school board answer in short is planning policy and Appraisal only one candidate has prior experience serving on a board of education and only one candidate has extensive experience in green and sustainable education which is the board committee that we are most in need of filling Jody bman has lived in this community for close to 25 years has volunteered thousands of hours to the schools and is continuing to serve on the schools or on the board's green committee as a community volunteer in addition she received recognition from the New Jersey school boards Association for completing extra hours of governance training above the state requirement for board members she received 223 votes last election which is impressive considering she had the disadvantage of being listed last on the ballot the board received 19 I guess 20 uh letters of support for her since our last meeting and those are all listed out as correspondents on the agenda what I said to my fellow board members in executive session I will say now these candidates are not equal no other candidate can match Mrs betterman's qualifications experience and proven dedication to the schools it takes close to a year to get up to speed to Be an Effective board member it takes staff time and resources to on board a new person if we were a corporation looking to fill an interim executive position there would be no question who would be selected it would be the candidate who is the most qualified and can keep the organization humming along until a permanent replacement is hired or an our case voted in this is what went into my decision making and I invite any other board members to please share how you came to your decision thank you so I'd like to make a statement the njsba states that the best practices in filling a board vacancy is to keep Community taste in mind we as board members are voting on The community's behalf and we should vote for someone that best aligns with Christina Napoli values based on the interviews Paula Lopes is someone that is vested in his children's education and the success of our schools and believes in public education which is why he has my support thank you anyone else any other comments before moving on do we speak when we cast our Vote or do we speak now or like well so like I would think that it would be I would say my reason for my vote when I Vote or do you want us I think probably before because once we once we vote it's just yes or no I have a a lengthy version but I'm just going to keep it brief um to me to counter um what Beth just shared to me Jody is too involved in invested in special interest groups that directly impact or is related to official board action um you know mentioning that she would be serving on the green committee um I and serving you know being employed by sustainable Jersey go hun where her job is actually to bring this stuff into schools um you know I it's great if that's what you know your passion is for and what your job is you just shouldn't be able to do that from inside the board and to me that's a conflict and that is what I'm considering when I'm voting thank you was there anything else or is that is that um you know I have support of all as well okay um he served his country in the US Army and his community as a fireman an EMT a coach and a Boy Scout Den Leader he's also the Treasure of the New Jersey state fireman's relief Association and based on this experience he has the communication skills of ability to make decisions under stressful and oftentimes critical conditions he also values fiscal responsibility and has experienced allocating resources during his interview he spoke to his passion for serving his community and supporting its students he spoke highly of the Readington school district and for these reasons I vote Yes for him without hesitation thank you anyone else have any comments okay well I just want to I just sure may I just make a general comment about the process um it takes a lot of guts to put yourself out there to interview for the Board of Education um it's not for the Fain of heart and it is um it's a big investment of yourself um to this district and I just want to express my gratitude to all of the candidates that put forth because we can't run an effective board without having nine members here and we're all while we have very diff viewpoints very dedicated to this District um and want what's best for it overall so I just want to thank those that put forth because we need them and while I've seen you know some polarization of thought and in the community um I'm just grateful for the opportunity to work through these processes appropriately and follow the guidance and follow our rules and just come up with what we think is best we each get an individual vote um and we talk through it and we will figure it out and I'm very confident that we will find a great board member when we interviewed the candidates all of them met the qualifications of the role as set forth by the state of New Jersey and from there we have a really difficult decision to make um based on who each of us thinks would be the best to go forward but I do say thank you to all of the candidates thank you J anyone else all right well can I just say one more thing sorry just something one of the um community members came up to and stated um that she feels politics should be kept out of um school boards and I do agree I do know we all bring our own viewpoints and opinions and