welcome to the South Bruns Board of Education meeting today is March 21st 2024 please stand sorry please stand salute the flag have a minute I leg to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and I think I'm missing something here guys hold [Applause] on I think I'm missing sorry yeah here it is sorry okay the New Jersey open public meetings Act njsa 10 4-6 also known as the Sunshine Law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon the primary purpose is for board members to discuss and vote on board business in accordance with the provisions of this act the board secretary has caused notice of this meeting 48 Hours excuse me 48 hours prior including date time and location to be posted in the South Bruns of Public Library the board office filed with the Township Clerk and communicated to the home News Tribune and the Star Ledger it is also posted on the district website Mr palaski roll call please miss Julie Ferrara Miss Laura Hernandez here Mrs Deepa carthik here miss Alicia Khan yes Mr rajer Krishna here Mr Mike Mitchell pres Mr Barry nathon Dr SMI the Raj here Mrs Lisa Rogers here we have a quum thank you sir um I need to uh make a motion have a motion made to amend tonight's agenda removing e executive session may I have any motion Please Mr Mitchell move Dr Raj all in favor any any nay and that passes thank you next is the approval of the minutes um Mr palaski sent out the minutes at the beginning of the week do we have any changes to to the minutes no changes to the minutes minutes stand and will be posted thank you uh the next is the report of superint uh excuse me report of the student representative Defan Ley all right thank you uh good evening everyone starting off with some news from the high school as part of the evaluation process for the njasc standards of excellence award application that our student council uh sorry our student council hosted the student council from Cherry Hill East High School on February 28th they attended a student Senate meeting toward the building and had the opportunity to sit with our Council to review our student government program today student council from sbhs visit visited Cherry Hill East High School we attended a student government meeting and also toward the building uh learning more about the structure of the student government and the roles of the various committees we will submit our final application in April and find out if we earned the award in May at the njasc awards conference our annual Mr sbhs boys pageant took place on March 15th and it was a tremendous success with more than 500 attendees 10 contestants competed and Aiden Silva was crowned Mr sbhs and many of our contestants won awards ranging from best answer to Mr legs Yes you heard that right Mr legs we welcome back hosts uh Dr Negal Mr tuski and Mr dentler a special thank you to Princeton tuxedo for providing all of the formal wear for our contestants and hosts they will also be offering a discount to any SB students attending junior or senior prom if you miss the show in person you can view it on btn's YouTube page student council may be excited for spring break but we are already planning for student government elections and Powderpuff packets for both events will be released on April 2nd as we return from break we will also be preparing for our spring pep rally which will take place on April 12th the Viking leadership Alliance has a extended their food drive through the first week of April students can bring in non- perishable donations to their first block class all donations will be given to replenish which is the middle sex County food pantry uh at their meeting this month VA members assembled over 150 birthday boxes to donate to replenish many families who rely on food pantries are unable to get the ingredients for birthday cakes as they require eggs and oil um box birthday cakes can be made using a can of Sprite to replace the eggs and oil vaa included a disposable pan a box of cake mix a can of sprite a container of frosting as well as a birthday card in each box the National Honor Society induction ceremonies took place on March 5th and 6th in the sbhs auditorium with parents families and special guests attending we are incredibly proud of all our students the achievements they have earned and the values of sbhs and the National Honor Society that they represent congratulations to all our inductees subject area Honor Society applications have opened students who wish to apply may fill out the Google form which is due April 1st the chess club recently ended their 234 season with an impressive list of accomplishments and honors the varsity team placed third in the league championship first in the capablanca division and third in the mid-season tournament there were also four students who earned individual titles isan Sinha Frederick rajakumar harand and Aman invatory congratulations to the entire team for such a great first season Deca competed at the state development conference on March 5th with 14 students advancing to the International Conference which will be taking place in anahem California in April congratulations to the following students pavon and Melvin for entrepreneurship team decision-making Nishan and nille for sports and entertainment team decision-making hia Nishida and nashida for integrated marketing campaign service Arjun Rohan and avite for entrepreneurship startup business plan Arya and Ana for entrepreneurship startup business plan ADI for retail merchandising and Chira for apparel uh and accessories the SB chamber orchestra won a gold rating at the cjmea orchestra Festival on February 77 27th for the second year in a row congratulations and good luck to the chamber orchestra for their next competition taking place in April the class of 2025 hosted the d-stress Fest this past Wednesday this event was a great success with booths hosted by various clubs there were therapy dogs snacks and drinks as well as a record room the class of 2026 is hosting Bagel Fridays selling Bagels in the mornings tomorrow and on April 5th and 19 for $3 each Junior and senior prom packet collection also started this week and we are looking forward to celebrating both classes that's all I have for everyone today and thank you so much for coming thank you all right uh next order of business is uh the report of the uh the president um just a couple things for the board um as we all know the 2025 uh 2025 budget has kept everyone busy I know Scott's going to be detailing the steps taken so I won't go into the details but I believe it's important to know that this for the board to know that the Senate education committee um held a special hearing on the school funding formula her testimony from invited guests including Scott feder and David Kowski uh Representatives also from various towns and members from New Jersey school boards New Jersey Association of superintendents Garden State Coalition save our schools New Jersey Etc there was about 25 or so testimonies that were given to uh Senate um Senate chair Senator gopal uh who heads up the education committee on behalf for the Board of Education I would like to thank Scott and David I would also like to thank Peter uh verel Mark liand and our students om J and forgive me if I mispronounce your name j John Mani isan shinha Austin Lo and all the others for their efforts and their testimony I also want to congratulate the parents of those children that came to testify um they were outstanding so your as parents you should all be very very proud as well as their teachers um also I know that all members on the board have received Scott's video to the Senate budget it's also up on the web if anybody is interested in seeing it you will see it on the district website um it's all also with Scott's Q&A sessions that were held over the last two weeks so I invite everyone to review those um for the board after the meeting you all be will be receiving via email a copy of an application that I submitted with support from Raphael Morales and Mr feder for the New Jersey Schoolboard Association Innovations and special education award as you are aware each as you are aware each year New Jersey school board highlights districts that have exemplary programs and services that are focused on students with special needs and um the application that was submitted was for the South Bruns School District transition training center uh the winners will be acknowledged in a video presentation during special ed week in New Jersey May 12th to the 18th and also by the New Jersey Department of educ ations special education advisory council at their meeting in June and we do hope that the South Bruns School District transition training center will be one of the winners don't keep your fingers crossed um also uh there was a public comment made last week around access to Senator gopal's discussion with middle sex County School boards I did check with our New Jersey school board's representative and um unfortunately the county meetings that she has advised that County meetings are considered member services and are not necessarily open to the public any recording is a courtesy to the m Members New Jersey Schoolboard members and is not sharable also the speakers are advised at the beginning of each meeting that it is for school board members only and finally all members you have received an update from New Jersey school boards there are a number of Bills moving through legislation legislature excuse me which you might want to become familiar with they all can be viewed also for the public you can view them all at the New Jersey legislator site um the various ones including uh uh that are included in the update or law enforcement in school polling places um update regarding the data in New Jersey Department of Ed school performance reports any special election proposals uh the task force that is uh currently being um studied and evaluated for school funding as well as um teachers instructional certification regarding the elimination of basic skills for certified teachers please review those laws if you have any questions I recommend that you uh take a look and we can discuss offline that's all I have any questions all right moving on report of the superintendent Mr feder all right welcome everyone um did you guys get a chance to get some chocolate did you guys see the chocolate outside I did you guys not buy chocolate so you heard you heard uh Mrs Rogers talk about a award that we submitted to the school boards for our 18 to 21 year old program how we support our students after they um routinely students graduate around 18 years old we still keep students till 21 in certain cases we have some of those students are outside right now selling chocolate so if you want I'll take a break while I'll go buy some chocolate no we'll get this started a lot of you guys here tonight so congratulations to our Merit Scholars congratulations to our students for the winter athletes this is one of our fun nights um not having a lot of fun right now um if you're paying attention um all we're doing these days is trying to figure out how to protect this district from a $6 million shortfall that's what we're looking at $6 million parents in the audience who has children younger than seniors that means you have siblings of those guys in the back there raise them high hi younger than seniors that means anything up to 11th yeah okay um we're cutting over $6 million out of the budget now I keep saying this out loud over and over and over and over again and for some reason I don't know why this community does not seem to engage with that information $6 million in one school year that's a lot of money it's going to have a changing impact of what this District looks like I'm doing presentations last night I came out prepared for presentation 10 people out of 8,000 came 10 so what's going to happen I can tell you how this is going to play out out I hope it doesn't work this way but here's what's going to happen we're going to cut things you want for your children and once we cut them then you're going to come out and then what's going to happen is I'm going to hear why didn't you tell us and that is unfortunately going to fall on deaf ears we are sending you information we've recorded the meetings watch the meetings please watch the meetings I know we have seniors here who are like I'm out this is really really problematic I've been talking about this for five straight years cutting out of this budget for five straight years we're going to be cutting $6 million next year that is a ton just do the math of what you think that looks like if your kids are in music if they're in Sports if they're in clubs if they take AP classes you're going to pay more next year how ridiculous is that to have to charge parents for school but if we don't charge we don't do it that's where we are are we going to cut things like music marching band football gifted and talented I don't know yet but what I do know it's no matter how many times I say this nobody seems to want to listen so please I know you didn't come here for the budget presentation but I'm doing one I could sneak it in on you guys and do it before we do these other things but I won't do that if you like to stay after it's about a half an hour you can ask questions and all we want to do really is inform you the whole purpose of why we do this is to inform you and to protect this District district from what the state has been doing for 6 years so that's my plea when we send this home to you if you're not able to stay today please watch what we send it is important the next time we're going to do this is going to be May 7th