executive session go back in the public move second roll call all those in favor I poos okay word as you well know has been deliberating on this I got good news and I got bad news we're not ready to make a decision yet and the Board needs more time to review all the applicants again it's as you can well uh understand the applicants were were good and it's very difficult to get a consensus of five board members to make that decision so we have not yet made a decision on who the new board person is so sorry about that for you guys are waited around now we're going back in the got go back into now I need a motion to go back into executive session move second all those in favor iOS candidates be no decision yeah yeah as far as the candidates are concerned well there might be first all the reasons for going into executive session need to make clear right now that's everything other than c interv yeah the the reason for going back into the executive session are for uh not only the board vacancies but personel negotiations IL legal attorney client privilege um the candidates don't have to wait around we come to a consensus we'll we'll call you uh this evening so what's that he didn't say we're going to call them this evening well we if we have if we have a a person we will no yeah why not talking about why we're going going executive section to talk about that we're not doing it that's what they're saying we're we're going back into executive session to go over the things I said the Personnel negotiations legal and possible board board vacancy so is that what we decided yeah no that wasn't what we decided so so so when are you going to decide on the on to continue with the board maybe somebody ought to explain to the public what the process is I'm happy I'm happy to explain the process the board has 65 days from the date the seat becomes vacant to appoint someone to that seat right consistent with policy consistent with statute if the board fails to do that within 65 days it's up to the county superintendent to review the resumés of the candidates and appoint someone after 65 days it's out of the board's hands whether it happens tonight whether it happens uh 50 if 50 days after the CP came vacant the board can make a nomination at any time they want to at some point the board should take nominations I think what what the understanding was is that the board is not ready to take nominations tonight the timeline from what I understand I think we're about 25 days in since roughly 20 to 25 days in since the the seat became vacant so there is still some time for the board to make this decision I think that's kind of where we're leaving off right now uh my understanding is the board is going back into executive sessions for most of the reasons Ralph just mentioned because they haven't had the opportunity to do that yet so that's what the intent is right now does that clarify so we're not going to talk about v a board seat decision to not do it tonight okay is that right am correct you're correct okay sorry about that applicants so at some point we'll meet and get back to you we leaving now and going back to your office all right so you may stay here we're going back you shouldn't be long on this this isest on the agenda e e e e e e e e e e e [Music] h [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] for [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e okay board has left uh executive session and we're back in regular session uh just to not note that this meeting is being videotaped anyone not wishing to be seen on television may be excused and having said that everyone please rise for flag SL I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all uh before we start I asked if we could have a moment of silence for the passing of Daniel genon Scott who was a teacher at uh TJ and uh beloved teacher at TJ so if we could have a moment of silence please please stand us thank you okay presentation budget yeah so we are uh do we do it all we're all good probably he on the budget it's part of the Open Session right we don't have to see anything just y one second I'm refreshing can we just explain where we are yeah sorry it booted me out okay so tonight under Finance we have a resolution on the agenda to adopt the budget it's the same resolution that was on our last meeting so as just to go through the steps April 30th we adopted our budget and then shortly after that we learned that we had the ability to increase taxes in or in order to modify the budget which the board um did CH choose to do the timeline was to have the budget approved to submit to the county office by July 5th which we did all that we approved that at the last meeting there's still the um requirement to have a public hearing on the budget just like we do in March and then public Hearing in April so tonight is the public hearing on the budget if you look under the finance section it's the same resolution um as last month that was approved there were no changes in between we always have to point out if any other changes were made no other changes were made so when we do um our first Open Session tonight it's going to be open to the public and our public hearing on the budget in case anybody is interested in speaking okay thank you yeah it's perfect okay discussion cell phone usage yeah so as a at a very high level so at the policy committee meeting Mr Sano right we talked about the concept of of cell phones in schools and we have um so for for what we were tasked with at there was to uh reach out to Strauss Esme who controls all of our policies and writes our policies uh based upon um New Jersey code and statutes so I have an example policy for the policy committ committee to look at uh and I think that we and it doesn't have to be tonight but I think we should begin the conversations of what do we want cell phones to look like in our district um there are we're doing a lot of hard work right now to revise our codes of conduct at at the elementary middle and high school level because they haven't they hadn't really all been looked at together in in a in in some time and we needed to insert uh some Concepts into there that just that weren't there for instance uh we didn't really have something with teeth in our in our code of conduct if you were going to video a fight um so really it was very very lowlevel consequences for that which is a very serious thing so the concept of phones I think needs to be discussed we are a one toone District uh there really is no educational value for a student to be using a cell phone in a hallway walking from class to class I don't know that I could actually even come up with an educational value for that um and there are ways for teachers to do polls and and and children to do research not on their phones so and I'm not saying that you should or should not do anything but I think that there's a lot to discuss so um I what I'm going to do is I'm going to bring that information back to the policy committee if it's amendable to the board and then that way the policy committee could possibly make some recommendations for next steps which should involve talking to the administration um you know some research and then possible movement does that sound acceptable to the group sounds good to me okay just a real quick um I was going to bring this up under new business but it might make more sense here okay um just the no the notion of creat creating a community council so to speak so there's been a lot of things that we've done um over the past years that I think it would have been invaluable to have community members on a committee an ad hoc committee so what I mean by that is there was like you know at the end of the year at the high school there was a pilot for study halls and I think that would have been like a topic that would have been awesome to bring to that group so absent a true dedicated public relations person in the district I think that we should create an ad hoc Committee of community members with regards to communication so something like this a cell phone policy I can imagine there's going to be a lot of opinions on it that would be something like I'd love I know we're going to do a strategic business planning committee with the community members I would like to see us create another ad hoc