everything um however when you take a pledge to a political activist organization I feel that that crosses the line just want to say thank you thank you um all right um I have to say I haven't known some of you very long but I really truly appreciate each of of your p that you do bring to the board I've spoken with each of you individually you're all very nice people and and and like Jen says I believe that wherever we land we will we will come together as a board and and I do I appreciate your your service to the board everyone honestly so thank you for that um I miss Christina I do because she were here we would we would have avoided this if she were here so but she's not so we have to um move on okay does any anyone other comments if not we will go to a loc call okay okay loc call um so uh the policy says we vote on the order of nomination um so first we'll go through a vote for jod bman go around and then we'll go second a vote for Paul Lopes um and we'll go around and um I'll write down whatever votes for um so the first vote is uh if you are in favor of Mrs betterman I'll start with Mrs depinto no Mrs fiori yes Mr Peach no this borski yes this Ryan no Mrs wolf no Dr Cell yes the second nomination was for Mr Lopes I'll go around again this is the yes Mrs Fury no Mr Peach yes Mrs borski no Mrs is Ryan Yes Mrs wolf yes Dr Cal no um so at this time we have uh no person uh individually that has had more than five yes votes um so the board has the options they can continue to vote until we get to five um or uh they can go into executive this session at this time to discuss it further than come back out um they can also table the matter go through the rest of the agenda also discuss this in executive session with our other topic this evening come back out um or we can take the results that we currently have also send them to the board attorneys for a written analysis um there there is a window of 65 days under policy 0143 uh 65 days from the date of Mrs Napoles resignation um the other option is the board could uh call a special board meeting uh with Miss Menor present um and those are just some of the options that I wanted to throw out there for everyone thank you do um is that something that we have to talk about or do I just decide or do we decide agree with with how to move forward who's whose decision is that you know I'm sorry I'm asking the question because this is new and I want to make sure we what we go we move forward properly um well since my time here we've never had a uh a vote uh for an appointment that has not passed so we've had about six or seven vacancies on the board in the past six years each time a majority has been voted upon there has been multiple candidates voted on each time but there was majority um that passed so uh really I don't know if it's specifically written in any bylaw that I'm aware of but um we are here to conduct business uh we have to go through the rest of the business um so if uh we can reconducted vote again if you like and if the results are the same I would advise after that point to um either go to Executive immediately or conduct the rest of the meeting go to executive and you can come back out of executive and um vote again if you like okay well my suggestion is and I I would ask if you guys agree is to continue with the rest of the board meeting we finish the board meeting we add this to the executive session as well to discuss and we'll decide then if we're either going to come to a consensus or what are we going to do at that point i' to have that discussion in executive are you guys okay with that plan you have to notify when we go into executive if we're going to be making the if we're going to be we will not we can't vote in the executive anyway right but saying you have to say prior to going to Executive whether action will be taken or not after right so whether or not action will be taken after [Music] that and the action will be to do another [Music] vote and then after that if if we don't have a consensus then we would have to make the next decision after that is that right that correct that's correct so you would come back out of executive the public could Rec come back in okay at that time you can express whether or not you want to take a vote or not um if you want to someone would have to make a motion to um and we'd have to re you know um vote to make a motion second for someone before a vote um you can also come out of executive and then say you know there's 's no vote tonight of a wonderful evening and depart for the evening okay are we comfortable with that plan yes are we I would just like to say I would like to get a I can make a motion I would like to get at least just a short analysis from the attorney who's looking like this sure I mean it's at best ambiguous and we should look toward changing the policy okay in the future to make it clear because it is not at all clear and is a problem tonight so right I appreciate that Randy and I want everyone to be comfortable with moving forward so if you have if there's any bit of ambiguity I think we should get it cleared up I have no problem with that um I don't think that's going to change you know where we end up but I but I have no problem you know doing that as well so I appreciate that um does are we okay with that plan then we'll say we're going to go to executive and we will we will take action in executive and then we'll come back no action no action in that's my