on May 7th we are going to be presenting exactly what no longer will exist in the district the following year while we have hope that good things happen between now and May 7th you can't plan with hope we'll still hope I'm just telling you it's it's very surprising that years of these cuts and it doesn't seem to impact yet you haven't seen the impact I maybe that's why and I get that but you're going to see the impact this time I promise you're going to see the impact I don't want to do that no one on this table wants to do that but you you know if you stay you're going to see over the last six years we're minus $30 million I don't know about you but I don't know how to cover $30 million that's my plea anyone watching please watch through the rest of the night when we send home that information please watch please please please watch and then come back on May 7th and um we'll have all the information you need by then but we're still working it through to protect everything that's possible to protect in the district all right little housekeeping um we are back in school on Monday April 1st after spring break we used all three snow days this year so we lost that day unfortunately um we have spring break next week so enjoy tomorrow kids you're all coming to school tomorrow though right oh wait teachers you're all coming to school tomorrow right okay um and uh then we get a week we can all use a break I know everyone can use a break so hope everyone's doing something fun if you're not doing anything perf purposely exciting just enjoy some rest and relaxation kids I think there's no homework right no homework all right no homework don't do any homework and um I have two quick announcements we're going to make I'm going to call up some people for that uh Blair is going to come up right now uh Blair's our director of professional development and a bunch of other things that she director of and she's going to talk a little bit about the art gallery which is really awesome yes good evening everyone members of the board those here tonight and those tuning in at home as Mr feder said I'm director programs and professional development as well as supervisor for art for kindergarten through 8th grade I'm here tonight on behalf of Dr Mammon our assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction Miss Kristen laskan our art supervisor for grades 9 through 12 and all of our K12 art Specialists I saw Mr Chow in the audience tonight and Mrs McMillan we want to invite you to come out and join us at the 19th annual Joanne kirkus Student Art Gallery taking place on Wednesday April 17th from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the main gym at the high school we have moved into a bigger space shout out to Mr Hendrick he's here somewhere in the audience there he is uh John Harding our supervisor of health and PE and the PE staff at the high school for accommodating us we are very appreciative the art gallery is a time honored tradition that celebrates select K12 student artists who have shown exceptional talents in the visual arts these student artists come from diverse cultural backgrounds positively influencing their artistic expression at the gallery you'll see a range of themes and subjects including identity social issues nature abstract Concepts personal experiences and more you'll also see the different styles techniques and mediums that our student artists have experimented with because they bring their own perspective and voice to their artwork shaped by their unique life experiences beliefs and interests the gallery is a rich T tapestry of artistic expression and one that always brings our South Brunswick Community together so tonight we'd like to give you a little sneak peek of some of the artwork that will be featured in this year's Gallery thank you to Art specialist Mrs Rebecca buus from the high school for putting this video together [Music] [Applause] enjoy [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] quick Round of Applause for those artists up there and thank you for your time we hope we see you on April 17th thank you all right I have one more guest is it just one guest it's always two guests there's the other one uh we have the Education Foundation here these guys do amazing work help raise money for the schools and they're here to talk about a I believe a contest that is correct all right Mr abuts and nope just oh and there's Bobby Bender down there all right we we uh promoted her to uh photographer tonight hi I'm Marty abitz I have the honor and privilege of being one of the founding members of the education Foundation of South Brunswick and currently I'm also the president the board came up this year with an idea for our signature sporting event uh athletic event our tour to South Brunswick which will occur on Sunday June 2nd this year uh it's our bike ride we have hundreds and hundreds of people participating with multiple distances so we came up with the idea of uh getting a new way to identify what we are doing and to promote what we are doing so we came up with a poster contest for students in third through fifth grade and it was a tremendous success uh if we move on to the next slide these are the names of all of the students that participated in grades three through five there were 74 students that participated and I think each of them deserves a round of [Applause] applause the board met and uh had some very tough choice a very tough choice to make among several terrific works of art we move on to the next slide our winner is fourth grade Sarat kasuri from Greenberg Elementary now I don't know if Surat is here tonight come up please congratulations thank you let's let's smile for Bobby so we have a whole package of goodies from the from from the the tour this includes a framed version of surat's poster and a certificate acknowledging that she was the winner of this year's contest that's to you we not done yet so so let's move on to the next slide this is saratz poster very so we had a tough time but it's easy to see this was this is a winning poster no question about it has all the elements we required the name when the event occurs the fact that we're the Education Foundation of South Bruns Township and of course our beam of light logo uh which hearkens back to a time probably about 20 years ago when the State education department called South Bruns School District like a beam of light so we've continued that theme uh one one more slide on the last slide we're showing you how we're going to one of the ways we're going to use this in all of our social media and on our website uh it has all the elements it's the three different routes that we have where our rest stop is for the longer route the date fact that it's our 12th annual and of course the uh our logo for the Education Foundation tour to South Brunswick 2024 we hope to see you all there but I know that the thing that Sarat has been waiting for is the $25 Target gift card that she won as a result of being the winner [Music] congratulations thank you again to the members of the board and to all of our members of the audience tonight and uh participate in our events we appreciate it no eating yet all right thank you very much and Sarat I don't know if you're going to be a basketball player Mr Hendrick's going to keep an eye out you're tall young lady beautiful young lady and beautiful art beautiful Art thank you okay moving on um our next presentation is going to be by the director of Athletics Mr CJ Hendricks for the winter Athletics Awards good evening everyone and uh thank you so much uh to the board and for this opportunity to uh share some really exciting uh news about our our student athletes at South brunz High School as as well as present our winter sport athlete uh highlight video so first um congratulations to all the Merit winners today um and their families just an amazing accomplishment um so you know all the best to your future endeavors with this accomplishment um today's special not just because we're going to be recognized in our winter sports athletes but uh because a main piece is because of the guest that I have standing right to my left um early on the year I talked about how our greater middle sex conference which is the conference we participate in Awards one male and one female sportsmanship award recipient every year and we have decided as the South bronic School District to recognize our student athletes for their sportsmanship so in the fall we recognized them and brought them up for the fall uh Sports Awards and uh now I would like to ask president um Rogers to come up and help us present our winter athletes I'm going to name some of the student athletes who were not able to attend tonight um and read some testimonials from their coaches about their level of sportsmanship that they've they've shown exemplified uh first Miss priia Moody cheerleading priia is the epitome of what it means to be a South brunic student athlete she's incredibly hardworking dedicated and does it all with a smile she's an athlete who her teammates and coaches can depend on no matter what Miss priia Moody Dylan feo ice hockey as a freshman Dylan showed nothing but good sportsmanship to towards his teammates and his opponents Dylan treats everyone with respect and his coach has seen him firsthand give words of encouragement to other teammates on multiple occasions even when he thinks no one is watching conat congratulations for Dylan V curu girls bowling V is a wonderful young lady who is friendly kind and caring she is extremely supportive of her teammates always going out of her way to help encourage them Round of Applause for V Anna rosanski from girl swimming a top female swimmer on the team a great cheerleader for all of her teammates she exemplifies great school spirit and is an awesome teammate to have on your squad Anna like great [Applause] job next up we have Bretton Lynch from boys basketball thank you Bretton has carried himself with a true class all season he works hard never complains and serves his teammates with selflessness all the time congratulations [Applause] Brighton and now on to our student athletes who are in attendance today I'd like to start with national dance team finalist Miss Andre C Andre was injured at our first competition and remained supportive of her teammates as well as upholding her true Duty and staying on top of her cleaning and clarifications within her routines even though she could not Dance full out she sits in front of her team and cheers them on wholeheartedly when they whenever they perform and she is a model of great sportsmanship for all congratulations Andre congratulations next up is suj JY from boys suj is genuinely supportive in all with all of his teammates and continues to be a positive role model for all whether he is bowling or watching his peers compete he is a true epitome of what it means to be a viking congratulations Joshua Deus boy swimming always enjoys seeing others succeed as much as he does in the pool he is a great role model to every team member and we are proud to have him on our Squad congratulations [Applause] Jos next up is Matt Pierre boys winter track Matt is a dedicated hard worker that leads by example on a daily basis at practice he is always supportive of his teammates and he's a key member of our shop hook group who did exceptionally well this winter season he worked through a slow start to in the season but finished one of our top scores and I can personally vouch that his growth as a young man has been just an absolute amazement to watch over the last time years that you've been through sixth grade at 12 so thank you Matt next up is Jaylen poku girls winter track Jaylen is a great teammate and leader who has a great work ethic she demonstrates a positive attitude and helps bring her teammates together always I'm also happy to say that Jaylen was one of our um Representatives at today's spring Sports GMC sportsmanship Summit um which brought together the top sports student athletes in our in our throughout our schools and uh was able to represent the girls track team uh for the spring season congratulations next up is umani T ofer Ro girls wrestling as a first year wrestler umani just wanted to compete win or lose she came off the mat with a smile on her face and was always happy to be out there on the mat she was a great teammate and inspiration for the girls in our program congratulations [Applause] umah next up is Christopher anden boys wrestling win or lose I think Chris hug everyone of his teammates after their match and I once even saw him introduce himself to an opponent after every after everything that he's been through this year he's always done it with true pride in himself and in his family it's not just what he did on the mat it's what he did off it and he really exemplified what it means to be a viking on and off the mat every single day thank you Chris and finally Trisha ready girls [Applause] basketball Trisha is one of the most positive people in in our program whether it's at practice or in games whether it's shots that they're falling or not Trisha's dedication to the team and her craft never waivers she is an exemplary student athlete so much so that tonight I am proud to announce that she is the recipient of our njsiaa scholar athlete award that only is bestowed to one student athlete in the entire School each school year in New Jersey so we are so proud of not just what she's done on the floor but most importantly in the classroom best of luck and contined success treasure so these student athletes are just a small sample of the great things that we put out in in our program um