Committee of community members so when we have things like this that come up like cell phone usage the study hall changing at the high school different things like that I think it would be I would like to you know raise the idea if anyone's for it to create an ad hoc committee to include community members um we could talk about how that would be selected but in general I just think that there's a lot of changes um a lot of great changes that have happened over the past year but there's also some changes where I think that you know Dr hibs I won't speak for you but maybe it would have been invaluable for you to have Community input into those types of things that we were looking to do as a board often times we rely people to come up to the podium to give us their opinion but sometimes it's in the 11th hour because it's the first time they're hearing about it so I think if we could create an ad hoc Committee of community members that with regards to communication and different initiatives it may help us a little bit work better as a board that will have Community input prior to us coming something to a vote and then everyone coming out so I don't know how you guys feel about it but I would to create an ad hoc committee that we can have those community members on it I it's a great idea I think often like just waiting or for people to come up to the uh Podium I think more often than not it's negative people say you know I don't say complaint like talk against something they often will come say wow you're doing a great job right but I think in a committee like that you will get both sides and more conversation as to we'll we'll bring that to the policy committee and let the policy devot I think actually it's I don't know if it goes in policy Ralph starts with you because I thinky the attorney suggested we take it to the public isn't Ralph in charge of ad hoc committees though Ralph's in charge of ad hoc committees but we need to create he'd have to do two things decide if he wants to do that and decide the scope and you know goals and formations of that committee um so I mean because we have a policy on it already at hoc committees under committees right okay yeah uh I mean I have to look at it but yes sure you do generally whatever the policy says that's what we'll follow okay if there's a policy to that I create it we'll we'll do so so is there a willingness do you want to know how the board feels maybe no one else feels the same way as me but I just want to make sure if no one else wants to do it that's fine too but do you want to take a poll for the willingness the shaking their heads I mean that seems like everybody Stacy you're all right you all right Sean yes okay okay I think we need to get our public involved problem we used to have a lot of involvement PH school community relations no business old business any old business I think you'd have to frame it that way um so for me old business would be um we talked about I'm going to go back to the ad hoc again because now that's technically old business we all decided at one meeting to have a an ad hoc committee for strategic budget planning like we decided that already so I just want to know where are we with that and then what are the steps we're taking to get those members of the public on board right we talked about it at a meeting but like I think we wanted to do a lot of that planning in the summer in anticipation of the budget so I just don't know where we are so I wanted to bring it back you have anything up update on that I do yep I was going to talk about in my committee report but uh talk about it now so um I I got I created the um budget Community task force memo which outlined recommended process that I put together I circulated that to the board collected all the feedback from the board members that Lori collected the feedback from all the board members that provided comments I Consolidated all all those into a track changes version and I've sent that to Ari to be reviewed to get a legal opinion on it I also included Steve's version because Steve had a lot of good comments in there that I think would be good for AR just to answer directly in there so I hope I'm hoping that we can get get something back from Ari and then discuss it um next meeting if if we can get it that quickly and decide you know how we go about putting out the posting and selection of the members so hopefully we get something going in August thank you any other old business I I don't know if this is under old business I'm just going to keep rolling with policy go ahead so um there was some discussion over email with scheduling committee meetings uh specifically in person now and the policy that I wanted to talk under old business is 0155 board committees so um there were some meetings that took place that not all members were able to attend because we were given not much notice and when we were given notice and availability it was decided in a different direction for us not to attend the recent um Personnel meeting with the njaa so what I would like to talk about with the full board is I believe it appears as though that there's a discrepancy with the policy and how it's being interpreted specifically number five the work of the chairperson so I did bring it up on email we can't talk about it in executive so I have to talk about it in public um I just want a better understand and Ari if you want to interpret it that's fine but from what I read under policy 0155 is that the chairperson works with the administrative Liaisons um to create meetings and agendas and what's happening now is the chairperson is taking it upon herself to do all the scheduling which is a bear by the way to do that um so as nice as it is to be able to take the ownership of all the scheduling my concern is that moving forward um especially as we get into negotiations with bargaining units this is going to be a nightmare if we're not all there and I know Raph you believe that we all should be there the last meeting I was completely excluded uh from the meeting due to availability so I would like to discuss number five of policy 0155 so there's a clear-cut opinion on how this should happen because the other chairpersons of the other committees business hats on IIA no one else takes it upon themselves to schedule outside meetings so I think there's an unnecessary amount of work that the chair is doing I think that this has always always fallen this committee with Lori before that alen alestra she took that and pulled the administrative calendars and that's not happening right now it's kind of all over the place it's on email it's very hard to follow in terms of when we're meeting so I just want to know the interpretation of that policy specifically number five and how it relates to every board chair not just one but every board chair and how we schedule meetings and fill that role all right as I indicated especially for negotiations and Personnel I would have wanted the chair to make sure that everyone is available to be there because I don't think he could skip especially negotiations skip a meeting and then come back and catch up so Ari you're looking at the policy yeah I mean the policy as I think how just said the chairperson shall work closely with the administrative Lees on assign to establish agendas and the committee calendar what that means you know can be interpreted several different ways I've frankly never been asked to interpret you know how scheduling works amongst board members that's honestly that's for the board to decide if you want to specify change the wording of this policy clarify this policy there's no legal answer you know I can't give you a right or wrong legal answer as to whether or not the chairperson should send the emails about scheduling or whether it should come from Lori that's for you guys to decide as a board if you want to revise the policy to clarify a fine if you want to just have that conversation uh to decide how it's going to be done that's fine also um again I could interpret that sentence in several different ways um I think Ralph expressed what the goal is obviously to get everybody there that's the main goal I understand the goal is not happening though so so how you guys get there you as a board have to clarify the policy to make sure that everyone's