we're going to talk about it an executive and then come back with action with action see why you have a VPI okay action will be taken action will be taken all right result hard What were what was the result of this uh sure we can we can certainly address that as well um can you just review what the votes were Mr B please um so for Mrs betterman there were um um three yes votes and four no votes for Mr Paulo U Mr Lopez um there was four yes votes and three no votes and so it's not majority then it has to be five is that we need five votes we need five yeses yes and what is the time frame until you the5 days when does that actually end um the last agenda so the resignation from Miss napol janary was January 22nd so if you count 65 calendar days uh that is the deadline after the deadline is reached it automatically goes to the county superintendent who would conduct a process and appoint uh himself um and in essence the the vote would be taken out of the board's hands at that point and be given to the county superintendent we express that we don't want that to happen sorry we express that we don't want that to happen out the board's hand we'd rather that not happen as well we agree with you agree all right so thank you I think we're going to move along um the next thing on the agenda is the approval of administrative reports can I get a motion to adopt 1.01 to 1.02 second can we get a roll call please M Depo yes M Fury yes Mr Beach yes M borski yes M Ryan Yes W yeah Dr SEL yes motion passes approval of minutes can we get a motion to a top 2.01 to 2. 02 Caroline can we get a roll call please Mrs dendo yes Mrs F yes Mr Peach just know on 2.02 you know on the voting the voting issue and then yes on the other one this is borski yes this Ryan Yes this wolf yes Dr cel yes yes I'm moving on to finance and Facilities can I get a motion to adopt 3.01 to 3.19 move back second Caroline and we have a committee report yes so number one we discussed health and dental insurance the renewal recommendations were presented by Brown and Brown for the 2425 school year the recommendation is to join the school health insurance fund shift for medical and prescription D drug coverage and exit the public employer trust with this recommendation the medical provider Network remains a mer health and the pharmacy benefit manager would move to Express Scripts the shift rate increases 4.4% versus pet the rate rate increase of 77% for an annual difference of 274,000 the proposed ship increase of 4% is less than the budgeted amount of 8% resulting in savings for the District the recommendation for dental coverage is to renew the fully insured coverage with Horizon for an increase of 6.9% this is a more competitive offer than received from MetLife and Delta second we discussed the budget update state aid of 2.7 million has been received which is an increase of 355,000 preschool is fully funded at 3.3 million and this is planned to support 14 classes in September increased from Seven classes currently banked cap in the amount of 466,000 is available which can assist with future funding needs the proposed tax levy is 2.6% which will is aligned with expectations overall the district is financially sound and on track to meet the April 30th budget endorsement date number three the finance committee will coordinate with the green committee to jointly review the proposed solar expansion in preparation for awarding the project in mid April the school district has developed a corrective action plan in order to meet Revenue Thresh holds required by the state related to semi participation the YMCA before and after care agreement is to is set to expire in June 2024 nominal rate increases are suggested which would be incurred by program participants the bill list was made available for review which included budget preschool funding semi YMCA contract and Esa Grant Amendment we set our next meeting for April 10th at 8:30 a.m. and May 10th at 8:30 tentative topics solar proposal scoring final budget Capital project security substitutes benefits waiting period thank you Mr L can we get a roll call please any questions about Finance mrso yes but abstain from check number 063 752 M Fury yes M Mr Peach yes M borski yes M Ryan Yes M wol yes Dr Cell yes motion passes moving on to education and Technology can I get a motion to adopt 4.01 to 4.06 move that second and we have a committee report yes we do um the edtech committee met on February 29th the first item on the agenda was the mental health program at RMS U Mr Tumalo and miss balandi the behavioral health counselor gave an update on the district's mental health program for students the program which is in its third year is funded through a federal Esser Grant the grant expires at the end of this school year H however because of its success the district has built the cost to continue it into the 2425 budget the district has designed a three- tiered system of mental Support Services 80% of students are in tier one which provides strategies for students through Universal instruction tier two represents about 10 to 15% of the student population these Services include short-term Services provided by guidance counselors tier three facilitated by Miss bandi includes about three to 5% of the student population these students require the most services to help them to help get them through the day or in some cases to get them to school in the first place Miss bandi reported that she helping