you know obviously there's a lot of discussion of what our program looks like moving forward but this is why we do what we do this is why we commit so much there's the reason why Mr feder U Mark llin and so many people are joining together to make a difference and show people why South Brunswick is such an amazing place and why it deserves so much more than what we're getting um these student athletes do everything the right way most importantly they do it when nobody's watching they do things in the community that are exceptional and again they are exactly what we want out of any of our student athletes it's not the trophies that we win or the banners that we hang up it's the Legacy that students like these leave behind so that the next generation of students athletes that come up um have something to look for and Achieve and strive for so I'm very thankful for them and all of our student student athletes throughout the winter season um we as you'll see in the highlight video that we're going to show momentarily uh a lot of changes a lot of new coaches a lot of new new faces but the same Viking energy all the time um and I before we get to the the video I want to congratulate just one more person a special person within our Athletic program uh if you haven't been to South brunck High School um look forward because there's a really special person there that we were able to acknowledge today uh his name is Mr Darius Gilliam he was our student staff he's our support staff person of the year um Darius is just an amazing person and I'll would be remiss not to acknowledge all the hard work that he does for our Athletic program um you know his job during the school day is just next level and the fact that he ask every day what can he do for our Athletic program when he shows up is just you know it's it's inspiring and I see the impact that he makes on our kids in the school day I see the impact that he makes to our student athletes the way he makes them feel the way he remembers their names and their faces and what sports they play so I just want to you know in front of the south brunz of community in front of our board and superintendent just congratulations darus on just an amazing accomplishment and recognition and without further Ado uh we're going to Premiere our winter highlight video what's up Viking Nation this is Mr Hendrick and I'm here to talk to you about our winter sports season now this year we had a lot of new faces show up on the scene couple coaching changes but all the same energy that we usually see within our Vikings we're so proud of our student athletes and all they do inside and outside the classroom and we're excited to see all the great things they did this past season now check out our winter highlight [Music] [Music] video [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you thank you for checking out our winter sports highlight video for the 2324 Sports season this year our Vikings as you can see did a great job in representing South brunz High School and continue that Viking pride and everything that they do we're excited to move on to our spring Sports season and see all the great things that our Vikings do inside the classroom out on the playing field and in the community go Vikings [Music] Qui [Music] uh special thanks to um uh Kim Ryan Kathy aern again heartbeat of our Athletic program all of our coaches support staff um nurses trainers grounds crew custodians everybody across the board it really is a team effort what you saw just now are not wins and losses they're experiencing their memories they're things that our kids hold on to for the rest of their lives and these are things that they had the opportunity to do in South Brunswick School District so sa runs a community I implore you I ask you I beg of you make sure that your voice is heard so that these memories these experiences don't get lost and our next generation of Vikings get a chance and opportunity to enjoy them so thank you so much for your time tonight I'll pass it back over to president Rogers thank you so much I just want to take a minute to thank um Mr Hendrick I really between the scholarship Awards and the art Awards and these Awards I just so look forward to seeing this stuff and I know the board too um and to the and to the students that have the recipients of this year's Awards congratulations just remember what you do off the field off the court out of the pool off the alley is more important than what you do on your commitment to your sport your commitment to school your commitment to your family is just as important carry that those values that Mr Hendrick just mentioned throughout your life and you'll do wonders so congratulations again on behalf of the board no we just go on um next we have the national May commended student Scholars and honored Educators presented by Peter verella all right good good evening ladies and gentlemen and great presentation Mr Hendrick and con congratulations to all of our student athletes tonight uh we have the third opportunity to honor students for their Stellar performance on a PSAT which is also the qualifying test for the National Merit Scholarship program being recognized by the National Merit organization is truly one of the most prestigious honors for high school students each year now to refresh our Collective memories I'd like to provide you with a little background about these honors every year the National Merit Scholarship Corporation recognizes the 50,000 members of each graduating class with the highest scores on a PSAT as either semi-finalists or commended students tonight we are honoring the second half of our 61 commended students keeping with our practice we invited our students to honor Educators who have made a significant impact on their lives each student was asked to write a short personal note thanking a faculty member tonight each teacher will receive a framed letter in addition all honoraries will receive a certificate of accomplishment from board ofed president Miss Lisa Rogers and the board of education at this time Mrs Rogers please join me before I begin I would like to thank high school art teacher Norman chows in the audience today for selecting a piece of artwork that sah cow grade 10 art student created for us I'd also like to thank M Ramona Baker and Mrs Maran Murphy for their assistance tonight so at this time can I ask the first world to please stand and inform along the wall as we start our program I thought I'd share some of the colleges and universities that our commended students apply to for admission as well as some of the schools they've been accepted so far some of the colleges they've been accepted to all right I'd like to start our program tonight by uh calling Anushka auel this upcoming fall she plans on majoring in computer science and tonight she'll be honoring Mr Steven Schiff member of the high school math department and chair of the computer science department who cannot make it tonight our next honor is adithia ballis this upcoming Foley plans on majoring in economics tonight he is honoring Kimberly Greenberg a retired member of the high school social studies [Applause] Department our next honorary is vade LMI nanan this upcoming fall he will be majoring in electrical engineering tonight he's honoring Ashley rimple a member of Crossroads South language arts [Applause] department our next honor is Sinai Mana this upcoming Foley plans on majoring in chemical engineering tonight he's honoring Kim veronic a member of the high school math department conrat our next honor is Frederick Raja [Applause] Kumar this up PA he plans on majoring in physics tonight he's honoring Timothy Bernett a member of the high school science [Applause] department our next honor is anuna Raja Karis this upcoming fall she will be majoring in biotechnology ology and tonight she's honoring M Allison Miller a member of the high school science department our next honor is harini Rajesh this upcoming fall she will be majoring in environmental science and tonight she's honoring Dr Roberto debari a member of the high school science depart our next honor is Pablo Ramirez Garcia this upcoming fall he will be majoring in Biochemistry tonight he's honoring James Angelus a retired teacher from Cambridge School who Pablo had in the fifth grade our next honor is Kushi ROM Tiki this upcoming fall she will be majoring biology and Premed tonight she's honoring Donna maren a member of the high school nursing department congratulations Donna our next honor tonight is aayush Saran this upcoming call he will be majoring in computer science tonight he's honoring Robert Henning member of the M Junction school's physical education department [Applause] is VES here not yet okay so our next honor could not be with us tonight but I'd like to honor him uh VES Saro vanak Kumar he will be majoring in computer science and tonight he will be honoring Michelle kinman a member of crosswords North language arts department congratulations Bess our next honor H is Andrew she this upcoming fall he'll be majoring in mechanical engineering tonight he's honoring Norman Chow a member of the high school art Department okay all right our two next honores cannot be with us tonight but I would like to honor them our first honor is per Shaw this upcoming fall he will be majoring in economics and tonight he will be honoring Chilla mati member of the high school English Department and Sara Shahed this upcoming fall she'll be majoring in economics and tonight she will be honoring Shannon midari a fifth grade teacher Constable congratulations to both of you our next honor is navika Sharma this upcoming fall she will be majoring in biology and tonight she's honoring Gordon Barnes a member of the high school math [Applause] department our next honor is shaik Sharma this upcoming fall he will be majoring in environmental engineering tonight he'd be honoring Stephanie marquetti a member of the high school English Department who couldnot be with us tonight conratulations our next honor is Omar sheth this upcoming fall he will be majoring computer science tonight he will be honoring Andre holla a member of the high school English Department who could not be with us tonight our next honor could not be with us tonight but I would like to honor her her name is Sonia shy this upcoming fall she will be majoring in business and tonight she would be honoring Justin negral a member of the high school social studies department and chairperson our next honor is haa salanki this upcoming fall she'll be majoring in biology tonight she will be honoring Danielle cilio a member of the Crossroad South science department our next honor is Arnav Shava this upcoming fall he will be majoring in computer science and tonight he's honoring Peter honig a member of the high school English Department congratulations our next honor is viab s [Music] this upcoming fall she'll be majoring in computer science and tonight she would be honoring Miss Beth McGinley a retired member of the high school social studies Department who could not be uh with us tonight all right all right our next honor is Kevin Sue con this upcoming fall he will be majoring in computer science tonight he is honoring Susan goldar a member of the high school science department conratulations our next honor is adva Suri this upcoming fall he will be majoring in computer science tonight he will be honoring Donald Tru a member of Crossroad South South music department thank you our next honor he could not be with us tonight but I would like to honor him Rah Tran tala this upcoming fall he will be majoring in computer science and tonight he will be honoring Steven trainer a member of the high school math department congratulations our next honor is tan [Applause] Tania this upcoming fall she will be majoring in psychology ology tonight she's honoring Kathleen McMillan a member of the high school art [Applause] Department our next honor is Divia Tay this upcoming fall she will be majoring in biological sciences tonight she's honoring Marisol Chone a member of the high school English Department conratulations our next honorary is rashan tilva this upcoming fall he'll be majoring in engineering and tonight he is honoring Karina Alonzo a member of the high school World Language [Applause] Department our next honor is Isha VES scharon this upcoming fall she will be majoring in electrical and computer engineering tonight she's honoring Kyle brancato a member of the high school English Department and last but not least our next honor is arov yov this upcoming PO he will be majoring in computer science and finance and tonight tonight he's honoring wifredo Rivera a member of the high school English [Applause] Department to conclude my presentation I would like to now share with you a few quotations directly from the letters that were written to our staff though I wish I could share all of them with you students wrote Your Enthusiasm to teach coupled with your encouraging nature is a joy to all your impact on students is far-reaching and has paved the path for their future success I discovered not only a mentor but a friend for life so thank you for unwavering confidence in my ability to do anything I wouldn't have made it where I am without you thank you for having such a lasting impact on my high school Journey your kindness and unwavering support have been my anchor and your caring heart made all the difference as time progresses I will cherish the UN forgettable lessons that I've have Acquired and apply them to real life situations that I will encounter thank you for putting a smile on my face you inspired all of us to be the best versions