included whether the communications come directly from Lori or the communications come directly from any of your committee chairs that's up to you guys for schedu it's not but it's not just Communications hold hold on a minute go ahead Eric it's it's not just Communications though it's it's also the concept of of how we generate the dates right so the way just so you understand the way this this shook out two people that should have been at that meeting administratively could not be I I desperately tried to clear my calendar but I wasn't given the date and I tried and I had a I had a family commitment that I have to honor and 99 times out of a 100 I I move that around you know and I I don't put family first first I put my job first but I couldn't do it this time um and I love my family don't get me wrong but this is my job um and then you know another member couldn't be an attendance either so I I just think that you know if you look at the policy and it says that you know Works closely to establish agendas and the committee calendar I just think as a board we should talk about what that really looks like you decide what that looks like but to not involve everybody is I I think it's just blatantly disrespectful right Connie yeah yeah I like to make a comment uh I'm the chair of that committee and I just want to since it's been brought up I just want to um uh kind of give a little bit of a a background uh number one as a volunteer uh even that task in in of itself was a lot of time and you know I welcome if uh if we want to come up as with a board and to do it differently um I don't need to spend time doing something obious trying to do what I thought when I read the policy it says the chairperson will coordinate the work of the committee and I took it one step further I contacted our rep with school boards and we went over this policy and uh our rep agreed that based on what that's saying that the chairperson would coordinate the activities I I'm not I'm not saying I need to do it because it's work I'm okay if we want to go with different Direction but I want to explain to the people and maybe also too I think Carol you you were trying to get a hold of me and Ralph told me that you were going to bring it up at the meeting so I held back in terms of of talking um we we had a a communication from um an assoc the association and they gave us stes and when they wrote to us they wrote to the Personnel committee and wrote to me as chair and we've got six dates and that was on the 28th of June on the 28th of June that day I wrote to um the people on the committee all the people on the committee uh to our um HR person and to our superintendent and in that in that uh communication um I said in that communication I said please respond to meet only dates that you're unavailable as put the email below that was the email that I got because we I was going to be coordinating a lot of different people's schedules and vacation time and it was it was just a kind of a big task I only received uh a response back from Mrs Chilla and Mr Ross no one else responded back that they couldn't do any of those dates what I did I when I when I what I did the next day I wrote an email and uh Mrs Chilla only could do two dates and I went with those two dates out of the six I worked at the email around Mrs chill's dates when I got the email back from our solicitor both those dates he was scheduled but said that he could get somebody to take his place and I said that's great uh could you do that you remember that Mr remember that are you said you would be able to get it scheduled then what happened um one of those two dates uh Dr hibs said he couldn't make so I had all these discussions I had with Ralph the board president I didn't do anything alone and what we decided to do was go with one of the other dates the 9th and that was not a date that Mrs chil picked uh we were we were going on that date based on the fact that other people could make that date then it turned out that um originally Dr Hibbs was going to make it and then he couldn't make it and that's understandable okay so what what what happened after that Ralph Mr Ross myself and the attorney had a phone conference about whether or not this was on the eth now of July if we should have the the meeting on the 9th with the people that could attend and we talked about the fact that when you're in negotiations a lot of times during the summer people on both committees aren't always available and you don't want to let that time slip by you want to try to get done what you can get done and the purpose of that meeting was not to have a negotiation SE session it was to get information so that we could continue to move on and not delay it the the effort was to try to get the ball rolling and that's kind of where where it happened some people's feelings got hurt I'm sorry about that I I apologize but I I I took it under advisement with the with the attorney and with the president what we what we could do so where we are now is with a discussion should we have somebody else do it and I'm fine with that but I want everybody to understand my my fellow board members and the public that I was making an effort to do the best I could with a number of different people getting their schedules so you know Carol I worked around your your days I mean I didn't I didn't look at your days and say oh too bad I can't make them we're not I I I started the whole ball Ro your two dates out of the six so so if I could just comment real quickly um I don't want to Bel her this because I feel like we're starting to move past in a good direction of talking about other things um but this is important because of the negotiations that we're going to be in this year which is why I bring it up is because was um four out of four times my date was not picked four out of four times I had to leave my child with someone else like four out of four times the past time you've scheduled something was the specific date that I said I couldn't make it in fact one time you said why don't you just bring your child then and she could sit on a chair right so that's not really fair that I always have to switch everything but four out of four times and they're important meetings and it's also important to note that Mr Sweeney didn't know about the meeting and either did Dr Hibbs until it was dictated to him it was on my first email 628 both both of you have it so yep so that was when it was already planned yeah I have it as well but it's exact when it was already planned all right it was not planned around 28 was the first email I sent we're going to speak no no it's no there's no we're gonna have we're because in order for us to move forward we have to be 100% truthful and Connie I said it's a big job to schedule I have numerous emails saying please don't schedule this it's a big task we have to make sure everyone's there we paid an attorney to come that day and there was three members of the committee there should have been four there should have been our superintendent and there should have been our director of HR those people weren't there and we paid our ATT to exchange a proposal we could have had we we could we could had okay we could have had a robust meeting with everyone there and we didn't so the purpose for me bringing it up is not to take a jab at you it's to look at the policy let's revise it that all board members on a committee shall be an attendance unless that board member declines and says schedule without me because I'm desperately I have tons of emails I'm desperately asking to be a part of a lot of different meetings that I'm in in the 11th Hour scrambling because it's the exact date that I can't make it every single time so I'm asking for a change in the policy in all due respect the meeting is over it was a preliminary meeting where it was a meeting we all should have been there it's not a preliminary meeting you all right well I just want to I just want to reiterate I I'm not going to go back and forth but I just want to make it a point I just think we need to make the decision was made to continue with it with you and Ari and we discuss and nobody else cuz my opinion and said you should not have the meeting without the superintendent there without our director of human resources and another