students address anxiety depression self-regulation peer relationship issues and suicidal ideation Miss Bondi works for the district 32 hours a week Monday through Thursday she sees students in grades 5 through eight students are referred to her through the school counselors uh parental permission is required to receive services and parents are continually invol involved in the services that their student receives success of this program is measured with pre and post assessments based on things like attendance overall mood parent feedback and discipline referrals these indicators vary by student in addition to services for students Miss bandi also facilitates staff education through staff facility meetings as well as classroom strategies for individual students um the next item we discussed was curriculum Department uh tentative budget priorities uh Dr Brown recommended the purchase of several new curricular materials for her Department the reading program K2 was introduced in last month's meeting but Dr Brown touched on it briefly just to answer any questions um next the committee discussed new Spanish textbooks entitled authentico Spanish textbook from Savas Learning Company uh this is for grades six through eight she also recommended replacing Mandarin textbooks with easy steps of Chinese textbook second edition volume one and two by Beijing Language and Cultural University press also grades 6 through 8 French textbooks were replaced a couple years ago so now all the world Lang textbooks will be current additions Miss pouch discussed new and revised materials for her Department she recommended amplify science as the new supplemental materials for grades 6 through eight as well as pilot for amplify science in the 2425 budget for grades four and five the grade six through eight classrooms who are piloting the empi Science Now report now report positive feedback with the lessons and materials the material is aligned to the state science assessment and includes areas of study that were lacking in the district's previous science textbooks Miss pouch also recommended purchasing the revised math ready classroom 2024 for grades K through five this updated version addresses areas that needed Improvement such as more reading level friendly word problems and Hands-On center-based activities Miss Pou reported that she also reviewed the latest version of Big Ideas 2019 copyright which are the math resources for grade 6 through eight Big Ideas um is used at 100 and Central and closely aligns with the 2016 njsls math standards and also covers the major changes to the 2020 njsls math uh math standards this will be revi Revisited if and when the new addition of Big Ideas comes out um the 6 through eight math department is also reviewing another textbook for potential pilot and adoption um we then discussed oh hold on sure I got that right curriculum Department okay oh yes curriculum Department tenative budget um an increase in stien payments for curriculum writing consistent with the rtea contract Mrs kle reported that stapen payments to teachers went up by $5 an hour according to the new rtea contract for things like teacher cies curriculum writing and summer enrichment next we discussed um M midyear Diagnostics uh pretty much the presentation that Dr Hart showed us earlier um with the new data um that was provided to the district and of course that was data from last Spring's uh testing so we're looking forward to you know this year and and having that data available going forward um next we discuss the parent academy uh this is night of Discovery is on March 20th next Wednesday Mrs cryle updated the committee on the parent Academy night it's from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at Hollen Brook School this evening is open to all Readington parents to learn about the many wonderful happenings and resources in the district registration is now open there are 23 sessions currently planned led by staff administrators and Community Partners topics include introduction to the schools and the new preschool program academic and support services available to students and many many more there will be student presenters keynote speakers as well as representatives from Township committee Readington teachers Education Association HSA Board of Ed uh police department YMCA prevention resources starfish and many others registration and for subscriptions are posted on Genesis uh next the teacher Academy catalog Mrs cryle presented the spring teacher Academy catalog and reported that after course descriptions were shared with neighboring districts four participants from out of District have asked to participate in ours um for the March 15th in service this Friday staff facilitators are on our um March agenda Mrs cryle shared the draft in service agenda with the committee uh this is a day of professional development for teachers and staff and we also includes some special features I hope I'm not spoiling any surprises um food trucks okay food trucks and bakery treats to make it a nice day for everyone and then uh we had a preschool registration update there were 147 students registered for preschool during that preschool registration drive a few weeks ago more registrations are continuing to come in it is anticipated that the program will be at capacity for the 2425 school year um we scheduled our next meeting for April 19 at 8:30 thank you any questions any questions regarding that okay can we get