of ourselves and encouraged Us in the spot we shined at your positive comments and cheery attitude always made my day better and finally your dedication to letting students Express themselves in education and your unwavering encouragement has shaped me profoundly the time I spent in your class has helped mold me into what I am today faculty our students are proud to call you their teachers and mentors and know that you make a difference each and every day another group that makes a difference is our parent group I would like to honor our students parents tonight for their hard work and support here are slides recognizing all of them and as I share the slides parents will you please stand and be recognized thank you parents and finally we have a truly talented group of students being honored tonight it's important to note that they are just not high Achievers when it comes to the PSAT they are effective leaders talented musicians and artists accomplished athletes and much much more again congratulations commended students their honored teachers and their parents as I turn the microphone back over to Mrs Rogers please join me in one more round of applause for all of them thank you Mr urella um I'd also like to take an opportunity on behalf of the Board of Education to congratulate all the student Scholars this evening as well as the Educators um to the students good luck to you as you're venturing the next four years and Beyond um remember always be a viking um and also to the Educators not only do you inspire these students but the your inspiration carries forth to every student here as well as those I know that have graduated uh they talk about many of you many times so thank you to the Educators as well as to the parents um again thank you for supporting your children not only the student Scholars but the athletes as well for everything they do it's hard work and and the parents when you're behind them they know that you're supporting them makes it a little easier on them and also I just noticed one or two of you pointing to your names up there it's kind of cool to see your name isn't it you took a picture not many times you get to see your name up there so again congratulations and the best of luck to all of you um I know that it's getting late for the seniors it's 8:00 if you'd like to stay we'd more than welcome you to stay especially the parents to Mr feder's point it's important to understand what facing over the next couple uh this year as well as Beyond but if we'll take about 5 minutes if those of you want to um depart you can we know you have one more day to go before um get to take a little break but uh please take take five minutes go ahead and uh depart if you'd like to or you're more than welcome to stay good job [Music] It Go going [Music] [Music] I'm [Music] back well just let them let them I know I know okay okay 30 seconds okay we're going to continue um next on the budget excuse me next on the agenda is the presentation by Mr feder the superintendent as well as Mr palowski the business administrator to give us an update on the 2024 2025 tentative School District budget tentative thank you all right uh board members we gave you a I gave you an email already so you already know what tonight is this is called a fugazi budget this is just a pretend budget until May 7th this is a um a perun process that we must do so this man can hit submit on a state form that's what tonight is so you're not getting the full-blown thing today uh you've all uh either received or attended meetings or you'll be receiving the other meetings but I'm going to go through some highlights real quick so um I'm definitely not going to sit and explain this again but bottom line is this is the information of the formula from the state that drives the continued reduction of state aid the big number to look at is on the leand side the equalized valuation that number shows a growth a on paper value of the Town an increase of $2.7 billion dollar over the course of 1819 to 2425 what that means simply is the formula is saying that this town is so wealthy y even though you're really no wealthier than you were in 20189 but warehouses were sold for a lot more money than they were bought for 30 years ago on paper your number grew so high that if you look across the 201920 line you will see right above it in local fair share the formula said in 1819 that you the town should be giving the school $110 million in tax this District was collecting 108 million so it's pretty close not really much of a difference we didn't lose any money that year the next year in 201920 the town became more Wealthy by $1.3 billion overnight congratulations to the town of South bronswick it's fake it's nonsense but it is the formula now look across and you'll see that in one year according to the state of New Jersey the taxes should have gone from 110 million to 128 million now just so you know 2% of tax is about $2.5 million so they're basically saying the town the school district should have taxed families about 9 or 10% 8 9% but you weren't legally allowed to do that so every year it just went through this crazy process you can see in 2122 all of a sudden we only we were close we went went down from 129 million It's 121 million so very sorry to say that from 2021 to 2022 you guys became less Rich you became $500 million poorer as a town explain that one then by the time 24 25 came now you've gained another $2 billion therefore causing a gap of $17 million that Gap is the continued reason why we are going broke okay this puts us into what we call a deficit model budgeting where we're always cut then you have the 2% cap which only allows you to raise tax by 2% I've said this for five years I'm sure you're all well versed in this so I'm going to keep moving um this just so you know the law for SF the school funding Reform Act formula was from 2008 in 2011 they came up with the 2% cap those two things are not meant to merge together but they are both laws of the land in 2017 they instituted S2 all of these things together are the problem and I say this at every meeting regardless of what some people want to say on Facebook for their own reason whatever it is to spread disinformation that is the only reason why you are losing money there is nothing to do with the board the administration or anybody it is strictly a formula that has nothing at all to do with school n nothing so the good thing the best thing that you've had going for you so far is because the on paper you collect more tax which you don't collect any more tax by the way you only collect 2% you wind up spreading money all over the place so your taxes haven't gone up and I'll show you some more about that in a second all we do with budgets we have to we don't get to do what we can do at home right if you don't have enough money to do something you can take out a credit card you can take out this you can do that we have to budget to a zero however money however much money you have in the books you have to spend all that money and get to zero you can't spend more and you can't really spend less you have to be at zero that's the rules so here's what it looks like after all of this time in 1819 we received $24 million of state aid this year we're going to receive $14 million of state aid that's $10 million I'd love to see how any business can operate with $10 million less with no ability to raise revenues in their company at the same time every single year we run into the 2% Gap cap problem which is to roll over our budget to do what we're doing today tomorrow it cost us around $6 million well we're only allowed to get $2.6 million or 2% so that causes a $3.5 million gap every year so add $3.5 million every year plus the $10 million the district is currently operating with $30 million less money than it did in 2018 199 and yet you still have people who want to blame this group of people for why this is a problem here's our numbers for next year we're 1.4 million short in state aid they cut it the 2% cap Gap is 3.4 million then there's a third part last year the state gave us $2.8 million after they took 4 million from us aren aren't they very very nice people but they gave us 2.8 for next year right now they've only given us 1.4 When You Subtract 2.8 which we're currently spending now and we only have 1.4 of that 2.8 that is another Gap that's what I refer to as Why We Kick the Can when you add all of that up we are in the process right now pretty much spending 8 10 12 hours a day on how we're going to cut $6.2 million that's what we're doing every day the administration every day I think we were meetings this morning David until around 12 1:00 on this much of a cut because we are taking the time to make sure what we do is the least impactful so here's is what you're approving tonight should you be so kind a general fund of $152 million in the is the budget then there's other Revenue funds title monies from the federal governments and stuff like that then there's a Debt Service that Debt Service is like a credit card payment it's the interest you owe it's not or principal on interest you owe on a mortgage it is not money we get to spend it is just money you have to pay off because you borrowed it okay you probably borrow that money for things like building the Annex Building Brooks Crossing SCH the annex is the high school the the High School itself the yes the high school the annex Brooks crosing any large scale big projects you owe debt period of the local tax levy how much is collected in tax of that total 171 million is only 130 million 41 million doesn't come from South Brunswick and The Debt Service fund of 5.7 million also is not money that we get to choose or spend that's the debt so when you built those things you knew you were taking on debt but I'm going to show you a little bit more about that shortly these numbers already reflect cutting six million out that's the situation we're in so here's what we do we prioritize we take away the things we can I'm going to show you where the revenue increases we expect to be coming they're not pretty we looked optimize our situation our staffing the good news we have enrollment reductions that allows us to make reductions without hurting anything now not $6 Million worth of enrollment reductions but some so those are the first things those are kind of the lwh hanging fruit ones the sad part is it is people it's our great people in the district that we lose what we're trying to do with all this is avoid the really really hard decisions the real really hard decisions are eliminating big time things AP courses gifted and talented programs sports clubs and just jacking up class size so when we prioritize and so far in all the meetings we've had everyone's had the same priorities last year and this year so far all the priorities have been the same C watch those four things the best you can try and stay away from those four things so we're working on it we won't be able to stay away from those four things that I could tell you but we're going to try but we won't we won't we won't succeed not $6 million so here's what we do we are going to do things like we go out for New Food Service maybe another company will make it so it's better food for our kids and give us more money we don't know we're going to try we're looking at advertising where can we advertise we're looking at various places to advertise wherever we think we can do it again free money if we can do it doesn't take away from kids or program um we allocate different Reserve accounts not that we have many left but we look at how we can maximize that over the period of a three or four year period we go to transportation we try to get better transportation costs that that is transportation alone while we've been getting cut millions of dollars has gone up 35% since covid 35% and we're allowed to go up 2% it's a great plan um Revenue I'm going to show you some of the revenue options we get just so you understand most of the revenue options we get means we just take more money from parents we don't have other access to revenue we'll show you a few of the ways we do it but in the end it's really charging people more to do things for kids horrible I told you about enrollment and at the same time we're doing this we have 1,700 new Resident apartments and Tow houses being built right now they will yield somewhere between 8 n th000 up to maybe 1,200 students over the next 3 to 5 years you don't get any more money for that by the way the time you see money for that when the formula takes your average enrollment over six years everything else they take year over year over year over year one year at a time so the one number that's going to crush you in about three years from now is going to be your enrollment as much as it's helping you today it's going to crush you later if nothing changes in the state so we're working to avoid the cuts to Academic Program like I said mental health try to keep our Safety and Security but I don't think we're going to be able to keep all of our Safety and Security I don't yet that's everyone's priority but I can tell you I I don't see it I think we're looking for two to $300,000 cut just in that one Department next year academic Sports and behavior management supports that's an area look if we don't control the behaviors of kids and and it's out a whack I can tell you that in the profession not just South Brunswick they'll never learn so if we cut money there it's going to just be more not great so here's what we're facing this is reality you're going to have in I'm telling you you're going to have increased class sizes anywhere from six to five