member of the committee I voiced it I was at a meeting and I said can we please not have this meeting I'd like to attend I'd like to hear what the njaa has to say I'd like to hear that I was not afforded that opportunity I took the advice of our solicitor thank you what's the No No the proposed policy change Scott one second I never told any I'm not sure what you mean when you say the advice of the solicitor we spoke about whether or not we could have the meeting we talked about the pros and cons of having the meeting versus not having the meeting and ultimately a decision was made to have the meeting I never said that the meeting has to be had or it doesn't have to be had I simply offered which I'm not going to get into the specifics of what I offered but I simply offered advice both ways okay and that I just don't want um people to get the wrong idea about the general statement that I guess that because I took that to mean that I made that decision not are you okay with with working with Lori to schedu this well I'm okay Lori could just take it over if she wants yeah sure I mean but I think we should make a policy change you know I'm not I'm not looking for work I'm just saying I tried to do a good job and I just wanted the public to know that thank you and and whatever is decided is fine I don't need to do extra work thank you policy change just put it up policy I just I just want to make a correction there were two board members the solicitor and the njaa not three thank you so you weren't there I was not that was the last my daughter was sick yes ma'am yes yes ma'am so I'm sorry I thought no so even worse even worse so you were not there I assumed you were there because that was the last communication I had was that you were is it is it okay then can can Lori just be Point person on scheduling all the Committees and is everybody okay with that philosophy yeah okay and that that'll that'll just make sure that we pick a date as timely as possible and that way board members can all attend and we can make sure that everyone else is able to attend policy as well yeah we can what St next are you asking to put in polic for for the chair everything else in the policy terms of the chair working with the administrative liazon I think is accurate on agenda and all those things when it comes to scheduling of the meeting I think we have to have Lori as the point person in the policy then that way she could look at the administrative schedule since we don't use out if we don't use our calendar to say when we can we can and can't come to would serve as a good intermediary for administration okay I think I think you added too that um it would only be if a board member declined right it would only be if a board member declined that we I don't you had wording about that the board member unless they could in terms of scheduling that all of the members of the committee should be there unless they are forfeiting their right to so so that was what I was getting at when I asked you the question that's dangerous language because you essentially give one board member the opportunity to hold up a meeting indefinitely until they decline so I would definitely recommend against that okay yeah I think some reason think think that no subs for that that a quorum should be you guys are adding a lot of different changes and which you could all make if the board bring back to the board thank you okay any other old business okay motion to open Agenda to public on budget items only you have my card it's coming it's making its way Angel tuso WT sssp I support staff president um first I want to express my appreciation again um our people got their benefits back thankfully um I've been hearing all week how grateful they are from a lot of different angles so thank you um thank you for putting everybody back I know that was not an easy task but from what I understand everybody's back to where they were um so we appreciate that also that that did solve a lot of problems however um I have a I have a um a question about number 21 Personnel 21 you have the appointment of teacher assistant at Kindle I'm not going to say our name it's on the agenda 5.75 at 1754 an hour so two things first of all that's a brand new person from out of District that you're bringing in when we still have people who don't have jobs in District um at the top of the pay scale so that's our step five or step six whatever you want to call it um in light of what just happened I feel as though and I know some of my members feel as though that not only is it callous it's disrespectful um after everything we've been through as a district to bring a brand new person in after you just got rid of everybody and then brought them back to bring a brand new person in at the top of the pay scale so that's the first piece of that um because the appearance is that you treat strangers better than you treat your own people and that's that's what people are getting from that when you do that kind of stuff I know this came up back in October when we did it with specialized assistant they said oh well they had experience I get that but so do our people our people have experience too and you have people here that have been here three four and five years that are on Step 2 3 four five and you're not paying them at step six you're paying them at whatever step they come in at and that's and they stay there until they make it up in years so I wanted to bring that up and in light I guess of all of this and and the disaster that the last couple months have been and the stress that it caused for so many people I feel I feel like I need to ask you um where each of you stand as board members on privatization because I feel that's coming it we had this meeting last month and we said you know next year's going to be worse so I would like to know from each of you where you all stand on privatization because it's important to us a govern proposition angel I don't know about anybody else but I can say I'm not for it I think if we got a problem we have to fix it that's me ask the board rest of the board what they I agree with Ralph can you hear me yes I agree with Ralph and I think I know a lot about especially the classroom AIDS because I've worked with them and they really are the backbone of our district and they deserve whatever we can give them and I feel the privatization is going to make it even worse for them because you're going to lose a lot of the things that you have and I'll give you a story about a child that had an IEP this year that went to a a program at the high school with their class and their aid a class with their aid and when they got to the program this child for whatever reason couldn't stay in the program but the aid knew that ahead of time so the aid brought her own iPad her own Disney subscription and she sat outside for a 45 minute program and took care of this child I don't know who you talking about but to the extent you're talk be careful that you're not identifying any here okay no no that's all I'm going to say and they are the types of things that our assistants do for the classroom for the teachers and for the students that are invaluable in our district and you need the consistency I I like to make a comment um yeah it's been a tough few months and I I'm I'm happy for our kids that are are support staff uh is in place and that they're going to be there for our our our students you know in September uh in terms of privatization um uh I would hope that we're going to look at every venue and that's not going to be a road that we're going to go down at least that's not a road that I'm looking at okay 80% of our support staff live and work here pay taxes spend money here have kids go here neighbors very valuable very valuable to success success of our school thank you for for what you do anyone else said no for me Angela no I'm sorry no Ralph is there a reason why you just called my name okay I mean so I'll I'll make this comment um and Angela and Patty I've had conversations with you so you know exactly where I stand um and I think it's a desire to look at a lot of different things coming up in this negotiation of how we can work better and work smarter and all of those things so not necessarily I don't have to Proclaim I think you know know exactly where I stand