a roll call please Mrs defto yes Mrs Fury yes Mr Peach yes this borski yes this Ryan yes this wol yes Dr s yes passes moving on to Personnel can we get a motion to adopt 5.01 to 5.13 so move Jennifer second Caroline we have a committee report yes we do uh the Personnel committee met on March 6 at 8:45 a.m. and reviewed Staffing updates on the RMS assistant principal search staffing updates for the 2023 to 2024 school year as well as Staffing updates for the 2024 to 2025 school year um non-tenured staff non-aligned staff salaries RMS enrollment scheduling and Staffing um tabled enrollment Trends from 2008 to 2024 reviewed the holiday schedules and Personnel matters agenda items include new hires sidebar with the rtea resignation substitutes and holiday schedules the next meeting is scheduled for April 24th thank you Mr Wolf any questions regarding that all right can we get a roll call please is dep Pinto yes M yes Mr be yes M borski yes is Ryan Yes Yes Dr SEL yes moving on to communication can we get a motion to adopt 6.01 to 6.03 move that second Carol we have a committee report yes um we met on February 21st uh we first discussed Communications planning Dr Hart gave an update to the committee on um our planning he provided members with a copy of the agenda of his meeting with our communications consultant Lori Peru Perlo U which include the goal of improving Communications and expanding Community engagement and also include discussion of how to better advertise board meetings conduct targeted mailing and improve District Communications uh we discussed two options presented by the consultant for data one option is to launch a formal what's called a scope survey used by many districts which gives extensive qualitative data and also uh compares to National norms and we're getting a sample report of what we would get with this survey however this the scope proposal would have a cost of between $2,000 and $3,000 and using it would be would also require additional lead time the other option was for uh the consultant to create a Google form form for the survey which she would customize compile the data and then give us specific recommendations and uh our consultant include that this work would then be included within her consulting fee so the committee members reached a consensus that we would choose the second option have Miss Perlo gather the survey data and while this would not include all the extensive data we would get from the scope survey be less costly more customizable to our district um and also felt we could always switch to using scope in future years uh we also approved a timeline for our Communications planning this will include a launch of the survey in March conducting focus groups in April and May and then receive a report in May or June that would identify communication goals um and then have Miss PLO come to the board retreat in August to do Communications training and then we would launch the communications plan in September member Miss PLO made other recommendations to Dr Hart she suggested that we become a member of the national school public relations Association that we begin using um something called the s'more platform for our newsletters which is more mobile friendly M PLO also suggested having a student student council representative come to board meetings the members suggested possibly incorporating the student involvement into the the Civics curriculum next we disc discuss the calendars first we discuss the calendar for next year 2024 2025 this calendar there's addition there's a need for an additional snow contingency day currently it has only two we need we need an extra one Dr Hart had spoken to the teachers determine if they would agree to return in late August for their two professional development days which allow students to return on September 3rd um however teachers raised the concern that they had already had plans for the summer and for August um therefore uh Dr Hart's recommendation was to bring teachers back on September 3D and 4th with students returning on the 5th and then we would make Martin Luther King Day an additional snow give back day we end up needing it just explain that the benefit to using Mark Luther King's day is that unlike President's Day it's not a holiday day for 12- month staff members who have to report that day anyway and if more snow give back days are needed after Martin Luther King day we would then use President's Day and then followed by the Friday of spring break and Dr Hart's gonna note the order of the contingency days on the calendar we then discussed the calendar for 2025 2026 now this calendar would have teachers coming back in August on August 27th and 28 and then students returning on September 2nd and then we would Martin Luther King day would then be a holiday again and the snow contingency days will be on March 16th um and then May 26 followed by the virtual day and Dr har proposed approving that calendar now the 2025 2026 along with 2024 2025 so that teachers know well in advance that they're going to come back in August of 2025 and it was also noted that the the August Return of the teachers that year will require what's called a sidebar negotiation with the Union then uh then we discussed the the school calendar for the remaining this year and uh the issue here is we need a one additional snow contingency day we've already had snow days on December 18th January 16th and February 13 but we only have two