six seven more kids in a class next year I hope you all heard what I'm saying the people that are sitting home I hope they're listening this is what's happening don't want to hear next year hey why is my kids's class so many kids in it you don't get to ask me that next year you can ask me that this year less support for Behavior HIV family communication let me explain that if we when we cut Administration which we will which we are doing next year we are currently planning on cutting Administration that means there will not be enough people to get back to people when a parent has a question they will wait when we're dealing with an HIV or some kind of issue it will wait this is the way this works when you cut $30 million if we can keep everything in extra curricul we're going to try we'll see certainly not growing it large amount of certificated staff are are going now we've told the staff this already too we're going to lose non-certificated staff you're going to lose people that help clean the buildings people that answer the phones people that support kids at lunch you're going to be losing a lot the numbers are going to be larger than you're thinking they are worse than everything else we cannot even think about what we should doing better for kids all we're thinking about is how do we cut the least impactful things not how do we make the district better how many years does any organization survive when all you do is cut and you never can think about improving yourself most businesses are out of business if that's the way they operate and if we were a business we'd be heading in that direction I can tell you that the nothing new is what kills morale of people that are here in this field to do great things for kids I mentioned to Evelyn the other day Evelyn if you don't know is our director of C curriculum instruction and I said Evelyn next year it' be great to look at our career academies and see if we can expand directly out of her mouth with what money how do I then ask Evelyn to lead a team of kids and parents and teachers down a pathway where the answer is irrelevant what does that do to people that's like me going to shop at Rolls-Royce and look at all these beautiful cars and then buy my car at Honda guess what I don't do shop at Rolls-Royce waste of my time so let's be honest and clear about this so everyone hears it when they complain it's fine complain I'm okay with being complained to but I don't think they're even going to know what happens until next year when the fee just comes out that scares me the apathy scares me lunch prices are going up I don't know how high yet probably whatever the legal limit is to be honest if you're currently paying or you want your child to be in a sport or club they're going to pay a lot more next year than they pay now I I don't know how much more maybe even as much as 50% your kid is in an AP class you're now going to start paying again for it like we used to could be as much as a $100 a class that's what we're facing AP classes cost the district a lot of money and you still will be paying for the test on top of that money late bus going to start paying a fee wreck wreck now has to start paying to use our facilities I'd imagine when they have to start paying us they're going to charge parents more to join their programs we already charge more to join our programs re's going to have to charge more to charge their programs or not or eat the fee I don't it doesn't matter but this is the way it works kids who park on the school pay $35 that a going be $35 again that number might double subscription busing people ask for that we're going to provide it we're still working on the fees and how that's going to work but there will be some people that qualify for allowing to have a pay to have a bus who don't get a bus because of the legal limits that up there if you take a good look at that list that's happening there's no savior coming our way to stop that that's happening the cuts that's happening the program loss it's happening I think I might have to put a letter out to the community we are cutting music sports clubs and AP classes we'll have a meeting tomorrow night maybe we'll get people to come out to listen and understand what's actually happening in their in their town I don't know maybe not bizarrely we have really good news in one area and this is it taxes here's your current taxes for the last six years for the last six years your tax bill which is 60% school and 40% other is a minus $54 for the average home the average assessed home is a $2,000 home on paper when you look at your tax bill it'll tell you how much your house is assessed at and you can follow your bills for the last six years and if you have a house that's assessed exactly $192,000 you should be paying $4 less than you paid in 2018 in 20178 even better we're about to lose remember I talked about that debt service that debt we're about to lose $5 million in the 25 26 year that's like what happens when you pay off your car you no longer have the payment you pay off the house there's no more payment we're about to pay off $5 million of that debt this that the dist the township borrowed way back when let me show you what that means when you have $5 million that comes off the tax that means the average assessed home of $192,000 when that happens in the Years 24 or 25 and 26 that t your assessed home will go down about $200 so when we look at this year right now there is a bill out in the legislation that bill says if this passes which it is not a pass bill it is not a law it is a bill when if it comes to pass it might give us flexibility and going above that 2% but look at how small the impact is if we went as high as 4 and a half% which was worth over almost $6 million to US the average price home would only see a $77 increase but who remembers what happens the next year a $200 decrease a net minus 130 plus the minus 54 so yes we are lobbying yes we are fighting to get that bill passed no one likes increases in taxes but you'll like a lot less when this dis doesn't have the things that it is and your property value goes down as a result which it will now if that here's how that works if that bill passes David and I will give exactly what the information is we will put in the last column that says District impact the exact kinds of things that are in there and then I will make a recommendation to the board to what we believe you should tax depending on what the law says you will then vote you have nine members five wins that's how it works this is not a Township vote it is not a mayor or Township Council vote it is a Schoolboard vote you were all elected you will make the decision we are fighting in the senate in the assembly we are doing everything humanly possible to try and stop this from happening but no matter what they give us I can tell you there's going to be damage then I don't expect them to solve our $6.2 million gap I just told you recently what's been going on there are different bills out there um I'm not going to get into what the bills are because the bills change overnight uh when we have bills that are law we will make that announcement we are fighting for any bill that helps the school district they're about another 50 school districts like us many are much worse than us because they don't have the enrollment reduction I was speaking to a district in our County on the way here today and they're in the middle of cutting $8 million and they have enrollment increases their damage is going to look a lot worse than our damage because at least we can cut due enrollment shortfalls that's helpful so tonight you have the tentative budget adoption again remember what you're asking to be voted on tonight is a useless document if it was up to us we would have submitted something that says no thank you you can figure this out we will going to do a staff survey Community survey possibly students to find out if our priorities are missed mixed up as well as getting a little bit more specific about that we're going to keep watching the bills we're going to do all this reduction we're doing it every day right now that's what we're doing we're trying to get to 6.2 million um and May 7th is the last budget on May 7th to reiterate we will be telling you all of the cuts specifically specifically you will know exactly what's no longer in the budget and then all this which is just what I write every year questions feder from the board Mr Mrs feder Mrs feder Mrs Ferrera sorry uh Scott do we have any hope of stabilization Aid at this point in and for the budget for next year so hope okay but again can you explain that stabilization Aid is just a one time if you not on my list you saw that stabilization Aid is a problem for next year because they gave it to us one year but they only gave us half of it for next year so every time they give that as a solution it just kicks the can to the next year you'll never get out of this problem could you explain the difference between S2 funding and stabilization are they are they one and the same no completely different stabilization a is a bill that they write to say we'll give you money cuz we took your money okay but the difference is S2 takes away state aid which is permanent money to give you onetime money and S2 is this is the last year of S2 but we don't know what that means we don't know that for sure but based on the S2 law it expires whether or not they come back and do something different is to be seen any other questions I be recognized Mrs Hernandez if I say it right this time um I I have two questions so the first time we're going to hear about the exact Cuts is that going to be the same time we have to vote on the budget the public will hear for the first time on May 7th the public the finance committee will be meeting prior and then when we're ready to send that to the full board to acknowledge you'll get like a very clear layout of what it looks like okay good so just so the public knows that that's not going to be the first time that we're hearing about not the board not the board okay and then the second question is if um we increase if we we lift the cap um whatever we you know you vote on or whatever the budget you and Dave come up is that a onetime lift or it just becomes your it becomes your new tax base it does become new tax base it's permanent so it just becomes your tax base okay so if your tax base goes up $17 your new if your tax base last year was1 and this year goes up $17 your new tax base 117 so so but the following year can it go is that 2% caps now put in place on that new tax base depends on what right for the law okay that's if the law go if the law provides a one-year flexibility okay then it goes right back to the exist other existing law okay if they change the law completely so the reason I don't ever give a firm answer I kind of tapped answer on these questions I don't know the answers no I I mean that's kind of what I figured I kind of figured it depend on how they wrote the law okay thank you any questions Miss caric Scott could you please explain uh why do we need to adopt this fugassi budget just to hit the sub pretty gooda well done it's going to be the it's going to be the name the because the state feels that they can take as much time as they want to mess around with money but they feel we have to give them a budget that they can make sure is at least in line so what's happening in all the S2 districts we didn't do it this way but we could have is there literally writing a number that says in our case minus 6.2 million in red you fig figure it out in other words they're not doing their budgets just they're not doing your budgets they're they're submitting County superintendents are telling districts in that situation they're just submitting a budget that gets to zero so he can hit a submit that's it we don't we have till May 7th to adopt a budget this budget never really matters but usually it's in line with what you're going to be doing this year it is not in line with what you're going to be asked to do best I could tell you it's a perfunctory task from the state Mr Krishna Scott you just said all S2 districts so are there districts that are not S2 and what sure 147 districts got Cuts 425 got $ 900 million why is that right the formula the formula so last year and this year the governor gave out 1.8 billion to about 425 districts and took away $270 million from 140 districts to fund the 900 well it doesn't really fund the other districts anyway that's how I look at it's a formula you saw what happens in Long Branch their Shoreline keeps getting rebuilt so the town looks like it's more wealthy go look in the seats in Long Branch and find me 10 kids that live in any of those houses yep it has nothing to do with anything it's fake money they're using a formula that's broken the good news is they have acknowledged this is problem finally for the first time in six years y that's why there's things happening in the government that maybe something will change maybe a Julie's question hope something will change but stable is not hope stabilization a is a bunch of mumbo jumbo it'll survive us this year and it'll kill you next year it's all it does so is the acknowledgement going to result in some changes they're writing bills they're writing various lots of change laws provide different things the 2% cap is a current law there's a bill that's out there it's already passed through the assembly Senate and budget committees through the Senate Ed committee that talks about flexibility in the 2% cap in certain situations we are one of those situations if that changes the law B before May 7th it