in it um I think there's been a lot of rumors um that I stood for something else so I think there's no one I won't speak for people on the board but I don't think anyone has a desire to have a repeat of what we endured this year I think I said that one of the meetings I forget which budget meeting maybe budget meeting number 20 or whatever it was but um I made the comment to say that we can't afford to have another year like we did this year and I think that the superintendent the board no one wants a repeat of that so I think we have a lot of things to look at as a board I think if we can start to work together and get through some of these issues we can really start to put our heads together with Community groups to really start to explore different things and um In fairness I don't think that um I'll just say this the superintendent has had a ton of support in order to really you know use his skill sets to be able to work through some things that would make us better and a lot happier so I'm hoping moving forward now that we're through budget we can start to work together as a board to start to talk about things like that together and come up with really good Solutions in tandem with Community groups which I really I think we need to do that so I hope that answers your question yeah I I I like I said I think we've had plenty of conversations about it I'm just looking forward to having Solutions and instead of um just decisions right I think we need to explore everything as a group and I think there's a willingness to probably want to do that as a whole as a board so that's what I'll Sayo how you doing uh thanks for the interview tonight I hope it was uh enjoyable for you as it was for me um I want to some questions on the budget I let me know if you want to stop so you can write these down uh at the beginning of the budget process the board presented a budget shortfall that would result in the layoff of a significant amount of staff members in the time since that announcement there have been statements and rumors that the original number of layoffs have been reduced um what I'm looking for is what is the current number of layoffs that have occurred and other than the additional funding funding via taxes that was authorized R through legislation where did the money come from to reduce the number of layoffs um my second uh topic is uh I noticed going over um the budget that there were some things that uh stood out to me um for one the 2425 uh budget has an increase of over $240,000 for school sponsored athletic spending yet it has a decrease of just over over $100,000 for Co and extracurricular spending um I have no issue with either of these items but I'm looking at this through um a budget lens and how we had such a significant financial shortfall so I'd like to know what the athletic spending is increasing for and then with the extracurricular activity or funding is decreasing and I also like to point out that since the uh 2019 2020 budget uh We've increased in school sponsored athletic spending by 65% our proposed budget this year um our Athletics spending is bigger than Cherry Hills School District's spending by a little over $1,000 and Cherry Hill is a much bigger School District with two high schools thank you I mean I can so I'm we're not we're not prepared to talk about lines about about Athletics I just had no idea that was coming um so when we talk about the the jobs that were eliminated were the jobs that were eliminated so what we eliminated from the budget was truly eliminated over time through uh retirements through attrition through people just leaving um we whittel down all of our numbers Sean do you have what that is now but let's start by saying that the positions that we talked about were eliminated what we there's a huge difference everybody can understand the difference between positions and people because our goal was to save as many people as possible even though all those positions were eliminated um initially due to the elimination of positions support staff I'm focusing on right now um there were 55 employees who were non-renewed at the time due to position eliminations um as Dr Hib said um with retirements resignations and the like um that number is now at nine people who are still on the non-renewed list some people came off that list because they were offered positions and declined and contractually that's what occurs um but there are still nine people who are waiting for a recall potentially um from the initial 55 do you any idea of the um certificated Sean yeah give me a minute I'll pull that up okay um and we can we can come back and we can answer that one um but I'm not going to have the athletic the Athletics nor did I I don't really know about Cherry Hill but I'm happy to look into it for you of course Joe hi thank you I just have a couple questions for clarifications probably Mrs Chiller can help me um do the committee the ad hoc committees that you guys were talking about do they have to have a board member on them if you're doing um community members do they have to have a board member on them um the second question is kind of a comment and a question um they're at we're in 2024 there's apps for scheduling that people can put their summer schedules and their work schedules in it and it will literally create a calendar for people to have meetings I I mean I can give you a list right off the top of my head I mean the kids use when to meet and it's awesome you guys each would put your schedule in and it would spit out when everyone's available on what date easy peasy I understand that emails um you guys use emails for transparency but they become so jumbled and things get missed and um so I'm just recommending that you know 2024 use an app there's an app for that I promise um back to to also during the pandemic we learned that meetings can be made from anywhere and attended from anywhere right we learned that my other question is can these meetings that are so important for all I mean there's a lot of board members here is there a way for these to legally be recorded only for board members so if something comes up where there's a child sick or you're out of state or something um are they allowed to be recorded so that all members could see it comment on it be available or could they be done during you know through Zoom or anything like that um and I think that's all my questions the Committees do they have to have a board member and um can they be recorded or done via Zoom thank you so um in terms of ad hoc committees I'm reading through the policy I'll defer to you to make sure I don't answer it inaccurately I've always known them to have a board member um not to exceed four so I would think I'm gonna say yes right the ad hoc committees I'm not sure what the effect would be that there would be no board member to you know share the information back with the board like we have to report out so in order for us to do that we have to have board members there um I'll just make a comment about your scheduling because I do a lot of as well so I'm just going to make a blanket statement to say to be fair and Equitable to everybody on the board not everyone is super technologically savvy to be able to use certain apps and different things which is why it just ends up being easy easier like I use cenly a lot but like it's just easier to have Lori someone like Lor Lori do that for that reason yeah right but I I can appreciate your comment there is totally right yes anywhere they can definitely through um the recording piece is an interesting one because I think if you make a meeting I think it's any have well there's a couple issues number one and and I'm not sure if your intent was to tape record it so the full board could hear it the the issue with with committee meetings the purpose is to not have a quorum of the board the purpose is to have only three or four members of the board once you go beyond that you're essentially having a public meeting and if it's not properly advertised that's an issue for the board the other problem is when you have a meeting with the association for example it takes two parties to decide to tape record it legally it can be done um but you know that's a negotiations issue that would have to be discussed with the association so legally