snow makeup days so we need an extra day one day one option is to add a day onto the school year that would make the last day June 21st instead of June 20th another options would be to use the Friday of spring break or to bring students back in for a half day on March 15 which is now a teacher professional development day um and the committee after discussing it we reached a consensus that there's really no ideal option but the best would be to just add a day on the school year making the school year end on June 21st now the eth grade graduation ceremony will still take place on June 20th so students will'll be coming back the next day Dr Hart stated in the past when this happens the school offers a breakfast to the graduated eth graders along with yearbook sence um next we discuss policy 8505 uh having to do with Wellness um including uh nutrition promotion education and physical activity uh Jason bom is our District's wellness policy coordinator responsible for ensuring a district complies with this policy Dr Hart add some language the policy based on feedback from the green committee Miss fiori asked for the opportunity to bring the policy back to the green committee make sure every item has been included and so we agree that no action be taken now and uh also will be that at our next meeting next we discuss policy 2423 having to do with bilingual education and this is related to English as a second language which is part of the district's comprehensive Equity plan uh here the revisions are because of updates to the administrative code relating to definitions identification of children who need ESL and the organization of programs Dr Hart noted that both Mr Tumalo and Miss beagle had reviewed the policies and were're both comfortable with them and we've already begun implementing some of the changes uh Dr Hart also noted that the our district is also well ahead of the curve on the new ESL requirements for preschoolers as we have already hired a preschool family engagement specialist who has both EC ESL and special ed certificates and lastly we discuss policy 243 1.4 and this has to do with prevention and treatment of sports related concussions and head injuries Dr Hart know that um Miss beel had reviewed this policy as well along with the school nurses and the guidelines from our school physician and the changes are due to a new statute as well as a model policy from the Department of Education and the policy therefore aligns more closely with the model policy which is based on CDC recommendations uh no new items on advocacy on the agenda tonight are the school calendar approvals policies 2423 and 23414 and we scheduled our next meeting for March 26 I have to make shorter uh minutes thank you Mr Peach any questions regarding those minutes can we get a roll call please is the PIN yes is f yes M mener Mr Beach yes M borski yes M Ryan Yes m b yes Dr cers yes passes okay moving on to unfinished business uh the board tour dates I know that they started yeah uh we had one on March 11th at our M White House and visited one of the preschool providers so thank you for everybody who attended um hopefully you can make it March 2st at Holland Brook and Three Bridges so if anybody wants to come to um hollbrook and Three Bridges feel free even if you just email me the day before the morning of you know you're all welcome to come um they went really well um that's my report for that before we move on can I just I want to say something for board tours uh course for the board members who were there or actually for the board members who were not there um when we were visiting one of the preschools I just want to relay the message that um the preschool was incredibly impressed with the staff and the superintendent and the way that they quickly got the program the preschool program up and running and just could not sing the Praises enough of Dr Hart and the staff and I just wanted everyone to hear that because I it felt great hearing it just for the few of us who were there but just really wanted to pass that on for everyone to he also that you know it was incredibly difficult to get that up and running so quickly and the I think the I don't want to exact quote but it was you know as seamless as it was showed us how hard the work was behind the scenes it was like perfect execution so we know that that was incredibly difficult to pull off [Music] so thank you part of the it was my first time attending the board tours and um it was nice to see all of the students actively engaged in all the classrooms I couldn't believe how peaceful RMS was um everyone would when you looked in all the classrooms everyone was hard at work um all the teachers seemed engaged um the building I thought was in the best shape that I've seen it in in a long time so that was U something that stuck out for me and then visiting White House school um we got to see a production from the kids from Mary Poppins which was really sweet and they did so good um so yeah it was it was really I'm glad that I was able to attend and I'm looking forward to the next one great agreed and thank you Dr har and to everyone that coordinated because it just gives us a little opportunity to see you know all the things that we talk about at a high level and vote upon to see it in action um and to see happy healthy thriving students was just so appreciative and to Echo um F's comments it was just really proud moment for board members to hear the um great