happens afterwards it's too late we've already set the budget so we're in a very tight timeline and I will say to the legislators who've decided to now realize what's happening they understand the timeline they know the timeline they're working with the governor's office things are happening things are moving and that's why you can have hope but I can't plan the budget with hope we'll plan the budget as minus 6.2 million prioritize and if there more money comes in that allows us to do some things we'll make some decisions at that point but it has to happen now there's not much time do you think the apparatus is working in the favor of achieving something before 7th of May I believe that having hope use Julie's words again is not unreasonable thank you any other questions Mr Mitchell M Dr Raj we good I just have one can you put up the slide that shows the tax increases for a minute that one or the one before um that's that that's good so if I may ask for clarification this increase that we're looking at is strictly on the school tax of a tax bill yep okay what we're looking at here is the bottom number the 4.50 I'm going to use as a hypothetical for my own edification if we don't get much money if we don't get anything nothing happens and to avoid the $6 million cut are we saying that's where we're going to have to look that 4.5 I'm sorry okay right now the go you we're looking at a $6 million cut 6.2 $6.2 million cut that's after the state has told us we're not getting any money in fact we're getting cut correct okay so in order to avoid the $6.2 million cut and to pretty much stay stable as to where we are we're looking at that bottom number is that what we're thinking that's where we're head I just gave you examples I can't say anything because I have no idea what the law will be right so I'm not going to answer that question okay that's fine that's fair any other questions good thank you guys thank you thank you Mr feder thank you Mr palowski um just a quick comment um to the board to those members that attended the Q&A sessions I know that you heard some comments from the um I'm sorry Scott King it in I know you heard some comments from the public um unfortunately not a lot of people showed up um there was some really good activity at uh the staff meetings I was only able to attend two out of the three um but there was some good comments coming from staff as well I would um urge the board that if you have not really looked at this presentation please take some time and review it thoroughly um if you have any questions um about it please contact Mr feder um as soon as possible I I would just ask before you contact me with questions please watch the videos yes if you have not come to a meeting so any board members that have not come to a meeting before you start asking me a bunch of questions good point and I'm sorry I'm bitter about all this I'm killing myself for this district and there's nobody here yeah I for the third time well there's some here we'll give you credit but not yet sir sir you have to wait for public comments okay thank you though I will have you come down um to the board make sure that yes he's absolutely right um not only um the the presentation that he gave on the Q&A but the presentation he gave to the Senate uh Senator sarlo commended Mr feder on the presentation um which was the first time in six years I think um we've been he and I both have been fighting the Senate and the assembly for the past 6 years to stop this craziness and hopefully now they finally their ears have been cleaned out um so we can only hope once again so yes thank you Mr feder for that clarification please make sure that you watch the videos thank you all right oops all right we shall move on the next section is on the reading of the policies alert 232 um Miss con will be president yes uh I thought you gave me time to speak after Scott's I didn't give you time speak you said I could speak tonight oh just make a motion that you want to say something I'd like to make a motion to say okay thank you uh last board meeting um there was a public comments that I'd like to speak on dear board members and Madame President and Scott while the public has a right to speak aggressively and freely on any topic during the second public comment period I don't believe personal attacks on any board member should be ignored or permitted during the last board meeting I was called anti-lgbt and a transphobe by two members of the public as part of the comments that they made I respect all people regardless of their status one of my sisters is LGBT and her son is recently transitioned I love them both and I respect them and I have defended them hardly the actions of anyone that's anti-lgbt or transphobic what is the line before speakers are advised to refrain from such personal attacks Madam no such admonition was given at the last meeting by the board president I am requesting a written policy decision on this matter of where the line is and how do we draw it so that public the public does not uh subject us to personal attacks I hope that we're not living in a time in history when civility is being lost and we can no longer debate issues without personal attacks therefore I'm requesting in writing that you give me a policy on the board comments on public comments thank you thank you I'll also address that I have responded to in an email after checking with our board lawyer um just to clarify when I read which I'll be doing tonight the um public comments to the public which you'll hear again um I had commented in writing that and the lawyer has agreed with me that the public has a right to speak their mind they should not attack but unfortunately they do I have been attacked multiple members on this board have been attacked several times so while I read it and I said to you I believe and correct me if I'm wrong I did not hear a personal attack I listened to the video again I had the lawyer listen to the video again and um there there was no recognition of that attack I will do my best in reading the public comments again I have it here it's also bylaws and and policy you can refer to the policy anytime on the board portal um if you want to make a change then you need to come up with that change and the board has to vote on that change but that's a high that's a that's something that you have to be extremely careful about because people have a First Amendment right when it comes to public comments and we are public officials and just like any public official we sometimes have to sit and listen to things that we don't want to listen to but I have responded to you in an email it seems to me that if someone on the board was uh from the public Podium called a racist would you not stop that comment well as I said I'm going to read exactly what the public comments state that what the board recognizes and then maybe after that if you feel that there's something that we're missing you can send us an email the ENT and we can address it at that time but now is not the time to address it yes all right any other comment no not thank you any comments from the rest of the board very good uh first reading of the policies um Miss con alert 232 the policies that are up for first read are all revisions and they're consisting of language updates that do not impact the essence of the original text and they are as follows policy 1140 education Equity policies affirmative action 1523 comprehensive Equity plan 1530 equal employment opportunities 1550 Equal Employment antidiscrimination Practices 2260 equity in school and classroom practices 2411 guidance counseling 3211 code of ethics 5570 sportsmanship 5750 equitable Educational Opportunity 5841 secret societies 5842 equal access of student organizations 7610 vandalism 9323 notification of juvenile offender case disposition 2423 bilingual education and 24 31.4 prevention and treatment of sports related concussions and head injuries again these are just language updates and they will be up for a second read at the next board meing thank you so to the board um as Miss con's referenced these are on the board portal um prior to the second reading it is important to ensure that you understand which what these policies refer to and again if there's any questions about a policy or if you need clarification please send an email to miss Khan she is the chair of the policy committee she will then clarify that policy with Mr palowski the secretary of the board so please make sure you read the policies before the second read Miss Miss fer all of these policies on Strauss say me I didn't hear you I'm sorry I didn't hear all of these policies on Strauss Esme they are all on Strauss mme and they were also provided to you um as part of the package that Mr um paasi sent out okay okay thank you any questions regarding policy for first read close that section um the second section is board committee and liaison reports I'm actually going to start with Miss Khan even though you just read their first reading if you could just provide an update of the last meeting the policy committee met prior to the last board meeting on March 7th and we discussed the 15 policies which are now up for first read I know and in attendance were myself Diva caric Laura Hernandez Lisa Rogers David palowski and Scott feder and I'm just going to request the board members to review the policies for next meeting that's it any questions for Miss Conan okay Mr Nathanson an update on business operations and um shared services committee no we we didn't have a meeting we ended up canceling it because we deferred to finance I'm sorry why was it canel we deferred to finance there wasn't anything to discuss but it was canel also because we have no we have no projects that we can afford to look forward to for next year so there's near nothing to talk about very good thank you sir any questions for Mr nathon I was being nice all right over honest straight forward we have to be honest direct the town has to understand what we're dealing with um where am I here update um from education uh education committee met tonight so we'll get a full report at the next board meeting good any questions for Education finance committee update the finance committee met uh on Tuesday night of this week um you'll get a full report at the next board meeting very good thank you sir and just quick update on aacy committee um we have not met for obvious reasons we've been dealing with uh Mr feder has been dealing with the budget but most importantly we've been dealing with the individuals on the advocacy committee um via communication via email as to whether or not certain individuals should be testifying at the assembly and or the senate committee at this time we're still kind of like an airplane right we just keep circling the advocacy committee until we determine where we have to Land Based on Mr fed your comment was that I am doing the budget well it is the entire administrative team yes it is all day sometimes all night Y and that's what's happening is all of these people are trying to save this District yep and we appreciate that on behalf of the board as I had mentioned thank you sir and thank you to to those members of the advocacy committee as well for standing by on uh next steps any questions on board committee reports why is it so cold in here I don't know liaison reports any liaison reports Miss [Music] caric uh I'd like to provide a lay on report for the high school um on March 5th and 6th you heard from Defan as well that uh there was the National Honor Society uh felicitation it went off very well uh there were two nights fifth and six I attended one of them uh very well organized and beautifully done it was a pleasure to attend it on March 15th uh there was uh Mr hbh I attended that program it was wonderful very very entertaining um amazing program to attend uh our young boys young men are turning out wonderful it was super entertaining in um along with me Mr Michel as well as uh Miss Khan was there we had a very very good time I encourage all other board members to attend these events um and also our uh staff from the high school kind of compared the program and they were it was awesome it was awesome so that was uh was one and on March 12th uh the high school PTO had a meeting uh where they also they come up with really really interesting topics and the topic for this month was uh mental health awareness they had um folks from the bridge uh program to come and give us a presentation it was very informative there were a lot of questions that came up a lot of parents who want to use the you know Services of the bridge program were also sort of asking questions and it was it was a very very good and informative session I think there's a recording if I'm not mistaken which can be shared with uh with the high school parents as well but uh the PTO did an excellent job and that concludes my report for the high school very good thank you very thorough anyone else leison report to my left Mr Mitchell yes um I failed to mention the last meeting that I attended the um production of Mary Poppins right here in this Auditorium um Mary Poppins Jr um sponsored by CrossRoads North uh it was excellent uh event the students did an a awesome job um we have a wonderful staff that works with them and a parent uh organization that supports them as well um also I received an invitation to go to or to support um the sopt pric high school boys and girls bowling team uh who had their banquet a few nights ago um to help them celebrate their Seasons um it was a well attended event which included the student athletes coaches Tara bernston and Kelly fortun as well as