it's possible but there's a lot of different factors that that come into your question motion to close to the public favor committee reports HR negotiations was not able to attend uh the HR meeting and uh Mr Serrano is going to report out for me thank you hey can everyone hear me good all right cool all right no problem uh Personnel committee notes I we can't go into too much detail here but we had uh myself in attendance president Ross in attendance and Mrs chill or Miss chill sorry the administrators in attendance were Dr Eric Hibbs and Mrs weter uh we discussed rice notices grievance updates anticipated hires job descriptions negotiations reinstatement of hours and benefits policy for the superintendent to hire staff throughout the summer and a report thank you business committee okay second here all right we uh business committee uh we met on Wednesday July 10th was me uh Ralph Pat Janine Dr hibs and uh Connie uh came in as additional board member we talked through the energy audit we should have the rest of the reports in by the end of the month so hopefully that'll bring some good news for us on money we'll be getting yeah fingers crossed there uh we had a budget discussion uh where we discussed the process of modifying the budget what was included and follow up from the last board meeting for clarification uh I already talked talked about the uh Community involvement uh we talked through that process and uh you know getting approval from the committee to send that to Ari for comment so that's where we stand on that one hopefully we'll get that moving here in August uh we talk through some purchasing items like student transportation services the annual lease bid um couple other things there and then we talk through the conflict attorney process that's was has been advertised was on 625 and the bid opening was actually today um uh created a rating sheet and we discussed the process to review and appoint um and business committee will be working through that process here in the next week or so and then we uh also discussed uh Dina students and and how those positions would work I think that is the majority of the items we've discussed in business thank you I committee M okay we also met on Wednesday July 10th in attendance was myself Dr hibs Dr Nathan Mrs Gerber Mrs Miller misss Deo M Grimaldi Mr Ross Dr Gregor and Dr I said Dr Nathan twice but Dr Nathan there is a lot of curriculum writing being completed in the district over the summer most of it is related to revising standards so that our curriculum aligns with the state standards areas being revised include K through five math Ela and health standards also the new term for library in the district is media studies that's also being revised as well as gifted and talented revisions and some standards for science Our Community Resources list is being updated the CARE soless program was very successful there were many appointments booked throughout the year our new system for registration reporting and updating professional development opportunities for our staff via Genesis has been successful the district has received its title one grants for the 2024 2025 school year and the board approve approval of curriculum updates will probably take place in August our next meeting is scheduled for August 14th 2024 thank you policy committee Mr [Music] shirano thank you Mr President uh so in policy we discussed three main topics first one policy and regulation 5430 class rank so we are planning to reimplement the validator and salutatorian policies for the top two students of each High School graduating class starting in September correct Dr hibs correct okay with the third with A3 sumacum L student being picked possibly based on speech auditions so from those sumak Kumar students there will be uh one pick based off their speech the third the valid dictorian salutatorian that's a you know no-brainer they're going to be the one and two but the three is going to be up in the air based off those speech auditions and uh as Dr hip stated earlier we're looking into a cell phone policy for the students and looking to make that stronger the use of cell phones or the the prohibited use in certain areas at certain times during the day uh also lastly at a high level we discussed the student code of conduct and where we can make that policy stronger as well so no action is going to be taken on the last two really we're only doing taking action on the class rank at this time so end of report Mr President thank you Mr Sano report of the superintendent it's just the HIV report sir okay any discussion on the HIV report motion y motion so moved second second second roll call Mrs Chell yes m Mr Mayo yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Lindsay yes Mr Serrano yes Mrs Baker yes Mrs Bloom yes Mr Ross Yes instructional Affairs a motion and a second to approve item number one so move second second roll call just real quickly I think we should just uh acknowledge it is I just want to acknowledge and thank the orial family for hosting um The Exchange the exchange student from Italy I think it's pretty awesome that we're given someone that opportunity thanks Dr hibs for putting that on so we can make that happen in time so that's it that is item number one the exchange student yeah good roll call Mr Mayo yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Lindsay yes Mr Serrano yes m Mrs Baker yes Mrs Bloom yes Mrs Chilla yes Mr Ross Yes okay um policy no items at this time Student Activities no items Human Resources motion for items number 1 to 24 so moveed second second Stacy M roll call discuss a discussion discussion discussion of items 124 uh yes I have a question uh for Dr Hibbs on number five additional time emergency coverage could could you uh give some clarification what what that what that means yes um and Mr swe I think I I'm speaking correctly so this person during the 23 24 school year uh did coverage that she needs to be compensated for correct it could be in terms of um we have sub they that Ro be right but they need to make sure approve inorder to comp okay so when I was reading it I thought it was it was for this coming school year so you're saying a person covered and didn't get paid last year okay is there any reason why we're not seeing the total amount um no that's how we do you have that Sean yeah no so so whether or not I mean we don't know whether it was 100 hours or 50 hours we just we're just looking we're going to approve a price and we don't know how much the total amount is you're approving the person that's needed that's not what I understood as needed not is what she did they did I thought you said that she wor she worked last year covering somebody's class or whatever and she didn't get paid and now we're going to pay her so that's not as needed there's a there's a number that we're paying her submitted her vouchers and we need to make sure that she was approved for that for approval it's the same way we done okay we can certainly pull that number out for you but we just don't have it right now I I I just if I'm going to vote I would like to know how much spending if you have these questions it' be great to agree Sean well I guess though in reality of it though Sean if if it's a if it's a large amount of money we should know about that I don't know is that something that we shouldn't be on here I think I think the point is that we get the agenda so if there's a question on the agenda it gives the opportunity to email in that question so then that way the whole board would benefit from the question and the answer I'll give the example of Scott usually emails the questions that he has as I do as others so I think that's the point is that we had the agenda now since Friday so that I think that's the point okay so I guess no one else had any problem you didn't have any problems with that no I didn't no so you doesn't make any difference I mean if you want to question me and we want to go back and forth we can I don't have a problem on it because if I did I would have asked the question yeah well I'm I'm truly sorry that I didn't raised it earlier um I I BAS ly was looking at it it was some like to me when I read it the way it's worded and just as Mr Ross thought as needed it was something new for this year and then when Dr