praise from the preschool providers too just to say how easy the district made it look to the benefit of the children in our district and that that was really important great thank you it was to completely unsolicited like I I I was just as shocked as the three of you were too like I I didn't know that they have those sentiments I wrote them a thank you note as well but it was it was a great day of tour so please if anybody can join come to the the next ones thank you um moving on to board self evaluations we yeah I have some information Beth I think last time we talked as much as we um appreciated the work that we did last year and I think there was a more streamlined board self- evaluation that we took last year there was granular level data that we get from the school boards tool so if the board is agreeable I did a little research and talked with school boards we can do the school board's tool everyone can fill it out um and do the board self- evaluation and all of the data will go to Camille and Jen and then that can be shared with Judith Wilson for our July Retreat um but it doesn't mean we don't have to I guess what I'm saying is we don't have to use a specific tool we can use the school board's tool if we want to and get the data from there and then decide however we want to use it and it could be for a retreat anything we want so if we want to move forward we could have we could use the survey that we used last year and just do a repeat of that or we can use the full Schoolboard survey and send it out I would I would just recommend that if we're going to use the Schoolboard survey maybe I send it sooner rather than later because you're going to be doing two things simultaneously with the superintendent evaluation and all of that and the Schoolboard self assessment I don't know if you want to do both at the same time maybe we can get a jump on the self assessment before you do the superintendent evaluation um but that honestly it's completely up to you and the board um how you'd like to proceed with doing your own self uh evaluation and then what you'd like to do with the data come July when we ordinarily have our retreat but bottom line we can do whatever we want with the school board tool and with whoever we decide to hire to come in and work with us thank you Dr I think we said last time that we wanted to move forward with the school board tool are we all okay with that and then just getting that email to us sooner than later so if you could email that to us that would be great thank you it'll probably come from quen from school boards but we'll open it up and then once it's open and she'll let us know that it's open and then the data will start to go in there then you'll you'll have access to share with everybody and she'll put in there the deadlines that we should have it completed by um either she'll do it or I'll do it okay all right great thank you any other questions about that [Music] any okay moving on to new business from the board all right we are now open to the public for anything on or off the agenda have station so I think we can all agree that filling a vacant board seat is probably a pretty important item and with that said I'm a little surprised that the uh policy was not kind of ironed out beforehand so that any questions or concerns you know could have been addressed before actually taking the vote so that's my statement thank you thank you hi Carol H um first I want to thank the board for their dedication and their community service it's a lot of work being on the board and obviously this is one of those times that it's stressful and I want to thank all of the members that came out um put their threw their hat in the ring to be appointed um they're all members of our community and everybody deserves respect and I just want to thank all of them and I hope that they all run for election in July um the only other comment that I have is uh there's great training that school boards does it's done by the um njsba uh Representatives Malcolm is great it's um Robert's Rules of Order and they talk about things like when you need a full majority when you need the special majority or when just a majority of those present there are a lot of scenarios so you can take that class there's also the attorney of the day that can answer they'll answer the legal questions as far as what comes what is required such as you know how many votes that you need so it's not um it's not just that it's like a practice by our policy it's mandated by the state it's their rules so you can call up if you call up the attorney of the day they'll tell you the law they won't tell you they won't give you advice for what how to do your school but they'll give you um they'll tell you the law so there's that too if you ever need it thank you thank you Mrs sample anyone else okay um I'm going to read the second one so uh can I get a motion to move uh to ex executive session uh in in accordance with the Sunshine Law to discuss the board member vacancy and the rtaa negotiations for approximately 30 minutes at which time the board expects to return to public session where action may be taken the matters discussed will be made public if and when the circumstances requiring confidentiality no longer exist however it is not presently known when such circumstances will exist so move back second can we get a roll call please M dep yes m f yes Mr Beach yes M bori yes is Ryan Yes M wolf yes CIO yes e e e