many uh Viking alumnist um were in attendance special thanks to Coast Bern for her 22 years of service to Vikings Athletics also you as Mrs car mentioned I was able to attend Mr sbhs now it meant a lot to me to go this year because I wasn't able to go last year so um kudos to the students all 10 contestants were winners to me you know takes a lot of guts to get up there on the stage you know I did it when I was a kid a student in High School um so I I understand what it means and so that's why I support these kids and anything that they do you know uh cuz I've been there and know what it's like uh but we uh I'm certainly grateful for the opportunity uh to do these things so that's my report thank very good thank you Mr Mitchell anyone else we good okay point of order yes um I'd like to have a board member make a motion to add policy 9181 to our agenda on volunteering it was part of our conversation and at our last policy meeting it was not it didn't make our list but we talked about uh District paid uh background checks for volunteers so if I could have a board Mo motion by Hernandez Mr Hernandez second by Cari all in favor I thank you Miss Malloy white for pointing that out thank you Mr palowski for catching it as well who pointed it out white oh miss white thank you Miss White appreciate it all right closing out board committees and liais on reports moving on to public comments this is a public comments there's two public comments one is on agenda items only which is the consent agenda and then the second one is on any topic you want okay so the first one is for consent agenda items only and I'm looking at the gentleman's because I know that you wanted to speak them have Budget on the agenda or budget yeah okay consent or budget okay agenda I that's all right that's fine yep I was thinking just consent agenda my apologies all right so let me read the um let me read the statement I'm going to read it in full so if uh this way it is clear to everyone the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest complete copies of policy 0167 which govern this portion of the meaning are available to the public at the auditorium entrance online or by contacting the board office to permit the fair and orderly expression of comments we ask the participants be recognized by the presiding officer and preface comments by announcing his or her name place of residence group affiliation if appropriate and by completing the signin sheet at the podium please print legibly or we may be unable to document your name for the permanent record each statement made by a participant shall be limited to 3 minutes no participant may speak more than once on the same topic Mr palowski will indicate when you have 15 seconds remaining all statements shall be directed to the pr presiding officer no participant May question a board member no discussion between a participant and respondent shall will extend a thre minute time limit it is our plan to listen to each member of the public once all questions and comments from all members of the public are made the Board of Education May respond or respond via email in the most timely and efficient manner available all questions and comments made will be noted note that the presiding officer May one interrupt warn or terminate a participant statement when the statement is too lengthy abusive obscene or irrelevant two two request any individual to leave the meeting when the person does not observe reasonable decorum three request the assistance of law enforcement officers and the removal of a disorderly person when that person's conduct interes interferes with the orderly progress of the meeting call for a recess number four call for a recess or an adjournment to another time when the lack of public decorum so interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting five wave these rules when necessary for the protection of privacy or the efficient administration of the board's business the first public comment again is for agenda excuse me consent agenda or um any agenda item there will be a second opportunity for the public to comment on any matter Mr palowski do we have any members of the public who have pre-registered I have no pre registrations thank you are there any audience members who wish to make a public comment sir please approach the podium state your name spell your name print legibly um and just let us know if you and what T what part of town you're from and um if you're affiliated with any group it's a lot of [Laughter] [Music] stuff okay uh so my first time here sad Pais slamovich South Brunswick I have two questions different from each other so if I can have two two slots uh they're both regarding the budget first one is if I understood correctly there is a motion to have some Bill I think it's called bill that might modify the formula or that we're trying to do so right is um assuming that potentially we do get modifications and funds to get uh appro uh funded appropriately do we will the effect of these new potential laws be seen right away like maybe 25 26 or it might take much much much longer till this actually comes into an effect do you want to answer give a second question um they could some things could happen before May 7th of this year and the larger scale formula itself we would not expect for anything that happens now would probably be temporary the larger permanent fix is hopefully within one to two years thank you you're welcome second question um will there be at any point of time option for the public to influence how you cut your budget meaning more specifically academics programs uh sports activities and everything else that you're going through right now will public have any influence over that so we're going to be putting out a survey to families so that they could kind of give that kind of input and then we'll be you know looking at all that input from the community and it it will be used as we proceed through the process over the next five weeks thank you thank you so much great questions anyone else from the audience very good I will now close that I'm sorry you're too slow thank you thank you hello my name is rajes Soni I'm from South bake um so thank you for the presentation and thank you for the opportunity I think the facts are clear so so we understand there is a hole what I request uh the board when they do decide to kind of take a step back and and really understand the problem raising taxes yes will help next year but we are again going to be in a hall and we will keep raising taxes keep raising taxes it's a Band-Aid really does not attract new people new enrollment we just keep getting it's a very cyclical dependency couple of suggestions I have for you guys uh we discussed uh and it was kind of chatted informally in in Scott's presentation last week uh but I think we need to take a strategic look we need to have a study for example do we need to consolidate from five elementary schools to four anywh we are raising class sizes I would rather say a few millions in rent in a lot of things by consolidating I know these are hard decisions I won't tell you with school I there has to be a proper study based on where the population is how are we going to arrange it etc etc I think by doing something this we might able to last a little longer than taxes I do think tax increase is going to happen but this will at least demonstrate a more strategic move rather than just a short cap measure another areas that we can consider and look and again it was kind of discussed uh some sort of sharing helping Township see seeking help providing some Services we have a health center can be extended to Township employees can they also use it we will improve our our uh investment so to speak in Health Center and in return obviously seek some Services some support from Township again at some point it's again all the same thing we have to partner and work together other areas I can listed down in the emails electricity is generally the biggest one I don't know if the lights are on in the school uh football ground tennis grounds tracks can we turn it off can we install some sensors I was early this morning uh to drop my kid before the gates were open I saw all the hallway lights in the school in in the south building on I think we need to look at literally every opportunity to even this sounds kind of pretty you have 15 seconds Petty but we really need to look at all of it and again I will insist all of the board members stop Gap Arrangement is not going to help just going to get more brick bats look some strategic options and that's about it thank you thank you very much for your comments all right anybody else from the public okay we will now close off that section of the agenda next is old business we already received the budget update um and any update on Bill S2 2434 but I will ask Mr feder if there's any further information that you want to provide other than was been provided very good any questions from Mr feder again on the bill I'm sorry on the budget Dr just a comment uh the budget presentations uh uh the Q&A presentations uh last week it was quite extensive and there were a lot of question uh questions asked and answers um given so uh this is not the first time we saw and uh this not the first time uh first opportunity so I urge uh the public to go watch the uh presentations and uh you know you might find the answers uh right away very good thank you anyone else yeah I want to tap I just want to tap a little bit out to her um for those are watching Shame Shame Shame Shame Shame Mr feder put together an amazing presentation I am not good with numbers and I walked out of there completely understanding what he was talking about at conal school there were board members and 10 people when we were here last week in in in this Auditorium it the audience was over here this was all empty I'm even looking out now I don't know if the cameras show this there's 1 two three four five six seven eight n yay yeah you were here twice you were here twice there's 11 people in this Auditorium and when we start making cuts and we start making decisions and if we have to raise taxes you guys are all going to yell at us but nobody took the time to come out and see this so since we have now passed up two public opportunities for you to come out that were well publicized please go online and watch this so you are well informed okay because it is not I'm saying this Laura Hernandez I'm not saying it for the whole board here but shame I I've been here my whole life and for you guys not to show up when it's something this important for our kids kudos to all you guys out there in the audience no that's not good you guys really need to do your part you know what we are a village it takes a village it can't just be a few of us that are doing this so I'm just bouncing on that thank you anybody else and just for the board um if you are questioned by anyone in the public about the budget I request that you tell them to watch the video yeah please do not comment there's no need to everything they need to know is in the video from Mr feder at the Q&A as well as from the Senate all right moving on new business solar eclipse Dr Raj you requested this be added uh so uh there's a solar partial solar eclipse coming up and uh it will um U you know it'll probably start around 2 p.m. uh and um it'll end at around 400 p.m. um or something so that happens to be the time for uh School dismissal all the three uh Elementary High School and Middle School um so uh my concern is to uh the safety of the students um uh first to begin with and uh um because uh direct gazing at uh uh the Sun during Eclipse uh apparently harms uh can lead to harmful consequences um loss of sight and things like that uh so so uh my first concern would be uh student safety um second thing would be um you know preparation um you know to you know to deal with the worst case scenario um maybe you know something like the nurses being prepared and things like that I I don't know it's it's just my concern so I'm throwing it out there um of course um the better people here to address um and find Solutions and the other thing the last thing I I have is will there be any um liability issues for the school if some things go wrong so these are the concerns um not suggesting uh cuts to instruction time that's that's not uh the point at all uh but yeah I had these concerns so I just wanted to put it out there any comments from the board regarding 8 April it's April 8 yeah Miss carthic already answered oh I thought you were going to make a comment my apologies anybody I I was say when is the solar she I was like when when oh April April 8th and I actually printed out something so just for my own knowledge it starts at 2:10 and it ends at approximately 4 well 350 thereabouts in the middle of uh in the middle of the kids coming out of the schools so Mr feder any comments on anything that needs to be done for the solar eclipse parents tell your kids not to look at the sun okay know what you want me to do I can't control the Sun the moon the stars or the budget so what I would recommend is that there is some people do have a concern I will say Mrs um oh murf did try to find us 8,000 pairs of glasses uh 8,000 she did find 800 she missed the zero we we don't falter for that murf I know you're watching congratulations on the 800 just 7200 more by April 8th please yeah if I or parents could send their kids in with glasses we priced out the glasses we ain't buying them not on the table not an option not even in consideration so if parents are concerned they could send in whatever they feel their children need we do not have