Hibbs explained it and Mr Sweeney that wasn't the case so had had had I kind of known that I might have asked about the money I only asked now is because as you're telling me what it's about you can you can certainly and I also don't appreciate being questioned because I made a statement Mr Ross that usually the administration's quite open to questions so for me to say yeah the question should probably be emailed I don't think I need to be attacked to see if I had it you're saying I attacked you I am oh yeah you said I'm sorry if you interpreted that way but it was interpretation I'm just saying you then turn around so you don't have a problem with it if I had a problem I would have emailed right so let's just be fair right I mean I'm just making a comment to say if we have questions the board would benefit from the answer it's fine let's move on I don't have to get why don't you just pull the board and see if they want to pull it they want to pull it we can put it on on Tuesday and I can get you a I just all right can we pull this theard to vote we pull it or we have to two things someone can make a motion to pull this item from the agenda or to um the item can I actually ask can I actually ask for just a quick quick clarification on five you're saying that she and I again I'm I'm I'm stupid so I'm going to ask question the the woman or the person that is to be compensated for the last year she had vouchers that she had to turn in and that is what you were paying her based off of her vouchers that she turned in last year there was just I'm assuming a delay in the payment because the vouchers weren't submitted yet or I think that's where I'm trying to understand where that no there's not a delay on her end it was making sure that she was on the approval for emergency coverage time she was not pre approved earlier in the year so we wanted to make sure she was oh cool it would have and I can't imagine it's a tremendous amount of money but I don't have the exact amount in front of us right now so if you I I can pull yeah all Connie do you want to make a motion to table it or you okay with the explanation on I got a question this this was this was necessary yeah this was emergency coverage she did she take care of what she needed to take care of I I mean I don't yeah she already did it I I don't have all getf yeah I I don't want the person to be held up at summertime I want her to be paid I just uh would like to know how much it is when we're doing these kinds of things that's all any other discussion on uh any items roll call wait I I got a retirement announcement so uh we have uh Grace Bobby retiring as a h a hall lab monitor after 6 years so thank you for his service Grace okay roll call Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Lindsay yes Mr Serrano yes Mrs Baker um abstain on number five number no on number 21 due to salary no to number 24 due to salary yes to the rest Mrs Bloom no on number 21 because of salary yes to everything else Mrs chill yes Mr Mayo yes Mr Ross Yes okay finance and Facilities a motion items number one to three move second discussion I got something wrong go ahead all right so these are my uh individual thoughts uh I'm GNA tonight I'll be voting no to number three which is the budget resolution that's on the agenda for many reasons first this is not the ad uh budget that the administration put forth the administration initially put forth a fiscally responsible budget that accounted for the needs of the district while balancing the financial resources that we had available unfortunately this budget was not supported by some of the board and the board had several discussions and debated several Alternatives when the governor enabled school districts to exceed the 2% cap the administration recommended plans on how to use this additional tax levy if desired to bring back some personnel and restore benefits to some personnel as well and also to put money in the budget to not only take advantage of the state aid Rod grants for which we get a 40% match but also to create a cushion the funding Gap that we know is coming next year unfortunately the board did not follow that recommendation instead has instructed the administration to put forth the budget that we see on the agenda tonight while this budget is compassionate and restores many personnel and benefits to many deserving people and my opposition to this budget by no means should be taken that I do not care about those people that are being restored or getting their benefits back but leaders are forced to make decisions not based on emotion but on facts and what is practical we should be making decisions that are best for all of our constituents not just a small portion of them I've been in business for many years and I've had to make many hard decisions to let people go many of whom I liked very much it was very painful however I had the responsibility to my shareholders of my company the residents of this town I consider my shareholders in this situation and this budget not only raises taxes it does nothing to address the budget Gap that we most certainly will be facing next year in fact this budget is going to make that Gap even worse and the pain even worse well it may not be popular and I'll probably lose many friends for this and my family will be given much grief and hopefully my daughter will not face any backlash at school whoever that's a risk I worry about I will be voting no because this is what I believe is right even though it doesn't feel good it was it is a responsible decision and I've taught my children that theyed to do what they believe is right all the time not what they think is the popular decision at the moment therefore I'll be voting no to this budget also I'm sorry Dr Hibbs that you do not have the support of the board and you were trying to fix a horrible problem that you inherited when you accepted this job not only did you and Janine put forth the responsible budget one that the county superintendent not only proved but praised you took actions throughout the year to lessen the blow of this finan shortfall not just for this year but for the future you came up with innovative ideas to save the district money that could be used for personnel and other things that the district needs Innovative idea ideas such as switching to Google which is going to save the district millions in the coming years pursuing the energy audit which also should get the district Millions to address many building improvements and working with your staff to re-engineer bus schedules to generate savings and many others that I don't have the time here to list tonight so instead of get in a vote of no confidence what you and Janine should be getting is a thank you for all that you've done to make this problem not a whole hell of a lot worse thank thank you Scott thank you Scott that was awesome Ralph I'd like to make a comment on number three as well um some people may have looked at the original agenda that came out on Friday and when in with this particular proposal they're indicated 400,000 for construction and that has been revised so in case somebody here or somebody listening in case you're thinking about what you may have seen earlier that it has been revised since when this first went out and that is not on this resolution so correct yes but but keep in mind the resolution that's on the agenda now for the adoption of the budget nothing changed since last meeting so the budget that was approved last meeting and submitted to the county is the same budget I just want to make that clear because we're supposed to delineate if there was a change we're supposed to go over those changes so it's the same resolution as last week it was just a mistake that that was originally uploaded correct Friday on Friday and that we took that down so just want everybody to know that okay thank you any other comments happens okay call awesome you ready for call you want to say anything what you to say no Mr Lindsay yes don't want to say anything Mr Sano yes Mrs Baker yes Mrs blue yes m oh wait I'm sorry I made a mistake um Mrs Chilla yes Mrs Deo yes Mr Li Liberty yes to one and two no to three Mr Ross yes thank you special education ask for a motion and a second to approve special education item number one so moved second discussion