a dismissal at the exact time that we are being told the solar eclipse is at its highest but you know there's no we're a school if you guys want us to close we'll close if you want us to end the school before so the kids are home and at home before the day just tell me you want me to do that and I'll call an ear dismissal we'll cancel Sports and clubs and we'll close it just let me know what you guys want to do no uh no cuts to instructional times U more like uh is it possible possible to send out an email to uh parents in the districts uh District about you know as giving them this option if they want to send a pair of classes with their uh I of course can send out a note to tell parents to be parents which is what you're asking me to do which I'm fine with sure parents are parents I mean the solar eclipse is not something I am involved with if the district would like me to tell parents to tell their children to protect them elves in any way I will tell parents to tell their children to protect themselves but at some point at some point you have kids you have responsibility I don't know what you want me to tell a parent to do but I'll tell them whatever you want me to tell them the problem is kids are on school premises yeah that's the problem that's problem we won't have them go outside and stare up maybe just in FYI there's going to be a solar eclipse yes we can tell them what the news has told them for the last months but we will reinforce that there is a solar eclipse coming on April 8th and they should know that's happening and I will tell them that that's happening okay Miss carthic yeah I think that's a reasonable sort of uh you know path forward just in our Friday folders we get information right like hey just like this is a solar eclipse happening people know what they need to do I high schoolers don't use Friday cers we will send out an email parents that just it solar eclipses I think that I think Mr feder is absolutely 100% right on this um it is a parents responsibility to ensure that their child's safe and you have to take precautions I remember my mother made a little projector for us as kids it she turned it into a learning experience to say how to learn how to be safe with nature this is a natural phenomenon and we have to teach our children personally this is my opinion to respect nature how to do that um and that involves preparing them that when they leave the school this is what you expect as a parent them to do um that's my personal opinion um there's there's only so much the teachers and the school can do to protect the child from looking up into the sun um we are not going to have totality we're going to have about 80% to 80% so I can't imagine anybody looking up at the Sun and even glancing because you're going to have such a brightness at you we have no totality um totality happens along do you want me to include the scientific in the email how how about we just say move on just say it's Happ just say it's happening FYI remember guys there's going to be a solar eclipse done we'll use cha PT they can probably do a Dandy one on this any other comments all right any other comments on this new business very good I will close that out new business has been ended next Mr palaski the consent agenda walk through all right ladies and gentlemen our consent agenda this evening we have transfers financials and a bills list for the business office we're approving the cancellation of some checks that went out that were um custodial checks that were never cashed and uh followed up enough times to uh remove them um from our payroll bank account we have uh preschool expansion Aid funding we are uh moving forward with uh an adjustment in our unified Champion schools Grant we have a purchase over the bid limit even though we're using the state contract we are still purchasing a large amount of cleaning products for our buildings for the summer uh cleaning process we have a withdrawal from capital reserve for a um um $429,000 for a roofing project at Cambridge as I noted in our uh update this puts us two years behind in our uh Roofing uh schedule for the district uh due to Cuts we are just not doing the work that's required uh we have an appointment of an energy consultant we are looking to um improve our energy usage uh we have right now uh with dco energy went ahead and uh investigated a Cooperative purchase for uh Gas and energy moving our our energy to a Cooperative purchase and uh proud to report that we save the district the $80,000 projected for next year which will um help our budget a a minuscule amount uh we have a transportation contract we're approving an IND District tuition adjustment uh and outof District tuition adjustments we have a School District budget that you'll be voting on this evening just to be clear our general fund budget $152 million which is um which is $6 million less than it was last year at this time um you can see that motion on your consent agenda we have um a Board of Education meeting calendar student field trips foress intimidation bullying reports and our uh related travel expenses and reimbursements and that ladies and gentlemen is your consent agenda any questions on the consent agenda Mr psky just a quick question and my apologies um my point of clarification um did we what day is the final budget approval May May 7th 7th that is a Tuesday I want everybody to be aware of that it is a Tuesday May 7th okay that is when the board will meet regarding the budget on May 7th thank you we flipflop to the night great any questions on the consent agenda roll call Mr palaski I'm sorry question Miss caric um Mr palosi uh thank you for walking us through the consent agenda I have one I have two questions actually very quick ones won't take too long um the first one is on the preschool funding uh this question keeps coming back again and again whether it's part of the K12 budget if you can just provide a point of clarification you will see in your approval of your budget a special Revenue fund that went from 6 million last year to 12 million this year the special Revenue fund increase is due to your preschool expansion Aid funding which is part of your fund 20 a grant fund that is not impacting our operating budget thank you and my second question was regarding the energy consultant mhm uh if you can just uh provide clarification as to what would this energy consultant Services uh you know do for our district the energy consultant uh Works hand inhand with our buildings and grounds Department to um work with uh anytime we change a system in HVAC Electrical uh boilers heating cooling anything that uses energy in our district our consultant ensures that whatever we do to those systems meets or exceeds the expectation of the EIP that we did um 7 years ago that we completed so that we do not hinder our esip savings uh only improve them from five or from seven years ago thank you questions Mr my mistake sorry may I have a motion for approval of consent agenda Mr nathon second Miss Ferrera all uh Mr PRI roll call Miss Julie Ferrera accept Miss Laura Hernandez yes Mrs deep carthik yes Miss Alicia Khan yes Mr rajer Krishna yes Mr Mike Mitchell yes Mr Barry Nathanson yes Dr Smith araj yes Mrs Lisa Rogers yes motion carries thank you Mr porowski moving on to the second opportunity for public comment this is on any topic okay so a reminder to the public you are reminded of the previous statement that I've made regarding public comment rules of policy 0167 again at the podium state your name spell your name and announce your place of residence or your group affiliation complete the signin sheet and again you are limited to 3 minutes Mr palowski do we have any registrations we do not have any registrations at this time thank you do we have anyone in the audience to make a public comment sir here we go she's got to talk to him because this is getting ridiculous now I he's just out of control if we do have people in the public that would like to speak could make your way down to the podium that would be uh appropriate at this time thank you you better be nice oh God here we go hello I'm Albert Jay lovsky I'm a resident of North Brunswick New Jersey I just have a few things to say using my first amendment rights first of all I'd like to comment on this budget thing less warehouses more open Farmland might have helped I don't know do that could have been these warehouses are ridiculously huge you know the second thing is if civility doesn't return to our society if we continue this absolutism that Plato in the new Republic said was so dangerous to democracy we're not going to make it we have to start talking to each other with respect and decency that's where you get the most information in 1932 the Medical Association of America said cigarette smoking was healthy and good for everybody they promoted it as a healthy thing to do if the baate was cut off maybe they never would have changed their opinion we know how crazy that opinion was now so any issue the best thing is to allow all the debate come out and let the Democratic process work its way through and make the best decision that's what should happen and lastly I'd just like to be a character wi is for Julie Ferrara board member wonderful human being sincere person treats everybody with Incredible respect I wish everyone in the world treated people like Julie treats people it would be a great place to be so it was very disappointing that she had to make that statement tonight but you know like I said we've got to get some more civil this has to stop it's maybe it can start in this little school board I don't know but if we could just do this we can return our country to the great place it should be thank you thank you for your comment next I have signed in so I'm assuming it's okay that's okay all right uh re South brwi resident uh no group affiliation again it's it's a little bit more General broader comment um I am eager and more than willing to to come up with new ideas suggestions help in any way possible in my limited capacity but I'm often challenged with uh having a little bit less visibility as much as you guys would have which is understandable but if there is any way I can understand a little bit more finances of what what our expenses are where it's going then I probably can have a better um recommendation suggestion without any visibility or or such big numbers most of the time the suggestions are going to be off track or completely radical and random and I may sound insane so if there is any way to provide that visibility where we can go line by line like for example anytime our companies we in private life we go through such situations which happens every year first thing is pretty much RFP of all the services so Scott did mention RFP of food Chartwells I would literally do every Services we have been outside because year over here um people do get a little complacent cost keeps rising and always going outside helps so but again it's more of a general observation if I do not have the visibility or I would say anybody he would be just genius if he just comes and give a recommendation but without the visibility um I don't think anybody in the public in the town can help so if there is an option I would love to to learn more understand more and probably be more helpful to to the community in general so thank you thank you for your comment just a quick comment there is the financial document online so you can refer to the budget online I believe there's multiple years there um but you can refer to that first thank you next oh sorry hi Lisa Garwood still Princeton walk uh first and foremost I'd like to apologize to board member Julie Ferrara for my incorrect statement in claiming that you were that you were not sure what the Keystone Bill assembly hearing was about having reviewed the video you did not say this it seemed your question to Mr feder showed a lack of understanding of said change to the bill but you did not say that I was criticized for the statement I made leading me to seriously think about why I felt it was important to do so after careful consideration I stand by my statement the validity of making it here including this response for the following reasons I was taught the quote you are not obligated to complete the work but neither are you free to abandon it it is our job to speak out against Injustice if a teacher administrator or any staff member used religious slurs racial slurs or any slurs I assume you would want to know if a student spoke that way to another student they could be brought up on Hib charges if a board member spoke one fervently L at a State Assembly meeting I would assume you would want to know when the well-being of some of our most vulnerable students is being threatened from the inside complete with misinformation outdated information and slur is made in public it is the duty of those who witnessed it to let you know I am informing you I heard a board member use a gender slur and call our trans students mentally ill a statement that goes against classification by the American Psychiatric association you as our elected board members are ultimately in charge of the education and well-being of our children all our children thank you thank you for your comments is there any other comment from the public seeing none I close that no you cannot comment about it Julie I'm sorry it's not a debate it just isn't it's a public comment and we have to respect their First Amendment right it I I get it I've been there closing out public comments sorry I've lost track call for adjournment motion to a motion for adjourn so move all in favor all please enjoy your spring break