roll call yes Mr Serrano yes Mrs Baker yes Mrs Bloom yes Mrs Chilla yes Mr Mayo yes Mr Li Liberty yes Mr Lindsay yes Mr Ross Yes okay negotiations no item at this time new business any new business yeah I have something well I'm I'm just wondering that I'd like to ask my fellow board members I don't know if we needed to make a motion on this or not and it kind of goes hand inand with what's been happening and what people have come up and talked about and um Mr Li Liberty you just talked about it uh is there some way that um maybe make a motion to within 60 days 90 days that our business administrators give us some kind of projection for next year in terms of where our budget uh is going to be and also in addition to that I know some school districts have a budget calendar that is on their website that shows the public what the district does every single month regarding the budget where we can keep this conversation going uh in terms of what we have to do and how we need to watch how we're spending our money uh because if if if if if we're hearing that things are going to be really bad we need we need to we need to start today in terms of how we're how we're how we're spending money the only thing is you guys can't give direction to Janine you ask Dr H to do something it will be up to him as to whether or not he wants to ask you to do it yeah okay would that be a good idea that we get some kind of budget projection business yeah I I I don't I don't think a a resolution to talk about about the budget is is necessary I think it's actually a really simple conversation sometimes I think we struggle with that amicably um so the goal here for us is to actually have we're gaming by the end of August I think is what we had talked about right to have a a forecast of of where we are looking like we'll be now keeping mind that will not be an a uh a on the money forecast because there's no way to do that we do not know what benefits would be you know there's things we can't project uh but there's things that we can project so God yeah so um in business committee we've been having these discussions and we do throughout the year normally so we talked about things like you know again like Dr Hib said there's always some kind of a projection but you're not going to know things like benefits until we don't even know what vicinity it's going to be in till sometimes February and we don't have final numbers until sometimes after our tenative budget is submitted in March but we have discussed um you know towards the end of the summer projecting salaries as far as the people that are in place to start the school year plus any you know what negotiated agreements we have in place so we certainly will do different areas of the budget in chunks and keep updating those projections as much as we can um as far as the budget calendar we do have um that's a requirement of cusac so our business committee as early as October will develop a um a calendar that Maps out our committee meetings um when the state normally comes out with their numbers when um you know a kind of a skeleton of what the state budget calendar usually looks like and then we update it when the state um calendar does come out so that is in every um business business committee meeting from October moving forward and we keep tweaking it um it's reported out during the business committee but maybe we can um just focus on spending a little more time on that just so everyone knows um you know the different aspects of it but that is something that's developed every single year starting in October maybe I I can share what I'm talking about where a district actually has it on their website where the community can see as well not just the business Comm you know I mean just something to think about I think I think I'm trying I'm trying to see how we could be as proactive as we can to make sure we're transparent and we're we're letting the people know what's going on because it if all the stakeholders are involved in this from the beginning everybody's going to have a better understanding of why we have to do what we have to do yeah we totally agree Connie I think so it's going to be unrealistic to have that number at the beginning of August which is probably typically when your committee meetings would be so might I suggest scheduling a second Finance maybe in August for the very end of August before school starts and I think at that point we can aim to have uh as detailed a projection as we can going into the following school year knowing that that's going to really be salary and benefits correct J or salary more salaries but we can't predict the benefits but we can we can give you a forecast of what we're looking at and you know we we think there will be a hole that has to get filled thank you I have I have keep talking about this 12-month agenda planning and actually I've come up with next week when we discuss goals that that could be one of our goals for next year of an agenda calendar and on this one not that you have to follow it totally but they do kind of talk about the budget in January and October and December which seems to go along with what you're talking about Janine but we could just if we had the calendar out there at least s the public and we more importantly than the public would know what we're supposed to be focusing on every month thank you any other new business okay have a motion to open to the public in general items motion to open to the public Stacy and Shan did oh okay M all in favor oos okay these are old ones yeah one coming to you right now you can probably stay up there oh you grabbing I got get my I got okay jimar Pino you're up thanks um uh few months ago uh Nicole Ludi brought up um in the public pored significant concerns res regarding the district Contracting with the Novi and Associates to provide services last meeting the board voted to contract with the Novi for another year um I know you didn't have to go out for RFP because it's Professional Service with the concerns raised why did the district go with the Novi again um were there any other providers considered and uh previously um Dr hibs had mentioned providing inhouse rbts and bcbas um and there was a potential for a significant cost savings as opposed to Contracting out and where do we stand with that process thanks yeah I'm right down okay um so everyone's going to have different experiences everyone's going to have different concerns we actually lowered the cost of denovi considerably uh moving from last year into this year uh with the thought process that our assistants are going are are doing a lot of those services and that how much do we approximately go down by do you recall several hundred, okay um the reality is that um Associates from denovi they they actually put forth a a good product and they really help uh they really help our our children that need assistance in specific ways uh I did you know we have talked about in the past the concept of having our own in-house bcbas and our own rbts we're just simply not there and you can't just um you couldn't just turn off that faucet and just expect it to be a smooth transition so the goal is you know year after year to to try to reduce and then to build an in-house program it's going to take some time to get to probably where we want because we're a massive school district and that's a lot of people and a lot of training um so yeah that's that's where we are thank you yeah you got it and that am I good okay Sean you want to clarify um Mr arpino's other other question I want to make sure we go back and hit that one um going back to your question in regards to the non-renewal Sean lean in a little bit it's hard to I can going back to your question in regards to non-renewal of Staff in terms of certified staff we have eight certified staff that are still um considered non-renewed due to budget these were people who who were in locally funded positions um six staff members um certified staff members were brought back from the non-renewal due to budget list um and they were brought back to positions um based on either the recent board's budgetary decisions retirements resignations Etc than okay motion to close to the public we did that M all in favor I okay motion motion to close right motion to adjourn all in favor